Epic Woes

[Jack99]

My players are slowly approaching epic level. Therefore, they will soon be informed that they should start thinking about an epic destiny that fits their character. Now, since the 4 original ones, a lot of ED's have been released, and I must admit that I haven't spend a lot of time looking at them.

So, that's why I am turning to the ENworld community to ask for help. My question is thus;

Which Epic Destinies are unbalanced (to the point of being broken) before level 30 (I am not too concerned with level 30 atm). If you wish to include why, that would indeed be a bonus, but it is not necessary.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers

 

[Stalker0]

The only one that comes up off the top of my head is the Demigod.

WOTC appears to have trying to slowly wean people off of it with newer ED's that give bonuses to 2 stats (though you don't pick which ones) and other effects but I think in terms of raw power its still one of the best one.

One I don't consider a broken ED but one you need to be ready for is the Dark Wanderer. Its keystone ability is basically after taking the party on a 1 day journey (that always goes smoothly), they can arrive anywhere they want (any planes, at the front door step of the BBEG, etc).

Now its not like you can show up in the middle of the big guys fortress or anything, but a DM has to consider it in his adventurer planning. However, it is the most flavorful and fun ED I've seen yet.

 

[UltimaGabe]

I'm not horribly familiar with every single Epic Destiny out there, but I've read enough of them to come to this conclusion: Most Epic Destinies, when looked at individually, aren't broken before 30- but most of them have incredibly niche-like abilities that, if they're brought into play, will be very powerful. Most character optimization guides I've read seem to put the most value into the ones that are incredibly general- the most often-taken, in my experience is Demigod (straight from the PHB), because its benefits can be used by anybody. It's not broken, but it's definitely good. As Epic Destinies should be.

Once you hit 30, that's a horse of a different color. Most Epic Destinies have a 30th-level ability that horribly breaks the game. (Undying Warrior, I'm looking at you.) Then again, that's the point of level 30, isn't it?

 

[Marshall]

I Dont know what you guys are reading, but most of the EDs are incredibly weak. Demigod(and by extension the FRPG chosen classes) are mostly decent. Almost everything from AP and PHB2 is worthless, EPG returns to having some decent and flavorful options.

 

[Flipguarder]

I Dont know what you guys are reading, but most of the EDs are incredibly weak. Demigod(and by extension the FRPG chosen classes) are mostly decent.

Isn't that just like saying:

"I don't know what you guys are eating, but most foods taste incredibly bad. Tacos (and by extension the other Mexican foods sharing the same ingredients) are mostly decent."

 

[Elric]

Which Epic Destinies are unbalanced (to the point of being broken) before level 30 (I am not too concerned with level 30 atm). If you wish to include why, that would indeed be a bonus, but it is not necessary.

Punisher of the Gods, from Dragon 372. Its level 21 feature gives you an action point whenever you critical, which doesn't count against your regular action point limit. It leads to absurd damage on crit-focused builds.

 

[Jack99]

Punisher of the Gods, from Dragon 372. Its level 21 feature gives you an action point whenever you critical, which doesn't count against your regular action point limit. It leads to absurd damage on crit-focused builds.

Yeah, I knew that one - broken for sure.

 

[Camelot]

As a DM, broken player options are something you have to watch out for. I don't mean you have to make sure the players don't take those options; I mean when the players do take those options, the DM has to adjust to fit that choice. If one player takes Demigod and the others take several "weaker" epic destinies, it seems like an advantage. However, word of a new demigod is bound to spread quickly. In battle, intelligent monsters will focus first on the Demigod, making it harder for that player, balancing out their choice. Plus, angels of deities will come to the player asking for him or her to join in their cause, a cause which may go against the group's interests. And if the player declines, the angel could say, "If you are not our ally...then you are our enemy," and attack, a battle that could set the player's off track because their losing time when they should be saving the city from the elder dragon.

No options are "broken" until WotC puts out updates for them, admitting, "Yeah, it didn't work right, but now it does." If an option doesn't work right, don't change the option. Change the game to fit the option.

 

[Elric]

No options are "broken" until WotC puts out updates for them, admitting, "Yeah, it didn't work right, but now it does."

By this definition, no options in use can ever be "broken." Either it isn't broken because WotC hasn't acknowledged its broken-ness in fixing it, or WotC has already fixed it and it's no longer broken.

If an option doesn't work right, don't change the option. Change the game to fit the option.

It is much better to fix truly overpowered options in the first place than it is to adjust your game to try to keep them in check. If the GM has to significantly alter the way he does things to prevent X from being a problem, that is a significant cost in and of itself.

Let me use an example from economics: If the government placed an absurdly large tax on milk, say, $10.00/gallon, I'd stop buying milk. So I wouldn't have to pay the tax! However, that doesn't imply that the tax isn't causing me economic harm; it's causing me far more economic harm than if the tax was $0.50/gallon and I still bought a fair amount of milk (and thus paid a fair amount of the tax).

 

[aurance]

If an option doesn't work right, don't change the option. Change the game to fit the option.

No way, not for me. If an option is providing +40 damage while all the other options are providing +10 damage (all else being equal), I'll definitely knock that +40 to +10 rather than fiddle with potentially large parts of my story.