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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Windjammer" data-source="post: 5585117" data-attributes="member: 60075">As Obryn and others have pointed out upthread, there's several Essential classes which don't at all have the reduced tactical complexity of the thief or slayer. So just looking at the Hunter again earlier today, I saw its 1st level at-will "Clever Strike". Which lets you do a ranged basic attack and, if it hits, you get to choose one of three added effects: slide target 2 squares OR target falls prone OR target is slowed (save ends).And that's brilliant! That exactly pushes decision making away from chargen into what happens in play. You pick one power, but effectively you got three, inviting decision making on the spur of the moment as opposed to: before the session opens.And the other brilliant thing - the little page space this takes. We had 4E powers with variable effects before (e.g. PHB 3 classes) but these were massive write ups. Here they are all there, can be gathered at a glance, which speeds up in-game decision making and prevents fights dragging on too long. (Contrast the hypothetical scenario where these were 3 separate at-wills, and your eyes glaze over the page between the 3 at wills write up every time your turn comes up.)Just a snippet, but Essentials is more and more growing on me. While I'm not happy with all the pluses the hunter gets on his ranged attack at level 1 (built in expertise feat, a further class ability, etc), I actually think that 4E would have been a much better game 'out of the gate' (2008) if powers were generally written up like Clever Shot - lots of decisions in one spot, stated concisely. Much, much better than the endless waves of additional powers, each of which adds so little mechanically to the overall game(play).<img src="http://www9.picfront.org/token/RBU5/2011/06/07/1961622.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></blockquote>

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