Excerpt: Paragon paths (merged)

[wedgeski]

Ultimate Rogue Power 20
You run up to someone and, like a camel, stab them in the face.

And there goes my morning coffee... /sigh

 

[Plane Sailing]

Emphasis mine. Who says?

My point is that this rule is either (A) problematic in its operation (if it does apply retrospectively) or (B) poorly drafted (if it doesn't). I stand by that position.

And in case people are about to "fire up", don't get me wrong. I'm not rubbishing 4e. I was the one who pushed my defunct gaming group back into D&D when 4e was announced. IIRC I have loved 90% of the information released about 4e so far. The great majority of my 4e posts have been positive. But as a long-time DM, I read this power and immediately saw problems with it...

You're seeing a problem that doesn't exist IMO.

The drafting of the rule is fine. I think that the vast majority of people would just assume that extra damage would be applied from the point the action point is spent onwards.

Applying damage 'retroactively' is such a bizarre thing to do that IF they had wanted to do that, *they would have spelt it out in the power*.

The intention seems obvious to me; I venture to suggest that most users of 4e will follow the logic of 'effect follows cause' rather than invert it for no reason.

Cheers

 

[Fiendish Dire Weasel]

I think there is some confusion going on between Paragon Paths and Epic Destinies due to our lack of familiarity with 4E.

I believe the Paragon Paths (11th-20th) are class specific and we'll see 3-4 of them per class in the PHB. While the Epic Destinies (21st-30th) are each open to several classes, we may only see a dozen or so of these in the PHB.

 

[Cirex]

Agreed.

Danger Sense — Roll twice for initiative, use the higher result

Seize the Moment Dex Dex 17 Gain combat advantage over foe with lower initiative

Any Rogue that doesn't abuse these should be ashamed of himself. Also, Spider Man.

We got to see the restriction on Seize the Moment. It may be once per encounter or something like that.

I really like the preview. The paragon paths are looking quite good, with some new kind of feats (dealing auto-damage based on stat on certain circunstances, kinda like new cleave) and interesting powers (sadly we only got to see ranger ones).

 

[ShockMeSane]

Well, we also know that some Paragon paths are related to Race, as one of the playtesters or Devs or somebody posted about choosing a Genasi Paragon Path (Wildfire Genasi) for their Warlock. I'd say this indicates that there will be pre-requisites for Paragon Paths (and general usefulness, as opposed to specific) other than class.

(edited to change wizard to warlock and added the paragon path's name)

 

[Fallen Seraph]

One fun one people have missed to is this:

Underfoot - Halfling, trained in Acrobatics - Move through spaces of Large or larger creatures

Now I don't know about you, but that is quite fun.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Interesting... We now see what R&D was talking about when it comes to the martial power source being only the 'least magical' instead of entirely nonmagical.

Kensei fighters gaining a mystical bond with their chosen weapon.

Stormwarden rangers slipping into wild plane of existence and empowering their attacks with lightning.

Not high magic, but both fit their classes well. The rogue and warlord paths, on the other hand, look to be firmly rooted in the mundane. Hopefully such options will be open for all 4 martial classes.

Of course, for those who want less magic in their martial...

Kensei business is just flavour text

Stormwarden rangers - the teleport could be redefined as a shift that doesn't cause OA, and the lightning damage can be redefined as weapon damage.

So it is still looking promising for keeping martial non-magical.

 

[Darth Cyric]

Stormwarden = Desert Wind but with lightning instead of fire. I like, I like.

Nothing says a Stormwarden can't use Blade-Storm and Twin Blade-Storm in the same round, or can't target the same opponent 3 times.

Half-correct. "Two enemies" with TBS seems pretty straightforward to me.

I think it'll either be:

3 enemies hit (one with BS, two with TBS), or

2 enemies hit (one hit twice w/ TBS + BS, the other w/ just TBS)

 

[ShockMeSane]

Of course, for those who want less magic in their martial...

Kensei business is just flavour text

Stormwarden rangers - the teleport could be redefined as a shift that doesn't cause OA, and the lightning damage can be redefined as weapon damage.

So it is still looking promising for keeping martial non-magical.

Well, Rangers have always been a bit magical

As far as the Kensei, yea, its pretty easy to just describe that as weapon focus/specialization if you want to de-mystify it.

 

[Derren]

and that a wizard is more likely to have good Dex than Str,

Dex adds to the same saving throw than int, or?

Also whats up with the Sword Marshal path? It mentions heavy and light blades but all powers so far are either generic or heavy blade only.
Is it correct that those are all PPs which will appear in the core books?