"Fixing" Damage Boosting Items / Armbands of Power, Bloodclaw etc.

[keterys]

Agreed. And it's a shame...

so much for magic items not being a big deal, right?

Personally, I think you're better off just removing them. Even at +1/+2/+3 instead, armbands are still better than other options, and still more boring.

And every single damage increaser makes multiple attacks more powerful than single larger attacks, creating extreme silliness like twin strike being better than high level dailies.

 

[eriktheguy]

Agreed. And it's a shame...

so much for magic items not being a big deal, right?

Personally, I think you're better off just removing them. Even at +1/+2/+3 instead, armbands are still better than other options, and still more boring.

And every single damage increaser makes multiple attacks more powerful than single larger attacks, creating extreme silliness like twin strike being better than high level dailies.

Yeah, this is what I was afraid of. I'm considering nerfing the armbands, but I can't find the balance between making them useless and OP. I don't think it exists. Ditto to bloodclaw, ruin, rackless. I guess its time to do what DDI doesn't have the balls for and actually fix this with a ban.

 

[FireLance]

Another possibility is to just stick "once per round" or "once per encounter" (adjust to taste) on them.

Similarly, if twin strike bugs you, one possible fix is for the Hit line to read:

Hit: 1[W] damage if one attack hits, or 2[W] damage if both attacks hit.​

That way, static bonuses only count once even if both attacks hit.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Another possibility is to just stick "once per round" or "once per encounter" (adjust to taste) on them.

Similarly, if twin strike bugs you, one possible fix is for the Hit line to read:

Hit: 1[W] damage if one attack hits, or 2[W] damage if both attacks hit.​

That way, static bonuses only count once even if both attacks hit.

My personal favorite is a blanket ruling that says that all damage bonuses only count once per target per round. That fixes a ton of problems.

 

[Markn]

Well, this just validated my thinking.

I have a dual wielding staff of ruin wizard, a bracers of perfect shot ranger and an iron armband dwarf battlerager (who does a minimum of 20 something on his at will power) and these 3 PCs far outdamage the other 3 in the group.

WotC if you are listening, a fix would be nice.

Edit: Vicious weapons/implements are pretty high on my list too. Not sure of your experiences with that.

 

[FireLance]

I have a dual wielding staff of ruin wizard, a bracers of perfect shot ranger and an iron armband dwarf battlerager (who does a minimum of 20 something on his at will power) and these 3 PCs far outdamage the other 3 in the group.

I assume the wizard also has Dual Implement Spellcaster and the battlerager is also a pit fighter? Given the fairly large number of ways to get damage bonuses in 4e, I wonder whether WotC under-values damage, or whether we are actually over-valuing it.

Edit: Vicious weapons/implements are pretty high on my list too. Not sure of your experiences with that.

Since the high damage only triggers on a critical, it's a little too unreliable for me. I'd rather have a small but consistent increase in damage than deal a whole lot of extra damage occasionally.

 

[eriktheguy]

Maybe an effective ruling would be that any damage bonus from an item other than enhancement bonuses be counted as an item bonus. Then we ban bloodclaw/iron armbands/reckless. I like.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

It also doesn't fix the problem where a ranger says
I activate my +6 bloodclaw weapon
I activate my +6 reckless weapon
I wear by +6 iron armbands
I get the +30 bonus to damage on my next attack
Rinse, repeat

I would consider basically nerfing all three items, or perhaps removing them altogether. I made a high level priest once and focused on a set of feats and powers that synergized to give him high damage for most of the fight, then my little sister made a barbarian with a bloodclaw weapon that got an even higher damage bonus all the time.

Would there be any problem with turning the bonus from bloodclaw and reckless into an item bonus in addition to nerfing them? I say "of course not".

Actually, it does fix it to some extent, depending on what of my suggestions you take. The damage bonus limitation would reduce the damage bonus to
around +14. If all the bonuses also turn into item bonuses, it would be +8.

Still significant, but only 1 of the 3 mentioned item would be "needed".


EDIT: Ah, I see that you mention that in the last post.

I think I would also reduce the maximum bonus granted by Bloodclaw in some way, and if every damage bonus turns into an item bonus, you avoid the ridiculous stacking.

 

[Jaysue]

2IS w/ 2x staff of ruin ?!?!

Hey.. if you had 2x +2 staff of ruin, casting with MH would they contribute (with 2is) 2(base)+2(staff1 proerty)+2(staff2 property)+2(2is) (8)?

Thats amazing (it does not happen that way in CB?)

Cheers,

Adam

 

[FireLance]

Hey.. if you had 2x +2 staff of ruin, casting with MH would they contribute (with 2is) 2(base)+2(staff1 proerty)+2(staff2 property)+2(2is) (8)?

Thats amazing (it does not happen that way in CB?)

Actually, now that you mention it, the item bonus to damage from the property should not stack, and the enhancement bonus should only stack if the character has the Dual Implement Spellcaster feat. Hence, for two +2 staffs of ruin, the character should get a +4 bonus to damage, or +6 if he has Dual Implement Spellcaster.