Flail Expertise and Power Strike feat support in MME

[mudlock]

Does anyone use a pick anyway?

Of course not, there's no Pick Expertise feat yet!

How about, in contrast to the axe's "re-roll one '1'" semi-brutal-ness, make picks semi-vorpal; if you roll max on any damage dice, re-roll one of them and add it in?

*does some math*

Works out to be a bit more average damage than axes; between 1/12 and 1/4 of a point, depending on die size. (Huh: interestingly, it's 1/4 of a point more damage with a d4, 1/6th of a point more with a d6, etc.)

Ah well, I guess we'll know in a month.

 

[renau1g]

I've been online since 1996, and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've been called a troll.

You've done an admirable job keeping your troll-ness under wraps sir. I tip my hat to you.

 

[FireLance]

Works out to be a bit more average damage than axes; between 1/12 and 1/4 of a point, depending on die size. (Huh: interestingly, it's 1/4 of a point more damage with a d4, 1/6th of a point more with a d6, etc.)

Actually, if I've done my math right, it should actually be 1/3 of a point for a d4 and 1/5 of a point for a d6. In general, for a d, the average value of vorpal would be 1/(n - 1) more than the average value of brutal 1.

Math stuff below:
[SBLOCK]Let the average value of a Brutal 1 d be B.

B = (2 + 3 + ... + n)/(n - 1)
= [1 + 1 + 1 + 2 + ... + 1 + (n - 1)]/(n - 1)

The expression in the numerator is the sum from 1 to (n - 1), plus (n - 1), so:
B = [1 + 2 + ... + (n - 1) + (n - 1)]/(n - 1)

Hence, using the standard expression for the sum from 1 to N, N x (N + 1)/2, and substituting (n -1) for N, we get:
B = [(n - 1) x n/2 + (n - 1)]/(n - 1)
= (n - 1) x (n/2 + 1)/(n - 1)
= (n + 2)/2

Let the average value of a Vorpal d be V.

When the dice roll is a maximum, you add n and roll the die again, so the average value of a maximum roll is n + V.

V = [1 + 2 + ... + n + V]/n

Using the same standard expression for the sum from 1 to N, we get:
V = [n x (n + 1)/2 + V]/n
n x V = n x (n + 1)/2 + V
n x V - V = n x (n + 1)/2
(n - 1) x V = n x (n + 1)/2
V = n x (n + 1)/[2 x (n - 1)]

Subtracting,
V - B = n x (n + 1)/[2 x (n - 1)] - (n + 2)/2
= n x (n + 1)/[2 x (n - 1)] - (n + 2) x (n - 1)/[2 x (n - 1)]
= [n x (n + 1) - (n +2) x (n - 1)]/[2 x (n - 1)]
= [n^2 + n - (n^2 + 2n - n - 2)]/[2 x (n - 1)]
= (n^2 + n - n^2 - 2n + n + 2)/[2 x (n - 1)]
= 2/[2 x (n - 1)]
= 1/(n - 1)[/SBLOCK]

 

[gyor]

I bet picks immobilize on a crit, like you pick stays buried in them so they can't move. Flails could be a free grapple on a crit or you can still hit your target will grappleing with the Flail.

 

[twilsemail]

Man, I really hope it's not anything "on a crit." I hate taking feats that just affect my attacks 5% of the time. Crits are already awesome. Show the other attacks some love.

 

[WalterKovacs]

I suppose it doesn't matter in the age of DDI, but it does seem strange. Kinda like how Heroes of Shadow had Ki Focus Expertise and a ki focus-using class that couldn't make proper use of it.

The Vampire wasn't the only class that used ki foci in the book, the Executioner, which juggles a few different weapon groups (including garotte, bola, etc which, at least at the time, didn't have expertise feats) and has some implement poison powers, sort of needed ki focus expertise. Vampire could still make some use out of it, even if the weapon part was irrelevant to them.

==============================

On the subject of the power strike stuff, they seem to be an 'in addition to' instead of replacement of the options that knights, slayers and scouts get, especially since they can double up by grabbing light blade, heavy blade, hammer or axe strikes. For the ones like pick or spear, hopefully they do some articles on DDi to give those classes different weapon spec options (like they did with the staff) in order to increase the likelihood they will use those weapon strike feats.

 

[OnlineDM]

Back to the discussion of the book's online availability...

I was confused by this, too, even though I was sitting in the room during the new products seminar at GenCon. So, I went back to the Tome Show's recording of the seminar and typed up a word for word transcript of what Mike Mearls said about this (the blog post is here).

From looking at the word-for-word transcript, it sounds like Amazon might actually carry MME, just not at their usual awesome price.

Also, that transcript showed me that Mike Mearls has a fast pace when speaking - I counted it at around 245 words per minute!

 

[garyh]

Thanks for that, OnlineDM! I had not heard about that news. I'd be okay paying full price for MME on Amazon (just this once, WotC! ).

 

[SkidAce]

Hey Garyh, re: your avatar,

Can you get Kohan to play on a modern computer?

/end derailment

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Hey Garyh, re: your avatar,

Can you get Kohan to play on a modern computer?

/end derailment

Loved that game. And yes, you can run it on modern machines. The really kick-ass part is there's a Linux version and you can/could actually buy it, on a CD and everything. That was good times. hehe.