Gale of Steel

[HighTemplar]

Gale of Steel
Fighter Attack 15
You cut through the ranks of your foes like a fierce wind.
Daily ✦ Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Close burst 1
Target: Each enemy in burst you can see
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage.
Weapon: If you’re wielding a heavy blade or a light blade, the attack deals extra damage equal to your Dexterity modifier.
Effect: You can shift 1 square and repeat the attack against any enemy you haven’t already hit with the attack.

When you repeat the attack, do you repeat the effect as well ?

Basically, can you shift more then once with this power.
First time I read it I was sure you could, but I think it might be too strong.

 

[Doctor Proctor]

No, you can't repeat it. Basically, it's just saying that you can shift 1 and the do another burst attack against anyone who wasn't successfully hit by the first one. This lets you get two shots in against guys who dodged it the first time, and possibly include some new enemies that weren't targeted by the first one.

If it allowed you to repeat the effect line each time though, it would be too strong since you would just keep repeating until you had already hit everyone near...in which case, why not just make it auto-hit? So no, you just attack, shift, attack again, end.

 

[Jhaelen]

No, you can't repeat it. Basically, it's just saying that you can shift 1 and the do another burst attack against anyone who wasn't successfully hit by the first one.

But it says 'EACH enemy in burst you can see' not 'AN enemy'. I.e. if you're completely surrounded by (medium or smaller) enemies, you can shift up to 8 times (assuming you drop the first enemy, so there is a free adjacent square).

 

[Artoomis]

But it says 'EACH enemy in burst you can see' not 'AN enemy'. I.e. if you're completely surrounded by (medium or smaller) enemies, you can shift up to 8 times (assuming you drop the first enemy, so there is a free adjacent square).

Correct. If you shift and hit someone who was not in the Close Burst (1), then the effect does not happen again.

Also, I think you can choose not to shift (I think that's been clarifed to be optional) and still attack someone else you have not yet hit with this attack and thus could , potentially, hit everyone in the 8 squares adjacent to you, should you be unfortunate enough to get totally surrounded.

 

[Doctor Proctor]

But it says 'EACH enemy in burst you can see' not 'AN enemy'. I.e. if you're completely surrounded by (medium or smaller) enemies, you can shift up to 8 times (assuming you drop the first enemy, so there is a free adjacent square).

What does it saying "each" in the target line have to do with anything? All Burst 1 Fighter powers say that. The fact is, you shift 1 and repeat the attack (Burst 1) against any foes that were not already hit by the power. There's nothing in there that lends itself to repeating it over and over, especially when you consider that there are NUMEROUS powers that actually give a series of successive attacks and clearly outline that option. This says you repeat the attack once, and that's it.

It's like this...when there's a rational interpretation that makes sense considering the power level of other abilities (this one can't pull people from 2 or 3 squares away, for example), and then another broken interpretation based on a VERY narrow and favorable interpretation of the rules, usually the rational and balanced one is correct.

According to your interpretation I could use a Hammer with Hammer Rhythm, Power Attack on every strike (since the -2 to hit is actually good here) and dance around the battlefield dealing damage on every miss, but getting to make another chance to hit them over and over again and rack up like thousands of points of damage? Heck, it would actually be better if I specifically kept a mundane Hammer on me so that I would miss even more, thus adding more cumulative damage before I finally happen to roll a 20 on each target to score a hit! You could wipe an entire encounter with a single expenditure of this power. That's obviously not what's intended.

 

[Jhaelen]

Well, it's been a long time since I've looked closely at power descriptions. Rereading a bunch of powers I'm inclined to agree with Doctor Proctor and thus retract my previous interpretation.

It seems that unlike the Hit/Miss parts of a power description which are applied for each target, the Effect part is only ever applied once. This is pretty evident when comparing the power against some of the area spells/prayers. Unfortunately, it isn't evident from studying the definition of 'Effect' in the PHB.