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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ChristopherA" data-source="post: 4737659" data-attributes="member: 80302">I thought your ratings were quite good. I thought I’d try to rank the powers in order according to my impressions, and see how it compares. Here is level 1, I was pretty close: A Flaming SphereA Bastion of DefenseA Armor of Agathys, Beacon of Hope, Blinding BarrageB+ Lead the Attack, Jaws of the Wolf, Freezing CloudB Radiant Delirium, SleepB Split the TreeB Avenging FlameB On Pain of DeathB- Flames of Phlegethos, Trick Strike, Pin the FoeB- Guardian of Faith (I’m guessing, I’d have to see it in action)C+ Brute Strike, Paladin’s Judgment C+ Comeback Strike, Cascade of Light, Curse of the Dark DreamC Hunter’s Bear Trap, Dread Star, White Raven OnslaughtC- Villain’s Menace, Acid ArrowC- Sudden Strike, Easy Target The power ratings will depend in some ways on the style of the campaign. Perhaps you fight solo monsters more often than I do. I was surprised that you rate Villain’s Menace so highly, since in playing I’ve found it to be quite weak. If you factor in how bad it is to miss with the power, you really need to get in at least 4 attacks with the attack/damage bonus before Villain’s Menace is clearly superior to Brute Strike. But Brute Strike is just so much more convenient and easy to use. In order for Villain’s Menace to be really effective, the fighter has to attack the same monster every round for several rounds, and the rest of the party has to refrain from killing that monster. At least in my group’s style of play, daily powers are most valuable when used in tough fights that you couldn’t win without them, and a power that can help the party quickly kill a dangerous threat is what everyone really wants. Low-level fights only seem to last about 6 rounds. If you can afford to leave a monster alive for the entire fight in order to maximize the effect of your daily power, maybe the monster wasn’t really worth spending a single-target daily on anyway. And during this time, the fighter can’t react defend the party against different tactical threats. I guess this power would be a lot more effective if you fought a lot of solos and tough elites. The usefulness of a power like Comeback Strike, which lets you spend a healing surge, would vary a lot based on how restricted you are by healing surges. If you can rest whenever you want, Comeback is clearly better than Brute Strike. If healing surges are precious, and you can get clerical healing after the fight, spending a healing surge is not so great (I explain this more on one of my <a href="http://gamedesignfanatic.blogspot.com/2008/10/spend-healing-surge.html" target="_blank">blog entries</a>). I agree with an earlier poster that, at heroic level, Bastion of Defense seems generally more useful than Lead the Attack. But Lead the Attack is one of those weird powers that gets better and better as you gain levels. I think Acid Arrow is overrated compared to the other wizard powers. Sleep seems better – if you target multiple monsters, there is a good chance one of them will fall asleep and die soon after. Acid Arrow is just a pedestrian attack with a weak and hard to use area effect. It seems more than two steps inferior to a potent area effect spell like Freezing Cloud.__________________Come read my game design/analysis blog at: <a href="http://forums.gleemax.com/leaving.php?destination=http://gamedesignfanatic.blogspot.com" target="_blank">http://gamedesignfanatic.blogspot.com</a></blockquote>

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