Grading Encounter Attack Powers

[keterys]

This exercise was primarily focused on establishing guidelines for power design. I'm mostly hoping for interesting debate and a vague guide for DMs and players alike for comparing powers. While this post deals with encounter powers, you may find the daily or at-will discussion interesting.

All powers are graded assuming they are used effectively - if a power requires a second person in melee to work, don't take it in a party with no other melee. In many cases you'll find that personal preference varies from these grades - while a power may be extraordinary in theory or combined with the right build or party, take the power that is most fun for you!

Grades
A - Excellent. This power brings something special to the table in terms of tactical ability or damage output. It may be too powerful, especially in the hands of the wrong class.
B - Good. This is a solid power. Most powers should fall into this grade.
C - Okay. This power is certainly adequate but pales somewhat in comparison to other powers.
D - Poor. This power is certainly usable (and may even excel in certain rare situations), but is definitely lacking compared to other options.
F - Compares extremely poorly to other powers and should likely be improved or ignored.

A+ powers in particular are at a dangerous balance level. If designing a new power and it is on par, or better, than an A+, most likely you should go back to the drawing board and tweak some things.

B- is what I considered the baseline for comparison of powers. A bit worse and it's in the C territory, but a fair amount of distance to get into the A range.

Basic Grading Guidelines:

Giving an ally a bonus to attack or giving penalties to defense is extremely powerful for setting up your ally's abilities that do high damage, stun, etc.

Raw damage is pretty good, but in general I'm going to value tactical bonuses such as stun, daze, blind, or large amounts of forced movement more highly. These set up combat advantage and deny effective action.

Penalties to attack can prevent bad status effects, like daze and stun, as well as damage, so that's probably next.

Weaken and Knocks Prone are good, but they're just less effective than that. Monsters don't do a ton of damage so weaken is only so good, and being prone is not a huge penalty. Immobilize is I guess roughly on par.

Slow and some similar effects are... after that.

Area effects get scored well overall, since you often fight a lot of monsters in 4e and it's important to clear out minions before they can do significant damage.

Powers that use ability bonuses can often be much stronger for some characters than others. For low level encounter powers, I'll assume a 2 to 6 range depending on the ability, but as levels progress that can climb into the 6-10 range for some builds so I'll need to take that into account. Under no circumstances will I consider a power that uses an ability score that it 'might be a 0 or 1' just to prove a power could be weaker, just as I won't assume that weapon powers use fists for poor damage and no proficiency bonus.

Please feel free to disagree with any suggested grade I give at all, pointing out flaws in my logic, grading guidelines, etc. If a power is exceptional under extremely limited circumstances (Cause Fear on a large+ creature in a blood pulse area, for instance), please make note if that's why you're suggesting the change and otherwise it's some other grade.

If comparing powers of different levels - for example a level 3 power to a level 1 power, note that I am grading in relation to other powers of its level so the level 3 is expected to be better (much as you'd expect a 3rd grader's English to be better than a 1st grader's, at the same grade level or even worse). I can't be exact in how much of a drop you'll see, but don't be surprised by at least a full letter difference.

Encounter 1 Power Analysis
Encounter 3 Power Analysis
Encounter 7 Power Analysis
Encounter 13 Power Analysis

*CLERIC*
[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-
C / Cause Fear
A- / Divine Glow
B / Healing Strike
B / Wrathful Thunder

-= Encounter 3 =-
A / Blazing Beacon (assumes ranged allies)
A- / Command
C+ / Daunting Light
B- / Split the Sky

-= Encounter 7 =-
C / Awe Strike
C / Break the Spirit
B+ / Searing Light
A- / Strengthen the Faithful

-= Encounter 13 = -
C / Arc of the Righteous
B- / Inspiring Strike
A / Mantle of Glory
A / Plague of Doom[/sblock]
*FIGHTER*
[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-
C+ / Covering Attack
C / Passing Attack
C- / Spinning Sweep
C+ / Steel Serpent Strike

-= Encounter 3 =-
B / Armor-Piercing Thrust
C / Crushing Blow
D- / Dance of Steel
C / Precise Strike
A / Rain of Blows
B+ / Sweeping Blow

-= Encounter 7 =-
A- / Come and Get It
B- / Griffon's Wrath
C- / Iron Bulwark
D+ / Reckless Strike
C- / Sudden Surge

-= Encounter 13 = -
A+ / Anvil of Doom
A / Chains of Sorrow
C+ / Giant's Wake
B- / Silverstep
B- / Storm of Blows
C+ / Talon of the Roc[/sblock]
*PALADIN*[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-
B- / Fearsome Smite
B+ / Piercing Smite
B / Radiant Smite
C / Shielding Smite

-= Encounter 3 =-
C+ / Arcing Smite
B / Invigorating Smite
A- / Righteous Smite
B- / Staggering Smite

-= Encounter 7 =-
C+ / Beckon Foe
C+ / Benign Transposition
B+ / Divine Reverence
C / Thunder Smite

-= Encounter 13 = -
C+ / Entangling Smite
B- / Radiant Charge
C+ / Renewing Smite
B / Whirlwind Smite[/sblock]
*RANGER*[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-
B+ / Dire Wolverine Strike
B+ / Evasive Strike
B+ / Fox's Cunning
A- / Two-Fanged Strike

-= Encounter 3 =-
B+ / Cut and Run
A / Disruptive Strike
F / Shadow Wasp Strike
A- / Thundertusk Boar Strike

-= Encounter 7 =-
B+ / Claws of the Griffon
B- / Hawk's Talon
B- / Spikes of the Manticore
A- / Sweeping Whirlwind

-= Encounter 13 = -
A / Armor Splinter
C+ / Knockdown Shot
B- / Nimble Defense
B- / Pinning Strike[/sblock]
*ROGUE*[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-
B / Dazing Strike
B / King's Castle
A- / Positioning Strike
B- / Tortuous Strike

-= Encounter 3 =-
B+ / Bait and Switch
C+ / Setup Strike
B- / Topple Over
C- / Trickster's Blade

-= Encounter 7 =-
B- / Cloud of Steel
A / Imperiling Strike
C+ / Rogue's Luck
B+ / Sand in the Eyes

-= Encounter 13 = -
B- / Fool's Opportunity
A+ / Stunning Strike
B / Tornado Strike
C+ / Unbalancing Attack[/sblock]
*WARLOCK*[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-
A- / Diabolic Grasp
B / Dreadful Word
C+ / Vampiric Embrace
A- / Witchfire

-= Encounter 3 =-
B / Eldritch Rain
B / Fiery Bolt
A+ / Frigid Darkness
A- / Otherwind Stride

-= Encounter 7 =-
B- / Howl of Doom
B- / Infernal Moon Curse
A- / Mire the Mind
B- / Sign of Ill Omen

-= Encounter 13 = -
D- / Bewitching Whispers
C+ / Coldfire Vortex
B- / Harrowstorm
C / Soul Flaying[/sblock]
*WARLORD*[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-
C+ / Guarding Attack
A- / Hammer and Anvil
B- / Leaf on the Wind
A / Warlord's Favor

-= Encounter 3 =-
B- / Hold the Line
C+ / Inspiring War Cry
B- / Steel Monsoon
A / Warlord's Strike

-= Encounter 7 =-
B+ / Lion's Roar
A- / Sunder Armor
B+ / Surprise Attack
B- / Surround Foe

-= Encounter 13 = -
B / Beat Them Into the Ground
B- / Bolstering Blow
C+ / Denying Smite
C+ / Fury of the Sirocco[/sblock]
*WIZARD*[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-
C+ / Burning Hands
B+ / Chill Strike
B+ / Force Orb
A- / Icy Terrain
C- / Ray of Enfeeblement
A- / Grasping Shadows

-= Encounter 3 =-
A- / Color Spray
B+ / Fire Shroud
B+ / Icy Rays
B / Shock Sphere
B- / Maze of Mirrors

-= Encounter 7 =-
B / Fire Burst
B / Lightning Bolt
B- / Spectral Ram
A- / Winter's Wrath

-= Encounter 13 = -
B / Frostburn
B / Mesmeric Hold
A- / Prismatic Burst
B- / Thunderlance[/sblock]

 

[Goumindong]

A note: Don't Underestimate the single target encounter powers. Especially with something as strong as Daze or Weaken. Its tough to say which one is better. They work especially well with readied actions. But if you can't let off your encounter power because the single enemy has friendlies flanking it it can be a pain.

Force orb is nice since it only attacks enemies.

Grasping shadows probably suffers from Dragon power creep

I would say burning hands is the odd one out with the least use especially since you can just thunderwave a few times or scorching burst a few times instead. Not as time efficient, but it will waste minions just as well.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I think these threads would be more useful if we were told why a power earns that grade.

 

[keterys]

I'm happy to go into more detail for any of them that people object to, or if there's any in particular anyone wants to know.

So, I consider Daze quite good. Weaken less so - seems like that only saves a smallish amount of hp given monster damage, which makes it compare less well to some of the temp hp and healing you can get instead. Knockdown even less so. Ranged powers that are range 5 I tended to drop a point.

I generally rate penalties to defense or bonuses to an ally's attack fairly high, because they setup other major powers of allies - a daily that does extreme damage or stuns, for instance. Penalties to attack I rate higher than weaken, because that can prevent special effects like daze or stun on the party.

Honestly, I'm hoping that others will decide to just talk about it. It's a good thing to chat about

 

[Cirex]

Fox's Cunning would be great if it was an interrupt. The enemy attacks -> shift and the attack instantly misses.

 

[Goumindong]

I'm happy to go into more detail for any of them that people object to, or if there's any in particular anyone wants to know.

So, I consider Daze quite good. Weaken less so - seems like that only saves a smallish amount of hp given monster damage, which makes it compare less well to some of the temp hp and healing you can get instead. Knockdown even less so. Ranged powers that are range 5 I tended to drop a point.

I generally rate penalties to defense or bonuses to an ally's attack fairly high, because they setup other major powers of allies - a daily that does extreme damage or stuns, for instance. Penalties to attack I rate higher than weaken, because that can prevent special effects like daze or stun on the party.

Honestly, I'm hoping that others will decide to just talk about it. It's a good thing to chat about

I would agree with that, so ignore what I said about ray of enfeeblement, since being dazed grants combat advantage.

 

[Nifft]

I think these threads would be more useful if we were told why a power earns that grade.

Agree. The numbers are worth little without the motivation behind them.

Specifically, party make up. Force Orb is great if most of your party likes to mix it up in melee and flank (Rogue, Warlord); it's unnecessary if you have two Tieflings on the front line.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Andur]

More specifically, these threads should be about combinations anyway. Since the number of times a power is used in a vacuum is so rare that it doesn't practically exist. The combinations of feats, powers, class abilities, and racial abilites within a group of 5 is what should be graded.

But now that might take a tad bit more work.

BTW no way is Passing Attack worse than Two Fanged Strike, especially if a reach weapon is used...

 

[keterys]

I rated Passing Attack lower because it requires that you hit on the first attack to get the shift or the secondary attack, while Two Fanged Strike was the top damage encounter 1 power that I saw if memory serves.

Anyhow, I'll work on adding the reasoning. This was something I threw together quickly just to get things going since the at-will discussion seemed so fruitful.

Again, I'm assuming that you're setup to use the powers. Lessee, force orb is basically an area burst 1 (enemies) only, range 20, low-ish damage. I figured Icy Terrain and Grasping Shadows were both better than that.

 

[Mengu]

I think these threads are a good exercise. The meaning of the numbers are less important than where we think the ballpark power level is for each power. For At-will powers, we had a couple that were 9+, and a handful that were 4-, these probably could use some re-examining, and should give us an idea of what not to do when creating custom powers. Now on to this set.

I like Piercing Smite better than Radiant smite, I'd either decrease one, or increase the other. Piercing Smite helps the Paladin play a better representation of the Defender role.

I think Dazing Strike is better than a 6. You can attack, and move away (no opportunity attack), which means your opponent simply will not be able to attack you in melee next turn. All your allies enjoy combat advantage against him as well. Everyone can dance around him with no opportunity attacks. I think Dazing Strike is the best Rogue 1 Encounter power.

I would rate Witchfire at a 7 like you have, but the other Warlock powers I would peg at 6. It's not a huge difference though. They are all in the same ballpark.

Warlord's Favor is not as reliable as Hammer and Anvil, and doesn't have quite the same damage potential. It's definitely not better than Dire Wolverine Strike. I'd give it a 7.

I think your Wizard powers are all a bit off. They are more even in my book, something like

*WIZARD*
7 / Burning Hands
7 / Chill Strike
7 / Force Orb
8 / Icy Terrain
6 / Ray of Enfeeblement
8 / Grasping Shadows