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Grading Encounter Attack Powers
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<blockquote data-quote="keterys" data-source="post: 4350292" data-attributes="member: 43019"><p>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 <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=235028" target="_blank">daily</a> or <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=233943" target="_blank">at-will discussion</a> interesting.</p><p></p><p>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! </p><p></p><p>Grades </p><p>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. </p><p>B - Good. This is a solid power. Most powers should fall into this grade.</p><p>C - Okay. This power is certainly adequate but pales somewhat in comparison to other powers.</p><p>D - Poor. This power is certainly usable (and may even excel in certain rare situations), but is definitely lacking compared to other options. </p><p>F - Compares extremely poorly to other powers and should likely be improved or ignored.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>Basic Grading Guidelines:</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>Penalties to attack can prevent bad status effects, like daze and stun, as well as damage, so that's probably next.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>Slow and some similar effects are... after that. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?p=4358538#post4358538" target="_blank">Encounter 1 Power Analysis</a></p><p><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?p=4358642#post4358642" target="_blank">Encounter 3 Power Analysis</a></p><p><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?p=4370175#post4370175" target="_blank">Encounter 7 Power Analysis</a></p><p><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4398228-post78.html" target="_blank">Encounter 13 Power Analysis</a></p><p></p><p>*CLERIC*</p><p>[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-</p><p>C / Cause Fear</p><p>A- / Divine Glow</p><p>B / Healing Strike</p><p>B / Wrathful Thunder</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 3 =-</p><p>A / Blazing Beacon (assumes ranged allies)</p><p>A- / Command</p><p>C+ / Daunting Light</p><p>B- / Split the Sky</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 7 =-</p><p>C / Awe Strike</p><p>C / Break the Spirit</p><p>B+ / Searing Light</p><p>A- / Strengthen the Faithful</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 13 = -</p><p>C / Arc of the Righteous</p><p>B- / Inspiring Strike</p><p>A / Mantle of Glory</p><p>A / Plague of Doom[/sblock]</p><p>*FIGHTER*</p><p>[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-</p><p>C+ / Covering Attack</p><p>C / Passing Attack</p><p>C- / Spinning Sweep</p><p>C+ / Steel Serpent Strike</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 3 =-</p><p>B / Armor-Piercing Thrust</p><p>C / Crushing Blow</p><p>D- / Dance of Steel</p><p>C / Precise Strike</p><p>A / Rain of Blows</p><p>B+ / Sweeping Blow</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 7 =-</p><p>A- / Come and Get It</p><p>B- / Griffon's Wrath</p><p>C- / Iron Bulwark</p><p>D+ / Reckless Strike</p><p>C- / Sudden Surge</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 13 = -</p><p>A+ / Anvil of Doom</p><p>A / Chains of Sorrow</p><p>C+ / Giant's Wake</p><p>B- / Silverstep</p><p>B- / Storm of Blows</p><p>C+ / Talon of the Roc[/sblock]</p><p>*PALADIN*[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-</p><p>B- / Fearsome Smite</p><p>B+ / Piercing Smite</p><p>B / Radiant Smite</p><p>C / Shielding Smite</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 3 =-</p><p>C+ / Arcing Smite</p><p>B / Invigorating Smite</p><p>A- / Righteous Smite</p><p>B- / Staggering Smite</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 7 =-</p><p>C+ / Beckon Foe</p><p>C+ / Benign Transposition</p><p>B+ / Divine Reverence</p><p>C / Thunder Smite</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 13 = -</p><p>C+ / Entangling Smite</p><p>B- / Radiant Charge</p><p>C+ / Renewing Smite</p><p>B / Whirlwind Smite[/sblock]</p><p>*RANGER*[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-</p><p>B+ / Dire Wolverine Strike</p><p>B+ / Evasive Strike</p><p>B+ / Fox's Cunning</p><p>A- / Two-Fanged Strike</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 3 =-</p><p>B+ / Cut and Run</p><p>A / Disruptive Strike</p><p>F / Shadow Wasp Strike</p><p>A- / Thundertusk Boar Strike</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 7 =-</p><p>B+ / Claws of the Griffon</p><p>B- / Hawk's Talon</p><p>B- / Spikes of the Manticore</p><p>A- / Sweeping Whirlwind</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 13 = -</p><p>A / Armor Splinter</p><p>C+ / Knockdown Shot</p><p>B- / Nimble Defense</p><p>B- / Pinning Strike[/sblock]</p><p>*ROGUE*[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-</p><p>B / Dazing Strike</p><p>B / King's Castle</p><p>A- / Positioning Strike</p><p>B- / Tortuous Strike</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 3 =-</p><p>B+ / Bait and Switch</p><p>C+ / Setup Strike</p><p>B- / Topple Over</p><p>C- / Trickster's Blade</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 7 =-</p><p>B- / Cloud of Steel</p><p>A / Imperiling Strike</p><p>C+ / Rogue's Luck</p><p>B+ / Sand in the Eyes</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 13 = -</p><p>B- / Fool's Opportunity</p><p>A+ / Stunning Strike</p><p>B / Tornado Strike</p><p>C+ / Unbalancing Attack[/sblock]</p><p>*WARLOCK*[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-</p><p>A- / Diabolic Grasp</p><p>B / Dreadful Word</p><p>C+ / Vampiric Embrace</p><p>A- / Witchfire</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 3 =-</p><p>B / Eldritch Rain</p><p>B / Fiery Bolt</p><p>A+ / Frigid Darkness</p><p>A- / Otherwind Stride</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 7 =-</p><p>B- / Howl of Doom</p><p>B- / Infernal Moon Curse</p><p>A- / Mire the Mind</p><p>B- / Sign of Ill Omen</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 13 = -</p><p>D- / Bewitching Whispers</p><p>C+ / Coldfire Vortex</p><p>B- / Harrowstorm</p><p>C / Soul Flaying[/sblock]</p><p>*WARLORD*[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-</p><p>C+ / Guarding Attack</p><p>A- / Hammer and Anvil</p><p>B- / Leaf on the Wind</p><p>A / Warlord's Favor</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 3 =-</p><p>B- / Hold the Line</p><p>C+ / Inspiring War Cry</p><p>B- / Steel Monsoon</p><p>A / Warlord's Strike</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 7 =-</p><p>B+ / Lion's Roar</p><p>A- / Sunder Armor</p><p>B+ / Surprise Attack</p><p>B- / Surround Foe</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 13 = -</p><p>B / Beat Them Into the Ground</p><p>B- / Bolstering Blow</p><p>C+ / Denying Smite</p><p>C+ / Fury of the Sirocco[/sblock]</p><p>*WIZARD*[sblock]-= Encounter 1 =-</p><p>C+ / Burning Hands</p><p>B+ / Chill Strike</p><p>B+ / Force Orb</p><p>A- / Icy Terrain</p><p>C- / Ray of Enfeeblement</p><p>A- / Grasping Shadows</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 3 =-</p><p>A- / Color Spray</p><p>B+ / Fire Shroud</p><p>B+ / Icy Rays</p><p>B / Shock Sphere</p><p>B- / Maze of Mirrors</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 7 =-</p><p>B / Fire Burst</p><p>B / Lightning Bolt</p><p>B- / Spectral Ram</p><p>A- / Winter's Wrath</p><p></p><p>-= Encounter 13 = -</p><p>B / Frostburn</p><p>B / Mesmeric Hold</p><p>A- / Prismatic Burst</p><p>B- / Thunderlance[/sblock]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="keterys, post: 4350292, member: 43019"] 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 [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=235028"]daily[/URL] or [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=233943"]at-will discussion[/URL] 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. [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?p=4358538#post4358538"]Encounter 1 Power Analysis[/URL] [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?p=4358642#post4358642"]Encounter 3 Power Analysis[/URL] [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?p=4370175#post4370175"]Encounter 7 Power Analysis[/URL] [url="http://www.enworld.org/forum/4398228-post78.html"]Encounter 13 Power Analysis[/url] *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] [/QUOTE]
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