Dragonblade
Adventurer
So in the podcast they revealed that the different recharge mechanics used by the Crusader, Swordsage, and Warblade will be gone. But they didn't really say what they replaced it with, or perhaps they didn't replace it with anything.
I say this because while I agree with having a unified in-battle recharge mechanic, I also think that it is important that there is one, and it shouldn't require a feat to get.
In SW Saga, the fact that Jedi cannot refresh their powers at all in-battle unless they take a talent really bugs me. The talent is not even that powerful, you can spend a full round action doing nothing and refresh one power. Personally, I think a refresh mechanic that weak should just be the default for all Jedi.
It drives me nuts. "Sorry, my character can't use the force anymore in this fight." It feels completely artificial and ruins my suspension of disbelief. Its like Vancian casting all over again.
If any of the designers/developers are listening, please add a basic in-battle refresh mechanic if one does not exist currently. All characters should be able to at a minimum have a refresh mechanic that allows them to recover at least one per encounter power by taking a full round action. This should not cost a feat and should just be built in to all classes. If they want to make that better, or have feats that improve on it, thats even better. Although I wouldn't make the recovery any faster than taking a standard action.
And as a tangential topic, I also think that all per encounter powers should be available to you at all times. One thing I have noticed when playing Bo9S characters is that since you can only ready a few maneuvers, many of my maneuvers just take up dead weight on my character sheet. They are often maneuvers I think are kind of cool, but given the limited amount of maneuvers I can ready, I never choose them and never get to use them in battle. (Yes, I know about the Adaptive Style feat, read on.)
This is the same sort of thing that happens when you play a wizard. You want to memorize all the cool utility spells, but you end up choosing mostly combat spells. Your utility spells never end up getting used unless you take a couple days of downtime and you know your character won't be in combat.
I remember back in August, or September when the 4e designers started talking about 4e they said specifically this is one thing that they wanted to avoid. For example, a wizard should never have to sacrifice combat ability in order to cast cool utility spells. Therefore, I hope they treat per encounter powers the same way.
Or if not, then I hope that they at least ease the burden of swapping readied powers. Perhaps as a full round action you can ready one power in place of one you had previously readied. The Adaptive Style feat sort of does this for Bo9S characters but its almost too good since it allows you to re-select and re-ready all your maneuvers as full round action.
Granted I don't know anything about how 4e works and perhaps my concerns will be completely unnecessary once I see the rules.
But here is my suggestion for a default (no feat required, available to all classes) Per Encounter Power recharge mechanic: As a full round action you can re-ready one expended per encounter power, or you can exchange one readied power for another power that you know.
I like resource management as much as the next guy, but there is resource management that is fun (deciding whether I should spend a whole turn doing nothing in order to swap out powers or to regain an existing power), and resource management that is not fun (trying to anticipate what powers I'll need and knowing that if choose poorly my character will be totally handicapped for the entirety of any encounter we have).
Thoughts?
I say this because while I agree with having a unified in-battle recharge mechanic, I also think that it is important that there is one, and it shouldn't require a feat to get.
In SW Saga, the fact that Jedi cannot refresh their powers at all in-battle unless they take a talent really bugs me. The talent is not even that powerful, you can spend a full round action doing nothing and refresh one power. Personally, I think a refresh mechanic that weak should just be the default for all Jedi.
It drives me nuts. "Sorry, my character can't use the force anymore in this fight." It feels completely artificial and ruins my suspension of disbelief. Its like Vancian casting all over again.
If any of the designers/developers are listening, please add a basic in-battle refresh mechanic if one does not exist currently. All characters should be able to at a minimum have a refresh mechanic that allows them to recover at least one per encounter power by taking a full round action. This should not cost a feat and should just be built in to all classes. If they want to make that better, or have feats that improve on it, thats even better. Although I wouldn't make the recovery any faster than taking a standard action.
And as a tangential topic, I also think that all per encounter powers should be available to you at all times. One thing I have noticed when playing Bo9S characters is that since you can only ready a few maneuvers, many of my maneuvers just take up dead weight on my character sheet. They are often maneuvers I think are kind of cool, but given the limited amount of maneuvers I can ready, I never choose them and never get to use them in battle. (Yes, I know about the Adaptive Style feat, read on.)
This is the same sort of thing that happens when you play a wizard. You want to memorize all the cool utility spells, but you end up choosing mostly combat spells. Your utility spells never end up getting used unless you take a couple days of downtime and you know your character won't be in combat.
I remember back in August, or September when the 4e designers started talking about 4e they said specifically this is one thing that they wanted to avoid. For example, a wizard should never have to sacrifice combat ability in order to cast cool utility spells. Therefore, I hope they treat per encounter powers the same way.
Or if not, then I hope that they at least ease the burden of swapping readied powers. Perhaps as a full round action you can ready one power in place of one you had previously readied. The Adaptive Style feat sort of does this for Bo9S characters but its almost too good since it allows you to re-select and re-ready all your maneuvers as full round action.
Granted I don't know anything about how 4e works and perhaps my concerns will be completely unnecessary once I see the rules.
But here is my suggestion for a default (no feat required, available to all classes) Per Encounter Power recharge mechanic: As a full round action you can re-ready one expended per encounter power, or you can exchange one readied power for another power that you know.
I like resource management as much as the next guy, but there is resource management that is fun (deciding whether I should spend a whole turn doing nothing in order to swap out powers or to regain an existing power), and resource management that is not fun (trying to anticipate what powers I'll need and knowing that if choose poorly my character will be totally handicapped for the entirety of any encounter we have).
Thoughts?
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