D&D 4E Hunter question and 4EE class impressions

[Korgoth]

Question about the Hunter (Ranger) from Heroes of the F2: Do his shooty abilities like "Clever Shot" work when he throws a heavy thrown weapon like a handaxe? I would assume that a hunter might carry a handaxe as a sidearm. But I'm thrown by the fact that, as described, the shooty abilities sound like they are bow/c-bow powers and the HT weapon attribute says it's a STR thing rather than a DEX thing "unless otherwise noted".

.....

Generally, I like Heroes of F1 and F2. I took some spare time recently to just go through and make 1 character of each class... not using every race or option, just to make 10 characters that I wouldn't mind playing. I thought that 7 out of 10 classes were actively exciting, and 9 out of 10 I would consider playing.

Hunter, Slayer, Druid, Thief, Wizard, Scout and Knight all seem really awesome and I would dig playing them (in roughly that order of interest, give or take whims and moods). I was able easily, with some but not much 4E knowledge, to build characters I thought would be entertaining and effective.

Cavalier and Warpriest seem like slouches to me... the latter seems effective but not terribly fun (unless you just like that sort of thing); the former seems OK but a little bit "all over the place". Not as brutally effective as some of the other classes can be.

Hexblade just seems dull and a bit MAD-ish to me. I was annoyed that an Eladrin doesn't seem to make a particularly effective Feypacter. But it's not the sort of class that would seem especially appealing to me in the first place, so I guess it's no surprise that I wouldn't care to play one.

Best thing about 4EE classes: stuff that does stuff outside of melee! Like the wilderness knacks of the primal classes. I mean... Beast Empathy!? That's totally awesome! It's not "speak with animal"... it's more interesting than that, actually. Or the Wizard's Suggestion power... "These are not the warforged you are looking for." Oh yeah. Dig it.

 

[Obryn]

Question about the Hunter (Ranger) from Heroes of the F2: Do his shooty abilities like "Clever Shot" work when he throws a heavy thrown weapon like a handaxe? I would assume that a hunter might carry a handaxe as a sidearm. But I'm thrown by the fact that, as described, the shooty abilities sound like they are bow/c-bow powers and the HT weapon attribute says it's a STR thing rather than a DEX thing "unless otherwise noted".

Good question!

And the answers are... Yes, they work with heavy thrown weapons. But, they use Strength and not Dexterity if you use them like that.

Unlike a lot of 4e At-Will powers, particularly pre-Essentials, Clever shot &c. say "you make a ranged basic attack with a weapon." So, you follow the same rules as all other Ranged Basic attacks, but you use the add-ons from the Hunter's abilities, too.

Generally, I like Heroes of F1 and F2. I took some spare time recently to just go through and make 1 character of each class... not using every race or option, just to make 10 characters that I wouldn't mind playing. I thought that 7 out of 10 classes were actively exciting, and 9 out of 10 I would consider playing.

I just wanted to note real quick that I agree. They're very slick and very playable-looking. I have three Essentials characters in my Dark Sun game, and they all work pretty brilliantly, so far.

We just added a Sentinel Druid this past week. The guy's previous character was a gnoll battlemind, but he had his mind eaten by a t'chowb. Now, his mindless, savage gnoll is his new characters beast companion, using the wolf rules. So far, he's been effective, and I can't wait until he busts out some of those day-long Utility powers he's got.

Hexblade just seems dull and a bit MAD-ish to me. I was annoyed that an Eladrin doesn't seem to make a particularly effective Feypacter. But it's not the sort of class that would seem especially appealing to me in the first place, so I guess it's no surprise that I wouldn't care to play one.

I think the Hexblade did a lot, actually, to patch up the original warlock's super-MAD tendencies. I think they actually only need two attributes - Charisma and one other - and from there just need to spread some love around for defenses and hit points like everyone else. If you have DDI at all, the Star Pact hexblade went up last week, and a variant of the Fey Pact (with insanely good flavor text, imo) went up today.

Best thing about 4EE classes: stuff that does stuff outside of melee! Like the wilderness knacks of the primal classes. I mean... Beast Empathy!? That's totally awesome! It's not "speak with animal"... it's more interesting than that, actually. Or the Wizard's Suggestion power... "These are not the warforged you are looking for." Oh yeah. Dig it.

Agreed here, too. I love the wilderness knacks, especially.

-O