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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5336425" data-attributes="member: 82106">My main point is this Instant Friends power is simply a rote way of problem solving. You don't have to figure out how to ally with someone etc, instead all you have to do is pop off some power. The fact that it has a save is irrelevant, saving throws don't 'balance' anything. They may make it so unreliable you don't actually want to bother with it, but it doesn't solve any of the issues. Basically I want to know how it makes the game a BETTER game to have this kind of junk in there. I contend it doesn't. Ultimately it is one of those things that is a matter of opinion.I think that the ritual subsystem has a LOT to recommend it, especially in these kinds of cases. The DM can decide the availability of rituals for instance. There is no really legitimate way to restrict players selection of powers. In 4e the assumption is any published power is automatically available to all characters who are qualified to use it. There is no real restriction on how much powers can be used either. Rituals can at least be expensive and/or have fairly strict requirements. Putting tons of restrictions on a power simply doesn't work well as it just makes the power too conditional to be worth bothering to select at all. In other words I think the power version of this particular capability is a poor choice. It made much more sense as a ritual. People complaining that rituals have awkward restrictions on their use are barking up the wrong tree. Of course they do. They are supposed to. The challenge is to work around that. Aside from some very nominal purchase price the character is out nothing by acquiring a ritual, it is not a restricted resource they have to give up something else to get. There is no real opportunity cost, thus significant restrictions aren't a penalty to the character like they are for a power, just an obstacle to be overcome by creative players.The more of this kind of questionable design decisions I see in Essentials material the less I'm inclined to play with it or buy it. I have no interest in going back to the swiss army knife 1e wizard that has a solution to every problem available at the snap of his fingers. It sucked IMHO.</blockquote>

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