D&D 4E Is it just me, or do damaging effects suck in 4E?

[EroGaki]

I've been looking at some of the powers in 4E, and they seem to suck. Take Meteor warm a level 29 attack power. On a hit, it does 8d6 + int mod damage. And its a daily power, so you can only do it once each day. I then looked at some of the monsters in the MM. Take the beholder: The Eye Tyrant has 900 hp!! Its level is 19.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but that frightens me and irks me at the same time. Am I missing something on the powers? Or are monsters that scary and PC's that lame?

 

[Mort_Q]

The damage output and Hit Point per level, follow a different scaling paradigm in 4e.

A single PC isn't supposed to be able to take out the big-bad by themselves anymore. Cooperation and teamwork within the party are where it's at.

Don't try to compare things directly to previous incarnations of D&D.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Well that Beholder is a Solo-Monster, so it should have lots of HP. Since the Solo-Monster is the one that the whole party throws their Daily-Powers at, so it will be ranking up lots of damage fast.

A Solo-encounter should take also around say, 10-12 turns anyways.

 

[chaotix42]

I don't think the wizard was built with pure damage in mind. My heart sank as well when I looked at Meteor Swarm, but what the wizard loses in offensive power he makes up in versatility, range, and status effects. There are other spells that hinder a single target much more than a Meteor Swarm will.

But, if you take Irresistible Flame for your wizard I'm sure Meteor Swarm will be useful. It hits a wide area, and when you ignore 20 points of fire resistance a lot of that damage will be getting through.

It would be cool if you could sustain it though.

 

[Incenjucar]

Wizards are about AOE and battlefield control anyways, not single-target damage.

They shine best when against a horde.

 

[Vaeron]

Yeah, but Meteor Swarm is meant to target up to 25 enemies, and its damage takes that into consideration. It doesn't have options to target a smaller AoE here. Unfortunate, yeah, but wizard's are controllers in 4e and not strikers. If you look at wizard high level spells, you see lots of burst, burst, blast, etc with various status effects. In 4e, that's the wizards function.

And a lot of these powers should be viewed in terms of feats, class abilities, or epic destinies that can be used in conjunction. A mild example - an Orb implement master can sustain an effect that ends on his turns another round, or cause his enemies to take a -(wisdom modifier) to their next saving throw.

And Arcane Mastery lets you regain a daily. That's two Meteor Swarms back to back.

 

[EroGaki]

Mort_Q- Maybe I'm confused about the encounter system of 4E. Fair enough. However, I'm not speaking just about wizards. All the damaging powers seem to suck. Whether they be fighters or wizards or warlocks or rogues.

How the devil are a group of PC's supposed o take out a beholder with 900 hp when their powers do crap damage like 8d6? I'm sorry, but who wants to spend 3 hours in game trying kill the stupid thing?

Please understand, I am not trying to bash 4E. I'm simply trying to understand an aspect of the game that frankly confuses me.

 

[Scrollreader]

And Arcane Mastery lets you regain a daily. That's two Meteor Swarms back to back.

Or, if you want damage ... Two Closing Spells. 16d10+2int. Burst 5. Kaboom.

 

[Incenjucar]

Haven't people already given examples of how to kill the biggest dragon in the game in just a few rounds?

 

[Rechan]

It's just you. Damage for all the monsters has been scaled back too.