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

[MindWanderer]

You just roll once to hit, once for damage, done. The rough part is recording the damage 121 times.

Nope--you roll one attack roll per creature, but one damage roll total. So a grand total of 122 rolls.

 

[chaotix42]

And every crit does max damage instead! >: )

Of course, 121 targets is unlikely.

 

[Incenjucar]

Nope--you roll one attack roll per creature, but one damage roll total. So a grand total of 122 rolls.

Really? Hrmn.

 

[Flazzy]

And every crit does max damage instead! >: )

Of course, 121 targets is unlikely.

Actually every crit does max damage +6dX from your implement, so you'd be rolling dice till Sunday.

 

[ShockMeSane]

Assuming we are fighting the Beholder at level 19, in a hypothetical world with very good rolls...

Strands of Fate for 1d8+10 damage, 11-18 damage.

Action point, Tendrils of Thuban for 4d10+24 (+6 con, +2 burning blizzard, +4 implement, 12 vuln) +2d6(Curse) for 30-76 damage.

Next turn, sustain minor for Tendrils, 1d10+24+2d6 for 27-46 damage, and just for fun lets say Wrath of Acamar crits with our standard action for 62 +4d6 for 66-86.

Every other hit by your allies did +12 damage during those two turns as well, thanks to strands of fate, but just looking at the warlock damage we're gonna see about 134-228 in that scenario in two rounds. Is the Warlock probably gonna miss one of those attacks? Well, probably. He does need a 12 to hit with Strands of Fate, and around a 10 for the rest. Still, with 4 other people in the group I don't think these things are going to drag on nearly as long as some people might think.

And hey, there's another thread about how I should have used a Ranger for that example to make it more convincing, as he would no doubt have done more damage without immobilizing and granting vuln 12 all to the Beholder.

 

[chaotix42]

No no, imagine a world where the warlock does that AND the ranger does his thing too. And then imagine three other characters.

 

[MarkB]

Still a far cry from a 3 hour combat.

People are still thinking in 3e terms. A 3.xe combat lasting 12 rounds could easily extend past 3 hours.

Incidentally, for those who have some game experience under their belts, has the new system actually delivered on its promise of faster combats? How long would you estimate those 12 rounds taking, real-time, in a typical dining-room-table game?

 

[Surgoshan]

I believe the rule of thumb is that rounds tend to move twice as quickly, but that they're balanced by their being twice as many rounds. So combat overall takes as much time as it used to, but you get more done and have more fun.

 

[Plane Sailing]

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.

Want to see something really whacky?

Apparently the clerics level 29 daily is the same sized burst but does more damage of more different types and can be sustained! So why does the 'leader' get a better area damage and area denial spell than the 'controller' eh?

 

[Saitou]

Want to see something really whacky?

Apparently the clerics level 29 daily is the same sized burst but does more damage of more different types and can be sustained! So why does the 'leader' get a better area damage and area denial spell than the 'controller' eh?

Honestly, I think they statted the Wizard up taking into consideration the Archmage Epic Destiny, which lets you renew powers like crazy, and ultimately use a Daily spell as an Encounter spell.


Now imagine that same 8d6+INT every encounter..... yeah.