Is "Shield" too powerful?

[Felon]

It used to be said that "If an ability is too good to be without, it's probably too good."

Well, there's a difference between an ability being "too good to do without" and simply being "the best of four available options". Most folks aren't going to pick jumping or falling utilities over a defensive one. If expeditious retreat were an encounter power, it would be a tougher choice, but as-is shield just hedges out the others.

 

[Felon]

Clerics get shield of faith, fighters boundless endurance, warlocks beguiling tongue. Compared to those, shield is a solid benefit, but hardly earth shattering.

Beguiling tongue? Adding a +5 to one Cha skill check is your big impressive warlock utility?

 

[FadedC]

Beguiling tongue? Adding a +5 to one Cha skill check is your big impressive warlock utility?

I'm a bit mystified by boundless endurance as well. But at least we can all agree about shield of faith.

 

[Stalker0]

Beguiling tongue? Adding a +5 to one Cha skill check is your big impressive warlock utility?

Maybe I play in more social games then you do, but I consider a +5 to a social check in pretty much every social encounter I participate in (and in 4e a +5 is a BIG BIG bonus) to be a really good power. And heck its also great for skill challenges.

But hey if that doesn't float your boat, ethereal stride is also quite good.

 

[fissionessence]

From the replies I'm reading, it looks like Shield's real power comes from a lack of alternate utility powers that are equally useful. If there were a couple other just as useful level 2 utilities, we might see some more variety there.

~

 

[Nifft]

Sounds to me like you should tell the players enough so they have an idea whether Shield would be wasted if they use it.

Agreed. 4e is an "above the board" kind of game. Gotchas should be minimized.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Caliber]

My DM generally asks me for the appropriate defense score and then informs me whether I was hit or missed. He does roll in the open though, so if I see a particularly high number sitting on his d20, I know Shield probably won't save my bacon. Just throwing that out there.

 

[doctorhook]

So, it seems the jury is still out on what the problem is, exactly, and whether or not it even exists.

Hypothetically, what if the Wizard's level 2 Utility choices looked like this:

• Expeditious Retreat: (Daily, move action) Shift up to twice your speed.
• Feather Fall: (Encounter, free action, range 10) Use when a creature (EDIT: Including yourself) in range falls. That creature takes no damage and doesn't fall prone.
• Jump: (Encounter, move action, range 10) One creature (EDIT: Including yourself) makes an Athletics check to jump as a free action, with a +10 power bonus. Target can move as many squares as the check allows and is considered to have a running start.
• Phantasmal Terrain: (Daily, standard action, area burst 2 within 10) Against your enemies, until the end of the encounter, difficult terrain in the zone costs an extra additional point of movement, and traps and hazards within the zone gain a bonus to attack rolls equal to your Intelligence modifier.
• Shield: (Daily, immediate interrupt) Use when you are hit by an attack. You gain a +4 power bonus to AC and Reflex until the end of your next turn.

Which powers would you choose if these were the choices?

EDIT: Some other options to consider:

• What if Feather Fall was an At-Will?
• What if Shield gave +3 AC and Reflex until the end of your next turn, as an encounter power?
• What if Shield gave +4 AC and Reflex until the end of the encounter, as a daily?

These are subtle, hypothetical changes, that I'm not currently suggesting anyone make. (Consider this to have been an experiment of sorts.) Expeditious Retreat is the same, Feather Fall is now an encounter power, Jump is the same as its newest errata, Phantasmal Terrain is the same as it appears in Dragon 364, and Shield is now a daily.

 

[Nifft]

Which powers would you choose if these were the choices?

Feather Fall & Shield, until I could take the multi-class feat to get something that sucked less. They're still the only two that fit well with my defensive character.

If Shield had a lower bonus but lasted for the whole encounter, it'd be a fine Daily.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Stalker0]

Which powers would you choose if these were the choices?

Phantasmal Terrain I wouldn't pick up early on, but I would definitely consider retraining to it later. The wizard doesn't have any area control spells at low level to make PT worth it (unless your DM just loves difficult terrain). But at higher levels once I have a few of those powers under my belt PT looks a lot better.

Even as a daily I would consider shield, though I would think about it a lot more. Ex. Retreat starts looking a lot better when shield is a daily.

For Feather Fall, I would have to play with a DM that just loves pits and tons of higher ground to consider it. Under these conditions, the power is worth it. So I guess Feather Fall is just weak under my type of game, but not in someone else. In that case its alright.

Jump: Skill bonuses are deceptive. A +10 to a skill is a godsend for a skill challenge, that's pretty much an autosuccess. If we assume shield is a daily, then I would consider picking this up. Its one of those if I had it, I would find ways to use it. My biggest problem with shield is the wizard can't use it in combination with his own movement. Normally I'm jumping as part of a move to get somewhere. You can't do that with the power as written. If I could that, I would seriously consider adding this one to my arsenal.