Lead the Attack Nerf future implications

[FireLance]

[Shameless Plug]

I've got a daily power similar to lead the attack in Lumin: Heroes of Light and Life. It works as follows:

Guiding Beacons
Lumin Attack 1

You blast your enemies with motes of radiant energy which linger to guide your attacks and which brighten when you divert residual healing energy to them.

Daily * Implement, Radiant
Standard Action
Close burst 1 or Area burst 1 within 5 squares
Target: Each enemy in burst
Attack: Wisdom or Charisma vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d6 + Wisdom or Charisma modifier radiant damage.

Miss: Half damage.

Effect: You and your allies gain a +1 power bonus to attack rolls against the target until the end of the encounter.

Until the end of the encounter, each time you spend a healing surge, the bonus to attack rolls increases by 1, to a maximum of +4.​

One of the themes for lumin characters is that they gain benefits when they spend a healing surge. Lumin daily powers build on this theme by granting the character an additional or increasing effect whenever he spends a healing surge. In this manner, the effectiveness of lumin daily powers increases with the number of healing surges the lumin character spends in a fight. Given that characters are likely to spend more healing surges during tougher fights in which they lose more hit points, this mechanic allows a lumin character to recover dramatically and turn the tide after he has been hard-pressed.

For more information on lumin characters, see the following excerpts from my blog: Excerpts: What is a Lumin? / Racial Feats / Class Feats and Martial Healing / Encounter Powers and Dazzled / Daily Powers and Tide Turning / Paragon Path and Implements / Epic Destiny

[/Shameless Plug]

 

[ppaladin123]

Dishearten and Disheartening Strike (level one, highly spammable at-wills from the Psion and Ardent) are definitely going to get hit with the nerf bat once the errata people notice that they also have powerful effects that scale along with modifiers.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

A good nerf.

It was too swingy for a DM to plan encounters with sucha power in the head. Every solo monster had to be either very hard to hit or dead. With the implication that it was the warlords single action because after beeing aided to get his one attack in, he will do nothing for the rest of the encounter, because he is the only one lacking a +7 bonus to attack rolls...

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Dishearten and Disheartening Strike (level one, highly spammable at-wills from the Psion and Ardent) are definitely going to get hit with the nerf bat once the errata people notice that they also have powerful effects that scale along with modifiers.

Maybe... the penalty of demoralizing strike with augment 1 can last for qite a while...

 

[Lord Ernie]

A well-deserved nerf, and I'm playing a tactical warlord right now. Giving the team a +5 (at first) to hit for the entire encounter is crazy; what's worse is that missing with it is terrible. It's basically a prolonged version of the good old save-or-die.

With the implication that it was the warlords single action because after beeing aided to get his one attack in, he will do nothing for the rest of the encounter, because he is the only one lacking a +7 bonus to attack rolls...

Actually, Lead the Attack has always said:

Until the end of the encounter, you and each ally within 5 squares of you gain a power bonus to attack rolls against the target equal to 1 + your Intelligence modifier.

So yes, the Warlord shares in the bonus, for once. It is an easy mistake to make, though; 95% of their power say 'allies' instead of 'you and allies'.

 

[blargney the second]

Hmm... that errata kind of sucks. Lead the Attack is now basically the same as Warlord's Favor, the main difference being the miss rider.

 

[Kingreaper]

Hmm... that errata kind of sucks. Lead the Attack is now basically the same as Warlord's Favor, the main difference being the miss rider.

One ally vs. you and all your allies seems like a significant difference to me.

 

[Gort]

Perhaps powers like Lead the Attack and Platinum Scales should have been/be errataed to a +3 bonus until the end of the encounter. You still get the "ease of dailies lasting all encounter", but you don't get a "you will automatically hit this guy forever" thing.

 

[Mengu]

Duration of 1 round does almost nothing to lesson the impact of the power. That 1 round is typically all you needed anyway. You probably land enough damage and conditions to the solo/elite in that one round with action points and encounter powers that the creature's next round is likely to be wobbling around doing nothing. You've already won.

I would have preferred if the power had remained encounter long, and the bonus was reduced to a straight +3.

So, I guess I'm in agreement with the OP. Stat modifier bonus to attack is too much. I don't care much for defense bonuses, but I guess the argument remains the same there.

I actually really wish stat modifiers were in general used less for powers, and more for requirements. But that's a whole other topic.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

Perhaps powers like Lead the Attack and Platinum Scales should have been/be errataed to a +3 bonus until the end of the encounter. You still get the "ease of dailies lasting all encounter", but you don't get a "you will automatically hit this guy forever" thing.

That's what I would have preferred. Going from end of encounter to end of next turn is a far bigger nerf than just capping the bonus. As far as I'm concerned, it's not worth taking any more, unless playing in a party that is very good with tactics, and knows how to do a nova turn with AP and high damage encounter powers.