Chris_Nightwing
First Post
New packet, new rules! We have:
The attack modifiers are currently scaled *almost* right - +1 to +5 if you're "good" at fighting, +1 to +3 if you're ok and nothing at all if you're not. So at worst, a wizard with a dagger is going to have a -5 penalty relative to a fighter, without thinking about their abilities - that's the sort of scale I'm ok with, since it's the difference between being average and amazing in ability modifier terms, and the difference I would like to see for skills. My only fear is that these things add up for a potential difference of 10 - though, thinking about it, that's only half the dice, and in an opposed contest you'd have a 13.75% chance of beating your better.
What I would like to see is a way to improve your progress - not for those who are already good, but for the Wizard that wants to use a sword or Rogue that wants to fight Fighters. I'm not sure how to do that without making it a must-have though. Perhaps, if feats want to be important, you could upgrade from no bonus to the lower track for either weapons or magic (you can currently get useful proficiencies and cantrips from non-class features).Finally, on this component, I say give Fighters a broad-spectrum +1 right from 1st level - they should be better than everyone else.
Now, deadly strike has the right idea of steadily increasing your damage output, but it's fiddly - and it can be streamlined with multiattack options in a simple way that I suggested before the packet came out. I'm even going to combine it with the attack modifier. For every point of attack modifier you have, you get 1[W] damage on attacks you make with weapons you are proficient with. When you have at least 2[W] you can choose a multiattack option - now, I like the options available and I like that you can't multiattack in every way, so choices there are good, but see below for a tweak. For each [W] you have you can attack an additional target - it's as simple as that. You don't get an extra attack, but you can target an additional enemy. This could be really good if we have multi-part enemies, like dragons and hydras, so you can go for a wing, a leg and the head with three attacks to possibly achieve a better average damage, or just try to take one part of that enemy out for good with a single all-or-nothing attack. Again, if we give Fighters a +1 attack bonus right at the start, this could give them immediate access to a multiattack option - cool, right? Or overpowered, but then the bonus can be of a separate kind.
So on the final point, the access to maneuvers via feats, well, why not make this a fully functional part of this entire combined system? You get a combat feat, maneuver, whatever you want to call it, for each +1 you have as a weapon attack modifier - these should not be things you couldn't do before (like pushing and disarming), but things you do as well as deal damage. I would also put the multiattack options into this pile - so if you want you can have more than one, or none if you don't care for that. The key thing is that the system is unified, and has options.
TLDR:
Combine the +X attack modifier, +[W] extra damage, multiattack and maneuvers together in the same progression, with plenty of options.
- Attack modifier, that applies to weapons you are proficient in
- Deadly strike, that increases your damage once per turn
- Multiattack options to deal with mobs
- Feats that give access to what were maneuvers
The attack modifiers are currently scaled *almost* right - +1 to +5 if you're "good" at fighting, +1 to +3 if you're ok and nothing at all if you're not. So at worst, a wizard with a dagger is going to have a -5 penalty relative to a fighter, without thinking about their abilities - that's the sort of scale I'm ok with, since it's the difference between being average and amazing in ability modifier terms, and the difference I would like to see for skills. My only fear is that these things add up for a potential difference of 10 - though, thinking about it, that's only half the dice, and in an opposed contest you'd have a 13.75% chance of beating your better.
What I would like to see is a way to improve your progress - not for those who are already good, but for the Wizard that wants to use a sword or Rogue that wants to fight Fighters. I'm not sure how to do that without making it a must-have though. Perhaps, if feats want to be important, you could upgrade from no bonus to the lower track for either weapons or magic (you can currently get useful proficiencies and cantrips from non-class features).Finally, on this component, I say give Fighters a broad-spectrum +1 right from 1st level - they should be better than everyone else.
Now, deadly strike has the right idea of steadily increasing your damage output, but it's fiddly - and it can be streamlined with multiattack options in a simple way that I suggested before the packet came out. I'm even going to combine it with the attack modifier. For every point of attack modifier you have, you get 1[W] damage on attacks you make with weapons you are proficient with. When you have at least 2[W] you can choose a multiattack option - now, I like the options available and I like that you can't multiattack in every way, so choices there are good, but see below for a tweak. For each [W] you have you can attack an additional target - it's as simple as that. You don't get an extra attack, but you can target an additional enemy. This could be really good if we have multi-part enemies, like dragons and hydras, so you can go for a wing, a leg and the head with three attacks to possibly achieve a better average damage, or just try to take one part of that enemy out for good with a single all-or-nothing attack. Again, if we give Fighters a +1 attack bonus right at the start, this could give them immediate access to a multiattack option - cool, right? Or overpowered, but then the bonus can be of a separate kind.
So on the final point, the access to maneuvers via feats, well, why not make this a fully functional part of this entire combined system? You get a combat feat, maneuver, whatever you want to call it, for each +1 you have as a weapon attack modifier - these should not be things you couldn't do before (like pushing and disarming), but things you do as well as deal damage. I would also put the multiattack options into this pile - so if you want you can have more than one, or none if you don't care for that. The key thing is that the system is unified, and has options.
TLDR:
Combine the +X attack modifier, +[W] extra damage, multiattack and maneuvers together in the same progression, with plenty of options.
