List of Broken Powers

[Mapache]

Nearly all first level At Will powers are the equivalent of a MBA or RBA plus some minor extra effect. Luring Strike is more or less identical to the Fighter's Footwork Lure.

Footwork Lure is pretty good. The problem with Luring Strike is that it's only [W], not [W]+Int. For a typical Swordmage (Longsword and 20 Int), that means it's doing less than half the damage of any other weapon-based at-will at level one, which is pathetic.

 

[Destil]

Seriously? It's a 3x3 non-movable zone. Just stay out of it, or move through it once and suck up the flat five damage if you have to. Flaming Sphere is way better because it's mobile and has a damage roll, even though it hits allies too.

The problem with this one is that the wizard can drop it onto a melee, and the monsters eat the initial damage, the start their turn damage, and some AoO damage. And then, maybe, get away (not if there's a fighter involved).

Not necessarily broken, but annoying as hell.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

The problem with this one is that the wizard can drop it onto a melee, and the monsters eat the initial damage, the start their turn damage, and some AoO damage. And then, maybe, get away (not if there's a fighter involved).

Not necessarily broken, but annoying as hell.

Which is exactly why I always had a dislike of party friendly zones. At least make them work at it a bit. When you can just sit in the middle of the zone and hold down the enemy, seems kind of cheap. When the PCs have to at least position themselves so they're outside of the zone themselves there are some real tactics involved. Maybe I'm just old fashioned...

 

[Kelvor Ravenstar]

In and of itself, its nice but not an encounter breaker. The one time I recall it coming close to that description was in an Encounters session when the zone was coupled with two knights using Hammer Hands to keep pushing people in to the zone, but that's more of a situational thing than a flaw in the power itself.

This almost exactly, or a wizard with beguiling strands. Players kept pushing into it, and the Encounters monsters aren't that tough in the latest season, at least until this chapter.

 

[KarinsDad]

Footwork Lure is pretty good. The problem with Luring Strike is that it's only [W], not [W]+Int. For a typical Swordmage (Longsword and 20 Int), that means it's doing less than half the damage of any other weapon-based at-will at level one, which is pathetic.

Got it. So, they replaced the +Int damage with an extra square shift that can be done before or after the attack.

This isn't necessarily pathetic with the proper teammates. For example, if the Swordmage can use the extra shift to set up flank for a Rogue.

But in a case where one only looks at the Swordmage and nothing else, yes it does seem weak trading Int damage for a shift.

 

[Cormacolinde]

Yeah, Cloak of Courage is too strong as it is. My main problem with it was that it allowed sort of pre-healing without spending surges. So what I did was adding the "Healing" keyword, but making it cost a surge:

Effect: Each target can choose to spend a healing surge. If he does, he gains temporary hit points equal to his or her healing surge value. Until the end of your next turn, each target gains a +4 power bonus to all defenses against fear effects.

This makes it give a bit more temp hp than before, but it costs a surge, which I think is quite fair.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Yeah, Cloak of Courage is too strong as it is. My main problem with it was that it allowed sort of pre-healing without spending surges. So what I did was adding the "Healing" keyword, but making it cost a surge:

Effect: Each target can choose to spend a healing surge. If he does, he gains temporary hit points equal to his or her healing surge value. Until the end of your next turn, each target gains a +4 power bonus to all defenses against fear effects.

This makes it give a bit more temp hp than before, but it costs a surge, which I think is quite fair.

Seems like a good solution. If it isn't surgeless then it really isn't an issue and just turns into a nice mass healing effect.

 

[Psikus]

The problem with this one is that the wizard can drop it onto a melee, and the monsters eat the initial damage, the start their turn damage, and some AoO damage.

There is no start of turn damage. Unlike many other wizard dailies, Fountain of Flame deals its damage at the end of turn, giving enemies a chance to avoid it. Granted, it can still be comboed with a fighter or cavalier to punish enemies even if they flee, but I'd say it's a significant drawback.

It's a really cool power, and I really like it, but I don't think it matches the power of stuff like Flaming Sphere and other similar powers, which have movable areas and deal automatic damage each turn while getting to add all the bonuses to the damage roll, too. Its main advantage is the fact that it's party-friendly, which is uncommon for wizard spells, but that isn't enough to compensate for the difference in raw power, in my opinion.

I don't think that Stirring Shout is broken, either - I've seen it in action several times, including a few solo encounters, and found that it was very useful but it didn't trivialize the fight like some of the cleric dailies that have been mentioned. And outside of solo fights, it became even less of a problem.

I'll add a few broken powers of my own:
- Come and Get It (Fighter, lv7). This one is broken out of sheer synergy with the features of its class. CaGI might be fair in the hands of a paladin, or just about any melee striker, but give it to a fighter and it defines an encounter like few other powers. It positions enemies exactly where you want with no attack roll, lets the fighter mark most of the opposing team at once, and combines absurdly well with allied area attacks.

- Dishearten (Psion, lv1) and Mind Thrust (Psion, lv1). These are not as problematic when fighting and encounter as when building a psion, but they are still pretty broken in my book. They interact poorly with the power point progression, becoming easily spammable at higher levels and making it hard to justify taking any other power (regardless of level) instead of them. So several dozens of higher level psion at-wills become obsoleted because of them. And dishing out absurd penalties to attack or defenses every turn for a whole encounter, at higher levels, is way too strong to my taste.

- Lightning Rush (Battlemind, lv 7). This one is extremely versatile and potent, and also becomes way too effective at higher tiers where its augment cost is trivialized.

- Brilliant Recovery (Battlemind, lv 27). An unusual psionic attack, in that it's broken while unaugmented. As a minor action attack that is not restricted to 1/turn, it allows for some silly damage numbers if you are able to trigger it, to the point that it might be worthwhile to try to miss on purpose. On the other hand, it combines so well with Brutal Barrage (Battlemind, lv 13) that this is rarely necessary.

 

[KarinsDad]

- Lightning Rush (Battlemind, lv 7). This one is extremely versatile and potent, and also becomes way too effective at higher tiers where its augment cost is trivialized.

Lightning Rush does have one drawback. It provokes Opportunity Attacks.

WotC should learn that to hit buffs and debuffs should almost always be +2 or -2 and almost never be +stat or -stat.

The advantages of +2 or -2 for to hit are that they are easy to remember, and the game rarely gets unbalanced that way.

Damage buffs and debuffs can be +stat or -stat, but they shouldn't typically be 5+stat (as per Astra Condemnation) or 10+stat.

A simple set of feat and power mega-rules on design day one limiting what could be done would have prevented a lot of the more egregious problems.

 

[Ferghis]

Come and Get It (Fighter, lv7). This one is broken out of sheer synergy with the features of its class. CaGI might be fair in the hands of a paladin, or just about any melee striker, but give it to a fighter and it defines an encounter like few other powers. It positions enemies exactly where you want with no attack roll, lets the fighter mark most of the opposing team at once, and combines absurdly well with allied area attacks.

Perhaps unfairly, I've come to see CaGi almost as a class feature. I completely agree that it is way beyond the acceptable power level at mid heroic, but what are the net effects? Your defender fulfills her or his tactical role. It doesn't heal or damage a ton. It doesn't inflict debilitating effects (all the targets can still attack the fighter). All it does is really just let the fighter do his or her job. This is nothing that even remotely breaks the game.

I can see raising an eyebrow if a fighter can somehow use CaGi for doing more than that. I wince at stun-locking combos. But something that merely achieves the class role (even if to great effect) is not remotely broken, in my opinion. For example nobody has included high damage striker powers in this thread. That's because doing lots of damage is a striker's job. I won't get into surgeless healing (or its temp HP cousin) because it takes away from the point (and I agree that it's overpowered). But I think that for something to be game breaking you have to do something that's really beyond the acceptable. And occupying a few enemies for a few rounds is well within the accePtable range of things a fighter should be able to do.