Marking

[Major Moab]

Wow. This is sort of an addendum to the marking idea. In playing with a swordmage build I came across this little effect combo. It requires a certain imagination as I describe it.

An eladrin swordmage (assault type) is in close combat with a major baddie with three of his front line bodies adjacent. Because of the law of "surprisingly fast" Major baddie breaks away and runs like stink to maul our healer, between 40 to 50 feet away. Upon chewing the squishie healer, the swormage uses aegis of assault to teleport up to ten squares (50 ft) and make an attack.

But wait! The immediate reaction would trigger Arcane Transport! Thus, the swordmage and one ally within 10 feet goes! There's more....

Arcane transport is a burst.
That means the swordmage feat Twist the Arcane Fabric kicks the Fey Step ability into gear on SOMEONE else! Third close combatant teleports 25" closer to the enemy, a set up for an awesome charge!

And finally Fey Step triggers my final feat from dragon magazine, Fey Step Trailblazer. When Fey step triggers an adjacent ally teleports adjacent to me. Thus, with the use of one at will, one encounter, and one daily, four close combatants are now in a "no need to move" position to protect the cleric. With a little luck, they could all end up in flanking surrounding positions, so the enemy is trapped even.

Anyone see flaws in this logic? I realize it min/maxes quite a bit, but since the character I am creating is based on Excalibur's Nightcrawler, I think it is appropriate min maxing. All abilites are used as free actions or immediate reactions, so i don't think there is a problem with using them on the monsters turn.

 

[OnlineDM]

I see two flaws. First, if I were the DM at this table, I would not rule that expending your Fey Step power via Twist the Arcane Fabric would count as "using" it for the purposes of Fey Step Trailblazer. This is especially true because Fey Step Trailblazer says that you teleport the other creature "with you" which wouldn't be happening at all if you've expended the Fey Step via Twist the Arcane Fabric (your Fey Step isn't teleporting you anywhere in this case).

Second, back to the beginning of the chain, Arcane Transport only triggers when you teleport using a swordmage power; Aegis of Assault is a swordmage class feature, which I don't believe counts as a power.

 

[Major Moab]

The first flaw you point out I wondered about, as I am using Fey Step, but not using it on myself. I also figured that expending it was the same as using it. The words are nearly synonymous in this context. I expend a healing surge when I use one and so forth.

The second flaw I didn't even consider. No powers in a class are labelled as powers. They are labelled as Attack, Utility and Feature. I assumed all of them were powers.I think I would argue that a basic melee attack is a power, although it is a classless one.

Thank you for your input though, and I will try to modify it some. Would it be more effective with only three allies and armathor's Step? That would require all allies readying actions until the swordmage came up again, and releasing the ready upon teleporting into range. The new arrangement would be Armathor's step triggering Arcane Transport triggering Feystep via Twist the arcane fabric.
And, as a follow up question, how would you rule if the key trigger was Lightning Strider?

Again thank you Online DM. I am not trying to argue, I am tuning the idea.

 

[OnlineDM]

Again, that was just my own interpretation of the rules; I could be wrong. On the first point, though, I'm pretty sure I'm right. Even if "expending" your Fey Step via Twist the Arcane Fabric counted as "using" it, there's still the problem that Fey Step Trailblazer says that you teleport your ally "with you" but you are not going anywhere with your Fey Step, so you teleport your ally nowhere (or perhaps to another square adjacent to your starting position).

Arcane Transport would work just fine with Armathor's Step or other similar powers, if that's your question. So yes, you could use Armathor's Step as your move action, bring somebody else with you using Arcane Transport and use Twist the Arcane Fabric to teleport yet another ally 3 squares by expending your Fey Step (still no Fey Step Trailblazer from that at my table, though).

 

[DracoSuave]

power[/B]; Aegis of Assault is a swordmage class feature, which I don't believe counts as a power.

Aegis of Assault is totally a power.

The second flaw I didn't even consider. No powers in a class are labelled as powers. They are labelled as Attack, Utility and Feature. I assumed all of them were powers.I think I would argue that a basic melee attack is a power, although it is a classless one.

Melee Basic Attack is totally a power.

If it has the green/red/black band, and it's formatted as a power, that's because it is absolutely a power.

It'll all work except for Fey Step Trailblazer tho, as noted above.

Still, transporting three key players with one encounter power is pretty darn decent. That's not bad at all.

 

[the Jester]

Aegis of Assault is totally a power.

The question is whether it is a 'swordmage power' in the sense intended by arcane transport, or whether (as a class feature) it is distinct, as it does not appear under a class power heading and listing.

Also note that you cannot take a power swap feat to obtain it.

This is an interesting point of discussion.

Melee Basic Attack is totally a power.

Yes, but it is definitely not a "swordmage power". If a paragon path gives a bonus to swordmage powers, it doesn't apply to basic attacks.

It'll all work except for Fey Step Trailblazer tho, as noted above.

Still, transporting three key players with one encounter power is pretty darn decent. That's not bad at all.

Yeah, I'll agree that you aren't "using" fey step when you expend it, and also that this is still a darn good trick.

 

[DracoSuave]

The question is whether it is a 'swordmage power' in the sense intended by arcane transport, or whether (as a class feature) it is distinct, as it does not appear under a class power heading and listing.

The question is, what makes it a power? The fact that it is formated as a power. What makes it a swordmage power? It's the fact that the power is acquired through the swordmage class. The first word after the name of the power is 'swordmage', which defines it as a swordmage power.

Healing Lore works on Healing Word doesn't it? It doesn't matter that it isn't a level 1 power. It matters that it is a power gotten from the swordmage class.

Also note that you cannot take a power swap feat to obtain it.

Which doesn't change or affect the above points. It CAN be acquired through swordmage multiclass feats, however.

This is an interesting point of discussion.

Yes, but it is definitely not a "swordmage power". If a paragon path gives a bonus to swordmage powers, it doesn't apply to basic attacks.[/quote]

Correct!

Yeah, I'll agree that you aren't "using" fey step when you expend it, and also that this is still a darn good trick.

Definately.

 

[OnlineDM]

I'm an idiot on this one; I completely missed the part of the Swordmage description where it says, "You can use the Aegis of Assault power..." Yep, it's definitely a power.

 

[Major Moab]

So the essential gist I am getting with this trick is that I COULD transport three people into ideal positions as an immediate reaction, but I COULD NOT transport four people regardless of the time, yeah?

For clarification I was trying to argue that both Aegis of Assault and Basic melee are powers, but only one of them was a Swordmage power.

Also following this line of thought, a power that states I must use a healing surge allows me to heal, but one that allows me to expend a healing surge does not heal me?

 

[DracoSuave]

Also following this line of thought, a power that states I must use a healing surge allows me to heal, but one that allows me to expend a healing surge does not heal me?

No, a power that heals you heals, and a power that does not heal you does not.

For example, if you have an attack that spends a healing surge as part of its cost but does not heal you... it does not heal you. But if a power allows you to spend a healing surge just like that, will heal you.