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<blockquote data-quote="eriktheguy" data-source="post: 5102622" data-attributes="member: 83662">The specifics of healing and dieing in 4e make 'deathblows' less of an issue than they were in earlier editions. Nonetheless I can agree with the last two posters that there are some potential problems.Instant kill powers were (almost completely) removed in this edition, to the delight of some and the fury of others. Deathblow is one of these sorts of powers.It is not balanced, because it adds more random to a fight and ignores HP. Whether it is suited to your campaign is really a personal decision. I don't know that most defenders suffer 180 attacks per level (that sounds a little high to me), but I don't think that defenders going down once every two levels is that bad.If your players love the thrill of danger and the unknown, go for it. If they aren't the sort of group that likes being hit by this, you're going to find out and probably have to reverse this house-rule.For DMs that do not like the idea of a solo/recurring villain going down in 1 hit, here is an alternative: a deathblow against a solo deals 1/4 of their maximum HP in bonus damage.On the other hand, experience as a DM tells me that recurring villains will often die earlier than I planned, and that having them escape when the players beat them fair and square will only inspire hostility at the table. One DM I knew had a villain somehow teleport away when the players were about to kill him, and the players did not enjoy that session.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="eriktheguy, post: 5102622, member: 83662"] The specifics of healing and dieing in 4e make 'deathblows' less of an issue than they were in earlier editions. Nonetheless I can agree with the last two posters that there are some potential problems. Instant kill powers were (almost completely) removed in this edition, to the delight of some and the fury of others. Deathblow is one of these sorts of powers. It is not balanced, because it adds more random to a fight and ignores HP. Whether it is suited to your campaign is really a personal decision. I don't know that most defenders suffer 180 attacks per level (that sounds a little high to me), but I don't think that defenders going down once every two levels is that bad. If your players love the thrill of danger and the unknown, go for it. If they aren't the sort of group that likes being hit by this, you're going to find out and probably have to reverse this house-rule. For DMs that do not like the idea of a solo/recurring villain going down in 1 hit, here is an alternative: a deathblow against a solo deals 1/4 of their maximum HP in bonus damage. On the other hand, experience as a DM tells me that recurring villains will often die earlier than I planned, and that having them escape when the players beat them fair and square will only inspire hostility at the table. One DM I knew had a villain somehow teleport away when the players were about to kill him, and the players did not enjoy that session. [/QUOTE]

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