Please Critique my 10 House Rules

[Garthanos]

If the descriptions have no effect on game play, then how can they "get in the way" of page 42 effects?

It isnt a rational thing but it seems real.
People satisfied by having 2 vividly visualized effects and are so less inclined to try for more.

Where giving one description locks down some peoples imagination showing multiple can, I feel, free it up. As an inspiration aid, my idea is to write several alternate descriptors on the back of the at-wills power cards with blank lines at the bottom for adding more...

Earlier this post I mentioned using scorching burst, described as a wall of fire rising from the ground at your enemies feet, player improvised doing it slower/more obviously and more avoidable to get the bad guy to move even though he didn't have a spell with induced movement...
but these wont always work .. the enemy may a just take the damage being too brave or dumb to respond or get tricky and jump over the blaze or just move a direction more useful to it than you want in spite of where you attempt to herd them.

One of the alternate descriptions I give for cleave has oil splashing from a held lantern by my enemy on to his ally for the damage against the second enemy. The GM can incorporate and reward vivid appropriateness of player description in this case they might give ongoing damage deciding the second guys cloak catches fire. And the fighter doesn't have an ongoing
damage power... the oil might get in there eyes and obscure there vision a little or the cloak might be wet from the day before or the adjacent enemy is looking a different direction, ie it wont always work.. and unlikely the DM always has the bad guys carrying oil lamps or wearing flammable cloaks etc. ;-)

 

[Garthanos]

Why all the angst? I don't get many opportunities to game face-to-face, so when one comes up I take it. Unless the DM is an obviously unwashed obnoxious lout. If I spend an afternoon realizing the game sucks, well, I've wasted afternoons in worse ways. (I'm looking at you, Australia.)

Heh, he intentionally re-broke something that 4e fixed.

The DM implementing the above house rules(sans the arcane attack feat) is going out of his way and depriving the wizard of battle magic in the process, one of the features added to 4th edition was wizards who were able to be wizards all the time, not blow there wad once then be bored the rest of the game day (which was some times the rest of the game session)

I love wizards and hated playing one in D&D for most of the previous editions.

 

[Sadrik]

Much better, my Swordmage can do some interesting things with that.
slice from a distance, or cutting the air or throwing the blade in a spinning swirl and comes back to you.

Sure I think it makes more to make a slice through the air and a wave of magical energy strikes your enemy.

I think your feat needs to enable chosing a damage type when you take it. We can look at metamagic feats which are similar to weapon proficiencies ;-).

No I don't think so, eldritch blast does not have a damage type, so this won't too. If there is a feat to alter the damage type of your spells then this would definitely be applicable though.

I guess forcing players to come up with imaginative applications or be neutered back to only basic attack effects is an option. (I still prefer teaching them how to use the at-wills in a versatile imaginative way)

This also speeds combats so that mini bonus effects are not constantly being applied by everyone at the table.

OK, now other differences aside, are you sure your numbers won't crunch in to really overly fast battles. The very fast resolution might make things feel very swingy... ie the dice become boom very few die rolls make things unpleasant, somewhat longer battles have a buffer effect on this.

This is a concern actually,
Speed factors include:
Monster 1/2 HP
Monsters and PCs add 1/2 level to damage
More encounter powers
Recover dailies with APs

Lose at-will attacks but basic attacks use highest stat so you don't really lose out there.

 

[Sadrik]

Unfettered Stride lets you completely ignore difficult terrain. That circumvents a whole lot of battlefield control the DM has at his disposal.

The weapon mastery feats double your chance of scoring a crit.

Flanking Maneuver lets you move through enemies' spaces.

From PHB2: Epic Fort / Ref / Will gives you +4 to the relevant defense.


Sure, they aren't whiz-bang powerful gamebreaking feats, but these feats really alter the way the battlefield is shaped. Furthermore, many of them make older feats obsolete. Why would anyone take weapon focus at level one (+1 damage) over axe mastery (crit on 19-20)?

Excellent, they sure are not whiz-bang powerful. I am not sure that it is so automatic as to which will be taken first crit or constant damage bonus. At low levels a crit only does max damage, as you go up you do max damage plus some bonus d6s, and as you get more feats you can add on some of the feats that give a bonus when you crit. It seems totally fine to me because of the natural scaling.

 

[Garthanos]

Sure I think it makes more to make a slice through the air and a wave of magical energy strikes your enemy.

Well remember teleporting and dimension slicing and similar things is a big bit of the Swordmages schtick so... a lot of descriptions are not only fair game, but fit real well. The player visualizing it as aiming the weapon and having a swoosh boom sound and the blade zipping to the opponent then vanishing back to there hand is very much fair game as is slicing through the air and having a ghost of the blade appear at the target.

In fact I think "Distant Slice" just went on my list of Swordmage at-will powers, thank you... never know where inspiration comes from. I think the range will only be 10... and I might otherwise adjust but cool.

 

[Garthanos]

No I don't think so, eldritch blast does not have a damage type, so this won't too. If there is a feat to alter the damage type of your spells then this would definitely be applicable though.

I think you might be quite right (actuallly typeless damage or force can be envisioned to different things easier)

Also Note
Wizard has magic missile This power counts as a ranged basic attack. and
Warlock has eldritch blast This power can be used as a basic attack.

The classes which have one of these normally might be ones who get the Arcane Strike feat free so the swordmage who doesnt has to take the feat (and get a nifty ranged attack which fits his style )