Rare Magical Item Preview - Holy Avenger

[fuzzlewump]

EDIT: Link http://wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20101015

Here’s a sample rare magic item, the holy avenger weapon.

Holy Avenger
Level 25+ Rare

The most prized weapon of any paladin.
Lvl 25 +5 625,000 gp Lvl 30 +6 3,125,000 gp
Weapon: Axe, hammer, heavy blade
Enhancement: Attack rolls and damage rolls
Critical: +1d6 radiant damage per point of enhancement bonus, and you can spend a healing surge
Property: Your radiant powers deal 1d10 extra radiant damage when used through the weapon.
Power (Daily): Minor Action. You and each ally within 10 squares of you gain a +5 power bonus to Fortitude, Reflex, and Will until the end of your next turn.
Special: A holy avenger can be used as a holy symbol. It adds its enhancement bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls and the extra damage granted by its property (if applicable) when used in this manner. You do not gain your weapon proficiency bonus to an attack roll when using a holy avenger as an implement.

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My thoughts: moderately disappointed.

The item is no doubt pretty good. +1d10 damage on radiant powers is pretty darn good; seems more like the ultimate weapon of clerics and warpriests and whatnot. Unless getting all radiant powers with various paladin builds is feasible now, in which case it's right up there. The crit effect seems very good, especially with crit fishers. This weapon would be great on an Avenger.

My problem with it is that it's boring. Almost nothing about the mechanics say "cool, character defining, plot advancing" item. The only things are the +1d10 damage which is unusual and the healing surge crit effect. But the damage is not really better than say, Footpad's Friend for rogues which is +cha damage on each attack with sneak attack damage. Unless that item is rare, which I doubt, I'm not seeing a huge power gap. The daily is actually really good for things that target NADs, but I'd prefer a smaller bonus and it being encounter.

Anyway, even if there is a pretty good amount of increased power with this (epic level-!!) item, it still lacks that extra oomph that I thought rare items would have. I was hoping for dailies AND an at-will or encounter power on the item, and/or an attached ritual, and a property.

On top of all that this is an epic item, so really should be the most impressive of the bunch right? And it's what they previewed, obviously what they want to show off. Is this the best they can do?

What are your thoughts?

 

[Kaiyanwang]

See.. I don't even like 4th edition so much but..

What's wrong with this item? It's very well on the lines of "bash evildoers protect innocent" of the Paladin.

Moreover, has a daily "cooldown" and a critical proc.. I don't find it so boring.

I mean, maybe I miss something because I didn't play 4th so much.. but does not seem to me boring to use.

The daily CAN change a plot in some way, too, if used timely.

 

[thewok]

It looks fine to me.

Reading the WotC forums, it seems most people are expecting Rare items to be artifact-quality. This Holy Avenger looks good to me. It's able to be used as a holy symbol, thus negating the need for two magic items. The boost to radiant damage for clerics and paladins is nice as well.

Honestly, I don't see what the hang-up about the rarity system is. Magic items have always been the purview of the DM. Frankly, I'm more surprised by the number of people that think players should be able to choose whatever items they want. Even with some magic items in the PHB, I never thought that to be the case.

 

[Peraion Graufalke]

On the one hand I think the holy avenger is fine, on the other hand it's no different from the one in the Player's Handbook except that it's now a rare item.

 

[FabioMilitoPagliara]

so instead of dispel magic you get a +5 to all defenses... for a daily it could have gone on a little more....

 

[renau1g]

The Daily's a bit weak as written, perhaps either as an interrupt so it could actually negate an attack, but then the paladin has to use his immediate action...maybe a free action instead?

 

[Lord Ernie]

The Daily's a bit weak as written, perhaps either as an interrupt so it could actually negate an attack, but then the paladin has to use his immediate action...maybe a free action instead?

A paladin has no use for immediate actions outside of powers, so an immediate would be perfectly fine.

And yeah, this is exactly the same as in the PHB. I would've thought some kind of upgrade would be nice - most of its specialness concerning serving as an implement and weapon is gone by now, and the features are not that spectacular, IMO. Compare to Bradaman's for Holy Avenger light 12 levels earlier, or a Crusader's weapon 16 levels earlier that also does radiant damage conversion.

Overall judgement: meh.

 

[Vicar In A Tutu]

When they announced the new magic item rarity rules, I was very glad. I've always thought that magic items are one of 4E's weak points. Most of the items are boring as hell. But this holy avenger is exactly the same as in the PHB. With the exception of the name (which makes me think of the holy avenger of previous editions), there is nothing iconic about this item. BORING

Still, there is hope yet. Maybe the other rare items are more exciting? And maybe there will be cool items in the upcomming Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium book?

 

[Morrus]

There's always Excalibur!

 

[Scribble]

From everything they've said about the new keyword in the books, previews podcats, posts, etc... I get the feeling the keyword is gained in a twofold method:

The item is slightly more powerful then others of the same level.

This allows them to not have to work so hard at making sure every item of a given leve is equal in power... This has a twofold effect:

1. Cuts down on the need for errata when an item goes out that's too powerful.

2. Helps make items not all "feel the same."


The item has a certain "mystique" about it...

Things like the Holy Avenger have a feel of needing to be something special. Something you can't just get, just because you have enough gold. Adding the rare keyword makes it seem like something that takes work to get, or luck.

Not everyone needed this, but there is a little psychological "kick" to it... The feeling that because it by RAW isn't something you can buy, it feels more special.


I also think they are trying to cut down on the amount of re-working they do of stuff that already exists, so they'll leave it alone for the most part- but I'm guessing we'll see more variation in future items.