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Sick of Channel Divinity
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<blockquote data-quote="MrMyth" data-source="post: 5031493" data-attributes="member: 61155"><p>I think your feelings on it are a little strong, but I can see where you are coming from. </p><p> </p><p>Here is the thing - the original idea behind it was fantastic. Rather than have Turn Undead as its own feature, it would be part of a set of options, so that if you weren't fighting undead, you would have something useful to do with that feature. Adding more options to that list via feats was not a bad plan. </p><p> </p><p>The problem was that too many generically useful default options came along. Why pick up a new option if you knew you could make good use of Divine Strength every fight? Healer's Mercy is the really horrendous mistake WotC made, given how powerful it is, as a replacement for the situational Turn Undead. The entire point was that you shouldn't need to swap out Turn Undead, since that was the very reason Channel Divinity was designed the way it was! </p><p> </p><p>I don't think it is as hopeless a situation as you feel - many builds will make good use of more options, and many channel divinity options add new capabilities that are interesting without being overpowered. The problem is definitely that in order to compete over the default options, the CD feats need to be really strong - and if any get too strong (Righteous Wrath of Tempus), they suddenly force optimizers to worship that god to get access. </p><p> </p><p>I think the original idea was a great one, but the implementation poor. I still like seeing new ones since they can help make a specific deity distinct, but they really have a very tricky line to walk for balance with this area, even more so than most other elements in 4E. Make it weaker than the default options, and it is never worth taking. Make it too strong, and it suddenly is overriding roleplaying choices by steering optimizers towards one deity. That's not a good situation any way you look at it. </p><p> </p><p>All that said, the approach they took in this article - a slightly more powerful CD feat only available at Paragon - is not a bad one. And I very much like the design of it - it is strongest in certain situations (when dealing with immobilized/restrained/etc), but also has a generic boost that can always be handy (speed bonus). If more Channel Divinity options were designed like that - generic bonus that can always be used, plus a more significant effect for specific conditions - I think the system would be a lot less problematic than it is now.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MrMyth, post: 5031493, member: 61155"] I think your feelings on it are a little strong, but I can see where you are coming from. Here is the thing - the original idea behind it was fantastic. Rather than have Turn Undead as its own feature, it would be part of a set of options, so that if you weren't fighting undead, you would have something useful to do with that feature. Adding more options to that list via feats was not a bad plan. The problem was that too many generically useful default options came along. Why pick up a new option if you knew you could make good use of Divine Strength every fight? Healer's Mercy is the really horrendous mistake WotC made, given how powerful it is, as a replacement for the situational Turn Undead. The entire point was that you shouldn't need to swap out Turn Undead, since that was the very reason Channel Divinity was designed the way it was! I don't think it is as hopeless a situation as you feel - many builds will make good use of more options, and many channel divinity options add new capabilities that are interesting without being overpowered. The problem is definitely that in order to compete over the default options, the CD feats need to be really strong - and if any get too strong (Righteous Wrath of Tempus), they suddenly force optimizers to worship that god to get access. I think the original idea was a great one, but the implementation poor. I still like seeing new ones since they can help make a specific deity distinct, but they really have a very tricky line to walk for balance with this area, even more so than most other elements in 4E. Make it weaker than the default options, and it is never worth taking. Make it too strong, and it suddenly is overriding roleplaying choices by steering optimizers towards one deity. That's not a good situation any way you look at it. All that said, the approach they took in this article - a slightly more powerful CD feat only available at Paragon - is not a bad one. And I very much like the design of it - it is strongest in certain situations (when dealing with immobilized/restrained/etc), but also has a generic boost that can always be handy (speed bonus). If more Channel Divinity options were designed like that - generic bonus that can always be used, plus a more significant effect for specific conditions - I think the system would be a lot less problematic than it is now. [/QUOTE]
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