So a 2nd level Dragonborn Warden walks down the street... and does 613 damage?

[Herschel]

This is not only good for minion clearing this is great combo that does quite a bit of damage, show me another combo that you can do at level 2 that could possibly effect 25 mobs at once and has a chance to produce anywhere near this much damage.

LoL, because most games revolve around facing a minion phalanx or 12. The exercise is nigh useless from any practicality standpoint. The "potential" damage has about as much chance to hit as any one person winning the lottery. Every minion you actually hit has but 1 HP, regardless of any dice roll. Any actual group of baddies will not all be hit.

 

[Infiniti2000]

<off-topic>
I have a player in my group who always rolls damage, even on minions. I try to interrupt his roll with "Don't bother, it's a freakin' minion!" but no, he still rolls every time.

On the plus side, at least we've adopted the one-damage-roll rule. So, against 25 minions, he would only roll damage once and then make all the attack rolls.
</off-topic>

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Try the: if you roll, it could possibly not die trick...

he will stop rolling damage then...

 

[amerigoV]

<off-topic>
On the plus side, at least we've adopted the one-damage-roll rule. So, against 25 minions, he would only roll damage once and then make all the attack rolls.
</off-topic>

I'll admit to being a 4e N00b, but I thought that was the rule for an attack that hits multiple targets (like prior editions Fireball - one damage roll, everybody rolls a save - in 4e, one damage, roll to hit for each target in the area).

 

[the Jester]

I'll admit to being a 4e N00b, but I thought that was the rule for an attack that hits multiple targets (like prior editions Fireball - one damage roll, everybody rolls a save - in 4e, one damage, roll to hit for each target in the area).

That is how it works for close and area attacks. In a case where you "Make a melee attack against each enemy within 2 squares" or some such, you roll damage separately for each one.

In practical terms, I use a "roll damage once" paradigm in these cases if there are enough targets for the multiple rolls to annoy me or slow the game significantly.

 

[Nefarii]

Well, at 1st level with Enlarged Breath and burning hands, an Int 18 Con 18 dragonborn wizard could blast a 5x5 square with dragon breath, dealing 1d6+4 damage to each enemy he hits, and the same 5x5 square with burning hands, dealing 2d6+4 damage to each enemy that he hits. If he hits with both attacks, he deals 3d6+8 damage to each enemy, or an average of 92.5 points of damage to five enemies per encounter. At 2nd level, if he takes the Astral Fire feat and has a fire breath weapon, this increases to 3d6+10 damage per enemy, or 102.5 points of damage to five enemies per encounter.

Of course, he isn't likely to hit with all of his attacks, so the actual amount of damage he deals in any given round is quite likely to be much lower than that.

thats wonderful you can do that once an encounter, I can do this every single round, the dragon breath is cool but what I like about this is its pretty much ongoing damage with no save, so every round every creature has 5 ongoing damage no save (6 with raging storm). I could even use a power like resilience of life and then everyone gets 5 ongoing damage per round and I heal my self +4 every round. So after I use my daily and switch to form of mountains thunder.... so excluding the first round of dragons breath I am doing 1d8+5 + 4 to another creature + 5 damage to every creature plus 1d8+5 if any creature hits someone else .... and thats not using Gale strike or the encounter power for thunderous mountain form ... I think thats pretty cool for a level 2, so in a situation with 5 mobs, as a defender I can mark all 5 and force them all to attack me, freeing up the entire rest of the party, I can heal myself while damaging all of them 5-6 (except for one unlucky guy who gets 1d8+10) points at a time, which on average is like hitting them with a 1d10 or 1d12 weapon every round with no saves, and my entire party can attack them and or flank them freely.

 

[FireLance]

thats wonderful you can do that once an encounter, I can do this every single round, the dragon breath is cool but what I like about this is its pretty much ongoing damage with no save, so every round every creature has 5 ongoing damage no save (6 with raging storm). I could even use a power like resilience of life and then everyone gets 5 ongoing damage per round and I heal my self +4 every round. So after I use my daily and switch to form of mountains thunder.... so excluding the first round of dragons breath I am doing 1d8+5 + 4 to another creature + 5 damage to every creature plus 1d8+5 if any creature hits someone else .... and thats not using Gale strike or the encounter power for thunderous mountain form ... I think thats pretty cool for a level 2, so in a situation with 5 mobs, as a defender I can mark all 5 and force them all to attack me, freeing up the entire rest of the party, I can heal myself while damaging all of them 5-6 (except for one unlucky guy who gets 1d8+10) points at a time, which on average is like hitting them with a 1d10 or 1d12 weapon every round with no saves, and my entire party can attack them and or flank them freely.

Just be aware that Primal Breath may get changed in errata since it doesn't indicate when the mark ends, unlike the similar feat for a dragonborn paladin in Divine Power (Draconic Challenge) which lasts until the end of the paladin's next turn. If errata does impose a time limit on the mark, that would limit the potential damage of combining Primal Breath and form of mountain thunder.

 

[Nefarii]

Just be aware that Primal Breath may get changed in errata since it doesn't indicate when the mark ends, unlike the similar feat for a dragonborn paladin in Divine Power (Draconic Challenge) which lasts until the end of the paladin's next turn. If errata does impose a time limit on the mark, that would limit the potential damage of combining Primal Breath and form of mountain thunder.

I am fully expecting an errata change, I dont want to call this combo broken but I cant imagine them intending 5 ongoing damage to potentially 25 mobs every round until the encounter ends. Thanks again though for your clarification notes. By the way, is there a page number or a more clarified text for it marking minions on miss? my dm is insisting that if you miss a minion that nothing happens; no effects, no damage.

 

[FireLance]

I am fully expecting an errata change, I dont want to call this combo broken but I cant imagine them intending 5 ongoing damage to potentially 25 mobs every round until the encounter ends. Thanks again though for your clarification notes. By the way, is there a page number or a more clarified text for it marking minions on miss? my dm is insisting that if you miss a minion that nothing happens; no effects, no damage.

Your DM is probably basing his decision off the rule that a missed attack never damages a minion. That doesn't make a minion immune to the other effects of a missed attack, though, or effects which occur whether the attack is a hit or a miss.

To be fair, many people do feel that minions are too fragile, especially when it comes to automatic damage abilities.

 

[Jhaelen]

The exercise is nigh useless from any practicality standpoint.

Agreed. Still, stuff like this is the favorite pastime of your typical CO board visitor.

It's good for a chuckle from time to time.