Struggling with Swordmage //Questions about monster

[Phototoxin]

As a DM I'm struggling with a players swordmage. He has really high defences, if something doesn't attack him it's screwed, if something does attack he interupts and teleports it to hit something else - the question is for this power does he wait until after I've rolled to hit or before? As it seems to happen after I've rolled a good hit which I think is a bit metagamey.

Second - I have a fleshgolem which has a 'rampage' style attack - it moves (so provokes AoO) and makes multiple slam attacks against the PCs. It happens to be marked by said swordmage. Is each attack a seperate attack (and thus at -2 to hit + whatever else) or is it all 1 'super-attack' and that the individual slams are part of it and so as one attack they can all be effected by damage reducing powers?

Also any hints for challenging the PCs? At level 8 they breezed through a level 10 enounter including said level 12 elite brute flesh golem + 2 lvl9 gargolyes + a crappy lvl10 trap.

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

I've DM'ed for a couple of swordmage PCs and in my experience, although they are hard to hit they don't actually do much damage! What power is the swordmage using to teleport so it attacks another opponent?

Cheers


Rich

 

[Phototoxin]

Dimensional vortex, and from the wording I think it does use the attack roll. It's also 'when an enemy hits an ally' =(

 

[RangerWickett]

The key is whether it says it's an immediate reaction (in which case it happens after the triggering event) or an immediate interrupt (in which case it happens beforehand, interrupting and possibly preventing the triggering event).

Also, if it is an immediate action, he can only do it once between each of his turns, no matter how many times the enemy triggers it.

However, I'll say that a simple teleporting swordmage isn't that big a problem. He's more nimble than a fighter, has equivalent defenses, but is less able to keep enemies from attacking his allies. Now at high level there's dumb shenanigans that a swordmage can do, but that's true of anyone in 4e.

I say try, for one fight, having the enemy leader groan and tell all his allies to focus fire on the swordmage because the guy's obnoxious (in character). But most of the time, let him enjoy his schtick.

 

[Kingreaper]

I say try, for one fight, having the enemy leader groan and tell all his allies to focus fire on the swordmage because the guy's obnoxious (in character). But most of the time, let him enjoy his schtick.

I'd be tempted to do the opposite: A fight where they actively try to focus anyone other than him, forcing him to make the most of his abilities. Because sometimes you need to ignore the defender.

Second - I have a fleshgolem which has a 'rampage' style attack - it moves (so provokes AoO) and makes multiple slam attacks against the PCs. It happens to be marked by said swordmage. Is each attack a seperate attack (and thus at -2 to hit + whatever else) or is it all 1 'super-attack' and that the individual slams are part of it and so as one attack they can all be effected by damage reducing powers?

By the RAW they're separate attacks.
Personally, I always ruled it as multiple attacks BUT the mark penalty only applied if the creature didn't hit the defender the max times they could (ie. if they can only hit each creature once, hitting the defender once removes the mark penalty)

 

[the Jester]

Second - I have a fleshgolem which has a 'rampage' style attack - it moves (so provokes AoO) and makes multiple slam attacks against the PCs. It happens to be marked by said swordmage. Is each attack a seperate attack (and thus at -2 to hit + whatever else) or is it all 1 'super-attack' and that the individual slams are part of it and so as one attack they can all be effected by damage reducing powers?

The lack of definition of what "an attack" is means that this is up to you as the dm to adjudicate.

IMHO and IMC, a single power that includes multiple attack rolls is one attack. So if the golem's rampage includes the swordmage as a target, no -2. Likewise, a creature with a "Double Attack" power that lets it use its basic attack twice? I consider it to be an attack that includes the swordmage as a target, even if only one of the two basic attacks targets him, and do not apply the -2 to the other attack.

 

[ppaladin123]

Can only do one immediate action per round even if the player has multiple enemies marked. Swordmages are a lot of fun and are good defenders but they can't totally lock-down encounters!

 

[Ferghis]

As others have noted, he can only use one immediate action between turns, and Dimensional Vortex is an encounter power, so it can only be used once per encounter.

To answer your first question, closing the window to after you declare the attack but before you reveal the dice roll is troublesome on two levels. First, it's cumbersome in practice. Some triggered effects trigger off of attacks, others off of hits, others off of damage, and so on - and both PCs and monsters have these different triggers. Pausing to look around each time each of these steps is reached is annoying. Further, getting the player to waste his or her power is a non-fun gotcha, at least for me. I'd rather players use their powers effectively rather than trick them into wasting them. So I'm inclined to play normally and just let the swordmage enjoy the power.

Your second question also has no defined answer. "Attack" is not defined by WotC. Personally, I use a definition that triggers monster damage as often as possible, because fights tend to go a tad long in 4e.

Finally, you can make your fights more threatening by adding more enemies, hazards and terrain quirks. You've got the levels right, so don't increase that.

 

[RichGreen]

Hi,

Part of the fun of dimensional vortex and other powers that interrupt an attack like the paladin's knightly intercession is knowing when to use it. I'd let the swordmage decide after damage has been rolled - it is only an encounter power so I wouldn't worry too much.

Cheers


Rich

 

[Phototoxin]

It's just that for a lvl10 encounter it seemed not to be challenging at all..