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The Best Thing from 4E
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<blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 6583907" data-attributes="member: 27160"><p>Reasons you might choose to save Encounter powers until later in the fight:</p><p></p><p>1) First, you have to realise that most 4E monsters aren't going down in one hit. If they are, they are probably minions - in which case they're a waste of an encounter power anyway - "overkill", as you put it.</p><p></p><p>2) You can miss. With anything but a daily, this means your DPR for the round is nil, or nearly so. Waiting until you have at least combat advantage can be worthwhile, especially bearing in mind (1). While you wait, why not use At-Will capabilities to give one of your allies combat advantage? I have seen a Fighter with Tide of Iron (push and follow-up) and Footwork Lure (shift and slide the enemy into the square you left) At-Wills do this to great effect in many fights - his speciality is getting the opposition just where he wants them and then striking hard.</p><p></p><p>3) Quite often, encounter or other more powerful powers are even better used in concert with others and at an opportune moment. In the party I GM for, a favourite late heroic/paragon combo was for the Fighter to pull in many non-minion enemies with CaGi when they had grouped up enough to do so. Just as the monsters rubbed their hands at the pounding they were about to give, the Warlock switches places with the Fighter (Fey Switch) and then teleports out using Otherwind Stride - damaging all the monsters further still and immobilising them as she leaves. The perfect set-up for the Wizard's area burst...</p><p></p><p>4) Going further out on a limb, more "advanced" 4E GMs will often have reinforcement waves in an encounter (actually, it works better if you exapnd the "encounter" from the usual "one room" to a complete sector of the dungeon; as a rule, big maps work best, but the effect is much the same). Saving the odd "surprise" for these latecomers can be very worthwhile - especially if it's not really what's needed in the early fight.</p><p></p><p>5) Saving an Encounter power can give you the flexibility to rush the next encounter without a short rest, if that would seem likely to gain advantage. If the fleeing remnants of this fight could warn and join the next line of defence, rushing in early might pay back enough to make a short rest an expensive luxury.</p><p></p><p>Long story short, there are a lot of reasons to hold back on blowing your "big" powers all in the first round. And I'll note that all of the powers I listed in this post bar Footwork Lure (which is in Martial Power) are in the PHB. And the highest level among them is 7.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Balesir, post: 6583907, member: 27160"] Reasons you might choose to save Encounter powers until later in the fight: 1) First, you have to realise that most 4E monsters aren't going down in one hit. If they are, they are probably minions - in which case they're a waste of an encounter power anyway - "overkill", as you put it. 2) You can miss. With anything but a daily, this means your DPR for the round is nil, or nearly so. Waiting until you have at least combat advantage can be worthwhile, especially bearing in mind (1). While you wait, why not use At-Will capabilities to give one of your allies combat advantage? I have seen a Fighter with Tide of Iron (push and follow-up) and Footwork Lure (shift and slide the enemy into the square you left) At-Wills do this to great effect in many fights - his speciality is getting the opposition just where he wants them and then striking hard. 3) Quite often, encounter or other more powerful powers are even better used in concert with others and at an opportune moment. In the party I GM for, a favourite late heroic/paragon combo was for the Fighter to pull in many non-minion enemies with CaGi when they had grouped up enough to do so. Just as the monsters rubbed their hands at the pounding they were about to give, the Warlock switches places with the Fighter (Fey Switch) and then teleports out using Otherwind Stride - damaging all the monsters further still and immobilising them as she leaves. The perfect set-up for the Wizard's area burst... 4) Going further out on a limb, more "advanced" 4E GMs will often have reinforcement waves in an encounter (actually, it works better if you exapnd the "encounter" from the usual "one room" to a complete sector of the dungeon; as a rule, big maps work best, but the effect is much the same). Saving the odd "surprise" for these latecomers can be very worthwhile - especially if it's not really what's needed in the early fight. 5) Saving an Encounter power can give you the flexibility to rush the next encounter without a short rest, if that would seem likely to gain advantage. If the fleeing remnants of this fight could warn and join the next line of defence, rushing in early might pay back enough to make a short rest an expensive luxury. Long story short, there are a lot of reasons to hold back on blowing your "big" powers all in the first round. And I'll note that all of the powers I listed in this post bar Footwork Lure (which is in Martial Power) are in the PHB. And the highest level among them is 7. [/QUOTE]
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