Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
The Myth of the Bo9S's Popularity
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 3977832" data-attributes="member: 2011"><p>Here I have to disagree.</p><p></p><p>Weaker abilities are irrelevant in released material. They can be ignored. My players take some of them on occasion due to the interest factor, but they are not game breaking.</p><p></p><p>Stronger abilities are often game breaking. That's the key difference. And a lot of time, it is due to synergy of other abilities.</p><p></p><p>As an example, let's take something simple like Crystal Shard. 1D6 per Power Point of damage, ranged touch attack.</p><p></p><p>Sounds harmless enough. Until one combines it with four feats:</p><p></p><p>Point Blank Shot, Psionic Shot, Greater Psionic Shot, Psionic Meditation</p><p></p><p>This can occur at level 7 for a Wilder. Sure, it used up a lot of feats. But it is a combo that allows the Wilder to shoot 5D6 ranged touch attacks that have very few defenses nearly every round for a single PP. At 7th level. For 50+ rounds per day. If the Wilder faces a real powerful opponent, s/he can boost it to 14D6. 14D6 with few defenses will take out or seriously damage most opponents a 7th level Wilder will face.</p><p></p><p>Levitate up (which has a long enough duration to last several encounters) for 3 PP and then blast away until nothing is left standing. At higher level, use Empower instead against tough foes and use this with low PP against weaker foes.</p><p></p><p>Compare that to the Warlock. 4D6 instead of 5D6. He can throw Invocations on his blasts, but then again, the Wilder has powers similar to Invocations. And, the Warlock cannot boost it to 14D6.</p><p></p><p>Sure, the Warlock can do it all day long. But, 3.5 DND is not a game of all day long. It's a game of (typically a maximum of) 3 to 5 encounters of maybe 3 to 8 rounds each. The Wilder has the same amount of longevity as the Warlock for all intents and purposes, but has the Big Gun that the Warlock would have difficulty matching.</p><p></p><p>To play in this sandbox, the Warlock could choose similar options. If he takes a Psionic race and these same four feats, he too can boost his Eldritch Blast. At 7th level, he does 8D6. Double his normal damage output and he can put Invocations on it still. The only difference (IIRC, I do not have my book in front of me), is that Spell Resistance applies for the Warlock and his range is better. For the Wilder, SR does not apply.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Btw, I am not saying that this is a game breaking combination. It is potent though and it is more powerful than most single target attacks. The main magical defense against it is with a miss chance (in the case of the Wilder).</p><p></p><p>I suspect that when Fighters can Fly with Martial Powers in 4E, overly powerful combos like this might start becoming possible. I hope not, but this combo slipped into Psionics.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="KarinsDad, post: 3977832, member: 2011"] Here I have to disagree. Weaker abilities are irrelevant in released material. They can be ignored. My players take some of them on occasion due to the interest factor, but they are not game breaking. Stronger abilities are often game breaking. That's the key difference. And a lot of time, it is due to synergy of other abilities. As an example, let's take something simple like Crystal Shard. 1D6 per Power Point of damage, ranged touch attack. Sounds harmless enough. Until one combines it with four feats: Point Blank Shot, Psionic Shot, Greater Psionic Shot, Psionic Meditation This can occur at level 7 for a Wilder. Sure, it used up a lot of feats. But it is a combo that allows the Wilder to shoot 5D6 ranged touch attacks that have very few defenses nearly every round for a single PP. At 7th level. For 50+ rounds per day. If the Wilder faces a real powerful opponent, s/he can boost it to 14D6. 14D6 with few defenses will take out or seriously damage most opponents a 7th level Wilder will face. Levitate up (which has a long enough duration to last several encounters) for 3 PP and then blast away until nothing is left standing. At higher level, use Empower instead against tough foes and use this with low PP against weaker foes. Compare that to the Warlock. 4D6 instead of 5D6. He can throw Invocations on his blasts, but then again, the Wilder has powers similar to Invocations. And, the Warlock cannot boost it to 14D6. Sure, the Warlock can do it all day long. But, 3.5 DND is not a game of all day long. It's a game of (typically a maximum of) 3 to 5 encounters of maybe 3 to 8 rounds each. The Wilder has the same amount of longevity as the Warlock for all intents and purposes, but has the Big Gun that the Warlock would have difficulty matching. To play in this sandbox, the Warlock could choose similar options. If he takes a Psionic race and these same four feats, he too can boost his Eldritch Blast. At 7th level, he does 8D6. Double his normal damage output and he can put Invocations on it still. The only difference (IIRC, I do not have my book in front of me), is that Spell Resistance applies for the Warlock and his range is better. For the Wilder, SR does not apply. Btw, I am not saying that this is a game breaking combination. It is potent though and it is more powerful than most single target attacks. The main magical defense against it is with a miss chance (in the case of the Wilder). I suspect that when Fighters can Fly with Martial Powers in 4E, overly powerful combos like this might start becoming possible. I hope not, but this combo slipped into Psionics. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
The Myth of the Bo9S's Popularity
Top