Tiers Excerpt (merged)

[HeavenShallBurn]

Also notice they're using Jason Engle as an artist more. He'd done some Eberron stuff for them previously and some Dragon and Dungeon but I think I've noticed a few of his in Worlds and Monsters and possibly now in one or more of the main books if the dragon is an indication.

 

[The B#]

How so?

It seems to me that entering a new tier is essentially a reset of sorts. Maybe a better way of putting it is a new beginning.

You pick a path (and eventually a destiny) instead of a class, etc.

 

[Sojorn]

Oops

 

[Shroomy]

I do like they keep the at-will combat powers relevant by increasing the damage at 21st level.

 

[HeinorNY]

Feats seem very flexible now due to retraining rules.

But I think you can only retrain one feat per level up.

In the article it says: "For example, a 14th-level character can’t have more than seven paragon feats (those gained at 11th, 12th, and 14th level, as well as up to four retrained feats)."

So the the character can have 7 paragon feats at level 14th. Three of these paragon feats he gained normally at levels 11th, 12th and 14th. The other four he gained by retraining his older normal feats at 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th level.

 

[Shroomy]

It seems to me that entering a new tier is essentially a reset of sorts. Maybe a better way of putting it is a new beginning.

You pick a path (and eventually a destiny) instead of a class, etc.

I get that, but the progression seems to get shorter at the paragon tier (from every four levels to 3 levels, though to be fair, the counting starts from the last gain in the heroic tier).

 

[Dragonblade]

It seems to me that entering a new tier is essentially a reset of sorts. Maybe a better way of putting it is a new beginning.

You pick a path (and eventually a destiny) instead of a class, etc.

You still have your class. The paragon path and destiny stack on top of it.

 

[Nine Hands]

Holy carp! This is an excellent article.

I noticed this and smiled. No more spending 50 million gold on magic items.

7. Choose Equipment and Magic Items. Mundane equipment is much less important for higher level characters than it is when you’re starting out. Choose whatever standard adventuring gear you want from the tables in the Player’s Handbook. For magic items, choose one item of your level +1, one item of your level, and one item of your level –1. In addition, you have gold pieces equal to the value of one magic item of your level –1. You can spend this money on rituals, potions, or other magic items, or save it for later.

This makes creation much easier now, just as long as the system for making magic items is well balanced.

The remainder of the article is really neat. It was interesting to see that stat bumps were not every 4 levels, but started every 4 then moved to every 3, etc. This may not be the actual progression but its a good guess.

 

[Sojorn]

So characters gain Encounter Powers at levels 1, 3, 7, 11P, 13, 17, 23 and 27, to a maximum of 4 encounter powers.
Daily Powrs are gained at levels 1, 5, 9, 15, 19, 20P, 25 ad 29, to a maximum of 4 daily powers.
Utility powers are gained at levels 2, 6, 10, 12P, 16, 22 and 26E to a maximum of 5 utility powers.

So the maximum number of powers a character can have is 15.

Ok, no, wait, recounted again, and it looks like 17. You get 7 utility powers, not 5?

 

[Shroomy]

But I think you can only retrain one feat per level up.

In the article it says: "For example, a 14th-level character can’t have more than seven paragon feats (those gained at 11th, 12th, and 14th level, as well as up to four retrained feats)."

So the the character can have 7 paragon feats at level 14th. Three of these paragon feats he gained normally at levels 11th, 12th and 14th. The other four he gained by retraining his older normal feats at 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th level.

Hmmm, 7 feats at 14th level seems to imply that a feat is gained at 1st level, 3rd level, 5th level, etc. That's less feats than I thought you'd get.