Walking wounded: Anyone else having problems with this power?

[Regicide]

It depends on group make up. I'm not sure how happy you'd all be if every boss fight devolved into hitting with the daily, then standing 15+ squares away and pelting it with longbows til it died

I don't know what could posses them to think giving a huge effect with no save and unlimited duration could be a good thing. The power would allow a rogue and a ranger to kill a lot of things many levels beyond what they should be able to if they can land this power.

And if the DM has to go over a module and redo everything just because of a single power... it's busted.

 

[DracoSuave]

If we're talking by the book 4e, this is wrong, unless there's some power in some supplement I don't know about.

First, only monsters have "Recharge" powers.

Second, for each monster which has used a "rechargeable" power, roll 1d6 at the start of their turn. If the result is =>their recharge number, the power becomes available again. They can choose to use it on that turn or not.

Say monster has a power with Recharge 5,6. He uses it. On this next turn, the DM rolls a 4. The monster can't use the power this turn. After that, the DM rolls a 6. The monster can use it now, if he chooses, or any time after that. If he uses it this turn and rolls a 5 next turn, he can use it again.

There's a reason why it's recharge instead of recharge 6.

And why would the DM have to redo everything? This is only a problem of you go all in with all eggs in one basket instead of spreading the challenge out amongst multiple foes. Sure, in the BBEG fight the BBEG will be stronger, but it's a mistake to have him fight -alone-. Hell, since when is it heroic for a group of 4 heroes to take on a single major adversary? Isn't it more impressive to take on a villainous team?


The power will only wreck your games if you think in videogame 'must be a singular endboss' terms.

 

[Nail]

And if the DM has to go over a module and redo everything just because of a single power... it's busted.

We are talking about the Rogue Attack 5: Walking Wounded, right?

I'm not sure what module you're thinking you need to redo, but I've not seen one yet that has the majority of it's encounters consisting of solos. Perhaps you could give some examples?

 

[RefinedBean]

My rogue used to have it. And then the DM ruled that shifting a square is different from moving a square, so all these enemies with abilities that shifted them meant the whole thing was useless.

Never did get that power to work as intended, but it certainly didn't seem to be overpowered. I liked it because it was definitely a very Controller-based power, and Rogues seem to have an unheralded secondary role as Controller in 4E.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

My rogue used to have it. And then the DM ruled that shifting a square is different from moving a square, so all these enemies with abilities that shifted them meant the whole thing was useless.

Don't see why. Not many monsters can shift more than half their speed in one action.

 

[CapnZapp]

I might be wrong, but arent we talking past each other here?

As I see it, the power is fine if you use it within the encounter design boundaries set up by the DMG.

But possibly very overpowered if not.

That is, if you place your adventures in cramped dungeons its probably fine.

But if the adventurers can cripple the monster, then continously retreat from or follow the monster around with plenty of free space (that is, dozens and dozens of available squares in all directions) then IH can clearly see how this power is turned to a one-shot win power.

In which case Id suggest you add a (save at -4 ends) clause or somesuch. The chance of escaping the power doesnt need to be very large, because the main intent is for this to work as a DMs fudge clause: giving the DM a way to explain how the monster shook off the effect when its clear how it otherwise would ruin the encounter, the drama and or the plot.

(Another such suggestion would be "any healing removes the effect" and then give the monster some one off healing power. The suggestion to have the monster teleport away, effectively letting it escape from the encounter, even if the fight re-commences immediately thereafter is also a good one).

 

[CapnZapp]

As a general after-thought:

Whenever designing a magic spell (regardless of system), always remember to include an exit.

Theres few things as frustrating when your BBEG is affected by a "status effect" (to use 4E parlance) that is destroying the moment (drama, plotline, image of the BBEG etc)with no possibility for you the DM to wriggle yourself out of the situation.

Lets take a generic Paralyze effect as an example:

Whatever its other effects, there should always be a clause saying something to the effects of "there is a small chance of the target breaking free of the paralysis each round". Whether by a save, an opposed Will check or just by having the effect have a variable (and hidden) duration isnt critical.

But the power to have the BBEG break free of the effect must be put squarely in the hands of the DM. (Lets not even discuss how this can be abused by bad DMs - a bad DM can always ruin the scenario, so we dont even attempt to address this case. A good DM will only use this exit clause when it would make the play experience better for the players, not to make the monsters win, or to nerf the spell)

In this regard, this rogue power seems to be lacking.

I know it can be less than an optimal solution, but if there are more cases like this, you the DM really need to state clearly you reserve the right to override any powers description for the betterment of the plot.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

I know it can be less than an optimal solution, but if there are more cases like this, you the DM really need to state clearly you reserve the right to override any powers description for the betterment of the plot.

I disagree with this statement. Either allow the power as written, HR the power across the board, or design encounters where the power won't kill the plot.
In my experience, nerfing an ability by providing BBEG's "plot armor" is disaster waiting to happen at the table.

And there should be times when this daily power absolutly rocks.... thats what daily powers are for.
The party Rogue got to use this power to great impact in the last two fights... the next two sessions won't really have a chance for this power to do much {teleporting Eleadrin, monks with 'kip-up' and 'prone fighting'... etc.}
The Mage and Bard on the other hand will probably be the stars of those battles!



.. I do agree that spells/powers generally should have escape clauses and i like the idea of being able to break the walking wounded status. Perhaps a SA to burn a healing surge and recover from it? But thats a topic for another forum

 

[RefinedBean]

Don't see why. Not many monsters can shift more than half their speed in one action.

Eh, the problem was more that the monsters ONLY shifted, anyway, so the power saw very limited use.

That's why retraining exists, thankfully.