War Pick; ?d8

[DogBackward]

Just a little detail I noticed in the critical hit article, under the preview stats for the War Pick. There's no listing for how many d8's the War Pick deals in damage, it's just "d8". Now it could be nothing, but still...

In my current game, I'm using a different model for proficiencies, using my generic weapon thingy. Instead of this huge list of weapons, I just use Light, One-Handed, Two-Handed, Projectile and Thrown, with each having their damage die, and damage type determining critial threat range and multiplier. Anyone can use any weapon; they use the stats, and decide what it looks like. The point, though, is that I have anyone with simple weapon proficiency dealing 1 die of damage with all weapons, and those with martial proficiency dealing 2 dice.

I'm thinking there may be something like that in 4e, where the damage die is set (d8), but the number of dice you roll for damage is determined by something else, such as class or proficiency level.

Anyway, it's probably nothing, but I figured I'd mention it. It could be cool if they do something like that...

 

[Emirikol]

War pick d8
Prof: 2 (for those of you who don't know...this is proficiency score required)

So a critical will do max damage and there can be "damage increasers" added to weapons. Interesting.

Theory:
d12 weapons
d10 weapons
d8 weapons
d6 weapons
d4 unarmed

No more bizarre types like d3

jh

 

[Jeph]

They keep saying they've fixed the math... maybe hit points and weapon damage now scale at similar rates, with damage die type being determined by weapon and number being determined by level? Strikes me as unlikely, but it would be odd if they made all the check bonuses and target numbers scale, but kept hit points outpacing damage output.

 

[TwinBahamut]

I think the most logical conclusion about the d8 is that all weapons will only do a single die of damage. Weapons that do 2d6 points of damage will not exist, so the 1 in 1d8 would be redundant. I imagine that this might be the case for a lot of the math and notation of the game.

I also think it makes sense if you think that the type of die is set by the weapon, but the number of dice is determined by how you use the weapon (normal attacks would be 1 roll, some powers might make you roll twice or more).

I am more curious about what a "versatile" weapon is, myself.

 

[cerberus2112]

ommitting the 1 is an old industry standard. d8 means roll one eight-sided die. The 1is implied.

 

[Bishmon]

I would love it if instead of getting iterative attacks as you level up, you'd get extra dice of damage. That would be fantastic.

 

[Mercule]

They keep saying they've fixed the math... maybe hit points and weapon damage now scale at similar rates, with damage die type being determined by weapon and number being determined by level? Strikes me as unlikely, but it would be odd if they made all the check bonuses and target numbers scale, but kept hit points outpacing damage output.

That would be interesting. My gut reaction is "cool". My years of GMing say "be careful".

 

[Khaim]

Prof: 2 (for those of you who don't know...this is proficiency score required)

That's pure speculation as well. A number of things have been proposed for that stat, and we just don't know at this point.

 

[Khaim]

I would love it if instead of getting iterative attacks as you level up, you'd get extra dice of damage. That would be fantastic.

I think SAGA did something like that, so it's a distinct possibility. Note that the powers we've seen so far (i.e. the paladin smites) all start with "2x[W]", so you'll probably get a multiplier from some if not most of your powers.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

That would be interesting. My gut reaction is "cool". My years of GMing say "be careful".

Every comment I've seen says they are carefully creating enemies so that they can easily predict how long they'll last in a fight against PCs. I think this means that damage is likely scaling per level somehow, in a predictable fashion for almost all classes.