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<blockquote data-quote="Brother MacLaren" data-source="post: 4018892" data-attributes="member: 15999">One thing that was clear to me was that power creep sells.&nbsp; 4E could hold the line on this, but I fear that they will repeat the 2.5, 3E, and 3.5 &quot;Splatbook Power Creep --&gt; System Collapse --&gt; Reboot&quot; cycle.&nbsp; Maybe I will be wrong.I thought Lords of Madness was the best-written, best-thought-out, and most-flavorful supplement for 3.5.&nbsp; It had its own slight power creep (the overpowered Darkstalker feat), but really just that one thing.Be careful about seeing only what you like about Complete Arcane as the reason for that book's success.&nbsp; The warlock was a neat innovation, but many other things were somewhat broken (Fatespinner, Arcane Mastery, Sudden Metamagic) or outright disasters.&nbsp; The orb spells (and a couple of other conjuration-as-damage spells) were a horrible innovation for two reasons:1) The choice of conjuration was an attempt to rules-lawyer around SR.&nbsp; &quot;Oh, it isn't MAGICAL sonic energy, it's NORMAL sonic energy conjured, held together, and propelled by magical force.&quot;&nbsp; Please. 2) It was a response to &quot;failure isn't fun.&quot;&nbsp; By design, SR is good enough to beat about half of a PC's spells if the PC has no Spell Penetration feats -- except in the case of a golem where it's a poorly-implemented &quot;magic immunity.&quot;&nbsp; Not every foe has SR, not even at high levels (e.g. classed humanoids or giants), and even when they do it's not a sure thing.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Brother MacLaren, post: 4018892, member: 15999"] One thing that was clear to me was that power creep sells. 4E could hold the line on this, but I fear that they will repeat the 2.5, 3E, and 3.5 "Splatbook Power Creep --> System Collapse --> Reboot" cycle. Maybe I will be wrong. I thought Lords of Madness was the best-written, best-thought-out, and most-flavorful supplement for 3.5. It had its own slight power creep (the overpowered Darkstalker feat), but really just that one thing. Be careful about seeing only what you like about Complete Arcane as the reason for that book's success. The warlock was a neat innovation, but many other things were somewhat broken (Fatespinner, Arcane Mastery, Sudden Metamagic) or outright disasters. The orb spells (and a couple of other conjuration-as-damage spells) were a horrible innovation for two reasons: 1) The choice of conjuration was an attempt to rules-lawyer around SR. "Oh, it isn't MAGICAL sonic energy, it's NORMAL sonic energy conjured, held together, and propelled by magical force." Please. 2) It was a response to "failure isn't fun." By design, SR is good enough to beat about half of a PC's spells if the PC has no Spell Penetration feats -- except in the case of a golem where it's a poorly-implemented "magic immunity." Not every foe has SR, not even at high levels (e.g. classed humanoids or giants), and even when they do it's not a sure thing. [/QUOTE]

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