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<blockquote data-quote="TheSleepyKing" data-source="post: 5949997" data-attributes="member: 63491">I think people understand perfectly well the rationale for encounter powers. They just don't agree with it.What if, for example, new enemies join the fight during a single encounter? They didn't see the &quot;trick&quot; in action, so can the player use it again? No, not for any in-world reason, but just because the rules say so. (Edit: ninja'd on this point by mlund above)And then there are encounter powers (in 4e) where an enemy learning of the trick should have no impact on the viability of using it again. Say you have an encounter power that lets you shoot two arrows instead of one: how would the enemy seeing that prevent you from doing it again?Ultimately, encounter powers boil down to a gamist concept that's designed to encourage variety and cinematic combat. For some players that's great, for others it grates.For my part, I'd be happy with encounter powers if the specifics of the power made sense. But I honestly can't think of many that would, beyond those that use a physical expendable resource that can be recovered at the end of a battle. I much prefer at-will abilities that can be triggered by a condition or position. Rather than say &quot;you can trip once per encounter&quot;, I'd rather the rule say &quot;you can attempt to trip an opponent who is flanked or flat footed&quot;. That also gives you teamwork benefits; a rogue might feint to make the enemy flat footed, then your fighter might make the trip attempt.I could, however, get with the idea of per-encounter surges like the fighter's (daily) heroic surge in the playtest. It represents an extra heroic effort, rather than some specific maneuver that can only be pulled off once every five minutes.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="TheSleepyKing, post: 5949997, member: 63491"] I think people understand perfectly well the rationale for encounter powers. They just don't agree with it. What if, for example, new enemies join the fight during a single encounter? They didn't see the "trick" in action, so can the player use it again? No, not for any in-world reason, but just because the rules say so. (Edit: ninja'd on this point by mlund above) And then there are encounter powers (in 4e) where an enemy learning of the trick should have no impact on the viability of using it again. Say you have an encounter power that lets you shoot two arrows instead of one: how would the enemy seeing that prevent you from doing it again? Ultimately, encounter powers boil down to a gamist concept that's designed to encourage variety and cinematic combat. For some players that's great, for others it grates. For my part, I'd be happy with encounter powers if the specifics of the power made sense. But I honestly can't think of many that would, beyond those that use a physical expendable resource that can be recovered at the end of a battle. I much prefer at-will abilities that can be triggered by a condition or position. Rather than say "you can trip once per encounter", I'd rather the rule say "you can attempt to trip an opponent who is flanked or flat footed". That also gives you teamwork benefits; a rogue might feint to make the enemy flat footed, then your fighter might make the trip attempt. I could, however, get with the idea of per-encounter surges like the fighter's (daily) heroic surge in the playtest. It represents an extra heroic effort, rather than some specific maneuver that can only be pulled off once every five minutes. [/QUOTE]

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