Would It Break The Game If...: All Daily Attack Powers Were Reliable?

[airwalkrr]

I've been thinking with the 4e system designed the way it is, monsters often get to recharge their best powers, which prevents them from using them every round, but still lets them use them multiple times per encounter. For really deadly encounters, everyone breaks out the daily powers. But sometimes luck just isn't on your side and several daily powers go whiff in quick succession and suddenly a very difficult encounter becomes almost overpowering. This is less of an issue at higher levels where you have more daily powers, but there are still very few daily attack powers available to most characters at any given time. So would it break the game to add the reliable keyword to all daily powers? That way, at least if you miss, you have a chance to use it again next turn, or with an action point.

 

[Incenjucar]

Most daily powers that are not reliable have an effect on a miss, so yes it would break things terribly.

Imagine if MISSING became the better option because then you can spam On Miss effects.

 

[wayne62682]

I think it would be a welcome change. The times I remember using a big killer power only to roll a 1 and waste it were very very frustrating, definitely not heroic, and certainly not fun.

As Incenjucar said some powers that have miss effects couldn't be reliable, but everything that is all-or-nothing should have it IMO

 

[Aulirophile]

Unless you changed every single daily power that isn't currently reliable, yes. It'd break it good.

 

[BobTheNob]

You have to read the daily powers very carefully, eventually you to understand that what they do on miss contributes to how good they are on hit.

For instance, powers may be senstionally effective, yet do nothing on miss. Well, that the balance of them, a real gamble : Either they brutally change the flow of the encounter, or they do nothing.

Others are mildly effective, yet reliable. They dont impact TOO heavily, but at least they WILL have an effect.

Others again have diminished effects and half damage on miss. Meaning even if they hit, they give something.

What Im trying to say is that whether powers are relaible is PART OF THERE DESIGN. I cant imagine successfully balancing a "across the board, all dailies are relaiable" into the game.

Though I could imagine houseruling on a case by case basis.

 

[drothgery]

How many daily powers are none of

• reliable
• have a miss line
• have an effect line
• are not an attack, and so can't miss (summons, conjurations, some leader buffs and heals)

?

I mean, there are clearly some, but I think most of them already have one way or another of compensating for a miss.

 

[the Jester]

You need an "other" on the poll.

Most daily powers would be broken if they were reliable unless they didn't do anything on a miss.

 

[Dice4Hire]

If you are up to houseruling a few hundred dialy powers, go ahead and make them all reliable.

But it is a lot of work.

The martial ones that have a miss line and no effect lines are easy, but some classes, like barbarian, you would have to have the rage only happen on a hit, or if they go into the rage, the power is expended.

It could be done, but I tend to avoid changes that make a lot of work and questions for me.

 

[storm_wolf]

I have been using a houserule that states that if you use a daily power and miss with it, you can either have the miss effect or you regain the power after a short rest. For powers with no miss effect the decision is easy, for those with one, the player gets to make the decision. That way while they can't immediately reuse the daily power, they don't "lose/waste" it either.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Yeah, it'd be problematic. Any power with a strong miss or effect line, if made reliable, could be abused by a PC tuned to /miss/ with that power all the time.

Take the Mage (Enchanter) power 'Charm of Mislplaced Wrath.' On a /miss/ it causes the target to attack one of it's own allies. It's INT vs Will. A character using it 'unarmed' with an INT of 13 (just enough to McWizard), would miss pretty dependably... PCs might start 'closing thier eyes' to get the -5 attack penalty. It'd be silly.

Now, making more dailies reliable would be fine, either new dailies, or taking old dailies, stripping away their miss and effect lines, and making them reliable.