Wraithstrike balance evaluation examples

[Nail]

By the way, my objection to Wraithstrike as a second level spell ...(snip)... is that it is too easy to abuse with syngery.

Exactly.

And really: That's one of the major points of this topic.

 

[Seeten]

What if we replace Wraithstrike with a Brilliant Energy weapon. Does that change things?

Can you power attack with a brilliant energy weapon?

 

[Stalker0]

Edit: wrong thread.

 

[Stalker0]

What if we replace Wraithstrike with a Brilliant Energy weapon. Does that change things?

Can you power attack with a brilliant energy weapon?

Brilliant energy doesn't bypass natural armor. At higher levels, most of the opponents you fight have a lot of natural AC, so brilliant energy doesn't do THAT much, though it is great against fighter npcs. Wraithstrike cuts through a dragon's hide like a hot knife through butter.

 

[Rystil Arden]

What if we replace Wraithstrike with a Brilliant Energy weapon. Does that change things?

Can you power attack with a brilliant energy weapon?

Yes, the Brilliant Energy weapon is approximately as bad as the character without Wraithstrike because BE won't get you through natural armour (plus the BE weapon can't attack the golem or the wraith, so its user is really screwed). That said, there are some opponents for which the Brilliant Energy weapon would be nearly-equivalent to Wraithstrike (mostly NPC Fighter sorts).

 

[Nail]

In our last game, our Warblade used his maneuver "Emerald Razor" several times against Earth Elementals. The maneuver is 2nd level (like a spell), is activated as a swift action, and allows 1 touch attack in one round.

It's a *great* 2nd level manuever. I shudder to think how over-powered it would be if he could get more than one attack out of it.

 

[wildstarsreach]

In our last game, our Warblade used his maneuver "Emerald Razor" several times against Earth Elementals. The maneuver is 2nd level (like a spell), is activated as a swift action, and allows 1 touch attack in one round.

It's a *great* 2nd level manuever. I shudder to think how over-powered it would be if he could get more than one attack out of it.

Again, another example showing that wraithstrike is not balance compared to other powers or abilities.

Quickened true strike 5th level?

 

[Nail]

For those requiring more specific level information: Our Warblade is 4th level. At 4th level, gaining even one touch attack per round is a big advantage.

 

[Rystil Arden]

For those requiring more specific level information: Our Warblade is 4th level. At 4th level, gaining even one touch attack per round is a big advantage.

'Struth. I tend to think that the Deep Impact line of Psionic feats costs the touch attack best of any official supplement--it costs two feats, can't be taken until later due to a BAB requirement, and expends Psionic Focus, so at best you can use it and then spend a move action to get it back.

When you hit a high enough level, Wraithstrike turns any gish who has it and Power Attack (and preferably but not necessarily Arcane Strike) into a far superior melee fighter than any Barbarian or Fighter. Sure, people can argue ways to not get automatically killed by Wraithstrike in one round, but those ways work against all meleers.

 

[the_mighty_agrippa]

Here's how I made the decision to disallow Wraithstrike. I made up a character using it and then asked if I would want to DM that character. No way.

The other players wouldn't want to play with it either.