My D&D group finished off our second module last week and decided to shake things up a little for the next one. Sky seemed to be getting bored with his overpowered but very straightforward tanking character and built a sorcerer instead. This caused a bit of a chain reaction and I think we're all building brand new characters for this weekend. On the one hand this is a little overwhelming since we're making 11 levels worth of decisions at once with no real idea of party composition or what any of our new abilities actually do. On the other hand building characters is a lot of fun and trying them out will be too. I have tons of ideas but who knows if they're actually as awesome as they seem or if they'll just never come up.
At any rate, I wanted to pick a new class and role. I've been the healer for the last two modules and have spent a lot of that time letting other people attack and tracking all the hit point totals. That was fun but I want something different. I figured I'd take a look at the DPS classes and try to make something fun. I looked at the list of classes and one immediately jumped out as being different and cool... Vampire! Now, I'd assume vampire would be a race and not a class but I gather they recently released a 'Heroes of Shadow' book which has both a vampire type race and a vampire class. It doesn't matter if vampires are good or not they're definitely cool so I was pretty much sold without even looking at what they do.
It turns out they're a mostly melee attacker pretty similar to a rogue but with an interesting resource mechanic and fewer abilities. (Most of my 'choices' were fixed as there is only one vampire class power at most levels.) It turns out they use healing surges as a resource to power up a few abilities. They also drain healing surges when they use at-will powers which seems interesting. They definitely have a lot of flavour.
As an added bonus they use two stats: dexterity and charisma. What's a race with both of those stats? Hobbit! (Ok, Halfling, please don't sue me estate of JRR Tolkein.) I've looked at some of the other races but none of them quite have the coolness factor of being a hobbit vampire. One of the hobbit racial bonuses is to get +2 to AC against opportunity attacks and I found a pair of boots that lets me walk through enemy occupied squares. I was thinking that would be a great way to set up flanking... Stack AC so they couldn't hit me and just walk through the enemies even if they're blocking a hallway or something. So I tried building a character with all the AC stacking I could find and ended up getting up to 37 AC against opportunity attacks. Considering my shaman had 22 AC... That's huge!
And then Sky pointed out I can't actually buy those boots since they're not common and that whole plan went out the window. There's actually a hobbit feat which provides a similar effect but only lets you walk through spaces of enemies 2 sizes larger. We've been tipped off that there are lots of large monsters in this coming module so this could still work... But the feat prevents opportunity attacks from the monster you're walking through so the whole point of super AC is kinda moot.
We get one magic item of level 12 and it's the first level of item with +3s that can have a bonus. They need room for better +3 items all the way up to 15 so the bonuses at level 12 tend to be weak or unexciting. One really stood out for me in the super AC build which was an extra +1 to hit while at full health. Hobbits get a racial power which forces a re-roll of an attack which hits you and vampires put up 7 temporary health with their main at-will attack so this actually seems like it'll stay up for a reasonable amount of time. And I could really go out of my way to try to keep it up all the time if I tried. So the question is, how good is that +1 to hit and is it worth trying to keep it up?
My basic at-will attack (the one that puts up the 7 health) hits for 25.5 damage at +18 vs fort assuming I have combat advantage. That won't be hitting on a 2 so +1 to hit should be worth 5% of that damage, or 1.275 damage. Better than +1 to damage for sure but not super exciting. The first 3 times it hits I get to tack on an extra d10 damage which boosts the gain up to 1.55 damage. Seems pretty good and gives me a baseline for evaluating how important it is to take 0 damage over the fight.
As I said vampires have very few power decisions to make so pretty much my only choices are which feats to take. I could try to find a bunch of pure damage feats or I could try to take some damage prevention feats and roll some of that extra 1.55 damage per round into those.
One of the feats I took in the super-AC build was a multi-class rogue feat which let me add my charisma bonus to my AC after being hit by an opportunity attack. That's obviously terrible now that I'm not planning on taking a ton of opportunity attacks but there was a hobbit feat that unlocked when I took it which turned my free re-roll of a hit into a free re-roll with -5 that can't crit which seemed reasonable. I wanted to pick that up so I needed another multi-class feat from a martial class. My first thought was the rogue feat which lets me backstab once per fight. An extra 3d6 seems pretty great. (In fact, 10.5 damage is better than +1 to hit if the fight lasts 6 or fewer attacks so I probably want this even if I'm not trying to keep my +1 to hit up.) Of course I eventually noticed that you need to be using a light blade to backstab and I use a holy symbol so that got thrown out. Then I found a ranger multi-class feat which takes a minor action but gives 2d6 damage twice. (This requires attacks to land in specific rounds instead of just one ever so this isn't actually 14 damage but it's still pretty sweet.) This seems worth taking.
I didn't really find much else in the straight damage category worth taking. I took straight +1 to hit, of course, and decided to try the weird feat which gives +1 to hit, damage, and ac when beside a wall. I don't know how often it'll come up but it seems great for all kinds of reasons when it does. Making sure I have combat advantage is worth +2 to hit on its own so I'm giving the cunning stalker feat a try (it gives combat advantage on any enemy who is standing alone). Then a flat +2 to AC seems like it'll help keep my weapon buff up especially with my re-roll ability.
My last feat had some interesting options. I could take a boring but useful +2 to reflex, fortitude, and will defenses. I could take +2 to ac if I'm beside two larger enemies. I could take the feat that lets me walk through large enemies. But I found something really cool that is probably terrible but might be a lot of fun... If I'm standing beside an enemy, and have combat advantage on them, and they shift... I get to shift too. So all I need to do is get beside an enemy caster and then they need to either stop casting brutal spells or let me get free attacks. +1 to hit is like 5% of an attack so if this gives a free attack every other fight it's probably better than +1 to hit. If it shuts down brutal spells it won't do any damage but might help us win. Probably it won't do anything at all and I'll wish I had +2 to ac when I get ganked.
I'll probably end up making lots of changes after getting a week actually playing the class instead of just thinking about playing the class but I'm pretty happy with what I have. Though after I read the rules about stealth I'm really thinking a shade vampire could be intriguing...
Showing posts with label Dungeons and Dragons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dungeons and Dragons. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
D&D: Level 9 Shaman Dailies
At the end of the session on Sunday we leveled up to level 9 which brings with it 'just' a new daily power. Aidan messaged me yesterday to look at the rogue dailies to see if anything stood out to me since they all seemed pretty bland. There were a couple interesting ones but nothing that really seemed very spectacular. A little extra damage, maybe some very situational utility, but nothing special. Then I took a look at my options... They're crazy! There are a wide variety of options and all of them seem very powerful...
For example, Aidan's best damage option was basically a normal attack followed by letting an ally make an attack too. So, around double damage but with two attack rolls. One of my damage options has me make an attack, and then for the rest of the fight I get to make an ally take an attack every round. So, I basically do double damage for the rest of the fight...
Maybe I want my damage option to hit a bunch of enemies instead of just one? Well, I can hit a 5x5 square for good damage and a save ends daze. Only downside there is it hits allies.
Or as a different take on ongoing damage I can make an 11x11 square zone which has all enemies in the zone take an extra d6 damage from all attacks. Is this better than giving an ally an attack per round? Well, assuming I use my at-will attacks for the rest of the fight giving out attacks then this will be doing 5d6 damage per round, excluding misses. So probably like 14 damage a round? Giving Sky an attack probably does about that much so they're pretty close. This attack has the advantage that if someone busts out an AE or uses an action point the damage ramps up. It has the disadvantage that if the enemies can get out of the 11x11 zone it does nothing. (The first one is a 3x3 square that gives out attacks but I can spend a move action to send it around.)
There's a cool pet buffing attack but I don't really attack with my pet so it's not an option for me.
Then there are the primarily healing options... First up I can make a 5x5 square that is difficult terrain for the enemies and heals any ally inside the zone for 7 each time they hit with an attack (max once per round). This zone can be moved with a move action but has the downside that I have to spend a minor action every round to sustain it.
Alternatively there's a single one shot heal which hits me and everyone within 10 squares for 7 healing. Sounds a little weak compared to the previous one, yeah, but it has a little bit of extra damage thrown in... An enemy gains vulnerable 5 (save ends). If a d6 per attack was good, 5 flat damage is pretty great! Of course it could actually get saved before anyone attacks which is unfortunate, and it also ends after the one monster dies. On the plus side the instant healing aspect will grant everyone a save! (Would the procs from the previous one also grant saves, I wonder? Reading the feat I think no. I also think I can't give myself a save so I totally cheated on Sunday. Frown.)
Finally we have the option that isn't technically healing but could well prevent more damage. And it's awesomely themed... Basically I'd polymorph one of my friends and turn them into a mountain. They'd become slowed (obviously, mountains are big and slow) and would resist 5 damage per attack. They'd also do 4 extra damage every time they attack. And as an added bonus when I first cast it I get to hit everyone adjacent to the mountain for decent damage and knocks them down. Downside, I have to spend a minor actions to keep it going. Upside, the target can spend a minor action to end it (in case the slow is too brutal I guess). This has some interesting options... Buffing the tank pretty much makes him an invincible killing machine unless the enemies run away. Or if we're in a bad spot and someone gets jumped by a couple guys or the tank is stuck somewhere else I can build a second tank. (Though they probably just go fight someone else then, but maybe that's all we need.)
I feel like the most important thing I can do is send out saves at a critical juncture. I already have a daily I use for just that though, so I'm not really sure I need a second one filling the same role. I'm not sure which way I'll end up going but one thing is for sure... My options are a lot cooler than Aidan's!
For example, Aidan's best damage option was basically a normal attack followed by letting an ally make an attack too. So, around double damage but with two attack rolls. One of my damage options has me make an attack, and then for the rest of the fight I get to make an ally take an attack every round. So, I basically do double damage for the rest of the fight...
Maybe I want my damage option to hit a bunch of enemies instead of just one? Well, I can hit a 5x5 square for good damage and a save ends daze. Only downside there is it hits allies.
Or as a different take on ongoing damage I can make an 11x11 square zone which has all enemies in the zone take an extra d6 damage from all attacks. Is this better than giving an ally an attack per round? Well, assuming I use my at-will attacks for the rest of the fight giving out attacks then this will be doing 5d6 damage per round, excluding misses. So probably like 14 damage a round? Giving Sky an attack probably does about that much so they're pretty close. This attack has the advantage that if someone busts out an AE or uses an action point the damage ramps up. It has the disadvantage that if the enemies can get out of the 11x11 zone it does nothing. (The first one is a 3x3 square that gives out attacks but I can spend a move action to send it around.)
There's a cool pet buffing attack but I don't really attack with my pet so it's not an option for me.
Then there are the primarily healing options... First up I can make a 5x5 square that is difficult terrain for the enemies and heals any ally inside the zone for 7 each time they hit with an attack (max once per round). This zone can be moved with a move action but has the downside that I have to spend a minor action every round to sustain it.
Alternatively there's a single one shot heal which hits me and everyone within 10 squares for 7 healing. Sounds a little weak compared to the previous one, yeah, but it has a little bit of extra damage thrown in... An enemy gains vulnerable 5 (save ends). If a d6 per attack was good, 5 flat damage is pretty great! Of course it could actually get saved before anyone attacks which is unfortunate, and it also ends after the one monster dies. On the plus side the instant healing aspect will grant everyone a save! (Would the procs from the previous one also grant saves, I wonder? Reading the feat I think no. I also think I can't give myself a save so I totally cheated on Sunday. Frown.)
Finally we have the option that isn't technically healing but could well prevent more damage. And it's awesomely themed... Basically I'd polymorph one of my friends and turn them into a mountain. They'd become slowed (obviously, mountains are big and slow) and would resist 5 damage per attack. They'd also do 4 extra damage every time they attack. And as an added bonus when I first cast it I get to hit everyone adjacent to the mountain for decent damage and knocks them down. Downside, I have to spend a minor actions to keep it going. Upside, the target can spend a minor action to end it (in case the slow is too brutal I guess). This has some interesting options... Buffing the tank pretty much makes him an invincible killing machine unless the enemies run away. Or if we're in a bad spot and someone gets jumped by a couple guys or the tank is stuck somewhere else I can build a second tank. (Though they probably just go fight someone else then, but maybe that's all we need.)
I feel like the most important thing I can do is send out saves at a critical juncture. I already have a daily I use for just that though, so I'm not really sure I need a second one filling the same role. I'm not sure which way I'll end up going but one thing is for sure... My options are a lot cooler than Aidan's!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Dungeons & Dragons: Level Eight
We hit level eight last week which brings with it more choices. At level eight you get to raise two of your stats by one point each and you get an additional feat.
Stats in 4th edition are very streamlined. The only time a stat up matters is when you hit a new even number. Going from 20 wisdom to 21 wisdom, for example, has no impact at all on the game. Well, it gets you that little bit closer to 22 wisdom... The highest you could have gotten a stat at level 4 (where we started) is 21 and my entire party took 21 in their primary stat. Except me! That 21st point was really expensive and I was able to get a bunch of other stats instead which made me better from levels 4 to 7. Now that we're level 8 I'm going to be substantially worse! (Oh well!) Clearly I need to put one of the stats into wisdom so that I'll be a lot better next time I gain a stat. But what do I do with my second stat-up?
I have 3 relevant stats. Wisdom adds to my chance to hit, the damage I do, the amount I heal, my will defense, and every skill I've trained. It's awesome. My second stat is intelligence which adds to my reflex defense, my armour class, and modifies some of my abilities. (It will add one to the damage of my primary attack and will add one to the temporary health I dish out every time I summon my pet.) My only other relevant stat is constitution which adds to my fortitude defense, my maximum health, the amount I get healed when I spend a surge, and my number of surges. It can also impact some of my abilities though I haven't taken any that care at this point.
Wisdom I should raise every chance I get now that the cost is identical. But what about choosing between int and con? Int seems a fair bit better than con, but having more health is a real thing. If neither was going to get to an even number or if they both would then int seems right. Right now, however, I have 18 int and 13 con. Putting the point into int does nothing for the time being. Putting it into con has a big impact. I even managed to get knocked out last session so being tougher seems like it could be really good. I'm probably again giving up long term benefit for short term gain but hey, I'm living in the now baby!
The other thing I get is a feat. At this point I've taken all of the really good feats and am left picking between a bunch of merely good stuff. Probably the most powerful feat that remains is to add +1 to hit from an exotic implement, but I only actually attack in maybe half of the rounds. (My standard at-will attack gives someone else an attack.) There are a bunch of feats which add to my defenses which all seem fine. I could get +5 to initiative in a few different ways. Going before the enemies seems pretty strong and all, but less so for me. My standard attack requires a friend to be in range of an enemy and if I'm going first that isn't going to be the case. When I roll high I often find myself delaying until later on in the fight anyway.
It turns out that there's a feat which lets you pick up a 'skill power'. Sky is going to want me to take the perception ability which retroactively turns an attack from targeting AC to one which targets reflex. If you're paying enough attention to enemy defenses you're bound to get a free hit every combat out of this which is very powerful. But I don't want to need to worry about likely enemy defenses. I spend enough time making people better as it is... There was another option that intrigued me. It doesn't fall into the 'powerful' category at all, but it does seem interesting and fun. And plays very well with how I tend to play my character. It's an insight skill ability which is an immediate interrupt. (Important since I make use of all of my actions every turn.) The trigger is when an enemy within 5 squares of me moves voluntarily. The result? I get to shift half my movement speed for free.
This seems like it could do a lot of different interesting things for me. First and foremost if an enemy runs up to punch me when I'm weak I can run for cover. Maybe I can get out of range of their attack entirely. Maybe I just get beside the tank and they won't want to attack me anymore. I never want to move (I spend my move actions as minor actions to get more shields up) and this might give me the positioning advantage I need without having to spend an action on it. I can also envision getting to block someone's movement if we're fighting in a tight spot and prevent them from getting at a weak teammate. Maybe I can get into a good flanking position.
It might turn out to not be very useful and then I'll just swap it out for something else. Part of me now wants to look through all the other skill powers to see if I want to train up different skills to get something else!
Stats in 4th edition are very streamlined. The only time a stat up matters is when you hit a new even number. Going from 20 wisdom to 21 wisdom, for example, has no impact at all on the game. Well, it gets you that little bit closer to 22 wisdom... The highest you could have gotten a stat at level 4 (where we started) is 21 and my entire party took 21 in their primary stat. Except me! That 21st point was really expensive and I was able to get a bunch of other stats instead which made me better from levels 4 to 7. Now that we're level 8 I'm going to be substantially worse! (Oh well!) Clearly I need to put one of the stats into wisdom so that I'll be a lot better next time I gain a stat. But what do I do with my second stat-up?
I have 3 relevant stats. Wisdom adds to my chance to hit, the damage I do, the amount I heal, my will defense, and every skill I've trained. It's awesome. My second stat is intelligence which adds to my reflex defense, my armour class, and modifies some of my abilities. (It will add one to the damage of my primary attack and will add one to the temporary health I dish out every time I summon my pet.) My only other relevant stat is constitution which adds to my fortitude defense, my maximum health, the amount I get healed when I spend a surge, and my number of surges. It can also impact some of my abilities though I haven't taken any that care at this point.
Wisdom I should raise every chance I get now that the cost is identical. But what about choosing between int and con? Int seems a fair bit better than con, but having more health is a real thing. If neither was going to get to an even number or if they both would then int seems right. Right now, however, I have 18 int and 13 con. Putting the point into int does nothing for the time being. Putting it into con has a big impact. I even managed to get knocked out last session so being tougher seems like it could be really good. I'm probably again giving up long term benefit for short term gain but hey, I'm living in the now baby!
The other thing I get is a feat. At this point I've taken all of the really good feats and am left picking between a bunch of merely good stuff. Probably the most powerful feat that remains is to add +1 to hit from an exotic implement, but I only actually attack in maybe half of the rounds. (My standard at-will attack gives someone else an attack.) There are a bunch of feats which add to my defenses which all seem fine. I could get +5 to initiative in a few different ways. Going before the enemies seems pretty strong and all, but less so for me. My standard attack requires a friend to be in range of an enemy and if I'm going first that isn't going to be the case. When I roll high I often find myself delaying until later on in the fight anyway.
It turns out that there's a feat which lets you pick up a 'skill power'. Sky is going to want me to take the perception ability which retroactively turns an attack from targeting AC to one which targets reflex. If you're paying enough attention to enemy defenses you're bound to get a free hit every combat out of this which is very powerful. But I don't want to need to worry about likely enemy defenses. I spend enough time making people better as it is... There was another option that intrigued me. It doesn't fall into the 'powerful' category at all, but it does seem interesting and fun. And plays very well with how I tend to play my character. It's an insight skill ability which is an immediate interrupt. (Important since I make use of all of my actions every turn.) The trigger is when an enemy within 5 squares of me moves voluntarily. The result? I get to shift half my movement speed for free.
This seems like it could do a lot of different interesting things for me. First and foremost if an enemy runs up to punch me when I'm weak I can run for cover. Maybe I can get out of range of their attack entirely. Maybe I just get beside the tank and they won't want to attack me anymore. I never want to move (I spend my move actions as minor actions to get more shields up) and this might give me the positioning advantage I need without having to spend an action on it. I can also envision getting to block someone's movement if we're fighting in a tight spot and prevent them from getting at a weak teammate. Maybe I can get into a good flanking position.
It might turn out to not be very useful and then I'll just swap it out for something else. Part of me now wants to look through all the other skill powers to see if I want to train up different skills to get something else!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Dungeons & Dragons: Dings!
Prior to our last session we'd managed to level up to level 5 which meant the addition of a new daily power. I wasn't terribly excited by any of my choices and got convinced to take an ability which allows 2 of my allies to make an immediate free charge for an extra d10 damage. It also gives them +2 to their attack and damage rolls for the rest of the fight while charging. Coupled with a magic item I found on the list which prevents charges from granting opportunity attacks and on paper this seems like a lot of damage. There's a barbarian and a knight in the party and they both get to make real attacks while charging, and the barbarian gets to make a free charge after killing someone. This means the +2 to hit and damage could really add up to an awful lot over the course of a fight.
We did some fights that night. The first one was pretty easy and even though I saw an ok spot to use the ability I wanted to save it since it was a daily. Then we did a series of fairly rough fights and I was going to use it the first time I could ever give both people a free charge that they could use. It never came up. One of the characters is the tank so he's trying to stand beside all enemies if he can. The other reduces his own ac when he attacks so he wants to stand near the tank for protection. And is therefore also near all the enemies. It doesn't help that we're fighting in an underground maze and often have the entire width of the hall (a whole 1 or 2 squares) filled with dudes so there's no path for charging. Also they're both smelly dwarves who move slow.
I had visions of the ability being awesome, but those visions generally involved the two fighters standing 4 squares apart, each fighting a guy, and charging back and forth between the two enemies. This is certainly the way to maximize the power from my daily but it's just not how we want to be fighting. We also have a rogue in the group and he wants to be nearby to get combat advantage. We want to focus down one guy at a time. Sure, we want to run up to the casters or the archers and beat them up but the team can do that anyway without my daily helping out. (Also with all our eggs in the 'charge a lot' basket the monsters can take positions to make charging worse.) Probably the best actual use would be when I go first in a fight, and there are monsters within 5 squares of the melee, and I get them to go in and attack. Problem is, my initiative bonus is abysmally bad and I tend to go last in the fight. Beating the monsters has been really unlikely thus far. I guess I could hold onto the daily and use it the first fight I roll high on, but then I'm just making one fight easier and I don't get to pick which one.
We ended up actually leveling at the end of that session too, up to level 6. This gave me a new feat and a new utility power, and there was one that actually combos very well with the charging daily... Minor action to shift all allies beside my pet and myself 5 squares. Assuming I can squeeze my pet in beside both melee I can send them to good charge locations and send them in for the extra 2d10 damage. It combos so well I can't imagine keeping the charge daily without also taking the shift daily. But is the shift utility daily overshadowed by anything else? It turns out there are lots of options that excite me here.
As an encounter minor action I can give 2 people saving throws. This seems like really great utility and being an encounter power it will get a lot more use. However it turns out there's a feat I can take which gives everyone targeted by any of my healing powers a saving throw too, and I have a lot of those I can toss out if I really need to generate a saving throw right now.
As a daily minor action I can give someone a healing surge + d6 and anyone beside my pet for the rest of the fight can't grant combat advantage. Now, my level 2 utility gives someone a healing surgeless heal and I don't think I've ever needed to use it yet. I like having it sitting in my pocket in case it's needed (and it's a standard action so it's worse than this) but it doesn't seem critical. Possibly I could take this and swap out for a different level 2 utility.
There's a daily minor action which heals my team for d6 each and lets people use second winds as minor actions. If my team wasn't half smelly dwarf then this seems like it could be really good. As is, not as exciting.
And finally there's the one that really excites me as something I hope to never use but will be completely game changing if it happens. A daily interrupt that triggers on my getting knocked down to 0 health. It lets every ally within 10 squares spend a healing surge (which I think should bring other knocked out people back to life) and gives them +2 to hit the guy who knocked me out for a turn. If I die first this seems a little weak, but if we're ever actually going to lose a fight this seems like it could really turn the tide. It could be in the neighbourhood of 55 healing, 0-3 saving throws, 0-3 recoveries from knock out, and some bonus damage. People keep talking about how the final fight in the module is brutally powerful and it seems like everything else is doable as is. So if my goal is to set up to beat the final boss then I want the most game changing abilities to use in that fight. I can't see it getting more game changing than this. (The healing will be even more in the final fight since I imagine we'll gain another level or two and maybe I'll even get a better healing neck.)
By that logic shouldn't I keep the swingiest level 5 daily, too? Maybe the charge power is hard to set up but when it really counts can't I rely on my teammates to do what it takes to spread out at the start so they can get their permanent +2 to hit and damage? It really depends on the specifics of that fight. If there are a bunch of powerful dudes all willing to stand a few spaces apart so they can be pinballed around, yes. If it's just one huge dude then there's a daily power I could take to give a permanent +2 to hit one guy. Or I could take a power that blinds him. Maybe the penultimate fight will be tricky and I'll want a different daily for that fight. It's hard to say. But for now I think I want to try something else out. I spent a day looking at my Sir Charge-A-Lot card and being sad that I couldn't use it. I'm not going to look at the death trigger ability and long to get to use it. I'm going to be happy it's there. But it does fill the same safety blanket role as my old level 2 utility, so I'm going to try changing that too:
level 2 utility daily minor - create a 121 square zone filled with spirits for the whole fight, all allies get +1 to hit when standing in the zone
level 5 daily standard - nuke a 9 square zone for a bunch of damage and slide things 5 spaces, I get to slide 6 spaces before or after attacking (I never move as it is, so having a way to move might do something!).
level 6 utility daily interrupt - heal everyone when I die
We did some fights that night. The first one was pretty easy and even though I saw an ok spot to use the ability I wanted to save it since it was a daily. Then we did a series of fairly rough fights and I was going to use it the first time I could ever give both people a free charge that they could use. It never came up. One of the characters is the tank so he's trying to stand beside all enemies if he can. The other reduces his own ac when he attacks so he wants to stand near the tank for protection. And is therefore also near all the enemies. It doesn't help that we're fighting in an underground maze and often have the entire width of the hall (a whole 1 or 2 squares) filled with dudes so there's no path for charging. Also they're both smelly dwarves who move slow.
I had visions of the ability being awesome, but those visions generally involved the two fighters standing 4 squares apart, each fighting a guy, and charging back and forth between the two enemies. This is certainly the way to maximize the power from my daily but it's just not how we want to be fighting. We also have a rogue in the group and he wants to be nearby to get combat advantage. We want to focus down one guy at a time. Sure, we want to run up to the casters or the archers and beat them up but the team can do that anyway without my daily helping out. (Also with all our eggs in the 'charge a lot' basket the monsters can take positions to make charging worse.) Probably the best actual use would be when I go first in a fight, and there are monsters within 5 squares of the melee, and I get them to go in and attack. Problem is, my initiative bonus is abysmally bad and I tend to go last in the fight. Beating the monsters has been really unlikely thus far. I guess I could hold onto the daily and use it the first fight I roll high on, but then I'm just making one fight easier and I don't get to pick which one.
We ended up actually leveling at the end of that session too, up to level 6. This gave me a new feat and a new utility power, and there was one that actually combos very well with the charging daily... Minor action to shift all allies beside my pet and myself 5 squares. Assuming I can squeeze my pet in beside both melee I can send them to good charge locations and send them in for the extra 2d10 damage. It combos so well I can't imagine keeping the charge daily without also taking the shift daily. But is the shift utility daily overshadowed by anything else? It turns out there are lots of options that excite me here.
As an encounter minor action I can give 2 people saving throws. This seems like really great utility and being an encounter power it will get a lot more use. However it turns out there's a feat I can take which gives everyone targeted by any of my healing powers a saving throw too, and I have a lot of those I can toss out if I really need to generate a saving throw right now.
As a daily minor action I can give someone a healing surge + d6 and anyone beside my pet for the rest of the fight can't grant combat advantage. Now, my level 2 utility gives someone a healing surgeless heal and I don't think I've ever needed to use it yet. I like having it sitting in my pocket in case it's needed (and it's a standard action so it's worse than this) but it doesn't seem critical. Possibly I could take this and swap out for a different level 2 utility.
There's a daily minor action which heals my team for d6 each and lets people use second winds as minor actions. If my team wasn't half smelly dwarf then this seems like it could be really good. As is, not as exciting.
And finally there's the one that really excites me as something I hope to never use but will be completely game changing if it happens. A daily interrupt that triggers on my getting knocked down to 0 health. It lets every ally within 10 squares spend a healing surge (which I think should bring other knocked out people back to life) and gives them +2 to hit the guy who knocked me out for a turn. If I die first this seems a little weak, but if we're ever actually going to lose a fight this seems like it could really turn the tide. It could be in the neighbourhood of 55 healing, 0-3 saving throws, 0-3 recoveries from knock out, and some bonus damage. People keep talking about how the final fight in the module is brutally powerful and it seems like everything else is doable as is. So if my goal is to set up to beat the final boss then I want the most game changing abilities to use in that fight. I can't see it getting more game changing than this. (The healing will be even more in the final fight since I imagine we'll gain another level or two and maybe I'll even get a better healing neck.)
By that logic shouldn't I keep the swingiest level 5 daily, too? Maybe the charge power is hard to set up but when it really counts can't I rely on my teammates to do what it takes to spread out at the start so they can get their permanent +2 to hit and damage? It really depends on the specifics of that fight. If there are a bunch of powerful dudes all willing to stand a few spaces apart so they can be pinballed around, yes. If it's just one huge dude then there's a daily power I could take to give a permanent +2 to hit one guy. Or I could take a power that blinds him. Maybe the penultimate fight will be tricky and I'll want a different daily for that fight. It's hard to say. But for now I think I want to try something else out. I spent a day looking at my Sir Charge-A-Lot card and being sad that I couldn't use it. I'm not going to look at the death trigger ability and long to get to use it. I'm going to be happy it's there. But it does fill the same safety blanket role as my old level 2 utility, so I'm going to try changing that too:
level 2 utility daily minor - create a 121 square zone filled with spirits for the whole fight, all allies get +1 to hit when standing in the zone
level 5 daily standard - nuke a 9 square zone for a bunch of damage and slide things 5 spaces, I get to slide 6 spaces before or after attacking (I never move as it is, so having a way to move might do something!).
level 6 utility daily interrupt - heal everyone when I die
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Optimizing D&D Healing
In previous editions of Dungeons & Dragons each person had a number of hit points and if you ran out you were unconscious and/or dead. Most people would have no real way to restore health on their own (other than resting for months at a time) but if one of your characters was a cleric you were set for life. Clerics cast healing spells a few times a day and even if they did absolutely nothing else they'd still be mandatory because you need to be able to handle damage spikes and just keep moving from fight to fight. Maybe forcing someone to be a cleric is a problem, maybe it isn't, but it was certainly a feature of the system.
In 4th edition they changed the way healing works entirely which shakes that whole world all around. All characters still have a number of hit points which will knock you out and/or kill you when you run out, but now everyone has a second health related stat: healing surges. You get a number of these things based on class and con value and basically you can spend one at any time out of combat to restore 25% of your maximum health. So, as long as no one actually dies and everyone has at least 4 of these things left you're guaranteed to be capable of being at full health for the next fight. You can also take an action once during each fight to get the same amount of healing. If your group doesn't have a healer in 4th edition you aren't just screwed after the first fight. As long as you won and no one died you can keep playing.
Healing classes still exist in the game, though they're more hybridized than in previous editions. All of the healer classes can be built in ways such that they can do reasonable damage, or buff the party's attacks and defenses on top of the extra healing they bring. They bring the extra healing in two primary ways: by letting other people use healing surges in combat and by making those healing surges better.
Normally each person can only heal themselves once per fight, and it costs them a standard action to do so. Standard actions are pretty good and in a vacuum are way better than healing for 25% of your health. You'll use it in a pinch or if you really have nothing better to do but you're rarely happy about it. Healers can spend minor actions to let other people heal themselves with their healing surges. The healer still gets their standard action too so the party isn't losing out on damage done in this process. The healer can also hit the same person multiple times so if the enemies are threatening to spike someone down they can deal with it.
Perhaps more importantly the healer modifies the amount of healing done. This varies from class to class. I'm playing a shaman, and the basic idea is my minor action heal (which can be used twice per fight) heals a second target as well. Clerics make the heal a lot bigger on the one target. I'm not really sure what other healers do, exactly, but I'm pretty sure they all do something. This can actually be a huge difference in the amount healed compared to someone just spending their surge themselves.
As an example Aidan is playing a rogue and has 37 maximum health. His surge would heal himself for 9, though we found a magic item which raises everyone's number by 1 if they stand near Sky. So, he can spend a standard action to heal himself for 10. Or he could almost certainly hit an enemy for 20ish damage with that action instead. I took a bunch of healing related feats and items, so if I make him spend a surge instead with my healing spirit spell he's actually heal for 9+1(Sky's belt)+1(my neck)+5(my wisdom) or 16. Also, someone else would get an extra d6+1 healing which averages to 4.5. Also, everyone standing beside my pet (guaranteed to be at least one person and often 2 or 3) gets an extra 5 temporary health which will get damaged first if they get attacked. So all told we can either heal for 10 as a standard action or for ~30.5 as a minor action. It's not all in one spot and I have to modify my whole turn to position my pet properly but I get thrice the effect and still get to keep my standard action. So, yeah, healers may not be mandatory to play the game anymore but they're still pretty mandatory for being awesome.
What I want to look into, however, is how to heal up after a fight. In this case temporary hit points don't help at all and we have to commit to standing around for 5 minutes if we want to recharge my healing spells. If we're not willing to do so then healing up becomes easy... Everyone uses surges to get near full and we move on with our lives. The tricky part comes when we're willing to wait a little bit. Now I can actually heal people without costing them surges (I can land the d6+1 where I want) and surges are worth x+7 instead of x+1. The x varies from person to person, so I should try to have the person with the biggest number spend their surges and spill over to the people with the lowest number. I also want to try to bring people as close to full as I can so I don't waste the d6s or the surges. It turns out there's a feat which makes all out of combat healing dice roll maximum and I may want that feat at some point just to make the process deterministic! For now it seems like the right idea most of the time will just be to make Sky spend his surges and try to spill into Aidan since Sky heals for much more per surge (and has more surges) and Aidan has the least of both. Thinking about it a lot is unlikely to really help while I'm rolling dice. I should probably work out how many x+7s it will take to heal everyone and then see how much healing each person would need from d6+1s in order to need one fewer x+7.
In 4th edition they changed the way healing works entirely which shakes that whole world all around. All characters still have a number of hit points which will knock you out and/or kill you when you run out, but now everyone has a second health related stat: healing surges. You get a number of these things based on class and con value and basically you can spend one at any time out of combat to restore 25% of your maximum health. So, as long as no one actually dies and everyone has at least 4 of these things left you're guaranteed to be capable of being at full health for the next fight. You can also take an action once during each fight to get the same amount of healing. If your group doesn't have a healer in 4th edition you aren't just screwed after the first fight. As long as you won and no one died you can keep playing.
Healing classes still exist in the game, though they're more hybridized than in previous editions. All of the healer classes can be built in ways such that they can do reasonable damage, or buff the party's attacks and defenses on top of the extra healing they bring. They bring the extra healing in two primary ways: by letting other people use healing surges in combat and by making those healing surges better.
Normally each person can only heal themselves once per fight, and it costs them a standard action to do so. Standard actions are pretty good and in a vacuum are way better than healing for 25% of your health. You'll use it in a pinch or if you really have nothing better to do but you're rarely happy about it. Healers can spend minor actions to let other people heal themselves with their healing surges. The healer still gets their standard action too so the party isn't losing out on damage done in this process. The healer can also hit the same person multiple times so if the enemies are threatening to spike someone down they can deal with it.
Perhaps more importantly the healer modifies the amount of healing done. This varies from class to class. I'm playing a shaman, and the basic idea is my minor action heal (which can be used twice per fight) heals a second target as well. Clerics make the heal a lot bigger on the one target. I'm not really sure what other healers do, exactly, but I'm pretty sure they all do something. This can actually be a huge difference in the amount healed compared to someone just spending their surge themselves.
As an example Aidan is playing a rogue and has 37 maximum health. His surge would heal himself for 9, though we found a magic item which raises everyone's number by 1 if they stand near Sky. So, he can spend a standard action to heal himself for 10. Or he could almost certainly hit an enemy for 20ish damage with that action instead. I took a bunch of healing related feats and items, so if I make him spend a surge instead with my healing spirit spell he's actually heal for 9+1(Sky's belt)+1(my neck)+5(my wisdom) or 16. Also, someone else would get an extra d6+1 healing which averages to 4.5. Also, everyone standing beside my pet (guaranteed to be at least one person and often 2 or 3) gets an extra 5 temporary health which will get damaged first if they get attacked. So all told we can either heal for 10 as a standard action or for ~30.5 as a minor action. It's not all in one spot and I have to modify my whole turn to position my pet properly but I get thrice the effect and still get to keep my standard action. So, yeah, healers may not be mandatory to play the game anymore but they're still pretty mandatory for being awesome.
What I want to look into, however, is how to heal up after a fight. In this case temporary hit points don't help at all and we have to commit to standing around for 5 minutes if we want to recharge my healing spells. If we're not willing to do so then healing up becomes easy... Everyone uses surges to get near full and we move on with our lives. The tricky part comes when we're willing to wait a little bit. Now I can actually heal people without costing them surges (I can land the d6+1 where I want) and surges are worth x+7 instead of x+1. The x varies from person to person, so I should try to have the person with the biggest number spend their surges and spill over to the people with the lowest number. I also want to try to bring people as close to full as I can so I don't waste the d6s or the surges. It turns out there's a feat which makes all out of combat healing dice roll maximum and I may want that feat at some point just to make the process deterministic! For now it seems like the right idea most of the time will just be to make Sky spend his surges and try to spill into Aidan since Sky heals for much more per surge (and has more surges) and Aidan has the least of both. Thinking about it a lot is unlikely to really help while I'm rolling dice. I should probably work out how many x+7s it will take to heal everyone and then see how much healing each person would need from d6+1s in order to need one fewer x+7.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Shaman: Final Choices
I have two final non-pet specific abilities to choose and then some items to pick. When I first picked items I didn't know of a rule which said you can only use 1 item daily power per day. I thought it was 1 per item so I grabbed a bunch of abilities that seemed useful. In reality I won't be able to use most of them so I figured I should take a look for passive bonuses that might be more useful. (The rule does makes a lot of sense since otherwise why wouldn't I run around with dozens of 'daily' healing items and just rotate through them all.)
First up I had to keep my healer's brooch +1. It adds 1 to every power I use that lets someone regain hit points. I went looking for other passive bonuses and didn't really find any that were awesome. (Not too surprising I guess since we are talking level 3-5 items and all.) I did switch my totem for one which provides a passive 1 to perception. I want to see things! It also has a daily minor action which might do 2 damage when I use it. So, pretty bad. I kept my boots of jaunting since I only bought them the first time around for the name anyway. Getting to teleport 1 square as a minor action might even come up big at some point! Finally I also had to change my armor. (I changed item level on my weapon so to stay legal I needed to make the same swap for armor.) I found a situational daily power that seems good for a boss fight. Immediate reaction to an ally within 5 squares of me hitting an enemy with a melee attack while flanking the enemy. (Situational!) What does it do? The ally regains health equal to half the damage done. (Probably +1 from the healing brooch?) That seems like it could be a lot of extra healing for essentially no cost.
Next, I get a second at-will ability. The first one was locked in by choosing elemental (it lets Sky attack with big bonuses). The second one I took before lets me make a personal melee attack for d8+wis damage. Hit or miss an ally within 2 squares of me or my pet gets to make a saving throw. This seems situational but very good when we need a saving throw. The only concern with taking it along with the elemental one is I may end up with no actual at-will attack to use. I can never make my pet make an attack so if I don't have an ally to give an attack to I'll have to wander into melee. (Worth it to give a saving throw. Probably not worth it just to do anemic beatdown.) The other option is to pick an ability which lets my pet attack and give up the ability to grant saving throws. Probably my best such option is a pet attack for d8+wis and if he hits all adjacent allies get +1 ac. Also not great. Maybe I should just accept that I need to delay until Sky goes (or use my twin panthers encounter power as my first action every fight).
Final, my daily power. There are a lot of interesting shaman daily powers, most of which do a massive AE with an interesting side effect. I can make a wind tunnel which makes a permanent 9 square grid which I can move and I can slide anyone in the grid around. I can give out saving throws with a +5 bonus to anyone in an 121 square grid. I can do an AE blind (save ends) and make a semi-permanent 9 square grid which obscures and does 5 damage. I can give 2 allies a basic attack. I can do a slow but guaranteed 6d6 damage. I can debuff a dude with daze, slow, 5 damage (save ends those) and a permanent -5 to saving throws. I can do a 121 square grid AE which damages all enemies and gives all allies regen 2 while bloodied which they can dispel as a minor action for a 10 point heal. I can debuff a dude with 5 damage and +2 to hit him (save ends all). I can make a permanent 9 square grid which is difficult terrain for enemies and cover providing for friends. Or I can do a 25 square AE centered on me, with a 9 square centered on my pet for huge damage and knocking the enemies prone.
Some of these seem situationally interesting and good. Others seem rather mediocre (2 basic attacks? Really? Since I can't target the same guy with both attacks and there are no bonuses to the rolls this is probably worse than my at-will). I can go super utility with saving throws for all (it does ok damage to enemies too), or super healing with the hot. I can go super AE damage to blow up a bunch of dudes or the big debuff to cripple a boss.
Initially I went with the big AE and it seemed pretty good. I was able to hit 4 guys with relative ease, knocked 2 of them over, and put out a bunch of damage. It feels like often a fight is going to involve getting swarmed by some dudes and having the ability to bust them up seems strong. On the other hand, my new encounter power which does a resist shield and an AE might fill that role nicely too. The big heal seems really big. At worst it's 44 health to the party at the cost of a few minor actions. The card says the healer's brooch affects the power but it isn't clear if it affects the regen 2 or the regain 10 or both. I'm pretty sure it does impact the regain 10 but don't know about the regen. Either way it's surge free healing which seems good, and it does do d8+wis to all enemies in the close burst 5 (miss for half) so there is a little damage going on too. It's no 3d6+wis but it is something.
How important is it to be able to wreck a single guy? If (big if) I hit with the cripple it seems like it'll blow him out. Daze, slow, and -5 to saving throws are pretty brutal effects. Missing still gives the daze for a turn and the slow until save. And the -5 to saves persists regardless, but only while he stays beside my pet. Since my spec will probably often not have a pet in play and we don't have a lot of other save ends powers (I don't think) this seems weaker than it could be. I think I'm just going to go for the big heal and see how it plays out for a while.
First up I had to keep my healer's brooch +1. It adds 1 to every power I use that lets someone regain hit points. I went looking for other passive bonuses and didn't really find any that were awesome. (Not too surprising I guess since we are talking level 3-5 items and all.) I did switch my totem for one which provides a passive 1 to perception. I want to see things! It also has a daily minor action which might do 2 damage when I use it. So, pretty bad. I kept my boots of jaunting since I only bought them the first time around for the name anyway. Getting to teleport 1 square as a minor action might even come up big at some point! Finally I also had to change my armor. (I changed item level on my weapon so to stay legal I needed to make the same swap for armor.) I found a situational daily power that seems good for a boss fight. Immediate reaction to an ally within 5 squares of me hitting an enemy with a melee attack while flanking the enemy. (Situational!) What does it do? The ally regains health equal to half the damage done. (Probably +1 from the healing brooch?) That seems like it could be a lot of extra healing for essentially no cost.
Next, I get a second at-will ability. The first one was locked in by choosing elemental (it lets Sky attack with big bonuses). The second one I took before lets me make a personal melee attack for d8+wis damage. Hit or miss an ally within 2 squares of me or my pet gets to make a saving throw. This seems situational but very good when we need a saving throw. The only concern with taking it along with the elemental one is I may end up with no actual at-will attack to use. I can never make my pet make an attack so if I don't have an ally to give an attack to I'll have to wander into melee. (Worth it to give a saving throw. Probably not worth it just to do anemic beatdown.) The other option is to pick an ability which lets my pet attack and give up the ability to grant saving throws. Probably my best such option is a pet attack for d8+wis and if he hits all adjacent allies get +1 ac. Also not great. Maybe I should just accept that I need to delay until Sky goes (or use my twin panthers encounter power as my first action every fight).
Final, my daily power. There are a lot of interesting shaman daily powers, most of which do a massive AE with an interesting side effect. I can make a wind tunnel which makes a permanent 9 square grid which I can move and I can slide anyone in the grid around. I can give out saving throws with a +5 bonus to anyone in an 121 square grid. I can do an AE blind (save ends) and make a semi-permanent 9 square grid which obscures and does 5 damage. I can give 2 allies a basic attack. I can do a slow but guaranteed 6d6 damage. I can debuff a dude with daze, slow, 5 damage (save ends those) and a permanent -5 to saving throws. I can do a 121 square grid AE which damages all enemies and gives all allies regen 2 while bloodied which they can dispel as a minor action for a 10 point heal. I can debuff a dude with 5 damage and +2 to hit him (save ends all). I can make a permanent 9 square grid which is difficult terrain for enemies and cover providing for friends. Or I can do a 25 square AE centered on me, with a 9 square centered on my pet for huge damage and knocking the enemies prone.
Some of these seem situationally interesting and good. Others seem rather mediocre (2 basic attacks? Really? Since I can't target the same guy with both attacks and there are no bonuses to the rolls this is probably worse than my at-will). I can go super utility with saving throws for all (it does ok damage to enemies too), or super healing with the hot. I can go super AE damage to blow up a bunch of dudes or the big debuff to cripple a boss.
Initially I went with the big AE and it seemed pretty good. I was able to hit 4 guys with relative ease, knocked 2 of them over, and put out a bunch of damage. It feels like often a fight is going to involve getting swarmed by some dudes and having the ability to bust them up seems strong. On the other hand, my new encounter power which does a resist shield and an AE might fill that role nicely too. The big heal seems really big. At worst it's 44 health to the party at the cost of a few minor actions. The card says the healer's brooch affects the power but it isn't clear if it affects the regen 2 or the regain 10 or both. I'm pretty sure it does impact the regain 10 but don't know about the regen. Either way it's surge free healing which seems good, and it does do d8+wis to all enemies in the close burst 5 (miss for half) so there is a little damage going on too. It's no 3d6+wis but it is something.
How important is it to be able to wreck a single guy? If (big if) I hit with the cripple it seems like it'll blow him out. Daze, slow, and -5 to saving throws are pretty brutal effects. Missing still gives the daze for a turn and the slow until save. And the -5 to saves persists regardless, but only while he stays beside my pet. Since my spec will probably often not have a pet in play and we don't have a lot of other save ends powers (I don't think) this seems weaker than it could be. I think I'm just going to go for the big heal and see how it plays out for a while.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Shaman: Protector vs Elemental
I posted a bit yesterday about the immediate impact of choosing a shaman pet in 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons. Protector seemed to come out ahead to me, but elemental wasn't very far behind and Sky wants to roll more dice. However, there are other choices later on in character creation which are also impacted by the type of pet. In particular every pet has at least one encounter power which gets improved and there are feats which can only be used if you have a specific pet. I went through the builder and made a character of each type to see what the choices were. Ignoring the 3 other pets, what are the options at each stage?
Encounter 1:
Elemental - pet makes a melee wisVref attack for d8+wis fire damage, target gets vul 5 fire for a turn, pet disappears, anyone adjacent to elemental pet can choose to deal fire damage for a turn
Protector - pet makes a melee wisVref attack for 2d6+wis damage, target is marked, if pet is protector the mark is for -5
Protector - I make ranged 5 attack, wisVfort for d6+wis thunder damage, if you stand beside pet you get resistance 4 to all damage, if pet is protector me or an ally with 5 squares of me gets 4 temp hit points
None - I make two ranged 5 attacks, wisVref for d8+wis damage, pet makes all adjacent enemies grant combat advantage for a turn
Theoretically if everyone saved up an action point and we used very precise positioning then we could get 40 bonus fire damage out of the vulnerability from the elemental attack. Possibly good for a boss fight but it doesn't seem very exciting for most encounters. I like the second protector ability for pretty much every fight since it gives damage prevention both from the resist and the shield. Those numbers are based on con modifier so taking it as an elemental spec is pretty sketchy. Making 2 attacks and granting combat advantage to a bunch of dudes actually seemed pretty reasonable (it's the stalker one and the choice I made for the first session) and I think it's my best choice for elemental, too.
Encounter 3:
Elemental - pet targets an ally beside him and disappears, ally gains resist 6 to all damage for a turn, do a close burst 1 attack centered on that ally hitting every enemy with a wis+2Vac attack for 2d6+wis damage
Protector - pet makes a melee wisVref attack for d8+wis damage and the target is immobilized for a turn, also allies can flank with a protector pet and get an extra +4 to hit if they do
Protector - pet makes a melee wisVfort attack for 2d8+wis damage and an ally adjacent to pet can spend a healing surge, if protector pet they get 4 extra healing
The elemental one here seems insane. Have an ally mostly surrounded by dudes? Put a big damage resistance buff on them and beat up all the enemies too. I again wanted the second protector option since having more ways to actually heal people seems good. The elemental shield size is based on int mod for elemental and would be only 3 for another pet type which still seems decent.
Utility 2:
Protector - daily minor action, me and all allies beside my pet get resist 4 to all damage for the fight
None - daily standard action, someone within 10 squares gets to heal as though they had spent a healing surge without actually spending one
The protector one isn't exactly protector only, but it is based on con mod so it gets pretty weak for another pet type. Resist 1 is ok but it requires precise positioning to pull off on everybody and is it really going to prevent more than letting someone heal without spending a surge? That one is a standard action which does hurt it a little, but I like more ways to heal that aren't pet dependent. I definitely take the resist 4 as a bear spec but as elemental I take the heal.
Feats:
Elemental - each time you summon your pet you give an adjacent ally 4 temporary hit points
Elemental - each time your pet disappears from an attack power one ally adjacent to him before he disappears can shift 1 space as a free action
There are no protector specific feats that I can find. I was a little worried about losing the extra temp health from the protector at-will attack but it looks like I can pick up 4 temp health a turn out of the elemental pet if I spend a feat. I'm not sure about the timing on the second one but I think that means I can give Sky an attack but he gets to move a space before attacking, letting him get into range before swinging. Sounds like it could work well with the encounter power which hits everyone around my targeted ally.
I have 3 feats to pick total and it turns out there are 2 which really buff my main heal which I missed when I built my character the first time. They give the primary target of my heal 5 extra healing and they give everyone adjacent to my pet 5 temporary health. I don't know that the shift is really critical so I think I'd be going with both of those and the elemental temp health or both of those and +3 to perception as a protector. (I had a +1 to hit feat but it turns out we weren't supposed to take those. Oops!)
So elemental wins out at the encounter 3 and feat level. Protector wins out at the encounter 1 and utility 2 level. Overall they both seem pretty good and a lot better for what I need to do than my first try as a stalker. So it all comes down to if I want more consistent across the board healing or if I want more damage. Also note I have a healing daily or a damage daily I can pick from, so I can cover a whole spectrum.
My gut feeling is the extra 4 temp health from the elemental feat pushes it over the top. I get to roll fewer dice but Sky rolling at +14 for 17.5 damage and a guaranteed 4 point shield seems a lot better than me rolling at +9.5 (assuming targeting will is ~1.5 better than ac) for 10.5 damage and 4 point shields to everyone around on a hit. That's more than double the damage and it would take 2 targets getting the shield (and using the health) every time I hit to make up the healing. So, I think I'm going to give elemental a spin and see how it works out.
Encounter 1:
Elemental - pet makes a melee wisVref attack for d8+wis fire damage, target gets vul 5 fire for a turn, pet disappears, anyone adjacent to elemental pet can choose to deal fire damage for a turn
Protector - pet makes a melee wisVref attack for 2d6+wis damage, target is marked, if pet is protector the mark is for -5
Protector - I make ranged 5 attack, wisVfort for d6+wis thunder damage, if you stand beside pet you get resistance 4 to all damage, if pet is protector me or an ally with 5 squares of me gets 4 temp hit points
None - I make two ranged 5 attacks, wisVref for d8+wis damage, pet makes all adjacent enemies grant combat advantage for a turn
Theoretically if everyone saved up an action point and we used very precise positioning then we could get 40 bonus fire damage out of the vulnerability from the elemental attack. Possibly good for a boss fight but it doesn't seem very exciting for most encounters. I like the second protector ability for pretty much every fight since it gives damage prevention both from the resist and the shield. Those numbers are based on con modifier so taking it as an elemental spec is pretty sketchy. Making 2 attacks and granting combat advantage to a bunch of dudes actually seemed pretty reasonable (it's the stalker one and the choice I made for the first session) and I think it's my best choice for elemental, too.
Encounter 3:
Elemental - pet targets an ally beside him and disappears, ally gains resist 6 to all damage for a turn, do a close burst 1 attack centered on that ally hitting every enemy with a wis+2Vac attack for 2d6+wis damage
Protector - pet makes a melee wisVref attack for d8+wis damage and the target is immobilized for a turn, also allies can flank with a protector pet and get an extra +4 to hit if they do
Protector - pet makes a melee wisVfort attack for 2d8+wis damage and an ally adjacent to pet can spend a healing surge, if protector pet they get 4 extra healing
The elemental one here seems insane. Have an ally mostly surrounded by dudes? Put a big damage resistance buff on them and beat up all the enemies too. I again wanted the second protector option since having more ways to actually heal people seems good. The elemental shield size is based on int mod for elemental and would be only 3 for another pet type which still seems decent.
Utility 2:
Protector - daily minor action, me and all allies beside my pet get resist 4 to all damage for the fight
None - daily standard action, someone within 10 squares gets to heal as though they had spent a healing surge without actually spending one
The protector one isn't exactly protector only, but it is based on con mod so it gets pretty weak for another pet type. Resist 1 is ok but it requires precise positioning to pull off on everybody and is it really going to prevent more than letting someone heal without spending a surge? That one is a standard action which does hurt it a little, but I like more ways to heal that aren't pet dependent. I definitely take the resist 4 as a bear spec but as elemental I take the heal.
Feats:
Elemental - each time you summon your pet you give an adjacent ally 4 temporary hit points
Elemental - each time your pet disappears from an attack power one ally adjacent to him before he disappears can shift 1 space as a free action
There are no protector specific feats that I can find. I was a little worried about losing the extra temp health from the protector at-will attack but it looks like I can pick up 4 temp health a turn out of the elemental pet if I spend a feat. I'm not sure about the timing on the second one but I think that means I can give Sky an attack but he gets to move a space before attacking, letting him get into range before swinging. Sounds like it could work well with the encounter power which hits everyone around my targeted ally.
I have 3 feats to pick total and it turns out there are 2 which really buff my main heal which I missed when I built my character the first time. They give the primary target of my heal 5 extra healing and they give everyone adjacent to my pet 5 temporary health. I don't know that the shift is really critical so I think I'd be going with both of those and the elemental temp health or both of those and +3 to perception as a protector. (I had a +1 to hit feat but it turns out we weren't supposed to take those. Oops!)
So elemental wins out at the encounter 3 and feat level. Protector wins out at the encounter 1 and utility 2 level. Overall they both seem pretty good and a lot better for what I need to do than my first try as a stalker. So it all comes down to if I want more consistent across the board healing or if I want more damage. Also note I have a healing daily or a damage daily I can pick from, so I can cover a whole spectrum.
My gut feeling is the extra 4 temp health from the elemental feat pushes it over the top. I get to roll fewer dice but Sky rolling at +14 for 17.5 damage and a guaranteed 4 point shield seems a lot better than me rolling at +9.5 (assuming targeting will is ~1.5 better than ac) for 10.5 damage and 4 point shields to everyone around on a hit. That's more than double the damage and it would take 2 targets getting the shield (and using the health) every time I hit to make up the healing. So, I think I'm going to give elemental a spin and see how it works out.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Dungeons & Dragons : Shaman Pet!
Yesterday I started a hack and slash 4th edition D&D campaign. There are 4 player characters with varying degrees of familiarity with the system. (From knowing it well enough to rewrite it to having never played before.) I'd played before a couple years ago but am certainly a little rusty and not at all up on any of the new stuff they added after the first player's handbook. At any rate we decided to play a little fast and loose with some of the rules regarding character integrity. Basically, we can change anything we want between sessions which is nice since it meant I didn't really have to worry about what choices I made when building my character. Pick some things, see how they play out, change them if needed.
I'm the 'leader' of the group which pretty much means I'm the healer. I picked shaman as my class since pets are cool and the first choice I had to make was which type of pet I'd use. I picked the one that allowed my pet to flank (the only real campaign I'd played before I was a rogue and desperately needed to find ways to flank so I thought it might be useful). The pet you pick locks in a lot of your abilities and feats so a lot of stuff ends up changing if I decide to switch to a different pet.
Now, the other 3 characters in the party are all melee characters so it turned out there's a lot of flanking going on from other sources than my pet. On top of that, rogues apparently have better abilities to get combat advantage now than they did when I last played so they don't need my pet as much as I thought. And for my heals to work properly my pet needs to be beside an ally, not on the opposite side of a monster from them. In short, the flanking just didn't seem good enough to justify making the choice on its own which is why I made it in the first place. So, with 3 whole combats under my belt, it's time to consider switching which type of pet I use.
The first and possibly most important part of the choice is what 'boon' the pet grants. The 5 options are:
Elements: adjacent allies get +2 to saving throws, pet can be summoned as a free action if not on the field at start of turn
Protector: adjacent allies get +my con mod to second wind heals and all of my healing powers
Stalker: adjacent allies get +my int mod to damage against bloodied enemies
Watcher: some stuff that helps ranged attackers
World Speaker: allies get +my con mod to all defenses against opportunity attacks adjacent to pet
The ranged attacker one is clearly right out. Getting world speaker could help people position themselves better in order to flank amongst themselves which could be nice but can't really be quantified. Damage to bloodied units is what I have now but it didn't seem to really have much impact. It doesn't actually work on very many attacks especially since we have other bloodied effects going around. The +4 damage didn't apply to the first couple hits and was often just extra overkill on the later hits if they were even adjacent to my pet at all. Getting free actions would be nice for getting off to a good start to a fight and the +2 to saving throws will rarely come up but I can probably work out the positioning to make it happen when it does matter. Finally, getting to add 3 or 4 to all of my heals actually seems pretty strong. Right now my basic heal pretty much heals for 10+d6 and this alone would bring that up to 13+d6 to 18+d6. (My heal hits 2 targets so if they're both beside my pet they'd both get the +heal.)
So the question then is, do I need more healing? On my first try I tried to take a mix of healing and damaging abilities but ended up not doing such a good job. One of my healing abilities turned out to not be very good since I didn't have as high a con stat as I thought I did. Two others turned out to be mutually exclusive. I often found that my pet wasn't near anyone so my good heal was actually pretty bad. (This was a combination of trying to use my damage dealing abilities and forgetting that my pet doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.) Also when I did do damage it was a fair bit less than the damage the other people were doing. So, yes, I do think I could benefit from getting some more healing. Especially extra health healed that doesn't cost more healing surges.
Picking a pet also immediately locks in 1 of my at-will abilities and the opportunity attack my pet gets to make. What are those for the 5 choices, starting with the at-will standard attacks:
Elemental: pet disappears, adjacent ally makes a basic attack with +2 to hit and +4 to damage
Protector: pet attacks wisVwill, hits for d8+wis and every ally adjacent to the pet gets +con mod temporary hitpoints
Stalker: pet attacks wisVfort, hits for d10+wis, pet can flank for a turn (+1/2int to hit if bloodied)
Watcher: ally adjacent to pet or within 3 of me gets to make a basic attack, hit makes enemy grant combat advantage
World Speaker: pet attacks wisVwill, hits for d6+wis, hit or miss an ally within 2 squares of pet can shift 2
And now we see why the elemental pet can be summoned for free. It disappears when you make your standard attack. This removes the saving throw advantage so presumably I'd either not use this attack when someone needed to make a save or I'd resummon as a minor action. I think Sky's class in particular would benefit from the free attack with +2 to hit and +4 to damage but the rogue wouldn't like it very much at all. World Speaker again lets people position themselves properly. Maybe this will end up being a big deal but I don't feel like it's all that strong. Getting to do it even on a miss is nice, though. Allowing the flank just didn't seem that relevant and Watcher had a real bad boon. This leaves Protector which actually seems really strong. If I manage to get an 18 to con then everyone beside my pet would get a 4 point shield on a hit? Seems good!
And the opportunity attacks:
Elemental: wisVref, d6+wis damage and target grants combat advantage
Protector: wisVref, wis damage, hit or miss any ally within 5 squares heals for my wisdom modifier
Stalker: wisVref, d10+wis damage
Watcher: one ally within 10 squares can make a ranged basic attack with combat advantage
World Speaker: wisVwill, target stops moving on a hit
Now, the enemies seemed to avoid giving my pet an opportunity attack as it was so I don't know that this really matters. Watcher is again pretty much worthless with this group. Protector grants a free surgeless heal if it ever goes off which really seems like the best option here. I doubt I'd ever get to use it since they likely just try to kill my pet instead of letting someone heal for a bunch but it would be nice to have.
All told it really seems like the strongest ability from all 3 pools for my group is the protector one. The downside is it changes my secondary stat from int to con which probably means I should change race and puts a hit on my ac. (Which in turn makes it easier to kill my pet...) But it seems like it is at least worth a try! I just hope there's another con/wis race beside smelly dwarf...
I'm the 'leader' of the group which pretty much means I'm the healer. I picked shaman as my class since pets are cool and the first choice I had to make was which type of pet I'd use. I picked the one that allowed my pet to flank (the only real campaign I'd played before I was a rogue and desperately needed to find ways to flank so I thought it might be useful). The pet you pick locks in a lot of your abilities and feats so a lot of stuff ends up changing if I decide to switch to a different pet.
Now, the other 3 characters in the party are all melee characters so it turned out there's a lot of flanking going on from other sources than my pet. On top of that, rogues apparently have better abilities to get combat advantage now than they did when I last played so they don't need my pet as much as I thought. And for my heals to work properly my pet needs to be beside an ally, not on the opposite side of a monster from them. In short, the flanking just didn't seem good enough to justify making the choice on its own which is why I made it in the first place. So, with 3 whole combats under my belt, it's time to consider switching which type of pet I use.
The first and possibly most important part of the choice is what 'boon' the pet grants. The 5 options are:
Elements: adjacent allies get +2 to saving throws, pet can be summoned as a free action if not on the field at start of turn
Protector: adjacent allies get +my con mod to second wind heals and all of my healing powers
Stalker: adjacent allies get +my int mod to damage against bloodied enemies
Watcher: some stuff that helps ranged attackers
World Speaker: allies get +my con mod to all defenses against opportunity attacks adjacent to pet
The ranged attacker one is clearly right out. Getting world speaker could help people position themselves better in order to flank amongst themselves which could be nice but can't really be quantified. Damage to bloodied units is what I have now but it didn't seem to really have much impact. It doesn't actually work on very many attacks especially since we have other bloodied effects going around. The +4 damage didn't apply to the first couple hits and was often just extra overkill on the later hits if they were even adjacent to my pet at all. Getting free actions would be nice for getting off to a good start to a fight and the +2 to saving throws will rarely come up but I can probably work out the positioning to make it happen when it does matter. Finally, getting to add 3 or 4 to all of my heals actually seems pretty strong. Right now my basic heal pretty much heals for 10+d6 and this alone would bring that up to 13+d6 to 18+d6. (My heal hits 2 targets so if they're both beside my pet they'd both get the +heal.)
So the question then is, do I need more healing? On my first try I tried to take a mix of healing and damaging abilities but ended up not doing such a good job. One of my healing abilities turned out to not be very good since I didn't have as high a con stat as I thought I did. Two others turned out to be mutually exclusive. I often found that my pet wasn't near anyone so my good heal was actually pretty bad. (This was a combination of trying to use my damage dealing abilities and forgetting that my pet doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.) Also when I did do damage it was a fair bit less than the damage the other people were doing. So, yes, I do think I could benefit from getting some more healing. Especially extra health healed that doesn't cost more healing surges.
Picking a pet also immediately locks in 1 of my at-will abilities and the opportunity attack my pet gets to make. What are those for the 5 choices, starting with the at-will standard attacks:
Elemental: pet disappears, adjacent ally makes a basic attack with +2 to hit and +4 to damage
Protector: pet attacks wisVwill, hits for d8+wis and every ally adjacent to the pet gets +con mod temporary hitpoints
Stalker: pet attacks wisVfort, hits for d10+wis, pet can flank for a turn (+1/2int to hit if bloodied)
Watcher: ally adjacent to pet or within 3 of me gets to make a basic attack, hit makes enemy grant combat advantage
World Speaker: pet attacks wisVwill, hits for d6+wis, hit or miss an ally within 2 squares of pet can shift 2
And now we see why the elemental pet can be summoned for free. It disappears when you make your standard attack. This removes the saving throw advantage so presumably I'd either not use this attack when someone needed to make a save or I'd resummon as a minor action. I think Sky's class in particular would benefit from the free attack with +2 to hit and +4 to damage but the rogue wouldn't like it very much at all. World Speaker again lets people position themselves properly. Maybe this will end up being a big deal but I don't feel like it's all that strong. Getting to do it even on a miss is nice, though. Allowing the flank just didn't seem that relevant and Watcher had a real bad boon. This leaves Protector which actually seems really strong. If I manage to get an 18 to con then everyone beside my pet would get a 4 point shield on a hit? Seems good!
And the opportunity attacks:
Elemental: wisVref, d6+wis damage and target grants combat advantage
Protector: wisVref, wis damage, hit or miss any ally within 5 squares heals for my wisdom modifier
Stalker: wisVref, d10+wis damage
Watcher: one ally within 10 squares can make a ranged basic attack with combat advantage
World Speaker: wisVwill, target stops moving on a hit
Now, the enemies seemed to avoid giving my pet an opportunity attack as it was so I don't know that this really matters. Watcher is again pretty much worthless with this group. Protector grants a free surgeless heal if it ever goes off which really seems like the best option here. I doubt I'd ever get to use it since they likely just try to kill my pet instead of letting someone heal for a bunch but it would be nice to have.
All told it really seems like the strongest ability from all 3 pools for my group is the protector one. The downside is it changes my secondary stat from int to con which probably means I should change race and puts a hit on my ac. (Which in turn makes it easier to kill my pet...) But it seems like it is at least worth a try! I just hope there's another con/wis race beside smelly dwarf...
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