Martial Controller Duex

After posting my pronouncement last week, that I would be working up a controller build for the Ranger class, I went and looked over the class and immediately realized I had made a huge mistake. Unlike the Rogue, the Ranger has very few powers that impose conditions or force movement. Most of the Ranger's powers are simply more damage. So while I can't simply trade out the striker damage dice, I set about trying to figure a way to put my money where my mouth is. I think I've got it, finally, so let me know what you think!

New Class Feature

When you make your ranger, and you choose the Archer Fighting Style, you may choose this power instead of Hunter's Quarry.

Scattershot Ranger Feature

You have sacrificed the lethal focus of your ranger brethren in order to unleash a hail of arrows with every draw of your bow.

At-Will * Martial

Free Action

Effect: When you use a ranged martial attack power, you reduce the damage die of your weapon by one size (e.g. d10 becomes d8) and the attack becomes area burst 1. Any conditions or forced movement caused by the power are applied to all targets hit by the power.

Scattershot Ranger

You are a master of the multi-shot, the archer of many arrows. You scorn the idea of focusing upon one foe to the exclusion of all others, and instead direct your skills toward the thinning of herds, and controlling your enemies. Your allies know that when your bow is in hand, no swarm of savage fiends is too large, no host too great. The hum of your bowstring sings a song of evened odds and approaching victory.

Take Dexterity as your highest ability score since it dictates attack and damage for your ranged attacks. Make Wisdom your second highest since many of the extra effects of your powers will rely upon it. Strength can be tertiary in case you are forced into melee combat. Make sure you use a ranged weapon since Scattershot requires it, and focus on ranger attack powers that have the ranged weapon requirement. Whenever possible, choose powers that also impose a condition or forced movement, since your damage is lower than a normal ranger.

Suggested Feat: Far Shot (Human: Improved Initiative)

Suggested Skills: Acrobatics, Dungeoneering, Nature, Perception, Stealth

Suggested At-Will Powers: Careful Attack, Nimble Strike

Suggested Encounter Power: Evasive Strike

Suggested Daily Power: Hunter's Bear Trap

So there it is. Not thrilled with it, but I think it's workable, otherwise I wouldn't put it out there. Pouring over the Ranger powers reminded me of another pet peeve of mine. There are only four classes so far that have to choose between two primary abilities for their character and that choice will dictate power choices for the rest of the game. Most classes have a uniform primary ability, such as Wisdom for Avengers and Invokers, or Intelligence for Wizards. Ranger, Warlock, Cleric, and Paladin were split between two abilities. I'm not sure why this is, and I think next week, I'm going to spend a little time dissecting that design choice to see if I can find a reason for it, and if not, see if there is a reason the obvious fix is a bad idea. Tune in next week, same Bat time, same Bat channel!

Class Bloat, Past and Present

I was hitching a ride to a game this evening with a friend. Love my new house, hate how far away from everything I find myself. Oh well. Anyhow, we were discussing 4th Edition, our various grievances with the system, what we liked, etc. I was groaning about the pending release of Martial Power 2 in February of 2010. This led to the topic of the missing "Martial Controller" (All other Power Sources have one of each party role, only Martial has two strikers and no controller). The missing controller led to a more general discussion about class bloating. In D&D 3.5, after several years of source books, the base classes were getting unwieldy. Granted, there were still relatively few base classes, but with prestige classes, and relatively lax multi-classing, things were starting to get a bit out of control in terms of the number of classes. My friend was looking forward to the simplification of the system the new edition (4th Edition) would bring by paring down the number of classes. Now, he admitted, it was starting to feel like the old days. Invokers, Avengers, Wardens, and so on meant that while each Power Source had their requisite class fitting that certain role, you also had to have myriad source books and a solid grasp on the pros and cons of each class relative to its counterparts under other Power Sources.

On the whole, I like the flavor that each Power Source gives. I like being able to play a Shaman instead of a Cleric and have that decision mean something in how my character relates to the world. However, I understand my friend's point, and I certainly agree that the number of classes is getting somewhat extensive, perhaps even burdensome.

Fortunately, my friend did not simply complain about the state of the game, he made a suggestion. One that I thought held a lot of merit. So, with his permission (kind of) I am going to steal his idea and run with it. Instead of introducing more classes, create builds and selectable class features that alter a core class to fill a different party role. Clerics could sacrifice some healing in favor of damaging capabilities and suddenly you have a divine striker without having to bring in the Avenger. As an experiment in this vein, I've created rules for a "Martial Controller" build that doesn't add a class to the game, but instead uses on that is already there: the rogue. Here it is:

Mischief-maker Rogue

Any fool with a dagger can kill a man. It takes a true professional to sow discord amongst the ranks of his enemies. The talented don't need to kill with blades; they kill with misdirection, guile, and trickery. You have perfected the art of mischief-making, and through the mayhem you create, you bring your foes to their knees, where your allies can more easily dispatch them. You may not deliver the deep, life-ending blows so often associated with adventurers of your ilk, but your allies know your worth, and are just as happy to have you along. Your attacks use Dexterity, so make that should be your highest ability score. Charisma should be second highest because you still rely on combat advantage and using your force of personality to misdirect your foes' attentions. Strength falls third, because you rarely use brute force in a situation where speed and guile would suffice, but may find yourself in a corner and needing to fight "fair" for once.

Class Feature: Mischief-Making*

Suggested Feat: Distant Advantage** (Human: Far Shot)

Suggested Skills: Acrobatics, Bluff, Insight, Perception, Stealth, Thievery

Suggested At-Will Powers: Sly Flourish, Disheartening Strike***

Suggested Encounter Power: Impact Shot***

Suggested Daily Power: Blinding Barrage

*New option presented here.

** Presented in Arcane Power.

*** Presented in Martial Power.

Mischief-Making

If you choose this class feature instead of selecting Artful Dodger, Brutal Scoundrel, or Ruthless Ruffian, you also give up the Sneak Attack class feature. Instead, when you use a martial attack power that causes forced movement or imposes a condition on your target, you may make the attack against additional valid targets equal to the number of Sneak Attack dice you would normally have at your level. (e.g. A 3rd level Mischief-Maker rogue could choose to attack 3 targets within range with his Impact Shot power and could push all three assuming they were hit.)

There you have it, the "Martial Controller" Rogue. Turns out there are an awful lot of rogue powers that have a controller flavor to them, and if you expand the number of targets struck, the rogue suddenly fits the bill pretty well.

WARNING: DO NOT use this build if you are expecting the rogue to be the group striker. This is not a striker build, and therefore changes drastically the expectations upon a rogue.

Lastly, I got my hands on the DMG2 and Primal Power finally. I can say that I am quite happy with the attention "fluff" is getting in these newer books. In terms of straight crunch, both books are adequate, well designed, and seem to add some significant options for most classes (or campaigns in the case of DMG2.) My DM asked me what I thought of Primal Power stacked against other Power books and I'll just throw out this bit for you guys: unless you are playing a primal power source class in a campaign currently, I would wait until you are to snag Primal Power. It's great stuff, but not terribly useful outside of its direct sphere. Martial Power and Arcane Power seemed to be more broadly applicable. That said, the book is good, and well worth the cost if you can put it to use for you.

Next week: I think we'll take a look at the ranger and see if we can't make a controller build out of that class, in case your rogue player isn't interested!

Slap-Dash Bard Suggestions

I was going to have an awesome post full of deep, thought-provoking insight and intriguing suggestions. However, I recently purchased Dragon Age: Origins and therefore have not been doing much of anything except playing that game. So here's some half-baked ideas that I've tossed together as I rush off to work:



New Feats:

Cunning Recovery

Prerequisites: Bard, Virtue of Cunning class feature, 11th level

Benefit: When you miss with an arcane attack power with the healing key word and that power has no effect on a miss, you or an ally within range of your Virtue of Cunning regains hit points equal to your Intelligence modifier. This hit point gain cannot be increased by any means.



Valorous Tenacity

Prerequisites: Bard, Virtue of Valor class feature, 11th level

Benefit: When you miss with an arcane attack power with the healing keyword and that power has no effect on a miss, you or an ally within range of your Virtue of Valor gains temporary hit points equal to your Consitution modifier.



Prescient Pause

Prerequisites: Bard, Virtue of Prescience class Feature, 11th level

Benefit: When you miss with an arcane attack power with the healing keyword and that power has no effect on a miss, you or an ally within range of your Virtue of Prescience gains a bonus to all defenses equal to your Wisdom modifier until the end of your next turn.

I built these off the paragon feat created by Logan Bonner in his Class Acts article in Dragon Magazine on clerics. I felt like clerics, of all classes were the least needful in terms of needing that little bit of extra healing, and bards seemed a lot higher up on that list. Of course, then I figured I'd flavor them out for each bard build, since making it Intelligence-driven would be useless for Valor and Prescience bards. Anyhow, I am also toying with making it a touch more powerful (they are paragon feats after all) and making it a substitution for the Virtue power usually allowed (like sliding your ally when an enemy misses them). I limited the Virtue of Cunning feat because of the obvious synergy with the Summer Rhymer paragon path that would have your typical Cunning bard healing an ally for 8-12 hit points on a miss when a hit might have been less healing. Of course, if it were a substitution for the use of the Virtue power for the round, I might be a bit more inclined to allow for modifiers, but ultimately I think you run the risk of a paragon bard missing with a power that grants 10 hit points on a hit including the bonus for the Summer Rhymer paragon path granting 3-4 from the Intelligence modifier, +5-6 for the Summer Rhymer paragon path, +3-4 for a healer's brooch... suddenly that miss is more beneficial than a hit. I think I'll leave it limited, but won't make it mutually exclusive with the Virtue power.

That's all for this week. Hopefully I'll break that video game's vampiric hold on my soul and get something decent out next week. But in the meantime: if you liked Baldur's Gate and felt the original was in many ways the pinnacle of Bioware's RPG craft, you should check out Dragon Age: Origins. I avoid talking about video games on this blog, since it's a bit off topic, but since Green Ronin Publishing is making a PnP RPG of the game, I feel like I can at least mention it. Usually, I'm not a big fan of Green Ronin, but the backstory of this game is so good, I might have to check it out.

Getting a Handle on Enemies

I can't recall a time that I ran a Star Wars: Saga Edition game. I've always played in games run by a friend. And he runs pretty killer games. One thing he always grouses about, and even stumbles over as the game is running, is the stat blocks for enemies. After all the trash I was talking about 4th Edition D&D last week, I figured I'd play nice and try adapting the new monster stat block from 4th Edition for use with Saga Edition. I've also times myself at it to see roughly how much prep time it would consume to convert a few stat blocks for use at your game table. I grabbed a handy SW:SE book, so the NPCs come out of The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide. So hopefully, this is helpful to some of you besides my erstwhile GM. If it is, let me know!


Imperial Jump Trooper CL7

Force 1; Darkside 5
Init: +8; Senses: Perception +12(can reroll must take second result); Low-light vision
hp 51 bloodied 25 (threshold 20)
Defenses: Ref 24(FF 21); Fort 20; Will 16
Speed 6 (Flying: jetpack)
M: unarmed +9 (1d4+4)
M: Grapple +10
R: Blaster Rifle +12(3d8+3)
R: Rail Detonator Gun +12 (3d8+3, 1 square splash)
R: Strafing Run +10 (3d8+3) Targets a line 1 square by 4 squares (autofire) or all squares flown over while using jetpack (autofire)
S: Takes no penalties for firing into melee, or attacking a target with concealment.
S: Can move before and after an attack, provided movement does not exceed normal movement. S: +1 to attack and damage at point blank range.
Skills: Jump +11, Stealth +13
Str 13, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10
Possessions: rail detonator gun, blaster rifle, jumptrooper armor with helmet package, jetpack, comlink

Imperial Radiation Zone Trooper CL4

Force 1, Darkside 5
Init: +5; Senses: Perception +11, Low-light vision
hp 34 bloodied 17 (Threshold 19)
Defenses: Ref 19 (FF17); Fort 19 (25 vs Radiation); Will 14
Speed 6
M: unarmed +7 (1d6+2)
M: Grapple +7
R: Blaster Carbine +8 (3d8+1)
A: Autofire Blaster Carbine (Area 2 blast) +6 (3d8+1)
A: Frag Grenade (Area burst 2) +7 (4d6+1)
S: Aid Another is automatically successful when target is adjacent or at point blank range.
Skills: Endurance +10, Mechanics +9, Survival +9
Str 12, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10
Possessions: Blaster carbine, 2 frag grenades, Radtrooper armor with helmet package, comlink, radiation survival kit.

So it took me about 30 minutes to throw these two together. However, I had to look up several feats to make sure I incorporated their effects into the stat block for easy reference, and I had to look up some talents as well. I think when you start familiarizing yourself with those feats and talents, it will become even faster. In fact, the second stat block took roughly half as long as the first.

In newer Saga Edition books, the stat blocks have started resembling the 4th Edition monster block a little more closely, but even so, the choice not to include the specific numbers for autofiring, talents and feats that modify attacks, etc. has made running those stat blocks a little less GM-friendly. With a few minutes of quick work, they can be "streamlined." And they're reusable once you've converted them!

Hope this helps, and let me know how it works!

The Grass and It's Green-ness

A week ago, I had yet another rough session. The entire evening, I think I hit with one attack, maybe two. If I rolled above 10 the entire evening, it was no more than twice. I was complaining to a fellow player and made some vague threat to start playing 3.5 Edition D&D again and leaving 4th Edition. My friend responded that we had just as many problems when we played 3.5, "the grass is always greener." At the time I agreed, but more for a lack of any intelligent response than because I actually agreed. When it comes to comparisons of this current edition of D&D and previous ones, it has become harder and harder to make intelligent arguments for and against the new rule set. I've started to forget many of the problems of 3.5 and view it in a very idealized haze. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" as it were.

So I decided to sit down and think it through. I have a lot of free mental time at my day job, so I ran through what I could remember of 3.5 and matched it up with the problems I've had with 4th Edition. And the one thing that stuck out at me was that the biggest problem with 4th Edition, the issue that made me want to throw down my pencil and dice and find something else to play was the frustration of bad rolls. I quickly realized that this was very similar to 3.5, though I rarely played characters that were quite as roll-reliant in that edition. In 4th edition, you can't avoid being roll reliant.

In 3.5, a Sleep spell was very similar to the general structure of powers in 4th Edition. You cast the spell, the monster had a chance to resist (a saving throw, rather than you rolling to hit, like in 4th Edition) and if it failed, which was fairly likely in early levels, it fell unconscious. If it resisted, there was no effect, and you had essentially "wasted" your turn. 4th Edition has mitigated this in several ways. The Sleep spell power actually does something from the onset, so you don't have to worry about wasting the action. Daily powers in general have some effect even on a miss, or are at least not expended on a miss. Some powers have effects that work regardless of the success of your attack rolls, and utility powers always work, assuming they don't have a trigger that never occurs.

Yet as I laud the efforts of 4th Edition to reduce the pain of "wasted" turns, I find that in some ways that same problem is now exacerbated by the added reliance on hitting by rolling many powers into attacks. I assume that the logic went something like this:

"Most people want to be affecting enemies on their turn. Nobody really likes spending their turn healing someone else, buffing someone in the party, or otherwise 'doing nothing important.' Let's make most powers an attack so that when you heal/buff/aid your allies, you still get to do some damage and feel like you're contributing to the eventual demise of your enemies and not just standing in the back like a MMORPG 'healbot!'"

It's not a bad idea, but it does make something as simple as healing your companions a lot dicier. Sure all leaders get two free heals per encounter (well they cost a minor action, but they always hit, and they ultimately always restore at least 1/4th of the ally's hit points) but if you try to increase your healing potential, you inevitably encounter the need to select powers that heal "on hit." I know my bard has one encounter power like that. Only clerics have such a large number of utility powers that heal that they can avoid encounter powers that do so and still have plenty of healing powers to go around. And when you've used two majestic words to keep the defender up as the black dragon pounds him with savage attacks, and the striker misses his melee attack and takes damage from the dragon's immediate reaction power and becomes bloodied, it is even worse than feeling simply like you "wasted" your turn when your Theft of Life power misses, because not only did you fail to deal any damage in the round (the worst consequence in 3.5 when you missed an attack) but you didn't heal the striker, who is now one miss away from dropping.

Now it sounds like I'm picking on 4th Edition, because at least in 3.5 you didn't waste heals when you missed attacks. That's not what I'm trying to say at all. In reality, it wasn't that much better in 3.5 because if you weren't a cleric, you had to load your prepared spells with healing spells anyway to keep your allies standing, and you had to run around touching everyone because that was the range of healing spells, and so you literally did nothing but heal as a "leader" in 3.5.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that my friend was right on the money. I didn't know it at the time, but I know it now. The grass will always seem a little greener as you peek over that fence, but remember how many house rules we had for 3.5? Maybe, just maybe, it's time to start making a list for 4th Edition. We've had a year and change, we're all starting to get a grasp on what works and what doesn't for our groups. I know I've got a mental list going. I'm sure you all do as well. I think next week I'm going to float some ideas for my DM, see what he thinks. And when I get back to running my game, I'm going to issue some new house rules. I'm actually very happy with 4th Edition, though sometimes I have trouble remembering why. Now I just need to polish off the rough edges on our relationship. But like all good relationships, it takes a little work, but it's worth every minute.

And He's Down....

Apparently, all it took was a couple months for me to completely shatter the posting schedule I had created for myself. And as I suspected, once I broke the schedule it was inevitable that I would lose some inertia. So here's an off-day post that isn't really anything but an apology on the off-chance that someone out there was reading my posts and had some down time in the last two weeks that could not be filled with reading my ramblings.

Now that my wife and I are settling into our new house and I have functioning internet again, my OCD is kicking in and I am putting myself back to work on some blog posts. Hopefully, I'll start to build a stockpile so that in case another "Big Life Event" comes along, I won't drop off the grid like this time.

Sorry again, and I'll see you all Wednesday morning!

The Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game

Ever had a night where the Dice Gods are angry with you? I call them "Mondays." But seriously, I have often lamented the inherent "swingy-ness" of using a randomized number system to determine outcomes in RPGs. Sure, the night I roll four crits, I love my d20s; but when it takes me four sessions to hit with a new encounter power, I find myself struggling to not throw in the towel and go play solitaire. So what were we talking about? Oh, yes, The Marvel Universe Roleplaying Game!

I applaud the designers' intentions to keep this game streamlined and simple. The game lends itself to a minimum of accessories, which is certainly refreshing in this day and age where D&D is starting to feel a bit like Warhammer with all the mats, minis, cards, etc. The inclusion of play-ready stats for many super heroes and super villains means that a quick read-through of the rules and you're ready to hit the ground running.

I have to admit to a certain bias in favor of this game, since I've been a Marvel fan for a long time (though I'm not impartial with DC either...). Any game that gives me off-the-shelf stats to play Gambit has my vote. But setting that aside for a second, let's look at what makes this game successful.

The simplicity is great. The central mechanic of the game boils down to resource allocation. The rules generate numbers based on your character's statistics. These numbers tell you how many "stones" you have available for various actions. You then determine how many stones to assign to any given action. Assign too few, and you will not succeed, assign too many and you may find yourself short of available stones at a critical time later. This means that Spiderman never plummets to his death swinging through New York City because you rolled a one on your first "web-slinging" check of the night. This makes for an interesting, engaging method of action resolution, with a real possibility of failure (without which success becomes much less enjoyable) but without the arbitrary and often frustrating intervention of random numbers.

The other aspect of the game that I find outstanding is the leveling system. After completing a "Mission" the Gamesmaster awards 1-4 "Lines of Experience." These lines are a short sentence describing an activity you undertook at some point during the mission that lends itself to your character's improvement in a certain area. When ten lines of experience related to an "Action" (specific thing you can do in the game. e.g. Ranged Combat or Telepathy) are accumulated, you raise your action number by one, which increases the number of stones you can dedicate to undertaking that action, and raises the complexity of actions you can undertake. (If you have a Telepathy Action of 3 and "Creating a mental illusion" has a "Difficulty" or complexity rating of 4, you can't create mental illusions.) This system reminds me of computer games such as Betrayal at Krondor by Sierra, and the Elder Scrolls Series by Bethesda Softworks, where individual skills or abilities were improved through use, rather than a system such as D&D where regardless of the number of traps you have disarmed during your journey from first to second level, your rogue is now better at disarming traps.

Unfortunately, a simple game has simple innovations. I'd like to say more good things about it, but ultimately, these two features, combined with a strong encouragement toward roleplaying (lines of experience are partly awarded based on your portrayal of the character you play) make up the primary strengths of the game, and the main reasons I've found it so enjoyable. Where does it fall short? I'm glad you asked!

Lines of Experience are at once the greatest innovation and the worst implementation I've seen in quite a while. While the system encourages players to use the abilities that they want to improve, it does it hideously slowly. 1-4 lines of experience means that a hero must devote all lines of experience to a single action for two or more missions if they want to improve it as quickly as possible. And if the player is trying to keep the character well-rounded, it could take you ten or more missions to see a single point of improvement. Many people, myself included, derive a great deal of pleasure from watching their character grow and improve. Personally, I would examine giving more lines of experience, but capping the number that can be assigned to a single action per mission completed. This might allow for a faster growth curve, while keeping players from slamming all their lines into a single action to keep themselves "as powerful as everyone else." Of course, I haven't been playing the game long enough to see what kinds of balance issues this sort tweak to the leveling system might incur.

The final thing I'd like to mention is the vast player support for this game. The division of Marvel that created the game is apparently defunct, but the fan-base has kept the game alive and continued improving it. You can find general juicy tidbits, along with some miscellaneous stuff of undetermined value here. And here is a sourcebook for the Spiderman area of the Marvel Universe, created entirely by fans!