Comments on: Review: 4E Warden Preview (PHB2) http://cbpye.net/wp/107 “Your search for a blog just yielded heretical results.” Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:44:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: 4E: “Oriental” Classes : Tabletops http://cbpye.net/wp/107/comment-page-1#comment-100 4E: “Oriental” Classes : Tabletops Thu, 22 Jan 2009 21:10:25 +0000 http://cbpye.net/wp/?p=107#comment-100 [...] power source - the Warden and Sorcerer classes make that clear. (As written, by the way, the Warden will be ridiculously powerful if it’s not subject to a massive overhaul before publication.) This may not be a bad thing. [...] [...] power source – the Warden and Sorcerer classes make that clear. (As written, by the way, the Warden will be ridiculously powerful if it’s not subject to a massive overhaul before publication.) This may not be a bad thing. [...]

]]> By: Christopher Pye http://cbpye.net/wp/107/comment-page-1#comment-43 Christopher Pye Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:07:19 +0000 http://cbpye.net/wp/?p=107#comment-43 I haven't been following much of what Mearls has said, but I'm pretty sure his remark about the "shininess" of PHB2 classes (excepting the Druid) is accurate. I've playtested the barbarian on two occasions now and it's a mostly solid class. I haven’t been following much of what Mearls has said, but I’m pretty sure his remark about the “shininess” of PHB2 classes (excepting the Druid) is accurate. I’ve playtested the barbarian on two occasions now and it’s a mostly solid class.

]]> By: Thomas http://cbpye.net/wp/107/comment-page-1#comment-42 Thomas Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:59:15 +0000 http://cbpye.net/wp/?p=107#comment-42 1. I can understand your frustrations with 4e. When my local game first started up combats took us about 2 hours. We set up limitations on how long you had to deliberate on your actions and things became much more streamlined. I’m also in a Dark heresy game and have loved it thus far. It’s been a bit frustrating recently as we’re doing a social/espionage mission and my Psyker isn’t exactly subtle. The problem I’m having at the moment is we play our game like a resource pool for an Inquisitor. We’ve each got 2 PCs and the Inquisitor builds a team around the mission. For some reason XIV (Angry Paranoid Voidborn Psyker) was sent instead of Tauron (Kind, gentle social Noble Arbitrator). Back to 4e: it seems to me like people will primarily pick Con based Wardens, which would lead to a poor Will and Reflex defense. When I said “lower damage potential” I didn’t mean in the amount of enemies they’ll hit, but in how hard they’ll hit them. Note that just one of the encounters does more than 1[W] damage. Mike Mearls said that we’d look at PHB 2 classes and think them shinier than the PHB classes. Thus far that’s been the case with most things we’ve seen (Druid excluded). He also said that we’ll see pretty quickly that they’re not as over-powered as they look. We’ve had a play test barbarian in our party for the last 2ish months and have begun to notice that very thing with him. I think in the end the new classes won’t be “better” they’ll just be “different.” But that’s just my $.02 1. I can understand your frustrations with 4e. When my local game first started up combats took us about 2 hours. We set up limitations on how long you had to deliberate on your actions and things became much more streamlined.
I’m also in a Dark heresy game and have loved it thus far. It’s been a bit frustrating recently as we’re doing a social/espionage mission and my Psyker isn’t exactly subtle.
The problem I’m having at the moment is we play our game like a resource pool for an Inquisitor. We’ve each got 2 PCs and the Inquisitor builds a team around the mission. For some reason XIV (Angry Paranoid Voidborn Psyker) was sent instead of Tauron (Kind, gentle social Noble Arbitrator).
Back to 4e: it seems to me like people will primarily pick Con based Wardens, which would lead to a poor Will and Reflex defense.
When I said “lower damage potential” I didn’t mean in the amount of enemies they’ll hit, but in how hard they’ll hit them. Note that just one of the encounters does more than 1[W] damage.
Mike Mearls said that we’d look at PHB 2 classes and think them shinier than the PHB classes. Thus far that’s been the case with most things we’ve seen (Druid excluded). He also said that we’ll see pretty quickly that they’re not as over-powered as they look. We’ve had a play test barbarian in our party for the last 2ish months and have begun to notice that very thing with him.
I think in the end the new classes won’t be “better” they’ll just be “different.” But that’s just my $.02

]]> By: Christopher Pye http://cbpye.net/wp/107/comment-page-1#comment-41 Christopher Pye Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:41:26 +0000 http://cbpye.net/wp/?p=107#comment-41 Thanks for pointing out the Immediate Reaction (rather than Interrupt) bit on Warden's Grasp, and the limitation on the number of immediate actions a person can take. I'll probably edit in a notice to read the comments section. I wouldn't say that the warden sacrifices damage potential for survivability, however. Strength is one of the warden's primary attributes, and he can't do much in the way of defending if he can't hit anything. The warden gets two saving throws per turn, one of them before the effect can impede/harm him. Characters usually don't get something like that until they reach the Paragon tier. This isn't bad for a defender, it's very good. Too good, even. As for his reflex and will defenses being poor (I'm assuming those were the two you were talking about?): the dailies can augment one of the two defenses, and if a warden should value WIS over CON then he will have good FORT and WILL, while relying on his dailies and shield to pick up the slack on reflex defense. I won't deny that I'm a harsh person when it comes to 4e. I jumped on the bandwagon when it first came out, loved it, then began to wish it were more like SW SAGA edition. Since I can't get in on any of those games, I either play Dark Heresy or sit through games of 4e with incompetent people who take 3 to 6 minutes deciding which one of their six powers to use. Thanks for pointing out the Immediate Reaction (rather than Interrupt) bit on Warden’s Grasp, and the limitation on the number of immediate actions a person can take. I’ll probably edit in a notice to read the comments section.

I wouldn’t say that the warden sacrifices damage potential for survivability, however. Strength is one of the warden’s primary attributes, and he can’t do much in the way of defending if he can’t hit anything. The warden gets two saving throws per turn, one of them before the effect can impede/harm him. Characters usually don’t get something like that until they reach the Paragon tier. This isn’t bad for a defender, it’s very good. Too good, even.

As for his reflex and will defenses being poor (I’m assuming those were the two you were talking about?): the dailies can augment one of the two defenses, and if a warden should value WIS over CON then he will have good FORT and WILL, while relying on his dailies and shield to pick up the slack on reflex defense.

I won’t deny that I’m a harsh person when it comes to 4e. I jumped on the bandwagon when it first came out, loved it, then began to wish it were more like SW SAGA edition. Since I can’t get in on any of those games, I either play Dark Heresy or sit through games of 4e with incompetent people who take 3 to 6 minutes deciding which one of their six powers to use.

]]> By: Thomas http://cbpye.net/wp/107/comment-page-1#comment-40 Thomas Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:18:57 +0000 http://cbpye.net/wp/?p=107#comment-40 This is my first time reading your opinions, as such it's my first time responding. I was looking for opinions on the recently previewed Warder and this came up in Google. I will say off the bat that I find your opinion harsh and more than a little "knee-jerk." “Some dude within 5 squares of me (marked by me) attacks my buddy. I immediately interrupt this attack action and slide him a square, slowing him and denying him any shifting until the end of his turn." The power is an immediate reaction. This means that your buddy gets hit and then you pull the guy off of him. This is a less effective means of defending than, say, hitting the guy. “Oh, here’s another thing that I just noticed is missing: a limitation on the number of times per encounter (or even per-round, for that matter) that this power can be used.” PHB page 268. There is a limitation on the amount of immediate actions you get per round. I also found nothing exceptional about the powers other than the dailies. They seem mostly reasonable creep-wise and fun fluff/flavor-wise. In regards to “Font of Godlike:” I feel that one extra saving throw isn’t a horrible thing for someone with two poor defenses, both of which are likely to be attacked by status effects. The Warden has sacrificed damage potential for survivability, is that really a bad thing in a class whose role is “Defender?” This is my first time reading your opinions, as such it’s my first time responding. I was looking for opinions on the recently previewed Warder and this came up in Google. I will say off the bat that I find your opinion harsh and more than a little “knee-jerk.”

“Some dude within 5 squares of me (marked by me) attacks my buddy. I immediately interrupt this attack action and slide him a square, slowing him and denying him any shifting until the end of his turn.”

The power is an immediate reaction. This means that your buddy gets hit and then you pull the guy off of him. This is a less effective means of defending than, say, hitting the guy.

“Oh, here’s another thing that I just noticed is missing: a limitation on the number of times per encounter (or even per-round, for that matter) that this power can be used.”

PHB page 268. There is a limitation on the amount of immediate actions you get per round.

I also found nothing exceptional about the powers other than the dailies. They seem mostly reasonable creep-wise and fun fluff/flavor-wise.

In regards to “Font of Godlike:” I feel that one extra saving throw isn’t a horrible thing for someone with two poor defenses, both of which are likely to be attacked by status effects. The Warden has sacrificed damage potential for survivability, is that really a bad thing in a class whose role is “Defender?”

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