Any class/race that was presented in the PHB1 has a year of dragon issues to be expanded upon. PHB2 classes get a year less. PHB3 classes get 3 years less, etc. Each class will likely get a shot at an appearance in a power book... maybe.
So. My question is, do you think they'll intensify DDI efforts to embiggen the later classes to be on par with the first classes? Will every presented class be embiggened in a power book? Or is power creep going to be enough for the later classes, obviating the need for DDI embiggening content?
I really like to say embiggen.
Yeah, it is a fun word!
More to the point - hopefully they'll stick with their basic trend so far, which is to say that later books seem to lack a lot of race-specific stuff for earlier races. PHBII, for example, provided racial feats for those provided in PHBII, not for the PHBI races.
I actually really like that style, and like I said before hope it carries on.
Right now there are a lot of races and classes that haven't been touched in terms of class acts in DRAGON so I figure eventually they'll get to them.
According to the Compendium...
For the PHB1 Classes
Clerics have 91 powers.
Fighters have 197 powers.
Paladins have 74 powers.
Rangers have 178 powers.
Rogues have 190.
Warlock has 235.
Warlord has 187.
Wizard has 191.
Average for the PH11 classes: 167.
(Exclude the warlock, an outlier, and the average is 157)
For the PHB2 classes
Avenger: 187
Barbarian: 91
Bard: 180
Druid: 106
Invoker: 84
Shaman: 91
Sorcerer: 179
Warden: 82
Average for the PHB 2 classes: 125
The PHB2 average is only 42 fewer powers despite a year less support time.
(And only 32 fewer if we exclude the warlock.)
Non-PHB classes
Swordmage: 178.
The psion and the monk each have 41, despite being previews only.
The artificer has 84.
Time seems to add some support, but the benefit of time does not appear to be directly related to publication time. Two PHB1 classes and four PHB2 classes have fewer than 100 powers. Paladins (PHB1) have the fewest number of powers! Similarly, the PHB2 has three classes with more than the PHB1 average number of powers, and the Avenger (PHB2) is tied for fourth!
While they may have fewer powers/support, they start out embiggened rather than needing it to keep pace with the others. (HA! Fit it in!)
Also, IMO, the later classes are better in-tune with the game than the earlier ones. The PHB Wizard didn't do what it was supposed to do. Arcane Power comes out and BOOM, lookit what he can do! Warden is a good 20 times better than a fighter, and a Sorcerer can outpace the other strikers in base damage almost 3-to-1 (at least in my experience).
While they may have fewer powers/support, they start out embiggened rather than needing it to keep pace with the others. (HA! Fit it in!)
Umm... the sorcerer IME is a low damage controllery striker, not up there with the ranger in terms of raw damage output. The Warden is good, but the fighter is possibly the best class in the game right now, even after the recent errata.
I will agree, however, that the later classes are more in-tune with the game, but this has more to do with their distinctive mechanics and the general decrease in MAD.
Embiggen is an awesome word, carry on.
Indeed it is, but "worser" is none of these things. Worser is not awesome, nor is it a word. I am sorry. So, so sorry...
So, we have a few arcs.
The base power arc - Are the base classes in later publications simply getting more powerful?
The design felicity arc - Are the base classes in later publications benefiting from designer experience? Less MAD, a better handle on roles?
The options arc - Are the earliest classes benefiting from simply having more options available, as they've been subject to more embiggenation from the periodical publications?
I don't see a trend in later classes being more powerful.
I do see a design felicity trend, later classes seem to fit a bit their roles better than some of the earlier classes, they have less MAD, etc.
I'm not sure if there's an options trend. Earlier classes have had more time, but later classes seem to be getting more intense focus at an earlier stage, and perhaps that's compensating appropriately?
So. My question is, do you think they'll intensify DDI efforts to embiggen the later classes to be on par with the first classes? Will every presented class be embiggened in a power book? Or is power creep going to be enough for the later classes, obviating the need for DDI embiggening content?
I really like to say embiggen.
I'm holding off on rolling up a paladin until Divine Power comes out later this month. It's my hope that the pally will be emiggened ;) in the coming months of Insider. The paladin was a favored class in earlier games (it exemplifies a 'man of action' for me-- think Captain Kirk). I didn't realize just how 'thread-bare' it currently is.
I don't usually worry about power creep but I think it's going to be enough for the later classes, even if they don't get embiggened with DDI content.
Ooh! I managed to squeeze emiggened three times in the same post. Fun :D.
Umm... the sorcerer IME is a low damage controllery striker, not up there with the ranger in terms of raw damage output.
[ ] You have seen a properly built Sorcerer in play.
[X] You're confusing Sorcerer and Warlock.
[ ] You have seen a properly built Sorcerer in play.
[X] You're confusing Sorcerer and Warlock.
Hehe, that may be so. I wont start a Sorcerer thread here, but when at level 5 you have a +12 to damage, no matter what the spell, you can be concidered one hell of a GREAT striker.
Why not? It's a perfectly cromulent word.
I believe the question is valid (and concur that embiggen is a great word). However, I do not believe the concern is validated by the evidence.
For the PHB2 classes
Avenger: 187 (powers)
Apparently a typo. I found only 86
Edit: Occurs to me that I have the DDI, so I could look this up. The first number is the number of extra powers the class has which don't come from published books, the second is how many articles, the M is whether they got powers from the miniatures.
So, to interpret these numbers: Every PHB 1 class has received new powers from Dragon and miniatures. The Paladin has got the least attention, with only 3 powers from 1 article and the minis together. Warlock is rolling in it, with 33 powers from 5 articles and the minis. We can see that the attention the Warlock has received in Dragon has pushed it significantly into the lead as far as sheer number of powers. It has had a 15 percent boost in the number of total powers, not an insignificant number.
Druid is the only class without a "Power" book that has over 100 powers, because of the 19 he got from the summons article in Dragon. The Druid got a huge number of powers from just one article.
Still, the advantage of a year's worth of Dragon articles is only, on average, 7 or 8 powers. What really matters for sheer number of powers is the appearance of a class in a Power Source book, which pretty much doubles the powers.
So, how about the Artificer. Arcane Power came and went - does the Artificer get an appearance in Arcane Power II? If so, does he then get more attention than the other classes, to make up for missing the first one? If not, does he get 80 or so powers in a big Dragon article?
For the PHB1 Classes
Clerics: 9/3/m
Fighters: 10/2/m
Paladins: 3/1/m
Rangers: 15/2/m (Ranger was embiggened by 12 in an article not yet in the compendium)
Rogues: 4/1/m
Warlock: 33/5/m
Warlord: 11/2/m
Wizard: 12/4/m
Average for the PHB1 classes: 12.12, 9.14 if we exclude the Warlock
For the PHB2 classes
Avenger: 4/1
Barbarian: 0/0
Bard: 5/2
Druid: 19/1
Invoker: 0/0
Shaman: 4/1
Sorcerer: 1/1
Warden: 0/0
Average for the PHB 2 classes: 4.25, or 2.00 if we exclude the Druid.
Non-PHB classes
Swordmage: 15/3
Artificer: 0/0
Hehe, that may be so. I wont start a Sorcerer thread here, but when at level 5 you have a +12 to damage, no matter what the spell, you can be concidered one hell of a GREAT striker.
BOOM! HEAD SHOT!
I have played a dragon sorcerer for a few sessions and can say that my character does not do as much damage to one opponent but does a bit of damage to a lot of them. I have had the problem with targeting my own party so he must be played, in my opinion, as partially away from the majority of the party (isolating avenger in a way.) This may not be the case as he goes up in level but I will see.
Could be something to do with the powers you chose. There are loads of powers for a Sorcerer that can hit a single target. But yes, a lot of their area attacks say creature or each target in the area, as opposed to each enemy, IIRC. Try retraining a few of your powers and see what happens. Also, if you haven't yet, try looking in Arcane Power. There are some excellent powers in there, no matter what you decide to do with your character.
Also, as a tip, if you decide to multiclass, Swordmage is always a nice choice, if you have your Strength as a secondary stat.
It's an intentional regularization of an irregular English comparative. The regular rule of comparatives is to take the base adjective, add R for the comparative, and ST for the superlative.
Fast, FasteR, FasteST - regular.
Bad, worse, worST - irregular
worse, worseR, worST - humorous regularization of a comparative.
You understand what it means, because it fits the rule of comparatives in English. But because of the linguistic irregularities that created different words for this particular, irregular, comparative, it is not a 'proper' English word. It is still a word - because you understand what it means.
Apparently a typo. I found only 86
I thought that number looked wrong. (If it's not wrong, then the Avenger has as many powers as classes which have appeared in two books, before Divine Power is even included!)
It means worse than worse, but not as worse as worst.
It's an intentional regularization of an irregular English comparative. The regular rule of comparatives is to take the base adjective, add R for the comparative, and ST for the superlative.
Fast, FasteR, FasteST - regular.
Bad, worse, worST - irregular
worse, worseR, worST - humorous regularization of a comparative.
You understand what it means, because it fits the rule of comparatives in English. But because of the linguistic irregularities that created different words for this particular, irregular, comparative, it is not a 'proper' English word. It is still a word - because you understand what it means.
Ahhh... pain. If English was my native language I'd have to smite you for that.
+12 to damage is pretty darn good but my 4th level rogue has a +11 right now with a +2 vicious dagger only too.
Alright, that's pretty impressive. I had a level 6 rogue that was having a hard time getting +8 damage.
EDIT: Also keep in mind I'm an arcane specialist, and not a martial specialist so my experience with Martial powers is limited.