I'm DMing a group and we're starting out at 1st level. In the party there's a Sorcerer and when glancing at some of the powers I thought maybe a few could be altered for more realism. With Acid Orb, it normally does 1d10 + Charisma modifier. How about less damage, but on a hit it does a -1 to AC permenantly to the enemy (only if the enemy is wearing armor). And when a critical is rolled, the enemy would be blinded for one round because it went into the eyes (of course this would only affect creatures with vision from eyes). Example below.
With Storm Walk, I was thinking of making it like a stomp of the foot the Sorcerer can do. Instead of ranged 10 with 1d8+charisma modifier, the damage can be lowered and it would a close blast (or all squares adjacent) which would then allow movement after the attack without getting OA from those hit because the enemies are stunned by thunder temporaryly.
I do want these to be balanced of course. Also I'm not going to change these powers without the consent of the gamer. What do you guys think?
Cheers,
Will
Horrendously terrible idea.
Can you elaborate?
First off, realism and D&D do not match. So don't go that way.
Second off, this power is useful against about 30% of monsters and fairly useless against the rest, which makes it highly situational, which sucks for an at-will that should be useful in each encounter.
Also it's complicated because crits do extra things, the crit-property makes little sense from a realism standpoint (it also works on Blind creatures, as written now) and also relies pretty much on DM-fiat, which is bad.
Beyond that, it's really brutal against Solo creatures with armor because you can keep stacking it on until everyone hits on a 1.
Not too mention allowing an at-will to do anything until the end of the encounter is a bad idea, things like that are generall saved for daily powers (which are normally save ends not until end of encounter)
As for the second power, allowing an at-will to stun is an aboslutely awful idea. Stun is one of the most powerful status effects in the game since it renders the target useless, so even for a round that is overpowered.
Not trying to shoot down all of your ideas but they are rather unbalanced.
i'd just say that re-forming them with some additional impact while keeping the at-will status isn't keeping with the spirit of strikerism. (slightly)
plus, if the -1 to AC were allowed, there is no reason it could not affect all creatures regardless of armor. but it should be specifically non-stacking. might be best as a -1 to next attack as they might be slightly distracted due to burning acid. however, a lasting condition like that leans leader or controller. that high damage die is part of the striker role that a sorcerer should fill.
the storm walk would be better as a close blast or burst than ranged. but that's me personally. 'call lightning' makes sense at range, but 'storm walk' can be sent over a distance? sure, just change the name, but it would be a bit more fun to have the escape card ready by creating a thunderous boom around you, then moving while the surrounding enemies are stunned until the end of next turn. plus, that added mobility is part of the striker mantra.
so, i'd say the change to storm walk is probably a good to reasonable adjustment, but don't lower the damage too much. acid orb is what it is.
the storm walk would be better as a close blast or burst than ranged. but that's me personally. 'call lightning' makes sense at range, but 'storm walk' can be sent over a distance? sure, just change the name, but it would be a bit more fun to have the escape card ready by creating a thunderous boom around you, then moving while the surrounding enemies are stunned until the end of next turn. plus, that added mobility is part of the striker mantra.
so, i'd say the change to storm walk is probably a good to reasonable adjustment, but don't lower the damage too much. acid orb is what it is.
You think it's balanced to allow an at-will power to stun?
the storm walk would be better as a close blast or burst than ranged. but that's me personally. 'call lightning' makes sense at range, but 'storm walk' can be sent over a distance? sure, just change the name, but it would be a bit more fun to have the escape card ready by creating a thunderous boom around you, then moving while the surrounding enemies are stunned until the end of next turn. plus, that added mobility is part of the striker mantra.
so, i'd say the change to storm walk is probably a good to reasonable adjustment, but don't lower the damage too much. acid orb is what it is.
You think it's balanced to allow an at-will power to stun?
not so much, but perhaps allowing PC to shift away from those enemies only could give the resulting mobility without actually giving stun condition as a rider. perhaps instead of that, a penalty to the resulting opportunity attack if the PC moves away and provokes.
it might be i that i missed the intent of the OP, but it seemed like he wanted to bring that power closer to the PC and create an effect that would allow that PC to move away from being surrounded. while i don't think the balance suffers so much in just changing the ranged attack to a blast or burst, that does significantly change the nature of the power from a strikerish power to a controllerish power.
offering that condition attached further pushes toward controller. for a storm sorc, maybe controller is a fair secondary role. however, once changed to a close attack, that sorc would have to get in close in order to really make it useful, so it wouldn't likely become the bread and butter power. i'd be willing to bet that it would become a standby power for use when the PC gets too much close action. so PC would probably still rely on other powers that have been more carefully playtested and balanced.
but, i agree, offering stun as a rider condition would be unbalancing. if the OP is looking to reduce the damage die, maybe offering a rider that strong would be a reasonable trade-off.
i wouldn't do it myself, but i'm sure that i'd give something associated with a close thunder-based power that allows the PC to increase mobility afterward. maybe it could push back instead of doing any penalty or condition. that offers space to get away or re-engage the desired target.
I think you and I are on the same page for Storm Walk. The name a of it and the description, "The thunder of your steps batters your foe" doesn't seem to fit well. But having it affect enemies around you would make sense. Also the power effect is, "Before or after the attack, you shift 1 square." So why not just say, the sorcerer stomps sending brute thunderous power into the ground and shaking the enemies around her to their bones. Then he/she can move without getting an attack of opportunity since those around her would be shaken up by the thunder and unable to focus. It wouldn't affect their next turn or an affect to last around, but just allowing free movement after the attack without worrying about getting attacked. It really would be good to get out of being toe to toe with enemies.
Also, and this is why I feel even more inclined to change the Storm Walk power, there is already a level 1 at-will power that is ranged and is Charisma vs. Fortitude already. The at-will power Dragonfrost. The only different in the PHB2 is Dragonfrost pushed the target one square and Storm Walk allows you a shift. That's it.
As for Acid Orb, I think I agree with everyone. The acid to the eyes to is powerful and -1 AC that's stackable is too much. I'll have to rethink it or just drop it all together.
~Will