Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Tzepish May 18, 2009 20:17:38	I love Utility powers, and I believe them to be under-utilized. Suppose I were to create a house rule for my campaigns - characters get DOUBLE the utility powers (2 level 2 powers, 2 level 6 powers, etc.). How could I enact this rule without wrecking the balance of the game? Obviously the characters will be more powerful, but it's hard to say just how much more powerful...
#2 bone_naga May 18, 2009 20:31:00	I like utility powers too, but I don't know about double, that seems a bit much. I just added a couple more slots onto the progression class so they gain an extra power here and there over time. I also instituted a houserule that players can swap out attack powers for utility powers of the same type (at-will/encounter/daily) of equal or lower level. I also made all the level 2 utilities available at level 1 if a player chooses to take this option.
#3 masteraaron May 18, 2009 21:25:38	You've got a serious and unfortunate problem here, and it's the fault of the designers. Utility powers are great in theory - they let you slot many of the traditional abilities of a class, especially spellcasting classes, into the rules cleanly without making them rituals (i.e., requiring considerable time and money to utilize). Consider classes like the Wizard, which get many genuine Utility abilities in their utility power slots. However, that's not the case with all classes. In many cases, utility powers are additional combat powers without an attack attached. For every Druid or Wizard with a full listing of clever tricks, you have a Fighter with combat-only gimmicks. I get the sense that you're trying to favor the first group, and that's really what should be happening. There should be lots of interesting options. But if you just increase the availability of utility powers, you are also substantially increasing the combat effectiveness of some classes, especially martial and striker classes. That could have some very problematic effects, as some utility powers, especially daily utilities which grant encounter-long effects or stances, would become too accessible.