Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 epochgames Jun 14, 2008 2:10:19	This is more of a general question than anything else, but I'll provide an example or two as well. One of the main problems I am having is the general "lack" of information in the power abilities. It seems they don't have the full information required to adjudicate them properly without house-ruling. Some of these are perhaps relatively simple, relying on determining intent rather than semantics. The level 16 Ranger utility Evade the Blow (page 110 PHB) states the trigger is "an enemy hits you with a melee attack." The effect of the ability is "Move 1 square away from the enemy." Now, the intent, particularly based on the name of the ability would seem to clearly be that no damage is done from this otherwise successful attack, and your character gets to move one square away as a free action without granting combat advantage. Now, I've never been a big rules lawyer. Most people point out this minor inconstancies and mis-wordings to me when it comes to rules. This time around, though, I am seeing this sort of thing a LOT, and without even trying. This hasn't happened before to me, so I asked some of my friends who have the books, and most have made assumptions based on the same theory of reading intent. That's not always the case, and they have all said that they've noticed it here in 4E almost as if, with all the blood, sweat, and tears poured into the project, editing may have been a bit sub-par. Is anyone else seeing this? Can we/should we expect later print runs to correct these things? It seems if an errata is printed, it might be almost as big as the core product. Now, the second issue I am having is the troubling lack of durations. Is there a default duration for powers? Is it by power type (at-will, encounter, daily? I can't seem to find it. Here is an example, again from the ranger, on page 110 again, right below Evade the Blow. Longstride is a utility exploit that increases your movement by 2? How long? Until the end of your turn? Until the end of an encounter? Was it supposed to have a set amount based on some other modifier? I mean, the level 10 utility, Expeditious Stride, allows you to move +4 and shift an extra square until the end of the turn. The Expeditious Stride is an encounter versus the Longstride is a daily. Again, there are a lot more like this without any sort of duration listed, where--at least to me--the intent isn't fully clear. Am I missing it somewhere? How have others handled it?
#2 mysterikery Jun 14, 2008 3:11:34	I think you're just missing things. Evade the Blow is an Immediate Interrupt, meaning that its action happens before the trigger --- if that means you are now out of range, you won't be hit. Since the movement is a shift, it does indeed mean you don't provoke an opportunity attack. This is a daily ability, mind you - and it isn't useful if your opponent has reach or is using an attack with a larger range unless you're on the edge of its range, so it isn't broken. Read p268 of the PHB on "Triggered Action Types" about Interrupts. Longstrider is a stance. Stances last until the end of the encounter, or for 5 minutes, or until you use another stance. Read p55 of the PHB on "Keywords" about Stances.
#3 epochgames Jun 14, 2008 10:22:40	I think you're just missing things. Evade the Blow is an Immediate Interrupt, meaning that its action happens before the trigger --- if that means you are now out of range, you won't be hit. Since the movement is a shift, it does indeed mean you don't provoke an opportunity attack. This is a daily ability, mind you - and it isn't useful if your opponent has reach or is using an attack with a larger range unless you're on the edge of its range, so it isn't broken. Read p268 of the PHB on "Triggered Action Types" about Interrupts. Longstrider is a stance. Stances last until the end of the encounter, or for 5 minutes, or until you use another stance. Read p55 of the PHB on "Keywords" about Stances. Thanks so much. This is exactly what I needed to know. Have a cookie.