Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 ultimate_cap Jun 03, 2009 12:00:02	OK, after mulling over several options from various posts out here on speeding up 4e combat, I am considering implimenting the following... Damage scales with level. Characters and Monster add 1/2 level to thier attack damage. Attack damage means any attack that requires a "To Hit" roll (Auras, ongoing damage and the like are not affected). If the attack requires a roll, you apply the 1/2 level damage. Feedback please. Just want some opinions on how this will affect the game (aside from speeding up combat simply by virture of more damage output). Do any classes benifit substantially more from this mechanic then others? Do you foresee anything getting out of balance or "broken" from this mechanic. Does this not work any any particular tier of play? I'll sit back and read the replies and opinions. I welcome whatever feedback you may have. Thanks!!
#2 visanidethdm Jun 03, 2009 12:12:59	OK, after mulling over several options from various posts out here on speeding up 4e combat, I am considering implimenting the following... Damage scales with level. Characters and Monster add 1/2 level to thier attack damage. Attack damage means any attack that requires a "To Hit" roll (Auras, ongoing damage and the like are not affected). If the attack requires a roll, you apply the 1/2 level damage. Feedback please. Just want some opinions on how this will affect the game (aside from speeding up combat simply by virture of more damage output). Do any classes benifit substantially more from this mechanic then others? Do you foresee anything getting out of balance or "broken" from this mechanic. Does this not work any any particular tier of play? I'll sit back and read the replies and opinions. I welcome whatever feedback you may have. Thanks!! Static damage bonuses are already overpowered. Essentially here what you're doing is telling the 200 overpowered builds who produce 1k damage novas "here, have 300 damage more". I don't think it can work. You're gonna add insult to the biggest injury of the otherwise smooth 4th edition system (iterative attacks), and probably break the balance.
#3 tipop Jun 03, 2009 12:25:26	What Visanideth said, plus this rule would narrow the difference between strikers and other classes. For example: Let's say Strikers do an average of X damage. Controllers do an average of X/2 damage. If you add a static number to both, the difference between them becomes smaller.
#4 vaelan Jun 03, 2009 15:37:01	Since I don't think Visanideth was terribly clear (not everyone cares about the CO boards, you know?), I'll state it more plainly. Static bonuses apply once per attack. Powers that grant multiple attacks are already markedly superior to powers that grant a single, higher [W] attack because you get to apply the current suite of static bonuses multiple times. Piling on one more substantial static bonus makes the problem worse. If you want to do something like this, I'd handle it on the monster's end. Give them fewer hitpoints and bump their damage expressions.
#5 matt12 Jun 03, 2009 15:40:08	Then there's also the problem of recoverying from the damage. I've seen a few times where the monsters all pile onto one person or their dice rolling gets hot. Add that bonus damage for the monsters onto the players will equal some very dead parties.
#6 xtian Jun 03, 2009 15:56:47	I agree with the others, providing the fix on the party's end is asking to be abused. Perhaps not intentionally, but eventually someone is going to do something weird and then everyone will frown during an awkward silence. If you're worried about combat drag, reducing monster HPs is a good plan. Also, using high level elites and solos tends to bog combat down quite a bit; low-level elites and solos still do their job and don't turn into nearly as much of a grind fest. Plus it frees up more space in an encounter's XP budget for more creatures or even traps and hazards. I'm under the impression that, generally, encounters are better when there are move pieces to move around.