But at the same time, why does a wizard suddenly "forget" how to cast Fireball, especially since it's in his/her spellbook? The same goes for pretty much any other class with pretty much any other power.
Here's the solution I came up with;
USING OLD ATTACK POWERS
If a character replaces an old encounter or daily attack power with a new one, he or she can still use the old power, but with an added cost. To use an old encounter attack power, the character must expend the use of a higher level encounter attack power as well as a healing surge (without restoring any HP). To use an old daily attack power, the character must expend the use of a higher level daily attack power as well as an action point (without gaining an extra action or any other benefit).
This even adds fun roleplaying applications. For instance, a fighter who tires a bit from spending a healing surge to use Rain of Blows might note that he's "getting to old for this sh*t." Or, when an archmage decides he wants to use Fireball, he may flip through his spellbook until he finds the proper page and remark "Ah! Here it is! I might be a little rusty, but let's have a go at this..."
And so on.
So what do you guys think? Does it work? Will you use it for your own games?
Originally I told my players if they didn't want to ditch a good ability (like say, a fighter's Rain of Blows, which makes spear and flail fighters pretty hardcore) I myself would make a higher level version, but eventually it occurred to me that that would be a lot of work.
So I came up with this system, and yes, it does require players to expend more resources to use a less effective attack. But at least the players know their old abilities aren't "forgotten"; they've just learned so much since then, they've gotten a bit rusty.
I love 4e, but one thing that's bugged me since it came out is that starting at 13th level, characters begin replacing old abilities with new abilities. From a mechanical standpoint this makes sense; for instance, you don't want players acquiring too many encounter powers, because then they won't use their at-wills very often.
But at the same time, why does a wizard suddenly "forget" how to cast Fireball, especially since it's in his/her spellbook? The same goes for pretty much any other class with pretty much any other power.
I know, it's absurd especially in the case of wizards who supposedly learn from books. This is my house rule, which all my PCs have the option to use regardless of class:
--You loose the ability to retrain powers.
--You gain a spell book, prayer book or exercise manual that you record all your powers in. You can switch powers around your "power slots" during an extended rest.
--You retain all old powers, on the off chance that they become useful in a particular circumstance. Doesn't happen very often, but old utilities in particular sometimes come in handy.
--I drop class- and level-appropriate spell books, prayer books or exercise manuals for your benefit in addition to all the normal loot I drop during adventures.
--You can research a class- and level-appropriate power for the cost of the sale price of a magical item of its level.
TS
That said;
--You retain all old powers, on the off chance that they become useful in a particular circumstance. Doesn't happen very often, but old utilities in particular sometimes come in handy. TS
Very true, but check out the table on page 29 of the PHB; one never needs to swap a utility at any level. Every utility you get, you keep all the way to 30.
My bad about the utilities.Anyway, glad to hear that you'll give my system a try. I think in practice you'll find that not many players will actually research their own powers due to the high price.
TS