Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 plotinus Feb 16, 2010 19:46:55	So, my DM and I have been developing a homebrew class together, and we've bounced back and forth a few ideas a few ways to give it a unique striker damage mechanic. I won't have a chance to talk to him and suggest this class feature for a while as he's out of the country, so I wanted to get your thoughts on whether or not this mechanic was broken/overpowered when compared to other strikers such as the Avenger. Bloodbond Weapon Class Featuer Your extensive training with one particular style of weapon, be it the greatspear or the scimitar, has made you an unrivaled expert in its use. When you wield that particular weapon in battle, you gain a +1 to attack rolls with it (Increase to +2 at level 21. This bonus stacks with Weapon/Focused expertise. What do you think? I was thinking about the possibility of +1 per tier, but that seemed outright broken when combined with an Expertise feat.
#2 Crimson_Concerto Feb 16, 2010 20:28:58	...I wanted to get your thoughts on whether or not this mechanic was broken/overpowered when compared to other strikers such as the Avenger. Statistically, getting to roll two dice and taking the higher of the two amounts to a +4 bonus to hit with twice the chance to score a critical hit. A +1 bonus to hit is pathetically weak compared to this. The Fighter gets that, and it's not a Striker. The Rogue gets that, and that's not its Striker mechanic. Your extensive training with one particular style of weapon, be it the greatspear or the scimitar... Is this a limitation? Because I can't tell. If it's not, then you should remove this, because it's confusing, and it it is, then you should clarify so. This bonus stacks with Weapon/Focused expertise. You don't have to specify this. It would stack anyways. I was thinking about the possibility of +1 per tier, but that seemed outright broken when combined with an Expertise feat. And Hunter's Quarry, Sneak Attack, and Warlock's Cure are all insanely broken when compared to Weapon Focus. That's okay. Class features are supposed to be way better than Feats. All that being said, if your goal is to give these guys an attack bonus instead of a damage bonus, you should know that attack bonuses don't need to scale the same way that damage bonuses need to scale. You could just give them a +X class bonus at first level and leave it at that.
#3 mackinator Feb 16, 2010 20:39:31	According to this thread about rolling twice and taking the higher result (community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...), the Avenger's striker feature gives an average attack bonus of about 3.3. In comparison, your striker feature is underpowered. You could consider making it a +3 attack bonus with that weapon as well as a small damage bonus (that scales with level).
#4 plotinus Feb 16, 2010 20:54:53	Hmm... So how does +3 to attack and +2 per tier to damage (edit: this only applies with one weapon) sound?
#5 Crimson_Concerto Feb 16, 2010 20:58:55	That sounds to me like it would get the job done, sure.
#6 generalhenry Feb 17, 2010 2:34:59	the DPR might work out. . .  but it's a bit boring, it's not much different then what weapon talent fighters get. Most strikers get bonus die, they're exciting since they lead to big crits.  Avenger's don't get the big crits, but they do get more frequent crits. Barbarians in particular all they really get baseline is an extra attack when they crit. So, think crit!
#7 pluisjen Feb 17, 2010 3:30:27	What kind of class are you making? Maybe we come up with something fun if we know the flavor you are going for
#8 plotinus Feb 17, 2010 19:48:53	It started out as a Final Fantasy-esque Dragoon class (heavy armor, used polearms, very good at closing in to an enemy), but it's developed a pretty good flavor of its own. I call it the Dragonsworn now, it's more or less a practitioner of a melee fighting style that mimics that of a dragon, and is infused with draconic magic to enhance his combat prowess. Also, each Dragoon swears an unbreakable oath upon recieving his title and the infusion of magic. Some swear to a moral code, some a quest, some a life mission.
#9 plotinus Feb 22, 2010 17:59:44	"Once per round when you make an attack roll, roll 1d6. The result of the d6 is added to the total of your naked die roll, and you use the new number to determine your natural roll. Any total of twenty or higher before adding other modifiers is to be considered a crit." How balanced is that? An active mechanic that also influences critical hits.
#10 pluisjen Feb 23, 2010 4:45:23	That's an insane crit chance... it's 27/120 at first level, that's almost 1 in 4 attacks. It's way overpowered. Adding a d6 to the to-hit is probably fair deal (less accurate then the Avenger one, probably, but on the plus side it has no requirements to be usable) but if you allow it to add to the crit, there's no balancing this.
#11 Crimson_Concerto Feb 23, 2010 7:52:04	I mostly agree with Pluisjen's assessment. Adding the 1D6 to hit is an average +3.5 to hit, which is actually slightly more accurate than the Avenger thing, but the Avenger can also score a critical hit more often than most other characters, so I think that removing that aspect from your idea will balance the it just fine.