Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 redrumpc Jun 17, 2010 15:15:54	I've recently added a house rule that has characters make only one attack roll for burst/blast powers instead of one for each enemy. One of my players has concerns that it will nulify his White Lotus Riposte feat. White Lotus Riposte: Arcane Benefit: When an enemy you hit with an arcane at-will attack power attacks you before the start of your next turn, that enemy takes damage (of the same type the attack power deals) equal to the ability modifier to the attack power’s damage. His concern is that it will essentially make his riposte attacks (assuming the enemy(ies) attack him during the next round after an at-will is used.  Since he only gets to rely on one roll, it's more dependent now.  Should I modify the house rule to reduce his concerns, scrap it entirely, or let it be?  It doesn't really effect anyone else in the group, and was instated to save time, and reduce sludgy mechanics.
#2 pukunui Jun 17, 2010 15:22:08	We just went back to the old way of doing things (one attack roll for all targets in an area effect). It's one of several things that runs counter to WotC's claim of making the game faster. Rolling once is almost always going to be faster, but whatever ... Anyway, you could always give the player the opportunity to swap out the feat for something else.
#3 daddicus Jun 18, 2010 11:15:44	We just went back to the old way of doing things (one attack roll for all targets in an area effect). It's one of several things that runs counter to WotC's claim of making the game faster. Rolling once is almost always going to be faster, but whatever ... Anyway, you could always give the player the opportunity to swap out the feat for something else. The game is balanced such that a typical area attack will not hit all of the opponents. While the average damage per attack doesn't change, the specific damage dealt to all opponents either goes up dramatically or down dramatically for each creature. Say an attack is going to do 20 damage, with no damage on a miss. The attack is against all 5 enemies. Under the current rules, if the odds are 60/40 of hitting, 3 enemies will be hit, for 60 points of damage. Variations would include 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 damage being dealt, depending on the rolls. But, under the proposed rule, one will either do a total of 100 damage or 0 damage. The other possibilities do not exist. (NOTE: Adding in "half damage on a miss" doesn't change the issue. It just changes the numbers to 50/100 rather than 0/100.) In earlier editions, you auto-hit unless the monster saved. So, an analogous question would be to have one roll only one saving throw for all of the enemies at once. The average damage stays the same, but the variations are wilder.
#4 mellored Jun 18, 2010 13:31:31	We just went back to the old way of doing things (one attack roll for all targets in an area effect). It's one of several things that runs counter to WotC's claim of making the game faster. Rolling once is almost always going to be faster, but whatever ... Anyway, you could always give the player the opportunity to swap out the feat for something else. They do want the game to run faster, but they also want the game to be less "all or nothing".
#5 FaustianPenguin Jun 21, 2010 1:18:42	Rolling once to hit all targets is stupid, no matter how you spin it.