Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 longbottom_leafman Mar 23, 2009 12:55:20	After scouring the boards and thinking things over, I think I've combined enough good ideas to come up with a reasonable final solution (at least for my group's table) to all this jazz. In the end it adds another small-but-significant element of customization to character building, and I think that's a good thing. Here it is; -- At 5th level, all characters gain what's known as "Heroic Expertise"; that is, a +1 untyped bonus to attack rolls with a particular implement or weapon group as well as attack rolls with powers that have neither the implement nor weapon keyword (such as a dragonborn's dragon breath). -- At 15th level, all characters gain what's known as "Paragon Expertise"; that is, a +2 untyped bonus to attack rolls with a particular implement or weapon group and the Heroic Expertise bonus to attack rolls with non-implement/weapon powers increases to +2. Also at 15th level, all characters can retrain their Heroic Expertise to a different implement/weapon group for free (this does not count against the level's retraining limit). -- At 25th level, all characters gain what's known as "Epic Expertise"; that is, a +3 untyped bonus to attack rolls with a particular implement or weapon group and the Paragon Expertise bonus to attack rolls with non-implement/weapon powers increases to +3. Also at 25th level, all characters can retrain their Heroic Expertise and Paragon Expertise to different implement or weapon groups (this does not count against the level's retraining limit). -- Characters who gain any kind of Expertise with an implement or weapon that counts as both an implement and weapon (such as a swordmage's bonded blade, a warlock's pact blade, or even a wizard's staff) can apply the attack bonus to all powers with the implement and/or weapon keyword(s). -- Expertise bonuses are untyped, but do not stack with other Expertise bonuses. In other words, your fighter doesn't gain a +3 bonus to attacks rolls with hammers if he has both Heroic and Paragon Expertise in hammers, nor does your wizard of the Spiral Tower gain a +3 bonus with his longsword if he has Heroic Expertise in heavy blades and Paragon Expertise in a wizard implement. I feel this tidies things up nicely by freeing up the feat slot that would otherwise be inevitably spent on Implement/Weapon Expertise while still granting the same enhanced attack vs. defense scale the feat was (presumably) intended for. It also addresses the concern of non-implement/weapon powers, and as I mentioned earlier it allows players to customize their characters that much more without things getting out of hand. Any thoughts? I do suck at math compared to what I've seen out there.
#2 erk_ Mar 23, 2009 13:21:09	It seems rather complicated to me, to be honest, but I think it does the job. I'm not sure why so many have a focus on limiting 'catchup' attack bonuses to particular weapon/implement groups, as it just pigeonholes character versatility that much further, but if you like that, then it should be fine.