Comments on: Player’s Handbook 3 (PHB3) Review (Part 3)

By: Bensteroni

Bensteroni — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:54:47 +0000

I am fairly new to D&D. I only started two and a half years ago, and I have only played 4e. However, I was instantly drawn to the psionics classes due to their source.
Divine power comes from gods, which means you play by their rules. Primal power almost makes it impossible to be evil, since you must honour the spirits in what you do (Although it is not impossible to be evil as one). Arcane power is just so common, and martial power is, well, normal. But psionic power is my favourite.
Your article on the Battlemind is wonderful. Battleminds are the most Striker-like Defenders I have seen, excepting only the Blackguard (which Heroes of Shadow labels as a Striker, anyway). However, as a Defender, I find Battleminds are lacking. The only build that is good at it (in my opinon) is the Resilient one, because the others focus on hit and run tactics, which isn’t very Defender like.
Keep in mind, this opinion is coming from a recently graduated D&D noob.

By: The Opportunist

The Opportunist — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:22:11 +0000

Nice overall review. I just reviewed this one over at rpgmusings.com. It’s good to get other perspectives on a new product.

By: Ameron

Ameron — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:43:57 +0000

@everyone
Sorry for the delayed responses, I’ve been sick for the past few days.

@Michael
In that case I’d better start playing one immediately and power-game my butt off until it’s fixed.

@Toldain
I forget that some defenders are actually really good at dishing out damage. I played a Paladin for a long time and he was laughing stock of the defender community. Fighters on the other hand hit harder and more often because of the mark’s effects. Still, at higher levels I find that the monsters tend to hit harder than the PCs so a 1:1 damage trade has the potential to really change the course of a battle. If for no other reason that to keep the monsters focused on the defenders.

By: Player’s Handbook 3 (PHB3) Review (Part 2) — Dungeon's Master

Player’s Handbook 3 (PHB3) Review (Part 2) — Dungeon's Master — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:08:05 +0000

[...] (Part 2) we’re looking at skill powers, feats, superior implements and new magic items. In our PHB3 Review (Part 3) we’ll delve into a detailed look at the psionic [...]

By: Toldain

Toldain — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:51:44 +0000

Battlemind’s Demand seems pretty good all right, but I don’t think it’s as unbalanced as you seem to think. First of all, if the marked enemy misses, you get nothing. I have an Avenger in a group with my Fighter. He loves to sometimes take a turn where he runs around the battlefield, provoking opportunity attacks from people I have marked. But he has better AC than I do. So he’s hard to hit, but I still get a free swing with my 2 hander. And I rarely miss.

Second, my attack interrupts their attack. So I can potentially down them, and completely kill the attack on the squishy I’m protecting. Not often, but its happened.

It’s pretty interesting, to be sure, but it’s a different play style, and not particularly unbalanced, IMHO. Not everyone in my group would be convinced that a 1-1 damage trade with a big mob is a good idea. Sometimes it might be.
.-= Toldain´s last blog ..Innovation in EQ2 =-.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:59:06 +0000

I would expect to see the psion’s defense and to-hit altering at-will powers errated almost immediately. Considering the change to Righteous Brand, I can’t imagine them leaving something which lowers the opponent’s defenses alone… it is a very similar problem.
.-= Michael´s last blog ..Madicon Prep =-.

By: Ameron

Ameron — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:50:17 +0000

@Ross Mills
Thanks to your comment I dug a little deeper. It turns out that you are absolutely correct. All marks give foes the -2 to attack. I’ve added an amendment to the article. Thanks for pointing that out.

@Mark
I did say I was fuzzy about how the augmented powers worked. Thanks for clearing that up for me. I guess in the example you’d really only use the augment 1 if you were getting attacked by fire (the specific situation you referred to). Any other time it’s more beneficial to keep the lower resistance to all damage and not use any power points.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:41:46 +0000

I appreciate the recent PHB3 articles a lot. However, you made an important error in this last article about how augmentations work. Below is a quote from the rules about how augmentations interact with each other.

“When you augment a power, changes to the power are noted in the augmentation. If an augmentation includes a specific power entry, like “Hit” or “Effect,” that entry replaces the entry in the base power that has the same name. An augmented version of a power is otherwise identical to the base power.”

So in the example above you can gain a low damage resistance to all damage (and the difference between augment 0 and 2 is how much damage you do), OR you can gain a very high resistance to fire. The idea with the lower augments is to give a high situational bonus which would be very useful in some situations, but not worth the effort as a regular thing.

By: Ross Mills

Ross Mills — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:02:55 +0000

Where does it say that the Battlemind does not give the enemy -2 to hit others when marked?

ALL marks do that, do they not?

By: Player’s Handbook 3 (PHB3) Review (Part 1) — Dungeon's Master

Player’s Handbook 3 (PHB3) Review (Part 1) — Dungeon's Master — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:06:16 +0000

[...] until then. Visit Dungeon’s Master tomorrow for our PHB3 Review (Part 2) and later this week for PHB3 Review (Part 3). If you have specific questions about the PHB3, leave them in the comments below. I’ll try to [...]