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Utility Powers – The New Face of Customization

As 4e D&D has matured, the sheer number of powers to choose from has grown significantly. At its inception, a character made from the Player’s Handbook would choose two or three at-will powers from a total of four listed, one encounter power from four listed and one daily power form four listed. The occasional utility power sometimes provided three or four choices for a character, which served primarily to enhance either their primary role or their secondary role in the party.

With the advent of non-AEDU (at-will, encounter, daily, utility) character classes, such as the psionic classes, as well as the Essentials classes, the one aspect of the power selection that was not changed was the choice of utility powers at level 2, 6, and so on. The introduction of skill powers in the Player’s Handbook 3 began to finally expand the utility power into more than simply a way to enhance your existing class features and powers. In the last year and a half of development, 4e has introduced themes for heroic tier character characters, as well as several articles on the subject of new racial utility powers. Utility powers have shifted away from their original role in a character, and have taken on a new importance as the new true form of character customization.

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Exploiting Racial and Class Abilities: Dwarven Resilience

The ability to heal your character without assistance from the party cleric was one of the biggest changes in 4e Dungeons & Dragons. It gave every character the opportunity to recover from a devastating attack by themselves. In the category of healing themselves, none are better than the Dwarf. Now, I’ve already stated the Dwarves Are The Best Raceand today I want to examine their defining racial feature: Dwarven Resilience.

Second Wind is a great ability allowing an player to use a standard action to heal. However, let’s be honest, no one likes to use their standard action for anything but rolling dice on an attack power. As a player I feel slightly cheated when I use my second wind. I recognize that it’s a tactical decision, but I would rather be using my standard action for attacking and rolling dice!