Community

4e doesnt give a "why" you can only use power X once per encounter or once per day. You can envision it how you want. But there isnt really even much of a suggestion... other than perhaps the narrative reason that its not cool if you do the same things all the time or may that some powers are subject to enemy actions and the player is given control over that... well Encounter powers can readily be presented without that vague narrative hand.

I like encounter abilities they are especially cool for martial characters. For me they represent a trick that once performed is revealed and is becomes prohibitively hard to repeat as the enemy is now aware of it, it relied on surprise before, A big bad can push you with his secondaries hoping you will reveal your tricks and thus undermine what you can bring to bear against him. The reason you can use the tricks again later even against the same adversary is because you have had time to think of a subtle variation on it especially true since you have that niggling feeling you may encounter the bad guy again.

Similarly in arcane spell casting reality adjusts itself and learns to resist ie it hardens against the warping you just subjected it to until the fabric has time to relax once more. (At wills are talents where you are able skirt around resistance by adusting underlying details each time you perform them).-- see flavor text that encourages describing your spell different every time what is not to love about that.

Divine powers as encouragement to press on... at some level I think all divine powers should be either encounter powers or milestone governed powers. The divine inspires and gives independent of mortal sleep cycles. The divine rewards for being heroic and not pausing to rest.

Narrative and Game agree about encounters being good.
Game wise they allow an intermediate ground between a really climactic ability and the at-will. -- >They break up and create variation in the potency texture within a given fight that merely having at-wills and dailies rather lack. They reduce the effective percieved "need" to stop when the climactic abilities are expended because they are going to be there and useful and allow some variance within the fight if you keep pressing on...  As an unrepeatable (well atleast within a single situation), they become a reason to use something other than just the "best" one available over the course of a longer span and where you know more than one... face it game designers are bad at avoiding there being a best... there will always be a best.

Warlocks have awesome flavor I mean "Channelling arcane might wrested from primeval entities" that just rocks and inspires even more.

Even the methods they exploit Constitution or Charisma for their power can be melded into very interesting flavor.

Constitution can be percieved as

• Using there own life force the stronger that life force the mightier there power
• perhaps this life force is in promise of the future gift where the quality of their eventual sacrifice to their pact holder is based on those life energies 
• Constitution may represent resisting of pain I mean the idea that the alien power source they draw from is painful and your ability to resist that pain governs the control you have over it.

Charisma opens the other end of the scales 

• having the will to resist the pleasure which channelling your power induces.
• clever bending of the rules of this universe (I would love Arcana to be based on charisma for this one).
• tricking/seducing the other worldly entities in to giving you power they dont necessarily want you to have.
• The voice of power - many warlock powers are psychic and remember communication is a medium of control - perhaps you were chosen to be the voice of this other world entity and your ability is entirely eldritch charm.

Individual powers 

Eldritch Strike

• Glare of the Possessed : An intimidating roar mingled with a spirited slashing attack and your enemy cannot resist drawing back.
• Otherworld flames: I wreath my weapon in flames in which you can see other worlds if you look closely enough - space itself warps and slides my enemies back when the flames lick them.
• Slash to the Knees : Nothing special I try to cut his legs out from under him and he staggers back
• Saurons Smash : With each hit a boom presses the enemy back 

More Dynamic flavoring of the classes fighters, swordmages.

It occured to me that in previous editions of the game, some DMs tried to do some balancing of well the non-spell caster with the caster by giving the unempowered ones items that were both powerful and highly flavor defining for the character...King Arthur isnt himself without Excaliber. The problem was they were a bit overwhelmingly so the character didnt feel special except with this item and the acquisition of which was completely under the DMs jurisdiction. 

Premise

The acceptabilitiy of these "character defining items" or even "character defining magics" for me is directly based on how player controlled they are.

Basically an item can be more important to a character both in terms of defining there abilites and acting as the basis of his power if the player has more say in its nature and certainty of its inclusion in the characters story.  

The trend I have seen and heard in 4e is towards making items less defining by using inherent bonuses... without inherent bonuses item based power seems too great... Items with big themes and lots of powers and lots of impact on the characters power... are fine if they are literally a player resource.

Legend and fantasy give us both heros like lancelot and beowulf who may have had magic items but who's personal awesome totally over shadowed them ... and we have arthurs and elrics who conversely were probably either highly item dependent or overshadowed.

Solution

 Allow the same resource spent for personal awesome to be spent for magic item awesomeness..  You could do this by defining a theme or paragon path in terms of magic item awesomeness... Fated Weilder would make your character the bearer of insert Item of uberness X which they determine to be part of there characters story... its no longer an item that can be lost or stolen except temporarily its nature is something the player can design perhaps you could spend item specific feats on it... 
However maybe that can be done already.
OK I admit it I do think a healthy dose of flexible imagination solves everything. See the player is welcome to explain how any of his advancements occur ... where did you get those new rituals or that new battlefield spell oh wizard ? and why does the character get a white lotus riposte from his eldritch strikes?  Perhaps its that new magic sword that is responsible (is it the source or did it just awaken that innate gift?).  This can be done with any character design feature .... I didnt learn to do ritual magic the skull with runes painted on it I tote about possesses me and I can do deep magics because of it.   

Some people moan about players feeling entitled to there magic items.. I say they should be.

 

One thing that annoyed me about the ranger class and still does is... well at some level when you are making one I feel stuck with Dritz (sp) the two weapon ranger... Now Strider wasnt a two weapon fighter - note carefully he pretty much used one healthy melee weapon.

I am not stuck on Arragorn son of Arrathorn the King to Be - being a ranger heck no he builds way too awesome and interestingly as a Warlord with a dabble of nature skills  for that to be an actual issue (and Tolkeins rangers were actually considered a race akin to half-elves)

Martial strikers now have some substantial class choices as it stands we have the ranger (twf) we have the rogue(light weapons and daggers)  and the Slayer (Great weapon fighters)

So who is left holding the bastards sword/long sword this is for the Versatile weapon striker, surely not just defenders. 

My answer:

The Flashing Blade Ranger

Like the Two-Blade Rangers you like to get up close but your fighting style relies on swift slashing movements of a single versatile weapon used in two hands. Naturally, you prefer melee attack powers, and that means Strength should be your highest ability score. For your second ability, Dexterity is a good choice because it improves your AC. Make Wisdom your third choice, since it adds to your Will defense and provides a bonus to many of your powers. Choose powers that reflect your versatile fighting skill.  

Flashing Blade Fighting Style

This fighting style allows you to use a Versatile weapon as though it were a double weapon when used two handed (in place of the normal +1 bonus). In addition, you gain Toughness as a bonus feat. 

 Associated &  Versatile Weapon Feats

Flashing-Steel Flair (Dex 13) 

"You have learned to exploit the leverage and speed provided by versatile weaponry unusually well, your blade flashes in fast deadly arcs."

While wielding a versatile weapon two handed, you gain an additonal +1 bonus to the damage rolls of melee attacks with that weapon.

Flashing-Steel Defense (Dex 13, Flashing-Steel Flair)

"With your flashing fast blade you can make of it a barrier of purest metal. "

While wielding a versatile weapon two handed, you gain a +1 shield bonus to AC and Reflex.

Flashing Flurry (21st level, Dex 19, Flashing-Steel Flair)

"It isnt just one opening when your blade is lightning"

While wielding a versatile weapon two handed, if you make a successful opportunity attack, you can also attempt a second opportunity attack(but with a –5 penalty to the attack roll).   

Lightning Blade Arena Fighting Style (Dex 13, Flashing-Steel Flair feat, any martial class)

You gain a benefit with any of the following exploits you possess.
Dual Strike (Fighter): If both attacks hit and you are wielding a versatile weapon with damage die under d10, you gain a +2 feat bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls with opportunity attacks until the start of your next turn.

Twin Strike (Ranger): If both attacks hit and you are wielding a versatile weapon with damage die under d10, you deal extra damage equal to your Dexterity modifier. 

 Flicker of Flashing-Steel (11th level, Flashing-Steel Flair)

"Exploiting openings left by a truly awesome attack your fast follow up demonstrates what a flexible combatant can accomplish. "     

While wielding a versatile weapon two handed and score a critical hit, you can make a melee basic attack with it against the same target or to adjacent target with an unarmed melee basic attack as a free action.   

 

D&D has always been anti-deathspirol at its core - you didnt get gradually worse with innevitable death as an individual hit points acted as a buffer preventing it ...

However death spirols still exist in D&D how is that possible? Easy its the party Death spirol where a character death weakens the over all party and generates a cascade failure.

4th edition has increased intra-party synergy some and this is very cool in so many ways and appropriate however it does increase the likelihood that one players character going down can take ot the entire party because the whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts.

TPKs are generally not fun and for the most part they mess with everyones story DM and player alike... removing synergy and dependence isnt a good solution its like removing a layer of all the time fun trying to prevent an incident of un fun.

My solution involves a Trope called the Conservation of Ninjutsu = I wont link to tvtropes.org that is evil but I will employ plausibility deniability to let you do it to yourself. 

Note In fiction this occurs amongst the heros not just the adversaries a group of - You see what happens when one hero goes down? they get flash backs of relationships and moments with that hero they become emotionallly inspired etc. They are enraged / or driven..  

This effect doesnt necessarily happen all at once after all everybody gets there turn for a spot light... and it is often  a reflection of the hero how he affects his allies.

Solution in Simplest Form : The player can when there character is down / disabled operate in a fashion like a defacto LazyLord creating various support effects and maintaining the action economy of the fight. It keeps the player involved in the tactics of the fight.

The idea is just because your character is out of the fight you the player are not. 

More than One Bird with a Single Stone.

Players don't like characters being disabled for long durations make sense as it takes them out of the play - deprives them of choices removes there vehicle of influence.

However with all the deadly tools being employed sometimes it also makes sense within the narative for this to happen... by finding ways to allow the player to influence play even while ther hero/avatar is disabled. We solve multiple goals.

 This concept improves the acceptability of longer term character disabling effects whatever there flavor...  

One element of implementation might involve giving characters powers which require they be disabled or down to varying degrees. 

Heck you might establish a special relationship with another hero so your two characters could use powers that are normally restricted to a downed hero could target one who is just disabled.

May your story never be ruined by a tpk.

 

A Warlords Control. 

My Players handbook only mentions Leader under the Warlords roles...But sometimes in legend and fiction we have arguably Warlords like Ulysses the archetypal archer warlord who are very much manipulators who bend their enemies to there ends (and its not about using the bow or for that matter caltrops and smoke bombs for control either - see a rogue about that). And that is the point this idea takes off from a theme its not about filling a grid slot, though what it accomplishes may well be adding some serious control to the Warlord

The Trigger

As this is largely about using enemy mistakes against them, so the enemy misses self or an ally can be seen as a primary trigger. This is not so viable as an at-will ability so we will see it more in encounter powers and a class feature - see Cunning Manipulator (based on the Virtue of Cunning from the Bard).

The Area/Range of Effect

The manipulating of enemies are easier when they are allies near to contribute, effects may involve moving an ally and mirroring it in your enemies movements.

An Existing Option : The Warlords Power -  

Freindly Fire Level 7 encounter power (could technically be adjusted to any level really).  One idea is to actually allow it to be taken it as a lower level encounter power if they wish.

An Accidental Target - Warlord Level 1

Your tricks and manipulations connive an enemy into just the right place at just the wrong time.

At-Will ♦ Martial, Implement

Standard Action -  Close Burst 5

Target: One Enemy in blast

Attack: Intelligence, Charisma or Wisdom vs. Will

Hit:  You slide the target 3 squares.  One creature of your choice that the target is adjacent to during the slide makes a opportunity attack against the target.

Domineering Prescence: If the attacking creature is lower than the 
Warlords level  that enemy takes CHA modifier psychic damage. 
(minions defeated by this typically drop there weapon and  flee).

Special: It the target is adjacent to you  - you may use Strength for this powers attack

Regroup AKA Tactical Repositioning - Warlord Level 1

At your command, your allies move into position, forcing their opponents to back off and regroup.

At-Will ♦ Martial, Implement, Fear 

Standard Action -  Close Blast 5 Target: Each Enemy in blast

Effect:  Each ally in the blast can shift 1, either before or after you resolve the attack.

Attack: Intelligence vs. Will

Hit:  Psychic damage equal to your CHA mod, and you push the target 2 squares. Level 21: 3+CHA mod damage

The above was derived partially from Beguilling Strands

The Perfect Plan

Encounter ♦ Martial, Implement 

Standard Action - Close Burst 5

A coordinated Attack "Everybody now"

Enemies adjacent to your allies within the burst each take damage equal to your int mod. 

The above is a real minion clearer.

Falling all over themselves  

Certain they have you... your enemies rush you or selected ally only to knock themselves prone (handy to have so many enemies prone nearby.)  Ducking or Jumping above either way the bait may well be in an interesting position to exploit the situation. 

Basically induces a variant of come and get it but enemies are knocked prone and take damge based on the Intelligence of the Warlord. 

I love Knights (Arthur and Lancelot and Gawaine but also Charlemagne and Roland for the win) and based on the offerings of Essentials previews ... So Does the current D&D Development Team and they do it with a passion 2 of the the first 8 classes arguably target Knight archetypes... wow. 

Ok call me way too picky - I am not massively happy with how either the knight class or the cavalier invokes a Knight....  I posted an earlier blog which basically presented a house rule opening up the fighting man to being a skilled individual - I think heroic fighters are skilled in more fiction than not and the old stereotype should be dead.

My take on the knight is a tad different I want to start with well not Arthur or Charlemange specifically but with the educated nobleman raised to lead men... the Knighted Lord... The players handbook already had a class who was strongly oriented towards this already it was called the Warlord (so maybe the players handbook also favored 2 knights eh? Paladin and Warlord) - the flavor text of this class mentions the Knight Commander!

The warlord is close but misses on perhaps only a very small arena. The Warlord lacks the shining armor I hybrid with Paladin to give him it but that honestly that seems like a heavy handed thing to have to do especially when such a Knighted Lord might have less than Holy personality in an era where might made right.

CON and the Knight

Realism divorces stamina from plate armor strangely enough  the stuff is actually easier to wear than chain in this regards

And In spite of being known as the greatest knight/fighter of all history Lancelot was also known as being of poor endurance he was often found sleeping at inopportune times (and subsequently oggled by females) - sure most definitely a paladin and Like Arthur also of Auspicious birth (see hit points and being raised by the lady of the Lake).

So about the Knighted Lord our Warlord whos fluff and function is so close already to a knight should he be stranded at scale without having to unrealistically and unmythically have to pump his constitution????

What to do? eh.... one thought was just to reduce/remove the CON requirement for Plate... that might be one solution. The melee oriented battlefront warlord could then take his Plate without having to pump constitution or engage in hybriding.

The other thought i had was to have a feat like the Armored Warlord -- perhaps one which skipped scale and jumped to Plate armor and brought another feature of the nobility in that thing called diplomacy.... how about calling it knighted lord.

Knighted Lord

"wearing armor is easy convincing the council of elders now that is hard"

prereq: Warlord, Chainmail Proficiency and Trained in Diplomacy

benefits proficiency with plate armor and +2 on history.

Do we need another way to build a Knight or is that a King? No but heck it can be fun.

Unlike the Essentials Developers I prefer killing cattle to resurrecting them (if you have met real life cows they are stupid on wheels - yes our fault but taste great)

I think heroic fighters are skilled in more fiction legend and history than not.D&D has a tradition as treating the fighting man as unskilled labor. 

For my taste this is one more steak that can be barbequed. I think given the nature of current 4th edition skills and the largely separated impact of in combat and out of combat abilities this is definitely called for.

One possibilitiy was to allow fighters a single pretrained skill associated with their build kind of like rangers have with nature and dungeoneering.

A Knight would have Diplomacy or History

A Battlerager could have Endurance or Intimidate

A Brawler or Slayer might have Athletics or Acrobatics

A Weaponmaster might have Perception or Insight

Another thought was to allow fighters to just plain have a 4th trained skill... and add any of the above to the skill list they are allowed to pick from if they already arent on the list. Yeah more player design freedom that is a good thing.