Community

I like the Seeker, but I don't like the name.  The name immediate makes me think of 'Legend of the Seeker' and has nothing in common with it.  It also strikes me as the wrong power source based on it's name alone (Seeker makes me think Psionic or Divine).

I was just thinking the other day how we needed a wisdom-based bow user - probably Divine and flavoured off of the Order of the Bow Initiate.  This comes pretty close.  I would probably take this, reflavour the feats as divine (more radiant damage) and keep the encounter power that lets them get a free ranged basic attack when they miss.  Neat twist for a homebrew thing.

I built one of these to my playstyle (focusing on the critical utility powers and pps), but after looking at the powers and options available I find it way to similar to my Greatbow wielding Artificer (Who is styled as an 'Arcane Archer').  In fact, it's a smack dab cross between my "Arcane Archer" Artificer and my Psion, so I probably will not play this character.  Maybe when Primal Power comes out and we have more feats that key in to that power source I may have another look at it.  I definatly could build it in such a way as to not be like my Artificer (focusing on the Poison powers instead) but it wouldn't really fit my playstyle.

Mechanics wise - I'm a little concerned with the abundant use of the Poison damage type.  Poison is the most resisted element in the game mainly because PCs almost never use it until now.  What I find weird is that the Assassin got a feat that lets them completely ignore poison resistance, yet they have very few poison powers.

It just seems weird that the Seeker would have to multiclass (either as an Assassin or with the Poisoner feat) in order to get full use of their main damage source.

Oct 6, 2009 -- 7:57PM, VerysArkon wrote:

I was pleasently surprised to see the Seeker in today's Character Builder update!

Because it's a Debut Article, and Debut Articles always go in right away, Unlike regular Dragon Articles (like the Assassin) or a playtest (like the Monk)

Same as what happened with the Psion, the Githzerai and the Skill Powers.

I disagree with the sentiment that the idea of a Martial Controller is percieved rules niche. I know many of us think there are ways to make a Martial Controller that feels unique. ...  flavor them as martial attacks and just be another ranger build. I also think the Monk would fill this role with it's Ki Power being treated the same way as a Warlord's inspiring healing and buffs.

Quoted for truth, as the saying goes.  Almost every person IRL I've talked to about the monk says "It should be a martial controller."  They wouldn't even have to change anything, just slap the label on it.

I'm okay with it being Psionic, and I understand why (though I wish they kept the Ki power source), but I have several friends who will go on lengthy monologue tirades about how Wizards screwered up when they made the Monk psionic instead of a martial controller.

The plus side here is that I don't think the designers are 'done' with the Martial class, unless they want it to remain underpopulated.  With Arcane topping the charts at 6 classes, Primal now having 5, and Divine and Martial tying at 4 classes each, I'm sure we'll see more Martial classes, and I can't think of anything Martial needs other than a controller.  Of course, the designers may just say "Martial is boring and people want more exotic classes than another Martial class".  Which would disappointed me, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's what they say.

Maybe I read too much Eberron, but does anyone else feel a little bit like they took some of the 3.5 Artificer's thunder?  The ability to imbue weapons with power on the fly seemed like a really strongly Artificer-Related power.

How do you figure?  The Seeker's ability to "Imbue weapons with power on the fly" is done exactly the same way as the Artificer's 'melee or ranged weapon' powers.  The Bard and the Swordmage also have attacks that use the weapon keyword, despite being 'spell-like'.   We could go further and say the Cleric and the Paladin have been doing this since PHB1 (and the Avenger in PHB2), though for some reason for the divine characters it feels more like they are martial hybrids than it being truly 'magic powers'

The Seeker is the second class that from it's initial class write up can use such abilities with ranged weapons, so maybe that's where you get the impression that it's stealing the artificer's thunder, however the Bard's Virtue of Prescience from Arcane Power is also a Ranged Weapon user who imbues their weapon with arcane power.

Oct 6, 2009 -- 7:07PM, Mommy_was_an_Orc wrote:

I think the Seeker is really underpowered. I see it having the following problems:
At-wills are all too similar. Two of them have decent potential of harming fellow PCs. This may be because we only see half the character class, but given Strength is the other secondary stat, I don't think that bodes well.

Actually the at-wills let you mitigate damage better than the at-will burst or blasts most other controllers have. You apply your weapon damage, a larger size die than implement attacks, to the primary target and at worst allies will only suffer stat modifier's worth of damage. Wizards have to refocus their attack, possibly missing out on hitting the most enemies or spend feats to exclude allies. It's a good take on control without running into the problem multiple d12s in an area burst.

Oct 6, 2009 -- 7:07PM, Mommy_was_an_Orc wrote:

Inevitable Shot doesn't work against Solos - if you have the ability to use Inevitable Shot, shoot 2 targets on a miss, and then on top of it spend an action point, that's 4 attacks you just lost in a combat. That's a lot of attacks to lose just because you're fighting a Solo and being in a situation where you need to spend an action point. If you spend a lot of feats to boost inevitable shot, then you're even worse off vs. Solos. And Inevitable Shot in many ways is similar to Orb of Deception - an Illusionist Wizard is often going to have something very similar in effect to Inevitable Shot.

That strikes me as more like poor encounter design. Solo's aren't actually much fun when they go solo. A few minions or a couple of extra monsters make things much more fun by making the encounter a little more dynamic.