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Here are a couple oddities I've run into while looking through the GW rulebook. As the game's so new, I'm not sure if these are true errata, or just particularities of the game. I'd appreciate any thoughts on either of these matters.

1) The novice powers for some origins (Empath, Giant, Hawkoid, Hypercognitive, Plant, Rat Swarm, Speedster, Yeti) are Encounter powers, while the rest are At-Will. However, they all have a green title bar. Now, my brain, honed on years of D&D 4E, keeps telling me that these should all be at-wills, but I don't think that the error would be made so often.

2) The felinoid expert power Killing Bite has a special entry that reads as follows: "When charging, you can use this power in place of a melee basic attack." However, GW doesn't provide for charging, and even if it did, it doesn't specify that a melee basic attack should be used at the end of one.

My gut says that 1) is part of the game, while 2) needs to be errated. Let me know what you guys think.

Oct 13, 2010 -- 12:42AM, Tony_Vargas wrote:

I agree with you on 2) the power was probably written by someone who didn't realize charging had been cut.  As a GM, I will certainly let people Charge in GW, though.

1) I'm not so sure of.  It doesn't make a lot of sense to me for a novice power to be an Encounter. (For one thing, that'd just give a character with two such Origins startlingly little to do in most fights.) I think any playtesters or proofreaders would, like you, be looking first at the color of the bar.  I didn't even notice it, for that reason.

Given it's basis in 4E, I didn't even notice the lack of charging.
I admit I skimmed the parts that were familiar. I'll allow any typical 4E-isms that make sense, including charging.

As for Encounter novice powers, I don't see the problem.
By the writing, it's clear that MBA/RBA are the expected norm.

The at-will powers are not much stronger than basic weapon attacks.
Cockroach is Con+Lvl vs Fort, 2d8+Con+2[Lvl] and push 1.
Heavy 2-hand melee weapon with an MBA is
Str/Con+Acc(2)+Lvl vs AC, 2d8+Str/Con+1[Lvl].

The Cockroach power is a bit more damage (equal to level) and push 1.
Better than MBA (as at-will powers normally are) but not a lot.

Now look at the Novice encounter powers. You have things like Close Burst 2 powers.
Giant has a burst 1 knock prone.

Those are NOT at-will powers. They are cool encounter powers, but otherwise you use an MBA or RBA (all guns are RBA, for instance).

Basic Attack does not equal useless in GW, unlike D&D.

Played a game last Sat night and I ran into a similar problem with 2 origins that had ENCOUNTER novice powers.  I was a Hypercognitive Speedster.  So I had 2 attacks (neither of which seem encounter-power strength) then I was religated to running around (as much as I could as the maps were tiny) and throwing screwdrivers (my ranged weapon of choice) at the baddies.

The speedster power lets you shift before the attack and if you hit shift after the attack... other than that it is a regular weapon attack.  I don't see how that isn't an at-will.
The Hypercognitive attack (again a weapon attack power) still only hit one target and then you get CA on the target until next turn. 

I would blow my 2 encounters then spend the rest of the fight not doing anything very interesting (unless I drew a good alpha or omega... which then game me 1 or 2 fun things to do).

Oct 13, 2010 -- 10:07PM, greyseer wrote:

I wonder if Charging should be added back in, to me that was one of the big surprise deltas between GW and 4e basic.

I don't know...I'd argue no. The Felinoid power is the only thing that mentions it—no other powers, no Alpha Mutations, nothing. So it makes more sense to change one power then to add a whole new mechanic.

There's always been a slight problem with charging in 4E. What charging really does is give you an extra move action, because you can in effect double-move and then attack. In D&D, this is balanced out by the fact that you're forced to use an MBA, when most characters would rather use their at-will powers. But with the increased weapon damage in GW, and the increased reliance on MBAs, perhaps the unbalanced aspects of charging became a bit more prominent?

P.S. If I ruled the world, I'd change Killing Bite so that you can shift half your speed before the attack.

I'm allowing Charging.

GW is ranged attack heavy as it is, so a minor edge added to melee is no biggie.