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When I’m talking about 4e in real life, you know what I hear all the time? All. The. Time?
“Powers limit what you can do. Powers make roleplaying harder.”
I politely try to explain the ways that powers can be used creatively in and out of combat. Welcome to my blog, where politeness occasionally takes a nap.
This is rubbish.
The truth is that powers can dovetail right into roleplaying. Now I can say that and you can read it, but it doesn’t explain why this is so. “Show don’t tell”, right?
In “Off the Grid” we choose a power and then show you how to use it in roleplaying situations.
In the first installment we present two powers. The first is sort of cheat, being a utility power. Utility powers are meant for non-combat usage so naturally lean over into roleplaying scenarios. The second power is a straight up combat power, a daily that I’m sure you are all familiar with.
One Heart, One Mind
One Heart, One Mind allows the paladins and his allies to speak to each other telepathically. The mechanical benefit is that aid another becomes a +4 bonus instead of a +2 bonus, but digging deeper into the power and what it enables in your character from a roleplaying perspective:
Recite telepathically to a character a speech, allow him to recite your words in a situation where you couldn’t otherwise speak.
- Lead a ritual, and tell everyone the words in your mind as you recite them out loud.
- Have a second dialogue between characters in the midst of another conversation.
- Have a real “mind to mind” with a PC your paladin is having a disagreement with
- Coordinate surveillance.
One Heart, One Mind is a great power. It’s strong on and off the grid. But again, we’re cheating, right? This is what utility powers are supposed to be, isn’t it? You know, useful?
Fair enough. and that’s why the next power is Split the Tree.
Split the Tree
This power does absolutely nothing for you outside of a fight, right? It doesn’t have to be that way.
First, you have to buy into a different way of thinking about powers.
Powers as Personality
Your class is what you do. It’s your “job”. The powers you choose define how you do your job. I’m not a person who believes your job defines you as a person. How you do your job does however tell us a lot about who you are. Are you a wild-eyed dreamer who comes up with brilliant plans at the last minute? Are you a risk -taker? Are you meticulous and controlled? Do you like flash or measured gains?
I know at least half of you reading this think I’m crazy, but looking deeper into the powers you picked gives you insight to who your character is. Many people disconnect ability and personality, mechanics and story. There is no disconnect between these and in fact they often converge –if you let them.
So….Split the Tree. The flavor text says:
You fire two arrows at once, which separate mid-flight to strike two different targets.
What sort of training did it take to be able to do that? Most importantly, at that moment, what is the shape of your thoughts? Are you supremely focused, taking in two targets and all the variables then releasing both notched arrows to strike with incredible accuracy? Do you go “Zen”, emptying your mind of all thought and letting flow take over?
Let’s assume the former. Your ranger fights with skill and grace, but most importantly, she uses her knowledge and razor sharp wit to make the right choice in confusing situations.
You and your party are lost in a maze. The maze is built to confuse. It’s walls are mirrors and its passages look the same. You stop for a moment. Take in everything that you’ve seen and know about this place. Others don’t remember the pebble on the ground three turns ago, but you do. They also didn’t notice the cracked mirror-wall to your left. While every one else has been confused, you’ve been collecting the tiniest bits of data as landmarks and guides. You turn left twice then right once. You build a path in your mind, seperating out all the red herrings and confusion, holding everything you’ve observed in your mind all at once. You’ve split the tree, and you’ve lead your party out of the maze.
Maybe (thanks to skill training) you are the party’s trapsmith. A delicate yet dangerous trap is what stands between you and the pile of treasure. With your lockpick, you hit a sensitive point. You freeze for a moment and assess the situation. A moment later there is a terse click! and the trap disarms. Split the Tree.
The Power Rule
To make powers work for roleplaying, there’s only two things you have to do :
- Make your players explain how the power fits. Sometimes just the name of the power alone will fit the situation, but allow your players flexibility. As long as they explain how that power represents the character’s approach and mindset, everything is going well.
- Give them a bonus. Don’t give anything for at-wills, or your ranger is going to constantly be “twin-striking” in conversation. An encounter is worth +2 to a skill check, and a Daily is worth +6. Why so much? Because the PC is going to expend that power, and if they are expending a daily power to accomplish something, they should stand a good chance of success.
So, any power that you want to suggest we cover? We have some in mind, but I am soooo up for a challenge. Any power that you think is completely useless when not used in combat? Bring it.
Conversely, have you already used powers in this way? Please share.
A Jack of All Trades ,or if you prefer, an extreme example of multi-classing, Gamefiend, a.k.a Quinn Murphy has been discussing, playing and designing games straight out of the womb. He is the owner and Editor-in-Chief of this site in addition to being an aspiring game designer. As you would assume, he is a huge fan of 4e.
By day he is a technologist.
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Amen! Anything to get players role-playing more.
In fact, this is what I like about powers: they make combat more like role-playing. It gets players thinking about their characters as more than just numbers; as an individual performing amazing feats of skill and talent.
I don’t know if my players would go for this but conceptually it’s awesome. Anything that adds more flavor and story is worth a try. I’ve been on an anti-combat streak for a little while now – this gives me another tool.
This is a good idea, and I think it could work well. It’s a shame WOTC didn’t push this angle on powers more. If you are not used to thinking outside the box or play with a rules lawyer, it can be tough to come up with these solutions.
I might try this next time. Twist of Space is great for things like this, Icy Terrain could have it’s uses too. And I’m positive I could find a use for Glitterdust outside of combat
I personally think that “Roleplay is harder” has nothing to do with powers. You don’t need ANY rules to roleplay.
When people talk about “roleplay is harder”, they mean “There’s not enough non-combat class abilities”.
Compare to say, Bardic Knowledge, or the tons and tons of spells useful in combat, the issue is “I want an ability I can exploit out of combat”. Like Charm Person, which lets someone turn anyone into a friend.
I also don’t even understand the notion that “powers make it harder to roleplay”. Look at the 3e Fighter. None of the Fighter’s feats did anything for Roleplaying. In fact, the 3e feats were narrower, because if a Fighter specified all trip feats, that’s ALL he did. If all he took was bow feats, that’s ALL he did. He could hit fine with a sword if he focused on the bow, but all his feats were bow related.
Even funnier, when you get down to the brass tax, the things that people used to “roleplay” with in 3e were the spells. They used spells to do crazy funny things. They didn’t trick out their fighter to be a diplomat. So if you’re a barbarian/ranger/fighter, you weren’t “Roleplaying” becuase you didn’t have any powers that were “Roleplayable”.
On topic, I want to see “Come and Get It”.
@brentnewhall yes! I’ve felt for a long time that powers are overlooked “hooks” for roleplaying. Had a great flashback scene with my party’s warlord a while back, roleplaying how he learned one of his powers. There’s a lot you can do, which we’ll explore.
@Max here’s the trick –make your players describe what the powers look like first, or what they do. You don’t have to do it for the powers each time, just once for a few key powers to make them visualize the powers. Get your players into their powers and the effects, then start to expand on the powers.
I agree totally with encouraging this. One of my players, running a druid, used grasping tide to put out a fire. An obvious use really, but it was still pretty cool.
And yes the secret to using powers in roleplaying is the descriptions. I even required my players to describe the actions, appearance and effects of their powers the first time they use each one, and also every time an enemy is killed by one.
I like the cut of your jib, sir.
My players have found some creative uses for powers already, but I really like the direction you take it here. Looking forward to seeing more.
One of the more memorable ones from my game, I ruled similar to your bonus numbers. The fighter entered a rough bar filled with orcs, druegar, hobgolbins and the like (he’s a gnome) and everyone stopped, turned to face him, that old scene. A couple of monster types in the bar drew weapons. So he grabbed the nearest guy and asked if he could use brute strike. I said “with what, your hands are full?” He replied, “no, I want to use brute strike to put this guys head through a table then make an intimidate check on the room.” He did and I gave him a +5 to the intimidate check, which wasn’t to scare all these surly badasses, but just to show he belonged in their company. It worked and he later got the information he needed.
@David Wizards have a lot of options for their spells and roleplaying. Might I also suggest you use the spells to enhance Quimmel’s smooth-talking?
Also, I loved your use in our game of Twist of Space for crowd control.
@Rechan I totally agree with everything you’re saying. As for Come and Get It, consider it done!
@Shilling once PCs value their powers and visualize them, they start getting more imaginative with them, I found.
@Thasmodius that is awesome and perfect example of what I’m talking about. I’m picturing this snarling kick-down-the-door gnome just from your description and I love it.
Anyone have more suggestions for powers?
F*ing Brilliant! I really need to revise my houserules . . . there are so many great ideas out there. Nice job incorporating this GF.
Just brilliant! Exactly what I was looking for to enhance our game. Let’s see how does it turn out!
I wrote about it here, along other updates: http://bag-o-dice.blogspot.com/2009/08/improvements-and-adjustments.html
But sometimes on-the-fly mechanics do not work.
It seems to me there’s a reason why GURPS and World of Darkness games often involve much more roleplaying: because there are professionals working to create balanced mechanics for non-combat abilities. A +2-5 on a skill check cannot always cut it. Because when there’s no mechanics whatsoever for a Spirit Shaman to use Speak with Spirits to actually Speak with Spirits, the game breaks down. What does this tree know? How willing is it to tell secrets to the first humanoid who asks it? Should this be a diplomacy check? How long can he talk to it? Do different spirits have different temperaments? What actually is a spirit at all?
A game master, in my opinion, should not have to make mechanics on-the-fly anytime a player does something out of combat that doesn’t fit in with the descriptions of a few skills. Characters that seem like they should have unique mechanics that function outside of combat should have those mechanics defined so that they can be effectively integrated by people other than the most experienced DM. Because if people don’t know that they can use “speak with spirits” to actually speak with spirits (since there’s no mechanics for something that obviously needs mechanics, since it falls outside of the realm of normal gameplay) they will not use it.
I apologize if this seems like an attack, it definitely is not. This is just my biggest complaint about 4E and I feel that you are close to addressing this issue.
Am I the only one who wonders what kind of mechanics could possibly govern speaking with spirits? Just roll a d20. If you get high, then the player is successful. It may take more than one success to get what he wants, however, depending on the complexity. If you roll low, then the player either fails (if you think this could have interesting results) or succeeds in a very inconvenient and minor way (maybe speaks with a rock spirit instead of a water spirit).
These kinds of ad hoc rulings are, IMO, more than adequate for stuff like this. If a player has built his entire character around something like speaking with spirits, then yes, maybe that warrants some houseruling, but these are at most isolated cases.
Just for fun, I answered all your questions about the tree. No new rules needed.
What does this tree know?
What does the player want it to know? Roll d20. If you roll low, make up something random. If you roll high, have the spirit answer the PC’s question.
How willing is it to tell secrets to the first humanoid who asks it?
d20. Low = not very likely. Maybe if the player did a quest for it?
High = likely. Some humanoids just fed it earlier, so it’s feeling good.
Should this be a diplomacy check?
Why not? Religion could work too. Shamanism is a kind of religion.
How long can he talk to it?
1d6 minutes.
Do different spirits have different temperaments?
Obviously. Fire spirits are fiery. Air spirits are airy. Earth spirits are…. you get it.
What actually is a spirit at all?
Something a Shaman can speak to that other classes can’t. Maybe they’re just voices in his head.
If even a fraction of the effort spent on building battle mechanics was spent out of battle, making each class have unique “powers” that are useful outside of combat that do not HAVE to be ad hoc’ed by the DM, 4E would be, in my opinion, a more successful and balanced system.
I’m not a hater though, I use 4E to run games with people new to roleplaying and D&D because it is admittedly very simple. However, my team of seasoned veterans throw so many questions at me like this ability to talk with spirits that I get overwhelmed. To make everything rely on the few skills dumbs down what could otherwise be a seemingly realistic world with each character possessing unique powers. I find 3.5E systems like Arcana Evolved, Iron Heroes, and other 3rd party products to have more attention paid to roleplaying and utility elements than 4E. But you could also say those games do not have the robust, dynamic combat that 4E brings. It is definitely a give and take.
Speak with spirits – surely any action like this would be skill challenge along the lines of speaking to the dead?
I find this concept to be really interesting, and I got some very good ideas based off of your take on Split the Tree, which is a markedly different take than your other Off the Grid entries. Stay tuned, because I’ll be rattling off a post about it in a few days.
In the rule book it says that any encounter power re-charges after 5 min. So i allow players to wait and use their encounter healing buffs and such. At wills they can use whenever they want – such as a wizard creating light on a stone and then moving the stone around the environment with mage hand. Or cleaning clothes with prestidigition.
Giving them reasonable use of their at will and encounter during a roleplaying situation is key to making 4e something worth playing in my opinion.
There we go…here’s the post I was talking about.
The thought of using powers Off The Grid reminds me of two examples I witnessed. Playing a Monk, I had climbed up a tree to attack a belligerent elf, who opened up with a maneuver defeating my check to remain in the tree, putting me just out of melee range. So I use the Monk At-Will “Steel Wind,” which is a close blast 2. Except, explaining to the DM the area of effect is a 2×2 *cube,* I direct the power at the tree trunk two cubes above me, and break one of the two segments, sending the elf careening down.
Later in the same campaign, our Dragonborn Ranger was in a bare-knuckle boxing match–essentially an un-armed, -armored, combat encounter–with a Pikey-Gnome caravan leader. The Warlord used Commander’s Strike on the Ranger, telling him “hit ‘im where it hurts!” and the Ranger won thanks to the freebie BMA’s the Warlord gave him.
If anyone is wondering what you could do with area-of-effect powers which use weapons, imagine using that power with a shovel to dig ditches. You’d be a living excavator–bonus points if you’re playing a warforged.
Any power which slides a foe, such as Footwork Lure or Duelist’s Flurry, would be perfect for the dance floor, as are Grappling Strike, Slash-and-Pummel (incorporating holding onto your dance partner) and Sly Flourish (for a Sly Finish).
Weapon Master’s Strike, which has a different effect for the weapon you use, is perfect for the Fighter concerned with domestic chores–mopping, dusting, cutting firewood, making dinner, it’s the only At-Will endorsed by pitchman Vince. Retrain in Weapon Master’s Strike and receive a free Slapchop and Shamwow when you level!