Shroomy's page

Shroomy wrote:

I remember Scott Rouse talking about WoTC marketing plans over on EN World (not that he got into any great detail) and I remember him stating that WotC was going to focus on attracting new players in their third year. That was well over a year ago.

Also, only one 4e product has been announced and then apparently canceled, Player's Options: Humans (and I remember WotC stating that line was an experiment when the dragonborn book was first released). No books, especially the DMG3, were officially announced and then canceled.

Thanks Shroomy. I'd picked up the cancellation of the DMG3 through the usual chain of internet gossip/hearsay. Still, even if they weren't officially announced and then cancelled, were they in production and then the production resources were reallocated?

No idea, no one ever heard anything official about it. I think people just assumed it was going to be released because of the PHB3 and MM3.

Interesting. I vaguely recall something like that, but this is the first time I've seen the idea that Essentials was planned from the beginning (at least other than in a sinister 4.5 conspiracy kinda way). Has WotC been making it clear that the Essentials was always part of the 4e launch plan? My reaction to the announcement of the Essentials line was that the core 4e products were doing so poorly that WotC was effectively rebundling and relaunching the edition. Given the product cancellations that were announced (DMG3?), the Essentials line looks much more like a last ditch attempt to change strategy rather than a carefully planned roll-out.

I remember Scott Rouse talking about WoTC marketing plans over on EN World (not that he got into any great detail) and I remember him stating that WotC was going to focus on attracting new players in their third year. That was well over a year ago.

Also, only one 4e product has been announced and then apparently canceled, Player's Options: Humans (and I remember WotC stating that line was an experiment when the dragonborn book was first released). No books, especially the DMG3, were officially announced and then canceled.

Some people have been looking into this rumor. Someone over at EN World contacted the WotC press team and was told that they were committed to supporting all their existing rules. More importantly IMO, is that an FLGS owner contacted WotC directly and was told that yes, WotC is not going to print any more core books but that they have plenty of inventory in reserve, so the books will not be disappearing anytime soon. That makes sense to me due to the twin impacts of the Essentials line and DDI.

The official reason according to the latest update document is:

This update reflects an effort to restore

the power to its classical form.

Personally, I think that WotC always wanted magic missile to be an auto-hit power, they just were not confident in its ability to not be abused when 4e was first published. I think the experience of arcane bolt bears this out; that power is basically an encounter-level facsimile of the new MM and appeared in a Dragon article several months ago. A few weeks before that article was released, one of the developers came to the WotC CharOps board and asked them to break a similar auto-hit power, which resulted in the final version of arcane bolt being tweaked and some of the rules clarified (basically, when can you apply damage modifiers). I think that experience gave WotC the confidence to put the classic version of magic missile into play.

It also helped that magic missile was easily the most complained about wizard power IME (with scorching burst being second), with little to go for it other than it being a ranged basic attack (wizard's fury helped it somewhat) with zero control. Now at least it does something interesting to make it stand out from the wizard's other at-will selections (even if its still one of their weaker choices; at least the Essentials mage build gets it automatically).

Hey, my memory might be bad, but don't alot of 4e DM's have house rules to reduce HP's to 75%? I see people talking about MM3 having increased damage output and reduced HP's for Elite/Solos. Does the MM3 seem to address HP's in general for all monster types?

The related question would be; 'With the increased damage output in MM3, are DM's using the MM3 HP's as printed or are they still reducing HP's?'

As I said at the beginning, my memory might be bad about this whole topic.

P.S. I currently use HP's as printed. I am considering using reduced HP's especially for Elite/Solo.

The hit points of high level solo creatures were reduced circa 4e MM2. The hit points for other types of creatures were not changed.

Hey all,

Do any 4E rulebooks describe city stat blocks? I didn't see anything about them in the original DMs guide but I don't have access to any of the newer or electronic stuff.

Same question with ship rules (movement, capacities, crew, hit points, etc...). Again nothing in the DMs guide that I saw but I'm guessing something released later on might have this info.

Thanks.

4e doesn't have a demographic system like 3rd edition, so there's really not any rules for city stat blocks. Vehicle rules are in the Adventurer's Vault.

Monument of the Ancients by Brian and Matt James is probably my favourite so far. I also like Remains of the Empire and its sequel The Tyrant's Oath, both by Kolja Raven Liquette. Web of Chains is also quite good, but my bias in favour of neogi should be declared.

"Monument of the Ancients" and "Remains of the Empire" are some of my favorites too.

We are actually finishing it up tonight. The setting is Mystara and the PCs went there (I placed the Oasis in the Alysian Desert where the Ylarum Empire is) seeking an alchemical item called Dragonfire Tar (this replaced the obelisk in the original). They are actually on an alternate timeline where memory of the 'Dawn War' and the Eternal Compact is common whereas on their home timeline there is almost nothing known. I plan to run them through Revenge of the Giants when they hit Paragon but they first have to find out why knowledge of the Dawn War doesn't seem to exist on their timeline. In actuality a chronomancer wizard is pushing them along behind the sceens as he has seen what will happen if the PCs do not stop the giants in RotG.

The Eladrin are seeking the DT to use as a 'terror weapon' in their war with the Shadowelves. Of course I kept the animosity between Hazar and Emeritt and the PCs were undecided whose side to be on for a while. I didn't have the Eladrin be quite as hostile as originally written and they had conducted no raids on outlying settlements. Voor I kept too as he was a perfect vehicle for explaining how the Obelisk was a marker for the tomb of the ancient Druids and it has since been damaged & corrupted so now it produces DT. He also teaches the PCs something about the Dawn War which is unknown in their timeline. The tomb underneath is wholly my own invention but Emeritt has beaten the PCs there and is making her way into the tomb to steal the secrets the ancient Druids took with them into it. While it seems like I changed quite a bit the primary encounters (and that awesome skill challenge with Hazar - I mean it that thing was outstanding!), NPCs and even most of their motivations remain. Its a great setting and has fun, interesting NPCs & encounters. You should be really proud of it!

Thank you for the kind words. "Oasis of the Golden Peacock" was my very first published RPG work and it had a very long gestation (if you search through the archives of this forum, you may find references to it in posts I made in 2006 and 2007 when I first submitted the query to Paizo), so its quite literally my baby! Your adaptation sounds very cool and its interesting that you added a tomb because my original concept included ruins haunted by an ornery crypt thing and lacked the obelisk (despite my love of the crypt thing NPC, the ruins were just not working out very well, so I sacrificed them early for space).

I'm glad you liked the skill challenge. Its one of the first I wrote in 4e and I spent a lot of time on it; I do have to give credit to Steve Winter, who was my editor, as he really smoothed out some of my clunkier mechanics in the second part of the skill challenge. So how did your party do?

Oasis of the Golden Peacock is pretty fun with some different enemies. I admit I changed some things around (as I always do with Dungeon adventures) so that the central island had an actual dungeon on it and the party wasn't necessarily at odds with the main bad guys right fromt he start.

Author of the "Oasis of the Golden Peacock" here, I'm glad you liked it and mentioned it amongst your favorite 4e DDI adventures. So how did you adaptation go?

Wow, that is way more content than I thought. And way cheaper too.. If I were to subscribe, would I have access to the older material?

Yes, you would have access to all the materials.

If I remember correctly, there's a group of Zil gnomes who work to convince elementals to voluntarily bind themselves to magical vessels. I believe it was in Magic of Eberron.

What are these "Essentials" line for? Not sure I get the idea behind them. I've read their descriptions but just can't see myself purchasing them. I'm I wrong or is it that they are aimed at new players to D&D?

Several of the books include new class builds/powers plus there are tiles and monster tokens. I can see myself buying some of those products, though I will probably skip the initial red box set for beginners.

What happened to DMG 3? Am I not seeing it? Or has it been shleved until mext year? Which I find kind of dumb. Release PHB3, MM3 but not the entire set.

If I remember correctly from what I read of the DDXP product seminar, its still on the table, but the D&D Essentials line that is going to dominate the later half of this year necessitated a delay since they needed to devote most of their resources to it. I would probably expect it sometime early in 2011.

I have a couple of DCCs, but nothing else. WotC releases enough stuff on a monthly and daily basis to keep me satisfied and its all already integrated into the tool set.

Most of the changes I see people make to their characters with new releases are feats or powers that fit the concept the player already had for their character. In other words, the character is even more consistent to its concept than it was before. I don't find these disruptive at all. Major changes to the concept, however, would be distracting.

This. Even in our campaigns, we've never changed PC abilities willy-nilly, its always been in an attempt to match our concept.

The DM for the campaign I'm currently playing in is fairly liberal when it comes to newly released options. If new material comes out that would fit your character, he allows us to rebuild our PCs outside of the normal re-training rules, if you let him know beforehand.

For example, I've been playing an eladrin artificer since the playtest version was released in Dragon 365. When the CB first appeared, he allowed me to swap out one of my at-will powers for magic weapon, and then again, I was allowed to tinker with my character when the EPG was released. The biggest change had to be to my PP. We started the paragon tier before the EPG was released, so I picked another PP that fit my character concept. Unfortunately, it wasn't working out as well as I had hoped (it was hard to synch up my stats), so a few weeks after the EPG was released, my DM allowed me to switch PPs to something similar to my initial concept. I'm much happier with my character now.

I'm going to start DMing in a few weeks and I'm likely to keep this policy in place.

Shroomy wrote:

BTW, I'm sure it doesn't help now, but ...

Thanks. That definitely sounds more reasonable. Although, I think I might end up standing by the adjustments I made to the power last time (even though it might often leave the power being too strong) just so it doesn't feel like I'm continually messing with the choices the player has made. Would definitely put it into effect for any players wanting to make a new character with that power.

I'm definitely happy that they managed to get around to this power, but given how many weeks have past since me actually having the issue, I'm more confidant in performing my own adjustments for unbalanced abilities (for my own games), rather than just waiting for an update to come down on the ability.

If your players use the CB, the errata will be automatically incorporated into the character once they install the monthly update.

BTW, I'm sure it doesn't help now, but this power got nerfed hard in the lastest December 2009 update. It now provides a bonus to saving throws against fear effects and damage rolls equal to the invoker's Intelligence modifier.

Hi,

I just noticed that the Character Gen sheets don't seem to put the generated height and weight on the resulting character sheet. Is this just me?

Cheers,
S.

I see them on my character sheets from the CB.

So far, with the exception of the 4e Manual of the Planes there is a pretty sharp demarcation between player and DM books, extending to even setting materials (however, Dark Sun will be an exception). For example, in Libris Mortis, large parts of the book were devoted to new options for players; its 4e counterpart, Open Grave really has no content appropriate for players (other than a handful of rituals and undead grafts, though there are no explicit rules for the latter). In addition, each of the books is very focused on its subject matter. Martial Power covers fighters, rangers, rogues, and warlords, not wizards or clerics. While the best part of the 4e sales model is that you can get all the crunch (update to date with the latest errata BTW) with a DDI subscription, you can, if you are so inclined, buy only the books that directly interest you and the first three core books can be purchased as a set relatively cheaply online.

One last thing, as a plus for 4e that I don't believe has been mentioned, one of the things I most love is the support for all 30 levels of the game. There are plenty of options for all levels of the game, from both a PC and DM perspective (that said, more epic level rituals and monsters are always welcome), and I think 4e is the clear winner when it comes to support for high level play.

I figured they would just call it a psychic warrior again...

You can't use the OGL to evade the GSL if they don't call it a psychic warrior (which is also a dull name IMO).

18DELTA wrote:

SirUrza wrote:

And then there's poor Elaine being out of the Realms too.

Not true. Just because "Reclaimation" got cancelled doesn't mean she will not write any more Realms Novels. Dont believe me go and check out what she said on the Wizard Boards, and at Candlekeep just LAST WEEK...;)

So you don't think I am making this up http://community.wizards.com/go/post/reply/75882/21263021/Cycle_of_Night_Ca nceled_Paul_Kemp_nolonger_writing_FR_Novels&quote=377596757

All i seem to be getting is a you cannot post message. Is this one of those things you need a DDI subscription for?

No, there cookies are all screwed up right now. You either need to get in through the front page or through your account.

There's nothing intrinsic to Dragonlance about draconians.

I don't know about that, though you can certainly use them outside of Krynn, they are the iconic antagonist race in DL.

While I think the 4e release of DL is inevitable, I think it is too soon to tell if its going to be the 2011 setting. More likely they settled on including the draconians in the Draconomicon II because of there thematic link to the metallic dragons, because they're a reasonably popular group of monsters, and its a gesture to DL fans (even if their backstory was genericized in this book).

Based on blog posts and forum comments, mul and thri-kreen are definitely in. Half-giants have not been mentioned anywhere to the best of recollection.

Whimsy Chris wrote:

Has anyone been following Rich Baker's blog about Dark Sun. It looks like thri-kreen and mul are the new races and gladiator is the new class. Very excited about this setting.

This is good news, from some of the stuff I read about the setting it was said that no new races would be included. You really could't have dark sun without the thri-kreen or muls.

According to an interview with James Wyatt (and backed up by various designer's comments), there will not be a new class in the DSPG.

If Scott got a new job (his background is marketing if I remember correctly), I wouldn't be surprised if it was in the video game industry as opposed to the RPG industry.

One thing to remember about Rain of Steel is that its a stance, which means you can't use another stance power without giving up the earlier benefits.

Alright Suggestion Noted about the class and I will attempt a revision of it and would Love help/Suggestions to deal with making it more balanced.

Also Chris brought up the idea of turning it in to a Martial Controller

You'd have to re-write the majority of the class, and its probably not worth the effort. If your player really wants to go with a more classic tank, they should probably play a paladin and houserule all the radiant powers so they inflict necrotic damage. Personally, I would suggest that your player go with an assault swordmage that focuses on a repetoire of cold and necrotic powers (be warned, there are not that many necrotic powers for the swordmage, plus you'll need AP or a DDI subscription). That way, they'll be an arcane defender with an element of controller, much the way the dark night class purports to be.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/13110320/DD-4E-Black-Knight-Class

Thats the class he wants to do. now the Theme behind it seems interesting but rather oddly enough its some how feels off like its over powered or under powered i can't put the finger on it

It's actually both. Just looking at the first few levels, the 1st-level at-will implement powers are terrible, while with a 3rd level encounter power and cold specialization, you can stun a target. Some of the levels feature powers that are clearly better than another (see cleaving blow vs. blade of bood), and there are plenty of errors in the powers.

The worst part is that as a defender, the black knight actually has no way to do its job and any squishies in your group are going to feel the pain. The class is actually more of a melange of a controller and striker, with defender hit points and defenses.

I would not allow this class into my games

Correct me here its limit is line of sight?

So what would happen if someone dropped some kind of obscuring mist, fog or whatever ability that covers the area its in thereby blocking all visible sight of said pennant, wouldn't that neutralise its effect?

Yes it would. So dousing the torches would nullify its effects.

Any ideas as to which Demon Lord will grace the cover of MM3? I vote for Jubilex.

Lloth is on the cover.

Does anyone know which races & classes have been confirmed for PHB3? Thank you.

Confirmed races: githzerai, minotaur, and wildren. There is one additional unconfirmed race.

Confirmed classes: psion and monk. There are four more classes, one of which is thought to be the seeker (not sure what it is).

Is the Manual of the Planes a general overview of the new 4e cosmology with seperate books coming out for each section (ie. a book on the Shadowfell, another on the Feywild, etc)? Thank you.

It appears so, though they've only announced planar books for the Elemental Chaos (plus Abyss) and the Astral Sea.

I'm currently a player in my 4e group, but I will be shifting back into the GM's seat within a few weeks. So I will likely have to deal with this power the party's Invoker revealed the newest ability that she had gained from channeling her deity's power.

She conjured a flag onto the field and announced that everyone within line of sight to it would get a +7 to all defenses as long as she sustained it.

My immediate reaction was disbelief and a request to see the power since this would render all of the attacks against us useless. The power is "Pennant of Heaven's Armies" [Invoker Utility 16, from Divine Power] and that is exactly what it says (plus a bit more).

So, lacking official errata, I'm wondering how to deal with it without being heavy handed. What tactics I can use in any combat without making it so her power isn't rendered completely useless or make it seem as if every enemy seems to be aware of her ability. I could also reduce the power of the ability (by reducing the bonus, reducing how easy it is to use, reducing who is affected by it, or just even naming the bonus rather than leave it unnamed), but I'm not exactly sure where to reduce it to.

The answer I have to it right now is to just go after the fact that it only provides allies the bonus and focus all the enemies attacks on her. Even then, I'm not sure how effective that would be with the rest of the party around to defend her.

---

You could always target her since she doesn't receive any of the bonuses to her defenses (a stun or daze attack would be devastating since she can't sustain the effect), but any kind of attack that blinds a PC or blocks line of sight (a wall, a cloud of darkness, etc.) nullifies the effect (terrain would also be your best friend). It also a Conjuration, so any effect that can destroy or dispel one would apply.

In any case, given the disparity between an epic monster's attack modifier and the parties defenses (I'm guessing you're at epic level given that she needs at least a 24 Wis to get a +7 bonus) means that properly leveled monsters are probably not going to consistently whiff on their attacks.

Off the top of my head, some of the 3PP d20 settings which had more than a few published books during the 3E/3.5E era.

- Ravenloft (Sword and Sorcery)
- Blackmoor (Zeitgeist)
- Dragonlance (Margaret Weis Productions)
- Aereth (Goodman)
- Iron Kingdoms
- Kingdoms of Kalamar (Kenzer)
- Arcana Unearthed, Arcana Evolved, Ptolus (Malhavoc)
- Everquest d20 rgp
- Warcraft, World of Warcraft d20 rpg
- Rokugan (AEG)
- Scarred Lands (Sword and Sorcery)
- Freeport (Green Ronin)

How many of these have been converted to 4E?

The only ones I can think of offhand:

- Kingdoms of Kalamar updated to 4E and released only as a PDF. (Kenzer seems to more interested in using Kalamar for its Hackmaster 5E rpg).
- Scarred Lands "creature collection" was converted to 4E and published as a book, but nothing else yet.

So far somewhat underwhelming.

XRP is doing Freeport, Goodman Games is still setting all of their adventures in Aerth, and someone (Red Brick I think) is doing Earthdawn. Blackmoor was also released, but I forgot who's doing that.

Cool stuff Shroomy. I like your take on the body thief power. The only thing I don't really like is that your intellect devourer has no real way to make a character helpless without bringing the character to 0 hp. I like the idea of having one power that has the potential to KO a character.

Thanks. To address your concern, I didn't give this version of the intellect devourer a power that renders PCs unconscious for two reasons. First, I was trying to remain as faithful as possible to the 3.5e version of the monster, and after checking the SRD, I didn't see a power that had this effect. Second, this version of the body thief power already reduces a helpless target to 0 hit points, so I thought that adding an additional power that makes the target helpless would be overpowering for a standard strength creature. I think that such a power would probably be more appropriate for an elite version of the intellect devourer.

Here's how I would build an intellect devourer of the level you're asking for:

Intellect Devourer Level 13 Controller
Small aberrant magical beast (blind) XP 800
Initiative +11 Senses Perception +12; blindsight 12
Clouded Mind (Charm) aura 2; the intellect devourer gains concealment against any creature within its aura that is dazed, stunned, or taking ongoing psychic damage.
HP 127; Bloodied 63
AC 27; Fortitude 23; Reflex 25; Will 26; see also clouded mind
Immune gaze
Resist 10 psychic
Saving Throws +2 against charm and illusion effects
Speed 8; climb 4 (spider climb)
M Claw (standard; at-will) * Psychic
+18 vs AC; 1d4+4 damage and ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends)
R Ego Whip (standard; at-will) * Charm, Psychic
Ranged 12; +17 vs Will; 2d6+6 psychic damage and the target takes a -2 penalty to its next attack roll, skill check, ability check, or saving throw.
r Body Thief (free action, when an enemy in range is reduced to 0 hit points or becomes helpless; encounter) * Charm, Reliable
Ranged 5; targets one dying or helpless enemy; +17 vs Will; the target is dominated (save ends), saving throws to end this effect take a -2 penalty, and a target who is not already dying is reduced to 0 hit points. While the target is dominated, the intellect devourer disappears into the target’s mind and is removed from play; as long as the target is dominated, the intellect devourer cannot be attacked. While dominated, the target does not make any death saving throws and cannot regain hit points. If the intellect devourer ends the effect (as a free action), the target dies, or if the target saves against the domination, the intellect devourer appears in a square of its choice adjacent to the target and the target falls prone and begins to make death saving throws (if applicable).
If the target is still dominated at the end of the encounter, the intellect devourer can sustain the effect for seven days (the target no longer makes saving throws to end the effect); at the end of this time, the target dies and the intellect devourer appears in a space of its choice adjacent to the target’s body. While dominated, the intellect devourer gains a +5 bonus to its Bluff checks while impersonating the target. During this time, a Remove Affliction ritual can be used on the target (if restrained or helpless) to end the domination. If the ritual succeeds, or if the target dies, the intellect devourer appears in a space of its choice adjacent to the target, while a dying target falls prone and begins making death saving throws.
Combat Advantage
When an intellect devourer hits a creature that is taking ongoing psychic damage and is granting combat advantage to the intellect devourer, the target is also dazed until the end of its next turn.
Alignment Chaotic Evil Languages Common, Deep Speech (cannot speak unless dominating a target); telepathy 12
Skills Stealth +16
Str 13 (+7) Dex 20 (+11) Wis 12 (+7)
Con 15 (+8) Int 12 (+7) Cha 22 (+12)

While it has a strong selection of articles, I didn't think it had enough behind the scenes type information to justify a purchase by this DDI subscriber.

This calls for a toast. "To Shroomy!" *raises flagon of ale*

That is so great! To see it up and out there, available for others to run through. Im really happy for you!

Now get to work on another one, hehehe. :D

Thanks! I can't wait to hear how the adventures goes for those who run it. I never got a chance to do it (I may do it as a one shot for the group I currently play with) and I only heard bits and pieces of what happened at the WotC playtest (apparently, the first encounter almost resulted in a TPK!).

My adventure is up. Overall, I'm very happy with how it turned out. I hope everyone who is a DDI subscriber enjoys it.

I read that at the seminar someone asked about Brom and WotC wants to bring him back to do some work, but they weren't sure if they could swing it because he's very busy right now.

You know, one thing that perplexed me back when 4E FR came out was that, despite they fact that they had been emphasized since the beginning of 3E, shades were not introduced, and instead were rolled into Shadar-kai, which struck me as being quite different in flavor and look than shades.

So I'm kind of hoping that there is a minimum of "X that's already details is really Y in this setting." I would much rather see half-giants that are their own thing than just saying that goliaths are half-giants in Dark Sun, for example.

Shades are in the 4e FRCS; they're a template. Shadar-kai are now their servitors.

You can attack the tentacles of the dolgaunt, so its not completely unprecedented:

Clutch of Death

A dolgaunt monk can grab with up to two tentacles at a time. While grabbing an enemy, it can act normally, but it can’t use that tentacle for another attack. Enemies can attack the tentacle. An attack that hits the tentacle doesn’t harm the dolgaunt monk, but it causes the tentacle to release the grab. The tentacle’s defenses are the same as those of the dolgaunt monk

I don't have a copy of the AP, but sending someone to the Abyss for the entire fight doesn't seem like it would work out too well in 4e. Personally, I would crib some of the Astral Dreadnaught's powers, but reflavor them so its more demonic/Abyssal.

Swallow (Standard, at-will)

Targets a bloodied Large or smaller creature that the astral dreadnought has grabbed; +25 vs Fortitude; the target is swallowed. The target enters a demiplane that is 8 squares wide, 8 squares long, and 2 squares tall. The swallowed creature arrives in a square of the dreadnought’s choosing. A hovering eyeball occupies the center 4 squares of the demiplane.
Creatures in the demiplane can attack the eye. It shares the current hit points, defenses, immunities, resistances, and saving throws as the astral dreadnought, and it is also insubstantial. The eye can’t be knocked prone or teleported, and it is immune to forced movement. Creatures in the demiplane are not affected by the dreadnought’s aura.
Any damage or effects the eye takes are also applied to the astral dreadnought. When an astral dreadnought dies, the swallowed creatures are expelled into the space the creature formerly occupied.

I just got around to looking at the githzerai, and it looks like WotC caught their leak... It doesn't say seeker anymore.

The compendium racial entry still lists seeker.

I'm going to indulge in a bit of thread necromancy. I'm not sure if anyone who once participated in this thread still reads through it (or plays 4e, or is a DDI subscriber), but my adventure will finally be released for 4e on 8-19. It's been a long journey.

And apparently there was a final complaint raised that one of the utility powers - a 'death glare' where the ranger brutally dispatches one foe, and lets another enemy know the ranger is coming for them - did ongoing psychic damage to the enemy to represent their sudden drop in morale. Apparently several folks complained this was too 'magical'.

~shrug~ It didn't bother me at all, but they changed it to not doing damage and just creating combat advantage, or something similar, which seemed to satisfy those who complained. I can't say it was truly a problem, but I also can't fault the designers for listening to the complaints of the players. At least, not this time. ;)

The real problem with that power from a rules perspective is that an encounter power involved ongoing damage; save ends conditions are not usually found in encounter powers.

Do you know how long it usually takes for a book like Divine Power to reach the DDI Compendium for people with a subscription?

DDI updates are done on the first Tuesday of each month. DP will appear in the DDI as of the August 4th update.

I'm not too worried. As noted, the avenger is a melee class and I think the armor restrictions on the power would make it less attractive to other classes. Most importantly, there's no hover involved, so there are no opportunity attacks, no shifts, you have to move 2 squares or crash (immobilized, restrained, and even slow become dangerous), and being knocked prone, ouch! Also, at 16th level, the amount of creatures that can fly or teleport is not inconsequential.