Question or two about DnD 4 ed.

[dragonshaos]

Alright, just a few days ago I received my order of the 3 core rule books for DnD 4 ed. and ive been reading them with great enthusiasm.  however I have a question or two about some thing and It would be nice if someone could take a minute to answer them with their vast knowledge of awesomeness 

Alright, so first off I made a character just to learn the process, lets say a lvl 1 Warlock, and one of the spells (Vampiric Embrace) says that for the Attack, I roll a Constitution vs. Will.  I dont know what I need to do.  Do I roll 1d20 and add Constitution modifiers for attack and Will for enemies defence?  Please explain.

Aaand ummm... blah I hate being new to things... For a simple melee attack, it's just a 1d20 + modifiers to hit vs. enemy AC, and then damage is the weapon's damage + modifiers, correct?  Reading over the rulebook is making me second guess everything.

[Tadanori Oyama]

Yeah, you'll see alot of alternative stats used for aggressive actions.

In 3.5 everything was either strength or dexterity added to the attack roll, plus base attack, etc.

In 4E, your basic measure of "to hit" is your ability modifier.

With that Warlock, let's say you have a Constitution of 16 (it should be 18, since it's probably your main attack stat, depending on the build but we're saying 16), so you have a +3 modifier.

The second bonus is your level bonus. This is similar to your base attack but it is not the same thing. Every class adds one hald of their level rounded down to their attack rolls, whatever attribute they use. So, at first level, it'll be +0. When you reach level 2, it grows to +1.

Most attacks also add the ability mod to damage. DO NOT, however, add half your level to damage, only to attack.

So for this example warlock a roll an attack again an enemy with a Will defense of, let's say, 15, you would roll as follows:

Attack roll
Rolling 1d20+3:

(13)+3: Total = 16

Damage
Rolling 1d6+3:

(1)+3: Total = 4

[dragonshaos]

Alright...so in really simplified terms the Will defense becomes the AC for this attack.  If their Will is 15, i need to roll 1d20 + my Constitution ability modifier + any other applicable modifiers that would pertain to this example.  And thus rolling a 16, i beat their Will, causing a hit, and thus damage (hopefully).  Alright, wow that clears up A LOT.  Thank you very much!  I will post any other questions I have here in the future.

[Tadanori Oyama]

Actually you just need 15. Ties go to the attacker in 4E.

Also remember that abilities will almost always have a lower attack value if they don't use a weapon, ie a Warlock's Eldrich Blast instead of a Warlord's Viper Strike. The Warlord's longsword adds +3 to attacks because of it's Proficency Bonus.

So, given equal abilities of 18 (18 Strength for the Warlord and 18 Constitution for the Warlock) with both at first level, the Warlord attacks with a +7 (+4 str and +3 prof) while the Warlock is only at +4 (+4 con and no prof bonus).

But, the Warlord is attacking AC with his sword and this monster has a 19 AC. The Warlock, attacking Reflex, is aiming for only 15. So while the Warlord needs a 12 or higher, the Warlock needs only 11.

In you'll do well if you can aim at the right defenses. AC is almost always highest and most monsters (barring solos generally who mostly have high defenses all-round) have at least one low defense that can be exploited.

[dragonshaos]

Most excellent.  Now with a much better understanding of the rules, I can begin fiddling with encounters and learning more about how the combat system works.  When I feel confident I might even start working on a small dungeon for some of my players to learn in.  Ooooooo Im excited!   

[Tadanori Oyama]

I love encounter design. I always try new things on my players. There's this cool little chart in 4E that lists likely environmental effects damage across the level spread. It's in three level: light, medium, and heavy. You can use light for lasting effects, like flaming coals and such. Medium damage is big swinging things you might be able to set up again. Heavy is for those once in a fight kind of things, like dropping a chandler on somebody's head. Love that stuff.

[dragonshaos]

Alrighty another question:

When creating a character your able to choose 2 At-Will, 1 Encounter, and 1 Daily power(s).  However it shows that characters are given some powers just for picking the class.  An example being the Paladin who gets his Channel Divinity (Encounter), Divine Challenge (At Will), and Lay on Hands (At Will).  Now my question is, do these powers count as your choice of spells, meaning I would now only get to pick a Daily?  Or do I get these plus my choice of selectable powers?

[Dawnsteel]

Or do I get these plus my choice of selectable powers?

As I understand the rules, for your paladin, you get your choice of two first-level at-will, one encounter, and one daily power(s), IN ADDITION to the class "bonus" powers of Channel Divinity, Divine Challenge, and Lay on Hands.

[dragonshaos]

Alright then.  I was thinking as much.  Lemme see here...

Oh!

Going back to the Paladin, in a battle it's powers could include such attack powers as Holy Strike (Standard, At Will) and Valiant Strike (Standard, At Will) at level 1.  My questions for this are:

Since these attacks require melee weapons, would you get a weapons proficiency bonus to hit with this power?

If a Paladin could do these attacks in exchange for their regular simple melee attack, is there ever a point for them to use regular simple melee attacks aside from role playing (which isn't going to happen with my group unless I were to state otherwise) or the fact that their attacks could be resisted by specialized monsters?

And finally, it says the Paladin is proficient with all simple/military melee weapons, does that mean he gains the proficiency bonus when wielding them?

[Tadanori Oyama]

Yep, any power that has the keyword "Weapon" gets the prof. bonus to the attack roll.

And there is no reason not to use at-wills whenever possible. They always have more effects than your basic melee.

However, there are exceptions (ALOT of those in 4E since it's a exceptions based rule system). Sometimes you gain bonuses that apply only to basic attacks, meaning you can deal more damage with them that at-wills. Those condition are rare. Basic attacks generally show up as 1) opportunity attacks, 2) bonuses from other people's powers, or 3) bonuses from class features.

For example, an Anarch of Shar (a Swordmage Paragon path) gets a free basic melee attack, in addition to any other actions, whenever he spends an action point.

And yes, he gains the bonus on any weapon he is proficent with. A character can weild a weapon they are not proficent with without addition penalty, they just do not gain the prof. bonus to attack rolls.

[dragonshaos]

Most excellent!  I ran a for fun dungeon last night with 2 players (A Warlock and Paladin, thus where my questions come from) and we weren't adding in his weapon prof. when he attacked, mainly because he didn't want to thinking it was going to overpower enemies he fought with, making them hit him more often (He didn't tell me this however, because i know enemies just get their plus X vs ac or whatever).

So now for some Warlock Questions!

Warlocks Curse at lvl 1 for a minor action allows the Warlock to do 1d6 more damage to enemies afflicted with it.  However the book dose not state that the Warlock must roll to hit anything.  So is it just assumed that the Curse always hits unless a special rule for the monster exists?

And!  Warlocks enter 1 of 3 pacts (Fey, Infernal, and Star) which gives them access to spells.  Can a Warlock only gain access to those spells of their chosen pact?

Thank you by the way for all your help guys.  The game is making a lot more sense to me and reading it is becoming easier.  I may hold an actual session in the near future.

[Tadanori Oyama]

Ah, see, that's an easy mistake. The Warlock's Curse, itself, isn't an attack. As a minor action the Warlock may Curse the nearest enemy. If the Warlock then hits the Cursed enemy with an attack (any attack, Eldrich Blast, Eyebite, whatever), the attack deals an extra 1d6 damage, that is the player rolls a d6 in addition to the normal damage dice of the attack.

Eldrich Blast deals 1d10. If it hits a Cursed target then it deals 1d10+1d6.

A Warlock's Pact ONLY effect the character's At-Will powers. They have to take the At-Will for their pact. They do not have to choose other powers linked to their pact. However, there is a bonus to some powers if you have the same pact as the power's keyed pact.

[dragonshaos]

Oh I see...  Yes i had the Warlock Curse right, we would do a normal attack (like Eldrich Blast, Eyebite) and then add 1d6 dmg.  I was wondering if the Warlock had to roll to see if the Curse hit, I guess not.  So just by using the Minor Action a warlock can curse an enemy.  Alright I got that.

Reading over the Warlock I see that I had read it wrong the first time...

So the pact you choose will tell you one of two At Will spells you may pick, the pact picking one for you, and still having the default 2 will powers to pick you would now have 1 At Will power of your choice.

Blah!  I get it now.  Alright...Im going to read up on other class and races and see if I can muster up some more questions.

Thanks for the help!

[Tadanori Oyama]

Actually the other isn't your choice, it's Eldrich Blast.

Every Warlock has their pact At-Will and Eldrich Blast. Only Humans (who get an extra At-Will power) can have different ones.

[dragonshaos]

Oh...I see...well my warlock player is going to be bummed over this...

Well, it seems Ive missed some things while reading.  Ill just re-re-re-read things and if I still don't get it, or I'm unable to find answers in the book, then ill post them here.  Or if I'm lazy...yaaaaa lazy...