Talk:Alpha Wolf (4e Paragon Path)

Some notes on balance:

• Thickened Fur Coat (11th Level): Receive +15 resistance against cold and receive a +2 to endurance checks when exposed to harsh cold based weather. AC receives a +6.

It is much safer and more balance to give resistances based on established WotC material, namely Tieflings which have Fire Resistance equal to 5 + one half of level. The AC adjustment is far, far too high, and in fact, should be removed altogether; this Paragon benefit is already fairly significant with having Frost resistance and a bonus to Endurance checks.

• Speed of the Pack (11th Level): +3 Initiative bonus for you and your allies.

Unfortunately this is plain overpowered on every level. Even Elves, as their racial bonus, only provide a +1 to Perception, and Initiative can be make or break. Combined with Thickened Fur Coat, this is already a very, very strong Paragon bonus, especially since it has no limit on distance. If anything, this should be a +1 aura with a limit of 5 squares.

• Loyalty of the Pack Action (11th Level): If a bloodied ally is hit by an enemy, you can spend an action point to receive the damage. If any other allies assist, you may split the damage evenly between each other.

Based on the theme you're going with of wolves, its probably better that you just divide the damage evenly among all allies within burst of the target unless they're bloodied or at 0 or less hit points.

• Alpha Proficiency (11th level): You receive +2 to Strength and +2 to wisdom.

Given the Alpha Wolf already has Thickened Fur Coat and Speed of the Pack, this probably should be removed, as most ability score adjustments are reserved for Epic destinies and this Paragon already has a lot on its plate.

• Strength of the Pack (16th Level): Any power where an ally is allowed to make a secondary attack on an enemy receives a +4 bonus to attack and damage rolls.

Neat feature, just much too powerful. Reducing it to a +1 or +2 is more palatable given how 4e handles its combat system. +4 bonus is a huge amount, and given the raw number of abilities that can attack more than one target via a secondary attack, this can get out of hand fast.

Here are Marasmusine's concerns based on the NeedsBalance tag.

Alpha's Persistance throws skill checks into the middle of a power; Omega Tactics needs to clarify what's going on with the ally's attack - do they attack they same target? Is it a basic attack? Melee, ranged? How far away can they be? When the ally moves in the effect line, couldn't that trigger an opportunity attack from the target? The area of effect on Pack Surge is overpowered, and again it doesn't explain what kind of attacks the allies can make.

--Argent Fatalis (talk) 01:43, 28 April 2013 (MDT)

Bonuses

I toned down the bonuses, and they went back up again. The current levels are okay for an individual, say +4 initiative, but when you include 4 of your team-mates, the total bonus output is too high. Marasmusine (talk) 04:18, 13 May 2013 (MDT)

No response on this, so I'm changing it back. Level 20 dailies should be in the 4[W] range. With a normal party, Pack Surge is already potentially a 5[W] attack through allies alone - and this goes up to 10[W] at level 21. I've put the primary damage back to 1[W]. Marasmusine (talk) 01:59, 28 May 2013 (MDT)