Talk:Human, (4e Racial Trait Variants)

This is just an upgrade to the standard human. Humans are versatile but not particularly great at anything. Compared to the standard human they get an additional ability score bonus, Get to take another races feats (humans already having some of the best) and trade the At-will for a utility power. Trading the At-will for a utility doesn't seem like a problem but most utilities are once per day or once per encounter, and at the higher levels they can be quite amazing. The extra at-will is another option for them to use, making a marginal upgrade at absolute best. --Aitharious (talk) 09:22, 13 September 2017 (MDT)

This variant of the human race can't use the extra at-will power, but I would imagine that utility powers are a bit worse than a power that can be used every single turn. JohnSmith82 (talk) 16:17, 13 September 2017 (MDT)

The thing is utilities are a limited resource that can get very good at high levels. You're always using your standard action to attack, at worse you have to use an at-will, the extra at-will is another last option that may be more useful that your other two in a specific situation. Go look at some high level utilities and you can quickly see that they can have quite the impact. --Aitharious (talk) 08:42, 14 September 2017 (MDT)

A utility power usually isn't intended to do damage, but most are encounters or dailies and one extra on top of the others wouldn't be particularly strong at high levels given how many utilities you have, and wouldn't provide extremely powerful bonuses at lower levels. Furthermore utilities are considerably weaker than at-wills on average, and usually do not directly impact damage. JohnSmith82 (talk) 20:03, 14 September 2017 (MDT)

Go to any class, go to the level 22 utility powers, and tell me they are weaker than an optional at-will attack. And Again, At-wills are infinite, and use a standard action, Most all utilities are once per day or once per encounter, and most often use your minor action, which typically you aren't using. --Aitharious (talk) 08:00, 18 September 2017 (MDT)

I think the fact that an at-will can be used multiple times makes it a more powerful power than opens up the versatility of any class. In addition to this there are various at-will powers that can be taken when you multiclass or are a hybrid, or from the dungeon magazine books that will end up being more powerful. A lot of utility powers are relatively weak and ineffectual and only a few actually directly effect damage. At level 21, at-wills also tend to increase in damage as well, and some at-wills are not standard actions, such as with the bard at-will powers which are minor actions and effect melee basic attacks and so on. I personally believe that an at-will is more powerful, since it can be used repeatedly, where as most utilities are only encounters or dailies and thus can only be used once. At-wills define the average action of a class, which means having more gives the class a broader array of capabilities, especially psionic classes. A sorcerer for instance could choose a Burst 3, Area Burst 1, and a ranged attack, where as a Invoker could choose attacks which target multiple opponents and a single target attack, a wizard can choose powers like the sorcerer and so on. Just about the only class that doesn't benefit very much is a paladin, and even then it's a nice option to have. A utility power is a one time use power that mostly effects non-damage applications. JohnSmith82 (talk) 01:23, 19 September 2017 (MDT)