10.5.0: Damage scaling adjustments

Changes to damage scaling with power

Problem

Previously, some abilities granted extra damage dice "per four power".
The gap between these breakpoints was too high.
This was especially true since they often appeared early enough that characters could still be in the 5-7 power range, where the breakpoint felt especially punishing.

Solution

All effects that scale damage with power have been adjusted so they no longer use "per four power" scaling.
Instead, the closest scaling is a flat "damage equal to power" bonus.
In order to make this change, all damage scaling with power was revisited, and many other standard scaling values have been slightly adjusted to minimize breakpoint gaps where possible.
The overall damage dealt should be similar, but most abilities now have slightly more emphasis on power scaling instead of flat damage.
To support low-power characters, abilities that previously were defined as having high flat damage and low power scaling now have pure flat damage, with no power scaling at all.

Specific changes

It's not meaningful to list every individual ability that changed its damage scaling.
Only abilities that had additional significant changes will be mentioned here.

• Classes
  • Barbarian: Savage Rush has had its scaling redesigned and generally buffed
  • Druid: Elemental Strike now adds half Strength to determine its magical power
  • Fighter: Disciplined Strike now deals more damage
  • Paladin: Smite has smoother scaling between rank 1 and rank 2, making it less overpowered at specifically rank 1
  • Rogue: Bardic music abilities now use non-power scaling for damage and healing
  • Warlock
    • Abyssal Rebuke now has more unusual scaling
    • Secret of Bloodsharing now grants slightly more healing
• Feats
  • Greatweapon Warrior: Power Attack now also applies a -1 defense penalty to make up for its higher scaling

General changes

• Combat mechanics
  • Damaging attacks with special effects now only inflict those special effects on a full hit, not a glance or miss
    • It was previously ambiguous which special effects, like debuffs, only triggered on a full hit and which would trigger on a glance or even miss
  • Brawling accuracy now correctly adds generic accuracy modifiers in the Roll20 sheet
  • The rules for making dual strikes while dual wielding are now written more clearly
  • Flying and gliding creatures are now immune to being knocked prone
• Classes
  • Barbarian: Battlerager has been slightly buffed
    • Rage now applies the standard enraged debuff and grants an accuracy bonus with melee and thrown strikes, rather than mundane abilities
      • This should discourage longbow barbarians, which are narratively odd
      • An amulet has been added to restore the old behavior
    • Fearless Rage is now Fearless Anger, which works while not raging
    • Insensible Anger ignores all vital wound effects, not just accuracy and movement penalties
  • Paladin: Lay on Hands now removes all poisons and diseases, not just one
  • Sorcerer and Wizard: Mage Armor no longer increases its Armor defense scaling to +4 at rank 6
• Mystic spheres
  • Characters can now learn rituals from mystic spheres they do not have access to
    • Those rituals are treated as one rank higher and cost twice as many fatigue levels
  • Cryomancy: Cryostrike has been redesigned
  • Pyromancy: Flame Blade can now target allies
• Equipment
  • Wands are now much easier to use
    • They are no longer associated with a specific magic source, and the minimum spell rank required to use a wand is one lower than the wand's rank
  • Claw sheaths can explicitly only affect punches, but not kicks
  • Added Gauntlets of Brutal Fists
  • Magic weapons that grant standard action strikes now consistently have a minimum accuracy
  • Frenzy weapons now only trigger if you attack with them, not with any weapon
• Feats
  • Celestial Ancestry and Executioner have been reworked
  • Telepath: Mental Assault has a revised accuracy bonus mechanic that should be simpler to use in practice
  • Twin-Weapon Fighting: The Balanced Armor bonus is now considered to come from a shield, and Two Weapons As One has been removed