Alright, a LOT of upcoming changes in DDO.
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~ Physical Resist Rating (or PRR), the new formula the increases its power, and the bonuses to PRR that heavier armors will grant.
~ Magical Resist Rating (or MRR), the new rating that will mitigate magical damage, and the bonuses to MRR that heavier armors will grant.
~ Melee Power, the new melee specific attribute similar to Spellpower, and how certain static effects will scale with this new attribute.
~ Ranged Power, the new missile specific attribute similar to Spellpower, and how it might affect future abilities.
~ Improvements to the mitigation of heavier armors.
Physical Resist Rating
The attribute is used to mitigate physical damage of all types. The game already has Physical Resist Rating. We are changing the mitigation formula of this attribute, effectively buffing its power. The new formula:
100 / (100 + Rating)
This boost will help mitigate the damage of melee enemies in Epic Elite and will help players to build characters that can survive toe to toe with those enemies.
Magical Resist Rating
This new attribute is the magical equivalent of PRR. It can be increased by wearing armor, gearing up Sheltering effects, and picking certain enhancements. This rating works on most magical effects. It will not reduce force, bane and some other special effects. The mitigation this rating provides following a similar formula as PRR.
100 / (100 + Rating)
Melee Power
The new attribute is essentially the melee version of Spellpower. Melee Power will not only increase the damage of straight weapon damage, but certain static effects from enhancements will now scale up with Melee Power allowing them to be more useful in epic levels. Melee Power will be gained from certain enhancements and from some melee epic destinies. Our plan is to have future loot include Melee Power. This rating increases melee attacks by the following formula.
(100 + Rating) / 100
As we rebalance static effects found in enhancements we will make these scale with Melee Power so they increase as you gain power and new loot. As an example, several Paladin damage sources that were previously static will now scale with Melee Power.
Ranged Power
This new attribute is ranged version of Melee Power, or if you prefer the ranged equivalent to Spellpower. This rating increases missile attacks by the following formula.
(100 + Rating) / 100
Buffing Heavy Armor
Physical and Magical Resist Ratings offered by armor
Robes or Outfits: No PRR, no MRR
Light Armor: 10 PRR, 10 MRR if armor has enchantments. (This is in addtion to the current PRR bonus of 2 + (BAB / 2.0) )
Medium Armor: 20 PRR, 20 MRR if armor has enchantments. (This is in addtion to the current PRR bonus of 4 + (BAB / 1.5) )
Heavy Armor: 30 PRR, 30 MRR if armor has enchantments. (This is in addtion to the current PRR bonus of 6 + BAB )
Physical and Magical Resist Ratings offered by sheilds
Buckler: None
Light Shield: 5 PRR, 5 MRR if shield has enchantments.
Heavy Shield: 10 PRR, 10 MRR if shield has enchantments.
Tower Shield: 15 PRR, 15 MRR if shield has enchantments.
Physical and Magical Resist Rating multiplier against magical attacks that normally allow a Reflex saving throw.
Buckler: 1.0 (no additional mitigation)
Light Shield: 1.0 (no additional mitigation)
Heavy Shield: 2.0
Tower Shield: 2.0
Resistance Rating Caps and Evasion
Buckler: None
Light Shield: None
Heavy Shield: No Evasion feat
Tower Shield: No Evasion feat
Magical Resistance Rating Cap for armor
Robes or Outfit: 100
Light Armor: 200
Medium Armor: No cap
Heavy Armor: No cap
Magical Resistance Rating and Loot
Magical Resistance Rating will appear on existing and future items with the Sheltering effect. All items with the Sheltering effect will give an amount of MRR equal to the PRR of that effect. Note that armor type will still limit the amount of MRR you can have. In the future items may offer additional sources of PRR and/or MRR in addition to sheltering effects.
Note, I hate Tuesdays. Information Overload! (I also suck at formatting)
As I mentioned before during calls, the devs are adding a %-based magic-damage reduction similar in function and concept to PRR. This is primarily to enable heavy armored character to compete where evasion characters currently rule.
The Melee/Ranged Power are basically mirrors of the current Spellpower system currently in use. It adds that much damage to your base attacks. In addition, certain PrE or ED abilities will also be scaled by this. Divine Light, in the Paladin tree for example (AoE Light damage effect vs Undead, works well in lower levels from memory, but currently doesn't scale).
In addition, some of the EDs are being rebalanced a bit, to give Melee (and/or ranged) Power in each core, as well as some MP/RP being granted just for the Commoner levels themselves (giving them more value). The total means (under current posted numbers) that in a combat destiny like Crusader, GMoF, LD, or Fury, you gain 150% damage at level 28 in a capped ED.
From the list, the 'combat destinies' are basically everything except Shiradi, Exalted, Magister, and Draconic. The 'Caster/Ranged' EDs. Fatesinger is also left out, but a later post mentions it was probably an oversight.
Some feats are also giving some MP, notably the currently lackluster THF feats, and Shield Mastery/ISM and I Shield Bash. 10 on first feat, 5 on the other two in each chain.
Paladin (because Peter is chomping at the bit to see this…)
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Holy Sword
Evocation (Good spells)
Paladin 4
Components: Verbal, Somatic
Metamagic: Quicken
Range: Touch
Target: Self
Duration: 1 minute per caster level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Cooldown: 3 seconds
Channels holy power to increase the effectiveness of your equipped weapons. Weapons you currently are wielding gain an additional +2 holy bonus to enhancement value. The spell also increases the threat range and critical weapon multiplier of these weapons by 1.
Zeal
Zeal is already quite good, but as a quality of life change we are increasing its duration to match the new Holy Sword spell. It will now last one minute per caster level.
Changes to Zeal are nice, and Holy Sword is pretty decent as well, especially if it will work with Artificer Imbues. Looks like they lose the free general DR bypass, though they can use a better dps DR breaker instead so that's fine.
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Knight of the Chalice
Core Abilities
• 1 AP, class level 1: Slayer of Evil I: You gain +1 to hit evil and undead creatures. Your attacks deal 1d6 additional Light damage. You resist evil influences particularly well, gaining a +2 bonus to saves against spells and effects produced by evil creatures. All Light damage from core abilities scale with 100% Melee Power.
• 5 AP, class level 3: Courage of Heaven: Your Aura of Courage grants an additional +2 Sacred bonus to saves against Fear and now also grants a +2 Sacred bonus to saves against Enchantment. You gain +1 to hit for all attacks. Your attacks now deal 2d6 additional Light damage.
• 10 AP, class level 6: Slayer of Evil II: You now gain +2 to hit evil and undead creatures. Your attacks now deal 3d6 additional Light damage. All your attacks are considered to be Ghost Touch. You resist evil influences particularly well, gaining a +3 bonus to saves against spells and effects produced by evil creatures.
• 20 AP, class level 12: Improved Courage of Heaven: Increases the Aura bonuses granted by Courage of Heaven by an additional +2. You now gain +2 to hit for all attacks. Your attacks now deal 4d6 additional Light damage.
• 30 AP, class level 18: Slayer of Evil III: You now gain +3 to hit evil and undead creatures. Your attacks now deal 6d6 additional Light damage. You resist evil influences particularly well, gaining a +4 bonus to saves against spells and effects produced by evil creatures. Your vorpal hits against undead do an additional 500 damage.
• 41 AP, class level 20: Champion of Good: You gain +4 Charisma and 10 Melee Power. The bonuses granted by Courage of Heaven are increased by an additional +2. Your attacks now deal 8d6 additional Light damage. Any weapon you wield is considered Good aligned for purposes of bypassing damage reduction.
I don't understand the 100% Melee Power thing. Do you not get extra damage until your MP is over 100? Otherwise, not terrible. Without seeing either Vanguard or Defender's revamp I can't plan a build on it, but it's not terrible.
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Tier One (0 AP Required)
• Extra Turning: +(1/2/3) Turn Attempts per rest.
• Divine Light: Your Turn Undead ability now also deals 6d6/12d6/18d6 light damage to nearby undead. Scales with 200% Melee Power.
• Extra Remove Disease: +(2/4/6) Remove Disease uses per rest.
• Exalted Smite: You gain 2/4 additional use of Smite Evil per rest.
• Action Boost: Attack: Activate to gain a +(4/6/8) Action Boost bonus to hit for 20 seconds.
Meh. Turn undead may as well not bother with, and DL is too niche for consideration. Basically, I'd use the Extra Smites (note, I copied this, so I did NOT put the mistake in there) and maybe extra remove disease.
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Tier Two (5 AP Required)
• Improved Turning: You count as (1/2/3) levels higher when turning undead, and add (2/4/6) to the number of hit dice turned.
• Divine Might: Channel Divinity: Channel Divinity: You gain an Insight bonus to Strength equal to your Charisma modifier for 30/60/120 seconds. (Cooldown 20 seconds)
• Rally: Channel Divinity: Remove fear from nearby allies. You and the affected allies gain a +2/+4/+6 Moral Bonus to Will Saves vs. Fear effects and a +1/+2/+3 Morale Bonus to Attack and Damage for 60 seconds. (Coodown: 3 minutes)
• Exalted Cleave: Shares its cooldown with the Cleave feat. Make a sweeping attack against all nearby enemies for +1/+2/+3[W] damage.
• Action Boost: Damage: Activate to gain a (+10/+20/+30)% Action Boost bonus to Melee Power for 20 seconds. (Cooldown: 30 Seconds)
For a dps tree, meh. 99% of melee dps will be building for O-Crit, meaning Exalted Cleave is wasted. DM is strong though, and a damage boost can be useful.
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Tier Three (10 AP Required)
• Improved Restoration: Your Paladin Remove Disease ability now also applies a (Lesser Restoration / Restoration / Greater Restoration) effect.
• Divine Sacrifice: Giving up some of your life force to win the battle, you empower your next blow against your foe. This attack deals an additional (5/7/9)d6 Light damage and increases the critical multiplier of your weapon by 1, but costs you 5 hp and 1 sp, whether or not the attack is successful. Light damage scales with 100% Melee Power.
• Vigor of Life: Your Positive Healing Amplification is increased by (5/10)%, and you take (5/10)% less damage from Negative Energy.
• Exalted Smite: Active: An improved smite that adds +1/+1/+2 to your weapon's critical damage multiplier and 0/+1/+2 to your weapon's critical threat range.
• Str or Cha: +1 Strength or Charisma
Exalted Smite is still strong, but are they going to regen fast enough to make a significant difference? Currently, Paladin Smites burn out way too fast. Healing Amp is always good.
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Tier Four (20 AP Required)
• Censure Demons: You gain On Vorpal: Stuns Chaotic Evil outsiders for 3 seconds.
• Passion: Your Divine Sacrifice ability gains: On Damage: Gain (5/10/15) temporary spell points if you strike an undead or evil outsider an evil creature with this attack.
• Vigor of Life: Your Positive Healing Amplification is increased by (5/10)%, and you take (5/10)% less damage from Negative Energy.
• Empowered Smite: Your Smite Evil and Exalted Smite abilities now grant a buff that increases Melee Power by 10 for 10 seconds.
• Str or Cha: +1 Strength or Charisma
Censure is too limited to be of use. Devils and Demons are not the entire game anymore fools! Empower Smite is useful, as is Healing Amp.
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Tier Five (40 AP Required)
• Censure Outsiders: Your Censure Demons ability now applies to all Chaotic or Evil outsiders.
• Vigor of Life: Your Positive Healing Amplification is increased by (5/10)%, and you take (5/10)% less damage from Negative Energy.
• Holy Retribution: Melee Channel Divinity: Executes a powerful holy strike against the target that deals +1/+3/+5[W] damage. On Damage: Evil creatures with less than 1,000 HP have a 50%/75%/100% chance to be forced to make a Will save (DC 10 + Paladin Level + Charisma Mod) or be destroyed. On a successful save, the affected creature takes 100 holy damage from this attack as well as -6 to all ability scores for ten seconds. (Cooldown: 6 seconds) This ability also recharges one Smite Evil.
• Sealed Life: You are immune to Energy Drain.
• Avenging Cleave: Shares its cooldown with the Great Cleave feat. Make a powerful sweeping attack against all nearby enemies that deals +1/+3/+5[W] damage. Each creature gains one stack of Vulnerability.
Avenging Cleave shares the same issue as Exalted Cleave; if building for DPS, you build of Overwhelming Critical, which means you burn feats for Cleave and Great Cleave. Retribution is nice, 5[w] strike which may insta-kill in heroics. Too weak a DC for Epics though. And using Turns means it's of limited use.
Note that things like Sacrifice and the core Light damage procs scale with MP (we are deep in acronym hell here).
All in all, meh. Nothing here to make me consider a Paladin beyond a 2 level splash. Maybe 3.
*Edit*
Looks like I spoke early on the Cleaves. G. Cleave is being removed as a pre-req for O-Crit. Since it doesn't require PA or Cleave, that opens up 2-3 feat slots for a Paladin.