Crunch of the Day: Channel Divinity

The above example of the Invoker’s Rebuke Undead power is a fantastic example of the “Channel Divinity” series of powers. Divine classes often get divinity powers as part of their core package, and a number of them are available via feats connecting divine characters with their deity. In essence, they’re a way of converting and broadening the old ‘Turn Undead’ power that Clerics got in 3.5 and previous editions. Turn Undead, indeed, is a Channel Divinity power that Clerics have in 4E.

What makes these powers really interesting to me, and enjoyable, is how they took a mechanic that nobody was really happy with and made it awesome. The Undead-specific abilities require an enemy type that you were never guaranteed to face in a campaign. The rules for turning undead were also usually pretty arcane; even in 3.5, which arguably made them more approachable than ever before.

In 4E, divinity powers concretize the connection between a character and her deity. Each god has their own specialized divinity power, and the re-introduction of domains to the game in Divine Power added a host of additional divinity options. These powers are all appropriately ‘themed’, of course; Bahamut’s divinity power acts as a sort of divine armor. That mechanically expresses a holy connection players previously could only express through roleplaying.

For making something boring and confusing fun and awesome, as well as giving divine characters something new to lord over everybody else, Channel Divinity powers get the nod for Crunch of the Day.

Crunch of the Day: Gnoll Gorger

Good mooks are worth a million gold pieces. If there’s one thing that makes me happier than anything else about D&D 4th Edition, it’s how much fun it is to run monsters these days. The Gorger here is a great example of the fun we DMs get to have behind the screen these days.

This abbreviated stat block shows you the Gorger’s core shtick: he consumes his allies to regenerate his own health. He also gets mass bonuses for being with others of his kind, suggesting his position at the center of a gnoll war pack.

While monsters that regenerate or renew their own health can be a pain if used frequently, fun mechanics like this really make it worthwhile. Players will eventually come to recognize this threat from the Monster Manual 2 for what it is: something to be taken out as fast as possible.

For that ‘keep on trucking’ attitude, the Gorger gets the nod for the Crunch of the Day.

Crunch of the Day: Avenger’s Oath of Emnity

This is the ‘damage hook’ for the Avenger, the Divine Striker class introduced in Player’s Handbook 2. Just like with the Warlock Curse or the Ranger’s Quarry, the Oath allows Avengers to get a little bit more bang for their buck.

The Oath, though, stands above a lot of other Striker damage hooks because it’s not about spike damage … it’s all about consistent damage per turn. Side by side compared with another Striker the Avenger might seem to have less damage output, and this is why. He’ll hit a lot more often on a single target than almost any other character on the board.

The Oath is one of my favorite player-facing mechanics, and it makes the Oath of Emnity today’s Crunch of the Day.