Kensai Core 18: you can remain Centered in Light Armor

[droid327]

Relatively niche change but would open up some build options for an 18/2 Fist or Monk, or a pure Fighter in GMoF, without having to deal with 50 MRR cap. Especially since that really makes Stal Def worth a lot less. Plus fits the whole zen battle master angle for Kensei too, they should be one with their armor as well as their blade by L18.

[NemesisAlien]

[EdsanDarkbane]

I signed it but I scrawl medium armor next to light armor

[droid327]

I signed it but I scrawl medium armor next to light armor

I think thats probably a bridge too far. For one, then you have totally uncapped MRR. For two, no Evasion then and neutered Dodge, and that's kinda self-defeating for Monk or Fist splits then.

[unbongwah]

If it were up to me, I'd say it's time to get rid of the MRR cap entirely. Instead, provide an inherent MRR bonus to armors: e.g., +25% MRR in light armor, +50% MRR in medium or heavy armor. [S&B users still benefit from the MRR shield multiplier.] You achieve the devs' original goal of giving extra protection to armor-wearers, without imposing an arbitrary (and IMO unnecessary) limit on how much magical protection robe-wearers and light-armor users can have. The devs only have themselves to blame for all the power creep which has rendered the MRR cap an obsolete handicap IMO.

[droid327]

If it were up to me, I'd say it's time to get rid of the MRR cap entirely. Instead, provide an inherent MRR bonus to armors: e.g., +25% MRR in light armor, +50% MRR in medium or heavy armor. [S&B users still benefit from the MRR shield multiplier.] You achieve the devs' original goal of giving extra protection to armor-wearers, without imposing an arbitrary (and IMO unnecessary) limit on how much magical protection robe-wearers and light-armor users can have. The devs only have themselves to blame for all the power creep which has rendered the MRR cap an obsolete handicap IMO.

IDK if 25% extra MRR is worth losing Evasion. Afraid that'd put us back into "everyone splashes Shadowdancer for Evasion on light armor and med/heavy are dead" territory. Especially given how many class-agnostic sources of MRR there are now, and the higher Dodge cap on Light.

[Pandjed]

Yeah, Kensei. The best monk tree (unironically).

Personally, I wouldn't water down centered conditions (outside non-monk weapons). This just sounds like another can of worms that waits to raise its ugly head and will end up with so many patches, rebalances, and such, that Kensei becomes mostly unplayable.

Also, I think designing Kensei with being centered in mind was a mistake to begin with, as a class tree shouldn't use multiclass-exclusive mechanics. Having centered mechanics without being able to center as a pure fighter outside GMoF (which is an epic thing, not a class thing) just sounds like strange design, especially considering how fighter's other two trees are basically shared with paladin.

What to make Kensei look better? First, ways to gather and use ki and be centered. It could run with a stance that's exclusive to monk stances and that one could also raise the MRR limit with more enhancements or the heavy armor feat line (gain MRR cap plus equal the Heavy Armor feat bonuses you get). Would limit the cap increase to 30, then with other sources you could get to 100+ with cloth armor still, so still in light armor ranges, but enforcing more fighter to get it and some feats to make it work so well, limiting what can be done on a single build that way.

Though I wouldn't get my hopes high. I guess, we need to wait for an archetype for making Kensei work completely with the class it's put in...

[Buddha5440]

If it were up to me, I'd say it's time to get rid of the MRR cap entirely. Instead, provide an inherent MRR bonus to armors: e.g., +25% MRR in light armor, +50% MRR in medium or heavy armor. [S&B users still benefit from the MRR shield multiplier.] You achieve the devs' original goal of giving extra protection to armor-wearers, without imposing an arbitrary (and IMO unnecessary) limit on how much magical protection robe-wearers and light-armor users can have. The devs only have themselves to blame for all the power creep which has rendered the MRR cap an obsolete handicap IMO.

/ +1

[unbongwah]

IDK if 25% extra MRR is worth losing Evasion. Afraid that'd put us back into "everyone splashes Shadowdancer for Evasion on light armor and med/heavy are dead" territory.

*shrug* Then make it +50% or whatever it takes to keep armor-wearers viable. My point is the current MRR cap puts an arbitrary limit to how much magical protection a robe- or light-armor-wearing toon can have. And since not all forms of magical damage can be Evaded, that's literally deadly, especially for players who don't have a full set of best-in-slot MRR-cap-boosting items.

[droid327]

*shrug* Then make it +50% or whatever it takes to keep armor-wearers viable. My point is the current MRR cap puts an arbitrary limit to how much magical protection a robe- or light-armor-wearing toon can have. And since not all forms of magical damage can be Evaded, that's literally deadly, especially for players who don't have a full set of best-in-slot MRR-cap-boosting items.

I'd vote for making the mrr cap soft...ie you get increasingly diminishing returns for each additional point past the cap. That preserves the value of existing cap-boosting sources, but still allows you to get value for all your investment in mrr

Maybe each point past the cap is only 98% of the previous point? So the tenth point is still worth 81%...but by +50 it's decayed to 36%

[unbongwah]

Diminishing returns is how the original formula for PRR worked: (1 – (0.99^PRR)) × 0.65. The devs replaced it with the current "100/(100+PRR)" formula in U23 which is easier to grasp and makes the benefits flatter.

Not really in favor of making the mathz more complicated than it already is.

[Alternative]

Hard caps shouldn't exist in a game where loot gains progressively higher stats.

High/med can have X mrr today and it's going to have X +50 mrr in 5 years. Cloth is going to have the same 50 mrr in 5 years, and the mob damage will go up by how much?


Also /signed to the OP, why not.

[FuzzyDuck81]

I can't see this happening for the main tree, however I can see a samurai fighter/monk hybrid being introduced as an archetype as a definite possibility - in fact, I think a more generalised weapon mastery/soldier type tree being given to the basic fighter to replace kensai then kensai being a new archetype in that style might be a better option.

[droid327]

I can't see this happening for the main tree, however I can see a samurai fighter/monk hybrid being introduced as an archetype as a definite possibility - in fact, I think a more generalised weapon mastery/soldier type tree being given to the basic fighter to replace kensai then kensai being a new archetype in that style might be a better option.

Yeah that would make a lot of sense too - split Kensai off into its own bona fide Ki based archetype (since its pseudo-monk already) as a third Ki class designed around cloth/light armor, then give OG Fighters something more like RMM, a med/heavy armor tree with some useful weapon attacks

Then you'd have Monk (good CC, avoidance defense), Fist (melee/caster hybrid, heal defense) and Samurai (pure weapon DPS, physical defense) as your three Ki playstyles