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There’s discussion going on about certain conditions in D&D. I gather that a lot of this discussion happened on Twitter, and it’s being continued in the blogosphere. The premise of this discussion seems to be that two conditions in particular–dominated and stunned–are responsible for too much down time at the table. I have to say I agree. A few sessions ago my players ran afoul of some Far Realm monstrosities, including a mated pair of carrion crawlers (I know; who wants to think of carrion crawlers mating?). Carrion crawlers have a particularly nasty at-will power. It does very little damage (1d4+5, for a level 7 creature), but but it imposes a three step condition that starts with ongoing damage and slowed and ends with being stunned. Worse still, PCs take a -5 penalty to the saving throw, meaning they could wind up stunned for a very long time. This was actually the case for my fighter, who was hit by this attack in the first round and stunned three rounds in. He never recovered (at least, not during the encounter), so he basically sat the whole fight out. Not much fun, right?
However, I don’t like the idea of changing the way the stunned condition (or the dominated condition) works. I think these conditions work well in the PCs’ hands, and I don’t like the idea of applying conditions differently to PCs than I do to monsters. I feel it would undermine the PCs’ victories somewhat, to know that they were not really playing on a level playing field. Instead, I thought I’d give the PCs a power that is similar to what I often give my solo monsters.
Grit
You summon your inner reserves of sheer determination to shake off a debilitating condition, lessening its effect on you.
At-Will
Immediate Interrupt * Personal
Trigger: You are affected by the stunned or dominated condition.
Effect: You take damage equal to your healing surge value. This damage cannot be reduced in any way. In addition, if you are stunned, you are instead dazed for the same duration. If you are dominated, you are dazed for the same duration and must attack an ally of your choice on your next turn; you are marked by that ally for the duration of the daze.
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