Voss at [unixtime wrote:1204414220[/unixtime]]Well, it depends how they get hit with slow. Or rather what is inflicting the condition, which is one of the greatest stupidities of the system- no consistency. The slow inflicted by the sleep spell is lifted by a save. The slow inflicted by this hammer's power isn't. It lasts for a set duration. Slow does the same thing in both cases, but the duration is dependent on the power that inflicts it.
This is a good thing. The other option is we have several things that inflict a slightly different type of slow with different durations. At least this way there is only one slow condition to remember.
No, the other option is that the effect includes its duration, and then its all consistent. Their way is just as stupid as slightly different 'slow' conditions, because thats effectively what you have.
That way, if you have 5 kobold skirmishers and 3 are hit by the sleep spell and two are hit by frost weapons, you actually have to keep track of which ones were affected by which in order to remember when it ends. There is no fucking reason to track that. If duration is part of the condition, then you don't.
You could do that but you'll have a much larger list of negative conditions. A debuff that is attached to a warrior's melee attacks can be short duration and still be worth having since its easy to reapply. One that a caster wastes a standard action on needs to be much better either with larger numbers or longer duration.
Except neither of those are actually the case. The slow effect from the frost weapon is 1/encounter so can't be reapplied, and the duration from sleep is so laughably random that you can't count on it. It could last the entire encounter, but there are pretty good odds (55%) that it will disappear at the end of the enemy's action.
You don't need a much larger list of conditions, anyway. You might add some, but just spread them between the different durations depending on power level or type of effect. For example, stunned should only ever be 1 turn, since it means you can't act. Immobilized, which means you can't move, but can still attack is annoying, but workable with a random duration (getting out a net, for example, is a pain in the ass). Gimped, on the other hand (a made up condition that inflicts -1 speed) is just an annoyance. It can safely last the encounter.
But you never should be gimped for a just turn, or stunned for an entire encounter.