Somebody asked about the correct values for the arbitrary attack bonus that accompanies racial attack powers, item powers, and so forth. I put this together to see exactly how they stack up:
This chart assumes the following:
- A character gets their new weapon the level after they become eligible. For example, a +1 orb at L2, a +2 at L7, etc. For every level that this is not true, adjust the chart accordingly. When a bonus like this increases, the comparison becomes worse, so shift the chart down, and vice versa.
- A character’s weapon proficiency bonus is 2.5. If it’s +3, shift the line down .5. If it’s +2, shift it up .5.
- A character takes their Expertise feat at L1. For every level they put it off, move the chart up 1.
- No extra situational bonuses, like a +1 to attacking undead with a given weapon.
The exact ability scores are irrelevant because they affect all bonuses equally.
On average, the arbitrary bonus of 3/tier vs. AC lags behind weapon attack bonus by 1.8, and the arbitrary bonus of 2/tier vs. other defenses lags behind implement attack bonus by 1.3. The only times such attack bonuses are as good as implement bonuses are at L1-6, before the character gets a +2 implement, and L11, because of the discrete tier increase. The only times they’re as good as weapon bonuses are L1, L11, and L21 (that is, levels before you increase your enhancement bonus to attacks in a tier) for powers that target AC, and even then only if the character normally uses a weapon with a +2 proficiency bonus.
So if you have a paragon-tier magic item that you really want to attack at Str+5 vs Will, you’re fine. It’s still less likely to hit than any other power.
Just ran some numbers and it looks like the “correct” progression for a primary stat against non-AC defenses (at least to match normal implement progression) would be something like:
1-5: +2
6-10: +3
11-15: +5
16-20: +6
21-25: +8
26-30: +9
This accounts for the lack of feat and implement bonuses. It could be simplified as +2/+5/+8 without much loss of generality or character power. For attacks vs. AC, I’d make these numbers 2 higher: +4/+7/+10. Note that the every-five-levels progression above is equivalent to getting a new magic item at L1, 6, 11, 16, 21, 26; the tier-based progression splits the difference between characters using L1 and L5 weapons/implements.
You might say that these progressions compare too favorably with what a character can do with class powers, but I would argue two points: First, for many characters this won’t be their primary stat and so they’re going to be operating with a bonus 1-3 lower than their normal attacks. Second, these progressions don’t notably diverge from what Wizards already does until paragon tier, when these powers tend to become somewhat underpowered anyway (compared to class abilities).