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Really Pants posted:Cavaliers work pretty well, and are definitely your best choice for mounted combat. Cavaliers don't work all that well, because their punishment doesn't scale all that well (based on a secondary, and on a class which probably wants a reasonable spread of stats - CON for surges (HP too possibly), DEX for INIT and REF, CHA for riders and WILL, possibly also WIS for riders if you're trying for Paladin support), and more crucially, has absolutely no support (and what makes DC scary generally is all the extra stuff you can do with it, not the damage per se). They also lack the real threat of the Paladin, which is a mark applied in a burst 5 that is punishable from anywhere as long as the Paladin keeps engaging the target. Cavs are better if you pick up Sanctioning powers, but there aren't all that many available since you get fewer dailies, and no encounter and at-will choices. Taking the new Cavalier multiclass feat from Dragon (once they've sorted out the name of it) and power-swapping for Call Steed sadly doesn't work either, since they removed the level. The best option for a mounted character who isn't either a Small Sentinel or a ranger with Beast Rider/a horse companion is a Jade Horse, the summoning item included in the cavalier steed article. It's a level-scaling, ridable Badge of the Berserker.
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Jun 13, 2011 08:31
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You twin strike with a spear by using a gythka.
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Jun 13, 2011 18:35
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What requires you to use a polearm specifically? I was assuming you were shooting for Polearm Momentum, which explicitly triggers off spears as well as polearms.
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Jun 13, 2011 20:54
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adaz posted:I was wanting to combine Polearm Gamble with Polearm momentum, but that's a good point that momentum will work fine with as spear. I realised it was Gamble shortly after I posted, actually. There is a way, however, but it does require you being 24th level - Eternal Defender allows you to wield weapons as if Large, which lets you wield Medium 2-handers one-handed.
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Jun 13, 2011 23:04
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Yes. Slayers are Fighters.
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Jun 19, 2011 16:56
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Oops. Yes. Battleminds MC Fighter :P I knew what I was talking about. I wasn't being bleary because I got home at 2am. Not in the least.
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Jun 19, 2011 17:12
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Jade Horse item. Slayer. Gouge (or Greatspear). Impaling Spear. Surprising Charge. Etc.
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Jun 23, 2011 16:16
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Much easier. Pretty much any Fighter, Paladin, Warden, Warlord, Blackguard etc etc etc. Not so much the Slayers, sword-and-board doesn't work on them. Knight maybe, but you sacrifice a lot (although there is a brilliant non-standard spear-using Knight build based on CON and Polearm Momentum which is pretty solid). e: Which role does he want to play?
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Jun 23, 2011 16:20
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Lord Twisted posted:Probably defender. I just hadn't heard of a build involving lances AND shields, and wondered if there were any feats or particular things he should be focusing on. The most obvious use (or abuse) of Spears is Polearm Momentum.
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Jun 23, 2011 16:40
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Note that you can use a Crusdaer's Weapon to do half radiant damage, if the base power does cold, you can get both. To the best of my knowledge the easiest way to take advantage of this is half-elf/eldritch strike/arcane admixture. I fiddled about with a blackguard that used it, but never got much further than messing about.
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Jun 25, 2011 18:58
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Blackguards just aren't that hot at putting out big damage. Especially not Human Domination ones, they just don't have the stat points to throw around - your Reflex is suffering - and that's including a shield, a Human's and a Paladin's defence bumps... Also, if you're going to burn a feat on weapon proficiency, get a Gouge for goodness' sake - nothing in the game is better for a charging character. If you're going weapon-and-board, you don't lose much by using a Rapier - indeed, if you have CA, and you should, your d8+1 from Light Blade Expertise is closing fast on the D12 damage from your Waraxe, and the +3 proficiency will increase your damage too. Fury is better for a Human Blackguard - if you or anything adjacent is bloodied, it will actually give you more bonus to your damage on every attack, at present, than Domination does 1/round for a THP cost. Using Valiant Strike is great though - and it's worth bearing in mind that your accuracy should be poo poo-hot, so you can handle dropping a bit of damage per hit, when you're hitting much more often than most strikers (and your extra ongoing damage is not to be discounted, particularly when you start using Lasting Frost and a Frost Weapon in Paragon). Why are you starting with WIS of 9? Drop it to 8 (actually, drop INT to 8, and you might be able to get some mileage out of WIS later for Pally feats) and you free up a build point to put somewhere useful. So in short: go Fury. Either use a Gouge, or use a Rapier, and put that weapon proficiency feat to better use. When you do go Fury, redistribute your stats a bit to put you 1 point lower in CHA mod, and get something in DEX - you can't kill anything if they kill you first. But expecting to hit 45 DPR at 6th is pretty unrealistic with a Human Blackguard. You could probably do it with some twinked-out gimmick builds, but it's just not easy on a class without native multi-attacks.
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Jun 25, 2011 22:51
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Thundarr posted:Would it be worthwhile for a heroic tier Bard to pick up proficiency with a Parrying Dagger? I figure that way I could put a Songblade enchantment on the Parrying Dagger to use it as a "wand", freeing up the longsword in his main hand for a more optimal melee enchantment. Plus this way he'd keep the AC bonus the shield would have granted, and free up the arms slot for a bracer. If you have feats to spare on a melee character, you'd be far better off grabbing two-weapon fighting, two-weapon defence and a Rhythm Blade dagger. +2 shield bonus, no skill check penalty. And you can throw the dagger.
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Jul 4, 2011 17:16
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Yep. You lose absolutely nothing from doing so as a Bard. All the MC Implement class feats now give implement proficiency - they were errated. You can't, however, gain the Rhythm Blade property without a pre-existing shield bonus, so it doesn't work without TWD - but you could use a Rod and Rod Expertise, which would get you a shield bonus to increase. If you don't already have a shield bonus, Rhythm Blade doesn't provide one.
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Jul 4, 2011 20:04
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Either is plausible as a highly effective defender. The Warden's probably a little more conventional.
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Jul 13, 2011 18:05
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Check penalties are something you just suck up and live with TBH. The extra defences are more than worth them, unless you want to spend two feats at least to maintain the same defences with lower ones (MC Rogue and take Blade and Buckler Duellist, or take Two Weapon Fighting, Two Weapon Defence, and a Rhythm Blade off-hand dagger). Nature sense is a great encounter-turning power, to be honest. It lets the team really get out there and take it to the mobs when you can take a fairly clean shot at being able to avoid attacks for the first round. For a level 2 util it's pretty insane. Definitely worth it.
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Jul 13, 2011 23:05
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It's worth noting that an odd-number primary might be worth it if you expect to be playing in Paragon.
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Jul 15, 2011 15:02
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Locus Cosecant posted:There are no int-based strikers. With a high int, you're smart enough not to have to rely on brute force. You could, concievably, make an INT-primary Slayer by MCing Swordmage and taking Intelligent Blademaster, but it would be totally not worth it, given that you'd have to give up your arms slot for Bracers of Mental Might to get your nova back.
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Jul 27, 2011 17:40
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Not as an attack stat. Int is a secondary for one or other of the warlock pacts, too.
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Aug 1, 2011 08:17
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the_steve posted:Do you mean Weapon Expertise (Heavy Blade)? Or a different one? For a Swordmage, it would have to be that, because Heavy Blade expertise doesn't apply to your implement attacks. But you might want to hold fire until the Dragon article this month which has weaplement expertise feats in it is released. It's written by the guy who wrote the Swordmage handbook on the WotC forums, so it should be appropriate for them with any luck.
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Aug 6, 2011 08:43
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DWT is a first-level feat for any Dwarf for whom it's useful - it means you have your weapon for your career early, and don't need to swap about should you pick up magic weapons early. Honestly, though, on a Warlord, I'd be inclined against taking DWT - Warlords wield strikers, and strikers should always be doing more damage than them, regardless of what weapon the warlord has. If not, your strikers are doing it wrong. Plus, if you have DWT, why wield only a Maul? Mordenkrads are objectively better, and you get them from that feat. Gouges are better still, and you get them from that feat. You also need bolts if you ever want to fire your crossbow.
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Aug 6, 2011 11:28
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Infinitum posted:Hows my friends Vampire by the by? (No I cannot convince him not to make a Warforged Vampire) Built fine, but don't be surprised if combat gets a bit grindy. Vampires can keep going all day, but their damage output is pretty low compared to most strikers.
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Aug 7, 2011 00:02
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Half-elf cheese of some description, and utterly disbelieve the role definition provided. Eldritch Strike is probably the optimal way to get it working - adding Lasting Frost with Arcane Admixture, and going Morninglord using a Crusader's Singing Stick, Quickened Spellcasting at Epic. Or Vampire Slam, but you lose out on all the weapon-based charge-op, but conversely can be pure DEX. Alternatively, Eladrin/Swordmage/Eladrin Swordmage Advance. Traveller's Harlequin is also a very tempting proposition, because you probably want multiple multiclasses to better optimise both your MBA with Martial, and your vulnerability-imposition with Divine. But yeah, having hosed about with one a couple of times, I don't think there's a lot to gain from going INT-primary. The NADs simply suffer too much. So, STR/DEX works nicely, Half-Elf CON/CHA/WIS/DEX//DEX works nicely... INT really doesn't. With powers like Charm of Misplaced Wrath available, which get their best effects without a hit roll, you can get away with never needing to roll INT attack rolls (though you might as well, you might crit and get some extra goodies). But the most important thing to realise is that this is not a controller. It's a striker. Its control sucks badly, whereas its striking stands to actually be quite potent, even if you just get a frost weapon and lasting frost, let alone stacking up multiple damage-type-cheese.
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Aug 10, 2011 00:45
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Revenant Dwarf. All the best bits, with +DEX.
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Aug 13, 2011 14:56
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Yeah, Kulkor's pure unadulterated cheese through and through. That being said, it makes the thief an undisputed DPR king, so...
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Aug 17, 2011 23:25
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It's an extra MBA every round (you should be able to prone every round without any trouble at all). On a Thief, that's dynamite. Before 16, you probably want to consider something from the O-Rogue's PP gallery. Several good options exist. Don't know them off-hand, though.
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Aug 17, 2011 23:40
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The Sentinel and Hybrid Sentinel from HoTFK and D400 respectively both have an animal companion - bear or wolf. The bear has an aura 1 allies gain +2 power bonus to defences, the wolf has aura 1 enemies grant CA.
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Aug 20, 2011 12:53
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Kulkor Arms Master PP gives you a free-action MBA when you knock something prone. Knocking things prone is very easy to arrange thanks to the advent of World Serpent's Grasp among other features. A free MBA pretty much every turn ramps up your damage numbers to ridiculous levels, particularly on classes like the Slayer and Thief which do all their best work on MBAs anyway.
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Aug 21, 2011 19:34
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The first season's only level 5, which is gonna kinda suck, and it seems from what I've seen a couple of staff members saying on the WotC forums mention that part of the challenge is likely to be extended encounters without the ability to take a short rest. So, two ideas strike me, both of which require inter-party build co-operation: - The first is the old team-op standby of BeastArcher Ranger/Shaman/Mending Spirit. Everyone plays them, leaving you (assuming a complete party) with 6 encounter heals, 12 attacks per round (and probably an assortment of Disruptive Strikes, Fox's Cunnings, and Spitting Cobra Stances), and a wall of fur consisting of 6 spirit companions and 6 animal companions, to soak damage and take up the defending. A party which can basically nuke any dungeon without particular trouble. At 5th, they'd probably have to be bow users, because you need 3 feats for Superior Xbow, or that enchant that lets you load free but I think that's 7th - and you need 2 feats for shaman and mending spirit. They'd almost certainly have to be Human. - The second is 5 Warlords and a Slayer with a Hungry Gouge. Or 4 Warlords, a Knight, and a Slayer with a Hungry Gouge. Basically, I think the key point is going to be keeping a lot of healing on hand, so that you retain access to your surges in extended encounters, and getting the DPR out quickly, so you don't need them.
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Aug 22, 2011 10:40
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MadScientistWorking posted:Except the DM has carte blanch to completely screw these types of tactics. If the DM has carte blanche to screw player tactics, don't play. That's stupid. That's precisely what worries me about Lair Assault - with the emphasis on adversarial DMing, it's just asking for stupid 'rocks fall everyone dies' tactics, and I hate those. The emphasis really should have been on 'DMs, run this adventure fairly - don't sugar-coat it, run it as written', rather than 'KILL THEM ALL BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!!'. The BeastArchers aren't an undefeatable group by any stretch of the imagination, but they're usually about as close as you're likely to get - high initiative, reasonably high defences, tons of HP to chuck about, DR and damage absorption, an assload of healing and most importantly, damage to make a nuke look petty.
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Aug 24, 2011 09:54
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It's been promoted as 'you're all gonna die, bring your best poo poo, 80% chance of TPK' - if they then turn around and nuke 'your best poo poo' because they don't like CharOp, then what the gently caress is the point of the event at all? Neither of the suggested teams above plays with any rules loopholes or stupid broken-rear end poo poo. They're simply well-optimised and well-synergised uses of the rules as written. If I'd taken the time (and so had my friends, to be fair, neither of those teams really works unless all 5 players contribute) to bring my best and the DM shut it down, I'd be pretty pissed. If it was Assuming a reasonable DM would be fine, but I think this event will attract dick DMs like flies to rotten meat. I like the concept, particularly if it's been playtested to destruction, but the marketing has been iffy, and the chances of it having been playtested to destruction by the sort of players who are likely to come to that sort of event seem to me to be slim to none. I don't have high hopes for it. But I'm still mildly irritated I'll not be able to play, because apparently, gently caress Europe.
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Aug 24, 2011 16:47
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MadScientistWorking posted:Both of those are really stupid charoping. In fact a good encounter design should be able to shut both of those tactics ridiculously easy because they both front load on one individual tactic. This assumes that Lair Assault will have good encounter design, which remains to be seen. It's easy to plan for things when you have flexibility as a DM, but it's more difficult when you're stuck to a prewritten script.
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Aug 24, 2011 17:31
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Probably a good thing I'll never get a chance to play it then.
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Aug 24, 2011 17:55
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Siets posted:Thanks for the tip! This build does look pretty nasty, but it doesn't feature any frost mechanics abuse. My assumption was that the free 5 damage from Lasting Frost and Wintertouched with a cold weapon was really really good for multi-attack rangers. Since I am a naturally horrible roller (Dunning Kruger effect, etc.) I was also drawn to the flat bonus damage that frost offers. I love jury-rigging consistency into my character builds in any way that I can. I certainly would never play a sorceror. Abusing Frost isn't exactly difficult. Put in Lasting Frost, Wintertouched, Frost Weapon(s) - on that note, you might be better off with a double weapon of some kind, for the cheapness) - Gloves of Ice, Shard of Cold, done. It can really be stuck onto anything, but Rangers love it because of all the extra pops they can take at the vulnerability.
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Sep 1, 2011 22:16
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Vulpes posted:Honestly I kind of wish they'd nerf frost-cheese, since it's basically essential for any optimised striker at this point. And because it feels more like abusing game mechanics than optimisation. There are not many options that just slot on in a totally modular way like Frost Cheese, and that don't use up any irreplaceable resources (compare Radiant, which requires your PP, and usually your MC). But in most cases, it's not too bad - putting it on the super-multi-attacking Ranger feels cheesy, but some classes need it to keep up. I don't wish they'd nerf it. I wish they'd make other elements consistent - the Gloves of Ice should just be Gloves of TypedDamage. The Shards shouldn't be limited to lightning, cold, radiant and magic. What I find odd is not that Frost should be good, but that it should be the only thing that's good. Why not Fire, why not Psychic, why not Necrotic? Of course, one can always reflavour.
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Sep 1, 2011 22:44
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You add half your level to d20 rolls made to resolve actions - specifically, attack rolls, skill and ability checks. It is always rounded down (as are all calculations in 4e), so at level 1, it's 0.
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Sep 1, 2011 23:31
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Klungar posted:
The spiked chain is a light blade etc in addition to a flail, not instead of.
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Sep 4, 2011 20:43
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Warlord. Pacifist Cleric. Artificer. Leader classes, basically.
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Sep 7, 2011 15:42
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Zakmonster posted:So one of the guys in my group is starting an alt campaign at level 1. I was thinking of playing a Tiefling brawler fighter because Hellboy. If you're interested in Defender and Leader, Tieflings make awesome Charisma Paladins - which combine the best of both. Take Wrath of the Crimson Legion. Then MC Artificer for the Self-Forged PP. Stats are totally off (though, you can get CHA to Initiative with a Tiefling too, so DEX is less concerning), but NOTHING ELSE screams Hellboy like a Tiefling with a Battlefist.
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Sep 14, 2011 20:32
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Magic *thrown* weapons auto-return. Swordbond is rarely useful in combat, but can be very nice in some RP situations, when you've been deprived of your weapon for whatever reason. Keep a small shard of it in a safe place (snap a bit off the crossguard, take a chip out of the blade), it even works if the weapon is broken/nommed by a rust monster.
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Sep 25, 2011 18:24
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Drewjitsu posted:What's a good theme for an eladrin Illusionist? I'm rocking Illubriyen Guardian, which is pretty cool and all, but is there anything better? That's a pretty good one, for my money. Order Adept is basically the default Wizard theme, though.
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Sep 28, 2011 18:54
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