Build Discussion

Sigurd. Assuming I pick up PP.

Lv 5

Spoiler:

Lv 6-11

Spoiler:

Axel will be going for the Human Paragon Path 'Adroit Explorer'. He will also be multiclassing into Rogue a few levels later, to reflect the skills he'll learn working with Oswald (via the Sly Dodge feat in MP).

As for Epic progressions, I'll probably choose Dark Wanderer or Eternal Seeker. Probably Wanderer; it's less powerful in combat, but the RP applications and fluff are simply gorgeous.

Mala'Chii, level 11
Eladrin, Warlock, Feytouched
Build: Deceptive Warlock
Eldritch Blast: Eldritch Blast Charisma
Eldritch Pact: Fey Pact
Background: Primal Fey (+2 to Arcana)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 9, Con 15, Dex 11, Int 17, Wis 11, Cha 23.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 8, Con 13, Dex 10, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 18.


AC: 22 Fort: 19 Reflex: 24 Will: 28
HP: 77 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 19

TRAINED SKILLS
Endurance +12, Streetwise +16, History +15, Arcana +17, Bluff +16

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +5, Diplomacy +11, Dungeoneering +5, Heal +5, Insight +5, Intimidate +11, Nature +5, Perception +5, Religion +8, Stealth +5, Thievery +5, Athletics +4

FEATS
Level 1: Improved Misty Step
Level 2: Dooming Action
Level 4: Twist the Arcane Fabric
Level 6: Improved Initiative
Level 8: Empowering Shadows
Feat User Choice: Weapon Expertise (Light Blade)
Feat User Choice: Implement Expertise (Rod)
Level 10: Lightning Reflexes
Feat User Choice: Iron Will

Level 11: Shared Pact

POWERS
Eldritch Blast: Eldritch Blast
Warlock encounter 1: Witchfire
Warlock daily 1: Decree of Khirad
Warlock utility 2: Ethereal Stride
Warlock encounter 3: Otherwind Stride
Warlock daily 5: Venomous Webs
Warlock utility 6: Fey Switch
Warlock encounter 7: All the Sand, All the Stars
Warlock daily 9: Storm Countess's Kiss
Warlock utility 10: Warlock's Leap

ITEMS
Blackleaf Gloves (heroic tier), Deep-Pocket Cloak +2, Summoned Leather Armor +2, Adventurer's Kit, Rod of Corruption +1, Vicious Rod +2, Feyleaf Sandals (heroic tier), Fey-Blessed Circlet (heroic tier), Everburning Torch, Warlock's Bracers (paragon tier), Potion of Clarity (level 5) (2), Residuum (Any) (20)

SHARED PACT! ZOMG!

Which are you taking as your second pact?

SHARED PACT
Prerequisite: 11th level, warlock, Warlock's
Curse class feature, any warlock pact
Benefit: When your pact boon is triggered, you
can designate an ally within 3 squares of you to
receive the benefit of the pact boon instead of you.

Teleports all round

"This... this is madness!"

"No. THIS IS FEYPACT!"

Yay, more teleports! Ah I thought it was the feat that gave you a second, different kind of pact. That's Second Pact right?

Twofold Pact
Dragon Annual 2009

Axel Arnstein, Level 12
Human Cosmic Sorcerer/ Adroit Explorer

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 19, Con 12, Dex 14, Int 11, Wis 9, Cha 21

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 11, Dex 13, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 18

Initiative: +12 AC: 24 Fort: 26 Reflex: 21 Will: 26
HP: 89 Bloodied: 44 Healing Surges: 7 Surge Value: 22
Energy Resistances: Cold 10 (Solar Form)/ Psychic 10 (Lunar Form)/ Radiant 10 (Sidereal Form)

TRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +13, Arcana +11, Athletics +15, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Bluff +11, Endurance +7, Dungeoneering +5, Heal +5, Insight +5, Intimidate +11, Nature +5, Perception +5, Religion +6, Stealth +8, Streetwise +11, Thievery +8

FEATS
Bonus 1: Weapon Expertise (Light Blades)
Bonus 2: Implement Expertise (Staff)
Level 1: Weapon Focus (Light Blades)
Human 1: Toughness
Level 2: Unarmored Agility
Level 4: Improved Initiative
Level 6: Coordinated Explosion
Level 8: Dual Implement Spellcaster
Level 10: Action Surge
Level 11: Arcane Admixture - Lightning (Flame Spiral)
Bonus 11: Great Fortitude
Level 12:

POWERS
At-Will: Blazing Starfall, Dragonfrost
Human Racial Encounter: Heroic Effort
Sorcerer Encounter 1: Pinning Bolt
Sorcerer Daily 1: Shocking Magnetism
Sorcerer Utility 2: Spatial Trip
Sorcerer Encounter 3: Flame Spiral
Sorcerer Daily 5: Slaad's Gambit
Sorcerer Utility 6: Fate's Chaos
Sorcerer Encounter 7: Spark Form
Sorcerer Daily 9: Winds of Change
Sorcerer Utility 10: Spirit's Eclipse
Adroit Explorer Encounter 11: Ambitious Effort (Flame Spiral)
Adroit Explorer Utility 12: Destined for Greatness

Alright guys, gonna need some help, now that we've moved on into level 11.

I'm stuck for a feat choice, and have a few ideas in mind, but have no idea which one would end up being better. For reference, these are Oswald's current feats. For clarity, Oswald has become a Brutal Scoundrel with 19 Str, so his MBA is quite strong.


Weapon Expertise (light blade)
Weapon Prof (Parrying Dagger)
Quick Draw
Toughness
Durable
Backstabber
Slaying Action
Nimble Blade


At level 11, I get a free defense feat. Thinking of Iron Will (and my Will becomes 21), although getting Great Fortitude (and my Fort becomes 24), is also tempting. I am going to retrain Parrying Dagger Proficiency for Weapon Focus (light blade), because the +1 AC isn't doing me any good (Raihan rolls too well against me and it doesn't matter how high your AC is when its a natural 20).


So ideas for a level 11 feat are:

Defensive Advantage (+2 AC against anyone I have CA against after I invariably draw aggro. Same argument about AC as with Parrying Dagger, but a +2 is better than a +1).
Bleeding Backstab (deal 5 ongoing damage after I hit with rogue daily attack. I rarely ever use dailies, so might not be too useful).
Two Weapon Fighting (more damage! Also opens up for sweet things like Two Weapon Defense and Two Weapon Rend).
Rogue Weapon Mastery (Daggers become high crit. With Daggermaster, this sounds quite appealing).
Two-Fisted Shooter (again, Daggermaster and a good crossbow means free damage).


These are my thoughts. Any advice, or suggestions for better feats I might have missed out on? (Also remember that the awesome shit from MP2 and PHB3 are locked, so don't go suggesting those and getting my hopes up.)

Zakmonster wrote:
I am going to retrain Parrying Dagger Proficiency for Weapon Focus (light blade), because the +1 AC isn't doing me any good (Raihan rolls too well against me and it doesn't matter how high your AC is when its a natural 20).

I don't really agree with that statement, because any increase to AC (or any other defense) has the same effect regardless of the end result. An increase of 22 AC to 23, gives you the same 5% defense increase that an increase of 28 AC to 29. While higher ACs or defenses may deter monsters from attacking you (as our monsters seem to be possessed of quite a tactical mind), from a purely mathematical standpoint defensive increases have the same effect regardless of how high the resulting defense is.

However that being said, Raihan does crit a lot, so I understand where you are coming from.

On the note of feat selection, my first instinct tells me to go for Defensive Advantage. When you start the game with high inits, you have that extra defense against basically everyone. Further, when you invariably take that turn to hide/chameleon and later break stealth, you also have the defense against everyone. Based purely on these two things, you are almost guaranteed 2 rounds of extra defense, and you still get further defense from things like dazed, flanking etc.

Hi guys,

Just like Zak I'd appreciate some feedback on my feat selection for Paragon. At level 10, I possessed:

Weapon Expertise (Bow)*free
Defensive Mobility*class feature
Prime Shot*class feature
Weapon Focus (Bow)
Weapon Proficiency (Greatbow)
Echoes of Thunder
Predatory Action
Lethal Hunter
Improved Initiative

At level 11, I am considering the following options:

Improved Defenses - +1 to NADs per tier, basically sees all my NADs increase by 2.
Prime Quarry - Bonus from Prime Shot increases from +1 to +2 if the target is also my quarry. The quarry bit is quite easy to proc, given I now quarry like a bitch, but I'm just worried about the situational-ness of prime shot. Because we have so many people in melee or close bursting, often to proc this effect, I need to be basing the enemy. This is only realistically an option when he is dazed, or alternatively on my nova round (if i'm first) I can move, shoot, and then attacks on the run behind again.
Armor Proficiency(Hide) - +1 to AC. No more armor check penalty for skill checks.

Free defense will be Iron Will. I'm looking at getting Improved Defenses as the level 11 feat, and because I can retrain a heroic feat to a paragon feat, retrain Improve Initiative (after the feat loss, i'll still be inits 12) for Armor Proficiency. Thoughts?

Anand:

I think you should keep your Improved Initiative, as it helps you not just shoot early, but also have the choice to move before everyone else, if you need that option. You get to choose whether you want to go first or not on a consistent basis, which is a good thing for our party to have.

As you've noted, 'Prime Shot' also becomes more useful with a high inits. You get to act before anyone does, so you can run in and be the closest target, take a shot, and run out again with Serpentine Dodge or something, or the rest of the party can come in and back you up at that point of time. (Granted, we're low on defense, but you get my point.)

Also, as you have the Casque of Tactics, and now we're at Paragon, where we can use 2 daily item uses per day (before any milestones), you can use your Casque of Tactics to switch inits when we really need someone else to go first, and you can still keep a daily item use for your Thunder gimmick.

As for Armor choices, it influences your choice of your free defense feat. Masterwork armor boosts different defenses; leather boosts Reflex, and hide boosts Fort. If you stay in Leather, you bump your best defense, and if you upgrade to Hide, you shore up your weaker defense by a little.

Also, do note that proficiency in Hide Armor does not remove the -1 penalty to skill checks. Do you mean 'Hide Armor Specialization' instead?

If I was in your position, I'll take Iron Will as the free feat, keep Improved Initiative, and take Lightning Reflexes. Cos you're at range, you'll get targeted by Reflex and Will attacks more often than Fort ones (and no, you don't want to be Dominated, with your crazy attacks and damage :-P).

Zak:

I'll recommend Two-Fisted Shooter, or Two-Weapon Fighting. Now that you're a Brutal Scoundrel, your offense is in many ways also your defense, so higher damage on Riposte Strike keeps your unattractiveness as a target higher.

I think removing the Parrying Dagger proficiency is okay; Superior Weapons are a luxury for Rogues anyway.

The Two-Weapon Fighting tree seems to be quite good, it opens up the Two-Weapon Defense route, which gets you back the defense you lose from dropping Parrying Dagger. With your expanded crit range on daggers, Two-Weapon Opening can get rather Vicious quickly... But it's a lot of investment, over a long period of time.

Defensive Advantage is quite good too, if you don't have anything to spare at the moment.

Of course, if we had a Warlord or a Bard, you'll take Agile Opportunist to enjoy the free hits.

I'll go with Two-Fisted Shooter just for the cowboy guns akimbo look, though, especially since you're gonna be critting like crazy. It covers your ranged problem as well. However, can you shoot without provoking OAs? Or is that where the Deft Strike comes in? :-P

Sorry, I guess I mistyped. Im currently wearing hide armor, and was going to get specialization.

I understand your argument for keeping initiative and prime shot, but unfortunately, when we deploy I'm always behind someone (because I can't always expect to go first, and there is a chance the monsters will strike first and squish me - more on this later). As it stands, the only gimmick that allows me to move forward, shoot and then run back to safety is Attacks on the Run. Serpentine Dodge is a move action, so moving forward and shooting leaves me with no actions to use SD.

I was leaning on taking Improved defenses, because then I get +2 to all NADs (according to the updated essentials version) meaning not only will I shore up Will and Reflex, but a Fort too. If I took just lightning reflexes, my reflex score will increase by 3 (+2 at heroic, +3 at paragon) and it doesn't seem that the addtional +1 reflex (that lightning reflexes confers over improved defenses) is worth the 2 defense points in both will and fort.

On the note of deployment, what I would like to suggest is that in future combats, I deploy furthest in front, or at least in line with defenders. That way, when I start before monsters (as I will likely do 9 times out of 10, PCs can delay after me if it means they still act before monsters) I can use my prime shot/quarry class feature for increased accuracy. Minor Action Quarry. Standard Action Shoot. Move Action Hide behind cover. This setup works will especially given that quarrying targets provides a massive boost to everyone in the party (+1 to all attack rolls against him) and encourages them to act after a quarry has been targeted. On the very rare occassion that the monsters go before us, I still have my gimmicks like weave through the fray and disruptive strike to get out of harms way before a monster really punishes me for standing in the front.

If we can commit to this strategy as a party, then I will get Prime Quarry as my level 11 feat. If not, then I will wait till 12 (if I reach there) to get it. Otherwise, I'll just shore up my NADs with Improved Defenses at Level 11, and keep Improved Inits so I can still try and pull off the above strategy, but to less optimization.

Thoughts?

Iron Will and Paragon Defenses give a feat bonus to your NADs, so they won't stack. You'll actually only get a +3 to Will (from Iron Will), and a further +2 to Reflex and Fort (from Paragon Defenses).

I think your plan is sound. You'd also want to keep Improved Initiative, to make sure you can use Hunter's Privilege when you really need it.

Hmmm, ok. I get your rationale. Pumping defense is such an expensive game. I've personally decided to commit myself to 2 good defenses (Fort and Will), and leave the other 2 (AC and Reflex) to my active defenses for now.

I'm trying to gun for as many types of 'cosmic' energy resistances as possible. Thunder resist is hard to get, sadly.

Cosmic Soul: Cold/ Psychic/ Radiant (variable, depends on Celestial Focus)
Bracelet of Radiant Storm: Lightning, Radiant
Ghostphase Robe: Necrotic
Staff of Elemental Prowess: Acid/ Cold/ Fire/ Lightning (variable, daily item)

I can live without the poison resist - star-poison not that common ya? Maybe thunder is ok la. Outer space no atmosphere, so also got no sound right?

By the way, good morning folks!

who's up for lunch and combat simulations?

shao wrote:

I'm trying to gun for as many types of 'cosmic' energy resistances as possible. Thunder resist is hard to get, sadly.

Cosmic Soul: Cold/ Psychic/ Radiant (variable, depends on Celestial Focus)
Bracelet of Radiant Storm: Lightning, Radiant
Ghostphase Robe: Necrotic
Staff of Elemental Prowess: Acid/ Cold/ Fire/ Lightning (variable, daily item)

Wait, I get Resist 10 to all types of damage for 2 turns, when I spend an action point. Do you guys think I am overdoing the 'resist damage' thing a bit?

Hi Zak,

Firstly, I'm sorry, but I ate up your post by accident while trying to quote it!

I'm personally a fan of the Pathfinder, because it keeps you alive long enough to do damage. Rangers are one of the highest DPR strikers around; they're kinda top-heavy in terms of offense-defense ratio, so anything that keeps you alive after your initial nova round is good. As the healer, also, that also reduces the strain on my healing resources, which improves our overall effectiveness. Offensively speaking, Pathfinder also means you get to use a Bastard Sword; I like that, cos as an enabler, you can do more damage on the free attacks I hand out.

In terms of gear selection, I would consider getting a Blood Fury (AV2) weapon; while it does less damage than a Battlecrazed weapon, its item power is available every encounter, and its activation doesn't have a HP cost. (Your Pathfinder L16 feature, however, does give you THP, which you can spend on the Battlecrazed item power.)

The other advantage of Blood Fury is that its property is not tied to the weapon itself; it only makes you faux-bloodied, but doesn't have any buffs on its own, so you don't lock yourself into having to use it. You can buy a cheap Blood Fury weapon, while investing in a 'real' main-hand weapon such as a Harmony Blade. For example, you could Quick Draw the Blood Fury weapon and activate its power in the same minor action, drop it as a free action, then Quick Draw your Harmony Blade and attack with it as part of the same standard action.

A Farbond Spellblade (AV2) Bastard Sword in your off-hand is good, so you have a ranged option available. For your neck slot, I would recommend a Steadfast Amulet as well, cos its free and reliable save gives you an active component to complement your passive defense (defense values, good HP and surges).

For armor, there's always Predator's Hide, but I think you could consider Shadow Hound (AV2) armor too. Its daily item power makes you insubstantial until the end of your next turn when you're bloodied, so you can use it when you really need to turtle for a while. It's also pretty cheap (Level 2+) for what it does.

You could also go with Scale Armor instead; it's well worth the 2 feats (Chain Armor Proficiency, Scale Armor Proficiency). Here's a mod of lordduskblade's Trailblazer stat array:

(Level 1) Str 18/ Dex 14/ Con 13/ Wis 16/ Int 8/ Cha 10

(Level 13) Str 21/ Dex 15/ Con 14/ Wis 19/ Int 9/ Cha 11

This array allows you to qualify for Scale Armor Specialization at Paragon (since you can't get Prime Punisher/ Called Shot, you have more feat slots to play with). Out of the box, scale already has no ACP, and the spec feat removes its speed penalty, while also improving its AC by 1. (Compared to Hide Armor, you're not just harder to hit, but also just as fast, and you won't have skill penalties, and don't have to pump your Dexterity like crazy... It's Speed 6/ ACP 1/ AC 28 for +3 Hide and Hide Spec with Dex 21 and Con 15, versus Speed 6/ ACP 0/ AC 29 for +3 Scale and Scale Spec with Dex 15 and no Con prereqs).

More importantly, Scale Armor also allows you to enjoy Dwarven Vigor Armor (Level 2+) to get a free Endurance boost and sweet surgeless healing, or Verve Armor (Level 4+) for +2 to your Death Saving Throws, and the ability to take 20 on a saving throw once per day (which you can apply for your Death Saving Throw).

Will comment more later. Sorry once again for accidentally overwriting your post!

Boo, silly admin.

Anyway, here's my build again, for reference.

Spoiler:

My Dex is pretty high and thus I gain nothing from wearing scale (plus the feat investment required boggles my mind). The feats that could have been invested into Chain and Scale Proficiency instead went into TWF and TWD. I already have a cheap Blood Fury weapon to make use of the encounter power. I don't have a level 13 item slot to get a +3 Steadfast, although I could wear a +2 Steadfast and turn my level 14 drop into something else. And I hate Farbond, so I might just get a simple +1 javelin for throwing purposes.


In-depth discussion on PPs below.

Pathfinder

Spoiler:

Snow Tiger

Spoiler:

Winter Fury

Spoiler:

There we go. Read away and try not to delete anything



Addendum: Snow Tiger and Winter Fury are conceptually great to represent the tribal Wendigo/Get of Fenris thing I'm trying to go for (also Jord is icy Viking-land and that fits too). Pathfinder is more representative of the century I spent in Derhask.

Another update. This time I created a Pathfinder with Scale Specialization. Upside is that my AC is now 29. Downside is that my Reflex is 22. Another downside is that my feats are damn boring.

Spoiler:

I have a level 12 drop and a level 14 drop. Options are:

(L14) Black Iron Armor - Resist 10 necrotic and 10 fire.

(L12) Dwarven Armor - Surgeless healing 1/day.

(L14) Fortification Armor - 25% chance of turning a crit into a normal hit.

(L14) Verve Armor - +2 Death Saving Throws and take 20 on saves 1/day.

(L12) Amulet of Mental Resolve

(L12) Absence Amulet - Attempts to scry upon me automatically fail (cos Wolverine is radar-invisible, lol).

(L14) Amulet of Vigor - Increases healing surge value and surgeless healing 1/day.

(L14) Cloak of Survival/Periapt of Proof Against Poison - Gaining resist against common damage types is never bad.

(L12) Stone of Earth - Reroll a melee attack 1/day.


Thoughts/suggestions?

Hi Zaki,

Absence Amulet has all kinds of sexy story implications, but it's very situational; the nature of its covert ops use depends heavily on the DM. Also, when a DM arranges a story to make it useful for a PC with this item, the resulting story arc may very well involve lots of scrying on the other PCs without the Absence Amulet.. so it may be counter-productive sometimes?

Amulet of Mental Resolve is also good for its price, because it helps against strong control effects. I can grant you saves with bonuses on a regular basis, so having even more bonuses on your own will be useful to actualize those chances and shake off bad status conditions.

Also, Medallion of Death Deferred (L14) and Dwarven Vigor Armor (L12) makes a good 'i won't stay dead!' combination. Getting up from dead once per day as a free action + surgeless healing as a minor action is wonderful, and also very Wolverine.

Resistances are good, though also situational and a bit expensive. Fire, necrotic, and poison are the most commonly encountered, so you'll get good mileage if you go down the Black Iron and Periapt of Proof Against Poison route. However, I would recommend more generally applicable defensive enchantments on your gear, and buy up the various resistance potions, so you don't lock yourself down to expensive item properties you don't actually use; your high number of surges means you can actually drink more potions over the course of a day.

Lastly, I think you made a slight mistake in your build - did you mean to take Weapon Expertise (Heavy Blades) instead of Weapon Expertise (Light Blades)? Also, you may want to reconsider Rampant Fury; it gives you the Rampage class feature, but Rampage only triggers specifically off Barbarian Attack powers.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Shao

Appraisal and Observations of Aketh's Strengths/ Weaknesses

I would like to share some of my observations about my experiences with playing Aketh the Warlord. I've played him for a few sessions now, with some minor tweaks now and then; I'm pretty much stabilizing his build and stats at this current configuration. I'm a semi-durable, semi-mobile melee enabler. I say semi-durable, because I can take a few hits, but I've got no resurrection tricks a la Crom, and I'm semi-mobile; while I can climb, jump, and swim pretty well, I've got no burrowing, flying, or teleporting tricks... Still, it's serviceable enough for most battlefield scenarios.

A lot of my general utility comes from my gear choices, actually. I've built my entire character around being a Spartan using a sword, shield, and spear. Recoil Shield and Hungry Trident shore up some of the traditional weak points of a warlord - they increase my passive and active defenses, give me a bit more control, and grant me a basic ranged attack option.

My at-wills are Commander's Strike and Viper's Strike. The former helps us focus fire, while the latter helps us trap skirmishers and artillery; I can basically make melee allies punish enemy shifts with OAs, just as if they were fighters (and Jo can get 1 more OA, which means potentially stopping 2 enemies with Combat Superiority).

My encounter powers are Bloody Ending (single-target higher damage/ attack-buffing power, only usable on bloodied enemies), Stirring Force (single-target power, grants saving throws with bonuses to allies within 3 squares), Deceiver's Ploy (highly accurate and debuffing single-target attack), and lastly Knock Them Into the Ground (mass proning funtime).

My daily powers are Lead the Attack (trademark nova setup power), Stand the Fallen (trademark mass heal), and Staggering Spin (AOE attack + mass free attacks). My utility powers are Adaptive Stratagem (+5 to damage/ +1 to saves for 1 ally), Rousing Words (spend 2 healing surges), Tactical Shift (shift an ally 4 squares as an interrupt to him/her being hit), Flexible Authority (spoof and add another Presence effect, even my own.)

(Btw, I usually ask myself these questions when I consider my power selections for my characters. It is especially true when I am playing Aketh, who is designed not really for personal efficiency, but for boosting overall party effectiveness.)

Spoiler:

Basically, I would like to spam Commander's Strike in most rounds of combat, and toss out my encounter or daily powers when the need arises. I'm not the best healer and save-granter around, but I can still do pretty okay, since I've invested in some specialized healing gear and save-granting feats to improve my abilities in those departments.

I thus hazard the motion that one of my main strengths is my ability to react to different situations and battlefields, and maintain a baseline of competence across different scenarios. I can also lend some of this versatility to my fellow party members, as well as enhance their existing strengths, while not requiring them to drastically change their own play styles. I guess the chief implication is this: my investments in versatility and force-multiplying allow the rest of the party to become more specialized in their fields of expertise, thus improving our overall power.

My main weaknesses are, simply put, the flip side of my strengths. I'm kind of weak by myself (as expected from most leader-types in 4E), and I can't really bring a lot of force by myself to the table. In order to be versatile, I give up specialization and focus. I can complement my party members, but not really replace my party members; while I can make you better at your job, I can't really do your job for you when you're not there. This means, as our party line-up changes over the weeks of play, depending on our party roster, we will have different levels of competence - sometimes the difference in our power level may be quite dramatic. As a generalist (versatility being the credo of the Resourceful Warlord), I'm less vulnerable to this than other more specialized kinds of leaders, but it is still a weakness that will be felt at various times.

While I have been hamming up the Leondias image (because it's fun to yell all the time), the real Greek heroic archetype I am emulating is really Odysseus. I'm not really an Inspiring leader like Leonidas, or a talented duelist and slayer of armies like Achilles; I'm a cunning bastard like Ithaca's favourite son. (Hence the 'Infernal Strategist' paragon path... O Cruel Odysseus, Odysseus the Cunning...) My playstyle is a lot more along the lines of "Hey guys, I've got a plan..." than "Behold my true power!" - so while I am great to have in the first few rounds of combat when everyone is up, I am pretty underwhelming to have in the last few rounds of combat when I'm the only guy left.

Well, that's it for now.

Cheers,
Shao

P.S. Do I pass the staff appraisal? *gulp*

More updates.

Caedmon, the Snow Tiger

Spoiler:

If I had access to MP2, I'd take Hunter style instead and turn my level 6 Utility into Invigorating Stride.


Caedmon, the Pathfinder

Spoiler:

Hi,

I won't be taking the Mace of Healing/ Healer's Brooch etc, since Vermal has now become an Inspiring Warlord - he'll make better use of those items than I would. That also means my healing abilities, which were never spectacular to begin with, will drop even more, so that's a possible change in play we'll have to look out for.

Thus, I'll concentrate even more on offensive enabling and buffing. Post-MP 2, I have gained these new abilities:

Spoiler:

Granted Melee Basic Attack statistics:

Spoiler:

Saving Throw statistics:

Spoiler:

After some thought, I definitely work better with Melee types than with Ranged types. As a melee-enabler and buffer, I work best with big brutes like Edmund and Jansen, but can also function reasonably well with multi-attackers like Jo and Zaki, and I enjoy the tactical options Mark brings to the table. Sadly though, I don't have that much to offer Chien's Sorcerer, besides basic CA, heals, and saving throws.

Well, anyway, these are just some things to keep in mind when we try out our split party combat scenarios.

Cheers and see ya later!
Shao