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[Stalker0]

I just bought a pdf copy, and I've skimmed it.

My 1st impression....honestly its disappointment, and let me go through a few points and clarify why.

My first look was the martial artist. I thought the charge mechanic was a great idea. The extra attack is interesting, it lowers his big damage numbers but makes his damage more consistent, provided he has minor actions to spend. I think as levels get higher and a character needs those minor actions for more activations the mechanic is going to look weaker and weaker.

And then I saw the 1st level encounter power Demon Dance, and I'll admit I reread the power 5 times because I couldn't believe my eyes. It is much stronger than the Fighter's Rain of Steel (considered by some to be an overpowered power its in own right)...its 1st level....and its an encounter power! I think that is literally the strongest power I have seen to date. Sure this guy is a striker, but I don't think he's supposed to be mowing down every minion in sight at 1st level....every single fight.

I'll admit I stopped looking at the martial artist after that. I will go back and read the whole class, but if those are the kind of powers I'm going to be seeing I don't have a lot of hope for the book.


But hey, just because I find a part of a book I don't like, doesn't mean the rest of the book isn't good! So I read on. The troubador looks cool, but my eyes moved on to the savage warrior. I am playing a "barbarian" right now (fighter with some barbarianesque qualities) so I was itching to see this class.

Once again, the charge mechanic is a good innovation. The rest is...meh is the only thing I can say. Primal Resilience doesn't come close to making up for the loss of 3 or 4 AC in many cases (as neither dex nor int are prime stats) for barbarians. Fury looks neat, until you compare it to a fighter. As a fighter I get a +1 to attack rolls straight up. My fighter's AC is naturally higher all the time. The crit bump is the nicest part of the class, but eventually becomes overwritten by feats, magic items, and other crit enhancing abilities.

Further, the class doesn't feel like a defender to me. I only mark when a charge, so I don't mark on many encounter and daily abilities. I get a piece of a the fighter's defending ability, but don't get the stickiness.

And lastly I skimmed through the first few levels of powers. I like the at-wills for the most part, the encounter powers don't seem that great, and the dailies are just okay. I honestly think my dragonborn fighter seems to be a better barbarian than this class. I get better AC, reaping strike, big attacks all the time, my encounter powers do more damage, etc.


So I'm going to finish reading the rest of the book, and some of the other mechanics look interesting. I hope I find some other sections of the book that I do really like, we shall see.