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Power Source: Shadow
Role: Defender
Key Abilities: Strength, Charisma, Intelligence
Armor Proficiency: Cloth, Leather, Hide, Chain, All Shields
Weapon Proficiency: All simple, All military
Bonus to Defense: +1 Will, +1 Fortitude
Hit points at first level: 15 + Constitution Score
Hit points per level gained: 6
Healing surges per day: 9 + constitution modifier
Trained Skills: Arcana, plus three of the following: Athletics, Bluff, Dungeoneering, Intimidate, Stealth
Build Options: The Path of Splinters, The Path of the Wind and Doors
Class Features: Aura of Unluck, Evil Eye
Aura of Unluck: All enemies within 2 spaces of you take a penalty of 2 to saving throws.
Evil Eye: Minor action. Marks one foe within a close burst of 5. If this foe makes an attack that does not include you as a target, you may spend an Immediate Action to Weaken it until the end of your next turn.
Illusory Double: Some of your powers create an illusory double. For convenience, the general rules of an illusory double are written once here, rather than within every power that makes use of them. An illusory double appears exactly as you do, and occupies a space. It has exactly the same defenses as you do, and exactly the same attacks. It does not move unless specified by the power which created it. It is capable of making opportunity attacks, and therefore capable of flanking. It makes only two types of attacks- opportunity attacks, and the attacks specifically spelled out in the power which created it. If an illusory double receives any damage at all, it vanishes. If a power or other effect forces an illusory double to perform an action it cannot, it is destroyed. Otherwise, your illusory double vanishes at the time specified in the power which created it. This is not a true class ability, but rather an effect created by a power that has certain consistent rules.
Build Options
The Path of Splinters
This discipline of Hexblade study focuses on the use of illusions in combat. A Hexblade of the Path of Splinters is a blur in battle, with illusory blades and even entire images of himself splintering off from his body and leaping to the attack. His foes never know what is real and what is not, or where the true danger waits. As illusion magic requires a flair for the dramatic to lend realism to the lie, followers of the Path of Splinters prefer charisma as their secondary statistic.
Level 1 At Will Attack Powers
Tristed Fortune You are at your best when you are at your worst.
Level 1 Melee, At Will, Standard Action, Weapon
Str v ac
Hit: 1[W]+Str
Special: This attack scores a critical hit on an attack roll result of a natural 1.
Shadow Feint A sudden blurring, a duplication of your sword arm, baffles your foe.
Level 1 Melee, At Will, Standard Action, Weapon, Illusion
Str v AC
Hit: 1[W]+Cha, and your next attack versus this foe has combat advantage.
Level 1 Encounter Attack Powers
Shadow Blade Your sword arm blurs, and two weapons strike at your foe. Only one is true, but which?
Level 1 Melee, Encounter, Standard Action, Weapon, Illusion
Str v AC, two attack rolls. You may choose either roll.
Hit: 2[W].
Path of Splinters: Add your charisma modifier to the damage.
Level 1 Daily Attack Powers
Doubled Assault You seem to split in two- and each of you leaps to the attack.
Level 1 Melee, Daily, Standard Action, Weapon, Illusion
Special: Create an illusory double of yourself in an adjacent space. You and the double then may each shift one space.
Str v AC
2[W]+Str
Effect: The illusory double makes an attack.
Str v AC
2[W]+Str
Effect: The illusory double remains until the beginning of your next turn.
Path of Splinters: If both attacks hit the same target, deal additional damage equal to your charisma modifier.
Level 2 Utility Powers
Abandoned by Fate Nothing goes right for you. Nothing.
Level 2 Utility, Encounter, Immediate Interrupt
Trigger: You make a saving throw.
Effect: You may voluntarily fail a saving throw. If you do, all allies within 5 may make an immediate saving throw against an effect which can be ended by a save.
Shatter Destruction surrounds you.
Level 2 Utility, Encounter, Standard Action
Effect: An unattended, inanimate object within 10 spaces of you receives 10+1/2 level damage.
Level 3 Encounter Powers
Bitter Blade A thin line of venom runs down your blade.
Level 3 Encounter, Standard Action, Weapon
Str v Fort
Hit: 1[W]+Str, plus 5 ongoing poison damage and Slow. Save ends both.
Vampiric Blade You consume your foe's energy, and it tastes... wonderful.
Level 3 Encounter, Standard Action, Weapon
Str v Fort
Hit: 1[W]+Str, and you gain temporary hit points equal to the damage dealt by this attack.
Level 5 Daily Powers
Curse of the Pariah Not even your mother loves you.
Level 5 Daily, Standard Action, Weapon
Str v AC
Hit: 3[W]+Str, and the target cannot be targeted by the powers and abilities of his allies, nor can it target allies with its own powers and abilities. Save ends.
Miss: Half damage, no other effect.
Level 6 Utility Powers
Fatal Blunder Luck is on your side. Or at least its against everyone else too.
Level 6 Utility, Encounter, Immediate Interrupt
Trigger: An enemy within 5 rolls a natural 1 on an attack roll.
Effect: The enemy receives damage as if it had struck itself with its attack.
Level 7 Encounter Powers
Tracer Image You leave a little piece of yourself behind.
Level 7 Encounter, Standard Action, Weapon
Effect: Before attacking, shift 2 spaces, and leave an illusory double in your original space. It lasts until the beginning of your next turn.
Str v AC
2[W]+Str
Path of Splinters: Instead shift up to your charisma modifier.
Level 9 Daily Powers
Shadow Sentries You are everywhere at once, for a time.
Level 9 Daily, Minor Action
Effect: Place two illusory doubles in spaces of your choice within a close burst of 5. These illusory doubles fade at the end of the encounter.
Path of Splinters: Instead place a number of illusory doubles equal to your charisma modifier.
Level 10 Utility Powers
Shadow Parry Your foe finds himself battling only shadows.
Level 10 Utility, Daily, Standard Action, Weapon
Immediate Interrupt
Trigger: You are targetted by a melee or ranged attack.
Effect: Shift your 2 spaces and leave an illusory double in your original space. The illusory double is now the target of the triggering attack. The illusory double fades at the beginning of your next turn.
Path of Splinters: Instead shift up to your charisma modifier.
The fact that Aura of Unluck penalizes saves, but few of the Hexblade's powers involve saving throws, is intentional. I may do more with saves for the other build, or I may not- I like encouraging teamwork.
I've tried to encourage the use of weapons with enhancements for critical hits. Sometimes I was subtle. Sometimes I wasn't.
Evil Eye: Minor action. Marks one foe within a close burst of 5. If this foe makes an attack that does not include you as a target, you may spend an Immediate Action to Weaken it until the end of your next turn.
Immediate interrupt or immediate reaction? Probably should be interrupt to be useful.
Sounds very strong, compared to the paladin's or the swordsage's mark: the paladin's target takes middling damage, the swordsage's target either takes a basic attack or has it's damage reduced by a fixed amount after hitting. This cuts the target's damage by half, for this attack and any others in the same round, whether it hits or not. Maybe it there should be an attack roll?
I've only had time to browse quickly through the powers, but they seem pretty cool.
What is the Path of Wind and Doors going to be like?
Immediate interrupt or immediate reaction? Probably should be interrupt to be useful.
Sounds very strong, compared to the paladin's or the swordsage's mark: the paladin's target takes middling damage, the swordsage's target either takes a basic attack or has it's damage reduced by a fixed amount after hitting. This cuts the target's damage by half, for this attack and any others in the same round, whether it hits or not. Maybe it there should be an attack roll?
I've only had time to browse quickly through the powers, but they seem pretty cool.
What is the Path of Wind and Doors going to be like?
I'll clean up the language next time I update.
Here's my thoughts on the power level of the mark: I'm comparing it to the swordmage's protecting mark, which reduces damage by five plus the swordmage's constitution. That means around 7 at level 1, with increases as constitution rises, and further increases at each tier.
For an enemy with an average damage less than 14, reducing damage by
7 is a bigger reduction than Weakening the enemy. The enemy has to do more than 7 damage, or attack more than once, to make the hexblade mark a better effect. I think that overall the swordmage's mark is going to be better on most foes, while the hexblade's mark will be better on solos and elites. But then, solos and elites can attack multiple targets, so they find it easy to avoid being subjected to the mark's penalty anyways.
As for the Path of Wind and Doors, I don't know. I keep tossing out the ideas I come up with. I was making it match the elemental damages associated with the shadowfell in 3e, for a while- cold, lightning, and necrotic. But it kept feeling like a swordmage clone.
My one problem is that I think Aura of Unluck might be counterprodctive. The job of a defender is to keep foes nearby--why have an aura that encourages them to stay away?
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Cool stuff. I like it. Personally, I'd add Thievery to the class list (the Warlock has it, too), because I think it'd be an interesting variation on the defender. And I like the idea of having an ability that weakens saves, but doesn't use that power personally. Sort of gives the class a leader-like ability.
I'd give the class a bit more of a sub-type, and stick to that in your design. It's a defender, first and foremost, but it should dabble in another role. Striker is an obvious one, but I think there are too many strikers out there right now. Leader could be interesting, and that save power encourages it, but it doesn't seem right for a hexblade. Now, Controller would seem perfect - this is a great class for general de-buffs. I'd almost tack on a debuff effect on most of their attacks.
Also, I'm getting tired of seeing defenders that have a "mark and hit" effect. Instead, I think it'd be kind of cool (and fitting with the controller idea I just mentioned) to instead give the class a power like:
"Aura 2. MArked creatures treat all squares in the aura are treated as difficult terrain."
In essence, I hit you, and you are stuck fighting me. You can't shift, and if you move away (which is going to be hard), I get to swing at you. I think it's just a minor change that would give the class a bit more flavour than the swordmage-like Evil Eye.
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Instead, I think it'd be kind of cool (and fitting with the controller idea I just mentioned) to instead give the class a power like:
"Aura 2. MArked creatures treat all squares in the aura are treated as difficult terrain."
In essence, I hit you, and you are stuck fighting me. You can't shift, and if you move away (which is going to be hard), I get to swing at you. I think it's just a minor change that would give the class a bit more flavour than the swordmage-like Evil Eye.
I'm going to agree with this sentiment. Otherwise, I really like this build. And thanks for PDF-ing it.
One thing about the illusiary double "rules", it should perhaps include something along the line that the double counts as the hexblade for the purposes of the mark. It kind of fits the hexblade as a defender to throw out a decoy, and giving the decoy the benefit of a mark seems to go against that. Also, the ongoing damage from the encounter power is a bit rare, the only other example (from the PHB anyway) is a wizard power that risks hitting allies.
Also, doubled assault seems a bit big for a level 1 encounter power. It likely could have both attacks at 1[W] and still be solid.
A couple minor things are formatting issues (the penalty of 2 to saving throws seem odd without it being -2, in addition to things likes save ends being bracketed).
You know, I never looked at this until now. I think this is a fairly solid class, although I honestly have felt that the Hexblade is far more about causing curses/bad luck/the melee equivalent of a warlock, so this feels fairly weird being called a "Hexblade".
I do however see it as a solid class, mechanics wise.
Sidenote: I came here because I had the idea of a Hexblade Defender with a mark that's the reverse of the Oath of Imnity. 'Mark your target. If your target does not attack you, then as an immediate interrupt, you cause the attack be rolled twice, and the lowest score must be selected."
My goal, in part, was to create a fighter/spellcaster hybrid that was more about fighting than spellcasting, and who used the spells to augment how they fought rather than to do the actual combat. It was really important to me to keep this class from attacking with its charisma or intelligence. That's why everything is strength based, with charisma controlling the extra effects.
There are a few mechanical missteps in what I've designed (there almost always are), and some of it is "old tech" in the sense that this was written before summoning rules and a lot of more recent powers, but I'm a big fan of it, especially in terms of theme.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rechan
Sidenote: I came here because I had the idea of a Hexblade Defender with a mark that's the reverse of the Oath of Imnity. 'Mark your target. If your target does not attack you, then as an immediate interrupt, you cause the attack be rolled twice, and the lowest score must be selected."
That's interesting. The "mark" feature already penalizes attacks, though.
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