Godhammer Paladin (A new build)

Cadfan · Oct 16, 2008

Presenting the Godhammer paladin.

Its another one of my "create a new fighting style" classes. This time its someone who uses a heavy thrown weapon as their primary means of attack, and who exploits the versatility of being able to use the same weapon for both melee and ranged attacks.

Please comment!

JasonZZ · Oct 16, 2008

Looks promising. I dunno how well a ranged defender will work, but it's worth a try.

Cadfan · Oct 16, 2008

It only mods a few of your powers. You're still going to be fighting in melee most of the time. Your at wills are all melee.

Eldorian · Dec 16, 2008

I really like this concept and here are some of my ideas for it.

Javelin fits the concept too, if you consider Greco-Roman gods. (Thor, Zeus, these types of Gods fit this)

Also, rename godhammer to "Thunderbolt" Incorporate the build into the default paladin by using the Channel Divinity feature.

Channel Divinity: Divine Thunderbolt
You channel divine power into your weapon, letting you hurl it with the force of a thunderbolt.
Encounter Divine
Minor Action Melee touch
Target: One held weapon
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, you may treat the weapon as if it has the Heavy Thrown property with range 3/6. If it already has the Heavy Thrown property, you instead gain a +1 to hit and increase its normal and long range by 2 squares when you wield it. This weapon returns to you when you throw it as if it were magical.

I also suggest adding an at will,

Lightning Strike Paladin Attack 1
You hurl your weapon with divine fury, which strikes its target with a crash of thunder.
At-Will Divine, Thunder, Weapon
Standard Action Ranged weapon.
Requirement: You must be wielding a Heavy Thrown weapon.
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage, and one enemy adjacent to the target takes thunder damage equal to your Wisdom modifier.

Cadfan · Dec 16, 2008

I really like your Channel Divinity power. This could get me out of the entire issue with the bond to your weapon and everything. That existed just so that I could justify your weapon returning to you even when it was non magical, which is something that's really important to this build. But with this, it lets a paladin with a non magical heavy throwing weapon throw it once per combat and have it return. Then I can declare within the specific powers for this build that your weapon returns even if it is non magical.

I will look into that, and see whether it needs any rebalancing to make it work. I may have to move the +1 attack somewhere. Not sure where yet.

I'm not so sure about the at will though. I don't want to turn the paladin into a genuine ranged class. I want the paladin to be a melee class who can sometimes throw their weapon. To do that, I want to restrict your at will attacks to melee options. That way the paladin mostly smacks people with his hammer, but in special moments, he throws his hammer across the battlefield. So he might be in melee with an orc, but when his ally dazes an enemy several spaces away, he could throw his weapon and get combat advantage. Stuff like that. If I give him an at will, I am afraid I'll just end up with a defender in plate mail who doesn't go into melee unless he absolutely has to, and I don't want that.

I do agree on javelins. I'll look into a way to include them.