[D&D4E] Path of Enlightenment [OOC]

[OnlytheStrong]

Fine with me..... Shen is going to see it as a gift from his master, so it would be an honor for him to receive a simple stick lol.

[covaithe]

Voda, I sat down this weekend to try to finally get Leng up to level 3 and pick his weapon. But... I'm having trouble with it, mostly because I'm not very excited about any of my choices. After some thought, I think the problem is that Leng's concept just isn't working for me in this setting. He's a fighter, without access to either shields or heavy armor. His AC is so low that he's not really much of a defender. With the weaksauce that is 2-handed weapons in 4e, he's not much of a striker. Without a shield and access to powers like shield bash or tide of iron, he's not much of a controller either. About all he can do is mark a target and use combat challenge. Which isn't nothing, but... I'm wondering if I can talk you into giving him a little love. I have two ideas:

idea 1: Stone Palm technique

The goal here is to try to make Leng a viable defender without breaking the setting too much. Here's the changes I have in mind:

• Leng switches from 2h to 1h weapon specialization.
• In place of shield proficiency, Leng gains the Stone Palm technique: through many years of rigorous toughening, he can use his bare hand to block incoming strikes. He gains +2 to AC and reflex when he has nothing in his off hand, and can use powers that require a shield. (Effectively as if he had a heavy shield, but without the check penalty. Though I'd take the check penalty, if I had to.)
• Instead of a magic weapon, Master Jiem gives Leng a set of magic scale armor made of interlocked lacquered leather plates. Probably Curseforged armor +1 (PHB, level 3). He picks up a non-magical longsword from the box. (Alternative possibility: Dwarven scale +1 (level 2), and a +1 magic longsword (level 1), though that might not be fair to the other players.)
• Leng does a little extra retraining. He drops Sure Strike for Tide of Iron, and Reaping Strike for Crushing Surge, and loses the Power attack feat in favor of Improved Vigor.

At the end of all this, Leng has a respectable 21 AC instead of his current 15, and I get some more enjoyable things to do in combat.

idea 2: Leng, the destroyer![/sblock

Basically, rebuild Leng as a barbarian. Keep his background and personality intact, and probably his ability scores, even, but he's mechanically different from the ground up. He'd use hide armor and use a 2 handed weapon, probably an axe or a hammer.

Thoughts?

[Voda Vosa]

Yes I sensed that could be a problem from the beginning, that's why many of the foes were so weak. I have to say that I like your first idea the most, and I was going to offer said training when the characters were back from fighting the black thingy, but I think that without it, you are not going to have much of a chance =P.
I don't see Leng as a barbarian, but if you want to test the new class, I'm all for fluffing it up.
Anyhow, I like the first idea the most. Master Jien can give Shen his weapon, and Leng his armour. Since Lu Ian Tien is not a warlock, he has nothing to give to Kaoru. Sorry dude =P

[Scotley]

I've settled on adding Flameburst to Ban Lu's Gun. I thought that perhaps visually this would occur as a flaming dragon leaping from one of the weapons in the cache to his Gun.

[Voda Vosa]

Sounds good. When Cov. picks up the idea he likes the most, probably the first, we'll be ready to go.

[Voda Vosa]

IC post is up. Also here's the description of Stone Palm's technique.

Stone Palm.
This technique allows the warrior to perform great defensive feats with his bare hand. Using the Stone Palm the warrior can deflect blades and arrows, and use it to slam enemies away with the power and bluntness of the Stone.
Prerequisite: Str 13 Con 13
Benefit: You can use a free hand as a Heavy shield, gaining +2 to shield AC and all the benefits of using said shield. The user does not suffer any penalty of wearing heavy shield. To gain the benefits of this technique, you must focus during a minor action. The effect last until the end of the encounter. If the Character becomes unconscious or starts another stance, he lose the benefits. Gaining focus to use Stone Palm is like an encounter power.

[covaithe]

Huh. That version of stone palm is... a bit weaker than I expected. Having to use a standard action to get it, and having to make saves to keep it if you become bloodied, both make it hard to use for a defender.

Really, all I'm trying to accomplish with Stone Palm is to have something roughly comparable in power to a shield, with cool flavoring appropriate to this setting. This version is much weaker.

Could we perhaps make it a stance instead, as a minor action, usable once per encounter, with duration as normal for stances (until the end of the encounter, or you become unconscious, or you take another stance)? That's still weaker than having a shield (because I had planned to take and use the Boundless Endurance stance, which I won't do if Stone Palm is a stance), but usable at least.

[Voda Vosa]

I like your stance idea. I though about improveing trainings. I was going to offer such improved version when the characters got back from the combat, but your stance idea seems more balanced anyway. We'll use it.

[covaithe]

I (finally!) updated Leng for level 3: http://www.enworld.org/forum/4429963-post4.html

[Voda Vosa]

Good, since I post the update of the IC thread today heh. I'll take a look at him later today.

[covaithe]

I'm out of town and off the internet from tomorrow morning until the 26th. Leng will use cleave, prefer to mark the corruption corpses, and look for an opportunity to use Sweeping Blow to hit three or more foes at once. He's willing to take OAs within reason if necessary.

[Voda Vosa]

Alright, have a nice trip, take care. I'll take care of Leng.... 's Funeral! heh

[Walking Dad]

Hi (yes, I'm back), looks like the alchimist is still around. Shall I rejoin?

[Voda Vosa]

I'm back too, so be my guest!

[Walking Dad]

Thanks!!!

[Atanatotatos]

Oy, voda, I had an idea that I wanted to propose to you. Since:
1.You introduced a few feats that represent martial arts skills and
2.You restricted race choice to human becaue of the setting.

I was thiking that it might be fun to introduce feats, flavored as martial arts styles, that mimic race features or feats. The limit would be that you can only take these feats in a "style chain" (so only from one race). It'd help differentiate the all-human group, too, without interefering with the mental image.

For example: "Style of the mountain warrior" could give access to the dwarves' second wind as a minor action; "Style of the wild wind" the elven reroll feature; "Style of the inner dragon" could grant access to the dragonborns' breath, etc.
Granted, there might be some problem in balance, but I think it'd be both fun mechanically and flavorful if done right. What do you think about it?

[Voda Vosa]

I think it's a great idea, considering all the cool powers some races have! Not only the ones in the PHBs. Please flavour as many as you want, a make a list. I'll do that too.
I invite everyone to do that, since there are a lot of races, and you can make up a lot of additional feats this way to flavour your character.

[Keia]

When I went to post my action, I realized that Kaoru didn't have a 3rd lvl encounter power. That has been rectified on the RG now.

Keia

[Scotley]

Don't forget Ban Lu's turn undead. I'm going to be going out of town until Thursday. I'm taking a computer, so I may get a chance to post, but this is a family vacation I expect to be pretty busy. Please npc Ban Lu for me.

[Voda Vosa]

Of course my dear monk