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A Rock and A Hard Place: A Warden Handbook (By Alphaant)
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<blockquote data-quote="Veep" data-source="post: 6708007" data-attributes="member: 6793297"><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>Utility and Skill Powers: Applying what you know</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Note: I will only be including the skill powers for skills on the warden's class-skill list, unless there's something really notable on one of the other skills.</p><p></p><p><strong>Level 2</strong></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Utility Powers</strong></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Call Faerie Guardian</span> (D 392): Daily. Here's a new thing to give a warden. It's a summon, neat! Now you can mark at range for an encounter. Note that the power says whenever you use your Nature's Wrath class feature, which also includes Warden's Grasp and Warden's Fury.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Erupting Font</span> (PP): Encounter. You're gonna make some saves at the beginning of your turn, so when you do you can mark most of the battlefield, if not all. Mass marking is not as useful to you as it is to the paladin though, and the timing of when you get to use this is beyond your control. If you've selected Form of Mountain's Thunder, your wizard's gonna be jealous.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Eyes of the Hawk</span> (PH2): Encounter. Make a perception check at a huge bonus. Good for rooting out those stealthed foes.</p><p></p><p>Guardian Thorns (PP): Encounter. Defend at range. Good when you're wizard is being haunted by a pack of minions.</p><p></p><p>Mountain Lion Step (PH2): Encounter. Move like an elf for a turn.</p><p></p><p>Nature's Abundance (PH2): Daily. Grant allies cover in a good-sized burst for an encounter. If it weren't a Standard, it would probably be higher.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Triumphant Vigor</span> (PH2): Daily. Surgeless healing, but you don't get to control when you can use it.</p><p></p><p>Warden's Tempest (PP): Encounter. You get to slide someone unprovoked. It's ok, but be sure to look at <span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Deadly Draw</strong></span> if you do select this..</p><p></p><p>Warding Touch (PP): Encounter. For when you really gotta keep your ranger or rogue standing, and don't care if you take some hits.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Skill Powers</strong></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Bounding Leap</span> (Athletics): Encounter. How often do you find yourself making a lot of big jumps without a running start? You probably have a fairly decent Athletics bonus already, the times where this will play a factor will be miniscule.</p><p></p><p>Deep Shadows (Dungeoneering): Encounter. Allows you to use Dungeoneering in place of Stealth, so you might actually succeed. Only usable underground though.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Endure Pain</span> (Endurance): Daily. Gain damage resistance as an interrupt. You'll find that useful your entire career.</p><p></p><p><strong>Exemplar of Valor</strong> (Endurance): Daily. This is up against some stiff competition in the Endurance category.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Far Sight</span> (Perception): Encounter. You're not a ranged weapon specialist.</p><p></p><p>Grit and Spittle (Endurance, D 385): Encounter. It's likely you've already gotten rid of the worst of the effects upon you, so this isn't as worth it to you as it to other defenders.</p><p></p><p>Healer's Gift (Heal): Encounter. The Heal skill already has some of the functionality of this power built in, it just requires a roll. There's definitely some uses for this though, they're just a bit less common.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Inspiring Fortitude</span> (Endurance): Daily. That's an awful lot of temp HP you just handed out. It also allows you to use your second wind as part of the action. If you're gonna use your second wind, you might as well get something extra out of it. Slightly less good for <span style="color: #0000ff">dwarves</span>.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Mounted Coordination</span> (Nature): Encounter. Small damage boost for one attack when mounted.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Nature Sense</span> (Nature): Daily. Your nature modifier could potentially be rather large, and your initiative modifier probably isn't. The defense bonuses will be much appreciated.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Ominous Threat</span> (Intimidate): Encounter. I personally haven't seen a lot of marks from enemies in my experience. Also, you really don't need help marking adjacent enemies.</p><p></p><p>Otherworldly Lore (Dungeoneering): Encounter. Not useful in every encounter due to the limitation on things that Dungeoneering can determine.</p><p></p><p>Scrambling Climb (Athletics): Encounter. Useful for getting to the tops of buildings when an artillery mob is up there, but if you have to do that a lot, you should probably smack your DM upside his head.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Talented Athletics</strong></span> (Athletics): At-Will. Well, you'll never drown or fall off the mountain, but was that really a problem before?</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Level 6</strong></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Utility Powers</strong></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Bear's Endurance</span> (PH2): Daily. Surgeless healing that triggers when you would go unconscious. You hope you don't need it, but love having it when you do.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Earthguard</span> (PH2): Daily Stance. Get a small boost to all defenses for an encounter.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Fey Congress</span> (D 392): Daily. A sustain minor zone of concealment is pretty subpar. You can't even move it around.</p><p></p><p>Returning the Gift (PP): Daily. Typically the person is targetting you because they don't need it themself or it's more useful to you. I'm sure you'll find a way to use this once per day though.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Sea Stride</span> (PH2): At-Will. Do you swim often enough to need this?</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Soothing Wind</span> (PP): Daily. Second wind as a minor, and get extra HP. Not as useful if you're a dwarf.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Treacherous Ice</span> (PP): Daily Stance. For those encounters where you can't use Form of Winter's Herald.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Wilding Strength</span> (PP): Daily. Add 1d6 to all attack rolls and damage rolls until the end of your next turn. Good for those of you going for striker multiclass.</p><p></p><p>Windborne Step (PH2): Encounter. Shift 2 across difficult terrain. Decent.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Wrathful Mastery</span> (PP): Daily. I misinterpreted this the first time, and reading it more carefully, it's pretty awful. I can see corner cases where it could be useful (which makes it purple, not red), but in the end, the cost outweighs the benefit.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Skill Powers</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Delay Poison (Heal): Encounter. Granting a save would be more useful, as poison in this edition just doesn't have a bite.</p><p></p><p>Demoralize Foe (Intimidate): Encounter. Just like rattling, but only 1/encounter and only vs attacks on you. You want to encourage them to attack you, not others.</p><p></p><p>Everybody Move (Intimidate): Encounter. An auto-push, but as I've said previously, pushing isn't really your thing.</p><p></p><p>Eyes of the Deep Delver (Dungeoneering): Encounter. Useful against fighting invisible creatures, though it doesn't help you if you're blinded.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Guided Shot</span> (Perception): Encounter. Useful for helping the striker get that last little bonus to make sure he hits, but uses your immediate action for the round, which could go towards something more defensive.</p><p></p><p><strong>Internal Reserves</strong> (Endurance): Daily. Good for when you really need to pass that saving throw.</p><p></p><p><strong>Kord's Force</strong> (Athletics): At-Will. Most of the instances where a straight Strength check is appropriate, I as a DM allow Athletics checks anyway, because the recommended DCs assume that some of the PCs get the bonus from being trained. If your DM is making you use straight Strength checks a lot, this is a big boost.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Mighty Sprint</span> (Athletics): Encounter. The shortlegged among you will love this, and the ignoring difficult terrain makes it good for all of you.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Natural Terrain Understanding</span> (Nature, D 385): Encounter. You get to rearrange the battlefield and provide a defense bonus.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Path of the Bounding Stag</span> (Nature): Encounter. Mighty Sprint is strictly better.</p><p></p><p>Physician's Care (Heal): Encounter. Has some niche uses, but like Healer's Gift, the Heal skill itself has part of this built in.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Practiced Rider</span> (Nature): At-Will. If you're considering this, you're probably a mounted combat person anyway.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Stonecunning</span> (Dungeoneering): Encounter. Considering how much more useful Perception is, this seems like a waste.</p><p></p><p>Sudden Leap (Athletics): Encounter. You don't have access to Acrobatics, so this might be a good alternative to Tumble.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Swift Recovery</span> (Heal): Encounter. Granting someone else their second wind with only a minor action on your part without a roll is a serious upgrade from what being trained in Heal can do.</p><p></p><p>Third Wind (Endurance): Daily. Just like Second Wind, except it doesn't get all the extra add-ons that you get otherwise.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Trapfinding</span> (Perception): Encounter. Also requires training in Thievery. Leave this to someone else.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Try the Stick</span> (Intimidate): Encounter. I'm a fan of skill-swap abilities. Becomes <span style="color: #00ccff">much better</span> with Cincture of the Dragon Spirit.</p><p></p><p>Walk It Off (Endurance): Encounter. You already get to do this. Gives you a second save at the start of your turn if you have two effects though.</p><p></p><p>Warning of Peril (Perception): Daily. Since it's only useful in combat, it's rather limited. It also doesn't apply to active perception checks.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Level 10</strong></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Utility Powers</strong></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Bond of Shared Pain</span> (PP): Encounter. Take damage for an ally. You have quite a few to spare, after all.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Earthstride</span> (PH2): Encounter. Teleport your Con Mod, Earth 2 Terrian-style (or into mid-air, if that's your thing). One of the coolest powers nobody takes. More useful later in your career when you're more likely to deal with high cliffs and flying creatures.</p><p></p><p>Elemental Warding (PP): Encounter. Grant you and adjacent allies your choice of resistances. Only for a turn though. I might like this better if was a daily that lasted the whole encounter.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Entangling Shield</span> (D 379): Daily. Gain a boost to a defense as an interrupt. Since you will likely know in advance whether this will cause the attack to miss, it pretty much guarantees the target will be immobilized for his troubles.</p><p></p><p>Guardian's Attack (PP): Daily. You get to use one of your polymorph form attack powers twice. The quality of this varies based on form. <span style="color: #0000ff">Better</span> if you have Form of the Oak Sentinel, as its attack form is worth having twice.</p><p></p><p>Returning Strength (PH2): Daily. Get surge + Str. It's more useful after you've burned through your Second Wind. If only you could regain the use of your Second Wind.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Shared Font of Life</span> (PP): Encounter. You won't be using Font of Life every round, sometimes it's very useful to let someone else use it.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Shield of Stone</span> (PH2): Daily. Get an ally out of the way, and toughen them up. Can also be used to make them a second defender for a round. Very versatile.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Spiritual Rejuvenation</span> (PP): Daily. For <span style="color: #ff9900"><strong>dwarves</strong></span>, don't bother looking elsewhere, getting two uses of second wind in an encounter is just too good. For the rest of you, this is your first option for getting second wind multiple times, so you should start thinking about how you can reduce it to something other than a standard.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Sylvan Trickery</span> (D 392): Daily. A good safety line for you or an ally, as the teleport alone can get the target out of danger.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Warding Vines</span> (PH2): Daily. Give allies in a zone damage resistance for an encounter. A nice boost, however with so many good options at this level it will probably just get lost in the crowd.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Skill Powers</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Focused Sight (Perception): Encounter. Using this in itself provokes, so this is more useful for ranged combatants.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Incredible Stride</span> (Athletics): Daily. A much higher speed for a single encounter per day.</p><p></p><p>Perfect Sight (Perception): Encounter. A lesser version of Eyes of the Deep Delver, though you're more likely to be trained in Perception.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Reactive Surge</span> (Endurance): Encounter. For some reason, the Endurance skill powers are head and shoulders above the rest. This one is no exception. Unless you like being bloodied, this will come in useful every encounter.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Snap Out of It</span> (Intimidate): Encounter. Allows you to grant a save against the nastiest of status effects.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Spot the Path</span> (Nature): Encounter. Everyone can ignore difficult terrain. Use at the beginning of combat so your allies can get in place.</p><p></p><p>Spot Weakness (Perception): Encounter. A damage boost against a single foe. It's a pretty sizable bonus, but it's only for you, and only for a brief period.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Steeled Against It</strong></span> (Endurance): Daily. An excellent way to get resistance against the foe that does multiple damage types in the same hit. It also increases the resistance if you already have that type. Also scales with level.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff"><strong>Strength Against Strength</strong></span> (Athletics): Encounter. This one rocks. When you miss a foe, you can make an Athletics check to knock him on his back anyway. It gives you an incentive to keep your Athletics bonus sky-high.</p><p></p><p>Time Out (Heal): Encounter. You can give an ally their second wind back. Convince your allies to take this so they can use it on you instead.</p><p></p><p>Trap Sense (Dungeoneering): Encounter. This is fun, but isn't going to come into play very often.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Uncanny Instincts</span> (Perception): Daily. You and one ally get to go early in combat, guaranteed.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Level 16</strong></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Utility Powers</strong></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Cleansing Earth</span> (PH2): Encounter. This almost guarantees that the effect will go away as soon as its received, and having it as an encounter is awesome. I'm not typically a fan of things that give you saves because you just get so many, but the bonus on this one makes it head and shoulders better than the rest. Since it's an Immediate Reaction, there's some question as to whether you can use it against status effects that prevent you from being able to use Immediates, which might take away from its utility, but even with that it's still an awesome choice at this level.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Fortress of Stone</span> (PP): Encounter. Useful for when you really need to protect your wizard.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Invigorating Presence</span> (PP): Daily. A lot of temp HP, but the level 1 skill power Inspiring Fortitude hands out more. Still, this is just a minor, and you get them also.</p><p></p><p>Masking Fog (PP): Daily. The sustain on this is misleading. It will eventually dissipate even if you use the sustain, and it's just concealment.</p><p></p><p>Monkey's Grip (PH2): At-Will. You get a climb speed, but it takes a minor to activate and it's half your speed. You might have better luck with just using Athletics.</p><p></p><p>Primal Leap (PH2): Encounter. If you need this often, the rest of your party is kinda screwed.</p><p></p><p>Sun Fire Guardian (PP): Encounter. It should cause a lot of hits to miss if you do it right, but the blindness goes away once they're done attacking, so you don't get to capitalize on all the other fun things that blindness grants.</p><p></p><p>Verdant Life (PH2): Daily. Use second wind instead. Though this can be useful in a pinch if you've already used your second wind.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Vine Poultice</span> (D 379): Daily. If you're going for leader secondary, this is worth a look.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Warden's Refusal</span> (PP): Encounter. I consider this an upgraded Warden's Grasp. The trigger is the movement, not the attack, so once they're flanking an ally you can rip them away and prevent an attack.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Skill Powers</strong></span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Diehard</span> (Endurance): Daily. You can opt to go dazed instead of unconscious. Basically, it keeps you alive long enough to second wind.</p><p></p><p>Miraculous Treatment (Heal): Daily. Surgeless healing, but it requires a standard action, and it's only a daily.</p><p></p><p>Nightshade Draught (Nature, D 385): Daily. Stay standing when you're dying, but the cost is huge.</p><p></p><p>Practiced Mental Defense (Dungeoneering, D 385): Daily. Dazed is certainly better than dominated or stunned. </p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Level 22</strong></p><p> </p><p><span style="color: #800080">A Scattering of Ashes</span> (PP): Encounter. Enemies are granted concealment by the ash, so it's not that good.</p><p></p><p>Channeled Vitality (PP): Daily. Your temp HP will probably vanish pretty quickly, so don't count on that 2[W] for too long. Its stock <span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>improves</strong></span> if you can gain a more reliable way of keeping your THP high (such as a Cincture of Vivacity + Second Wind Optimization).</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Debilitating Ward</span> (PP): Encounter. This can be pretty devastating if you time it right.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Eagle's Wings</span> (PH2): Daily. You've been waiting for something like this.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Panacea</span> (PH2): Daily. If you're facing a lot of debuffers, this is very fortuitous.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Primal Cascade</span> (D 379): Encounter. This should be a much lower level power.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Renewal</span> (PH2): Daily. You get some healing, plus get an encounter power back. Remember, most of your guardian form attack powers count as encounter powers.</p><p></p><p>Strength from Death (PP): Encounter. It's a fairly small amount of hit points, and it uses an immediate action. It's also hard to control when you can get it.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Wellspring of Life</span> (PH2): Daily. Getting a regeneration value of 12+ is fairly significant.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Veep, post: 6708007, member: 6793297"] [Size=5][b]Utility and Skill Powers: Applying what you know[/b][/size] Note: I will only be including the skill powers for skills on the warden's class-skill list, unless there's something really notable on one of the other skills. [b]Level 2[/b] [Size=3][b]Utility Powers[/b][/size] [COLOR=#0000ff]Call Faerie Guardian[/COLOR] (D 392): Daily. Here's a new thing to give a warden. It's a summon, neat! Now you can mark at range for an encounter. Note that the power says whenever you use your Nature's Wrath class feature, which also includes Warden's Grasp and Warden's Fury. [COLOR=#0000ff]Erupting Font[/COLOR] (PP): Encounter. You're gonna make some saves at the beginning of your turn, so when you do you can mark most of the battlefield, if not all. Mass marking is not as useful to you as it is to the paladin though, and the timing of when you get to use this is beyond your control. If you've selected Form of Mountain's Thunder, your wizard's gonna be jealous. [COLOR=#0000ff]Eyes of the Hawk[/COLOR] (PH2): Encounter. Make a perception check at a huge bonus. Good for rooting out those stealthed foes. Guardian Thorns (PP): Encounter. Defend at range. Good when you're wizard is being haunted by a pack of minions. Mountain Lion Step (PH2): Encounter. Move like an elf for a turn. Nature's Abundance (PH2): Daily. Grant allies cover in a good-sized burst for an encounter. If it weren't a Standard, it would probably be higher. [COLOR=#800080]Triumphant Vigor[/COLOR] (PH2): Daily. Surgeless healing, but you don't get to control when you can use it. Warden's Tempest (PP): Encounter. You get to slide someone unprovoked. It's ok, but be sure to look at [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Deadly Draw[/b][/COLOR] if you do select this.. Warding Touch (PP): Encounter. For when you really gotta keep your ranger or rogue standing, and don't care if you take some hits. [Size=3][b]Skill Powers[/b][/size] [COLOR=#800080]Bounding Leap[/COLOR] (Athletics): Encounter. How often do you find yourself making a lot of big jumps without a running start? You probably have a fairly decent Athletics bonus already, the times where this will play a factor will be miniscule. Deep Shadows (Dungeoneering): Encounter. Allows you to use Dungeoneering in place of Stealth, so you might actually succeed. Only usable underground though. [COLOR=#00ccff]Endure Pain[/COLOR] (Endurance): Daily. Gain damage resistance as an interrupt. You'll find that useful your entire career. [b]Exemplar of Valor[/b] (Endurance): Daily. This is up against some stiff competition in the Endurance category. [COLOR=#800080]Far Sight[/COLOR] (Perception): Encounter. You're not a ranged weapon specialist. Grit and Spittle (Endurance, D 385): Encounter. It's likely you've already gotten rid of the worst of the effects upon you, so this isn't as worth it to you as it to other defenders. Healer's Gift (Heal): Encounter. The Heal skill already has some of the functionality of this power built in, it just requires a roll. There's definitely some uses for this though, they're just a bit less common. [COLOR=#00ccff]Inspiring Fortitude[/COLOR] (Endurance): Daily. That's an awful lot of temp HP you just handed out. It also allows you to use your second wind as part of the action. If you're gonna use your second wind, you might as well get something extra out of it. Slightly less good for [COLOR=#0000ff]dwarves[/COLOR]. [COLOR=#800080]Mounted Coordination[/COLOR] (Nature): Encounter. Small damage boost for one attack when mounted. [COLOR=#00ccff]Nature Sense[/COLOR] (Nature): Daily. Your nature modifier could potentially be rather large, and your initiative modifier probably isn't. The defense bonuses will be much appreciated. [COLOR=#800080]Ominous Threat[/COLOR] (Intimidate): Encounter. I personally haven't seen a lot of marks from enemies in my experience. Also, you really don't need help marking adjacent enemies. Otherworldly Lore (Dungeoneering): Encounter. Not useful in every encounter due to the limitation on things that Dungeoneering can determine. Scrambling Climb (Athletics): Encounter. Useful for getting to the tops of buildings when an artillery mob is up there, but if you have to do that a lot, you should probably smack your DM upside his head. [COLOR=#800080][b]Talented Athletics[/b][/COLOR] (Athletics): At-Will. Well, you'll never drown or fall off the mountain, but was that really a problem before? [b]Level 6[/b] [Size=3][b]Utility Powers[/b][/size] [COLOR=#00ccff]Bear's Endurance[/COLOR] (PH2): Daily. Surgeless healing that triggers when you would go unconscious. You hope you don't need it, but love having it when you do. [COLOR=#0000ff]Earthguard[/COLOR] (PH2): Daily Stance. Get a small boost to all defenses for an encounter. [COLOR=#800080]Fey Congress[/COLOR] (D 392): Daily. A sustain minor zone of concealment is pretty subpar. You can't even move it around. Returning the Gift (PP): Daily. Typically the person is targetting you because they don't need it themself or it's more useful to you. I'm sure you'll find a way to use this once per day though. [COLOR=#ff0000]Sea Stride[/COLOR] (PH2): At-Will. Do you swim often enough to need this? [COLOR=#00ccff]Soothing Wind[/COLOR] (PP): Daily. Second wind as a minor, and get extra HP. Not as useful if you're a dwarf. [COLOR=#00ccff]Treacherous Ice[/COLOR] (PP): Daily Stance. For those encounters where you can't use Form of Winter's Herald. [COLOR=#0000ff]Wilding Strength[/COLOR] (PP): Daily. Add 1d6 to all attack rolls and damage rolls until the end of your next turn. Good for those of you going for striker multiclass. Windborne Step (PH2): Encounter. Shift 2 across difficult terrain. Decent. [COLOR=#800080]Wrathful Mastery[/COLOR] (PP): Daily. I misinterpreted this the first time, and reading it more carefully, it's pretty awful. I can see corner cases where it could be useful (which makes it purple, not red), but in the end, the cost outweighs the benefit. [Size=3][b]Skill Powers[/b][/size] Delay Poison (Heal): Encounter. Granting a save would be more useful, as poison in this edition just doesn't have a bite. Demoralize Foe (Intimidate): Encounter. Just like rattling, but only 1/encounter and only vs attacks on you. You want to encourage them to attack you, not others. Everybody Move (Intimidate): Encounter. An auto-push, but as I've said previously, pushing isn't really your thing. Eyes of the Deep Delver (Dungeoneering): Encounter. Useful against fighting invisible creatures, though it doesn't help you if you're blinded. [COLOR=#0000ff]Guided Shot[/COLOR] (Perception): Encounter. Useful for helping the striker get that last little bonus to make sure he hits, but uses your immediate action for the round, which could go towards something more defensive. [b]Internal Reserves[/b] (Endurance): Daily. Good for when you really need to pass that saving throw. [b]Kord's Force[/b] (Athletics): At-Will. Most of the instances where a straight Strength check is appropriate, I as a DM allow Athletics checks anyway, because the recommended DCs assume that some of the PCs get the bonus from being trained. If your DM is making you use straight Strength checks a lot, this is a big boost. [COLOR=#0000ff]Mighty Sprint[/COLOR] (Athletics): Encounter. The shortlegged among you will love this, and the ignoring difficult terrain makes it good for all of you. [COLOR=#0000ff]Natural Terrain Understanding[/COLOR] (Nature, D 385): Encounter. You get to rearrange the battlefield and provide a defense bonus. [COLOR=#ff0000]Path of the Bounding Stag[/COLOR] (Nature): Encounter. Mighty Sprint is strictly better. Physician's Care (Heal): Encounter. Has some niche uses, but like Healer's Gift, the Heal skill itself has part of this built in. [COLOR=#0000ff]Practiced Rider[/COLOR] (Nature): At-Will. If you're considering this, you're probably a mounted combat person anyway. [COLOR=#ff0000]Stonecunning[/COLOR] (Dungeoneering): Encounter. Considering how much more useful Perception is, this seems like a waste. Sudden Leap (Athletics): Encounter. You don't have access to Acrobatics, so this might be a good alternative to Tumble. [COLOR=#0000ff]Swift Recovery[/COLOR] (Heal): Encounter. Granting someone else their second wind with only a minor action on your part without a roll is a serious upgrade from what being trained in Heal can do. Third Wind (Endurance): Daily. Just like Second Wind, except it doesn't get all the extra add-ons that you get otherwise. [COLOR=#ff0000]Trapfinding[/COLOR] (Perception): Encounter. Also requires training in Thievery. Leave this to someone else. [COLOR=#0000ff]Try the Stick[/COLOR] (Intimidate): Encounter. I'm a fan of skill-swap abilities. Becomes [COLOR=#00ccff]much better[/COLOR] with Cincture of the Dragon Spirit. Walk It Off (Endurance): Encounter. You already get to do this. Gives you a second save at the start of your turn if you have two effects though. Warning of Peril (Perception): Daily. Since it's only useful in combat, it's rather limited. It also doesn't apply to active perception checks. [b]Level 10[/b] [Size=3][b]Utility Powers[/b][/size] [COLOR=#0000ff]Bond of Shared Pain[/COLOR] (PP): Encounter. Take damage for an ally. You have quite a few to spare, after all. [COLOR=#0000ff]Earthstride[/COLOR] (PH2): Encounter. Teleport your Con Mod, Earth 2 Terrian-style (or into mid-air, if that's your thing). One of the coolest powers nobody takes. More useful later in your career when you're more likely to deal with high cliffs and flying creatures. Elemental Warding (PP): Encounter. Grant you and adjacent allies your choice of resistances. Only for a turn though. I might like this better if was a daily that lasted the whole encounter. [COLOR=#0000ff]Entangling Shield[/COLOR] (D 379): Daily. Gain a boost to a defense as an interrupt. Since you will likely know in advance whether this will cause the attack to miss, it pretty much guarantees the target will be immobilized for his troubles. Guardian's Attack (PP): Daily. You get to use one of your polymorph form attack powers twice. The quality of this varies based on form. [COLOR=#0000ff]Better[/COLOR] if you have Form of the Oak Sentinel, as its attack form is worth having twice. Returning Strength (PH2): Daily. Get surge + Str. It's more useful after you've burned through your Second Wind. If only you could regain the use of your Second Wind. [COLOR=#0000ff]Shared Font of Life[/COLOR] (PP): Encounter. You won't be using Font of Life every round, sometimes it's very useful to let someone else use it. [COLOR=#0000ff]Shield of Stone[/COLOR] (PH2): Daily. Get an ally out of the way, and toughen them up. Can also be used to make them a second defender for a round. Very versatile. [COLOR=#00ccff]Spiritual Rejuvenation[/COLOR] (PP): Daily. For [COLOR=#ff9900][b]dwarves[/b][/COLOR], don't bother looking elsewhere, getting two uses of second wind in an encounter is just too good. For the rest of you, this is your first option for getting second wind multiple times, so you should start thinking about how you can reduce it to something other than a standard. [COLOR=#0000ff]Sylvan Trickery[/COLOR] (D 392): Daily. A good safety line for you or an ally, as the teleport alone can get the target out of danger. [COLOR=#0000ff]Warding Vines[/COLOR] (PH2): Daily. Give allies in a zone damage resistance for an encounter. A nice boost, however with so many good options at this level it will probably just get lost in the crowd. [Size=3][b]Skill Powers[/b][/size] Focused Sight (Perception): Encounter. Using this in itself provokes, so this is more useful for ranged combatants. [COLOR=#0000ff]Incredible Stride[/COLOR] (Athletics): Daily. A much higher speed for a single encounter per day. Perfect Sight (Perception): Encounter. A lesser version of Eyes of the Deep Delver, though you're more likely to be trained in Perception. [COLOR=#00ccff]Reactive Surge[/COLOR] (Endurance): Encounter. For some reason, the Endurance skill powers are head and shoulders above the rest. This one is no exception. Unless you like being bloodied, this will come in useful every encounter. [COLOR=#00ccff]Snap Out of It[/COLOR] (Intimidate): Encounter. Allows you to grant a save against the nastiest of status effects. [COLOR=#0000ff]Spot the Path[/COLOR] (Nature): Encounter. Everyone can ignore difficult terrain. Use at the beginning of combat so your allies can get in place. Spot Weakness (Perception): Encounter. A damage boost against a single foe. It's a pretty sizable bonus, but it's only for you, and only for a brief period. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Steeled Against It[/b][/COLOR] (Endurance): Daily. An excellent way to get resistance against the foe that does multiple damage types in the same hit. It also increases the resistance if you already have that type. Also scales with level. [COLOR=#00ccff][b]Strength Against Strength[/b][/COLOR] (Athletics): Encounter. This one rocks. When you miss a foe, you can make an Athletics check to knock him on his back anyway. It gives you an incentive to keep your Athletics bonus sky-high. Time Out (Heal): Encounter. You can give an ally their second wind back. Convince your allies to take this so they can use it on you instead. Trap Sense (Dungeoneering): Encounter. This is fun, but isn't going to come into play very often. [COLOR=#00ccff]Uncanny Instincts[/COLOR] (Perception): Daily. You and one ally get to go early in combat, guaranteed. [b]Level 16[/b] [Size=3][b]Utility Powers[/b][/size] [COLOR=#00ccff]Cleansing Earth[/COLOR] (PH2): Encounter. This almost guarantees that the effect will go away as soon as its received, and having it as an encounter is awesome. I'm not typically a fan of things that give you saves because you just get so many, but the bonus on this one makes it head and shoulders better than the rest. Since it's an Immediate Reaction, there's some question as to whether you can use it against status effects that prevent you from being able to use Immediates, which might take away from its utility, but even with that it's still an awesome choice at this level. [COLOR=#0000ff]Fortress of Stone[/COLOR] (PP): Encounter. Useful for when you really need to protect your wizard. [COLOR=#0000ff]Invigorating Presence[/COLOR] (PP): Daily. A lot of temp HP, but the level 1 skill power Inspiring Fortitude hands out more. Still, this is just a minor, and you get them also. Masking Fog (PP): Daily. The sustain on this is misleading. It will eventually dissipate even if you use the sustain, and it's just concealment. Monkey's Grip (PH2): At-Will. You get a climb speed, but it takes a minor to activate and it's half your speed. You might have better luck with just using Athletics. Primal Leap (PH2): Encounter. If you need this often, the rest of your party is kinda screwed. Sun Fire Guardian (PP): Encounter. It should cause a lot of hits to miss if you do it right, but the blindness goes away once they're done attacking, so you don't get to capitalize on all the other fun things that blindness grants. Verdant Life (PH2): Daily. Use second wind instead. Though this can be useful in a pinch if you've already used your second wind. [COLOR=#0000ff]Vine Poultice[/COLOR] (D 379): Daily. If you're going for leader secondary, this is worth a look. [COLOR=#00ccff]Warden's Refusal[/COLOR] (PP): Encounter. I consider this an upgraded Warden's Grasp. The trigger is the movement, not the attack, so once they're flanking an ally you can rip them away and prevent an attack. [Size=3][b]Skill Powers[/b][/size] [COLOR=#0000ff]Diehard[/COLOR] (Endurance): Daily. You can opt to go dazed instead of unconscious. Basically, it keeps you alive long enough to second wind. Miraculous Treatment (Heal): Daily. Surgeless healing, but it requires a standard action, and it's only a daily. Nightshade Draught (Nature, D 385): Daily. Stay standing when you're dying, but the cost is huge. Practiced Mental Defense (Dungeoneering, D 385): Daily. Dazed is certainly better than dominated or stunned. [b]Level 22[/b] [COLOR=#800080]A Scattering of Ashes[/COLOR] (PP): Encounter. Enemies are granted concealment by the ash, so it's not that good. Channeled Vitality (PP): Daily. Your temp HP will probably vanish pretty quickly, so don't count on that 2[W] for too long. Its stock [COLOR=#0000ff][b]improves[/b][/COLOR] if you can gain a more reliable way of keeping your THP high (such as a Cincture of Vivacity + Second Wind Optimization). [COLOR=#0000ff]Debilitating Ward[/COLOR] (PP): Encounter. This can be pretty devastating if you time it right. [COLOR=#0000ff]Eagle's Wings[/COLOR] (PH2): Daily. You've been waiting for something like this. [COLOR=#0000ff]Panacea[/COLOR] (PH2): Daily. If you're facing a lot of debuffers, this is very fortuitous. [COLOR=#800080]Primal Cascade[/COLOR] (D 379): Encounter. This should be a much lower level power. [COLOR=#00ccff]Renewal[/COLOR] (PH2): Daily. You get some healing, plus get an encounter power back. Remember, most of your guardian form attack powers count as encounter powers. Strength from Death (PP): Encounter. It's a fairly small amount of hit points, and it uses an immediate action. It's also hard to control when you can get it. [COLOR=#00ccff]Wellspring of Life[/COLOR] (PH2): Daily. Getting a regeneration value of 12+ is fairly significant. [/QUOTE]
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A Rock and A Hard Place: A Warden Handbook (By Alphaant)
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