Abjurer, a ranged defender

[Nemesis Destiny]

What if the abjurer had a feature to transfer personal damage into an arcane ward as an immediate reaction? Maybe resisting any "miss" effects in the process?

Interesting idea.

Have you looked at the skald in the Fewywild book? It has an aura which can get different properties according to stances IIRC.

Actually the stance/aura idea could tie into @RyukenAngel 's idea for features granting variable defense bonuses. Sort of an uber shield power which is always active but can only bolster one NAD at a time.

Yeah, I had been thinking about a mechanic like the Skald aura, with various at-wills to augment it. That way, the type of powers that the abjurer used would be based more on power selection than build choice, and gives a nice carrot for being human.

I think the other big key item there to take from the Skald is that the numbers are rather fixed, not based on secondary, which opens things up more for stat allocation.

The way that the Skald is build also reflects another element that I see working well for the Abjurer - having a lot of triggered and no action powers. I see abjurers as being primarily "passive" most of the time.

I'd say CON & WIS secondary. They're already established wizard secondaries, of course.

WIS could represent an abjurer who uses specialized wards to counter specific enemies (specific origins, damage types, etc), depending on his knowledge and mental discipline to get them just right.

CON could represent an abjurer who puts his life-force on the line, using it to empower more generally-protective wards.

Yes, I like these concepts.

 

[Tony Vargas]

As to the question of new class vs mage school, I do agree that a new class would be the superior option (and require a lot more work), but the mage school might concievably see the light of day - if not print, then as a dragon article submission.

A Mage school only requires a reasonable number of spells with its keyword - and that keyword could be added to existing spells. The trick would be making most of the defender function reside in the schools features, so all mages don't suddenly become defenders - and simultaneously restrict the abjurer's use of other spells, so the that abjurers aren't all controllers, either.

I think I've suggested this before, maybe on the WotC boards: the Abjurer could have a class feature (school feature) that establishes wards by using AE spells. The Ward remains as a zone in the spell's area. Abjuration spells would automatically work that way. Then, maybe you could add the Abjuration keyword to other AE spells, but the area is reduced and/or some of the damage or all of the riders are defered until the ward is violated...

Abjuration spells would still do something without the abjurer's school feature, just nothing too defendery.

 

[Zaran]

Could you walk me through that one? I'm not quite getting it.

Yeah, the abjurer hangs in the back. The rogue and Cleric are up front. Monsters attack them doing 5 less damage to each one but it adds up. so people with less surges than a typical defender are taking damage and having to spend surges. Even if it's less damage than a typical defender would take it's going to PCs that have less hit points.