Best of the Best - Strikers.

[d.wartooth]

Of all of these polls, Strikers are easily the most difficult to pin down as Best.



The Wild Magic Sorc also belongs in the top for fun given the random elements to the character. Unpredictability makes for a fun character as well.

*This*.

I am currently involved with 3 ongoing games. In 2 of them, I play Strikers. One is a TWF wielding twin bastard swords (made of gory fun since it's a 15th level Eberron campaign. Armor Splinterer, followed by Blade Cascade is made of WIN!) The other is a Wild Sorc. I play him as slightly insane, given to talking to his imaginary friend while negotiating with the Duke. The randomness of his powers is not only mechanically good, but fun to RP as well!

 

[Then]

To me to be the best you have to be awesomesauce from level 1.

The Ranger is not.

That is why I like the rogue, sorc, and barb.

 

[borg286]

And anyway, popularity works for iconism just as well as 'the best'

This pole was slightly biased. You only offered iconic builds w/o offering contenders like the tempest fighter which would have competed with the TWF ranger. There is an entire class of builds called feychargers that outdamage any ranger. I'd even go as far as to say that the lowest standard feycharger out damages the best stormwarden. I know that even the thought of introducing specific builds into a pole is inherintly biased in that selecting the most popular DPR builds would offend other creators. But only offering iconic class options discludes most of the competators, thus making people choose the best option of those listed.
Other builds that murder the ranger is the 1/2 elf avenger MC rogue / daggermaster, feycharger, supercharger and a few others. These aren't specific builds but entire catagories with almost as versatile options as, say, a tempest fighter.

 

[Garthanos]

These aren't specific builds but entire catagories with almost as versatile options as, say, a tempest fighter.

You might have to put in a lot more work to identify build style which kind of reduces there viability for this purpose ...

I am happy that they have differing routes to there destination not sure I entirely approve of the goal.

I am in general anti game hacking because it tends to reduce the imagination element and de-emphasize flavor. I tend to hack together hybrids and mc in order to design a particular flavor of character (and try and keep the character effective) instead of optimising for a narrow form of effectiveness and hope it has some flavor.

Sorry for my prejudices... but charopters have a bad rep where I come from...

 

[BlueBlackRed]

I've not seen all of the classes in action, but those I've seen that stand out are the wild mage, bow ranger, two-weapon ranger, and barbarian.

I've personally run a two-weapon ranger with rogue multi-classing up to level 9 and his damage potential is disgusting in the event of a nova instance and/or criticals.

And I really didn't min/max him as much as I could have.

 

[MarkB]

Having the right support makes a huge difference for rogues. I gave up playing a rogue in a 5th-level game as we lacked co-ordinated melee support, and I hardly ever got to use Sneak Attack.

On the other hand, I played an Inspiring Warlord in an 11th-level game with two rogues, and built him so that almost every round he could use a power or tactic to set up Combat Advantage, and he was great fun. My favourite was the Impetuous Charger feat, combined with a reach weapon and Boots of Adept Charging. It turned what was effectively a basic attack into a superior At-Will.

 

[SteveC]

I'm wondering if the folks who are voting Ranger have actually played one or are rather looking at DPR numbers. We've been playing pretty much from day one, and the class that consistently keeps getting replaced or killed is the melee ranger. Sure you can do Twin Strike, but unless you go with heavy armor you end up with a horrible AC and mediocre HPs. Combine that with not having a suite of "get out of dodge" powers, and you have a recipe for needing a new character.

I'm sure the ranger can do a lot of damage, but if you're on the front lines for any length of time you'll get yourself into a lot of trouble.

So tell me how I'm totally wrong...

--Steve

 

[Lucas Blackstone]

Earlier in this thread I saw someone mention heroic tier sorcerers with a min damage of low twenties on at wills. Is this easily obtainable or does it require overpowered/ hidden away feats?

I was figuring 10 from stats ( either 22/18 or 20/20 ), 3 from implement, 1 from weapon focus ( though I don't agree with that really ). I saw a few conditional damage feats, but not to the tune of 6-8 more static damage.

So which ones are best? I'm interested in playing a sorc sometime.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I'm wondering if the folks who are voting Ranger have actually played one or are rather looking at DPR numbers. We've been playing pretty much from day one, and the class that consistently keeps getting replaced or killed is the melee ranger. Sure you can do Twin Strike, but unless you go with heavy armor you end up with a horrible AC and mediocre HPs. Combine that with not having a suite of "get out of dodge" powers, and you have a recipe for needing a new character.

I'm sure the ranger can do a lot of damage, but if you're on the front lines for any length of time you'll get yourself into a lot of trouble.

So tell me how I'm totally wrong...

--Steve

All my experience so far suggests the Ranger is just awesome in damage. He deals out a lot, and he takes a lot.

But he can't really take it. There needs to be a very good Defender and Leader in the party to survive for long. But maybe the people playing him are playing him "wrong" - they need to keep moving. If I ever play a Ranger, I will see what I can do about that.

Maybe there is a good argument for actually playing a Dwarven Ranger. Con Bonus, Minor Action Second Wind...

 

[Ryujin]

I am sad that the Fey pact warlock, while fun to play, doesn't seem to really shine as a striker. I do like that a martial character (ranger, rogue) can be a strong option at all levels.

But I voted on fun (warlock) which is one form of best!

I play a Feylock and while it's fun and I get a great deal of role play opportunities out of it, for a Striker it makes a fair to middlein' Controller. "OK, you 5 guys can't move this round." "Here, kiss the ceiling for a couple of rounds. Done with that? OK, off you go!" "I saw your buddy eyeing your girl last night. I think that you should hit him and teach him a lesson." "You! Get over there. I missed? OK, get SORTA over there." Toss in a few random, "Nyah nyah, you can't hit me" every encounter and it's definitely a fun class.

By comparison our ranged Ranger is a damage making machine. The only time things fall apart from his is when he parks himself in a corner and gets whaled on for a couple of rounds. That's when I save his sorry butt and toss in the "OK, you 5 guys can't move this round" schtick.