Feat pickin' time!

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hey, all!

I'm playing Magnus Skyhammer, a Dwarf Starlock/Psion who just hit 6th level (on his way to being a Dreamwalker) and I'm having a bit of trouble deciding on his feat.

My choices are:

1) Focused Talent: Shaper (PSP p141): Minor Creation & Shaped Consciousness as Daily powers. Appeals to me very much from a RP perspective, but isn't the strongest from a mechanics view.

2) Melee Training PHB2 p187/HotFL p316: Choose ability other than Str- make MBAs w/proficient weapon using that stat's bonus for Att rolls & 1/2 bonus for damage. A very dwarfy feat, and could come in handy- we just did a stretch of 6 encounters without an extended rest, and Magnus spent some nontrivial time on the front line...and not for the first time. Anything that helps in this regard would be valuable.

3) Sacrifice to Caiphon (DMA p50): if you miss all targets of a Warlock Encounter power, take damage equal to the power's level to recover the power. Tasty & powerful, but as a multiclassed PC, he won't have as many Warlock encounter powers as would be typical for his class.

4) Durable PHB1 p194: +2 Healing Surges. See my notes on Melee training.

5) Toughness PHB p201: gain +5HP per tier. See my notes on Melee training.

So, what do you ENWorlders think?

 

[renau1g]

How many surges does he currently have?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

As of making 6th level:

Max HP: 54
Healing Surges: 9
HS Value: 13 (and another +1 from magic item)

 

[Ryujin]

Everyone can make use of a good MBA, at some time. Given that you can get extra damage from Warlock's Curse also (I expect), your melee damage might even be reasonable.

 

[chitzk0i]

Eldritch Strike is made of awesome. Staff Expertise is also made of awesome and solves a similar problem. If you don't take Eldritch strike, use Staff Expertise and Dire radiance to punish monsters that peal off the front line. Even Dire Radiance on an adjacent monster + shift will trigger the damage if they go after you.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well, as I understand it, I can only apply Curse damage when using a Warlock power or in melee if I'm using a pact weapon. So, if my Warhammer was a Pact Hammer- which is something that may well occur- I'd be boosting my "to hit" from +6 to +9 (better than my ranged attacks!) and my damage from 1d10 +1 to 1d10 + 2 + 1d6.

Now, even though I've been in melee quite a few times, I've rarely used my MBA- usually, I've been risking OAs to help take down my allies' more powerful foes (read: killstealing ) since what was in close usually had a decent AC. So far, I've been lucky, and only been tagged hard once- by a troll- and I T-ported away after that and lit him up...

Being a 10% better in melee with boosted damage might just be a good plan.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Eldritch Strike is made of awesome. Staff Expertise is also made of awesome and solves a similar problem.

I'd rather not go the Staff route- they take 2 hands to use in melee, and I'm already using a Warhammer and a Rod of Corruption. When a Cursed foe goes down- usually a minion- I get to put my Curse on every foe within 5sq of the target. That lets me save minor actions for other tasks, like sustaining my Crown of Stars.

Eldritch Strike doesn't ring a bell, though...what does it do?

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

It's an at-will that you can take instead of eldritch strike. Its melee basic that uses the warlock stats (con or cha) and does W + stat bonus and pushes the target 1 square. I think it comes from the figure packs... if I recall correctly, some of them had power cards in them.

So, a nice power though personally I don't think I would take it instead of eldritch strike... eldritch strike is pretty boring, but I would rather try to get away from the baddie than sit there in melee... cha warlocks are too fragile to just sit in one place, especially since they lose concealment if they do.

 

[Ryujin]

Well, as I understand it, I can only apply Curse damage when using a Warlock power or in melee if I'm using a pact weapon. So, if my Warhammer was a Pact Hammer- which is something that may well occur- I'd be boosting my "to hit" from +6 to +9 (better than my ranged attacks!) and my damage from 1d10 +1 to 1d10 + 2 + 1d6.

Now, even though I've been in melee quite a few times, I've rarely used my MBA- usually, I've been risking OAs to help take down my allies' more powerful foes (read: killstealing ) since what was in close usually had a decent AC. So far, I've been lucky, and only been tagged hard once- by a troll- and I T-ported away after that and lit him up...

Being a 10% better in melee with boosted damage might just be a good plan.

I didn't realize there was that stipulation in the Hybrid rules. Just read it now. It seems rather stupid to me that they would gimp something as basic as a MBA.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

He's MCed, not Hybrid.

The PHB says "when you damage", but I think it's the default after they did some revisions. I could be wrong. The hybrid rules just codify it.

If it isn't the case, though, what is the benefit of a Pact Weapon?