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Holy Riders: The Cavalier's Guide (By Litigation)
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<blockquote data-quote="Veep" data-source="post: 6707861" data-attributes="member: 6793297"><p><span style="font-size: 22px"><p style="text-align: center"><strong><u>Aides to the Ride: Utility Powers</u></strong></p><p></span></p><p></p><p>Remember that your Lv. 2 and Lv. 22 utilities are fixed.</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><u>Lv. 2 Utility (at Lv. 6)</u></strong></span></p><p></p><p>Although you don't have a free selection from this list at Lv. 2, you do at Lv. 6. And Bless Weapon, Call of Challenge and Virtue are all just as great at Lv. 6 as they are at Lv. 2.</p><p></p><p><strong>Class Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Astral Speech</span> (PHB)</strong>: In low-combat campaigns this might actually see some use, since the role of party face often falls on you. But you're probably better off looking elsewhere.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Bless Weapon</span> (DP)</strong>: This daily Radiant-keyword weapon buff is very good anytime, excellent against undead or other radiant-vulnerable monsters, and downright godly if you can consistently create radiant vulnerability (such as the Sun domain or the Morninglord paragon path).</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Call of Challenge</span> (DP)</strong>: A no-fail, minor action, mass-Sanction encounter power. Perfect for picking up some DS-ing capacity.</p><p></p><p><strong>Divine Counter (DP)</strong>: Half the damage and impose DS as a per-encounter immediate interrupt for an enemy attacking one of your NADs. Not bad, but other options are better.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Kord's Strength</span> (D 383): Per-encounter boost to an Athletics or Endurance check in combat, followed by +2 power bonus to melee damage and Sanctioning enemies on your attacks for a round. Not wholly terrible, but you're not going to roll one of those skills every combat. Situational.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Martyr's Blessing</span> (PHB)</strong>: O-Paladins never liked it, and it's beyond worthless for you considering you can do what this daily power does, except better, every single encounter.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Sacred Circle</span> (PHB)</strong>: Think of just about everything wrong that a daily utility power can possibly do. That's this abortion in a nutshell.</p><p></p><p><strong>Touch of Grace (DP)</strong>: Not a bad encounter power, particularly if you get some save bonuses.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Vice's Reward</span> (HoS)</strong>: A tier-scaling amount of THPs, a saving throw and a +2 power bonus to all defenses for a minor action every encounter. Pretty solid, all in all. However, it's important to note that this power is strictly Shadow and is NOT Divine, a common trait among utilities originating from the Blackguard. One sample consequence is that this one can't be recovered by Divine Mastery in Epic Tier.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Virtue</span> (DP)</strong>: You can expect to burn through at least one healing surge every encounter. This encounter utility lets you be proactive about it, and your leader/healer will love you for that. If you have abilities that work when bloodied (for example, you're a Dragonborn or Shifter), you have a second application for this power: pop it when you're bloodied and buy a couple of "safe" bloodied rounds to take advantage of your abilities.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><u>Lv. 6 Utility</u></strong></span></p><p></p><p>A robust level, highlighted by the excellent Shield of Discipline. <strong>Wrath of the Gods</strong> and <strong>Pure Devotion</strong> are also quite solid. Or you can just take a Lv. 2 power.</p><p></p><p><strong>Class Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong>Aspect of Domination (HoS)</strong>: This daily Shadow utility lets you push your CHA-mod with all your at-will attacks for the whole fight. Some might be able to take advantage of that.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Aspect of Ferocity</span> (HoS)</strong>: An extra 1[W] on all your attacks when you're next to anyone who is bloodied (ally or enemy) is pretty good. Note that this daily is pure Shadow.</p><p></p><p><strong>Bond of Protection (E:HFK)</strong>: Single-ally protection spell. I'm not the biggest fan of those, but this daily's not bad. +2 power bonus to the ally's defenses and you can choose to reduce any damage that ally takes by 5 at the cost of 5 of your own HP. Basically Divine Bodyguard done right, with a solid measure of control and a defensive bonus.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Divine Bodyguard</span> (PHB)</strong>: If you must take a single-ally protection spell, stick with either Bond of Protection or Shield the Virtuous.</p><p></p><p><strong>Fear Not (DP)</strong>: Per-encounter, grant an adjacent ally a saving throw which gets a bonus if it's a fear effect. You can't really have too many powers that grant saving throws. You can use this on yourself, too.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Flare of Divine Vengeance</span> (PHBH): No way in the hells is this one-round attack buff and surge use worth a daily. Not at all.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Fury of the Battle God</span> (D 383): The only way this power is ever going to be worthwhile is if you miss most of your targets with an AoE encounter or daily power. Translation: Picking this is planning for failure and being a failure. Seriously, go back to the Lv. 2 arsenal and take Call of Challenge if you want mass Sanctioning. If you already had that one, well, pick something else.</p><p></p><p><strong>One Heart, One Mind (PHB)</strong>: Not bad, especially if you're looking for both in-combat and out-of-combat utility.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Pure Devotion</span> (DP)</strong>: A +4 power bonus to Fortitude and Will per encounter as an immediate interrupt if an enemy attacks you. Pretty good.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Shield of Discipline</span> (DP)</strong>: An excellent encounter power for survivability. Pop this at the start of a turn when you've been under an enemy's focused efforts and cut their DPR against you down for that round.</p><p></p><p><strong>Shield the Virtuous (DP)</strong>: The damage from this single-ally protection spell stacks with your Righteous Radiance and DS, essentially doubling their punishment power when they attack that one particular ally. So as far as such spells go, this daily's pretty good.</p><p></p><p><strong>Valiant Rush (DP)</strong>: Double your speed on a move action one round per encounter. Not bad.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Winter's Fated Stance</span> (D 381): This stance is certainly good against enemies that deal Cold and Necrotic damage. But unless you're fighting those enemies every day, this isn't the wisest choice.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Wrath of the Gods</span> (PHB/E:HFK)</strong>: Now it's CHA-mod power bonus to your and your allies' damage, which is still pretty good as a Leader-style fill-in. A weakness is its area of effect is only close burst 1, but in most cases, that's not too much of an issue with good planning.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Class Skill Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><u>Diplomacy</u></p><p></p><p>Stirring Speech (PHB3): Use this daily during a short rest and give your allies +1 untyped bonus to attack rolls and saves for the next encounter as long as they're not bloodied. Not bad.</p><p></p><p><u>Heal</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">Physician's Care</span> (PHB3): I mentioned it just to ridicule it. Why anyone would take this instead of Swift Recovery is a mystery.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Swift Recovery</span> (PHB3): Grant an ally a no-action second wind every encounter, using just your minor action. This one's good.</p><p></p><p><u>Religion</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Deliverance of Faith</span> (D 385): Hello, Virtue, good to see you again.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Non-class Skill Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><u>Perception</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Guided Shot</span> (PHB3): Per-encounter, let an ally attack Reflex if he missed the attack against AC. Neat little Leader-type benefit there.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><u>Lv. 10 Utility</u></strong></span></p><p></p><p>After the fantastic powers at Lv. 2 and Lv. 6, this level seems like a letdown. But there are some solid options here, including Benediction and Cleansing Spirit. If none of those tickle your fancy, there's nothing wrong with dipping back into the Lv. 2 or Lv. 6 pool.</p><p></p><p><strong>Class Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong>Beacon of Nobility (E:HFK)</strong>: For a whole encounter, this daily lets you use a minor action to hand out 5 THPs to an ally, as well as a skill check bonus. Decent little booster power.</p><p></p><p><strong>Beacon of Penance (E:HFK)</strong>: For a whole encounter, this daily lets you use a minor action to effectively transfer 10 hit points from you to an ally, in the form of healing. The reactive counterpart to Beacon of Nobility that essentially serves as retroactive defending. Fair pick.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Benediction</span> (DP)</strong>: Per-encounter utility that rewards an ally who hits with either a use of a healing surge or potentially some extra damage. The former application is a solid backup healer ability, and the latter is great when the ally used an attack that involves several large dice to roll for the damage.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Blue">Cleansing Spirit</span> (PHB)</strong>: Invoke a saving throw with a +2 bonus, either for an ally or for yourself. Solid encounter power.</p><p></p><p>Deathguide's Stance (D 381): This stance is similar to getting the Bard's Virtue of Valor once per day (except doling out actual healing, rather than temp HPs). Which makes it decent in 5-standard fights, but not so good against Elites and Solos. It's also useless against minions.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #800080">Deathly Aura</span> (HoS)</strong>: This pure Shadow daily can pile some nice damage on enemies in the aura 1 pretty nicely (assuming they don't resist necrotic, of course), but you have to be bloodied for this to happen. I'm not sure how long you want to stay bloodied for this.</p><p></p><p><strong>Font of Healing (DP)</strong>: Basically an enhanced, Lay on Hands-style power healing both you and an ally. Not too bad..</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Guiding Verse</span> (DP)</strong>: You probably won't have the Wisdom to make this any better, numbers-wise, than Cleansing Spirit. And this one only works on yourself.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Noble Shield</span> (PHB)</strong>: This daily is extremely situational. It's only useful at all for AoE attacks from an enemy.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Righteous Indignation</span> (DP)</strong>: This one fails. If it affected more than one attack, or were an encounter power, it might have been worth it.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">Turn of the Dark Tide</span> (HoS)</strong>: This pure Shadow daily is similar to the existing Turn the Tide, but even worse, since it forces your party members to take damage in the process. Still uses up your standard action, too. Avoid it.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Turn the Tide</span> (PHB)</strong>: Unless your party somehow finds itself loaded with multiple save-ends status effects all at once, this one is not going to see much use. Worse, it's a standard action, so you give up attacking.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Vengeful Vigilance</span> (D 375)</strong>: You don't have Divine Challenge, so you'll get no use out of this one.</p><p></p><p>Winter's Arrival (D 381): A stronger choice for O-Paladins than for you, but if you have end-of-next-turn or save-ends DS powers to throw around, you might appreciate a per-encounter teleport that will help you close distance on enemies marked by those powers. The difficult terrain you create can rob the enemy of a few movement options.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Class Skill Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><u>Diplomacy</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Cry for Mercy</span> (PHB3): Grant a bloodied ally (or yourself) a huge bonus to all defenses and movement unthreatened by OAs every encounter. Only costs a minor action, too, and works at a solid range. A good deal.</p><p></p><p>Noble Sacrifice (PHB3): A per-encounter martyr-type power, very fitting your your role. The range and application are a bit limited, though.</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Endurance</u></strong></p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Reactive Surge</span> (PHB3)</strong>: Immediate-reaction spending of a healing surge when you get bloodied. Pretty good to have around. Valor Cavaliers, in particular, with their healing surge values, can get some nice mileage out of this one.</p><p></p><p><u>Heal</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Time Out</span> (PHB3): An extra second wind for one ally per encounter, granted with your minor action. Nice to have for helping any allies who have good reasons to use their second winds.</p><p></p><p><u>History</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Lessons of History</span> (D 385): Well, well, a reason to actually consider training History. Letting all your allies recover an encounter utility in one fight per day is quite handy.</p><p></p><p><u>Religion</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Assurance of Prophecy</span> (D 385): Tag on a pretty decent amount of extra healing every encounter. Solid choice.</p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Non-class Skill Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><u>Perception</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #0000ff">Spot Weakness</span> (PHB3): Free damage buff per encounter. Can't ignore that.</p><p></p><p><u>Streetwise</u></p><p></p><p>Navigate Crowds (PHB3): Shift your speed through enemy squares once per encounter. That can be handy.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong><u>Lv. 16 Utility</u></strong></span></p><p></p><p>Among your class powers, Divine Aegis wins this level quite handily. If you're trained in Insight, a class skill for you, this level isn't a bad time to take a skill power, namely Insightful Riposte.</p><p></p><p><strong>Class Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><strong><span style="color: Red">Angelic Intercession</span> (PHB)</strong>: This daily is a fancier Martyr's Blessing. And it still sucks.</p><p></p><p><strong>Call from the Brink (E:HFK)</strong>: Immediate reaction healing surge trigger to an ally getting KO-ed, with a +2 power bonus to his attack rolls for the round after. This daily's a pretty decent recovery spell.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #800080">Death Ward</span> (PHB)</strong>: The healing is actually a better deal than Call from the Brink: Use one healing surge to heal your dying ally by two healing surges + CHA mod. However, the fact that this daily is a standard action and melee 1 range make it less useful than Call from the Brink, overall.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: Purple">Devotion</span> (DP)</strong>: Boost the whole party's Fortitude and Will by +4 power bonus, but only until the end of your next turn. At this point, you should expect more from a daily utility.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: DeepSkyBlue">Divine Aegis</span> (DP)</strong>: Daily stance giving a +2 untyped bonus to all defenses for you and anyone up to 2 squares away. Straightforward, but very effective, since it stacks with every other defense bonus out there.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Higher Cause</span> (DP)</strong>: This daily stance gives untyped save bonuses and regeneration when bloodied. Pretty good, especially with Hero's Poise.</p><p></p><p><strong>Liberation (DP)</strong>: Per-encounter move action that lets you pull an ally away from a tough spot and trigger their healing surge. Decent.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #800080">Pragmatic Sacrifice</span> (HoS)</strong>: Certainly interesting and flavorful (if against type for Cavaliers), but in practice this self-death rescue daily just isn't really worth the slot.</p><p></p><p><strong>Prayer for the Valiant (DP)</strong>: This daily is used when multiple allies are under save-ends effects. A handy emergency power, and after Hero's Poise triggers you'll practically guarantee success with it.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: #0000ff">Shadow Healing</span> (HoS)</strong>: This pure Shadow daily is definitely best used immediately after combat is over. Your bloodied value's worth of surgeless self-healing is very nice, no doubt, but the prohibition on spending your healing surges until after your next short rest makes this unwise to use in the heat of a battle.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #800080">Stave off Winter</span> (D 386): Sort of an immediate-interrupt, ranged Lay on Hands-type power, followed by some situational benefits at the cost of additional healing surges. Not really worth it.</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p><strong>Class Skill Powers</strong></p><p> </p><p><u>Insight</u></p><p></p><p><span style="color: #00ccff">Insightful Riposte</span> (PHB3): If ever there was a reason for you to train Insight, this encounter utility is it. A +3 untyped bonus as a free action to correct a failed attack roll. Incredible. This power is a great investment of the Skill Power feat to nab as an extra.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Veep, post: 6707861, member: 6793297"] [SIZE=6][CENTER][b][u]Aides to the Ride: Utility Powers[/u][/b][/CENTER] [/SIZE] Remember that your Lv. 2 and Lv. 22 utilities are fixed. [Size=5][b][u]Lv. 2 Utility (at Lv. 6)[/u][/b][/size] Although you don't have a free selection from this list at Lv. 2, you do at Lv. 6. And Bless Weapon, Call of Challenge and Virtue are all just as great at Lv. 6 as they are at Lv. 2. [b]Class Powers[/b] [b][COLOR=Purple]Astral Speech[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: In low-combat campaigns this might actually see some use, since the role of party face often falls on you. But you're probably better off looking elsewhere. [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Bless Weapon[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: This daily Radiant-keyword weapon buff is very good anytime, excellent against undead or other radiant-vulnerable monsters, and downright godly if you can consistently create radiant vulnerability (such as the Sun domain or the Morninglord paragon path). [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Call of Challenge[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: A no-fail, minor action, mass-Sanction encounter power. Perfect for picking up some DS-ing capacity. [b]Divine Counter (DP)[/b]: Half the damage and impose DS as a per-encounter immediate interrupt for an enemy attacking one of your NADs. Not bad, but other options are better. [COLOR=#800080]Kord's Strength[/COLOR] (D 383): Per-encounter boost to an Athletics or Endurance check in combat, followed by +2 power bonus to melee damage and Sanctioning enemies on your attacks for a round. Not wholly terrible, but you're not going to roll one of those skills every combat. Situational. [b][COLOR=Red]Martyr's Blessing[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: O-Paladins never liked it, and it's beyond worthless for you considering you can do what this daily power does, except better, every single encounter. [b][COLOR=Red]Sacred Circle[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Think of just about everything wrong that a daily utility power can possibly do. That's this abortion in a nutshell. [b]Touch of Grace (DP)[/b]: Not a bad encounter power, particularly if you get some save bonuses. [b][COLOR=Blue]Vice's Reward[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: A tier-scaling amount of THPs, a saving throw and a +2 power bonus to all defenses for a minor action every encounter. Pretty solid, all in all. However, it's important to note that this power is strictly Shadow and is NOT Divine, a common trait among utilities originating from the Blackguard. One sample consequence is that this one can't be recovered by Divine Mastery in Epic Tier. [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Virtue[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: You can expect to burn through at least one healing surge every encounter. This encounter utility lets you be proactive about it, and your leader/healer will love you for that. If you have abilities that work when bloodied (for example, you're a Dragonborn or Shifter), you have a second application for this power: pop it when you're bloodied and buy a couple of "safe" bloodied rounds to take advantage of your abilities. [Size=5][b][u]Lv. 6 Utility[/u][/b][/size] A robust level, highlighted by the excellent Shield of Discipline. [b]Wrath of the Gods[/b] and [b]Pure Devotion[/b] are also quite solid. Or you can just take a Lv. 2 power. [b]Class Powers[/b] [b]Aspect of Domination (HoS)[/b]: This daily Shadow utility lets you push your CHA-mod with all your at-will attacks for the whole fight. Some might be able to take advantage of that. [b][COLOR=#0000ff]Aspect of Ferocity[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: An extra 1[W] on all your attacks when you're next to anyone who is bloodied (ally or enemy) is pretty good. Note that this daily is pure Shadow. [b]Bond of Protection (E:HFK)[/b]: Single-ally protection spell. I'm not the biggest fan of those, but this daily's not bad. +2 power bonus to the ally's defenses and you can choose to reduce any damage that ally takes by 5 at the cost of 5 of your own HP. Basically Divine Bodyguard done right, with a solid measure of control and a defensive bonus. [b][COLOR=Red]Divine Bodyguard[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: If you must take a single-ally protection spell, stick with either Bond of Protection or Shield the Virtuous. [b]Fear Not (DP)[/b]: Per-encounter, grant an adjacent ally a saving throw which gets a bonus if it's a fear effect. You can't really have too many powers that grant saving throws. You can use this on yourself, too. [COLOR=#ff0000]Flare of Divine Vengeance[/COLOR] (PHBH): No way in the hells is this one-round attack buff and surge use worth a daily. Not at all. [COLOR=#ff0000]Fury of the Battle God[/COLOR] (D 383): The only way this power is ever going to be worthwhile is if you miss most of your targets with an AoE encounter or daily power. Translation: Picking this is planning for failure and being a failure. Seriously, go back to the Lv. 2 arsenal and take Call of Challenge if you want mass Sanctioning. If you already had that one, well, pick something else. [b]One Heart, One Mind (PHB)[/b]: Not bad, especially if you're looking for both in-combat and out-of-combat utility. [b][COLOR=Blue]Pure Devotion[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: A +4 power bonus to Fortitude and Will per encounter as an immediate interrupt if an enemy attacks you. Pretty good. [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Shield of Discipline[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: An excellent encounter power for survivability. Pop this at the start of a turn when you've been under an enemy's focused efforts and cut their DPR against you down for that round. [b]Shield the Virtuous (DP)[/b]: The damage from this single-ally protection spell stacks with your Righteous Radiance and DS, essentially doubling their punishment power when they attack that one particular ally. So as far as such spells go, this daily's pretty good. [b]Valiant Rush (DP)[/b]: Double your speed on a move action one round per encounter. Not bad. [COLOR=#800080]Winter's Fated Stance[/COLOR] (D 381): This stance is certainly good against enemies that deal Cold and Necrotic damage. But unless you're fighting those enemies every day, this isn't the wisest choice. [b][COLOR=Blue]Wrath of the Gods[/COLOR] (PHB/E:HFK)[/b]: Now it's CHA-mod power bonus to your and your allies' damage, which is still pretty good as a Leader-style fill-in. A weakness is its area of effect is only close burst 1, but in most cases, that's not too much of an issue with good planning. [b]Class Skill Powers[/b] [u]Diplomacy[/u] Stirring Speech (PHB3): Use this daily during a short rest and give your allies +1 untyped bonus to attack rolls and saves for the next encounter as long as they're not bloodied. Not bad. [u]Heal[/u] [COLOR=#ff0000]Physician's Care[/COLOR] (PHB3): I mentioned it just to ridicule it. Why anyone would take this instead of Swift Recovery is a mystery. [COLOR=#0000ff]Swift Recovery[/COLOR] (PHB3): Grant an ally a no-action second wind every encounter, using just your minor action. This one's good. [u]Religion[/u] [COLOR=#0000ff]Deliverance of Faith[/COLOR] (D 385): Hello, Virtue, good to see you again. [b]Non-class Skill Powers[/b] [u]Perception[/u] [COLOR=#0000ff]Guided Shot[/COLOR] (PHB3): Per-encounter, let an ally attack Reflex if he missed the attack against AC. Neat little Leader-type benefit there. [Size=5][b][u]Lv. 10 Utility[/u][/b][/size] After the fantastic powers at Lv. 2 and Lv. 6, this level seems like a letdown. But there are some solid options here, including Benediction and Cleansing Spirit. If none of those tickle your fancy, there's nothing wrong with dipping back into the Lv. 2 or Lv. 6 pool. [b]Class Powers[/b] [b]Beacon of Nobility (E:HFK)[/b]: For a whole encounter, this daily lets you use a minor action to hand out 5 THPs to an ally, as well as a skill check bonus. Decent little booster power. [b]Beacon of Penance (E:HFK)[/b]: For a whole encounter, this daily lets you use a minor action to effectively transfer 10 hit points from you to an ally, in the form of healing. The reactive counterpart to Beacon of Nobility that essentially serves as retroactive defending. Fair pick. [b][COLOR=Blue]Benediction[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: Per-encounter utility that rewards an ally who hits with either a use of a healing surge or potentially some extra damage. The former application is a solid backup healer ability, and the latter is great when the ally used an attack that involves several large dice to roll for the damage. [b][COLOR=Blue]Cleansing Spirit[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Invoke a saving throw with a +2 bonus, either for an ally or for yourself. Solid encounter power. Deathguide's Stance (D 381): This stance is similar to getting the Bard's Virtue of Valor once per day (except doling out actual healing, rather than temp HPs). Which makes it decent in 5-standard fights, but not so good against Elites and Solos. It's also useless against minions. [b][COLOR=#800080]Deathly Aura[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: This pure Shadow daily can pile some nice damage on enemies in the aura 1 pretty nicely (assuming they don't resist necrotic, of course), but you have to be bloodied for this to happen. I'm not sure how long you want to stay bloodied for this. [b]Font of Healing (DP)[/b]: Basically an enhanced, Lay on Hands-style power healing both you and an ally. Not too bad.. [b][COLOR=Purple]Guiding Verse[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: You probably won't have the Wisdom to make this any better, numbers-wise, than Cleansing Spirit. And this one only works on yourself. [b][COLOR=Purple]Noble Shield[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: This daily is extremely situational. It's only useful at all for AoE attacks from an enemy. [b][COLOR=Red]Righteous Indignation[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: This one fails. If it affected more than one attack, or were an encounter power, it might have been worth it. [b][COLOR=#ff0000]Turn of the Dark Tide[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: This pure Shadow daily is similar to the existing Turn the Tide, but even worse, since it forces your party members to take damage in the process. Still uses up your standard action, too. Avoid it. [b][COLOR=Purple]Turn the Tide[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: Unless your party somehow finds itself loaded with multiple save-ends status effects all at once, this one is not going to see much use. Worse, it's a standard action, so you give up attacking. [b][COLOR=Red]Vengeful Vigilance[/COLOR] (D 375)[/b]: You don't have Divine Challenge, so you'll get no use out of this one. Winter's Arrival (D 381): A stronger choice for O-Paladins than for you, but if you have end-of-next-turn or save-ends DS powers to throw around, you might appreciate a per-encounter teleport that will help you close distance on enemies marked by those powers. The difficult terrain you create can rob the enemy of a few movement options. [b]Class Skill Powers[/b] [u]Diplomacy[/u] [COLOR=#0000ff]Cry for Mercy[/COLOR] (PHB3): Grant a bloodied ally (or yourself) a huge bonus to all defenses and movement unthreatened by OAs every encounter. Only costs a minor action, too, and works at a solid range. A good deal. Noble Sacrifice (PHB3): A per-encounter martyr-type power, very fitting your your role. The range and application are a bit limited, though. [b][u]Endurance[/u][/b] [b][COLOR=#0000ff]Reactive Surge[/COLOR] (PHB3)[/b]: Immediate-reaction spending of a healing surge when you get bloodied. Pretty good to have around. Valor Cavaliers, in particular, with their healing surge values, can get some nice mileage out of this one. [u]Heal[/u] [COLOR=#0000ff]Time Out[/COLOR] (PHB3): An extra second wind for one ally per encounter, granted with your minor action. Nice to have for helping any allies who have good reasons to use their second winds. [u]History[/u] [COLOR=#0000ff]Lessons of History[/COLOR] (D 385): Well, well, a reason to actually consider training History. Letting all your allies recover an encounter utility in one fight per day is quite handy. [u]Religion[/u] [COLOR=#0000ff]Assurance of Prophecy[/COLOR] (D 385): Tag on a pretty decent amount of extra healing every encounter. Solid choice. [b]Non-class Skill Powers[/b] [u]Perception[/u] [COLOR=#0000ff]Spot Weakness[/COLOR] (PHB3): Free damage buff per encounter. Can't ignore that. [u]Streetwise[/u] Navigate Crowds (PHB3): Shift your speed through enemy squares once per encounter. That can be handy. [Size=5][b][u]Lv. 16 Utility[/u][/b][/size] Among your class powers, Divine Aegis wins this level quite handily. If you're trained in Insight, a class skill for you, this level isn't a bad time to take a skill power, namely Insightful Riposte. [b]Class Powers[/b] [b][COLOR=Red]Angelic Intercession[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: This daily is a fancier Martyr's Blessing. And it still sucks. [b]Call from the Brink (E:HFK)[/b]: Immediate reaction healing surge trigger to an ally getting KO-ed, with a +2 power bonus to his attack rolls for the round after. This daily's a pretty decent recovery spell. [b][COLOR=#800080]Death Ward[/COLOR] (PHB)[/b]: The healing is actually a better deal than Call from the Brink: Use one healing surge to heal your dying ally by two healing surges + CHA mod. However, the fact that this daily is a standard action and melee 1 range make it less useful than Call from the Brink, overall. [b][COLOR=Purple]Devotion[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: Boost the whole party's Fortitude and Will by +4 power bonus, but only until the end of your next turn. At this point, you should expect more from a daily utility. [b][COLOR=DeepSkyBlue]Divine Aegis[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: Daily stance giving a +2 untyped bonus to all defenses for you and anyone up to 2 squares away. Straightforward, but very effective, since it stacks with every other defense bonus out there. [b][COLOR=#0000ff]Higher Cause[/COLOR] (DP)[/b]: This daily stance gives untyped save bonuses and regeneration when bloodied. Pretty good, especially with Hero's Poise. [b]Liberation (DP)[/b]: Per-encounter move action that lets you pull an ally away from a tough spot and trigger their healing surge. Decent. [b][COLOR=#800080]Pragmatic Sacrifice[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: Certainly interesting and flavorful (if against type for Cavaliers), but in practice this self-death rescue daily just isn't really worth the slot. [b]Prayer for the Valiant (DP)[/b]: This daily is used when multiple allies are under save-ends effects. A handy emergency power, and after Hero's Poise triggers you'll practically guarantee success with it. [b][COLOR=#0000ff]Shadow Healing[/COLOR] (HoS)[/b]: This pure Shadow daily is definitely best used immediately after combat is over. Your bloodied value's worth of surgeless self-healing is very nice, no doubt, but the prohibition on spending your healing surges until after your next short rest makes this unwise to use in the heat of a battle. [COLOR=#800080]Stave off Winter[/COLOR] (D 386): Sort of an immediate-interrupt, ranged Lay on Hands-type power, followed by some situational benefits at the cost of additional healing surges. Not really worth it. [b]Class Skill Powers[/b] [u]Insight[/u] [COLOR=#00ccff]Insightful Riposte[/COLOR] (PHB3): If ever there was a reason for you to train Insight, this encounter utility is it. A +3 untyped bonus as a free action to correct a failed attack roll. Incredible. This power is a great investment of the Skill Power feat to nab as an extra. [/QUOTE]
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Holy Riders: The Cavalier's Guide (By Litigation)
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