Mathorian (Martial Defender)

[Tonester]

I wanted to release a preview of the class features to see what people thought of the concept, role, and story.

The inspiration for this class is my complete obsession with shield-based combat. In every game I can remember, I always go for the shield classes. Mechanically, the class is a little bit of a challenge since the player uses shields not only for defense, but also as a weapon.

It is meant to be a better pure defender than the Paladin but offer no healing capabilities. It is also meant to be a better pure defender than the Fighter without having the reliable/raw damage output of the Fighter.

In general, this class is meant to be a great "guarder" and skirmisher (light shields are considered heavy thrown weapons) which offers tremendous interrupt, intercept, and disruptive attacks and effects.

I haven't released any of the skill info yet and I don't plan to until I feel they are balanced, polished, and well within the established scope of 4e. Let me know what you think thus far and looking forward to your comments/feedback.

 

[generalhenry]

I like it.

But I think it would be better done as a paragon path.

all the current fighter paragon paths are offensive so it would add a lot to the fighter class.

 

[Tonester]

I thought of doing that, but the 2 classes are too different in order to justify it. This class is extremely dex-based while a fighter class is almost exclusively str-based. The starting armor proficiences for a fighter would be too good as well for a class which has innate shield bonuses. Throw reliable daily's and encounter's around and it would become pointless to chose any other paragon path, imo.

 

[generalhenry]

This class is extremely dex-based while a fighter class is almost exclusively str-based.

dex is a very strong secondary stat for fighters.

The starting armor proficiences for a fighter would be too good as well for a class which has innate shield bonuses.

With maxed dex, hide is actually better than plate.
and it should be noted +AC in a PP isn't unprecedented

Throw reliable daily's and encounter's around and it would become pointless to chose any other paragon path, imo.

That's simple. Keep it defensively focused.
All the other fighter PPs are mostly offensive.


There's more to it then can fit into a PP, but I think feats could cover the rest.

Spear + shield + hide with high dex isn't a bad fighter build.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Just out of curiousity (and you may have answered this in the pdf, but I can't look at it on my work computer), how have you gotten around the enhancement bonus issue for shields?

 

[generalhenry]

how have you gotten around the enhancement bonus issue for shields?

they use the weapon's bonus

 

[Tonester]

The problem with doing a Fighter Paragon is the fact that EVERYTHING a fighter does through all 30 levels is strength-based. So, at best, I could add 3 powers for a Paragon Path that allows a Dex-Based defender to be effective at both attacking and at their light armor defense.

Based on many of the powers, feats, and utilities I've already written, it would be an awful waste, imo. This class is meant to do LESS damage than a Fighter (not hit less often). It is geared around immediate actions, debuffs, and guarding adjacent teammates. There isn't enough flexibility in the Fighter core class to accomplish this without making the most powerful Paragon Path ever - not something I'm interested in doing for obvious reasons.

The "general rule" is that Shield Weapons will inherit the +magical bonus (and the +crit bonus) of the user's normal weapon. They don't inherit powers, however. I will be including additional Magical Shields that may "specifically" alter the "Shield Mastery Feature" and "Shield Fighting Feature" of the class. The reason for this decision was to make the class as easy to incorporate as possible for DMs without requring them to recompile treasure lists or retool already existing adventures or campaigns at all. The new magical shields will just have "Mathorian specific" rules which will grant additional bonuses/powers/effects/damages in the hands of a Mathorian or operate as any other magical shield for other players.

*edit*
I may re-evaluate the Paragon Fighter issue but this would involve 1 of 2 things (which I'm not completely okay with) 1) Re-tooling quite a few of the existing Fighter Exploits or 2) Adding a ton of new Fighter Exploits.

First off, WoTC would not like me releasing something that has all the Fighter Exploits word for word with 1 simple line added to each. Secondly, having everything that pertains to your class in ONE document is essential for incorporation and adoption, imo. It allows DMs to hole-punch and add it to a binder and be done with it without infringing on any copyright laws or changing documentation that exists for already existing classes.