Optimize or Thematics?

[castlewise]

I'm creating a 4E dragonborn hexblade and I'm torn. The idea is he came from a mountainous village (likes cold base attacks). As a child he found the ruins of an ancient battle between teiflings and dragonborn and touched a hexblade. As a result he inherited the original owners pact and was exiled as a result. So now he is an archaeologist, searching the world for a way to break his pact and learning all sorts of secrets.

So as you can see I've spent (too much) time on the backstory. Since I'm creating the character at level 6 (to join a game) I get 4 feats. I'm using Rod Expertise, Implement Focus, and Scale Armor Proficiency. I'm torn on my fourth. The options are

- Lightning Reflexes: this brings my reflex (my lowest defence) up to 18 and really rounds my numbers out nicely. But it doesn't fit with the back story at all. Dragonborn aren't particularly light on their toes.

- Stormroots Endurance: This feat allows you to turn a critical hit into a normal it. Its not all that great, but it fits really well with my characters mountain heritage and love of "ancient secrets".

So do I pick the useless feat that sounds cool, or the boring feat that helps round out my defense numbers?

P.S. Side question. Why isn't hexblade crazy op? I have very similar defense and attack as the slayer in our group (even up to the twice per encounter roll two damage die ability) but my attacks give me power bonuses and I have a handful of aoe spells. There must be a weakness that I am missing.

 

[Riastlin]

As to your first question, its arguable that both of those are flavorful as opposed to optimized. For instance, just because most dragonborn are not nimble doesn't mean its true in your case. Perhaps you are more of an Indiana Jones or Lara Croft style archaelogist.

Additionally, there are plenty of more optimized routes you could go in terms of feats. Things like Distant Advantage (though not sure if your attacks are ranged or not -- not familiar with Hexblade), Frostcheese, etc.

At any rate, the answer of should I go flavor or optimize is Yes. In other words, which would be more fun. Playing the character you created, or playing a character that simply gets the most bang for his buck regardless of whether or not there is a common theme in the power/feat choices. In the end, only you can answer that question. They are two different playstyles (which are at times compatible) but neither is right or wrong.

As to your second question, I am not familiar enough with the Essentials classes to be able to help. Sorry.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

If it were me in your situation, I would look at the others in the group and adjust accordingly

If you are playing with a group of CharOp veterans, you will almost certainly be better off with a more optimized character. You will (probably) have more fun because then they won't be getting annoyed at your (preceived) difference in effectiveness, and you will be closer to on-par with their characters.

If, on the other hand, you are in a group more RP and story-focused, by taking bland mechanical feats, you are going to be effective, but may regret the lack of depth that such choices add to your character. They, depending on their prejudices, may also come to think of you as 'that guy' - you know, the 'munchkin,' and you certainly wouldn't want that.

From the tone of your post, it sounds like you may have a bent toward story and RP, and if that's what makes you happiest as a player, then you should go for it.

As for your question, the Slayer has better armour proficiency out of the box, and has more hit points. They also have a pile of 'passive' boosts that accrue as they level. They're designed to work well as a non-tactical striker; run up and whack them until they stop moving, then move on to the next one. Hexblades, on the other hand, are more about moving about the battlefield, hit and run, using their summoned ally tactically, and so on. That may explain the difference you're seeing.

That said, from what I can tell, the Infernal Hexblade would seem to play closest to the Slayer. They're generally tougher than the other Hexblades, are better off in heavy armour, and come with a highly damaging, if not exactly accurate, weapon.

 

[Klaus]

Here are some options:

- Wasteland Wanderer: you've been exiled, after all. Bonus to Nature, perception and initiative are also very juicy.
- Heat Adaptation: the previous owner of the hexblade was a tiefling, so you inherited some of his fire resistance.
- Disciple of Shadow: not only flavorful, but darkvision 2 is neat!

If you have Int 13+, Disciple of Lore and Jack-of-All-Trades help the archeologist angle.

 

[BobTheNob]

What a co-incidence. I just got through putting together my Dragonborn hexblade for our coming Darksun campaign. Though I have chatted with the DM and he has been re-flavored from an infernal pact (poor fit for Darksun) to a "Spirit of the land" pact. Fits more nicely with his tribal origins.

So looking forward to playing it...

 

[Mapache]

So do I pick the useless feat that sounds cool, or the boring feat that helps round out my defense numbers?

Stoneroot's Endurance is transcendentally awful. It's only a chance to turn a crit into a normal hit, and monster crits are, intentionally, not that bad, as they tend to have less variability than PC crits due to the lack of extra crit dice. Let's say that your fights are four rounds long (which is kinda lengthy, actually) and you get attacked once per round. That means you'll get crit an average of once every five fights, and you'll downgrade half those crits to normal hits. That means that Stoneroot's Endurance will prevent a few points of damage once per level. If you want a flavorful feat, there's dozens that sound cool and are much more useful than this waste of a slot.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Stoneroot's Endurance is transcendentally awful. It's only a chance to turn a crit into a normal hit, and monster crits are, intentionally, not that bad, as they tend to have less variability than PC crits due to the lack of extra crit dice. Let's say that your fights are four rounds long (which is kinda lengthy, actually) and you get attacked once per round. That means you'll get crit an average of once every five fights, and you'll downgrade half those crits to normal hits. That means that Stoneroot's Endurance will prevent a few points of damage once per level. If you want a flavorful feat, there's dozens that sound cool and are much more useful than this waste of a slot.

Agreed.

[MENTION=6669618]castlewise[/MENTION] - If you want something that is flavourful and makes you tough, but also doesn't suck, try Disciple of Stone or Swift Recovery (both from HotFK).

 

[castlewise]

Thanks for the replies! My group is composed entirely of noobs (myself included) but we do have an RP bent. The message I'm coming away with is that choosing something that fits the theme would be a good idea, but there are lots of options that are more useful than Stoneroot's Endurance.

I like Disciple of Stone and Wasteland Wanderer. (I don't have the prereqs for most of the others.) Cold adaptation is also very fitting.

 

[Robtheman]

If you are looking for a flavorful option that provides flexibility and a ton of RP potential, how about Ritual Caster? Tons of divination and exploration stuff is open to you.

 

[Destil]

With that background I'd ask the DM if you could fineness your way into any cool ancient languages with linguist.

Or something like skill focus: dungoneering or skill power for a dungoneering skill, which also both fit pretty well.