PEACH: Human Bravelord Battle Champion

[darkbard]

Indulge me, folks, for in all these years of 4E I have never built a warlord. I'm presenting the character at level 11 to indicate the heroic tier arc and PP choice, but the character is intended for a new campaign beginning at level 1. His fellow party members will be an Elf archer Ranger, Halfling Rogue, Deva Invoker/Wizard (based on MwaO's Illusion of Hope), and a Dwarf Fighter.

In any event, this character is looking to lead from front, focusing on ally positioning and enabling while still contributing to damage output and holding his own on the front line.

I feel like this is a hot mess. The stat array and feats in particular gave me fits, but, of course, I wonder about all the other components, as well, since I've never put together a warlord before.

Many thanks to those who can provide some guidance!

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
New Leader, level 11
Human, Warlord (Marshal), Battle Champion
Warlord Option: Battlefront Leader
Commanding Presence Option: Bravura Presence
Human Power Selection Option: Heroic Effort
Auspicious Birth (Auspicious Birth Benefit)
Theme: Ironwrought

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
STR 21, CON 11, DEX 9, INT 15, WIS 14, CHA 17

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
STR 16, CON 10, DEX 8, INT 14, WIS 13, CHA 14


AC: 29 Fort: 26 Ref: 24 Will: 24
HP: 83 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 20

TRAINED SKILLS
Athletics +14, Diplomacy +13, Endurance +12, Heal +12, History +12, Intimidate +13

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +2, Arcana +7, Bluff +8, Dungeoneering +7, Insight +7, Nature +7, Perception +7, Religion +7, Stealth +2, Streetwise +8, Thievery +2

POWERS
Basic Attack: Melee Basic Attack
Basic Attack: Ranged Basic Attack
Ironwrought Attack: Inevitable Strike
Human Racial Power: Heroic Effort
Warlord Feature: Battlefront Shift
Warlord Feature: Inspiring Word
Warlord Attack 1: Direct the Strike
Warlord Attack 1: Intuitive Strike
Warlord Attack 1: Vengeance is Mine
Warlord Attack 1: Lead the Attack
Warlord Attack 1: Powerful Warning
Warlord Utility 2: Cunning Adjustment
Warlord Attack 5: Stand the Fallen
Warlord Utility 6: Reorient the Axis
Warlord Attack 7: On My Mark
Warlord Attack 9: Warlord's Recovery
Warlord Utility 10: Tactical Orders
Battle Champion Attack 11: End This

FEATS
Level 1: Battle Awareness
Level 1: Armored Warlord
Level 2: Mark of Healing
Level 4: Heavy Blade Expertise
Level 6: Improved Initiative
Level 8: Silvery Glow
Level 10: Improved Defenses
Level 11: Improved Battlefront Shift

ITEMS
Dwarven Wyvernscale Armor +3 x1
Periapt of Cascading Health +2 x1
Helm of Heroes (heroic tier) x1
Iron Armbands of Power (heroic tier) x1
Sunblade Longsword +2 x1
Adventurer's Kit
Siberys Shard of Radiance (heroic tier)
Heavy Shield x1
====== End ======

 

[MwaO]

I think it depends on what you're trying to do. In general, leaders do really well by providing any of the following:
Movement
Better Initiative
Bonuses to attacks
Free Attacks to allies who have been slid into position, going before the enemies, and then with big bonuses to those attacks.

Warlord's one of the only easy access to improved initiative(or better) for the entire party. So that's hard to give up. They've got a couple of movement options that show up, and you've taken them, so not sure why Battlefront. And the paragon path doesn't give a big bonus to anything, so I'm not sure why that's a preference.

 

[darkbard]

I think it depends on what you're trying to do. In general, leaders do really well by providing any of the following:
Movement
Better Initiative
Bonuses to attacks
Free Attacks to allies who have been slid into position, going before the enemies, and then with big bonuses to those attacks.

Warlord's one of the only easy access to improved initiative(or better) for the entire party. So that's hard to give up. They've got a couple of movement options that show up, and you've taken them, so not sure why Battlefront. And the paragon path doesn't give a big bonus to anything, so I'm not sure why that's a preference.

Thanks, Mommy, for the indulgence and the prompting questions.

One thing I should have mentioned is that the Elf Ranger is going Wood Elf, and so the party won't lose out too much by not having Combat Leader. With this character, the Rogue, and the Fighter all wanting to be engaging in dancing around a cluster of opponents as much as possible to exploit free attacks, BL plus the positioning powers seem to make sense to me but maybe it's overkill?

On the PP front, with the desired emphasis on free attacks, I feel that Battle Champion brings more to the table on that front than Battle Captain, which was my other consideration. The features favor Battle Captain but the E11 and D20 powers favor Battle Champion. (Of course, Battle Captain's U12 blows the other out of the water.) Is there another choice that fits the desiderata (lots of enabled ally movement and granted attacks) that I'm overlooking in your opinion?

If I were to ditch Battle Champion (especially for Battle Captain), do you think I would be better off with a heavier investment in Int, likely ditching Battle Awareness as a result? Again, I'm reluctant to do that because of the way I envision positioning with the Fighter and Rogue. Plus, the only other Charisma based character in the party is likely to be the Rogue.

Anyway, I hope that provides a clearer picture of how I see the character and the party playing out.