Sample Character request: Warrior/Mage

[DylanCB]

To, me, implements in one hand and weapon in the other is fine. Just change the power flavors. For instance, burning hands. Um, just call it Burning sword strike. The implement isn't a gun after all. In burning hands, the attack comes from the hand. If your holding a sword in that hand, its like a magical sword strike, right?

To me, a warrior/wizard isn't a sword wielder with some tricks, he's a magical blade master. You might think that thats too corny, but I fail to see why even using fighter powers are necessary. Now, sure, he isn't all that armored at first level, but I figure he isn't a defender yet, but rather a controller with a blade. He might not fulfill all the technical details, but I kinda want to play him.

If you want armored, good with weapons, smart, and able to cast spells, I think Warlords are great for this. Heck, I still have a hard time with Inspiring word healing, I'd claim its arcane magic.

 

[hong]

How is your sword-wielding wizard built? How come she has +10 with spells and +14 with swords? Any multiclass powers that let her put the sword to better use than just making basic attacks?

Neceros' martial wiz is here:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=397517

 

[outsider]

To be honest, I don't find the whole fighter/mage combination to be useful enough to make a big deal of anymore. This isn't because of the new multiclassing rules, it's because of the changes to classes in general.

Magic is different now. You've got at will spells, so you never have to worry about running out of spells and having to go in and clobber things with your staff. They even have an at will "close"(doesn't provoke opportunity attacks) spell, so if they somehow manage to get stuck in melee range, they STILL don't have to resort to clobbering people with their staff. The mage has no need to melee, and thus no need to dilute himself by becoming a fighter as well. If he wants better defenses, he can just spend feats on toughness and armor proficiencies.

Magic is also now balanced with martial. That means that the fighter doesn't neccessarily gain much from multiclassing to wizard that he couldn't gain elsewhere from a class that would be more synergistic. If you want to give your fighter some ranged capability, ranger powers are just as good as mage powers, and they'll be alot more synergistic with a fighter than wizard powers will be(using dex, which fighters can get some use out of, compared to int). Ranger can also provide some area effect attacks.

I guess I just don't see the need for the gish anymore.

 

[Cadfan]

outsider- I agree, sort of. There's really no reason to go Wizard then multiclass into something else. The old 3e reason was to gain an at will power- a basic attack. But now you've got that already.

But I do think there are reasons to make a more martial wizard in terms of defense, and to wade into close range combat. A staff wizard with some Close spells might want leather armor and toughness.

And there are reasons for a non wizard to try to get some wizard powers. For example, a Warlord might do well by dropping his shield in favor of a wand in his off hand, and multiclassing into Wizard. He'd already have the Int score, and he could focus on moving his allies around the field of battle so as to maximize the effectiveness of his area attacks.

But I do agree that a gish, by which i mean "fully competent as a wizard, and can also fight in melee if he wants" has no reason to exist. At its core its not a balanced concept, because it doesn't give up anything for that diversity of power, and in any case there's no advantage to going into melee if you could just pick an at will Close power instead.

 

[Aldarc]

outsider- I agree, sort of. There's really no reason to go Wizard then multiclass into something else. The old 3e reason was to gain an at will power- a basic attack. But now you've got that already.

But I do think there are reasons to make a more martial wizard in terms of defense, and to wade into close range combat. A staff wizard with some Close spells might want leather armor and toughness.

And there are reasons for a non wizard to try to get some wizard powers. For example, a Warlord might do well by dropping his shield in favor of a wand in his off hand, and multiclassing into Wizard. He'd already have the Int score, and he could focus on moving his allies around the field of battle so as to maximize the effectiveness of his area attacks.

But I do agree that a gish, by which i mean "fully competent as a wizard, and can also fight in melee if he wants" has no reason to exist. At its core its not a balanced concept, because it doesn't give up anything for that diversity of power, and in any case there's no advantage to going into melee if you could just pick an at will Close power instead.

Which is again, why the arcane spellcasting abilities of the mage would have to be integrated into the frontline fighting style of the Defender role. Much like Arcana Evolved's mageblade, the Spellsword would need to be able to cast spells that augmented his fighting. The spells would need to be almost of a completely different nature than those of wizards or warlocks, but be closer in ways to that of the paladin or warlord.

 

[Nifft]

Nifft -- I love that guy. I wouldn't have thought to go Warlock/Fighter as opposed to Fighter/Warlock.

At first, the one thing that bugged me about him was that he's going to be doing a lot of basic melee attacks -- but then again, everyone he strikes in melee is going to be cursed, so that's at least as good as any of the Fighter at-wills. Nice job!

Thanks.

He's got at least one free feat, so you could always take the Novice power swap feat and pick up a Fighter Encounter power (8th level at the earliest). The Paragon Path gives two more Strength vs. AC attacks, so at 11th level you'd have two Str vs. AC x[W] encounter powers, slightly less than half of what a full Fighter would have.

I think it's a strong build. Both of your basic attacks are as good as at-will powers, your Curse works in melee or at range, you have the AC, Strength and Con of a Fighter, and you get your full bag of Warlock utility tricks.

I may have to play this guy.

Cheers, -- N

 

[outsider]

And there are reasons for a non wizard to try to get some wizard powers. For example, a Warlord might do well by dropping his shield in favor of a wand in his off hand, and multiclassing into Wizard. He'd already have the Int score, and he could focus on moving his allies around the field of battle so as to maximize the effectiveness of his area attacks.

Yeah, I see combinations like Warlord/Wizard or Paladin/Warlock as viable, because they have some synergy. In the case of Fighter/Wizard though, at this point there's no compelling reason to try to fight against the lack of synergy. Magic isn't any more stronger than martial really, so why bother unless you are looking to pick up a couple of specific mage powers for some reason? For example, an elf fighter may find it beneficial to pick up one of the wizard spells that creates difficult terrain, since they'd be able to shift and their opponents wouldn't.

 

[Anguirus]

I'm still playing with 4E builds, but I was surprised at how "mystical" a character intended to be a straight Eladrin Fighter turned out to be. He's a longspear-focused guy who went into Kensei, but I started running out of good feats for him so I looked into Ritual Casting. He needed Arcana Training for that, and I found that I could get training in Arcana, plus other stuff, by MCing Wizard (as opposing to simple Skill Training). As his encounter power I picked Cloud of Knives, which actually synergized pretty well with his ability to shove people around with his spear. (Use CoK when enemies are closing, then shove them right back into it before it dissipates at the end of the next turn.) As a Fighter he was already trained in Heal, so by taking Ritual Casting he got access to a pretty wide range of the available rituals.

Later on he would take Eternal Seeker as his epic destiny, so for fun I gave him a couple more Wizard powers. Forcecage because it worked flavor-wise as an extension of Cloud of Knives, as well as being good tactically. Prismatic Spray because...it was cool, plus it was a nice example of a power that didn't hit AC.

 

[ShadowyFigure]

Controller Gish

Vaeron, Half Elf Fighter 1
“Do you dare approach me while I wield both the Sword and Sorcery of my heritage”

STR 15 +2 HP 27 BLOODIED 13
CON 12 +1 SURGE 6 QTY
DEX 14 +2 AC 17
INT 14 +2 FORT 13 ; REF 12 ; WILL 12
WIS 14 +2 Speed: 6 squares
CHA 10 +0

Powers (at-will)

Tide of Iron: +5 vs AC; 1d8+2 Push Target 1 square.
Cleave: +5 vs AC; 1d8+2 2 damage to adjacent enemy.

Powers (encounter)

Steel Serpent Strike: +5 vs AC; 2d8+2 damage target is slowed and can't shift until end of your next turn.
Thunder wave: +2 vs Fort; 1d6+2 thunder damage and push target 2 squares.
Cloud of Dagger: +2 vs Reflex; 1d6+2 force damage.

Powers (daily)

Villains Menace: +6 vs AC; 2d8+3 damage +2 Power Bonus to Attack Rolls and a +4 Power Bonus to Damage against target for the rest of encounter.

Racial

Dilettante.
Dual Heritage.
Group Diplomacy.

Class/Paragon/Epic Features

Combat Challenge: See page 76 PHB.

Combat Superiority: See page 76 PHB.

Weapon Talent (One-Handed Weapons): See page 76 PHB.

Feats

Arcane Initiate: See Page 208 PHB

Skills
Arcana +7, Heal +7, Intimidate +5, Street Wise +5

Equipment
Hide Armor (+3 AC), Heavy Shield (+2 AC), Standard Adventuring Kit, Longbow, 20 Arrows


---------------------------------------------------------------------

Vaeron, Half Elf Fighter 11 / Battle Mage Paragon


STR 17 +3 HP 87 BLOODIED 43
CON 12 +1 SURGE 22 QTY
DEX 14 +2 AC 24
INT 14 +2 FORT 13 ; REF 12 ; WILL 12
WIS 16 +3 Speed: 5 squares
CHA 10 +0

Powers (at-will)

Tide of Iron: +12 vs AC; 1d8+5 Push Target 1 square.
Cleave: +12 vs AC; 1d8+5 2 damage to adjacent enemy.

Powers (encounter)

Steel Serpent Strike: +12 (PA: +10) vs AC; 2d8+6 (PA:+10) damage target is slowed and can't shift until end of your next turn.

Come and Get it: +12 (PA: +10) vs AC: 1d8+6 (PA:+10) shift targets 2 squares to adjacent to you.
Ice Rays: +7 vs Reflex; 1d10+2 and target is immobilized.

Forceful Retort: +10 vs Fortitude: 3d8+5 force damage. Push target 1 square and is knocked prone.

Thunder wave: +10 vs Fort; 1d6+5 thunder damage and push target 3 squares.

Cloud of Dagger: +10 vs Reflex; 1d6+5 force damage.

Powers (daily)

Villains Menace: +12 (PA: +10) vs AC; 2d8+6 (PA:+10) damage +2 Power Bonus to Attack Rolls and a +4 Power Bonus to Damage against target for the rest of encounter.

Dizzying Blow: +10 (PA: +8) vs AC; 3d8+4 (PA:+8) and target is dazed.

Wall of Fire: You conjure a wall that consists of contiguous squares filled with arcane fire. It can be up to 8 squares long and up to 4 squares high. The wall lasts until the end of your next turn. Any creature that starts its turn adjacent to the wall takes 1d6 + Intelligence modifier fire damage.
If a creature moves into the wall’s space or starts its turn there, the creature takes 3d6 + Intelligence modifier fire damage. Entering a square occupied by the wall costs 3 extra squares of movement. The wall blocks line of sight.

Powers (utility)

Mirror Image: see page 164 PHB

Unbreakable: Reduce damage from attack by +6

Get Over Here: Slide target 2 squares towards you.

Racial

Dilettante.
Dual Heritage.
Group Diplomacy.

Class/Paragon/Epic Features

Combat Challenge: See page 76 PHB.

Combat Superiority: See page 76 PHB.

Weapon Talent (One-Handed Weapons): See page 76 PHB.

Arcane Riposte (Force): See page 169 PHB.

Battle Mage Action: See Page 169 PHB.

Battle Edge: See page 169 PHB.

Feats

Arcane Initiate: See Page 208 PHB
Novice Power: See Page 209 PHB.
Acolyte Power: See Page 209 PHB.
Adept Power: See Page 209 PHB.
Power Attack: See Page 199 PHB.
Weapon Focus (Longsword): See Page 201 PHB.

Skills
Arcana +7, Heal +7, Intimidate +5, Street Wise +5

Equipment
+2 Scale Armor (+9 AC; Dwarven), Magic Orb +3, +2 Longsword (lightning), Helm of battle +1


I dunno, still working on it. Controller / defender kinda stuff.

 

[neceros]

Cool Half Elf.

The sword is enchanted, so it gets a +2 and because I'm proficient, I get another +3, however my STR is 1 les then my INT.

Weapons are meant to have higher to hits then tough attacks, due to armor being slightly higher.