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This Party is Off the Hook! A Miniguide to Party Optimization (by GelationousOctahedron) plus 10 Rules of Party Optimization (by Rancid_Rogue) and Rad
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<blockquote data-quote="LightWarden" data-source="post: 6745056" data-attributes="member: 6803540"><p><strong>Originally posted by GelatinousOctahedron:</strong></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Range vs. Melee</strong></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>What is the proper ratio?</strong></span></p><p></p><p>You need melee characters to build a front line in most parties. You also need ranged characters to take care of flying enemies and enemies that are otherwise at a distance you can't reach through melee. The general consensus seems to be that you need to be at about 3 Melee for every 2 Ranged, with one of those being far ranged (10+). If you do not have a party of 5 or ten that exact ratio is hard to hit exactly. There are also exceptions to this and one of the most effective parties I have heard of was of a group of bow rangers who all MC shaman to make the spirit companions work as the front line.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>What builds can do both?</strong></span></p><p></p><p>These classes all have fairly common builds that can fight fairly well both at range and melee. You can always hand a melee character a javelin, but that sort of build would not count unless you went for a more specific spear/shield build that was actually effective at range.</p><p><strong>both</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><strong>Defenders</strong></p><p>Charisma Paladins</p><p>Spear/shield fighters</p><p></p><p><strong>Strikers</strong></p><p>Warlocks</p><p>Avengers</p><p>Str/Dex Rangers</p><p>Dragon Sorcerers</p><p>Dagger Rogues</p><p></p><p><strong>Leaders</strong></p><p><strong></strong>Shamans (spirit for melee, shaman for ranged)</p><p>Balanced Clerics</p><p>Bards</p><p>Ranged Warlords</p><p>Artificers</p><p></p><p><strong>Controllers</strong></p><p><strong></strong>Staff Wizards/WoST</p><p>Druids</p><p>Protector Seeker</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Making a front line</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Almost all parties need some sort of front line to help protect the squishier back line party members. Usually this is made up of at least one defender and at least one other characters that can hold their own at least some of the time. Most often these are the builds mentioned above that minor in defender like battle cleric and rageblood barbarian, but also includes summoner classes like the shaman, artificer, invoker, and wizard who can either always or often put summons on the front line in their place.</p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by GelatinousOctahedron:</strong></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Synergies</strong></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Who plays well together</strong></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Powers that work well together:</strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong></strong></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong></strong></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Sample Synergized Teams</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Optimized Part Core(x). This thread has examples of many three PC teams that all work well together.</p><p></p><p>Here are some examples of teams that other people have put together that work well:</p><p></p><p><strong>team synergies</strong></p><p>Team Jedi(x) (exploits radiant damage)</p><p><strong>Originally posted by borg285:</strong></p><p></p><p>[sblock]</p><p>This thread is to brainstorm synergestic powers/items/feats... for radiant teams or lightsaber teams because everybody is either wielding a radiant weapon or focused on doing radiant damage.</p><p></p><p><strong>Team Jedi</strong></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong><strong>Administration of Radiant Vulnerability</strong></strong></span></p><p></p><p>-Morninglord PP</p><p></p><p>Requires worshiping amunator</p><p></p><p>16th level ability: hit a foe with a radiant power, foe gains vulnerable 10 radiant. Note that this applies before damage is dealt thus applies to the damage roll.</p><p></p><p>Pure glow (11 enc power) burst 5, Int/Wis/Cha vs will; radiant damage and they take 10 radiant when their turn comes up. Easily does 50 damage for double dipping on radiant</p><p></p><p>-Power of the Sun</p><p></p><p>Hit with {Lance of faith(cleric), Radiant vengeance(Avenger), Sun Strike(Invoker), Virtuous Strike(Paladin)} and administer vulnerable 3/5/8 radiant</p><p></p><p>-Solar enemy</p><p></p><p>Channel divinity power. (minor) Targets all enemies in a close burst 2. Administers/increases radiant vulnerability by 5.</p><p></p><p>-<strong>Brightleaf</strong>(125 gp reagent, cheap enough to spam for every attack) use a radiant power of up to 5th level and administer vulnerable 5 radiant. Comes in a paragon(10 vuln.) version at 3400 gp / use but that extra 5 damage/hit might be worth it.</p><p></p><p>Pick an at-will and if 125 gp is pocket change spam this to kingdom come.</p><p></p><p>Ruinous Resistance(warlock 16 utility daily) give vulnerability 5 radiant and fire for whole encounter</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Jedi's tools</strong></span></p><p></p><p> Punishing Radiance (epic feat, any divine class): Score a crit with radiatn and all foes within 5 gain/increase vulnerability 10.</p><p></p><p> Radiant Advantage(epic feat, cleric): deal radiant damage = you and allies gain CA till end of your next turn. </p><p></p><p> Font of Radiance(epic feat): score a crit with radiant foe glows(save ends). While glowing any enemy that starts their turn in affected square (critted foe and all adjacent) take 3d6 radiant damage. Areas do not stack.</p><p></p><p>Student of Ciaphon (Starlock PP) crit with radiant/fear on 18-20.</p><p>Action Point: power gives ongoing 5 radiant(save ends) </p><p></p><p>Radiant servant(cleric PP) crit with radiant on 19-20.</p><p>Action point: ongoing = level radiant damage(save ends) </p><p>Solar Wrath(enc burst 8 vs will) radiant. Must use 18 level Brightleaf (3400 gp) to administer radiant vulnerability)</p><p>Demons and undead beware </p><p></p><p>Boon: Pelor's Sun Blessing(level 3) add con/wis to damage to those vulnerable to radiant</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong><strong>Gifts from Pelor (what you give to other team members that don't want to convert)</strong></strong></span></p><p></p><p>Radiant weapon (level 15, any weapon) adds enhancement to damage. Does radiant damage and makes the power a radiant power. </p><p></p><p>Bless Weapon(Paladin utility 2 daily): gives weapon +1 attack, +1d6 radiant damage, if foe attacked by blessed weapon user can crit on 18-20.</p><p></p><p>Armor of Burning Wrath(invoker) makes armor of wrath deal radiant damage</p><p></p><p>Radiant Breath (dragonborn feat) make your breath radiant. It also gives your breath the radiant keyword. <u>Rod of the dragonborn</u>, while it doesn't add on the keywords, does make the damage type radiant which might be enough</p><p></p><p> Radiant Power (deva implement user feat) -2 to hit, attack deal 2/4/6 radiant damage. Does not confer the keyword. </p><p></p><p>Hero of faith (MC avenger, req: 15 wis): if you meet the requirements and are melee this feat is pure gold and a great opener to the following 2 things</p><p></p><p><u><strong>Pervasive Light</strong></u></p><p><u></u>(divine feat) hit with non-radiant power you deal extra damage equal to the vulnerability. Best way to get this is MC divine (did I hear hero of faith) and then take this feat.</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Symbol of Divine light</u></strong></p><p><strong></strong>(level 15 Holy Symbol) Property: any enemy with vulnerability to radiant within 5 has that vulnerability increased by 5. Simply have everyone take a MC [divine] and wear one of these. The damage will go through the roof.</p><p></p><p> Radiant Hunter (ranger MC [divine] Paragon feat): your Hunter's quarry damage deal radiant damage. This is a lesser feat than pervasive light.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong><strong>Misc</strong></strong></span></p><p></p><p> Nimbus of Light(feat), hit with encounter/daily radiant power you create a burst 1 giving all allies +1 power bonus with radiant powers. Sadly it's typed so we can't do better than having 1-2 maxing out this feat for the team.</p><p></p><p> Astral Fire(feat) implement users version of weapon focus but for radiant and fire powers</p><p></p><p> Glowstone(consumable cheap thing) standard action to ignite, affects only undead but triggers their radiant vulnerability when they start within 2 of where you threw the stone.</p><p></p><p>Stone of X (level 12 wondrous item) If you can get 5 members in your party to each have 1 of these you all get this following wonderful vacation package: +2 init, +1 item bonus to saving throws.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Radiant Team candidates</strong></span></p><p></p><p>Divine feycharger(striker | defender): I'd like to swap out TWF/TWO for Weakening challenge and forceful challenge to better fulfill the defender roll. Took arcane mutterings to become the party face using his pimped arcane bonus towards diplomacy/bluff/intimidate.</p><p></p><p>Cleric / morninglord(healer controler<strong> ): Focused on bursts and healing</strong></p><p></p><p>[Controler] What do you have in mind?</p><p></p><p>[Striker] Can you do better than the feycharger?</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Math to show superiority of radiant teams</strong></span></p><p></p><p>I know that this trick works for any vulnerability administration, but radiant is the easiest to get.</p><p></p><p>Let's take a look at a PC with a radiant weapon with n members in the team each wearing a symbol of divine light. Assume ranger hit using a brightleaf reagent thus administering radiant 5 vulnerability the last round.</p><p></p><p>n=1 |</p><p>+10 damage (5 vulnerability + 5*1 symbol) | 10/1 = +10/team member</p><p>n=2 |</p><p>+30 damage (2(5 vulnerability + 5*2 symbol)) | 30/2 = +15/team member</p><p>n=3 |</p><p>+60 damage (3(5 vulnerability + 5*3 symbol)) | 60/3 = +20/team member</p><p>n=4 |</p><p>+100 damage (4(5 vulnerability + 5*4 symbol)) | 100/4 = +25/team member</p><p>...</p><p></p><p>We can see that as we increase the number of team members the total increase in damage for each team member goes up.</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>Please contribute to this thread by brainstorming items/feats.... that synergize well with a radiant team.</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p></p><p>[sblock]<strong>Originally posted by auspex7:</strong></p><p></p><p>Controller-- Deva (Preserving) Invoker/Student of Caiphon/Radiant One with Staff of Ruin seems great, right off the top of my head.</p><p></p><p>Hand of Radiance gives him a 45% chance to fire up Punishing Radiance <em>each turn</em>. If you don't mind cutting that down a tad, you can make it the same, except substituting Radiant Servant, instead. That gives him access to Cleric implements, which lets him wear a Symbol of Divine Light, and he's still got a 30% chance to crit each turn with HoR.</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>For others... nothing is going to out-do the Divine Feycharger, but... for this group, throwing in an Avenger/Angelic Avenger/Radiant One is entertaining. Adding Radiant Advantage at 21st, any bloodied enemy within 5 (?--I don't have books in front of me at the moment) of him take Radiant damage, which causes them to then give up CA, which then causes them to take even MORE Radiant Damage from Starborn (Radiant One lvl 21 feature). IE, they just melt away.</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by borg285:</strong></p><p></p><p>Where is radiant one</p><p></p><p>Wouldn't an Invoker | cleric do better as he could use holy symbol/staff/rods for all his attacks, then MC warlock for Student of ciaphon or would radiant servent be better there?</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by auspex7:</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Radiant One is wonky in character builder right now, but it's on page 54 or 56 of the Dragon Annual 2009. First page after the Student of Caiphon entry. Requires only level 21. Whenever you have CA and deal damage, you deal extra Radiant damage equal to Int mod as part of the level 21 feature.</p><p>Pretty sexy.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by auspex7:</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The Hybrid is a good option. Even provides some heal support through Utilities. Picks up Consecrated Ground at 5th... I like it!</p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by borg285:</strong></p><p></p><p>After giving it some thought I think a ranger with a radiant bow using dual arrows would have a greater chance of triggering crits</p><p></p><p>4 d20 with twin strike on 2 targets</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by auspex7:</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>That's a 39.5% chance per turn-- 19.75% per target crit rate (assuming Mastery).</p><p>Actually, I forgot that HoR is 4 attacks at 21st. 15% each vs 4 targets = 60% total chance to crit per turn. He's also slapping CA on up to 4 targets per turn.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by borg285:</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>That is what tips the scales. HoR's 4 attacks is the best way of doing punishing radiance. The CA I could care less about. Increasing everybody's vulnerability is what does it for me.</p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by Mengu74:</strong></p><p></p><p>Don't forget Pelor's Sun Blessing for adding damage equal to Wisdom or Con modifier. Cleric, Invoker, Paladin, Avenger, and even some Rangers, Fighters, Barbarians, Wardens, Starlocks, etc. can capitalize on that against targets with Radiant vulnerability.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by borg285:</strong></p><p></p><p>After some thinking trying to optimize for crit fishing thus triggering punishing radiance, the feycharger gets the most d20 rolls out of anyone I can think of.</p><p></p><p>Invoker's hand of radiance 4d20</p><p></p><p>1/2 elf/ranger dual arrow twin strike w/ radiant bow = 4d20</p><p></p><p>1/2 elf/ranger hero of faith + twin strike w/ radiant weapon = 4d20</p><p></p><p>Even punisher of the gods only ups that by a bit</p><p></p><p>feycharger: charge + ESA + dancing + riposte/aegis + keeper's prescience = 5d20</p><p></p><p>The best thing I can think to do is to merge a controller invoker with a healer cleric so that he either administers vulnerability or heals the party.</p><p></p><p>What are some of your thoughts?</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by auspex7:</strong></p><p></p><p>Here's a quick slap-up. The Acolyte Power swap of Mass Cure Light Wounds for Ethereal Sidestep would actually go down as a retrain of Improved Initiative to Acolyte Power in that slot at Epic, allowing MCLW all the way through Paragon. This should be playable from 1st-30th, and do very well for a group. The Powers selected are completely flexible. I just did a quick grab.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: blue">THE Hand of Radiance</span></strong><span style="color: blue"> Human Invoker|Cleric/Student of Caiphon/Radiant One.</span></p><p></p><p>====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======</p><p>The Hand of Radiance, level 30</p><p>Human, Cleric|Invoker, Student of Caiphon, Radiant One</p><p>Covenant Manifestation: Manifestation of Preservation</p><p>Hybrid Invoker: Hybrid Invoker Fortitude</p><p>Pact Initiate: Pact Initiate (star pact)</p><p>Background: Geography - Forest (Nature class skill)</p><p></p><p>FINAL ABILITY SCORES</p><p>Str 10, Con 13, Dex 12, Int 24, Wis 26, Cha 15.</p><p></p><p>STARTING ABILITY SCORES</p><p>Str 8, Con 11, Dex 10, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 13.</p><p></p><p>AC: 43 Fort: 39 Reflex: 41 Will: 43</p><p>HP: 155 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 38</p><p></p><p>TRAINED SKILLS</p><p>History +27, Arcana +27, Religion +27, Nature +28, Insight +28</p><p></p><p>UNTRAINED SKILLS</p><p>Acrobatics +15, Bluff +17, Diplomacy +17, Dungeoneering +23, Endurance +15, Heal +23, Intimidate +17, Perception +24, Stealth +15, Streetwise +17, Thievery +15, Athletics +14</p><p></p><p>FEATS</p><p>Human: Implement Expertise (staff)</p><p>Level 1: Pact Initiate</p><p>Level 2: Toughness</p><p>Level 4: Power of the Moon</p><p>Level 6: Starfire Womb</p><p>Level 8: Invoker Defense</p><p>Level 10: Acolyte Power</p><p>Level 11: Invoker's Blaze</p><p>Level 12: Devastating Critical</p><p>Level 14: Paragon Defenses (retrained to Robust Defenses at Level 22)</p><p>Level 16: Psychic Lock (retrained to Punishing Radiance at Level 21)</p><p>Level 18: Pervasive Light</p><p>Level 20: Reserve Maneuver</p><p>Level 21: Radiant Advantage</p><p>Level 22: Devastating Invocation</p><p>Level 24: Font of Radiance</p><p>Level 26: Divine Mastery</p><p>Level 28: Supreme Healer</p><p>Level 30: Invoked Devastation</p><p></p><p>POWERS</p><p>Bonus At-Will Power: Sun Strike</p><p>Hybrid Cleric at-will 1: Sacred Flame</p><p>Hybrid Invoker at-will 1: Hand of Radiance</p><p>Reserve Maneuver: Rain of Blood</p><p>Hybrid encounter 1: Divine Glow</p><p>Hybrid daily 1: Crown of Retaliation</p><p>Hybrid utility 2: Divine Protection</p><p>Hybrid encounter 3: Sun Hammer</p><p>Hybrid daily 5: Consecrated Ground</p><p>Hybrid utility 6: Bastion of Health</p><p>Hybrid encounter 7: Searing Light</p><p>Hybrid daily 9: Flame Strike</p><p>Hybrid utility 10: Mass Cure Light Wounds (retrained to Etheral Sidestep at Acolyte Power)</p><p>Hybrid encounter 13: Mantle of Glory (replaces Divine Glow)</p><p>Hybrid daily 15: Brilliant Censure (replaces Crown of Retaliation)</p><p>Hybrid utility 16: Radiant Beams</p><p>Hybrid encounter 17: Astral Dust (replaces Sun Hammer)</p><p>Hybrid daily 19: Summon Angel of Light (replaces Flame Strike)</p><p>Hybrid utility 22: Invoke Angelic Form</p><p>Hybrid encounter 23: Healing Torch (replaces Searing Light)</p><p>Hybrid daily 25: Anthem of the First Dawn (replaces Consecrated Ground)</p><p>Hybrid encounter 27: Sunburst (replaces Astral Dust)</p><p>Hybrid daily 29: Fires of the Silver Gate (replaces Summon Angel of Light)</p><p></p><p>ITEMS</p><p>Staff of Ruin +6, Symbol of Divine Light +6, Dawn Warrior Elderhide Armor +6, War Ring (paragon tier) (2), Many-Fingered Gloves (paragon tier), Ring of the Radiant Storm (paragon tier), Spark Slippers (paragon tier), Far-Step Amulet +6, Clockwork Cowl (epic tier), Executioner's Bracers (epic tier), Belt of Vim (epic tier), Eager Hero's Tattoo (paragon tier)</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="color: blue">Juicy Tidbits:</span></strong></p><p>-- Hits with Hand of Radiance give untyped -2 penalty to Reflex until end of next turn. (Power of Moon)</p><p>-- Any time he deals Radiant damage, he gets CA. </p><p>-- Any time he deals damage while he has CA, he deals +7 Radiant (Int mod-- Starborn. Radiant One 21 feature). This includes dealing damage from effects like his neat-o Spark Slippers.</p><p>-- He rolls twice on all Radiant damage rolls, taking the higher number (Ring of the Radiant Storm)</p><p>-- He gets an extra +2 Radiant damage per hit (Gifts for the Queen bonus, 2 pieces-- slippers, ring)</p><p>-- He gets an extra 2d10 on crits from War Rings.</p><p>-- He gets an extra 1d10 on crits from Devastating Critical.</p><p>--Whenever he crits with a Radiant attack (Hand of Radiance...) all targets within 5 squares of the target gain Vuln 15 Radiant (Punishing Radiance, Symbol of Divine Light)</p><p>-- Whenever he crits, all targets within 5 squares of the target take 13 damage of the same type as the attack-- ie, 13 Radiant from Hand of Radiance... which means 28 due to Punishing Radiance, or 35 if he has dealt Radiant damage to the guys hit on the previous turn (Starborn).</p><p>-- Font of Radiance... you know how this goes.</p><p>-- When any enemy moves into a square adjacent to him, they take 2 Radiant (Spark Slippers), unless he has already dealt Radiant damage to them on the previous turn, in which case he has CA, and deals 9 Radiant... and gives himself CA against them. </p><p>-- His blasts and bursts are each increased in size by 1 increment.</p><p>-- 4 HoR bolts x 15% crit rate each = 60% total crit chance per turn.</p><p></p><p>At 30th, his base Hand of Radiance is +32 vs Reflex, 1d4+25 damage. Because of Power of Moon and Radiant Advantage, that becomes effectively +36 vs Ref, 1d4+32 (damage hike from Starborn/Radiant One) per target not counting any Radiant explosions.</p><p></p><p>I can't begin to calculate his total damage output per turn. This might require more bookkeeping than anything I've ever put together.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by auspex7:</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>You have to remember that the 4d20s being rolled by the Invoker are critting on 18-20 each. 60% total crit rate per turn, and spread over 4 targets, rather than the Feycharger's attacks being applied to one target. Because of the 4 target spread, the Invoker can catch crits on multiple seperate targets, spreading Radiant Vuln accross a huge section of real estate.</p><p>Alternately, the Invoker can dump HoR shots into targets near each other, giving him a 60% chance to apply it to all four targets by critting any of the 4, and then gets to tap into the Vuln 4 times on the following turn by hitting each target again. This basically gives him moderate Striker level damage--to four targets at once.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by Lord_Ventnor:</strong></p><p></p><p>An idea for a possible Defender is an Ensnaring Swordmage, who goes Arcane Hunter at Paragon Tier. Considering that this team is all about inflicting radiant vulnerabilities on enemies, and the Arcane Hunter's schtick is to take advantage of an vulnerability that the enemy has, I think that it can work.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by auspex7:</strong></p><p></p><p>You know, when it comes down to it, you can probably just roll with a party of Divine Feychargers and call it good. If we're talking about this as an exercise without using Feychargers, there's a discussion to be had, but if not, a party of 5 really doesn't need anything else. When you're talking about 500 DPR monsters, Vuln kind of flies out the window.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by borg285:</strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Punishing radiance increases vulnerability so that if he crits on the same target 5 times all foes within 5 get their vulnerability increased by 10. Your HoR only has 4 chances to roll, the feycharger has 5, but still amazing. I'll post my builds I think are the best.</p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by borg285:</strong></p><p></p><p>link to post(x)</p><p></p><p><u>What these builds have going for them:</u></p><p>they both have a woverine tatoo + blood fury weapon and use a minor action at the beginning of combat to get a small boost</p><p>All members of the team have a Stone of Light if there are 5 members of the party. This will give everybody a +2 init and +1 to saves. Honestly only the cleric will have a hard time saving as the feychargers, using virtous strike 4 times/round, will have around +6-+8 to saves.</p><p><strong>Feycharger</strong></p><p>I'll not regurgitate the superiority of the feycharger but explain the differences where they exist. </p><p>Weakening challenge: A superb defender style feat that weakens his mark</p><p>Forceful Challenge: again a suberb defender feat that slides his mark away if they attack others.</p><p>Arcane muttereings: use that arcane check for other things outside of trick of knowledge</p><p>Radiant shield, Enervating Smite, Silverlight Strike, Reaper's Challenge all are great defender type powers that almost force the attacker to focus on you and impossible/unrealistic to attack others.</p><p></p><p><strong>Cleric </strong></p><p>I tried to merge the healer and controler into one and I've done a great job.</p><p>Astral seal heals 28+2d6 + saving throw + 2 to defenses + resist 5 cold/fire + deals damage equal to their vulnerability due to pervasive light and gives foe -2 defences. That's a major buff and debuff.</p><p>Hand of radiance crits on 19-20 and has 4 attacks. If I crit: Font of radiance, Punishing radiance (stacks each time I crit), Epic resurgence gets back an encounter power (1/enc), </p><p>Versatile master + twin strike + dual arrows = 4d20 on one target if facing a solo. Can crit up to 2 times with very high probability. Radiant attack that still administers vulnerability due to brightleaf. I even have a decent dex so they will also hit as often as a normal char. </p><p>Spider bolt, dispelling bolt, astral seal, others make good controller powers. With twin strike they are very likely to sink and still fulfill job of administering radiant vulnerability.</p><p>Major focus on burst/blast powers</p><p></p><p>One thing I need to do is rearrange feats so that they are playable through all levels. The feycharger is a hard one, but would serve as a great defender from 1-16.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by borg285:</strong></p><p></p><p>I just realized that only the cheesed out feycharger has 5 attacks / round. He actually gets to roll 5d20/ round (4 attacks and keeper's prescience). The more standard ones have only 4 attacks/round which puts them on par with the invoker student of ciaphon, which I've converted to. The increased crit chance leads to better team play as getting a crit is definitely worth going from radiant servant to ciaphon.</p><p></p><p>With using Punisher of the gods as my Cleric | Invloker / Student of ciaphon / Punisher I've calculated my expected number of crits / round</p><p></p><p>Twin strike using dual arrows and an 18-20 crit range getting an at-will(twin strike) every time I crit leads to the following calculation</p><p></p><p>chance to crit base = .15, chance to not crit = .85</p><p></p><p>chance that twin strike crits = 1-.854 (2 attacks each 2 rolls) = .478 to crit with twin strike</p><p></p><p>expected number of crits = 1/(1-r) where r = chance to crit recursively</p><p></p><p>1/(1-.478) = 1.91 expected crits / round. Ouch. I think that outdoes the radiant one by just a bit, then again it's punisher of the gods (post-nerfed).</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by auspex7:</strong></p><p></p><p>Yeah, post-nerf PotG getting frequent turns with two HoRs does beat out the Radiant One. I'm still conditioned to avoid PotG like the Plague, so I hadn't even looked at that as an ED for this exercise.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by borg285:</strong></p><p></p><p>Any idea on how to make a radiant team viable in heroic? What feats are the best exploited?</p><p></p><p> a level 6 item costs 1800 which can buy 14.4 brightleaf reagents. if every member of the team bough 6 of these the team(5 members) would have 30 costing each member 750 gp, quite doable at level 6. </p><p></p><p>Another option is to go for a power of the sun based team. Perhaps avenger would be the most common team member.</p><p></p><p>Any thoughts?</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by Mengu74:</strong></p><p></p><p>A Drow Paladin with Brilliant Darkfire and Solar Enemy can induce radiant vulnerability twice per round. A few more characters with Solar enemy and one or two with Power of the Sun will be handy as well. A Rod of Starlight will only be available at high heroic tier and the vulnerability is not that big but it's an option. Everyone should be either wisdom based or wisdom/con secondary to make use of Pelor's Sun Blessing.</p><p></p><p>Maybe a group like:</p><p></p><p>Drow Paladin of Pelor, Virtuous Strike; Power of the Sun, Brilliant Darkfire, Solar Enemy, Hero of Faith; Pelor's Sun Blessing</p><p></p><p>Shifter Paladin of Kord, Holy Strike; Power of Strength, Hero of Faith; Pelor's Sun Blessing (nothing says Kord worshipper can't have this).</p><p></p><p>Deva Leading Avenger, Leading Strike; Solar Enemy; Sun Blade, Pelor's Sun Blessing</p><p></p><p>Kalashtar Devoted Cleric, Lance of Faith; Solar Enemy, Power of the Sun; Pelor's Sun Blessing </p><p></p><p>Dwarf Wrathful Invoker, Hand of Radiance; Power of the Moon; Pelor's Sun Blessing</p><p></p><p>One of the paladins could maybe be replaced with an Avenger, but some Avenger multiclassing brings almost as much to the table as being an avenger. The Cleric and the Drow Paladin will be the primary radiant vulnerability inducers. The invoker is there for two reasons, whenever multiple targets gain the vulnerability via Solar enemy, he can capitalize quickly with multiple attacks. And anything he hits will be easier for the cleric to later hit with Lance of Faith.</p><p></p><p>There is probably enough versatility in this group to cover most weaknesses too.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by auspex7:</strong></p><p></p><p>OK... for Heroic tier, without heavy item cost required:</p><p></p><p>1. Defender-- Paladin with Power of Sun. He takes PoS so he can serve as a back-up 'spotter' for this group, but actually uses Holy Strike as his go-to At-Will. Bless Weapon at 2nd, naturally.</p><p></p><p>2. Controller, heal support, and our 'spotter' for the group-- the Invoker|Cleric we used before, with some At-Will changes. He uses Sun Strike and Lance of Faith, with Hand of Radiance as his bonus At-Will. His go-to is probably Lance of Faith to set up Radiant vuln and give allies help tapping into it. Symbol of Divine Reach for the implement, with Staff of Ruin as his other.</p><p></p><p>3 & 4. Strikers. Two Human (Retribution) Avengers with Sunblade Fullblades and Battle Awareness, as well as Fury's Advance. Each of these and the Bond of Retribution rider provide extra chances to tap into Radiant vuln while it's up.</p><p></p><p>5. Leader-- Obviously a Cleric with Power of Sun, using Lance of Faith when able to help keep up Radiant Vuln on the target.</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>Just some quick stuff. The way I see it playing out at a normal table, the Invoker and full Cleric each use LoF, and the others burn down the vuln targets quickly. If they have to split fire, the Cleric and Invoker split targets, with the Paladin attacking the Cleric's target, and the Invoker and the Avengers focusing on the other. </p><p></p><p>It's only vuln 3, but Solar Enemy gives further opportunity for extra.</p><p></p><p>I'm not a huge fan of builds that require constant expenditure to keep up. Salves of Power or other consumables turn me off quick.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by borg285:</strong></p><p></p><p>It looks like heroic jedi team is quite difficult to pull off as it requires constant planning to get in the edge. Paragon we at least have pervasive light. This has been quite a learning experience.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Originally posted by mrmyth:</strong></p><p></p><p>A build I haven't seen suggested yet:</p><p></p><p>A Dragonborn Warlock or Sorcerer, multiclassed into a divine class for Radiant Breath, using a Rod of the Dragonborn, does radiant damage with all their attacks. Both have good accuracy due to Draconic Spellcaster. Warlock lets one go Student of Caiphon for even more radiant abuse, while Sorcerer simply lets you inflict lots of damage to lots of enemies. Either would seem to fit well in "Team Radiant".[/sblock]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="LightWarden, post: 6745056, member: 6803540"] [B]Originally posted by GelatinousOctahedron:[/B] [CENTER][SIZE=4][B]Range vs. Melee[/B][/SIZE][/CENTER] [SIZE=3][B]What is the proper ratio?[/B][/SIZE] You need melee characters to build a front line in most parties. You also need ranged characters to take care of flying enemies and enemies that are otherwise at a distance you can't reach through melee. The general consensus seems to be that you need to be at about 3 Melee for every 2 Ranged, with one of those being far ranged (10+). If you do not have a party of 5 or ten that exact ratio is hard to hit exactly. There are also exceptions to this and one of the most effective parties I have heard of was of a group of bow rangers who all MC shaman to make the spirit companions work as the front line. [SIZE=3][B]What builds can do both?[/B][/SIZE] These classes all have fairly common builds that can fight fairly well both at range and melee. You can always hand a melee character a javelin, but that sort of build would not count unless you went for a more specific spear/shield build that was actually effective at range. [B]both[/B] [sblock] [B]Defenders[/B] Charisma Paladins Spear/shield fighters [B]Strikers[/B] Warlocks Avengers Str/Dex Rangers Dragon Sorcerers Dagger Rogues [B]Leaders [/B]Shamans (spirit for melee, shaman for ranged) Balanced Clerics Bards Ranged Warlords Artificers [B]Controllers [/B]Staff Wizards/WoST Druids Protector Seeker [/sblock] [SIZE=3][B]Making a front line[/B][/SIZE] Almost all parties need some sort of front line to help protect the squishier back line party members. Usually this is made up of at least one defender and at least one other characters that can hold their own at least some of the time. Most often these are the builds mentioned above that minor in defender like battle cleric and rageblood barbarian, but also includes summoner classes like the shaman, artificer, invoker, and wizard who can either always or often put summons on the front line in their place. [B]Originally posted by GelatinousOctahedron:[/B] [CENTER][SIZE=4][B]Synergies[/B][/SIZE][/CENTER] [SIZE=3][B]Who plays well together[/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][B]Powers that work well together: [/B][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][B]Sample Synergized Teams[/B][/SIZE] Optimized Part Core(x). This thread has examples of many three PC teams that all work well together. Here are some examples of teams that other people have put together that work well: [B]team synergies[/B] Team Jedi(x) (exploits radiant damage) [B]Originally posted by borg285:[/B] [sblock] This thread is to brainstorm synergestic powers/items/feats... for radiant teams or lightsaber teams because everybody is either wielding a radiant weapon or focused on doing radiant damage. [B]Team Jedi[/B] [SIZE=4][B][B]Administration of Radiant Vulnerability[/B][/B][/SIZE] -Morninglord PP Requires worshiping amunator 16th level ability: hit a foe with a radiant power, foe gains vulnerable 10 radiant. Note that this applies before damage is dealt thus applies to the damage roll. Pure glow (11 enc power) burst 5, Int/Wis/Cha vs will; radiant damage and they take 10 radiant when their turn comes up. Easily does 50 damage for double dipping on radiant -Power of the Sun Hit with {Lance of faith(cleric), Radiant vengeance(Avenger), Sun Strike(Invoker), Virtuous Strike(Paladin)} and administer vulnerable 3/5/8 radiant -Solar enemy Channel divinity power. (minor) Targets all enemies in a close burst 2. Administers/increases radiant vulnerability by 5. -[B]Brightleaf[/B](125 gp reagent, cheap enough to spam for every attack) use a radiant power of up to 5th level and administer vulnerable 5 radiant. Comes in a paragon(10 vuln.) version at 3400 gp / use but that extra 5 damage/hit might be worth it. Pick an at-will and if 125 gp is pocket change spam this to kingdom come. Ruinous Resistance(warlock 16 utility daily) give vulnerability 5 radiant and fire for whole encounter [SIZE=4][B]Jedi's tools[/B][/SIZE] Punishing Radiance (epic feat, any divine class): Score a crit with radiatn and all foes within 5 gain/increase vulnerability 10. Radiant Advantage(epic feat, cleric): deal radiant damage = you and allies gain CA till end of your next turn. Font of Radiance(epic feat): score a crit with radiant foe glows(save ends). While glowing any enemy that starts their turn in affected square (critted foe and all adjacent) take 3d6 radiant damage. Areas do not stack. Student of Ciaphon (Starlock PP) crit with radiant/fear on 18-20. Action Point: power gives ongoing 5 radiant(save ends) Radiant servant(cleric PP) crit with radiant on 19-20. Action point: ongoing = level radiant damage(save ends) Solar Wrath(enc burst 8 vs will) radiant. Must use 18 level Brightleaf (3400 gp) to administer radiant vulnerability) Demons and undead beware Boon: Pelor's Sun Blessing(level 3) add con/wis to damage to those vulnerable to radiant [SIZE=4][B][B]Gifts from Pelor (what you give to other team members that don't want to convert)[/B][/B][/SIZE] Radiant weapon (level 15, any weapon) adds enhancement to damage. Does radiant damage and makes the power a radiant power. Bless Weapon(Paladin utility 2 daily): gives weapon +1 attack, +1d6 radiant damage, if foe attacked by blessed weapon user can crit on 18-20. Armor of Burning Wrath(invoker) makes armor of wrath deal radiant damage Radiant Breath (dragonborn feat) make your breath radiant. It also gives your breath the radiant keyword. [U]Rod of the dragonborn[/U], while it doesn't add on the keywords, does make the damage type radiant which might be enough Radiant Power (deva implement user feat) -2 to hit, attack deal 2/4/6 radiant damage. Does not confer the keyword. Hero of faith (MC avenger, req: 15 wis): if you meet the requirements and are melee this feat is pure gold and a great opener to the following 2 things [U][B]Pervasive Light[/B] [/U](divine feat) hit with non-radiant power you deal extra damage equal to the vulnerability. Best way to get this is MC divine (did I hear hero of faith) and then take this feat. [B][U]Symbol of Divine light[/U] [/B](level 15 Holy Symbol) Property: any enemy with vulnerability to radiant within 5 has that vulnerability increased by 5. Simply have everyone take a MC [divine] and wear one of these. The damage will go through the roof. Radiant Hunter (ranger MC [divine] Paragon feat): your Hunter's quarry damage deal radiant damage. This is a lesser feat than pervasive light. [SIZE=4][B][B]Misc[/B][/B][/SIZE] Nimbus of Light(feat), hit with encounter/daily radiant power you create a burst 1 giving all allies +1 power bonus with radiant powers. Sadly it's typed so we can't do better than having 1-2 maxing out this feat for the team. Astral Fire(feat) implement users version of weapon focus but for radiant and fire powers Glowstone(consumable cheap thing) standard action to ignite, affects only undead but triggers their radiant vulnerability when they start within 2 of where you threw the stone. Stone of X (level 12 wondrous item) If you can get 5 members in your party to each have 1 of these you all get this following wonderful vacation package: +2 init, +1 item bonus to saving throws. [SIZE=4][B]Radiant Team candidates[/B][/SIZE] Divine feycharger(striker | defender): I'd like to swap out TWF/TWO for Weakening challenge and forceful challenge to better fulfill the defender roll. Took arcane mutterings to become the party face using his pimped arcane bonus towards diplomacy/bluff/intimidate. Cleric / morninglord(healer controler[B] ): Focused on bursts and healing[/B] [Controler] What do you have in mind? [Striker] Can you do better than the feycharger? [SIZE=3][B]Math to show superiority of radiant teams[/B][/SIZE] I know that this trick works for any vulnerability administration, but radiant is the easiest to get. Let's take a look at a PC with a radiant weapon with n members in the team each wearing a symbol of divine light. Assume ranger hit using a brightleaf reagent thus administering radiant 5 vulnerability the last round. n=1 | +10 damage (5 vulnerability + 5*1 symbol) | 10/1 = +10/team member n=2 | +30 damage (2(5 vulnerability + 5*2 symbol)) | 30/2 = +15/team member n=3 | +60 damage (3(5 vulnerability + 5*3 symbol)) | 60/3 = +20/team member n=4 | +100 damage (4(5 vulnerability + 5*4 symbol)) | 100/4 = +25/team member ... We can see that as we increase the number of team members the total increase in damage for each team member goes up. Please contribute to this thread by brainstorming items/feats.... that synergize well with a radiant team. [/sblock] [sblock][B]Originally posted by auspex7:[/B] Controller-- Deva (Preserving) Invoker/Student of Caiphon/Radiant One with Staff of Ruin seems great, right off the top of my head. Hand of Radiance gives him a 45% chance to fire up Punishing Radiance [I]each turn[/I]. If you don't mind cutting that down a tad, you can make it the same, except substituting Radiant Servant, instead. That gives him access to Cleric implements, which lets him wear a Symbol of Divine Light, and he's still got a 30% chance to crit each turn with HoR. For others... nothing is going to out-do the Divine Feycharger, but... for this group, throwing in an Avenger/Angelic Avenger/Radiant One is entertaining. Adding Radiant Advantage at 21st, any bloodied enemy within 5 (?--I don't have books in front of me at the moment) of him take Radiant damage, which causes them to then give up CA, which then causes them to take even MORE Radiant Damage from Starborn (Radiant One lvl 21 feature). IE, they just melt away. [B]Originally posted by borg285:[/B] Where is radiant one Wouldn't an Invoker | cleric do better as he could use holy symbol/staff/rods for all his attacks, then MC warlock for Student of ciaphon or would radiant servent be better there? [B]Originally posted by auspex7:[/B] Radiant One is wonky in character builder right now, but it's on page 54 or 56 of the Dragon Annual 2009. First page after the Student of Caiphon entry. Requires only level 21. Whenever you have CA and deal damage, you deal extra Radiant damage equal to Int mod as part of the level 21 feature. Pretty sexy. [B]Originally posted by auspex7:[/B] The Hybrid is a good option. Even provides some heal support through Utilities. Picks up Consecrated Ground at 5th... I like it! [B]Originally posted by borg285:[/B] After giving it some thought I think a ranger with a radiant bow using dual arrows would have a greater chance of triggering crits 4 d20 with twin strike on 2 targets [B]Originally posted by auspex7:[/B] That's a 39.5% chance per turn-- 19.75% per target crit rate (assuming Mastery). Actually, I forgot that HoR is 4 attacks at 21st. 15% each vs 4 targets = 60% total chance to crit per turn. He's also slapping CA on up to 4 targets per turn. [B]Originally posted by borg285:[/B] That is what tips the scales. HoR's 4 attacks is the best way of doing punishing radiance. The CA I could care less about. Increasing everybody's vulnerability is what does it for me. [B]Originally posted by Mengu74:[/B] Don't forget Pelor's Sun Blessing for adding damage equal to Wisdom or Con modifier. Cleric, Invoker, Paladin, Avenger, and even some Rangers, Fighters, Barbarians, Wardens, Starlocks, etc. can capitalize on that against targets with Radiant vulnerability. [B]Originally posted by borg285:[/B] After some thinking trying to optimize for crit fishing thus triggering punishing radiance, the feycharger gets the most d20 rolls out of anyone I can think of. Invoker's hand of radiance 4d20 1/2 elf/ranger dual arrow twin strike w/ radiant bow = 4d20 1/2 elf/ranger hero of faith + twin strike w/ radiant weapon = 4d20 Even punisher of the gods only ups that by a bit feycharger: charge + ESA + dancing + riposte/aegis + keeper's prescience = 5d20 The best thing I can think to do is to merge a controller invoker with a healer cleric so that he either administers vulnerability or heals the party. What are some of your thoughts? [B]Originally posted by auspex7:[/B] Here's a quick slap-up. The Acolyte Power swap of Mass Cure Light Wounds for Ethereal Sidestep would actually go down as a retrain of Improved Initiative to Acolyte Power in that slot at Epic, allowing MCLW all the way through Paragon. This should be playable from 1st-30th, and do very well for a group. The Powers selected are completely flexible. I just did a quick grab. [B][COLOR=blue]THE Hand of Radiance[/COLOR][/B][COLOR=blue] Human Invoker|Cleric/Student of Caiphon/Radiant One.[/COLOR] ====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ====== The Hand of Radiance, level 30 Human, Cleric|Invoker, Student of Caiphon, Radiant One Covenant Manifestation: Manifestation of Preservation Hybrid Invoker: Hybrid Invoker Fortitude Pact Initiate: Pact Initiate (star pact) Background: Geography - Forest (Nature class skill) FINAL ABILITY SCORES Str 10, Con 13, Dex 12, Int 24, Wis 26, Cha 15. STARTING ABILITY SCORES Str 8, Con 11, Dex 10, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 13. AC: 43 Fort: 39 Reflex: 41 Will: 43 HP: 155 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 38 TRAINED SKILLS History +27, Arcana +27, Religion +27, Nature +28, Insight +28 UNTRAINED SKILLS Acrobatics +15, Bluff +17, Diplomacy +17, Dungeoneering +23, Endurance +15, Heal +23, Intimidate +17, Perception +24, Stealth +15, Streetwise +17, Thievery +15, Athletics +14 FEATS Human: Implement Expertise (staff) Level 1: Pact Initiate Level 2: Toughness Level 4: Power of the Moon Level 6: Starfire Womb Level 8: Invoker Defense Level 10: Acolyte Power Level 11: Invoker's Blaze Level 12: Devastating Critical Level 14: Paragon Defenses (retrained to Robust Defenses at Level 22) Level 16: Psychic Lock (retrained to Punishing Radiance at Level 21) Level 18: Pervasive Light Level 20: Reserve Maneuver Level 21: Radiant Advantage Level 22: Devastating Invocation Level 24: Font of Radiance Level 26: Divine Mastery Level 28: Supreme Healer Level 30: Invoked Devastation POWERS Bonus At-Will Power: Sun Strike Hybrid Cleric at-will 1: Sacred Flame Hybrid Invoker at-will 1: Hand of Radiance Reserve Maneuver: Rain of Blood Hybrid encounter 1: Divine Glow Hybrid daily 1: Crown of Retaliation Hybrid utility 2: Divine Protection Hybrid encounter 3: Sun Hammer Hybrid daily 5: Consecrated Ground Hybrid utility 6: Bastion of Health Hybrid encounter 7: Searing Light Hybrid daily 9: Flame Strike Hybrid utility 10: Mass Cure Light Wounds (retrained to Etheral Sidestep at Acolyte Power) Hybrid encounter 13: Mantle of Glory (replaces Divine Glow) Hybrid daily 15: Brilliant Censure (replaces Crown of Retaliation) Hybrid utility 16: Radiant Beams Hybrid encounter 17: Astral Dust (replaces Sun Hammer) Hybrid daily 19: Summon Angel of Light (replaces Flame Strike) Hybrid utility 22: Invoke Angelic Form Hybrid encounter 23: Healing Torch (replaces Searing Light) Hybrid daily 25: Anthem of the First Dawn (replaces Consecrated Ground) Hybrid encounter 27: Sunburst (replaces Astral Dust) Hybrid daily 29: Fires of the Silver Gate (replaces Summon Angel of Light) ITEMS Staff of Ruin +6, Symbol of Divine Light +6, Dawn Warrior Elderhide Armor +6, War Ring (paragon tier) (2), Many-Fingered Gloves (paragon tier), Ring of the Radiant Storm (paragon tier), Spark Slippers (paragon tier), Far-Step Amulet +6, Clockwork Cowl (epic tier), Executioner's Bracers (epic tier), Belt of Vim (epic tier), Eager Hero's Tattoo (paragon tier) [B][COLOR=blue]Juicy Tidbits:[/COLOR][/B] -- Hits with Hand of Radiance give untyped -2 penalty to Reflex until end of next turn. (Power of Moon) -- Any time he deals Radiant damage, he gets CA. -- Any time he deals damage while he has CA, he deals +7 Radiant (Int mod-- Starborn. Radiant One 21 feature). This includes dealing damage from effects like his neat-o Spark Slippers. -- He rolls twice on all Radiant damage rolls, taking the higher number (Ring of the Radiant Storm) -- He gets an extra +2 Radiant damage per hit (Gifts for the Queen bonus, 2 pieces-- slippers, ring) -- He gets an extra 2d10 on crits from War Rings. -- He gets an extra 1d10 on crits from Devastating Critical. --Whenever he crits with a Radiant attack (Hand of Radiance...) all targets within 5 squares of the target gain Vuln 15 Radiant (Punishing Radiance, Symbol of Divine Light) -- Whenever he crits, all targets within 5 squares of the target take 13 damage of the same type as the attack-- ie, 13 Radiant from Hand of Radiance... which means 28 due to Punishing Radiance, or 35 if he has dealt Radiant damage to the guys hit on the previous turn (Starborn). -- Font of Radiance... you know how this goes. -- When any enemy moves into a square adjacent to him, they take 2 Radiant (Spark Slippers), unless he has already dealt Radiant damage to them on the previous turn, in which case he has CA, and deals 9 Radiant... and gives himself CA against them. -- His blasts and bursts are each increased in size by 1 increment. -- 4 HoR bolts x 15% crit rate each = 60% total crit chance per turn. At 30th, his base Hand of Radiance is +32 vs Reflex, 1d4+25 damage. Because of Power of Moon and Radiant Advantage, that becomes effectively +36 vs Ref, 1d4+32 (damage hike from Starborn/Radiant One) per target not counting any Radiant explosions. I can't begin to calculate his total damage output per turn. This might require more bookkeeping than anything I've ever put together. [B]Originally posted by auspex7:[/B] You have to remember that the 4d20s being rolled by the Invoker are critting on 18-20 each. 60% total crit rate per turn, and spread over 4 targets, rather than the Feycharger's attacks being applied to one target. Because of the 4 target spread, the Invoker can catch crits on multiple seperate targets, spreading Radiant Vuln accross a huge section of real estate. Alternately, the Invoker can dump HoR shots into targets near each other, giving him a 60% chance to apply it to all four targets by critting any of the 4, and then gets to tap into the Vuln 4 times on the following turn by hitting each target again. This basically gives him moderate Striker level damage--to four targets at once. [B]Originally posted by Lord_Ventnor:[/B] An idea for a possible Defender is an Ensnaring Swordmage, who goes Arcane Hunter at Paragon Tier. Considering that this team is all about inflicting radiant vulnerabilities on enemies, and the Arcane Hunter's schtick is to take advantage of an vulnerability that the enemy has, I think that it can work. [B]Originally posted by auspex7:[/B] You know, when it comes down to it, you can probably just roll with a party of Divine Feychargers and call it good. If we're talking about this as an exercise without using Feychargers, there's a discussion to be had, but if not, a party of 5 really doesn't need anything else. When you're talking about 500 DPR monsters, Vuln kind of flies out the window. [B]Originally posted by borg285:[/B] Punishing radiance increases vulnerability so that if he crits on the same target 5 times all foes within 5 get their vulnerability increased by 10. Your HoR only has 4 chances to roll, the feycharger has 5, but still amazing. I'll post my builds I think are the best. [B]Originally posted by borg285:[/B] link to post(x) [U]What these builds have going for them:[/U] they both have a woverine tatoo + blood fury weapon and use a minor action at the beginning of combat to get a small boost All members of the team have a Stone of Light if there are 5 members of the party. This will give everybody a +2 init and +1 to saves. Honestly only the cleric will have a hard time saving as the feychargers, using virtous strike 4 times/round, will have around +6-+8 to saves. [B]Feycharger[/B] I'll not regurgitate the superiority of the feycharger but explain the differences where they exist. Weakening challenge: A superb defender style feat that weakens his mark Forceful Challenge: again a suberb defender feat that slides his mark away if they attack others. Arcane muttereings: use that arcane check for other things outside of trick of knowledge Radiant shield, Enervating Smite, Silverlight Strike, Reaper's Challenge all are great defender type powers that almost force the attacker to focus on you and impossible/unrealistic to attack others. [B]Cleric [/B] I tried to merge the healer and controler into one and I've done a great job. Astral seal heals 28+2d6 + saving throw + 2 to defenses + resist 5 cold/fire + deals damage equal to their vulnerability due to pervasive light and gives foe -2 defences. That's a major buff and debuff. Hand of radiance crits on 19-20 and has 4 attacks. If I crit: Font of radiance, Punishing radiance (stacks each time I crit), Epic resurgence gets back an encounter power (1/enc), Versatile master + twin strike + dual arrows = 4d20 on one target if facing a solo. Can crit up to 2 times with very high probability. Radiant attack that still administers vulnerability due to brightleaf. I even have a decent dex so they will also hit as often as a normal char. Spider bolt, dispelling bolt, astral seal, others make good controller powers. With twin strike they are very likely to sink and still fulfill job of administering radiant vulnerability. Major focus on burst/blast powers One thing I need to do is rearrange feats so that they are playable through all levels. The feycharger is a hard one, but would serve as a great defender from 1-16. [B]Originally posted by borg285:[/B] I just realized that only the cheesed out feycharger has 5 attacks / round. He actually gets to roll 5d20/ round (4 attacks and keeper's prescience). The more standard ones have only 4 attacks/round which puts them on par with the invoker student of ciaphon, which I've converted to. The increased crit chance leads to better team play as getting a crit is definitely worth going from radiant servant to ciaphon. With using Punisher of the gods as my Cleric | Invloker / Student of ciaphon / Punisher I've calculated my expected number of crits / round Twin strike using dual arrows and an 18-20 crit range getting an at-will(twin strike) every time I crit leads to the following calculation chance to crit base = .15, chance to not crit = .85 chance that twin strike crits = 1-.854 (2 attacks each 2 rolls) = .478 to crit with twin strike expected number of crits = 1/(1-r) where r = chance to crit recursively 1/(1-.478) = 1.91 expected crits / round. Ouch. I think that outdoes the radiant one by just a bit, then again it's punisher of the gods (post-nerfed). [B]Originally posted by auspex7:[/B] Yeah, post-nerf PotG getting frequent turns with two HoRs does beat out the Radiant One. I'm still conditioned to avoid PotG like the Plague, so I hadn't even looked at that as an ED for this exercise. [B]Originally posted by borg285:[/B] Any idea on how to make a radiant team viable in heroic? What feats are the best exploited? a level 6 item costs 1800 which can buy 14.4 brightleaf reagents. if every member of the team bough 6 of these the team(5 members) would have 30 costing each member 750 gp, quite doable at level 6. Another option is to go for a power of the sun based team. Perhaps avenger would be the most common team member. Any thoughts? [B]Originally posted by Mengu74:[/B] A Drow Paladin with Brilliant Darkfire and Solar Enemy can induce radiant vulnerability twice per round. A few more characters with Solar enemy and one or two with Power of the Sun will be handy as well. A Rod of Starlight will only be available at high heroic tier and the vulnerability is not that big but it's an option. Everyone should be either wisdom based or wisdom/con secondary to make use of Pelor's Sun Blessing. Maybe a group like: Drow Paladin of Pelor, Virtuous Strike; Power of the Sun, Brilliant Darkfire, Solar Enemy, Hero of Faith; Pelor's Sun Blessing Shifter Paladin of Kord, Holy Strike; Power of Strength, Hero of Faith; Pelor's Sun Blessing (nothing says Kord worshipper can't have this). Deva Leading Avenger, Leading Strike; Solar Enemy; Sun Blade, Pelor's Sun Blessing Kalashtar Devoted Cleric, Lance of Faith; Solar Enemy, Power of the Sun; Pelor's Sun Blessing Dwarf Wrathful Invoker, Hand of Radiance; Power of the Moon; Pelor's Sun Blessing One of the paladins could maybe be replaced with an Avenger, but some Avenger multiclassing brings almost as much to the table as being an avenger. The Cleric and the Drow Paladin will be the primary radiant vulnerability inducers. The invoker is there for two reasons, whenever multiple targets gain the vulnerability via Solar enemy, he can capitalize quickly with multiple attacks. And anything he hits will be easier for the cleric to later hit with Lance of Faith. There is probably enough versatility in this group to cover most weaknesses too. [B]Originally posted by auspex7:[/B] OK... for Heroic tier, without heavy item cost required: 1. Defender-- Paladin with Power of Sun. He takes PoS so he can serve as a back-up 'spotter' for this group, but actually uses Holy Strike as his go-to At-Will. Bless Weapon at 2nd, naturally. 2. Controller, heal support, and our 'spotter' for the group-- the Invoker|Cleric we used before, with some At-Will changes. He uses Sun Strike and Lance of Faith, with Hand of Radiance as his bonus At-Will. His go-to is probably Lance of Faith to set up Radiant vuln and give allies help tapping into it. Symbol of Divine Reach for the implement, with Staff of Ruin as his other. 3 & 4. Strikers. Two Human (Retribution) Avengers with Sunblade Fullblades and Battle Awareness, as well as Fury's Advance. Each of these and the Bond of Retribution rider provide extra chances to tap into Radiant vuln while it's up. 5. Leader-- Obviously a Cleric with Power of Sun, using Lance of Faith when able to help keep up Radiant Vuln on the target. Just some quick stuff. The way I see it playing out at a normal table, the Invoker and full Cleric each use LoF, and the others burn down the vuln targets quickly. If they have to split fire, the Cleric and Invoker split targets, with the Paladin attacking the Cleric's target, and the Invoker and the Avengers focusing on the other. It's only vuln 3, but Solar Enemy gives further opportunity for extra. I'm not a huge fan of builds that require constant expenditure to keep up. Salves of Power or other consumables turn me off quick. [B]Originally posted by borg285:[/B] It looks like heroic jedi team is quite difficult to pull off as it requires constant planning to get in the edge. Paragon we at least have pervasive light. This has been quite a learning experience. [B]Originally posted by mrmyth:[/B] A build I haven't seen suggested yet: A Dragonborn Warlock or Sorcerer, multiclassed into a divine class for Radiant Breath, using a Rod of the Dragonborn, does radiant damage with all their attacks. Both have good accuracy due to Draconic Spellcaster. Warlock lets one go Student of Caiphon for even more radiant abuse, while Sorcerer simply lets you inflict lots of damage to lots of enemies. Either would seem to fit well in "Team Radiant".[/sblock] [/QUOTE]
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