Warden Build Suggestions

[Puggins]

It looks to me like you're saying you're worried about RP aspects, yet decided on a class you want to play (which isn't bad, really) but then are trying to shoehorn in a bunch of CharOp stuff regardless of narrative "sense". As I said, a Windsoul or Stormsoul would give you some racial "oomph" for why a character would be flying even when the class doesn't necessarily lend itself to it.

There's a difference between roleplaying and building on a theme. He wants to play a goliath who is an air pirate. That sounds great to me, personally.

He could use a "fish out of water" scenario. Or maybe he could say that the human lowlands are too stifling for someone used to the exhilarating, vicious winds of the mountain tops. Or maybe he likes making a lot of money.

Warden is great too- the four winds are every bit a part of nature as the earth is, after all. And wardens don't need to be the protectors of the wild- they can be selfish or (somewhat, in this case) amoral adventurers, using their ties to the primal spirits for their own gain.

Anyway, the concept appeals to me. I think plenty of posters wouldn't mind finding out how the first couple of sessions turned out. The party is the prototypical 4-man party with class substitution for two of the roles. That should work pretty well.

 

[Herschel]

The Warden does work okay, but the race/class combo strikes me as odd, especially the EARTHStrength Warden. Plus, the earthy Goliath is a default CharOp choice for Wardens. I'm not a big fan of flying dwarves either. The fish-out-of-water is generally just a lazy way to say "I want this regardless of any reasoning" unless it's really done well.

 

[Aulirophile]

Plus, the earthy Goliath is a default CharOp choice for Wardens.

Dwarf is actually the default choice for all four Warden builds. Second Wind as a minor/II is just to much optimization space, and at paragon+ the AC is identical for the Wis-secondary ones. Every since the flex stats on Dwarves.

Other options are certainly strong, of course. But Dwarves might as well be Gold for Wardens at this point.

 

[webrunner]

I suggest a nice heavy wire base for your warden. It's hard to work with but thinner wire just won't hold the bricks up in the right shape.

 

[Xipe_Totec]

Ok, just to explain a few reasons why I made the decisions I made. Even when I first started reading about 4e a few months back, the Warden caught my eye. However, someone else decided to play the "tank" in our first 4e campaign, so now that we're on our 2nd, the opportunity came up again and this time, that's the exact role that was needed. Why ES Warden? Well, that build seemed to fit the mold for what the party needed as a solid defender able to absorb the blows (plus I LOVE the flavor of being able to dish out the +CON damage stuff. I know it's not the highest damage, even among defenders, but it adds a certain level of strategy that keeps me interested).

As for why Goliath, I considered that for quite a while. Obviously Dwarves are far and away the best race now that they can pick up STR/CON, and I considered playing one for just that reason, but I just didn't like the flavor of them. So I read through brief descriptions of different races compatible with the Warden class, and I was instantly drawn to Goliath. They seemed to not only fit the picture I had in my head when imagining a Warden, but their racial characteristics fit perfectly with the personality I had in mind for my character, so I went for it. It actually wasn't until I was at this stage that I found out about the "sky pirate" theme we were going to have for the setting, and I feel like I can make it work for my character. One thing to consider, and I believe I mentioned this in a previous post, is it's not the "peg-leg, pet parrots, rape and pillage" type pirates, but the "work outside of the law and maybe do a few dirty deeds to make some money" kind of pirate. Think "Firefly"/"Serenity". To be honest, I think that was kind've what inspired the theme.

 

[666Sinner666]

XT: What your going for sounds fine to me. There is no reason there should not be some serious muscle on a pirate ship, even if it fly's. Personally, I would go the bodyguard route with the reason being that with the kind of missions the ship goes are far more challenging than any you could get/find wandering around on the ground haphazardly. That and there is always excitement on a pirate ship.

The how you got on the ship could be disgrace from loosing in some sort of games that the tribes in your area hold or you tried to challenge the leader of your tribe, lost, and therefore you were banished. Personally, I would go with the usurper as that could give the DM a good chance at working in your backstory into the game.