What kind of Leader will you make for this party?

[Shin Okada]

Well, while that Artificer/Warlord build seems to be good, I don't like having a lot of Immediate action powers.

Currently, a friend of mine is playing a Bard/Warlord hybrid/Daring Blade at level 12, full of immediate powers. He is great. He provides a lot of bonuses and temporally hit points. He wears Scale and Heavy Shield and very tough. While using Intuitive Strike power and Vexing Flanker feat for providing constant attack bonus to everyone, he uses some immediate power to allow someone to attack every round.

But, he is really making our combat encounters slow. A lot of immediate action powers with different trigger and required situations makes combats really complex and it is consuming a lot or real-world time. This is becoming a problem in that 12th-level games.

Well, now the idea of Leader/Something hybrid augmenting his healing with Shaman MC or some other ways luring my interest much.

Do you guys think Cleric/Invoker work? He will be fragile. But at least he is wearing Chain. He cannot be good at melee but he will have some encounter Close powers when enemies are near. He can has ranged 20 at-will power (Mantle of the Infidel), and a cleric power (Sacred Flame?). If he is a human, he can have 3 at-wills in total. So, maybe Mantle of Infidel (Ranged 20, penalty to Attack Rolls), Sacred Flame (Ranged 5, save or temp hp), & Astral Seal (lower defense & healing)?

Edit: Hmm... if there is a non-evil god with torment domain....

 

[Neonchameleon]

Prestidigitalis,

No, those numbers are just numbers and not the priorities. Skill problem seems to be big. We have just lost a warlord in the previous game because that day players of the other strength PCs and Avenger was absent. As a result, no one could find Green Slimes before they attack, and no one could find out that Green Slimes' vulnerabilities, and only the warlord could escape from the grab at reasonable rate (high Athletics).

For skills, the Bard almost certainly comes out on top. A single feat will mean that you have +4 to all untrained skills - and you get your nice little ritual casting including free rituals. They also come with ranged powers (Vicious Mockery is fun) and can use bows (Jinx Shot can really screw up someone's day - and Rhyme of the Blood Seeking Blade is awesome). They aren't quite the melee support Warlords are. But close.

 

[Ryujin]

Bards also have a variety of powers to move both allies and enemies, which can be used to set up the Rogue with combat advantage. A Prescient Bard would have the WIS for Perception and, as Herschel said, the additional ranged party member would be useful.

 

[Kerranin]

I am not keen on the fact that prescient bards are stacking all their stats to the same defense. Will defense will be great but what about reflex/fort?

Nothing to stop you going cunning/valor and taking Jinx Shot anyway. Make sure you have some stats across the board to allow for multi-classing feat options, this probably means picking a race with a CHA bonus, and ending up with an 18 CHA stat. (including racial)

If you're expecting players to vary from week to week, all you can do is make a reasonable group(if everyone shows up), and provide npc replacements for each role.

 

[Ryujin]

Agreed. I'm currently playing a Cunning Bard and taking a mix of ranged and melee powers. Each type of Bard will be better with specific attacks, but a degree of flexibility is necessary. Hell, I even considered taking Jinx Shot, just so I'd have a real long-range attack.

 

[MarauderX]

Definitely Bard. But with the control and moving around in 4E I wouldn't worry much about traffic jams being a problem, unless you're fighting a solo in a 5' corridor.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

With lots of melee allies I think a Shaman could work pretty well. You could stay at range while there would be plenty of allies nearby to get the boons from being adjacent to your spirit companion.

And the spirit companion can act as a wall for your melee allies if they need it.

 

[Herschel]

The reason I like the Prescient bard (even with teh signle defense boost) is also the build defensive boost encounter power with characters already with some good defenses. With that many melee characters, they should be able to soak a lot of attacks and run interference for you.

 

[Shin Okada]

Now, it seems that the player of the late warlord made a Minotaur Wildblood Warden. So now, our party will be,

Dwarf Orb Wizard dual-wielding Battlecrazed Kopesh and an Orb
Dwarf Battlerager Fighter
Human Avenger of Censure of Unity
Human Brutal Scoundrel Rogue with Rapier
Minotaur Wildblood Warden
My Leader PC

When all the current players attend a game.

As the Minotaur Warden covered wisdom-based skills (notably, good Nature and Perception), now the lack of Skill problem is not a big issue.

So now, my goal is to make a leader who can,

1. Attack at both in melee and range, and those attacks should aid other combatants (mainly melee combatants).
2. More than descent healing, as I am to be the only Leader and we may have 6+ PCs when all the current players attend in a game.
3. Can position well in the battlefield (either better Athletics skill modifier or other movement method).
4. Better not die soon.

So here is my current plan,

Human Cleric/Warlord Hybrid 4

Str 21, Con 13, Dex 08, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 10

AC: 24 (+2 level, +8 Armor, +2 Shield, +2 Enhancement)
Fort: 20 (+2 level, +1 Human, +5 Str, +1 Hybrid Warlord, +1 Enhancement)
Ref: 16 (+2 level, +1 Human, +2 Shield, +1 Enhancement)
Will: 17 (+2 level, +1 Human, +2 Wis, +1 Hybrid Cleric, +1 Enhancement)

HP: 40, Bloodied: 20, Surge Value: 10, Surge/Day: 8
Speed: 5
Initiative: +1

#Class Features
Healer's Lore
Healing Word (Hybrid)
Battlefront Leader
Inspiring Word (Hybrid)


# Trained Skills
Athletics +10
Heal +9
Nature +9
Religion +7

# Feats
Armored Warlord
Hybrid Talent (Channel Divinity: Healer's Mercy)
Mending Spirit
Spirit Talker

# Powers

# Class Feature Powers (including those gained from Multi-class feats)
Channel Divinity : Healer's Mercy
Healing Word (1/Encounter)
Inspiring Word (1/Encounter)
Battlefront Shift
Call Spirit Companion (Standard Action)
Spirit's Prey (Encounter)
Speak with Spirits (Daily)
Healing Spirit (1/Encounter)

# At-Will Attacks
Paint the Bull's Eye
Righteous Brand
Wolf Pack Tactics

# Encounter Attacks
L1: Race the Arrow
L3: Hammer of the Gods

# Daily Attack
L1: Shield of the Gods

# Utility
L2: Knight's Move

# Magic Items
+2 Distant Javelin
+2 Drakescale Armor
+1 Amulet of Protection

This time, I can buy slightly better magic items than usual L4 PC, as the PCs are now almost reaching L5.


I made him into a Hybrid Cleric/Warlord to gain High AC, good at-will melee weapon and ranged weapon powers, and Channel Divinity: Healer's Mercy (via Hybrid Talent Feat).

I have also added 2 shaman multi-class feats to allow him use Healing Spirit 1/Encounter. So, he can use 3 different minor action Healing powers per Encounter and Healer's Mercy. I hope this is enough to support the entire party.

Please give me optimizations and suggestions.

I am wondering if I should replace Wolf Pack Tactics into Direct the Strike, to have an at-will attack power which grants a free BA. All the other PCs have more than descent BA (even the Wizard has Magic Missile).

Other suggestions and ideas are welcomed.

 

[DEFCON 1]

My one question would be what's the character background that pulls together being a warlord, a cleric, and shaman all at the same time?

Granted, this has nothing to do with the crunch of your character (getting three Minor action heals and Healer's Mercy per encounter), but it does bring the question up in my mind. Now if your game has little to no non-combat situations or care about character background, then my question isn't/shouldn't be a concern at all and please feel free to ignore me. However, if there is meant to be background or story in your casual game... my question has a bit more weight. I know you made the character for the extra healing crunch... but it's also making the background more difficult to parse.