Forked Thread: TURTLEDOME!: Finnian

TwoHeadsBarking said:

That looks a little fragile for a melee combatant. I wonder if it would be worth it to drop your strength to 16 and put points into con and wis.

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I could do something like...

Str 16
Dex 16
Con 14 (+2 racial)
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 8 (+2 racial)

I was thinking the high dex would help with AC and ranged attacks, but I could drop this to 14 or lower as well and go STR/WIS instead of STR/DEX.

Lord Sessadore said:

Edit: I knew there was something else I wanted to say, and this is it. You don't need a high Dex for a good ranged attack, unless you really want to use a bow. Get yourself some javelins, or a different heavy thrown weapon, and then basic ranged attacks with them and Str based. Though I guess if you wanted to use Twin Strike ranged you need Dex, but that's a different story.

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This is an interesting idea. If I took weapons with reach and then placed the beast between me and the target, the target would have to attack the beast (drawing an OA from me w/ Beast Protector) or move past the beast to attack me, drawing a free OA from the beast. Would be hard to count on that too often, but it's got me thinking.

Hammers would fit the back story too. What's the deal in 4E, magic thrown weapons return automatically, but mundane thrown weapons take a round to recover?

Yeah, magic thrown weapons return automatically, but you have to go pick up mundane ones.

Something to note is that all the reach weapons are two-handed, which means you won't be able to use Twin Strike. Using Twin Strike in melee requires that you be wielding two melee weapons.

Actually, if you take the Spiked Chain Specialization feat from Dragon 372 (which hasn't been approved yet) then the spiked chain becomes a double weapon with reach.

The problem with reach is that you still need to be adjacent to an enemy to flank them, which sort of negates the whole purpose.

Building a melee beastmaster with a half-elf is a bit challenging, but here's my latest thought for a heavy thrown variant.

STR 18
CON 14
DEX 14
INT 10
WIS 12
CHA 10

Beast Protector (to get OA from the hawk's positioning)
Twin Strike (for two attacks)
Circling Strike (to move the beast companion to maintain flanking)
Wolf Pack Tactics (dilettante power, again for mobility)
Jaws of the Wolf (nova attack daily)
Off-Hand Strike (1 extra attack per encounter)

Warhammer (1d10+4)
Throwing Hammer (1d6+4)
Longbow
Leather Armor

Melee attack is pretty similar to a bastard sword, short sword combo but I can use strength for the throwing hammer if I need to and then switch my warhammer to 2-handed (until I get a magic throwing hammer that will return automatically). I gave up dex here to see if I loaded on strength if a thrown weapon build would offer a little more versatility in combat.

I'd like to stay mobile in combat and use the beast to maintain flanking and provoke OA with the hawk. Either force opponents to move past the hawk to provoke an OA from the hawk, or attack the hawk provoking an attack from the beast protector feat.