The great census of L4W

Yeah, it seems a little odd, warforged are not a natural thematic fit for primal classes in my opinion, but I guess their bonuses work out pretty well. They are great for warden and barbarian, okay for druid and shaman. Goliath has the same stat bonuses and seem like a more natural fit. Not that there's anything wrong with primal warforged... people like to play against type too, I suppose.

When I ever get to make a second character it will be a druid. Most likely human though, so I won't be helping balance out the race mix.

Lord Sessadore said:

Ooh, yes, you're right. I thought it strange that you'd forget about Heinrich, anyways

On another note, I believe the assault swordmage is Miranna Stormsong, in the Jade Frontier.

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That she is good sir! A most formidable swordmage whose abilities will be stress tested by my adventure!

Already my players are cursing the Jade Frontier and it's demon infested environs! Oh the joys of being a DM!

I absolutely LOVE the Swordmage who uses the Aegis of Shielding. In fact... in non-PbP games, I'm using 2 of them (two seperate games of course). One is a Dwarf with 20 Con (he's only 3rd level). Being able to stare into an enemies eyes and say "Don't waste you're time hitting my friends"... only to have the DM attack an ally anyways, and then completely negate his attack because the damage was less than 10 damage (yes... 5 con mod +5... truly an awesome defense!), not to mention the 40 HP (with toughness mind you) at 1st level was nice!

All of that asside... I just do NOT understand the Assault and Ensnarement builds.

Assault: Why in the world would I want the ability to do a basic attack against an enemy AFTER he hit and damaged my friends... It's not an immediate interupt, so it's not like you're preventing any damage from happening... you're just getting revenge after the fact (which might prevent further damage if you kill it, but still).

Ensnarement: Okay... teleporting an enemy to YOU is kinda cool, but it still doesn't prevent any damage before you do so. You don't even get a free attack against the bastage that you teleported to you. The combat advantage is a nice addition after the teleport, but that's just extra goodies for your strikers. It doesn't make you any better at keeping your allies alive.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I think I'll stick with my Aegis of Shielding...

Kalidrev said:

I absolutely LOVE the Swordmage who uses the Aegis of Shielding. In fact... in non-PbP games, I'm using 2 of them (two seperate games of course). One is a Dwarf with 20 Con (he's only 3rd level). Being able to stare into an enemies eyes and say "Don't waste you're time hitting my friends"... only to have the DM attack an ally anyways, and then completely negate his attack because the damage was less than 10 damage (yes... 5 con mod +5... truly an awesome defense!), not to mention the 40 HP (with toughness mind you) at 1st level was nice!

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Yes, ditto. Although I tend to have my Swordmage run away from whoever's Aegised. So it's not "Attack me or attack them at -2 to hit and -8 damage", but instead "Come over here to attack me, drawing AoO's and having to traverse the wizard's zones/conjurations/stuff, or attack them at -2 to hit and -8 damage."

Kalidrev said:

All of that asside... I just do NOT understand the Assault and Ensnarement builds.

Assault: Why in the world would I want the ability to do a basic attack against an enemy AFTER he hit and damaged my friends... It's not an immediate interupt, so it's not like you're preventing any damage from happening... you're just getting revenge after the fact (which might prevent further damage if you kill it, but still).

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Because it's cool. Teleporting around attacking guys is just cool. I think shoving -8 damage (or more) down an opponent's throat is also cool, but I can certainly understand the appeal.

Kalidrev said:

Ensnarement: Okay... teleporting an enemy to YOU is kinda cool, but it still doesn't prevent any damage before you do so. You don't even get a free attack against the bastage that you teleported to you. The combat advantage is a nice addition after the teleport, but that's just extra goodies for your strikers. It doesn't make you any better at keeping your allies alive.

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Have you seen the feats that enhace Ensnarement? Ok, they get their attack, and then they're hosed. Slowed (later immobolized) and you get +5 damage against them.

Kalidrev said:

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I think I'll stick with my Aegis of Shielding...

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I've only played a Shielding Swordmage, but I DMed for an Assault one. He used the Feytouched Warlock PP to get Slashing Wake (deal Int mod damage to all adjacent enemies when you teleport) and then chose all the teleporting powers he could. He wasn't as effect of tank as the fighter in the group, but he was able to pop around to behind the enemies' lines, kill minions with move actions, and harass the casters, and then either drag his marked target around with him, or teleport back to where he was needed the most.

I do prefer the Shielding to the other two (obviously), and I think it is the "stronger" choice. But popping back and forth or yanking guys around is fun.

TwoHeadsBarking said:

Yes, ditto. Although I tend to have my Swordmage run away from whoever's Aegised. So it's not "Attack me or attack them at -2 to hit and -8 damage", but instead "Come over here to attack me, drawing AoO's and having to traverse the wizard's zones/conjurations/stuff, or attack them at -2 to hit and -8 damage."

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That is an absolutely awesome tactic. If my group weren't always (for some odd reason) stuck in some rather narrow confines (picture a 5 by 5 area filled with enemies leaving just enough room for the 5 allies with say... 2 or 3 empty spaces...

Because of this, my dwarf has taken a few of the more interesting powers that allow him to teleport an enemy somewhere else juuuust as he's about to attack one of my buddies... and I get to place him where I want. Does it make me a complete A**H**** that I tend to place the badguy where he's flanking an enemy with another of my allies? I tend to think it makes me awesome ^_^.

So far, I think the shielding swordmage has been my favorite defending class, though Crag (in all his lvl 1 glory) is impressing the hell outta me with his resilience (too bad all his attacks have been missing *pout*)