Missing Archetype - Martial two-hander wielding striker?

[jkohlhepp]

I'm starting up a new campaign and one of the guys in my group has a character concept in mind for a warforged fighter-type that wields a massive two-handed greatsword and does mega damage.

He initially built the character as a fighter but since fighter is designed to be a defender and not a striker I'm trying to come up with other ways to build out the concept. I suggested barbarian but this character is supposed to be more martial and less primal.

Any advice? Can he get away with rolling this up as a fighter, or will he always be gimped in damage compared to the "pure" strikers? Can ranger or rogue be built out to use two-handers effectively with the right feats or what-not? Should we just ignore the flavor mismatch of the barbarian and use that?

Thanks for the help,

~ Justin

 

[BRichter]

Brilliant Players

I'm starting up a new campaign and one of the guys in my group has a character concept in mind for a warforged fighter-type that wields a massive two-handed greatsword and does mega damage.

He initially built the character as a fighter but since fighter is designed to be a defender and not a striker I'm trying to come up with other ways to build out the concept. I suggested barbarian but this character is supposed to be more martial and less primal.

Any advice? Can he get away with rolling this up as a fighter, or will he always be gimped in damage compared to the "pure" strikers? Can ranger or rogue be built out to use two-handers effectively with the right feats or what-not? Should we just ignore the flavor mismatch of the barbarian and use that?

Thanks for the help,

~ Justin

Well, speaking from experience, when you have a player as brilliant and insightful as the one you are lucky enough to have gracing your world with his presence, I think, personally, you should give him striker capabilities as a fighter *and* a Magic Sword for the pleasure of his company.

Just sayyin'.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I think there was a Dragon article a while back on two-handed weapon fighters, but I don't do DDI, so I am not sure.

Fighters are already a bit on the striker side of defender anyway, but they cannot match the barbarian for sheer damage.

If you want a fighter that does 'mega' damage, then choose powers that have high [W] damage, instead of powers with low [w] damage, but other effects. Multi into Barbarian for more abilities, especially the Devastating Strike at level 11 (Paragon Multiclassing)

If the player still does not want to go even barbarian multiclassing, then the damage will just be lower.

 

[Nifft]

Yep, ignore the suggested flavor and use the best mechanics for the job: Barbarian.

You can re-flavor some of the flashier powers to be Warforged-specific thingamabobs... or, he can just take less flashy (but equally awesome) powers. The Barbarian has plenty of powers that don't look very magical.

That said, there's nothing wrong with a two-handed weapon Fighter. It was a little behind the power curve, but the Invigorating powers and Battlerager benefit goes a long way to fixing this, particularly for a Warforged with his +Str/+Con package.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Holy Bovine]

Yep, ignore the suggested flavor and use the best mechanics for the job: Barbarian.

You can re-flavor some of the flashier powers to be Warforged-specific thingamabobs... or, he can just take less flashy (but equally awesome) powers. The Barbarian has plenty of powers that don't look very magical.

That said, there's nothing wrong with a two-handed weapon Fighter. It was a little behind the power curve, but the Invigorating powers and Battlerager benefit goes a long way to fixing this, particularly for a Warforged with his +Str/+Con package.

Cheers, -- N

I agree with Nifft. The Barbarian maybe primal sourced but has lots of powers that have little do with their primal nature. Heck even some of them (especially fire or cold based) you could work into the warforged's nature (he's got built in magma vents! He was cold forged on an anvil made of ice! etc).

 

[RigaMortus2]

Well, speaking from experience, when you have a player as brilliant and insightful as the one you are lucky enough to have gracing your world with his presence, I think, personally, you should give him striker capabilities as a fighter *and* a Magic Sword for the pleasure of his company.

Just sayyin'.

Not sure this type of response was called for, especially for someone asking for advice on these boards.

Just sayyin'.

Should we just ignore the flavor mismatch of the barbarian and use that?

Thanks for the help,

~ Justin

This is the route I would take. What he is looking for is basically the Barbarian. Make the flavor changes as needed.

 

[jkohlhepp]

Not sure this type of response was called for, especially for someone asking for advice on these boards.

I have a sneaking suspicion that that post was made by the player in question...

Thanks for all help guys looks like a reskinned Barbarian is the way to go.

~ Justin

 

[mneme]

FWIW, while the Barbarian is the right answer -- as power source really isn't that important and it's trivial to re-flavor the -right- class (in this case, clearly Barbarian's two-handed weapon strikeryness) -- the fighter isn't -that- far behind.

Barbarians have, over all, more features that grant them extra attacks (rampage, etc), do more damage on their at wills, and have much stronger damaging dailies than fighters.

That said, fighters -do- have builds that do a fair amount of damage you're willing to take a little pain (which, lets face it, is what barbarians are all about) -- starting with brash strike for a nice str+2 attack that does W+str+con damage, and moving into (for a safer option) reaping strike (which does really good damage if you take the miss damage with a two handed weapon into account). Or maybe wicked strike for a secondary option, using it with a wisdom bonus on oppy attacks and thus getting the good damage while offsetting the two-hit penalty. The Greatweapon fighter -is- a secondary striker, after all.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The greatweapon fighter should dothis job. As does the warforged battlerager with the Executioner axe.

I have a warforged battlerager in my group and he usually does more damage than the warlock. And he doesn´t even use reaping strike or brash strike...

 

[Destil]

Fighters are easily among if not the highest damage dealing non-striker in the game (aside from possibly wizards, if looking for total damage with area attacks). If he picks feats and powers for offense he'll do just fine.