Recent content by striatic

that's a poor example. a very specific monster and specifically a critical hit condition. obviously the Battlemind is going to be much better in that situation, mostly because the Balor is huge and staying adjacent for Mind Spiking should be really easy [assuming everyone has fire resistance]...

except there's no guarantee that you will hurt the foe. a fighter still has to hit with their OA. if a monster has a high AC, the DM has a choice to make, and the risk of getting hit by the OA may be rather low. many monsters also have movement modes that make OAs impossible, like teleportation...

point taken, but at low epic a Shielding Swordmage will be preventing 26 or 27 damage, not 22. you need to factor in the Greater Aegis of Shielding feat, which adds +5 to the damage reduction. there's also the Rapid Aegis Reaction feat, which allows you to use your Swordmage immediate...

In my experience? Having the damage prevent gets way more attention. Monsters have lots of HP, and when you start hitting them it doesn't necessarily draw their attention unless you're dealing *the most* damage. And even if you're hitting them hard, they're still able to operate. Whereas...

that's true. i guess i'm just used to playing with a certain dwarf who has never been as feat starved as my Swordmage, and so has Toughness in addition to the Dreadnought Paragon Path. Because i'm always a full 20HP lower than her my perception is rather distorted. I'll still maintain that the...

Mengu is right. The power of a [shielding] Swordmage is highly dependent on player experience. Unlike a fighter, whose tactics are mostly about the most effective way to get into an enemy's face, a Swordmage must be prepared to adopt radically different tactics in order to be effective in...