Anyone have a concept for a Divine striker or controller?

[Mal Malenkirk]

Monks with their focus on chi and 'mind over body' schtick aren't very Divine, despite their name.

For a divine striker I'd go with a name like Holy Avenger. Crusader, as mentioned, is also quite good.

I'd go with a lot of fanaticism inspired power, various forms of good old smiting and many powers that daze, stun or scare.

 

[Quickleaf]

yeah, i always thought a mystic or prophet would be a good counterpoint to the cleric.

While the cleric represents the church, a mustic or prophet would be a more moses-like figure, in a simple robe, robe belt, waving a staff around and screwing with the status quo. There could even be a fair bit of animosity with them, with clerics seeing mystics as iconoclasts and zealots, while mystics see clerics as officious and dogmatic.

I think a prophet or mystic would work well as a divine controller.

Seconded. This is a great idea! I think there's a lot of potential for "revolutionary"/"heretical" powers. With what we know of the druid's weather magic, however, it would take some work to distinguish the mystic from the druid.

For a Divine Striker I like the "Justicar", an agent of the temple/church who is sent out to right wrongs done against their faith, relying on powers that immobilize enemy's with divine command words, deal extra damage against favored foes of the faith, can mark a particular quarry with an impending sense of dread, and take advantage of a criminal's guilty conscience. Outside of combat, the Justicar is an investigator, infiltrator, and exorcist.
The Justicar fulfills the roles of inquisitor & holy slayer, while having a niche separate from the paladin.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Hey, not bad at all. It sounds like a good character concept, but aside from supernatural-prescience letting him dodge blows however, what other specific class traits might set this class apart from just a reflavored Artful Dodger Rogues however?

I imagine things almost similar to the Weirding Way from Dune. Seemingly teleporting between two points, though it is actually the god having so much control over one's muscles and body that they react faster then possible. Also with this muscle control being able to strike harder and more accurately then normally possible.

You could also push the whole seeing slightly into the future, so there could be non-combat powers that gives you bonuses to a future DC-check, or the DM gives a clue, etc.

If you really wanted to go over the top, the Guided Hand could begin to physically become altered, thanks to more and more of himself being given over to his god. So both cosmetic and mechanical alterations.

It is more a concept then a fully fledged out class, but that is where I could see it going.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

Divine Striker = Monk. Through ascetism and intense devotion, the monk nurtures the divine spark within his soul or comes to understand the nature of the Astral realms. His body becomes suffused with divine energy, bestowing strength of body and enabling quick movement. I can imagine every god having their own unique orders of Monks - silent assassins for the Raven Queen, savage mendicants for Gruumsh, honorable and proud warriors of Bahamut, and so on.

Divine Controller = Oracle. Bestowed with supernatural insight by a god, the Oracle uses foreknowledge and divine authority to hamper foes on the battlefield. Admittedly, I don't have a strong concept for this one, but I do like the sound of Oracle of Vecna.

 

[small pumpkin man]

I'm starting to really not like the idea of monk as a Divine Striker, then again I have never been a fan on monks. But I while I vaguely like the idea of a monk as an actual martial pugilist, and as a psionic "user of the power within", I don't think monk works at all within the Knights Templar style Divine Power source, I feel the WitchHunter Archetype works much better.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

WitchHunter/Exorcist/Inquisitor -
Major Inspiration: Wuxia style exorcists and Solomon Kane
Role: Striker - Hit em with massive swords, flame, and condition bestowing divine edicts. Move with total disregard for your own safety and get loads of tracking effects for running people and demons down.

Holy Slayer/Hassashin
Major Inspiration: Should be obvious
Role: Striker - High damage from righteous strikes and high movement from extraordinary disguise skills and/or a sort of target frenzy where the character gets additional defenses for moving straight at his target.

Hierophant/Chorister
Major Inspiration: Singing battle priests, angel summoning prophets, cursing Greek priests
Role: Controller - Area Effects from basic sung prayers and lots of status granting area effects from holy presence and the curses and imprecations of the god. Also a major emphasis on summoning angels and celestials.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Yeah actually a Witch Hunter class could make a good Divine Striker too.

Though, I can't see it being D&D-monkish. (I am also still hoping the monk will have a ordinary brawler variant and no ki or anything, just good old eye-gouging, head cracking goodness).

I would like to see a Witch Hunter as a opportunistic hunter, with lots of options on the table with how to take down a foe. He is the type of guy you see ridding into town, with a broadsword on his back, a light crossbow by his side, three demon heads strapped too his saddle and his old, scarred rottweiller running along beside his horse.

I could see his Divine-side coming through less through worship/communing with a god. But something almost inbred, like a Divine-mission to hunt down betrayers and enemies of the god that prior-to-birth gave an interest with him.

Perhaps, he also gains various artifacts or tokens from the church that follows his god that also deals out divine-magic.

 

[Celebrim]

It was this sort of mechanical invention for mechanical diversities sake that eventually made 3.X so cumbersome and unbalanced. It seems to me that you ought to start from the concept and work to the mechanics, rather than start from the mechanics and work to the concept. The mechanics are arbitrary. You don't need eight mechanical variations on the same concept.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

It was this sort of mechanical invention for mechanical diversities sake that eventually made 3.X so cumbersome and unbalanced. It seems to me that you ought to start from the concept and work to the mechanics, rather than start from the mechanics and work to the concept. The mechanics are arbitrary. You don't need eight mechanical variations on the same concept.

Oh definitely and I hope WoTC doesn't follow what we are currently doing. But come on, it is fun

 

[Surgoshan]

Yeah, Celebrim, that's why the core only has two defenders, three strikers, two leaders, and one controller; because they admirably fill the requisite roles and strike a balance between tradition (in name, mostly) and innovation. The diversity that will come out in later books will be mostly for people who really want the differing flavors that they'll develop for those mechanics.

Edit: I'd like to say that I don't intend that to come off snarky or anything. What I mean is that WotC has (wisely) limited the amount they're putting out because putting out too much too soon would be bad. However, the demand, as evidenced by this thread, for depth and diversity is out there. And that depth and diversity will have to be mechanically interesting if the classes are going to be something other than "the monk == the thief, but with a 'divine' label slapped on".