Best of the Best - Iconic Defender.

[Kzach]

Hrm, I had thought there was a charop forum here at ENW but apparently not. So I guess this is the next best place for these threads.

These aren't the choices I would've made, nor are they the choices I would've guessed would win, but then that's the beauty of polls. The people have spoken, and the winners are:

• Dwarven Guardian Fighter as Defender.
• Deva Control Wizard as Controller.
• Eladrin Tactical Warlord as Leader.
• Half-orc Two-weapon Fighter Ranger as Striker.

I wasn't sure how to go about this and I'm sure I'll get criticism whichever way I do it, so I figured I'd just dive right in and go from there. The idea here is that I present the characters at 1st-level as I see them, and then everyone can chime in to correct and alter things until a majority agree on a final version.

At least, that's the IDEA. We'll see how it actually plays out

The first out of the gate is the Dwarven Guardian Fighter. Since it'd be an exercise in frustration and futility to choose a community approved name, I'm going to go ahead and engrave their names in stone for posterity and, quite frankly, to hasten the process.

Thus I present to you the first draft of Thorin Steelbrow!

Thorin Steelbrow, level 1
Dwarf, Fighter
Build: Guardian Fighter
Fighter Talents: One-handed Weapon Talent
Background: Geography - Mountains (+2 to Dungeoneering)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 15, Dex 10, Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 8.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 13, Dex 10, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 8.


AC: 19 Fort: 16 Reflex: 12 Will: 12
HP: 35 Surges: 11 Surge Value: 8

TRAINED SKILLS
Heal +7, Endurance +7, Athletics +7

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics -2, Arcana, Bluff -1, Diplomacy -1, Dungeoneering +6, History, Insight +2, Intimidate -1, Nature +2, Perception +2, Religion, Stealth -2, Streetwise -1, Thievery -2

FEATS
Level 1: Toughness

POWERS
Fighter at-will 1: Cleave
Fighter at-will 1: Tide of Iron
Fighter encounter 1: Passing Attack
Fighter daily 1: Lasting Threat

ITEMS
Heavy Shield, Scale Armor, Warhammer, Adventurer's Kit, Throwing hammer (3)

 

[Kzach]

My reasoning for the choices I made follows:

Background: I figured an iconic dwarf should be good at Dungeoneering. Having said that, I like to focus-fire for maximum effect, so if I was making this character for myself, I probably would've gone with Athletics or Endurance.

Ability Scores: I'm not a great believer in having a high wisdom for a fighter. I don't see the point. I feel he gets greater benefit out of a high Con. As a defender I think plate armour and toughness are absolute must haves, so 15 Con was a requisite, and and it's just more economical to go 15 Con and 15 Wis for long-term benefit.

Feat: Toughness for me wins as the first feat because it increases survivability both from having a higher hit point pool but also from better healing surges.

Equipment: until he takes Dwarven Weapon Training, which IMO should be his third feat after Plate, it doesn't really matter if he goes warhammer or battle axe. Technically I suppose he should go longsword, but dammit if I can't bring myself to equip it on a dwarf

Powers: I actually ignored Crushing Surge because I had thought he'd get temp hit points from the taclord but after reviewing the taclord that doesn't seem to be the case. I still think Cleave is probably more useful. Not sure which I'd go for over Cleave, Crushing Surge and Tide of Iron, but I do think those three are the top choices.

 

[keterys]

Hmm, I think I'd advise Dwarven Weapon Training over Toughness. I'd also lean towards Footwork Lure over Cleave - one key strength of the dwarven fighter is he's difficult to move around, so him being able to position enemies while not letting them unposition him seems a good choice.

Personally, I have trouble putting 18 into a stat. Especially since you can leverage Con for invigorating powers and Hammer Rhythm, Wis for opp attacks, Will defense, _and_ combat challenge attack and damage as a dwarf (feated)...

For the true bit of cheese, multiclass paladin of Moradin by picking up the de-conditioning Virtue power as well as some useful skill, and at paragon pick up Honored Challenge I think it is, where he'll get Wis temp hp every time he's hit.

 

[Mengu]

There is definitely more than one way to skin this cat. If I wanted to go for the durability route, I would start with something like this:

[sblock]
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
level 1
Dwarf, Fighter
Build: Guardian Fighter
Fighter Talents: One-handed Weapon Talent
Background: Akanûl (Akanûl Benefit)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 17, Con 18, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 10.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 17, Con 16, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 11, Cha 10.


AC: 20 Fort: 16 Reflex: 12 Will: 11
HP: 33 Surges: 13 Surge Value: 8

TRAINED SKILLS
Streetwise +5, Endurance +7, Athletics +4

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics -4, Arcana -1, Bluff, Diplomacy, Dungeoneering +3, Heal +1, History -1, Insight +1, Intimidate, Nature +1, Perception +1, Religion -1, Stealth -4, Thievery -4

FEATS
Level 1: Armor Proficiency (Plate)

POWERS
Fighter at-will 1: Crushing Surge
Fighter at-will 1: Tide of Iron
Fighter encounter 1: Passing Attack
Fighter daily 1: Comeback Strike

ITEMS
Plate Armor, Longsword, Javelin (2), Heavy Shield, Adventurer's Kit
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======
[/sblock]

Akanul background gives a few good resistances, crushing surge is a good chunk of temporary hit points, landing it once per encounter is almost as good as toughness (not to mention we already start with 3 extra hit points due to 18 con). Using a sword with 17 strength makes attack bonus as good as using axe with 18 strength (damage suffers quite a bit, but that's hardly the point). NAD's are going to be terrible, but again, that's not the direction we're going with this. I would grab expertise next, followed by whatever floats your boat after that, toughness, potent challenge, shield defense, disciple of divine wrath, student of battle, would be some options I'd consider. Power choices will be all geared for greater durability, powers that let us regenerate or reliably spend healing surges.

Here is another way to skin this cat... err dwarf.

[sblock]
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
level 1
Dwarf, Fighter
Build: Guardian Fighter
Fighter Talents: One-handed Weapon Talent
Background: Windrise Ports (Windrise Ports Benefit)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 16, Dex 14, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 10.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 14, Dex 14, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 10.


AC: 19 Fort: 15 Reflex: 14 Will: 12
HP: 31 Surges: 12 Surge Value: 7

TRAINED SKILLS
Streetwise +5, Endurance +8, Athletics +6

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics, Arcana -1, Bluff, Diplomacy, Dungeoneering +4, Heal +2, History -1, Insight +2, Intimidate, Nature +2, Perception +2, Religion -1, Stealth, Thievery

FEATS
Level 1: Dwarven Weapon Training

POWERS
Fighter at-will 1: Brash Strike
Fighter at-will 1: Tide of Iron
Fighter encounter 1: Shield Bash
Fighter daily 1: Lasting Threat

ITEMS
Waraxe, Heavy Shield, Scale Armor, Handaxe (2)
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======
[/sblock]

The objective with this one is to present ourselves as a credible threat and a target. With this one, we balance the act of offense and defense. While multi-marking is great, we're not accurate enough for passing attack, so we go for Shield Bash, it's Str+2 vs Reflex, and will serve us well through mid to high heroic levels. Expertise pretty much has to be the next feat. After that we alternate defense and offense, Toughness, Hero of Faith, Martial Freedom, Berserker's Fury might cover the heroic levels (there are lots of options). For powers, we go for a balance between offense (multi-attack/multi-mark powers), and defense (regeneration utilities and defensive stances). Anything that attacks reflex or fortitude, or gives attack bonuses is good because we are two points shy on attacks (using +2 proficiency weapon, and starting with 16 stat). Sweeping Blow for instance is a perfect power with a bit of an attack bonus and multiple attacks.

There are hardly any bad options when playing a dwarf fighter. They are good at every single fighter build, Tempests with Urgosh have great control and decent striking, Battlerager super tanks in plate and shield can last forever especially with Dreadnought PP, Brash striking greatweapon Kensei's with execution axes can be strikers in plate mail. There are so many options and saving graces that it's pretty difficult to muck up a dwarf fighter build.

 

[Nifft]

Dwarf Fighter is one of the few characters that IMHO can get away with a 16 (post-racial) in his primary attack stat.

Why? Because his powers are Reliable, and he gets an extra Standard action every combat thanks to his Minor action second wind. So even if he misses with his Daily, he can just do it again next round.

His bonus to Wisdom helps compensate, too, since his OAs ought to hit as frequently as someone else with an 18 Strength.

Cheers, -- N