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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ourchair" data-source="post: 5240466" data-attributes="member: 85362">I've been playing 4E for nearly a year now, and I almost always play a defender. I've dabbled as a wizard before, but mostly in a context where mechanics and combat took a back seat to storytelling and the usage of feats and skill-based problem solving.Now I'm looking to build a warforged artificer as part of a character concept of a non-corporeal intelligence housed in a metal suit, who lost his body after performing a horrible ritual that loosed great evil upon the world. The thing is, I don't know how to go about building these things. I'm the guy who builds a Lvl 3 Dragonborn Fighter with a +11 base attack hit, so I keep thinking I must be doing something wrong when a Lvl 5 controller/leader has a +7 to +8 to hit.Am I doing something wrong, or do controllers/leaders have naturally lower attack rolls to compensate for the AoE firepower of the former and the buffing power of the latter? Is an artificer with a melee orienation wielding a fullblade implement  a feasible concept? Are battlemind/artificers spread too thin ability score-wise?All these questions stem from the fact that I like to play characters who take a beating but I want to be able to reflect the character concept ("I cast a ritual once and it shot me in the face. Oh and I'm 500 years old.") in a mechanical way without compromising his optimization.</blockquote>