CharOp: Hybrid BM Ranger/Shaman, with dual MC's

[chorolus]

Hi everyone, I was wondering if any of you would be willing to rate my character and perhaps provide advice/feedback on ways to improve her design. Looking especially for Shaman players, since I'm still somewhat unfamiliar with Shamans play-stile and their higher-lvl Powers and feat combinations. And also I want to make sure that we are playing her correctly...lol.

Anyways, she's currently lvl 4. Here's a snapshot:

[sblock=Irena Darklyte]

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Irena, level 4
Human, Ranger|Shaman
Hybrid Ranger: Hybrid Ranger Reflex
Companion Spirit (Hybrid): Protector Spirit (Hybrid)
Hybrid Shaman: Hybrid Shaman Fortitude
Hybrid Talent: Ranger Fighting Style
Ranger Fighting Style: Beast Mastery (Hybrid)
Beast Companion Type: Lizard
Background: Windrise Ports, Occupation - Artisan (Windrise Ports Benefit)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 14, Dex 15, Int 8, Wis 20, Cha 10.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 14, Dex 14, Int 8, Wis 17, Cha 10.


AC: 17 Fort: 17 Reflex: 17 Will: 19
HP: 41 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 10

TRAINED SKILLS
Perception +12, Stealth +9, Nature +12, Endurance +9, Athletics +7

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +4, Arcana +1, Bluff +2, Diplomacy +2, Dungeoneering +7, Heal +7, History +1, Insight +7, Intimidate +2, Religion +1, Streetwise +2, Thievery +4

FEATS
Human: Ghostwalker Style
Level 1: Battle-Scarred Veteran
Level 2: Hybrid Talent
Level 4: Weapon Expertise (Axe)

POWERS
Bonus At-Will Power: Twin Strike
Hybrid at-will 1: Nimble Strike
Hybrid at-will 1: Protecting Strike
Hybrid encounter 1: Hindering Shot
Hybrid daily 1: Boar Assault
Hybrid utility 2: Pack Alertness
Hybrid encounter 3: Spirit of Slavering Bloodlust

ITEMS
Leather Armor, Distance Handaxe +1 (2)
RITUALS
Raise Beast Companion
[/sblock]

Her main stat is Wisdom to augment her healing/temporary HP features, though I'm debating if Dexterity would be better overall for the increased hit/dmg/AC. She's a support character, no doubt about it...so damage-per-round isn't her purpose in life...but it does help, lol.

In the next couple levels, we are going to take the Reaving Axe Student/Slayer feats which will allow her to knock enemies prone on a critical attack, and provoke Opportunity Attacks when they stand up again. Though that sounds like it might create ranged OA's, in a previous discussion it was decided that it only provokes OA's to those who are currently in melee range of the enemy in question. Even still, it's a nice feature to augment her allies damage as well as slow down foes. She will also be Multiclassing as a Swordmage to gain a Familiar for her 3rd pet, as well as for access to the Shielding Aegis for additional utility. With the Windrise Ports background, she can still choose an additional Multiclass feat...any suggestions?

We are also debating remaking her as a Longtooth Shifter, or other race, instead of a Human. The bonus At-Will power was the main perk to being a Human, so she could take both Twin Strike and Nimble Strike...but Nimble strike has been much more useful so far, and seems like it's going to remain being her best attack option. Adding a bit of extra damage, better stat bonuses, and the regeneration built-into being a Shifter seems to be a much better choice than being Human. Any other suggestions for other races that may work well with her class combo?

Now, I've got a couple questions about the gameplay of this character:

She has the Ghostwalker Style and Battle-Scarred Veteran feats to augment her shifty-ness while using Nimble Strike...now my understanding of the Synergy of those two feats is that she can shift 1-2 squares before her attack, and then shift an additional square after the attack--so that's a 3-square shift per round excluding her movement action, right? Or would the two feats stack with each other, allowing for a 2-square shift before AND after her attack? Also, are there any other feats that can further increase her mobility with Nimble Strike?

As for her Shaman-half...she has the Protector-Spirit, and as such gains the At-Will powers of Protecting Strike and Spirit's Shield, correct? Her Con is rather low, so Protecting Strike and its temp HP is pretty much useless...however Spirit's Shield looks real nice--basically whenever an enemy leaves a square adjacent to her Spirit without shifting, one ally within 5 squares of her Spirit gains HP equal to her Wisdom modifier(+5). This 'heal' effect doesn't consume healing surges and is 'real' HP right, not temporary HP? That effect seems a bit strong, but is rather situational...so unless an enemy is determined to chase her down, it probably won't happen more then a couple times per combat anyways...It could prove invaluable if she has to fight solo though. Does she have any other healing effects as a Shaman other then a handful of encounter/daily powers? We're also looking at giving her the Melora's Tide feat which would allow her to cast regen 2/4/6 on a bloodied ally or herself...but it keeps showing up as an illegal/house-ruled feat. Does she need to have a Divine-class Multiclass feat to qualify for it?

I think that's all my questions for now... I'm also trying to come up with a second character that would have good synergy with this one. My wife is playing this character, and I'm going to be playing the other. I'm thinking a Swordmage Hybrid, probably Shielding...no idea on what to Hybridize with as of yet though. Any suggestions so far as that character?

---edit---

Forgot to add a couple of other questions I had...

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Hmmm, I guess I'm not sure how effective you are going to be with ranger powers with a 10 and a 15 in its attack stats. 15 isn't terrible but its not great.

Personally I'm not sold on the Ranger|Shaman as an effective hybrid. Rangers can benefit from wisdom and constitution isn't a bad stat for some builds but the stat synergy overall is marginal at best. If it were me I'd concentrate entirely on 2 stats. Dex and Wis would be the logical choices with maybe Con as a tertiary or possibly Int. It seems like the character is going to be pretty much 100% missile weapon/ranged power focused. I wouldn't even bother with things like Axe feats and such as melee/heavy thrown stuff is all going to rely on Str and its inadvisable for a character as squishy as a shaman hybrid to get ANYWHERE near melee.

Given that you don't have a spirit boon my feeling would be the best sort of strategy with this type character would be use your SC as a blocker (and take the at-will that lets you OA with it). Use a bow, take a flying or similar BC that can let you HQ anywhere on the battlefield and use Twin Strike liberally, then concentrate on mobility enhancing powers, stuff that debilitates enemy movement (to keep them away from you) and maybe buffs/debuffs you can combine with archery.

The OA based beast master tricks sound cool in theory but I think they're not really a good basis for building a character's combat capability around. The DM always has the choice to provoke or not and any strategy that relies on the enemy to be stupid is bound to mediocrity.

Of course I haven't seen anyone play anything close to this build, so its hard to say how accurate my estimation is. It sounds like you're not totally married to a specific build, but character concept trumps mechanics IMHO so do what will be fun. As for race I think human isn't bad. The extra at-will can be REALLY handy for a character that has so many powers to choose. Razorclaw Shifter wouldn't be a bad choice either though, mobility and ideal stat boosts...

 

[chorolus]

I realize that having 15 instead of 20ish in Dex isn't optimal for damage, but we are trying to aim more for a support role for her, hence the Wis focus. More Dex would make her a lot less squishy though...although her Con seems pretty high as well, she gains temp HP bonuses from it by using Protecting Strike, and 13 Con is also required for the Battle-Scarred Vet feat.

You are right that she is pretty much a 100% ranged character, but her Axe feats and Ranged At-Wills work perfectly at range: Twin Strike and Nimble strike both ignore Str when attacking at range, so there really isn't any point for her to split her stats even more by getting any Str so far as I can tell. If she takes the Beast Protector feat or decides to take some Beast-attacking Powers Str might be handy, but thusfar her beast is pretty much just there to block and occasionally flank/make OA's.

With her high Wisdom, it is tempting to get Predator Strike and pair it with the Cruel Cut Style feat to give her pet quite a nasty bite...but we would have to drop Twin Strike or Nimble Strike to do that, and both have important roles in her tactics/damage. Though Nimble strike has been more effective so far, once she gets the Reaving Axe feats, Twin Strike will be much more attractive for the increased chance to crit on one of her attacks.

Although a Bow might make for more range, we are pretty much sold on using throwing axes. Her character 'fluff' explains that she tosses around Glave-like weapons (rather like the age-old movie Krull), but stat-wise they are basically Handaxes. And the main tactical reason for using axes is for the knock-down crit effect. A similar effect can be gained with any weapon by taking the Overwhelming Critical feat, but she would not create more OA's for her allies with that feat.

It is worth pointing out that if enemies stay prone for their turn, waiting for her to take her next turn first, they will not provoke OA's when they stand. However this will effectively keep them out of combat for twice the amount of time per crit...so whether or not the GM wants to allow OA's by standing ASAP or waiting an extra round before standing up again is still a good bonus either way. Another interesting feat-combo would be for her to take Grounding Shot and Headman's Chop to get a nice bonus to her damage while attacking Prone enemies...but she's already running out of room for feats as it is...

Also, I didn't point it out in my last post, but she does favor Distance-enchanted Handaxes, which essentially doubles her range with them to 10/20 instead of 5/10, which is comperable to many crossbows and other mid-ranged weapons.

So far as the Spirit Boon goes, I am still confused on how that class mechanic works. I noticed that it is a choice on the Character Builder, but I can't choose Beastmaster AND the Spirit Boon anyways...well unless she goes and takes the Hybrid PP. And we are still undecided on her PP.

We aren't exactly 'married' to her build though, as you said...I'm actually itching to switch her to a full melee/strikery focus and drop her pets to become a Str/Dex Warrior/Ranger hybrid instead, but so far she really likes the hit-and-run guerrilla-style combat. She has been quite good at healing allies in a pinch from time to time as well.

 

[chorolus]

Sorry for the double-post, but I have a question about her the 'Spirit's Shield' power, and wanted the question to not be buried at the bottom of that last post...

So my question is how to gain the Spirit's Shield At-Will. No matter what I do, this At-Will power is not printing out with her character... It is not available in her At-Will power listing as a Hybrid OR as a vanilla Shaman. Is this a bug in the Character Builder? Or does she have to take the Spirit Boon hybrid option to gain access to it?

Also, anyone have answers to my other questions above?

--edit--
Found Spirit's Shield with the 'show illegal elements' option in the Character Builder...it's under the Shaman At-Will powers, but not under the 'lvl 1' At-Will powers. I can't figure out why it is considered illegal...but it's in the same Power-classification of a Swordmages Aegis ability, which means that the character should come with it regardless, right?

 

[Mika]

Sorry for the double-post, but I have a question about her the 'Spirit's Shield' power, and wanted the question to not be buried at the bottom of that last post...

So my question is how to gain the Spirit's Shield At-Will. No matter what I do, this At-Will power is not printing out with her character... It is not available in her At-Will power listing as a Hybrid OR as a vanilla Shaman. Is this a bug in the Character Builder? Or does she have to take the Spirit Boon hybrid option to gain access to it?

Also, anyone have answers to my other questions above?

--edit--
Found Spirit's Shield with the 'show illegal elements' option in the Character Builder...it's under the Shaman At-Will powers, but not under the 'lvl 1' At-Will powers. I can't figure out why it is considered illegal...but it's in the same Power-classification of a Swordmages Aegis ability, which means that the character should come with it regardless, right?

No, at least for a hybrid shaman. A hybrid shaman has to that the "Spirit's Power" hybrid talent option to get that. A pure shaman should have that power if he takes the right companion spirit option.

 

[chorolus]

Ah, ok...got the Spirit's Shield power now. Was a Hybrid feature called 'Spirit's Power'. Thanks for pointing that out, I suppose her PP is now probably going to be the hybrid one to allow her to choose a Beastmaster pet as well as get the Shaman spirit healing ability.

Does anyone have suggestions/answers about my other questions?

 

[jbear]

Even if your wife is a 'support' character (I guess you mean neither leader nor striker but a bit of both...?), missing isn't fun. 15 is not optimal froma damage point of view, because you are going to continually miss. Especially as your weapon of choice is only +2 prof. bonus. +4 to hit at level 1. Cripes! Against a hobgoblin using phalanx soldier (very common in KotS, WoTC starting module) she'll need a 17 to hit! Ok, so the example is top range defensive soldier, but still...

My wife plays a shaman/ bow ranger hybrid and she is a totally effective striker, who almost never gets caught up in combat, messes the battle field up with her spirit companion, heals 1/encounter and has some nifty utility/daily powers that make her far more versatile than a normal ranger.

Yes, the Stat Synergy between a Shaman and a Ranger best lies with DEX/WIS.
Race wise, human is cool for the extra at will and feat ... but with some hybrids the stat synergy is closer (here you have no CON synergy which is important to you) so you feel the lack of a +2 in your other main stat.

Have you thought about Elf as a race: +2 DEX +2 WIS, 7 movement, Reroll a failed attack 1/encounter, Ignore Difficult terrain when you shift (difficult terrain just becam a real good place for you to spend some time in battle), +1 bonus to your allies perception checks. Not too shabby. If it's the 'elfness' that turns you away, reskin. Call it a shifter, or a human, take the elf stats!

I'm going to try and work with you here on the 'hand ax' concept. As a Shaman, you want to be far away where noone can hurt you... hand ax range is pretty close, just right where everyone can hurt you... and a d10 (or more with a feat) over a d6? I'm noone to argue with someones concept, so I'll so no more.

A Longtoothshifter might be nice to make the most of the options available with Throw and Stab. Throw your hand axe and close in with your Battle AX!!!! Muahahahaha! Ehem... sorry. But your defenses probably can't handle this option...
This is the down fall of many hybrid options. Then again you could scratch the itch and go tempest fighter/ranger hybrid (of course you are going to want to be a half-orc in that case! Hahahaha), which is a FANTASTIC combo and she could still be mobile with Throw and Stab and viscious with some mean marking skills with Dual Strike (plus there is a feat which makes it target REF... but all that keys off light blades... throwing daggers anyone?)

Have you considered a Shaman/Seeker? The main Stat gets total synergy, freeing you to have a higher CON and a lower DEX. A Dwarf suddenly doesn't seem too unattractive!!! Dwarven Weapon Training and Throwing Around Hand Axes.

Windrise Ports is probably a good background for a human, as you can make the most of the extra feat slot. Other races will find their slots quickly consumed, and many juicy feats waiting in line but with no slot left to fit. As for Multiclass feats, unfortunately they don't let you into the swordmage academy with an INT of 8... Actually with such low INT and CHA, arcane options are pretty much closed until MUCH later in the game. And Swordmage, for ever with a starting 8.

If you are looking for neat little options to have via feats, check out Vistani Heritage feat: Evil eye of the Vistani. Keys off WIS (perfect). Keep one big bad guy out of combat for a round 1/encounter. Sweet little piece of control there. Closest your going to get to having an arcane feel to your character I fear. But I get sidetracked...

Multiclass Options: Acolyte of the Veil [assassin]: Once per encounter teleport away from an enemy to a nearby ally (if you have to drop nimble step...) Plus Stealth (you are now the groups official scout with nature, perception and stealth) or Acro training. Shadow Initiate [assassin] is just straight bonus damage, which doesn't seem like your style. Which is pretty much the same as Sneak of Shadows [rogue] although that gives you Thievery (fun!)... Looking at the options, personally... I'd take a different background and just Multiclass once. Invoker is an option but you'll have to invest in an Invoker's implement for one encounter power...


As for combining Battle Scarred Veteran and Ghostwalker Style: Ghostwalker Style allows her to MOVE 2 before the attack,instead of shifting, not Shift 2. I don't know about combining them, maybe someone else can tell you. My instinct says one or the other applied. Personally I think with Battle scarred veteran it's enough, unless she is trying to hide; move out from hiding, attack and move back to hiding to gain CAdv. But you can probably manage this with shift 1, Atk, Shift 1 anyway.

Melora's Tide is a Channel Divinity feat. So only classes with the Channel Divinity class feature can get them. So cross that one out.


Yes, your Spirit gives you very nice control and invaluable surgeless healing. The control comes in the form of surgeless healing... your DM will want to avoid it, so is bound to nearly always shift when next to your spirit in order not to provoke the free healing (which is an effect and doesn't even require a hit!).

But why would she ever be fighting alone???? You are a team. I don't know your party make up, but this poor fragile close ranged rangershaman must never be left to fight alone. She needs a big hunking fighter to stand close to her and take all the hits. Imagine: Fighter marks creature going after your wife. If he moves away with a shift: the fighter hits him... if he runs away in fear: the fighter hits him and a free heal!

Hope some of this is useful. Good luck and have fun!

 

[chorolus]

Thank you for all the useful information there! And yeah, I suppose by calling her a 'support' character that I mean she would basically be a bit of leader/striker with a dabble of controller (mostly with her Ranger powers/feats to slow down enemies).

The Shaman/Ranger combo is getting harder to work with due to the way features aren't working together as well as anticipated though. For example, she can get a Ranger pet OR have a Shaman spirit that has the healing 'Opportunity Action' power...and without the heal option, her spirit seems largely useless except for the use as an extra blocker...though when we get to Paragon level, she can choose the Hybrid PP and be able to heal through her Shaman spirit as expected. She is also plagued with stat-splitting issues that leave her quite vulnerable if she does get hit by an attack though. And as you said, the close proximity required by using Handaxes makes her all the more vulnerable with such a weak AC...

Race-wise, if we vote to keep Nimble Strike for mobility and Twin Strike for damage/control, she would have to remain Human for the bonus At-Will... However, if she took the Beast Rider feat and has a flying pet she would be able to ride her pet while it is airborne? So could she then hover above the battlefield out of reach of melee enemies while Twin Striking everything in range? I'm unfamiliar with how flight mechanics work in 4E, but if she was able to remain out of melee range, we could drop Nimble Strike in favor of choosing a race that would fit her stat requirements better, and possibly even change her class combo to focus less on 'pets' as blockers. Is there any way to increase the size of her pet so that a Raptor-class pet would work (Raptors/birds are small size; medium size or larger is required to ride), or is the only option the Vidalis-bred Griffon?

I also forgot about the 13 Int and/or Cha requirement for Swordmage/other Arcane multiclass feats...that does make it a lot harder for her to gain a Familiar without totally gimping her starting stats...which are already marginally useless to begin with...

I agree with you on the Fighter/Ranger hybrid, it would make for a nasty combo. Tempest would be just plain mean in melee, and quite viable at range with Twin Strike if she's a Str/Dex focus, and with Handaxes she would get a +2 to damage and +1hit, since they are off-hand weapons, which would stack very nicely with Twin Strike...not to mention the Dwarven Weapon Training perks if we remake her as a dwarf named Stumpy (yes, the name would be mandatory ).

Battlerager also looks like it could be a pretty decent 'tank', though it would require her to focus on Con instead of (or in addition to) Dex.

Our whole DnD group missed the fact that Ghostwalker Style states 'move' action instead of 'shift' action. They seem to be missing a lot of small details like that lately, lol...but since I missed them before asking them, I guess I can't complain.

Although that extra mobility was the most attractive thing about Nimble strike with her build, I'm not sure if we will want to nix Nimble Strike just yet...it's still quite useful for keeping things away from her so long as they aren't already adjacent to her...but once again, if she gains the ability to fly by riding her pet then she may be able to drop Nimble Strike and its two feats, freeing up many more options that could be more useful.

So far as Melora's Tide, I did find a way to legally get it via feats...but we need to take two other feats to make it available: Disciple of Divine Wrath, an Avenger MC feat--which is QUITE nice in its own right, expecially so with Twin Strike -- it would let you roll your d20 twice per attack, right? Then she would get Divine Channeler, another Avenger MC-line feat which lets her get one of the Avenger channeling encounter powers and use it as a Daily power. Both feats are pretty decent to have anyways, but 3 feats to use a 2/4/6 regen on a bloodied ally once/combat is a pretty steep price to pay for someone who is already running out of feats, lol.

 

[chorolus]

I put together a Str/Dex Tempest Fighter/Ranger who uses a similar Handaxe tactic (+2 dmg, +1hit is a decent trade in dmg compared to a Double-Axe or similar weapon IMO...and it's a ranged weapon when you need it to be ^^). Still deciding whether to keep the previous class choices, but figured I'd see how the Tempest combo measured up:

[sblock=Tempest Fighter/Ranger]
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Irena, level 4
Longtooth Shifter, Ranger|Fighter
Hybrid Ranger: Hybrid Ranger Reflex
Hybrid Talent: Fighter Combat Talent
Fighter Combat Talent: Tempest Technique (Hybrid)
Background: Windrise Ports, Occupation - Artisan (Windrise Ports Benefit)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 20, Con 10, Dex 16, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 10.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 17, Con 10, Dex 15, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 10.


AC: 20 Fort: 19 Reflex: 18 Will: 15
HP: 38 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 9

TRAINED SKILLS
Stealth +9, Nature +9, Endurance +8, Athletics +13

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

FEATS
Level 1: Hybrid Talent
Level 2: Spirit Talker
Level 4: Weapon Expertise (Axe)

POWERS
Hybrid at-will 1: Twin Strike
Hybrid at-will 1: Weapon Master's Strike
Spirit Talker: Spirit's Shield
Hybrid encounter 1: Two-Fanged Strike
Hybrid daily 1: Villain's Menace
Hybrid utility 2: Pack Alertness
Hybrid encounter 3: Bull Charge

ITEMS
Distance Handaxe +1 (2), Hide Armor
RITUALS
Raise Beast Companion
[/sblock]

We could even take the Shaman MC feat which lets her summon a spirit with the Spirit's Shield power as an Encounter Power...if she insists on keeping her spirit around, that is...


So in comparison, I bumped some points from Wis to Dex in the Shaman/Ranger combo(20 in Dex now), but otherwise identical to the above snapshot(at lvl 4):

Twin Strike:

Shaman/Ranger:
(ranged) +11hit, 1d6+1 dmg

Fighter/Ranger:
(melee) +12, 1d6+3 dmg
(ranged) +10, 1d6+3 dmg

--Bonus +2 dmg and 2/4/6 regen when bloodied till end of combat (Longtooth Shifter racial)
--Bonus +1 hit and +2 dmg till end of combat, versus one enemy, from Villain's Menace 1/day
--Also has Weapon Master's Strike as Fighter At-Will, which can be used to switch her weapons if necessary while still getting an attack in

So all-in-all, if we focus on Dex as a main stat with the ranged version, her damage is actually fairly comparable if she focuses on Twin Strike, at least at this level. On average, she would get +4 dmg per round as a Tempest Fighter. She would have the option of using Villain's Menace on tougher enemies though, and I just love the Longtooth Shifters +damage/regen features...perhaps a little too much... If she goes Dex > Wis as the Shaman build, her healing features will be largely pointless though until she gains a few more lvls to put additional points in Wisdom. It's too bad she wouldn't be able to dual-wield Khopesh as a Tempest Fighter/Ranger...well then again, I suppose she could pick up Two-Weapon Fighting with the Hybrid PP and then do just that... She would really start shining with twin Khopesh at that point with the Deadly Axe, Heavy Blade Opportunity, and 19-20 crit feats opened up...


---edit---

So I talked with the wifey about her options, and at the moment, she is leaning more toward sticking with a Dex-heavy version of the Beastmaster Ranger hybrid, but we are debating replacing her Shaman half with another class since her Shaman spirit seems to be nearly useless without its Opportunity Action feature (and we are leaning toward getting her the Vadalis Griffonmaster PP instead of the Hybrid PP; see below). Avenger, Seeker, Invoker or Druid all look attractive...but I'm not sure which class(es) would work the best with her updated combat style(see below again). Seeker seems to have the best synergy with her ranged abilities...opinions, please?

So at low-lvl, she is going to use a Longbow and stick with Nimble Strike and related feats until she gets around lvl 8-9, at which point she'll start hunting for a good pair of enchanted Handaxes (preferably Distance-enchanted ones to extend her gimpy range) and she will trade Nimble Strike for Twin Strike then start swapping out the Nimble Strike feats for the Reaving Axe ones as well as getting the Beast Rider and Mark of Handling feats to open up the Vadalis Griffonmaster PP. The goal will be to switch over to 'Axe-mode' at around lvl 11 when she can choose her Paragon, the Vadalis Griffonmaster, and be able to fly around above the battle on her new Griffon Beastmaster pet. We are also both leaning more toward the Longtooth Shifter as her race, even though the +2 Str wouldn't be the most helpful bonus, the regen would be extremely handy as when she gets bloodied she can go duck behind a 'pet' for a few rounds. As per the description of the Longtooth racial, it seems like she would gain her regeneration every time she is bloodied for the duration of the combat...is that interpretation correct?

Any thoughts on that new line of progression with her character? Still one undecided feat, and numerous undecided powers...but this is what she should look like at lvl 11:

[sblock=Griffonriding lvl 11 snapshot]
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Irena, level 11
Longtooth Shifter, Ranger|Shaman, Vadalis Griffonmaster
Hybrid Ranger: Hybrid Ranger Fortitude
Hybrid Talent: Ranger Fighting Style
Ranger Fighting Style: Beast Mastery (Hybrid)
Companion Spirit (Hybrid): Protector Spirit (Hybrid)
Hybrid Shaman: Hybrid Shaman Will
Beast Companion Type: Vadalis-bred Griffon
Background: Windrise Ports, Occupation - Artisan (Windrise Ports Benefit)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 13, Con 14, Dex 20, Int 14, Wis 18, Cha 10.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 13, Dex 17, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 9.


AC: 25 Fort: 20 Reflex: 20 Will: 22
HP: 76 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 19

TRAINED SKILLS
Stealth +14, Nature +14, Endurance +13, Athletics +14

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +9, Arcana +7, Bluff +5, Diplomacy +5, Dungeoneering +9, Heal +9, History +7, Insight +9, Intimidate +5, Perception +9, Religion +7, Streetwise +5, Thievery +9

FEATS
Level 1: Hybrid Talent
Level 2: Reaving Axe Student
Level 4: Reaving Axe Slayer
Level 6: Weapon Expertise (Axe)
Level 10: Beast Rider
Level 11: Mark of Handling

POWERS
Hybrid at-will 1: Twin Strike
Hybrid at-will 1: Claws of the Eagle
Hybrid encounter 1: Two-Fanged Strike
Hybrid daily 1: Boar Assault
Hybrid utility 2: Pack Alertness

ITEMS
Distance Handaxe +1 (2), Hide Armor
RITUALS
Raise Beast Companion
[/sblock]

Also...as a side note, I discovered the Rapid Regeneration feat(21st lvl, adds Constitution modifier to any regeneration you gain), and I immediately started drooling uncontrollably. Maybe I'll put together a Longtooth Shifter who's heavy on Constitution as my character...a Battlerager Fighter or similar Hybrid perhaps...or maybe even a Shielding Swordmage, though the racial stat bonuses would be lost on him...I dunno if this game will make it all the way to lvl 21, but I can hope!

 

[chorolus]

Bump...

Anyone have any suggestions/etc? I still have a few questions unanswered