Dark Sun Mul Warlord Templar help...

[FreeXenon]

As the title says I am playing a Mul Warlord Templar in a Dark Sun Campaign as the group's sole full leader, and I am curious for some character optimization and/or feedback.

Incidentally our other characters are a Human Warden (Gladiator), Human Rogue/Bard (Noble Adept), and Dragonborn Battlemind

Stats: I know my build is not optimal and I am looking to basically stick with the array I have. I am, however, considering reducing my Con by one down to 17 to increase my Chr by one, up to 13, so I can take a Bard multiclass feat for more healing, sooner than later.

Weapons and Armor: My original thought was heavy armor, since I will have no dex or int to speak of, and a reach weapon which is what I did, but in the first attack in the first encounter I rolled a one and choose to break my Trikal. For fun I think I will continue this trend of the mass slaughter of Dark Sun weapons... They are wimpy and need to be punished.... Darwinian Natural Selection at work for Dark Sun Weapons.....

My weapons/shield status will change based on what ever (unbroken) weapons I have a available, and I will be looking to pick up a heavy shield for situations like now where my reach weapon has shown itself to be not worthy of my companionship, and/or unwilling to evolve to sustain our relationship. =(

I am also thinking of picking up Plate Armor proficiency

Healing: Atgar is very much an in-your-face blood-soaked sort of leader and I want him to be able to heal people as much as possible, especially since I am the only full leader, realizing that I will not be that good at it due to the low Chr. I am OK with that, so I am looking for more opportunities to allow people to use their healing surges. I realize that with my stat arrangement this is going to be difficult to accomplish.

I am thinking of picking up the Bardic Dilettante feat for more healing... I think that one will work. =O

Endurance: I also want to emphasize Endurance and I am thinking about taking the Mul's Stamina feat for the ability to reroll Endurance checks (and the extra surge, which I am thinking will not be really necessary).

I am thinking of picking up the Toughness feat

What are your thoughts? Thanks all.

As a distinct side note I have also found the Templar ranged encounter power to be a nice addition to my melee powers, especially since I am slower in heavy armor. =)

Atgar Stonehand

Male Mul, Inspiring Warlord (Templar) 1
Tatooed Warrior (Streetwise class skill)
Unaligned

Str 18, Con 18, Dex 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 12.

AC: 17 Fort: 15 Reflex: 10 Will: 12
HP: 30 Surges: 14  @  7 

Speed: 5 (6)

Skills
Athletics +9, Endurance +9, Intimidate +6, Streetwise +8


Feats
1:  Armored Warlord
2:  ?Mul's Stamina?
4:  ?Bardic Dilettante?
6.  ?Plate Proficiency?
8.  ?Toughness?

Powers
at-w 1: Commander's Strike
at-w 1: Wolfpack Tactics
at-w 1: Though Projection (Wild Talent)
enc  1: Tactician's Invitation
enc  1: Templar's Fist (Templar)
enc  1: Incredible Toughness (Racial)
dai   1: Fearless Rescue

Equipment
Scale Mail, 2 Obsidian Spear, 2 Javelin
Adventurer's Kit, Grappling Hook, Desert Clothing, Filter Mask, Fire Kit

 

[Herschel]

Ack! As in not anywhere near what I would build. The 18/18 Str/Con is bad mojo, your reflex, will and AC are pathetic unless you want to feat up armor. Especially if you background an extra surge I'd move that 18 (16) over, either to Charisma (leaving you with a 14 post-racial Con) or to Int (for reflex/AC).

In fact, you're VERY melee focused as a group it appears so going INT (or even Wis) and use a Trident with some skirmishing build powers might be a nice complement to the rest of the party.

 

[LuckyAdrastus]

You've made it pretty clear you don't want to change your stats, which to most players will appear glaringly sub-optimal. So what do you want advice on? Stats are the most obvious thing to give advice one. Power selection and feats can be changed very easily, so their is less useful advice to be given there.

Eh... let me make a case for choosing good stats anyway. With a Mul, you can go 18 Str, 15 Con, 11 Dex, and have a 16 for Int, Wis, or Cha (your preference based on favored Warlord build). The 16 in the secondary score lets you take advantage of your riders and powers, many of which are otherwise nearly useless to you. I can't see any role-playing difference between a 15 Con and a 17 or 18 Con, and the 2-3 hp and 1 healing surge difference won't really make you much if any better in melee anyway. Especially compared to how much weaker your powers are.

If you are wedded to the bad stat outlay -- well, just pick warlord powers that don't have riders based on your secondary stat.

 

[FreeXenon]

OK, guys if you are going to be that way about it.... =)
Hmmm.... I might consider a stat change here. Thanks for the persistence. =)

Lucky Adrastus: If I choose you stat array, then the Mul's Stamina feat makes bit more sense, since I would lose 2 off my endurance and healing surge total....


Herschel: Why do you recommend Trident... that seems odd. What am I missing?

I am looking for power and feat advice as well.

Thanks so far.

 

[thewok]

Why do you recommend Trident... that seems odd. What am I missing?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atpuHJjTS6o]YouTube - Brick Killed A Guy![/ame]

 

[LuckyAdrastus]

+1 on the polite response to my somewhat snarky advice.

You are looking at some good feats already. If you raise Cha, you might not need Bardic Dilettante to improve you healing if you instead take the feat that adds Cha to your heals (that exists, right? I'm not checking the books). Dilettante only gives you a single daily heal. It does give the extra skill though (Arcana I believe, which won't do much for you without Int).

I'd pick up Toughness early on, since the extra hp help so much in the frontline. Note that with a 15 starting Con, you'll still be able to get the good axe feats at paragon and epic, so consider those. I forget Mul Toughness right now, but if it lets you roll twice for Endurance, and endurance is important to your concept, I would certainly take it early. Rolling twice will probably make up for the slightly lower Endurance score from the lower Con over your career. Also, endurance checks are often group checks with lower DCs.

If you are interested in both Streetwise and Endurance, you might consider taking the +2 background bonus for Endurance, and getting the Streetwise through a multi-class instead. That way your skills will be better over time.

Don't forget Weapon Expertise, unless your DM is house-ruling it. You don't need it immediately, but it is very useful starting around mid-heroic, and pretty much mandatory starting in paragon. Does lock you into a single weapon group, however. Axe has a lot of types of weapons (heavy thrown, versatile, 2-handed), including Dark Sun's awesome Gouge.

Since you don't have a racial boost to Int, Cha, or Wis, you could really choose any Warlord build. It sounds like Cha fits your concept best. That could support Inspiring, Bravura, and Insightful. If you interest is in healing, Inspiring is best, if defense, Insightful, if aggression, Bravura.

 

[FreeXenon]

OK so I made the stat change and I picked up the Ardent MC feat instead, and the 2nd level util is Encouraging Boost, so I can heal even more.

I switched my background to Desert for +2 Endurance and picked up Streetwise via the Ardent MC.

I almost always take weapon focus, but since I plan on breaking almost every weapon that I and other people own, this feat may not be a good investment yet. Perhaps as we level I might be able to collect some axes to make sure this feat will be of use. I will keep it in mind.

Good stuff.
Thanks