Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mentat55" data-source="post: 4673877" data-attributes="member: 14840">So I was thinking about the defender classes (fighter, paladin, swordmage, warden), how each class fulfills its defender role, and how I would go about designing a new defender class that has a unique twist or mechanic that is not simply a reskinned version of one of these 4 classes.Defender RoleAccording to the PHB, "Defenders have the highest defenses in the game and good close-up offense. They are the party’s front-line combatants; wherever they’re standing, that’s where the action is. Defenders have abilities and powers that make it difficult for enemies to move past them or to ignore them in battle."Basically, it seems that defenders should (a) be melee combatants with (b) good ACs, (c) high hit points, and (d) some mechanism to penalize opponents for attacking someone other than them.Defending MechanicsAll defender classes defend first by marking.  It imposes a -2 penalty to attack rolls on attacks that do not include the defender.  In many cases, however, the defender has a strong AC, and the monster's damage can still be put to better effect (i.e., forcing a PC closer to 0 hit points) by attacking another character even at -2.  So each defender class has a shtick to play off marking.Fighter: Combat Challenge and Combat Superiority.  Ignoring the fighter (by moving away or attacking other targets) triggers attacks, and the fighter can actually interrupt a creature's movement.Paladin: Divine Challenge. The paladin does damage to a target that ignores him by attacking another PC.Swordmage: Swordmage Aegis.  The assault swordmage punishes opponents that attack other PCs by attacking the creature, while the shielding swordmage reduces the damage done by the attack, perhaps making it more viable for the opponent to attack the swordmage.  An interesting twist here is that the swordmage's aegis operates at range.Warden: Nature's Wrath.  The warden has a mix of up close and at range defending.  He can either attack an opponent in melee who attacks another PC, dealing damage AND making the target grant combat advantage (Warden's Fury), or move the enemy and impede its movement at range (Warden's Grasp).  Note that Warden's Grasp doesn't prevent or mitigate damage immediately, but rather interferes with an opponent's ability to follow up its attacks next round.Designing a New DefenderSo...what other kinds of defending abilities can we imagine that are mechanically and flavor-wise different than the already published material?Example: The Swashbuckler or DuelistThe iconic heavy warrior seems fairly well covered by the fighter, paladin, and perhaps even the warden.  Hit hard, hard to hurt.  What I was thinking about was a front-line defender that is lightly armored and mobile, but how do I reconcile it with the need for defender 'stickiness'?  I imagined some sort of riposte ability, but that just sounds like Combat Challenge.  How about a parry ability, that augments the marking penalty and/or allows you to spend your immediate action to interfere with an opponent's attack?Parry Duelist Class FeatureAt-Will * Martial, WeaponImmediate Interrupt Melee weaponTrigger: A creature marked by you attacks an ally adjacent to you.Target: The attacking creatureAttack: Dexterity vs. ACHit: Deal damage equal to your Dexterity modifier, and the target takes a penalty to the triggering attack equal your Dexterity modifier.</blockquote>

Verification