Designing Elric of Melnibone

[Garthanos]

I wonder if we might be approaching the 'summoning' aspect of Elric in the wrong way? I've tossed around the idea that he might be an Mage, Invoker, Sorcerer, etc.... but what I keep coming back to is that 4e simply doesn't allow for access to instant rituals until you hit Epic, and then only in a limited fashion. What if the elementals he summons were considered just the skin on existing powers?

Need a fireball? March a fire elemental around the field for a few rounds, while sustaining.

Thunderwave? Air elementals arrive and start tossing your opponents off handy cliffs.

Reskinning the powers for theatrics, rather than trying to find something that has the actual visuals stated, seems to be the most prudent option. In this way a classic 4e Wizard, even one who multi classed in from Paladin, can fit the bill quite handily.

Oh sure.. some of the builds I have posted (and a couple I havent) use that thinking...
Sphere of flame nice fire element effect.
hammerfist crusher (an actual summoning) makes a nice Earth Elemental.
and wall of fog is a combined effort of air and water sprites...
hadnt connected thunderwave to air elementals (isnt that an at-will) maybe Elric would have it as encounter power (via a mc feat).

 

[Garthanos]

Well Stormbringer appears to be just a sword , and so wouldn't be directly attacked all that much. There were very few in the books who either suspected or knew its true nature. Even Elric was on the fence about it most of the time.

Area powers that would effect Stormbringer are many but it would have a rather large defence number, a pretty good number of hits for something that is rarely attacked, and a pretty good number of surges. Getting hit by such a power would likely explain the famous Stormbringer wail.

The disguise self power -- you appear to be something not directly harmable ;-). An area effect attack targetting Elric--- Elric reflexively tries to block... and it affects stormbringer too. Could be Stormbringer accepting damage from an attack targetting Elric.

 

[Ryujin]

Oh sure.. some of the builds I have posted (and a couple I havent) use that thinking...
Sphere of flame nice fire element effect.
hammerfist crusher (an actual summoning) makes a nice Earth Elemental.
and wall of fog is a combined effort of air and water sprites...
hadnt connected thunderwave to air elementals (isnt that an at-will) maybe Elric would have it as encounter power (via a mc feat).

Exactly. "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king" applies to magic also. If there are a lot of Ritualists around, but not a lot of actual Mages, then even a MC Wizard with a few encounter powers would be a deadly opponent. I would divert him to a Wizard paragon path also, rather than a Paladin one. I would have to think about which one.

 

[Ryujin]

The disguise self power -- you appear to be something not directly harmable ;-). An area effect attack targetting Elric--- Elric reflexively tries to block... and it affects stormbringer too. Could be Stormbringer accepting damage from an attack targetting Elric.

Stormbringer as Warlock, multi-classes to Warlord? Bard?

 

[Garthanos]

Exactly. "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king" applies to magic also. If there are a lot of Ritualists around, but not a lot of actual Mages, then even a MC Wizard with a few encounter powers would be a deadly opponent. I would divert him to a Wizard paragon path also, rather than a Paladin one. I would have to think about which one.

I picked the summoner one but just for flavor (didnt look too close and wasnt sure enough of the powers he was using qualified as summonings).

Elric certainly didnt like the Champion of Chaos role and that was the point he was forced in to both the relationship with Arioch and SB.. so a wizard path.. works better than the paladin one by far.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Stormbringer could be an artifact, sure. But, Elric's Epic Destiny could be linked to it. That is, the bit at the end with Stormbringer being freed from the sword form could be the culmination of that Destiny, not a power of the artifact.

 

[Garthanos]

Stormbringer could be an artifact, sure. But, Elric's Epic Destiny could be linked to it. That is, the bit at the end with Stormbringer being freed from the sword form could be the culmination of that Destiny, not a power of the artifact.

Its a plot event like summoning in all the swords bretheren in the final battle... exactly. It implies something about the nature of the beast so to speak (its not likely my favorite method for invoking stormbringer - but an independent entity has some interesting possibilities)

I am comfortable with modelling SB in all three incarnations...

1. Stormbringer is a sorceror/warlock/wizards Reaping strike and a manifestation of Elrics Pact Bond(warlock is a required ingredient of this build).
2. Stormbringer is a Lifedrinking full blade / great sword / Bastard sword except it gets better and nastier over the characters career and picks up berzerkergang effects too - it has a simple feel... and oh yes it can be used as a Warlocks pact blade but only by a melnibonean. (tiefling).
3. Stormbringer is a independent demonic entity operating in concert with Elric the two become effectively an Elite hero who can truly challenge the gods when epic levels are obtained. (The last version is very hard to build has some good bits and some mechanically clumbsy bits)

It occured to me that a Martial Elric could skin Battlerager vigor as his blade feeding him energy too ;-) so even type one stormbringer could be open to alternatives (but it does lack that final death knell impact). And its major issue... con dependence.

 

[Garthanos]

Well... here is my latest and greatest
makes good use of eternal champion background (aka deva) with
remembered wizardry....

Deva, Paladin, Bonded Summoner
Build: Ardent Paladin
Arcane Implement Proficiency: Arcane Implement Proficiency (heavy blade group)
Background: Born Under a Bad Sign (Born Under a Bad Sign Benefit)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 15, Con 9, Dex 12, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 17.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 12, Con 8, Dex 11, Int 15, Wis 13, Cha 16.


AC: 20 Fort: 19 Reflex: 21 Will: 21
HP: 99 Surges: 9 Surge Value: 24

TRAINED SKILLS
Religion +17, Heal +15, Intimidate +14, History +17, Arcana +15

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +7, Bluff +9, Diplomacy +9, Dungeoneering +10, Endurance +5, Insight +10, Nature +10, Perception +10, Stealth +7, Streetwise +9, Thievery +7, Athletics +8

FEATS
Learned Spellcaster: Ritual Caster
Level 1: Learned Spellcaster
Level 2: Remembered Wizardry
Level 4: Weapon Proficiency (Fullblade)
Level 6: Novice Power
Level 8: Acolyte Power
Level 10: Adept Power
Level 11: Arcane Implement Proficiency
Level 12: Aberrant Mark of Madness

POWERS
Lay on Hands: Ardent Vow
Paladin at-will 1: Enfeebling Strike
Paladin at-will 1: Bolstering Strike
Remembered Wizardry Spellbook: Taunting Phantoms
Remembered Wizardry Spellbook: Summon Iron Cohort
Remembered Wizardry Spellbook: Summon Hammerfist Crusher
Remembered Wizardry Spellbook: Stinking Cloud
Remembered Wizardry Spellbook: Flaming Sphere
Paladin encounter 1: Heedless Fury
Paladin daily 1: Radiant Delirium (retrained to Summon Fire Warrior at Adept Power)
Paladin utility 2: Bless Weapon
Paladin encounter 3: Call to Arms (retrained to Pinioning Vortex at Novice Power)
Paladin daily 5: Name of Might
Paladin utility 6: Wrath of the Gods (retrained to Wall of Fog at Acolyte Power)
Paladin encounter 7: Thunder Smite
Paladin daily 9: Radiant Pulse
Paladin utility 10: Vengeful Vigilance

ITEMS
Spellbook, Stormbringer Lifedrinker Fullblade +3 (at epic gains Berzerker power) advancing up to +6 before the stories done)
RITUALS
Arcane Mark, Summon Winds

 

[Garthanos]

Arioch divine powers still feel less like Arioch than they ought to.. but some liberal reskinning and maybe damage type changes... like Radiant pulse might be something like pulsing flesh plasma... and do acid damage.

The rules allow one to re-skin powers but when I allow players to swap out damage types and things I am well pushing the limits.. to make any of the divine classes as a chaos gods... kind of takes some drift.