Help crafting an Eladrin Fighter

[VeridianEntropy]

Hello all, I am trying to come up with a build for an Eladrin Fighter. My concept is simple : A highly mobile fighter who can defend as well or nearly as well as a regular (typically non-mobile) fighter.

First, the campaign house-rules : 1 ) You may change one of the 2 +2 racial stat adjustments to another stat. 2) Only core races allowed 3) Start at level 3 4) Mundane items and 1 level 5 magic item. 5) Free Weapon/Impliment Expertise pluses at 5/15/25

The other members of the party will consist of : Artificer , Melee Beastmaster Ranger, and Psion.

My best idea so far is to build this as a Tempest Technique fighter with a defensive / double weapon of some sort. If I max my dex and go light armor that will put me at the same ac as a scale + shield dude and give me a small bit of extra damage from tempest technique as well as a movement of 6 and only a -1 armor check penalty. With a high dex and low Armor Check Penalty, I can use my free Eladrin skill for something like Acrobatics / Stealth / Thievery.

I picked Urgrosh simply because it's the only dual weapon that is either a spear / longsword (So I can use the awesome Eladrin Soldier Feat). I would love to use double sword instead for HBO, but then I need 2 feats to match the Eladrin Soldier feat.

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====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Ghost, level 3
Eladrin, Fighter
Fighter Talents: Tempest Technique
Background: Born Under a Bad Sign

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 10, Dex 18, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 8.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 10, Dex 18, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 8.


AC: 20 Fort: 17 Reflex: 16 Will: 13
HP: 45 Surges: 9 Surge Value: 11

TRAINED SKILLS
Stealth +9, Endurance +5, Athletics +9, Heal +7

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +4, Arcana +3, Bluff, Diplomacy, Dungeoneering +2, History +3, Insight +2, Intimidate, Nature +2, Perception +2, Religion +1, Streetwise, Thievery +4

FEATS
Level 1: Mark of Warding
Level 2: Eladrin Soldier

POWERS
Fighter at-will 1: Footwork Lure
Fighter at-will 1: Dual Strike
Fighter encounter 1: Funneling Flurry
Fighter daily 1: Villain's Menace
Fighter utility 2: Pass Forward
Fighter encounter 3: Rain of Blows

ITEMS
Hide Armor, Adventurer's Kit, Staggering Urgrosh +1, Longbow

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Here are my questions:

1) is light armor an OK thing to do? I don't see any downsides to it, except the fact I need to keep my DEX maxed, but there has got to be lots of cool things to do with a high dex.

2) what things should I do to take advantage of my high dex?

3) Paragon path - I was thinking Kensai -because my wisdom will only be 14 at paragon so pit fighter wouldn't be so good and the +1 to hit with kensai will make me a better defender.

4) Where can I go with this build? I was thinking of using the Fey Charge feat and kinda maximizing my charging abilities / damage and to hit bonuses.

5) Anything else Im missing? I basically want to have this guy be a good defender but in an unconventional way

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Also, I'm working on his background story as this will be a fairly RP heavy campaign. I will post details on that as I work on it, but wanted to make sure the basic idea of the character is sound first.

 

[kugelkj]

I would consider going with a Greatweapon Fighter and a Greatspear (1st level feat). The reach weapon enhances mobility fighters a great deal; you will have a very large footprint on the battlefield. Plus, with knockdown assualt, the lower AC is less of a problem b/c you can keep enemies at range, if your DM allows it. Reaping strike is your other obvious at-will. Charging will be useful tactic for this fighter (esp with knockdown assault) and surprising charge fits nicely as your second level feat.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Well, the traditional way to do this is to go glaive fighter. You get both the polearm and the heavy blade feat paths. Granted you don't get the spear specific eladrin stuff, but then again you do get reach, polearm gamble/momentum combo stuff, etc.

Going high dex is perfectly fine. You'll need some dex for your feat prereqs anyway and that will feed into a good reflex defense, which otherwise will be in the dump with low dex/int and no real option for a shield. You'll probably not be breaking any new records for high AC regardless since you'll still need a high STR and probably want to put points into WIS. Having the option to fey step helps though, at least you can extricate yourself from the worst situations. That is another real nice thing about the polearm reach based concept though. Once you hit paragon you can lay down a zone of control so nasty that 90% of your enemies are spending their turn standing up and trying to figure out how to get back adjacent to you instead of attacking.

The deal is though the full glory of the polearm path doesn't really blossom until you can get paragon feats anyhow, so relying on an Urgrosh early on is probably OK. Just go TWF instead of Tempest. Given the fact that you'll have a profound lack of CON with this kind of build anyhow I'm not sure tempest really does all that much for you. Axes and eladrin don't really have a lot of synergy.

 

[VeridianEntropy]

Things to do with High DEX

DEX 17

Surprising Charge, 1 extra [W] on a charge with a light blade / spear
Defensive Advantage - +2ac with CA
Sieze the Moment - CA with higher init
two weapon ambush - brutal 1 on CA

DEX 15
Heavy Blade Opportunity - use at will for AoO

DEX 13

Two Weapon fighting - +1 damage
Combat Reflexes - +1 AoO

 

[VeridianEntropy]

Well, the traditional way to do this is to go glaive fighter. You get both the polearm and the heavy blade feat paths. Granted you don't get the spear specific eladrin stuff, but then again you do get reach, polearm gamble/momentum combo stuff, etc.

Going high dex is perfectly fine. You'll need some dex for your feat prereqs anyway and that will feed into a good reflex defense, which otherwise will be in the dump with low dex/int and no real option for a shield. You'll probably not be breaking any new records for high AC regardless since you'll still need a high STR and probably want to put points into WIS. Having the option to fey step helps though, at least you can extricate yourself from the worst situations. That is another real nice thing about the polearm reach based concept though. Once you hit paragon you can lay down a zone of control so nasty that 90% of your enemies are spending their turn standing up and trying to figure out how to get back adjacent to you instead of attacking.

The deal is though the full glory of the polearm path doesn't really blossom until you can get paragon feats anyhow, so relying on an Urgrosh early on is probably OK. Just go TWF instead of Tempest. Given the fact that you'll have a profound lack of CON with this kind of build anyhow I'm not sure tempest really does all that much for you. Axes and eladrin don't really have a lot of synergy.

I like this a lot. I just wish there was some way to mesh it with the spear stuff from eladrin soldier. Also, the tempest doesnt require any con, you are thinking of battlerager I think. One more thing, I picked the Urgrosh because it has the spear keyword, I don't plan on doing anything special with the fact that it's also an axe, but the d12 is nice.

 

[Orcus Porkus]

Greatspear means you eventually will go for the whole Polearm cheese (gamble, momentum), including the Swift Spear feat from Dragon 378 that allows you to slide 1 on OA's. The concept is totally different from your tempest fighter.
The problem with polearm fighters is the fail at their role as defenders. Too often you end up being non-adjacent.
So even though I love the Eladrin Greatspear fighter, unless your party tolerates a "libero" style fighter, I would go for tempest.
Both have in common that you can make use of Rain of Blows, which is very important.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Yeah, you can use the Urgrosh as a spear. It is open to debate whether or not you can use the d12 and benefit from things that call for a spear at the same time (but it certainly is quite solidly arguable you can, just make sure your DM agrees).

It is true, Tempest in and of itself doesn't require any particular CON, but it does naturally tend to favor the use of axes or double weapons. The advantage to going TWF is of course nice if you plan to use polarms like glaive or greatspear. In any case there are definitely at least a couple choices of builds. Another option is spear and shield and use the Spear and Shield Style feat. It won't let you get into the HBO/polearm sequence, but you can then benefit from the various eladrin racial feats, which is nice.

Not having put together all of these various builds I'm not sure which one is overall mechanically superior. It depends to a certain extent on what levels your likely to play at. I think one of the advantages of the tempest/urgrosh route is that it is pretty front loaded since you get all the tempest goodness right off the bat, dual strike is available right away, and you can pick up RoB early on. Even the slightly nerfed RoB is still pretty nasty with that build.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

The problem with polearm fighters is the fail at their role as defenders. Too often you end up being non-adjacent.

I think this is quite a bit less of a problem than you might think. Done right you end up with all your enemies lying prone yet still within your reach and you can keep them there. The "Great Fisherman" build is pretty scary. You can literally permanently lock 8 enemies up with no hope that they'll get away and you can "reel them in" from 2 squares. Nothing is stickier than that! Heck, nothing else is even close. Throw in a bit of charge goodness and you can push someone out to charge range when they come within 2 squares and knock them prone, then charge them on your turn. It can get extremely silly.

 

[Turtlejay]

Is it really open for debate that you can't use the axe end for things specifying a spear? I think you overstate the double weapon's detractors. It may be powerful (even overpowered), but it is not against the rules.

Your build is nice. I have a similar, but much less optimised tempest fighter in my current campaign. I am also trying to stay mobile, but my stats are more spread around, so I think you have a good shot at being what I am shooting for, and I am jealous.

Have you looked at the Draeven Marauder PP? It is in Dragon Magazine, and is nominally for Forgotten Realms, but it works really well with the build you have. Not only do the powers add to your mobility quite a bit, but the 11th level ability to allow crits with a spear on a 19-20 is very nice, too. It would be usable with an Urgosh. You wouldn't qualify for Deadly Axe, but a crit is a crit, no matter how small.

Being mobile is a very useful thing for a Fighter. Since they have the potential to be the most sticky of any defender, getting to the squishier enemies and locking them down is a valid, and encouraged tactic, and one that your initial build will rock at.

Good luck!

Jay

 

[masterfunk]

You should also consider a Trantyr / Shield build with the 1-hand weapon talent. There are a lot of great feats that support the spear / shield style. I would probably start with stats like:

Str: 18 Con: 13 Dex:17 Int:10 Wis:13 Cha:8

The level 1 feat: Eladrin weapon training, level 2 either deft hurler or surprising charge, with the other at level 4.

The traditional at-wills are tide of iron and cleave, but I've been playing a similar build with a half-orc and a trident, and I prefer knockdown assault to tide of iron. It is usable on a charge, and with surprising charge does the same damage as a basic attack plus knocks the opponent prone.

I'm with Turtlejay on the Draven Marauder PP, its great for a mobile spear user