Help me make a 12th level leader (or defender)

[Mercurius]

In our group of six, two people are out this coming session - one on a business trip, one with a newborn. The DM (not me, currently) wants us to have more than just three players, so we are opting for me to make a second character and play it alongside my primary one. Our party includes the following characters, with those on "active duty" (that is, going to play this Friday) in bold-face:

*elf ranger - striker (my primary character)
*human invoker - controller
*human psion - controller
*dwarf fighter - defender
*human thief - striker
*orc artificer - leader
*eladrin swordmage - defender

I have a couple criteria for making a character. Given that the other three characters are one striker and two controllers, I think a leader would work best, or maybe a defender. I'm thinking a warpriest would be good, although maybe cleric or warlord, or one of the Essentials defenders - a cavalier or a knight, or even a paladin. Healing and buffing abilities are a bonus, but even more so I want the character to be as easy to run as possible.

Having never made a leader or defender (in 4th edition), I'm looking for advice. Right now I'm veering towards a human warpriest, but which feats, powers, and magic items to choose? Given our house rule, I would have 48,000 GP worth of magic items to buy. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Mummolus]

I'd probably go with a paladin, and burn a feat to multiclass into warlord or some such for the extra heal.

 

[Herschel]

Paladin would be a solid choice, my preference would be go Str/Wis and all but dump Cha. There's a feat that lets any healing surge you "grant" (by Lay On Hands or by Power) use your surge value instead of their's. That's highly awesome for a defender and can work well if you're temporary leader isn't a great healer. Stat enough to take a Warlord multiclass in Heroic and take the Freedom Fighter Paragon Path. That level 11 Encounter power just rocks for a defender working with multiple ranged (re: squishy) allies.

 

[Nullzone]

The fact that you have two controllers means damage output will be low, so a defender who can mitigate and/or heal damage is your best bet; anything else will slog out and potentially leave someone dead. In a defenderless party, you need enough strikers to alpha strike the monsters to stay ahead of the damage arms race, which the monsters already have the advantage in.

A paladin MC warlord would be my suggestion as well. Worry about defenses and mark enforcement first, offense second.

 

[hipnotode]

I would go pal/shaman. if you spend two feats multiclassing into shaman you get a /encounter heal instead of spending one feat and getting a /day.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I would not go shaman, as a paladin shaman sucks concept wise and no mechanical boon can remedy it...

Human Warden/shaman is a different matter... could be a great concept and you would not be blamed for beeing a munchkin...

 

[fba827]

Have the others players settled in to what their secondary characters will be?
Particularly both role and whether melee vs ranged ? Since you should watch your melee to ranged ratio in addition to role since ranged folks will get overrun if there aren't enough meleeers to hold the enemies back. Conversely, some ranged are needed to get those enemies that are out of reach or will take a couple rounds for the meleeers to get to.

I don't have any experience yet with a warpriest so I can't say. But if that's what your gut is feeling like you want to play, then go for it!

It does seem like a straight forward class, just several riders to keep track of. Also remember that leader classes are a little harder to 'pre-plan' actions since what you plan in one round may change dramatically by next round after seeing the state of injury on allies such that you will nee to move somewhere else to buff their defenses/heal/etc.
Of course, any character will only be as hard as you create it. But just keep an eye on the types of rider effects you feel like you can keep track of when picking powers such that you won't feel frustrated or overwhelmed when trying to run the leader character as a secondary-thought when your focus is otherwise on your ranger.

 

[Mercurius]

Actually, my preference would be a paladin over a warpriest or cleric; I have a character concept that works better for paladin, so I'm going to try making a straight up paladin. Anyone have any suggestions for magic items? Feats? Powers?

Also, no other player will be running a secondary character - I'm just doing it because we need more than three characters for the adventure we're starting, and the other two players won't be present.

 

[DracoSuave]

I heartily stand by Disciple of Stone for any defender. It might as well say you increase your healing surge value by 5.

 

[Unwise]

I would go for a Paladin myself. You really need a self-healing defender in this instance. I would consider multiclassing into cleric for the extra heal. I would go for Versatile Channeller feat so you can get the cleric "heal everyone in burst 5 but weaken myself" power. That is a huge difference in healing, especially once per encounter. Also, the paladin channel divinity kind of sucks anyway, so you are not giving up much.

That Endurance Utiliity power that gives everyone some temp hit points when you spend your second wind is always nice in a low healing group. I would go dwarf and get the cloak of the walking wounded, minor action 50% heals are nice. Maybe dwarven armor (?) that gives a daily heal is a nice option too.

P.S. I have to ask, what is the deal with the Orc Artificer? That seems like a very odd choice. Was the player just looking for something very wierd? Is it RPed in a particular way? How are Orcs regarded in the game?