Hexblade Thoughts

[Cadfan]

UPDATE!

Current version in post 3 contains all of level 1.

Alright, here are my design notes on a 4e hexblade. They're just rough notes at this stage.

Hexblade


Power Source: Shadow
Role: Defender


Key Abilities: Strength, Charisma, Intelligence
Armor Proficiency: Cloth, Leather, Hide, Chain, All Shields
Weapon Proficiency: All simple, All military
Bonus to Defense: +1 Will, +1 Fortitude


Hit points at first level: 15 + Constitution Score
Hit points per level gained: 6
Healing surges per day: 9 + constitution modifier


Trained Skills: Arcana, plus three of the following: Athletics, Bluff, Dungeoneering, Intimidate, Stealth


Build Options: The Path of Splinters, The Path of the Wind and Doors
Class Features: Evil Eye


Evil Eye: Minor action. Marks one foe within a close burst of 5. This foe remains marked until it inflicts damage upon you, or until you use Evil Eye on another target. So long as this foe is marked by this power, the foe is Weakened.

Build Options
Both hexblade Paths use Strength as their primary ability score, because they use it to make attacks. Hexblades from either path tend to favor weapons with the High Critical property, as many of their powers subtly increase the chance of critical hits.

The Path of Splinters
The Path of Splinters is a discipline of hexblade study that focuses on the use of illusions in combat. Unlike other practitioners of illusion magic who use illusions to hide or misdirect, the Path of Splinters teaches the use of illusions as direct tools of combat. Augmented with the powers of Shadow, illusions from the Path of Splinters can sometimes cut as well as a real blade. As illusion magic requires a flair for the dramatic to lend realism to the lie, followers of the Path of Splinters prefer charisma as their secondary statistic.

The Path of Wind and Doors
The Path of Wind and Doors is a discipline of hexblade study that focuses on... [etc, not completed, Intelligence based]

At Will Attack Powers


Tristed Fortune
Str v ac, 1[W]+Str, critical hit on a natural 1


Shadow Feint
Str v ac, 1[W]+Cha, your next attack versus this foe has combat advantage.

Encounter Attack Powers

Shadow Blade
Your sword arm blurs, and two weapons strike at your foe. Only one is the true attack, but which one?
Str v ac, two attack rolls. May choose either roll. 2[W]. Path of Splinters: Add your charisma modifier to the damage.

Daily Attack Powers


Doubled Assault
You seem to split in two- and each of you leaps to the attack.
Create an illusory double of yourself in an adjacent space. You and the double may each shift one space. Str v ac, two attacks versus one or two targets. 1[W]+Str each. This illusory image occupies space, and can make opportunity attacks just as you could (this means it can flank). It has your defenses and can be attacked. If it suffers damage, it is destroyed. It disappears after this attack is completed.


Utility Powers


False Death
Teleport 2, leave behind illusory image of yourself. This illusory image occupies space, and can make opportunity attacks just as you could. It has your defenses and can be attacked. If it suffers damage, it is destroyed. You are invisible until the end of your next turn or until you attack. When you are no longer invisible due to this power, the illusory image disappears.

 

[Cadfan]

The goal here is to create a class that is a combatant first, a caster second, and which uses abilities themed after the Shadow power source. I'm not entirely sure how the second path should work- that one is up in the air a bit. The Path of Splinters is pretty locked in, I think. Its theme is not only illusion magic, but also the idea that the illusions in question sort of splinter off the hexblade.

I thought long and hard about making Strength his attack stat. I think I'm happy with it. In a way, I want him to be a martial character who backs up his strength with magic. Hence the at will attacks- they do their damage primarily by stabbing the other guy with a sword. They just happen to bring along some extra benefit while they do it, that helps with the fundamental goal- continued stabbing of your foes with a sword.

Does that distinction make sense? I'd be against an attack for this class that, say, launched a bunch of elemental damage at a foe. I'd be really against the area of effect type stuff the swordmage has, where he tosses close blasts of fire or whatnot at people. The primary killing technique here is weaponry- the magic exists to help the weaponry do its job, not to do the job for it.

 

[Cadfan]

Hexblade

Level 1
Current Draft, still subject to future revision.

Power Source: Shadow
Role: Defender
Key Abilities: Strength, Charisma, Intelligence
Armor Proficiency: Cloth, Leather, Hide, Chain, All Shields
Weapon Proficiency: All simple, All military
Bonus to Defense: +1 Will, +1 Fortitude
Hit points at first level: 15 + Constitution Score
Hit points per level gained: 6
Healing surges per day: 9 + constitution modifier
Trained Skills: Arcana, plus three of the following: Athletics, Bluff, Dungeoneering, Intimidate, Stealth
Build Options: The Path of Splinters, The Path of the Wind and Doors
Class Features: Aura of Unluck, Evil Eye, Illusory Double

Aura of Unluck: All adjacent enemies take a penalty of 2 to saving throws.

Evil Eye: Minor action. Marks one foe within a close burst of 5. This foe remains marked until it inflicts damage upon you, or until you use Evil Eye on another target. So long as this foe is marked by this power, the foe is Weakened.

Illusory Double: Some of your powers create an illusory double. For convenience, the general rules of an illusory double are written once here, rather than within every power that makes use of them. An illusory double appears exactly as you do, and occupies a space. It has exactly the same defenses as you do, and exactly the same attacks. It is capable of making opportunity attacks, and therefore capable of flanking. It makes only two types of attacks- opportunity attacks, and the attacks specifically spelled out in the power which created it. If an illusory double receives any damage at all, it vanishes. Otherwise, your illusory double vanishes at the time specified in the power which created it. This is not a true class ability, but rather an effect created by a power that has certain consistent rules.

Build Options
Both hexblade Paths use Strength as their primary ability score, because they use it to make attacks. Hexblades from either path tend to favor weapons with the High Critical property, as many of their powers subtly increase the chance of critical hits.

The Path of Splinters
This discipline of Hexblade study focuses on the use of illusions in combat. A Hexblade of the Path of Splinters is a blur in battle, with illusory blades and even entire images of himself splintering off from his body and leaping to the attack. His foes never know what is real and what is not, or where the true danger waits. As illusion magic requires a flair for the dramatic to lend realism to the lie, followers of the Path of Splinters prefer charisma as their secondary statistic.

The Path of Wind and Doors
The Path of Wind and Doors focuses on harnessing the power of the shadow storms that rage across the Shadowfell. Its power is the power of cold, lightning, and wind, channeled from the next world into our own. Opening the doorway between this world and the next, and controlling what comes through, requires precision and concentration, so Hexblades from the Path of Wind and Doors prefer Intelligence as their secondary statistic.

Level 1 At Will Attack Powers

Tristed Fortune
You are at your best when you are at your worst.
Level 1 Melee, At Will, Standard Action, Weapon
Str v ac
Hit: 1[W]+Str,
Special: This attack scores a critical hit on an attack roll result of a natural 1.

Shadow Feint
A sudden blurring, a duplication of your sword arm, baffles your foe.
Level 1 Melee, At Will, Standard Action, Weapon, Illusion
Str v ac
Hit: 1[W]+Cha, and your next attack versus this foe has combat advantage.

Static Blade
Your weapon crackles with energy.
Level 1 Melee, At Will, Standard Action, Weapon, Lightning
Str v ac
Hit: 1[W]+Int lightning damage, and a second foe within 2 of your target takes Int lightning damage.


Level 1 Encounter Attack Powers

Shadow Blade
Your sword arm blurs, and two weapons strike at your foe. Only one is the true attack, but which?
Level 1 Melee, Encounter, Standard Action, Weapon, Illusion
Str v ac, two attack rolls. You may choose either roll.
Hit: 2[W].
Path of Splinters: Add your charisma modifier to the damage.

Sapping Chill
A numbing chill drains at your foes.
Level 1 Melee, Encounter, Standard Action, Weapon, Cold
Str v ac
Hit: 2[W]+Str cold damage, slow until the end of your next turn. All foes adjacent to your target are also slowed until the end of your next turn.
Path of Wind and Doors: All foes adjacent to your target also take your Intelligence modifier in cold damage.


Daily Attack Powers

Doubled Assault
You seem to split in two- and each of you leaps to the attack.
Level 1 Melee, Daily, Standard Action, Weapon, Illusion
Special: Create an illusory double of yourself in an adjacent space. You and the double then may each shift one space.
Str v ac, two attacks versus one or two targets.
1[W]+Str per attack.
The illusory double disappears after this attack is completed.
Path of Splinters: If both attacks hit, you deal additional damage equal to your charisma modifier.

Charged Blade
You channel crackling electricity into your weapon.
Level 1 Melee, Daily, Minor Action, Weapon, Lightning
Your next successful hit during this encounter deals an additional 2d8+Int lightning damage.
Path of Wind and Doors: Until you successfully score a hit, all your attacks deal Int lightning damage on a miss.

 

[Cadfan]

The structure I'm setting up is as follows:

Level 1: all powers come from the two paths
Level 2: miscellaneous
Level 3: miscellaneous
Level 5: miscellaneous
Level 6: all powers come from the two paths
Level 7: all powers come from the two paths
Level 9: all powers come from the two paths
Level 10: miscellaneous

That way you get a mixture of path and general hexblade material. That pattern will probably continue at higher levels.

 

[Cadfan]

Level 2 Utility Powers

Abandoned by Fate
Nothing goes right for you. Nothing.
Level 2 Utility, Encounter, Immediate Interrupt
Trigger: You make a saving throw.
You may voluntarily fail a saving throw. If you do, all allies within 5 may make an immediate saving throw against an effect which can be ended by a save.

Shatter
Destruction surrounds you.
Level 2 Utility, Encounter, Standard Action
An unattended, inanimate object within 10 spaces of you receives 10+1/2 level damage.

 

[Cadfan]

Level 3 Encounter Powers

Bitter Blade
A thin line of venom runs down your blade.
Level 3 Encounter, At Will, Standard Action, Weapon
Str v Fort
1[W]+Str, plus 5 ongoing poison damage and Slow. Save ends both.

Vampiric Blade
You consume your foe's energy, and it tastes... wonderful.
Level 3 Encounter, At Will, Standard Action, WeaponStr v Fort
1[W]+Str, and you gain temporary hit points equal to the damage dealt by this attack.

 

[Cadfan]

The more I work on this, the more I think that the Path of Wind and Doors is fundamentally flawed.

It doesn't "feel" like a Shadow power source path. More importantly, it doesn't "feel" unique. It feels kind of like something that could easily be written from the Swordmage, instead of something that's its own unique thing.

Any suggestions on a theme to replace it? I'll take the better powers from it and move them to generic powers.

 

[monboesen]

Any suggestions on a theme to replace it? I'll take the better powers from it and move them to generic powers.

How about a path that focuses more on the curse/debuffing aspect of the hexblade?

With powers that inflict penalties and conditions on targets, but don't do a whole lot of damage.