D&D 4E Miscibility Table: A 4e Hybrid Handbook(by MwaO)

[MwaO]

Friendly Hybrid Summoned

I think there are 3 specific things to do which will make a significant percentage of hybrids work regardless of actual player or build skill:
Make your stats work. 18s in all primary stats should be the general goal. With some specific exceptions(classes that get big bonuses from a secondary stat every round), you can often dump secondary stats.

Figure out where your AC is coming from - many hybrids destroy AC. Non-defenders should ask themselves how they're getting at least Chainmail quality AC, Defenders should be 2 higher.

Decide your role in the party - the best hybrids do one of three things:
Be 90% of one role and a good 40% of the other. An Archer Ranger|Bard does many of the things that a typical Archer Ranger does with additional great interrupt choices as an example.

Be 80% of both - the ultimate 5th member of a party. A Warden|Avenger is an off-defender who does okay striker damage and has an easy route to AC(Hybrid Talent for Hide+Heavy Shield+Wis to AC) as an example.

Combine two of the same role for 100% of a role. Does not usually work with Strikers due to each side being a half-striker and Leaders eventually lose a heal(this is easy to compensate for, but players poor at builds might miss this in Paragon). Fighter|Paladin.

The following is a bit out of date - some races now have multiple stat combos and honestly, most hybrids should not focus on the secondary stats at all to the point of investing a racial choice in it.

Two-stat combinations, if I'm not mistaken, are:

STR, DEX, Barbarian (Whirling), Fighter (Blade, flail, spear), Monk (Stone Fist), Ranger (Balanced), Rogue (Brutal),
Races: Half-orc, Bugbear
STR, CON, Barbarian (Rageblood, Thunderborn), Fighter (Axe, Hammer, Pick), Runepriest (Wrathful), Warden (Earth, Storm)
Races: Goliath, Minotaur, Orc, Warforged
STR, INT, Swordmage (Assault), Warlord (Tactical)
Races: Genasi
STR, WIS, Cleric (balanced), Fighter (Polearm, Opportunist), Paladin (STR-adin), Ranger (Melee/Hurling), Runepriest (Defiant), Seeker (Spiritbond), Warden (Wildblood, Lifespirit)
Races: Longtooth Shifter, Minotaur
STR, CHA, Barbarian (Thaneborn), Cleric (Battle), Paladin (Balanced), Sorcerer (Dragon, Cosmic), Warlord (Inspiring),
Races: Dragonborn
DEX, CON, -
Races: Gnoll, Kobold
DEX, INT, Rogue (Cunning), Wizard (Wand)
Races: Eladrin
DEX, WIS, Avenger (Pursuit), Druid (Predator), Monk (Centered), Seeker (Spiritbond)
Races: Elf, Githzerai, Razorclaw Shifter, Wilden,
DEX, CHA, Rogue (Artful), Sorcerer (Storm, Wild)
Races: Drow, Goblin, Halfling
CON, INT, Warlock (CON-lock), Wizard (Staff, Summoning), Swordmage (Warding), Artificer
Races: Githyanki
CON, WIS, Battlemind (Resilient), Druid (Guardian), Invoker (Wrath)
Races: Dwarf, Wilden
CON, CHA, Ardent (Elation), Bard (Valorous), Battlemind (Resilient), Warlock (Balanced)
Races: Half-Elf, Hobgoblin
INT, WIS, Avenger (Retribution), Invoker (Preserver), Shaman (Stalker), Psion (Telekinetic), Wizard (Orb, General), Artificer
Races: Deva, Githzerai, Shardmind
INT, CHA, Bard (Cunning), Psion (Telepathic), Warlock (CHA-lock), Wizard (Illusionist)
Races: Doppelganger, Gnome, Shardmind, Tiefling
WIS, CHA, Bard (Prescient), Cleric (Ranged), Paladin (CHA-ladin), Shaman (Protector)​

 

[MwaO]

Some Potential House Rules

Grant anyone who has a class with Leather armor proficiency with Leather armor only for purposes of wearing it proficiently, not for prereqs. Benefit is that most classes with Leather armor have Hide Armor anyway and it helps keep some classes from being really painful to hybrid.
Grant anyone who has a class with Chain armor proficiency with Chain armor only for purposes of wearing it proficiently, not for prereqs. This one is more essential than the one above - big issue with hybrids such as say Battlemind or Warlord is that they can easily not have a secondary stat that applies to AC. A Barbarian|Warlord(as an example) might be Str/Cha with a desire to take the Thaneborn option - but then they don't have Dex/Int stat - this then gives them a basic Chainmail AC so they don't eventually suck.
If both classes grant the same extra specific bonus skill, the hybrid also gets that skill. An Invoker|Cleric as an example, would get Religion as a skill.

Ones that might provoke screams:
Modify Cleric's Battle Cleric's Lore(BCL) to just be the +2 to hit after doing healing. If a PC with BCL takes the Hybrid Armor and chooses Cleric, they gain the full effect of BCL.
Assassin(Executioner): Gains a BA called Assassin's Attack that can be used for either an MBA or RBA. 1w+Dex, uses Dex. This is an Assassin power. They can then only add bonuses to Assassin powers, not BAs and Assassin Powers. I'd give this to regular Assassin(Executioner) as well.
Assassin(Executioner), Blackguard, Cavalier, and Sentinels are all not supposed to have Encounter powers. Limit them only to encounter powers from that side.

 

[MwaO]

Cleaned up some formatting, added some potential house rules, added a link to the original Hybrid Handbook thread in the Wayback machine in case someone wanted to see commentary from the WotC thread, and added a link to the Poachable Powers thread to make power selection easier.

 

[MwaO]

Updated 1st post to emphasize that good basic hybrids are mainly about power selection. Synergy is necessary for the fantastic ones, but that's not 100% relevant to the guide.

 

[Zathris]

You should update the races as well, doesn't look like that's been done since before the updated secondaries.

 

[MwaO]

You should update the races as well, doesn't look like that's been done since before the updated secondaries.

Eh, I don't actually find that chart particularly useful - someone else did it. I'll probably just make a note of that.

 

[Kamui]

Interesting Builds: Paladin|Battlemind. Decent armor right off the bat without needing the hybrid feat. Blurred Step+Paladin Mark gives solid OA+mark potential.

Just wondering, but would you happen to know of any example builds for Paladin|Battlemind? Or if not, would you have any PP/ED suggestions for it?

 

[Joshua Randall]

I thought I had a paladin/battlemind hybrid saved from the WotC boards... can't find it now but I'll keep looking.

Topaz Crusader (battlemind ED) is insanely good(*) and I think I would take it even though it doesn't help your paladin directly and even though it's focused on fighting a creature type (aberrants) that is not all that common.

(*) immune to dazed, dominated (21st), immobilized, restrained, polymorph (24th) and 'oh by the way', +3 AC and +2 F/R/W

 

[piscodemon]

If you're in epic and you put effort into having an action point every encounter, then Master of Moments is a decent ED as well. I'm only speaking from the perspective of a pure battlemind, but I am sure a paladin|battlemind can find a use for all the extra mobility and better action economy, too.

 

[MwaO]

Just wondering, but would you happen to know of any example builds for Paladin|Battlemind? Or if not, would you have any PP/ED suggestions for it?

Depending on what level you think you're getting to, but basically, something like this:
Con/Cha race(Half-Elf & Tiefling excellent for all the obvious reasons)
Str 12, Con 18, Wis 12, Cha 18
1: Hybrid Talent for Speed of Thought - move up to opponents when init rolled
2: Quick Reactions - use Cha instead of Dex
4: Flail Expertise

Take Virtuous Strike for an MBA, Call of Challenge for a Mass Sanction, and Valorous Strike for another Mass Sanction. Tiefling can pick up another one by

Now there's two really strong routes to go:
Sorcerer for Demonskin Adept - Half-Elf for Eldritch Strike works better here for proning with Flail Expertise. A lot of feats to prone on an MBA, but
Fighter for Battle Awareness/Lashing Flail and some other good feat choices.

Cavalier instead of Paladin or Blackguard instead of Paladin can work out well - 1st gives big boost to init and a useful Aura for when you move up to a target, but it goes first. 2nd adds some punch to your MBA. I like the +4 Init+Aura a lot. The one big downside is that you don't have Hybrid Divine Challenge. Which I think is mostly a plus to not have vs. Aura. Simply because you want to use Mass Sanction options first anyway. But it means Weakening Challenge isn't an option in Epic.