D&D 4E Need suggestions for a Dark Sun 4E Cleric/Leader substitute...

[Cherno]

Hello all,

I'm currently hard at work preparing a Dark Sun 4E game, and since the players are new to D&D I am creating characters as well from which they can choose.

So far I have:

Mul Fighter / Great Sword Fighter
Elf Ranger / Archer
Human Wizard / War Wizard

What's missing is a substitute for a Cleric, as you may know there are no Divine classes in Dark Sun so I'm having a bit of a hard time finding a character that can hold his own on the frontlines next to the fighter while also being able to buff the party, at least via healing powers. In 2nd Edition I would take a Dwarf Earth Cleric, but sadly this is no longer an option.

 

[Obryn]

Warlord, sir. Warlord.

Ardents also work well.

 

[Ferghis]

What Obryn said. Shamans aren't bad, but if you have characters with good basic attacks (and it looks like you do), a warlord would perform very well.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Animist shamans actually make for powerful buffers of melee basic attacks, like a lazylord. (The animist's at-will gives +2 to hit and Int bonus to damage. The shaman IMC decided to boost Int rather than Wis, just to crank that power into the stratosphere. We have a barbarian with a very powerful at-will attack as it is...)

However, the amount of spirit spam can get tiring.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Bards. "Assassin" Bards are iconic Athasian archetypes, and the idea of a defiling leader is hilarious to me.

An interesting challenge: artificer. You can defile, too, and Dark Sun has a grand tradition of mutations-via-magic: perhaps your infusions mutate the characters, temporarily.

Druids. Another iconic Athasian archetype, the leader-druid goes over well. If your party leans more toward the amoral end of the spectrum, there's always Gulg, where druids are basically enslaving nature spirits. This is how I fluff my Gulgan ranger's occasional heals.

If you want that dwarf earth cleric back, go dwarf shaman and go with the animist and perhaps the Elemental Priest theme.

The Templar theme actually has some robust healing in there, as a patch.

Ardents work with the psionic-ness of the setting.

Warlords are there, but they're kind of boring, IMO. But if you like scream-heals, they'll do you well.

My Dark Sun party has seen a warlord (drunk, lazy human mercenary), a bard (arrogant, nasty servant of a sorcerer-queen), and an artificer (relic from a bygone age when Athas was more sci-fi).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hybrid Ardent Bard: Psionic flavor mixing with a defiling bard.

Or an Ardent or Warlord hybrid with Warlock (Sorc-King pact)- make sure you take the Eldritch Strike power.

 

[Obryn]

We had a warlord for 16 levels and just switched out to a bard. Curious to see where it goes...

 

[Cherno]

Thanks for the suggestiosn so far. I aim to keep things rather simple so for now I'll use no character themes. I'll look into the Warlord and Bard classes, although I seem to remember that Bards are a little bit to squishy to stand directly in harm's way?

 

[Neonchameleon]

Warlord. Preferably Bravura Warlord with Brash Assault and the Battlefront Leader option if you've DDI or most of the splats. Hellish fun to play, effective, and can with a single feat wear scale and carry a heavy shield allowing them to stand alongside the fighter very effectively.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Not really. Certain Bard builds are quite melee-heavy, and they can buff themselves in a lot of interesting ways. Had a dwarf bard with an axe who preferred getting up close and personal, and I never really regretted it.