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

[D'karr]

We had a similar situation in our group where no one was really too interested on playing a leader role class. Some players decided to simply multiclass/hybrid into a leader class. There was a Rogue/Bard, a Fighter/Warlord, a Ranger, a Sorcerer, and a Psion.
[MENTION=6704531]Cherno[/MENTION], I know you mentioned not allowing themes. I would find that strange for Dark Sun, since that setting was the one that introduced themes. Themes are a wonderful addition to the game. They don't really shift power balance, or add inordinate complexity to the game. I would reconsider that decision.

 

[Cherno]

Again muchas gracias for all of your opinions and suggestions.

I quickly threw together a Dwarf Warlord (Inspiring Warlord), but he only heals 2 HP every time an ally in LOS uses an action point... Nothing to write home about

I currently ponder wether I should just allow the Cleric class anyway and handwave all power source info as somehow being from the elements instead of a god. Since I'll use power cards I can just re-write the fluff text on there to fit the setting

D'karr: I have to stress the fact that I am pretty much doing all the work for the campaign (which is not unusual as a GM of course) but apart from the campaign itself I also have to explain ALL rules and so on, so every bit that deviates from the core rules in PB is something more I have to do But as per your suggestion I'll likely take another look.

 

[CAFRedblade]

About using themes, I believe that Dark Sun was the first instance of themes for 4th ed, and that it's somewhat expected that you use them. Probably not terrible if you don't, but keep that in mind if things seem more difficult then expected for the PC's.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Maybe instead of the Cleric, try the Essentials WarPriest instead. That's the only Leader in our party, and we do allright. And the Ardent class is no slouch at healing, either.

 

[Obryn]

Maybe instead of the Cleric, try the Essentials WarPriest instead. That's the only Leader in our party, and we do allright. And the Ardent class is no slouch at healing, either.

If you must have a cleric, you could probably do a quick reskin; there's an Earth War priest which is halfway there. Add on the Elemental Priest theme, and you're good.

I didn't do that in my own game because one of my players wanted to search for the gods as a major motivation. I wanted to keep divine classes (even reskinned) out of the game until then. If you have no such desires in your own group, it could work out better.

-O

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Actually, we did ok without the WarPriest- at first, we had NO Leader in the party. Mostly Strikers one Defender and a Controller.

 

[Cherno]

I now created a Warpriest (Earth Domain) and I like him very much. He is pretty close to a normal Cleric and has a lot of the same powers, including Healing Hands. I'll likely take another look at the Sun domain because it focuses even more on healing.

 

[Jhaelen]

[MENTION=6704531]Cherno[/MENTION], I know you mentioned not allowing themes. I would find that strange for Dark Sun, since that setting was the one that introduced themes. Themes are a wonderful addition to the game. They don't really shift power balance, or add inordinate complexity to the game. I would reconsider that decision.

Seconded (or thirded?). I'd definitely recommend to pick a Dark Sun theme for each of the characters. Not so much because of the bonus power(s), but because it immediately supplies a new character with a bunch of background details and potential motivations.
In our game we have all kind sof leaders. My own leader character is an Ardent concentrating on increasing the party's damage output but our group also features a Bard, a Shaman and a Warlord (every player has a secondary character to be able to jump in in case of a fatality...). The Shaman is probably the best regarding healing power, followed by the Ardent, the Warlord and the Bard. But it's really mostly a question of the build you're using.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

...every player has a secondary character to be able to jump in in case of a fatality...

Best meta-campaigning idea DarkSun introduced.

 

[Cherno]

(Semi-Necro)

Hi all,

just a little update to say that my first D&D 4E Dark Sun session was a blast, the players and me had lots of fun and we played till 5 in the morning in a 8 hour non-stop session of dungeon crawling goodness

As soon as I can post links and images I will start a new thread detailing my experiences and even some tips should someone else consider using Maptools for a similar endeavor, I sure hope so because the whole project was very rewarding