Good evening!
I will start DMing to a group of friends and I would like some advice on builds. We have been working of the backgrounds and the campaign, and I will propose the character sheets (or will approve theirs).
I personally enjoy well rounded characters, consistent and "classic". We all have a reasonable D&D experience, but none of us are optimizers and character engineers (no offense, hehehe). We will start at 1st level.
I would love to get ideas for builds, paragon paths, powers, feats, gear. We are not looking for uber-optimized, just funcional and I don't want to accidentally trap my players (like giving to one of them a hammer with low constitution etc.).
Let me talk a little bit about how the party will look like:
- Dragonborn warlord: probably inspiring, but we are not sure yet. He will be someone involved in the talking, with a high probability of becoming an unofficial party leader. The player is very experienced and I am confident he will be happy to fulfill these roles.
Sounds great! This one I think sounds pretty exactly matched to the player. Cha-based Warlords do a lot of "here's a bonus because I used my class feature" stuff, which does require the player to pay careful attention, but its nothing an experienced player can't easily handle, and the concept is pretty fun. Of course you can do other types of build as well, but the DB CHA bonus makes certain options pretty tempting. He might even pick up a smattering of Bard stuff if he feels like slanting it in that direction.
- Human rogue: she will be an educated woman, not a street scum. She will most likely be an agent of some kind, similar to a fantasy medieval police force. She will start the campaign with a mission. I am seriously considering her to be artfull dodger.
Side note: usually the rogue's player is a very straightforward person, and tends fo forget special actions (interrupts, reactions etc.), so the build cannot be complicated to play.
Rogues DO take a decent bit of tactical acumen to play really well. The class is pretty much designed around getting CA every turn, and the interplay between various powers, the stealth rules, etc can be pretty rules-lawyery. A Scout or Thief (Essentials builds) might provide the most straightforward play. There are less options, but they are interesting ones and backstab is pretty effective. Another option would be flavoring a dual-weapon Ranger build as a stealth build, which can practically speaking be a bit simpler but still be in there leaping out of the shadows to wreck havoc (and will be pretty good at range too, you can use some cute things like the hand-crossbow and two-fisted shooter for some not-optimized but interesting fun). MCing back into Rogue works well for this option too.
- Human paladin: Most certaily a strenght-based paladin (maybe balanced, but probably not). Knowing the player I believe he will be happy with "striker-level" of damage, so I was considering giving him a big weapon.
The player is on the "Stark-mode" (from Winterfell, not from Marvel), he loves Eddard Stark (don't we all?), so I was trying to imagine a young Eddard Stark, and I found photos of Boromir, hehehehe.
I think others have mentioned, STR Paladin is rough. It DOES work if you have DP, but the rules are tweaky as the class got some serious patching, which results in a bit wonky mechanics. Striker level damage is possible, but requires some skilled building. One good striker level option would be a Blackguard with the vice of 'Fury', which gives a damage bonus. Pick a nice big two-handed weapon, drop weapon expertise on it (axe or hammer are great for dishing it out). Pure striker-level goodness. The character can be an interesting one, a do-gooder fighting back against his vice, etc. You've got some really rich background possibilities here.
- Eladrin Wizard: the player is a very easy-going person, very fun to play with. She just LOVES to teleport around. I am thinking about the huge Int+Dex that she can have, qualifying for the wand/weapliment and dual implement thing, but I admit I am really confused about how to build on this concept (weapliments confuses me, help...). The other detail is, as much as she is a dice-roller and loves to spread damage, I believe she is on a control wizard mood.
Yeah, that's a fun way to go. The character will be a glass cannon, but fun to play. Watch out for the seductiveness of the 'blaster' option though. Wizards (especially the implement-based 'Arcanist' style from PHB1) are best thought of as pure controllers built around disabling and punishing the enemy for going against the party's plan. Of course direct damage is not a BAD thing to have some of, but you have interesting choices here with Magic Missile's auto-hit for decent damage being a very tempting and useful choices (certain death for any opponent just hanging on to a few hit points) with some of the various area attacking at-wills being the other side of that option (and you pretty much just automatically pick Arc Lightning, Beguiling Strands, or Winged Horde as the other at-will). The "use your teleport to move an ally that falls inside your AoE" feat is really fun, and there are many quite fun PPs you can go for, with Battle Mage and Wizard of the Spiral Tower being the classic ones and still some of the best (though WotST has been somewhat eclipsed with the changes in implement options since PHB1 its still fun and certainly not a BAD choice).
- Dwarf Ranger [Crossbow]: Another classic concept, a little difficult to pull in the 4 edition, so suggestions will be welcome. I am seriosly considering using hunter style.
Any inputs will be welcome.
Regards!
I haven't played with a Hunter, so I have little to say on that option, but a Dwarf Ranger of the classic PHB1 type is certainly a perfectly good option. You might consider going in a sort of tough-guy route, using the CON and WIS racial bonuses, give him a good CON, then you can go with the Crossbow for range and dual-war-axe close up (use the TWF option in this case, Archer is OK but unless you want to go Battlefield Archer you're probably better off with TWF, or maybe even the MP2 Hunter option using throw and stab). You could also go dual warhammers and see if you can pick up the dwarven thrower that lets you toss around a non-offhand hammer! Another option would be the warpig (IE go with the Beastmaster option). You lose the free Toughness feat of TWF and your offhand weapon has to be slightly smaller but the pig is a great blocker and you can effectively operate as a secondary defender (and still do a quite credible job with the crossbow at range, Twin Strike really doesn't NEED synergy with anything...).
You can check out the WotC D&D Community board, and go to the Wiki and look up the various handbooks that have been created there if you want specific ideas and more in-depth discussion of the various options good and bad points. They go into a pretty high degree of detail, though it often tends to be min/max oriented a lot of the writers have touched on ways to avoid bad pitfalls and do interesting things even if you don't happen to be optimizing. Its always worth mining for ideas anyway.
). When I said "hunter", I meant the Ranger option from Martial Power (Quickdraw + sheathe weapon).
