Origins - Swordmage is full of win

[Rechan]

Remember lads, the monk looked broken on paper too.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

I mentioned over on the 4E boards I played at the 45 minute delve put on by the RPGA, which was basically 3 short encounters. I played a Great Weapon Fighter and we had a Swordmage in the party as well.

I dealt much more damage as the fighter (thanks Cleave and Combat Superioty), but the Swordmage preformed well also.

We quickly figured out that he should be marking the heavy hitter, while I rounded up the others. His defense was the same as mine I believe (both had 17 AC).

And he played a heck of a lot different than I did as a defender, but without being overpowered.

 

[the Jester]

Remember lads, the monk looked broken on paper too.

Or (day I say it) the mystic theurge!

 

[Mr. Wilson]

I remember how I thought the MT was soooooo overpowered. Until someone played it at the table.

Then I laughed at them.

 

[Ginnel]

I get the impression that the swordmage is only proficient in light armour, and to use this ability they only can use 1-handed weapons. I have not made the comparision using the best possible light armour and this ability, vs. other classes using the best possible heavy armour such as +6 Godforged Plate with a shield.

Taking the hypothetical 30th level Swordmage with 28 int into account.
10
+15 AC from level
+5 Elderhide armour
+6 Enhancement Bonus
+9 Intelligence bonus to AC
+9 Swordmage warding int bonus
+1 armour specilization (hide)

=55 AC

The hypothetical 30th level Paladin into account.
10
+15 AC from level
+14 Godplate armour
+6 Enhancement Bonus
+2 Heavy Shield
+1 Shield specialization
+1 armour specilization (plate)

=49 AC

A little correction for you, armor specilization and shield specialization do not stack as they are both feat bonus' (I'm going to put a bet this will be one of the most overlooked mistakes in 4e), so 48AC for that highly defensive paladin making the hypothetical swordmage +7 AC better

If we replace the swordmages bonus with a flat +3 that will make it 49AC, this plus 3 will in effect give him a heavy shield with no armor check penalties and with +1 AC which at the moment is impossible to get for a shield user (and will also let him use a bracers slot at the same time). One more thing the swordmage is also getting a massive boost to reflex from this as well, which will be vastly superior to any of the current defenders in their heavy armor, +2 from the heavy shield and +2/3 max for dex for that scale wearer, so normally +2 maybe +4/+5 max, and then we have +9 from the swordmages int and hopefully the ward doesn't add to reflex

of course both of these theorys also depend on whether int is actually useful to swordmage beyond defence, because thats a lot of investment stat wise for defence, but I imagine that a lot of attack powers will benefit from int, I myself would like about have the about a half available powers to be affected by int (or for some of the str and con ones to have great synergy) therefore making the plate swordmage viable too