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PEACH Ardent|Battlemind
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<blockquote data-quote="wasteomana" data-source="post: 6789369" data-attributes="member: 6798675"><p>First off, thanks for the reply.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I honestly wouldn't even say that Invitation is a big part of it. There are a few ardent powers that are solid and interesting on a defender chassis, but mostly the one I took it for initially was the combination of at-wills. While it might have high opportunity cost, getting an MBA that is going off a co-primary stat (as I will likely go 16/16 in the end) that also prevents them from shifting is pretty handy.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>You are 100% correct. I did not take the group marking utility for the instances where I'm grouped with a fighter and a paladin. or a Knight and a Berserker. Playing from 5-7 I haven't needed a lot of mass marking potentials, partially because my mark punishment is very limited and partially because I tend to find myself in a group with another defender (who may or may not have mass marking powers). Instead I've focused on making myself a nuisance.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So the BM|Warlock thing is something I've looked a bit into. My primary problem with it, is the lack of power points. I have not played high enough as a psionics class to know whether it will really annoy me to have so few PPs to play with, but I really think it will. Looking at what I get from |Warlock I don't see how it is significantly better than |Ardent. I get a solid MBA (ES being likely better than unaugmented Intent, but both are quite good), but I don't get the utility heal or access to some of the excellent choices for power selection. When I build into warlock the thing I want to really do is build into teleports and go Evermeet. But I've also already played that as a SM|Lock and don't really want to repeat that playstyle.</p><p></p><p>I considered dwarf, but I would only do that if I went full BM. Which I do not want to do as the primary goal was to see what sort of fun I could have as this combination. I think if I went full BM I'd actually go wilder and pick up the wilder PP as well as enough dex for HBO so I can Brutal Barrage all day long once I've got it and crit fish. But that playstyle doesn't sit well with me at the moment, partially because I've got a player in one of my games that is that build.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I've only used it 5 or so times. I don't think I've seen an instance where an ally has moved into my fortress for the cover. Mostly I just use it for myself, and give cover when I go near allies to engage things. I think it might be interesting to Lightning Rush and bring cover with me to possibly cause an attack to miss although that is a very niche thing to hope for. If not Living Fortress what would you suggest?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> The U2 has already been addressed (and I still might pick up the mass-mark at some point if I stop playing with at-least 1 other defender all the time). Cunning Stalker by itself on a defender is bad. The big thing is that it isn't by itself. I have it because I have Yakuza. If I didn't have Yakuza, I wouldn't have it, if I didn't have Cunning Stalker, I wouldn't have Yakuza. While it does mean that I've got one target more locked down than another, I typically spend most of my turns using either augmented or unaugmented Intent Laid Bare on one target and marking another, ideally being between both of them. Being next to a monster who can't shift and really doesn't want to provoke from me often works better than marking them as the Shift+Charge struggle is real.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I think that the more I work on it, the more I'm likely to go with the Unstoppable plan. Now I just have to settle on a PP.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>What is the ruling question on Ruthless Demonstration? Is it what sort of actions people who are intimidated can/will take? Mostly I don't care about succeeding on the intimidate but rather I want the -2 it tosses out. I have always felt that intimidation optimization was not very fun (useful, not very fun) and also something that is pretty DM dependant. This character is going to be in an LFR style campaign where there are a lot of different DMs and I would prefer not to set myself up to be annoyed by this functioning significantly different in different games.</p><p></p><p>Thanks for the replies bald!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="wasteomana, post: 6789369, member: 6798675"] First off, thanks for the reply. I honestly wouldn't even say that Invitation is a big part of it. There are a few ardent powers that are solid and interesting on a defender chassis, but mostly the one I took it for initially was the combination of at-wills. While it might have high opportunity cost, getting an MBA that is going off a co-primary stat (as I will likely go 16/16 in the end) that also prevents them from shifting is pretty handy. You are 100% correct. I did not take the group marking utility for the instances where I'm grouped with a fighter and a paladin. or a Knight and a Berserker. Playing from 5-7 I haven't needed a lot of mass marking potentials, partially because my mark punishment is very limited and partially because I tend to find myself in a group with another defender (who may or may not have mass marking powers). Instead I've focused on making myself a nuisance. So the BM|Warlock thing is something I've looked a bit into. My primary problem with it, is the lack of power points. I have not played high enough as a psionics class to know whether it will really annoy me to have so few PPs to play with, but I really think it will. Looking at what I get from |Warlock I don't see how it is significantly better than |Ardent. I get a solid MBA (ES being likely better than unaugmented Intent, but both are quite good), but I don't get the utility heal or access to some of the excellent choices for power selection. When I build into warlock the thing I want to really do is build into teleports and go Evermeet. But I've also already played that as a SM|Lock and don't really want to repeat that playstyle. I considered dwarf, but I would only do that if I went full BM. Which I do not want to do as the primary goal was to see what sort of fun I could have as this combination. I think if I went full BM I'd actually go wilder and pick up the wilder PP as well as enough dex for HBO so I can Brutal Barrage all day long once I've got it and crit fish. But that playstyle doesn't sit well with me at the moment, partially because I've got a player in one of my games that is that build. I've only used it 5 or so times. I don't think I've seen an instance where an ally has moved into my fortress for the cover. Mostly I just use it for myself, and give cover when I go near allies to engage things. I think it might be interesting to Lightning Rush and bring cover with me to possibly cause an attack to miss although that is a very niche thing to hope for. If not Living Fortress what would you suggest? The U2 has already been addressed (and I still might pick up the mass-mark at some point if I stop playing with at-least 1 other defender all the time). Cunning Stalker by itself on a defender is bad. The big thing is that it isn't by itself. I have it because I have Yakuza. If I didn't have Yakuza, I wouldn't have it, if I didn't have Cunning Stalker, I wouldn't have Yakuza. While it does mean that I've got one target more locked down than another, I typically spend most of my turns using either augmented or unaugmented Intent Laid Bare on one target and marking another, ideally being between both of them. Being next to a monster who can't shift and really doesn't want to provoke from me often works better than marking them as the Shift+Charge struggle is real. I think that the more I work on it, the more I'm likely to go with the Unstoppable plan. Now I just have to settle on a PP. What is the ruling question on Ruthless Demonstration? Is it what sort of actions people who are intimidated can/will take? Mostly I don't care about succeeding on the intimidate but rather I want the -2 it tosses out. I have always felt that intimidation optimization was not very fun (useful, not very fun) and also something that is pretty DM dependant. This character is going to be in an LFR style campaign where there are a lot of different DMs and I would prefer not to set myself up to be annoyed by this functioning significantly different in different games. Thanks for the replies bald! [/QUOTE]
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