PITA hybrid defender concept

[Herschel]

I'm kind of playing with a character concept of a real PITA to hit hybrid defender. My thought is go with a Swordmage/Warlock. The character concept is a character looking for redemption defending innocents and allies. The idea behind the warlock hybrid is for things like Warlock's wrath, Emerald Shirld, and Fey Switch. I'm thinking Shielding/Infernal for powers/theme.

The questions become: If going Tiefling, do I boost INT/CHA to a8 post-racial and go with the 13 in CON or do I go with 16 post-racial across the 3? I can get the powers I want through 6th anyway with the lesser CON, but it FEELS weird because of the Infernal Pact.

The other idea I was playing around with was going Leader hybrid with a Bard. I want either a defender or leader as a role with "borrowed" tricks. Thoughts?

 

[Aulirophile]

Tiefling Swordmage|Warlock going straight Int/Cha is going to be pretty strong tbh. I'd do that. Though I'd want to do Cha/Con Paladin|Warlock more. ^.^

 

[jbear]

I've had at look at the warlock/swordmage hybrid and while playable, I think a warlock/paladin is a better option.

A Tiefling could do warlock/paladin fine. Me, I like my hybrids human. Basically because you can get hybrid talent + another feat at level 1 and 3 At Will powers is great when you have 2 classes to choose from.

Any way, you're heart may be set on the swordmage/warlock, so good luck.

 

[Herschel]

Yeah, I prefer the Swordmage, and Arcane power source only for things like White Lotus. I would prefer human for that very reason (two starting feats) but the stat split is harsh.

 

[jbear]

One of the Domain Feats turns one of the Paladin At Wills into Arcane as well. White Lotus is brilliant, but it only keys of At Wills, so if you took that one Paladin power and two Warlock powers, well you can achieve the lose lose situation you are perhaps trying to achieve.

As for the PITA defender ... I'm guessing the P is for Pain, I is for in and T is for The, right?

The Warlock/Paladin can go straight for Plate and Heavy Shield with the Hybrid Talent feat. Investing a 13 in DEX means you can Multiclass into Assassin and then a feat later gain the Warlock's Shadow Walk power. Add White Lotus into the attackers dilema = PITA for sure.

Have you considered a Swordmage/Wizard Hybrid? Arcane all the way, and not nearly as MAD as both powers trigger of INT. With CON as your secondary you can get up close, drop you Aegis, get out, sit back and defend away with Shielding Aegis.

Anyway, food for thought. It could be cool to be a swordmage/warlock, but that will start happening when you get to around level 8 and the build starts coming together because you have been able to get the right feats, at least from what I could see. It's taken my group nearly 2 years to be on the verge of level 8 ... long time to wait.

 

[jbear]

You might be hard pressed to come up with as effective a swordmage/warlock hybrid as the paladin/warlock hybrid below. A wizard/swordmage is another kettle of fish however. Anyway, something to gnaw on while you mess around with your own builds

The Cursed One, level 11
Human, Warlock|Paladin, Student of Caiphon: Warlock Radiant Powers crit on 18-20
Eldritch Pact (Hybrid): Star Pact (Hybrid):Required for Student of Caiphon Paragon Path
Eldritch Strike: Eldritch Strike Charisma
Hybrid Warlock: Hybrid Warlock Reflex
Hybrid Paladin: Hybrid Paladin Fortitude
Hybrid Talent: Paladin Armor Proficiency: Plate and Heavy shields
Twofold Pact: Fey Pact: This comes with the Boon; now you teleport when your curse target drops
Human Power Selection: Bonus At-Will Power
Background: Born Under a Bad Sign (Born Under a Bad Sign Benefit): Can change this but it fits a Paladin/warlock to the tee if you ask mee; extra HPs yay!

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 11, Con 16, Dex 14, Int 16, Wis 9, Cha 21.
(You can pump INT only but a Healing Surge and +1 in FORT is okay ... level 14 seems so far away to me, which is where you'd finally get your 18 INT)

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 14, Dex 13, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 16.


AC: 27 Fort: 22 Reflex: 22 Will: 23
HP: 84 Surges: 11 Surge Value: 21

TRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +13, Religion +13, Bluff +15, Intimidate +15, Stealth +12

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +7, Diplomacy +10, Dungeoneering +4, Endurance +8, Heal +4, History +8, Insight +4, Nature +4, Perception +4, Streetwise +10, Thievery +7, Athletics +5

FEATS
Human: Heavy Blade Expertise: Pretty unavoidable
Level 1: Hybrid Talent: This is where you get your Heavy Armour
Level 2: Weapon Proficiency (Fullblade): Bastard Sword is okay if you want to get a Heavy Shield instead but when your crit range increases to 18-20 at level 11 ... devastating!
Level 4: Shadow Initiate: The path to gain Shadow Walk; You can now use your sword as your implement! oh and stealth boost ... plus Shrouds. Good deal!
Level 6: White Lotus Riposte: Of course
Level 8: Cursed Shadow: Hello Shadow Step!
Level 10: Crimson Fire: Marked and Cursed targets = curse damage uses d10s!
I prefer this over turning your Paladin At Will to a Arcane Power (Domain of Arcana?), but it's an option. Alternatively, Dragonmark of Warding is another sound option. You'll get both those feats anyway at some stage.
Level 11: Twofold Pact: Second Pact, this time with Boon! And Eyebite! SO retrain Eyebite for Hand of Blight or Enfeebling Strike

POWERS
Bonus At-Will Power: Eyebite: Mark, and Blind at Range ... PITA!
Hybrid at-will 1: Eldritch Strike: Bread and Butter
Hybrid at-will 1: Virtuous Strike: Cha MBA; Pretty Crappy but it does deal Radiant Damage so okay vs Undead at least ... gets decent if you gain Domain of Arcana and possibly convince your DM to allow Corellon to gain access to the Domain of the Sun
Hybrid encounter 1: Valorous Smite: Mark everything within 3 of you with your Sanction
Hybrid daily 1: Crown of Stars: Warlock Radiant Power that gives you an encounter long minor action Warlock Radiant Power Attack; see Student of Caiphon + Full Blade which is your Implement
Hybrid utility 2: Bless Weapon: Doesn't say it works only on melee attacks ... so all your Implement attacks through your Blessed sword gain this AWESOME benefit for 1 encounter per day
Hybrid encounter 3: Otherwind Stride: Get in and get out!
Hybrid daily 5: Hallowed Circle: That's quite a big explosion ... lots of attacks, lots of chances to crit! High Crit Weapon! And while your sword is Blessed ...awesome
Hybrid utility 6: Shadowslip: Move towards or away from offending enemy that attacks you from afar
Hybrid encounter 7: Far Realm Phantasm: If you hit, the next turn the enemy attacks thin air! Pretty awesome vs a solo creature or an elite Boss creature.
Hybrid daily 9: Radiant Pulse: Again ... sustaining encounter long lots of Radiant Warlock Power attacks; see Student of Caiphon etc.
Hybrid utility 10: Font of Healing: Heal yourself and a friend; warlocks need something to get other people to like them, right?

ITEMS: I don't put much thought into items; DM territory afaic.
Fullblade of Great Opportunity +2, Teleporting Wyvernscale Armor +3, Cloak of the Walking Wounded +2

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Nice build. I like it. As a DM, I would find that either very amusing or infuriating. Probably both, in turns. It would be amusing for a couple fights, then I would hate it

Kudos. I'd XP you but I must spread it 'round first.

 

[interwyrm]

You can build an effective swordmage|warlock even if you dump intelligence. It's best to do human for that since it's frustrating to have only one at-will.

You can use Lashing Asp for your swordmage daily (no int roll) and flamewall strike for your swordmage encounter (also no int roll).

For a paragon path, there's plenty you could do, but I might recommend Sigil Carver. At 16th, if a marked enemy attacks an adjacent ally, you can use eldritch strike as an interrupt against it. If the offending attack was a melee attack, there's a good chance you can use your retribution to slide them out of attacking range.

If you want to use aegis of shielding, I suggest going Con primary. You'll have more survivability, and you'll probably end up using your stronger warlock powers more often anyways.

If you prefer to go int/cha, there are some neat tricks to be had by using the Unseen Mage paragon path. There's a 7th level warlock encounter, Mire the Mind, which lets you add your int modifier to your hide checks. If you are invisible and hidden, enemies don't have much of a choice other than to provoke your mark punishment.

One other thing, given the theme you're after, battlemind|warlock is a pretty solid choice too. I'm currently playing one of these. For infernal pact, I'd definitely go with that over paladin hybrid. Tiefling is a great race for it too since you'll want to go Con primary, Cha secondary.

 

[Oldtimer]

I'm personally playing a 10th level (soon to be 11th level) gnome hybrid assault swordmage/feypact warlock multiclass bard. He certainly fulfils the "PITA" part of the concept.

And there was much rejoicing.

 

[Herschel]

That sounds fun. Thanks guys. I'm actually not married to Tiefling, but it just seemed a race that works well and still fits the theme.