Rich Baker on the Swordmage

[Shroomy]

Rich Baker had this to say on his blog:

Anyway, I doubt that you care much about Seattle, snow, and traffic. So let’s talk about D&D! I’m pleased to report that I was able to convert my character Karhun to a swordmage in Dave Noonan’s game. Once, a long time ago, Karhun used to be a warblade/warmage, so it was sort of a chance to return to my roots. At this point I guess I’ve abused the “respec” in Dave’s game pretty badly, but my tour through warlord was pretty instructive, and I might very well retain some warlord multiclassing to stay in touch with my character’s meandering history. The swordmage design is really just getting started, so it’s pretty hypothetical at this point. But I had a lot of fun. In one desperate fight I pulled off a very slick trick indeed—I used an encounter power that let me teleport the guy I hit to any adjacent square, then popped an action point and used a daily power with a cone-like blast area, catching the newly-moved enemy and the bad guys behind him in the AoE. Not very fair, I know, but the situation was desperate!

You can read more here:

http://www.gleemax.com/Comms/Pages/Communities/BlogPost.aspx?blogpostid=37868&pagemode=2&blogid=4142

 

[Incenjucar]

<3

Now if only that link worked.

 

[Xethreau]

Awesome

Now, if only Swordmages were PHB T.T Well, so long as Swordmages are a lot like Duskblades form PHB2, I will be happy.

 

[Voss]

What did you get out of duskblades that I didn't? Bland and flavorless seemed a design goal.

So, what book is the swordmage likely to be in if they're kicking it around now? Hopefully not the FR. Maybe that arcane book people have mentioned, or next years PH II?

 

[Rechan]

used a daily power with a cone-like blast area, catching the newly-moved enemy and the bad guys behind him in the AoE.

Huh. I thought the Swordmage was just a defender that used magic to do the defend-ing.

 

[bonethug0108]

Not all classes are restricted to just performing their roles(and more than likely, no classes are restricted to just their main role).

 

[Voss]

No, but if they aren't better at it, there really isn't any point in the role scheme anyway.

Its one thing to pick up a bit of healing and controlling on the side, but if you're just as good at it as the other guy, the whole class and role thing goes out the window.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

(moved)

 

[bonethug0108]

No, but if they aren't better at it, there really isn't any point in the role scheme anyway.

Its one thing to pick up a bit of healing and controlling on the side, but if you're just as good at it as the other guy, the whole class and role thing goes out the window.

Where is it said that x is as good at non-intended role y as z?

All I said was that classes appear to be able to do things outside their intended role. I never said or have seen mention that a warlock would be just as good a controller as a wizard.

Edit:
Misread your post(thought you said are).

Where have you seen that doing things outside of roles takes away from the main role? Can you not do stuff in addition to your main role and still be the most effective of your group in that role?

If both the warlord and cleric get about the same type/amount of buff and heals, but also get some stuff that allows them to move or injure opponents, would they not still be good leaders? If a warlord has many buffs and the wizard has a couple, is the warlord not a more effective healer?

I'm not sure where you are drawing your conclusion from anything that has been said.

 

[Greenfaun]

Huh. I thought the Swordmage was just a defender that used magic to do the defend-ing.

Well, his character was a warblade/warmage then a warlord/wizard. Maybe he kept some wizard powers. It's true he only mentions swordmage, but a cone attack seems very wizardy to me. ::shrug::

Either way, sounds like it could be a cool class to play.