Sentinel Class Preview (now in PDF; update 3/7/09)

[Mengu]

Trying again...

[sblock]

- For powers comparable to HS, see Lance of Faith, Commander's Strike, Brash Assault, or Opening Shove. Each is an example of a benefit to attacks or complexity at-will. In this case, you get combat advantage, but you can get that by virtue of flanking, and it requires the second attack.

The exception is that all the examples you're providing are for leader classes, and again all the bonuses apply to a single target. Knocking a target down can potentially benefit the whole party (though usually it will be about half the party). There are currently no at-will attack powers that knock people down, only encounter powers. Doesn't mean there can't be, but I'd want to put this power side by side with a Warlord, and see which one gets greater milage out of their ways of giving allies bonuses.

Once per encounter you can't move for 2 rounds; big deal if the enemy's a lurker, but the fighter can swat at them constantly and stop them from getting away. Pinning Smash is daily 5 and potentially doesn't let the target move for the entire encounter; this is a watered-down (read: lower level/type) version with a build specific benefit which can't be accessed except by members of the class (taking other features into consideration).

So it's an encounter power that increases the stickiness of the sentinel. I guess that's not too bad for a defender, I'll buy that one.

AC is a defense. Again, if it's not spelled out...
- No more/less powerful than "On Pain of Death." which lets an ally heal instead.
- When the class has an inherent detriment to AC or other defenses, adding a bonus to said defense isn't so much a benefit as a catch-up. I did change it to Power bonus though.

You mean Paladin's Judgement. I think I was all right with the healing, but the combination of 3[W], healing, and defense bonus was throwing me off. But if the class doesn't have ways of improving its defense such as access to plate by level 2 or 4, then I guess it won't put them above the curve, sort of like the extra little boosts the barbarian gets from his daily attack powers.

- You can choose to continue to sustain the power or use Threatening call.
- You can do both if you choose not to move or attack.
- You're taking damage constantly which is going to wear on your/your healers abilities.

It looks like you just removed the sustain, so it looks good now.

Just because there are few, does not make it necessary or intentional. There are innumerable examples of classes using "controller-esque" powers at low levels and this doesn't even push the envelope much.

It wasn't the control aspect I was objecting to, but more the "save ends". Looks like you removed the "save ends", which makes it perfectly fine.
[/sblock]

One more question, why does the surges per day value jump from 12 to 14 at level 3? Is this a class feature of some sort?

 

[malcolm_n]

Yeah, I looked those over again and found a more reasonable way to accomplish the goals.

Thank you for catching the surges, i should have edited and missed that one when i removed durable from feats. Fixed. I'll take another look at the at-will this time. I appreciate the consideration you've given these.

**Edit** okay, updated the wording for a similar effect without the free combat advantage. I also clarified why you can't wear heavy armor if you want to use the features.

 

[Mengu]

Guardian Aspect:[FONT=&quot] When you hit, if you're wielding a two-handed weapon, the target cannot shift away from you until the end of your next turn.[/FONT]

I like that. It's fairly clean, and basically gives the sentinel an opportunity attack if the enemy is intent on moving away, while it doesn't prevent the enemy from shifting around to flank the sentinel.

My next question will be, why does this only work with Guardian Aspect build with a two-handed weapon? For any other build the at-will power would be completely useless since it's the equivalent of a basic attack. Ok, maybe not exactly equivalent since it's Con vs AC, but still, seems to be geared for a bit of a specific build.

One idea would be to leave it as is: "cannot shift away from you" for all builds, and then you could have a sentinel feat for the guardian aspect that turns the wording into "cannot shift if you are wielding a two-handed weapon," giving it a bit of a power up. Feats can be very specific (based on what we've seen in MP), but at-will powers for a class are usualy more wide open to allow for a greater variety of builds (yes, I know there are exceptions).

I'll leave this with the caveat, that the other at-will powers may play a role on my thoughts for the restriction.

 

[malcolm_n]

Generally when I initially design a class, I aim for 2 "build free" at-wills and 2 "build specific" at-wills. It's a simple formula to give players a heads up about what to consider picking if they're newer. I'll probably expand on it after initial design and implementation is complete, though, but for now, and especially for a preview character, obvious choices for powers would be preferred (at least for me).

I will say the idea for the feat is a good one. I will think it over, any specifics to clarify what you mean?

 

[Mengu]

any specifics to clarify what you mean?

All I meant was that without the feat, the target can still shift as long as it stays adjacent to the sentinel (or shifts toward the sentinel). With the feat, the target would not be able to shift at all, making it slightly more difficult for the sentinel to be flanked without provoking an opportunity attack.

 

[malcolm_n]

I pondered a feat like you suggested and couldn't find a clean way to word it properly. I think I'll leave it as is, for the time being anyway.

 

[malcolm_n]

I've added the PDF Download with class information to make any race a sentinel levels 1-3.