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Swordmage: Help grasping the concept, please
- Thread starter deganawida
- Start date
Patlin
Explorer
I've found lightning lure to be situational but effective. I probably use sword burst three times as much, but it occasionally helps me set up an opponent who has moved into a corner in order to avoid being flanked for a quick take down, or to alter the dynamics of a fight in a 5' wide corridor.
It's an OK at will. I think it would move from "ok" to "good" if they increased its range slightly.
It's an OK at will. I think it would move from "ok" to "good" if they increased its range slightly.
Lightning Lure has been the best at-will in the game, bar none, for me. I've never had a problem hitting with it and its uses are tremendous. Range 5 would be nothing short of pure awesome. Sure, its damage is low but its utility is awesome. I don't use it nearly as often as Greenflame Blade but when I need it it rocks.
Before I launch into the rest of my post... yes. Humans rock for swordmages. That extra at-will makes the game so much more rich and exciting for me... even though I pick the same three every time. Swordburst (to cut up swarms something fierce, and possibly to beef up with stuff like Solid Sound or Enlarge Spell or Arcane Admixture come Paragon), Lightning Lure (for the highly-situational-but-awesome "Get over here!" moments), and Booming Blade/Greenflame Blade (for "Hey, it's marginally better than a melee basic"). The only thing I love better than a Human Swordmage is a Human Swordmage/Artificer! Hello, Magic Weapon.
Like Obryn, Swordmage is my current favorite class. I suggest you give them a try. If they're not for you, hey, they're not for you, but for my money, they're the best warrior-mages out there. They nail the flavor perfectly without lots of multiclassing backflips. In an effort to sway you to the side of the Swordmage, here are some awesome things I've done with a Swordmage:
-In a recent game, my character was being introduced to an already-established campaign. The DM decided to have my character and another new character rush to the rescue of the overwhelmed party. The party was ambushed by ghouls and a massive unholy dog thing called a Hound of Doresain. It was Large size, consistently did twenty or more damage on a hit at level 3, knocked you prone on a hit, and could attack you again as an immediate reaction to prevent you from standing up from prone. Basically, it was a scary bugger. And my Swordmage all but soloed it.
My character fought it at the edge of a cliff, telling his companion to go on without him and help the rest of the party (so as to not look like I'm blowing my own horn too much, my companion was renau1g, and he very helpfully used Stirring Shout on the beastie before moving on). My Swordmage used Lightning Lure to drag the hound away from the overwhelmed party, then marked it. When it naturally decided to attack me, I punished it with a Frost Backlash, and spent the rest of combat narrowly dodging its attacks and shaving off chunks of HP with Booming Blade. I took a beating, but I don't think it successfully attacked anyone else during the rest of the combat. I actually got to use the phrase, "Go on without me, I'll hold 'em off!" and it didn't bite me in the butt! Imagine that.
-In another campaign, I was teamed up with a Dragonborn polearm Fighter, among others. Some people like to call Swordmages "secondary defenders." While I see that as something of a slur against my favorite class, I do have to admit that it was a lot of fun playing with another defender, and we managed to force some monsters into some truly bad situations by strategically swapping marks.
Once, we encountered a spider of some type in a very narrow tunnel. The spider itself was tough, but alone, and we could've easily surrounded it and taken it out. But we believed there may have been trap ahead, so we decided to play it safe. With my amazing Swordmage AC, I body-blocked the thing, while the Dragonborn Fighter behind me poked at it with his halberd to keep it marked. With my naturally-high AC, plus the Fighter's mark, the thing had virtually no realistic chance of hitting me.
-In that same campaign, we fought a very scary elemental of ice and winter in a frozen-over wizard's tower. It divided us, knocking some of us straight off the tower, and the fight started off very shaky. But then my Swordmage used Transposing Lunge, teleporting the creature into a nearby room. The Large creature had to squeeze through the small doorway to get back at us, granting us combat advantage against it, in addition to other lovely perks and debuffs. Me and my Fighter buddy then re-attempted the Body-Block Special, but sadly it whipped out a massive close burst pushing power that knocked us all back. Still, it was a brilliant plan, and it bought us a precious round to regroup.
-One of my first ever Swordmages, an eladrin, was part of an online campaign. It was some DM's take on the Keep on the Shadowfell, but it was really weird and he took some real artistic liberties. There were lots of confusing NPCs and ham-fisted intrigue, some annoyingly unkillable brooding DMPC-guy, and I remember him handing out a +6 amulet to a level 1 character. Anyway, it was a crappy campaign, and I soon left it, but it started out with a bang.
My guy was an Assault Swordmage, and were fighting some weird humanoids made of blood and raven feathers (still no idea what the crap they were supposed to be). We charged into the fight like over-excited 1st level characters are supposed to, only to realize that these guys were actually really tough. I remember I attacked one guy, and ran him through with my sword. Apparently a minion. Then I marked a nearby guy, and Fey Stepped next to another, used an Action Point, and brought that guy down to bloody. Later, I used my immediate reaction to teleport next to and attack the guy I marked, and I ended up killing that guy, too. In basically a round and a half, I managed to kill/seriously mess up three of these feathers dudes, and I felt like a rockstar. The DM later admitted that the fight was way above our level, and he had honestly expected us to lose. I've been in love with Swordmages ever since.
Now, a word on Swordmage powers:
For At-Wills, I like Lightning Lure and Swordburst reasons I described above. You'll likely want at least one weapon attack, to make use of that higher damage die you get from a superior weapon should you choose one (and you likely should. Bastard swords seem to be the most popular). My favorite weapon attack is Booming Blade. It does as much damage as a melee basic, with the threat of doing more if the enemy moves away. It helps to alleviate some of the Swordmage's much-maligned "poor stickiness." Consider taking Solid Sound at Paragon Level along with Swordburst and Booming Blade to create a fun "force-field" Swordmage. Greenflame Blade is a solid option, provided you have high Strength. Some recommend taking it even with 12 Strength as a "minion-popper," but I frankly think Swordburst is the better choice if you're honestly worried about minions. Luring Strike is serviceable, if not eye-popping, but it's always good to re-arrange the battlefield, and we all know that the Swordmage is all about mobility. I'm unfamiliar with Frigid Blade, so I won't comment on it except to say that it could be quite good for a Swordmage with high Con, and seems to fit in with the Ensnaring Swordmage's overall "strategy."
From the verdant and fecund valley of the At-Wills, we descend into the barren, heat-wracked desert that is their Encounter powers. Make no mistake: I love Swordmages, but I hate their level 1 Encounters. Lightning Clash is outright terrible, Flame Cyclone is serviceable for Assault Swordmages but a rather yawn-worthy close blast attack for everybody else, and Sword of Sigils, while good, is frankly more complicated than it has any right to be. I have yet to come up with a favorite, because they all leave me cold. My advice is just to pick whatever looks cool to you, and to swap it out as soon as possible.
And then we get to the Dailies. For Assault Swordmages, the choice is clear: Burning Blade. Burning Blade, Burning Blade, Burning Blade. Burning Blade+Greenflame Blade frankly makes a Tiefling Assault Swordmage a tempting prospect, at least at level one. For everyone else, the fan favorite seems to be Frost Backlash. Unusually high damage for a Swordmage at 3[W], and it's used as an immediate reaction, meaning you attack 'out-of-turn'. It's a surprise, and lets you 'nova' for a while. And yet... I'm not a fan. Swordmages are Defenders, not Strikers, and they should be saving their immediate reactions for their Aegis. If you have decent Con, consider instead Dimensional Thunder or Lashing Asp. Frost Backlash isn't a bad choice, not by any means, but I don't think it's the must-have that many people make it out to be.
Finally we come to the Utilities. Here are some of my favorite Swordmage powers, among them Dimensional Warp. Dimensional Warp doesn't look like much on paper, but listen closely. Almost every story of thrilling Swordmage heroics you hear features it prominently. It lets you pluck an ally from danger and get all up in an enemy's grill at the same moment, all at the low, low cost of a minor action. In general, look to take as many teleporting powers as you reasonably can (Armanthor's Step is another gloriously shiny one). The standard Swordmage strategy is "mark and move on," and teleporting powers make that much easier. This goes double for Assault Swordmages, who need to "move on" a little more often.
Like Obryn, Swordmage is my current favorite class. I suggest you give them a try. If they're not for you, hey, they're not for you, but for my money, they're the best warrior-mages out there. They nail the flavor perfectly without lots of multiclassing backflips. In an effort to sway you to the side of the Swordmage, here are some awesome things I've done with a Swordmage:
-In a recent game, my character was being introduced to an already-established campaign. The DM decided to have my character and another new character rush to the rescue of the overwhelmed party. The party was ambushed by ghouls and a massive unholy dog thing called a Hound of Doresain. It was Large size, consistently did twenty or more damage on a hit at level 3, knocked you prone on a hit, and could attack you again as an immediate reaction to prevent you from standing up from prone. Basically, it was a scary bugger. And my Swordmage all but soloed it.
My character fought it at the edge of a cliff, telling his companion to go on without him and help the rest of the party (so as to not look like I'm blowing my own horn too much, my companion was renau1g, and he very helpfully used Stirring Shout on the beastie before moving on). My Swordmage used Lightning Lure to drag the hound away from the overwhelmed party, then marked it. When it naturally decided to attack me, I punished it with a Frost Backlash, and spent the rest of combat narrowly dodging its attacks and shaving off chunks of HP with Booming Blade. I took a beating, but I don't think it successfully attacked anyone else during the rest of the combat. I actually got to use the phrase, "Go on without me, I'll hold 'em off!" and it didn't bite me in the butt! Imagine that.
-In another campaign, I was teamed up with a Dragonborn polearm Fighter, among others. Some people like to call Swordmages "secondary defenders." While I see that as something of a slur against my favorite class, I do have to admit that it was a lot of fun playing with another defender, and we managed to force some monsters into some truly bad situations by strategically swapping marks.
Once, we encountered a spider of some type in a very narrow tunnel. The spider itself was tough, but alone, and we could've easily surrounded it and taken it out. But we believed there may have been trap ahead, so we decided to play it safe. With my amazing Swordmage AC, I body-blocked the thing, while the Dragonborn Fighter behind me poked at it with his halberd to keep it marked. With my naturally-high AC, plus the Fighter's mark, the thing had virtually no realistic chance of hitting me.
-In that same campaign, we fought a very scary elemental of ice and winter in a frozen-over wizard's tower. It divided us, knocking some of us straight off the tower, and the fight started off very shaky. But then my Swordmage used Transposing Lunge, teleporting the creature into a nearby room. The Large creature had to squeeze through the small doorway to get back at us, granting us combat advantage against it, in addition to other lovely perks and debuffs. Me and my Fighter buddy then re-attempted the Body-Block Special, but sadly it whipped out a massive close burst pushing power that knocked us all back. Still, it was a brilliant plan, and it bought us a precious round to regroup.
-One of my first ever Swordmages, an eladrin, was part of an online campaign. It was some DM's take on the Keep on the Shadowfell, but it was really weird and he took some real artistic liberties. There were lots of confusing NPCs and ham-fisted intrigue, some annoyingly unkillable brooding DMPC-guy, and I remember him handing out a +6 amulet to a level 1 character. Anyway, it was a crappy campaign, and I soon left it, but it started out with a bang.
My guy was an Assault Swordmage, and were fighting some weird humanoids made of blood and raven feathers (still no idea what the crap they were supposed to be). We charged into the fight like over-excited 1st level characters are supposed to, only to realize that these guys were actually really tough. I remember I attacked one guy, and ran him through with my sword. Apparently a minion. Then I marked a nearby guy, and Fey Stepped next to another, used an Action Point, and brought that guy down to bloody. Later, I used my immediate reaction to teleport next to and attack the guy I marked, and I ended up killing that guy, too. In basically a round and a half, I managed to kill/seriously mess up three of these feathers dudes, and I felt like a rockstar. The DM later admitted that the fight was way above our level, and he had honestly expected us to lose. I've been in love with Swordmages ever since.
Now, a word on Swordmage powers:
For At-Wills, I like Lightning Lure and Swordburst reasons I described above. You'll likely want at least one weapon attack, to make use of that higher damage die you get from a superior weapon should you choose one (and you likely should. Bastard swords seem to be the most popular). My favorite weapon attack is Booming Blade. It does as much damage as a melee basic, with the threat of doing more if the enemy moves away. It helps to alleviate some of the Swordmage's much-maligned "poor stickiness." Consider taking Solid Sound at Paragon Level along with Swordburst and Booming Blade to create a fun "force-field" Swordmage. Greenflame Blade is a solid option, provided you have high Strength. Some recommend taking it even with 12 Strength as a "minion-popper," but I frankly think Swordburst is the better choice if you're honestly worried about minions. Luring Strike is serviceable, if not eye-popping, but it's always good to re-arrange the battlefield, and we all know that the Swordmage is all about mobility. I'm unfamiliar with Frigid Blade, so I won't comment on it except to say that it could be quite good for a Swordmage with high Con, and seems to fit in with the Ensnaring Swordmage's overall "strategy."
From the verdant and fecund valley of the At-Wills, we descend into the barren, heat-wracked desert that is their Encounter powers. Make no mistake: I love Swordmages, but I hate their level 1 Encounters. Lightning Clash is outright terrible, Flame Cyclone is serviceable for Assault Swordmages but a rather yawn-worthy close blast attack for everybody else, and Sword of Sigils, while good, is frankly more complicated than it has any right to be. I have yet to come up with a favorite, because they all leave me cold. My advice is just to pick whatever looks cool to you, and to swap it out as soon as possible.
And then we get to the Dailies. For Assault Swordmages, the choice is clear: Burning Blade. Burning Blade, Burning Blade, Burning Blade. Burning Blade+Greenflame Blade frankly makes a Tiefling Assault Swordmage a tempting prospect, at least at level one. For everyone else, the fan favorite seems to be Frost Backlash. Unusually high damage for a Swordmage at 3[W], and it's used as an immediate reaction, meaning you attack 'out-of-turn'. It's a surprise, and lets you 'nova' for a while. And yet... I'm not a fan. Swordmages are Defenders, not Strikers, and they should be saving their immediate reactions for their Aegis. If you have decent Con, consider instead Dimensional Thunder or Lashing Asp. Frost Backlash isn't a bad choice, not by any means, but I don't think it's the must-have that many people make it out to be.
Finally we come to the Utilities. Here are some of my favorite Swordmage powers, among them Dimensional Warp. Dimensional Warp doesn't look like much on paper, but listen closely. Almost every story of thrilling Swordmage heroics you hear features it prominently. It lets you pluck an ally from danger and get all up in an enemy's grill at the same moment, all at the low, low cost of a minor action. In general, look to take as many teleporting powers as you reasonably can (Armanthor's Step is another gloriously shiny one). The standard Swordmage strategy is "mark and move on," and teleporting powers make that much easier. This goes double for Assault Swordmages, who need to "move on" a little more often.
Last edited:
Prestidigitalis
First Post
I agree. I have also found that it's bad enough having one big Immediate action that you want to use almost every round, but much worse to have to choose which one to use without slowing the game down a lot. My DM is patient, but I don't see a need to antagonize him. I've gradually moved away from Immediate powers just to streamline things.
Of course, it's not a bad thing to have one Immediate power to protect yourself. After all, if the Aegis-ed enemy is attacking YOU, you probably won't need to use the Aegis that round anyway.
Doctor Proctor
First Post
While Swordmages and great and all, there is another option that might fulfill what you're looking for: Hybrid Fighter/Sorcerer.
Dragonborn make the ideal race for this, since they get a boost to both STR and CHA, the main stats for each class. Plus, there's some nice racial feats for both classes that make use of your Dragonbreath Racial Power.
Hybrid Fighter gives you some of the durability of Fighters and access to Combat Challenge. You're limited to marking with only your Fighter powers, but otherwise it functions as normal. Hybrid Sorcerer gives you Sorcerous Power, which allows you to use either STR or DEX (picked at character creation) as the stat which boosts your damage for Sorcerer power, as well as the stat to use to determine AC (instead of DEX/INT).
This means that at level 1 you can go with 18 STR and 18 CHA (after racial mods) and dump the rest into CON or DEX (or go 12/12 for both stats). Now, it might take a couple levels worth of feats to get what you need, but this should work okay for the first couple of levels.
At level 1 you'll need to make a choice between weapons and armor, since you'll be limited in both. Personally, I would shore up your AC first by taking the Hybrid Talent Option and taking the Fighter Armor Proficiencies. Once you have that, you have proficiency in every armor type except for Plate. You could either start using Hide or Scale, they'll give you the same AC bump (Hide might be better in the long run though, YMMV).
As for weapons, you have two choices. Go with a Quarterstaff, which functions as both an implement or a weapon, or you can dual wield something like a Longsword and a Dagger. Since you mentioned wanting to be a "swordmaster who could cast spells", let's assume you go the dual wield option.
At level 2 then, you get another feat. Here, I would pick up Arcane Implement Proficiency (Heavy Blades), as this will allow you to use that Longsword as an implement. Now, you don't need the dagger anymore, and you can pick up a Light or Heavy Shield to use in your off hand. This will up your AC a couple more points to the level of most other Defenders, and it will also shore up your REF defense a bit. That last part is actually pretty important too, because now you'll have a high FORT and WILL, and with a Shield and perhaps a feat like Lightning Reflexes later, you'll have a decent REF as well. The one downside here is that you won't be able to use Sorcerous Blade Channeling, as it only works with daggers. Personally though, that's not a big concern since you have plenty of Melee powers, and Sorcerers have tons of Close Blast powers that won't provoke OA's.
The other great thing about the Fighter/Sorcerer combination is that there's a lot of defensive Sorcerer powers that make it painful for enemies to be near you. Combine those with a mark, and suddenly you create a lot of excellent "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" choices for your enemies. You could open a combat with something like Passing Attack to mark two enemies, and then later when they're both focused on you, use Dragonflame Mantle to cause 1d6 fire damage to anyone that hits you with a melee attack (I believe that also gets the bonus Sorcerer damage, so it's actually 1d6 + STR). It's like a one round version of some of the later Fighter stances, which are all dailies.
I included a sample build up to level 3 below, if you want to take a look.
[sblock]====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Kava, level 3
Dragonborn, Fighter|Sorcerer
Sorcerous Power: Sorcerous Power Strength
Hybrid Talent: Fighter Armor Proficiency
Arcane Implement Proficiency: Arcane Implement Proficiency (heavy blade group)
Dragon Breath Key Ability: Dragon Breath Strength
Dragon Breath Damage Type: Dragon Breath Lightning
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 12, Dex 12, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 18.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 12, Dex 12, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 16.
AC: 20 Fort: 16 Reflex: 14 Will: 16
HP: 35 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 9
TRAINED SKILLS
Streetwise +10, Intimidate +12, Athletics +7
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics -1, Arcana, Bluff +5, Diplomacy +5, Dungeoneering +1, Endurance -1, Heal +1, History +2, Insight +1, Nature +1, Perception +1, Religion, Stealth -1, Thievery -1
FEATS
Level 1: Hybrid Talent
Level 2: Arcane Implement Proficiency
POWERS
Hybrid at-will 1: Burning Spray
Hybrid at-will 1: Cleave
Hybrid encounter 1: Passing Attack
Hybrid daily 1: Lightning Breath
Hybrid utility 2: Dragonflame Mantle
Hybrid encounter 3: Flame Spiral
ITEMS
Hide Armor, Longsword, Heavy Shield
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======
[/sblock]
Later options would be things like going up to a superior weapon, although I would probably just stick with a Bastard Sword. Your Fighter powers might not do a lot of damage, since you're building this a bit like a Guardian Fighter, but your Sorcerer powers (and their damage bonus) will make up for that. Really though, the possibilities are endless.
Oh, and one nice thing about using Heavy Blades as your weapon/implement, is that you could afford to drop STR to a 16 (post racial), which frees up some more points to drop into DEX if you want (you could go 13/14 CON/DEX). This gives you an extra point of REF defense, allows you go with Scale and Heavy Shield and then pick up Shield Specialization (another +1 AC and +1 REF in Paragon) and even HBO, since you'll have a 15 DEX at Paragon. You won't be able to get Heavy Blade Specialization at Epic (at least not without sacrificing a point of STR or CHA), but you will qualify for Sorcerer Implement Expertise, since Heavy Blades will count as a Sorcerer Implement for you.
Hope that helps and gives you some interesting ideas.
Dragonborn make the ideal race for this, since they get a boost to both STR and CHA, the main stats for each class. Plus, there's some nice racial feats for both classes that make use of your Dragonbreath Racial Power.
Hybrid Fighter gives you some of the durability of Fighters and access to Combat Challenge. You're limited to marking with only your Fighter powers, but otherwise it functions as normal. Hybrid Sorcerer gives you Sorcerous Power, which allows you to use either STR or DEX (picked at character creation) as the stat which boosts your damage for Sorcerer power, as well as the stat to use to determine AC (instead of DEX/INT).
This means that at level 1 you can go with 18 STR and 18 CHA (after racial mods) and dump the rest into CON or DEX (or go 12/12 for both stats). Now, it might take a couple levels worth of feats to get what you need, but this should work okay for the first couple of levels.
At level 1 you'll need to make a choice between weapons and armor, since you'll be limited in both. Personally, I would shore up your AC first by taking the Hybrid Talent Option and taking the Fighter Armor Proficiencies. Once you have that, you have proficiency in every armor type except for Plate. You could either start using Hide or Scale, they'll give you the same AC bump (Hide might be better in the long run though, YMMV).
As for weapons, you have two choices. Go with a Quarterstaff, which functions as both an implement or a weapon, or you can dual wield something like a Longsword and a Dagger. Since you mentioned wanting to be a "swordmaster who could cast spells", let's assume you go the dual wield option.
At level 2 then, you get another feat. Here, I would pick up Arcane Implement Proficiency (Heavy Blades), as this will allow you to use that Longsword as an implement. Now, you don't need the dagger anymore, and you can pick up a Light or Heavy Shield to use in your off hand. This will up your AC a couple more points to the level of most other Defenders, and it will also shore up your REF defense a bit. That last part is actually pretty important too, because now you'll have a high FORT and WILL, and with a Shield and perhaps a feat like Lightning Reflexes later, you'll have a decent REF as well. The one downside here is that you won't be able to use Sorcerous Blade Channeling, as it only works with daggers. Personally though, that's not a big concern since you have plenty of Melee powers, and Sorcerers have tons of Close Blast powers that won't provoke OA's.
The other great thing about the Fighter/Sorcerer combination is that there's a lot of defensive Sorcerer powers that make it painful for enemies to be near you. Combine those with a mark, and suddenly you create a lot of excellent "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" choices for your enemies. You could open a combat with something like Passing Attack to mark two enemies, and then later when they're both focused on you, use Dragonflame Mantle to cause 1d6 fire damage to anyone that hits you with a melee attack (I believe that also gets the bonus Sorcerer damage, so it's actually 1d6 + STR). It's like a one round version of some of the later Fighter stances, which are all dailies.
I included a sample build up to level 3 below, if you want to take a look.
[sblock]====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Kava, level 3
Dragonborn, Fighter|Sorcerer
Sorcerous Power: Sorcerous Power Strength
Hybrid Talent: Fighter Armor Proficiency
Arcane Implement Proficiency: Arcane Implement Proficiency (heavy blade group)
Dragon Breath Key Ability: Dragon Breath Strength
Dragon Breath Damage Type: Dragon Breath Lightning
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 12, Dex 12, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 18.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 12, Dex 12, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 16.
AC: 20 Fort: 16 Reflex: 14 Will: 16
HP: 35 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 9
TRAINED SKILLS
Streetwise +10, Intimidate +12, Athletics +7
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics -1, Arcana, Bluff +5, Diplomacy +5, Dungeoneering +1, Endurance -1, Heal +1, History +2, Insight +1, Nature +1, Perception +1, Religion, Stealth -1, Thievery -1
FEATS
Level 1: Hybrid Talent
Level 2: Arcane Implement Proficiency
POWERS
Hybrid at-will 1: Burning Spray
Hybrid at-will 1: Cleave
Hybrid encounter 1: Passing Attack
Hybrid daily 1: Lightning Breath
Hybrid utility 2: Dragonflame Mantle
Hybrid encounter 3: Flame Spiral
ITEMS
Hide Armor, Longsword, Heavy Shield
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======
[/sblock]
Later options would be things like going up to a superior weapon, although I would probably just stick with a Bastard Sword. Your Fighter powers might not do a lot of damage, since you're building this a bit like a Guardian Fighter, but your Sorcerer powers (and their damage bonus) will make up for that. Really though, the possibilities are endless.
Oh, and one nice thing about using Heavy Blades as your weapon/implement, is that you could afford to drop STR to a 16 (post racial), which frees up some more points to drop into DEX if you want (you could go 13/14 CON/DEX). This gives you an extra point of REF defense, allows you go with Scale and Heavy Shield and then pick up Shield Specialization (another +1 AC and +1 REF in Paragon) and even HBO, since you'll have a 15 DEX at Paragon. You won't be able to get Heavy Blade Specialization at Epic (at least not without sacrificing a point of STR or CHA), but you will qualify for Sorcerer Implement Expertise, since Heavy Blades will count as a Sorcerer Implement for you.
Hope that helps and gives you some interesting ideas.
Doctor Proctor
First Post
Yeah, a friend of mine made a very nasty Pala-lock (as he likes to call him). However, the OP seemed more to be looking for something that infused Martial and Arcane, whereas Paladins are Divine. On a side note though, you could also get a lot of mileage out of a Fighter/Warlock combination. They're not as blasty, but have a lot of neat controller effects with their powers. You just gotta be careful about provoking OA's, as they tend to rely more on ranged powers compared to a Sorcerer.
Garthanos
Arcadian Knight
Divine with heaviest "physical" armor and a sword in your face....
. Hey you dont even have to train religion if you dont want you are a hybrid. The bright lights are "magic" ... once they bleed together with Arcane.... and it isnt that hard to avoid touchy feely healing elements... even with a straight paladin... (Ardent comes to mind.) Going a step further and invokers wisdom works better with the more beligerant style paladin... a touch of multiclass to up martial quotient.
And even using the invoker class as your Mage...
[sblock=Money Where My Mouth Is (Paladin Invoker)]
Wil, level 6
Human, Paladin|Invoker
Hybrid Paladin: Hybrid Paladin Reflex
Covenant Manifestation: Manifestation of Wrath
Hybrid Invoker: Hybrid Invoker Reflex
Hybrid Talent: Paladin Armor Proficiency
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 19, Con 12, Dex 8, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 10.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 12, Dex 8, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 10.
AC: 25 Fort: 19 Reflex: 20 Will: 18
HP: 49 Surges: 9 Surge Value: 12
TRAINED SKILLS
Endurance +9, Insight +13, Intimidate +8, Arcana +9, Athletics +12
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +2, Bluff +3, Diplomacy +3, Dungeoneering +6, Heal +6, History +4, Nature +6, Perception +8, Religion +4, Stealth +2, Streetwise +3, Thievery +2
FEATS
Human: Hybrid Talent
Level 1: Mighty Challenge
Level 2: Battle Awareness
Level 4: Draw First Blood
Level 6: Wary Fighter
POWERS
Bonus At-Will Power: Enfeebling Strike.(Rending strike).
Hybrid at-will 1: Ardent Strike (passionate fury).
Hybrid at-will 1: Divine Bolts (lightning by any other name smells of Ozone)
Hybrid encounter 1: Thunder of Judgment (Dragon Roar sears there ears).
Hybrid daily 1: Blazing Brand.(this causes the enemies heart to glow from inside there bodies)
Hybrid utility 2: Kord's Strength (Veins, Sinew and blood).
Hybrid encounter 3: Strength from Valor
Hybrid daily 5: Blade of Vengeance
Hybrid utility 6: Astral Step (call it Transdimensional Pull)
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The challenge is perhaps the only element that doesnt feel martially (or magic) ... and I had somebody point out that if your God was Avandra... radiant did not mean Astral Sea leaking through but rather your enemies luck falling to pieces in focused ways.
I guess I did ignore the holy symbol... knew I was forgetting something ;-)
OK Wil isnt religious but he is superstitious so periodically he finds a token from Avandra that he uses to focus with when he works his magics. He calls his DC ... his spell snare.
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