The Best of the Best - Defenders.
- Thread starter Kzach
- Start date
Iron Sky
Procedurally Generated
Well, strangely enough, we've only had a fighter(Greatweapon) of any variety 1 time and only for a few sessions. In the games we've played we've had:
Chaladin: levels 1-3(PHB only).
Straladin: levels 10-16(pre-DP, AV, PHB2).
Fighter(Greatweapon): level 10(pre-MP, AV, PHB2).
Swordmage(Assault): levels 3-6(post AP).
There were only one or two sessions that we had 2 defenders in the game at once(Fighter and Straladin). In the majority of the fights, the Fighter was far more effective a tank than the Straladin, though, to be fair, we were playing with rolled stats and the Fighter rolled 4 18s, a 16, and a 14.
I guess I'd put Paladin > Fighter against 1-monster fights(especially at paragon). Otherwise, it'd be:
Fighter > Paladin > Swordmage.
The majority of our 4e time has been sans-tank. Levels 1-9 of our 4-man first real campaign had the ranger and cleric splitting the tanking. Levels 3-8 of our Scales of War 3-man playthrough has had the cleric tanking as much as he can, but with 3 players, the monsters tend to be able to pick what they want...
Chaladin: levels 1-3(PHB only).
Straladin: levels 10-16(pre-DP, AV, PHB2).
Fighter(Greatweapon): level 10(pre-MP, AV, PHB2).
Swordmage(Assault): levels 3-6(post AP).
There were only one or two sessions that we had 2 defenders in the game at once(Fighter and Straladin). In the majority of the fights, the Fighter was far more effective a tank than the Straladin, though, to be fair, we were playing with rolled stats and the Fighter rolled 4 18s, a 16, and a 14.
I guess I'd put Paladin > Fighter against 1-monster fights(especially at paragon). Otherwise, it'd be:
Fighter > Paladin > Swordmage.
The majority of our 4e time has been sans-tank. Levels 1-9 of our 4-man first real campaign had the ranger and cleric splitting the tanking. Levels 3-8 of our Scales of War 3-man playthrough has had the cleric tanking as much as he can, but with 3 players, the monsters tend to be able to pick what they want...
Mercule
Adventurer
I've only seen Greatweapon Fighter and Battlerager Fighter, so far (my group seems to hate shields), though there's talk of a Paladin or Warden if someone dies. The Battlerager badly outclasses the GW Fighter -- serious freakin' staying power.
The Warden looks pretty good, too, but I haven't seen one in play.
looking at the results so far, lots of people selected guardian fighter.. and more than half selected a fighter of some kind.
that actually makes sense given the fact that the "defender role" was defined using the role a fighter usually takes in the party.
but it is fun to see how some other classes (or rather, specific class feature build selections) are able to match (or beat) that role from individual perspectives/experiences.
at our game table, we've only really seen a guardian fighter and a shielding swordmage, so i don't have enough first hand observational experience make an informed decision - i could only make a choice based on how i think it would play out from the rules i've read.
that actually makes sense given the fact that the "defender role" was defined using the role a fighter usually takes in the party.
but it is fun to see how some other classes (or rather, specific class feature build selections) are able to match (or beat) that role from individual perspectives/experiences.
at our game table, we've only really seen a guardian fighter and a shielding swordmage, so i don't have enough first hand observational experience make an informed decision - i could only make a choice based on how i think it would play out from the rules i've read.
Holy Bovine
First Post
Glad to see the Earth Warden getting 2nd place here. I really does deserve it. It is no surprise to me that the guardian fighter got 1st though - it is good as its job but I still feel the extra options of the Warden really make it shine in the defender role.
To the OP - there is still power creep, imo, but it seems mainly in the form of feats and magic items at the moment. I couldn't point to any single class we've seen since the first PHB and said 'that is much more powerful than X from PHB 1'.
To the OP - there is still power creep, imo, but it seems mainly in the form of feats and magic items at the moment. I couldn't point to any single class we've seen since the first PHB and said 'that is much more powerful than X from PHB 1'.
I picked Guardian Fighter, but in my experience post-Divine Power Paladins are very solid. With a plethora of multi-marking powers and multi-attacking powers, not to mention insanely high defenses, they are a force to be reckoned with. The Paladin's only had Strength from Valor for 2 sessions so far, but my Guardian Fighter is already jealous. Getting 30 temp hp with one attack is just silly good.
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