Tiefling Paladin... Ouch

[GoodKingJayIII]

This combo may be worthless in play, because it does take some setup. But with Fiery Rebuke, Infernal Wrath is disgusting.

Let's take a Tiefling Paladin, level 12, 19 Strength, 18 Charisma, wielding a +3 bastard sword two handed. On his turn he can:

Spend a minor action: Infernal Wrath (+1 to hit/+4 to damage)
Spend a minor action: Channel Divinity: Strength (add +4 to damage)
Spend a minor action: Wrath of the Gods (add +4 to damage in burst 3)

Now add a few feats: weapon focus (heavy blades) and fiery rebuke. On the next attack roll, he will add to damage:

4 (Str)
4 (Channel Divinity)
4 (Infernal Wrath)
4 (Wrath of the Gods)
3 (Enhancement)
2 (Weapon Focus)
1 (Versatile)
10 (Fiery Rebuke)

for a total of +32 damage. Combine this with a power like Martyr's Retribution and this becomes 4d10+32 damage. At 13th level, grab Radiant Charge, and squeeze in the Powerful Charge feat, and you've got 3d10+34 damage.

This bonus damage isn't even a 1/day thing... the only Daily power in there is Wrath of the Gods, which not only helps you, but the people who are actually supposed to do damage in the party.

Edit: This can't always happen on turn 1 because Infernal Wrath is conditional on being hit, which is great for a paladin-type character who can take the damage and in return dish out some serious retribution.

This is why Tieflings don't suck.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Main problem I see is that it takes a whole round to set up.

I'd much rather hit twice so I'd cut down on some of that preparation, especially since many bonus mentioned would then be applied twice.

Two minor, max. If you ever find yourself wasting a whole round setting up an attack, you know you are making a mistake.

Even if you use an action point in order to attack on the same round, it was a mistake. Attack twice! The goal is not to make the most damage in a single damage roll, it's to kill your opponent as fast as possible. Similar, but not always compatible. So attack with infernal wrath and channel divinity on one standard and with wrath of the god on the next, or some variant thereof.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

Certainly a good point, but I don't think it invalidates the tactic.

Instead, spend the first round casting Wrath of the Gods, Move to engage, then Attack as normal (Charge, At-will, etc.) WotG lasts the whole Encounter, so no need to worry about that.

Start doing your job, marking foes and so forth. Once you're trading blows with a big enemy, blow those pair of minor actions for Infernal Wrath and Channel Divinity and the result is the same. Just takes some time to set up, as these things usually do.

 

[Xefas]

You need to name this combo. Given its amount of prep time relative to the prep time of most attacks, I suggest "The Spirit Bomb".

"Quick, distract Orcus while I charge up the Spirit Bomb."
"What?! How long will that take?"
"About 4 episodes."

 

[Rechan]

He's got to hit first. Doin' all that and then rolling a 3 is going to waste all those abilities.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

He's got to hit first.

... that wasn't obvious? This goes for any attack of any kind. As a general rule, you can't do any damage without hitting.

I'm not sure if you're being intentionally snarky, but a lot of folks seem down on the Tiefling... I'm just saying, they look pretty good to me, and here's something you can do with a Tiefling that you can't with anyone else.

And while I used a "one round charge-up" as an example, I really don't consider 3 minor actions to be that big a deal. There are others things one can do before this.

 

[Rechan]

... that wasn't obvious?

Just sayin'. I woudln't use too many encounter/daily abilities all at once, because of the miss chance. I was just in a game where both my encounter powers were a total miss. So, hey.

 

[Alkiera]

I'm kinda curious how many of those bonuses are named/typed. Lots of those kinds of things are a '+x feat bonus' or (more common) '+x power bonus', and therefore don't stack with one another.

I won't have the books till next week, or I'd check it myself.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

I'm kinda curious how many of those bonuses are named/typed. Lots of those kinds of things are a '+x feat bonus' or (more common) '+x power bonus', and therefore don't stack with one another.

I won't have the books till next week, or I'd check it myself.

I can check right now! Let's see...

Str - unnamed damage bonus
Channel Divinity - unnamed damage bonus
Infernal Wrath - unnamed damage bonus
Fiery Rebuke - fire damage bonus
Wrath of the Gods - unnamed damage bonus
Weapon Focus - feat damage bonus
Enhancement - enhancement damage bonus
Versatile - unnamed damage bonus
Powerful Charge - unnamed damage bonus

Looks pretty solid to me.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

You need to name this combo. Given its amount of prep time relative to the prep time of most attacks, I suggest "The Spirit Bomb".

"Quick, distract Orcus while I charge up the Spirit Bomb."
"What?! How long will that take?"
"About 4 episodes."

Oh, yes. That's exactly how I'd want to play it.

Although it works even better if EVERYONE in the party is pulling a similar trick...