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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Veep" data-source="post: 6707502" data-attributes="member: 6793297">Power Source and RoleThe Seeker is a Primal Controller. It's not a Striker, even though things like Primal Eye and Seven Fates Archer might lead you to think it is. The Seeker can put up more damage than an average Controller if it tries, but it has to try so hard to be a decent Controller that it really can't afford to devote much of its resources to damage, and it can't pull enough damage to ignore control and call itself a Striker. The Primal source leans toward Defender as a secondary role, but the Seeker doesn't. It differs further from other Primal classes in that it lacks a mechanic that drastically shifts playstyle, like the Druid's Wildshape, the Warden's Guardian Forms, the Barbarian's Rages, and to a lesser extent the Shaman's Spirit Companion.<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Secondary Role Effectiveness</a>Leader- You have a smattering of powers that help your allies, and you're likely to poach more from the Skill Power lists, but you can't really heal.Defender- Spiritbond Seekers can kind of function on the front lines, but that's the best that can be said of the Seeker as a Defender.Striker- Seekers can put out much better damage than non-Blaster Wizards and non-Morninglord Invokers, but they still won't outpace even a non-Rebuking Warlock without sacrificing serious control to do it.Baseline Mechanics<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Chassis</a>Hit Points - 12 + Con score at level 1, and 5 each level thereafter. Rejoice, you are Primal and therefore have better hp and surges than any non-Primal Controller. Spiritbond Seekers will need every bit of hp they can get, because they're restricted to thrown weapon range, which is usually within charge distance.Healing Surges - 7 + Con modifier. Better than a lot of Strikers!Defense Bonuses - +1 to Reflex and Will. If you're at range your Fort won't be targeted as frequently, so getting bonuses to your other two defenses is ideal. Good job on this one Seeker.<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Proficiencies</a>Armor - You get Leather, and no shields. Still better than many Controllers.Weapons - Your weapon proficiencies suck, unfortunately. Bloodbond is okay with its default longbow, but Spiritbond's only real options, by default, are the javelin and the dagger. Neither build can get a +3 proficiency weapon better with a decent damage die without spending a feat; Weapon Proficiency is almost a tax for these guys.<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Class Features</a>Inevitable Shot - This is an interesting feature. It essentially helps you ensure that in a given round you will be able to apply at least some control, but it's situational. For it to be useful, when you miss with a ranged attack, you have to have another target within 5 against whom you can apply some useful control with an RBA. This would be better if it were just a reroll- the inability to make the second shot against your priority target is a weakness. However, Seekers have a few powers that let them make ranged attacks against multiple targets- if one of those attacks misses, you can use Inevitable Shot against another one of the original targets, and sometimes stack effects. It's unfortunate when you miss one of your Feyjump Shots and the target is only teleported 3 without the daze, but getting a chance to peg him with Grappling Spirits in the same turn can help you keep him stuck in the bad situation you're trying to put him in.Also, try to ignore the recharge-on-AP feature. You almost always want to use an AP early in a fight, and this feature might tempt you to save it until you've expended Inevitable Shot, when an AP is less likely to swing a fight. In that same vein, use Inevitable Shot at the first opportunity, so that you're more likely to recover it when you spend an AP.<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Seeker's Bond</a>Spiritbond - Don't think of the STR to AC feature as being defensive. It isn't, since all it really does is permit the designers to assign your secondary stat to something other than INT. What that feature does is essentially make you melee-capable. Think of the two Spiritbond features as "you get +1 to hit with bad weapons" and "you can have a good MBA." It's the accuracy that makes this feature good, but thrown weapons drag it down. (They're terrible.)-Spirit's Rebuke - Spiritbond's encounter power is an attack power with the Weapon keyword and the damage on an Effect line, which means that it doesn't hit, but it does still add most of your damage mods, making the auto-damage pretty decent. It suffers, however, from only triggering when an enemy's melee attack has missed you, and from offering no control. Consider a Light Shield or a weapon with the Defensive property, so that you have a good chance of being missed- you're going to be near melee range anyways.Bloodbond - Instead of the Spiritbond's good MBA, which you hope, as a ranged Controller, doesn't get used often, you get good Initiative, which every Controller wants. Instead of an attack bonus with bad weapons, you get the ability to shift as a minor action, at will. This makes you beautifully mobile.-Encaging Spirits - Like Spirit's Rebuke, the Bloodbond encounter power helps you control by hampering enemy attempts to trap you in melee. It's much more useful in this regard than is Spirit's Rebuke, because it's proactive instead of reactive- the push from Spirit's Rebuke might keep an enemy from being adjacent to you on your turn, if they've already moved and then miss you with a melee attack, but Encaging Spirits will give you breathing room no matter how many enemis are adjacent, and will slow them so that they can't easily pursue. The tradeoff is the lack of damage.SkillsSeekers don't get an extraordinary number of skills, but they have a good selection, and their stats line up with some of the most useful ones. You'll wish you could take way more of these than you can. I'll be rating Skill Powers here, but only ones that are worth taking.<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Class Skills</a>Nature - You're forced to take this one, but you'd have taken it even if you weren't- its an important knowledge skill based on your primary stat<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Skill Powers</a>Nature Sense(L2): This would be Sky Blue, especially for Spiritbonders, if you could use it in  any fight. What constitutes "natural" though, is up to the DM, so this is dependent on the campaign OR how well you can fast-talk the guy behind the screen.Practiced Rider(L6): Mounts can be good things for Seekers. This power eases the pain of getting dismounted.Natural Terrain Understanding(L6): This is a Leader power, but you don't sacrifice any real Control tools to take it, and it's so good that it helps the party no matter who takes it.Acrobatics - Worth training just for the skill powers and for the trained-only uses, conventional usefulness aside<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Skill Powers</a>Agile Recovery(L2): This is a fantastic way for you to preserve your mobility, which is to say that it will help you get out of melee. Particularly valuable for Spiritbond.Dodge Step(L6): The nice thing about that trigger is that it means the enemy in question can't follow you to stay adjacent.Graceful Maneuver(L6): A good long shift is always welcome and useful.Tumbling Dodge(L6): Bloodbond only- if your Acrobatics is high and you luck out on the roll, you can negate an attack 1/encounterRapid Escape(L10): More ways to escape melee without using up your Move action!Athletics - Having a decent score here will be useful if your DM uses interesting combat terrain, and even if he doesn't, Athletics just seems like the sort of thing the Seeker should be good at<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Skill Powers</a>Bounding Leap(L2): Pretty useful in clearing pits and things, but it's in-combat usefulness is restricted by this being a move action.Scrambling Climb(L2): Can be very helpful or worthless depending on the campaign.Endurance - Unless you want a skill power, skip this and use Heal to deal with disease.<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Skill Powers</a>Third Wind(L6): A Daily self-heal that others can trigger with Heal- universally useful.Reactive Surge(L10): Excellent way to access a surge every encounter.Heal - Very useful, to you and to the party as a whole, and based on a primary stat. Good in heroic when the healer goes down and you can't yet auto-pass the DC10 to trigger his Second Wind.<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Skill Powers</a>Swift Recovery(L6): Very useful in a party with no Leader, but that's an exceptional case. Mediocre otherwise.Insight - You can be useful in social skill challenges! Huzzah! If the skill sucked, it'd still be Sky Blue just for Insighful Riposte.<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Skill Powers</a>Anticipate Maneuver(L2): Anything you can do to help a key power land is welcome.Prescient Maneuver(L6): This is a decent way to keep away from melee, but that's all.Insightful Riposte(L16): Your powers often don't do anything useful on a miss. This is almost necessary, it's so good.Perception - TAKE THIS. Don't get surprise round'd, control those sneaky Controllers before they control you.<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Skill Powers</a>Far Sight(L2): If you need this, take it, but retrain out of it at L6 and take Eagle's Aim instead.Guided Shot(L6): Almost universally useful, this is another Leadery power. The chances that you can turn a miss into a hit during the first crucial two or three rounds are small, but that ability is valuable enough for this to be worth it.Trapfinding(L6): You have great perception, but that doesn't stop traps. This is great if you have no Rogue/Monk in the party, and your DM uses traps.Uncanny Instincts(L10): A great way (for Spiritbonders especially, who don't have naturally good Init) to make sure they get a chance to apply their control before Team Monster when conditions are ideal to do so.Stealth - Utilizing Stealth is a great way for Bloodbonds to get CA and avoid being targetted, but its use is a little situational.<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Skill Powers</a>Shrouding Gloom(L6): The Seeker doesn't have many ways to gain Hidden without relying on terrain that offers superior cover/total concealment. Another tool to do that is welcome.Deepening Gloom(L16): This is an excellent way to gain Hidden, as well as way that doesn't rely on twinked out Stealth to negate an attack and discourage focus fire on you.<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/" target="_blank">Non-Class Skills</a>Thievery is not a class skill, but you have the DEX for it, and in some parties/campaigns it's worth picking up via background of MC feat. It comes with some good skill powers, too, like Fast Hands. Dungeoneering is also a great skill to pick up, and if your DM loves traps then Trap Sense could be very valuable.There are some other skills that are worth picking up just for the sake of associated Skill Powers. Bluff is worthwile just for Stall Tactics, and Intimidate is nice for Everybody Move and, to a lesser extent, Snap Out of It.</blockquote>

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