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I'm not listing gear or most exploits as they should be fairly trivial to pick up during leveling, but feel to suggest particularly good stuff, especially if it affects other choices I've made. Hopefully I'll get to exploits sometime soon. Thanks in advance for any insight:

Human Fighter / WARpriest (Cleric Paragon) / Demigod
Longsword / Heavy Shield

Str: 18 + 8 = 26 + 2 (Demigod) = 28
Dex: 14 + 3 = 17 (add at level 18)
Con: 13 + 3 = 16 (add at level 28)
Int: 10 + 2 = 12
Wis: 14 + 6 = 20 + 2 (Demigod) = 22
Cha: 8 + 2 = 10

Skills: Athletics(str), Endurance(con), Heal(wis), Intimidate(cha)
-- From feats: Religion(int)

At-will Powers: Cleave, Tide of Iron, Sure Strike

Feats:
H Toughness (+5 hp / tier) 201
1 Initiate of the Faith (Cleric Multi, Religion and HW/day) 208
2 Durable (+2 healing surges) 194
4 Shield Push (combat challenge hit -> push target 1 square) 200
6 Distracting Shield (Combat Challenge hit -> -2 attack until my turn) 194
8 Acolyte Power (Grab Cure Serious Wounds - Cleric Utility) 194
10 Blade Opportunist (+2 to OAs) 194

11 Action Recovery (AP for extra action = saving throws vs all) 202
12 Armor Specialization (Scale) (+1 Feat to AC, ignore -1 speed penalty) 202
14 Uncanny Dodge (Combat Adv. vs. you doesn't grant +2 attack) 206
16 Heavy Blade Opportunity (Can use weapon at-wills with OAs) 203
18 Lightning Reflexes (+2 feat bonus to Reflex) 204
20 Great Fortitude (+2 feat bonus to Fortitude) 203

21 Heavy Blade Mastery (Crit on 19 or 20) 207
21 ..RETRAIN: LOSE Great Fortitude
21 Epic Resurgence (1st crit/enc regain an enc power) 206
22 Blind-Fight (ignore concealment/invis from adj enemy, can OA) 206
24 Great Fortitude (+2 feat bonus to Fortitude) 203
26 Human Perseverance (+1 bonus to Saving Throws) 198
28 Triumphant Attack (On crit, foe gets -2 attack/defenses, save ends) 207
30 Iron will (+2 feat bonus to will, again) 203


Final Defenses (shield, +6 cloak/armor): AC 48, Fort 45, Ref 39, Will 40
Final Attack Bonus (str, +6 longsword): Reg 34, OA 40
Final Attack Bonus (Wis, +6 Holy Symbol): 27

Blade Opportunist
Triumphant Attack

both these are really not needed you have enough attack bonus with your 20 wisdom and triumphant attack just seems to not happen enough for me to like it, i think keeping human perserverance is key bonus to human and i would like fleet footed in the build for 7 base speed 8 with an item. i would also like to figure out how to maybe get bastard sword in there. but as for weapon its a holy avenger

i dont know about the ritual casting bit but eh.

btw you are +34 to hit +15 1/2 lvl +1 fighter +9 str +3 prof +6 weapon
wis attack is +28 +15 1/2 lvl + 7 wis +6 wep

Ravennus wrote:

I'm liking it! :D

Something to chew on that I noticed.... if you want to add a little extra to your OA's, you could even pickup combat reflexes. It adds +1 attack to ANY OA's, and is an untyped bonus, so that means it should stack with Blade Opportunist.

It does. It's just a very small bonus. I decided to toss Ritual Casting in order to keep Human Perseverance. Since I wasn't dropping HP until Paragon, I decided to take Combat Reflexes as a place-holder. Once your Wis shoots up though, the +1 isn't really worth the feat. Really, once you hit Paragon, it's not worth the feat simply because there's better stuff.

C_A wrote:

Now, if I actually like Blade Opportunist a lot. If it turns out to be too high to bother with at high levels, the first thing I'd do is take Skill Training earlier and switch from Demigod to Deadly Trickster. That ends up being -2 to OA's, but in my opinion, the abilities come out a little better. In that case, the extra crits from Heavy Blade Mastery will really come in handy. Also in that case, Epic Resurgence > Triumphant Attack.

You'll also have to crank up your Dex or Cha to 21 to get into Deadly Trickster. I don't think this build really has the free stat points to make that hurdle. Demigod is probably the better choice in these circumstances.

Thanks for the catch on that, Zero. I had forgotten about that requirement. I originally had Deadly Trickster in when I was still trying to make Scimitar Dance worth it, and at that point, I had the high dex but my OA bonus was too low.

I may drop Blade Opportunist, I'm just not sure yet. I need to look at high level monster AC's to make that decision and I've been too lazy. It's imperative that the OA from Warpriest's Challenge lands as I want to do as few standard action at-wills in a fight as possible (since I have unlimited encounter abilities at high levels). You get to reroll a 1 once, but that doesn't help when you roll a 2 and miss. Haha.

Improved Init would be helpful, but not totally necessary. If I do drop Blade Opportunist, Improved Init is probably better than Fleet Footed. The only time I see really needing 8 movement is if I get slid or pushed a LONG distance through difficult terrain. 7 move + 9 charge = 16 squares, or 6-15 squares through difficult terrain. In that unlikely situation, I'd expect the warlord or wizard to find some way to get me back into the action, or I'd rely on a magic item for teleport or fly or something.

Ravennus wrote:

I know there wasn't as much noise about your build as you might have hoped C_A, but I think it's because most people are still locked into optimizing for pure damage or control. We all still have a long way to go before we get into the habit of optimizing as a role and as team.
4e is the first version of D&D to include great mechanics for actually HELPING you do your job as a defender/tank.... and not just some trite 'taunt' to get the baddy to attack you instead of your weak friends.

Honestly, for focusing on the tanking and defending I don't think I've seen a better fighter build yet. So kudos!

You gave me lots of ideas, and opened me up to the usefulness of Heavy Blade, which I was kind of scratching my head about before.
And honestly, after being a bit disappointed at how stat intensive the Paladin is (what else is new), this fits a bit of my need for playing a righteous armored shitekicker with some nifty divine tricks up his sleep. It has some great roleplaying potential as well.

Heh, thanks a lot. It's nice to be appreciated. :D When I first posted the idea in the other thread, I was shocked at the tepid response at first. I think that you are probably right though.

I'm on this build because I'm trying to put together the "iconic 4th ed" party. I want the ultimate defender, striker, controller and leader that fit together like pieces of a puzzle. I figured the defender would be the least likely to be influenced significantly by the others and quite likely to influence them. Since I now know that he has some minor healing and radiant AoE damage he can use on undead, that means I can probably get away with a tactical warlord. A tactical warlord means that a Brutal Scoundrel rogue would be a nice fit. Wizard, well, since I have a warlord and a good defender on the front line, he can probably be a close-range blaster. But anyway, I don't want to drag this thread off topic. I'll get to them soon and eventually I'll probably post a new thread with links to all 4 builds for party unity optimization. Hehe.