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Switch to Forum Live View Rogue (Shield Dancer) - The Dex Defender
4 months ago  ::  Jan 22, 2013 - 2:26AM #1
Matyr
Date Joined: Jun 19, 2004
Posts: 2,726

Hey everyone, working on making a Dex Based defender.  This is going to be a bit of a work in progress but lets get this going.


For starters the Shield Dancer is a type of rogue, much like the berserker is a type of barbarian.  So the real name for the class would be Rogue (Shield Dancer).


Shield Dancer Class


Class Traits
Role: Defender.  Your ability to weave through combats using alternately flashy and hidden techniques makes you a difficult barrier to pass.
Power Source: Martial
Key Abilities: Dexterity, Charisma
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, leather, light shields.
Weapon Proficiencies: Dagger, Hand Crossbow, Short sword, Sling, Spiked Shield
Bonus to Defenses: +1 Will, +1 Fortitude, +1 Reflex

Hit Points at 1st Level: 15 + Constitution Score.
Hit Points per Level Gained: 6
Healing Surges per Day: 9 + Constitution Modifier.

Trained Skills: Stealth, Acrobatics.  From the class skills list below, choose 4 additional skills at 1st level.
Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Athletics (Str), Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Insight (Wis), Perception (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Streetwise (Cha), Thievery (Dex).
Class Features: Feint and Flourish, Defender Aura, Charismatic Defender, Fencing Mastery, Sneak Attack, Weapon Finesse


Rogue (Shield Dancer) Class Features


Level 1:
Feint and Flourish

Whenever you complete your first attack per turn you can choose to either Feint of Flourish

Feinting:

  • Your Shield Dance ends, if it was active, you may not activate it again until you are no longer Feinting.
  • You may use the Sneak Attack class feature.
  • While Feinting and not in heavy armor, you gain a +2 bonus to Reflex and Fortitude defenses.

Flourishing:

  • If your Shield Dance was not active and you are wearing a light shield you activate Shield Dance.
  • You cannot use your Sneak Attack Class Feature.
  • While Flourishing and not in heavy armor, you gain a +2 bonus to AC and Will defenses.

Shield Dance
At-Will - Aura
No Action - Personal
Effect: You activate an aura 1 that lasts until you use the Feint Class Feature or until you fall unconscious.  While in the aura, any enemy takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls when it makes an attack that does not include among its targets either you or an ally of your who has this aura or Defender Aura active.  Marked enemies are not subject to this aura.
Special: This ability can only be activated by using the Flourish Class Feature.
Level 14: The aura increases to aura 2.
Level 24: The aura increases to aura 3.

Charismatic Defender
  • You gain a bonus to damage with Opportunity Attacks equal to your Charisma Modifier
  • Whenever a rogue class power or utility would use your Strength modifier you instead substitute your Charisma Modifier.

Fencing Mastery
You gain the Fencing Mastery Power.
Fencing Mastery – Rogue Attack Power
While their attention is diverted you dart through a hole in your enemy's defenses.
At-Will – Martial
Opportunity Action - Personal
Trigger: An enemy subject to your Shield Dance either shifts or makes an attack that targets an ally of yours without targeting you or an ally who has either Shield Dance an active Defender Aura.
Effect: You make a melee basic attack against the triggering enemy. And deal extra damage to it equal to your Charisma Modifier.
Level 11: Charisma Modifier + 2 extra damage. If the triggering enemy isn't adjacent to you, you may shift 1 square to a square adjacent to that enemy before making the attack.
Level 21: Charisma Modifier + 4. If the triggering enemy isn't adjacent to you, you may shift up to two squares to a square adjacent to that enemy before making the attack.

Sneak Attack
During your turn, when you make an attack with a light blade, a hand crossbow, a shortbow, or a sling and hit an enemy granting combat advantage to you, that enemy takes extra damage based on your level (see the Sneak Attack table). You can deal this extra damage only once per turn.


Sneak Attack
Level 1-10 – 2d6
Level 11-20 – 3d6
Level 21-30 – 5d6

Weapon Finesse
When you make a melee basic attack, you can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack roll and the damage roll. In addition, you gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with light blades, hand crossbows, shortbows and slings.

Currently working on making a Dex based defender.  Check it out here
Spoiler: Show
Need a few pre-generated characters for a one-shot you are running?  Want to get a baseline for what an effective build for a class you aren't familiar with?  Check out the Pregen thread here
If ever you are interested what it sounds like to be at my table check out my blog and podcast here
Also, I've recently done an episode on "Refluffing".  You can check that out here
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4 months ago  ::  Jan 22, 2013 - 2:35AM #2
Matyr
Date Joined: Jun 19, 2004
Posts: 2,726
Heroic Powers

The Shield Dancer is able to select from the entire list of rogue powers.  Rogues would also be allowed to select any of these powers should they choose to do so.

At-Wills (1/4)
Spoiler: Show


Winds of Change – Rogue Attack 1
You become a blur of motion drawing your enemies into your defenses.
At-Will – Martial, Weapon
Standard Action – Close Burst 3
Target: One or two creatures in burst.
Attack: Dexterity vs Reflex
Hit: Dex modifier damage and you slide each target 1 square.  If an enemy ends this movement adjacent to you, you may apply your Sneak Attack damage to that target even if you are Flourishing.


Encounter 1 (2)
Spoiler: Show



Daily 1 (1/2)
Spoiler: Show

Nip the Ankles – Rogue Attack 1
Fluff
Daily – Martial, Weapon
Standard Action – Melee Weapon
Target: One creature granting combat advantage to you.
Attack: Dexterity vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier and the target is immobilized until the end of your next turn.
Miss: Half Damage and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn.
Effect: Until the end of the encounter whenever you hit a target that is granting combat advantage to you they are slowed until the end of your next turn.


Utility 2 (2)
Spoiler: Show



Encounter 3 (1/2)
Spoiler: Show

Fast Dance – Rogue Attack 3
Fluff
Encounter – Martial, Weapon
Move Action – Melee 1
Effect:You shift your speed.  During that shift, when you enter a square adjacent to an enemy you may make the following attack against that creature.  Whenever you use this power, you can make the attack against a creature only once.
Target: One Creature
Attack: Dexterity vs. Reflex
Hit: Dexterity modifer damage and you slide the target 1 square.



Daily 5 (2/2)
Spoiler: Show

Unbalancing Lunge – Rogue Attack 5
Fluff
Daily – Martial, Weapon
Standard Action – Melee 2
Target: One Creature
Attack: Dexterity vs. AC
Hit: 3[W] + Dexterity modifier damage and the target takes a penalty to attack rolls against your allies equal to your Charisma modifier (Save Ends).
Miss: Half Damage and the target takes a penalty to attack rolls against your allies equal to your Charisma modifier until the end of your next turn.

Blinding Flourish - Rogue Attack 5
The sun glints of your blade as you dramatically swipe at your foe causing those around you to fall back in confusion.
Daily - Martial, Weapon
Standard Action - Melee Weapon
Target: One Creature
Attack: Dexterity vs AC
Hit: 2[W] + dex mod damage and the target is blinded until the end of your next turn.
Effect: All enemies in your aura are weakened until the end of your next turn.



Utility 6 (1/2)
Spoiler: Show

Go with the Flow - Rogue Utility 6
Fluff
Encounter - Martial
Free Action - Personal
Trigger: You are subjected to an effect that pushes, pulls or slides you.
Effect: You shift a number of squares equal to the number of squares you would have been pushed pulled or slid. (You are not pushed, pulled or slid)


Encounter 7 (1/2)
Spoiler: Show

Whirlwind of Sand – Rogue Attack 7
Fluff
Encounter – Martial, Weapon
Standard Action – Close Burst 3
Target: Each enemy you can see in Burst
Attack: Dexterity vs. Fortitude
Hit: You pull the target up to 2 squares.  If any creature ends this movement adjacent to you and make the following attack:

Close Burst 1
Target: Each Creature in burst.
Attack: Dex vs Reflex (Off-hand weapon)
Hit: 1[W] damage (Off-hand weapon).


Daily 9 (1/2)
Spoiler: Show

Field of Blades – Rogue Attack 9
Fluff
Daily – Martial, Weapon
Standard Action – Close burst 1
Target: Each enemy you can see in Burst
Attack: Dexterity vs. AC
Hit: 1[W]+Dexterity modifier damage.
Miss: Half damage.
Effect: Until the end of the encounter the size of your Shield Dance aura increases by 1 and you can shift 1 square as a free action before making an attack granted by your Fencing Mastery power.



Utility 10 (2)
Spoiler: Show




Currently working on making a Dex based defender.  Check it out here
Spoiler: Show
Need a few pre-generated characters for a one-shot you are running?  Want to get a baseline for what an effective build for a class you aren't familiar with?  Check out the Pregen thread here
If ever you are interested what it sounds like to be at my table check out my blog and podcast here
Also, I've recently done an episode on "Refluffing".  You can check that out here
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4 months ago  ::  Jan 22, 2013 - 2:35AM #3
Matyr
Date Joined: Jun 19, 2004
Posts: 2,726
Reserved for Paragon Powers
Currently working on making a Dex based defender.  Check it out here
Spoiler: Show
Need a few pre-generated characters for a one-shot you are running?  Want to get a baseline for what an effective build for a class you aren't familiar with?  Check out the Pregen thread here
If ever you are interested what it sounds like to be at my table check out my blog and podcast here
Also, I've recently done an episode on "Refluffing".  You can check that out here
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4 months ago  ::  Jan 22, 2013 - 2:36AM #4
Matyr
Date Joined: Jun 19, 2004
Posts: 2,726
Reserved for Epic Powers
Currently working on making a Dex based defender.  Check it out here
Spoiler: Show
Need a few pre-generated characters for a one-shot you are running?  Want to get a baseline for what an effective build for a class you aren't familiar with?  Check out the Pregen thread here
If ever you are interested what it sounds like to be at my table check out my blog and podcast here
Also, I've recently done an episode on "Refluffing".  You can check that out here
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4 months ago  ::  Jan 22, 2013 - 2:36AM #5
Matyr
Date Joined: Jun 19, 2004
Posts: 2,726
Heroic
Unnamed Feat 1
Prerequisite - Rogue, Shield Dance Class Feature
Whenever a creature leaves your Shield Dance aura it takes damage equal to your Dexterity modifier and a -2 penalty to attack rolls until the start of your next turn.  A creature can only take this damage once per turn.

Unnamed Feat 3
Prerequisite - Rogue, Feint and Flourish Class Feature
When you spend an action point you may choose to begin either Feinting or Flourishing as a free action.  This does not count towards your 1/turn limit of Feinting or Flourising.
Paragon

Epic
Unnamed Feat 2
Prerequisite - Rogue, 21st level, Feint and Flourish Class Feature
Whenever you resolve an attack you may choose to begin Feinting or Flourishing.  You are no longer restricted to changing on the first attack.
Currently working on making a Dex based defender.  Check it out here
Spoiler: Show
Need a few pre-generated characters for a one-shot you are running?  Want to get a baseline for what an effective build for a class you aren't familiar with?  Check out the Pregen thread here
If ever you are interested what it sounds like to be at my table check out my blog and podcast here
Also, I've recently done an episode on "Refluffing".  You can check that out here
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4 months ago  ::  Jan 22, 2013 - 2:36AM #6
Matyr
Date Joined: Jun 19, 2004
Posts: 2,726
Reserved for Changelog
1/23/13
Shield Dance still not working as intended.  Likely changing it to use wording "As if they were marked" so the character can benefit from normal defender marking.  Will fix after 1/28/13.

Added the Caveat "During your turn" to the Sneak Attack class feature.
Changed the mark violation from doing an extra 1d6 to dealing Cha mod extra damage.  Adjusted Scaling to match the new mark violation.
Added in a Feat for leaving the aura at heroic.
Added in a "Slaying Action" type feat for heroic.
Added in a Feat for changing states at epic.
Added in the requirement to use a light shield in the Flourishing Class Feature.
Changed Charismatic Defender to be a bonus to damage rather than a bonus to AC against Opp Attacks.  Does it need to be written in both places?  Should it only be under Charismatic Defender?  Or should there be a special line below the effect that talks about Charismatic Defender?
Removed the word "may" from the second entry in the Charismatic Defender Class Feature.

1/22/13
Defender Aura not working as intended.  Proposing a switch to the following to be folded into the Flourish Class Feature.

Shield Dance
At-Will - Aura
No Action - Personal
Effect: You activate an aura 1 that lasts until you use the Feint Class Feature or until you fall unconscious.  While in the aura, any enemy takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls when it makes an attack that does not include among its targets either you or an ally of your who has this aura active.  Marked enemies are not subject to this aura.
Special: This ability can only be activated by using the Flourish Class Feature.

Added Winds of Change and Whirlwind of Sand.

Changed Whirlwind of Sand into a 2-hit power.  Currently targets Fort/Ref.  Curious if I should change it both to Reflex for simplicity.

Added Nip the Ankles and Field of Blades.

Added Unblancing Lunge.
Added Blinding Flourish.
Tinkered with Wording
Changed Field of Blades to work with Shield Dance at higher levels.
Changed Shield Dance to scale at higher levels.



Design Notes:
  1. Need Utilities to help preserve movement and get out of action denial.
  2. Need at least one daily with a stance
  3. Need something to do with minor actions (Utilities and such)
  4. Need things that give penalties to attack/defenses.
  5. Need to fix Shield Dance to work properly with Defender Aura.
  6. Need to make sure the class requires a shield and 1 handed weapons to operate.
  7. Need to add ways to penalise at ranged and/or a ranged penalty build.

Currently working on making a Dex based defender.  Check it out here
Spoiler: Show
Need a few pre-generated characters for a one-shot you are running?  Want to get a baseline for what an effective build for a class you aren't familiar with?  Check out the Pregen thread here
If ever you are interested what it sounds like to be at my table check out my blog and podcast here
Also, I've recently done an episode on "Refluffing".  You can check that out here
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4 months ago  ::  Jan 22, 2013 - 5:56AM #7
thespaceinvader
Date Joined: Oct 28, 2010
Posts: 9,649
One thing to note: Shield Dance really, really needs to be called, or have some text to say it counts as, a Defender Aura, otherwise it stacks with Knights and Berserkers' auras (Knights and Berserkers can punish enemies that attack you, because they're not attacking an ally with an active Defender Aura...).  And, strictly, the punishment feature doesn;t work with it when it's called shield dance.

I do like the concept though, I've been considering a dex defender for a while - I made the grounds of one in one of the design contests a while ago, the Shadowlash.  Might come back to it at some point.
Harrying your Prey, the Easy Way: A Hunter's Handbook - the first of what will hopefully be many CharOp efforts on my part.
The Blinker - teleport everywhere. An Eladrin Knight/Eldritch Knight.

CB != rules source.
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4 months ago  ::  Jan 22, 2013 - 6:09AM #8
svendj
Date Joined: Apr 14, 2010
Posts: 2,049
When discussing defenders, I think something you should consider is: can you make the Catch-22 so horrible for enemies that they have no good option?

The obvious answer here is yes, because Riposte Strike. I don't know the Rogue's power selection very well, but I don't think there are many other (standard action) powers you should ever be using when doing one-on-one defending. Especially the Charismatic Defender class feature makes that power insanely good. Add Vigilante Justice Style to the package, and you get a defender that can make an attack as both an immediate and an opportunity action when the enemy you hit dares to attack an adjacent ally.

This instantly launches the Shield Dancer into the top 3 defenders, at least for heroic. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that you shouldn't really bother coming up with any other standard action single target powers for the class, since doing anything else besides Riposting would be incredibly bad.
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4 months ago  ::  Jan 22, 2013 - 6:33AM #9
svendj
Date Joined: Apr 14, 2010
Posts: 2,049
Oh, and remember this one? It's actually kinda interesting for a Rogue defender.
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4 months ago  ::  Jan 22, 2013 - 6:44AM #10
Fardiz
Date Joined: Dec 22, 2010
Posts: 2,194
Shield Dance
At-Will - Aura
No Action - Personal
Effect: You activate an aura 1 that lasts until you use the Feint Class Feature or until you fall unconscious.  While in the aura, any enemy takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls when it makes an attack that does not include among its targets either you or an ally of your who has this aura or Defender Aura active.  Marked enemies are not subject to this aura.
Special: This ability can only be activated by using the Flourish Class Feature.

At level 14, the size of your aura increases to 2, and you can shift one square before making you opportunity attack. At level 24, the size of your aura increases to 3, and you can shift two squares before making you opportunity attack.

Blinding Flourish
The sun glints of your blade as you dramatically swipe at your foe causing those around you to fall back in confusion.
Daily 5
Standard Action
Melee Weapon
1 Creature
Dex vs AC
Hit: 2[W] + dex mod damage and the target is blinded and takes a -2 to attack rolls until the end of your next turn.
Effect: All enemies in your aura are weakened until the end of your next turn.
Back to Basics - A Guide to Basic Attacks

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