I am happy to finally introduce to you the beta version of the Harbinger, an elemental striker that can be played from level 1 to level 30, with two complete builds and two paragon paths. The Harbinger features polymorphing into elemental forms and a choice of steady or explosive additional damage. Please click on that link to the PDF, give it a look and tell me what you think. All input is valuable. Thanks in advance!
Note: As with the Xaosmith, powers which would otherwise be replaced with higher-level powers instead have a higher level version displayed as an additional line beneath the original power. 

Developing the Harbinger

Of the elemental classes, the harbinger has been changed the most since I first introduced it as the Chaos Bringer. While the Chaos Bringer was initially envisioned as something that used a mix of weapon-based and blasting powers, with the occasional short-term elemental transformation, I felt that this caused the class to only feel unique once or twice an encounter, otherwise leaving it to feel like some kind of warlock variant. After a lot of thought, I decided to emphasize the elemental transformation over all else. Figuring out the best way to do this within the standard AEDU was something of a nightmare, especially with a striker class that needed to keep as much spike damage as possible, but I eventually got some inspiration from a handful of other transformation and transformation-like powers, especially the Stone Juggernaut power from Player's Option: Heroes of the Elemental Chaos, rather appropriately. With that figured out, the following structure followed: One at-will utility power that grants an elemental form, and an at-will attack power, one at-will power and the usual roster of encounter powers, which deal damage based on the current form’s element, and daily powers which provide an elemental form for the encounter, an at-will attack power unique to that form, and a single-use damage effect that can be applied to an at-will power on a hit, to provide for the daily power damage spike.

Elemental Implements

At some point during the development process, I decided that the most thematically-appropriate implements for elemental classes were orbs and gauntlets. Orbs are about control and vision, equally the world being crushed and the eye staring out, so they fit quite well with many primordial themes. Gauntlets are, basically, the hand wrapped around that orb, and represent domination, force, and shaping. Given that gauntlets aren’t actually a thing in 4^th Edition, I opted for spiked gauntlets, much as sorcerers use daggers. When the time comes to speak of character options outside of just the classes themselves, I’ll handle spiked gauntlets as implements in more detail. In case it comes up, I feel that a Spiked Gauntlet Expertise feat might grant a +1/tier bonus to damage against prone targets, representing oppressive force. This also works especially well since I assign spiked gauntlets to melee builds, which also gain the advantage of being able to use versatile weapons or certain ranged weapons more easily than the ranged-focused orb-using builds. 

The Harbinger (Beta)

A young woman walks in to the city in a tattered cloak, her hair matted, her face dirty, and her feet bare. The guards stop her to check for weapons, spell books, or other signs of danger, but she has only the cloak, clothes of poorly-stitched goat skins, mismatched gloves, and just enough copper to pay her way past the gate. The ragged woman walks past townsfolk and beggars, each disinterested in her plight, and comes to the church of Pelor, where a cleric mournfully hands her bread to eat and water to drink and wash in, before ushering her to the shrine to seek hope in its light. The young woman makes her way to the shrine and bows before it, surrounding by a dozen more men and women begging the brilliantly-lit shrine for Pelor’s grace, their eager, hungry hands reaching for the divine light. The young woman, too, reaches out for the shrine, with a single gloved hand outstretched. The pilgrims gasp as, for a moment, Pelor’s light seems to shine all the brighter, but screams follow as bright flames encompass the woman’s hand and flash back across her body, seeming to set her alight. The woman rises to her feet as the flames envelop her and become her, the intense heat turning flesh to ash all around her. With a sweep of her hand, a pillar of flame spins away from her, wraps around the cleric who led her there, and pulls him into her embrace to receive the gratitude of the primordials.

Harbingers exist to herald and bring destruction. Gifted – or cursed – with the power to become powerful elemental creatures and to unleash elemental energy even in their natural forms, harbingers are able to blend in to a crowd and then unleash a flashy display of terrifying power from deep within enemy territory. When they are not able to act with surprise, harbingers instead act as vanguards and symbols of primordial might to bolster the morale of elemental armies. Those few who seek something other than destruction have little choice but to become adventurers, where their powers can be turned on monsters worse than themselves. In combat, a harbinger enjoys great flexibility, since they can often choose from a variety of forms, and can temporarily increase their power when striking their most powerful foes, then turn to weaker enemies while they regain their strength. As with the Xaosmith, this is the beta version of the class, and when time allows, I’ll update things and maybe even add to it. Any and all feedback you can give me on the harbinger would be greatly appreciated. It’s a fairly complex class, so I’m sure there’s plenty of room for improvement. 

Chaos Bound

Player’s Option: Heroes of the Elemental Chaos is out, and all-in-all, it’s a fantastic book that touches on many of the ideas I was hoping to see introduced into 4^th Edition. It does have a few problems – such as failing to compensate for powers that aren’t used through implements or weapons – but so long as players and DMs discuss a few tweaks it beforehand with those bits, you should be able to find a lot of fantastic material in there that will let you play some fantastic elemental characters. DMs should seriously look at some of the magic items and boons in that book, as they bring in some great story options – I already have a player running around as a dragonborn made of ice thanks to the Pale Tooth they found encased in the frozen water of a Decanter of Endless Water on a living glacier. 

Further Chaos

Work continues now on the other two elemental classes, the Exulter and the Emanant. I have fortunately already written on the basic power lists for each class, and at least for the exulter I have some interesting inspirations to work with, so those will be forthcoming as the flows of coffee and time allow. Once the beta version of all four classes have been presented, I plan to follow them up with an article or two on supporting options, particularly multiclass feats and hybrid options. After that, I may just try and call in an offer from an artist friend…

Good gaming,

Incenjucar

Chaos and Time

The revelation of 5^th edition makes it exceptionally unlikely that we will see true, official elemental classes produced any time soon, so I would like to reaffirm my commitment to proving the viability of the elemental power source by creating four fully-functional elemental classes. I’ve been doing quite a lot of tinkering these past months, albeit less than I would have liked, and for a few months I was bound to silence on the topic; I have sent in, and received a rejection for, a Dragon Magazine proposal for the elemental classes I have been speaking of all this time. I never expected the proposal to be accepted, but now at least one person at Wizards of the Coast has seen that such ideas exist. You can find that proposal here. Consider this a sneak peek at what you can expect to find in this blog in the future. You will notice I’ve changed some names; the chaos bringer is now the harbinger, and the director is now the eminent. These are otherwise more or less the same classes I proposed in earlier blog entries, but with some refinement of concept.

Progress and Epiphany

Developing the xaosmith, and later refining all four classes for the proposal, taught me a great deal. My first revelation was how the encounter and daily power structure so easily tidied character development up. The three encounter powers and three daily powers a typical character gains from their class are of course replaced as the character rises in power. This happens in a very uniform manner that ensures that every power slot is replaced once, except for the level 1 encounter and daily powers. Level 1 powers are replaced twice and, most importantly, their final replacement is at the end of the character’s career. This means that the powers that you start the game with increase more than any other powers, and your level 1 slots wind up being your strongest powers. At the same time, I found myself poring through various books, and noticing that a lot of powers are just higher level versions of lower-level powers, and are basically replacements for those powers. This brought a second revelation; while many characters trade powers as they level up as haphazardly as a Pokémon, many high-level characters are doing the exact same thing they were doing at low levels, only better, almost like some of the Essentials characters. This creates a strong sense of progression and skill improvement. I combined these new realizations with some of the power progression of themes, and came up with a simple method for creating rich, yet concise class power lists, without cutting those classes off from anything else. In short, the four elemental classes I will present to you will all have three encounter powers and three daily powers, with options for improved versions of these as they level up, but they can take these the same way they would normally take powers. Their level 1 encounter and daily powers are viewed as “signature” powers, and these will have two higher-level variations. The other two dailies and two encounter powers will be more secondary abilities that offer slightly more niche functions, and these only get one upgraded version each. Interestingly, the Heroes of the Feywild, which came out after I sent in my proposal, uses a similar method, but breaks those powers out into individual powers like Lesser Flash of Distraction, Flash of Distraction, and Greater Flash of Distraction.

Easy Choices

I would like to note that, while I did choose the standard AEDU format – more or less – for these elemental classes, I do not believe that this is the only way to address elemental concepts, and perhaps not even the best way. The elemental power source is more than flexible enough, conceptually, to embrace every method available in 4^th edition without exception, from power points to an elemental slayer to something wildly different. However, for the sake of making it as easy as possible to use these classes with existing rules, as well as to make this project doable by one person with a very busy life, I have opted to go the most-supported route. You will also find that, at the moment, I have not designed any feats, items, or epic destinies. While there is a great deal of room for such, and many possibilities are quite obvious, I would prefer to focus on the absolute minimum material at this time, before getting into smaller variables. I hope that, in the mean time, you will find that the many extant feats are more than enough to work with for the time being.

(Re)Introducing: The Xaosmith (Beta)

Now, all that out of the way; the Xaosmith. As I have described before, the xaosmith is an elemental crafter who uses their ability to control small amounts of elemental chaos to defend allies (or perhaps to keep allies from ruining their lovingly-built equipment). Most visibly, this manifests in their ability to form a chaos node, which is functionally a conjured copy of one weapon they are currently wielding, which allows them to defend at a short distance, and acts as a focus or partner for many special powers. Many of their powers allow them to create, modify, destroy, or repair equipment, usually in the heat of battle. At present, there is the blacksmith-themed Hardwrought build, and the Artisan build inspired by Pygmalion and Gepetto. I also have an Int-based Innovator build floating in the back of my head with a bit of Daedalus flavor and some more varied uses of elements or chaos, which I hope to eventually add to the mix. For now, I would like to see what you think of the current xaosmith, and I am all ears for any feedback you might have. It is, as described, a beta draft, and not a final version of the class, so I hope to return to it and fix any problems after the beta versions of the other classes are complete.

Official Material

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the pending arrival of the Heroes of the Elemental Chaos. While I have my reservations, since the book contains no elemental classes, I am quite happy with the fluff and information we have so far - generic wizard bloat aside - and I will almost certainly be picking it up at my FLGS when it arrives, if simply to get a glimpse at what might have been. I know the new edition information has everyone distracted, but because of the new edition, this may be your best chance to get a taste of what the elemental power source could be in Dungeons & Dragons.

Good gaming,

Incenjucar

Looking Back

While I was looking back on the Chaos Bringer and working on the Director, it struck me that I had been focusing too much on what the characters can do and not enough on what the characters were. The Xaosmith was a defender with a short-ranged pet, the Exulter was an armored close blaster controller, and the Chaos Bringer was a polymorphing element-hurler. While fighters can get away with “defender that hits things with weapons,” most other classes really need to have the nature and origin of their abilities explained. Moreover, their power source itself needs a story that makes it distinct from the others beyond just “it comes from this other place.” With the Director, I decided to think in more story-oriented terms, and determined that rather than just being a leader with an elemental aura, a Director was a person whose soul contained a rupture that leads to the Elemental Chaos, granting lots of potential power but little real control, and then expanded on how that could come about. Since then, I have looked over the classes again, and have begun weaving a story that binds the classes with each other, their power source, and the setting at large. These are my preliminary ideas, and I would love any feedback you might have on them.

Xaosmith

Xaosmiths are warrior-craftsfolk who can manipulate elemental chaos matter - a chaos node - with exceptional precision, using it as an all-purpose tool both in and out of combat. They lack the explosive and pervasive force of other elemental classes, but have far better control. Xaosmithing is said to be one of the most ancient forms of mortal magic, passed down by the primordials to their servants, predating more complex formula- or rune-based magic. Most xaosmiths are happiest in the act of creation, using their magic to forge the tools needed to make their community prosper, but it is a lucky few who live such simple lives. Xaosmiths usually find themselves on the front lines, forging and repairing armor and weapons while battles rage around them. When forced to act directly, they are terrifying and versatile warriors with an intimate knowledge of the tools of war and the magic to exploit that knowledge. Many xaosmiths are as direct and brutal as an avalanche, but others are cunning tricksters who can unbalance a charging foe with a gust of wind. Their chaos nodes can be used as barriers or as weapons, such as becoming a wall of wind to scatter arrows, or a shard of ice so cold that flesh freezes at its touch. With some effort, chaos nodes can become more complex shapes such as ladders, lock picks, or even crude vehicles, making xaosmiths invaluable in a siege. Though fairly plentiful during the reign of the primordials, xaosmiths are a dying breed; their skills require rare talent and extensive, dangerous training, but are most readily utilized where they are most likely to die. Moreover, xaosmiths are reminders of the primordials’ reign, and many zealous followers of the divine seek to erase their legacy altogether. Today, most xaosmiths are recluses who toil away at great works far away from the safety and comfort of a community, where they can use their powers without scrutiny. Rarely, such a hermit may take on an apprentice out of some need to pass out their ancient art, and the unwise of these may become great heroes.

Exulter

Those who delight in channeling the raw, explosive power of the Elemental Chaos source are known as exulters. Exulters are warriors who fight with eruptions of elemental power as their weapon, wading into combat to deliver thundering blasts and to shatter the very earth beneath their enemies’ feet. Exulters delight in making fire fall like rain and water cut like knives, and even those with noble intentions are ever-tempted to wreak chaos. Legend holds that the first exulters were priest-generals of primordial cults, acting as living examples of their patron’s wrath. As the Dawn War raged, the exultant power was passed on to primordial champions, and once the war ended, began to appear outside of the elemental cults. The unbridled use of elemental power, however, invites arrogance, recklessness, and madness, and even those exulters with good intentions and no connection to the primordial cults often proved wild and destructive, and most were eventually hunted down by the combined efforts of more civilized forces, reducing their numbers into obscurity, but never with complete success. Despite persecution and the low survival rate of apprentices, new exulters continue to devastate remote corners of the world, usually as the heart of new elemental cults. Some few exulters have sought to better control their power through rigorous exercise, dance, and other forms of exhaustive self-discipline, though even they can find themselves laughing amid the flames of battle. Such exulters often dwell in monasteries and live alongside monks, sharing their meditations but training where they are less likely to set their fellows ablaze.

Harbinger (formerly Chaos Bringer)

In ages past, primordials remade elementals, dragons, and mortals into their own images, creating archons, catastrophic dragons, and races such as the azer and galeb duhr. Some of these transformations have been simplified and adapted into ceremonies, usually undertaken by elemental cultists, to turn a mortal into a harbinger, a destructive warrior fused with and empowered by the elements themselves, able to partly or completely transform themselves and their equipment into an elemental form. In these altered forms, they can add the strength of stone, the swiftness of the wind, or the power of the storm to their blows, and many mistake them for elementals or golems. Harbingers act as vanguard troops and bodyguards in elemental cults, and the strongest are treated as minor avatars of whichever being the cult follows. More recently, some have begun experimenting with new forms of these rituals, and whispers have begun to circulate about harbingers empowered by cacofiends or slaad larvae. Because the rituals required to create harbingers are often fatal and always excruciating, many cults force outsiders to undergo the rites, and then break the wills of those that survive. Though most can hide their elemental nature off the battlefield, few harbingers have the restraint to do so for long. Cults that harbor harbingers rarely bring them to civilized areas until they are ready to reveal themselves, and some cults announce their claim on a region by unleashing a transformed harbinger in the center of town. Harbingers that leave their cults, or survive them, face hostility and fear, and those who do not flee from them likely seek to control or destroy them. Still, there exist secret societies beyond the cults who have learned the rituals themselves, and use it to create powerful guardians and warriors who must be able to withstand otherwise deadly environments. Those harbingers who fail in such duties are sent out into the world to retrieve what was lost, to atone for their failure, or are simply exiled as a failed experiment.

Director (copied from the original Director blog post)

Most directors were once ordinary folk living day-by-day in whatever profession they found themselves in, but since birth, at the center of their being, the veil between the elemental chaos and the world was unusually thin. At some point in their life, as easily in an angry crowd as a lonely desert, the veil tore within them, and traces of the elemental chaos seeped from their bodies in a pulsing aura of matter and energy - a nascent Elemental Presence. Most who undergo this experience do not survive it, either destroyed by the tear itself or those fearful of their power. Those who survive learn to control the aura, and to draw strength and power from it to empower themselves and their allies. Because much of their will is devoted to simply keeping the tear in check, directors lack the sheer explosive power or precision of other elemental classes. However, because they must learn how to reconcile chaos and flesh to survive, they can mend and soothe their allies’ wounds and infuse them with the traits of the elements under their control. The exact nature of the directors’ connection to the elemental chaos is a subject of inconclusive study and wild rumor, but the ability of some directors to call upon the energies and denizens of the Abyss suggests unpleasant answers.

Looking Ahead

With that thought out of the way, I'd like to turn toward the future of this project. At the least, I plan to produce fully-functioning classes, with all choices, from level 1 to 3, the standard Encounters level spread. However, if things go well, I hope to continue beyond that - at least until better, official elemental classes are made. I'd like to invite you all into the process.

Primary Goals

• Create one elemental class for each role
• Each fills an untapped archetype and has a unique conceptual and visual silhouette
• Each fits directly into the existing lore of major D&D settings, while adding to their richness
• Each can easily be of any alignment, culture, or race
• Each can easily accommodate elemental, primordial, demon, slaad, or genie influence
• Each accommodate hybrid and multiclassing rules

Things to be Considered

• Scaling Powers, such as with hybrid and certain essentials classes
• Whether or not to use rare or new power types such as full discipline, polymorphing, or power points
• How elements are chosen, such as by power choice, when activating the power, or by using a class ability
• Air, earth, and untyped damage – how to balance these and make them stand out against damage types
• Best ability scores and race choices – which ability scores, and thus which races that boost those scores, should be associated with which classes?
• Implements and weapons – which are most appropriate?
• Ability packages, such as skill choices, element choices, combat style, etc.
• Armor and shields – which are most appropriate for classes that can directly control matter?

Feedback

These are the ideas and goals I’m currently working with, but I would like to produce something that the community as a whole can make use of and which can stand as a lasting example to the fine folks at Wizards that the elemental power source is worthy of the same treatment as martial, arcane, and primal. With that, I humbly request your thoughts and opinions:

• Do you agree with the direction I’m taking these classes? If not, what would you change?
• What story elements do you feel should to be included? What do you feel should be avoided?
• What mechanics would you like to see represented in an elemental class?
• Are there any major goals I should include that I have not listed?
• What are your thoughts on the list of “Things to be Considered?” Is anything missing?
• Do you have any other ideas that have been completed neglected by these articles?

Director

Most directors were once ordinary folk living day-by-day in whatever profession they found themselves in, but since birth, at the center of their being, the veil between the elemental chaos and the world was unusually thin. At some point in their life, as easily in an angry crowd as a lonely desert, the veil tore within them, and traces of the elemental chaos seeped from their bodies in a pulsing aura of matter and energy - a nascent Elemental Presence. Most who undergo this experience do not survive it, either destroyed by the tear itself or those fearful of their power. Those who survive learn to control the aura, and to draw strength and power from it to empower themselves and their allies. Because much of their will is devoted to simply keeping the tear in check, directors lack the sheer explosive power or precision of other elemental classes. However, because they must learn how to reconcile chaos and flesh to survive, they can mend and soothe their allies’ wounds and infuse them with the traits of the elements under their control. The exact nature of the directors’ connection to the elemental chaos is a subject of inconclusive study and wild rumor, but the ability of some directors to call upon the energies and denizens of the Abyss suggests unpleasant answers.

Andria Crescent

Halfling Director

“Take my gift of fire and quench it with blood!”

Str 8 (-1) | Dex 18 (+3) | Con 20 (+5) | Int 10 (+0) | Wis 10 (+0) | Cha 11 (+0)

AC 16 | Fort 15 | Ref 14 | Will 11 | Initiative +3 | Speed 6 | Size Small

HP 32; Bloodied 16 | Surge Value 8 | Surges 11

Vision normal | Languages Common, Goblin 

Equipment Hide armor, Orb, Dagger

Feats Fickle Weaving (When your Elemental Boon is activated by Weave from Chaos, you can choose for you or one ally within your Presence to receive the Elemental Boon instead of the target.)

Skills Acrobatics (+10), Bluff (+5), Stealth (+8), Thievery (+10)

Traits

Racial Traits

Bold: You gain a +5 racial bonus to saving throws against fear.

Nimble Reaction: You gain a +2 racial bonus to AC against opportunity attacks.

Second Chance: You can use second chance as an encounter power.

Class Abilities

Elemental Presence

You gain your choice of two elemental presence powers. You gain an additional elemental presence of your choice at 11^th level and 21^st level.

Weave from Chaos

You gain the weave from chaos power.

Directors Tools: Tools of the Wanderer

Once per day, as a standard action, you can spend a healing surge to gain one of the following benefits:

• For 24 hours or until your take an extended rest, while you are not in combat, you and all allies within your Elemental Presence gain a +1 bonus to overland and burrowing speeds. This ability does not grant a burrowing speed.
• You gain the benefits of the Affect Normal Fire ritual, but can only affect fires within your Elemental Presence.
• You gain the benefits of the Portend Weather ritual.
• You gain the benefits of the Purify Water ritual.
• You and your allies gain the benefits of the Endure Elements ritual, but only while within your Elemental Presence.

Director’s Disposition: Calamitous Disposition

Enemies that suffer critical hits while within your presence aura take an additional +1 damage from the attack. This additional damage increases to +2 at 11^th level and to +3 at 21^st level.
 

At-Will Powers

Presence of Fire

You surround yourself with a fine veil of heat and flame that invigorates your allies and sends them forth to destroy.

At-Will * Elemental, Presence, Aura, Fire

Minor Action     Personal

Effect: You activate an aura 5 Presence of Fire that lasts until you end it as a minor action, until you fall unconscious, or until you activate another presence. You and each ally that starts its turn in the aura gain a +1 bonus to speed until the start of their next turn.

Elemental Boon: If your Elemental Boon is activated, affected allies ignore the slowed condition until the end of their next turn.

Presence of Corruption

You call upon the corruption of the abyss in the form of acrid vapor that seeps into and wounds and minds alike, weakening your enemies’ flesh and resolve.

At-Will * Elemental, Presence, Aura, Acid

Minor Action     Personal

Effect: You activate an aura 5 Presence of Corruption that lasts until you end it as a minor action, until you fall unconscious, or until you activate another presence. Enemies in the aura suffer a -1 penalty to saving throws against ongoing effects.

Elemental Boon: If your Elemental Boon is activated, affected allies gain combat advantage against creatures within the Presence of Corruption aura until the end of their next turn

Abyssal Offering

With the aid of an ally, you tempt an abyssal entity with a blood sacrifice. If it gets a taste, it may seek out more.

At-Will        Elemental, Weapon
Standard Action      Melee weapon

Target: One ally within 5 squares.

Effect: The target makes a melee basic attack as a free action. If that attack hits, the enemy gains an aura 1 until the start of your next turn. Enemies other than the target that end their turn in the aura take 3 damage.

Special: If you have an active presence with a damage keyword when you make this attack, the damage from the aura is of that type.

Rouse the Elements

The exhilaration of combat surrounds you with unstable power that flows into your enemies’ next open wound.

At-Will * Elemental, Weapon

Standard Action               Melee dagger

Target: One creature

Attack: +8 vs. AC

Hit: 1d4 + 5 damage, and the next ally to hit a target adjacent to you before the end of your next turn deals 3 extra damage.

Special: If you have an active presence with a damage keyword when you make this attack, the additional damage from this attack is of that type.

Dagger    Melee Basic Attack

At-Will * Weapon

Standard Action     Melee 1

Target: One creature

Attack: +2 vs. AC

Hit: 1d4-1 damage 

Dagger  Ranged Basic Attack

At-Will * Weapon

Standard Action     Ranged 5/10

Target: One creature

Attack: +6 vs. AC

Hit: 1d4+3 damage 

Encounter Powers

Weave from Chaos

You use the creative energy of the chaos to reorder your ally’s flesh and spirit, and weave into them some measure of elemental power.

Encounter (Special)        Elemental, Healing
Minor Action      Close burst 5

Target: You or one ally in the burst

Effect: The target can spend a healing surge and regain 1d6 additional hit points. Also, if you have an active presence and the target is within its area of effect, the target activates your Elemental Boon

Special: You can use this power twice per encounter, but only once per round.

Explosive Hurtle

Your wrap your ally in elemental energy then hurl them at an enemy. A moment later, leftover energy bursts out and impacts any survivors.

Encounter        Elemental, Weapon
Standard Action      Ranged 5

Effect: You slide an ally 5 squares. At the end of the slide, your ally can make a melee basic attack. If your ally was slid 2 or more squares towards the target with this power, the attack can be treated as a charge. While being slid with this power, your ally is not subject to falling. In addition, until the end of your next turn, your ally gains an aura 1. Creatures that end their turns in the aura take 5 damage

Special: If you have an active presence with a damage keyword when you use this attack, the damage from the aura is of that type.

Second Chance        Halfling Racial Power

Luck and small size combine to work in your favor as you dodge your enemy’s attack.

Encounter
Immediate Interrupt      Personal

Trigger: You are hit by an attack.

Effect: The attacker must reroll the attack and use the second roll, even if it is lower. 

Daily Powers

Quasit’s Cruelty

You corrupt the elements with abyssal energy and form them into the vestige of a mischievous quasit which clings to your enemy and drags them into harm’s way. When the quasit gets bored, it trips its plaything and cackles its way back to the abyss.

Daily        Elemental, Implement
Standard Action      Ranged 5

Attack: +5 vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d8+5 damage, and the target is harassed by a mischievous quasit and grants combat advantage (save ends). Until this effect ends, when a creature other than the target uses a blast or burst attack power that can affect it, and the target is not within the burst or blast, you can slide the target 3 toward and into the nearest unoccupied square of the burst or blast as an immediate interrupt.

Aftereffect: The target falls prone.

Miss: Half damage, you can slide the target 3 squares and the target falls prone.

Special: If you have an active presence with a damage keyword when you make this attack, the damage is of that type.

-----

Aftereffect

And that concludes this little series. I hope you all enjoyed reading it and that it sparked some imaginations. I would love to hear any feedback you might have, and welcome any further discussion on the elemental power source or the classes or other game elements it could bring to D&D. For those who liked these classes, I have good news: this is not the end. While I can't promise I'll be able to complete all four classes from 1 to 30, I intend to continue working on these and/or similar classes. My first goal will be to produce enough material for all four roles that someone could play through a standard Encounters season (So, level 1-3). While the dust settles on this blog post, I'll be reviewing what I've done so far with an eye toward incorporating more of the ideas I brought up in Control, Change, and Chaos: The Elemental Power Source.

Thank you for reading,

Incenjucar

Chaos Bringer

Chaos bringers have learned to channel the elemental chaos through their bodies, allowing them to alter matter – even living matter – into their desired elements. The powers of a chaos bringer are violent, exhausting, and difficult to control, and their most powerful and explosive attacks can leave them weakened. Some chaos bringers favor particular combinations of elementals such as those who specialize in the power of storms or volcanism, while others prefer to dabble in all elements, learning to channel any of them at a whim. Some chaos bringers channel the elemental chaos using implements such as orbs and gauntlets, while others prefer to use the elements to empower their weapons. In combat, a chaos bringer must constantly choose between building up to chaotic, explosive force, and relying on a steadier, but weaker flow of energy.

Dreln Hearthstone

Dwarf Chaos Bringer

“The elemental chaos churns in my veins. Let’s see if your body can withstand it.”

Str 18 (+3) | Dex 11 (+0) | Con 20 (+5) | Int 10 (+3) | Wis 10 (+0) | Cha 8 (-1)

AC 16 | Fort 15 | Ref 11 | Will 11 | Initiative +0 | Speed 5 | Size Medium

HP 32; Bloodied 16 | Surge Value 8 | Surges 11

Vision low-light | Languages Common, Dwarven

Equipment Chainmail armor, wrist razor, throwing hammer x3, adventurer's kit, 10gp

Feats Elemental Reach (Ranged and area elemental attacks gain +1 square of range per 5 squares of range)

Traits

Racial Traits

Cast Iron Stomach: +5 racial bonus to saving throws against poison

Stand Your Ground: When pushed, pulled, or slid, you can reduce it by 1 square. When an attack would knock you prone, you can make a saving throw to remain standing.

Class Abilities

Elemental Inertia: When you use an elemental attack on your turn, your elemental attacks deal an additional +2 damage until the end of your next turn.

Elemental Wrath: While you are under the effect of Elemental Inertia, when you hit a target with an elemental attack, but before you roll damage, you can use Elemental Wrath. If you do, Elemental Inertia ends without providing a damage bonus, your attack against that target deals an additional +1d8 damage, and you cannot gain Elemental Inertia until the start of your next turn.

Chaos Bringer Combat Style: Elemental Brawler

Elemental Brawler's Might: Your elemental attacks gain a damage bonus equal to your Strength modifier.

Elemental Brawler’s Weapons: You gain +1 bonus to hit with weapon attacks using Unarmed Attacks, Spiked Gauntlets, Talids, Gauntlet Axes, and Wrist Razors and can use these weapons as implements.

Elemental Mastery: Form

Wrath Conversion: When you use Elemental Wrath with an elemental at-will attack power, you can choose for the extra damage to be fire, cold, lightning, thunder, acid, or untyped.

Mastery of Form: Once per encounter, when you use an elemental attack power, you can change the damage of that power to fire, cold, lightning, thunder, acid, or untyped.

Powers

At-Will Powers

Wrist Razor    Basic Attack

At-Will * Weapon

Standard Action     Melee 1

Target: One creature

Attack: +7 vs. AC

Hit: 1d4+3 damage

Warhammer (Two Handed)     Basic Attack

At-Will * Weapon

Standard Action     Melee 1

Target: One creature

Attack: +5 vs. AC

Hit: 1d10+4 damage

Earthshard     Chaos Bringer Attack 1

You create and hurl a jagged spear of stone at your target that shatters into sharp debris on impact, but soon crumbles into dust.

At-Will * Implement, Elemental

Standard Action     Ranged 6

Target: One creature

Attack: +5 vs. Reflex

Hit: 1d10+5 damage, and the target takes 3 damage if it moves before the end of your next turn.

Tide Strike     Chaos Bringer Attack 1

You encase your weapon in a swirling vortex of water that washes over your foe on impact, forcing them to stumble back if they don’t fall to ground to get better purchase.

At-Will * Elemental, Weapon

Standard Action     Melee 1 (Wrist Razor)

Target: One creature

Attack: +9 vs. AC

Hit: 1d4+5 damage and the target must choose to be pushed two squares or to fall prone.

Encounter Powers

Penetrating Shards         Chaos Bringer Attack 1

You create and hurl thousands of tiny crystal shards and imbed them in your target’s skin. Until the shards crumble, they resonate and help energy to penetrate the target’s defenses, or simply get hammered in by an impact.

Encounter * Implement, Elemental

Standard Action Ranged 5

Target: One creature

Attack: +5 vs. Reflex

Hit: 2d8+Constitution modifier damage, and the target grants combat advantage and vulnerable 5 all until the end of your next turn or until it takes damage, whichever comes first.

Dwarven Resilience     Dwarf Racial Power

Encounter

Minor Action     Personal

Effect: You use your second wind.

Daily Powers

Aqueous Strangler     Chaos Bringer Attack 1

Your body becomes surging water and you crash into your foe like a wave, then wrap your liquid form around them and holding them fast; any pain you feel spurs you into constricting and crushing your foe.

Daily * Implement, Polymorph, Elemental

Standard Action     Melee 1

Requirement: You must have a hand free.

Target: One creature

Attack: +5 vs. Fortitude

Hit: 2d8+5 damage and you grab the target (save ends), you gain the form of the Aqueous Strangler, and you slide into one of the target’s spaces adjacent to you. Until the grab ends, you can move into the target’s space without provoking opportunity attacks from the target, you remain in its space when it is moves or is moved (and do not provoke opportunity attacks as you move with it), and once per round, when you take damage from an attack, the target takes 5 damage. This effect ends immediately if you are no longer in the form of the Aqueous Strangler, if you are no longer in the target’s space, you fall unconscious, or if you choose to end it. If this effect ends, you are no longer in the form of the Aqueous Strangler. If you are in the target’s space when this effect ends, you slide to the nearest unoccupied space.

Miss: Half damage and you can shift 1 square away from the target.

Special: If you use Elemental Wrath when you hit with this attack, the target falls prone the first time you are damaged by an attack while this power is in effect.