Community

Part II of the Revenant Assassin: Heroic Tier

Level 2(Utility+Feat)--Cloak of Shades is a nice little Encounter buff to defense and evasion, though not earth shattering, and is what we take. If you are playing in a game that focuses a lot on non-combat adventuring, I would take Shadowed Legion instead, as it makes the entire party sneaky once per day. Our feat for this level is Melee Training(Dexterity). We're a melee character, and this feats gives us the ability to charge and make opportunity attacks with our full attack bonus.

Level 3(Encounter)--Army of the Night is our level 3 Encounter power. It doesn't deal much damage, but targets will, is a fear effect(helps in Paragon), and has an effect that is loads of fun. This isn't something you casually spam, you save it for when enemies are marked by Defenders or can't really move in some way. Or, you could use it as your shroud attack since its a Weapon attack vs Will. The other powers at this level are ok, but nothing special, so this is what we take.

Level 4(Stats+Feat)--We raise Dexterity(19) and Charisma(17), now and forever. We take our third consecutive boring feat that raises our numbers, and take Focused Expertise(Bastard Sword). Since our Implement attacks work off of our sword, this boosts the accuracy of every attack we make.

Level 5(Daily)--Who doesn't want a little shadowy toady who does your bidding? Thats why we take Twilight Assassin. It deals a little extra damage and gives us almost permanent flanking. The other level 5 powers aren't that interesting, I'd take Grave Spike(level 1) over any of them.

Level 6(Utility+Feat)--All four of the Utilities here are pretty solid. Darting Shadow is good if you hide a lot. Slithering Shadow makes us Shifty like Kobolds, but we already teleport at-will. Slayer's Escape is a reaction teleport plus invisibility, but that invisibility only lasts until the start of your next turn(we can still teleport behind cover and stealth) and we teleport every turn. In the end we take Sheltering Dark. It looks a lot like Cloak of Shades, but is actually somewhat different. It works like this: 1. spend a minor action to activate Sheltering Dark, 2. use Shadow Step to teleport outside of the burst, rendering you invisible, 3. Either use the invisibility to make an attack with combat advantage or attack before you do this and teleport to somewhere you can invoke stealth and remain hidden. Offense or escape gets the nod. For our level 6 Feat we finally make use of our Half-Elf Past Life and take Half-Elf Soul. This gives us the Dilettante power which we can use in place of our crappy racial power, and which we can really abuse at Paragon. We get to choose an At-Will from another class for this. Three classes attack with Dexterity, but none of them really fit since Rogue and Monk require you to use weapons other than a Bastard Sword, and Ranger only uses Dexterity with ranged weapon attacks, which isn't what we do. Our secondary stat is Charisma, where we have much better choices though our attack and damage will be one less. We rule out Implement powers since we don't use the Implements of other classes. This leaves us with Bard, Warlock, and Paladin for Charisma based weapon attacks. The two most interesting choices are Eldritch Strike, a melee basic attack that also slides 1, and Virtuous Strike which is also a melee basic attack that deals Radiant damage and gives us +2 to saves this turn. A Dilettante melee basic attack lets us trade out Melee Training at Paragon, which gives us a bonus feat. We take Virtuous Strike, as having At-Will Radiant damage is very nice with all the enemies vulnerable to it, and is a truly amusing thing to see on a Shadowfell powered Assassin.

Level 7(Encounter)--Echoing Threat is another pest type power. Its fairly common to find an enemy in a position where it really can't get 2 squares away from everyone else, and in that circumstance this power hits very hard. It can really hassle non-mobile enemies with no ranged attacks as well. On top of that, it gives you a free teleport on your next turn(not like we need more, but its free). Captured Shadow is a solid alternative.

Level 8(Stats+Feat)--Our Dexterity and Charisma are raised to 20 and 18. In addition, we take the Velvet Blade Trick feat. It grants an extra shroud to your shroud target when you use your Dilettante attack. Its ok as is, but later on we're going to make our Dilettante attack At-Will, letting us pump out 2 shrouds a turn.

Level 9(Daily)--I had Bound by Shadow penciled in here, over the protest of my player who swears by Wall of Shadows. Bound by Shadow is a solid defensive power that can also deal good damage if you act in a self destructive fashion. After our last session though, I have to give in and agree with my Assassin's player that Wall of Shadows is the better choice. Wall of Shadows isn't the easiest power to use, but it can be incredible if used well. By itself, you can drop it on top of enemies for automatic damage, and it blocks line of sight for everyone but you. You can hide behind it and use Executioner's Noose to pull enemies into it, which deals damage to them twice, once for entering it and another for starting their turn there. If your allies can push/slide enemies into the wall, thats just gravy. Where it becomes truly spectacular is when you place it in a small room where enemies can't get away from it. You don't want to use this in a big open space. It fails there. Its not a power to use in boss fights, its a power to destroy a group of standard enemies, and it does so with style.

Level 10(Utility+Feat)--Given that our standard tactic is to build up 4 shrouds on an enemy and then attack and invoke them, Slayer's Endurance is an automatic choice here. Its basically 20 temporary HP every battle on round 4. Who said we were squishy? Our final Heroic feat is Weapon Focus(Heavy Blades). This boosts all of our damage since the Bastard Sword is also our implement, and next level it will become +2.

Looking at ourselves at level 10, we have it all. We hit like a train, have incredible mobility, a surprising amount of control effects, and have a bunch of tricks that makes us very survivable. We have to juggle a lot and our lives are not simple, but that's the price you pay for being awesome.

Next up, Paragon Tier and twinking out hardcore.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Revenant Assassin, level 10
Revenant, Assassin
Guild Training: Night Stalker
Choose your Race in Life: Half-Elf
Background: Occupation - Criminal (+2 to Stealth)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 12, Con 14, Dex 20, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 18.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 12, Con 12, Dex 16, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 16.


AC: 25 Fort: 20 Reflex: 23 Will: 22
HP: 60 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 15

TRAINED SKILLS
Stealth +17, Endurance +14, Bluff +14, Thievery +15, Acrobatics +15

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +4, Diplomacy +9, Dungeoneering +5, Heal +5, History +4, Insight +5, Intimidate +11, Nature +5, Perception +5, Religion +4, Streetwise +9, Athletics +6

FEATS
Level 1: Weapon Proficiency (Bastard sword)
Level 2: Melee Training (Dexterity)
Level 4: Focused Expertise (Bastard sword)
Level 6: Half-Elf Soul
Level 8: Velvet Blade Trick
Level 10: Weapon Focus (Heavy Blade)

POWERS
Assassin at-will 1: Shadow Storm
Assassin at-will 1: Executioner's Noose
Dilettante: Virtuous Strike
Assassin encounter 1: Nightmare Shades
Assassin daily 1: Targeted for Death
Assassin utility 2: Cloak of Shades
Assassin encounter 3: Army of the Night
Assassin daily 5: Twlight Assassin
Assassin utility 6: Slayer's Escape
Assassin encounter 7: Echoing Threat
Assassin daily 9: Bound by Shadow
Assassin utility 10: Slayer's Endurance

ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit, Light Shield, Magic Leather Armor +2, Magic Bastard sword +2, Amulet of Protection +2
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======

Its been a while. These, believe it or not are quite a bit of work. I've decided to keep up with what Wizards has been releasing for 4E, and there are piles of new things to play with. We have two fairly new classes in Assassin and Seeker, and I just picked up my copy of Primal Power today. I'm tentatively planning to do Assassin and Seeker, and follow these with the four classes from Primal Power using the new book. I'm going to start off with the first of these, the Assassin class, one of the most complicated and challenging classes 4E has released. The Primal Power classes might be a little rough, as I'll likely have to build them(at least at first) without my beloved Character Builder as it won't be updated again until November 17th. Unless I waste a lot of time again, I'll be without a Primal Power update when I start these.

I have added a few clarifications and additions to my rules for making these. I will bold them for emphasis:

Simple plan: I take a character concept, build it from level 1-30, explaining my choices each step of the way. I have a few basic rules for this.

1. This isn't an optimization excercise. I want a playable character that is enjoyable at all levels.

2. I'm not going to be gearing these beyond generic enhancement items. Access to gear varies from game to game, so for this blog's purposes gear will remain generic, and I won't be building characters that depend on specific gear.

3. I'm going to keep this fully legal, with no house rules. I will be using every source available through the character builder, as well as the background rules. I will be forgoing Forgotten Realms and Scales of War backgrounds as these are more likely to be excluded from home games. In addition, I will avoid using campaign setting specific character options like Spellscarred and Dragonmarks, as these also are often forbidden in some games.

4. I try to keep non-AC defenses as high as possible accross the board. If I have to skimp on AC a little bit to do this, I will.

5. I take cheesy/broken options when they're the right choice. I don't apologize for it. On the other hand, I try to keep the powergaming within the bounds of good taste. I try not to build a character that a DM would be tempted to hit with the nerfbat. I'm fairly lenient as a DM myself, but there are some things that give me pause. I'll push things fairly far, but not towards the very high end of Character Optimization style powergaming.

On to business...

For our fourth character, we're going to go with the D&D Insider exclusive class Assassin, and are going to take it one step further and take the D&D Insider exclusive race Revenant to go with it, as they are a fantastic fit. One of my players has an Assassin in a Paragon level game I am running, and they truly do work well as a Striker, and do so in a unique manner. Now, in building an example of the Assassin class I'm going to stick to a fairly vanilla take on things, which was likely to happen in any case since the Assassin class doesn't have the pile of options the standard classes have when paired with the accompanying Martial/Arcane/Divine/Primal power book.

Revenant Assassin, Level 1:

Race--Revenant--We choose Revenant because its a great fit for the Assassin class, and to shine the spotlight on the D&D exclusive content. Revenant has a bonus to two of the Assassin's primary stats, Dexterity and Constitution, though we will be using the Charisma build for our Assassin. Regardless, Constitution is still a stat we want a good score in, and it won't go to waste. The Revenant's two main racial features are Unnatural Vitality, which will see good use on a low HP character who spends a lot of time in melee, and Past Life, which we are going to cheese the hell out of. The sexy choice for past life is Half-Elf, which allows us to take Dilettante and all sorts of craziness later on. We get to pick a language, and since we used to be a Half Elf we take Elven for flavor reasons.

Class--Assassin--The Assassin is an interesting take on the Striker role, as it requires patience. The class is built around the concept of saving up for one big hit, instead of trying to do as much damage as quickly as possible. The teleportation and stealth/hiding/invisibility powers of this class make it very elusive, to make up for its Wizard-style HP. Don't let those low HP fool you, as its fairly easy to keep AC high with this class, and its almost impossible for enemies to gang up on you and you have an amazing ability to disengage from combat. I've seen this class in play, and survivability isn't one of its problems. Looking at the Assassin's class features, first is Assassin's Shroud. This is your main source of extra Striker damage, and it gets better if you wait and save it up. What you need to learn to do is to attack one creature, place shrouds on another, and take a big hit when the shrouded creature is bloodied or has four of them. The second feature is Guild Training, of which we choose Night Stalker despite Revenant giving us a Constitution bonus(Constitution boosts the other Guild Training path). Night Stalker gives us a second and independant source of extra Striker damage, with an easy to fulfill condition. Night Stalker hits harder(we're a Striker), and has the more interesting power options, particularly for our Dilettante, so its what we take. We also get Shade Form, which is a subtle and itneresting power. It can be used to escape, defend against being damaged, to hide easily, and has some interesting interactions with Assassin powers. Finally, Assassin gets one of the best mobility class features in the game in Shadow Step. You teleport into someone elses shadow, up to 3/4/5 squares depending on tier. Useful both to get position and to get away(you can teleport next to an ally), and will be your standard mode of transportation.

Background--Occupation(Criminal +2 Stealth)--Our Class already gives us access to most of the skills we're after, so we're looking for a strategic bonus to an important skill from our Background, and Stealth is the most important skill for Assassins. I take Criminal, but anything that gives +2 to Stealth will do.

Ability Scores--We use Dexterity to attack, so putting 16(9pts) into it gives us an 18 with our racial bonus. We are taking the Night Stalker path, so we place a 16(9pts) there as well. We have Wizard HP and are going to be a melee character, so 12(2pts) Constitution gives us a 14 with our racial bonus. We spend the last two points on Strength, as this will become useful later on when we want Hide Armor. We drop the 8 into Intelligence, which does nothing for us, and leave Wisdom at a 10. Our stats end up Str12, Con14, Dex18, Int8, Wis10, Cha16

Skills--Assassin gives us Steath for free, as if we would even think about passing on it. We take Thievery since its rare and we have the Dexterity for it, and also take Acrobatics to go with our high Dexterity. We have a racial bonus to Endurance, and its a useful skill so we take that too. For some reason, Intimidate(Revenant gives +2) isn't a class skill, so we take Bluff as our social skill instead to round things out.

Feats--If I plan to take a Superior weapon, I prefer to take it at level 1 to avoid issues later on with having a non-superior enchanted weapon. Given our fragility, we're inclined to use the Light Shield Assassin gives us, so we spend our feat on Weapon Proficiency(Bastard Sword) for a very nice one handed weapon.

Powers--

At-Will 1--Shadow Storm--This is the best of the Assassin At-Wills, as it comes with some built in extra damage. Hitting hard is what we do. Shadow Storm is much better for this than Leaping Shades since the Assassin tends not to attack its shrouded target.

At-Will 2--Executioner's Noose--This is a nifty piece of control, as pull 2 and slowed is much stronger than it sounds. It also works as your standard ranged attack.

Encounter 1--Nightmare Shades--Boosted by the fact that we're a Night Stalker, this hits hard, targets Will for accuracy, and sets us up for another big hit on the following round. Its also a fear attack, which becomes important later. Gloom Thief is nice with its added Invisibility and gets some consideration, but Nightmare Shades is hard to pass on.

Daily 1--Targeted For Death--Some of the other powers are interesting, but they don't compete with Targeted for Death in terms of raw Violence. Targeted for Death allows you to shred Elites and Solos, and shredding Elites and Solos is a good thing.

Gear--As I stated previously, Assassin gives us proficiency in the light shield, and we'll take one thanks to our fragility. We spent a feat on a Bastard Sword, so that's our weapon. Leather Armor is our only choice on that front. We have At-Will ranged Implement attacks, so we don't really need anything else. We buy an Adventurer's kit just because we can.

Next up: Heroic Tier

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Revenant Assassin, level 1
Revenant, Assassin
Guild Training: Night Stalker
Choose your Race in Life: Half-Elf
Background: Occupation - Criminal (+2 to Stealth)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 12, Con 14, Dex 18, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 16.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 12, Con 12, Dex 16, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 16.


AC: 17 Fort: 13 Reflex: 15 Will: 14
HP: 24 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 6

TRAINED SKILLS
Stealth +11, Endurance +9, Bluff +8, Thievery +9, Acrobatics +9

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Arcana -1, Diplomacy +3, Dungeoneering, Heal, History -1, Insight, Intimidate +5, Nature, Perception, Religion -1, Streetwise +3, Athletics +1

FEATS
Level 1: Weapon Proficiency (Bastard sword)

POWERS
Assassin at-will 1: Shadow Storm
Assassin at-will 1: Executioner's Noose
Assassin encounter 1: Nightmare Shades
Assassin daily 1: Targeted for Death

ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit, Light Shield, Leather Armor, Bastard sword
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======

Just two small addendums to my previous two builds, the Human Wizard and Eladrin Warlord:

Wizard--With the loss of Reaper's Touch, and the absence of a generous DM who lets you take it anyway, we have to make a choice on how much we want to have a melee Wizard Implement attack. We can stay Human and trade Reaper's Touch for Melee Training(Intelligence), and have a crappy Staff attack that doesn't really work with Dual Implement Spellcasting. Or we could skip Melee Training and take another feat. Keeping Magic Missile isn't necessary if we don't have Reaper's Touch. On the other hand, we could go Shadar Kai to keep Reaper's Touch. Going Shadar-Kai means we lose +1 Reflex/Will and we lose Illusory Ambush and Action Surge. On the other hand, the Shadar-Kai teleport is quite useful, and the +2 Shadar Kai gets to Dexterity lets us shift two points over to Charisma to qualify for Spell Focus at Paragon. I would trade out Psychic Lock, which isn't as useful without Illusory Ambush for it. I actually decided to start out this character for my next RPGA character(I named him Valtrex), and I chose to go the Shadar Kai route.

Eladrin Warlord--I wanted to add that it is possible to go Greatspear with this character, depending on party construction. I designed that Warlord to take care of its own well being, and using a shield to keep AC as high as possible. In a party with multiple Defenders, or one really effective Defender, you can skimp on your Defenses a bit. It is still possible to get Weapon Mastery at Epic with Spears by shifting our +2 to Intelligence to Dexterity from Chosen. This gives us 19 Dexterity, qualifying us. Losing 2 Intelligence and dumping the shield leaves us with an 3 less AC, though we can trade 2 Fortitude for +1 AC by swapping Voidhide for Elderhide. I would only do this if you can count on your friends 100% to keep you alive.

After posting this, I'm going to add a new feature of this blog, which I'll call updates. Basically it will introduce alternate build options and issues people have brought up, both in comments and in the threads I create to go along with these blog posts in the Character Optimization forums. Things like using a Heavy Shield or Greatspear with this character, for example. Its easier to deal with these issues in their own post than to go back and edit the four previous posts. I'm also going to try to start including alternative options in the blogs themselves when they occur to me.

And now, on with Epic Tier:

Level 21 (Epic Destiny+Feat+Retraining)--We consider taking Warmaster for a second. Spring the Trap is an amazing Utility, almost worth taking Warmaster just for that. It doesn't offer much more than that however. This us brings us back to Demigod, the default Epic Destiny for all characters. We began play with 16 Strength and we want more, so we're going to stick with Demigod/Chosen, but while Demigod's big regeneration Utility is probably the strongest choice for the level 26 ED Utility, we're a Leader role character, and there is one choice among the Chosen slate of Epic Destinies that really fits us, both the role and our race, and that is Chosen of Corellon, and that is what we take. Its Utility, High Arcana, is both very strong and an encounter duration party buff. At level 21, Chosen of Corellon gives us +2 to two stats, those being Strength(24) and Intelligence(26). For our first Epic feat, we'll take Heavy Blade Mastery in the spirit of being a threat in and of ourselves in addition to being a buff machine. There are more leaderish feats for Epic, but none with the raw power of HBM so we take Mastery first. Also at this time we retrain Iron Will for Robust Defenses, since Robust Defenses does everything Iron Will does and boosts the other two defenses as well.

Level 22(Utility+Feat)--Its hard to argue with Quickening Order at this level. Simply stated, you pop Quickening Order before the fight begins, the party goes first, and they destroy everything with prejudice for a turn. Made of win all around. For our feat, we'll solidify our sub-par Will defense once and for all with Epic Will. I don't like having sub-par defenses if it can be helped, and it can.

Level 23(Encounter)--Level 23 is a tough level for us. We have three solid choices, none of which really stand out. Quickening Force deals solid damage and grants saving throws all around(we don't get the bonus for Resourceful though). Rabbits and Wolves deals solid damage and grants solid repositioning with two full move shifts for allies. Sudden Assault grants an ally a free standard action with a large bonus to attack against your target, but deals piddling damage. Rabbits and Wolves is the most dynamic of these three, so that is what we take. We trade out Surprise Attack for this.

Level 24(Epic Feature+Stats+Feat)--From Chosen of Corellon, we get Divine Recovery which heals us back to our bloodied value when we are dropped to zero for the first time each day, which is pretty darn nice. Strength and Intelligence go up again(25 and 27). Our feat is Protective Leadership. Its not a big boost, but +1 to the defenses of all allies while bloodied is pretty solid.

Level 25(Daily)--Our level 25 Daily is Relentless Assault, which cranks critical hits up to 11 for the party. This is somewhat dependant on the party's ability to deal critical hits, but even so this power can get crazy. Precision Stance is a strong alternative, and what should be taken if your Epic party sucks at getting crits, but Relentless Assault is too much fun to pass on otherwise. We keep Lead the Attack again, and trade out Anticipate Attack.

Level 26(Epic Utility+Feat)--If we had taken Demigod, we would have had a Daily Utility that granted us regeneration equal to our Intelligence stat(not modifier), essentially making us unkillable. In keeping with our Leader role, we instead took Chosen of Corellon, and here is the sole difference. We get High Arcana, which for the duration of the encounter grants you and each ally either +4 to Fort/Will/Reflex or +2 to attack rolls with implements, chosen at the beginning of each turn. This is a huge, party wide buff, and good for taking on the powerful boss battles Epic play seems to generate. Our level 26 feat is Feywild Warrior, as much for fun value as utility. Free teleports after resolving Daily powers for you and your target is sweet, and can get crazy with Spiral of Fey Death and all its targets.

Level 27(Encounter)--Brutal Setup is the power of choice at this level. It buffs allies, but is in addition a bit of control, which is somewhat rare for a Warlord power. A lot of powers give the Dazed condition, and your buff for these lasts until the end of the encounter so your buff may happen again. We swap out Beat Them Into the Ground.

Level 28(Stats+Feat)--We finalize our stats with 28 Intelligence and 26 Strength. In addition, we take the Triumphant Attack feat, adding a debuff to our 19-20 crits.

Level 29(Daily)--We finally say goodbye to Lead the Attack after 28 levels of win, as we finally have two Daily powers that are more painful to give up in Break the Tempo and Relentless Assault. For our final attack power we take Stand Invincible. Perfect Front is a strong alternative, and puts out a lot of offense, particularly if the party can bunch up around you, but we have offensive boosts up and down all over this character, while Stand Invincible's strong defensive boost rounds us out more. Note that High Arcana's defensive buff is not a power bonus, while Stand Invincible is a power bonus. They do stack, and +8 to Fortitude/Reflex/Will is great for killing gods, demon lords, and the like.

Level 30(Epic Feature+Feat)--We get the capstone Demigod/Chosen feature here, the infinite Encounter power loop we all know and love. We get one more feat, and we take Martial Mastery for more Encounter recycling.

That's all for our Epic Taclord. Next up will be the two classes new to Character Builder this month: Seeker and Assassin!

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Eladrin Warlord, level 30
Eladrin, Warlord, Spiral Tactician, Chosen
Commanding Presence: Tactical Presence
Divine Spark: Divine Spark Intelligence
Divine Spark: Divine Spark Strength
Background: Society - Noble (+2 to Diplomacy)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 26, Con 12, Dex 17, Int 28, Wis 10, Cha 13.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 10, Dex 13, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 11.


AC: 46 Fort: 44 Reflex: 43 Will: 40
HP: 169 Surges: 10 Surge Value: 42

TRAINED SKILLS
Religion +29, Endurance +20, Athletics +27, Diplomacy +23, History +31

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +17, Arcana +26, Bluff +16, Dungeoneering +15, Heal +15, Insight +15, Intimidate +16, Nature +15, Perception +15, Stealth +17, Streetwise +16, Thievery +17

FEATS
Level 1: Eladrin Soldier (retrained to Weapon Focus (Heavy Blade) at Level 14)
Level 2: Tactical Assault
Level 4: Weapon Expertise (Heavy Blade)
Level 6: Tactical Inspiration
Level 8: Durable
Level 10: Saving Inspiration
Level 11: Combat Commander
Level 12: Fey Tactics
Level 14: Weapon Proficiency (Bastard sword)
Level 16: Iron Will (retrained to Robust Defenses at Level 21)
Level 18: Shield Specialization
Level 20: Heavy Blade Opportunity
Level 21: Heavy Blade Mastery
Level 22: Epic Will
Level 24: Protective Leadership
Level 26: Feywild Warrior
Level 28: Triumphant Attack
Level 30: Martial Mastery

POWERS
Warlord at-will 1: Wolf Pack Tactics
Warlord at-will 1: Commander's Strike
Warlord encounter 1: Warlord's Favor
Warlord daily 1: Lead the Attack
Warlord utility 2: Knight's Move
Warlord encounter 3: Steel Monsoon
Warlord daily 5: Stand the Fallen
Warlord utility 6: Guileful Switch
Warlord encounter 7: Surprise Attack
Warlord daily 9: Knock Them Down
Warlord utility 10: Bolstering Shout
Warlord encounter 13: Beat Them Into the Ground (replaces Warlord's Favor)
Warlord daily 15: Anticipate Attack (replaces Stand the Fallen)
Warlord utility 16: Warlord's Banner
Warlord encounter 17: Thunderous Fury (replaces Steel Monsoon)
Warlord daily 19: Break the Tempo (replaces Knock Them Down)
Warlord utility 22: Quickening Order
Warlord encounter 23: Rabbits and Wolves (replaces Surprise Attack)
Warlord daily 25: Relentless Assault (replaces Anticipate Attack)
Warlord encounter 27: Brutal Setup (replaces Beat Them Into the Ground)
Warlord daily 29: Stand Invincible (replaces Lead the Attack)

ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit, Light Shield, Magic Voidhide +6, Magic Bastard sword +6, Magic Javelin +6, Amulet of Protection +6
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======

And now, after a modest wait, part III, Paragon Tier:

Level 11(Paragon Path+Feat)--Here begins the controversy. It is widely held that Battle Captain is the best Paragon Path for Tactical Warlord. I don't dispute this. What I will say that Battle Captain is more than a little guilty of being boringly effective. It does have some of the most incredible nova generating powers in the game with some great static ally boosts, but its powers aren't terribly interesting. Eladrin have an alterative Paragon Path called the Spiral Tactician. It doesn't have the supernova generation of Battle Captain, but its still fairly solid in that department, has greater ability to manipulate initiative and party positioning, and the powers are really fun. Because of our goal to balance the fun to play factor with optimization, we're going to take Spiral Tactician here. At level 11, this Path gives us the ability to recharge Fey Step when we spend an Action Point(and one level from now we start doing flippy tricks with it), the ability to allow one ally to reroll initiative with a sizable bonus at the start of every fight, and Fey Step Assault, an accurate and hard hitting Encounter Power that is boosted by your Fey Step. Our feat for this level is Combat Commander, one of the most powerful feats in the entire game. Adding your Intelligence modifier to the initative rolls of the entire party is an incredible advantage, and we want it right now.

Level 12(Paragon Utility+Feat)--At Level 12, Spiral Tactician gives us Convey Ally, an Encounter Ranged Teleport of one of our allies. Knight's move, only better. Our feat for this level is Fey Tactics, which allows you to teleport an ally within 5 squares when you Fey Step. Combined with the fact that your Action Point recharges Fey Step, there is no end to the fun here.

Level 13(Encounter)--Our Encounter power is Beat Them Into the Ground(trading out Warlord's Favor). Its a lesser version of Knock Them Down, but as an Encounter power. Your allies get a big boost to their knockdown attempts, and this should be able to knock a good number of enemies prone. Nothing really special, just more interesting and appropriate for this build than any other choice.

Level 14(Stats+Feat+Retraining)--Our stats are increased to 20 Str and 22(+6) Intelligence here. At this point we choose to up the damage we deal with attacks by taking Weapon Proficiency: Bastard Sword. We would have taken this sooner, but Fey Tactics and Combat Commander were priorities, and there isn't anything at Heroic that we would have been willing to trade out. Seeing that we aren't using it anymore, we also retrain Eladrin Soldier to Weapon Focus: Heavy Blades. We wait until Paragon to switch to Bastard Sword as this is when we get the ability to have +2 damage with it. We lose our Tratnyrs for this, but its a small price to pay.

Level 15(Daily)--We take an interesting power here, Anticipate Attack. Its an interrupt attack in response to being hit with a melee attack, accurate(targets reflex), than gives us a free shift if we hit that can nullify the attack if we can shift out of reach. In addition, hit or miss every adjacent ally gets to beat on it. Timed right, this is amazing, so look for the right moment. Also note that you can provoke an Opportunity Attack to try to force the issue with this. No way we're trading out Lead the Attack for this, its just too good. As good as Stand the Fallen is, we let go of it at this time, as we have another mass heal as an Encounter Utility(Bolstering Shout).

Level 16(Paragon Feature+Utility+Feat)--Our Paragon Feature for this level is Fey Tactics(not to be confused with the feat of the same name we took at level 12). Its our consolation prize for taking Spiral Tactician, as it changes our Tactical Presence feature from half Int mod bonus to allies Action Point attacks to a bonus equal to our full Int mod. Its not as good as adding our Int mod to attacks and damage until the end of our next turn of allies we heal with Inspiring Word(what we would get from Battle Captain), but that's the price we pay for having more interesting things to do. Our Utility power for this level is Warlord's Banner. Its an Encounter mass heal spell, and gives a +2 bonus to attack rolls to all effected(whether they choose to spend a surge or not). Its a Standard action, but it does enough to justify the cost. This gives us two mass heals per encounter, which combined with three Inspiring Words is the definition of overkill, but I'm not really sure there's anything else we want. Bolstering Shout is more flexible, being a minor action instead of a standard, and if we were going to trade out Bolstering Shout it would be for a level 2 Utility, and with a lack of conviction we're going to stick with Bolstering Shout. As our Feat for level 16, we take Iron Will, to buff our terrible Will defense that we've suffered with long enough.

Level 17(Encounter)--Thunderous Fury is our level 17 Encounter power, and its a non-choice. It deals big damage, it dazes, and our allies get to rip the target to shreds until the end of your next turn. It does it all, and theres nothing else we even think about taking here. We happily drop Steel Monsoon for this.

Level 18(Stats+Feat)--Intelligence and Strength go up to 23 and 21 here. We take the time to buff our AC at this level, with the Shield Specialization feat. We could take Heavy Shield Proficiency here for an extra boost to Reflex we won't loose at Epic, but taking Shield Specialization keeps our armor check penalty lower. We could go either way with this, but I personally prefer not to penalize skills.

Level 19(Daily)--For level 19, we take Break the Tempo, which lets us chase enemies around, smack them with free out-of-turn attacks, and penalize their attacks. We don't interfere with Defender marks to do this, either. This even works if the enemy chooses to attack us, so there is no avoiding us short of moving more than 4 squares away. More or less, a no-brainer choice. We again choose to keep our awesome level 1 Daily, and dump Knock Them Down instead. We have its lesser cousin as an Encounter power anyway.

Level 20(Paragon Daily+feat)--Spiral Tactican lets us go supernova at level 20, with Spiral of Fey Death. We hit an enemy for solid damage, then get to choose to either slide them or apply ongoing 10 damage, and then we teleport and do it again, and again, and again... For our final Paragon Tier feat, we look to choose between Heavy Shield Proficiency and Heavy Blade Opportunity. Heavy Shield further boosts our AC, while Heavy Blade Opportunity gives us some fun options with Opportunity Attacks. Our AC, while it could stand being higher, is fairly solid, while Opportunity Attacks aren't exactly our specialty. We choose Heavy Blade Opportunity, simply because its more interesting, as our At-Will Warlord attacks slide our allies and let them hit for us.

Next up: We take on Epic Tier and pass on Demigod. Sort of.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Eladrin Warlord, level 20
Eladrin, Warlord, Spiral Tactician
Commanding Presence: Tactical Presence
Background: Society - Noble (+2 to Diplomacy)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 21, Con 11, Dex 16, Int 23, Wis 9, Cha 12.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 10, Dex 13, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 11.


AC: 35 Fort: 32 Reflex: 32 Will: 29
HP: 118 Surges: 9 Surge Value: 29

TRAINED SKILLS
Religion +21, Endurance +14, Athletics +19, Diplomacy +18, History +23

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +12, Arcana +18, Bluff +11, Dungeoneering +9, Heal +9, Insight +9, Intimidate +11, Nature +9, Perception +9, Stealth +12, Streetwise +11, Thievery +12

FEATS
Level 1: Eladrin Soldier (retrained to Weapon Focus (Heavy Blade) at Level 14)
Level 2: Tactical Assault
Level 4: Weapon Expertise (Heavy Blade)
Level 6: Tactical Inspiration
Level 8: Durable
Level 10: Saving Inspiration
Level 11: Combat Commander
Level 12: Fey Tactics
Level 14: Weapon Proficiency (Bastard sword)
Level 16: Iron Will
Level 18: Shield Specialization
Level 20: Heavy Blade Opportunity

POWERS
Warlord at-will 1: Wolf Pack Tactics
Warlord at-will 1: Commander's Strike
Warlord encounter 1: Warlord's Favor
Warlord daily 1: Lead the Attack
Warlord utility 2: Knight's Move
Warlord encounter 3: Steel Monsoon
Warlord daily 5: Stand the Fallen
Warlord utility 6: Guileful Switch
Warlord encounter 7: Surprise Attack
Warlord daily 9: Knock Them Down
Warlord utility 10: Bolstering Shout
Warlord encounter 13: Beat Them Into the Ground (replaces Warlord's Favor)
Warlord daily 15: Anticipate Attack (replaces Stand the Fallen)
Warlord utility 16: Warlord's Banner
Warlord encounter 17: Thunderous Fury (replaces Steel Monsoon)
Warlord daily 19: Break the Tempo (replaces Knock Them Down)

ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit, Light Shield, Magic Bastard sword +4, Magic Javelin +4, Magic Feyhide Armor +4, Amulet of Protection +4
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======

Part II of the Eladrin Warlord: Paragon Tier

Level 2(Utility+Feat)--There are two solid choices at this level for our Utility power. First is Shake it Off, which gives ourselves or an ally a free saving throw for a minor action. Granting free saving throws is made of win, even without a charisma bonus to a roll which we don't have. Still, we take Knight's Move instead. The main reason we take Knight's Move is because it is unique. No other class in 4E really gets a power like this. Positioning is power, and this move can lead to great advantage in the positioning game. For our feat, we take Tactical Assault which we passed on at level 1. We now grant +2 to attack and +4 to damage to our allies when they attack with an Action Point. Things go boom.

Level 3(Encounter)--There really isn't a super powerful choice at this level for a Tactical Warlord. The most interesting power available is Steel Monsoon, a solid hit that can allow the entire party to shift one square. Not earth shattering, but interesting.

Level 4(Stats+Feat)--Raising stats will be fairly predictable for this character. We raise Strength(to 17) and Intelligence(to 19) and will do so from now until eternity. Our level 4 feat will be Weapon Expertise(Heavy Blades). Our class is all about the additional effects we add when we hit, so we need to hit. Weapon Expertise is the best boost we'll ever get to that.

Level 5(Daily)--Its geared towards Warlords with high Charisma(which we don't have), but Stand the Fallen is so incredible we take it anyway. This is a power you pull out in emergencies, when the party is being thrashed. It heals the entire party, something I found the Warlord class tends to do quite a lot. Staggering Spin is a much more powerful offensive option, but its not as game changing as Stand the Fallen.

Level 6(Utility+Feat)--I'm not that thrilled about any of the options here for a level 6 Utility. I'm really tempted to go back to level 2 and take Shake It Off as free saves are always a good thing, but I like taking interesting powers so we'll choose the rather nerfed Guileful Switch. This power was game breaking before its errata, but if you look past that its still fairly good in its current form. The key is timing. Our role as Warlord is tactics and support, not offense or control. At least once per battle, our turn will come up in a situation that demands offense or control instead of what we do. Guileful Switch allows us to hand our turn to someone who can take advantage of a situation we aren't equipped to exploit, and in return our next turn comes up sooner. Our feat for this level is Tactical Inspiration. This is a Tactical Warlord feat that only Eladrin get, and it adds our Intelligence modifier to our Inspiring Word healing. This is a major boost, and no other race can match our healing in this build.

Level 7(Encounter)--Our power at this level is Surprise Attack. The premise is simple: we make a modest attack, and in response one of our allies makes another modest attack with a large bonus to the attack roll. Multiple hitting=nova=win.

Level 8(Stats+Feat)--We raise Strength and Intelligence again(18 and 20) blah blah blah. For our feat at this level we're going to select a feat that I rarely take on any character, but for us is important, and that feat is Durable. We are actually going to take a fair amount of mass healing powers with this character as we progress, and none of these mass heals adds a significant bonus to the base healing surge value. Aside from our Inspiring Word, a lot of the healing we will grant will be vanilla with no bonus. We are a melee character and we're going to be hit, we're going to be damaged, and we're going to need healing. Having our pitiful amount of surges with unboosted healing is a risky proposition, and given the healing this cahracter tends to provide the extra surges I believe will be far more necessary than the HP boost Toughness would provide.

Level 9(Daily)--The most interesting Daily power here is Knock Them Down. If nothing else, it gives all your allies a free move, and knocking multiple enemies prone is a nice bonus. Nothing really interesting aside from this at level 9.

Level 10(Utility+Feat)--The big sexy Utility power at this level is Instant Planning, but without Charisma its just a boring Defense boost so we skip it. What we can take is Bolstering Shout, which is effectively a mass heal we can use every single encounter. Bolstering Shout doesn't directly heal anyone, but allows everyone to use their Second Wind as a minor action in exchange for skipping the defensive boost Second Wind grants. If your allies don't need it, they can skip it, but minor action self healing is solid. The fact that you can pop this every encounter is the real sexy part of this. The main downside is that this power doesn't include ourself. Our feat for this level is Saving Inspiration, which lets us forgo granting the extra dice of healing with Inspiring Word(we do keep the +Intelligence I believe) to grant a saving throw. Ending conditions is often more important than healing HP, so this is a nice option to have.

Looking at ourselves at level 10, we have a number of abilities that allow the party as a whole to nova, we can move our allies around tactically, we have some mass healing to dramatically shift momentum, and our own damage while not spectacular isn't bad. While our HP are a little low, our AC is on the low end of Defender territory, and our Fortitude and Reflex are solid. We are in good shape heading into Paragon tier.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Eladrin Warlord, level 10
Eladrin, Warlord
Commanding Presence: Tactical Presence
Background: Society - Noble (+2 to Diplomacy)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 18, Con 10, Dex 15, Int 20, Wis 8, Cha 11.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 10, Dex 13, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 11.


AC: 26 Fort: 22 Reflex: 23 Will: 19
HP: 67 Surges: 9 Surge Value: 16

TRAINED SKILLS
Religion +15, Endurance +9, Athletics +13, Diplomacy +12, History +17

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +6, Arcana +12, Bluff +5, Dungeoneering +4, Heal +4, Insight +4, Intimidate +5, Nature +4, Perception +4, Stealth +6, Streetwise +5, Thievery +6

FEATS
Level 1: Eladrin Soldier
Level 2: Tactical Assault
Level 4: Weapon Expertise (Heavy Blade)
Level 6: Tactical Inspiration
Level 8: Durable
Level 10: Saving Inspiration

POWERS
Warlord at-will 1: Wolf Pack Tactics
Warlord at-will 1: Commander's Strike
Warlord encounter 1: Warlord's Favor
Warlord daily 1: Lead the Attack
Warlord utility 2: Knight's Move
Warlord encounter 3: Steel Monsoon
Warlord daily 5: Stand the Fallen
Warlord utility 6: Guileful Switch
Warlord encounter 7: Surprise Attack
Warlord daily 9: Knock Them Down
Warlord utility 10: Bolstering Shout

ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit, Hide Armor, Light Shield, Magic Hide Armor +2, Magic Longsword +2, Amulet of Protection +2, Magic Tratnyr +2
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======

Been a bit of a wait for this one. Been busy.

Simple plan: I take a character concept, build it from level 1-30, explaining my choices each step of the way. I have a few basic rules for this.

1. This isn't an optimization excercise. I want a playable character that is enjoyable at all levels.

2. I'm not going to be gearing these beyond generic enhancement items. Access to gear varies from game to game, so for this blog's purposes gear will remain generic, and I won't be building characters that depend on specific gear.

3. I'm going to keep this fully legal, with no house rules. I will be using every source available through the character builder, as well as the background rules. I will be forgoing Forgotten Realms and Scales of War backgrounds as these are more likely to be excluded from home games.

4. I try to keep non-AC defenses as high as possible accross the board. If I have to skimp on AC a little bit to do this, I will.

5. I take cheesy/broken options when they're the right choice. I don't apologize for it.

On to business...

For the third character in this blog, moving on to the Leader role, we're going to build an Eladrin Warlord of the Tactical variety. If you frequent the Character Optimization forum, you'll read all about the power of the Tactical Warlord, of which the Eladrin race gets some powerful and unique options. This build has a downside though, and that is the fact that it can be boringly effective. More specifically, the strongest options for this character are often very uninteresting in play, most notably those which boost your allies towards incredible power while you just stand there. For our Eladrin Warlord, we are going to try to balance the power of the Tactical Warlord with an attempt to make a character less boring in actual play, and we will sacrifice some raw power to do this. Our priorities:

1. Keep as much of the supernova generation of the Tactical Warlord as possible.

2. Take a generous number of dynamic and interesting powers and options while maintaining the ability to generate novas.

3. Be a respectable offensive force on our own.

4. Have solid enough defenses that we aren't a liability and a danger to ourselves. Thanks to focusing on the first three points, being tough isn't really an option, so we are going to aim for merely being survivable.

On a final note before we get to character creation, the Tactical Warlord works best with multiple allies who engage in melee, at least two. It tends to boost melee attackers more than ranged attackers, and while we're working towards respectable defenses, we aren't going to survive being ganged up upon. Warlord + Defender + ranged allies is less than ideal, and Warlord + non-Defender melee ally + ranged allies is bordering on suicide. We're surivable, but we are in no way tough. In other words, make sure you bring your friends along for the ride, or you're probably better off playing a different Leader class(like Cleric or Bard).

Eladrin Warlord(Tactical) Level 1:

Race: Eladrin--Eladrin does many things for the Tactical Warlord. Most of them are feats. Eladrin get a multitude of race specific Warlord feats, many of which are incredible. Alone among Tactical Warlords, Eladrin can be above average healers. They also get Eladrin Soldier, which lets us start play off very strong. A +2 to Intelligence lets us start off an 18 for strong nova generation from level 1. Eladrin also has a race-specific Tactical Warlord Paragon Path that is far more dynamic and interesting than Battle Captain, and while less powerful than Battle Captain comes close enough to trade the difference in power for a more interesting character to play.

Class: Warlord--We are going to choose the Tactical Presence feature for Warlord. Its base ability is to add half your Intelligence modifier to attack rolls when your allies spend an action point. Get used to your allies reaping the benefits of your awesomeness, as this is a sign of things to come. Eladrin get so many boosts to the Tactical style of Warlord that there really isn't any other sane choice for an Eladrin Warlord.

Background: Society(Noble-- +2 to Diplomacy)--The Tactical Warlord kind of gets gimped for skills. Our stats are set up best for Strength and Intelligence skills, but our allies most likely have these well covered. Diplomacy is an important skill, and while we won't be putting much into Charisma, the +2 will give us a modest score there.

Ability Scores: Str16/Con10/Dex15/Int18/Wis8/Cha11--We're going to start with Intelligence, as Intelligence powers our ability to boost our allies. We want an 18 so we can grant +2 to attack rolls with Action Points to start, and Intelligence also boosts our AC, Reflex, and other class features(later to include healing). With the Eladrin +2, we spend 9pts on a 16 for an 18 total. We attack with Strength, so we spend 9 more points for a 16. A 16 is somewhat sub par, but we'll make up for this somewhat by using weapons with a +3 proficiency bonus. This leaves us four points. The most bang for the buck we can get out of these four points in the long term is to drop 3pts into Dexterity, which with +2 from Eladrin gives us a 15. 15 Dexterity gives us Heavy Blade Mastery(important for being a threat on our own) at Epic without further investment, and lets us qualify for Shield Specialization to get us a very important point of AC later on. We have one point left, and we'll drop it in Charisma for a small boost in Paragon tier to Will defense and Diplomacy. We leave Constitution at 10, and this is somewhat painful for a melee character. We're going to start with 22hp, which is rather bad, though mitigated somewhat by having a respectable 18 AC. Leader role gives us seven surges, which is low but not terrible. The points just aren't there to boost Constitution. We can't afford a 14, and Dexterity does too much more for us. Wisdom ends up being the dump, and gets an 8.

Trained Skills: Religion, History, Athletics, Endurance, Diplomacy--We used our background to boost Diplomacy, so we definitely take that. Athletics and History are supported by our stats and good value, so we take those. All of the other Warlord skills are bad fits for our stats, so we choose Endurance since that is something we are sometimes forced to roll. Eladrin gives us a free skill choice with no restrictions, and with this we choose Religion. We could take a Dexterity skill or Arcana, but a high Religion check is most likely to be missing from the rest of your party.

Feats: There are two main feat choices at this level. One is Tactical Assault, which seriously powers up our Tactical Presence, adding our Intelligence modifier in damage to our allies' Action Point attacks in addition to the half modifier to attack rolls. However, we are focusing on making sure our Warlord kicks butt on its own, so we take Eladrin Soldier instead, which gives us +2 to damage rolls with Longswords and Spears, and proficiency in all spears. Its a very powerful boost at level 1.

Powers--

At-Will 1--Commander's Strike--This is generally your best option in terms of raw power, though it is dependant on the quality of your allies. Your Intelligence grants your ally a melee basic attack with +4 to the damage roll, which is likely better than you can manage, especially if they are a big beefy guy with a Fullblade. For raw hitting power, this is what you use.

At-Will 2--Wolf Pack Tactics--Most Warlords should end up taking this, as its that good. This power lets you hit things yourself and give an ally a free shift, preferably to set you(and them) up for flanking. This is what you use when positioning and possibly accuracy are more important than raw power.

Encounter 1--Warlord's Favor--This is a pretty solid hit, dealing 2[W] damage, and grants an ally 1+Intelligence modifier to attack rolls until the end of your next turn. This is a powerful setup move.

Daily 1--Lead the Attack--We, the Warlord Class get what might be the most amazing level 1 Daily power in the game. So amazing, we will be keeping this until level 29. Its that good. This powerful is painful to miss with, but if it hits it can trivialize an encounter without breaking a sweat. Granting 1+Intelligence modifier to all attack rolls for the entire encounter against a powerful(Elite or Solo) enemy is the definition of supernova. You hit with this, and the monster is going down. It gives you a small bonus if you miss, miniscule actually, which taunts you with your failure more than anything.

Gear--We actually have some hard choices here. For armor, we take Hide since our 18 Intelligence means we get more AC from Hide than we do from Chain. For weapons, we have a tough choice between a longsword and small shield or a Greatspear. The Greatspear deals more damage and has reach, which the Warlord class really likes. Unfortunately, we have 22hp and are going to be somewhat deficient in that department forever, so we really need the shield. Long term, we're going to be focusing on heavy blades anyway, so we might as well start off now. To round things off, we'll carry a couple of Tratnyrs, which are very nice thrown weapons Eladrin Soldier gives us access to for nothing.

Next up: Heroic Tier

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Eladrin Warlord, level 1
Eladrin, Warlord
Commanding Presence: Tactical Presence
Background: Society - Noble (+2 to Diplomacy)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 10, Dex 15, Int 18, Wis 8, Cha 11.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 16, Con 10, Dex 13, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 11.


AC: 18 Fort: 14 Reflex: 15 Will: 12
HP: 22 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 5

TRAINED SKILLS
Religion +9, Endurance +4, Athletics +7, Diplomacy +7, History +11

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +1, Arcana +6, Bluff, Dungeoneering -1, Heal -1, Insight -1, Intimidate, Nature -1, Perception -1, Stealth +1, Streetwise, Thievery +1

FEATS
Level 1: Eladrin Soldier

POWERS
Warlord at-will 1: Wolf Pack Tactics
Warlord at-will 1: Commander's Strike
Warlord encounter 1: Warlord's Favor
Warlord daily 1: Lead the Attack

ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit, Hide Armor, Tratnyr (3), Longsword, Light Shield
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======

And finally, Epic Tier:

Level 21(Epic Destiny+Feat+Retraining)--I generally advise taking Demigod/Chosen unless something comparable and more interesting is available, and for Wizards this means Archmage. Wizards have the strongest Daily powers in the game, and this Epic Destiny lets you use them a lot more. It also has an interesting "once per day, when you die..." power that allows us to be really self destructive with Bolstering Blood. At level 21, Archmage lets us use one of our Daily spells twice per day, and right now this means the excellent Destructive Salutation. We meet the prerequisites for Wizard Implement Expertise, and since we tend to target multiple enemies with damaging spells we'll get a lot of use out of it, so we take it now. We also retrain Paragon Defenses for Robust Defenses.

Level 22(Utility+Feat+Retraining)--The most utility you get out of the level 22 slot is Mass Fly, so that is what we take. As our spellbook power, we'll take Wall of Force for its occasional utility. Our feat at this level is Epic Will, and we retrain War Wizardry for the much improved Spell Accuracy. Our Wisdom modifier is +3, and three squares excluded from blasts and bursts should mean you never need to hit party members again.

Level 23(Encounter)--Thunderclap is an encounter stun, and our Staff Mastery makes Staffstrike Shock interesting, but we are about area control, and Deceptive Shadows is the pick here, which we trade Twist of Space for.

Level 24(Epic Feature+Stats+Feat)--Archmage gives us a Spirit Form with our full HP and insubstantial the first time we die each day, and this means we deal 2d10 damage to ourselves with Bolstering Blood every turn. We raise Intelligence and Constitution again to 25 and 21. Our feat at this level is Epic Resurgence, as having 19-20 crit plus multiple attack rolls per turn adds up to an extra encounter power in most battles.

Level 25(Daily)--Prismatic Spray at this level is made of win, since it combines two damaging attacks with their own damage bonus(which for us is rather high) with a stun(save ends), attacks an area, and ignores allies. We take it and use Archmage to have it twice per day. We take Summon Abyssal Horde as our spellbook power, though we may never use it. We trade out Mordenkainen's Guardian Hound for this.

Level 26(Epic Utility+Feat)--Our Epic Utility lets us regain a Daily power once per day, adding insult to injury. Three Prismatic Sprays are a good thing. Our feat for this level is Arcane Mastery, which gives us the option of spending an Action Point to regain a spent Daily power. Its overkill with all we get from Archmage, but we'll still use it from time to time.

Level 27(Encounter)--As much we want to stay with area control, its hard to skip Steal Time. It does nothing if we miss, but stuns and gives us an extra standard action on a hit. I strongly considered taking Soul Fire here as its the best area control, but its a little weak for this level. We give up Prismatic Burst for this.

Level 28(Stats+Feat)--We now raise Intelligence(26) and Constitution(22) one last time. Also at this level we take Quickened Spellcasting, just because we can. We'll take Thunderwave for this so we can follow Blood Pulse with Thunderwave as a minor action.

Level 29(Daily)--Legion's Hold is the big sexy power here, but I hesitate since we already have two Daily stuns that end on save. For the sake of variety, we'll select Visions of Wrath as our primary and put Summon Living Mountain in our spellbook as a change of pace. We replace Evard's Dreadful Mist. Legion's Hold is probably the best Wizard daily, but Visions of Wrath is far better than anything available at level 25 that we would trade Prismatic Spray for. It bears saying that we still choose Prismatic Spray for the Daily we can use twice per day.

Level 30(Epic Feature+Feat)--At level 30 Archmage turns one of our Daily powers into an encounter power, and we choose Prismatic Spray without thinking twice about it. We memorize either Destructive Salutation or Visions of Wrath twice per day, according to mood. There really isn't any must have feat at this point, so we just take Epic Fortitude.

Thats it for our Human Wizard of generic control and versatility. Tune in next time for the Eladrin Warlord nova machine.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Human Wizard, level 30
Human, Wizard, Blood Mage, Archmage
Arcane Implement Mastery: Staff of Defense
Archspell: Prismatic Spray
Quickened Spellcasting: Thunderwave
Background: Society - Noble (+2 to Diplomacy)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 22, Dex 15, Int 26, Wis 16, Cha 12.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 8, Con 14, Dex 13, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 10.


AC: 44 Fort: 45 Reflex: 43 Will: 44
HP: 148 Surges: 12 Surge Value: 37

TRAINED SKILLS
Insight +23, Arcana +28, Dungeoneering +23, Diplomacy +23, History +28

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +17, Bluff +16, Endurance +21, Heal +18, Intimidate +16, Nature +18, Perception +18, Religion +23, Stealth +17, Streetwise +16, Thievery +17, Athletics +15

FEATS
Wizard: Ritual Caster
Human: Armor Proficiency (Leather)
Level 1: Arcane Reserves (retrained to Action Surge at Level 7)
Level 2: Reaper's Touch
Level 4: Enlarge Spell
Level 6: Implement Expertise (staff)
Level 8: Dual Implement Spellcaster
Level 10: Weapon Focus (Staff)
Level 11: War Wizardry (retrained to Spell Accuracy at Level 22)
Level 12: Psychic Lock
Level 14: Improved Staff of Defense
Level 16: Paragon Defenses (retrained to Robust Defenses at Level 21)
Level 18: Danger Sense
Level 20: Improved Initiative
Level 21: Wizard Implement Expertise
Level 22: Epic Will
Level 24: Epic Resurgence
Level 26: Arcane Mastery
Level 28: Quickened Spellcasting
Level 30: Epic Fortitude

POWERS
Bonus At-Will Power: Illusory Ambush
Wizard at-will 1: Magic Missile
Wizard at-will 1: Thunderwave
Wizard encounter 1: Icy Terrain
Wizard daily 1: Flaming Sphere
Wizard utility 2: Shield
Wizard utility 2 Spellbook: Phantasmal Terrain
Wizard encounter 3: Fire Shroud
Wizard daily 5: Visions of Avarice
Wizard utility 6: Wizard's Escape
Wizard utility 6 Spellbook: Disguise Self
Wizard encounter 7: Twist of Space
Wizard daily 9: Ice Storm (retrained to Mordenkainen's Guardian Hound at Level 17)
Wizard utility 10: Illusory Wall
Wizard utility 10 Spellbook: Arcane Gate
Wizard encounter 13: Prismatic Burst (replaces Icy Terrain)
Wizard daily 15: Evard's Dreadful Mist (replaces Flaming Sphere)
Wizard utility 16: Summon Diamond Falcon
Wizard utility 16 Spellbook: Phantom Mask
Wizard encounter 17: Crushing Titan's Fist (replaces Fire Shroud)
Wizard daily 19: Evard's Black Tentacles (replaces Visions of Avarice)
Wizard daily 19 Spellbook: Blast of Cold
Wizard utility 22: Mass Fly
Wizard utility 22 Spellbook: Wall of Force
Wizard encounter 23: Deceptive Shadows (replaces Twist of Space)
Wizard daily 25: Prismatic Spray (replaces Mordenkainen's Guardian Hound)
Wizard daily 25 Spellbook: Summon Abyssal Horde
Wizard encounter 27: Steal Time (replaces Prismatic Burst)
Wizard daily 29: Visions of Wrath (replaces Evard's Dreadful Mist)
Wizard daily 29 Spellbook: Summon Living Mountain

ITEMS
Spellbook, Adventurer's Kit, Magic Starleather Armor +6, Magic Staff +6, Magic Wand +6, Amulet of Protection +6

Human Wizard, Paragon Tier. And here we go...

Level 11(Paragon Path+Feat)--We aren't designed to maximize its use, but we're going to take Blood Mage anyway. There really isn't a Wizard paragon path that optimizes generic control, and even without focusing on abusing Blood Pulse the Blood Mage path is still excellent. We have high Constitution, a secondary focus in blaster, and the durability to survive dealing damage to ourselves. I'd almost take Academy Master as it is an excellent generic Paragon Path, but it doesn't line up as nice with this character as Blood Mage does. At level 11, Blood mage gives us Blood Action, which adds ongoing 10 psychic(save ends) to an attack when we use an action point and affects all enemies hit. Combined with Action Surge, this makes your Action Points rather nasty. Also we get Bolstering Blood, which allows us to deal 1d10 or 2d10 damage to ourselves to add the same amount of psychic damage to an encounter or daily power we cast, and again if we target multiple enemies they all take it. We are more than durable enough to make regular use of this, and we have a pile of surges to make this viable over the long haul. Our level 11 encounter power is Blood Pulse, one of the most notorious powers in the game. While we aren't focusing on forced movement powers to fully abuse this, we do have Thunderwave and Twist of Space that will do something, and its a big area burst that ignores allies, which is nice. Our level 11 feat is War Wizardry, making it less painful to include allies in our bursts, though it bears saying that our static damage is boosted high enough that even half damage will be significant.

Level 12(Paragon Utility+Feat)--Our Paragon Utility is Soul Burn, which once per day allows us to burn a Healing Surge to regain a spent encounter power. This is less useful to us since we aren't abusing Blood Pulse, but we have enough surges to make this fairly painless and get some use out of it. Our feat at this level is Psychic Lock, and though our only Psychic power is Illusory Ambush adding an additional -2 to attack rolls with that power is nasty enough to take early.

Level 13(Encounter)--We trade out Icy Terrain and pick Prismatic Burst. While Thunderlance is sick combined with Blood Mage, we are focusing more on control and burst 1 blind from Prismatic Burst is serious control. It also deals Radiant damage, which is nice.

Level 14(Stats+Feat)--We boost Intelligence(now 22) and Constitution(now 18) again. Our feat at this level is Improved Staff of Defense, giving us an untyped bonus to all three non-AC defenses while we use a staff. Non-typed bonuses are good.

Level 15(Daily)--We trade out Flaming Sphere at this level, which has served us well. In its place we take Evard's Frightful Mist. This power is brutal, creating a burst 2 zone with Immobilize(save ends) as an initial effect, blocks line of sight, and then lets you burn things for psychic damage as opportunity actions when they enter or start their turn in the zone, which can be sustained. Control and blasting all in one, and its psychic so we get Psychic Lock while we're at it. Again, there are some nice alternatives in here as Prismatic Beams and Blast of Cold are large, party friendly blasts and Stonewrack is abusable with Blood Mage, but Evard's Frightful Mist is tops for control. As our change of pace power for our spellbook, we'll take Summon Chainbearer. The Chainbearer has threatening reach, which is the main attraction here.

Level 16(Paragon Feature+Utility+Feat)--At level 16 Blood Mage gives us Burning Blood which turns our Second Wind into a modest offensive weapon. There are more defensive utilities here, but we have plenty, so we take Summon Diamond Falcon which can pick up yourself and your allies and fly them around. Useful both in combat and out of it. For a change of pace, we put Phantom Mask in our spellbook, letting us use illusions to disguise the entire party. For a feat, we take Paragon Defenses to further toughen ourselves.

Level 17(Encounter+Retraining)--Area control is our focus, and the choice here is Crushing Titan's Fist, which both immobilizes and creates an area tough to move through. Between this, and our three Dailies we have way too much immobilization, so we trade out Ice Storm for Mordenkainen's Guardian Hound, which gives us a solid minor action attack with a rider effect.

Level 18(Stats+Feat)--Level 18 raises Intelligence and Constitution to 23 and 19 respectively. There aren't many must have feats at this point, so we take Danger Sense to improve our initiative.

Level 19(Daily)--As much as I like Visions of Avarice, having three Daily powers that immobilize is too many, so it gets traded out. Evard's Black Tentacles again immobilizes, and it creates a zone that repeats the attack when sustained, dealing modest automatic damage to those still immobilized. None of the other level 19 Dailies matches up well with what we do(Cloudkill deals poison damage, and trading necrotic damage for poison tends to be useless), so we take a level 15 Daily, Blast of Cold for a large, high damage blast that ignores your allies and can be memorized when you don't want to deal Necrotic damage. It also immobilizes, just like everything else we do.

Level 20(Paragon Daily+Feat)--Level 20 Blood Mage gives us Destructive Salutation, which from top to bottom is made of win. Its a huge area, it ignores your allies, deals stupid high damage, gives ongoing 10 psychic and stunned(!)(save ends), and to top it off still stuns for a turn on a miss. It also qualifies for Psychic Lock to add insult to injury. As there isn't anything better, we boost our initiative one better with Improved Initiative, as blinding and immobilizing are most useful on turn 1 before the enemies go.

Next up: Epic Tier and Archmagedom.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Human Wizard, level 20
Human, Wizard, Blood Mage
Arcane Implement Mastery: Staff of Defense
Background: Society - Noble (+2 to Diplomacy)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 9, Con 19, Dex 14, Int 23, Wis 15, Cha 11.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 8, Con 14, Dex 13, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 10.


AC: 34 Fort: 31 Reflex: 33 Will: 31
HP: 105 Surges: 10 Surge Value: 26

TRAINED SKILLS
Insight +17, Arcana +21, Dungeoneering +17, Diplomacy +17, History +21

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +12, Bluff +10, Endurance +14, Heal +12, Intimidate +10, Nature +12, Perception +12, Religion +16, Stealth +12, Streetwise +10, Thievery +12, Athletics +9

FEATS
Wizard: Ritual Caster
Human: Armor Proficiency (Leather)
Level 1: Arcane Reserves (retrained to Action Surge at Level 7)
Level 2: Reaper's Touch
Level 4: Enlarge Spell
Level 6: Implement Expertise (staff)
Level 8: Dual Implement Spellcaster
Level 10: Weapon Focus (Staff)
Level 11: War Wizardry
Level 12: Psychic Lock
Level 14: Improved Staff of Defense
Level 16: Paragon Defenses
Level 18: Danger Sense
Level 20: Improved Initiative

POWERS
Bonus At-Will Power: Illusory Ambush
Wizard at-will 1: Thunderwave
Wizard at-will 1: Magic Missile
Wizard encounter 1: Icy Terrain
Wizard daily 1: Flaming Sphere
Wizard utility 2: Shield
Wizard utility 2 Spellbook: Phantasmal Terrain
Wizard encounter 3: Fire Shroud
Wizard daily 5: Visions of Avarice
Wizard utility 6: Wizard's Escape
Wizard utility 6 Spellbook: Disguise Self
Wizard encounter 7: Twist of Space
Wizard daily 9: Ice Storm (retrained to Mordenkainen's Guardian Hound at Level 17)
Wizard daily 9 Spellbook: Wall of Fire
Wizard utility 10: Illusory Wall
Wizard utility 10 Spellbook: Arcane Gate
Wizard encounter 13: Prismatic Burst (replaces Icy Terrain)
Wizard daily 15: Evard's Dreadful Mist (replaces Flaming Sphere)
Wizard daily 15 Spellbook: Summon Chainbearer
Wizard utility 16: Summon Diamond Falcon
Wizard utility 16 Spellbook: Phantom Mask
Wizard encounter 17: Crushing Titan's Fist (replaces Fire Shroud)
Wizard daily 19: Evard's Black Tentacles (replaces Visions of Avarice)
Wizard daily 19 Spellbook: Blast of Cold

ITEMS
Spellbook, Adventurer's Kit, Amulet of Protection +4, Magic Wand +4, Magic Staff +4, Magic Feyleather Armor +4
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======

Moving on with our Human Wizard, Heroic Tier:

Level 2(Utility+Feat)--We are a close range Wizard, so the only real choice here is the excellent Shield spell. Shield can give you +4 AC and Reflex as an interrupt, turning a hit into a miss. Its effects like this that give us our durability, and this gives us two with the Staff of Defense effect. We can put a second Utility in our Spellbook that we'll probably never use, and for this we choose Phantasmal Terrain. Some of the other Utilities are better and more useful, but none of those would ever be traded out for Shield. Phantasmal Terrain can be phenomenally useful in very specific and rare situations, situations that can sometimes be seen ahead of time. For our feat, we choose Reaper's Touch which I will explain in its own section.

Reapers Touch--This feat is currently legal in Character Builder, but due to its new wording in Dragon Magazine Annual(changed to Shadar-Kai prerequisite) this is likely to change next month. I am a big fan of this feat, and it rubs me the wrong way to see it changed like this. While Melee Training(Intelligence) can allow a Wizard(or Sorcerer/Invoker/Warlock) a reasonable melee attack, it generally provides a below average melee attack that can at least hit instead of an option on par with your primary spellcasting, which is what Reaper's Touch provides. Reaper's touch also synergizes with boosts to your spellcasting, such as Staff of Ruin, Dual Implement Spellcasting, and such, while Melee Training does not.  What Reaper's Touch does for this character is open up the ability to fight in melee if the battlefield situation demands it. Melee basic attack gives us the option to charge, flank, and hold territory with opportunity attacks. Against high defense enemies, flanking with Magic Missile is often the best way to hit consistently, and flanking also sets up the ally on the other side. In addition, as a fight winds down and the focus becomes finishing off weakened and outnumbered enemies, higher damage(Magic Missile outdamages other At-Wills) and accuracy(from charge/flank) become much more valuable. Melee isn't at the core of what you do, but it is part of your arsenal. Melee Training can give a less crappy attack than you would have otherwise, but doesn't give you melee as a strong option. As this feat is likely to be illegal starting next month, consult with your DM on its availability. You can use the houserule buttons on Character Builder to give yourself an illegal feat.

Level 3(Encounter)--We are a Wizard focused on control with a minor focus on blasting, and level 3 has the premier blasting spell of heroic tier and that is Fire Shroud. Fire Shroud has a huge area of effect, with close burst 3 giving a 7x7 area centered on you, and it only affects enemies. 1d8+ongoing 5(you'll get it at least once) is very respectable damage. The downsides of this spell are it being fire, targetting Fortitude, and having to get close to a lot of enemies, though this Wizard doesn't really worry about the last one. Color Spray(close blast 5 daze) and Icy Rays(2 target ranged immobilize) are solid control spells that deal damage, but I prefer having at least one big nuke.

Level 4(Stats+Feat)--For our stats, we'll be raising Intelligence(now 19) and Constitution(now 15). Intelligence is our main stat, and Constitution raises the effectiveness of our Staff of Defense. For the most part, stats that aren't Intelligence don't have a major influence on this character, and since Constitution raises Fortitude, which would otherwise be weak, I don't see much reason to do anything other than raise it from here on out. For our Level 4 feat, we take Enlarge Spell. -2 damage per die is a small price to pay for hitting larger areas, particularly when we start doing the piles of damage we'll be doing later.

Level 5(Daily)--We're going to break with tradition here and pick a spell that doesn't deal damage, and that spell is Visions of Avarice. This spell eats up two of your actions per turn, but against a medium to large group of enemies without strong Will defense, this power is almost an I Win button. It pulls enemies towards an illusionary treasure and then immobilizes them. I've seen it in action, and cast in the right situation it can singlehandedly win an encounter. For our Spellbook power, we'll be looking for a change of pace, which is the Bigby's Icy Grasp spell. Our Reflex and Fortitude are both respectable, so this is a grab we can sustain, and this is a nasty bit of control against one enemy, instead of groups.

Level 6(Utility+Feat)--We get our third interrupt defensive spell here, and the best one in Wizard's Escape. Its an interrupt that teleports us away when we get attacked in melee. This gives us three effects that turn hits into misses per encounter, which in practice makes us more survivable than most Strikers and Leaders. As is the usual, there is little we would ever trade this out for, so for our Spellbook power we take Disguise Self which can be useful in non-combat situations that need a little guile. For our feat we take Implement Expertise: Staff, which is a must have at some point. Accuracy=good.

Level 7(Encounter+Retraining)--We get a new encounter power here, and Twist of Space is one of the most powerful control effects available. Positioning is power, and Twist of Space teleports hit enemies 3 squares. Enemies Abound deals a good deal more damage with less control, and Winter's Wrath is a solid nuke but the choice for this level is Twist of Space. Since we now have three Encounter attack powers, we will be getting much less use out of our Arcane Reserves feat so we train it out for Action Surge, which is among the sexiest toys a Human character gets to play with.

Level 8(Stats+Feat)--We raise Intelligence and Constitution to 20 and 16 here. For our feat we take Dual Implement Spellcasting, since its at this point we are likely to have a second +2 Implement handy. It isn't terribly important which one. This gives us a ridiculous boost to our damage, and this is where we begin to shine as a damage dealer. The Staff can be used as an arcane implement in one hand, though I believe it requires two hands to be used as a melee weapon. Not having Reaper's Touch give us a melee Magic Missile complicates things if Reaper's Touch is not available.

Level 9(Daily)--For our level 9 Daily, we take Ice Storm. Its big, it hits hard, and Immobilize(save ends) is pretty solid, especially if you can get a group of melee enemies who aren't currently engaged with it. It creates a zone of difficult terrain, which can be fun to Thunderwave enemies into. Our Spellbook power is Wall of Fire, which is also fun with Thunderwave, and can be dropped onto enemies for automatic damage. These two are fairly interchangeable, and its less necessary to focus on just one of these.

Level 10(Utility+Feat)--It is rare to see an attack(ish) power in the Utility section, but that is what we have with Illusory Wall. You get an Attack vs. Will against anyone who tries to get through, and it blocks line of sight. This is a powerful control effect you get once per day in addition to your standard attacks. Its also useful outside of combat to escape pursuit or mess with people's heads. For our change of pace utility, there is Arcane Gate which is good for teleporting parties across chasms and rivers, or onto rooftops if you find out you'll be dealing with such ahead of time. For our feat, we further our blaster capabilities by taking Weapon Focus(Staff). For some reason, Character Builder gives this bonus damage with any damage dealt by a Staff, including implement damage. We'll take it. If we can get a Staff of Ruin, that Staff plus Dual Implement Spellcasting plus Weapon Focus leads to even more devastation.

At level 10, we have a strong focus on area control, surprising defensive capabilities, and high damage giving us a versatile and almost inexaustable bag of tricks to deal with most anything that comes up. If we need to lay down control, we lay down control. If we need to deal damage and focus fire, we do so. If we need to wade into melee and hold the line, we can do that too. Next up: Paragon Tier.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Human Wizard, level 10
Human, Wizard
Arcane Implement Mastery: Staff of Defense
Background: Society - Noble (+2 to Diplomacy)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 8, Con 16, Dex 13, Int 20, Wis 14, Cha 10.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 8, Con 14, Dex 13, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 10.


AC: 25 Fort: 21 Reflex: 23 Will: 22
HP: 62 Surges: 9 Surge Value: 15

TRAINED SKILLS
Insight +12, Arcana +15, Dungeoneering +12, Diplomacy +12, History +15

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +6, Bluff +5, Endurance +8, Heal +7, Intimidate +5, Nature +7, Perception +7, Religion +10, Stealth +6, Streetwise +5, Thievery +6, Athletics +4

FEATS
Wizard: Ritual Caster
Human: Armor Proficiency (Leather)
Level 1: Arcane Reserves (retrained to Action Surge at Level 7)
Level 2: Reaper's Touch
Level 4: Enlarge Spell
Level 6: Implement Expertise (staff)
Level 8: Dual Implement Spellcaster
Level 10: Weapon Focus (Staff)

POWERS
Bonus At-Will Power: Illusory Ambush
Wizard at-will 1: Magic Missile
Wizard at-will 1: Thunderwave
Wizard encounter 1: Icy Terrain
Wizard daily 1: Flaming Sphere
Wizard daily 1 Spellbook: Sleep
Wizard utility 2: Shield
Wizard utility 2 Spellbook: Phantasmal Terrain
Wizard encounter 3: Fire Shroud
Wizard daily 5: Visions of Avarice
Wizard daily 5 Spellbook: Bigby's Icy Grasp
Wizard utility 6: Wizard's Escape
Wizard utility 6 Spellbook: Disguise Self
Wizard encounter 7: Twist of Space
Wizard daily 9: Ice Storm
Wizard daily 9 Spellbook: Wall of Fire
Wizard utility 10: Illusory Wall
Wizard utility 10 Spellbook: Arcane Gate

ITEMS
Spellbook, Adventurer's Kit, Potion of Healing (heroic tier), Magic Leather Armor +2, Magic Staff +2, Magic Wand +2, Amulet of Protection +2
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======