D&D 4th Ed is Out

I took a daily which allows me to add +2ac to everyone until the end of the encounter. I thought that would be great in a situation such as the dragon. For my feat I took Armor of Bahamut which is a feat spell used through my channel divinity power. If an enemy scores a critical on a player within 5 squares of me, it is automatically downgraded to a normal hit.

I want to mostly provide protection with my cleric while also being able to do some damage. Tock and Ashen do great damage, so I would rather try to keep them alive and healthy than try to dish out what meager damage I a cleric can compared to their striking classes.

Any suggestions that may be better for the group are welcome.

I didn't know about this one instead of the other feat:

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Shield of the Fallen
When you are adjacent to a bloodied, unconscious, or helpless ally, that ally gains a +2 bonus to saving throws and all defenses. The benefit of this feat doesn't stack is more than one character with shield of the fallen is adjacent to the same ally.

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Would that be better than the downgrading of critics?

How much damage does a normal hit do? Is it half of critical?

Still thinking about what I want to do. I figure my role will be tank and heavy damage hitter. That said, I'm playing with things to buff my resistance and give me higher attack rolls. I figure if I got with bastard sword proficiency, I can do my current damage but also hold a shield when need be. However I can put my shield away and go two handed for a bonus 1 to damage. It gives me a couple of options depending on the situation. If heals are not a problem, I can go in blazing. otherwise I can throw up th e shield.

On a side not, since this was a intro dungeon, do we have any freedom to recont our character builder before the real campaign starts? Now that I'm a little more familiar with the game, I was interested in a storm Warden build I was initially considering but it would require me to change a few powers and my warden spec.

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Originally Posted by taggart6

How much damage does a normal hit do? Is it half of critical?

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A normal hit is a normal hit - damage must be rolled.

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Originally Posted by taggart6

On a side not, since this was a intro dungeon, do we have any freedom to recont our character builder before the real campaign starts? Now that I'm a little more familiar with the game, I was interested in a storm Warden build I was initially considering but it would require me to change a few powers and my warden spec

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Well as I said earlier, once you get out of that dungeon, I expect you all to stick with your character. If you want to retrain anything at this point, please do so within the confines of the rules (use the retraining section of the character builder to see what you can change). The "real campaign" has indeed already begun.

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Originally Posted by taggart6

How much damage does a normal hit do? Is it half of critical?

Still thinking about what I want to do. I figure my role will be tank and heavy damage hitter. That said, I'm playing with things to buff my resistance and give me higher attack rolls. I figure if I got with bastard sword proficiency, I can do my current damage but also hold a shield when need be. However I can put my shield away and go two handed for a bonus 1 to damage. It gives me a couple of options depending on the situation. If heals are not a problem, I can go in blazing. otherwise I can throw up th e shield.

On a side not, since this was a intro dungeon, do we have any freedom to recont our character builder before the real campaign starts? Now that I'm a little more familiar with the game, I was interested in a storm Warden build I was initially considering but it would require me to change a few powers and my warden spec.

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The only thing you may want to consider about that bastard sword spec would be that Ashen is also bastard sword spec which would have you guys fighting over loot. You may want to go with another type of weapon.

Yeah I'm still looking into what to do. I really do like the power and versatility of the bastard sword, but I'm looking to see what else is there.

I need some clarification. Does my alchemical blood feat affect any weapons that share its elemental affinity? For example, If I wield a thunder based weapon, will it be more powerful in my hands because of my affinity for thunder?

I'm trying to figure how my +1 damage bonus would work in that scenario and whether it would stack. If I have a thunder based weapon and use a thunder based attack, do I get +1 damage bonuses to both?

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Originally Posted by taggart6

Yeah I'm still looking into what to do. I really do like the power and versatility of the bastard sword, but I'm looking to see what else is there.

I need some clarification. Does my alchemical blood feat affect any weapons that share its elemental affinity? For example, If I wield a thunder based weapon, will it be more powerful in my hands because of my affinity for thunder?

I'm trying to figure how my +1 damage bonus would work in that scenario and whether it would stack. If I have a thunder based weapon and use a thunder based attack, do I get +1 damage bonuses to both?

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It should apply to anything that deals thunder damage.

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Originally Posted by Kamakazie

It should apply to anything that deals thunder damage.

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So the bonuses stack when a thunder weapon is used with a thunder attack?

I just want to make sure i understand it correctly.

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Originally Posted by taggart6

So the bonuses stack when a thunder weapon is used with a thunder attack?

I just want to make sure i understand it correctly.

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+1 per attack with the Thunder keyword. What you are suggesting just gives it the keyword twice. Only +1. Although with the thunder weapon you would make sure you get the bonus with attacks that don't already have the thunder keyword.

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Originally Posted by taggart6

So the bonuses stack when a thunder weapon is used with a thunder attack?

I just want to make sure i understand it correctly.

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Think about it logically; if you have a weapon which makes all attacks do thunder damage, then an attack that would do thunder damage without that weapon is still just doing thunder damage. You would not get +2.

Taggart, I recommend looking into Polearms or Hammers (like the Carighammer). Heavy Blades are nice, but feats for them key off of Dex and therefore don't fit you as nicely.

I was looking and suggest looking into Weight of Earth at-will. It seems very handy. Also, feats that come to mind for you are Sudden Roots, Mark of Warding, Weapon Expertise, Crippling Crush (nice combo with Weight of Earth), Guard of Stone and Warforged Tactics.

For some more detailed advice for any character sift through this: http://community.wizards.com/go/thre...ild_Links?pg=1

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Originally Posted by Kamakazie

Think about it logically; if you have a weapon which makes all attacks do thunder damage, then an attack that would do thunder damage without that weapon is still just doing thunder damage. You would not get +2.

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I saw the attack and weapon producing thunder from 2 different sources. The weapon from arcane and the attack from primal. In that regard I figured my affinity strengthens the power of each. Kinda like my affinity pumped up the "thunderness" for both the weapon and thus adding even thunder damage.

I'm not arguing it or trying to contest it, I'm just explaining how I was initially reading it.

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Originally Posted by SewerUrchin

Taggart, I recommend looking into Polearms or Hammers (like the Carighammer). Heavy Blades are nice, but feats for them key off of Dex and therefore don't fit you as nicely.

I was looking and suggest looking into Weight of Earth at-will. It seems very handy. Also, feats that come to mind for you are Sudden Roots, Mark of Warding, Weapon Expertise, Crippling Crush (nice combo with Weight of Earth), Guard of Stone and Warforged Tactics.

For some more detailed advice for any character sift through this: http://community.wizards.com/go/thre...ild_Links?pg=1

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Thanks for the advice. The slow combing looks very effective.

EDIT: Hmm....it'll take 3-4 respecs to make slow combing effective since I choose a lot of thunder type stuff i need to switch out. I think I'll just retrain the alchemical blood thunder feat and just pick something else. It'll take to long to fix it so I figure I'll just make my character a hodge podge of randomness and see what happens.

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Originally Posted by taggart6

Thanks for the advice. The slow combing looks very effective.

EDIT: Hmm....it'll take 3-4 respecs to make slow combing effective since I choose a lot of thunder type stuff i need to switch out. I think I'll just retrain the alchemical blood thunder feat and just pick something else. It'll take to long to fix it so I figure I'll just make my character a hodge podge of randomness and see what happens.

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You could retrain the at-will and take the feat at level two. Then you could retrain something else next level. Up to you. Whatever sounds the most fun is what I would go with.

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Originally Posted by SewerUrchin

You could retrain the at-will and take the feat at level two. Then you could retrain something else next level. Up to you. Whatever sounds the most fun is what I would go with.

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I thought about that, but I'm not sure if slow will be all that useful considering that marked enemies stay close to me anyways. I dunno, but I'll figure it out.

Been thinking about how I handle things at the table and how it might be beneficial to handle some things differently here. In terms of loot:

- At the table I make selling items to the vendors an active process, with the players actually trying to convince the trader to pay good money for their items. This can be fun and promotes roleplaying, but since we're not going to be face-to-face and we have the ability to advance the game via this forum, I'm just going to make it so you can sell any item at 20% of it's value as long as you are in an area with a trader (ie: not in the woods or a dungeon, etc).

- Buying items is a different story. For the most part you are not going to find any vendors that sell magical items, different vendors are going to have different types of goods (ie: you're not going to find ritual components at the blacksmith) and if a blacksmith doesn't have a certain type of weapon in-stock, he would probably be willing to craft it for you but it will take some time. I also normally vary the prices of goods and my players can barter if they don't like what's being asked; I'm not going to do this to you and things will normally be sold for their standard list price. I will make inventory lists for the shops/vendors you come across and let you know what you can buy if you go looking. Some locations might even have sales days and other days when new stock comes in, so these lists will not remain static.

- I normally choose to just ignore any normal items that are found after combat; no doubt you have noticed this in Kobold Hall. I just don't see a big need for the players to horde daggers and robes for a few pennies unless they're really hurting for cash. Any projectile which is used during combat is lost unless it is a magical item (javelins/arrows/daggers/shurikens/etc); magical projectiles return to you immediately after they are used.

Let me know what you guys think on this matter. Do you like this, is there anything you'd like done another way or is there something else I could add to this that would be awesome?