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.