I made a Human Star Pact warlock as my very first LFR character. You know, way back in ancient times when the Player's Handbook was the only book released. The PHB implied that Star Pacts were equally viable characters as either CON-based or CHA-based, so I made mine CON-based. Unfortunately most of the material released since PHB has supported CHA-based Starlocks and left the poor CON-based ones out in the cold. (I had high, high hopes for Arcane Power, but was sorely disappointed.)
My Starlock is now 11th level and I'm not really enjoying playing her. I've been struggling to find a good paragon path. There are plenty of "meh" ones, but it'd be nice to find a Paragon Path I was actually excited about and interested in.
Does anyone have any suggestions on good paragon paths or how to make my character fun to play? She doesn't need to be optimized. I'd even be willing to make some radical changes (like multi-class her into something crazy) if it made her more fun to play. Unfortunately there are no other classes that have CON as their primary stat, so multi-classing isn't really a great option either.
Thanks!
P.s. Are there any CON-based classes coming out in PHB 3?
I am not sure what your build is exactly
This is what my character looks like with the Master of the Starry Night paragon path (which is what I had tenatively decided on, but I'm not all that impressed with it). I intended to do a lot of retraining after Arcane Power came out, but the whole only-one-retrain-a-level has put a bit of a damper on that. Regardless, this is what she looks like right now:
Human, Star Pact Warlock
Background: Waterdeep
ABILITY SCORES
Str 11, Con 23, Dex 11, Int 16, Wis 9, Cha 14
AC: 22 Fort: 25 Reflex: 23 Will: 22
HP: 85 Surges: 12 Surge Value: 21
TRAINED SKILLS
Bluff (+12), Diplomacy (+14), History (+13), Intimidate (+12), Streetwise (+12)
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +7, Arcana +10, Athletics (+7), Dungeoneering +6, Endurance (+13), Heal +6, Insight +6, Nature +6, Perception (+6), Religion (+10), Stealth +7, Thievery +7
FEATS
Human: Human Perseverance
Level 1: Improved Initiative
Level 2: Jack of All Trades
Level 4: Sacrifice to Caiphon
Level 6: Improved Fate of the Void
Level 8: Action Surge
Level 10: Implement Expertise
Level 11: Reckless Curse
POWERS
Warlock at-will 1: Dire Radiance
Warlock at-will 2: Eldritch Blast
Warlock at-will 3 (human): Hellish Rebuke
Warlock encounter 1: Diabolic Grasp
Warlock daily 1: Armor of Agathys
Warlock utility 2: Ethereal Stride
Warlock encounter 3: Frigid Darkness
Warlock daily 5: Hunger of Hadar
Warlock utility 6: Dark One's Own Luck
Warlock encounter 7: Howl of Doom
Warlock daily 9: Iron Spike of Dis
Warlock utility 10: Troublesome Aid of Caiphon
Warlock encounter 11: Stellar Debris
ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit, Veteran's Armor +2, Bracers of Escape, Steadfast Amulet +3, Pact Blade +2, Gloves of Eldritch Admixture, Healing Potion, Potion of Clarity +2
That lets you take the Student of Caiphon PP (always a crowd favorite) without the Cha-based encounter attack power being much of a drawback. (Howl of Doom makes a good choice to swap with Reserve Maneuver.)
Alternatively, you could use the class feature retrain to retrain to an Infernal or Vestige Pact, which would let you take any Infernal/Vestige Pact PP, and pick up Twofold Pact as a feat to get back the Star Pact benefits. This would also give you a larger pool of Constitution-based attack powers that take advantage of your Eldritch Pact.
If I were you, I would definitely take advantage of the the opportunity to retrain for eldritch strike that the recent rules update provides. Since it can be used as a melee basic, it activates your huge Con in a bunch more circumstances. With dire radiance and hellish rebuke, you'll hardly miss eldritch blast. Even if you don't want to be melee-oriented, it's a nice option to have and is hardly costing you anything.
I think Con warlocks are a ton more fun once you pick up some paragon feats:
Shared Pact
Twofold Pact
Called Shot
Unfortunately, warlocks are in a pretty meh place for paragon paths. I'd recommend Hexer above the rest, purely because it's the one that will remove the most frustration, by letting you hit a group of enemies mixed in with friends, get your curse out quickly, curse not the closest target, etc. Student of Caiphon and Hellbringer have their camps too though.
There's something cool about Hex Blasting a group at the start of combat, killing a few minions, and just handing out 12 temp to your allies, or +2s to attack here and there.
There is a small chance of a Con-based psi defender type in PH3, though, if you're really not interested in normal warlock stuff.
I also wrote a lot about my paragon experience in several posts here. The summary is that for my Darklock I've been able to find a sweet spot in finding ways to reliably curse many targets, then unleash blast powers on them to deal some pretty good damage (with encounter powers!).
My writeup of Hexer, though a comparison, covers the ground pretty well. Hexblast is pretty huge for being able to reliably curse several things (close blast 5, auto-curse, then attack them for low damage). Combined with 1-2 Quickcurse Rods and Quickdraw or a Battleharness, you can really have 4-5 things cursed in most combats. You can also look at the Two-Fold Curse feat to curse the two closest (which, when combined with Greater Hex, gives you even more flexibility to curse any two foes within 5, whether closest or not, which works well to allow Hexblast plus 2 other cursed in many situations).
I stress cursing things because, assuming you value your boon, it is really important that any foe that dies be cursed and that your boon yield a measurable value. The more you can do that, the more fun you can have. Getting your curse out quickly requires things that were mentioned above, high initiative (Quickdraw and the Battleharness also give an init bonus), and positioning. Hexer's Damning Curse is pretty darn useful with this strategy - an AP gives -2 to everything you have cursed, and this is strongest early in the combat when foes want to use good powers. Walking Curse is also a strong 16th level feature that you will likely enjoy time after time.
The next step is to make sure it is useful. Shared Pact is fantastic, especially for you with your high con - you can afford to be near any part of the battlefield. Two-fold Pact is nice if you find that one boon is not enough. Shared Pact and Two-Fold Pact together offer a lot of options once someone has temp HPs.
But, you don't have to try to get your curse out the way I did, nor to make your pact boon a big deal. You can also work really hard to create damage. Con is often the way to achieve the most damaging warlock builds. They are usually based on spamming at-wills with a high base damage modifier. Con is a key here, as would be dipping into Infernal for the combination of Dire Radiance and then Hellish Rebuke to give you reliable damage bonuses. Dual Implement Spellcaster is nice, as is choosing a melee weapon that lets you do more damage than you would with a wand or rod. (Just keep in mind the rules for what applies from a melee magic item to a implement attack are still being defined). There are also a few strong con-based builds out there where you don't spam at-wills (vastly more fun, in my opinion). The key with this would be that you can really enjoy what you will be doing. The well-known trick of Hunger of Hadar and Otherwind Stride is the kind of thing that really does damage, control, and is fun to execute.
I hated my Darklock during the 7-10 range and also at various previous levels. I really sat down and thought about what I liked and what I didn't, what worked, and what did not. I changed a power probably every level as I experimented with what made me more effective and more fun. Paragon has been a literal blast to play.
Wow.........
With the changes that are in the new CCG I guess I can remake this character entirely (except race and class - Human Warlock). That changes everything.... This will require a lot of thought. Hmmm......
Any fun, super-awesome warlock paragon paths out there?
My poor character. She'll wake up as an entirely new person and have no idea what's going on. (She really IS going crazy this time...) I guess that's what she gets for messing with powerful forces and studying things no mortal should have knowledge of...
(And I had just started to accept the notion that my warlock would never been as cool as all the other warlocks on the playground...)
Mine is a Warforged Juggernaught but, that might not be very helpful. A well-built CON warlock makes a good enough melee character where multi-classing to get access to melee PPs might make sense.
Wow.........
With the changes that are in the new CCG I guess I can remake this character entirely (except race and class - Human Warlock). That changes everything.... This will require a lot of thought. Hmmm......
Any fun, super-awesome warlock paragon paths out there?
What do you want the warlock to do? Control? Huge single-target damage? AoE? Melee vs. Ranged? There are several optimization outlocks out there, but awesome isn't always about damage.
Wow.........
With the changes that are in the new CCG I guess I can remake this character entirely (except race and class - Human Warlock). That changes everything.... This will require a lot of thought. Hmmm......
Any fun, super-awesome warlock paragon paths out there?
What do you want the warlock to do? Control? Huge single-target damage? AoE? Melee vs. Ranged? There are several optimization outlocks out there, but awesome isn't always about damage.
That's a good question that I've been trying to answer for myself.
Previously I had played my warlock as a ranged combatant that tried to stay out of melee (so she wouldn't constantly provoke), but I was always disappointed that my extremely high number of hit points and healing surges were "a waste." What's the point in having a ton of hit points if you never get attacked? In theory, I don't mind being in the thick of things, but I didn't want to run into the middle of battle for no reason - just so I can get attacked and take damage and feel like my high hit points are useful. If there's some tactical benefit to being in the middle of the battle then I won't mind doing it (and maybe that will add some excitement and danger). I'm still unsure about whether I want to be melee or ranged though. I might have a slight preference for ranged just because I've played her that way all along and then I won't have to learn an entirely new character.
I'm intrigued by any of the options that let me trade "defense" (hit points, healing surges, AC/FORT/REF/WILL, etc.) for offense. I took the Reckless Curse feat for this reason (They all have a bonus to hit me? Oh well, I have a bonus to hit them and I hit harder!).
I've been toying with the idea of multiclassing Wizard and doing the Blood Mage paragon path. For this character I like the idea of doing damage to myself to inflict more pain on my enemies (she's just crazy like that). I was thinking of keeping the Star Pact (so I have a better chance to hit with the Blood Mage powers since I still want to have a really high CON) and also getting Infernal Pact (to enhance my infernal powers - especially the movement ones). I'd probably use the Star Pact boon most often (and save the Infernal one for if I really need it).
Now, Alphastream, the real answer to your question is that I want my character to be cool/useful/effective but also different than my husband's warlock. I know you met him at DDXP. He's the one with the drow darkpact hexer warlock (Caliginous) that's very similar to yours. [His warlock is - curse everyone and then do massive amounts of damage to the entire battlefield while also doing great control and generally screwing monsters over.] His character is really well-build and just plain awesome - I'm trying to keep my warlock out of his shadow.
(Stupid drow and their Cloud of Darkness - casting big shadows all over the place. ;))Adroit Explorer is open to you as you're human. That's a very solid paragon path.
You could multiclass Barbarian, pick up Hide Armor and Hide Armor Expertise. That would let you have a great AC with Shadow Walk. Plus do some extra damage once per day.
As a Con-based Warlock, Vestige is a lot of fun.
Now, Alphastream, the real answer to your question is that I want my character to be cool/useful/effective but also different than my husband's warlock. I know you met him at DDXP. He's the one with the drow darkpact hexer warlock (Caliginous) that's very similar to yours. [His warlock is - curse everyone and then do massive amounts of damage to the entire battlefield while also doing great control and generally screwing monsters over.] His character is really well-build and just plain awesome - I'm trying to keep my warlock out of his shadow.
Sure! It was cool talking to him. You don't want to replicate that trick, though. There aren't too many of us (yet), but it is a very particular schtick and not worth overdoing.
If you two play often, I would be tempted to either complement him, via Con zones and trying to do more distributed damage to synergize, or to do the opposite and do more single-target. He softens up many targets, you finish them. You could also work on dropping the big threat, he takes on the other critters. With melee, you could have a pretty different style, use that high Con, and enjoy the benefits of weapon attacks.
But, it is more likely (since he curses everything in round one) that you don't play two warlocks together. In that case, I would generally go ranged unless you really like the idea of tanking. Melee tends to limit what powers you end up using, since you tend to spam Eldritch Strike so as to not provoke. The benefits are clear, but I find it a bit boring outside of really liking the concept (I can get behind a dwarven warlock as a concept). If you go ranged, your con should not be a waste - you can always close to gain benefits such as prime shot (and Called Shot) or to soak up damage so the rest of the party doesn't run low on surges. Try to boost your single-target damage as much as possible and use some of those zones to confound opponents. I can't speak to Con-based paragon paths, though.
For a while we had 3 warlocks in our LFR group all around the same level, but the other warlock and I gave up playing with him because we never had a chance to curse anything. Also, his warlock is now 16th level and mine's still a "baby" paragon tier character (since I haven't even chosen my PP yet).Does anyone have experience with any of the vestige pact paragon paths? I initially ignored Vestige Pact because it looked too complicated to play. Is it not as confusing as it appears? They do seem to have some fun powers. And the changing vestige benefits might keep things interesting.
I'm debating between a Blood Mage and some sort of Vestige Pact PP. The problem is I haven't been too excited about any of the Warlock Paragon Paths (especially CON ones). Maybe some of them play better than they sound though. I've found that for a paragon character to be cool and fun to play you have to be excited about your Paragon Path, but a lot of the warlock ones just seem a little lack-luster to me.
Am I missing something?[Yes, I know there are hundreds and hundreds of pages of threads discussing Warlocks... I just don't have time to read and process them all - it's a little overwhelming.
]Does anyone have experience with any of the vestige pact paragon paths? I initially ignored Vestige Pact because it looked too complicated to play. Is it not as confusing as it appears? They do seem to have some fun powers. And the changing vestige benefits might keep things interesting.
I'm debating between a Blood Mage and some sort of Vestige Pact PP. The problem is I haven't been too excited about any of the Warlock Paragon Paths (especially CON ones). Maybe some of them play better than they sound though. I've found that for a paragon character to be cool and fun to play you have to be excited about your Paragon Path, but a lot of the warlock ones just seem a little lack-luster to me.
Some good choices:
Astral Ascendant(Dragon 383) - Vestige-only, do a couple of Leaderesque tricks, very nice.
Student of Caiphon - crit on 18-20 with radiant/fear powers.
Adroit Explorer
Academy Master(Dragon 374) - basic upgrade to Warlock across the board, not a lot of flavor though.
Sea Tyrant Oracle - weird kooky flavor, vestige turns your at-will into basically an encounter power - slide people Int-squares after hitting them.
Especially if your husband is playing a Warlock, it might be a good idea to just go through the various options with him so you get a good idea of what you're going to do with a Vestige Warlock. They can be quite fun.
You're right, we rarely play our Warlocks together. I'd never get a curse in edge-wise! For a while we had 3 warlocks in our LFR group all around the same level, but the other warlock and I gave up playing with him because we never had a chance to curse anything.
You still miss out on the boons which can be annoying but, you are aware that you can share curses for the purpose of dealing damage? You do your extra damage to cursed enemies not only enemies effected by your curse. It makes multiple warlocks alot more playayble and some miss the nuance.
Vestige of Ugar is currently one of my favrorite powers in the game. An encounter long burst 2 zone of fire that you can move as your cursed foes die.
I've found that for a paragon character to be cool and fun to play you have to be excited about your Paragon Path, but a lot of the warlock ones just seem a little lack-luster to me. Am I missing something?
[Yes, I know there are hundreds and hundreds of pages of threads discussing Warlocks... I just don't have time to read and process them all - it's a little overwhelming. ]
I might recommend just these links:
Optimization Challenge
I sold my soul for this?
Those two have some good thoughts on effective warlock builds, including beyond the idea of spamming Eldritch Strike or EB.
For paragon paths, the key is really the features. You want those features to make you happy. The AP is one I really like to see sing. For example, Nightmare Weaver and having everything rattled and slid, which Hexer can do as well, is really cool. I cause monsters to miss all the time in round 1 by APing in the first round.
I do like the boon - giving that up is terrible. So, I would agree that playing when your husband is not playing his warlock is a good idea. I honestly cringe if another warlock sits at my table, because it means they either can't boon or I have to not Cursegrind/Bite half the room... when I could in the first round...
If you like Blood Mage, be aware that Blood Pulse plays like a daily but is an encounter power. No one will be surprised if it is nerfed. Any reliance on dealing static damage to secondary damage (let alone each of the D6 for movement) is suspect. Now, even toned down BP is cool, so no huge worries unless they Healer's Sash it. For Blood Mage I would want control and damaging zones. If you go charisma, something like Blood Pulse plus Plague of Frogs (which my Darklock enjoyed greatly this past weekend - got it at 15th) is a great bit of pain to hand out. Hit them for double pain, now they want to get out and take damage, now you move Plague of Frogs onto them again. Get the boots that give you an extra move action for more flexibility. There are good zones at lower levels as well, or even powers that move them... since forced movement seems to work with Blood Pulse (one area I would look at if I were doing the errata).
The Caiphon prestige class is worth a look. Critting often can be a lot of fun, especially with a Vicious Rod. You could get two cheap Quickcurse Rods, hit foes with some zones, Shared Pact could let you get the boon out to many allies so everyone is hitting more often... maybe look at some ways to lower foe defenses... it could be pretty.
I can't comment on Vestige. It was Con-based so I skipped it.
If you like Blood Mage, be aware that Blood Pulse plays like a daily but is an encounter power. No one will be surprised if it is nerfed. Any reliance on dealing static damage to secondary damage (let alone each of the D6 for movement) is suspect.
Personally, I consider this to fall more under the "I can't believe any sane person would mean it to work that way" rather than "the rules don't work this way". I'd find it tough to argue that static mods get added to Explosive Pyre, but not Blood Pulse.
Yes, this power does an obscene amount of damage, and I would house-rule it in a heartbeat in a home game. I find it bizarre that the power has not been errataed and even more bizarre that the class has received enough attention to get an errata to Bolstering Blood... the effect of which was that it's even more plain that Bolstering Blood's bonus damage applies to Blood Pulse.
That is all, however, a different thing than trying to interpret the rules in such a way as to get a sane result from Blood Pulse while still claiming to be following the rules. To be honest, I would prefer to just come out with a flat house-rule (or perhaps just refuse to DM for a player who didn't agree to "voluntarily" house-rule himself) and hand them Chris Tulach's e-mail address for complaints, than try to come up with contortions to get the result I want.
I find it bizarre that the power has not been errataed and even more bizarre that the class has received enough attention to get an errata to Bolstering Blood... the effect of which was that it's even more plain that Bolstering Blood's bonus damage applies to Blood Pulse.
Hmm? It should be clear cut that it doesn't due to the errata(or at least not to the movement part)
PHB FAQ: For the Blood Mage Paragon Path, how often can you damage an opponent using the Bolstering Blood feature?You can damage an opponent once per turn and once per power.
You do Blood Pulse with Bolstering Blood on them- they take damage from Bolstering Blood as part of the hit. If they then get moved, they don't take additional damage from Bolstering Blood because they've already taken damage from Bolstering Blood as part of hitting them with Blood Pulse...
(edit: I'd also note I'd also rule that sliding someone 4 squares with the effect is 4d6+implement, not 4d6+implement*4)
In that case, I would generally go ranged unless you really like the idea of tanking. Melee tends to limit what powers you end up using, since you tend to spam Eldritch Strike so as to not provoke.
What's wrong with provoking? As long as it's only from a limited set, you're potentially giving a defender an extra attack, getting +1 to +3 to hit (Prime Shot and Flank), triggering hellish rebuke or tyrannical threat extra damage, better positioning for armor of agathys, etc.
I do lots of ranged attacks in melee with my bard and infernal warlock. Temp hit points, plenty of hp, plenty of surges, s'all good.
What's wrong with provoking?
Provoking can be fine. I do it often to get my warlock Called Shot bonus. However, I will note that I have been stunned or dazed when I provoked in 2 of 5 recent adventures. It has its downsides. Some players don't like that style of play, so I wanted to err on that side of things.
I find it bizarre that the power has not been errataed and even more bizarre that the class has received enough attention to get an errata to Bolstering Blood... the effect of which was that it's even more plain that Bolstering Blood's bonus damage applies to Blood Pulse.
Hmm? It should be clear cut that it doesn't due to the errata(or at least not to the movement part)PHB FAQ: For the Blood Mage Paragon Path, how often can you damage an opponent using the Bolstering Blood feature?You can damage an opponent once per turn and once per power.
You do Blood Pulse with Bolstering Blood on them- they take damage from Bolstering Blood as part of the hit. If they then get moved, they don't take additional damage from Bolstering Blood because they've already taken damage from Bolstering Blood as part of hitting them with Blood Pulse...
(edit: I'd also note I'd also rule that sliding someone 4 squares with the effect is 4d6+implement, not 4d6+implement*4)
According to the PHB II FAQ and recent CS responses, you would apply your static bonuses to every square of movement. It is resolved as A) move a square, B) take 1d6+static modifiers, C) move a second square, etc. This is consistent with their ruling on other powers. So, it is 4*(1d6+static mods). For example, if the foe is bloodied and you had Merciless Killer and Gauntlets of Blood +4, moving would be 4*9=36 just from those two feats, plus all the other stuff. And, of course, because of recent rulings, you can also move the foes to trigger the damage...
The FAQ for PHB says that Bolstering Blood is added in once, for 1d10 or 2d10 to the total damage. This is done just prior to the attack, so it is on the initial damage roll and not on later damage rolls. It is still a nice addition to each attack made with Blood Pulse. And, if you APd, you get to give them all ongoing 10 dmg.
I'm glad for all this not to be true, but I can't really argue it otherwise. It is a huge amount of damage. My guess is that the core ruling can stay, but then the power needs to receive errata. I'm not sure if powers like Dire Radiance need to be re-examined, but it is possible as they end up being vastly stronger to most other At-Wills. BP is of course much stronger than similar options, as end up being many powers with secondary damage.
You do Blood Pulse with Bolstering Blood on them- they take damage from Bolstering Blood as part of the hit.
The FAQ entry is based on the pre-errata Bolstering Blood.
The pre-errata Bolstering Blood said:
"When the power you use damages a target, you deal extra psychic damage equal to the damage you dealt to yourself."
The FAQ then specified that you deal this damage only once for the power.
The post-errata Bolstering Blood says:
"You gain a bonus to the power’s damage rolls equal to the damage you dealt to yourself."
We don't even have to get into the nitty-gritty of how to interpret powers--since the new version is plural ("damage rolls"), any interpretation that the bonus only applies to one damage roll of a power can't be correct.
But, I think I've probably hijacked this thread long enough. If there's any interest on this issue, it's probably better moved over to the D&D Rules forum.
According to the PHB II FAQ and recent CS responses, you would apply your static bonuses to every square of movement. It is resolved as A) move a square, B) take 1d6+static modifiers, C) move a second square, etc. This is consistent with their ruling on other powers. So, it is 4*(1d6+static mods). For example, if the foe is bloodied and you had Merciless Killer and Gauntlets of Blood +4, moving would be 4*9=36 just from those two feats, plus all the other stuff. And, of course, because of recent rulings, you can also move the foes to trigger the damage...
PHB II FAQ says nothing about applying your static bonuses to every square of movement. It says that when you roll damage, you add your bonuses. And when someone moves 4 squares under an effect, that rolling of damage gets resolved at the end of their movement.
The same way that say Falling works. You don't get to make an acrobatics roll at the end of every 10 feet to see if you avoid damage when you fall 100 feet...even though that is exactly how applying this interpretation of PHB II FAQ to Blood Pulse makes Falling work...
We don't even have to get into the nitty-gritty of how to interpret powers--since the new version is plural ("damage rolls"), any interpretation that the bonus only applies to one damage roll of a power can't be correct.
Sure it can. Powers, especially at-wills, can be used multiple times...as that is a perfectly valid interpretation and works with the obvious nature of the FAQ, that's enough.
(Even after an errata I'm sure it would still be a very powerful paragon path.) I've heard that people do some pretty cheesy things with Blood Pulse and literal interpretations of the rules. I would impose my own conservative interpretation of the rules on myself. (I'm perfectly happy to just do 1d6 of extra damage, etc.) An errata or more clarification would be nice though. I know some people will just slide the target back and forth 10 times between two squares. But then they've left the same square 5 times, so is that 1d6 or 5d6? Or what if I throw someone off a cliff? While they're falling they're technically exiting each square they fall through... But that just seems cheesy.
What's wrong with provoking? As long as it's only from a limited set, you're potentially giving a defender an extra attack, getting +1 to +3 to hit (Prime Shot and Flank), triggering hellish rebuke or tyrannical threat extra damage, better positioning for armor of agathys, etc.
If you mix in prime punisher and called shot and wear strike backs, you can very often be the one winning the battle of opportunity attacks. Charging in with Eldritch Strike and an additional 5 damage with a high probability of getting an addtional attack with the power can be very worthwhile and only gets better if you can throw in some charging bonuses and armor of agathys.
if you can manage to sled them back into a zone they just got out of, even better. I tend to follow my charge rounds with one of the close blast effects available to set up for my next charge.
I also find alot of DMs still fall for taking OAs with cursed minions against pact blades. A few temps on the way in on a charge rarely hurt.
An errata or more clarification would be nice though. I know some people will just slide the target back and forth 10 times between two squares. But then they've left the same square 5 times, so is that 1d6 or 5d6? Or what if I throw someone off a cliff? While they're falling they're technically exiting each square they fall through... But that just seems cheesy.
Considering you could instead slide them 10 away and do 10d6, I'm not sure there's any problem dealing them less by moving around in the same area.
And as a DM I'd totally give you 1d6 per square on falling. Nothing else just to see how silly it got.
If you mix in prime punisher and called shot and wear strike backs, you can very often be the one winning the battle of opportunity attacks.
You can't use strikebacks on your turn, since they are an immediate.
As to moving critters around, the power is pretty unusual in saying "leave" and square, which makes it trigger when a creature is shifted, even if back and forth. It is all legal, just very broken.
You can't use strikebacks on your turn, since they are an immediate.
As to moving critters around, the power is pretty unusual in saying "leave" and square, which makes it trigger when a creature is shifted, even if back and forth. It is all legal, just very broken.
I didn't mean to use strikebacks for attacks of opportunities while provoking just having them and preparing buildwise to be in midst of melee combat.
The group I play with regularly is starting a radiant-focused group of characters. There will be lots of radiant vulnerability flying around, so they want me to do Student of Caiphon to throw even more radiant into the mix. They're all starting at level 1, so it's going to be a long time until they catch up with me and we start playing paragon tier. (So I'll have plenty of time to retrain my character!
)I guess that means I'll want lots of radiant and fear powers (with an emphasis on radiant). I glanced through the options and was disappointed that the radiant and fear stuff seems to be a pretty even mix between CHA and CON powers. Does that mean I should try to balance out my CHA and CON? (*grumble grumble* Stupid Starlocks...) Any suggestions on good radiant or fear powers?
Crown of Stars (CHA) seems like a must in a radiant party. Dire Radiance (CON) has always been a defining power for my character, so I'd definitely like to keep it. That power has earned her the nickname of Horse-Slayer and it's become a running joke around here. She used it in at least 2 or 3 mods early in her career on various horses pulling carts/wagons to keep the bad guys from getting away - and the reputation stuck. I also wrote it into her backstory as the first power she ever used - a completely instinctive/accidental use to save her from getting trampled by an injured horse.
That power saved her life! And started her down this path of knowledge and power and insanity... Backstory and personality don't seem to matter for much in LFR sometimes, but I'll keep the power since it's turned into the central part of who my character is. I really like Dire Radiance myself (as noted by me taking it on my bard) and many of the Con powers in general. I'm not sure how well it works to mix both Cha and Con, but - well, frankly - give it a shot. If you don't like it, then move on. The biggest cost is going to be to your AC, unless you also invest in Str for Hide or Chain and spend 1-2 feats as appropriate. Some secondary powers may be hurt, but I suspect it'll be pretty dealable.
Anyhow, sounds like you've got a lot of time to figure things out if you're intending to group with the character who hit level 2 last night ;)
Anyhow, sounds like you've got a lot of time to figure things out if you're intending to group with the character who hit level 2 last night ;)
I believe the group actually hit level 2 this morning, around 2 AM.
All right - change of plan. I'm going to take the Student of Caiphon Paragon Path.
Just wanted to add a minor note: The majority of warlocks/wizards are either Student of Caiphon or Blood Mage, or Evermeet Warlocks. Actually there are just lots of Student of Caiphon everything out there.
I say Adroit Explorer
Just wanted to add a minor note: The majority of warlocks/wizards are either Student of Caiphon or Blood Mage, or Evermeet Warlocks. Actually there are just lots of Student of Caiphon everything out there.
I say Adroit Explorer
Darn it. I was hoping to have a warlock who wasn't identical to every other warlock out there but who was also somewhat effective. I suppose I can't have both.
Adroit Explorer is a good paragon path, but I was disappointed in it for a warlock. It has some good defensive stuff, but defense was the last thing I was worried about for a CON-based striker.
Well, I have 8 other LFR characters to play. Maybe I'll keep this one on the shelf for another year and wait until Arcane Power 2 comes out.
*grumble grumble* Or, who knows, maybe PHB3 will have something good.Just wanted to add a minor note: The majority of warlocks/wizards are either Student of Caiphon or Blood Mage, or Evermeet Warlocks. Actually there are just lots of Student of Caiphon everything out there.
Out of curiousity, what is your basis for this assessment?
Just wanted to add a minor note: The majority of warlocks/wizards are either Student of Caiphon or Blood Mage, or Evermeet Warlocks. Actually there are just lots of Student of Caiphon everything out there.
Out of curiousity, what is your basis for this assessment?
Just table experience. Blood Mages are dime a dozen. Caiphon with warlocks is a bit rarer, but only because warlocks are a bit rare (I wonder why...). I see a lot of Caiphon as cross-class.
I probably see Fey warlocks the most often, then warlocks with BM, then warlocks with Caiphon, then the rest is pretty evenly mixed (Vestige, Dark, strange PPaths).
Out of curiousity, what is your basis for this assessment?
DMing Paragon level play at conventions in the Los Angeles Area is my main basis. I do see alot of those 3 paragon paths, along with Simbrach of Aglarond. In play the PC usually ends up explaining their paragon path to me, so I understand the more common paths a little better than the others. So for example I have a much better idea of what Student of Caiphon does than say a Hexer.
Also, people tend to do table chatter about their characters and their future plans for them during game downtime.
Just wanted to add a minor note: The majority of warlocks/wizards are either Student of Caiphon or Blood Mage, or Evermeet Warlocks. Actually there are just lots of Student of Caiphon everything out there.
Out of curiousity, what is your basis for this assessment?
Just table experience. Blood Mages are dime a dozen. Caiphon with warlocks is a bit rarer, but only because warlocks are a bit rare (I wonder why...). I see a lot of Caiphon as cross-class.
I guess I just tend to ignore (i.e., I don't use) the options that would promote min-maxing with my characters. Even though I'm playing a striker, I don't see the need to take something that's a big damage dealer if it doesn't fit with the concept of the character; and from what I'm hearing, I'll likely be one of the few warlocks out there with Entrancing Mystic as my paragon path :-)
Sure I'm SOL if I run into something with psychic resistance (I favor the Cha-based star pact powers), but everybody runs into something they can't damage effectively once in a while...
I have a much better idea of what Student of Caiphon does than say a Hexer.
FYI, Hexer is pretty non-cheese, but can be part of a delicious breakfast. (For my money, Nightmare Weaver is slightly stronger).
Hexers gain one really strong thing. When they action point, they rattle everything they curse. They get some minor boosts, such as being able to hex a critter within 5 instead of just the closest, sliding a creature that takes curse dmg 1 square, and an interrupt to curse something that attacked them, hit or miss. None of that is very strong.
The power most often used is the first one, Hexblast, a low-damage blast 5 that first curses all enemies and then attacks them. This provides nice synergy along with Quickcurse rods and other rapid-cursing techniques for cursing most of the foes on the board, which leads to an Action Point and Cursegrinding (Darklock power, burst 20 vs all cursed foes, strong damage but vs. Fort). Cursebite is the weaker cousin to Cursegrind and often used the next round or if Hexblast was not needed.
That's really all there is to Hexer. It is less about the awesome power and more about enabling something you are trying to do - rapid cursing plus set-up for the two blast 20s. There is little that can be done to stop the technique, outside of winning init and dazing/stunning the Hexer. Combats with Hexers often get easy around round 2, because the Hexer does AoE distributed damage to soften up all targets, then helps bring them down in later rounds (since most foes will start combat down about 1/4 or more HPs and thus ripe to be taken down in the second round by focused fire, more AoE, or a single good striker). The AP and rattle helps lessen the sting of not killing anything in round 1. One thing that is nice for DMs is that the Hexer tends to keep everything up for 1-2 rounds, letting you do your tricks, as opposed to other strikers that obliterate/shut down your favorite monster. For parties, it is all good except for other warlocks. The Hexer will usually curse everything on the board before you go, leaving you without any pact boons. This requires player coordination on how best to approach the situation, such as the Hexer leaving some targets for the other warlock to curse.
I'm planning to PP Nightmare Weaver when I get that far (if D&D5.0 hasn't come out first by then - I still haven't reached L2).
I'm also kicking around ideas for an Astronomy Star Pact (fire, cold, radiant, steal Trumpet the Star's Fall Invoker 5, make Echoes of Chiculuxub the L29 capstone) and an Astrology Star Pact (your enemy becomes a pariah).
In the "Fixing the Warlock" thread (Optimization Forum) I have a few powers re-written to sound like Eldritch Blast upgrades. As a house rule, I added the EB clause 'you must pick CON or CHR' to the new powers. If this looks like it will help with your problems, feel free to show it to your DM and copy it off.
For parties, it is all good except for other warlocks. The Hexer will usually curse everything on the board before you go, leaving you without any pact boons. This requires player coordination on how best to approach the situation, such as the Hexer leaving some targets for the other warlock to curse.
Simple solutiom, especially if you play together often, is a heroic tier feat, Accursed Coordination.
Which allows the second Warlock to not only recurse a cursed foe, but gain combat advantage against it....
A double Hexer combo, with both of them with that feat would tend to be a bit sick, since the second Warlock would have CA against a LOT of opponents, and, if they both have the feat, both of them would have automatic CA in later rounds against any opponent which was double cursed...
P.s. Are there any CON-based classes coming out in PHB 3?
It looks like there's finally another CON-based class being released!
According to the new PHB3 excerpt, the Battlemind uses CON as their primary stat. I don't know if a striker/defender combo will be all that great, but at least it gives me more choices for paragon paths. Maybe I'll finally have an option other than paragon paths that are amazingly broken and ones that are useless. I've kind of given up on picking the best/most optimized paragon path. Now I just want something that's unique, interesting, and fun.P.s. Are there any CON-based classes coming out in PHB 3?
It looks like there's finally another CON-based class being released! According to the new PHB3 excerpt, the Battlemind uses CON as their primary stat. I don't know if a striker/defender combo will be all that great, but at least it gives me more choices for paragon paths. Maybe I'll finally have an option other than paragon paths that are amazingly broken and ones that are useless. I've kind of given up on picking the best/most optimized paragon path. Now I just want something that's unique, interesting, and fun.
I actually considered the potential of a Battlemind/Conlock combo when I saw Battlemind.
I play a warlock|paladin and it's an absolute blast to play.
They just posted the Battlemind hybrid rules. It is one of the few things I would consider playing as a hybrid.
I thought of that too, but the con synergy doesn't seem to make up for the lack of stickiness imo. The battlemind hybrid seems significantly less sticky than a hybrid paladin or warden as you lose the synergy between Blurred Step and Mind Spike.
For example, if you're on 2 and the marked enemy is on 5, the the only way you would get Mind Spike to fire off is if the enemy attacks an ally on 1 or 3. If the ally is on 4, 7, 8, 9, or 6, one shift and the enemy is free to attack without retaliation from Mind Spike. Worse yet, if the enemy has reach, then you're completely out of luck as a Warlock|Battlemind.
A pure Battlemind doesn't have these problems as they can shift with their marked enemy via Blurred Step. A Battlemind|Fighter would work well however.