orb wizards

gotten from wizards d&d forum:

Spell Focus, Earthroot Staff, Phrenic Crown, and Skull Mask. If you want, go WotST for a Cunning Weapon as well.

Here are the best of the constant saving throw-affecting items/feats that don't require much investment (Cunning requires WotST, for example)

Spell Focus - -2 to saving throws. Applies to all spells.

Phrenic Crown - attacking Will = -1,2,3 to saving throws. Levels 7,17,27. Applies to all of the best spells. (Sleep, Prismatic Spray, Legion's Hold)

Skull Mask - fear effect (which I assume means a power with the fear keyword) = -2 to saving throws. Works at all levels, lowest = 5. Applies to Prismatic Spray.

Earthroot Staff - penalty = enh bonus of staff on attacks that impose immobilized, petrified, restrained, or slowed conditions. Perhaps the worst offender of the bunch, applies to both Sleep and Prismatic Spray, applies a very large penalty, and does it constantly.

When you have Spell Focus, a level 27 Phrenic Crown, a +6 Earthroot Staff, and a Skull Mask, when using Prismatic Spray you don't even need your Orb of Imposition until you meet a Solo. And then you only need a 16 in Wis to perma-stun it. Note that these all apply to everything hit. Anything other than a Solo is screwed, and you don't even have to use any magic item dailies or even encounter powers.

Next, good items that don't have constant effects:
Orb of Ultimate Imposition (AV): I'm not very impressed by it, frankly. Once a day I can impose a very large penalty. How about instead I use Earthroot Staff and impose the that same penalty on everyone without using a magic item daily slot or my Orb of Imposition? (you can only use it on Sleep and Prismatic Spray, but that should not be a hindrance at all.)

Veteran's Armor (AV): Completely ridiculous. Lug around a few +1 armors and use them when you need them. Trading an action point and magic item daily use to get back a ridiculously powerful, encounter changing Wizard daily is a great deal. You might want to get back Sleep, since you're optimizing to be teh-uber stun-locker. One round and all your enemies are down for a long time.

Orb of Karmic Resonance (AV): Amusing. What, you saved? No, you didn't. Uses up a magic item daily, though, which I think you should be using pretty much entirely on Veteran's Armor.

Orb of Mental Dominion (AV): Very nice. It's even the same price as a normal orb. You have to be attacking with this orb, though. 2 saves and take the lower lowers chances of saving very significantly, and they probably won't ever save if you've got any reasonable penalty on them. Unfortunately, I'd rather have Earthroot as my top level, and you'll want to spend your magic item dailies on Veteran's Armor.

Arcane Mastery (feat, PHB): This basically lets you use the Veteran's Armor power all the time, except you keep your magic item dailies as well. Awesome, especially when combined with the next one.

Violet Solitaire (Wondrous Item, AV): Once you get this, you may not have fun anymore. You make a massive number of attacks over the course of the encounter, so critting is almost an eventuality. Then, you get an action point. Then, you get back a daily, which you can either use again or save for the next encounter. You can use a daily every single encounter with this, and if you use the right one, pretty much any encounter will be trivial from this point on (you'll want to use Prismatic Spray, most likely).


Once you combine these, you'll want to hit with your ridiculously powerful powers. Conveniently, they all attack Will. Conveniently, Divine Oracle lets you roll twice against Will. Multiclass Cleric and go Divine Oracle. Also, you don't need Wisdom past a certain point, since it becomes pretty much pointless. You can raise your other stats instead once you reach that point. Ironically, Legion's Hold isn't affected by the biggest of these, Earthroot Staff, and is so less likely to keep enemies affected than the other two, and so amusingly likely to be your worst stunner.
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also gotten from wizards d&d forum:

You could probably do it as early as Paragon.

-5 Orb of Imposition Wisdom mod(assuming you are a Dwarf/Elf)
-3 Orb of Ultimate Imposition +3(from Adventurer's Vault)
-2 Spell Focus
-2 Lvl 6 Swordmage Utility(from FR player's guide)

drow rogue feat suggestions

gotten from en world:

Backstabber - D8 sneak attack dice
Two Fisted Shooter - one handed reload of hand crossbow as free action, free attack if you crit.
Slaying Action - Sneak attack twice with action point
Ruthless Hunter - crossbow D8 and high crit
Drow Fighting style - no OA provoke if hand crossbow in hand with melee weapon in other
Agile Athlete - roll acrobatics or althetics rolls twice, take better roll
Venemous Heritage - resists 5 poison +2 vs poison saves
Dager Sense - Roll initiative twice, keep better
Fleet footed - +1 speed
Master of FIre and darkness - use darkness and darkfire both per encounter
Merciless Killer - +5 damage vs bloodied foes you have CA against

Epic resurgance - regain encounter power on crit
Martial Mastery - regain martial encounter power if you spend action point
Flanking Manuever - move diagonal through hard corners move through enemies
Clutch of Darkness - bigger globe of darkness
Unfettered Stride - ignore difficult terrain

Devestating Critical - +1d10 on crits as a daggermaster it's very nice too
Blood Thirst - +2 damage to bloodied foes, stacks wtih merciless killer.

that's 18 there, I'm sure I'll want others too but I think that may be my set of 18 by 30.

Whirlwind sneak attack looks kinda sexy too, combined with Martial mastery if you move first run up, aoe blast sneak attack a group, action point and do it again with the same power. sneak attacking everyone twice in one turn. and if you crit on anyone during all this, regain hte use of the encounter power you used to do it wtih again.

nonevil gods, as revised by me

key to revisions:
added
removed

Avandra (good unaligned) change, trickery, luck, love, trade, travel, autumn,halfling

Bahamut (lawful good) justice, honor, nobility, protection, dragonborn

Corellon (unaligned) arcane magic, spring, beauty, the arts, arcane and artistic knowledge and skills, eladrin, fey

Erathis (unaligned) civilization, invention, laws

Ioun (unaligned) knowledge, prophecy, skill

Kord (unaligned) strength, battle, storms, goliath, half-orc

Melora (unaligned) wilderness, sea, storms, moon, elf, shifter, primal

Moradin (lawful good) creation, invention, artisans, scientific and technical knowledge and skills , family, civilization, laws, dwarf

Pelor (good) sun, summer, agriculture, time, man

Raven Queen (unaligned) death, time, fate, prophecy, winter, shadar kai

Sehanine (unaligned) trickery, moon, love, autumn

tharizdun

after the gods discovered the existence of the shard of ultimate chaotic evil, they sought to destroy it, but could not succeed because its power exceeded their own.

tharizdun, originally the greatest of the gods and of lawful good alignment, removed the shard to the bottom-most depths of the elemental chaos, seeking to minimize its influence upon the plane. tharizdun, having possessed the shard, succumbed to its overwhelming influence and became more chaotic evil than even the greatest of demon princes. tharizdun now seeks nothing less than the utter destruction of everything.

all of the gods, both good and evil, sharing a fundamental interest in the preservation of the world and the planes, endeavored to vanquish tharizdun, but because of his own remarkable power, combined with some the shard's power that now resides within him, the gods could only succeed in banishing tharizdun to a potent demiplane of imprisonment.

io, who once was tharizdun's closest ally, was the god who ultimately performed the banishment. when io died, the precise knowledge of the demiplane of imprisonment died with him.

misc

coven - a term associated with druids

hobgoblins build many castles

torog and the far realm

torog was the first--and only--deity to travel extensively through the far realm. the far realm drastically and permanently changed torog. since his return from the far realm, torog became associated with aberrations as well as his original portfolio.

alternatively, some speculate that torog, while exploring the far realm, was consumed/absorbed by a creature of inestimable power who now also possesses the power of a god.

cloud of daggers

gotten from wizards forum:

1. it deals more total damage to a single target than any other wizard at-will, assuming wisdom 14 or higher.

2. it is extensible with orb of imposition. If have orb mastery, but aren't blowing a daily this encounter, then you will be using the orb on an at-will, and this is one of only 2 ph at-will spells that are orbable.

3. it is the only wizard at-will that is a guaranteed minion kill (well, almost guaranteed, unless something allows the minion to move before its turn).

4. it does exert a small terrain effect -- no other at-will in the game does this. good to plug up small passages, or deny archers the square from which they are getting cover or superior cover.

5. it combos ok with allies that provide forced movement (tide of iron, positioning strike, etc), or even with forced movement you provide (extending the cloud with an orb, or using an action point).

defensive advantage and warlocks

gotten from the wizards forums:

don't neglect to take the defensive advantage feat. Since you gain ca against everyone when you move 3 squares, defensive advantage would also give you an additional +2 nontyped ac bonus against everyone.

iron curtain concept

iron curtain concept utilizing a long mountain range called stone (?) curtain, behind which an enormous goblinoid empire exists.

glaive fighter

glaive

warpriest challenge
combat challenge
combat superiority (+wis mod)
fighter weapon talent (+1)
sure strike (at-will +2)
polearm gamble
heavy blade opportunity
blade opportunity (+2)
combat opportunity (+1)
wintertouched (combat advantage = +2)
lasting frost
immediate interrupt
armor specialiation (scale)

cross class paragon paths

more interesting info from the wizards d&d forums:

divine oracle (cleric): roll attack vs will and initiative twice
radiant servant (cleric): radiant crits on 19 or 20
iron vanguard (fighter): con heal on kills and con damage to enemies you pushed and knocked prone
kensei (fighter): +1 to attack and +4 to damage with chosen weapon.
pit fighter (fighter): +1 ac and wis to damage
daggermaster (rogue): daggers crits on 18, 19, or 20 and dagger crit cause ca.
shadow assassin (rogue): enemy melee misses deal dex to them
knight commander (warlord): +2 attack to adjacent allies and + cha damage to ally's opportunity damage
sword marshal (warlord): swords!

orb wizard who goes cleric for divine oracle (yay, will attacks)
- infernal warlock who goes fighter for iron vanguard (yay, con synergy)
- twf ranger who goes fighter for pit fighter (ZOMG! damage)

one of my favorite builds is a tank warlock that goes bloodmage.
The warlock loads up on ac, temporary hitpoints, healing surges, etc. then goes into battle and uses the temporary hp to unleash massive extra damage. Your ac is between 3 and 4 higher than the mobs average rolls and you benefit from concealment 90% of the time, this allows you to run about cursing every mob with twofold curse, then every time you get a kill, you get 14+ thp, and can use them to power the 2d10 bonus damage to your wizard spells that you swapped for and the bloodmage powers.
blood pulse is also amazing with howl of doom or harrowfire.

4e ranger discussion

here is some interesting ranger information that i copied from the wizards d&d forum:

i can see no reason that a Ranger should ever take the Archer Fighting Style . all it gives you is one feat (defensive mobility), compared to a feat (toughness) plus a unique ability (you can wield a one-handed weapon in your off hand as if it were an off-hand weapon) for the two-blade fight style. unless i had specific designs on an archer ranger paragon path, i'd pick two-blade every time.

i'd take the two-blade ranger, plus the quick draw feat, and aim for powers that worked with both bows and blades. that way I'd be able to quickly adapt to make the most of any situation. i'd try to maximize strength and dexterity and keep investing the free stat boosts in them, with only occasional bumps to constitution and wisdom as needed by any feats or powers. if a ranged-only power was especially good, i'd take it, but since you never know what kind of conditions you'll be fighting in, neglecting the melee powers is foolhardy.

feats:
bastard sword proficiency
weapon focus: heavy blades
two weapon fighting
two weapon defense
quick draw
scimitar dance

stats
an elf ranger can end up with dex 30, str 24 and wis 15.
30 is the maximum stat so far in 4th edition.

18 - base
+2 racial
+1 x 8 (4, 8, 11, 14, 18, 21, 24, 28)
+2 demigod (21)

not the most optimal stat allocation (going for 18 is pretty stupid), but you are definitely not going to suck at Two weapon fighting.
you could also go dex 28, str 26, wis 16, con 14, which only sacrifices one point of dex and is basically one of the best possible ranger twf builds.

the nigh-optimum starting array is 16-16-12-12-10-8. one racial boost to raise your primary to 18, the other to raise your tertiary to 14. 18-16-14 primary-secondary-tertiary.
if dex is your tertiary stat, it's only going up to 14.

16-16-12-12-10-8 turns into 16-16-13-11-10-8. If you can afford no bonus in three stats, you can have a free 13.

builds
a. ranger/pit fighter/demigod = bastard sword
b. ranger/stormwarden/trickster = scimitar

in build a, you do the following:
1. pump wisdom
2. probably go to scale armor specialization
3. cascade of blades (+2 vs +3 prof) + armor splinter
4. weapon proficiency (bastard sword)

in build b, you do the following:
1. pump dexterity
2. hide armor specialization
3. scimitar dance
4. look for powers that use bow and melee.

and the scimitar dance damage does not stack with exploits that do damage on a miss, so if you take a bunch of those powers, you may not want to have scimitar dance.

scimitar dance: if you miss with a melee attack with a scimitar and you wouldn’t otherwise still deal damage on the miss, you deal damage to your original target equal to your dexterity modifier. this damage receives no modifiers or other benefits you normally gain on weapon damage.

of course, i may play against type, and go for the build b, except use the bastard sword. i really like cascade of blades with the +2 to hit from stormwarden, and the extra +1 to hit from bs prof. And the 4 rerolls don't hurt either (1 elf; 3 trickster). With cascade of blades and armor splinter, it may be worthwhile to make sure your cleric has weapon of the gods, or dip for that prayer.

the numbers that I saw showed that they were fairly close, so you can use either weapon with either build. depending on how your gm does magic treasure, I've heard some people may take bs proficiency at heroic, and then retrain it to scimitar dance at paragon.

4e psion

here are my latest thoughts on psion:

(1) role: controller

(2) two builds:
(i) build #1 - charm/enchantment oriented build (psychic damage type) with charisma as primary/attack stat;
(ii) build #2 - illusion oriented build (psychic damage type) with intelligence as primary/attack stat;
(iii) perhaps wisdom could serve as the secondary stat, if any, for each build;
(iv) perhaps telekinesis powers (force damage type) are included in each build for variety;

nentir vale

tiamat worshipper in fallcrest

this person is in league with the bandits of raven roost.

further exploring the nentir vale
steal this hook
hired muscle
d100 story elements
76-85: the dead husband of the woman who hires the PCs was slain by bandits working for one of his rivals. the bugbear group now works for that same rival, who is based in fallcrest. the rival has several reasons to put the woman out of business -- at your discretion, the main one could be that he wants to put her in a desperate economic situation so that she marries him.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4hook/20080916a
change the above to (i) the bugbears are members of the bandit group, and (ii) the tiamat worshipper simply is eliminating a rival.

cover/concealment versus LOS/LOE

there needs to be a greater synergy between cover/concealment, line of effect/sight.

for example, [ally/enemy providing cover, but what about LOS/LOE?]

concept: meteor and the far realm

gargantuan (huge?) meteor crashes into the planet not far (within 1 mile?) from fallcrest(*), creating a crater that is 5 times the diameter of the meteor. the meteor's radiation (aura) has a radius equal to the radius of the crater. the aura causes natural creatures that enter this aura to transform into aberrations (similar to the disease mechanic). additionally, some existing aberrations have been drawn to the site (list aberrant creatures).

(describe effects in fallcrest, including encounters)

the tiefling starlock has long been aware of the trajectory of the meteor and its inevitable collision, having witnessed it in a dream (of Caiphon). in fact, it is the reason why the tielfing came to fallcrest. the tiefling starlock intends to (i) study the aftermath (ii)

the tiefling chose to occupy the lighthouse because, being on an island, it is well protected from many of the anticipated aberrations. (reference prior dealings with party:hired to clear out lighthouse: rats, ghost)


exploit the circumstances in order to usurpt control of fallcrest, so as to remain close to the meteor and to protect the meteor from destruction. the tiefling regards the presence of the meteor as both relevant and significant to his warlock pact because the meteor passed close to Caiphon.

the warlock knows as obscure ritual that can siphon all of the radiation from the meteor and transfer its power into a new magic rod.

plot device: either (i) the warlock refuses to use the ritual prematurely--and won't willingly reveal the true reason why he is unwilling to use the ritual--or (ii) the warlock manipulates the party into assisting the warlock accomplishing the performance of the ritual. note that the warlock is not seeking to harm anyone; however, he has no qualms with the harm of others, if it furthers his goals.

the ritual is obscure (i.e., rare in application) because (i) meteor collisions are infrequent; (ii) not all meteors radiate this aura because not all meteors travel so close to Caiphon.


could remove the meteor's aura, but he is unwilling to use it fot the reasons stated above.

the meteor will continue to emanate its aura for 1 year, at which point, its energies will have disapated. burying the meteor would nullify the rdiation, however, the metoer has a secondary aura of heat (fire damage) with a radius equal to the radius of the meteor. this secondary heat aura lasts as long as the radiation aura.
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(*) it might be interesting to use fallcrest as the affected community because this choice would provide the players with a contrast between the village/town as it has become and the village/town as they have long known it to be.

hourseule for normal/low-light/darkvision

normal vision - requires bright light.
low-light vision = normal vision when in nightime, outdooors darkness.
darkvision = normal vision when in indoors/underground darkness.

light radius houserule

4e seems to have done away with tiered lighting, so:

bright light sources provide low-light illumination beyond the radius of the bright light illumination that is equal in distance to one half (round down) of the radius of the bright illumination.

fallcrest additions

tiefling starlock/lighthouse
use map-a-week; completed compiled archives; 1/11 lighthouse:

wizard tower
use map-a-week; completed compiled archives; 2/01 high mountain wizard's tower:

catacombs
use map-a-week; completed compiled archives; 07/04 Scepter Dungeon:

tieflings, infernal warlocks, fire and fear keywords

phb encounter attack spells
level 1, 2 infernal spells, none with fire or fear keyword
level 13, 2 infernal spells, none with fire or fear keyword
level 17, 1 infernal spell, none with fire or fear keyword
level 23, 1 infernal spell, none with fire or fear keyword

phb daily attack spells
level 9, 1 infernal spell, none with fire or fear keyword
level 20, 1 infernal spell, none with fire or fear keyword
level 25, 1 infernal spell, none with fire or fear keyword

also note that infernal warlocks get a grand total of 2 spells with the fear keyword.

now, compare that to a race with +2 con (e.g., half-elf), which enjoys a boost to EVERY infernal warlock spell.

do you still think that hellfire blood makes tieflings the "best" infernal warlocks?

oh, did i fail to mention that a tiefling has to spend a feat for hellfire blood, as opposed to a +2 con race not having to spend a feat for the better benefit?

shadow source classes

controller

illusionist
i still think that the illusionist class should have psionics as a power source (as an aside, charm spells, too, should have psionics as a power source), rather than shadow as a power source. in prior editions, most illusion spells were mind-affecting powers. yes, some illusion spells were shadow-based spells, but those spells should now be separated from the mind-affecting variety and moved to a different class: shadowcaster.

shadowcaster
this class as a controller really needs no justifying arguments from me. shadowcaster kills the old shadow-based illusionist and takes his stuff. it is a no brainer.

necromancer (undead summoner)
we have not yet seen wotc embrace summoning on a class-wide basis in 4e, but if they do, then this would be an easy fit. perhaps it needs a new name so that "necromancer" could be used by the shadow leader class (see below).

leader

necromancer
he debuffs enemies and, as a result, passes along buffs to his allies. lots of fear and cold spells, maybe darkness spells. this is a leader (buffs) with a minor in controller (debuffs--slow, immobilized, dazed, blinded, etc.). perhaps it needs a new name so that "necromancer" could be used by the shadow controller class (see above).

striker

shadow dancer
nuff said. well, actually, i see this class using short teleports (a la feylock) that grant bonus damage. similer to warlocks' movement, these teleports would grant concealment. no worries about the similarity to a warlock feature because the warlock is a ranged striker, whereas the shadowdancer would be a melee striker.

ninja
although i see what some people are seeing in ninjas and shadow, i think that ninjas are much more likely to have ki as a power source.

defender

hexblade
debuffing and magical darkness as a source of stickiness. yum!

blackguard
my concern with this name is that, because of its use in prior editions, it connotes evil, which shadow is not, necessarily.

kobolds using spears in kobold hall and keep on the shadowfell

i notice that kobolds are wielding spears with shields.  however, a small creature cannot wield a versatile weapon (e.g., spear) with one hand (see phb p.220).  so, in each of those circumstances, the spear should be replaced with a javelin, thus reducing the damage from 1d8 to 1d6.

monks

imho, given what the martial power is turning out to be (e.g., powers and abilities that seem almost magical), i feel strongly that monk is a martial class. ki fits right into the martial (bo9s) paradigm.

although, historically the monk class fit more into the striker mold, i would be much happier with a 4e monk designed to be a no-manufatured-weapons-or-armor-needed martial defender, standing side by side with the fighter. that would simply make me drool.

driders

here is a post i made on the wizards d&d forums back in 3e:

"driders are now favored by lolth, not unfavored (don't ask. she IS chaotic.). ;-)

at first, the drow have a hard time adjusting to this. they have always held disdain for the driders. now, lolth has deemed that driders are favored because to be more "spider" is to be better. the pre-existing driders have returned to their houses, to be treated--begrudgingly--with honor and respect, even above priestesses. the pre-existing spiders continue to bear much resentment towards the drow. they repeatedly exploit their newfound power and authority to exact various incidences of revenge upon their family members and other drow. however, they know that an excess of this behavior will be disfavored by lolth. now, a new drider is created only as a reward by lolth to an exceptional priestess, who, upon becoming a drider, assumes the role of matron mother of her house. not all houses are blessed with a drider matron mother. it is a cause for political strife and manipulation among the houses. now, new driders are almost exclusively female. the rare creation of a new male drider is a source of confusion and consternation amoung the drow society ("what does lolth mean by this? a male favored?"). driders have spider reproductive organs and have spider offspring (note to self - create a large spider that has an intelligence score of 10 and, perhaps, special abilities). any remnant sexual urges that drider may still feel towards drow are satiated only through violence. this is an aspect of lolth's blessing that is cruel both to the drider (sexual frustration and adjusting to having sex with spiders) and to the drider's "sexual" victim (obviously)."

i am happy to see wotc implement this change from disfavored to favored.

assorted houserulings

(1) tieflings should be the best infernal warlocks. it KILLS me that tieflings have much better synergy with feylocks.
UPDATE - the new dragon article on starlock--and to a far lesser extent, tieflings--has influenced me to be more at ease about tiefling warlocks;

(2) dwarves should specialize in hammers and picks, not hammers and axes (dwarves are a race of miners. what do you use to mine? hammers? yes. picks? yes. axes? a big no.);

(3) eladrin specializing in longsword should be rapier, a more dextrous weapon; however, i could understand a game balance argument against giving a race proficiency in a superior weapon;

(4) the drow no longer are chaotic evil (hurray!);

(5) lolth should not be chaotic evil, but evil--not demon queen of spiders, just spider queen;

(6) gruumsh should not be a god, but a primordial/demon prince like yeenoghu, baphomet or kostchtchie (who should be a primordial, but not a demon);

(7) it was in the war between gods and primordials that correlon shot gruumsh's eye out with an arrow. pre-4e, the story said that correlon took out gruumsh's eye with a sword. 4e has changed the weapon from sword to bow, which is how i have always envisioned it happening;

(8) bane's forces eternally war with kord's, not gruumsh's (who is a primordial/demon prince in the abyss now, anyway) and sometimes, bahamut's forces get in on the act, but not perpetually like the other two gods;

(9) vecna is an exarch of orcus;

(10) zehir actually is mammon; and

(11) the principal home of the drow should be in the underdark of the shadowfell, resulting in eladrin (feywild--where correlon has/should have a strong presence), elf (natural world--where sehanine has/should have a strong presence), and drow (shadowfell--where lolth has/should have a strong presence). eladrin versus fomorians. drow versus shadar kai.

first post

hurray for me. this is my very first post on my very first blog. i am excited to see where this blog road takes me.