4e d&d paragon path - dwarven defender

spidieman

spidieman

calling for opinion from other DM's. ive built a new paragon path for dwarven clerics. the classic dwarven defender.

please let me know what you think, any tips would be greatly appreciated

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/1158/wiki/campaign-web/dwarvendefender

FemmeLegion

For some reason I recall the original DD prestige class required the use of a shield. I'm still new enough to 4E that I don't remember if clerics or dwarves automatically get shield proficiency, and I don't know if it's fair to require it in order to take a paragon path. (I'd think so but I could be swayed.)

I like the "Defend the Clan" utility, but I'd probably reword it to say "+2 to all defenses, increase this to +4 at level 21" just for the sake of clarity. Ditto for Defensive Stance - say "1d6, or 2d6 at 21st level and above" or something.

Do you really want "Defender Presence" to mark *everyone* on the field, or just those within a certain blast range? Also, just to make the stupid kind of clarification they apparently needed to make for some people w/r/t Hunter's Quarry: Does this also affect enemies that cannot see you? How about those you cannot see?

The action point thing is good - it seems every paragon path requires something along those lines. =)

I'm not keen on "Dwarven Constitution" as written because it deviates from other methods of regaining hp. I think it would be more in line with the rest of the game if instead it were written "Once per day, when you become bloodied, regain hit points as if you had spent a healing surge, plus additional hit points equal to your Constitution modifier. This does not expend a healing surge." I realize it probably doesn't give back as many hit points this way, but it's still freebie hit points, and by the time they get this ability they should already be very familiar with "surge + Con".

I'm also not keen on "Dwarven Strength" as written, because it doesn't fit my image of dwarves. In my mind, "force the DM to re-roll" is too capricious to really suit the dwarven ideal of stoic order. I'd much rather see something like the old _shield other_ spell, where you can choose to take half the damage that was intended for an adjacent ally. And perhaps at 21st level you can add the ability to shift up to 2 squares as a free action in order to activate this ability.

risantanis

I would recommend this as a fighter paragon path, not cleric. Fighters have the tank roll.

"Defend the clan" needs to be better defined. It is either too powerful if it lasts for the encounter, or may be right on if it is until end of your next turn. Also, what kind of bonus, untyped or power bonus? One possible option for duration is to make it a sustain zone. Sustain minor maybe. Though a +2 to all defenses/tier is too powerful for anything longer than a round I think.

Defensive stance has a +4 just sitting there. It looks like just a typo, but perhaps the power should lower dex.

I'm not very familiar with higher level abilities. I've only play tested a level 18 character, other characters were below level 4. So I'm not too sure about balance.