OOC: In the Beginning...

Hey guys and welcome to Minions of Evil! I'm still getting organized, but I figured we could go ahead with the invites and party construction.

At this point, I have two issues.

1. This party is, in my opinion, a little light on heavy melee PCs. You have a barbarian (new build, defender striker class), a bard, an assassin, a CON-based warlock, and a psion. If it were me, I would seriously consider having somebody take a Defender multi-class feat or something like that that enables you to mark something or just go a little heavier for those times when that's appropriate. For example, the Paladin multiclass feat enables you to use Divine Challenge once/encounter. The Swordmage multi-class feat enables you to increase your AC via Swordmage Warding for an entire encounter once/day. It's up to you, of course, but I fear your "squishies" are gonna get squished.

2. The other potential solution to this problem is to invite a 6th Player. The upside of having 6 is that when someone inevitably disappears, we'll still be set with 5. This is the main-most reason I'm considering it.

The downsides of 6 PCs are twofold: 1) the encounters are a little slower and more drawn out. 2) The game is naturally balanced for a party of 4 or 5. Having a 6th PC changes the dynamic quite a bit, resulting in, well, more work for your ever-lovin' GM. At Sellswords, we've played with both several times, and I think we all agree that the game runs a little better with 5.

Lastly, this game is starting at 2nd Level for story reasons, but I plan to give out double XP initially, and more to the point, I think the game is basically more fun when you have a nice selection of Encounter powers. So you'll advance quickly. We may even skip whole levels. Hell, I've been mulling over the idea of skipping the Paragon Tier in its entirety and vaulting straight to Epic once we get through my initial story ideas.

So. I have to draw a few maps and otherwise finish setting up the first encounter set. If you'd like a homework assignment to keep you busy and get a feel for each other, I can do that. Otherwise, please talk amongst yourselves and finish designing your characters.

Thanks. And welcome aboard.

Hey DannoE,

My bard has the Swordmage multiclass, so it's not all that bad. And I'm planning to make him a melee and implement bard. In fact, I already finished up his stat sheet. The only piece of equipment is his harp of sleeping (so, kind of crap unless the party wants to sneak), but otherwise, it's done.

Eduardo Alvarez, Human Bard
Init +2 HP 31/31 Bloodied 15 Healing Surge 7 (0 used /9)
AC 14 Fort 15 Reflex 16 Will 18 Speed 6
Str 11 (0) Con 14 (+2) Dex 12 (+1) Int 14 (+2) Wis 10 (0) Cha 18 (+4)

Majestic Word Encounter, Arcane, Healing Minor Action Close Burst 5 (10 at 11th level, 15 at 21st) Target: You or one ally in burst Effect: The target can spend a healing surge and regain additional hit points equal to your Charisma modifier. You also slide the target 1 square. Level 6: 1d6+Charisma modifier additional HP. Level 11: 2d6+Charisma modifier additional HP. Level 16: 3d6+Charisma modifier additional HP. Level 21: 4d6+Charisma modifier additional HP. Level 26: 5d6+Charisma modifier additional HP. Special: You can use this power twice per encounter, but only once per round. At 16th level, you can use it three times per encounter, but only once per round.

Majestic Word,

Majestic Word Encounter, Arcane, Healing Minor Action Close Burst 5 (10 at 11th level, 15 at 21st) Target: You or one ally in burst Effect: The target can spend a healing surge and regain additional hit points equal to your Charisma modifier. You also slide the target 1 square. Level 6: 1d6+Charisma modifier additional HP. Level 11: 2d6+Charisma modifier additional HP. Level 16: 3d6+Charisma modifier additional HP. Level 21: 4d6+Charisma modifier additional HP. Level 26: 5d6+Charisma modifier additional HP. Special: You can use this power twice per encounter, but only once per round. At 16th level, you can use it three times per encounter, but only once per round.

Majestic Word,

Words of Friendship Encounter, Arcane Minor Action Personal Effect: You gain a +5 power bonus to the next diplomacy check you make before the end of your next turn.

Words of Friendship,

Guiding Strike At will, arcane, weapon Standard Action Melee weapon Target: One creature Attack: Charisma vs. AC Hit: 1[W] + Charisma modifier damage, and the target takes a -2 penalty to the defense of your choice until the end of your next turn. level 21: 2[W]+charisma modifier damage.

Guiding Strike,

Vicious Mockery At-will, arcane, charm, implement, psychic Standard Action Ranged 10 Target: one creature Attack: charisma vs. will Hit: 1d6+Charisma modifier psychic damage, and the target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls until the end of your next turn.

Vicious Mockery,

Misdirect Mark At-will, Arcane, Implement standard Action Ranged 10 Target: One creature Attack: Charisma vs. Reflex Hit: 1d8+Charisma modifier damage, and the target is marked by one ally within 5 squares of you until the end of your next turn. Level 21: 2d8+Charisma modifier damage.

Misdirect Mark,

Shout of Triumph Encounter, arcane, implement, thunder Standard Action Close blast 3 Target: Each enemy in blast Attack: Charisma vs. Fortitude Hit: 1d6+charisma modifier thunder damage, and you push the target 1 square. Effect: you slide each ally in the blast 1 square. Virtue of Valor: The number of squares you can push enemies and slide allies equals your constitution modifier.

Shout of Triumph,

Stirring Shout Daily, Arcane, Healing, Implement, Psychic Standard Action Ranged 10 Target: one creature Attack: Charisma vs. Will Hit: 2d6+Charisma modifier psychic damage Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever an ally hits the target, that ally regains hit points equal to your charisma modifier.

Stirring Shout,

Poisoned Strike Encounter, Martial, Poison, Weapon Standard Action Melee or Ranged weapon Target:One creature Attack:Primary ability vs. AC Hit:1[W] damage + 5poison damage.Until the end of your next turn,if the target willingly moves more than 2 squares or makes an attack,it then falls prone, and it is immobilized until the end of its next turn. Level11: 2[W]damage plus 5 poison damage. Level2l:3[W] damage plus 5 poison damage.

Poisoned Strike,

Concealed Weapon Encounter, Martial Minor Action Personal Target:One weapon you’re holding Effect: The weapon is invisible until you are no longer holding it, until the end of the encounter, or until you attack with it.The first creature you attack with a weap on affected by this power grants combat advantage to you for that attack.

Concealed Weapon,

Swordmage Warding Minor Action. Until the end of the encounter, you gain +1 bonus to AC (+3 if you have a hand free).

Swordmage Warding,

Harp of Deeper Slumber Wondrous Item level 3 680 gp Power (daily): Minor Action. Each creature within 20 squares of you takes a -15 penalty to perception checks until the end of your next turn.

Harp of Deeper Slumber
Notes Features and Feats:

You get the ritual caster feat, can perform a free ritual per day

Bardic Training,

Once per round, when an ally within 5 squares of you reduces an opponent to 0 hp or bloodies an enemy, you can grant temporary hit points equal to 1+your constitution modifier at 1st level, 3+con modifier at 11th level, and 5+con modifier at 21st level

Virtue of Valor,

When you play an instrument or sing during a short rest, your allies' healing surges heal additional HP equal to your charisma modifier

Song of Rest,

You get a +3 bonus to attack rolls when you use an action point

action surge,

+1 per ATK Rolls with heavy blades, either as a Weapon or Implement.]+1 to hit with longsword as implement or weapon

Focused Implement,

Swordmage multiclass, gain ability to use swordmage implements.

blade initiate

Hey howdy! I'll be trying out the barbarian berserker. It's basically a hybrid defender and striker. As a defender, he has a cool aura (similar to the knights aura) with a decent punishment. Also, with the aura up, he gets an AC bonus. Between that a feat, he'll have AC 22...which is pretty good for a defender with no armor!

I need to decide if I want to go the route of extertise feats or an weapon. Fullblade, Gouge, or Executioner's axe, of course. Go big or go home.

Assuming the assassin is a melee assassin, he/she and my character will need to be joined at the hip. It would be good to have an off-tank to help on occasion.

I will have my character sheet done today (if my kids let me sit in front of my PC long enough). I'm open to a homework assignment to help pass the time.

HFLep, just a few comments on your build. You might want to consider staggering note. I play a high-level bard (level 22) and we have a couple of melee folks that hit like Mack trucks. I spam staggering note as my default attack. My best "damage" attacks is to get a striker or defender to crack the enemy with a MBA.

You might consider a harsh songblade too (daily daze on a hit with a thunder power).

But honestly, I never thought Misdirected Mark would be useful and I can't think of a better power for this party. So maybe wait on staggering note until we are higher level.

Question: are we using 22 pt buy to build characters? Any house rules (beyond themes and itemless rules, which is in the ad) that we need to worry about?

While Tarner doesn't deal melee damage, he's often going to be right up on the front line, because he's got a lot of HP and decent defenses, plus he can make the most out of his damage by using Prime Shot to help him hit, Warlock's Curse for extra damage, then Hellish Rebuke and take damage, which is either 3d6+8 or 4d6+8 damage in one turn, depending on how you want to interpret Warlock's Curse (Hellish Rebuke, he takes extra damage due to WC. Someone else's turn, they hit me, enemy takes another 1d6+4 damage, which may or may not proc Warlock's Curse's extra damage again)

Character sheet mostly done (it assumes 22 pt. buy and just the house rules I knew about). I may tweak the magic item from an inescapable fullblade to vanguard's fullblade (not sure how much he'll be charging). I decided to go fullblade over expertise feat. I eventually need to take expertise (+1 to hit is +1 to hit), but I'd really like to get world serpent's grasp to take advantage of his at-will slow power.

Comments are always welcome! Not sure if I like his daily power or not.

You know, I'm not so sure about taking the Student of the Plague feat just yet; It makes me feel like I'm wasting a feat, seeing how I didn't take any of the Spellscarred Powers. I might just switch it to Improved Dark One's Blessing, then either retrain or get Student of the Plague at 4. Yes, Student of the Plague gives me a little bit of darkvision, but it's only 1 square in each direction, so unless something's right in front of my face I'm not going to see it. Or I could get Improved Initiative, because getting to go first is always a plus, and I only have +1 Initiative without it.

I thought Student of the Plague was free because you didn't choose a theme...

Is it? That'd certainly make me feel stupid.