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## 4E Power Build: The New Hammer Bros.

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Lago PARANOIA
  Invincible Overlord
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### 4E Power Build: The New Hammer Bros.

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Post by Lago PARANOIA » Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:44 pm

So, one of the complaints that I've received about my previous high-damage melee builds, especially from shau, is that they don't have enough healing surges to get them through an extended workday. Well, okay. Let's roll with that.
As always, Ranger is going to be the backbone of this build, but the Warden part is no slouch either. Warden gives our character several huge benefits: the first and foremost is the ability to add our Constitution to our AC with the Hide Armor Expertise feat from Primal Power, giving us an AC equal to that of plate armor with minimal feat expenditure. The extra healing surge comes in handy as well, giving this character 11 at first level; definitely enough to last through a 4-encounter workday even with suboptimal healers like a Bard.
However, once our healing surges start inflating and healing gets more efficient so our character will typically end, we will be recycling unusued healing surges into Salves of Power. At first this will let us re-use our Warden power but at level 16 when we get enough of these to spam Weapon of Astral Flame we will experience a huge DPR spike. Unfortunately, Weapon of Astral Flame is slightly inefficient. It takes a standard action to activate and you do not get subsequent attacks until the next rounds due to the way sustaining. The player is advised to activate Weapon of Astral Flame ASAP and begin the sustaining actions ahead of time whenever possible. It is no secret that the character picks up Boots of Eagerness almost immediately after tagging in this power.
Son of Mercy is picked for the power Lawbreaker's Doom, a recyclable encounter power that will immediately add a +2 bonus to damage rolls. However, what we really want from this power is its ability to slow enemies on a hit. Combined with Crippling Crush, we will be able to add our Constitution modifier to all attack rolls against a Marked/Lawbreaker's Doomed enemy; at level 11, combined with Lasting Frost, we receive downright beastly damage boost of +12 to all damage rolls.
The character does a swap in weaponry in the middle of paragon. This is to take advantage of the Prime Punisher/Prime Shot line of feats, which we need to use Hybrid Talent for Prime Shot. However, since Prime Shot is useless to this character before this point our character uses Hybrid Talent for the Ranger Two-Weapon Fighting Style for a hit-point boost and the ability to dual-wield Craghammers. The attack and damage boost becomes more important than the boost from Craghammer damage. The switchover is done at level 14, just when the character becomes eligible to pick up upgraded weapons. This also has the effect of giving our character a credible ranged attack from now on with the Throwing Hammer.
For powers, Wildblood Frenzy is picked strictly for a damage boost over Twin Strike and the lack of any off-action Warden encounter attack powers before level 7. Because Hybrid rules force us to keep a Warden power at all times it's mostly a mildly advantageous placeholder power. However, at level 7 when we gain access to an off-action warden attack power (Guardian's Pounce) we immediately retrain Wildblood Frenzy back to Off-Hand Strike.
Level 20 is spent playing magical item catchup, due to the huge cost inflation done of magical items from then on. The General's Belt/Crown items are done to give us a badly-needed +1/+2 item bonus to fortitude and will, the Solitaire is picked up to give us an extra attack on a critical hit (which will be a frequent occurance in epic once we get Bludgeon Mastery), the Backlash tattoo we couldn't afford for most of our lives, and another Salve of Power in preparation for epic when we get another magical item daily to play with.
Demigod is picked for a boring attack/damage/AC/fortitude bonus. Sorry, fellas.
Summary
Level 22 Goliath Ranger|Warden/Cleric/Son of Mercy/Demigod
Starting Stats: 18 STR, 18 CON, 11 DEX, 13 WIS, 10 INT, 8 CHA
All stat gains go into Strength and Constitution
Starting Skills: Endurance, Athletics, Nature, Perception
Starting Class Defense Bonuses: +1 to Reflex and Will
Divine Spark adds to Strength and Constitution
Magic Items
1: Basic Equipment of 100 gp (+260 gp)
2: +1 Vanilla Hide Armor (+420 gp)
3: +1 Frost Craghammer (+420 gp)
4: +1 Vanilla Craghammer, +1 Amulet of Protection (+540 gp)
5: Siberys Shard of Merciless Cold (Heroic Tier) (+1020 gp)
6: +2 Vanilla Hide Armor
7: +2 Amulet of Protection, Iron Armbands of Power (Heroic Tier) (20 gp)
8: +2 Frost Craghammer
9: +2 Vanilla Craghammer (+820 gp)
10: Salve of Power
11: Gloves of Ice (Paragon Tier)
12: Siberys Shard of Merciless Cold (Paragon Tier)
13: +3 Frost Throwing Hammer
14: +3 Subtle Warhammer, Salve of Power (-180 gp; scrounge it up from somewhere. What am I, your mom?)
15: +3 Vanilla Hide Armor, +3 Amulet of Protection, Salve of Power (+1800 gp)
16: Iron Armbands of Power (Paragon Tier)
17: +4 Vanilla Darkhide Armor, Iron Ring of the Dwarf Lords, Boots of Eagerness (+3700 gp)
18: +4 Frost Throwing Hammer
19: +4 Subtle Warhammer, General's Belt, Salve of Power (+700 gp)
20: +4 Amulet of Protection, Salve of Power, Aquamarine Solitaire, Backlash Tattoo, Golden Crown of Battle Command
21: Gloves of Ice (Epic)
22: Siberys Shard of Merciless Cold (Epic)
Feats
1: Hide Armor Expertise
2: Hybrid Talent: Ranger Fighting Style: Two-Blade Fighting Style --> Retrained to Hybrid Talent: Prime Shot at level 13
4: Weapon Proficiency: Craghammer --> Retrained to Called Shot at level 14
6: Weapon Expertise: Hammer
8: Weapon Focus: Hammer --> Retrained to Initiate of the Faith at level 16
10: Crushing Guardian --> Retrained to Wintertouched at level 11
11: Lasting Frost
12: Crippling Crush
14: Prime Punisher
16: Adept Power: (Weapon of Astral Flame replaces Form of the Sirocco)
18: Weapon Focus: Hammer
20: Crushing Guardian
21: Bludgeon Mastery
22: Prime Quarry
Powers
At-Wills: Twin Strike (duh), Thorn Strike
Encounter 1: Wildblood Frenzied (retrained to Off-Hand Strike at level 7)
Daily 1: Form of the Relentless Panther
Utility 2: Yield Ground
Encounter 3: Disruptive Strike
Daily 5: Jaws of the Wolf
Utility 6: Earthguard
Encounter 7: Guardian's Pounce
Daily 9: Form of the Sirocco
Utility 10: Earthstride
Encounter 13: Replace Off-Hand Strike with Off-Hand Diversion
Daily 15: Replace Jaws of the Wolf with Blade Cascade
Encounter 17: Pick nothing. I love 4E so much right now, giving you nothing but a bullshit power for a level but then it not being a power you want. So much for the elimination of empty levels.
Daily 19: Replace Form of the Sirocco with Form of Summer Fire, not that it matters.
Utility 22: Eagle's Wings
Attack and Damage Bonus
Attack Bonus
Average AC of this level: 36
11 (Base Level Bonus) + 4 (Enhancement) + 8 (Strength) + 2 (Weapon Proficiency) + 2 (Targetted Assault) + 1 (Form of the Relentless Panther) + 1 (Prime Punisher) + 1 (Prime Quarry) + 2 (Weapon Expertise) = +32 = 75% chance of hitting
Melee Basic Attack/Off-Action Attack:
Main-Hand: 2d6 (Throwing hammer) + 3 (Weapon Focus) + 8 (Crippling Crush) + 2 (Lawbreaker's Doom) + 4 (enhancement) + 4 (subtle) + 5 (lasting frost) + 4 (gloves of ice) + 5 (Siberys Shard, Epic) + 4 (Crushing Guardian) + 5 (Called Shot) = 2d6+57 = 64
Critical Hit of 4d6 + 69 = 83
Astral Flame:
Main-Hand: 2d10 (Warhammer) + 3 (Weapon Focus) + 8 (Crippling Crush) + 2 (Lawbreaker's Doom) + 4 (enhancement) + 4 (subtle) + 5 (lasting frost) + 4 (gloves of ice) + 5 (Siberys Shard, Epic) + 4 (Crushing Guardian) + 5 (Called Shot) = 2d10+49 = 60
Critical Hit of 4d6+69 = 83
Twin-Strike At-Will:
Main-Hand: 2d10 (Warhammer) + 3 (Weapon Focus) + 8 (Crippling Crush) + 2 (Lawbreaker's Doom) + 4 (enhancement) + 4 (subtle) + 5 (lasting frost) + 4 (gloves of ice) + 5 (Siberys Shard, Epic) + 4 (Crushing Guardian) + 5 (Called Shot) = 2d10+49 = 60
Critical Hit of 4d6+69 = 83
Off-Hand: 2d6 (Throwing Hammer) + 3 (Weapon Focus) + 8 (Crippling Crush) + 2 (Lawbreaker's Doom) + 4 (enhancement) + 4 (subtle) + 5 (lasting frost) + 4 (gloves of ice) + 3 (Siberys Shard, Paragon) + 4 (Crushing Guardian) + 5 (Called Shot) = 2d6+49 = 56
Critical Hit of 4d6 + 61 = 75
DPR
Twin Strike
(.70)(60)[Main] + (.70)(56)[Off] + (.05)(83)[Main Crit] + (.05)(75)[Off Crit] + (.05)(18)[HQ Crit] + (.95)(10.5)[HQ] = 99.975 DPR
48.95 = Off-Action
58.15 = Astral Flame
Twin Strike + Off-Action Attack
(.80)(60)[Main] + (.80)(56)[Off] + (.05)(83)[Main Crit] + (.05)(75)[Off Crit] + (.70)(64)[Off-Action] + (.05)(83)[Off-Action Crit] + (.05)(18)[HQ Crit] + (.95)(10.5)[HQ] = DPR
Twin Strike + Weapon of Astral Flame Monster Reflex is much lower than monster AC, usually 3 to 4 points lower and this will be reflected in the DPR.
(.70)(60)[Main] + (.70)(56)[Off] + (.05)(83)[Main Crit] + (.05)(75)[Off Crit] + (.90)(60)[Astral Flame] + (.05)(83)[Astral Flame Crit] + (.05)(18)[HQ Crit] + (.95)(10.5)[HQ] = 158.125 DPR
Twin Strike + Weapon of Astral Flame + Off-Action Attack
(.70)(60)[Main] + (.70)(56)[Off] + (.05)(83)[Main Crit] + (.05)(75)[Off Crit] + (.90)(60)[Astral Flame] + (.05)(83)[Astral Flame Crit] + (.70)(64)[Off-Action] + (.05)(83)[Off-Action Crit] + (.05)(18)[HQ Crit] + (.95)(10.5)[HQ] = 207.075 DPR
Additions:
I've been thinking about making this character an Eternal Seeker instead, which will drop the base DPR slightly but will regain it immediately with the Berserker's Fury + Targetted Assault combination since that previous combination of feats was only done to get Weapon of Astral Flame. Also this would allow the character to ditch the Warden encounter attack power for a better encounter attack power probably another ranger power) in the meantime until level 27 lets us upgrade to Hurricane of Blades. The level 24 ability is beastly in combination with a Violet Solitaire as well. Blade Cascade will be kept until the bitter end of level 29 and the Warden form will be kept, too, to take advantage of the damage boost of Crushing Guardian.
Fuck. Why didn't I do that instead? Oh, well, expect a revision to the character soon. And also a complete 30 level advancement; this is just a nice preview of what the character can do. This character is made to be fully playable from level 1 to 22 (though there will be a hiccup at level 13 and 14 as the character reconfigures)
Then again, if I could find a way to throw the throwing hammer in melee without drawing OAs, we can do Berserker's Fury/Targetted Assault and have Demigod in our corner pocket to boot. This will require (ab)using Spitting Cobra Stance.
Last edited by Lago PARANOIA on Thu Dec 10, 2009 11:46 pm, edited 2 times in total.

> Josh Kablack wrote:Your freedom to make rulings up on the fly is in direct conflict with my freedom to interact with an internally consistent narrative. Your freedom to run/play a game without needing to understand a complex rule system is in direct conflict with my freedom to play a character whose abilities and flaws function as I intended within that ruleset. Your freedom to add and change rules in the middle of the game is in direct conflict with my ability to understand that rules system before I decided whether or not to join your game.
> In short, your entire post is dismissive of not merely my intelligence, but my agency. And I don't mean agency as a player within one of your games, I mean my agency as a person. You do not want me to be informed when I make the fundamental decisions of deciding whether to join your game or buying your rules system.

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erik
  King
  Posts: 5847
  Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

###

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Post by erik » Fri Dec 11, 2009 6:58 am

Any reason a Warforged couldn't be used instead of a Goliath?
I'm not up on the racial feats/options so mebbe I missed something.
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Lago PARANOIA
  Invincible Overlord
  Posts: 10555
  Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:00 am

###

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Post by Lago PARANOIA » Sat Dec 12, 2009 10:11 pm

There's no reason why you couldn't be a Warforged instead. Hell, they even get the same bonus to defense.
Just going by racial powers, Goliath is slightly better (getting resist 15 to damage for a round is better than getting about 15 hit points and 15 temporary hit points), but it's not that huge of a loss. I do value that +1 to will over the tertiary benefits that the Orc and Minotaur though.
You can be any STR/CON race for this build, which incidentally lets the most races qualify for this build. Because you aren't allowed to play barbaric races in the PHB. Big, strong, hardy barbaric races with small brains. Gotta love that D&D racism.

> Josh Kablack wrote:Your freedom to make rulings up on the fly is in direct conflict with my freedom to interact with an internally consistent narrative. Your freedom to run/play a game without needing to understand a complex rule system is in direct conflict with my freedom to play a character whose abilities and flaws function as I intended within that ruleset. Your freedom to add and change rules in the middle of the game is in direct conflict with my ability to understand that rules system before I decided whether or not to join your game.
> In short, your entire post is dismissive of not merely my intelligence, but my agency. And I don't mean agency as a player within one of your games, I mean my agency as a person. You do not want me to be informed when I make the fundamental decisions of deciding whether to join your game or buying your rules system.

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