Every five levels I'll be posting a .dnd4e file for anyone to copy into their character builder. That way you can go over the build a bit more thoroughly if you like...perhaps fiddle with it so you can comment on all the ways I screwed the character up. :) And, hey, maybe even use him in a game! If you do, please report back with how he fared.
Of course, I recognize that not everyone has an updated version of the character builder available to them, so you'll also find a list of references to go along with the file. I'm not going to bother to post page numbers, but I'll at least let you know the specific book or Dragon issue where you can find every power, feat, item etc. on the character sheet.
You'll find both the file and the reference list at the bottom of the post. Let's get down to it...
Level 5 Daily Power
Looks like we have eight daily powers to choose from. With one exception for both charisma and strength, there isn't any reliance on secondary attributes among our choices; this is actually true of the level 5 dailies for many (most?) classes. So, let's scratch compel the craven off the list straightaway (due to its charisma component) and start looking for reasons some of these other powers are clearly inferior for the minorogue; we'll aim to get the list down to 4 or 5 potential choices before looking at our options in depth.
Staggering assault is designed to keep the rogue's target at arm's reach; not something the minorogue will want to do too often and certainly not something worth wasting a daily power slot on. The same holds true for walking wounded, especially since we have a much more interesting and unique way to sweep our enemies off their feet! Clever riposte is somewhat interesting as a beefy version of riposte strike, but it is a little redundant for the same reason, and it adds an effect that relies on the character's immediate actions. It's not a terrible choice, but there are better ones for this character.
Here's where it gets a bit tougher to decide:
1) Deep cut is a fantastic power for us for a couple of reasons: it targets fortitude, which is frequently a vulnerable defense among most monster roles (brutes being the exception), and it leaves a nasty...well...cut behind that translates into 8 untyped ongoing damage. That's huge at this level of play! Sure, sometimes you get unlucky with saving throws, but at the very least, 8 guaranteed damage at the top of the enemy's next turn, perhaps even the next two or three turns, is a big deal.
It's not going to end up being my choice, though. Players typically like to hold on to at least one powerful daily to help whittle down a monster with a ton of hit points - in other words, elites and/or solos. With the elite saving throw bonus of +2 and the solo saving throw bonus of +5, that ongoing damage is unlikely to last beyond one or two rounds. Therefore, it's best to calculate the damage for this attack with the assumption that the ongoing damage will only be dealt once: 2[W]+12, damage range 14-28. That really isn't all that much more than the minorogue's first level daily, pommel smash: 3[W]+4, damage range 7-28. What's more, pommel smash tacks on -2 to hit (save ends), even if it misses, whereas deep cut completely loses its ongoing damage on a miss.
Looking beyond the math, though, deep cut isn't a great choice for our character concept. This rogue packs a mace - he bludgeons, he smashes, he crushes, he concusses...but he doesn't do much cutting. Pass.
2) I don't have nearly as much to say about downward spiral beyond the fact that it's a damn good power. From what I've seen, it's practically essential for strikers to have at least one burst/blast power to help take out minions and swarms (the bane of strikers everywhere). Its damage isn't so hot, but that really isn't the point. If the minorogue has a horde of baddies coming at him, this is just the sort of power he needs to take them out quickly. This is a great power, especially for groups without a controller.
3) I don't get driving assault. Perhaps someone can let me in on the usefulness of this power? It feels more like an avenger power; it's designed to isolate a target while remaining adjacent to it. That's not really something a rogue wants to do; you'd only want to use this if you can easily shift away, or if you can line the enemy up so another character (hopefully a defender) can flank it. Weak. This one is out of the running.
4) Flashy riposte is an outstanding power for the minorogue. It's effectively a setup power: it's an immediate reaction against a melee attack, it rattles, and it sets up combat advantage for us and every ally that attacks between the enemy's turn and the minorogue's turn. Last but not least, while it does still fall short of pommel smash's burst, it still does perfectly respectable damage.
It doesn't quite beat out downward spiral, but it might end up being a good power to swap in down the road. We only have one power at the moment that would benefit from the ability to cause rattling as an immediate action - enforced threat. At first, flashy riposte --> enforced threat seems like a good combination, but the benefit enforced threat would receive is redundant; flashy riposte already provides combat advantage on the minorogue's next attack. Enforced threat's rattling setup bonus works well as a follow-up to disheartening strike, but it would be meaningless as a follow-up to flashy riposte. Furthermore, we're looking at yet another power that takes up that precious immediate action (tired of hearing that yet?). It'd be worth it if we ever pick up another power that lays down an additional effect versus a rattled target, absolutely.
For now, however, picking up a burst attack is the better choice. Want an effective combo? Try agile footwork into downward spiral. Congratulations, you just waded into a throng of minions without provoking a single opportunity attack and unleashed a burst attack on the entire group. Don't get me wrong...this is a risky move! You might end up whiffing with downward spiral and find yourself surrounded by zombies, skeletons, etc. But hey, this game wouldn't be all that much fun if the people on your end of the table (i.e., the players) never took any risks. ;)
Magic Item
The tabletop gods smiled on us yesterday when they provided that much-needed boost to our secondary defenses. Alas! That smile has become a sneer. At level 5, the minorogue is at a point where his effectiveness is going to plummet without a magic weapon. He already gave up +1 hit by going with the ruthless ruffian build (mace proficiency grants +2 hit whereas most standard rogue weapons grant +3) and at this level, not having any kind of magic item is practically the equivalent of another -1. What's worse, with the exception of downward spiral, every single attack we've chosen targets AC. This is a big problem! Back at level 2 I said I'd invest in an expertise feat if the minorogue hadn't landed a magic item by level 4, but the buffed up goring charge combo was too much fun to pass up. Level 6, though, I'll really do it! Seriously!
So, you might have figured out by now that the #DM (the random number generator sitting in for a DM) didn't bestow us with a magic weapon this level. Perhaps he had a nice one tucked away somewhere; it wouldn't surprise me! This is why I'm always pulling my hair out when someone at my table is grumbling about equipment issues - typically, this comes up as they're walking past the room with the armor of uber +4 and the other room with the weapon of ridiculous awesome +6. Protip: if your group skips encounter areas that are clearly off the beaten path 9 times out of 10, don't come to your DM with gear gripes!
Anyway...turns out we landed another suit of magic armor. I'm going to miss our leather armor of sudden recovery +1, :sniff:, but the +2 this level 7 piece provides is going to help me get over it right quick.
There are thirteen pieces of level 7 armor in the leather category. We can immediately pick out four that clearly aren't suitable for the minorogue, because he doesn't have an aegis (armor of aegis expansion), he has a low constitution bonus (deathburst armor), he doesn't have any attacks that target will (irrefutable armor), and he doesn't have a spirit companion (warding spirit armor). Of the remaining nine pieces, three are comparitively mediocre: shipboard armor, slick armor, and veteran's armor.
You can never have too many resistances, although I'd seriously consider keeping the +1 version of sudden recovery over a +2 set of resistance armor; the latter's usefulness seems much more limited to me (unless you're in the midst of a themed adventure chock full of baddies who deal a certain kind of damage). Not to mention, it's just kinda dull.
Luring withdrawal armor would be much more tempting if its daily was actually an encounter power, if it was an immediate interrupt instead of an immediate reaction, if it worked regardless of whether or not the enemy missed, or if we had a bit more freedom to decide where the minorogue and the target ended up after the slide/shift. As it is, it simply doesn't hold up compared to the available options.
Rat killer's coat is an interesting piece (with a cool name) that could really help out against one of the trickiest monster types for melee strikers to deal with, but swarms typically aren't common enough to justify taking such a specialized piece. I'd guesstimate that 10-20% of the encounters I design feature swarms, and I'm willing to bet that's comparable to other DMs as well. This one would be nice to have stored away in a bag of holding or something, but this blog is more concerned with the best choice in general. Scrapped.
Sunleaf armor's resistance component is unlikely to do you much good; how often do you end up in combat against a monster with radiant attacks? Man, I can't think of a single occasion in my campaign thus far. The daily makes it a little tempting: being able to do radiant damage is a much better feature, and the damage gets a nice boost from the minorogue's high dex score. If this piece featured necrotic resistance instead of radiant (and I don't understand why it doesn't) it would be a bit higher up on the list, but the 1d10+4 radiant damage from the daily isn't enough to hold my interest...especially since it requires the character to get nailed by an opportunity attack to deal its damage! No thanks.
Here's what it comes down to: repulsion armor or marauder's armor. Repulsion is one of the best suits in the game for a rogue; the rogue player in my campaign has had it for quite awhile...and it's so good that I've toyed around with nerfing it (or even banning it!) on several occasions. I haven't been able to come up with a piece I could tempt him into swapping it out for until paragon tier...even then I wouldn't be surprised if he immediately starts to pine over repulsion. Of course, the effect itself is an immediate action, but I think I've made my point about that enough times this week that you've probably all gotten it by now, yes? Still, it's a cool enough effect that it's worth considering anyway.
In the other corner, marauder's armor is so well suited for this character concept that it's virtually impossible to pass up...yup, even for repulsion. We've made a pretty heavy investment in goring charge; the property on this piece is going to pay off big, and the daily is incredibly good for us, particularly given the fact that we actually have a choice between making a saving throw or healing, whichever we need more. If only there was a feat available that let us charge with the minotaur racial more than once in an encounter! Going to have to wait for paragon tier for anything like that, sadly.
That wraps it up for this week! The next post won't be up until Wednesday; I need to put my DM hat back on for a couple of days. Come back for level 6 on the 11th...for now, here's the character builder file and reference list for levels 1-5. Note that these will always replace, rather than supplement, the character summary every fifth level. Kind of interesting to see where the most attractive stuff for this character is...only one power from the Player's Handbook; zounds!
A note on the character builder file: the level 2 utility power of this character will always be blank, since our current selection, agile footwork, uses a power from an issue of Dragon that hasn't been integrated yet.
Minotaur Rogue, Level Five
References:
Class/Race - Minotaur (Dragon #369); Rogue (Player's Handbook 1)
Feats - Goring Shove, Opportunity Gore (Dragon #369); Warborn Fury Style (Dragon Magazine Annual 2009)
Powers - Riposte Strike, (Player's Handbook 1); Disheartening Strike, Downward Spiral, Enforced Threat, Guarded Attack, Pommel Smash (Martial Power); Agile Footwork (Dragon #381)
Magic Items - Amulet of Protection+2 (Player's Handbook 2); Boots of Adept Charging, Marauder's Leather Armor +2 (Adventurer's Vault 2)
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