Attributes
The big question here is whether or not it's worth it to pump the minorogue's charisma as he levels up. This would have multiple benefits: it would give him access to cha-based powers and feats, support his weakest defense, and of course help him to not suck when the party needs him to pass a cha-based skill check.
I don't think it's worth it. There aren't really any cha-based feats that jump out at me for this character, with the exception of some of the multiclass feats (student of malediction and soul of sorcery are particularly attractive). I'm sure there are a lot of cha-based powers that would be nice for this character, but I'd rather have a higher strength to support the powers which are likelier to fit the build. More importantly, the minorogue's racial power is tied to his strength score, and that's about to become an intrinsic part of this build, as you'll see in the feat section below.
It would be awfully nice to have a better will defense, but it would take a lengthy commitment to make a difference. Since characters only gain one point of defense for every two attribute points in the associated category, we wouldn't see any benefit at all until level 8...and that would end up being one lousy tick. If we committed every single attribute bump to charisma - and I'm talking strictly about the attribute bumps where we choose two, not the two bumps to all attributes - we'd only end up with three extra will points. That's nothing to sneeze at, to be sure, but the opportunity cost to strength makes it too hard to justify.
Therefore, our choices for this attribute upgrade are going to be +1 to strength and +1 to dexterity - the latter being a given that isn't worth analyzing (see the ability section back in the level one post for a discussion on the importance of dexterity). That isn't really going to make a difference at this point, but it'll pay off big when we're able to add another point to each of these scores at level 8.
Feats
As I mentioned earlier in this post, we now have enough feat points to really play around with possible combinations, and there's one I love that I've been chomping at the bit to incorporate: goring shove and opportunity gore.
This character is going to be near the front line quite often due to his heavy melee focus. Even though he isn't even close to being able to provide "tanking" support to the ranged characters on the team, he can use opportunity gore to stop enemies dead in their tracks. This feat allows the minotaur to use goring charge as many times as he likes during an encounter as long as he's using it as an opportunity attack (and he still gets to use it as a charge ability once per encounter). The implication is significant: a successful hit will knock the enemy prone, leaving your back row buddies out of its reach.
There are two major disadvantages here, one being easy to address...the other, not so much. The latter is the fact that, by making an opportunity attack, the minorogue sacrifices his ability to riposte, making it kind of a tricky choice if he needs to keep his guard up against another opponent. This is a problem we can't solve, but it isn't actually a problem introduced by opportunity gore, since the minorogue would still have to choose between his riposte and an opportunity attack if an opponent tries to pass by. All it does is make the opportunity attack a better choice.
The other issue is more significant but, fortunately, easy to deal with - what do you think that extremely pissed off monster who just got knocked flat on his ass is going to do? Feel sorry for himself or devour a large chunk of our minorogue's respectable-but-not-great hit points? Yeah, I'm guessing the latter...and that's where goring shove comes in. Knocking an enemy down without an opportunity attack while keeping him at arm's reach is going to make the minorogue an incredibly potent second line of defense for his group, especially when the defender is too far away (or dead). It will require some careful staging, as the minorogue will need to be careful about fighting in an area with room to push, but that doesn't make it any less compelling.
Let's drop vigilante justice style so we can make this combination work, shall we? We can always pick it up again in a couple of levels.
Magic Item
This is such a huge find that it almost looks like I rigged it. Yep, you guessed it...the DM (aka my random number generator) has blessed us with a neck item. Not only that...it's a level 6 neck item, which means +2 to fortitude, will and reflex! It's a shame it didn't end up being a level 7 item, as the only level 6 neck piece in the game at the moment is the vanilla amulet of protection. That's okay, though...this is one gift horse I'll take without so much as a glance at his gums.
About those new rogue powers...
Avid Dragon readers have probably read about the new martial powers that dropped yesterday in Power Play: Martial, one of the articles available to DDI subscribers in this month's issue. Rogues scored a bevy of additional powers and feats today in a class act article. I've already sent both of these articles to the rogue player in my group, and I'm chomping at the bit to see them in play (assuming he picks any of them up). These are some cool powers! The build style introduced in the class act today are particularly interesting, as they introduce a rogue style that has been sorely missing from the game. Referred to here as the duelist build, it evokes images of the Three Musketeers and even pirates, to an extent.
As you might expect, though, this is a dex/cha build for artful dodgers, meaning the pickings for the minorogue are slim. That said, there are still a couple of things worth taking a look at...
-Duelist's prowess is a cool and unique level 1 daily stance power that allows the rogue to make a 1[W]+dex dmg attack as an immediate interrupt every time an opponent hits or misses the rogue while adjacent, and it targets reflex to boot! I'd take this for the minorogue in a heartbeat if...well, if he wasn't a minotaur. We already have two important abilities vying for every round's immediate action, so this power ends up looking kind of like a third wheel. Yes, it is superior to his riposte counter, but it's not worth giving up our only major "burst" attack in exchange for another power fueled by opportunity actions.
-Agile footwork is even more tempting. While the minorogue has plenty of tools to help discourage enemies from attacking him, he doesn't really have a good way to get out of an extremely dangerous situation when he needs to. This is a great utility power to use when the enemy moves up to attack unexpectedly. It can even be used in a fashion similar to our buffed-up goring charge to cause a monster with no ranged attacks to effectively lose his attack for a round: if the rogue was his only adjacent foe after his move, he'll have little to do but twiddle his thumbs for a round after agile footwork moves the rogue out of danger.
The power is even more valuable given the risk our feat-supported goring charge has introduced: if an enemy wants to get at the back line but knows the minorogue will keep him from getting there, he might simply choose to attack the minorogue instead. We could really use an escape ability now that the attention the rogue is drawing outweighs the threat of riposte strike and guarded attack - balancing these factors will be a constant challenge as the minorogue levels up. You'll get even more mileage out of this one if your DM really roleplays his monsters well during combat - after all, the enemy doesn't know agile footwork is an encounter power! Most will be fooled into thinking he'll simply zip away again once they move in for an attack.
For these reasons, we'll be using this level's power swap to replace adaptable flanker with the new agile footwork. Note that we won't be able to show this change in the character builder until Dragon 381 is integrated. No big deal.
That's all from the new goodies. We might take a look at blade and buckler duelist another time, but that's a ways off since we don't have shield proficiency yet (and I'm not sure it will ever be worth it).
Tomorrow - A new daily marks the halfway point to paragon tier and the end of this blog's first week! Whew! I have a newfound respect for bloggers everywhere. :)
Minotaur Rogue (Ruthless Ruffian)
Str 1 (+1) | Con 13 | Dex 19 (+1) | Int 8 | Wis 10 | Cha 10
AC 19 (+1) | Fort 17 (+3) | Ref 20 (+3) | Will 14 (+3)
HP 40 (+5) | Init +6 (+1) | S. Value 10 (+2) | S./day 7
Trained Skills: Athletics, Dungeoneering, Intimidate, Perception, Stealth, Thievery
Equipment
Weapons: Mace, throwing daggers
Armor: Leather Armor of Sudden Recovery +1, Amulet of Protection +2
Other: Boots of Adept Charging (heroic tier)
Attack Powers (Sneak Attack adds +2d6 to any attack made with combat advantage)
Values after "/" indicate ranged attack option
Riposte Strike (At-Will): +8 attack, 1d8+4 dmg; Riposte interrupt: +7 attack, 1d8+3 dmg.
Disheartening Strike (At-Will): +8 attack, 1d8+7 dmg / +10 attack, 1d4+4 dmg
Goring Charge (Encounter): +9 attack, 1d6+3 dmg
Guarded Attack (Encounter): +8 attack, 2d8+4 dmg; Secondary: +7 attack, 1d8+3 dmg
Enforced Threat (Encounter): +8 attack, 2d8+7 dmg / +10 attack, 2d4+4 dmg
Pommel Smash (Daily): +8 attack, 3d8+4 dmg
Note: Maces can be held 2-handed for an extra +1 damage.
Note: Guarded attack's secondary attack's +hit has been adjusted to reflect the proper value.
Utility Abilities - Agile Footwork (Encounter); Sudden Recovery* (Daily)
Passive Effects - Adept Charging*, Sudden Recovery*
* - Magic Item Power
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