But that's okay...today the minorogue hits level 2, and that means he's getting an extra tick in all of his defenses, a utility power, another feat and his first magic item. As the character grows up, I'll be keeping my eyes open for items that could potentially offset his most significant weakness. Other than that, though, the number one focus most strikers should make their priority is 1) how can I hit more often? and 2) how can I cause the most amount of damage when I land that hit? Let's start things off by looking over his level 2 power options...
Level 2 Utility Power
If we figure in the skill powers scheduled for release in PHB3 next spring - but available now in the character builder - most every character has a LOT of choices for utility powers. In addition to the seven class powers the minorogue could choose from, he has seven MORE to add to the list based on his skill choices. Never say you don't have options in 4E!
First, let's weed out the trash. Double take is the easiest to scratch off the list due to its reliance on a good charisma bonus (ours is 0). Ominous threat would be a terrible choice - we want to dissuade enemies from attacking the minorogue, not encourage it! Fast hands could be useful for certain types of characters, but right now the minorogue has all the hands he needs - one for his melee weapon and one for his ranged weapon. Bounding leap is sort of an inferior version of great leap - yeah, it comes with a +5 bonus, but it's also an encounter power; given this character's respectable +9 to athletics it's hard to imagine him ever needing it. In fact, given great leap's limited utility let's knock that one out of the running while we're at it, and scrap quick fingers and scrambling climb for the same reason. I can tell you from personal experience that those are the sorts of powers DMs despise: they are so specific that he'll need to find a way to incorporate potential uses into encounters, and half the time the PC won't even realize he finally has an opportunity to use it! Bleh, no thanks.
That takes care of half of our available choices, leaving us with -
Adaptable Flanker
Fleeting Ghost
Reap the Rattled
Sneak in the Attack
Far Sight
Obscured Avoidance
Otherworldly Lore
Any of these would be a good choice generally speaking, but some are better than others. Reap the rattled fits the character concept quite well, but the fact that it's a daily that uses a minor action means it's going to have limited use - if it were either free OR an encounter ability it would be a no-brainer; as it is there are better options. Far sight is a good power for a rogue focusing on ranged powers, but we want to get the minorogue into melee as quickly as possible, so that's out. Obscured avoidance is a nice utility power if your DM likes to throw lots of marking monsters at you, but from a "big picture" point of view it's a power that would only affect a small percentage of the monster population. Otherworldly lore needs to go for the same reason - it's a nice encounter power that fits the minorogue concept extremely well, but it's only effective against aberrant monsters. If you're playing in a campaign with heavy Far Realm action, though, I'd recommend taking it.
That leaves adaptable flanker, fleeting ghost and sneak in the attack. I'm going to kill fleeting ghost: he's not going to focus much on stealth; he'll be staying pretty close to the defender and when he's in a vulnerable position, he'll snarl tauntingly, smack the opponent with riposte strike and DARE them to attack. Of our two remaining choices, we have to ask - do we want to be able to apply sneak damage when he can't quite reach a flanking position, or give an ally a chance to double the sneak damage in a round? Personally I think adaptable flanker is the better all-around choice: you certainly won't be able to get into flanking 100% of the time and we already know it's the minorogue's job to dole out single target damage, whereas your sneak in the attack partner might end up being a defender or a leader...in other words, a character who may have chosen to focus on defenses over + hit. In a party with another melee striker or two, I would have gone with sneak in the attack...as it stands, adaptable flanker is going to be our level 2 power.
Feat
This is going to be a bit easier - all we have to do is go back over that level 1 list and pick out a feat that got left on the cutting room floor in favor of vigilante justice style: goring shove, opportunity gore, backstabber, ruthless injury, bloodhound style, powerful charge, and warborn fury style. We might also consider weapon focus/expertise; since the minorogue will almost invariably attack with a mace, he get get a lot of mileage out of one of those talents, especially if your DM is particularly stingy when it comes to magic item distribution. In fact, if the minorogue hasn't scored a magic weapon by level 4 I'll probably swap a feat out for expertise to compensate.
My first instinct is to take backstabber; it works nicely with our new utility power and a rogue can never do too much damage. After considering the options, however, I think warborn fury style is going to be our level 2 feat. We have to keep in mind just how fragile our character is - even minotaur rogues can go down in a flash of bad luck. As long as we hit with the riposte most of the time, warborn fury is going to act as a good "emergency button." It should keep us more comfortable in that vulnerable period of combat when the minorogue is trying to get into a solid flanking position while keeping off the enemy's radar.
Magic Item
Ah, loot. Sweet, sweet loot. While leveling from 1 to 2 our minorogue managed to net himself level 3 magic armor...which could turn out to be a lifesaving find (literally). Too bad we didn't get a much-needed neck item! Maybe next level...in the meantime, let's take a look at our choices and figure out what the best possible find in this category would be.
There are 16 possible choices here, and I'm not going to bother discussing all of them; I'd end up spending every waking moment working on this blog if I wrote my way through every single magic item in the game! In general, assume that I've eliminated these items because they're designed for other classes, their ability is mediocre, another available item does the same thing but better, and/or they're just too clunky for my tastes (i.e., armor of exploits).
Anyway...of the 16 available items, there are 7 worth taking a look at.
-Addergrease Armor - Another nice tool to discourage enemies from attacking the minorogue, although at +1 the shift ability associated with it is only so-so. At +2 or +3 this is a much better choice, and at +3 the ongoing damage jumps to 10.
-Armor of Sudden Recovery - Very nice item for us. Ongoing damage is potentially deadly for melee classes with low hp; I've seen the rogue at our table drop due to a series of unlucky saving throws on more than one occasion.
-Bestial Armor - Goring charge is lobbying hard for this one, but the utility might turn out to be too limited. If we ever spend a feat or two to improve goring charge it'll be a much stronger choice.
-Nightmare Ward - Did you take the otherworldly lore power because of all the far realm baddies in your game? This is the armor for you...otherwise, there are better choices.
-Serpentskin Armor - It would be really nice to be able to move into flanking quickly, especially when a monster needs to drop FAST.
-Skald's Armor - A personal favorite and perhaps the best "you really don't want to attack me" item on this list. Not much benefit from the + skill checks on this item, although it would help to not suck if the minorogue's group ever needed to make a group bluff/diplomacy check, making it a good pick in games with a lot of intrigue.
Stanching Armor - The saving throw bonus here actually isn't that good since most ongoing damage attacks have an associated type (i.e. poison, fire, etc.), but you can never have too many healing powers. This is a no-brainer if the minorogue's group lacks a leader.
As you can see, picking the "best" item for a character can and should be influenced by group composition and campaign style a lot more than power and feat selections. Assuming none of the factors listed above are in play, though, I'd say Armor of Sudden Recovery +1 is the minorogue's best choice. It grants you regeneration for the rest of the encounter, and the amount of regeneration you get is determined by the ongoing damage you had, not the item's armor bonus. What's more, unlike Stanching Armor, none of the healing from this effect is going to cost you one of your precious healing surges! I would say my group encounters at least one monster with an ongoing damage effect in at least half of their combat encounters, and that's a conservative estimate. As a rogue, any time you can regain health without using healing surges, you should snap it up.
Summary
That's it for level 2! Tomorrow we'll pick up a new attack power and our second magic item...with any luck, a magic weapon or a neck item. I'm crossing my fingers!
Here's a rundown of the minorogue so far, with a couple of additions I meant to include yesterday as well - an off-hand dagger for the occasional ranged attack (he has a few more strapped to his belt for easy access), and I'm going to list the +hit/damage of each attack with our current setup (although I won't be listing any effects the attack applies along with its damage). Note that the number in parentheses indicates the change in the relevant score since the last level.
Minotaur Rogue (Ruthless Ruffian)
Str 16 | Con 13 | Dex 18 | Int 8 | Wis 10 | Cha 10
AC 18 (+2) | Fort 14 (+1) | Ref 17 (+1) | Will 11 (+1)
HP 30 (+5) | Init +5 (+1) | S. Value 7 (+1) | S./day 7
Trained Skills: Athletics, Dungeoneering, Intimidate, Perception, Stealth, Thievery
Equipment - Mace, Dagger (off-hand thrown), Leather Armor of Sudden Recovery +1
Attack Powers (Sneak Attack adds +2d6 to any attack made with combat advantage)
Riposte Strike (At-Will): +7 attack, 1d8+4 dmg; Riposte interrupt: +6 attack, 1d8+3 dmg.
Disheartening Strike (At-Will): +7 attack, 1d8+7 dmg.
Goring Charge (Encounter): +8 attack, 1d6+3 dmg
Guarded Attack (Encounter): +7 attack, 2d8+4 dmg; Secondary: +6 attack, 1d8+3 dmg
Pommel Smash (Daily): +7 attack, 3d8+4 dmg
Note: Maces can be held 2-handed for an extra +1 damage.
Utility Abilities - Adaptable Flanker (Encounter); Sudden Recovery* (Daily)
* - Magic Item Power
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