[4e] New to 4th Ed, need help on what to play for Dungeon 1-shots

[MustacheFart]

Hello,

I'm going to be playing in 2-3 different 4th edition dungeon 1-shots very soon here. This is my first time ever playing 4th ed.

Basically, each player is rolling up two characters to bring to the game. I've already rolled my stats for both, they are:

Character 1: (didn't roll as good here as I did for Character 2)
18
17
15
13
13
12

Character 2: (Rolled better I think)
17
16
16
15
14
14

I have no clue on the exact classes & races I want to play for sure. I have available to me, PHB I and II.

I was thinking maybe a Barbarian for one of my characters. Maybe either a Goliath or a Dragonborn barbarian? Or maybe like a shifter barbarian, mimicking wolverine if that were possible? Basically, I like smashy smashy.

And maybe playing a shaman for my other character? Though I'm not sure if this is a good choice for a beginner.


BTW we are rolling 5th level characters.

If anyone could toss up two good yet different yet hopefully not too difficult 5th level character builds, I'd love them long time! :smallbiggrin:

Consider me a complete noob so, I need help with pretty much everything—Race choice, Class choice, Stat allocation, feats to take, powers to take, gear to buy, and anything else I've missed.

Thanks a bunch!

-MustacheFart

[TheOOB]

Your first problem is rolling stats. Most DM's in 4e don't even allow stat rolls, and it's generally a bad idea. 4e works very very hard to maintain balance, and rolling stats throws that out the window.

Otherwise, just pick what sounds fun. Leaders and strikers are the easiest to play(With ranger, rogue, and cleric being the easiest over all IMO), but every class is pretty easy to be good with, though the PHBII classes do require a little more effort.

If you don't know what others are picking, you can't go wrong with a leader or defender, as those roles are fairly essential.

Heres a few good race/class combos to consider:

-Half-Orc Fighter(very simple, dex lends well to light/heavy blade weapons)
-Dragonborn Paladin(Uses both the races bonus stats, breath helps maintain mark at range)
-Dwarven Cleric(Though as nails, doesn't need to stop to heal themselves)
-Elven Ranger(Best archers in the game)
-Half-Orc Rogue(Amazing brutal scoundrel)
-Half-Elf warlock(use all the different pact powers well)

[Oracle_Hunter]

As far as stat-rolls go, those are pretty good.

Anyhow, some CharOp guides:
Barbarian Handbook (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1161315)
Shaman Handbook (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1165608)

If you have more specific questions, feel free to ask.

EDIT:
Important note - it is very easy to make a 4E Build. Just look through the Guide, then pick the powers that are at least Black and sound most interesting to you. You can't go very wrong.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Heres a few good race/class combos to consider:

-Half-Orc Fighter(very simple, dex lends well to light/heavy blade weapons)
-Dragonborn Paladin(Uses both the races bonus stats, breath helps maintain mark at range)
-Dwarven Cleric(Though as nails, doesn't need to stop to heal themselves)
-Elven Ranger(Best archers in the game)
-Half-Orc Rogue(Amazing brutal scoundrel)
-Half-Elf warlock(use all the different pact powers well)

Bugbears make even better Brutal Scoundrels, with their ability to wield Large weapons, a racial bonus to Stealth, a +2 Str/Dex (Just like half Orcs) and Predetory Eye can read as a 1/encouncter Super Sneak Attack.

[Tengu_temp]

Most DMs don't allow bugbears, and for good reasons - unlike minotaurs, they're not updated to non-stupidly-overpowered rules yet.

[tcrudisi]

Most DMs don't allow bugbears, and for good reasons - unlike minotaurs, they're not updated to non-stupidly-overpowered rules yet.

We can't assume a sane DM in this case as the player was able to roll his own stats. :-P Although in 4e, you only need, at most, 4 stats to be really high. Having a 5th or 6th above 10 is just unnecessary.

The Barbarian is an easy class to play and it is a lot of fun. It's not going to do more damage than a TWF Ranger or Brutal Rogue over the long-haul, but in any given round you can make their damage look like a child at play. I saw a level 1 Barbarian do 50 points of damage with one attack, when the Rogue at the table could have only done 25 tops.

I'm not a big fan of the Shaman. I blame the way they heal. Okay, player A spend a healing surge and player B, you get the +d6's. Uhhh? What if my Defender has been doing his job and nobody else is hurt? Well, then i'm SOL. Honestly, as soon as I saw that I became turned off to the Shaman. I can't even bring my (admittedly biased) butt to read the rest of their powers. However, if you are creating two characters, it would be nice of you to bring either a Leader (Cleric, Warlord, Bard, Shaman) or a Defender (Fighter, Paladin, Fighter, Swordmage, Warden, Fighter) as your other character.

The boards that Oracle_Hunter pointed you to are an amazing resource to help you create your character. They have an optimization guide for all the classes, though you might have to search for it. Plus, if you have not played 4e before, the input they give is incredibly valuable, as you might think that just because one power does more damage it is more powerful than another power, which is just flat-out not true.

As other people have said, Strikers are the easiest role to play. If you are a great team-player, Leaders are the way to go. If you are the best at your table with strategy, go with a Controller. And then there are tanks, but I have no idea why anyone would want to play one of them. But I'm definitely not a tank-person (my natural role in 4e is definitely that of the Leader, whereas in 3.x I would say it was more of the Controller).

[Tengu_temp]

Defender (Fighter, Paladin, Fighter, Swordmage, Warden, Fighter)

Is it a coincidence that fighter is on the list twice?

[Anonomuss]

Is it a coincidence that fighter is on the list twice?

*Pops in*
It's actually there three times...
*pops back out*

[Hal]

I would recommend rolling up two different characters: One striker, then one leader or defender.

I'm a big fan of the gnome rogue for a striker. You have to pump your Dex, but their racial power is good for a melee striker. Plus, rogues are fun to play. I've had good success taking Two-Fisted Shooter (although that's Martial Power) and then using powers that can be with either melee or ranged weapons. You could always do the same but simply throw daggers or shuriken instead.

For a leader, I'd recommend warlord. Again, these guys are fun to play, as you'll be doing lots of crazy stuff that grants other people additional actions.

Whatever you end up doing, don't be afraid to do crazy stuff and make liberal use of your skills (both in and out of combat). Part of the fun of playing in the game is having a high Acrobatics/Athletics skill and then doing something with it in combat. "Okay, that stone on a rope the monsters keep chucking at us? I want to grab onto it and swing onto the platform. Can I kick the monster as I do so?"

[tcrudisi]

Is it a coincidence that fighter is on the list twice?

As Anonomuss said, it is actually on there 3 times. From my personal experience at playing low-level characters, nothing beats a Fighter in terms of ability to defend. Monsters just refuse to leave a Fighter, and if they do, they take a severe punishment for it. Plus, I've noticed that Fighters put out almost as much damage as the strikers do.

Also, if you go with a Rogue, don't fall for the shuriken trap! It is a trap, as the dagger outdamages the shuriken hands-down (if you compare them as ranged weapons only).

[MustacheFart]

Well, I played my first 1-shot and I ended up only having time to roll one character, which ended up being perfectly fine.

I went with a Half-Orc Barbarian wielding a +1 Lightning Spear. I took Rageblood and built my guy to run in do good damage and run out.

It actually ended up being A LOT of fun as with powers such as Avalanche Strike, Thunderhawk Rage, Panther Rage (or whatever its called), and Howling Strike, I ended up doing, I think the majority of the damage.

The best part of the whole 1-shot came at the very end when I defeated the big bad single-handedly! :smallbiggrin:

Basically, we were in the base of a Volcano and a dragon statue came to life, turning into a green dragon. The whole time lava started pouring in. In fact lava originally was pouring in from one area but because a sorcerer in the party decided to blast the ceiling in order to cause an avalanche on top of the dragon, lava started pouring in at a 2nd place.

A few members of the party attacked the dragon for a bit but almost all of their attacks missed. As the lava poured in, most of the party skedaddled. I stayed and continued beating on the dragon.

Then I ended up knocking the dragon prone because of Thunderhawk Rage. The other sorcerer ended up bloodying the dragon while he was prone, I think just before he ran from the cavern/room.

The dragon at that point moved and hovered at 10 feet over the lava on one side of the room where one player was actually swimming out (DM allowed him to do it, taking minimal damage since he had fire resist). I then charged the dragon despite everyone running out. I ended up nailing him but I failed on the knockdown prone attack.

Now, I started the next round with lava at my feet (it poured out around me between turns). You see the previous round I was able to reach him without hitting lava. Anyway, the DM said I could back off without taking damage but that's not how I roll when I'm a barb. So, I attacked him again and I can't remember if I hit but I think I did. Anyway, the important part is, I ended up knocking him prone again, sending him into the lava below him. Then for my movement instead of backing off....I JUMPED ONTO THE DRAGON!!

At that point the 1 sorcerer (not the lava swimming one who attacked the rock ceiling overhead the dragon)might have took one last shot before he fled. The cleric in the party tossed me one heal (not that I was that bad off but I'll take it :smallwink:) and fled. This meant it became a battle of me vs. the dragon!

At this point, I figured one of two things would probably happen: A) I end up killing the dragon, managing to escape afterward but take some serious damage in the process! Or, B) I end up killing the dragon but fail to escape and die!

Since this was a 1-shot and more importantly I was playing a barbarian...I had no problem with either outcome!

So, the DM ruled that all the dragon could really do was flip himself over (up from prone) and try to buck me off. The group consensus was that we do opposing dex checks (1d20 + dex). First round the dragon tried this, I ended up with a 16 (rolled a 12) and he ended up with a.......15! So he managed to get up to 10' above lava on his turn with me on his back before he failed at bucking me off. Then I proceeded to attack him! The DM actually thought I was going to run....bah, not Oog McPokesalot! Of course I ended up knocking him prone into lava again :smallbiggrin: for another chunk of damage! Apparently this left the dragon at 2 hitpoints (which I found out afterward lol).

On his next turn, he again, flipped over, got to 10' above the lava, and tried to buck me off once more! This time however I rolled a 10 getting a 14. He rolled a..........5!!! SUCCESS!

So, I attacked one final time, delivering the killing blow!!! Then for my move action I made an Athletics check to attempt to jump the majority of the lava and I rolled an........


........


........

an 18 giving me a 29!!!

BOOM, I jump whole lava pit (about half the room at this point and it was a huge room) and land safely by the exit, taking 0 damage!:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:



I can honestly say, it was probably my most epic moment for a first time playing a d20 game!

The funniest part is, early in the dungeon crawl I attacked an orc then ran away leaving 5 orcs on the fighter who was by me (I was setting up another charge). The fighter for most of the game said I was a barbarian with no guts. That was the only time I ran and it was for strategic reasons. And, not to mention you all read how it ended up :smallsmile:. A party telling me to bail, that I can't kill the dragon and escape! They learned how I play my barbarians! BALLZ TO THE WALLZ!!!


-MustacheFart