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Goonthegoof
2011-03-19, 10:15 AM
I keep hearing about shielding swordmages being better than assault and the arcane sword epic destiny being bad, so I came up with an alternate build for a level 30 campaign, detailed in the spoiler below.
It's a fire genasi sword of assault/arcane sword, using arcane sword's capstone to get dimensional charge at will. I'm intending to use that to make the character a kind of striker/defender hybrid by spamming dimensional charge at every opportunity and getting a bunch of items that key off charges or teleports.
My question is this... how will it hold up compared to a regular striker? I should be doing about 70 damage a hit and can hit in response to pretty much anything, so I should be doing it multiple times per round. Is there anything obvious I'm missing?

Attributes:
Str 14+2(racial)+6(Leveling)=22
Dex 13+2(Leveling)=15
Con 13+4(Leveling)=17
Int 16+2(racial)+8(Leveling)=26
Wis 12+2(Leveling)=14
Cha 8+2(Leveling)=10

Feats:
1 Extra Manifestation: Stormsoul (FR)
2 White Lotus Riposte (DR 374)
4 Weapon Expertise: Heavy Blade (PHB2)
6 Versatile Expertise: Heavy Blade (PHB3)
8 Improved Swordmage Warding (AP)
10 Weapon Proficiency: Bastard Sword (PHB)
11 White Lotus Master Riposte (DR 374)
12 Shocking Flame (FR)
14 Greater Swordmage Warding (AP)
16 Heavy Blade Opportunity (PHB1)
18 Battle Awareness (MP)
20 Unstoppable Charge (MP)
21 Double Manifestation (FR)
22 Quickened Spellcasting (AP)
24 Epic Fortitude (PHB2)
26 Epic Reflexes (PHB2)
28 Epic Will (PHB2)
30 Rapid Aegis Reaction (DR387)

Surrealistik
2011-03-19, 10:23 AM
Why do you have two Expertise feats? Take Heavy Blade Expertise and be done with it, or take Versatile Expertise if you have implement powers that matter.

You need either Improved Defenses or the Superior Will/Fortitude/Reflex line in place of or in addition to Epic Fortitude/Reflex/Will. Since you're a Defender, I recommend getting the Superior line + the Epic line.

Kurald Galain
2011-03-19, 10:24 AM
Well...

White Lotus Master Riposte was errata'ed to not work on marked enemies, so the classic "swordmage catch-22" doesn't work any more.

Weapon Expertise doesn't stack with Versatile Expertise.

And I'm sure you can find better epic-tier feats than Epic Fort/Ref/Will.

Overall, you're simply not a striker. The swordmage is a defender, with controller as the secondary role; so expect any serious striker to outdamage you. Many strikers can get 40-50 DPR by level 11, so doing 70 by level 30 is just not in the same league. That doesn't mean you're a bad character, though: swordmages make good defenders.

Surrealistik
2011-03-19, 10:27 AM
And I'm sure you can find better epic-tier feats than Epic Fort/Ref/Will.

I beg to differ; the Epic line of defense boosters can mean being scarcely hit by even the gods if you have the right items and powers (Impenetrable Warding topping the list), when used in conjunction with Improved Defenses or the Superior line.

Goonthegoof
2011-03-19, 06:20 PM
Oh, the two expertise feats thing is campaign specific and does have a good line of reasoning behind it.

Daftendirekt
2011-03-25, 11:39 PM
Oh, the two expertise feats thing is campaign specific and does have a good line of reasoning behind it.

Then, please, explain it. Because they both give a +1 feat bonus to hit per tier, and stack in no way at all.