Class questions

[Dan Arcueid]

Me and friend both have character concepts in mind but aren't able to find anything that quite fits what we had in mind.

Firstly I've been trying to find a class that focuses more on 1 handed weapons that i can take advantage of the versatile property for. So far the best I've been able to find has been swordmage but otherwise every class i look at that is more of a damage dealer seems to be better off with something in the other hand or just a two handed weapon instead. I might just settle on swordmage but i was curious of other options.

Secondly my friend has a more difficult one to pull off. They want a character that uses two handed weapons and light or cloth armor. On top of their specific request they also don't like barbarians something about disliking the whole raging mechanic. So right away fighter is out for heavier armor and barbarian(berserker) is out as that's the only one i can think of that uses cloth and two handed weapons. I'm somewhat at a loss here for what kind of class to give them that can still work with their vision, I'm thinking i might just need to point them to homebrew but i thought i would ask to see if anyone else might have alternate options.

[allonym]

Your second question is easier to answer: Avenger. An int-based Warlord is also a possibility (wearing Hide armour). There are others, but those are the ones that sprang to mind.

As for your first question, you are looking for a character who switches between one-handed and two-handed attacks, using the Versatile property? You won't find much support for that, I'm afraid. Versatile isn't a particularly big deal, you're better off either going one-handed only (whether dual-wielding, using a shield, or keeping a hand free for Swordmage Warding or Brawler Fighter), or taking a bona-fide two-hander, as you say.
I have used the Versatile property as a paladin (I took off my shield to help me climb out of a pit trap), it was nice to have as a tiny added bonus, but it's really not something worth building a character around. I guess if you were a Brawler fighter, you could switch to a two-handed grip when you didn't need to grapple things, but really you're just looking at +1 damage.

[NecroRebel]

For a class that can take advantage of the versatile property, you might consider the Fighter, specifically the brawler combat style. This style, in Martial Power 2, gains a benefit if they have something in one hand and nothing in the other, and many of the attacks designed for it require you to have a hand free in order to work. If you have a mix of powers, some that require a hand free and some that do not, you can use the versatile weapon property to use the weapon in both hands when you can and in one hand when you need to.

The most obvious two-handed-weapon-wielding, no-armor-wearing class I can think of is the Avenger. Their striker damage bonus feature is lackluster, but they get a gigantic bonus to accuracy, and thus are best used with the largest two-handed weapon they can.

[OracleofWuffing]

The Swordmage is typically the definitive one-hander guy, yeah. Without opening up the character builder, Martial Power 2 has a Brawler fighter build that can work with an empty hand

Wardens come to mind for 2-handed weapons in light armor. I think Avengers can pull it off, too.

E: Aaaand ninja'd. I knew I shouldn't have looked up stuff in books.

[Dan Arcueid]

I'll let them know about the avenger and the warden class.

As for the other one i guess I'm willing to move broaden what I'm looking for by just dropping the versatile aspect and going into just 1h weapons only while avoiding shields.

I thought of a possibility once with a hybrid monk fighter or some multiclass variant. Reason is because fighter had the grappling and monk had a feat that worked with longsword and using it versatile.

Really I'm trying to kinda go with a sort of blade master feel from other games with a character that is a viable striker with only one blade.

[sigfile]

I'm not familiar with the blade master - what does it do that has your interest?

With that in mind... have you considered a warlock? Either multiclass swordmage or take Arcane Implement Proficiency: Heavy Blade to use a longsword as an implement, and take the Eldritch Strike option instead of Eldtrich Blast.

Plan B, although it consumes the off-hand, there's the hexblade. Depending on what you hold in your off-hand (staff), you can pull off some impressive maneuvers with the pact blade.

[allonym]

No shield, and presumably no dual wielding...

There's always rogue - use a rapier, preferably using a background to get proficiency, and optional dagger in the offhand for the two weapon feats and that main gauche duellist feel. If you don't concentrate on the stealth aspect you can make a light-on-the-feet duellist instead of a backstabber. Artful Dodger in particular has that feel, with the charisma focus, but brutal scoundrel works as well (and tends to do more damage between the class feature, the power riders, and the ability to pick up strength-based powers from other classes).

Don't really recommend a monk/fighter hybrid - go with one and multiclass into the other if you want that combination.

[neonchameleon]

Really I'm trying to kinda go with a sort of blade master feel from other games with a character that is a viable striker with only one blade.

What do you want to do with the hand that isn't on the sword? (Classic would be Brawler Fighter).

[Dan Arcueid]

What do you want to do with the hand that isn't on the sword? (Classic would be Brawler Fighter).

I'll probably look at brawler, swordmage or rogue.

Rogue might be what i was looking for with versatile duelist allowing you to use a one handed heavy blade and be able to deal some decent damage and still get sneak attack. Hybrid with assassin for the assassin shroud so i can get the feat that allows me to always have combat advantage against my shroud. I probably could still go with my versatile idea and just 2h the weapon when using an assassin attack to invoke the shrouds.

Swordmage is close but its primarily a defender from what i can see. And I'd have to study brawler a tad more.