[4E] Meat shield?

[Obscurejones]

I'm trying to build a fighter who's job is to stand in front of the wizards and warlocks and be very much between them and things that hurt. Than he hits the hurty thing with a maul. Any advice as to feats and powers for a meat shield with a maul?

[Theodoric]

Well, to be honest, the moment you give your fighter a maul (I personally wouldn't choose a paladin here, becuase theyaren't the best direct meatshields), you kind of make him less of an effective meat shield, but a high CON dwarf with plate armour could pull it off efficiently enough, in my opinion.

[Hzurr]

I'd say go dwarven fighter

Dwarf - high con, nice bonuses you can get when using a maul, can heal yourself as a minor action, so you never lose actions that could be spent defending, a wis bonus is useful if you'll be making a lot of AoOs

Fighter - Bonus to AoO, you can mark targets to keep them off your squishy buddies in the back, you can keep people from moving past you. Good times.

As for powers, I'd suggest Tide of Iron (I think that's what it's called. Don't have my book in front of me), because it lets you push enemies if you hit, which is pretty handy if you're trying to protect others.

-edit- But even a meat shield can't protect you from ninjas.

[Zocelot]

As for powers, I'd suggest Tide of Iron (I think that's what it's called. Don't have my book in front of me), because it lets you push enemies if you hit, which is pretty handy if you're trying to protect others.

You need a shield to use it, and Mauls are 2H.

[Yakk]

Shields make you a better defensive fighter, 2 handed weapons make you better at dealing damage.

Your choice to go 2H is viable -- but you have to take that in mind. If you want to be a strong defender, most of the rest of your allocated resources should go to "more defense" instead of "more offense".

Ie, for stats: Str secondary Con, with a touch of Wisdom.
Dwarf is a good choice for a race (gives you that minor action second wind).

Cleave and Reaping Strike are the standard powers for a 2H fighter from core (or you can use a non-core power -- but Sure Strike and Tide of Iron are not for you, really). Use Cleave to clear out minions, and Reaping Strike otherwise.

The Plate Armor feat is also probably a good idea. An extra +1 AC doesn't hurt!

Student of Battle is often a no-brainer (one/day healing word is not bad), or if you are crazy you could go Soldier of the Faith (giving you an extra mark/encounter), but that requires 13 cha.

[SadisticFishing]

Get Dwarven Weapon Training and grab a Mordenkrad (same as a Maul but Brutal 1, Superior - from the Adventurer's Vault).

Next, max your Con and your Strength. If you have an Infernal Warlock or something (Artful Rogue works too) provoking AO's, grab Potent Challenge. If you don't, a one handed weapon and shield works much better.

For feats:

Dwarven Weapon Training
Potent Challenge
Power Attack

Are all very good.

For powers, take anything you want - but do not touch Sure Strike. (Reaping Strike and Cleave are your At-Wills).

For stats, try to make sure you have 18 strength. Lower than 16 would be terrible, but 18 is ideal.

[chronoplasm]

Wield two shields; one in each hand.

...Or, you could look into weapons with the defensive property from The Adventurers Vault. Equip one of those with a buckler and a shield in the other hand and you would be much more effective as a meat shield.

For a race, I too will suggest the dwarf but you might also consider a Warforged.
Like the dwarves, warforged also get a +2 to constitution, but they also get:

+1 to will
+2 to saves against ongoing damage
Whenever you roll a death save, you can take the better of your die roll or 10.
You also get Warforged Resolve as your racial power. You gain temporary hitpoints (as well as additional hitpoints if you are bloodied) and you can make an immediate saving roll against ongoing damage.
+2 strength

[Mando Knight]

I'm trying to build a fighter who's job is to stand in front of the wizards and warlocks and be very much between them and things that hurt. Than he hits the hurty thing with a maul. Any advice as to feats and powers for a meat shield with a maul?

Well, without a shield, you'll need extra meat, so Toughness is a given. When you're at Paragon, take Hammer Rhythm, and at Epic, take Bludgeon Mastery. These will require high Con and high Str, so boost those a bit. With high Str and Con, you can also take Plate proficiency to mitigate your lack-of-shield. Power Attack will give you plenty of bonus damage, as will Weapon Focus (Hammer) (they will stack, Power Attack gives an untyped damage bonus).

You'll want to use powers that have a line like:
Weapon: If you're wielding an axe, a hammer, or a mace, you gain a bonus to the damage roll equal to your Constitution modifier.
Crushing Blow, Anvil of Doom, and Skullcrusher all have bonuses for wielding a hammer (the maul's weapon group). You'll want to take the Iron Vanguard Paragon Path, since it has a bunch of bonuses for a high Con.

However, you will probably not reach Paragon before November 18th if you start at level 1, so there may be better feats, powers, and Paragon paths in Martial Power.

EDIT: Heh. I loaded the page, looked at another for a few minutes, then wrote my reply. Ninja'd by a quarter hour.:smallsigh:

Also, Chronoplasm: What is this buckler you speak of? 4E knows of no such item.

[skywalker]

I vote for Brute Strike as your daily power. It's reliable, which means once per day, someone is getting 6d6 to the face.

For the encounter power I think go with Steel Serpent Strike, does good damage and keeps you sticky(since slowed enemies can't shift away from you).

Reaping Strike and Cleave are, as advised, the best at-wills no question.

[Charity]

Tank (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1062073) might be what you are looking for for inspiration.

[Tengu_temp]

Wield two shields; one in each hand.

...Or, you could look into weapons with the defensive property from The Adventurers Vault. Equip one of those with a buckler and a shield in the other hand and you would be much more effective as a meat shield.


Defensive weapons work only as off-hand weapons, with the main hand taken by another weapon.

The two shield trick probably doesn't work by RAW, and surely doesn't work by RAI and your DM will smack you if you try to pull it off. Also, how exactly a character who cannot attack is going to threaten the enemy?

[Spiryt]

Defensive weapons work only as off-hand weapons, with the main hand taken by another weapon.

The two shield trick probably doesn't work by RAW, and surely doesn't work by RAI and your DM will smack you if you try to pull it off. Also, how exactly a character who cannot attack is going to threaten the enemy?

Can't you shield bash in 4e? Not that idea is not ridiculous, just curious... :smallbiggrin:

[Tengu_temp]

Can't you shield bash in 4e? Not that idea is not ridiculous, just curious... :smallbiggrin:

You can bash with a shield as an improvised weapon - 1d4 damage, no attack bonus (with most weapons having +2 and some +3).

[Charity]

Or as a superior weapon in Adventurers vault there is Spiked shield, prof +2, d6 damage, Light blade (so good for rogues), Off-hand.

[Spiryt]

Well, in dark medieval times, shield bash was kinda basic tenchique, although shields weren't spiked :smallwink:

I assume that you must use TWF to bash with shield and make normal, main weapon attacks/powers in the same round?

[Yakk]

Well, in dark medieval times, shield bash was kinda basic tenchique, although shields weren't spiked :smallwink:

I assume that you must use TWF to bash with shield and make normal, main weapon attacks/powers in the same round?
No. You don't own a copy of 4e do ya? :-) You don't get bonus attacks for TWF -- that is the Ranger trick.

Shield bash would be represented by doing a bull rush, or something similar (tide of iron, fighter OA shield push, etc).

[chronoplasm]

What?

OK, now I must home-brew these items for 4E:

Buckler
Throwing Shield


...Just as soon as I finish my transforming monsters.

[Tengu_temp]

There already is an enchanted throwing shield, actually.

[chronoplasm]

There already is an enchanted throwing shield, actually.

Really? Is that Adventurers Vault? I don't have the book yet, but I'll have to check it out when I do.

Okay... so homebrew bucklers, homebrew improved shield-bash feat, homebrew two-shield combat feat.

[Spiryt]

No. You don't own a copy of 4e do ya? :-) You don't get bonus attacks for TWF -- that is the Ranger trick.

Shield bash would be represented by doing a bull rush, or something similar (tide of iron, fighter OA shield push, etc).

If I had, I wouldn't ask, rather check instead. :smallamused:

Would ranger with sword and board TWF generally work anyhow with his powers, then?

[Mando Knight]

Would ranger with sword and board TWF generally work anyhow with his powers, then?

If he had a Spiked shield, sure... and if he enchanted it as a weapon, then he'd be able to use a bracer or something as well...

However, it's only got a +2 proficiency bonus, so many would rather just double-wield Bastard Swords...