[4e] Dwarven Battlemind Help

[DiscipleofBob]

So in a campaign I'm in right now, we have the option of temporarily (or permanently) replacing our character with another, just for the sake of trying out new classes. Currently, I have a Warforged Warden, who is by all means awesome, but I wanted to try out a Battlemind, specifically a Dwarven Battlemind. However, I'm having trouble deciding on powers, feats, and equipment and getting the most bang for my buck.

Other characters in the party (level 7) include a Human Psion, a Warforged Seeker, a Half-Elf Rogue, and a Tiefling Warlord/Wizard. Very Controller-heavy, and my previous Warden only strengthens that aspect of the party.

The setting is this Skies of Arcadia/Baten Kaitos-esque world of floating continents and airships. The dwarf would be a retired airship pirate captain.

I'll post more details later, but for now I have to get on the road and I figure I'd get whatever advice I can.

Thanks.

[Meta]

So in a campaign I'm in right now, we have the option of temporarily (or permanently) replacing our character with another, just for the sake of trying out new classes. Currently, I have a Warforged Warden, who is by all means awesome, but I wanted to try out a Battlemind, specifically a Dwarven Battlemind. However, I'm having trouble deciding on powers, feats, and equipment and getting the most bang for my buck.

Other characters in the party (level 7) include a Human Psion, a Warforged Seeker, a Half-Elf Rogue, and a Tiefling Warlord/Wizard. Very Controller-heavy, and my previous Warden only strengthens that aspect of the party.

The setting is this Skies of Arcadia/Baten Kaitos-esque world of floating continents and airships. The dwarf would be a retired airship pirate captain.

I'll post more details later, but for now I have to get on the road and I figure I'd get whatever advice I can.

Thanks.

Level 7 is a great level to try out a battlemind because lightning rush is arguably the best battlemind at-will.

Spam it.

[Blazen]

Im running a Battlemind in LFR right now, and like the previous poster mentioned, good thing your starting at level 7. Here is what I recommend.
This build assumes the use of standard array for ability scores, and no backgrounds.

Dwarf Battlemind
Level 7
Class Feature: Battle Resilience

Starting stats (after racial bonus)

Str: 13
Con: 18
Dex: 11
Int: 8
Wis: 18
Cha: 10

Level 4 boost: Con, Str
Level 8 boost: Con, Wis

Skills: Endurance, Athletics, Heal

Feats:
1: Dwarven weapon training
2: Melee weapon training Con
4: Weapon Expertise Hammer
6: Skill Power: Physicians Care

Powers:
1: Iron Fist, Whirling Defense, Aspect of Elevated Harmony
2: Endure Pain (skill power)
3: Mind Snare
5: Nightmare Vortex
6: Winged Weapon
7: Trade out Whirling defense for Lightning Rush

Your goal stats wise should be 19 Str by level 21, and maximized Con, and Wis. You should have 6 PP at level 7 which is enough to use Lightning Rush 3 times, or 2 if you want to use 1 PP to snag 2 enemies with your Battlemind's demand. The main thing about this build is it's endurance. You have crazy high hit points, and really good defenses . The first time your attacked in an encounter you get resist 7 all, you have a daily that gives you resist 10 all, and you have an at-will attack that gives you resist 4 all whether you hit or miss. As a Dwarf you get second wind as a minor action, an encounter power that gives you another healing surge, and a daily attack that gives you another one! You do not die. That is the greatness of the Dwarven Battlemind. Prepare to make your DM cry.

[BobTheDog]

Starting stats (after racial bonus)

Str: 13
Con: 18
Dex: 11
Int: 8
Wis: 18
Cha: 10

Level 4 boost: Con, Str
Level 8 boost: Con, Wis

-- snip --

Your goal stats wise should be 19 Str by level 21, and maximized Con, and Wis.

Uh. How does that work?

[Blazen]

Edit: just saw the bolded parts. I meant, get Str to 19, then dump all remaining points in Wis and Con.

[Angelmaker]

What is the strength for? Melee training (con) is all you need, since it takes care of your melee basic attacks ( and as such attacks of opportunity as well ). There is no power for battleminds available that uses str afaik.

CON + WIS is all you need, maybe the little odd charisma for some powers or extra damage - depending on build and power selection.

Hammer Rhythm or whatever odd feat simply isn´t worth getting all that strength, not even plate armor. You are better of, imho, to just boost con and wis till underverse come.

[Blazen]

Con is boosted at each go. The +2 mod in Wis just doesn't make up for losing Hammer Rhythm, and Bludgeon mastery, or the AC boosts provided by Plate armor. DMs can hit 4 times for con damage with each hit and a chance of knocking prone.

[Angelmaker]

To reach 19 Strength, you have to give up 4 points in WIS, don´t you? ( Starting 13, 14 and 15 from levels 11 and 21, so 4 more points from 4,8,14,18 ) So, Hammer Rhythm is needed to offset the bonus damage for the missing WIS. And HR only happens on a miss ( which still is awesome, no argument there. ).

I guess plate armor may be worth it, but I don´t know. I´m going for the CON/WIS route, works fine for me. AC 30 at level 12 is fine, any more and my battlemind wouldn´t be a worthwhile target anymore.

[BobTheDog]

You can get Str 19 (to enable the Hammer feats), starting from 13, with 2 Str boosts from lvl up (plus automatic 11,21) and a +2 Str Epic Destiny. There should be one that gives +2 Str/Con or +2 Str/Wis and has some other nifty features.

[Blazen]

The thing is that Wis is nice, but not overly important. It scales your resistances and gives you extra damage with your Aspect augments, but over all it's just not as useful as say dealing massive damage with Hammer Rhythm, or getting really good AC. Besides, like Bob mentioned, it's easy enough to boost Wis, Con, or Str.

[Meta]

You can get Str 19 (to enable the Hammer feats), starting from 13, with 2 Str boosts from lvl up (plus automatic 11,21) and a +2 Str Epic Destiny. There should be one that gives +2 Str/Con or +2 Str/Wis and has some other nifty features.

The new and amazing defender ED, unyielding sentinel I think it's called, gives +2 con and +2 to another stat?

[Blazen]

That's Ceaseless Guardian, which only gives +2 to one stat. The better choice is Champion of Prophecy (Eberron) which gives +2 Str, Con, or Dex, and +2 Int, Wis, or Cha.

[Meta]

Unyielding Sentinel
Features

Stalwart Guardian (21st level): You increase
your Constitution score by 2 and increase any other
ability score by 2.

Unbreakable (24th level): Your enemies can
try to pin you down, to weaken you with magic, or to
rend your flesh and leave you bleeding out, but no
matter what malevolent spells and attacks are hurled
at your position, you always find a way to shake off
any effects that would impede your ability to defend
your allies.
Whenever you make a saving throw (including
death saving throws), you roll two dice and keep
either result.

Undying Vanguard (26th level): The accumulated
knowledge that you have gained by recovering
memories of your past lives begins to manifest in a
fighting style that is an amalgamation of many styles,
both current and long forgotten. In other lives, you’ve
fought overwhelming odds and died defending your
friends, and each time, you learned a little more
about how to stand when massively outnumbered.
Undying V anguard Unyielding Sentinel Utility 26
For a moment, your mind slips back into memories of a
past life, and you adopt a fighting style forged across hundreds
of deaths.

Daily Stance
Minor Action Personal
Effect: You enter the unyielding vanguard stance. Until the
stance ends, you cannot be subjected to forced movement
unless you choose, you do not grant combat advantage, you
automatically reduce all ongoing damage to 0, and you are
immune to the auras of your enemies if you choose to be.

Vigor of Battle (30th level): Once the blood of
your enemies begins to flow, you cannot be stopped.
Arrows and spells fly your way, yet each time you cut
down an enemy, you find new ways to shrug off the
effects of your wounds to continue fighting. As long
as your enemies continue to die by your hand, you
cannot be brought low.
Once per round, when you reduce a nonminion
enemy to 0 hit points, you regain hit points as though
you had spent a healing surge.

[DiscipleofBob]

Here's what I got so far.

Ability Scores (including level 4 boost):
Strength: 13
Constitution: 18
Dexterity: 9
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 15
Charisma: 15

Reasoning: Intelligence and Charisma are both important for flavor reasons, as the character is a retired pirate captain. Dexterity is low because I can't afford to make all stats high and the character is pretty old with several artificial limbs. Strength I don't need a lot of, but I do want to qualify for appropriate feats.

Skills: Here's my problem. I get 4 trained skills (3 plus 1 extra trained skill that we get free as a houserule. The extra trained skill does not have to be part of my normal class list. My problem is that if I want to be versed in airship mechanics, an absolute must for the character, there are a ton of skills I need to invest in.

• Athletics is required to try and steer a ship and is just overall useful.
• Bluff. He's a pirate. Not as important as Diplomacy or Intimidate for command but still useful.
• Diplomacy for leading pirates.
• Endurance is a must to stave off the effects of this perpetual phenomenon called the Maelstrom which among other things corrupts living things and creates undead, demons, and aberrations. Also, disease comes up a lot in this game and getting infected with anything can mean NPC's trying to kill you and burn your body.
• Insight for the ability to sniff out possible mutineers and traitors.
• Intimidate. Needed. Pirate and all.
• Nature. Needed for airship navigation. VERY important.
• Perception. Also useful for airship navigation and noticing other important threats.
• Stealth, Streetwise, and Thievery. All good and appropriate skills, but not as necessary as the others.
• Engineering. A homebrewed skill for the game that pretty much handles anything technologically related, including "magic" item creation, the mechanical parts of airships, recognizing and operating machinery, etc.

At this point, Jack of all Trades might be a prudent investment.

For feats: Once again, I get a free feat courtesy of the DM's houserules. Dwarven Weapon Training and Melee Training (Con) are both musts. I might want Jack of all Trades for reasons mentioned above. There's also a homebrew feat the DM made available that I pretty much have to take, one that considers me trained in skill checks made for one class of ship. Pursuing Step also looks like it might be useful.

Powers: Tough choice to begin with, but Bull's Strength I like for the pushing, very useful in a campaign setting with lots of bottomless pits, and, well, the second at-will really won't matter since I'll be swapping it out by level 7. Mind Snare at level 3. Lightning Rush is really that good? I was looking at Psionic Speed for hitting multiple targets, but the general consensus may change my mind.

Either Steel Unity Strike or Aspect of Elevated Harmony for level 1, and Nightmare Vortex for level 5 daily.

As for utilities, Telepathic Challenge and Sense Minds look fun and useful, but I'm not sure if they're appropriate for the character.

Equipment... Completely lost on. This is where I need the most help.

[Meta]

Here's what I got so far.

Ability Scores (including level 4 boost):
Strength: 13
Constitution: 18
Dexterity: 9
Intelligence: 13
Wisdom: 15
Charisma: 15

Reasoning: Intelligence and Charisma are both important for flavor reasons, as the character is a retired pirate captain. Dexterity is low because I can't afford to make all stats high and the character is pretty old with several artificial limbs. Strength I don't need a lot of, but I do want to qualify for appropriate feats.

Skills: Here's my problem. I get 4 trained skills (3 plus 1 extra trained skill that we get free as a houserule. The extra trained skill does not have to be My problem is that if I want to be versed in airship mechanics, an absolute must for the character.

• Athletics is required to try and steer a ship and is just overall useful.
• Bluff. He's a pirate. Not as important as Diplomacy or Intimidate for command but still useful.
• Diplomacy for leading pirates.
• Endurance is a must to stave off the effects of this perpetual phenomenon called the Maelstrom which among other things corrupts living things and creates undead, demons, and aberrations. Also, disease comes up a lot in this game and getting infected with anything can mean NPC's trying to kill you and burn your body.
• Insight for the ability to sniff out possible mutineers and traitors.
• Intimidate. Needed. Pirate and all.
• Nature. Needed for airship navigation. VERY important.
• Perception. Also useful for airship navigation and noticing other important threats.
• Stealth, Streetwise, and Thievery. All good and appropriate skills, but not as necessary as the others.
• Engineering. A homebrewed skill for the game that pretty much handles anything technologically related, including "magic" item creation, the mechanical parts of airships, recognizing and operating machinery, etc.

At this point, Jack of all Trades might be a prudent investment.

For feats: Once again, I get a free feat courtesy of the DM's houserules. Dwarven Weapon Training and Melee Training (Con) are both musts. I might want Jack of all Trades for reasons mentioned above. There's also a homebrew feat the DM made available that I pretty much have to take, one that considers me trained in skill checks made for one class of ship. Pursuing Step also looks like it might be useful.

Powers: Tough choice to begin with, but Bull's Strength I like for the pushing, very useful in a campaign setting with lots of bottomless pits, and, well, the second at-will really won't matter since I'll be swapping it out by level 7. Mind Snare at level 3. Lightning Rush is really that good? I was looking at Psionic Speed for hitting multiple targets, but the general consensus may change my mind.

Either Steel Unity Strike or Aspect of Elevated Harmony for level 1, and Nightmare Vortex for level 5 daily.

As for utilities, Telepathic Challenge and Sense Minds look fun and useful, but I'm not sure if they're appropriate for the character.

Equipment... Completely lost on. This is where I need the most help.

Honestly, a bard rings more true to me given your fluff. And then you can go nuts on multiclassing to fit all of your requirements

[DiscipleofBob]

Honestly, a bard rings more true to me given your fluff. And then you can go nuts on multiclassing to fit all of your requirements

Problem with that is that I need to play a Defender as I'm the only one in the group, and the entire purpose of this character was to at least try out the Battlemind class, and Dwarf seemed a good fit so the character concept went from there.

[Meta]

Problem with that is that I need to play a Defender as I'm the only one in the group, and the entire purpose of this character was to at least try out the Battlemind class, and Dwarf seemed a good fit so the character concept went from there.

Misdirected Mark is pretty helpful for defending, but I see your issue. I just don't think battlemind/pirate makes a whole lot of sense. Heck, I'd go with Fighter and the Rakhell (sp?) Duelist PP to sync up better with that fluff.

If you're intent on sticking with Battlemind, yes Lightning Rush is amazing.