4e 5-man party's blank check

[Vitruviansquid]

As a 4e player, a lot of my characters end up getting junked because they don't mesh well with what the other players chose to bring to the table.

So I thought, what if you could convince your group to basically let you define all of their characters mechanically? What mad creations could you then unleash?

A. Melee Gang Beat-down party.

1. Tactical Warlord - Takes Commander's Strike and powers that enhance maneuverability to further allow the rogues to get into position.
2. Warden - The party's mighty anvil.
3. Brutal Scoundrel Rogue - Kills things dead, preferably by flanking with the warden.
4. Brutal Scoundrel Rogue - Kills things dead, preferably by flanking with the fighter.
5. Great Weapon Fighter - The party's second, slightly less mighty anvil. Tough enough to get into the melee and go "defendering" while having a big, nasty weapon for the warlord to Commander's Strike with.

The basic plan of the melee gang beat-down party is to take advantage of superior movement in a melee situation to grant the rogues combat advantage as much as possible WHILE keeping the monsters off their backs by having two Defenders. While I considered having a rageblood barbarian instead in the fifth slot, I decided it was nicer to have more marks dissuading the monsters from attacking the rogues rather than doing more damage. Replacing the Warlord with a Mantle of Clarity Ardent might be an even better move for guaranteeing melee superiority.

B. Melee Beatdown Party 2

1. Valor Bard - Provides Warsong Strike or Guiding Strike, both of which get massive rampups in power when an enemy is being focused fired upon.
2. Two-Blade Ranger - Concentrates on hitting an enemy and then vacating the square on the same turn. Exists to fit yet another melee attack into the same square.
3. Bravura Warlord - Brash Assault only pumps more attacks into the the single schmuck hit by the bard earlier in the turn. Other warlord powers aid in positioning or give bonuses for the party staying together.
4. Avenging Paladin - The guy who'll be taking the hits. Valiant Strike harnesses the other melee based enemies for extra attack power and his divine challenge can control a stray enemy while he hits the primary target. Is also the party member who will be making attacks off the Warlord's ally MBA powers.
5. Centered Breath Monk - Enemy-based movement control gives the party a better ability to access that enemy.

Another take on the melee beat-down party that focuses on exploiting the Valor Bard's at-wills to either hit a single enemy very hard or allow the party to gain a lot of temp hp's at once while the Centered Breath Monk shifts the primary target to allow easier access from allies. The Two-Blade ranger might be replaced with another paladin for either extra healing or more defense.

[Meta]

As a 4e player, a lot of my characters end up getting junked because they don't mesh well with what the other players chose to bring to the table.

So I thought, what if you could convince your group to basically let you define all of their characters mechanically? What mad creations could you then unleash?

A. Melee Gang Beat-down party.

1. Tactical Warlord - Takes Commander's Strike and powers that enhance maneuverability to further allow the rogues to get into position.
2. Warden - The party's mighty anvil.
3. Brutal Scoundrel Rogue - Kills things dead, preferably by flanking with the warden.
4. Brutal Scoundrel Rogue - Kills things dead, preferably by flanking with the fighter.
5. Great Weapon Fighter - The party's second, slightly less mighty anvil. Tough enough to get into the melee and go "defendering" while having a big, nasty weapon for the warlord to Commander's Strike with.

The basic plan of the melee gang beat-down party is to take advantage of superior movement in a melee situation to grant the rogues combat advantage as much as possible WHILE keeping the monsters off their backs by having two Defenders. While I considered having a rageblood barbarian instead in the fifth slot, I decided it was nicer to have more marks dissuading the monsters from attacking the rogues rather than doing more damage. Replacing the Warlord with a Mantle of Clarity Ardent might be an even better move for guaranteeing melee superiority.

B. Melee Beatdown Party 2

1. Valor Bard - Provides Warsong Strike or Guiding Strike, both of which get massive rampups in power when an enemy is being focused fired upon.
2. Two-Blade Ranger - Concentrates on hitting an enemy and then vacating the square on the same turn. Exists to fit yet another melee attack into the same square.
3. Bravura Warlord - Brash Assault only pumps more attacks into the the single schmuck hit by the bard earlier in the turn. Other warlord powers aid in positioning or give bonuses for the party staying together.
4. Avenging Paladin - The guy who'll be taking the hits. Valiant Strike harnesses the other melee based enemies for extra attack power and his divine challenge can control a stray enemy while he hits the primary target. Is also the party member who will be making attacks off the Warlord's ally MBA powers.
5. Centered Breath Monk - Enemy-based movement control gives the party a better ability to access that enemy.

Another take on the melee beat-down party that focuses on exploiting the Valor Bard's at-wills to either hit a single enemy very hard or allow the party to gain a lot of temp hp's at once while the Centered Breath Monk shifts the primary target to allow easier access from allies. The Two-Blade ranger might be replaced with another paladin for either extra healing or more defense.

Pretty cool, but if you're going for combat monster 'mad creations' there's def nastier to be had. There are party lineups that are built to 'always' go first and win an on level encounter right out of the gates.

[Kurald Galain]

So I thought, what if you could convince your group to basically let you define all of their characters mechanically? What mad creations could you then unleash?

Both parties would benefit from a good controller. A character who can take two or three enemies out of combat for a few turns can greatly increase the amount of resistance a party can overcome.

Other than that, a good trick is for the entire party to focus on one damage type, and giving out bonuses with or vulnerabilities against that damage type. This works especially well with Cold and Radiant.

[Master_Rahl22]

One thing to keep in mind is that a melee beatdown party will be kinda screwed against flying enemies. We had a similar party setup in an epic game and I was a Warlock with most of my powers being Ranged 10. This meant that if it had sufficient movement and/or ranged attacks, the monster could simply attack us from outside the range we could hit it back. So, make sure that at least a few of you can fly even if only 1/day or whatever.