Martial Controller?

[Kaje]

In the core rules and on this board I've seen lots of ideas for various power/role combinations, but can anyone come up with a way there could be a Martial Controller? AoE attacks, debuffing, crowd-control - they all seem to be things a purely physical warrior just shouldn't really be able to do. The only way I can think of for it to work would be some sort of explosives expert, using grenades and the like, but I know that people would likely be very opposed to that and it probably wouldn't work at all in a lot of settings. Any other ideas?

[Cybren]

Play an archer ranger?

[Kaje]

That's still primarily a striker though.

[Cybren]

it gets the brain juices flowing though- pinning people places, throwing them around. heck you could make a Judoka as your inspiration for a martial controller. Hip throw enemies into each other, choke them out dealing damage and knocking them unconscious (save ends).

[Pinnacle]

Maybe not an archer ranger, but there could be a martial controller who focuses on ranged weapons.

[NecroRebel]

Martial controller who focuses on polearms and reach weapons. Give them powers that effectively increase their reach, tripping on attacks of opportunity, the ability to AoO on any foe within reach, multiple AoOs per round, maybe AoOs whenever people stand up so they can keep people down, and you can have good and wide-area disables with pure martial flavor.

You wouldn't have the Wizard's damage over time abilities, but that's more an Arcane thing anyway if the Warlock is any indication. In truth, I could probably build a decent controller with a mix between Fighter class features and reflavored Wizard and Warlord powers, though it would be pretty freaky. In general, though, if you can just look at the things a Wizard does instead of how it does it, namely moderate-to-minor damage and movement-hindering status effects to zones, you can copy that onto another character fairly easily.

[Helgraf]

In the core rules and on this board I've seen lots of ideas for various power/role combinations, but can anyone come up with a way there could be a Martial Controller? AoE attacks, debuffing, crowd-control - they all seem to be things a purely physical warrior just shouldn't really be able to do. The only way I can think of for it to work would be some sort of explosives expert, using grenades and the like, but I know that people would likely be very opposed to that and it probably wouldn't work at all in a lot of settings. Any other ideas?

Well, if he wasn't already going to be shoehorned into the 'ki' power source, I'd say monk.

[Orzel]

The best I's see is a a wizard reflavored to all untyped damage archery with some ranger, warlock, and rogue powers.

The problem is weapons don't provide control through a single person 'til quick reloading guns are invented. It'll get into rapid/aimed shot silliness fast without magic or gunpowder.

[Nu]

Think tactical warlord powers like Own the Battlefield, and go from there.

Think like warlord-esque martial leader that has more powers that shift the flow of battle and less powers that directly buff/heal your allies.

[Draco Dracul]

The best I could think of would be homebrewing some form of gagitier character that use different types of bombs for AoE effects.

[arnoldrew]

Well, if he wasn't already going to be shoehorned into the 'ki' power source, I'd say monk.

I don't think that would require much shoehorning... seems like he would slip right in.

[TempusCCK]

Monk could be a martial controller. Throws, trips, stuns etc etc. You don't really need to able able to hit many enemies with a single ability, you just need the ability to use many attacks against many enemies a round.

So, instead of, say, a cone of cold that slows people in a 10 foot cone, monks get the ability to use an encounter power that allows them to hit all enemies within two squares of them with an individual attack that can lay on things like stunnying, trips, pushes, or other such things. Uses the monks superior training to accomplish the same thing a controller mage can in teh same amount of time. Of course, limits will have to be put on it to maintain "balance." But that's 4e for you.

[Kalirren]

There's someone by the name of Valdrax on the Wizards forums who's actually posted up a little checklist of objections against the idea of a Martial Controller. I've been looking at his objections and came up with the idea of a soulknife-monk-grenadier, and that doesn't seem too bad to me as a Martial Controller (maybe just because I'm quite familiar with wuxia) but I suggest that if you want to come up with a Martial Controller class you ought to consider his concerns.

[wodan46]

Controllers specialize in AOE damage and debuffs. In principle, a Martial Controller would focus primarily on debuffs.

One possibility I tried to picture was a Ninja, who uses Shurikens, Hand Crossbows, and Daggers to attack, but who has a Satchel implement from which they can deploy poison/smoke grenades. Dex is used for damage oriented abilities, while Wis is used for poison and debuff oriented abilities.

At Will Attack:W/I?:Target:Damage:Effects
Maim:Dex vs. AC:Weapon:Single:1[W]+Dex:Slowed until end of next turn
Disarm:Dex vs. AC:Weapon:Single:1[W]+Dex:Weakened until end of next turn
Pressure:Wis vs. AC:Weapon:Single:1[W]:Slide target Wis Mod/2
Poison Edge:Wis vs. AC:Weapon:Single:1[W]:Ongoing Wis damage (save end)

Features
Ninja Weapon Talent: Increase the weapon die size of Shurikens, Daggers, and Hand Crossbows by 1, they are treated as magical. (All Ninja powers that use weapons use those weapons)
Discipline: Skill Focus feat of your choice
Disable: Twice per encounter, you may cause the effects of an At-Will to still occur if you miss, but be increased if you hit. Maim Immobilizes the target, Disarm prevents attacks, Pressure slides a distance equal to Wis Mod, while Poison Edge cause 2*Wis mod in Ongoing damage (save end). This increases to 3 times in Paragon and 4 times in Epic.

Essentially, Ninja would have a near unlimited supply of disables.