Classical: Rogues

Greetings and welcome readers, cultists, and otherwise! Today the gaming gods have decided yet another topic for us, see, and today this topic is that which you cannot see. I am of course, not talking about the Duke Nukem release that seems to elude us so, nor am I talking about that one specific point on your back that always seems to itch just slightly more than the rest of your body. No. Today, we speak of rogues. And to do so, we enter into the ruleset of D&D 4th Edition once more.

A rogue (not to be confused with rouge, although they are allowed to wear such) is a Striker in this dastardly game, which means they hit things until they die, generally acting as damage dealers. Their Martial powersource suggests they do so with weaponry rather than magic, because they are cool and practice. Now, the rogue in D&D is one of the few classes that has stayed almost exactly the same throughout editions. That said, they have been changed to usher in the era of D&D 4th, and the 'fixed' balance of wizards.

A Lone Blade in the Night.. and His Friends
Rogues are interestingly enough perhaps the biggest promoters of teamplay in the entire game, despite the usual (and still ever popular) classical concept of one being the lone ranger of conflict and/or happy-go-lucky thief. We'll get to this part soon enough. Firstly, let's look at so called weapon skills. All rogues start with proficiency in:

1. Daggers
2. Hand Crossbows
3. Short Swords
4. Shuriken
5. Slings

Badass, right? No. Not precisely. Though most rogues can work off of this, brilliantly so, many rogues (Brutal Scoundrels in particular) may want to waste a few feats for bigger weapons.

All rogues get a +2 to reflex for being trained to evade explosions and fly the Millenium Falcon through an asteroid field. Wait what? You have the standard Striker healthpool, and you have the standard Striker healing surge pool, not too much to complain about. You also know how to wear leather for those impeccable catsuits. If you're male, well.. You can pretend you're an X-man from the movies.

All rogues have something called Rogue Tactics. This works similar to Fighter Talents, in that you can only have a single Tactic, and they give you different bonuses, so choose carefully. I'll try and help you narrow the choice further.

Brutal Scoundrel is our first tactic, and boy, you can just tell right off the bat what this is about, no? If you can't, you might need a moment to go through bandit camp again. Brutal Scoundrels have an easy bonus, they merely add their strength modifier to their Sneak Attack damage. Even muscular orcs and minotaurs can be sneaky, see? Yes, Brutal Scoundrel is the way to go if you want to be a massive damage-dealer as a rogue, or, at least if you want to deal your massive damage up close. Pumping strength alongside dexterity is a good choice. A very solid tactic for the raw scrappy rogue.
Summary: Strength Modifier damage added to sneak attack.

Artful Dodger. Try and guess what this one does. Go on. Take a moment. If you guessed dodge, you win one internet and one somewhat beaten assistant of mine. Artful dodgers merely add their Charisma Modifier to their Armor Class against opportunity attacks, meaning you will have a (much) easier time waltzing around the battlefield. This is a choice you can never go wrong with, if you can't decide what tactic to pick. If your charisma is a dump stat, don't take it, obviously.
Summary: Charisma Modifier added to AC against OA's.

Cunning Sneak. For a class of subletly and sneaking, they sure aren't subtle about these. Cunning Sneak is where the class starts getting somewhat more complicated though. Normally, if you Run during your turn, and then try to stealth, you get a whopping -10 on your attempts to stealth this round. With Cunning Sneak, you get -5. Yes, it still sucks. However, they knew this, so added more. Normally, if you move more than two squares during the round, you get more penalties to stealth. Not so with Cunning Sneak. As a last added bonus, Cunning Sneak allows you to roll stealth automatically if you move three or more squares on your turn, and end the move in cover (your allies don't count, so stop hiding behind the healer). Cunning Sneak is so-so in itself, though does get some powers to help it in the whole movement part. Sadly to use most of them, you need to pump intelligence, so you get to be a smart rogue for once! Cunning sneak is also almost entirely ranged. Attempts at melee inadvisable.

Summary: No Stealth Penalty for moving. Halved penalty for running. Auto-stealth when moving 3 or more squares in total during your turn. (if in cover)

Ruthless Ruffian. Ohoho. Somewhere down the line, we'd have to meet him. Much like the brawler style of Fighters, Ruthless Ruffian is the 'Blessed with Suck' option of Rogues. Let's get started. You, as a Ruthless Ruffian, are proficient with the club (bad) and the mace (slightly better). You can use a club or a mace for any power that normally needs a light blade (great). You can also Sneak Attack with clubs and maces (also good). On top of this, you get to add your Strength Modifier straight to damage if you attack the enemy with a Rattling* Power. This sounds great, but it really isn't. First there's the fact that your attacks still key off of Dexterity. Then there's the fact that your damage bonus comes from Strength. If you want to be a successful Ruffian, you'll need Intimidate highly trained (Charisma). And if you want to be good with those weapons, you need to invest yourself in some Constitution. That's four Attributes. You can divide in them all equally, and be sub-par. You can also neglect one or two slightly, and be sub-par because of that. We've not even gotten to the fact that both Maces and Clubs are terrible weapons for a damage focused character. Do yourself a favour, choose from the three above unless you really really want to use clubs or maces.

Summary: Proficiency with the Club and Mace Keyword weapons, and you can use them for any Rogue attack powers or rogue paragon path powers that normally requires a Light Blade (Short sword or dagger). Sneak attack with same weapons. Add strength to damage if the attack has the Rattling* Keyword.

* Rattling: Whenever a power you use has this keyword, if you are trained in Intimidate, you also impose a -2 penalty to hit on the enemy until the end of your next turn. This is one of the few redeeming features for Ruthless Ruffian. Sadly, you can work this with any type of rogue.

Talents of a Grinning Thief
More Talents? I'm having nightmares from the Fighter, still. Oh well, it's not this bad this time around. You have two to choose from, and you used to only have one. Another was added for Ranged rogues who prefer not to use daggers. Let's get into it!

• Rogue Weapon Talent. Yes, this is what it is called. When you wield a Shuriken, your weapon damage increases by one die size, in this case from 1d4 to 1d6. Also, when you use daggers, you get a static +1 to hit. This supposedly makes both of them great, but the fact is that 1d2 extra damage does not make up for 5% hitchance. Not to mention the shuriken are ranged -only-, despite being Light Blades. If you really want to use them though, this is your thing. Also the cookie-cutter for melee rogues.

• Sharpshooter Talent. When you grab this Talent, you get a static +1 increase forever to hit with either Slings or Crossbows. Yes, you have to choose. Still makes it great for both of them. Pure ranged rogues should see to take this, and pick the weapon they want to use.

The Best of Them All
So you've decided if you're a angry misfit or if you're a graceful escape artist, and you've also decided fairly much what sort of weapons you're into. But what makes you you? Well, I can't answer that, I'm afraid your now mysteriously dead parents and that prophecy you were strangely introduced to has to help you with that, but I can tell you what makes the rogue the best at his thing!

First Strike
Rogues like hitting first. To go back to the Star Wars reference, Han did in fact, shoot first. And do you know why? Because Rogues automatically get combat advantage against enemies that have yet to make their first round in a combat! Combat Advantage! Yay! Wait, you think. Why is +2 to hit so Yay? Well, I answer, because of my telepathic powers and clear monitoring of your mindwaves. Because rogues get to:

Sneak Attack! Sneak attack is a lovely feature. It works like this. Whenever you have combat advantage, you can add Sneak Attack damage to one attack of your own during an entire round, resetting at the start of your next turn. This damage starts out as an extra 2d6 damage at low levels, jumps to 3d6 at paragon tier, and boosts itself to 5d6 (!) at Epic tier. Since you are allowed to do this every turn you have combat advantage, you should be looking to get that -every- turn.

This is why rogues are so teamplay happy. The easiest way of getting combat advantage is to prop up your friend on the other side of an enemy, and thusly flank your opponent for easy extra damage. This is also why we get such crappy weapons to work with. Because Sneak Attack does add what they lack. Sneak Attack every round, and you'll find the barbarian and sorcerer crying at your imba killing skills, and make them question their manhood/cleavage.


Skills Are What We Live For
Rogues used to get a sick amount of skills in every edition. Had something you needed to do? Hire a rogue. From everything to toe-nail clipping to drake egg omelets, rogues could do it. They were taken down a key, and the job of skill mule was given to the Bard (owned).

Rogues still get Thievery, automatically, because taking things that aren't yours is cool. Thievery also works on traps and locks these days, and goes so far as to work for most dextrous tasks, like tying knots on ships to fasten the sails. I suppose you.. steal the problem away.

You also get Stealth as a trained skill, no questions asked. Stealthing is and has always been important both for scouting, and for hiding like a coward when the big baddie decides it's time to pick on the squishy dude sticking daggers into his thighs.

You also get to choose four skills out of:

• Acrobatics
• Athletics
• Bluff
• Dungeoneering
• Insight
• Intimidate
• Perception
• Streetwise

Take what you want, really. You -should- take either Perception or Insight, or both, because if you don't, you will be absolutely ungodly in finding anything yourself. Eventually it will punish you greatly. Humans take what they want here. Just go wild with what you want, really. Might not want to take Athletics if you don't have bonuses to strength. You might not want to take Streetwise. At all. No really.

The Powers That Be
Once again there are so many powers it's not even slightly funny. I thought I might quickly point out a couple of good ones to set you on your way. You can't -really- go wrong though. There are some trap choices, but they're usually easy to spot, unless you're my assistant and also blind.

Sly Flourish (At-Will) A simple attack. You can use it as both a melee and ranged attack, and it works with every weapon in the rogues' arsenal. The greatness of this attack comes from the fact that it adds charisma modifiers to the damage, on top of other added damage, making it a staple for any form of charisma rogue. If you boost charisma, you want this in your repertoire.

Piercing Strike (At-Will) At first glance, perhaps not that good. Standard action. Only Melee range. Standard mediocre rogue power damage. Why is it good? It attacks Reflex. This might not seem like a great thing to start with, but believe me, those big guys lumbering around are -much- easier to hit with this attack than anything that attacks armor class. Ever so much sweeter if you get Sneak Attacks in.

King's Castle (Encounter lvl1) So much to love with this power. High damage for a low-level rogue power. Attacks Reflex. Melee and Ranged compatible. Works with all weapons. As bonus topping on the delicious cake that is this power, it also lets you switch places with a willing adjacent ally. Sprint out of stealth for a sick sneak attack, and put the defender in front of you. (or funnier, the leader)

The Many Feats of a Scoundrel
Again, too many to mention. There is a single one I will mention, because most rogues will find their way to what they want, there is a veritable cherrypicking available for your leisure. The feat I -will- mention here is Backstabber. What does it do, you wonder. It increases your Sneak Attack Damage from d6's to d8's. Yes. Yes it is even sicker during gaming than it looks on paper, too. 5d8's during Epic Tier. Every turn. Even rangers will stare at you in disbelief.

I'm Not a Rascist, I Hate Everyone
The lovely subject of race. Now I'm not here to bash anyone in particular, like I would after a bad stroll through the squares. Humans especially. Damn those humans. Ahem. Either way, most races actually make pretty alright rogues. I decided to pick some out of the fold.

Half-Orc Wait what? A Half-Orc rogue? Sure! This is the 21st century pal! These brutish non-stealthy dudes make quite the show as flash lads and sneaky gits! +2 to both Strength and Dexterity make them great Brutal Scoundrels, not to mention extra damage feats and help against beatings. You want to pick a fight? Do it like a Half-Orc would.

Drow I admit, I hate Drow. I really really do. Cliché, over-the-top emo society of cruel yet 'misunderstood' elves make me wince almost as much as sparkly vampires. However, I can't deny that they make excellent cowards. Cowards? I mean rogues. They have the stats where it counts, powers to grant them combat advantage to set up that attack, and disgustingly strong racial feats for this purpose. Buy your own cliché today. Bonus points if you're an outcast.

Halfling These guys are Small, which usually hurts their choice of weapons. Not so with rogue! Because we only get shitty weapons to start with, Halflings are big enough to use most of them! You have everything where it counts, and special powers to make sure you stay alive to boot, an extra plus for the fragile scoundrels. Coupled with the fact that halflings are often seen as playful thieves, you too can play your version of an awesome stereotype today!

Deva I'm just kidding. Out of all the races, the Deva is one of the very few that makes an absolutely terrible rogue. Even with the advent of Cunning Sneak to utilize those smarts, they really have nothing in the slightest to help them in a career as a rogue. Go reincarnate as a bard and heal, noob.


That is it for today, I hope I have been able to shine some form of sickly green light on the class as a whole, time lords know it needs clarification from time to time. This is obviously a silent urging for people to play rogues. Less sorcerers. Ahem. Anyway. I shall be going to barbeque my assistant. Expect more classes soon! Well, sooner rather then later, anyway. Tara.

SRM

Classical: Fighters

That smarmy homonculus! Daring to log onto my database, and provide reasonably accurate information? Pah. Luckily, ladies, gentlemen and otherwise, I've caught the offender red-handed, and whilst he's making his way into my painfully slow death trap, I'll spend my time talking about a -real- D&D class. So let's get down to Fighters!

The Fighter is a defender. What's that mean, you ask? It means they defend their party, and make the bad, evil monsters attack them instead. Such is the default class, anyway! There is a type of Fighter for everyone, and regardless of what your schtick is, you're bound to at least look twice! Let's have a look see, shall we?

Ways of Fighting?

Fighters differentiate from one another by specializing into so-called talents. How talented you can be with intelligence as your dumpstat is questionable, but our brawny heroes seem to manage!

The first talent off the bat is Battlerager Vigor, it gives you temporary hit points, and they even stack with the power! Hell, even better, if you use an Invigorating power and manage to miss every single target (should've practiced on that barn, boy), you still get temporary hit points equal to your constitution modifier. Right then, next in l-.. Wait, there's more? Egads. Battleragers ALSO get +1 to damage with melee and close attack -while- wearing light armor or chainmail, IF they have temporary hitpoints, something you should never be without. This damage increases if you wield an axe, a hammer, a mace or a pick, so stick a twohanded Greataxe in there, and go wild, baby.

Second up on the pitch is the Tempest Technique. Despite sounding like something out of a bad Steven Seagal movie, it is in fact another talent, and it's perfectly acceptable! Tempest Technique gives you +1 to attack rolls if you're dual wielding. BUT - my muffled assistant notes - they have to have the offhand property, meaning they're more obviously than not somewhat gimped in damage, sadly, and you rely on powers to make that better. Don't worry, the wizards tried to make this up. They're also giving you Two-Weapon Defense, even if your scrawny self can't get it normally. So that's nice. You also get +1 damage when you dual wield, +2 if they're offhanders. Haven't I heard something like this before? Consistency is nice, at least!

Third up are the two talents simply called Weapon Talent! (One-handed and Two-handed, respectively.) These are the simplest of all the talents. No-nonsense cousins to their flashy comrades, the Weapon Talents simply give you a flat +1 bonus to attack rolls with the chosen group of weapons, regardless of how you wield it, or what colour it is. If you want to wear sick armor, and stick a shield on there, this is what I recommend, so you don't miss out on the features of Battlerager or Tempest.

Fourth, and last on the field is the hilarious buck-toothed stepchild of the Tempest Technique, namely the Brawler Style... talent. What's the Brawler do, then? Well, they brawl. Let's get a piece of this craziness. When a brawler holds a weapon in his main hand, and has -nothing- in his off hand, he gains +1 to AC, and +2 to Fortitude. So that's pretty nice, right? No, because you're giving up a shield, and miss out on both AC, and magic properties. Well, let's move on! What else does the brawler-man get? You gain a.. profiency with unarmed attacks.. yay.. and a +2 bonus to grab attacks and attacks to move a creature grabbed by you. Egads. I know where this is going. To be total dicks, wizard decided to add the fact that you cannot use a spiked gauntlet to boost your damage, because you don't get the proficiency. You do however get the grab bonus. -2 to hit for 1d2 more damage? Your choice. *snickers*

Features of Fighting

That's talents down. Let's get right down to the meat of the class. But wait, what's this? Another choice you say? Sigh. Right! All warriors nowadays get the choice of their defining feature, namely Combat Superiority or Combat Agility. Combat Agility was added in to appeal to those of you whom take the Tempest Technique, boost your dex instead of your wisdom, and have terrible riders on your powers. They're pretty close in the end. Superiority gives a bonus equal to your wisdom modifier to all your opportunity attacks, and forces your opponent to lose his move action, if that's what provoked the attack from you. Combat Agility IS an opportunity attack, and lets you shift up to your dexterity modifier towards the man who just ran away, and then smack him silly with the power in question. They're also knocked prone. Note that unless you pump Dexterity to 18 in the start, this is often worse than superiority, due to the fact that Superiority is automatic, and that you might not always be able to get to the aggressor with the shift on this power, leaving you useless where you would've stuck him with the attack otherwise.

Right, let's get down to it! All Fighters get something called Combat Challenge. Firstly, whenever you attack an enemy, it gets marked, giving it -2 to attack unless it targets you. Sweet, right? It gets better. This mark is applied regardless of whether or not you hit, so people who like the Brawler Style above, rejoice. As part of this feature, you also get an Immediate Interrupt (Also named Combat Challenge), that allows you to use a melee basic attack against an adjacent, marked enemy if he tries to shift OR attack someone but you. Sweet right? It is. Of all the defender, only the paladin has nicer features, when it comes to punishment, but we'll get to that in the paladin talks.

All Fighters also get the ability to wear every armor sans Plate, and start with the best weapon proficiencies in the game, able to handle any military or simple weapon. For those superior ones (and yes, they are better in theory), you'll still need a feat. You get a +2 bonus to fortitude for being the scrappy sort, and your power source is martial like the Warlord, meaning you actually practiced to get this good, instead of reading pamphlets on magic, or asking the nice gods/spirits for help. Atop this you get sweet amounts of hitpoints, about the same as every other defender, and a godly amount of healing surges. Only the paladins get more by default, and only by one, so it doesn't really matter. You get three skills from the following list:

Athletics

Endurance

Heal

Intimidate

Streetwise

So, not only do you get busted for a skill less than everyone else, you also have pretty bad choices up there. I suggest any fighter take Athletics, it keys off Strength. Endurance or Heal depending on how much you've boosted your Wisdom/Con, and then pick which one of the two last you want to be the least bad at. Or just skip them all together and pick up Heal. Humans would do well to pick another skill. Perception comes to mind.

Fighting Feats

Now we've come to the stuff that makes you. Feats are dangerously essential, and there are bucketloads of them, so I won't even start to scrape the surface. I instead have compiled the smallest of lists to serve you on this day.

• Shield Push (PHB): If you're using a shield, consider getting this feat on level 1. If you don't pick it up on level 1, consider getting it on level 2. If you didn't, you're making kittens cry. This is a staple of shield fighters.
• Forceful Opportunist (Dragon 379): Any weapon talent fighter should consider this feat, because pushing the battlefield around is crazy good. Even funnier if you use a polearm, and push them over the entire battlefield, or off a cliff. Always hilarious.
• Agile Superiority (Dragon 378): This takes Combat Superiority, and keys it off Dexterity instead of Wisdom, so if you're a dex based fighter, and think you could do without the so-so opportunity attack of Combat Agility, you should take this.
• Mobile Challenge (Dragon 378): A feat that lets you shift 1 step after attacking with your Combat Challenge feature. Very interesting, and lets you shift after the people who try to flee.

Fighting Powers

So what can you actually do? Again, I won't list everything, just scratching at the surface for you. There are a plethora of powers, at least two for every style, and some that are compatible with almost whatever talent you had in mind.

• Tide of Iron (At-will, PHB): If you're a shield fighter, you want this. It does damage, pushes, shifts you, and does your laundry on sundays.
• Dual Strike (At-will, Martial Power): This is for the dual-wielders out there, and it lets you bring the pain to two enemies at the same time. Remember, even if you miss, they're still marked.
• Weapon Master's Strike (At-will, Dragon 382): This is an interesting power, with something for almost anyone. Before the attack, it allows you to draw another weapon if you want, so you can use it to shift your gear around for added hilarity. It does basic damage, and then something extra depending on which weapon you're using. Highly recommended for spear fighters, humans, and anyone who can't find something to fill their at-will slots.
• Rain of Steel (Daily 5, PHB): Why am I bringing up a level 5 daily? Well, this is a pretty major gig. If you get to level 5, you should seriously consider this power, as enemies will take damage for starting next to you. Just watch out for being dazed or stunned, and watch the damage skyrocket more than a raging barbarian in big fights.

Who Fights?

Who makes a good Fighter? Well, that's a simple equation. Look at the race list. Now look at the class. Look at the race list again. Remove gnomes, changelings, goblins, kenku, githyanki, deva, and tieflings. Kalashtar also. There, everyone else, you can make it work. Here's my four favorites:

• Dragonborn: They're f-ing dragons, man. Of course they're good at fighting. So the Charisma doesn't help you (still wondering why they don't have constitution), but EVERYTHING else does. The breath will let you mark everyone you target, hit or miss, which is insane. Add hurl breath and enlarged breath respectively for extra sinister laughter moments.
• Dwarf: These guys make up for the lack of strength with a super-hard determination. Constitution and Wisdom means they make rock hard shieldwalls, and the racials only affirm this fact. Slap on a hammer or an axe. Go to town. They also like beer. And fighting.
• Warforged: ROBOTS. If you're still not sold on the idea, how's about the plus to Strength and Constitution? No? Well, look again, because these miniature godzillas have a truckload of fighter feats, including a sick feat on first level, letting them knock people prone with their opportunity action. Have we heard this before? Best of both worlds.
• Human: These guys make funnily sick warriors. You might not win the competition for biggest stats, only having a plus to one ability, and I'll hate you if you don't put it in strength. Besides that, humans get +1 to all the non-ac defenses by default, as well as a bonus feat, which will help your career considerably. The extra skill is icing on the cake, but the extra at will power you can make great use of. Combine with some of the best feat support in the game for any class, and you've got a solid pick.

So that's that. The Fighter class. I won't get into Paragon Paths, nor will I Epic Destinies. Such things are for the future, my dear readers. It seems my assistant managed to escape during my monologue. Blasted paperclips! I shall leave you now, and hunt him down. I best reconstruct my death-machine too. Why does it even have ventilation shafts?

SRM

Classical: Warlords

I don't have much time. I managed to crack the shady review mans password (really. SRMFTW IS a bad password, no numbers or special characters at all) and I have a chance to spread the truth to you poor misguided fools. SRM does not know squat about true power in D&D, I bet he'll start off by writing about something silly. Like fighters. No real imagination! It is my task, as the Shady Review Mans Shady Assistant to enlighten you!

Warlord

Few classes in D&D 4.0 makes my mind race as much as the Warlord. Just taste the word, what ideas, what concepts does it bring into your mind? A powerful captain yelling at his troops to hold the line? A mighty general leading his troops towards victory? Or perhaps the sergeant keeping his group focused towards their goal?

Me, I think of the frontline fighter, standing toe to toe with the evil hordes. Yelling "Hold the line", "Stand Fast" and other cliché phrases.

In many ways, that is what the warlord of D&D is. He's not the tough Fighter, keeping the enemies attention on himself. He's not the nimble Rogue dancing around, stabbing into vital organs. And he's not the powerful Wizard raining down destruction on the heads of the foes (and sometimes, friends aswell).

He is the leader, the one standing in the fray, being an inspiration to them all, he can't take as much punishment as the Fighter, he can't do damage like the Rogue. He can however hold his own. He'll stand by the Fighters side, beating on the enemies and aiding his allies.

The warlords strength is in the so called Enabling. Enabling means that he enables his party to reach the pinnacle of their potential. He can still heal, with his "inspiring word" and he can still buff his allies in various ways. And in a party with physical characters. He's at his best.

Let's take a look at the different types of Warlords.

First, let's have a look at the different kinds of leadership they bestow.

Battlefront Leader

My favourite type. He's truly the one standing on the frontline next to the defender. He gets the ability to wear heavy shields, and a power that allows one ally to shift half his/her speed when the warlord rolls initiative, perfect for getting the defender into position, or move a weaker squishy out of the fray in case of an ambush.

Canny Leader

It gives any ally in your vicinity who can see or hear you a +2 bonus to insight and perception. Great if the party is low on those skills, but otherwise, nothing fancy. I don't like it at all.

Combat Leader

The original of them, only one to come in the core book, and gives a solid +2 bonus to initiative to the allies in your vicinity who can see or hear you. It's decent. But I still prefer the Battlefront Leader.

Now, you can also chose to lose your ability to use chainmail and shields, in return for being an archer. It even allows you to use strength instead of dexterity for bows. It's an interesting concept, that definately helps when you find yourself in a party of whimpy flappyears with their uncannily efficent bows. There's also alot of new powers to utilize in these cases. If that's your cup of tea, go ahead and try it out.

There's also several presences to choose from. These control alot of which stats will be useful for you, and which powers you want to take. I'll give you a short rundown about what they are.

Bravura Presence

Nothing wagered nothing won is the lifeblood of the Bravura Warlord. It's all about taking extra risks and getting better rewards in turn. Those among you addicted to gambling, or just like the wild magic sorcerer should go with this. It's a great way to get an extra edge in a pinch. But beware, it might just push you further down that slippery slope towards death.

Insightful Presence

Do you like chess? Well, this could be the path for you. You take extra advantage from the enemies weaknesses. and make sure to point these out to your allies. You give up your own attacks to command your allies to strike out in the right place. Not for those who want to do feel the shudder of the enemy as you drive your blade through them. But rather stand back and have a clear view of the battlefield, allowing your party to reach ever higher.

Inspiring Presence

Now this is the classical charismatic leader. Truly, and insiration to us all (pun intended) You encourage your allies, making them believe their missing hand is nothing, and their missing leg is nothing more then a flesh wound that won't even slow them down. They will look up to you, clinging to your words like drowning men cling to a lifeline. You are the warlord who excels in healing, and giving your party the chance to get rid of other conditions who might be disadvantageous, not to mention uncomfortable.

Resourceful Presence

You always have an ace up your sleeve, if you're facing overwhelming odds, you see the opening allowing you to route them, if you're in a pinch, you have the right words to set the blood of your allies alight with courage and strength. Your not as good at either thing as other warlords, but you can do them all. But it is as they say, Jack of all trades, master of none.

Skirmishing Presence

Surrounded by longeared whimps with bows, too afraid to face their opponents face to face? Do they prefer whine (Or wine for that matter) to ale? Well, here's the path for you. If you can't beat them, join them. That's what my commander always used to say, sadly... We fought the undead. Anyhow, you stand behind the frontline, directing your allies arrows. Allowing your shadier party members the chance to sneak around to strike at the enemies backs. Mobility is your keyword.

Tactical Presence

Where the Insightful warlord quickly adaps his strategy as the battle unfolds. You already knew what could happen, and planned for it beforehand. You lure the enemies to move, making better targets of themselves, command your allies to strike just as the opportunity reveals itself.

Races

Not all races are suitable for a warlord. A warlord want Strength, and depending on your specialisation charisma or intellect (or both) So look for that when you choose what race you pick. I'll mention a few noteworthy races to look at.

Dragonborn

Nothing says get out of my way as a big draconic humanoid. With their bonuses to both Strength and Charisma they make excellent warlords. They can breathe fire (or whatever other element/substance that catches your fancy) There's even feats for them that allow you to avoid harming your allies, instead granting them bonuses to hit. Or even that makes the enemies take more damage from your allies that hits it.

Human

Humans work well for every class, an extra feat, and an extra at will attack goes a long way. You get a +2 bonus to the attribute you want, but you only get bonuses to one attribute instead of the normal 2, it's a price you have to pay. The advantages outweigh the disadvatages though.

Tiefling

Tieflings make good resourceful warlords, with their bonuses to both intelligence and charisma. However brought down slightly by lack of strength bonus (as strength should almost always be your highest attribute)

Genasi

Genasi make great warlords, +2 strenght and +2 intelligence, and depending on what element you are, you can get some quite powerful powers to boot.

Some noteworthy powers

• Commander's strike (at will): An ally makes a melee basic attack on the target, and adds your int modifier to the damage. Great if you have allies who have powers they can use as a melee basic attack.
• Rousing Assult (at will): 1[w] + str mod damage and you can add your charisma modifier to any warlord healing powers healing until the end of your next turn. Perfect for getting some extra healing done on the next turn. It's not much, but if you don't need to heal this turn, do some damage and get a bit of extra healing next turn.
• Lead the Attack (level 1 daily): Hell, 3[w] + str modifier damage, and until the end of the ENCOUNTER allies within 5 squares of you get 1+ your int modifier extra to hit. That's an insanely good level 1, might even keep it around until level 30!

Some noteworthy feats

• Armored Warlord (Gain ability to use scale armor and 1 extra healing surge. Battlefron Leader only)
• Inspired recovery (when an ally spends an action point, the get a saving throw with your cha modifier as a bonus, inspiring presence only)
• Lend might (If you grant an ally an attack to an oppnent adjacent to you, they get +1 to the attack roll)
• Battering shield (when you are using a heavy shield, and push or slide an opponent with a melee attack, add 1 square to the distance. Good if you use alot of powers that does this)

This is a short introduction of the Warlord, enough to give you a basic idea of what the warlord is, and some basic advice if you want to actually make one. I not played warlord more then once, but I quite enjoyed playing it that time. It's as I said, a leader quite capable of taking a few hits, who can still do a little bit of damage, and who can provide sufficient healing. And more importantly, enables your partys melee characters to perform at the height of their potential.

So if you have a fighter, a melee striker or two and any kind of controller, you can't go wrong with a warlord. The fighter will love you as you can enable him to get an extra mark, the barbarian will offer to have your babies (and even to refrain from eating them) for the extra attacks you can grant him. And the rogue will not empty your pockets at his earliest opportunity as you can enable him to get combat advantage, or help him flank his opponent.

The sorcerer won't give a rats ass about what you can do for them ofcourse. As long as they can position you in the way of the dragon, he'll see a point in letting you live. But love you? Nah, he saves the love for bards and clerics and other such whimps.

Be strong, be tough, be an inspiration, be a warlord!

Damn, I hear him coming... I should have locked the door... Curse you gnomish keyboard! Curse you typogremlins! I took too long. He won't catch me though... I have a paperclip, and I'm not afraid to use it! Charge! To arms! Death to the TYRANT!