Red Frogs, Session 3 (kind of)

We weren't going to let last session's TPK stop this campaign from continuing (such is the advantage of doing a rotating, merc guild style campaign). We did, however, roll up some new characters. Unfortunately, one of our 3 players couldn't play tonight, but I decided to run some of my characters while our next DM in the lineup threw some encounters at me (he's new to DMing 4e, and wanted to get some experience running it). Here were the 3 characters I ran (normally I'll be controlling 2).

Lyra Cinderfield

Level 4 Human Wizard (Staff of Defense)
Initiative: +7

Str: 8, Con: 14, Dex: 13, Int: 19, Wis: 15, Cha: 10

AC: 20, Fort: 16, Ref: 18, Will: 18

HP/Bloodied/Surge value: 36/18/9
Number of surges: 8

Attack (staff): +9
Damage (staff): +7

Feats: Unarmored Agility, Staff Expertise, Enlarge Spell, Superior Implement Training (accurate staff)

At-wills: Arc Lightning, Beguiling Strands, Winged Horde

Encounters: Charm of Misplaced Wrath, Icy Rays

Dailies: Phantom Chasm/Flaming Sphere

Utilities: Shield/Spectral Image

Comments: This is pretty typical of how I like to build my Wizards. Control is the main focus, but I definitely like to be a decently competent blaster as well. She's rocking a Staff of Ruin with a Siberys Shard of the Mage, and she off-hands an Orb of Nimble Thoughts for the Initiative bonus.

Thorfin and Fang

Level 4 Dwarf Spring Sentinel
Initiative: +3

Str: 10, Con: 19, Dex: 13, Int: 11, Wis: 19, Cha: 8

AC: 21 (19), Fort: 19 (17), Ref: 15 (17), Will: 17 (17)

HP/Bloodied/Surge value: 46/123/11
Number of surges: 11

Attack (spear W/I): +11/9
Damage (staff W/I): +5/6
Animal Attack: +9 vs AC (+free CA); 1D8+8 dmg

Feats: Spirit Talker (World Speaker's OA), Versatile Expertise, Mending Spirit

At-wills: Animal Attack, Fire Hawk

Encounters: Combined Attack x2

Dailies: Summon Pack Wolf

Utilities: Barkskin

Racial: Dwarven Resilience

Commentary: Yes, I've built another Sentinel. And another spring Sentinel, at that. Honestly, I really want to gain more play experience with this class, so I won't let a character death keep me from doing just that. Thorfin has more of a summoning/healing focus than Albus did, which is represented mechanically by the fact that he has a spirit companion and an animal companion, will take mostly (if not all) summoning Dailies, and has Fire Hawk, which is a summon-flavored at-will. He should definitely be able to fill the shoes of party healer, given that he can use his own second wind as a minor action, has 2/enc Healing Words, and 1/enc Healing Spirit. Plus he can revive Fang whenever he goes down as a minor action. Where Albus used Grasping Tide to make Padfoot sticky and deal area damage (and exert action denial), Thorfin uses Fire Hawk to make Fang sticky and emphasizes single-target ranged damage. He and Fang will be absolutely devastating to artillery. Finally, with 3 creatures (ok, so the SC is actually a conjuration) being able to move with each move action I take (2 of which are superb damage sinks), Thorfin is great at holding choke points and advancing toward enemies that I want to stay put. I was torn between picking up Mending Spirit this level or Battlewise, because initiative is obviously going to be very important for this guy to move his minions into position before the enemy can move.

Ghesh Abraxus

Level 4 Dragonborn Slayer
Initiative: +5

Str: 19, Con: 12, Dex: 17, Int: 8, Wis: 10, Cha: 14

AC: 20, Fort: 19, Ref: 16, Will: 15

HP/Bloodied/Surge value: 45/22/12
Number of surges: 10

Attack (Gouge): +11
Damage (Gouge): +10

Feats: Weapon Proficiency (Gouge), Spear Expertise, Surprising Charge

Stances: Berserker's Charge, Duelist's Assault

Encounters: Power Strike x2

Utilities: Minor Resurgence

Racial: Dragonfear

Comments: I built this guy to hit like a truck. His gouge is a Vanguard weapon, and thanks to Fang's aura he can get CA for Surprising Charge fairly easily. Dragonfear is a great opener to gain CA from as well, in case Ghesh goes before Thorfin/Fang in the initiative order (or if he wants to attack someone that's not adjacent to Fang). My main goal with this guy was to act as a "backup" character that anyone could pick up and run, so the simplistic design of the Slayer made it the obvious class for that. Also, since I will likely be running Lyra and Thorfin the vast majority of the time, I wanted a guy that could dish out serious damage but off-tank as well (I figure with Thorfin's off-tanking and control abilities an actual defender probably wouldn't be as necessary.