4e - The Gloomguard -- A new sort of Defender [Shadow]

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

GLOOMGUARD

Designer's Note: Like my previous Shadowcaster (still in progress), the Gloomguard steps away from the currently demonstrated role molds, taking a new approach to defending. Unlike the Warden, Paladin, Fighter, or Swordsage, the Gloomguard leads from both the front and the back, keeping his enemies away from his allies not through his threatening presence, but rather through manipulation of movement and shadows.

He has low Hit Points and a Armor Class in line with a Controller or Striker, but his class abilities make him difficult to hit, and his mark is devastating against the right foes. Possibly to powerful...opinions would be great!

CLASS TRAITS
Role: Defender.
Power Source: Shadow.
Key Abilities: Charisma, Intelligence.

Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather.
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple Melee.
Implements: Staffs, Orbs.
Bonus to Defenses: +1 Reflex, +1 Will.

Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + Constitution score.
Hit Points per Level Gained: 5.
Healing Surges per Day: 7 + Constitution modifier.

Trained Skills: Arcana. From the class skills list below, choose three more trained skills at 1st level. Class Skills: Bluff (Cha), History (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Stealth (Dex), Streetwise (Cha), Thievery (Dex).

Class Features: Dark Manipulation, Umbral Form, Night Eyes, Dark Retribution

Dark Manipulation: Once per round, as a minor action, you may place a Shade token (see statistics below) in any unoccupied square adjacent to you. A Shade does not prevent movement, but the square it occupies is treated as difficult terrain by your enemies. As a move action you may move the Shade up to 6 squares. As a standard action you may move all currently active Shades up to 6 squares. You may have up to 3 Shades active at a time. At the end of the encounter, all Shades return to the nether realms from whence they came.

Shade – Minion
Medium shadow humanoid (undead)
Shadowy Presence (Shadow) aura 1; Allies within the aura gain concealment.
AC 13 + level, Fortitude 12 + level, Reflex 14 + level, Will 16 + level
Immunities Shade Immunities
Speed fly 6 (hover); phasing
Shade Immunities Shades are immune to all effects and all damage except physic damage and force damage.
Shadow Self Shades always have concealment.

Night Eyes: You can see perfectly in natural or magically created darkness, ignoring any concealment that would be gained in this manner.

Umbral Form: Gloomguards are beings of flesh and shadow, corporeal and yet eerily insubstantial. Choose one of the following two options.
-- Shadowmirror: You gain the insubstantial quality. Whenever an attack strikes you, the attacker must make a saving throw or suffer physic damage equal to the amount of damage negated by your insubstantial quality.
--Wraithform: Whenever an attack would strike you, roll an unmodified d20. On a 10 or higher, treat the attack as if it had missed you.

Dark Retribution: You gain the use of the Dark Retribution power.

Dark Retribution – Gloomguard Feature
The shadow of your foe’s attacks threatens to turn against them.
At-Will * Physic, Shadow
Minor Action – Close burst 5
Target: 1 target in burst
Effect: You mark the target. The target remains marked until you use this power against another target, the encounter ends, or you fall unconscious. A new mark supersedes a mark already in place.
While a target is marked, it takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls for any attack that doesn’t include you as a target. Also, if it makes an attack that doesn’t include you as a target, you may make an attack roll (Charisma +2 vs. Will). If successful, the target takes damage and suffers effects as if it had also hit itself with the attack. All damage dealt in this fashion is physic damage.
You can use Dark Retribution once per turn.

Level 1 At-Will Umbrae
Ebon Tendrils – Gloomguard Attack 1
Shadows burst from around you, keeping your foes from escaping.
At-Will * Cold, Implement, Shadow
Standard Action – Close burst 1
Target: Each enemy in burst
Attack: Charisma vs. Reflex
Hit: Charisma modifier cold damage, and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn.
Special: If the attack is a critical hit, the target is immobilized until the end of your next turn instead.

Nightfright– Gloomguard Attack 1
A veil of flitting shadows settles over the area, driving your foes into confusion.
At-Will * Fear, Implement, Physic, Shadow
Standard Action – Ranged 10
Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma vs. Will
Hit: 1d4 + Charisma modifier physic damage, and the target takes a -2 penalty to all defenses for 1 round if it attacks a creature adjacent to a shade or ends its turn adjacent to a shade.
Increase damage to 2d4 + Charisma modifier physic damage at 21st level.

Umbral Pulse – Gloomguard Attack 1
A shadowy wave erupts from the floor at your ally’s feet, driving his opponents back.
At-Will * Implement, Necrotic, Shadow
Standard Action – Area burst 1 centered on an ally within 10
Target: All creatures in burst
Attack: Charisma vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1d4 + Charisma modifier necrotic damage, and the target is pushed 1 square.
Increase damage to 2d4 + Charisma modifier necrotic damage at 21st level.

Shadow Twist – Gloomguard Attack 1
As you beckon, your opponent’s shadow rises up, turning on its master.
At-Will * Conjuration, Implement, Necrotic, Shadow
Standard Action – Ranged 10
Target: One creature
Attack: Charisma vs. Will
Hit: Charisma modifier necrotic damage. If you have fewer than 3 active Shades and you have not placed a Shade this round, place a Shade in any unoccupied square adjacent to the target.

[Rigon]

just some things i noticed, while my opinion isn't that important:
- this class seems to be a controller (except for dark retribution but that goes as controller as well)
- the features granted (damage reflection or 50% chance to ignore "hit"s) seem way too powerful. that needs some sort of weakening. maybe you can make them available as daily powers instead of permanent effects.
- all at-will powers rely on charisma... but that should vary (the point of different powers is to rely on different stats and target different defenses). i suggest using cha varied with int.
- the skills do little damage compared to a wizard... altough wizard do manipulating and damage at the same time. i suggest 1d8 instead of 1d4.

i hope i didn't sound offending. the fluff about it is fascinating... i think this is worth the work.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

just some things i noticed, while my opinion isn't that important:

Thanks for taking the time to look it over. That automatically makes you opinion important. :smallbiggrin:


- this class seems to be a controller (except for dark retribution but that goes as controller as well)

It is indeed a controller...but as a secondary role. All the Shadow classes I'm making will be sub-controller, and here I think it works wonderfully. I'll explain: your normal defender controls the fight by moving up to melee range and just hammering on the enemy, relying on the mark alone (and maybe a few push/pull powers) to keep his allies safe. The Gloomguard relies on the mark, but also on his abilities to push foes away from his allies, punish them for attacking them, and keep those near him from escaping. Controller and Defender always seemed close together in my mind...here I just blurred the lines.


- the features granted (damage reflection or 50% chance to ignore "hit"s) seem way too powerful. that needs some sort of weakening. maybe you can make them available as daily powers instead of permanent effects.

True. Very powerful abilities. But bear in mind that your normal defender has higher Hp and a higher Armor class. A fighter, assuming something around a 14 Con (a secondary score, so likely decent), wandering around in Scale armor, has, at level 1, 29 Hit Points and an AC of 17-19. The Gloomguard, on the other hand, has Con as a tertiary stat at best, so, assuming a 12, has only 24 hit points, as well as an AC of only 13-15, tops. That means he's taking at LEAST 10% more hits, likely closer to 25% more...and he's got less HP to burn. Instead of buffing him up, he's just a pain to actually strike. Remember...it's not just HP either. The more you get hit, the more debilitating status conditions you get hit with.


- all at-will powers rely on charisma... but that should vary (the point of different powers is to rely on different stats and target different defenses). i suggest using cha varied with int.

True. See the Wizard, Swordmage, or Fighter for a similar situation. I'll consider it, but I doubt it's going to change.


- the skills do little damage compared to a wizard... altough wizard do manipulating and damage at the same time. i suggest 1d8 instead of 1d4.

Again, true. Yet see how the area is usually increased, or the side effect is rather potent. Slowing everything adjacent to you? Pushing all foes away from an ally? Bestowing a -2 to ALL DEFENSES???

A running theme I'm aiming for with the Shadow classes is a small amount of damage in return for a greater area or stronger effects. Shadow magic, as I see it, isn't inherently destructive...it's more subtle. Even the striker may not be normal...I see him getting extra damage by ongoing damage or instilling vulnerabilities rather than by flat-out damage.


i hope i didn't sound offending. the fluff about it is fascinating... i think this is worth the work.

Offending? Not at all. I've received much harsher critique and smiled through it. And I'm glad you like it! :smallbiggrin:

-The Djinn

[Mando Knight]

This does indeed seem to fill more of a Controller role, with Defender as a mere secondary. Without high AC (the most common attack type), it becomes threatened by anything that it misses with its attacks. It doesn't sync well with Strikers or Controllers as well, since they tend to rely on Defenders to keep the targets off their backs. Especially the Strikers, whose current best strategy is to run up, flank with the Defender, and blast the target to pieces. Ranged Strikers do the same after finding ways of skyrocketing their AC vs AoOs (Artful Dodger, Shadow Walk, Defensive Mobility). They need a reliable threat that can make AoOs, succeed at defending against the target's attacks, and generally keep them alive.

On the other hand, Umbral Form is powerful... but as an "always on" power, it's too powerful. Negating a full 50% (or more) of all damage is a staggering ability, something that even Epic characters can't do well. (Godhunter can negate one attack per encounter day. Adamantine Soldier gains Resist All equal to his Con modifier. The Umbral Form will negate probably 4 to 5 times as much damage as either of these, especially against something that targets non-AC defenses.) I would instead increase the class's AC and HP. The abilities as written effectively double his HP already.

Also, make Dark Retribution require an Immediate action (interrupt or reaction) to activate the secondary ability: all three of the published Defenders require such an action to activate their marking power's effect.

(Furthermore, it's psychic, not physic. The former has to do with the mind, the latter is related to bodies. See physician, physical, physics. Unless the Gloomguard primarily attacks through killing catgirls.)

[Rigon]

True. Very powerful abilities. But bear in mind that your normal defender has higher Hp and a higher Armor class. A fighter, assuming something around a 14 Con (a secondary score, so likely decent), wandering around in Scale armor, has, at level 1, 29 Hit Points and an AC of 17-19. The Gloomguard, on the other hand, has Con as a tertiary stat at best, so, assuming a 12, has only 24 hit points, as well as an AC of only 13-15, tops. That means he's taking at LEAST 10% more hits, likely closer to 25% more...and he's got less HP to burn. Instead of buffing him up, he's just a pain to actually strike. Remember...it's not just HP either. The more you get hit, the more debilitating status conditions you get hit with.

then how about a gloomshade or something which allows a boost in AC? like whenever a gloomguard is wearing cloth or leather armor he is allowed to activate an at-will power as a minor action to gain 4 + 1 per tier bonus to AC (replace the numbers to fit balance). and a gloomguard could also get temporary hitpoints from shadowflesh (i'm making names up, lol) so he could practically buff herself up to be either an AC wonder or a HP chunky. but that ignoring attacks or reflecting damage is pretty much uberleague.



Again, true. Yet see how the area is usually increased, or the side effect is rather potent. Slowing everything adjacent to you? Pushing all foes away from an ally? Bestowing a -2 to ALL DEFENSES???

now that you mention it... another thing i noticed: Umbral Pulse is a burst centered on an ally while targeting all creatures in the burst... meaning it'll do damage and push to the ally as well. is that intentional?

i also agree with Mando Knight about physic damage (i noticed it only after he mentioned it). so either force (if physic was indeed standing for physical) or psychic damage. while we're at it i would consider replacing necrotic with either force, cold or radiant damage... necrotic makes it sound kinda anti-life although it's nothing more just a shadow slapping at you (its source is neither evil nor undead).

EDIT: i also think that Umbral Pulse and Shadow Twist both have an "unmentioned" requirement... which is that the opponent is connected to its own shadow. while in most cases (walking on dungeon floor and wall-attached torches are the source of light) this works fine but it would break immediately if the opponent was flying OR the light source would project shadows to a surface not connected to the opponent (ie.: glowing floor projecting shadows on the ceiling).