Cold Iron General [4e Paragon Path] (PEACH)

Cold Iron General
“War is not a game of passion or righteousness. It consists only of tactics, strategy, level-headed decision-making. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
Prerequisites: Warlord, Wisdom or Intelligence 17

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs40/i/20...y_slaine69.jpg

-Coltaine of the Crow, Fist of the Malazan Empire

The desert warrior bared his teeth. 'Cold iron. Coltaine. Dassem Ultor - if the legends speak true. Dujek Onearm. Admiral Nok. K'azz D'Avore of the Crimson Guard. Inish Garn, who once led the Gral. Cold iron, Chosen One. Hard. Sharp. It is held before you, and so you reach.' He crossed his arms.
'You reach,' L'oric nodded. 'Yes, that's it. You reach. And are stuck fast.'
'Cold iron,' Mathok growled. 'The warchief's soul - it either rages with the fire of life, or is cold with death. Chosen One, Korbolo Dom is hot iron, as am I. As are you. We are as the sun's fires, as the desert's heat, as the breath of the Whirlwind Goddess herself.'
'The Army of the Apocalypse is hot iron.'
'Aye, Chosen One. And thus, we must pray that the forge of Tavore's heart blazes with vengeance.'
'That she too is hot iron? Why?'
'For then, we shall not lose.'
Sha'ik's knees suddenly weakened and she almost staggered. L'oric moved close to support her, alarm on his face.
'Mistress?'
'I am… I am all right. A moment…' She fixed her gaze on Mathok once more, saw the brief gauging regard in his eyes that then quickly slipped once again behind his impassive mien. 'Warchief, what if Tavore is cold iron?'
'The deadliest clash of all, Chosen One. Which shall shatter first?'
L'oric said, 'Military histories reveal, mistress, that cold iron defeats hot iron more often than not. By a count of three or four to one.'

-House of Chains, a Malazan Book of the Fallen

Cold Iron General Path Features:
Unshakable Calm (11th level): You gain a bonus to saving throws against effects that daze, stun or dominate or that have the charm, fear or illusion keywords. This bonus equals the higher of your Wisdom or Intelligence modifiers.
Advanced Tactics (11th level): Your Intelligence and Wisdom modifiers are considered 2 higher for the purposes of the effects of your Commanding Presences. In addition, when you spend an action point, you can benefit from your own Commanding Presence.
Numerable Strategems (11th level): Select one of the following Commanding Presences that you do not already have; Tactical Presence, Resourceful Presence, Insightful Presence, Skirmishing Presence. You gain that class feature. When you or an ally who can see you spends an action point, you must decide which of your two Commanding Presence class features apply.

Cold Iron General Path Powers:
Lead By Action
You don’t need a rousing speech to begin a battle. Your sword in the gut of the enemy commander will do just fine.
Encounter * Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee Weapon
Target: One enemy
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier + Intelligence modifier + Wisdom modifier damage, and you push the target one square and knock it prone.

Reposition
You take a moment to move allies into flanking positions and shore up the weak points in formations on the fly.
Encounter * Martial
Move Action Close Burst 5
Target: Up to three allies in burst
Effect: Each target can immediately take a move action as a free action or gain a +2 bonus to all defenses until the end of their next turn.

Cold Iron Maneuver
With calm and precision, you point out to your allies all the opportunities for attack that they would otherwise miss
Daily * Martial
Standard Action Close Burst 5
Target: Up to three allies in burst
Effect: Each target gains an action point. These action points must be spent during this encounter, but do not count towards the normal per-encounter limit for spending action points. Characters cannot spend more than one action point per round in this manner.

Bravo. Good crunch. Excellent PP all around, though the req of Int or Wis 17 seems a bit redundant, since everything else in the PP keys off Int/Wis so only Warlords with high Int/Wis will ever get into the PP.

Though I half suspect that the 16th level feature is a wee bit too strong. I don't exactly have access to my 4e books, so I can't do a compare and contrast.

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Originally Posted by Sir Homeslice

Though I half suspect that the 16th level feature is a wee bit too strong. I don't exactly have access to my 4e books, so I can't do a compare and contrast.

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Actually, I think it's a bit on the weak side, as worded as is it I assume it affects only the presences themselves and not any of the rider effects on powers.

However, I think "Numerable Strategems" is too powerful. It seems to be the same as the Infernal Strategist level 16 feature, which is one of the major draws for Resourceful Warlords. You know that by granting the warlord an extra presence, you grant them access to an entire power line worth of rider effects, right? If you intend to keep it, at least swap it with "Advanced Tactics" in terms of progression.

Reposition seems a little weak, and not significantly different than the level 2 utility "Knight's Move."

Also, I think you had a little copy-paste accident with the flavor text on the daily power :smallwink:

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Originally Posted by Nu

Reposition seems a little weak, and not significantly different than the level 2 utility "Knight's Move."

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Unless it changed, Knight's Move is a Ranged power, and thus it provokes. Knight's Move also only targets one ally. Reposition targets one or two allies and doesn't provoke.

Although Knight's Move is a minor action, and Reposition is a move, I'll give you that.

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Originally Posted by Sir Homeslice

Unless it changed, Knight's Move is a Ranged power, and thus it provokes. Knight's Move also only targets one ally. Reposition targets one or two allies and doesn't provoke.

Although Knight's Move is a minor action, and Reposition is a move, I'll give you that.

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Oh, I know it's slightly different, but generally I'd expect a more significant upgrade to a power over 10 levels. Maybe a daily version that instead let you and allies in the burst move without provoking OAs?

I will think of ways to improve Reposition, but I want to keep it an encounter power. I switched Numerable Stratagems and Advanced Tactics around, but I kept the "under the radar" action point feature at level 11 with Advanced Tactics. I also changed the path's prereqs to 16 WIS AND INT, and I fixed the silly copypasta error on Cold Iron Maneuver.

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Originally Posted by Shadow_Elf

I will think of ways to improve Reposition, but I want to keep it an encounter power. I switched Numerable Stratagems and Advanced Tactics around, but I kept the "under the radar" action point feature at level 11 with Advanced Tactics. I also changed the path's prereqs to 16 WIS AND INT, and I fixed the silly copypasta error on Cold Iron Maneuver.

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Ick. Now I don't think anyone is going to take this PP, unless they were part of an Int/Wis race and went 14/14 off the bat.

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Originally Posted by Sir Homeslice

Ick. Now I don't think anyone is going to take this PP, unless they were part of an Int/Wis race and went 14/14 off the bat.

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Well, Resourceful Warlords go that route anyway (except INT/CHA). It does turn the path into more of a very niche build, though, that would aim at getting the most out of Int and Wis based riders.

Good call with keeping the AP feature at level 11 though, I actually didn't notice that the first time around (but PP's should always have an AP feature at 11).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sir Homeslice

Ick. Now I don't think anyone is going to take this PP, unless they were part of an Int/Wis race and went 14/14 off the bat.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nu

Well, Resourceful Warlords go that route anyway (except INT/CHA). It does turn the path into more of a very niche build, though, that would aim at getting the most out of Int and Wis based riders.

Good call with keeping the AP feature at level 11 though, I actually didn't notice that the first time around (but PP's should always have an AP feature at 11).

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Seeing as there is no Resourceful Warlord equivalent for INT/WIS, I think this is a valid point. What if the requirement was that one of them be 15+ and the other be 13+? Would that make it more readily usable?

Before I let this fall away and consider it done with, does anyone have any last suggestions for the path?

I think it's pretty solid as it stands now. Reposition now seems more like a paragon path-level power, and the relaxed entry requirements seem solid.