Horror Movie Monster Campaign advice!

Hello, everyone. So, assuming the campaign actually takes off (ahh, the greatest problem of every game,) I've been invited to play in a monster-movie campaign, in which the PCs are all monsters. I was called in at the last minute because the party lacked a tank and a vampire.

So far, we have a swamp monster, a mummy, and I think from the otaku, a kitsune, and maybe something else I can't recall. I however, have been called in to play a beefy Nosferatu.

...I have no experience with 4E at all. My gaming experience is almost exclusively limited to 3.5 homebrew games. Now, I'll be mostly fine to pick up on the subsystems, but I'm looking for advice.

My current thoughts for Tanky Nosferatu goes something like this (and I may not even be using the right terms, so correct me please if I am wrong.)

1. Paladin/Warlock Hybrid, either with the Glamour Aura (and darkspiral, eventually) or Eldritch Strike (because I heard stupid things about Eldritch Strike Pallylocks?)

2. Tiefling, because of an in-joke, also because of synergy with divine challenge.

3. Vampire? Somehow?

4. In every game I've played, I generally also play the koolaid man, bursting through walls, ceilings, etc. I was wondering if there are any feats, powers, or spells that grant me bonus damage against objects/inanimate objects. I think if I didn't have something like this, I'd miss it. I could do without, but it's become a bit of my... personal shtick.


What are your thoughts/suggestions for this?

Well, a straight Paladin/Vampire would be the quickest way to get a a Vampire Tank, and mechanically I think it's the strongest that I know of. There is a Vampire class that you can make into a Hybrid or Multiclass into. There is also a race that's very vampiric.

One of the problems with a "Vampire Tank" is Healing Surges. One thing that makes a good Defender is being easy to heal, ala having plenty of surges a Leader can grant you the use of. Vampires, no matter what, have 2 surges. Meaning you can only be healed twice during a fight. There are some good divine vampire feats you can get, and I highly suggest you do that. Tiefling makes a good race for this.

A Pallock is also one of the most solid hybrids you can build as a beginning, Crimson Fire a good feat there. Again, Tieflings make great Pallocks. You can again MC Vampire to get that flavor if you don't get enough from your Warlock powers. Eldritch Strike is great, just great.


Then again, it's possible you could play a Blackguard, retraining or using human to snare Ardent Strike. It lets you mark at-will, then pick lots of powers that have Divine Sanction. It's a darker Paladin subclass that can be a Defender and Striker with good power selection.


But as others will say, hybrids can be a challenge for new players. I'd be happy to help you out, just know that this won't be as easy as a "pure" class. Can you tell us any more about how you like to play, and what the other monsters are mechanically?

First off, thank you for taking your time out to reply.

I know little of the 4e, but I am of the thought that tabletop games are a series of interlated numbers, and knowing how to play knows what numbers relate to what, and so on. Ergo, mechanically, I'll be able to figure things out fairly quickly. It will take a bit to learn the mechanics (unavoidable), but... mechanics... are mechanics, and I understand that.

As far as what kind of character I'd like to play...

Well, I was pulled in because the game needs a defender/tank, and that is a role that I tend to play in other things often enough. One of my philosophies is that I value utility and adaptability over almost all things, so I am willing to sacrifice some raw amounts of stupid to be effective enough at many things. (Hence the inclusion of WL in my thought process. I get a few more interesting tricks.) Combat wise, I'd like to be a person who is able to hamper enemy abilities to harm my allies while being able to dish out enough damage by myself such that in cases of isolation, I am not useless.

Ideally, I'd also like to have some minor ability to, if nothing else, break things. The example in my mind comes from the last game I played, in which I played a high-int 3.5 accelerated growth barbarian with all the destructive nonsense. One of my party members with disable device specialized attempted to disarm a magical trap when we were chasing a baddie through his hideout. He failed several times and died because of it, and I took a big metal rod from the workshop we were in and just bashed the trap into until I could pass. Utility, but not perfect utility. xD

EDIT: ABOUT THE OTHER PLAYERS: Mechanically, we have a warlock's curse emphasizing con warlock/revenant (Controller, I guess?) We've a bard (leader, right?) and then I think a couple generic fightery/striker types.

In regards to variety of abilities, that is easier to do in 4E, simply because you have more powers you can take. This is a very team focused game, with the assumption that you will have allies that can help do things that you can't do yourself. Rituals are really convenient in that regard. For the cost of one feat and training in Religion or Arcana, you will be just as good at casting utility spells as any wizard. Rituals take the place of most utility magic in 4E.

Hybrids are good at being flexible because they can bounce between two different roles easier than most straight classes can. It sounds like you are going to be happy as a Defender. You have a Mark that imposes a debuff on a target, and if they ignore you you can smack them, interrupt their attack, or negate the effects of it. You do single target control in melee well. Can you speak to way you choose Paladin as your preferred class? Not a bad choice, just curious about your thoughts.

The warlock is a Striker, but it's encounter powers are very Controller-y, better at single target control than a "real" Controller that effects multiple targets at once. The Bard is a Leader, that also doubles as a Controller depending on the build, and will also have Ritual Casting for free. The Fighter is a Defender that can dish out lots of damage, kinda Striker-y. It sounds like you have the basics that you need covered.

I chose paladin primarily out of the advice of a friend of mine who got me into the game, and also because my sense of humor supports the nonsense of a vampiric paladin. (Who I'm thinking might be a paladin of the Raven Queen, because one reference to nosferatu is 'the bird of death.')

I like that fluff. Now that I can have a firm footing with a Paladin, here are some options.

Ways to get vampire from your Race, you can be a Revenant. They are undead PCs, and you can pick Tiefling as a previous life. They boost Cha, which will be your key stat. You also don't fall down when you drop below 0 HP, which can be very advantageous for a tank.

Vryloka is another race that has strong vampiric flavor. It also boost Cha, it has a nice racial power for a defender. You are both alive and undead, and have necrotic resistance from the get go. When you are at half HP, your healing surges get weaker, which is bad for the guy that's going to be taking a lot of hits. You can also swap out class utility powers for vampire themed utility powers.

An inside joke for Tiefling may be enough for you to pick it, and if so, go right ahead. They boost Cha with is good, and Con always helps a Defender out. They also have wonderful feat support, especially some goodies for Paladins. Not the most vampiric, more demonic, but you can flavor things how you like. 4E is really good for refluffing things.


Now, for the class, you suggested making a hybrid Warlock. Those can do very well, focusing solely on Cha as a stat, and if you keep your Con high, which you should as a Defender, you can pick from pretty much any Warlock power. Be warned that the Paladin riders use Wis and you won't have much of that, and the Warlock will want some Int for riders, and you'll only have a little more of that to spare. So, if you hybrid Warlock, from both sides look for powers that only use Cha for hitting and damage, and don't require riders for useful effects. Having to use a minor to mark and a minor to curse only leaves you with one action left on a turn, best if you can use that to charge with one of your Cha MBAs. The target may be too far to mark or charge, so be aware of that. I can go into far more detail here, but I will move on for now and cover other class options.

Multiclass into Vampire. For the cost of one feat, you qualify as a vampire for the purposes of any feat you want to take, and get the vast majority of the crunch of the vampire class. This may be the quickest and easiest way to do this character. You are reduced down to two healing surges which means you will need to find some way, be it surgeless healing or lots of THPs to compensate for the lack of healing you'll be getting. You can do this option with the Paladin and the Pallock.

Hybrid Vampire. This makes you pick half of your powers from the vampire list. Again, focus soley on the Cha powers. Dark Beckoning can be useful for a Defender, and as it's the only Cha at-will a Vampire can get, you best believe you are taking it. Remember, at least one of each AEDU powers has to come from each class if you have more than one of each AEDU, so make sure you can take a power from the Vampire side that's useful when you can. Vampires have a very limited list, so that can be hard sometimes.


It is also worth mentioning, that there was an article released all about Raven Queen Paladins, using lots of Ice and Necrotic powers. They were all Str based if I recall, so if you take this option ignore everything else I've said.

I've heard that the warlock/paladin hybrids is one of the most effective ones, but i cannot personally vouch for it, as I've never used it or seen it used. Tegu seems to have most of this covered, but you mentioned wanting to break things, and there's a 2nd level barbarian utility called stonebreaker which does just that, so if it's that important to you, then you can spend a feat to multi-class there.

I will look into all of those things. One question I do have is "thoughts on breaking things?" I have heard that 4E is bad about not letting players break inanimate objects, but I don't know.

Well, most objects don't have a stat block with durability on it, but between rituals and simple Str checks, it shouldn't be too hard to break things if you have a good DM. Most powers target "enemies" or "creatures" so a very strict DM wouldn't let you Fireball a pile of hay, but most DMs would understand let it happen. There aren't rules on breaking things that I know of so some people view that as Thou shall not do things without rules! but most DMs will make them up for you, and encourage creativity.

I once picked up a table in a bar, and used it as an improvised Light Shield.

The DMG has some rules on that (mostly for doors and walls), and certain spells (such as Disintegrate) "automatically hit an unattended object", so presumably you could use other powers against an object (with an attack roll). Page 42 of the DMG has the useful table of at-level DC's that would work against Strength checks, or you could just choose to give doors 50HP and resist 5 to damage. So most DMs would probably let you smash things. It's fun, and it probably won't break their plans.

(By the way, I wouldn't allow Fireball against hay. The 3.0e DMG explains that the heat is very brief, so it can't get oxygen quickly enough to ignite unless it hits the flash point.)

I am also in this game, and will be playing Imohtep as a Revenant Vestige-Pact Warlock; and I have a few questions of my own:

Are there ways to get Ritual Magic (which I am taking for the flavor of it regardless of the consequences) without taking the Ritual Caster or to get more than just the capability to do rituals (like some cool Multi-class feat or some such thing)? As a Warlock, what are some good things I can do to help the party? Any "Must take" feats? And so on.

EDIT: To answer my own first question, yes, yes there is a way. Multiclass Invoker: Divine Secretkeeper. It gives me another knowledge skill plus, it gives me staff implements? Yay? Can a warlock make good use of staff implements?