Need help picking a Defender

[Arktix]

Hey guys,

My DnD group is getting back together after a hiatus this weekend, and some changes have occurred. Our defender left (moved away) and our barbarian is planning on switching to Wizard, our beast master left, and we got 2 new people. I was originally playing a ranger, but decided to take up the defender role.
With the changes our group will be made up of 2 wizards (possibly 3), 1 sorcerer (possibly 2), a Bard, and I. The players are firm in their choices and I'm cool with that, but I don't really know what defender would work best with that combination.
As of now I have a CON/INT hybrid shielding Swordmage warlock going with multiclass into assassin so I can get shadow walk, and the theme from Dragon 426: vigilante.
Any thoughts of were I should go with this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm ok with changing literally everything about my character, but would prefer not to utilize cheese (lactose intolerant group :/)

P.S. We are continuing from were we left off and are at level 11. As of now I have the Sigel Carver PP. If this combination works I can post my build to be picked apart :). Thanks in advance.

[Gavran]

With all that control, I'd consider Warden or Paladin. They're presumably going to be keeping enemies on you/disabled so your own Defender-y controller-ness is going to be devalued a bit. Thus, max your Defender-y toughness. Fighter is also always a great option. Swordmage marking is just a little too limited for my own preferences in a party with so much squishy.

[NecroRebel]

A Swordmage seems both thematically appropriate (everybody is Arcane) and is a suitable Defender. The Sigil Carver PP is a fairly run-of-the-mill PP, but that's fine. It's not amazing, but it's not terrible, either.

But why do you want to be a hybrid Warlock? Whenever you consider hybridizing two classes, you should ask yourself what it is that you want to get by doing so, whether you can get that some other way, and whether it is worth having, and if you can't answer any of these questions, you should not use a hybrid.

Shadow Walk probably isn't really worthwhile for you. As a Defender, boosting your defenses too high can actually hinder your ability to perform your role. You want to discourage enemies from attacking your allies, which a shieldmage does by reducing the damage they can do to them in addition to the attack penalty to attack rolls every Defender gives, but if your defenses are too high they'll still be better off violating your mark. The other main thing that you could get would be the Eldritch Strike power to use as a MBA, but you won't be using MBAs much since you're a shieldmage.

In short, I'd recommend dropping the hybrid Warlock and just going pure Swordmage. You'll find that you're stronger for it, if nothing else because you can focus more stat points in Int rather than having two primary stats.

[Tegu8788]

You're party will have Int and Cha covered, but Wis skills may be a bit low.

This combo is effective, letting you Eldritch Strike for major punishment if you go Assaultmage. Curse at least two targets, and teleport then charge or blast another target. Warlock's Curse is a mighty good feature.

Shadow Walk is nice, and can be thematic, but as was said, if your defenses are too high, that's also a problem. High damage output can help mitigate this, especially if you can use Mindbite Scorn. Get some psychic swordmage powers, and have fun with Psychic Lock.

Edit: The Wizards and Sorcerers should be able to bump up there defenses fairly well. The Bard, being either melee, ranged, or caster, would be less likely to have good defenses, despite having the highest armor.

[Arktix]

@ Gavran Thanks for the quick reply, I'll definitely take a look into those, especially the paladin. It would probably be good to be as beefy as possible.
I thought SM marking wasn't strong enough alone either so I went with the Vigilante theme that gives you a stance that let's you mark everything you attack with melee or ranged until end of next turn, and coupled with protective hex they wouldn't be very happy.

@ NecroRebel I took warlock for the ability to use the curse, and boon as additional "buffing" tools. The curse to use protective hex mostly, and I took twofold pact to gain access to the infernal boon and at-will. Planned on taking shared pact mixed with bloodied boon to have a decent amount of THP flying around. Eldritch Strike is also nice for placing marks on enemies with the Vigilante stance power, and for the Sigel Carver level 16 feature.

@Tegu8788 Hmm assault could be pretty good, esp because I could use Eldritch Strike to proc curse damage on the targets that violate.

[eggabubu8e]

I used to play a Warlock|Paladin-Battlemind that was excellent at shutting down enemies. Also had some good debugging powers and self healing. But seeing that you already have some good defender suggestions you could still make a great character out of the ideas that other people have posted.

[tcrudisi]

@ Gavran Thanks for the quick reply, I'll definitely take a look into those, especially the paladin. It would probably be good to be as beefy as possible.
I thought SM marking wasn't strong enough alone either so I went with the Vigilante theme that gives you a stance that let's you mark everything you attack with melee or ranged until end of next turn, and coupled with protective hex they wouldn't be very happy.

Let's start with this. Note that the Vigilante theme allows you to mark; it doesn't allow you to place your Swordmage Aegis. There IS a difference. Let's assume you are the Aegis of Shielding.

Let's say that you have your Aegis on Tegu and your Vigilante mark on Necrorebel. Tegu violates your Aegis. What happens? Tegu is at a -2 to hit your ally and you can use an immediate interrupt to reduce the damage if he does hit. Now Necrorebel violates your Vigilante mark. What happens? Well, he's at a -2 to hit. You can NOT use your Aegis of Shielding to reduce the damage. The Swordmage mark is not a generic mark, therefore it doesn't stack with things like the Vigilante mark. If you were a Battlemind or Fighter, for example, it would stack.

Just keep that in mind because it's a very important distinction. You will have two very different marks that need to be kept track of. Note that at level 16, they BOTH stack with the Sigil Carver feature since it calls out a "mark" and both mark.

I'm going to feel VERY dirty even suggesting this, but if you want to play one of the best defenders your party will ever see, you are on the right track. Note that this defender really doesn't kick in until level 16, but once it does, this defender becomes unstoppable.

First, the basic combo that will make the DM cry: Eldritch Strike (slides 1, counts as a MBA) + a Staggering Weapon (add its enhancement bonus to the distance you slide enemies). An enemy you've got marked attacks an ally? You opp attack him, which interrupts the attack, and slide him so far away that it's not possible for him to hit your ally, thus invalidating his attack. By level 16 you should have at least a +3 staggering weapon, so you will slide him 4 squares away. Oh no, you missed? He's still marked (-2 or -3 penalty) and your allies should be adjacent (+2 to their defenses), so the monster is still at a -4 or -5 to hit them. And if they do still manager to hit, you're still a Shielding Swordmage, so lower the damage they do.

Pretty soon, your DM will figure out that he has to take you down first. But you're a Warlock and Swordmage combo - two of the highest defense classes in the game. Let's make you unhittable:

Armor of Dark Majesty is your armor choice. It will give you +2 to all defenses against enemies under your Warlocks Curse. To help spread your Curse, pick up a Rod of Corruption and hold it in your hands at the opportune time. (There are ways of quick drawing it, if needed.)

Helm of Able defense for a +2 to all your defenses for a while in combat.

Bloodied Boon feat + Infernal Pact = you will gain temp hp like candy.

Cloak of Translocation + Ethereal Sidestep = +2 AC and Ref. Consider adding on the teleport package to make this far more viable. Or consider taking powers that allow you to teleport; the Swordmage has a lot of these. If you don't know what the teleport package is, just ask.

Hybrid Talent (Swordmage Warding) will give you +3 to your AC, plus open up some feats to help improve it.

At level 21: Warding Curse = +2 to all defenses against enemies that are Cursed.

And finally, EITHER:

+1 Shielding Blade Wrist Razors for +1 AC

OR

+1 Rhythm Blade Wrist Razors for +1 AC and +1 Ref.

Why the difference? Well, there's some debate as to if Rhythm Blade works when you don't already have a shield bonus. Can you increase something which is nonexistent? If you normally have a shield bonus of 0, then the answer is yes. If you don't, the answer is no. Obviously your top choice is the Rhythm Blade, but find out from your DM if it works, first. If not, you default to the Shielding Blade which definitely works.

[Arktix]

@ eggabubu8e
That does sound pretty interesting, I'll have to take a look into that just because it sounds neat haha.

@tcrudisi
Yea I figured I would have a handful dealing with the two separate marks, but I thought it would be nice to have an extra attack debuff on enemies that I attack (letting me effectively have 3 people marked instead of only 2 with double aegis), coupled with protective hex its a -4. Also the hybrid Swordmage's aegis is stuck on someone until they die, unless it is overwritten by another mark.
Well that looks like something legitimately epic, haha. I have the feats you listed and Ethereal Stride (I'll have to look into what the teleport package is), but I don't know how items will work. Our previous DM was into finding random loot and sometimes having something worthwhile available for purchase. This will be our new DMs first time DMing, so I don't know if he will follow the same path as the old one.

Thanks for the replies :D