So now, I think with 4e having been out for a while, I think everyone probably has taken a shining to a certain entry for each game element.
So then, what, in 4e, is your favorite...
Class?
Race?
Power?
Monster?
Item?
Setting?
Bit of fluff?
Tier of play?
So for me, I'd have to say...
Class: Swarm Druid. The flavor is so awesome (I love bugs! ) and I love the pseudo-defender feel of the class, taking hit after hit and barely even shrugging and dousing foes in a cascade of biting insects is sweet.
Race: Tiefling. There's tons of feat support that provides a bunch of neat abilities.
Monster: Beholder. Ten different attacks, blasting almost every PC once a round? Wow, this is an awesome monster. Incorporates "Save or Die" effects in a manner that works without feeling lame (you get a chance to stave off the incoming "die" effect before it hits.) Just a really fun monster to fight- on either side of the DM screen.
Class: Enchanter Wizard, easily. Honourable mention goes to the original Assassin for being hands down one of the coolest and most thematic classes. Race: Tiefling, straight up the best race for the class I love to play most, and the racial support/flavour is awesome. Power: Hard to choose. Either Steal Time (with Royal Command of Asmodeus), or Visions of Wrath/False Reality (also with Royal Command of Asmodeus). Honourable mention goes to Stinking Cloud and Sleep for both being so broken in Heroic tier. Monster: Meh, none have really stood out. Item: Orb of Mental Dominion easily. Setting: Homebrew. Bit of Fluff: Not quite sure. Tier of Play: Heroic, specifically mid-late Heroic.
Class: I really like hybrids, but failing that, wizards have always had a special place for me.
Race: Shardminds. Especially with the vampire class coming out on my birthday! (I love weird combos)
Power: Power source? Arcane. Specific power? Bless Weapon (It's a Paladin Utility, I believe)
Monster: That one thing that sits behind a large cardboard barrier- Oh, wait, that's the DM? I dunno, Kobolds and Goblins have special places in my heart.
Item: Hellfire Staff (On a crit you recharge an Encounter power with the Fire Keyword. If you're using the Staff anyway, as a minor you can create an area in which all your attacks with the Staff gain the Fire keyword. )
Setting: Dark Sun. I'm not too keen on Eberron or Forgotten Realms
Bit of fluff: No clue.
Tier of play: Late Heroic/Early Paragon, when the characters' identities are starting to take solid form and things once beyond their grasp are now getting closer to something they can handle.
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Class: I've had too much fun with too many classes to just pick one. Warlord, Wizard, and Monk stand out, but really pretty much every class I've played has been fun.
Race: I'm fond of Githzerai. I really love that every race is playable for every class. Some are subpar, but no combination is unplayable. Except perhaps gnomes in heavy armor.
Power: Spirit Infusion and Commander's Strike are great powers because they allow you to be an effective character by letting your allies shine. You can be awesome and they can feel awesome.
Monster: The Silt Horror in Dark Sun gave my players fits, but their sense of achievement from defeating it was very satisfying. The mechanics of it being a solo that has parts of it that are minions was fun, and the regenerating minions that were nasty if they kept targets grabbed meant the players couldn't totally ignore them or wipe them out in one turn. Plus the flavor of a giant monster who reaches a 200 foot diameter is pretty awesome.
Item: Wallrunners, which are both fluffy and effective on my monk. I don't remember the name, but there's a wondrous item that points you in the direction of the nearest alcoholic beverage.
Setting: Dark Sun for official settings. A friend of mine is running a game in a homebrewed Planescape setting that's a mashup of 2e and 4e cosmology, which has been awesome so far.
Bit of fluff: The Thief of Legend epic destiny allows you to steal something intangible from someone you kill. Also, the Wizard power Visions of Ruin makes the enemies think the world around them has suddenly been destroyed and they are standing on the last remaining chunk of reality.
Tier of play: Paragon. You have plenty of options without combat taking forever.
Class: I've only DMed for my group in 4E so far, so I haven't had a chance to get much experience beyond observation. I've been very impressed with our group's Wrathful Invoker, though. Just speaking personally I'd love to play a Psion or an Ardent.
Race: I have a soft spot for Githyanki and Gnolls in general.
Powers: Dawn's Blazing Fingers is a fun one, as is Bloody Termination.
Monster: I haven't gotten to run a Beholder yet, but I'm excited to. The party also had a very fun knock-down drag-out fight with a Thicket Dryad Lich.
Item: I have a soft spot for the seemingly random odds and ends that the party has to devise a use for. They did something very clever with a Darkskull once, so I'm fond of it.
Setting: Is it cheating/conceited to say 'my homebrew'? From the official ones, I actually really like the basic Points of Light stuff, but I think Eberron is cool as well.
Bit of Fluff: This is tough because I refluff things so often, but I really like most of the stuff associated with the Star Pact warlock.
Tier of Play: Well, we've only made it to the very end of the Heroic tier so far, but all my players are very excited to get their PPs, so I have high hopes.
Class: I like them all but my favorites would have to be the fighter, Warlord and the Monk. I like playing characters who are able to get up close to the enemy but still have a lot of tactical abilities as well. Race: Humans bar none, easy to play any classs with, best racial abilities in my opinion-Heroic Effort pure gold, extra feat pure awesome and human feats mostly work with action points which I use a lot. Also when everyone else is playing a fantastic race me being the only human make me stand out. Power: there would be two, Force the Battle- a level 29 fighter stance that increases the power of at-wills and encounters by 1 [W] and allows you to hit an enemy with an at-will at the start of their turn. Cleave- hit two enemies can't get better then that. Monster: Can't say Item: Master's Blade, get a bonus to attack rolls if you are in a stance and you can have two stances active at once. Setting: Homebrew and Points of Light Bit of fluff: The origin of the cosmology of Points of Light, the origins of the Tieflings. Tier of play: Paragon, This is when I feel I really am playing DND
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I am a:
Spoiler
Lawful Neutral
Human Fighter
Strength-17
Dexterity-14
Constitution-16
Intelligence-12
Wisdom-13
Charisma-12
Class? I can't really list just one. I enjoy many different classes, so I find it's easier to list one per role. 1h Talent Fighter, Bard, Predator Druid, and Wild Sorcerer.
Race? Half-Elf. I love the versatility of being able to poach a power from out of class.
Power? Prestidigitation -- sooooo much fun to be had.
Item? Eternal Chalk -- for the same reason as Prestidigitation. (also of note: Hedge Wizard's Gloves.)
Tier of play? Paragon. Lots of options but it's still possible to die.
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Thank you Ceika for the wonderful Avatar avatar!
Spoiler
I am a:
Lawful Neutral Elf Wizard/Sorcerer (3rd/2nd Level)
Ability Scores:
Strength- 12
Dexterity- 19
Constitution- 13
Intelligence- 17
Wisdom- 12
Charisma- 16
Link here
Class?
Monk, just like how he can inflict statuses upon enemies. Race?
Thri-Kreen - I like seeing these guys around. Shardmind is a close second if I could allow my fluff origin to be allowed instead of the Living Gate storyline. Power?
Dragon's Tail - kicks down enemies. Monster?
Id Fiend - Lvl1 Solo monster that makes people go crazy Setting?
Dark Sun - LIke low magic worlds Bit of fluff?
Raven Queen as a diety. Tier of play?
Heroic lvl one is actually fun
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Haggis is Sheep's stomach filled with its intestines.
Wait, but, how would they - what would they - you, sir, have just destroyed my mind.
Well, his crystals are stained blood-red, his Shard Swarm tends to look like tiny bats, and he bathes in blood because he theorizes that it somehow prevents the world from being further influenced by the Far Realm.
EDIT: Also, I felt that I HAD to sig this.
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Class: Artificer and Cleric! I'm a big nut on reducing damage, and these two are just so much fun.
Race: Kalashtar!
Power: Simulacrum! I like how you can fluff it. It can be an old ally or family member that your character lost during the campaign, giving it a lot more sentimental meaning.
Monster: Lately...Gnoll War Fangs are up there. I really enjoy anything from Open Grave. Deadliest undead ever, and Calvary Creekrotter is at the top of the list. Two of these babies turn a 10 foot well into a graveyard.
Item: Githyanki Silver Sword! I love it so much.
Setting: Eberron! They did it really well in 4e!
Bit of fluff: Bane's fluff from Dragon Magazine.
Tier of play: Paragon fo sho. Your character starts to feel more unique, it's a challenge, and fun to DM.
Class? Wizard.
Race? Gnome, probably.
Power? Thunderwave.
Monster? The classics, like beholders and dragons.
Item? None; items simply aren't interesting in this edition.
Setting? Eberron.
Bit of fluff? None.
Tier of play? Heroic; I find the game too easy at higher tiers.
Class: The sentinel druid, or the fighter (all flavors, including knight and slayer). I've always been partial to animal companions, particuarly wolves, and well... the sentinel druid is basically perfect for my tastes (it even has summoning). But I'm also amazed by the fighter, who's come such a long way from third edition, with so many viable options and builds, all of them effective in unique and interesting ways.
Race:Tiefling. Gotta love playing with fire.
Power:Writhing Henge. Wait, I summon six individual monsters, can have all six of them attack as a minor action, AND I only lose a healing surge if all six die?
Monster: The new monster vault dragons. Instinctive actions are just lovely.
Item:Farbond Spellblade and Dwarven Thrower. Ranged basic attacks for melee-focused characters! Availible at low levels! These are golden.
Setting: I don't have a strong opinion here, but Dark Sun seems to have some interesting monsters.
Bit of fluff: I like how fully the primal power source is fleshed out.
Tier of play: I don't actually have any experience past heroic (yet), so I can't comment.
Class: Avenger, nothing like being a probably brainwashed church assassin whose duty is to hunt down rogue paladins
Race: Longtooth Shifter, just to go crazy when you get bloodied
Power: Form of Mountain's Thunder, I AM NOW A MOUNTAIN. DEAL WITH IT.
Monster: Tembo, the first monster I ever used that was of MM3/Monster Vault quality. And I'm still quite fond of it.
Item: Eternal Chalk. Because writing "The King is a butt" on every building in the city and him not being able to erase it for two weeks is priceless.
Setting: Apart from homebrew? Dark Sun. Although I am becoming somewhat fond of Points of Light.
Bit of Fluff: I was originally going to say the gods playing tf2 with their angels but I have to give my hat tip to GRUMMUSH CRASHING HIS PLANE INTO BANE'S AND HAVING AN ETERNAL WAR.
Tier of Play: I have no idea. Each thing has something I like. Heroic battles tend to be quick, concise and you don't have too much to do. Paragon you get your Paragon Path which helps a little with variety and you feel like you can do some cool stuff. Epic tier is a complete clusterfluff with powers BUT you GET YOUR EPIC DESTINY. And epic destinies are AWESOME.
Class - Wizard. I think 4e is the best edition to play a wizard in. Sure you may not get the crazy "I can do anything" spells of earlier editions, but you also don't have to put up with being next to useless when you run out of spells, either.
Race - Eladrin. The fair folk are my kind of people and it's nice to see a better representation of them in D&D. Plus they can teleport.
Power - Flame shroud is really cool because it is low level, enemies only, covers a big area, has a save ends effect, and is an encounter power. Maybe it's been errataed since I last used it, but it was an awesome power as written originally.
Monster - any minion. They are squishy and I love them for it.
Item - Robe of eyes. I like the creepiness of a piece of clothing watching you.
Setting - My DM's Dragonlance homebrew for 4e.
Bit of fluff - the origins of the psionics power source.
Tier of play - I haven't gotten to play an epic character yet, but late heroic and mid-paragon are quite fun.
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Melusine-esque Avatar made by the awesome Akrim.elf!
Genderbender Week Yuan-ti Avatar by Bisected8.
Xe/xyr are my favourite pronouns, so feel free to refer to me as such instead of she/her.
Class? Druid. Both the Shapeshifter in PH2, and the Sentinel in HoFK. Druids and Sorcerers were my preferred classes in 3.5 and earlier, and 4e Druids just rock.
Race? I like the balance of the races in 4e. Warforged and Changelings remain my favourite races for roleplaying reasons. Thri-Kreen and Wilden for being different. I like having more unique races.
Power? None specific, but I really like the mechanics of the Executioner's poisons, that they have both combat and non-combat utility. That's something I'd like to see spread to other classes.
Monster? I like the Catastrophic Dragons from MM3. They're Elite, so I'm already dreaming of dropping 2 of them on a party ... and I like their mechanics.
Item? Ki Focuses? I dunno, magic items are boring.
Setting? Eberron. Again, I've been a fan since 3.5, 4e's incarnation hasn't changed what I liked about it. Though I think the Artificer needs some love though. I'd like it to gain some day-long buffs like the new Druid got.
Tier of play? I'm really enjoying Paragon tier Bard. Upper Heroic tier was fun too. I haven't played Epic, though I DMed a short little campaign, and didn't enjoy it. PCs have too many responses to the monsters, making them look like sacks of hitpoints.
Class Only played rogue, psion, and ranger so far. Rogue was my first character, died at level 2? so I didn't have much experience actually playing it. I did a horrible job building the psion and got tired of it, and the ranger is A ****ING BEAST. It is ridiculous how much damage I do, especially considering I'm the only striker in the party (Rest are super-controller Wizard, Invoker with some decent damaging powers, and a cleric with a fullblade).
Race Half-elf, for one reason: it went from being easily the most useless core race in 3.5 to being the best in 4e.
Power Call me unoriginal, but Twin Strike so far. I have a bright pink die that I roll with right now, and it is unbelievable how many crits it rolls (especially since I use a Melegaunt's Darkblade, so I have a 19-20 crit range with a bastard sword.)
Monster I dunno, haven't been playing 4e for too long. Draconians are what we've faced most of the time, for storyline reasons.
Item Melegaunt's Darkblade. 19-20 crit, it's cheaper than Jagged Weapon, and its crit is better IMO (1d6 cold per plus, 1d0 against shadows, compared to 10 ongoing for Jagged). Also, Wallrunners, for turning one of my favorite feats from 3.5 into an item (Up the Walls). Combat Harness, for weapon switching cheese and initiative bonus. Rhythm Blade, especially when paired with a Parrying Dagger, for obvious reasons.
Setting Just played Points of Light so far.
Tier I like being epic, and Paragon does that better than Heroic. Haven't gotten to Epic Tier yet though.
Class: Paladin has always been my favorite class in every edition, and that hasn't stopped. Runner-ups would be Bard and Starlock.
Race: Gnolls. They're not really a player race, but the fact they have some options is nice. I find myself playing a lot of Tieflings, though.
Power: Abominable Music of Caiphon. Even Hand of Justice is a close second.
Monster: Can I label Athas as a monster? Is that a thing we can do?
Item: I can't think of any one item that jumps out at me. Maybe a Sunblade? Iunno.
Setting: See the Monster entry (Dark Sun is the best setting).
Bit of fluff: The Thief of Legend. Steal the voice of a siren to sing for you, hold a demon's malice for ransom, swipe a spelljammer while it's taking off and even steal yourself from death. Radiant One (become a star of the Far Plane) and the ED where you lead an endless horde and your closest minion takes your place and your name when you die are also top-notch.
Tier of play: Epic. Haven't tried Paragon, though.
Class: Chaos Sorcerer Race: thats a hard one....I'd say....dwarf. I've always been a fan of dwarves Power: Vicious Mockery, the only power where you deal damage to somebody with an insult. Monster: Succubus
.....what? Item: Boons, getting some weird artifact? nah. getting cools powers handed to me directly? AWESOME Setting: Eberron Bit of fluff: psionic and primal power sources, I wish arcane was as fluffed out as they are. Tier of play:Dunno.
Class?
I kind lean toward Paladins, but that's mostly personal preference. For some reason I just love the various Channel Divinity powers, and end up trending toward divine classes because of that.
Race?
Dwarves, Kalashtar, and Warforged. Dwarf is what I play the most, because minor action second wind is awesome, and I'm now pegged as 'the dwarf guy' in he gaming group after my IMMOVEABLE OBJECT dwarven paladin of Bahamut.
Power?
Fey step is one of my favorites still, even though I don't play Eladrin very foten.
Monster?
Anything that dominates my players. They are, in fact, their own worst enemies.
Item?
No idea here.
Setting? I adore Eberron. I'm not too sure I'm actually good at running anything in it.
Bit of fluff? The plane setup, compared to the 3.5 version, in which it was more like various planes of hats.
Tier of play? Paragon. I don't have a good handle on Epic yet, and after playing in paragon for a while, heroic just starts to feel boring to me.
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Spoiler
"Square root of 912.04 is 30.2. It all seemed harmless. Square root of 912.04 is 30.2. It all seemed harmless. Square root of 912.04 is 30.2..."
Class: Avenger - all the paladin devotion without any of the stick-up-ass. Unless it's up the BBEG's ass. Because you put it there. It offers three completely distinct and yet exactly the same play options, each with unique ways to single out your decided foe and make it dead while discouraging or preventing other enemies from getting near your duel (or gank-fest, if you're unity).
Race: It's hard to beat the Deva fluff. Literally an angel sent to the mortal world for some purpose. For a divine class, especially an incarnation of divine fury like an avenger or invoker, it's extremely apt. Wisdom to init pre-essentials along with other excellent racial feats, bonuses, and one of the best epic destinies in the game (Soul of the World) make them a phenomenal pick.
Power: There's a lot of really awesome ones, but I think my favorite is the Immortal Curse from the Punisher of the Gods epic destiny, at 30th level. Even post-errata (you used to get it back once your target was dead) it's simply an amazing striker feature. All damage you deal against the target is maximized until it's dead...and if you crit it you get an extra standard action which you have to use to attack it. My avenger build did an extra ~300 damage any time I crit, largely because of this feature. It makes bosses dead.
Monster: Anything insubstantial. It's my anti-favorite, really, but I think that's almost more fitting for this thread than something easy.
Item: Boons are a lot cooler than random artifacts. I tend to prefer Bloodiron weapons.
Setting: Dark Sun. I realize this conflicts with my race and class choices, but it's just too badass.
Bit of fluff: I think it would have to be the seamless way the deva/avenger/ardent champion/punisher of the gods fluff all fits together seamlessly creating a wholly logical backstory. Neither deva's nor punishers limit their worship to a singular God, and Deva's don't have the time or desire to spend years training at a secret avenger academy, so ardent fits with the "personal connection to your god(s)" part. It was also fun to see what my DM came up with as a BBEG worthy of the entire pantheon good and evil agreeing on enlisting my aid against.
Tier of play: Epic is more, well, epic. But it's only fun when it's deserved. Starting at epic takes all of the fun away. I prefer to start at heroic, but my favorite part is probably early paragon, when you can first start to see your and your party's character's full potential and see where they're taking their builds.
Class? Fighter, currently. All the sweat and little of the glory, it's a working class sort of class.
Race? Elf, because I HATE HATE HATE missing.
Power? The humble Brutal Strike. Its beauty lies in its simplicity and reliability.
Monster? Haven't found one I liked yet.
Item? The Magic Fullblade, thes .44 magnum of the fantasy world. It doesn't do anything crazy like blaze with fire or drink souls, it just kills things dead.
Setting? Homemade, always.
Bit of fluff? The rivalry between Bael Turath and Arkhosia.
Tier of play? Late heroic, for me.
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I don't expect you to agree with what I say, but at least defend to the death my right to say it!
Class: Bard. Hands down. No questions asked. As soon as it was released in PH2, I fell in love with it, and have only played two other classes since then.
Race: I'm fond of half-elves. Their versatility is great and a feat to give them another at-will at 11th level is also pretty cool.
Power: Timely Distraction Bard Encounter 7 "Look! An Owlbear!"
Monster: All of the monsters you can build yourself. 4E made it easy for me to make my own bad guys. My favorite so far were the spider monkey minions that had a ranged attack called fling poo.
Item: Imposter's Armor. I built a changeling bard once that multiclassed into wizard and warlock while wearing this armor. At level 11, I was able to change my appearance, my personality, and my powers at-will.
Setting: Eberron. I don't DM it very well, but all of the backstory is just too good to let go of.
Bit of fluff: Probably Thunderspire Labyrinth. The crunch is pretty horrific, but the flavor is so darn tasty!
Tier of play: Late heroic. It's a good end of the road for beginning players, and there's usually enough closure to feel like we've really accomplished something, even though we're only 1/3rd of the way through the level progression.
Item: Imposter's Armor. I built a changeling bard once that multiclassed into wizard and warlock while wearing this armor. At level 11, I was able to change my appearance, my personality, and my powers at-will.
Taking the various power swap feats, I was able to get a healthy mix of warlock, wizard, and bard spells. I just didn't use certain spells when I was in one guise or the other. RP, yo.
So No, it wasn't actually CHANGING the powers, but I was changing the powers I used.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joseph Silver
House Cannith. We build things.
Last edited by Duos Greanleef : 03-28-2011 at 02:07 PM.
Reason: Clarification
Power? None specific, but I really like the mechanics of the Executioner's poisons, that they have both combat and non-combat utility. That's something I'd like to see spread to other classes.
I've always thought a Psion and an Executioner would make good friends.
Psion: I dominate him.
Executioner: I hand him a vial.
Psion (On the monster's turn): Bottom's up!
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4E: Your Favorites
) and I love the pseudo-defender feel of the class, taking hit after hit and barely even shrugging and dousing foes in a cascade of biting insects is sweet.
From the official ones, I actually really like the basic Points of Light stuff, but I think Eberron is cool as well.
