Post by Paradoom on May 8, 2016 17:08:27 GMT
I have a dream that someday dwarves brawl all over the world!
Some stuff that drives me nuts over them:
One of the major problems are the unbalanced needs of certain feats that actually are very well suited for a „defender“ -class in general. Dwarfs are sturdy by nature and especially their prestige class the dwarven defender lacks some extra´s and changes to make up for their far lower damage output. I looked into the feats and tested out several builds and ran some into the arena to see how they fair. Not a chance would be nicely said. For instance I made a dwd with heavy plate and great axe in combination with some of the defence and extra physical resilience feats. Well against a normal serpent, pit fiends or malebranches it actually held its ground more or less and was able to dash out some ok damage. But as soon as any mob that had any kind of infliction you were completely overwhelmed in a matter of moments. No chance to use a restore, nor use heal potions to at least deal out a bit of damage in-between the heals or anything else. Just a red stain on the ground.
So I took a closer look to building options, cost and what it ends up with and came up with some ideas that would help a dwarf/dwd take on it´s role as a major tank and bring something unique to a party no other can in such a way. The following suggestions for changes and upgrades follow that base idea. One important thing is that these ideas are meant for real dwds and not quasi-classes (though some could probably used for them too).
Perfect health
The requirement for this feat is too high and should be specifically for dwarven defenders lowered to 20 or 22 con maximum. Dwarfs have a natural resilience to poison anyway and this enhances their great health. This fits the theme and reflects perfectly their sturdy nature and grants an incentive over Orcs.
Legendary Battlehardening
These feats require to take at least epic damage reduction I and on top have 25 constitution. While I wouldn´t necessarily change this, 4 feats in LL is just way too expensive to even consider taking all these feats for a laughable 20% physical immunity gain (gain/cost is way out of balance). This does not just limit the build options but it practically forces to go with a paladin splash. And even then the saves are mediocre at best. Plus the last 3 feats are usually used up by lsa tumble, ll weapon focus and ll weapon spec. No saves feats are available anymore at this point but are actually very much needed especially if you want to go “pure”.
My change suggestion is:
Reduce this to 2 feats each granting 10% physical immunity for dwarven defenders (class specific) or even dwarfs in general. That way you can actually make the tank a tank and give him the saves which it needs in the LL and beyond areas.
New feat: Paragon Battlehardening
A new feat I thought of is “Paragon Battlehardening” (requires Base Race Dwarf, LL Battlehardening II and Perfect Health, 21 levels of Dwarven Defender).
This feat does not grant any further physical immunity, but limits any infliction on a dwarven defender to -50% maximum.
This is a unique ability of real DwDs and reflects their immeasurable durability. In contrast to other tanks they can hold their ground even under the most stressful of situations and most antagonizing monsters.
Draw Foes
As a dwd I am to make any enemies around me to attack me and keep them away from my fellow companions. This is in general a great ability, but it could really use some improvement.
1st thing is the radius, which I think should increased with higher levels. This could scale with dwd level. My idea on that is +1 meter with every 5 dwd levels past dwd 10 including legendary levels (so maximum of +8 meters at level 60 with 50 dwd).
2nd thing: add the taunt skill to the taunt effect of the circle and let it scale to a maximum of 150. This would make the taunt actually work instead of just making them fail by luck when they roll a 1.
New ability: Dwarven Battle Howl
Swift action.
The dwarven defender can use one of his defense stances to produce an enormous shout in a cone shaped area enforcing any monster standing inside that cone to attack him for at least 2 (+1/10 dwd levels) rounds without a save. Range and wideness im not sure about.
This ability is intended to grant dwds an enhanced control over the battlefield and saving his companions from harm.
Dwarven Defensive Stance:
Remove that slow effect or significantly reduce its effect or make at the very least stuff like FOM work to retain a normal movement speed. As it is you become a problem, since you cannot run to where you are needed, which a tank has to be able to do! As it is calling this "situational usable" would be very very generous.
Dwarfen Subrace Howler:
I am simply sick of it. No matter what I do right now whenever I try and build a dwarven defender I end up with kolyarut. It simply offers exactly what I need and e.g. Howler cannot even come close to it. This has to be changed. Howler lacks some kick to be a better option or at the very least an upgrade/change in skills, feats and stats to be considered. Just plain 6str and con are not good enough.
So let´s have a look what it is:
FCs: Fighter, Barbarian
Str: +6
Dex: +0
Con: +6
Wis: +0
Int: +0
Cha: -3
Toughness, Dodge, Exotic Weapon Proficiency, +25% Sonic immunity
And what I would like to see it to be modified to, so it actually becomes a real option instead of koly and would be the actual lower tier one in comparison to the XR Dao-kin:
FCs: Fighter, Barbarian, BCs: Dwarven Defender
Str: +4
Dex: +0
Con: +6
Wis: +0
Int: +2
Cha: -2
Dodge, Toughness, Exotic Weapon Proficiency, +25% Sonic immunity, Blooded OR Ambidexterity
Yes I am well aware that this is quite an increase of power to this subrace, but it is plain and simple what is needed/demanded. You need tons of int on a tank to pick up all the necessary skills unless it is a barbarian. You want to use the dwarven waraxes dualwielding to deal at least some acceptable damage (or if it comes in double sided weapons with ac boost). Gaining blooded grants a bit of an option to play around with your saves feats. Alternatively I could see Ambidexterity there for the dual-wielding instead.
I also would see that the maximum ac of dwd axes when you use a not any sub-race get´s increased to +14 (if not +16 shield AC) since your dex is a good portion lower than e.g. Koly hence your ac drops and you have worse reflex saves.
Some stuff that drives me nuts over them:
One of the major problems are the unbalanced needs of certain feats that actually are very well suited for a „defender“ -class in general. Dwarfs are sturdy by nature and especially their prestige class the dwarven defender lacks some extra´s and changes to make up for their far lower damage output. I looked into the feats and tested out several builds and ran some into the arena to see how they fair. Not a chance would be nicely said. For instance I made a dwd with heavy plate and great axe in combination with some of the defence and extra physical resilience feats. Well against a normal serpent, pit fiends or malebranches it actually held its ground more or less and was able to dash out some ok damage. But as soon as any mob that had any kind of infliction you were completely overwhelmed in a matter of moments. No chance to use a restore, nor use heal potions to at least deal out a bit of damage in-between the heals or anything else. Just a red stain on the ground.
So I took a closer look to building options, cost and what it ends up with and came up with some ideas that would help a dwarf/dwd take on it´s role as a major tank and bring something unique to a party no other can in such a way. The following suggestions for changes and upgrades follow that base idea. One important thing is that these ideas are meant for real dwds and not quasi-classes (though some could probably used for them too).
Perfect health
The requirement for this feat is too high and should be specifically for dwarven defenders lowered to 20 or 22 con maximum. Dwarfs have a natural resilience to poison anyway and this enhances their great health. This fits the theme and reflects perfectly their sturdy nature and grants an incentive over Orcs.
Legendary Battlehardening
These feats require to take at least epic damage reduction I and on top have 25 constitution. While I wouldn´t necessarily change this, 4 feats in LL is just way too expensive to even consider taking all these feats for a laughable 20% physical immunity gain (gain/cost is way out of balance). This does not just limit the build options but it practically forces to go with a paladin splash. And even then the saves are mediocre at best. Plus the last 3 feats are usually used up by lsa tumble, ll weapon focus and ll weapon spec. No saves feats are available anymore at this point but are actually very much needed especially if you want to go “pure”.
My change suggestion is:
Reduce this to 2 feats each granting 10% physical immunity for dwarven defenders (class specific) or even dwarfs in general. That way you can actually make the tank a tank and give him the saves which it needs in the LL and beyond areas.
New feat: Paragon Battlehardening
A new feat I thought of is “Paragon Battlehardening” (requires Base Race Dwarf, LL Battlehardening II and Perfect Health, 21 levels of Dwarven Defender).
This feat does not grant any further physical immunity, but limits any infliction on a dwarven defender to -50% maximum.
This is a unique ability of real DwDs and reflects their immeasurable durability. In contrast to other tanks they can hold their ground even under the most stressful of situations and most antagonizing monsters.
Draw Foes
As a dwd I am to make any enemies around me to attack me and keep them away from my fellow companions. This is in general a great ability, but it could really use some improvement.
1st thing is the radius, which I think should increased with higher levels. This could scale with dwd level. My idea on that is +1 meter with every 5 dwd levels past dwd 10 including legendary levels (so maximum of +8 meters at level 60 with 50 dwd).
2nd thing: add the taunt skill to the taunt effect of the circle and let it scale to a maximum of 150. This would make the taunt actually work instead of just making them fail by luck when they roll a 1.
New ability: Dwarven Battle Howl
Swift action.
The dwarven defender can use one of his defense stances to produce an enormous shout in a cone shaped area enforcing any monster standing inside that cone to attack him for at least 2 (+1/10 dwd levels) rounds without a save. Range and wideness im not sure about.
This ability is intended to grant dwds an enhanced control over the battlefield and saving his companions from harm.
Dwarven Defensive Stance:
Remove that slow effect or significantly reduce its effect or make at the very least stuff like FOM work to retain a normal movement speed. As it is you become a problem, since you cannot run to where you are needed, which a tank has to be able to do! As it is calling this "situational usable" would be very very generous.
Dwarfen Subrace Howler:
I am simply sick of it. No matter what I do right now whenever I try and build a dwarven defender I end up with kolyarut. It simply offers exactly what I need and e.g. Howler cannot even come close to it. This has to be changed. Howler lacks some kick to be a better option or at the very least an upgrade/change in skills, feats and stats to be considered. Just plain 6str and con are not good enough.
So let´s have a look what it is:
FCs: Fighter, Barbarian
Str: +6
Dex: +0
Con: +6
Wis: +0
Int: +0
Cha: -3
Toughness, Dodge, Exotic Weapon Proficiency, +25% Sonic immunity
And what I would like to see it to be modified to, so it actually becomes a real option instead of koly and would be the actual lower tier one in comparison to the XR Dao-kin:
FCs: Fighter, Barbarian, BCs: Dwarven Defender
Str: +4
Dex: +0
Con: +6
Wis: +0
Int: +2
Cha: -2
Dodge, Toughness, Exotic Weapon Proficiency, +25% Sonic immunity, Blooded OR Ambidexterity
Yes I am well aware that this is quite an increase of power to this subrace, but it is plain and simple what is needed/demanded. You need tons of int on a tank to pick up all the necessary skills unless it is a barbarian. You want to use the dwarven waraxes dualwielding to deal at least some acceptable damage (or if it comes in double sided weapons with ac boost). Gaining blooded grants a bit of an option to play around with your saves feats. Alternatively I could see Ambidexterity there for the dual-wielding instead.
I also would see that the maximum ac of dwd axes when you use a not any sub-race get´s increased to +14 (if not +16 shield AC) since your dex is a good portion lower than e.g. Koly hence your ac drops and you have worse reflex saves.