Hello all,
I am in the process of converting a 12th level third edition party to 4e, and I was hoping you might be able to help me with some of the details.
The dwarf ranger is sporting the Mineral Warrior template from the FR sourcebook, Underdark. I'm at a bit of a loss as to the best way to proceed. For information, the Mineral Warrior template grants the following:
Attributes: Str +2, Con +4, Int -2, Wis -2, Cha -2
Size and Type: Type remains the same, gain the Earth subtype.
Speed: Gain burrow speed equal to one-half base creature's highest speed.
Armour Class: Natural armour improves by +3
Special Attacks:
Earth Strike (Ex): Once per day the character adds its Consitution modifier to its attack roll and deals +1 damage per character level.
Special Qualities:
Darkvision (Ex): Range of 60 feet or base creature if superior.
Damage Reduction (Ex): Gain DR 8/adamantine
So, what's the best way forward?
Fourth edition templates are solely the domain of the DM. For PCs this will have to handled as either racial feats, racial powers or a paragon path. Which ones are best, or should I use a mixture of them?
Attribute modifiers, bonuses to natural armour and damage reduction don't really have an analogue in fourth edition. I could give him Resist 5 to all, but that's very powerful and few creatures have that sort of defence.
But I do want to recreate a character that feels the same as the old one, even if it doesn't quite do all the same things.
Help?
Help?
What is the characters personality? What role does he play in the party? I would recommend not templating him. Have him stick to core class and paragon paths for now. You want to recreate the flavor, sort of like a vegitarian hamburger (This tastes close to the same, but I know its slightly different).
Its really not a perfect solution but maybe you can work together with your player and have him trade off things like powers to get some of this stuff?
Help?What is the characters personality? What role does he play in the party? I would recommend not templating him. Have him stick to core class and paragon paths for now. You want to recreate the flavor, sort of like a vegitarian hamburger (This tastes close to the same, but I know its slightly different).
The dwarf, Brack, is the party tank. He's an unstoppable melee machine that the rest of the party fear will one day be mind-controlled and used against them.
As far as the fourth edition archetypes are concerened he is every inch a Defender. But, his signature ability since first level (way back in 2000) has been to attack with a dwarven battle axe in each hand. The only way to retain two-weapon fighting in any meaningful way in fourth edition is for Brack to remain a ranger.
You're right - I don't want to put a template on him. There aren't any rules for 'templating' PCs, and that has a large chace of throwing off the delicate balance between the classes.
He could always be a Fighter with some Ranger multiclass. Dual-wielding with the two two weapon feats will give him some benefits of a shield plus some extra damage. Have him take a Ranger power or two that focuses on two weapon attacks. That might help. :)
Its really not a perfect solution but maybe you can work together with your player and have him trade off things like powers to get some of this stuff?
That's my thought exactly. At the moment, I am have two choices:
I treat "Mineralised Dwarf" as a race in its own right. At first level Brack would have got all the racial abilities common to all dwarves and then after that, he can choose racial feats to flesh out the rest of his powers.
Mineral Warrior is a paragon path. This gives access to certain paragon path features (that might be a more appropriate place for some of these abilities), as well as powers. I could also create feats for some of the powers that were not covered elsewhere.
What I'm not sure is which one would be best, and how I convert the Mineral Warriors abilities into 4e feats, powers and features.
I'm not at home at the moment. I'll try creating a paragon path this evening and post it here to see what you think.
You could always go both routes, turning some of the Mineral Warrior abilities into Dwarven Racial Feats with others becoming part of a Paragon Path for him. This would ease up your burden of trying to fit everything into just one category. :)
Help?What is the characters personality? What role does he play in the party? I would recommend not templating him. Have him stick to core class and paragon paths for now. You want to recreate the flavor, sort of like a vegitarian hamburger (This tastes close to the same, but I know its slightly different).The dwarf, Brack, is the party tank. He's an unstoppable melee machine that the rest of the party fear will one day be mind-controlled and used against them.
As far as the fourth edition archetypes are concerened he is every inch a Defender. But, his signature ability since first level (way back in 2000) has been to attack with a dwarven battle axe in each hand. The only way to retain two-weapon fighting in any meaningful way in fourth edition is for Brack to remain a ranger.
You're right - I don't want to put a template on him. There aren't any rules for 'templating' PCs, and that has a large chace of throwing off the delicate balance between the classes.
The Two Weapon Build would be pretty sweet for a dual wielding axe dwarf. He would also get toughness. Have him take some fighter multiclass feats, and go for the Iron Vanguard Paragon Path. You may also need him to take some armor feats.
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Hello all,
I am in the process of converting a 12th level third edition party to 4e, and I was hoping you might be able to help me with some of the details.
The dwarf ranger is sporting the Mineral Warrior template from the FR sourcebook, Underdark. I'm at a bit of a loss as to the best way to proceed. For information, the Mineral Warrior template grants the following:
Attributes: Str +2, Con +4, Int -2, Wis -2, Cha -2
Size and Type: Type remains the same, gain the Earth subtype.
Speed: Gain burrow speed equal to one-half base creature's highest speed.
Armour Class: Natural armour improves by +3Special Attacks:
Earth Strike (Ex): Once per day the character adds its Consitution modifier to its attack roll and deals +1 damage per character level.
Special Qualities:
Darkvision (Ex): Range of 60 feet or base creature if superior.
Damage Reduction (Ex): Gain DR 8/adamantineSo, what's the best way forward?
Fourth edition templates are solely the domain of the DM. For PCs this will have to handled as either racial feats, racial powers or a paragon path. Which ones are best, or should I use a mixture of them?
Attribute modifiers, bonuses to natural armour and damage reduction don't really have an analogue in fourth edition. I could give him Resist 5 to all, but that's very powerful and few creatures have that sort of defence.
But I do want to recreate a character that feels the same as the old one, even if it doesn't quite do all the same things.
Help?
Darkvision defaults to low-light visions and that is just a switch in focus. I would let that go.
Likewise, Damage reduction is gone morphed. I would have him take the some of the high defense encounter powers. Alternatively you could shop for some magic items that can help him out. Seems like there are a couple that offer resistance protection and bump defense.
I think this piece:
Attributes: Str +2, Con +4, Int -2, Wis -2, Cha -2
Size and Type: Type remains the same, gain the Earth subtype.
Speed: Gain burrow speed equal to one-half base creature's highest speed.
Armour Class: Natural armour improves by +3
is best stewarded through a new race, although I would drop most of the negs in spirit of the new design. Basically what you have at that point is a dwarf with the abiltiy to move through rock. You'll want to asses this as a teleport or as an actual burrow. I think the teleport model has some roughs points of contact for ideas in the Fey Pact. Letting him carve a burrow and a hole in effect gives the party passwall. Could be unbalancing, but yours to adjucate based on your game.
I wouldn't bump his AC much if at all. 4.0 really tries to truncate defense and offense bandwidth by level. Giving him too much AC will make him unhittable very quickly at his tier.
I would definitely build a paragon Path for him. Work the Earth Stike in and maybe some AC powers and you are golden.
My quick (on lunch at my desk) $.02