4E Malazan Sapper

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

SO my Death Cleric has returned to his Goddess due to a rather sudden switch from our DM playing soft ball to playing hard ball with the group.

Something I applauded in the abstract but maybe slightly less so when its my character getting ganked.

In any case I'm now trying to come up with some kind of a build and am thinking of a hard bitten mercenary, she'll be ugly as sin with an attitude to match.

Mechanically I'm looking for a build that works around loading a crossbow with munitions that blow up real good and maybe throwing bombs and such.

I'm mid Paragon so there is no real significant restrictions to 'realizing' the build. However since I generally play a single character until dead and am not really one to create builds just for fun I'm hoping the forum goers here can help with some ideas on how to realize a build like this as I'm not really sure where to start. I'm vaguely thinking Ranger/Artificer Hybrid but not sure if that works out.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Hmm preliminary playing around with ranger artificer makes me think this won't work. Stats are to disparate.

[Matthew Koelbl]

I actually built almost this exact character as a pre-gen for a one-shot, but no one ended up playing it, so no idea how effective it actually would have been.

It was a Hybrid Artificer|Ranger with Crossbow Caster, with Dex and Int as the main stats and a few points into Wis. If going for someone who is really tough, might switch to Con as the tertiary stat instead. The Ranger "Warning Shot" at-will seemed very appropriate, plus the usual artificer tricks, and a heavy focus on consumables like Clockwork Bombs and Blastpatches. So it was focused less on explosions, and more on 'trapping' - setting up danger zones that blew up when the enemy entered.

If the stats end up too disparate, you could leave artificer behind and instead focus entirely on alchemy and consumables. If Themes are in, the Alchemist theme is a big help. The Alchemist Savant is also nice, and items like Alchemy Gloves can be handy. There are also a lot of handy items for those with the Living Construct trait - if you can track down a Ring of the Warforged (level 17), you can embed those items regardless of race.

The downside of the Alchemy build is it is resource heavy (though the theme and paragon path can significantly mitigate that).

Another option would depend on how much access you have to magic items in your campaign. If it is relatively open, at your level, you might invest in various explosive items like Necklaces of Fireballs, and other stuff that give you big renewable explosions each day.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Thanks Mathew

I'll go and see if I can put together a reasonable build with this idea.

I'm not sure if the consumable angle will work or not. Basically faces all the issues most consumables face in a campaign where your burning your share of the gold for things that don't stay on the character but it may be OK.

No themes or backgrounds allowed in this game just because they where not in at start and the DM is putting his foot down on optional 'power increases' among the players since several already have a tendency to munchkin...so when they came out they where ruled verbotten...particularly because munchkin #1 ways clearly the person most excited to add them - causing the obvious knee jerk 'absolutely not' from the DM) reaction. I don't blame the DM as I've DMed with this group as well and for better or worse that was usually my reaction too.

Magic is moderate...we can get commons and otherwise things work on a wishlist.

Anyway I'm off to see if I can build this but am still very much interested in any input people want to throw out there.

[Sebastrd]

The first thing that springs to mind is a, possibly Warforged, Artificer. Just reflavor the powers to be explosives instead of magic.

For example, instead of carrying a rod or wand implement used to cast spells, describe it as a hollow tube that fires a variety of bombs.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Sebastrd wrote:

The first thing that springs to mind is a, possibly Warforged, Artificer. Just reflavor the powers to be explosives instead of magic.

For example, instead of carrying a rod or wand implement used to cast spells, describe it as a hollow tube that fires a variety of bombs.

Warforged is off the list for me as we are not in Eberron (our DM is none to clear where the hell we actually are but he is adamant that wherever it is that we are its not Eberron).

Otherwise though its really easy to re-flavour artificers...crossbow caster feat...your crossbow is your implement. More then worth the feat considering that otherwise I'd need to have both a magic implement and the crossbow.

[Jeremy Mac Donald]

Well I finished my brewing and its a pretty interesting character.

So my objective was to make a character that did cool sapper like things as well as get some 'leader' in there. At this point I think of her as a 'War Medic' from some kind of elite squad that has been in the wars. She has medical abilities and uses a really elaborate crazy crossbow full of levers and knobs.

I had thought that Ranger/Artificer would not work because of extreme MAD issues but I found an interesting way around that. While it is not possible to make an Artificer pacifist build it is possible to do that with a hybrid. In fact it works well with this concept. So I have an artificer with intelligence I have dumped all the way down to 10 and that won't actually effect a single power except for my artificer at-will.

Not that it matters one wit what the stats are in the artificer at will because sitting in the same at will slot is the Rangers Twin Strike at will and it would have been only the most corner case situations that I would have used the Artificers over Twin Strike even if I did not keep intelligence low.

So the build essentially has the artificer handing out weapon buffs - called sigils in 4E but from here on out I'm calling them 'munitions' for this character. I have acidic munitions and 'lucky' (or accurate) munitions so far but if more come up I'll snap them up for the character so she can load more cool stuff into her crossbow.

Pretty much I'm using many of the artificers 'leader' abilities to lead myself via weapon buffs on my own weapons which I'll fire using ranger powers. Fundamentally I'm the leader of me.

I picked up Initiate of the Faith as well in part to help with the rest of the party, I'm throwing in a bonus save on a minor for group support as well as the healing infusion that artificers start with. So not completely ignoring my fellow party members in terms of the leader roll...but they can't have my 'munitions'...mine all mine. The Initiate of the Faith serves another roll as well - any level where I end up with an artificer power that I really can't use I'll swap out for a cleric power.

Its actually a pretty good build but this really comes down to the fact that its impossible not to make a Ranger potent. Nonetheless there is some leader support in there for the rest of the group (though not like what you get from a dedicated leader) and comes with a cool crossbow that has a slew of neat features. Especially after I refluff Hunter's Quarry as 'targeting sights' and such.

Zentia Hallowglass, level 13
Human, Ranger/Artificer, Sharpshooter
Hybrid Ranger Option: Hybrid Ranger Reflex
Hybrid Artificer Option: Hybrid Artificer Will
Hybrid Talent Option: Arcane Empowerment
Human Power Selection Option: Heroic Effort

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
STR 9, CON 15, DEX 23, INT 11, WIS 15, CHA 11

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
STR 8, CON 13, DEX 18, INT 10, WIS 13, CHA 10

AC: 27 Fort: 24 Ref: 31 Will: 25
HP: 87 Surges: 8 Surge Value: 23

TRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +17, Endurance +13, Heal +13, Perception +13, Religion +11, Thievery +17

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +6, Athletics +5, Bluff +6, Diplomacy +6, Dungeoneering +8, History +6, Insight +8, Intimidate +6, Nature +8, Stealth +12, Streetwise +6

POWERS
Basic Attack: Melee Basic Attack
Basic Attack: Ranged Basic Attack
Human Racial Power: Heroic Effort
Hunter's Quarry Power: Hunter's Quarry
Artificer Feature: Healing Infusion: Curative Admixture
Artificer Feature: Healing Infusion: Resistive Formula
Cleric Utility: Healing Word
Ranger Attack 1: Twin Strike
Artificer Attack 1: Aggravating Force
Ranger Attack 1: Singular Shot
Ranger Attack 1: Sure Shot
Artificer Utility 2: Swift Mender
Artificer Attack 5: Corrosive Sigil
Ranger Utility 6: Healing Lore
Ranger Attack 7: Spikes of the Manticore
Ranger Attack 9: Attacks on the Run
Artificer Utility 10: Sigil of Luck
Sharpshooter Attack 11: Stab and Shoot
Sharpshooter Utility 12: Perfect Aim
Ranger Attack 13: Bloodlust Strike

FEATS
Level 1: Crossbow Expertise
Level 1: Initiate of the Faith
Level 2: Lethal Hunter
Level 4: Grounding Shot
Level 6: Weapon Proficiency (Superior crossbow)
Level 8: Improved Defenses
Level 10: Weapon Focus (Crossbow)
Level 11: Hybrid Talent
Level 12: Potent Restorables

ITEMS
Adventurer's Kit
Elven Battle Drowmesh +3
Amulet of Vigor +3
Crossbow Bolts (40)
Stone of Wind
Swiftshot Superior crossbow +3
Holy Symbol
Wand Implement