10th L Avenger 25 point buy for dungeon crawl (Way of the Wicked) combat only. Three long combats total. Gear from Core RulebooK. Shield of Fury, Armor Silence, Signature Weaponx2 (longsword & H. steelshield w/spike) +3 longsword-+3 shield; nat AC amulet +2. Str 20 (24 w/Bull's Strength potion), Con 16, Dex 14, 10s... 3 combats, none especially suited to my character. +2 init., 28 AC. Blink, multiple creatures w/ scent, multiple constant Detect Evils, AoES going off (Holy Smite [evil campaign; Syphilis the Bloody Shield of Asmodeus was lawful evil]). Although I got lucky with my 50% miss chance on the small army of Blink dogs (with a Shaman Blink dog leading them) and two of those hits were criticals, I thought overall I hit pretty well and did decent damage. I stealthed ahead invisible to test Startling Appearance and it was useful, I found, and would be a great combo with a friendly rogue or two. I was caught ahead of the party attempting this and hit by 8 (yes EIGHT) Holy Smites and obliterated. The party didn't want to pay to raise Syphilis and the DM didn't want me coming back with a fully geared char. So, I think from the standpoint that nobody cared about the health of a playtest character at the table and I didn't really get any help, the Avenger can certainly be an off-tank at least and contribute in pure combat. Startling Appearance is a good power in it's own right. I think the Avenger can certainly use more-better-synergistic talents to choose from but I expect that from the coming book. Choosing from a list of bonus feats for each specialization @ levels 4, 8, 12 and 16 might help- hell, I could really have used Skill Focus [Perception] there at the end. Peace, Sepherum
I don't think the build you had was good for what you were doing, (scouting ahead of the party). The times I asked for perception checks the highest I remember was 18.
You had a real high stealth but that didn't help vs. constant detect evil. If you had a way to shield you alignment it may have worked out better.
You got hit 8 times by 4 creatures because they got a surprise round and each of them beat you on a initiative (each was rolled independently). So everyone of the Angels got 2 spells before you even went.
It was funny that the party left you out to dry when you went up the cliff invisibly. None of the party bothered to cast see invisibility to monitor you actions, so you got pretty hosed by the other party members.