When will the 4E optimization start?

[olothfaern]

Well, I pre-ordered mine, so I'm not really getting away without paying for them...

on another note; is it me or can you avoid energy damage from a zone as long as you have immunity to one energy type and can create a zone that does more damage than the damage of the zone you're trying to avoid?

[heffroncm]

My first character is an Inspiring Human Warlord.  3 hours in, I'm a freakin rock-star.  I love it.

[Runestar]

The orc is interesting, with the ability to attack and surge at the same time. Not sure how useful it will be in actual gameplay, but I admit to being fairly interested in methods of healing which do not consume actions, as I am quite influenced by onewingedangel's healing guide (that it is generally a bad idea to heal during combat).

The hobgoblin and minotaur seem to make decent bruisers.

Does it seem odd that I am completely ignoring PHB races and going straight for the MM?

[EntropicShadow]

Does it seem odd that I am completely ignoring PHB races and going straight for the MM?

I have the same problem.  Even without racial feats to back it up, I really want to play a Shadar-Kai.

[PhoenixInferno]

I like the idea of an Eladrin Warlord.  I think he will be the first character I will play.  I guess that's why I'm playing an Elf Crusader in pfooti's game, just no move-action teleport.

[Eternity]

I can't wait to get playing...I've got a whole bunch of concepts I want to try. First one is an Eladrin Rogue - I also like the slider/positioning stuff and was going to pick it up to synergize with the Feystep power. That and they get a neat dex bonus and have the fey flavor, which is nice.

Next thing, Halfling Warlord. Because its just hilarious to have a leader that's 4' 2". Besides, Halflings do a Cha bonus...

Half-Elf, some martial class, maybe fighter. Have it get an Arcane power for its racial feature, then use it to gain access to arcane wands. Get a ton of low-level wands to ice martial fun with arcane tricks. Granted, they're all 1/day abilities, but it would still be fun to make a pseudo Gishy thing without actually multiclassing. The best part is, I actually can multiclass later into a Divine class, and therefore have access to all 3 power types. When they release divine wands, it'll be able to use those too. Fun stuff here.

Dragonborn Warlock, Infernal or Star pact, with a splash of fey powers here and there. Have the breath weapon be Con based and make sure to max that attribute. The Cha bonus can keep that attribute from being too low, so you can still grab some of the better fey powers without sucking.

I also have a friend who might re-create a Human Warlock from 3.5, probably by going with Fey or Star pact. Its a shame though, most of my friends don't like 4E that much, and we already don't meet much as is. I probably won't get to try all these for quite some time

[brislove]

I think the thing I most interested in right now is a tactical warlord/multi-classed into wizard. Human most likely. Int synergy FTW. Tons of party mobility options, and buffs, while still having solid AoEs and CC spells. I'll get to work on a serious build...

Edit: First level and 11th level builds up in the D&D 4e Sub-Forum, my attempt at a warlord/wizard gish. I think it's a decent starting point. I'll work on a straight wizard after I finish this build, so that we can start getting an idea of what single class build break down to look like.

[Lokathor]

I have the same problem.  Even without racial feats to back it up, I really want to play a Shadar-Kai.

It's really unfortunate, but Shadar-Kai seems sadly suboptimal. Dex and Int bonuses, and their racial power is good, but it doesn't match all the bonuses that Eladrin get. They'll probably become more useful later on once a class is published that actually uses both Dex and Int.

Bugbear Rogues with Str focus seems cool, since you can also use larger weapons.

[EntropicShadow]

You are unfortunately right.  I actually think having Dex and Int bonuses is also bad because they affect the same Defense.  But my group isn't exacty full of optimizers, so I might be able to get away with playing one before (or if) they get a full write-up.

But yeah, Bugbears look like they could be pretty useful for brute types.

[Lokathor]

brislove: For Tactical Warlord, Githyanki seems like a very nice choice.

[phelanarcetus]

I'm slowly looking through it all; just finished reading skills quickly last night, so I'm up to feats.  Eventually I'll move on to the DMG and MM.

There's a lot to take in, I'm probably going to start sketching out a relatively simple single-class character.  Almost certainly fighter, warlock, or warlord.  After I've done a few of those, I should have at least one power list internalized well enough to take a shot at finding some synergies.  Without some internalization, I forsee myself trying to do a laborious cross-indexing to find synergies.

I'm glad to see that the arbitrary eladrin warlord/wizard idea I grabbed for an NPC in the campaign I'm sketching looks like it won't be stupid.

[Dan2]

More likely than not, I'll be DMing for my group, but the first character I play in-game will be an Eladrin Wizard.

Orb Implement Mastery might make his few debuffs last a bit longer...

Control still seems to be in too! 

Although I'm a little bit sad at the paragon paths...

[brislove]

brislove: For Tactical Warlord, Githyanki seems like a very nice choice.

Ya they are good, I'm sticking with PHB races for now, I'll look into MM races after I have him built. There aren't ANY racial feats for MM races, which makes me kinda sad.

I went dragonborn, more AoE effects is never bad in a game with minions.

[Squash Monster]

I really like Heavy Blade Opportunity (paragon feat) on a fighter, as it lets you combine Combat Superiority with Sure Strike for an easy bonus to hit or with Tide of Iron to not only stop the enemy, but also stop them from retaliating.  I assume Reaping Strike's miss does not trigger Combat Superiority, of course.

What I'd like to do is a fighter/wizard gish with that combo in mind.  I need to find some good effect powers he can set up around himself to make foes want to run away.  Any suggestions?  I know that in Epic tier you can take Spell Accuracy and Acid Storm to drag a cloud of death around with you, but I'd like some options available before that.  The only one I can think of is Wall of Fire, which is sadly daily and not quite as large as I'd like.

[brislove]

Stinking cloud, though another daily is a solid option.

[Eternity]

I looked back over at the WotC board, and one interesting thread was about breaking the intimidate skill. There's a line somewhere that says a successful intimidate check against a bloodied opponent forces him/her to surrender. They got something like +13 at level 1, and it looks promising as a whole.

[AlienFromBeyond]

My first attempt at 4E optimization.

[Straw_Man]

Going to be fiddling with a fey pact warlock for low levels once I understand the combat rules, but maybe everyone interested should grab a concept and stat it out. Put them through an arena, see what combo's and  cancepts from 3.5 still work?

[Tleilaxu_Ghola]

My first character will be... Ah, who am I kidding, I'll be the DM again ! 

Soooo true.

[Straw_Man]

My first character will be... Ah, who am I kidding, I'll be the DM again ! 

Soooo true.

*sighs* Ditto.