Swordmage

[Respectable Hobbit]

I'm back from Origins 2008! I'd have to say the second-biggest highlight of the con was being able to play the new swordmage class, which rumors say will appear in the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. (I say second-biggest highlight because the BIGGEST highlight was meeting Ed Greenwood again. Keep watching the Tome Show webpage for that interview.)

I'm sure someone cooler than me has posted photographs of the character sheet by now, but I'll jot down here what I remember. The swordmage is basically a fighter who uses magic in combat. It didn't specify on the sheet, but I'd say his role was Defender. Most of the powers he had used Intelligence to make attacks, but they were still mostly melee weapon attacks. Most of his attacks did some form of energy damage, including thunder, cold, and acid and usually had some extra ability meant to keep the enemy focused on him instead of moving away.

There were a 6 pre-made characters at every 4e event, but I pretty much played the swordmage the whole time. The one they had was a dwarf swordmage. I had a blast playing him cuz he was pretty much unstoppable. Being a dwarf he could take hits like no one else and keep on going, and his powers locked the enemy down while his allies moved in to finish it off. My only issue with this class is that I don't see anything about it that's specific to Forgotten Realms, so why do I have to buy a Forgotten Realms book to get it?

[Kain Darkwind]

My only issue with this class is that I don't see anything about it that's specific to Forgotten Realms, so why do I have to buy a Forgotten Realms book to get it?

I don't like the minis game, why do I have to buy minis according to the new design and the PHB's own suggestions?

I don't see anything specific about the archmage unique to FR, so why do I have to buy an FR book to get it? (Said the 3.0 DnD player)

I don't see anything specific about the artificer unique to Eberron....

This could go on and on. Bottom line, the more cool things that you can use in your non-FR game they put in the FR book, the more likely you are to shell out for it. And the more likely you are to accidentally read something about FR that strikes your interest and keep on buying other FR books.

[Selah (retired)]

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=233119

[Respectable Hobbit]

Bottom line, the more cool things that you can use in your non-FR game they put in the FR book, the more likely you are to shell out for it. And the more likely you are to accidentally read something about FR that strikes your interest and keep on buying other FR books.

Yes, I knew this was the reason. My question was rhetorical.

[Kain Darkwind]

Bottom line, the more cool things that you can use in your non-FR game they put in the FR book, the more likely you are to shell out for it. And the more likely you are to accidentally read something about FR that strikes your interest and keep on buying other FR books.

Yes, I knew this was the reason. My question was rhetorical.

Never can be too sure with the autistic. I wouldn't want you to think you were being ignored around here. You're welcome for the confirmation of your suspicions though. No problem.

[veekie]

Well, at least the swordmage fits that motivational poster I saw a while back.

[beej]

My only issue with this class is that I don't see anything about it that's specific to Forgotten Realms, so why do I have to buy a Forgotten Realms book to get it?

Well, recently saw an FR novel entitled "Swordmage" at the local bookstore... But that's all I can give you, lolz.

(Yes, I like answering rhetorical questions)

[Nick]

Well, at least the swordmage fits that motivational poster I saw a while back.

[KingCrazyGenius]

I'd laugh if her hair touched her sword and caught fire. I'd laugh until she burned to death.

Swordmage being an Arcane Defender was expected, but it still sounds cool. I don't want to have to get the FR book just to get ahold of it though, although if that is but one of a slew of awesome mechanics that come with the book then I might get it just for those.

[gurvachev]

Can't wait to try that.
Are there any other new classes that would come out?

EDIT: actually I'm more interested on its paragon paths. Looks like will get more "gish" other than Wiz of Spiral Tower.

[beej]

I'm pretty sure the swordmage will be the only class appearing in the FR Player's Guide. Other classes will have to wait until PHB2, I think. :/

[KingCrazyGenius]

I'm pretty sure the swordmage will be the only class appearing in the FR Player's Guide. Other classes will have to wait until PHB2, I think. :/

Probably, but that doesn't mean we won't see things like racial feats, additional powers, paragon paths, and maybe even an epic destiny.

[Andtalath]

From the powers the swordmage had it seemed to be a melee controller, which is excellent.
Now the only role missing is ranged defender, and, well, that one shouldn't exist anyway, so I'm glad.

[KingCrazyGenius]

From the powers the swordmage had it seemed to be a melee controller, which is excellent.
Now the only role missing is ranged defender, and, well, that one shouldn't exist anyway, so I'm glad.

It better not be! I'm not putting up with these multiple power/role combos. Wizards pissed me off enough with making both ranger and rogue martial strikers.

Sides, cleric makes for a good melee controller as is.

[Andtalath]

It better not be! I'm not putting up with these multiple power/role combos. Wizards pissed me off enough with making both ranger and rogue martial strikers.

I'm sure you'll get your bard and abjurist some day, however, a class which has got ½ or so of it's attacks directed at more than one creature seems like a controller to me.

Sides, cleric makes for a good melee controller as is.

I'll take your word for it, I'm happy with them as leaders.

[KingCrazyGenius]

I'm sure you'll get your bard and abjurist some day, however, a class which has got ½ or so of it's attacks directed at more than one creature seems like a controller to me.

Except that one of the defining features of controllers is that they stay out of melee so that they can blast away. If the swordmage is stated as anything but an arcane defender I am holding you personally responsible. The execution will be public.

[Andtalath]

Except that one of the defining features of controllers is that they stay out of melee so that they can blast away. If the swordmage is stated as anything but an arcane defender I am holding you personally responsible. The execution will be public.

Seems like a dumb thing to state since a melee controller seems like a plausible concept.

A bit weird though, a class that is the most efficient when it's swarmed seems like a pretty strange concept.

[Wintermute]

Swordmages are pretty clearly Arcane Defenders with, I would guess, a side of Controller.

[veekie]

They look like they are designed to lock down a single foe and then toss close and melee range AoEs to keep the minions off their back. So yeah, I'm with mute here, melee Arcane Defender with a dash of controller.

[KingCrazyGenius]

I'm recycling this thread.

Does anyone see any potential issue with allowing swordmages to be proficient in and use other melee weapons as implements? Far as I can tell, axemages, spearmages, hammermages, and the always delightful spikedchainmages don't seem to present any potential for imbalance, but maybe I'm missing something.

[veekie]

Base weapon wise, the main difference heavy blades have over other weapon types is accuracy(usually +1 better(shared with light blades), or high crit(shared with axes)), at the cost of being one die size smaller, except for the reach of polearms, of which there is a heavy blade polearm anyway.

As feats go so far, matters still favor the sword(due to heavy blade opportunity) with a stat drawback(sword feats require dex, but swordmages have practically no use for dex), but axes and hammers can be used for better max damage and more reliable damage, respectively, along with stat synergy(str and con are both secondary stats, and depending on the swordmage type, you should fulfill the requirement for either). And, of course, the swordmage can't qualify for the epic weapon feats, since they need 2 physical stats to be good and you only have one that high(the other is int, of course). So, featwise, the 'best' weapon is a heavy blade, polearm or a spear for a swordmage. No harm there.

Enchantment wise, if you are into pushing/pulling stuff, spears/polearms are a match for a swordmage, with the Controlling enhancement and the polearm feat. But a swordmage already has a polearm thats also a heavy blade already. Other than that, every good weapon enhancement for a swordmage is already available to heavy/light blades, so they're pretty much still optimal.

Magic staves are also useful, if you focus on Implement powers, as they have some handy effects. The Staff of Power, Staff of the War Mage, Feyswarm Staff are all neat. However, considering staves qualities as a melee weapon and the relatively small list of swordmage implement powers, you'd damn well be a wizard multiclass, or you're wasting your time from all the lost weapon damage potential.

With that, unless you are delving into multiclass power uses, theres no problem. And as it stands currently, the multiclass that works best with swordmage is the wizard, who could, I guess, become a really tough controller type, focusing on sending folks flying around the battlefield.

In one sentence, unless you are actually trying to break the game with it, making every weapon usable as a swordmage implement is harmless. Most people will end up using heavy blades, light blades, polearms, spears and staves.

[Wintermute]

Well, some other weapon groups can do a bit more damage then swords (hammers, mostly), so you might end up with some slightly more damaging swordmages. Then again, swordmages currently do pretty poor damage, so I fail to see the problem. I would say the swords-only thing is mainly a flavor restriction and as such, won't cause any problems if you remove it.

[veekie]

I figure with the sfx on the swordmage's attacks, hitting(the higher accuracy of light/heavy blades) is probably more important than high damage anyway.

[Wintermute]

I figure with the sfx on the swordmage's attacks, hitting(the higher accuracy of light/heavy blades) is probably more important than high damage anyway.

Indeed. Damage isn't really the Swordmage's job anyways, so I'd pick higher accuracy over more damage any day.