I don't know anything

[Mark Hoover]

Hi, like the title says I don't know anything about 4e and I'm going to be making a character next saturday the 18th; I'm looking for some advice on making an Avenger of Bahamut.

I don't know the powers, feats or skills, so I have no idea what I might choose from - my buddy has the books so I have to wait to get to his house to make those selections. So what I'm looking for is tips like what stats should I focus on, what is the basic mentality of an Avenger (high damage, good to hit, highly mobile) and if there's anything special about selecting Bahamut over anything else.

Also I have tenatively said I'll be human, but the GM is hinting I should go dwarf. Would any one race have a significant advantage over any other. Finally if anyone does have any specifics on the starting powers for level 1 please let me know. Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[mneme]

The most optimal races for Avengers are ones that can go Int/Wis or Wis/Dex -- Githzerai, Deva, Elves, Elves (yes, I mention them twice; elves are really good), Razorclaw, Bladelings (but they're boring), Shardminds, Shadir Kai, Kalishtar and Hamadriad. That said, there's an entire Avenger type where the secondary stat is less important (though not unimportant, because the secondary class always determines AC and some riders) -- the Avenger of Unity. So a Human or Dwarven Avenger of Unity will do just fine.

Regarding why your GM was hinting dwarf...well, there's the dwarven weapon feat, which is very solid as it counts as two potent feats at once, (as is the dwarven racial power) for an Avenger. That said, humans functionally get an extra feat too, not to mention an extra class power (which can come in handy; you can grab a strong melee power, a strong ranged power, and still have a useful choice for your other power, so I don't see something to specifically favor dwarves--plus the -1 to movement speed is a bummer (just as the Elven +1 to movement speed is exceptional) for a melee "hunt them down and beat them up" class.

Re Bahamut specific stuff: Most of the feats are kinda meh. Godsworn Defender isn't bad if you crit a lot, but it's pretty marginal compared to feats that do something whenever you hit (and the +2 to religion checks can be sweet for someone who can easily max out religion or close to it). Bahamut's domains are Hope, Justice, and Protection -- The Power of Hope and Power of Protection makes a mediocre power less marginal (both together probably make Leading Strike pretty decent), but if you go WIS/Int, the Power of Justice is a solid way to hand out pluses to hit when using an already good (if infrequent) power. Regardless, if you want to take advantage of any of this you need Int, as Leading Strike is also a WIS/Int power.

Continuing to operate in reverse order, Wis is by far the most important stat; you want it at 18 or higher, and 20 won't go to waste. Int or Dex is the second most important. Avengers tend to hit things with big weapons very accurately -- the class feature gives great bonuses to hit in melee, but only conditional bonuses for damage, so Avengers tend to focus on things that give them extra melee damage -- Superior Weapons, Weapon Focus, and so on.

 

[The Human Target]

Are we allowed to link to the WotC boards?

Cause I'm sure there are some threads there that would be informative.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

Whoops! Browser Settings Incompatible

If you follow the advice here, you should be ok.

 

[Piratecat]

Are we allowed to link to the WotC boards?

Cause I'm sure there are some threads there that would be informative.

Sure. That's fine.

 

[Droogie128]

Githzerai with a fullblade is real nasty. Githzerai Blade Mastery.

 

[SensoryThought]

Avengers are my least favorite class and their striker mechanic is arguable the least powerful of any of the striker classes.

Avengers are like the Spanish Inquisition - they hunt down and destroy their prey. The problem I find is that they can only draw their benefits when engaging in single melee combat and exposing themselves, but don't have the armor or hp to have high survival. Contrast with the rogue who aims to flank and allows the defender to take the hits, all while dealing 2d6+ extra damage for a sneak attack.

Flavor wise as well I find the class personalities tend towards being arrogant and judgmental. If I was going to play Divine, I still like the nobility of the Paladin over the retribution/judgement of the Avenger. Plus Paladin damage is not that much less and your survival is heaps better.

The powers feel uninspired too. Overall it feels like they needed a divine striker class and decided to make up the Avenger as a second thought.

 

[Kynn]

Avengers are my least favorite class and their striker mechanic is arguable the least powerful of any of the striker classes.

Really? Because what I've read, their DPR isn't really that far behind rangers.

 

[SensoryThought]

Rangers and rogues do a lot more damage, particularly with the feats that raise their damage bonus. To acres them puts them at less risk too (rogues are more conditional but do more damage). Other striker classes that do ranged damage have high survivability at range plus have mild controller powers.

Avengers have mediocre damage and their style of pursuing enemies and engaging them 1 on 1 puts them at more risk than other strikers.

 

[Kynn]

Rangers and rogues do a lot more damage, particularly with the feats that raise their damage bonus. To acres them puts them at less risk too (rogues are more conditional but do more damage). Other striker classes that do ranged damage have high survivability at range plus have mild controller powers.

Avengers have mediocre damage and their style of pursuing enemies and engaging them 1 on 1 puts them at more risk than other strikers.

By "damage" are you talking damage per hit, or damage per round (DPR)?

Because by DPR standards, avengers are quite competitive (and can also make fairly good crit fishers).