Building a better Fighter, 4E D&D

First of all, a couple things to take note of:

This version of Bugbear Fighter will take being prepared to a whole new level.  Your power, versatility and overall effectiveness will be brutal.

First of all, it’s a MUST that your racial choice is BUGBEAR for a couple of reasons. 

1) It allows you to use oversized weapons.  An oversized executioners axe, means it is doing 2d6 for it's regular weapon damage.  Since an executioners axe is BRUTAL 2, you are rerolling your damage 33% of the time, whenever you roll a 1 or 2 on a die (since you’re rolling 2d6’s).  This is HUGE and one of the most important parts of the build.

2)  Once per encounter when you have combat advantage, you deal 1d6 damage with the bugbear encounter power, predatory eye.  (not much, but extra damage is always nice)

3)  The racial bonuses for a bugbear are +2 Str & +2 Dex.  Perfect for a battle rager who depends on wearing light armor instead of heavy (for full battle rager, temp HP gain)

This build is strictly to do serious damage, gain and keep HP and be prepared for ANYTHING.  It's still a work in progress, as I have only built him up to level 12, but most times, seems unstoppable. So far, I have found it to be highly effective and not only does it annoy the hell out of the DM’s, but even the players shake their heads at me.

This is achieved by the following combinations of powers, magic items, feats, etc..:

1)  Cloaked Executions GreatAxe utilized with Predatory Eye to ensure it's use and an additional 1d6 damage every encounter and the magic item Strikebacks, which allow for a free melee basic counter attack once per encounter.

2)  Multi-class Ranger feat (adds 3d6 damage per encounter), Predatory eye (adds 1d6 damage per encounter, feat: Marked Scourge (adds Wis mod damage each turn vs. marked enemies), weapon focus (adds +2 damage each attack, paragon tier), Iron Armbands of Power (+2 damage with all melee attacks) for extra damage.

3) Boots of the Fencing Master utilized with Powers such as: Footwork Lure, Inexorable Advance, Shrewd Repositioning, and the feat Martial Alacrity, which allow a total of 5 shifting powers / items, means for 6 rounds of combat, you have an additional +1 bonus to Reflex and AC, as well as being able to shift almost at will to reposition yourself or possibly get combat advantage.  I don't think any of our encounters have ever lasted more than 6 rounds.

4) Battle Rager Vigor along with Invigorating Powers such as: Crushing Surge, Knee Breaker and Inexorable Advance along with a Daily power, Victorious Surge, utility powers such as Unbreakable and Shooter's Nemesis, and magic items: Ironskin belt and amulet of life+2, the paragon path Dreadknought ability of +10 bonus HP and when taking an action point, Resist 10 damage until end of next turn = a LARGE # of HP and a large number of resistance to damage.

5) Dreadknought Paragon Class:  Gives you a 10HP Bonus and as a minor action (if I remember correctly), you can lose 10HP and automatically save against any status effect that a save can end.  POWERFUL.

Just to put the power into perspective: 

Round 1) Steel Serpent Strike (4d6+12 damage, +1d6 (predatory eye), + quarry(1d6, 1^st round), (+4 damage Marked Scourge),  = a minimum damage of 30 damage and a max of 52 damage, for a 2 (W) strike.  If you Crit, you could do a minimum damage of 50 damage and a maximum of 74 damage.  If this was a 6d6 attack, or 3(w) attack, the max damage would be 86.

For the Underdark campaign that I’m in, we are using extreme elite stats (being heroes and in the underdark).  For those following the offical guidelines, just adjust the ability scores as necessary.


Bugbear Battle Rager Fighter
Str:  23
Con:  20
Dex: 22
Int: 16
Wis: 19
Cha: 17

Here are the feats to choose at the appropriate level:

Level 1:  Superior Weapon Proficiency (Executioners Axe)

Level 2:  Warrior of the Wild: Multiclass Ranger (Gain Hunter Quarry feature)

Level 4:  Weapon Focus (Axe)

Level 6:  Swift Footwork (for Inexorable Advance and Shrewd Repositioning)

Level 8:  Improved Vigor

Level 10: Toughness

Level 11: Paragon Class: Dreadknought  Feat: Marked Scourge

Level 12:  Feat: Mighty Battlerage


If you have any questions or thoughts on improving the build, send me an email or post a comment.

Building a better Skills Bard - D&D 4E

First of all, a couple things to take note of:

Bards are awesome.  There is nothing they can’t do and nothing they are mediocre at, as long as you build them correctly!  This version of the Bard will take multi-classing to a level never before seen.  Your skill bonuses will be top notch and you won’t sacrifice as much power as you would think.

First of all, it’s a MUST that your racial choice is HUMAN, as the extra feat and skill are huge.

This build will ensure you are trained in EVERY SINGLE SKILL, by multiclassing into 8 other classes!  Don’t take this lightly though.  This is a very advanced and complex build.  When trying to play a PC with this many multi-classes, it can be very cumbersome in play, ONLY due to the fact of remembering all the cool things you can do.  So far, I have found it to be highly effective as a leader, who can always find something to pull out his bag of tricks when the party needs it.

For the campaign that I’m in, we are using the following elite stats (being heroes and all).  For those following the offical guidelines, just adjust the ability scores as necessary.  Currently we are level 4, but as you can see, I’ve built him all the way to 30 already!

Human Prescient Bard – Jinx (how appropriate)

Str:  10

Con:  13

Dex: 14

Int: 15

Wis: 16

Cha: 20 (with +2 racial bonus)

Cha and Wis, are the two ability scores that affect the most skills. (9 total), which is why they were chosen.  Int and Dex followed as the next two highest for the same reason.  I normally don’t like to have my two highest scores competing for the same defense, (Will) in this case, but this is all about the skills.

Initial Training in: Arcana, Bluff, Diplomacy, Dungeoneering, Religion and Streetwise.

Here are the feats to choose at the appropriate level:

Level 1:  Bard of All Trades, Spirit Talker (Shaman Multi-class, gives Nature as a skill, a spirit companion with a cool power, speak with spirits – which gives you a bonus to a skill daily = to wis mod)

Level 2:  Resourceful Warlord (multi-class Warlord, training in History, really cool action point bonus, even on a miss (for all allies))

Level 4:  Bardic Knowledge (+2 to 6 skills, if trained...guess what, you are!) (+1 to Cha and Wisdom as well at this level)

Level 6:  Acolyte of Divine Secrets (Invoker Multi-classing, choose Religion as this skill, and retrain the previous Religion to Perception)  You also get a free invoker at will power to use, I recommend Vanguards Lightning. (uses Wisdom for attack)

Level 8:  Warrior of the Wild (multi-classing into Ranger), Training in Endurance, get Hunter’s Quarry feature.  (+1 to Cha and Wisdom, gives you an additional +1 bonus to all related skills)

Level 10: Sly Dodge (multi-class Rogue) Training in Intimidate, gives you a bonus to an opportunity attack against you = to your Cha mod. (currently a +6)  The Rogue multi-class feat is also taken now, because you need it for a Paragon Rogue Path.

Level 11:  Jack of All Trades – Rogue Paragon path!  +2 bonus to all skill checks!  +5 bonus to a skill check when you use an action point.  Feat:  Pact Initiate (Multi-class Warlock), training in Thievery.  Use Feypact Eyebite at will spell.  (+1 to all attributes, Int and Con Skills all go up by 1.)

Level 12:  Soldier of Virtue (Multiclass Paladin) Get the Virtue’s Touch paladin ability (very helpful).  Training in Heal.

Level 14:  Monastic Disciple, Multi-class Monk, Training in Athletics (Get the flurry of blows power to use once per encounter) (also, Cha and Wis goes up again, giving an additional +1 bonus to 9 skills)

Level 16:  As part of the Jack of all Trades path, you get training in 3 additional skills at this level!  Choose Acrobatics, Stealth and Insight.  You are now trained in all Skills!  Your lowest skill bonus should be around +15 and the highest around +24, NOT including any magic items you have that provide additional bonuses, this is just raw skills!)

At this point, replace Bard of all Trades with Improved Majestic Word and for your feat choice at this level, choose Prescient Fortification (even though it’s a heroic tier feat, it’s needed before the next feat).

Level 18:  Feat:  Prescient Aid (Cha and Wis ability scores go up +1)

Level 20:  Feat:  Majestic Rescue

Level 21:  All ability scores go up by +1, which means Cha, Wis, Str and Dex skills all go up by +1.  EPIC DESTINY:  SAGE OF ALL AGES, get a +6 bonus to the skills Arcana, Dungeoneering, History, Nature and Religion. (+30 skill points in total... HUGE)

Feat:  Multi-class Mastery.  Use this feat to replace 2 feats you already picked as multiclass feats, then for your ADDITIONAL 2 feats, choose:  Prescient Fortification and Toughness.  Retrain Prescient Fortification at 16^th level with Extended Prescience.

Level 22:  EPIC WILL (+4 bonus)

Level 24:  EPIC REFLEX (+4 bonus) (Cha and Wis go up by +1)

Level 26: EPIC FORTITUDE (+4 bonus)

Level 28:  Prescient Resurgence  (Cha and Wis go up by +1, so a +1 to 9 skills again)

Level 30:  Supreme Majesty

So at this point, your lowest skill bonus should be around +23 and the highest around +37, NOT including any magic items you have that provide additional bonuses, again, this is just raw skills!)

So you can see this build is perfect for the skill junkie.  You can go even further by taking skill focus, as additional feats instead of the EPIC WILL/REFLEX/FORTITUDE and prescient/bard feats, but I felt that those that were chosen, were much more worth it, especially when your average skill bonus at 30^th level,  is a +30.

This build can do more than a little bit of everything, with 511 skill points BEFORE any magic items.  Pretty sick.

If you have any questions or thoughts on improving the build, send me an email or post a comment.