The Art of Leading

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The Art of Leading

-- A beginner's guide to the Leader role --



The Art of Leading is Part III of the tactics by role series. If you like this post, also have a look at The Art of Defending and The Art of Striking.


0. More than a Healer

It's a common misconception that Clerics, and the other leader classes, are supposed to hang back and recharge the hp of their party members. This was not true in 3rd edition, and it wasn't true in 2nd edition and earlier either. Wherever that idea comes from, it's not true in 4th edition either. Now, of course, healing their allies is a powerful and needed ability of every leader, but it's just one part of what they do.

If you've been directed here because you started a thread with the title "I'm stuck with playing the healbot" or "which is the best Healer", be welcome. This guide is for you.

. More than a Healer




I. The Three Stages of Leading

Stage 1: Movement and offense buff

The first job of the leader is to boost party offenses. If your rogue is cursing because his Blinding Barrage missed the Hobgoblin Warcaster by 2 points, it's you who can prevent that next time. You have a selection of powers available to move your allies into flanking position, or let them shift around the brute to get at the leader in the back, for example Wolf Pack Tactics (Warlord). And you can provide attack bonuses that allow your party to hit with their all-important daily and encounter powers, like Furious Smash (Cleric). Powers that reduce enemy defenses, like Guiding Strike (Bard), or provide combat advantage, like Hauting Spirits (Shaman) count too.

The idea, is, of course, to kill monsters faster. If they die 20% faster, your party will take 20% less attacks, which amounts to 20% less damage, so you need to heal 20% less.

Of course, all allies benefit from an attack boost right when they get out the big guns. But as your striker is the party member who deals the most damage, the main focus of Stage 1 is boosting your striker.

Stage 2: Defense buff

Your second job is to boost party defense. Attack boosts are good, but when your party is in danger of being overwhelmed it's your job to boost their defenses and make sure everyone stays up.

As above, if your party takes 20% less attacks, they take 20% less damage, so you need to heal 20% less.

The standard defense boost is an AC bonus, and most leaders have an at-will power that provided this, such as Defending Strike (Shaman). The Bard's Vicious Mockery and Misdirected Mark fulfill this function indirectly.
A variation are powers that provide a temporary hit points, like Sacred Flame. They cannot prevent a hit, but reduce it's effect.

If your party has managed a good tactical positioning for the encounter, your defender should take most of the heat. A boost to his AC or other defenses makes sure he'll stay up and not burn through healing surges too quickly. If your party has a melee striker, boost him rather than the defender, to give monsters a stronger incentive to attack the defender. Defense boosts are even more important if your party gets ambushed: An AC boost can keep the surrounded Wizard alive until you can bail him out.

Stage 3: Healing

You won't be able to prevent every hit against yourself or allies. Good that your class features and powers provide ample healing.

There are two types of healing: One that costs resources, i.e. healing surges, and one that doesn't. Healing surges are the main resource in 4th edition that needs to be managed (apart from daily powers), so spend healing wisely.

More on how and when to heal in Chapter 3.

When to do what?

"One defends when his strength is inadequate, he attacks when it is abundant." - Sun Tzu

In an easy encounter, a quick attack boost will deliver a crushing blow to the enemy forces. Once the first enemy falls, the rest should be a mere sweep with the broom. You can boost defenses to help save healing resources.
In hard encounters, boost defenses first. This will keep your party up and healthy while you try to weaken the opposition. When you have won some space to breathe, switch to attack boosts to turn the tide.

To be able to switch between offensive and defensive, pick one of each type for your at-will powers.

[deck="Seminar: The maths of buffing"]"The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand." - Sun Tzu

As a quick and dirty help to judge the effectiveness of attack buffs, consider the following:

If you give your ally a +1 bonus to hit, there is a 1 on d20 = 5% = 0.05 chance that his next attack roll will be exactly the number that a +1 turns a miss into a hit. So the average damage you gain with an attack bonus n is n x 0.05 x ally's average damage. In other words, your ally's attack deals +n x 5% damage.

If you grant a +2 bonus to an attack that deals d10 + 5 damage, you boost the average damage by 2 x 0.05 x 10.5 = 1.05 damage. That doesn't look like much, but do a similar calculation with a +5 bonus from Righteous Brand (Cleric) and a daily power, and you'll see very impressive numbers. The key here is that you multiply your own modifier with the ally's damage. There are very few other ways to multiply damage in the game.

  • The effectiveness does not depend on your ally's to hit-chance. Whether you convert a roll of 17 into a hit or a roll of 3, the result is the same.
  • An attack bonus is more effective the higher your ally's average damage is.
  • You also raise the chance of all other effects of a hit, such as marks, daze, stun...


Calculating the damage prevented by a defense buff works the same way: Just take the average damage of a monster attack instead.[/deck]


II. Your secondary role

Buffing and healing your allies is mostly a minor action and a rider effect on your powers. It doesn't say anything about your position on the battlefield and your own tactics. These are decided by your secondary role.

Below is a list of secondary roles a leader can fill. There are two main distinctions: Melee or ranged decides whether he will be at the frontline or in the back. Defender or striker decides whether he will chase priority targets with the strikers or concentrate on heavy bruisers like a defender. Even a "pure" buffing / healing build will have to decide his position and priorities, although they can usually switch their priorities between offense and defense.

A note on the Shaman:
Shamans are special on the melee / ranged axis because they are "split". While the PC himself stays back, and throws ranged powers, his spirit is in the front line and fights in melee. This makes the Shaman a mixed melee and ranged leader. A Shaman can fulfill both the ranged and melee secondary roles listed below, depending on the powers you pick.


Frontliner

You carry a melee weapon, most of your powers are melee attacks, and most of your buffs are geared towards other melee combatants like defenders and melee strikers. You'll fight either shoulder to shoulder with them or in a flanking position.
A classic frontliner will have average defenses (chainmail) and average damage, and concentrate on boosting allies. You need to rely on the defender to shield you, and your main source of damage is boosting the striker.


Defender

By Paragon, you can upgrade your frontliner to a full-blown defender. The difference is that while a frontliner tries to avoid being attacked, a leader-defender boosts his staying power to the point where he can take a few blows on his own and protect squishier party members in return.

The first step is to get better defenses through heavier armor and a shield, and better staying power through feats like toughness.
The second step is to get a marking ability. Strength Clerics currently have the best options here with the Warpriest Paragon Path and powers like Healing Strike, but there are a number of alternatives, such as multiclassing.

The Shaman, especially the Great Bear Shaman paragon path, also deserves a mention. The spirit companion as the unique ability to just shrug off a hit that deals less than 10+half-level damage. Average damage of monster at-will attacks is 7+1/2 level. Yes, the spirit can take more than half of monster attacks against it without a scratch. And even if it is destroyed, you have the equivalent of resist all 5. And the best? Near-immunity to conditions. If your spirit is dazed, blinded, stunned or petrified, you can still act unhindered. If necessary, just dismiss it.


Melee Striker

A melee leader-striker boosts his mobility and damage potential. The idea is to tag-team on priority targets in the enemy ranks together with another melee striker like a rogue, ranger, barbarian or avenger.

The idea here is not so much to boost your own damage to striker levels, but to combine a good mix of own mobility, own damage boost and boost to your fellow striker's attack power.

Key here are multiclassing and the right paragon path, such as Bard / Student of the Seven.


Chessmaster

The Chessmaster leader is specialized in using his allies, almost to the point of playing a chess game. He doesn't just boost their attacks and defenses, he moves them around on the battlefield and lets them attack instead of smacking the enemy himself. This is a specialty of the Warlord, notably those of the tactical flavor. The Bard's Virtue of Cunning, in combination with an ally who has the Agile Opportunist feat (*) can achieve similar results.

(*) Whether the feat grants an attack on a slide by an ally is debated. Ask your DM.


Artillery

Hang back and blast them. The so-called "laser cleric" and most bards are the main example here. With a focus on ranged powers, you have the advantage that you can reach most hot spots on the battlefield with your effects, so you don't have to worry about positioning too much. You also make the defender's job of keeping your skin unscratched easier, since you're not dancing within reach of the swords and claws of the enemy. This makes artillery leaders beginner-friendly and effective.

The key to building a good artillery leader is a good balance between your own damage, offense buffs, defense buffs and healing.


Controller

Leader-controllers are similar to artillery leaders in play, but with a different focus in power choice. Instead of concentrating on your own damage, or the highest boost, you spice your selection with powers that hamper the enemy. After all, if you can stun your enemies with a power like Sacred Word (Cleric, PHB 71), who needs a defense buff?


Healer

Healers are leaders who concentrate on core leader abilities, namely healing. Healing specialists make the difference in hard encounters, as they can keep your party up, prevent a TPK, and allow the allies to slowly wear down the enemy until they can turn around the encounter.

An excellent and straightforward healer build is a Cleric with the Miracle Worker paragon path (DP).


Party buildup and secondary role

Optimizing a leader is more difficult than other roles, because your own effectiveness depends on your allies as much as your own stats and powers.

If you're planning a leader, it's a good idea to check what other characters will be at the table. In a well-rounded party with a mix of ranged and melee characters, and at least one defender, striker and controller present, any leader build should fit in. Bards with their versatility are a great 5th party member when all roles are already filled.

Beware of certain dependencies and one-sided groups. A great Warlord build that is focused on granting melee basic attacks depends on a Barbarian with a BFS (big frickin' sword) or similar. If the group is melee heavy, you can hang back and shoot lasers, err, holy radiance, or jump into the fray and lead as a warlord. But if you're in a team with a Sorcerer, a Warlock, a bow Ranger and a Wizard, that Warlord will have no one to help out, and the ranged Cleric will get tangled up in melee. In such a group, it is better to play a beefed-up valorous Bard that can hold a front line on his own.

If your group has two leaders, make sure to use different types. One leader should be melee, the other ranged, one should concentrate on attack buffs, the other on defense and healing. Or, have one focused leader, like a Warlord, and a versatile one, like a Bard.


III. When to heal

There are several moments that could call for a use of healing power. The main issue here is keeping or preventing the bloodied condition. Make sure you know for each ally whether they are better off bloodied or not. If in doubt, ask the player.

In the same vein, there are a few monsters who gain bonuses to their attacks against bloodied PCs. You don't have to memorize the whole MM for that, a monster knowledge check at the right time can give you this information.

Rules (or guidelines, rather)

Rule 1: It is better to heal later than earlier.
As long as your ally's are up in the safe zone, it is better to keep healing powers available in case of an unforeseen situation, such as sudden monster reinforcements, or a second encounter before you can take a short rest.

Rule 2: Surge-free healing before surge-cost healing.
Healing surges are your main daily resource, and saving healing surges is the main focus of 4th edition resource management (after staying alive). If you have an encounter power that provides some free healing on the side, use it first.

Rule 3: Healing Strike before Healing Word (and similar)
Attack powers that heal help decimate the number of monsters, so use them early. On the other hand, they can miss, so they are not reliable if an ally is down on the floor. That's why you should reserve your minor action class feature heal for emergencies.

Rule 4: Encounter before daily.
Encounter powers that provide healing will be back after a short rest, so use them first. Daily healing like Cure Light Wounds should be reserved for encounters where you need more than the normal amount of healing.

Rule 5: Temp hp first, healing later.
Temp hp go away at the end of the encounter, so use everything that gives temp hp while there are still monsters around.

Rule 6: A steady stream of temp hp is better than a big hunk
Since temp hp don't stack, a steady stream of them that gets depleted and replenished is better than a big chunk that will prevent adding more temp hp for a while.

Rule 7: The higher your party level, the longer you can wait with healing them.
Monster average damage is somewhere around 7 + 1/2 level, while PC hit points are around (level +4) * 5. That means higher level characters can take more attacks from monsters of the same level than low-level characters. A first-level hero can go from bloodied to dead in a round if he gets surrounded, a paragon hero just starts to have fun when the bloodied marker kicks in.


Healing and hp totals / the bloodied condition

- When a heal would bring the ally almost back to full

The earliest time to use a healing power. Usually not a good such a good idea, because you only have two or three uses of your main healing power per encounter. Using these early in the encounter takes away your options if something unexpected happens later.

- When the ally is almost bloodied

Some allies will have benefits as long as they are not bloodied, or lose certain bonuses when they become. Wearers of Agile Armor come to mind.

- When the ally just got bloodied

Some allies will need to become bloodied once for an advantage to kick in, but they can be healed up again after that. Shifters and Half-Orcs come to mind. At early heroic levels, when PCs are not hulking chunks of hit points yet, this is the time to start healing.

- When the ally would be just still bloodied after the heal

Dragonborn and barbarians can gain substantial bonuses when bloodied, depending on their selection of feats and powers. These allies will want to stay bloodied during an encounter, so make sure you only heal them when they are somewhere at a fourth of their total hp.

- When the ally is almost down

If you have healing left, use it now. Pay attention to how much damage your defender takes each round in this encounter, and if it is likely that he will go down next round, heal him immediately. An ally who is down can't take any actions, i.e. he can't attack. A five PC party with one character down has its attack potential and available actions reduced to 80%.

- When the ally is down on the floor and dying

What are you waiting for!? An ally on the floor is a potential coup de grace, and then your ally is dead! It takes a particularly nasty DM to do that, but at least keep it in mind as a possibility. The other danger is that you as the leader go down next, and then there might be no one to heal around and you both die.

In any case, dying on the floor is just not a safe place to be, so make sure to get your ally out of there ASAP.

Healing the healer

Every party needs a backup plan for the emergency case that the leader goes down. At least one other character must be around to bring him up again. With a second leader or a Paladin in the group, the problem is avoided. If not, at least one other character should spend a feat on a leader multiclass to get one healing per day. In any case, make sure that each character carries at least one healing potion.

When you have no healing left...

When you have no healing left, check if an ally has any. Make sure that your allies use their second wind. If no healing powers and no second winds are left, and the defender is deep in the bloodied range, it's time to get out. Give your group one round to burn their action points and remaining daily and encounter powers. Blast all available magic item powers and don't hesitate to quaff a potion. If any enemies are still up after that last standing, grab everything (including dying party members) and run. If you're in a dungeon, make sure to block the door as soon as everyone is out of the room. Wall of Fire and similar powers are excellent to secure a retreat.

Remember, TPK cause #1 is not knowing when to run.
Upcoming chapters:

IV The Classes

V Who's the Boss? - Intraparty communication

VI Suggested reads

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1105299
I present the long-awaited Part III of the series. At the moment, it is a rather raw first writeup, expect some polish and additions in the next days.

Questions and requests for additions are welcome.
This looks great!

...but I can't believe you didn't title section 0 "More Than a Healing!"
The Great Gray Skwid Humblest Mollusk on the Net
I'm glad you're creating one of these for the leader mkill.
A few things:
1) Some information covering Temp HP, regeneration powers, and other such "odd" forms of healing in some detail might be nice.
2) No mention of the Artificer anywhere? (I know, classes are yet to come.)
3) Speaking of classes, Will you be breaking them down by type? i.e. Bravura Warlords play differently than Tactical Warlords. I imagine you can just point people to guides but wondering if you'll give a summary break down?

Thanks a lot for what is sure to be a great guide.
Why are you recommending buffing the defender's defenses?

Unless there is a VERY crucial reason to do so, such as a monster that stuns/dominates/dazes, I would suggest NOT buffing defenses.

If you increase AC, or any defense really, by 2 or 3 this may deter a monster from bothering to attack the defender at all. Since marks are only -2 to hit, increasing AC by 2 makes attacking someone else a wash. Depending on what the consequences are and other's defenses, the monster now has a better option; assuming it can reach someone else.

Usually the defender has fairly high defenses, maybe not all around, but the most often hit ones (AC, Fort). While the striker may not have as high of defenses. Making him crunchy. If anything I would say buff the next obvious target that can be reached, compounding the -2 with increased defenses.
Why are you recommending buffing the defender's defenses?

Unless there is a VERY crucial reason to do so, such as a monster that stuns/dominates/dazes, I would suggest NOT buffing defenses.

If you increase AC, or any defense really, by 2 or 3 this may deter a monster from bothering to attack the defender at all. Since marks are only -2 to hit, increasing AC by 2 makes attacking someone else a wash. Depending on what the consequences are and other's defenses, the monster now has a better option; assuming it can reach someone else.

Usually the defender has fairly high defenses, maybe not all around, but the most often hit ones (AC, Fort). While the striker may not have as high of defenses. Making him crunchy. If anything I would say buff the next obvious target that can be reached, compounding the -2 with increased defenses.

For most defenders, offense increases if the mark doesn't attack the defender.

So if you buff the defender you're either 1) decreasing the defender's damage taken or 2) increasing the party's offense. Both of these options are good for the party. Which of these is more likely depends on the monster, your party, and your DM.

In addition, in many cases, defenders have abilities other than thier mark that keep enemies unable to attack another character. For example, they may be able to knock an enemy prone or away from the other character.
@Polis: How to buff your defender is indeed an good question, and as furious_kender already said, it depends a lot on the individual case, i.e. party setup, the monster you face, everybody's hit point total, and whether PCs or monsters have the upper hand.

Example 1: The part faces off against a tough solo, say a level +4 dragon. Your defender can barely hold it off, and everyone else tries to stay away from the thing and uses ranged attacks. Buffing your defender's AC is a good idea.

Example 2: Your Paladin has challenged a hobgoblin soldier, and got marked by it himself. The fighting noise has attracted some gnolls from the hallway, who now burst through the door, right in the party's back. The Paladin is needed elsewhere. Give him an offensive buff so he can get rid of the soldier quickly.

Example 3: A warden and rogue are flanking a nasty giant frog that can swallow people. The warden could handle being swallowed, the rogue would probably be dead. Boost the rogue to keep him alive.
** I see you updated the guide to include more options for buffing**

Just an issue I see, you are assuming that you are fighting 1 solitary monster, and that the defender's reaction to a monster attacking someone else will be a worse trade off than attacking the defender itself. Which is generally not the case, as most defenders use Immediate attacks to deal their "extra offense".

Since a character gets only 1 immediate action a round, it's generally worth it to ignore a defender who is harder to hit and attack someone else, for instance a striker who will do more damage and is usually easier to hit than the defender. Even if the monster takes damage, there is a good chance it will be mediocre, or, from a DM's perspective sacrifice one creature so the rest can attack. (assuming they are all marked)

As a DM I look at potential damage output. If I can ignore the fighter, take X damage but deal 3X damage to the striker or deal X damage to the fighter (due to having his defenses highered), I'm going for the striker.

I would say that the default of buffing the defender's defenses, is in fact a worse tactic than buffing the next likely target. This is simply due to most encounters having multiple monsters.

Therefore I would say that buffing the target that will make it more likely that the monster(s) will attack the defender would be the default option. Then discuss some examples.

@furious: Additional "control" features of the defender are usually relegated to the defender's turn and not on an opponents turn. Or they do not negate damage at all, for instance a warden cannot negate an attack with his two immediate actions. The reliance on immediate actions cannot stop multiple monsters from simply ignoring a defender. 1 may take damage but it's better than all of them attacking the defender and missing with most attacks.
I would actually go a bit further on the defensive buffing angle. Defensive buffs that effect your whole party are good. Shield of faith, for example, makes everyone harder to hit with AC attacks. Defensive buffs that only effect one target, on the other hand, are much less impressive. Since Guarding strike (Warlord 1) is a good example of such a buff, let's take a look at it:

If you hit, your ally gets a bonus to AC equal to 1+your cha modifier. By the time that you have a few encounter powers under your belt, this is likely to mean that if the DM focuses his fire from five monsters (with charge and flank bonuses, etc) rather than ending up with 3 hits, he ends up with 1 or none. In short, it's a big "it's a waste of your time to attack me" sign. Now, you can either: A. tag the defender with that power. or B. tag someone else.

A. If you tag the defender, the most likely result is that whatever monster the defender has marked either triggers the mark or wastes his action on the defender, but the rest of the monsters focus their fire on another target--and will probably continue to do so thereafter since you want to focus fire on the wounded rather than on the whole targets.
B. If you tag the non-defender, the most likely result is that all the monsters focus their fire on the defender (unless another attractive target is up front in which case they may all focus their fire on that target). Now, while this can allow some characters to do risky manuevers--for instance, provoke several OAs while moving through a guarded doorway to open up a fight or use avalanche strike while flanked by the whole encounter, it will often not be necessary to do such manuevers.

So in most cases, you are simply changing the person that the monsters focus their fire on. Since the advantage for the monsters in focusing their fire in a particular way is usually marginal (focus on the defender, no one eats the consequence of a mark, focus on the striker and you usually take him down more quickly, etc), you only incur a very marginal advantage by forcing them to switch from plan A to plan B. (Of course, this assumes that you use the power optimally; if you don't read the situation correctly, they may be planning to use plan B anyway in which case it did nothing more than the 2W).

When you add up the marginal benefits of a single target defensive buff with the opportunity cost of passing up powers like hammer and anvil or warlord's favor, I think it is clear that they are not highly recommended. (Some defensive buffs that coincide with healing are slightly different, however, because it is likely that the target the monsters were focusing on was the one who needed the healing, so giving that character a minor defensive buff (+1 to all defenses for one round or +cha to defense vs the next attack) will either yield occasional results or will force the monsters to switch targets midbattle, either of which is a desirable outcome and as much as you can probably expect from a single feat).
Rule 2: Surge-free healing before surge-cost healing.
Healing surges are your main daily resource, and saving healing surges is the main focus of 4th edition resource management (after staying alive). If you have an encounter power that provides some free healing on the side, use it first.

I have to disagree with this one. Parties generally take damage unevenly. It's not at all unusual to have one PC much lower on surges than the rest. Non-surge healing may be the /only/ thing that can help that PC. Sure, you can try to keep him out of trouble, but there are no gaurantees. Think of non-surge healing as extra surges useable by anyone in the party - that's clearly more valuable than surges useable only by one character. Use non-surge healing to bolster allies who are very low on surges (so they don't run out completely) - or save an ally who is out of surges.



I also have an issue with the Math of Buffing bit. Oh, the math is probably accurate. It's just that, for it to be /valid/, the law of large numbers must aply. Otherwise, what happens on average really doesn't matter, only what actually happened. A +5 to hit on an attack that would have hit anyway adds nothing - a +1 to an attack that hits only because of that +1 is worth the whole attack it was aplied to. With an at-will you use a lot, the LoLN will come into play, it may not seem like it when your allies' dice are cold or hot, but it will, and a statistical average is a good way to understand how much of a benefit it is. With an encounter or daily that only buffs one or a few attacks, averages don't come into it, only results, you can't count on getting a modest average benefit each time you use it, you have to think in terms of the uncertainty and value of the single attack being 'buffed.'

 

 

Oops, looks like this request tried to create an infinite loop. We do not allow such things here. We are a professional website!

I think just like a When to Heal section, you might want a When to Buff section.

For a leader, anticipation is a key skill. You need to have a good feel for who is getting ready to do what and when.

A defense buff on the defender, or some temp hit points can go a long way when you know he is about to unleash a Come and Get It, or a breath weapon to mark everything around him. Similarly giving a ranger a damage bonus right when he is getting in position to strike with encounter powers is extremely rewarding.

You need to keep one eye on the initiative board so you can adjust when you go, or ask an ally (typically striker) to adjust their position to gain better benefits from your leadership.

You also need to train your strikers on when to use their action points. It can be very frustrating for a leader, watching an ally blow all their powers on a round when they have no power bonuses, and not even combat advantage.

Leaders also need to work in tandem with controllers. If your controller just knocked a juicy target prone, but your rogue is tangling with a swarm she can hardly hurt, peel that rogue off the swarm (via slide/shift whatever tools you have), and get her over to the prone target.

Leaders have the job of making sure everyone performs better in their presence. It's a very rewarding job if done satisfactorily.
One other thing to consider adding: an extra attacks section. Warlords have a lot of powers that grant extra attacks and they synergize very nicely with buffs.

At a simple level, that can be: warlord's favor: action point: commander's strike. And Commander's strike again on your next turn.

On a more complex level, there is: Move into flank; inspired belligerence; war of attrition; action point, hail of steel.

Or: Instant planning, move into flank, boots of eagerness for an extra move action (inspired belligerence), victory surge, hail of steel.

Other leaders may not have too many of those but bards at least have blunder. I think there's a shaman daily that gives one ally one extra attack per round until the end of the encounter. So it's not (quite) just a warlord thing.
:D i've had some experience with the warlord and have had a few rounds so far as a bard...

LEADER IS MY FAVORITE ROLE :D

note: If you are a melee sort of leader (warlord, valorous bard, even battlesmith artificer) then one of your key tasks is to get combat advantage as often as possible :3 do it with a striker or defender, another defender ain't bad though, remembering when the cleric would hit the guy, give me + to hit, then I hit the guy and give someone else a + to hit
These are all great comments. Expect it to be part of the next update.
Another great guide, and I eagerly anticipate your "Working with the other party members" section. It's one thing to min/max a Leader and quite another to play one correctly, especially since many of the role's powers are ally-dependent and not as prone to stupidly broken damage (striker), invincibility (defender), or enemy lockdown (controller).

I'll also add this guide to The_Collective's CCoCB.
Another great guide mkill.

I am sorely tempted to print off these guides and make them required reading for my fellow party members (a striker, a striker/leader and a striker/controller)!
I am sorely tempted to print off these guides and make them required reading for my fellow party members

E-mail the links for the win. The info always changes, so with a hyperlink the players can subscribe and see new posts and ideas. And, you will save some happy trees, create habitat for bunnies, give artists something to paint...

These guides are pretty good. One of my fellow players was mentioning them last night at our home game. He was joking that "I'm doing it all wrong, now I know!", but it goes to show that these guides do help shape our thinking.

In all the guides, one area that can be explored is the concept of prioritizing your goals according to role/build, so as to keep your focus.

For example, last night my shaman needed to heal someone. I decided to do a nice combo of Thunder Bear's Warding (temp HPs plus resist to 4 to anyone adjacent to my spirit) plus the idea of using Bonds of the Clan later in the round (split damage between an ally and myself, but this is double-reduced by the resistance and the temp HPs since we are both adjacent to the spirit). Great plan, but unfortunately I was in a damaging zone. So, I move to get out and be near my friend and move my spirit. Then I used my minor for something else (I forget what), then I attacked with the power... and missed. Now the combo was lost and I had not healed my ally. I still used the interrupt, and that helped him somewhat, but he came close to dropping. I should have started with the attack, then when it missed I could have healed him with a minor. Losing your priorities can be really costly, and I was lucky I didn't cause an ally to drop with my poor planing.

I have a bard and a Taclord and they both can suffer from this if I'm not careful. It is easy to want to attack, because inflicting damage is fun, but you need to first and foremost lead/heal/protect.

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Excellent guide. I will be rereading it for some time.

One thing caught my eye:
If your spirit is dazed, blinded, stunned or petrified, you can still act unhindered. If necessary, just dismiss it.

If I'm not mistaken, the spirit is a conjuration, not a creature, so it is not affected by status conditions. Which is awesome :D
Excellent guide. I will be rereading it for some time.

Apologies to everyone who's waiting for new materials, I'm pretty tied up in real life ATM. Of course, I'll happily churn these out on a daily basis if you'll pay me full-time for it ;)

If I'm not mistaken, the spirit is a conjuration, not a creature, so it is not affected by status conditions. Which is awesome :D

I'll check that.
Why are you recommending buffing the defender's defenses?

Unless there is a VERY crucial reason to do so, such as a monster that stuns/dominates/dazes, I would suggest NOT buffing defenses.

If you increase AC, or any defense really, by 2 or 3 this may deter a monster from bothering to attack the defender at all. Since marks are only -2 to hit, increasing AC by 2 makes attacking someone else a wash. Depending on what the consequences are and other's defenses, the monster now has a better option; assuming it can reach someone else.

Usually the defender has fairly high defenses, maybe not all around, but the most often hit ones (AC, Fort). While the striker may not have as high of defenses. Making him crunchy. If anything I would say buff the next obvious target that can be reached, compounding the -2 with increased defenses.

Personally, after I've created my genasi hybrid swordmage/warlord (the role of defender is up to me) and usually marking targets that when they attack others I could teleport there, helping and smashing... it's good to bring up any defense I can...
I liked this little guide, good solid should-be-common-sense advice. The differences between 4e and previous editions is significant but not that obvious to new 4e players, and this points out a few key areas. Thanks very much for the time and effort in writing it!

@Polis: Reading your 2nd reply made me frown.

Your whole reply is based on the monsters knowing and exploiting the game mechanics exactly as the players themselves would - except that by default all player characters are intelligent and team oriented (to varying degrees), while all monsters are not necessarily intelligent, organized or willing to sacrifice themselves for the team.

"As a DM I look at potential damage output. If I can ignore the fighter, take X damage but deal 3X damage to the striker or deal X damage to the fighter (due to having his defenses highered), I'm going for the striker."

As the DM you should be playing the monsters as realistically as you can (without sacrificing game play). A giant frog for example, doesn't have the intelligence to do the math and figure out that he has a better chance to hit the striker over the buffed defender right in front of him (etc). An intelligent leader class monster might be able to make that decision (and should) but many monsters don't have what it takes to make those kind of decisions.

Anytime you fall into the mental trap of "Its the players vs the DM" you have the potential for an unpleasant game session. This goes equally for players who see the DM as their opponent and have that "We have to outsmart him" attitude. Your advice might be sound mechanically, but I was bothered by the whole "as the DM I wouldn't fall for that, and I'll make you pay" sound of it.
As the DM you should be playing the monsters as realistically as you can (without sacrificing game play). A giant frog for example, doesn't have the intelligence to do the math and figure out that he has a better chance to hit the striker over the buffed defender right in front of him (etc).

Really debatable, and likely to fall on the side of being the reverse of what you have written.

By default, even the dumbest monster has a full and complete understanding of what every power used on them does. This edition of the game is a tactical minis game and an RP game bound together. As such, the intention of the game seems to be to play tactics as a role (brute, controller, soldier, etc.) and according to the wording of powers and less about playing to a monster's IQ. in general, monsters that have little tactical focus seem to indicate this. A bladerager troll is a good example - the tactics make it clear that this monster will focus on whatever does a lot of damage and little else. Other low-Int monsters are not so clear. Controllers can be an Int of 2 (Bog Toad).

In real life, really "dumb" creatures can be highly effective in combat, coordinating tactics with great precision and responding brilliantly to attacks. Just look at what bees do for a great example.

The game seems predicated on the use of sound tactics. Leaders should expect that.

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Really debatable, and likely to fall on the side of being the reverse of what you have written.

By default, even the dumbest monster has a full and complete understanding of what every power used on them does. This edition of the game is a tactical minis game and an RP game bound together. As such, the intention of the game seems to be to play tactics as a role (brute, controller, soldier, etc.) and according to the wording of powers and less about playing to a monster's IQ. in general, monsters that have little tactical focus seem to indicate this. A bladerager troll is a good example - the tactics make it clear that this monster will focus on whatever does a lot of damage and little else. Other low-Int monsters are not so clear. Controllers can be an Int of 2 (Bog Toad).

The problem with this is that while the monster knows the full effects of the mark, and all powers used against him he won't necessarily know the effects of powers used on or against somebody else. So in this example, the dumb monster who is marked by the fighter knows a) that his attacks against other targets will not be as accurate as normal, b) if he attacks another target, the fighter will get to swing at him, and c) if he tries to move away from the fighter, the fighter will get to swing at him. He won't; however, know that the cleric just made the fighter harder to hit, or even that the squishy next to the fighter isn't so squishy anymore.
The discussion on how the DM should handle monster tactics has been going on ever since 4th edition came out.

In my personal opinion, the DMs main focus should be to create a believable description of heroic combat. He should use tactics and descriptions for the monsters that give the players the feeling to really fight that creature. A jelly creature just creeps in the direction where it senses food, wolves use natural cunning and pack tactics, a veteran soldier will make good use of positioning, formations and opportunity attacks etc.

But, it is a question of the group's playing style, and especially the DM. If a DM wants to run the game as a tactical wargame, where he uses every monster at maximum effectiveness, then that is his decision. You can try to voice your preferred playing style as player, and maybe the DM will adjust to your wishes, but in the end you have to go with the DMs way of doing things if you want to play in his campaign.
The problem with this is that while the monster knows the full effects of the mark, and all powers used against him he won't necessarily know the effects of powers used on or against somebody else. So in this example, the dumb monster who is marked by the fighter knows a) that his attacks against other targets will not be as accurate as normal, b) if he attacks another target, the fighter will get to swing at him, and c) if he tries to move away from the fighter, the fighter will get to swing at him. He won't; however, know that the cleric just made the fighter harder to hit, or even that the squishy next to the fighter isn't so squishy anymore.

I agree that the wording in the PH only specifies that the monster knows about powers used upon it. But, most powers require a target, enabling targets to share information (if they have a language). And, if they understand common, then they may easily discern what powers do (when your cleric says "Now you have bolstered defenses", etc.).

Most DMs don't end up on one side or the other of this. It isn't a B&W issue. Rather, it differs on a case-by-case basis, with a DM favoring some spot along the spectrum. The rules seem to favor the side of perfect information, though certainly not requiring it at all times. Having a foe make mistakes, not understand powers, and not exploit every little gap in PC planning makes a lot of sense and is more fun. Similarly, the challenge is generally more appropriate and game play better if monsters react to what PCs do.

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Great use of "The Art of War" quotes mkill. Illustrates the points you're making nicely.
As a general note, I have to disagree with a lot of what you said.
Just note that this is merely what I see from my own personal experience.

Of course, all allies benefit from an attack boost right when they get out the big guns. But as your striker is the party member who deals the most damage, the main focus of Stage 1 is boosting your striker.

Most boosts to damage are static. This means that it doesn't really matter who gets it unless it multiplies. So if you can provide a +3 bonus to damage for a turn to an ally, it doesn't matter what so ever if you give it to the barbarian or the fighter. In this case, you should give the bonus to whomever is more likely to HIT rather the who does more damage.

This becomes a greater issue when multiplying. For example, if you can grant a +3 for damage rolls for 1 turn, then you are better off giving it to the wizard who hits 3 or more targets rather than the ranger who will only fire 2 attacks.

Attack bootsing should always be used on the attacks you REALLY want to hit with (like daily) as you have stated. However, if not then they should be given to someone who might actually use them. If a person has a huge to hit and will hit anyway, then it isn't worth giving him a hit bonus. Likewise if someone has a nice effect on hit but a decent effect on a miss regardless, then it doesn't really matter here either. For this reason, I generally prefere to avoid to hit bonuses entirely unless they are either extremely high or effect most of the party (Like Lead the Attack).

There are simply better things to do as a leader (but again, this depends on your party).

2)
If your party has managed a good tactical positioning for the encounter, your defender should take most of the heat. A boost to his AC or other defenses makes sure he'll stay up and not burn through healing surges too quickly.

Again, I disagree. If you can get a boost to the entire party or a huge amount that's good. But if you can't, then you are better off doing something else.

Like attack bonuses, defense bonuses may mean nothing only it is far more major on the defense. If I give ally X a to-hit bonus, then I KNOW he will attack. However, if I give ally X a bonus to AC, there is no guarantee that the monster will attack X or even if it does that it will target its AC (you don't always know the mosnter's habits or attacks) and on top of all of that we come to the issue of the roll itself.

So, if instead of taking an extra encounter to add defense I take an extra encounter that heals, then I don't have to waste anything at all. Let the guy take the damage and heal him next turn it's basically the same (with very few exceptions such as conditions on hit). And if the monster hasn't attacked him at all or attacked and missed, then I can save that heal for someone else.

Again, avoid this unless it either goes to the entire party or last long enough to be of huge signifigance and preferably both.

3)
Attack powers that heal help decimate the number of monsters, so use them early. On the other hand, they can miss, so they are not reliable if an ally is down on the floor. That's why you should reserve your minor action class feature heal for emergencies.

I completely disagree. Attack heal powers force you to spend an action to do them. When combat starts, you are far better off using Inspiring Word (minor) to heal and then use a power that will inflict a lot of damage (like Beat them to the Ground) or provide a massive benefit (Like Lead the attack) instead of simply wasting the turn on Lion's Roar. Besides, aren't most heal attack powers EFFECT that let you heal even on a miss?

4)
There are a whole lot of other stuff that leaders do. Ending effects through giving saving throws for one. Since saving throws work at 55% alongside the extra bonuses that is something that likely guaranteed to work (unlike attack\defense bonuses).

The discussion on how the DM should handle monster tactics has been going on ever since 4th edition came out.

Actually this is a discussion that is as old as 1st eddition.

Suffice to say that it is for each his own and there is no "right" way or "wrong" way to do it and anyone who thinks otherwise on how the game should be played is a fool (nothing personal against either one of you).

But let's leave this discussion alone, this is a thread about leaders, not about DM-ing.
You might want to include a quick section on initiative manipulation. I've seen a lot of leaders not quite understand that.

Lets say that a monster drops your ally. The monster's turn is right before your allies turn. Your ally is bleeding out and you want to heal him.

If you heal him on your turn, then he's alive, the monster gets a turn, hits him again, and he's probably dying again without ever having gotten a turn. He even has to take every single death save- you're not even saving him that.

You're better off letting your ally bleed for a minute, and devoting your time to preventing the monster from being able to make attacks. Once this is accomplished (assuming you have this ability), heal your ally afterwards. Alternately, ready an action for right after the monster's turn, or delay your initiative, so that your ally gets to actually take a turn after being healed.
1. Giving +damage to a TWF/Archer ranger (or any single-target multiattacker) will always be better than giving it to the wizard/sorcerer (or any multi-target hitter). Why? Because a monster at 1 HP fights as well (if nor better) as if he was at 1 million HP. It's better to have 1 monster at 0 HP and 3 at 5HP than 4 monsters at 3HP each.

In regards to attack boosting, sorry, you're wrong. Unless you're a rogue, avenger or are using some "combo moves" (armor splinter, shatterbone strike etc.) you're never going to have "enough to-hit" by yourself if you're facing appropriate monsters. Next, there are very few non-daily attacks with good "miss" effects and those that actually have "Effects" have a lower "peak efficiency". In general you need to hit to give that cool effect and get jack squat if you miss, thus you want hit bonuses to land it.

TL;DR version tohit bonuses are more often than not desirable. Also most tohit bonuses contribute to DPR considerably and thus save you healing surges which is pretty important to avoid the 5 minute adventuring day.

2. What? He just said the defender is in a good position to defend and you're saying "you're not sure they're going to attack him"? May i remind you that good positioning + marks usually means the monsters will attack the defender?

So, if instead of taking an extra encounter to add defense I take an extra encounter that heals, then I don't have to waste anything at all.

And this kind of mentality is more often tha not wrong if your DM is actually playing tactically. You can have a million healing abilities per encounter, if the defender has no surges all your abilities don't do anything. A leader isn't only a healbot, we're not in 3.5 any more where you can just spam "Heal" all day long, you need some proactive healing as well (bonuses to defenses, attack/damage boosts depending on circumstances) if you don't want to do a 5 minute adventuring day because you're out of surges.

3. No, most heal powers on encounters aren't "Effects". Lion's Roar is just an exception, look at healing strike (cleric), spring renewal strike(shaman) or Rejuvanating Strike (Swordmage). The OP is right, depending on unreliable healing isn't what you want when you're defender is surrounded and at 25% HP.

4. Wait what? 55% is "guaranteed to work"? No, no it's not. That's the average hit-chance in general, and that's hardly "reliable". Also some save granters are minor actions afaik (or are attached to attacks themselves) so you should still have actions left. Also not all effects are worthy of spending an action.

And, concluding, i have a curiosity, what do you do when you play a leader? Are you just a healbotting save granter? Because you seem to avoid attack buffs (that are not dailies), damage buffs, defense buffs (that are not dailies). If so, i strongly encourage you to take a step back and re-read the OP since you're missing out on a lot of potential in regards to leaders in general.
1. Giving +damage to a TWF/Archer ranger (or any single-target multiattacker) will always be better than giving it to the wizard/sorcerer (or any multi-target hitter). Why? Because a monster at 1 HP fights as well (if nor better) as if he was at 1 million HP. It's better to have 1 monster at 0 HP and 3 at 5HP than 4 monsters at 3HP each.

I'm talking from a leader perspective here, not a party perspective.
Of course you are far better off having someone who does tons of damage rather than just spreading it over an area, that's the very definition of the striker in the first place.

However, I'm talking about the fact that I have 1 standard action that I can use to give someone a +X bonus to damage for the turn.

If we are talking between 2 single attackers, then it clearly goes to whomever will hit more often.

If we are talking about a boss fight with clearly a larger threat than the others, than of course it's better to take it out as fast as you can.

But if we are talking about a group of evenly spread numbers and since the bonus isn't big enough to make sure the monster will die in 1-2 turns then you're better off spreading it. Of course it's better off to get rid of it faster, but since that isn't really the case, it is more than likely that the striker's damage will be responsbile and the extra miniscules are only an redundant overkill.

I'm only refering here to *small* amounts of bonuses, not large ones. The hefty bonuses granted by things such as a warlord's ability to give an extra attack would most likely go to the striker.

In regards to attack boosting, sorry, you're wrong. Unless you're a rogue, avenger or are using some "combo moves" (armor splinter, shatterbone strike etc.) you're never going to have "enough to-hit" by yourself if you're facing appropriate monsters. Next, there are very few non-daily attacks with good "miss" effects and those that actually have "Effects" have a lower "peak efficiency". In general you need to hit to give that cool effect and get jack squat if you miss, thus you want hit bonuses to land it.

TL;DR version tohit bonuses are more often than not desirable. Also most tohit bonuses contribute to DPR considerably and thus save you healing surges which is pretty important to avoid the 5 minute adventuring day.

Okay, you misunderstood me. I'm not saying an extra bonus to hit isn't nice, but you must remember that they come at some expanse. If you're giving them you're NOT giving something else that you could give.

The question is what is the best thing I can give to help my party at the moment? This of course, is generally a very dumb question to ask if we don't know what that party is.

If your party, for example, super optimized on their ability to hit and didn't bother using a defense than you are better off improving their defense and vice versa.

Going as I said above, from my personal experience, our party hasn't that much trouble on the hit department and thus I prefer to spend my powers elsewhere and that's either heal, remove conditions, dump penalties, plain damage or positioning. A good positioning power will net +2 to allies that flank already and other utilities if the issue calls.

Also remember that providing penalties to monsters is most often than not supperior than bonuses to the party when it comes to hitting. Comapring Lance of Faith to Astral Seal. Unless you are giving the bonus to a multiattacker, the later is clearly better off (counting this issue alone, not damage and such).

2. What? He just said the defender is in a good position to defend and you're saying "you're not sure they're going to attack him"? May i remind you that good positioning + marks usually means the monsters will attack the defender?


And this kind of mentality is more often tha not wrong if your DM is actually playing tactically.

Umm... This is a part you are clearly wrong. Want proof? Just look above.
You had 2 people arguing over this very matter at how they would DM the situation. Assuming that the DM will automatically hit the marker isn't true for everyone.

Each DM has his own tactics and optimizing a build counts on it as well as the party structure. I'm providing once again my own personal experience.

The DM won't always attack the character you want and he won't always target the defense you want. You raised the defender's AC, so the monster targetted his will.

As for marks, this is often a misconception because:
1)The monster can still attack multiple people
2)The Fighter \ Warden marks are immediate interupts and thus only work once until the start of your turn. So if you're fighting more than one monster, only one monster will suffer the attack.

Actually a *SMART* tactical DM will rush the striker.
Who is easier to hit?
The striker with the -2 from the mark, or the heavily guarded defender with the extra defense you gave him?

Yes, he'll take damage from the marking ability but that is meanigless compared to the damage he will take in the battle from the striker.

This is again, why I prefere to do something completely different.
Like, for instantce, move the striker entirely out of harms way (assuming he's ranged), giving him a bonus to damage and \ or extra attacks so he'll take down the monster faster, take a condition off of him so he'll last longer or even heal.

More importantly, as said above, penalties to monsters where one exist are far preferable. Lowering the monster's attack will ensure that it has odds of missing regardless of what it does. While raising a defense may protect the character from all the monsters, the monsters can just ignore the character or attack a different defense.

I always prefere to pick things that are 100% to work so I prefere the first.

You can have a million healing abilities per encounter, if the defender has no surges all your abilities don't do anything. A leader isn't only a healbot, we're not in 3.5 any more where you can just spam "Heal" all day long, you need some proactive healing as well (bonuses to defenses, attack/damage boosts depending on circumstances) if you don't want to do a 5 minute adventuring day because you're out of surges.

Except that, again in our party, we have around 3-4 encounters per session and nobody runs out of surges completely with the possible exception of the striker here and there. We all usually have 1-2 and the defenders have around 3-5 usually after a full day.

A resource that is not spent is equal to a resource not given.

That being said, considering that we do not run out of surges at the current state, I'd prefer having the ability to heal ANYONE I want in the battle rather than gamble on giving X x 5% for a defense that may or may not be even effective.

Also you are obviously completely right that in 4e healing are limited compared to 3e, but in 4e dying is *MUCH* harder than 3e.

3. No, most heal powers on encounters aren't "Effects". Lion's Roar is just an exception, look at healing strike (cleric), spring renewal strike(shaman) or Rejuvanating Strike (Swordmage). The OP is right, depending on unreliable healing isn't what you want when you're defender is surrounded and at 25% HP.

Again... Different playing style. My playstyle dictates that I'll simply prevent the defender from reaching that point to begin with. Earlier in the battle you are better off spamming your bonuses to damage, give extra attacks, spam conditions and position everyone properly so you can drill down the monsters ASAP.

If I suffer a condition like daze that prevents me from carrying any other action, then sure. Using an attack heal is better.

But otherwise remember that you youreslf said that a monster fights equally at 1 hp and 500 hp. So taking it out faster is far supperior than wasting your turn. In particular when it comes to boss fights where dailies that last for the encounter are being taken into consideration.

Besides, if you are so afraid of missing with the attack anyway and are spending your standard action, you could just do a heal check and let the defender use his second wind on your turn.


4. Wait what? 55% is "guaranteed to work"? No, no it's not. That's the average hit-chance in general, and that's hardly "reliable". Also some save granters are minor actions afaik (or are attached to attacks themselves) so you should still have actions left. Also not all effects are worthy of spending an action.

I mentioned saving throws because the op hasn't mentioend them at all and this is something that (again, depending on the dm) could turn the entire comabt around.

Again, some are useless like slowing the defender that's already sourunded by the monsters. But other conditions like Daze and Stun (which our dm is fond of) could mean life or death for the party and in some situations are far more dangerous if not taken care of than a heal.

As for it being guaranteed, I'm counting on the fact that 55% gives you about 1-2 turns per save and since you get one anyway on your turn, that means that if I give you another one on mine, you are more likely to pass.
55% + 45% * 55% = ~79% which is a darn good odd not counting on other bonuses that may apply.

And, concluding, i have a curiosity, what do you do when you play a leader? Are you just a healbotting save granter? Because you seem to avoid attack buffs (that are not dailies), damage buffs, defense buffs (that are not dailies). If so, i strongly encourage you to take a step back and re-read the OP since you're missing out on a lot of potential in regards to leaders in general.

I do tons of stuff. When did I say I avoid damage buffs?
I load up on them, in fact that's the major aspect that I took if you're counting damage from extra attacks I grant others.
I've a secondaried as a Striker.

I also work around dumping penalties on monstesrs (debuff rather than buff) and tactical positioing.

The dailies I save for the big modifiers per encounter.

The rest goes into healing \ savings.

Again, for the who knows how many times I've said it, it all comes down to not just what your personal playstyle but what your party does and what your DM does.

This is why most leader threads tend to be rather argumentitive (compared to the other 3 roles).
Some good information in the original guide, though I do have one correction: Furious Smash is a Warlord power, not a Cleric power.

Cheers

 

"What is the sort of thing that I do care about is a failure to seriously evaluate what does and doesn't work in favor of a sort of cargo cult posturing. And yes, it's painful to read design notes columns that are all just "So D&D 3.5 sort of had these problems. We know people have some issues with them. What a puzzler! But we think we have a solution in the form of X", where X is sort of a half-baked version of an idea that 4e executed perfectly well and which worked fine." - Lesp

After watching the discussion go back and forth a couple of times between people, I think we all probably agree that the best 'core' advice for any leader is to know your party. Know what they can do without your help, and what they can do with your help. Then adjust your actions to give the best benefits at the best times.

Someone brought up a very good tip earlier about altering the intitiative order, to help a fallen ally get a solid turn of action before he is attackedd again. That's a great tip, and worth thinking about.

Personally, when choosing my powers/feats/gear, I always give lots of thought to maximizing my options. I like to have choices. I'd rather have a power that did 1[w] damage but gave me several different ways to use it effectively, than have a straight attack power that does 5[w].

The odds are, over the career of my leader , that the one that grants more options will serve me better because I will be playing with different groups (at game conventions, game days, etc). If I played with the same group of folks regularly, and they used the same characters all the time, I would give more weight to specialized powers and gear (to match my groups strengths and weakenesses). Not having that luxury, because there is usually only one or two people at the table that I know well, I prefer to focus on flexibility.

That makes it tougher to be a good leader, but success is sweeter.
I play a Cleric in my group, lots of fun ^^.

this is my spread at level 6 :

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Magdalena, level 6
Deva, Cleric
Background: Auspicious Birth (Auspicious Birth Benefit)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 10, Dex 10, Int 14, Wis 19, Cha 17.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 10, Dex 10, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 16.


AC: 20 Fort: 14 Reflex: 16 Will: 20
HP: 56 Surges: 7 Surge Value: 14

TRAINED SKILLS
Religion +12, Diplomacy +11, Heal +12, Insight +12

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +2, Arcana +5, Bluff +6, Dungeoneering +7, Endurance +3, History +7, Intimidate +6, Nature +7, Perception +7, Stealth +2, Streetwise +6, Thievery +2, Athletics +2

FEATS
Cleric: Ritual Caster
Level 1: Healer's Implement
Level 2: Auspicious Lineage
Level 4: Power of Amaunator
Level 6: Defensive Healing Word

POWERS
Channel Divinity: Turn Undead
Cleric at-will 1: Lance of Faith
Cleric at-will 1: Astral Seal
Cleric encounter 1: Divine Glow
Cleric daily 1: Moment of Glory
Cleric utility 2: Shield of Faith
Cleric encounter 3: Light of Arvandor
Cleric daily 5: Iron to Glass
Cleric utility 6: Spirit of Healing

ITEMS
Ritual Book, Dwarven Chainmail +1, Medic's Quarterstaff +2, Symbol of Battle +1, Safewing Amulet +1
RITUALS
Gentle Repose, Make Whole
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feel free to make observations on the build. My group consists of a rogue, an avenger, a fighter and a warlock. Since the front lines were already going to be busy, i figured a ranged character might be better ^^
I would have to say one of my greatest 'tricks' is the Battle Standard of Healing. As the only leader or person with capacity to heal in a group of 5, I have found this magic item to be a staple in my first round of actions. I play a Warforged Inspiring Warlord and between my racial ability and the battle standard I never worry about myself. I manage to really take self inflicted damage more than anything else thanks to Brash Assault, but if the proverbial poo really does hit the fan, the standard has the potential to revive your entire party! My party saw 4/5 of us below 0 and a spent healing surge brought everyone to 1 hp. Then it was an action point (to heal) and 2nd wind as extra standard and everyone was up and ready to go.

If I lived in the Forgotten Realms I would be selling these door to door. :D
haha, sweet deal ^^

This Guide, like the other of this series, is now available on the Wiki:
community.wizards.com/wiki/Dnd:The_Art_o...


Since the wiki is a community effort, feel free to update and improve it.

Any chance that this can be updated? Or is that still in the process? It HAS been a while...

I too would like to see this post updated.

Mkill hasn't been online in a few days, else he's not answering his PMs. He has wiki-ized his series if you're interested in contributing.

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
who, squatting upon the ground,
held his heart in his hands, and ate of it.
I said, "is it good, friend?"
"It is bitter – bitter," he answered;
"but I like it,
"beacuase it is bitter,
"and because it is my heart."

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