Wherever I May Roam: A Scout's Guide
Gather 'round the fire, young ones. I've been told you want to be able to track your enemies down, in order to exact punishment on them. Let me tell you that it's not as easy as it looks! You're going to have to traverse uncharted lands, learn to fend for yourself against whatever may come, and then there's what happens after you catch up to who you're chasing - chances are they won't go quietly. So if you're going to wimp out, now's the time! ...Nobody? Good, they brought me a gutsier bunch than last time. Now, put that meat away and listen up...
Selling Points: Why You Would Want To Play A Scout
Strikers are the most plentiful role in the game, so you want your Striker to have some sort of special tricks in order to stand out from the pack. Scouts have the following things going for them:
Scouts are very mobile - The majority of a Scout's stances will give you some sort of mobility upgrade, and the class derives a lot of benefits from charging about. These combine with a good mobility-oriented Utility power selection to make you a very mobile character. If you like bouncing all over the battlefield, you will enjoy this class.
Scouts attack a lot - As with your parent class, you make a ton of attack rolls against a given target, which usually results in a lot of damage being done, and being done quickly. If rolling a d20 once per round just isn't enough for you, give this class a look.
Scouts play well in a team - While the Scout is plenty capable of taking care of itself, it does stand to gain a lot from playing nice with other classes, because simple things like combat advantage and bonuses to attack rolls have a magnified effect on its performance. If you want to be a good team player, this class is worth a glance.
Red - Garbage, or completely overshadowed by another option.
Purple - Situationally useful, but overall pretty meh.
Black - OK. You could do worse than pick this.
Blue - Good stuff. You probably want this.
Sky Blue - You want this. Period.
Gold - Why haven't you taken this yet? A defining choice for a build, or even the whole class.
AP - Arcane Power
AV - Adventurer's Vault
AV 2 - Adventurer's Vault 2
D XXX - Dragon Magazine, issue XXX
DMA 2009 - Dragon Magazine Annual 2009
DP - Divine Power
DSCS - Dark Sun Campaign Setting
FRPG - Forgotten Realms Player's Guide
HoS - Heroes of Shadow
HotFK - Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms
HotFL - Heroes of the Fallen Lands
MM - Monster Manual
MM 2 - Monster Manual 2
MOTP - Manual of the Planes
MP - Martial Power
MP 2 - Martial Power 2
PHB - Player's Handbook
PHB 2 - Player's Handbook 2
PHB 3 - Player's Handbook 3
PHR: DB - Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn
PHR: TF - Player's Handbook Races: Tieflings
PHH 1 - Player's Handbook Heroes: Series 1
PHH 2 - Player's Handbook Heroes: Series 2
PrP - Primal Power
PsP - Psionic Power
SAC - Seekers of the Ashen Crown Adventure Module
Everyone posting
"A scout is never taken by surprise - he knows exactly what to do when the unexpected happens." -Sir Robert Baden-Powell
Gather 'round the fire, young ones. I've been told you want to be able to track your enemies down, in order to exact punishment on them. Let me tell you that it's not as easy as it looks! You're going to have to traverse uncharted lands, learn to fend for yourself against whatever may come, and then there's what happens after you catch up to who you're chasing - chances are they won't go quietly. So if you're going to wimp out, now's the time! ...Nobody? Good, they brought me a gutsier bunch than last time. Now, put that meat away and listen up...
Selling Points: Why You Would Want To Play A Scout
Strikers are the most plentiful role in the game, so you want your Striker to have some sort of special tricks in order to stand out from the pack. Scouts have the following things going for them:
Scouts are very mobile - The majority of a Scout's stances will give you some sort of mobility upgrade, and the class derives a lot of benefits from charging about. These combine with a good mobility-oriented Utility power selection to make you a very mobile character. If you like bouncing all over the battlefield, you will enjoy this class.
Scouts attack a lot - As with your parent class, you make a ton of attack rolls against a given target, which usually results in a lot of damage being done, and being done quickly. If rolling a d20 once per round just isn't enough for you, give this class a look.
Scouts play well in a team - While the Scout is plenty capable of taking care of itself, it does stand to gain a lot from playing nice with other classes, because simple things like combat advantage and bonuses to attack rolls have a magnified effect on its performance. If you want to be a good team player, this class is worth a glance.
This Handbook will use the following system for ratings:
Red - Garbage, or completely overshadowed by another option.
Purple - Situationally useful, but overall pretty meh.
Black - OK. You could do worse than pick this.
Blue - Good stuff. You probably want this.
Sky Blue - You want this. Period.
Gold - Why haven't you taken this yet? A defining choice for a build, or even the whole class.
This Handbook covers the following sources:
AP - Arcane Power
AV - Adventurer's Vault
AV 2 - Adventurer's Vault 2
D XXX - Dragon Magazine, issue XXX
DMA 2009 - Dragon Magazine Annual 2009
DP - Divine Power
DSCS - Dark Sun Campaign Setting
FRPG - Forgotten Realms Player's Guide
HoS - Heroes of Shadow
HotFK - Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms
HotFL - Heroes of the Fallen Lands
MM - Monster Manual
MM 2 - Monster Manual 2
MOTP - Manual of the Planes
MP - Martial Power
MP 2 - Martial Power 2
PHB - Player's Handbook
PHB 2 - Player's Handbook 2
PHB 3 - Player's Handbook 3
PHR: DB - Player's Handbook Races: Dragonborn
PHR: TF - Player's Handbook Races: Tieflings
PHH 1 - Player's Handbook Heroes: Series 1
PHH 2 - Player's Handbook Heroes: Series 2
PrP - Primal Power
PsP - Psionic Power
SAC - Seekers of the Ashen Crown Adventure Module
Glossary
AP - Action point.
BBEG - Big bad evil guy.
Burst/Nova/Spike Damage - Generally understood to mean the highest amount of damage a character can inflict in the space of a single round. Usually, calculations for this allow 1 round of setup before the actual damage.
CA - Combat advantage.
DPR - Damage per round, which is generally meant to mean the character's expected damage value using At-Will powers against a standard enemy of the same level (eloquently described by Adslahnit as the Official CharOp Inanimate Block of TofuTM).
E-class - Refers to the class design for Martial characters introduced in the Essentials product line, which usually focuses on basic attacks and has limited options for Encounter or Daily resources.
ED - Epic destiny.
HP - Hit points.
LX - Level X.
MAD - Multiple attribute dependency, which is defined as needing 3 or more ability scores for a given build.
MBA - Melee basic attack.
MC - Multiclass or multiclassing.
NAD - Non-AC defense.
OA - Opportunity attack.
PP - Paragon path.
RBA - Ranged basic attack.
SAD - Single attribute dependency, which is defined as a build that really only needs 1 ability score.
THP - Temporary hit points.
AP - Action point.
BBEG - Big bad evil guy.
Burst/Nova/Spike Damage - Generally understood to mean the highest amount of damage a character can inflict in the space of a single round. Usually, calculations for this allow 1 round of setup before the actual damage.
CA - Combat advantage.
DPR - Damage per round, which is generally meant to mean the character's expected damage value using At-Will powers against a standard enemy of the same level (eloquently described by Adslahnit as the Official CharOp Inanimate Block of TofuTM).
E-class - Refers to the class design for Martial characters introduced in the Essentials product line, which usually focuses on basic attacks and has limited options for Encounter or Daily resources.
ED - Epic destiny.
HP - Hit points.
LX - Level X.
MAD - Multiple attribute dependency, which is defined as needing 3 or more ability scores for a given build.
MBA - Melee basic attack.
MC - Multiclass or multiclassing.
NAD - Non-AC defense.
OA - Opportunity attack.
PP - Paragon path.
RBA - Ranged basic attack.
SAD - Single attribute dependency, which is defined as a build that really only needs 1 ability score.
THP - Temporary hit points.
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Everyone posting