Gaheris Rhade - The Unseelie Paladin

Greetings fellow gamers!

After a long break, I decided to post now about an unlikely hybrid build inspired by one of my earliest attempts at combining a Warlock with a Paladin. This one is a combination between two E-Classes (E comes from Essentials Series) namely the Blackguard and the Binder.

Lets start the Character Builder and begin the character creation process. Keep in mind that, as always, the characters presented at Heroic Training are made and explained until level 10 with the appropriate gold for that level (22.400 gold).

CLASS, RACE & ATTRIBUTES

Lets begin!
At level 1, I chose Hybrid and further selected Hybrid Blackguard and Hybrid Binder. These are the E-classes for Paladin and Warlock respectively. For bonus defenses, the Blackguard side takes Fortitude, a defense that is required to avoid slows and immobilize effects while the Binder side selects Will which helps avoid conditions like daze and dominate. Reflex is usually bumped by the shield or magic items.
As class features, I picked Vice of Domination but I haven't used the at-will from this class feature due to Wrath of the Crimson Legion feat which upgrades the MBA to hit using Charisma and Fey Pact (Binder) to underline the control aspect of the build via Cloud Sight and Fascinating Shadows. Usually, the power used to open an encounter would be Fascinating Shadows, to draw one or two enemies close and then mark them with a power that places Divine Sanction. Read more below at Tactics section.

Base attributes for this character are Charisma and Intelligence, even if the at-will power from the Blackguard requires Strength. I chose to avoid any and all powers that rely on Strength and focus on those that need Charisma for attack and damage rolls, thus avoiding the apparent MAD-ness of this build (MAD - Multi Attribute Dependency). I used the "Specialist" array (18, 14, 11, 10 , 10, 8) with an 18 in Charisma, 14 in Intelligence and 11 in Constitution, dumping Dexterity because I will later on solve the initiative issue with the Imperious Majesty feat.

The race I picked for this character is Tiefling for its beautiful feat support and strong flavour.  Besides the feat support, the race comes packed with good skill bonuses to Stealth and Bluff and adds a +1 to attack rolls versus bloodied enemies, allowing for a swift and bloody finish.

 BACKGROUND, THEME, SKILLS

The theme that seemed to fit this character well, is Yakuza for the bonuses granted to Intimidate and Streetwise and its starting feature which can make you virtually untouchable until you get hit. To compensate for the low hit points quota given by the Hybrid Binder, I chose the "Born Under a Bad Sign" from Scales of War to bump the starting hit points to a near-defender value.

The selected skills for level 1 are pretty poor but the build gains a new one via the Practiced Killer feat which compensates a bit for the skill scarcity. I picked at level 1 the following skills: Intimidate, Arcana and Insight.

Drawing the line we have the following:

Tiefling, Binder|Blackguard
Hybrid Binder: Hybrid Binder Will
Hybrid Blackguard: Hybrid Blackguard Fortitude
Background: Born Under a Bad Sign
Theme: Yakuza

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 11, Dex 8, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 18.

POWERS

The level 1 at-wills are fixed powers that come from Blackguard and Binder class features selected above. And while Dominator Strike is being swept under the rug because it uses Strength for hit and damage, Fascinating Shadows is powered by Charisma and can target two creatures and bring them near you. Level 1 will be a very difficult level because you either go and pick plate via Hybrid Talent - Paladin Armour Proficiency and be a nice off-defender with a controller streak OR pick Wrath of the Crimson Legion to have a decent MBA but risking staying in leather armour for an entire level. Regardless of the chioce, Dominator Strike is useless to you at level 1.

For the level 1 encounter power, Witchfire is the best chioce to carry you over to level 3. Because you are a Fey Pact Binder (thus a Warlock for all mechanical purposes) this will impose a hefty penalty to attack rolls. But this will be eventually retrained to Dread Smite (which works with an MBA) to make good use of your melee basic attack. To complete the control area of this character I chose as level 1 daily power, Decree of Khirad which allows me to slide enemies in a close blast 3 and make them hit each other.

Level 2 gives me another measure of control via the utility encounter power Call of Challenge a close burst 3 power that marks all enemies with Divine Sanction. At this level, Witchfire can be retrained to Dread Smite if you picked the Wrath of the Crimson Legion feat. All things considered, at level 2 the character has all the weapons to control the battlefield effectively: he can mark enemies in close burst 3 and 5, make them hit each other and smack them for good measure if they draw too close.

Level 3 gives us the Lure of Loyalty encounter power which is a beefed up Fascinating Shadows. I pull an enemy close and when I get attacked, the enemy I just pulled charges or smacks the attacker. The gravy here is that he cannot attack the character until the end of my next turn wich turns him into a semi-docile meat shield.

To underline the Defender aspect of the character, at level 5 I picked Majestic Halo daily power which helps me deliver Divine Sanction to all enemies that start their turn next to me. Given the fact that I have two powers that bring enemies close to me, this should come to no surprise that I can have multiple enemies marked and eventually punished if they fail to attack the character.

The character is a bit mischievous and the level 6 utility encounter power Spectral Fade underlines that. As a minor action, the character becomes invisible (total concealment) and can move without impunity through enemy controlled area avoiding attacks of oportunity. Also this power grants Combat Advantage versus an enemy I might attack, making this power a very versatile one.

At level 7 I chose to have a second use of Dread Smite making my MBA's pretty dangerous even if I miss with it.

When level 9 dings, we gain access to a very nice power that dominates an enemy. Command Insanity is a good daily power to keep that elite brute away from he squishy rogue and ask it nicely to smack its friends for a change. Even if you missed, the target is dazed and can do little.

To be sure I'll survive long enough to be effective, at level 10 I chose Vice's Reward as a means to up my defenses and roll a saving throw against more dangerous effects.

Lets see the list !
Hybrid encounter 1: Witchfire (retrained to Dread Smite at Level 2)
Hybrid daily 1: Decree of Khirad
Hybrid utility 2: Call of Challenge
Hybrid encounter 3: Lure of Loyalty
Hybrid daily 5: Majestic Halo
Hybrid utility 6: Spectral Fade
Hybrid encounter 7: Dread Smite (Second Use)
Hybrid daily 9: Command Insanity
Hybrid utility 10: Vice's Reward

FEATS

Level 1 presents us with a difficult choice: either get in plate armour and rely on binder powers thus being more of a controller OR beef up the MBA and gain a multi-mark power. I chose to go with Wrath of the Crimson Legion first so I could rely on an MBA and effectively mark enemies straight from level 1. That meant I had a low chance to survive being in leather armour all the way to level 2, fact mitigated in a way by the hit points and the Yakuza theme power.

At level 2 I got Hybrid Talent - Paladin Armour Proficiency and jumped in plate immediately. Gaining access to a shield also bumped my Reflex defense which equalized my defenses and increased my survival a great deal.

Because the defenses aren't as good as I wished I needed a chain of feats to grant me the warlock class feature Shadow Walk. At level 4 I took Practiced Killer, the assassin multiclass feat which gives me a new skill from its list and access at level 6 to Cursed Shadows. With this chain of feats taken at level 4 and 6 I gain Shadow Walk which bumps my defenses when I move 3 sq. or more, through partial concealment.

At level 8 I bump my initiative via Imperious Majesty which bumps it with Charisma modifier instead of Dexterity and as added bonus, if I strike an enemy that hasn't acted, I hand him a debuff equal to my Charisma modifier to attack rolls made against me.

Level 10 gets bloody with Bloodhunter's Dread which further debuffs the attack rolls of bloodied creatures I hit. Thus against versus bloodied creatures that grant combat advantage, I get a +3 bonus to attack rolls and if I hit, the enemy gets -2 penalty to attack rolls made against me. Nifty eh?

Level 1: Wrath of the Crimson Legion
Level 2: Hybrid Talent
Level 4: Practiced Killer
Level 6: Cursed Shadow
Level 8: Imperious Majesty
Level 10: Bloodhunter's Dread

ITEMS AT LEVEL 10

At level 10, a character has 22.400 gold theoretically which he may spend on various magic items. I picked a few that enhance this build's effectiveness not only as Defender but also as Controller or Striker. Lets see the list.

Coif of Mindiron (heroic tier) - once per encounter gets me out of a daze (if the attack hits Will).
Screaming Rimefire Plate Armor +2 - big bonus to Intimidate (+20 at level 10).


Cloak of Distortion +2 - add Shadow Walk for a +4 to all defenses versus ranged/area attacks.
Symbol of the Champion's Code +2 - buff your Divine Sanction and make it hurt more.
Iron Armbands of Power (heroic tier) - a +2 to damage with melee powers can't be bad.
Gauntlets of Blood (heroic tier) - another bonus to damage but versus bloodied creatures.
Sunblade Longsword +2 - add radiant damage to all your powers.
Shield of Eyes Heavy Shield (heroic tier) - when yu get flanked, enemies don't get the bonus.
Boots of Rapid Motion (heroic tier) - good when you are slowed.

CONCLUSION

Drawing the line, this build makes good with what he has available. The character can mark multiple enemies and punish them for not attacking him, has pretty good defenses versus enemies and if the enemy bleeds he can make sure it will die quickly.
Despite his low mobility, the character can make enemies come to him, instead of him going to the enemy. Using his charming allure, this tiefling can bring the wrath of the fey to bear and send the enemies in hell, reeling.

With an attack bonus of +16 (+13 with implement) and +10 damage with melee attacks (+8 with implement) the build deals a moderate amount of damage initially. Add the Dread Smite with Combat advantage and a bloodied target and the damage spikes to around +18 in melee and +16 with implement. Add the control aspect of this build underlined by forced movement and bad conditions and we have a solid defender/controller.

Considering also the ability to mark the enemies around him and punish them accordingly and high defenses, he won't go down easy.

Enjoy!

P.S. The file will be uploaded later on!