You have survived and thrived through ten levels of adventure.
You’ve explored dank dungeons, defeated vile monsters, and learned priceless secrets. You’ve started making a name for yourself.
Now you’re ready to take the next step: you’re ready to choose a paragon path.
As your class describes your basic role in the party, your paragon path represents a particular area of expertise within that role. It’s a form of specialization beyond even what a build choice represents. You might be a battle cleric and specialize in melee powers, but starting at 11th level you can be a warpriest and specialize in battle prayers.
As shown on the Character Advancement table on page 29 of the Player's Handbook, your paragon path gives you new capabilities from 11th level through 20th level. But adopting a paragon path doesn’t mean you stop advancing in your class. All the powers and features you gain from your paragon path come in addition to your class powers and features, not instead of them. You don’t stop being a cleric when you become a radiant servant. Instead, you gain new capabilities that extend, enhance, and complement the abilities of your class.
Paragon paths also broaden the use of action points in different ways. Each paragon path features a different, extra capability that characters can unlock by spending action points. So, once you pick your paragon path, you can still spend an action point to take an extra action. But you’ll also have a new capability for action points that is unique to your path. Some of these capabilities come in addition to the extra action you get for spending an action point, some are used instead of getting an extra action.
When you reach 11th level, choose a paragon path. All paths have prerequisites, conditions you have to fulfill before you can adopt that path.
Paragon Tier Feats
Any feat in the following section is available to a character of 11th level or higher who meets the prerequisites. A sampling of paragon tier feats:
Name Prerequisites Benefit
Armor Specialization (Chainmail) Dex 15, training with chainmail +1 to AC with chainmail, reduce check penalty by 1
Danger Sense — Roll twice for initiative, use the higher result
Deadly Axe Str 17, Con 13 Treat all axes as high crit weapons
Devastating Critical — Deal additional 1d10 damage on a critical hit
Empowered Dragon Breath Dragonborn, dragon breath racial power Dragon breath uses d10s
Lasting Frost — Target hit with cold power gains vulnerable cold 5
Scimitar Dance Str 15, Dex 17 Deal Dex modifier damage on miss
Second Implement Wizard, Arcane Implement Mastery class feature Gain mastery with second arcane implement
Seize the Moment Dex 17 Gain combat advantage over foe with lower initiative
Sly Hunter Wis 15 +3 damage with bow against isolated target
Spear Push Str 15, Dex 13 Add 1 square to distance pushed with spear or polearm
Steady Shooter Con 15 +3 damage with crossbow if you don’t move
Twofold Curse Warlock, Warlock’s Curse class feature Curse the two nearest enemies
Underfoot Halfling, trained in Acrobatics Move through spaces of Large or larger creatures
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Cleric: Warpriest
“Let loose the gift of battle!”
Prerequisite: Cleric class
Your god demands battle to accomplish the tenets of your faith, and you are the chosen priest at the forefront of the war. When you call upon your divine powers, your weapons glow with holy light.
Warpriest Path Features
Extra Damage Action (11th level): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, you also add one-half your level to the damage dealt by any of your standard action attacks this turn.
Warpriest’s Strategy (11th level): Once per encounter, if you or an adjacent ally rolls a 1 when making a melee attack or a close attack, you can call for a reroll.
Warpriest’s Training (11th level): You receive a +1 bonus to AC when wearing heavy armor.
Warpriest’s Challenge (16th level): When you hit an enemy with an at-will melee attack, you can choose to mark that enemy for the rest of the encounter. The next time that enemy shifts or attacks a creature other than you, you can make an opportunity attack against that enemy. If you mark a new enemy with this feature, any previous marks you have made with this feature end.
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Fighter: Kensei
“My weapon and I are as one.”
Prerequisite: Fighter class
You study an ancient form of martial training that makes you one with your chosen weapon, creating a combination of destruction that few foes can long stand against.
Kensei Path Features
Kensei Control Action (11th level): You can spend an action point to reroll one attack roll, damage roll, skill check, or ability check, instead of taking an extra action.
Kensei Focus (11th level): You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with a melee weapon of your choice.
Kensei Mastery (16th level): You gain a +4 bonus to damage rolls with the same weapon you selected for Kensei Focus. If you ever use a different type of weapon, you lose this benefit, and the benefit for Kensei Focus, until you take a short rest, during which time you reattune yourself to your chosen weapon with a short meditation.
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Paladin: Justiciar
“I fight for justice, my faith and my strong arm defending those in need.”
Prerequisite: Paladin class
You become the embodiment of justice, a champion of righteousness and fairness—at least as viewed from the perspective of your particular faith. You are granted the ability to shelter and protect your allies and others in need, while also receiving powers that help you do the right thing according to the faith you have embraced.
Justiciar Path Features
Just Action (11th level): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, each enemy adjacent to you is weakened until the end of its next turn.
Just Spirit (11th level): Each ally adjacent to you can reroll one saving throw at the end of his or her turn.
Just Shelter (16th level): Allies adjacent to you are immune to fear and charm effects and receive a +1 bonus to saving throws.
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Ranger: Stormwarden
“I have accepted the burden of the stormwardens of the Feywild, and this region is under my protection.”
Prerequisite: Ranger class, two-blade fighting style
Your role as a warden and defender of the wild takes on new heights as you learn the ancient ways of the stormwardens of the Feywild. These techniques turn your whirling blades into a storm of destruction that rains down punishing blows on your enemies. With each slash of your weapon, the wind howls in anticipation of the coming storm.
Stormwarden Path Features
Blade Storm (11th level): As long as you are armed with a melee weapon and are capable of making an opportunity attack, one adjacent enemy (your choice) takes damage equal to your Dexterity modifier at the end of your turn.
Stormstep Action (11th level): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, you can teleport 3 squares either before or after you use the extra action.
Twin-Blade Storm (16th level): As long as you are armed with a melee weapon and are capable of making an opportunity attack, two adjacent enemies (your choice) take lightning damage equal to your Dexterity modifier at the end of your turn.
Stormwarden Exploits
Clearing the Ground Stormwarden Attack 11
You sweep your blades in mighty arcs around you, cutting foes that get too close and thrusting them back.
EncounterMartial,Weapon
Standard Action Close burst 1
Requirement: You must be wielding two melee weapons.
Target: Each enemy in burst you can see
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage, and you push the target 1 square.
Throw Caution to the Wind Stormwarden Utility 12
Aw, what the hell. You only live once.
EncounterMartial, Stance
Minor Action Personal
Effect: You take a –2 penalty to all defenses and gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls.
Cold Steel Hurricane Stormwarden Attack 20
You rush into the midst of your enemies and, like a freezing wind, flay them alive.
DailyMartial, Weapon
Standard Action Close burst 1
Requirement: You must be wielding two melee weapons.
Special: Before you attack, shift a number of squares equal to your Wisdom modifier.
Target: Each enemy in burst you can see
Attack: Strength vs. AC (main weapon and off-hand weapon), two attacks per target
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage per attack.
Effect: You regain your second wind if you have already used it during this encounter.
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Rogue: Shadow Assassin
“When you need something dead, you’ll be hard pressed to find someone better at the job than me.”
Prerequisite: Rogue class
You become a killing machine, striking from the shadows with deadly and bloody efficiency, and turning attacks against you into pain and suffering for your enemies. You believe in doing unto others before they can do unto you, and you know how to deliver punishment as only a striker can.
Shadow Assassin Path Features
Shadow Assassin’s Action (11th level): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, you also gain a +4 bonus to attack rolls until the start of your next turn.
Shadow Assassin’s Riposte (11th level): Any adjacent enemy that misses you with a melee attack takes damage equal to your Dexterity modifier.
Bloody Evisceration (16th level): Gain an extra 1d6 Sneak Attack damage when attacking a bloodied enemy.
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Warlock: Doomsayer
“I speak for the cold darkness beyond the stars. I see the myriad ways that doom comes upon you.”
Prerequisite: Warlock class, star pact
You wrap yourself in the fear of the darkness beyond the stars and use it as a shield against your enemies. In addition, you examine the strands of fate to issue proclamations of doom to all who stand against you.
Doomsayer Path Features
Doomsayer’s Action (11th level): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, you also deal the extra damage of your Warlock’s Curse to all of your enemies currently affected by it.
Doomsayer’s Proclamation (11th level): Enemies within 10 squares of you must roll two dice when rolling saving throws against fear effects. They must use the lower of the two rolls.
Doomsayer’s Oath (16th level): When you are bloodied, you gain a +2 power bonus to attack rolls when you use a power that has the fear keyword.
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Warlord: Sword Marshal
“This weapon is my symbol of office, and it shines over the field of battle as I wield it against our enemies.”
Prerequisite: Warlord class, proficiency with heavy blade
You have extensively studied the use of light blades and heavy blades, and your weapon of choice has become a symbol of your power and leadership. You never enter a battle without your blade in hand, and your allies know to look for the gleaming weapon when they need help or inspiration.
Sword Marshal Path Features
Disciplined Blade (11th level): When you miss with a melee attack when using a heavy blade, you gain a +2 bonus to your next attack roll against the same enemy.
Sword Marshal’s Action (11th level): You can spend an action point to regain one warlord encounter power you have already used, instead of taking an extra action.
Skewer the Weak (16th level): When you score a critical hit using a heavy blade, you and all your allies gain combat advantage against the enemy you struck until the end of your next turn.
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Wizard: Battle Mage
“You think I’m just a simple scholar, my head buried amid my scrolls and books? Think again!”
Prerequisite: Wizard class
You didn’t leave behind the thrill of battle when you took up the mantle of wizard, so why should you stand back and let the fighters have all the fun? You have developed skills and techniques that have turned you into a true battle mage, ready to deal damage up close and personal or from afar, depending on the situation and how the mood strikes you. You have even learned of a technique for using arcane energy to temporarily stave off death—and you can’t wait to try it out in battle!
Battle Mage Path Features
Arcane Riposte (11th level): Imbued with magical might, your hands bristle with arcane energy in the heat of battle. When a creature provokes an opportunity attack from you, make an opportunity attack with one of your hands (Dexterity vs. AC). Choose cold, fire, force, or lightning. You deal 1d8 + Intelligence modifier damage of that type with this attack.
Battle Mage Action (11th level): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, you also gain a +4 bonus to attack rolls until the start of your next turn.
Battle Edge (16th level): When you first become bloodied in an encounter, you can use any at-will power you know as an immediate reaction.
Excerpts: Paragon Paths
Daily Art Preview: Rakshasa Assassin
Despite their bestial features, rakshasas are clever, malicious, and sophisticated.
Art by Pete Venters
Daily Art Preview: Githzerai
Slaves in a long lost illithid empire, the githzerai were once one people with the githyanki.
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Excerpts: The Warlord
“Onward to victory! They cannot stand before us!”
Warlords are accomplished and competent battle leaders. Warlords stand on the front line issuing commands and bolstering their allies while leading the battle with weapon in hand. Warlords know how to rally a team to win a fight.
Your ability to lead others to victory is a direct result of your history. You could be a minor warchief looking to make a name for yourself, a pious knight-commander on leave from your militant order, a youthful noble eager to apply years of training to life outside the castle walls, a calculating mercenary captain, or a courageous marshal of the borderlands who fights to protect the frontier. Regardless of your background, you are a skillful warrior with an uncanny gift for leadership.
The weight of your armor is not a hindrance; it is a familiar comfort. The worn weapon grip molds to your hand as if it were a natural extension of your arm. It’s time to fight and to lead.
Class Traits
Role: Leader. You are an inspiring commander and a master of battle tactics.
Power Source: Martial. You have become an expert in tactics through endless hours of training and practice, personal determination, and your own sheer physical toughness.
Key Abilities: Strength, Intelligence, Charisma
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, leather, hide, chainmail; light shield
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple melee, military melee, simple ranged
Bonus to Defense: +1 Fortitude, +1 Will
Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + Constitution score
Hit Points per Level Gained: 5
Healing Surges per Day: 7 + Constitution modifier
Trained Skills: From the class skills list below, choose four trained skills at 1st level.
Class Skills: Athletics (Str), Diplomacy (Cha), Endurance (Con), Heal (Wis), History (Int), Intimidate (Cha)
Build Options: Inspiring warlord, tactical warlord
Class Features: Combat Leader, Commanding Presence, inspiring word
Warlord Class Features
All warlords have these class features.
Combat Leader
You and each ally within 10 squares who can see and hear you gain a +2 power bonus to initiative.
Commanding Presence
Choose one of the following two benefits.
Inspiring Presence: When an ally who can see you spends an action point to take an extra action, that ally also regains lost hit points equal to one-half your level + your Charisma modifier.
Tactical Presence: When an ally you can see spends an action point to make an extra attack, the ally gains a bonus to the attack roll equal to one-half your Intelligence modifier.
The choice you make also provides bonuses to certain warlord powers. Individual powers detail the effects (if any) your Commanding Presence selection has on them.
Inspiring Word
Using the inspiring word power, warlords can grant their comrades additional resilience with nothing more than a shout of encouragement.
Creating a Warlord
The two warlord builds are inspiring warlord and tactical warlord. Some warlords lean more on their Charisma, while others rely on Intelligence, but Strength is important to every warlord.
Inspiring Warlord
You lead by exhortation, encouragement, and inspiration. Your powers help your allies find new surges of courage and endurance within themselves, helping them heal, shrug off debilitating conditions, and defend themselves from attack. Your attack powers rely on Strength, so that should be your best ability score. The benefits you give your allies, though, depend almost entirely on Charisma, so make that second best. Intelligence is your best third choice, so you can dabble in other warlord powers and to help your Reflex defense. Select powers that make the best use of your high Charisma score.
Suggested Feat: Inspired Recovery (Human feat: Toughness)
Suggested Skills: Athletics, Diplomacy, Heal, History
Suggested At-Will Powers: commander’s strike, furious smash
Suggested Encounter Power: guarding attack
Suggested Daily Power: bastion of defense
Guarding Attack Warlord Attack 1
With a calculated strike, you knock your adversary off balance and grant your comrade-in-arms some protection against the villain’s attacks.
Encounter Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage. Until the end of your next turn, one ally adjacent to either you or the target gains a +2 power bonus to AC against the target’s attacks.
Inspiring Presence: The power bonus to AC equals 1 + your Charisma modifier.
Bastion of Defense Warlord Attack 1
Honorable warriors never fall!
Daily Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage. Allies within 5 squares of you gain a +1 power bonus to all defenses until the end of the encounter.
Effect: Allies within 5 squares of you gain temporary hit points equal to 5 + your Charisma modifier.
Tactical Warlord
Your leadership takes the form of quick commands, cunning strategies, and tactical superiority. Your powers guide your allies to extra and more powerful attacks, as well as helping them move quickly in combat situations. You also assist your allies by moving your enemies around or knocking them prone. You use Strength for your attack powers, so make that your best ability score. Intelligence is secondary, because your Intelligence determines just how effective a leader you are. Charisma should be your third best score, so you can dabble in other warlord powers and to improve your Will defense. Select powers that make the best use of your high Intelligence score.
Suggested Feat: Tactical Assault (Human feat: Weapon Focus)
Suggested Skills: Endurance, Heal, History, Intimidate
Suggested At-Will Powers: viper’s strike, wolf pack tactics
Suggested Encounter Power: warlord’s favor
Suggested Daily Power: lead the attack
Warlord’s Favor Warlord Attack 1
With a calculated blow, you leave your adversary exposed to an imminent attack from one of your closest allies.
Encounter Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 2[W] + Strength modifier damage. One ally within 5 squares of you gains a +2 power bonus to attack rolls against the target until the end of your next turn.
Tactical Presence: The bonus to attack rolls that you grant equals 1 + your Intelligence modifier.
Lead the Attack Warlord Attack 1
Under your direction, arrows hit their marks and blades drive home.
Daily Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Strength vs. AC
Hit: 3[W] + Strength modifier damage. Until the end of the encounter, you and each ally within 5 squares of you gain a power bonus to attack rolls against the target equal to 1 + your Intelligence modifier.
Miss: Until the end of the encounter, you and each ally within 5 squares of you gain a +1 power bonus to attack rolls against the target.
* * *
How did the warlord make it into the Player’s Handbook?
It wasn’t easy to choose the classes to appear in the Player’s Handbook. Many conflicting objectives affected these decisions—for example, we wanted to include multiple builds so that there would be a number of different ways to create, for example, a fighter… but doing so took up more space for each single class description, and that meant fewer classes could fit into the Player’s Handbook. Similarly, we wanted to reproduce popular classes from 3rd Edition as quickly as possible, so that players engaged in ongoing games could convert easily… but we also thought it would be highly desirable to show off new classes that might give an experienced player a chance to try out something he or she had never seen before.
This last point is one of the reasons why the warlord is in the new Player’s Handbook. Just as 3rd Edition introduced the sorcerer (and re-introduced the barbarian) up front, we felt that 4th Edition should introduce one or two classes that weren’t previously part of the core D&D experience.
The warlord first appeared in our second design draft of 4th Edition as the marshal. Those of you familiar with the 3rd Edition Miniatures Handbook might remember this class. (You might also wonder why we changed the name from marshal to warlord. The answer is that we wanted to broaden the concept from a medieval military commander to someone who might be a barbaric warchief, an elven marchwarden, or a noble-born knight-commander.) Of course, the 4E version was only loosely based on the 3E version; among other things, the new marshal has access to the same sort of power selection as any other 4E class, instead of a boatload of auras. It was also moved more clearly into the Leader role, while the 3E marshal was a class that fell “in between” roles, and certainly couldn’t replace a cleric or a fighter in the typical party mix.
The 4E warlord now helps alleviate that unfortunate requirement of party composition in all previous editions of Dungeons & Dragons: before, a party had to include a cleric in order to be effective. Very early on in 4th Edition design, our work on character roles led us to the idea that any character serving as the party’s “cleric”—whether a bard, shaman, warlord, or whatever—needed to be as good at that job as the cleric or else we’d have yet another edition of D&D in which every party still needed a cleric. That led us to the idea of the Leader role, and the warlord as just one of several possible classes that can fill this role. Of course, the warlord fills it in his own unique way, with powers that have a strong flavor of clever tactics and heroic inspiration. Read on a bit, and you’ll see for yourself!
--Rich Baker
Daily Art Preview: Efreet
Efreets are crafty conjurers of fire native to the Elemental Chaos.
Art by Eric Vedder and Adam Vehige
Excerpts: Phane
Abominations are living weapons that were created during the ancient cosmic war between the gods and the primordials. Some of these creations were enormous (such as today's art preview: the tarrasque), others small. Some were singular beings of terrific power, while others were legion. A few abominations stand apart as failed or incomplete divine experiments that have either been locked away or forgotten.
Phane
Phanes can manipulate time, which they use to sow chaos among mortals. Occasionally they form pacts with powerful beings that share their destructive propensities. Consisting of coalescent mist, this creature has the lower body of a hunting cat and the torso, arms, and head of a humanoid. The air ripples around the creature, and though it moves with feline grace, it seems as though it can barely hold itself together.
Phane Tactics
A phane uses its great speed to stay out of range of opponents while targeting them with wizening ray. If forced into close combat, a phane uses either its temporal touch or wizening tempest to slow or stun enemies so it can withdraw safely and attack from a distance.
Phane Lore
A character knows the following information with a successful Religion check. DC 25: Phanes are native to the Astral Sea, but they are found throughout the cosmos, walking the space between moments, ever on the hunt for prey.
Encounter Groups
Phanes aren’t choosy about their allies. Legend tells of them working with sorrowsworn, nightwalkers, powerful demons and devils, and mighty fey.
Level 26 Encounter (XP 46,000)
1 phane (level 26 elite controller)
2 sorrowsworn soulrippers (level 25 skirmisher)
2 dread wraiths (level 25 lurker)
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Phane Level 26 Elite Controller
Large immortal magical beast XP 18,000
Initiative +23 Senses Perception +25; darkvision
HP 478; Bloodied 239
AC 41; Fortitude 38, Reflex 41, Will 38
Resist insubstantial
Saving Throws +2
Speed 10, fl y 10
Action Points 1
Temporal Touch (standard; at-will)
Reach 2; +29 vs. Reflex; 2d8 + 10 damage, and the target is slowed until the end of the phane’s next turn. The phane shifts 4 squares before or after making this attack.
Wizening Ray (standard; at-will)
Ranged 10; +29 vs. Fortitude; 2d6 + 9 damage, and the target is dazed and weakened (save ends both). Aftereffect: The target is weakened (save ends). The target appears elderly until the effects of the wizening ray end.
Wizening Tempest (standard, usable only while bloodied; at-will)
Close burst 1; phanes are immune; +29 vs. Fortitude; 2d6 + 10 damage, and the target is stunned (save ends). Aftereffect: The target is dazed and weakened (save ends both). The target appears elderly until the effects of the wizening tempest end.
Temporal Fugue (minor; at-will)
By moving backward and forward in time, a phane can remove one effect afflicting it.
Alignment Unaligned Languages Supernal
Str 24 (+20) Dex 30 (+23) Wis 25 (+20)
Con 23 (+19) Int 28 (+22) Cha 22 (+19)
Daily Art Preview: Tarrasque
A terrifying embodiment of wantom destruction, the tarrasque attacks without motivation or purpose—unless that purpose is to obliterate all life.
Art by Arnie Swekel