Inside the Insider: The Warden

gamefiend — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:00:52 +0000

The new PHB2 preview we have from WotC is the Warden. I’d been curious to see what they were going to do. The Warden is a Defender with the new primal power source, is essentially a nature knight. Instead of donning heavy armor though, tapping into earth energies gives the Warden increased AC, supplementing the light armor he is given by the class for default (and sorry folks, but he loses the ability when he puts on heavy armor, so save that feat!). Where fighters harry their foes with martial skills, Paladin invoke the wrath of their gods, and swordmages ensorcel their opponents, wardens harness the earth’s power. They pull rocks and vines forth from the earth to trap and bind foes. They are built super tough –17 starting HP and 9 surges! –and have one ability that my players are wishing over after being caught in some nasty ongoing effects recently. Wardens get two saves per turn! One save happens right at the start, before effects are applied, and the other is the normal save. The class also gets a nice marking ability. Once a turn, mark all adjacent creatures. The punishment aspect isn’t nearly as strong as the other defenders though.

Out of all the defenders, Wardens thus far feel the most solid “tank” released so far. These guys are the most durable class I’ve seen yet, and combine them with the race that seems to love them most — dwarves — your party’s warden is going nowhere. No. Where. The wardens don’t do nearly the damage of the other defenders from the preview I’ve seen, but when you have some of the abilities above, plus the ability to add either your Constitution or Wisdom to you second wind defense bump, you are getting very high, very quickly into the realm of super defense (and when you’re a dwarf, it’s a minor action…)

I was ‘meh’ on the invoker, but the Warden preview gets a big thumbs up.

At Will » Class Previews

Inside the Insider: The Warden