AndyE's notes on defender tradeoffs

From Shadowfell Geographic Society

I've kind of narrowed options down to a Battlerager (BR) or sword and board (SB) fighter, neither of which is on the wiki. Interesting tradeoffs (numbers based on L8 stats):

Sword and Board

• SB: human, longsword, shield
• SB: Has a +4 to hit over BR (+2 for better strength, +1 for weapon talent, +1 for a better weapon (no hammers get a +3 prof bonus)) for a
• SB: basic: +14/d8+7 basic attack, OA: +18/d8+7, challenge: +14/d8+9
• SB: Has better control powers (tide of iron and footwork lure permit the rearrangement of the front line)
• SB: Combat challenge can negate some attacks (shield push ftw)
• SB: has better defenses than SB (+2F, +4.5 Ref, +1 Will, +2.5 AC)

Battlerager

• BR: dwarf, mordenkrad (+2/2d6 brutal 1, 2H). (note, this means I either need d5s, or support stupid dice rerolling)
• BR: basic: +10/2d5+8, OA: +12/2d5+8, challenge: +12, 2d5+15
• BR: has ~50 more base hp per day (4 more HP, 5 more surges).
• BR: has effective resist melee/close 8.
• BR: has a lot of temp HP.
• BR: hits less often, but does insane damage
• BR: can take plate armor proficiency.
• BR: second wind as a minor action.
• BR: more likely to be imposing debuffs on the enemy.

Swordmage

• SM: eladrin, longsword
• SM: basic: +12/d8+8, OA: +15/d8+8, challenge: +12/d8+8
• SM: defenses are minmaxed vs. SB: (AC:+2, Refl:+1, Fort:-7, Will: 0)
• SM: equivalent surges to SB
• SM: has more area effects and mobility
• SM: more mobility.