Liege (4e Class)
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[edit] Liege
| “ | Gentlemen, as of tonight, the world is ours. | ” |
| Class Traits |
| Role: Controller. Your arcane powers harass and inhibit your foes. |
| Power Source: Arcane. |
| Key Abilities: Intelligence, Charisma, Strength |
| Armor Proficiencies: Cloth |
| Weapon Proficiencies: Mace, longsword, bastard sword, flail, dire flail |
| Implements: Orb, Staff |
| Bonus to Defense: Will +2 |
| Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + Constitution score |
| Hit Points per Level Gained: 5 |
| Healing Surges per Day: 5 + Constitution modifier |
| Trained Skills: Arcana. From the class skills list below, choose 3 more trained skills at 1st level. Class Skills: Religion, History, Intimidate, Perception, Dungeoneering |
| Build Options: Dread liege, cunning liege |
| Class Features: Ritual Master, Aura of Might, brush aside |
The liege is a master of magics who has made bargains and exploited the laws of the spirit worlds to gain arcane power. A coterie of immaterial spirits execute their will and bargains with cosmic forces fuel their attacks. They very seldom see their fellow adventurers as companions and equals. Instead they are thought of as followers or servants. The liege is a master of fell magics that enhance their combat prowess and weaken their foes. The liege powers are focused on weakening the enemy, whether from the front of the party with blade and baleful aura, or from the rear with spiteful incantations and scouring blasts.
As a liege, regardless of your powers, it is your goals and your treatment of your followers that define you. You could be a sociopathic slayer who made a deal with dark powers, a tortured inquisitor using evil to fight evil, or a genius who is willing to go the extra mile in your pursuit of power.
As you charge into the fray, your followers trailing behind you, or exhort them onwards from behind as you weave dread magics to scour your foes, what manner of nascent empire occupies your dreams?
Liege Overview |
| Characteristics: The liege is somewhere between the fighter and the warlock. Your powers are very focused on penalizing enemies, up close or from afar. You can be puissant in close combat, unusual among magic-users, but you are also capable of never once raising steel, striking from afar. Ranged weapons are entirely outside your field, however, and magic is the only way you can attack from a distance. |
| Religion: Lieges are not the most pious of individuals, generally speaking, but some feel called to acknowledge a higher power. Some pay nominal allegiance to Ioun. Others respect Asmodeus, Bane, and Tiamat, because those deities usually share interests with the liege. It is a rare liege who does not number the followers of Bahamut among their worst enemies, for the Silver Dragon holds nothing but contempt for these usurping evildoers. |
| Races: The tiefling is perhaps the archetypal liege, although some shy from that role for fear of their inner darkness. Eladrin are known to become lieges, turning their backs on the Feywild and the seasonal courts to come under the patronage of darker, stranger forces. Humans are perhaps the most common lieges, however, if not the most memorable. That honor most certainly goes to the small, elect fraternity of halflings who choose to walk the path of the liege. |
[edit] Creating a Liege
The Liege comes in two flavors. One type of liege leads from the front, weakening foes with the side-effects of their attacks and making a smooth path for their less capable followers. This is the Dread Liege. The other type leads from the rear, sacrificing raw destructive power for greater penalties to their foes. This is the Cunning Liege.
[edit] Dread Liege
The dread liege leads by example. Your prowess with weapons or your skill with deadly spells strikes terror into your enemies, leaving them helpless before you and your companions. For this build, make Charisma your primary ability, as many of your powers will likely use it. Strength should come after, and Intelligence last to allow you to dabble into the powers of the Cunning Liege. Your concentration should be on melee powers, as these will play to your strengths.
- Suggested Feat: Armor Proficiency: Scale (Human Feat: Durable)
- Suggested Skills: Intimidate, Stealth, Dungeoneering, Insight, Athletics
- Suggested At-Will Powers: None Shall Stand, Balefire Insignia
- Suggested Encounter Power: Dusk Strike
- Suggested Daily Power: Black Sun's Mark
[edit] Cunning Liege
Your party can't go wrong with someone as brilliant as you calling the shots. For this build, you will likely not swing much steel, staying back to weaken your foes with magics or keeping to the edges of the fray, picking your targets carefully. To play a Cunning Liege, Intelligence should be your highest ability, followed by Charisma to allow you to make better use of some of the Dread Liege powers. Your concentration should be on your ranged abilities, especially those that affect more than one foe.
- Suggested Feat: Dark Fury (Human Feat: Improved Initiative)
- Suggested Skills: Religion, History, Diplomacy, Insight, Stealth
- Suggested At-Will Powers: Chill Breeze, Murderous Glare
- Suggested Encounter Power: Shadow Lash
- Suggested Daily Power: Fell Swarm
[edit] Liege Class Features
All Lieges share these class features.
- Ritual Master
You gain the Ritual Caster feat (page 200 of the Players Handbook) as a bonus feat, allowing you to use magical rituals (see Chapter 10 of the Players Handbook). You have a ritual book with three first-level rituals of your choice. At 5th, 11th, 15th, 21st, and 25th levels, you gain 2 additional rituals of your choice of your level or lower.
- Aura of Might
Choose one of the following benefits.
- Dread Aura
- Whenever you spend an action point to take an extra action, a number of beings equal to your Charisma modifier that can see you (including yourself), of your choice, may make a saving throw.
- Cunning Aura
- Whenever you or an ally within 6 squares is attacked for the first time that encounter, they gain a bonus to the appropriate defense equal to your Intelligence modifier.
- Brush Aside
- The Liege power brush aside is presented below.
| Brush Aside | Liege Class Feature |
| As a foe wins past your followers to confront you with steel, you contemptuously swat them aside with a flare of arcane energy. | |
Encounter  Arcane, Implement
| |
| Immediate Interrupt | Melee Touch |
| Trigger: A creature makes a melee attack against you. | |
| Target: The attacking creature. | |
| Effect: Target takes damage equal to half the maximum damage of their attack (not including feat or power bonuses) plus half your level. | |
[edit] Liege Powers
Your Liege powers are known as curses. A link to the list is presented below.
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