Are wardens overpowered? | EN World Tabletop RPG News & Reviews

Posted by Patria Henriques on Tuesday, August 13, 2024
I play a STR/CON Dragonborn Greatweapon Fighter in a group with a STR/CON Longtooth Shifter Earthstrength Warden, and I don't see the "overpowered" aspect that you are.

I outdamage our Warden since I'm going with a two handed Execution Axe versus his Khopesh and Shield. Granted, he could go with a bigger weapon but it wouldn't change the damage that much (he could go up to Waraxe, be 1 damage behind me, but I'm still more accurate). I outdamage our Rogue on a crit (High Crit + Vicious = nasty crits), but for average damage he's the king of the party, and we both outdamage the Warden.

As for defenses and survivability, the Warden is pretty good but not overpowered. I think we have about the same AC, but like me he's got crap for Reflex (the shield helps a bit though) and Will defense (we both have WIS as a tertiary, so we're about the same). Font of Life only helps for ONE condition, so in terms of shaking off nasty effects, he's not that far ahead of me. He has more HP, true, but he also tends to get attacked less.

Due to his inability to punish a shift, the DM frequently tries to get away from him and ignore his marks. So while yeah, he can mark a lot of enemies, it's easy for them to get away from him. On the other hand though, the DM is very afraid of my mark because it hits a lot harder and a lot more often than the Warden's...plus, I have the nasty habit of killing enemies that ignore me. :devil:

So, at least in our game, I would say that the Warden is a very tough, very capable Defender, but not overpowered. He seems to be a bit of a generalist Defender in fact, in that a lot of the other Defenders seem to have the ability to specialize in something and do it better than the Warden. Swordmages have more mobility and ability to protect allies, Pally's have more ability to punish more opponents and heal allies, and Fighters have more ability to do sheer damage and has a stronger mark and the ability to control enemy movement better (Combat Superiority beats Sudden Roots any day).

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