Level: 11
Race: Genasi, Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, pages 10-12
Elemental Manifestation: Voidsoul, Dragon Magazine #380, page 19
Class: Warden, Player's Handbook 2, pages 152-154
Guardian Might: Lifespirit, Primal Power, page 90
Paragon Path: Scion of Absence, Dragon Magazine #380, page 22

Ability Scores:
Level 1: Strength 16+2, Constitution 12, Dexterity 10, Intelligence 16+2, Wisdom 12, Charisma 8
Level 4: Strength 17+2, Constitution 12, Dexterity 10, Intelligence 17+2, Wisdom 12, Charisma 8
Level 8: Strength 18+2, Constitution 12, Dexterity 10, Intelligence 18+2, Wisdom 12, Charisma 8
Level 11: Strength 19+2, Constitution 13, Dexterity 11, Intelligence 19+2, Wisdom 13, Charisma 9

Feats:
Level 1: Mark of Warding, Eberron Player's Guide, page 92
Level 2: Weapon Expertise (Heavy Blades), Player's Handbook 2, page 190
Level 4: Weapon Proficiency (Bastard Sword), Player's Handbook, page 201
Level 6: Weapon Focus (Heavy Blades), Player's Handbook, page 201
Level 8: Empty Mind, Dragon Magazine #380, page 20
Level 10: Manifest Resistance, Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, page 135
Level 11: Paragon Defenses, Player's Handbook 2, page 191

At-Will Attack Powers:
Level 1: Earth Shield Strike, Player's Handbook, page 154
Level 1: Thorn Strike, Player's Handbook, page 154

Encounter Attack Powers:
Level 1: Grasping Winds, Primal Power, page 92
Level 3: Breath of Chaos, Dragon Magazine #383, Class Acts: Wardens of the Breach
Level 7: Guardian's Pounce, Primal Power, page 97
Level 11: Glimpse of the Void, Dragon Magazine #380, page 22

Daily Attack Powers:
Level 1: Form of Winter's Herald, Player's Handbook 2, page 156
Level 5: Form of Mountain's Thunder, Primal Power, page 94
Level 9: Form of the Vengeful Storm, Dragon Magazine #383, Class Acts: Wardens of the Breach

Utility Powers:
Level 2: Erupting Font, Primal Power, page 94
Level 6: Guided Shot, Dragon Magazine #379, page 13
Level 10: Shared Font of Life, Primal Power, page 98

Equipment:
Main Hand: Jagged Bastard Sword +3 (Level 12, Free), Adventurer's Vault, page 71
Off-Hand: Heavy Shield (Level 0, Free)
Armor: Summoned Hide +2 (Level 6, 1,800 gp), Adventurer's Vault, page 53
Neck: Amulet of Protection +3 (Level 11, Free), Player's Handbook, page 249
Arms: Iron Armbands of Power +2 (Level 6, 1,800 gp), Adventurer's Vault, page 117
Hands: Parry Gauntlets (Level 5, 1,000 gp), Adventurer's Vault, page 136
Wondrous: Salve of Power (Level 10, Free), Adventurer's Vault, page 176

Miscellany:
Initiative: +5 (5 half level + 0 Dexterity modifier)
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Normal
Passive Insight: 16 (10 base + 5 half level + 1 Wisdom modifier)
Passive Perception: 21 (10 base + 5 half level + 1 Wisdom modifier + 5 training)
Trained Skills: Athletics, Endurance (+2 racial), Nature (+2 racial), Perception
Languages: Common, Primordial

Hit Points:
Hit Points: 100 (87 warden + 13 Constitution score)
Bloodied: 50
Healing Surge Value: 25
Healing Surges per Day: 10 (9 warden + 1 Constitution modifier)

Defenses:
AC: 27 (10 base + 5 half level + 2 enhancement + 5 Intelligence modifier + 3 hide + 2 heavy shield)
Fortitude: 25 (10 base + 5 half level + 3 enhancement + 5 Strength modifier + 1 Paragon Defenses + 1 class)
Reflex: 26 (10 base + 5 half level + 3 enhancement + 5 Intelligence modifier + 1 Paragon Defenses + 2 heavy shield)
Will: 22 (10 base + 5 half level + 3 enhancement + 1 Wisdom modifier + 1 Paragon Defenses + 1 class + 1 racial)
Resist (Voidsoul, Manifest Resistance): 15 psychic
Special (Empty Mind): When an enemy hits you with an attack that targets your Will or deals psychic damage to you, that enemy takes psychic damage equal to your psychic resistance (15).
Special (Touching the Void): When an enemy misses you with an attack, it takes psychic damage equal to your Strength modifier (+5) or your Intelligence modifier (+5).
Special (Nonbeing Action): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, you can end one effect you currently have that a save can end. Also, you regain the use of your Void Assumption power if you have expended it this encounter.
Second Wind (Parry Bracers): When you take the total defense or second wind actions, you gain a +2 item bonus to all defenses until the beginning of your next turn.
Special (Font of Life): At the start of your turn, you can make a saving throw against one effect that a save can end. On a save, the effect immediately ends, preventing it from affecting you on your current turn. If you save against being stunned or dazed, you can act normally on your turn. If you save against ongoing damage, you avoid taking the damage. If you fail the saving throw, you still make a saving throw against the effect at the end of your turn.

Attacks:
Attack Bonus (Glimpsing the Void): +16 (5 half level + 5 Strength modifier + 6 paragon tier)
Attack Bonus (Weapon): +17 (5 half level + 3 enhancement + 5 Strength modifier + 1 Weapon Expertise + 3 proficiency)
Damage Bonus (Melee): +12 (3 enhancement + 5 Strength modifier + 2 Weapon Focus + 2 Iron Armbands of Power)
Damage Bonus (Close): +10 (3 enhancement + 5 Strength modifier + 2 Weapon Focus)
Damage per [W]: 1d10 (Jagged Bastard Sword +3)
Extra Critical Damage: Ongoing 10 damage (save ends), critical hit on a natural 19 or 20 (Jagged Bastard Sword +3)

Marking:
Marking (Nature's Wrath): Once during each of your turns, you can mark each adjacent enemy as a free action. This mark lasts until the end of your next turn.
Immediate Interrupt (Warden's Fury): When an enemy marked by you makes an attack that does not include you as a target, you can use Warden's Fury against it as an immediate interrupt.
Immediate Reaction (Warden's Grasp): When an enemy marked by you that is within 5 squares of you makes an attack that does not include you as a target, you can use Warden's Grasp against it as an immediate reaction.
Second Wind (Lifespirit): When you use your second wind, an ally within 5 squares of you can spend a healing surge and make a saving throw.
Second Wind (Parry Bracers): When you take the total defense or second wind actions, you gain a +2 item bonus to all defenses until the beginning of your next turn.
Special (Mark of Warding): Whenever you mark an enemy, that enemy takes a -3 penalty to attack rolls for attacks that don't target you instead of the normal -2 penalty.

Commentary:

>Level: 11
This build is intended for play only at the paragon tier and the epic tier. Granted, it does offer a viable defender at the heroic tier, but there is mechanically nothing in particular to be gained as a Strength/Intelligence-based genasi Lifespirit warden over a more traditional Strength/Constitution- or Strength/Wisdom-reliant warden build at this point in a character's career.

>Race: Genasi, Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, pages 10-12
>Elemental Manifestation: Voidsoul, Dragon Magazine #380, page 19
The Scion of Absence paragon path requires the voidsoul elemental manifestation; as such, this build absolutely requires the genasi race. Genasi are gifted with +2 Strength, and Strength is the primary ability score of any warden. +2 Intelligence, on the other hand, would appear to clash with the warden's secondary ability score, which is either Constitution or Wisdom. However, it is fully possible to create a Lifespirit or Stormheart warden who eschews Constitution or Wisdom. Intelligence, then, can be used to drive such a character's AC and Reflex defenses.

>Ability Scores:
>Level 1: Strength 16+2, Constitution 12, Dexterity 10, Intelligence 16+2, Wisdom 12, Charisma 8
Strength is used for attack rolls, damage rolls, and Fortitude; Intelligence establishes a passable AC and Reflex; and only a 12 can be allocated into Wisdom for the sake of Will. A Strength/Intelligence build was chosen as a Strength/Constitution setup would not offer the non-AC defenses necessary for a Scion of Absence, and concentrating on Strength and Wisdom would result in a lower AC and a higher Will than Reflex, which does not complement a certain key feat of this character.

>Guardian Might: Lifespirit, Primal Power, page 90
The Constitution- and Wisdom-based rider effects of encounter powers and daily powers are irrelevant to this build, and so the tie-breaker between the Lifespirit and Stormheart class features is their second wind benefits. The healing and saving throw provided by the former were ultimately deemed more beneficial than the sliding and slowing of the latter.

>Paragon Path: Scion of Absence, Dragon Magazine #380, page 22
This paragon path is the centerpiece of the build. If this was a warden paragon path rather than a genasi racial paragon path, then this would be, by far, the single most optimal path that a warden could ever hope to enter. Each time an enemy attack misses you, that enemy takes damage to equal your Strength modifier or your Intelligence modifier; with the Nature's Wrath class feature, marked enemies are coerced into attacking you and receiving psychic damage as thanks. The level 11 encounter power of this path takes out a single enemy from the battle for a single round, nullifying the threat of an elite or solo monster, and the level 12 encounter utility negates all damage from a single attack, which is a great boost to your survivability. The level 16 passive feature provides you with a flat, untyped +2 bonus to saving throws, which makes your Font of Life class feature that much more effective.

>Level 1: Mark of Warding, Eberron Player's Guide, page 92
This increases the AC bonus from Earth Shield Strike, Form of Winter's Herald, and Form of Mountain's Thunder to +2. This, of course, heightens the probability that enemies miss you with their attacks, thereby causing psychic damage to befall them. This feat also increases the penalty to attack rolls from your marking to -3, discouraging enemies from attacking your allies even further.

>Level 2: Weapon Expertise (Heavy Blades), Player's Handbook 2, page 190
>Level 4: Weapon Proficiency (Bastard Sword), Player's Handbook, page 201
>Level 6: Weapon Focus (Heavy Blades), Player's Handbook, page 201
Generic feats that minorly improve several key numbers on your sheet, but numbers that shall be tested time and again when the time comes for you to do your part in reducing the collective hit points of the opposition to 0.

>Level 8: Empty Mind, Dragon Magazine #380, page 20
>Level 10: Manifest Resistance, Forgotten Realms Player's Guide, page 135
The latter feat improves the psychic resistance that you receive from your voidsoul manifestation by 5, to 10 at the heroic tier, 15 at the paragon tier, and 20 at the epic tier. The former feat triggers whenever an enemy hits your Will defense or deals psychic damage to you, causing psychic damage to that enemy equal to your psychic resistance. Since Will is your weakest defense, you can reliably punish those enemies who cravenly target your weak point through an even greater amount of counterdamage than that from your Touching the Void path feature.

>Level 11: Paragon Defenses, Player's Handbook 2, page 191
I could have chosen Sudden Roots for slightly more "stickiness" as a defender, though I do not consider it to be that necessary a feat for a warden, as the threat of a -2 penalty to attack rolls (-3 with the Mark of Warding), an opportunity attack, and either a Warden's Fury or a Warden's Grasp should be enough to dissuade most marked enemies from breaking off from you and attacking one of your allies; the feat does not stop the classic shift and charge either, save for during battles wherein the Form of Winter's Herald is invoked. I could have taken Toughness for 10 more maximum hit points and an increased healing surge value. I had ultimately settled on Paragon Defenses, as the humble boost in resilience that it offered and the incidentally greater chance of the psychic damage from Touching the Void triggering was, in my mind, of greater value than the benefits offered by the previous two feats. That said, Sudden Roots and Toughness should be selected at levels 12 and 14 respectively.

>Level 1: Earth Shield Strike, Player's Handbook, page 154
Again, the Mark of Warding heightens the power bonus to AC that this power bestows upon you to +2. This is the metaphorical bread and butter that you shall utilize time and again to increase the chances of psychic damage occurring.

>Level 1: Thorn Strike, Player's Handbook, page 154
This is what you fall back on in the event that you are somehow prevented from moving and you have an enemy exactly 2 squares away from you.

>Level 1: Grasping Winds, Primal Power, page 92
This evocation inflicts no more damage than your Earth Shield Strike, but the beauty of it is that it pulls in a close burst 3 of enemies adjacent to you, thereby subjecting more enemies to your Nature's Wrath marking and your Touching the Void path feature.

>Level 3: Breath of Chaos, Dragon Magazine #383, Class Acts: Wardens of the Breach
This inflicts so-so damage, especially considering that you cannot apply your Iron Armbands of Power item bonus onto it, but it does package area damage (close blast 2), temporary insubstantiality, and shifting into one solid power.

>Level 7: Guardian's Pounce, Primal Power, page 97
You may lack the Wisdom-based Wildblood rider effect of this power, but I maintain that this is a first-quality evocation for a warden of any build. It can rescue an ally from a particularly dire enemy attack, and you can even use this before your first initiative count in an combat encounter.

>Level 11: Glimpse of the Void, Dragon Magazine #380, page 22
You send off a single enemy into the metaphorical penalty box, denying it its actions as you and your allies continue whittling down its allies. Afterwards, the target grants combat advantage to you and your allies. A wonderful encounter power to use against elite and solo monsters, and it happens to be particularly accurate from levels 11-14 and 21-24 due to its built-in Expertise bonus to boot.

>Level 1: Form of Winter's Herald, Player's Handbook 2, page 156
This guardian form requires no explanation, though note that the Mark of Warding increases the untyped AC bonus to +2.

>Level 5: Form of Mountain's Thunder, Primal Power, page 94
Though the universal damage resistance 3 may be lackluster by level 11, the +2 AC bonus from the Mark of Warding and the splash damage that you can generate while marking multiple enemies makes this daily power a close runner-up to Form of Winter's Herald.

>Level 9: Form of the Vengeful Storm, Dragon Magazine #383, Class Acts: Wardens of the Breach
"You assume the guardian form of the vengeful storm until the end of the encounter. While you are in this form, you gain fly 4 and you can hover, and you become insubstantial. In addition, each time a creature starts its turn adjacent to you, you can slide that creature 1 square as a free action." Your mobility, survivability, control potential (sliding enemies), and leader potential (sliding allies) are all increased by this guardian form, which you should keep in your repertoire throughout your entire career.

>Level 2: Erupting Font, Primal Power, page 94
This utility is tagged with a fairly common trigger (succeeding on a saving throw from your Font of Life class feature), and its effect of marking each enemy in close burst 5 encourages an even greater swath of enemies to attack you and receive psychic damage.

>Level 6: Guided Shot, Dragon Magazine #379, page 13
Retroactively converting an ally's close miss against AC into a hit against Reflex shall receive you thanks from your fellow players every now and then, particularly when encounter and daily attack powers are salvaged. This is an encounter utility power that any character trained in Perception can use effectively.

>Level 10: Shared Font of Life, Primal Power, page 98
The scenario wherein you are plagued by no (save ends) effects but an ally within close burst 5 is is not an uncommon one. Granting that ally a saving throw is a fair enough use for a heroic-tier encounter utility power.

>Main Hand: Jagged Bastard Sword +3 (Level 12, Free), Adventurer's Vault, page 71
>Off-Hand: Heavy Shield (Level 0, Free)
>Armor: Summoned Hide +2 (Level 6, 1,800 gp), Adventurer's Vault, page 53
>Neck: Amulet of Protection +3 (Level 11, Free), Player's Handbook, page 249
>Arms: Iron Armbands of Power +2 (Level 6, 1,800 gp), Adventurer's Vault, page 117
This is a fairly generic equipment setup for a level 11 sword-and-shield-wielding character. The Jagged Bastard Sword's 19-20 critical range and ongoing 10 damage (save ends) on a critical hit and the Iron Armbands of Power's +2 item bonus to melee damage rolls hasten the demise of your enemies. The alternative here was a Sacrifical Bastard Sword +2, Summoned Earthhide +3, an Amulet of Physical Resolve +3, and Iron Armbands of Power +2, but the offensive benefits of the Jagged Bastard Sword +2 were too great to forgo, and the higher attack bonus resulted in greater chances of hitting with, say, Earth Shield Strike for a +2 power bonus to AC. Although a lower Will defense would increase the chances of Empty Mind triggering, I had opted for +2 armor and a +3 neck slot item as the AC of this character; with the augmentations from the Mark of Warding, Earth Shield Strike, Form of Winter's Herald, and Form of Mountain's Thunder all taken into consideration, this warden's AC is already high enough, and it would be best to bolster her Fortitude and Will once monsters wise up and target those defenses rather than AC.

>Wondrous: Salve of Power (Level 10, Free), Adventurer's Vault, page 176
A healing surge is an iota of a price to pay for an additional use of Form of Winter's Herald each day.

>Hands: Parry Gauntlets (Level 5, 1,000 gp), Adventurer's Vault, page 136
>Second Wind (Parry Bracers): When you take the total defense or second wind actions, you gain a +2 item bonus to all defenses until the beginning of your next turn.
>Second Wind (Lifespirit): When you use your second wind, an ally within 5 squares of you can spend a healing surge and make a saving throw.
>Special (Nonbeing Action): When you spend an action point to take an extra action, you can end one effect you currently have that a save can end. Also, you regain the use of your Void Assumption power if you have expended it this encounter.
As a final note, this character's second wind is intended for use in the style of any other warden. When you do use it, the total bonus to all defenses equal +4 thanks to your Parry Bracers, rendering you quite, quite difficult to hit, and one ally within 5 squares of you can spend a healing surge and make a saving throw to boot. Void Assumption is to be used only sparingly, and, under most circumstances, in rounds following the use of your Second Wind. You can use this racial encounter power as a backup emergency button or to spare yourself from the effects of a particularly devastating enemy attack, conjuration, or zone; however, your enemies are then free to attack your allies, albeit with a -3 penalty to attack rolls from your marking and your Mark of Warding.

That is all.

Bump for awesome character with an awesome concept.

Nature hates you, so you defend it.

It looks like a builder that can endure heroic very well, thanks to the Mark of Warding combo.

>>7732579

The issue is that, at the heroic tier, perhaps until the Empty Mind and Manifest Resistance feats are gained, this character is endowed with no effective gimmicks that could not be used by a conventional Strength/Wisdom- or Strength/Constitution-based warden.

>>7732635

And those can't be prioritized over the "basic" feats?

>>7732674

You stand to gain greater offensive potential with feats such as Weapon Expertise, Weapon Proficiency, and Weapon Focus than Empty Mind and Manifest Resistance. Being dealt psychic damage or having your Will defense hit is something that cannot be guaranteed to occur during each encounter; hitting and dealing damage by means of one of your powers, however, comes into play approximately every other round in battle.

>>7732786

So, we must suck it and wait for level 8-10 to have some kind of unique flavour.

It's not like everyone is a perfect unique snowflake at heroic.

>>7732925
Lots of people start at paragon tier. 4e is one of those games which for many just doesn't feel right at those low levels of play; given how ridiculous it is one always feels as if they should be doing big things instead of clearing out kobolds. It's the complete opposite in that respect to how I feel about DH and 1e WHFRP where the game just doesn't feel right once your characters stop sucking and start behaving more like high fantasy heroes.

Also Touhoufag's builds are usually just thought excercises for him, I have no idea what he actually plays with at all.

>>7732525
Nature doesn't hate genasi.

Why didn't you go with swordmage?

>>7733568

The mass-marking potential of the warden was more to my liking than the Aegis of a swordmage.

>>7732925
Crippling Crush?

>>7732947

The issue I have with starting at paragon is that creating a paragon tier character takes exponentially longer than creating a heroic tier character. You can fart out a level 3 character within an hour (half that if you use the CB), but a paragon character can often take most of an afternoon.

>>7734317
This is not a problem at all for 95% of games. The other 5% being "YOU HAVE TO MAKE YOUR CHARACTER ONLY RIGHT BEFORE THE GAME STARTS".

I like this, but it's not so good to have three trained skills that you don't have high stats for.

>>7734696
Not too big an issue with +2 Endurance/Nature from being a genasi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF2QuTncDPs

This needs a better name. The Voidwarden sounds nice.

>>7734696

It is not much worse than the typical skill bonus concerns that concern, say, Strength/Constitution-based characters. This said, yes, it is a substantially less optimal skill-user than a Lifespirit or Wildblood warden concentrating on the prescribed Strength and Wisdom.

>>7738093

Your proposed moniker bears far too much resemblance to the infamous Stormwarden.

I like this build. Thanks for sharing it.

>>7733606
Swordmages have Double Aegis though. I think it'd work out.

To clarify, does this character do 5/15 damage when missed all the time, or just when missed by marked enemies, via Immediate Interrupt (Warden's Fury): When an enemy marked by you makes an attack that does not include you as a target, you can use Warden's Fury & Warden's Grasp?

I had a stupid idea a while back of a warden who dual-wielded shields. Maybe have a heavy shield in one hand, and a spiked shield in the other.

Voidsoul is my favorite Abyssal Genasi though, followed by Cindersoul.

>>7742046

The Touching the Void class feature and the Empty Mind heroic feat both function independent of marking. They can be triggered by any type of attack, be it melee, ranged, area, or close.

>>7742128
Shield bonuses don't stack.

>>7742155
So that's really good then.

I have to try this out some day.