Player's Handbook Heroes, Series 2: Preview 3

After last week's scary jaunt in the wilderness, and at the risk of sounding a bit like a Drow, might I suggest we retire to the safer and more secure caverns of the Underdark?

Here, we will meet three different heroes that will only play nicely together when found in this sunless realm. However, they are a true bargain as a squad, weighing in at under 80 points. Nonetheless, outside the Underdark, they only see each other over crossed swords (or spears, as the case may be).

In particular, the Tiefling Spearfighter is a disciplined veteran of both Borderlands and Underdark warbands.

His Ready Spear and Schiltron-Trained powers provide him with the discipline to stand before any charging enemy. In fact, he's one of the few that will actually smile when charged by a mounted opponent, invoking his Rock of Strength power to do extra damage. Finally, it's more than his Tiefling heritage that makes him love to stand firm on Blood Rock; there, his Longspear will stop a charge dead in its tracks one time in ten.

While far too civilized to be the Tiefling's ally on the surface world, the proud but talented Roving Swordmage can fight side by side with him in Purple warbands.

His magic-enhanced swordplay allows him to match the Tiefling's reach, while his martial training makes him a deliberate fighter who will probe your defenses, find your flaws, and then capitalize on them. And if it feels like the Swordmage might be using a spear too, well, it could be that the Tiefling is still nearby, fighting under the Swordmage's Aegis of Stealth.

His tricks don't end there, because in the blink of an eye and the flash of a sword, the Roving Swordmage can have you transposed with the Tiefling -- ready to be flanked. After all, just because the Swordmage won't back down from an attack doesn't mean he always fights fair.

Of course, the Swordmage's weakness are ranged and area attacks that can eliminate him and all his melee-based trickery from a distance.

This may explain the third member of the trio, the Windsoul Genasi Paladin.

At home on a frozen Windswept Precipice or in the caverns beneath it, this Paladin is a hero with a unique defensive ability -- he can completely block line of sight, summoning Obscuring Mist. It only lasts until his next turn, but depending on how you manage your activations, it could really last for nearly two full rounds before the winds dispel it as abruptly as it formed.

The four winds also grant this Genasi both Flight and the ability to push friends and enemies around the battlefield. His smite-like Delirium Strike doesn't do any extra damage, but might still leave a whistling sound in your ears. He's one reason the winds howl in the caverns of the Underdark, though he can often also be found indulging his Wild side above ground level.

Some might think the Windsoul Genasi Paladin a perfect fit in the Wild, based on great synergy with the Hierophant of the Seventh Wind. But when it comes to the Wild, perhaps surprisingly, neither he nor the Hierophant are true masters of the wind.

As we shall see, next week...

p. _D. Garry Stupack has an unnatural affinity for all things Purple, Underdark, and controller-y._