What's everyone's opinion of the Warden spec?

I've put my name down for GMRen's PBP on the FaD board, and I've no intention of changing specialization, but I am curious what folks think of it.

Pairs well in a long term campaign with Aggressor I think.if you don't mind being a little on the shady side thematically.

I look at the warden, and all I can think of is Clint Eastwood. Westerns, Dirty Harry, Unforgiven. Take your pick. He just has a mean vibe that intimidates everyone.

One of my favorite specs, like Mr.Pirate said good pairing with agressor long term. A great blend of social and combat talents.

I really enjoy it, and I think it's a nice, tight Spec with a clear focus... which not every Spec in this game has, unfortunately. It is kind of hilarious to play with a Zabrak, which I've done just to see how much I can break it with a free Advantage in one of the two skills I care about (with talents that rely on advantage in that skill), but regardless it seems streamlined and highly flavorful.

Another great benefit is that it pairs really well with a lot of Specs. Aggressor, like everyone says, is a clear addition because it shares the themes of combat and pragmatism. Enforcer from the Hired Gun book is also a natural pair if you can invest in Streetwise as a third skill because it enhances everything you already do without distracting you too much with the additional roles that new Specs often throw at your character.

Shii-Cho Knight fits really well, and not just because the shared reliance on Brawn. Sarlacc Sweep and Multiple Opponents pair fantastically with Fearsome, Grapple, and No Escape. You can Scathing Tirade at enemies to proc No Escape, cause a ton of Fear checks, and then Grapple everyone so that most enemies literally can't leave engaged. Then you have Defensive Training, Parry and Improved Parry, and Durable to protect yourself while waiting on the next turn where you take advantage of Multiple Opponents and Natural Blademaster to really power up Sarlacc Sweep. Now imagine all that in the context of the art on the back of Keeping the Peace, with the Guardian on the bridge, and you've got some excellent storytelling on top of excellent mechanics.

Shock Glove/Shock Boot two weapon fighting Wardens, on the other hand, work really well with any Spec that gives Jury Rigged (and, to a lesser degree, Imbue Item) to reliably increase damage output. Plus, it's a great nonlethal option if your character is in to that. Modder, which allows you to hide a lightsaber in Hidden Storage on top of giving you a few ranks of Jury Rigged to improve all your shock weapons, makes you terrifying whether you find yourself in a situation where you can swing your saber with wild abandon or if you should stick to punching things. Any Spec that gives more ranks in Fearsome makes you a total beast at scaring off enemies, and if you pick up the Signature Ability "Unmatched Heroism" you can technically cause tons and tons of Fear checks against multiple melee enemies as you bounce around to help your allies out. (Since you move to engaged with an ally w/in short range targeted by a successful combat check, making you engaged with any Melee/Brawl/Lightsaber enemies targeting them and triggering Fearsome.)

If you want your Warden to have solid social clout, they work really well as Advocates, Agitators, or Politicos. All of those play heavily with Coercion, which you should have in droves already, and give you more ranks for talents you enjoy as a Warden or - in some cases - give you access to even better forms of Scathing Tirade.

If, instead, you want to boost your ability to punch things, Infiltrator gives you some good tools for that and Marauder just makes you downright more deadly.

Wardens are also cool/terrible (depending on your point of view) as one of the few FaD specs that synergize really well with a clear selection of Force powers. A moderately upgraded Influence and the Brawn tree of Enhance and you're already your Force Rating better at basically everything you need to do.

Plus, there's the fact that I am convinced Modder/Warden/Shadow makes you Batman.... I mean, if you really want to be Batman you need, like, 6 different Specs and hundreds of XP and thousands of credits, but those three will get you pretty much there.

In case you can't tell, I love Wardens.

Shii-Cho Knight fits really well, and not just because the shared reliance on Brawn. Sarlacc Sweep and Multiple Opponents pair fantastically with Fearsome, Grapple, and No Escape. You can Scathing Tirade at enemies to proc No Escape, cause a ton of Fear checks, and then Grapple everyone so that most enemies literally can't leave engaged. Then you have Defensive Training, Parry and Improved Parry, and Durable to protect yourself while waiting on the next turn where you take advantage of Multiple Opponents and Natural Blademaster to really power up Sarlacc Sweep. Now imagine all that in the context of the art on the back of Keeping the Peace, with the Guardian on the bridge, and you've got some excellent storytelling on top of excellent mechanics.

That is the guy on the bridge.

In case you can't tell, I love Wardens.

I know right!

Warden + Enhance + Misdirect is one of my favourite characters, they are great shady force users. Force Leap as a Maneuver and Grapple basically make you inescapable, then Brawl with 2 added Force Dice for some strain damage. Then there's all those lovely social talents to make Scathing Tyrade a super flexible ability, again with 2 Force Dice added just to make sure you have enough advantage.

Combine Warden with Armorer or Gadgeteer for an awesome Batman... Because I'm Batman! Also combines well with Shadow for a scary brawl sneak. Aggressor, Enforcer, Marshall and Agitator are great pairings as well, then there's Commando and Infiltrator if you really want a want to improve your Brawl skill.

My favourite species for Warden are Neimoidian, Whiphid or a Zabrak.

Warden is one of the few specs that I could purchase every single talent and not feel like I wasted a single point of XP.

For the last 18 months I've been playing in a bi-weekly campaign as a Shadow and Shien. I added Warden once KtP was released and transitioned away from a lightsaber to the Talisman of Iron Fists and a shield gauntlet. With the ability to force leap as a maneuver, and all the goodies that Shadow and Warden bring to a character (combat and social), I feel like I'm playing Batman.

I was going to multiquote, but I'm on my phone right now, and that's a challenge.

I'm glad people like Warden so well. I've been eyeballing it since Keeping the Peace dropped, but I normally GM and don't get to try out PC builds.

Zabrak was my species of choice, but only because Togruta takes too much to boost Brawn. I think this will be fun, though.

The second specialization I picked to suit RP needs and to tie into the back story, and that's Archaeologist. Probably going to take that for hard headed, pin, and Knowledge Specialization for Lore. A lot, I mean a lot, of folks seem to suggest Aggressor, but this is the first I've seen a suggestion for Shii-Cho Knight, and that's quite interesting.

Thanks for the feedback.

Please note that when you become engaged with an opponent you cause A fear check. Its not a special or additional fear check and as a result cannot be triggered a second time with the same opponent (check the description of the fear check)

Here's a 10K XP, 50K Credit Character I made who started off in Warden.

Edit: Full list of Specialisations: Warden/Armorer/Shii-Cho Knight/Commando/Agressor/Seer/Agitator

Please note that when you become engaged with an opponent you cause A fear check. Its not a special or additional fear check and as a result cannot be triggered a second time with the same opponent (check the description of the fear check)

Yeah, but if you have a lot of enemy NPCs lying around...