New player, weird idea...

[Scin]

Just for fun, I thought of going the ranger/paladin route, if only for the weird factor. Is this at all a viable build from a game mechanics point of view?

[Selinius]

14 pally/6 ranger with tempest is viable. 10% from tempest and zeal while twf will put out some sick dps.

[Mithran]

Honestly, it's harder to multiclass right off the bat unless you're familiar with how people play together, but if you're committed, there are good builds posted both on Ranger Forums and Paladin Forums.

I have Brutality, 13 Ranger/3 Paladin
Nellas, 14 Ranger/2 Paladin

I went high on the Ranger levels for Evasion. Paladin levels for Saves, but you should know in advance that Paladin builds are stat-point hungry, by their nature. I wouldn't want you to get frustrated by complications (they're inevitable).

One thing about this game is that you really don't have to devote all your time to one character, so as a constructive suggestion, you might try a Cleric first. Everyone will want you in their group, and if you let them know that you're a new player, you're likely to receive donations to the church you represent for healing supplies. Heals are instant-cast (almost). DO max out Concentration, put a few points into Jump/Tumble, and you're good to go.

One of the best Ranger/Paladin rolls I've seen is Drow (ala Nellas):

16
15
12
11
9
15

Once your Cleric reaches 400 Favor, then you can roll a drow version and be a dps monster.
Selenius's suggestion won't be available until the level cap is increased to 20 (it's currently 16), but that's coming soon.

[Angelus_dead]

Just for fun, I thought of going the ranger/paladin route, if only for the weird factor. Is this at all a viable build from a game mechanics point of view?
It's pretty fine. Most any combinations of ranger and paladin will work OK.

In fact, it's estimated that pal14/ran6 (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=173537&highlight=nerf) will be one of the very strongest melee builds (becoming possible once the level cap increases from 16 to 20).

For best results you should probably have either 1, 6, 9, or 11 ranger levels. The benefits of ranger levels aren't distributed evenly, so it makes sense to get enough to reach a good ability, and not take more unless you plan to go enough to get another strong power.

However, there is a serious pitfall you should research first: how ranger levels lock you out from training TWF feats manually. (That's essentially a software bug)

[Scin]

Hmm, interesting. Thanks for all the advice...all three of you are very helpful. =)

If I go ranger/paladin instead of cleric, should I start as a ranger, or as a paladin?

[Angelus_dead]

If I go ranger/paladin instead of cleric, should I start as a ranger, or as a paladin?
The conventional rule is that you should start as the class granting more skillpoints, which is ranger.

However, I'd be a little scared to start ranger because of the aforementioned bug with TWF feats. To avoid that, you should hold off on ranger levels until you either learn the details from somewhere, or already have trained GTWF. That does not apply if you intend to take ran11.

[Eudimio]

For best results you should probably have either 1, 6, 9, or 11 ranger levels. The benefits of ranger levels aren't distributed evenly, so it makes sense to get enough to reach a good ability, and not take more unless you plan to go enough to get another strong power.


Oh noes!

How can you omit ranger 2?

[Mithran]

Ranger 12 is GTWF and second Tier of PrE's (expected to be released in the next Mod), no?

[Cinwulf]

I've been away for a while doing other things so my memory may be a bit hazy, but I believe Ranger 11 is GTWF and 30 resists.