First toon needs some love :)

[LordJair]

OK, this is my beloved first toon on DDO, and one I play in a particular group with RL friends. (Sorc/Cleric/Rogue) and we've been having a great time so far, and despite very occasionally having our butts handed to us, we havent had a lot of trouble, often doing quests a level or so higher than we were meant to... :)

I have some choices to make and wanted to pick the brains of the collective DDO Pally experts...

Bear in mind he is a 28pt build, lvl 10 toon (8Pal/2Fighter), and I went with a std build as I didnt know any better. After lots of reading I also multiclassed into Fighter, after the first couple of levels to try and boost intimidate/str a little, not realising doing this first level would have helped further. (lessons learned!)

http://my.ddo.com/character/sarlona/gohades/
(OK now you've stopped sniggering!)
Stats currently are :
STR 22 (Base 16, +1 tome, +1ftr feat, +4ring)
DEX 14 (Base 12, +2 boots)
CON 14 (Base 12, 1 feat, +1 item)
INT 8 (Base 8)
WIS 12 (Base 12)
CHA 18 (Base 14 +1 feat, +3 item)

Intimidate is 21.5 and I've got Moderate Fortification. Balance skill is awful and I'll be getting an item for that soon hopefully lol. I've made a few mistakes enhancement wise and will be doing a rebuild of those soon, suggestions welcome!

I primarily seem to be going THF, altho hoped to go Sword and board. As we rarely add other players with this party the THF/PA extra DPS seems necessary vs things like earth elementals. I was hoping to go sword n board (as is my vision of the Pally) but even with a +4 Adamantine Dwarven Axe fights were taking too long and required less healing if I pulled out the +5 Great Axe...and trying to keep aggro on multiple mobs immune to intimidate was so much easier with the 2hander!

If I've got it right, we get a +1 to place into a stat of our choice every 4 levels?
What I'm wondering is if its too late to add the next three (for lvl 12,16,20) to INT and hope for one day getting a +2 Tome which should allow for Combat Expertise...and hope for a +dex tome for dodge (I believe I started with a dex of 10 or 11!)

Is this an awful idea or should I forget AC (we're not likely to be raiding with these toons) and just head for a more dps specced Pally? Even without Dodge and CE I can hit 41 or 42 AC for short periods with the Sword n Board plus cleric buffs and Pally boosters.

Your thoughts on the matter are warmly welcomed. :)

[eonfreon]

I really don't think you should put your points into INT.
That's too long for any payoff- you'd need to wait to Level 20 to eat a +2 Tome for +5 to AC. At best you might find a +3 Tome by level 16.

I recommend you keep adding to Str. This increases your to-hit and damage.

Your stats are okay for a first build. But it wasn't set up to be an AC build, thus the low INT.

So concentrate on Str, HP, and Saves.

Yes, your AC, without a bunch of gear, will start to be lower and lower as you fight tougher and tougher Mobs. Which means you'll need to kill them faster and fight fewer at a time if possible.

[LordJair]

Cheers for the input :)

Would it be worth multiclassing further into fighter for more str/dmg then or head for the 18/2 Pal/fighter I had ended up looking at?

The only reason this is really an issue is that I've been doing ok versus some fairly mean monsties and tanked a load of mobs way higher level (5+ levels higher than us) without a real problem (one mob on an elite quest was lvl 18, which we'd hit at lvl 9!)

I dont want to become too much of a sponge for the cleric who is clearly picking up my slack :)
But perhaps its too late to be worrying about this, heh :)

[Barumar]

But perhaps its too late to be worrying about this, heh :)

Reincarnation is coming soon!!!

I am not recommending you start at lvl 1 or re-roll, but remember that the middle flavor allows you to 'fix' things like starting level (I believe you can choose either if you are multi-classed) and especially STAT and SKILL distribution.

I have a Sorcerer I will be giving more CON to. My Cleric maxed Heal and it is now near worthless.

I actually re-rolled my original Paladin, but if I had known reincarnation was coming, I would have waited, as being able to make him a 32-point build and redistribute his stats and skillls AND keep all his Raid Loot and Tomes would have been a LOT less work.

Barumar