Evoker FVS that can melee?

[Alex301]

Just an idea i had for a TR with a sorc past life. Melee wise it should only have 2 str lower than the soul survivor but deal more damage and has 3 extra damage boosts. For casting i have no idea though; i have yet to play a healer past level 6 :o

24+ 6 item+ 2 monk stance+ 2 ship+ 2 exceptional= fairly easy 36 wisdom. I didn't bother with spell penetration as i felt i would be spreading the build too thin, if i'm not already. Does implosion need spell pen btw? I've read a few posts that mention it in relation to your spell pen but the compendium says it doesn't have any spell resistance.

As i've said, i have very limited experience with divines but could this work with some decent gear?


Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.9.1
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Level 20 Lawful Neutral Half-Orc Male
(2 Monk \ 18 Favored Soul)
Hit Points: 332
Spell Points: 1637
BAB: 14\14\19\24
Fortitude: 18
Reflex: 14
Will: 21

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Abilities Base Stats Modified Stats
(34 Point) (Level 1) (Level 20)
Strength 18 23
Dexterity 8 10
Constitution 16 18
Intelligence 6 8
Wisdom 16 24
Charisma 10 12

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Base Skills Modified Skills
Skills (Level 1) (Level 20)
Balance -1 5
Bluff 0 1
Concentration 7 24
Diplomacy 0 1
Disable Device n/a n/a
Haggle 0 1
Heal 3 7
Hide -1 0
Intimidate 0 1
Jump 4 6
Listen 3 8
Move Silently -1 0
Open Lock n/a n/a
Perform n/a n/a
Repair -2 -1
Search -2 -1
Spot 3 7
Swim 4 6
Tumble n/a n/a
Use Magic Device n/a n/a

Level 1 (Favored Soul)
Feat: (Diety) Favored by the Silver Flame
Feat: (Selected) Martial Weapon Proficiency: Greatsword
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Sorcerer


Level 2 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Toughness


Level 3 (Favored Soul)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Spell


Level 4 (Favored Soul)


Level 5 (Favored Soul)


Level 6 (Favored Soul)
Feat: (Favored Soul Bonus) Energy Resistance: Fire
Feat: (Selected) Maximize Spell


Level 7 (Favored Soul)


Level 8 (Favored Soul)


Level 9 (Favored Soul)
Feat: (Selected) Spell Focus: Evocation


Level 10 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Power Attack


Level 11 (Favored Soul)


Level 12 (Favored Soul)
Feat: (Favored Soul Bonus) Energy Resistance: Acid
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons


Level 13 (Favored Soul)


Level 14 (Favored Soul)


Level 15 (Favored Soul)
Feat: (Selected) Heighten Spell


Level 16 (Favored Soul)


Level 17 (Favored Soul)
Feat: (Favored Soul Bonus) Energy Resistance: Electricity


Level 18 (Favored Soul)
Feat: (Selected) Quicken Spell


Level 19 (Favored Soul)


Level 20 (Favored Soul)
Enhancement: Favored Soul Damage Boost I
Enhancement: Favored Soul Damage Boost II
Enhancement: Favored Soul Damage Boost III
Enhancement: Favored Soul Damage Boost IV
Enhancement: Favored Soul Extra Action Boost I
Enhancement: Silver Flame Exorcism
Enhancement: Favored Soul Angel of Vengeance I
Enhancement: Favored Soul Angel of Vengeance II
Enhancement: Orcish Extra Action Boost I
Enhancement: Orcish Extra Action Boost II
Enhancement: Orcish Extra Action Boost III
Enhancement: Orcish Melee Damage I
Enhancement: Orcish Melee Damage II
Enhancement: Orcish Power Attack I
Enhancement: Orcish Strength I
Enhancement: Orcish Strength II
Enhancement: Way of the Faithful Hound I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Favored Soul Prayer of Smiting I
Enhancement: Favored Soul Prayer of Life I
Enhancement: Favored Soul Prayer of Incredible Smiting I
Enhancement: Favored Soul Prayer of Incredible Life I
Enhancement: Favored Soul Smiting I
Enhancement: Favored Soul Smiting II
Enhancement: Favored Soul Smiting III
Enhancement: Favored Soul Life Magic I
Enhancement: Favored Soul Life Magic II
Enhancement: Favored Soul Life Magic III
Enhancement: Favored Soul Energy of the Scion I
Enhancement: Favored Soul Energy of the Scion II
Enhancement: Favored Soul Energy of the Scion III
Enhancement: Favored Soul Wisdom I
Enhancement: Favored Soul Wisdom II
Enhancement: Favored Soul Toughness I
Enhancement: Favored Soul Toughness II
Enhancement: Favored Soul Toughness III
Enhancement: Favored Soul Wand and Scroll Mastery I

[Matuse]

You're losing 2 points of spell pen, 450-ish spellpoints, a level 8 spell, 2 level 9 spells, your level 20 DR, and the capstone.

On a casting specialist? Not worth it.

[Alex301]

I'm not bothering with spell resistance, the capstone is a bit meh imo, it's only 10 dr and doesn't stack with stone skin and, while the other spells would be nice to have, i don't think they're necessary. More spell points never hurt but it will still have a decent amount.

Monk provides evasion and the two additional feats needed.

[wey4lust]

Capstone, 10 dr silver (its not same as ss spell, and its pernament), spell dc, free heal ligh wounds (that can save life), just do melee or caster cuz wis min/max stat, build that u posted will not be good for end game quests. U miss gsp: evo and spell penetration to be good caster, and miss couple of melee feats to be good melee. Also if u want use greatsword why not lord of blades?

[wey4lust]

And also u start with 8 dex so even top buffed idk u can reach evasion that matters in any end game quests/epics

[Alex301]

10 DR adamantine is just as useful as 10 DR silver and i'd rather have evasion over a permanent stoneskin effect. With 14 base reflex you can still buff it into the mid 30s although it is a little lower than i'd like.

Why not just cast heal instead of CLW? All the free level 1 spells seem a little useless to me. And spell DC is based on the spell level, not caster level so there will be no change to DCs. Annoyingly the lord of the blades feat requires you to be warforged as well.

The dps of this build with melee weapons would actually be higher than your traditional WF FvS thanks to the HO THF damage enhancements. Spell DCs would only be 1 from maximum as i started with 16 wisdom instead of 18 but that is made up for by the monk stance or sorcerer pastlife.

[eruhuan]

Good build, however it depends on where or how you plan to play it. I'm sure you will enjoy this build.

My 2 cp though, Once you experience the power of implosion both in epic and farming lvl 18-20 quests on a TRx2, you would want to maximize implosion DC with SF: evocation feats.

Also I agree with you on the splash vs pure fvs. Its been a long debated topic. In my opinion though, mass heal and implosion are must-haves at late levels

currently im building a self buffed 44 DC evocation Fvs, with sorc past lives, i can hopefully increase it more.

[Alex301]

It already has SF: evocation although you could pick up GSF with an 18 FVS/ 1 FTR/ 1 Monk split, it would just mean giving up evasion :/ The lack of mass heal is a pain though.

On paper the build should be capable of both fighting and casting so at least i'll a taste of each if i ever get around to TRing.

[Matuse]

10 DR adamantine is just as useful as 10 DR silver and i'd rather have evasion over a permanent stoneskin effect.

Having had both, I can easily say that you're out of your mind.

There are in fact monsters who can break /Adamatine DR. Not many, but they exist. Nothing breaks /Silver or /Cold Iron or /Good.

Stone skin runs out. A lot, in fact. Swapping around to use scrolls or wands is tedious, time consuming, and expensive.

With high reflex, innate resistances, easily available greater resists, elemental damage is not something to be greatly concerned about.


With 14 base reflex you can still buff it into the mid 30s although it is a little lower than i'd like.

If you're not getting your reflex save into the 50s, Evasion won't make much of a difference.


Why not just cast heal instead of CLW?

Because the CLW uses no spellpoints.


All the free level 1 spells seem a little useless to me.

The Silver Flame, Sovereign Host, and Vulkoor capstone spells are immensely useful. The only way you can claim they aren't is if you've never actually used them.


And spell DC is based on the spell level, not caster level so there will be no change to DCs.

DC doesn't matter if you can't break their spell resistance.


The dps of this build with melee weapons would actually be higher than your traditional WF FvS thanks to the HO THF damage enhancements.

The traditional WF will have a much higher strength than you, and you're not even taking some of the HO damage enhancements, so how much help can they be? A WF FvS will be getting the exact same +4 damage (with half as many AP spent) as you are.

You're trying to do it all, and you won't be able to. If you're going to melee, focus on melee. If you're going to cast, then focus on casting. If you're going to dabble, then don't split your build so much. You can fit 1-2 feats of melee stuff (PA, Imp Crit) into a caster focused build. The melee would still be respectable, but you'd remain pure, and your casting would be immeasurably better.

[Alex301]

A WF favoured soul would hardly have 'much higher strength':

WF - 18 base+ 5 levels up= 23
HO - 18 base+ 1 level up+ 2 enhancements= 21

A difference of 2 strength isn't even noticeable. I did forget the passive feat though that adds +2 damage to great swords, so they are even there. HO is going to get more damage boosts though and a warforged is going to run out very quickly. You also don't need to worry about the 50% healing a warforged has too and invest all those points in healing friend.

The use of free CLW, invisibility and searing light still sounds very situational to me. No i haven't tried them but people who i've talked to say they very rarely use them as well. Honestly they just don't sound very compelling.

50 reflex saves for evasion to work is nonsense. There are plenty of places 30+ reflex saves are going to mitigate a significant amount of damage. It is lower than i'd like but you're still going to see that blue hexagon often enough to justify it for me.

And i'm not going to bother with spell pen so it's just DCs i'm worried about. This build is still going to have the same DC as an evoker fvs that focuses completely on casting while having roughly the same dps as a melee fvs that focuses completely on fighting.

[mute_mayhem]

A WF favoured soul would hardly have 'much higher strength':

WF - 18 base+ 5 levels up= 23
HO - 18 base+ 1 level up+ 2 enhancements= 21

A difference of 2 strength isn't even noticeable. I did forget the passive feat though that adds +2 damage to great swords, so they are even there. HO is going to get more damage boosts though and a warforged is going to run out very quickly. You also don't need to worry about the 50% healing a warforged has too and invest all those points in healing friend.

All those points in healer's friend? You mean those 2 points for just the first tier? I don't know anyone who takes more than HF 1, so I can't say I agree with your assessment.


The use of free CLW, invisibility and searing light still sounds very situational to me. No i haven't tried them but people who i've talked to say they very rarely use them as well. Honestly they just don't sound very compelling.

Before you describe something as "not worth it" or very situational, actually try using the ability. A double empowered, maximized FREE cure light wounds is hardly situational. I've healed the horoth tank on hard using just my cure light capstone and a half dozen heal scrolls. I must respectfully disagree, those three capstone spells are very much "worth it".


50 reflex saves for evasion to work is nonsense. There are plenty of places 30+ reflex saves are going to mitigate a significant amount of damage. It is lower than i'd like but you're still going to see that blue hexagon often enough to justify it for me.

And i'm not going to bother with spell pen so it's just DCs i'm worried about. This build is still going to have the same DC as an evoker fvs that focuses completely on casting while having roughly the same dps as a melee fvs that focuses completely on fighting.

Not going to bother with spell pen, but you're worried about DC's? As Matuse said, DC's mean nothing if you can't break SR. Sure, if you're just going to be running Kobold Assault, your spell pen and DC's should be alright, but if you intend to cast at all in elite end game or epics, you'll want more spell pen.

[Alex301]

I wouldn't take more than the first healers friend too, but I know some that take all 3. The soul survivor build advocates taking all 3 too iirc. Regardless, you still have subpar healing amp compared to half orc.

If you were able to heal the tank just through scrolls and clw then it doesn't sound like you needed to conserve your sp, which is the only reason I can think of for using it. We can debate the benefits and draw backs of pure vs 18/2 all day, they are both valid builds imo with their own strengths and weaknesses. This build would not work as a pure favoured soul though as it doesn't have enough feats and you'll have 1 lower dc.

The reason I don't plan to build for spell pen is because I don't plan on relying on spells with spell resistance for the harder content. It may be feasible to fit it in with a fighter level instead of a monk and pick up spell pen, then take some of the spell pen enhancements. I don't have the experience to say.

The title is probably misleading, a melee fvs that can cast is more accurate The way I imagine the build working is like your traditional wf fvs melee but with much more powerful BBs, firestorms etc along with an implosion whenever it is off timer. Your melee DPS will remain largely the same, probably better over a longer period of time, but your casting ability will be much better. You do trade some survivability for it and some spell points but anything that can self heal is going to be hard to kill and you'll still have plenty of spell points.

[Darkrok]

You *can* melee on a pure Evoker FvS. It might not be pretty but it can be done. ;)

[LordPiglet]

I wouldn't take more than the first healers friend too, but I know some that take all 3. The soul survivor build advocates taking all 3 too iirc. Regardless, you still have subpar healing amp compared to half orc.

If you were able to heal the tank just through scrolls and clw then it doesn't sound like you needed to conserve your sp, which is the only reason I can think of for using it. We can debate the benefits and draw backs of pure vs 18/2 all day, they are both valid builds imo with their own strengths and weaknesses. This build would not work as a pure favoured soul though as it doesn't have enough feats and you'll have 1 lower dc.

The reason I don't plan to build for spell pen is because I don't plan on relying on spells with spell resistance for the harder content. It may be feasible to fit it in with a fighter level instead of a monk and pick up spell pen, then take some of the spell pen enhancements. I don't have the experience to say.

The title is probably misleading, a melee fvs that can cast is more accurate The way I imagine the build working is like your traditional wf fvs melee but with much more powerful BBs, firestorms etc along with an implosion whenever it is off timer. Your melee DPS will remain largely the same, probably better over a longer period of time, but your casting ability will be much better. You do trade some survivability for it and some spell points but anything that can self heal is going to be hard to kill and you'll still have plenty of spell points.

I'm pretty sure the newest version of soul survivor only advises taking 2 tiers and utilizes the saved ap's to go AoV I