Advice for Dwarf Theif build

[Kyleron]

I have an alt thief that I have slowly been building over the years. High constitution, dexterity, and some raised intelligence, with the dwarf axe feat. My goal was to make a thief that could fight a little, but was a good trapper. With the old enhancements I took the mechanic skill and got a lot of other enhancements that went along with the build. The new enhancement trees leave a lot to desire and feel to me like I am forced in my build decision. If I want a thief good with trapping I have to use a crossbow. If I want assassin skills the kukri or dagger is the way to go. It just does not feel like I can make the player I was able before.

I am not looking for this character to be completely optimal. I realize playing a dwarf thief I will give up things. I was thinking I might multi-class. I am level 8 and here are my stats:

Str: 14
Dex: 16
Con: 19
Int: 13
Wis: 10
Cha: 6

I also have +2 tomes for all of the skills also. I was thinking of maybe fighter? I am not sure what would be useful, but continuing the thief levels does not seem useful. Any suggestions?

[droid327]

Seems like Ranger is the way to go. That'll keep your melee focus, and let you stay DEX based for damage with scimitars and light melee (and rapiers, with Finesse and the Improved version in DWS) - no dwarf axe, though, unfortunately, but you can respec that feat.

You don't really need to spend AP to be an effective trapper, +skills and INT from gear is enough to handle most stuff at-level.

That being said, you could stay pure rogue Assassin and still be a melee-focused Rogue who traps, with Kukris.

[mna]

I have an alt thief that I have slowly been building over the years. High constitution, dexterity, and some raised intelligence, with the dwarf axe feat. My goal was to make a thief that could fight a little, but was a good trapper. With the old enhancements I took the mechanic skill and got a lot of other enhancements that went along with the build. The new enhancement trees leave a lot to desire and feel to me like I am forced in my build decision. If I want a thief good with trapping I have to use a crossbow. If I want assassin skills the kukri or dagger is the way to go. It just does not feel like I can make the player I was able before.

I am not looking for this character to be completely optimal. I realize playing a dwarf thief I will give up things. I was thinking I might multi-class.

Well. I am in a somewhat similar situation with one of my toons.

The intended favor-farmer toon I have on Wayfinder, that is... I made some less than optimal decisions with it, and it's now level 7 at 6 rogue/ 1 fighter, with +2 Dex and +1 Int tomes used. I have the +20 heart and was thinking about what to do with it...


Current plan is to get, by level 24, Improved Evasion, Manyshot, GTWF, Emp Heal, Imp Crit Slash (or Ranged? possibly at 27), Overwhelming Critical and... APs into Ameliorating Strike & Divine Might, among other things. AND, max trap and lock skills.
I'm not sure if it's still something that'd make any actual sense to do, though.

Surprisingly no one's been giving me any feedback on that build plan though, guess I should repost it differently...

[Arianrhod]

Have you considered trying the dwarf enhancements? A pure rogue really doesn't need to go all-out into the mechanic tree to be a good trapper - most of my rogues only take enough in that tree to get the skill boost. Sure, it gives you crossbow proficiency, but so did the old mechanic PrE. It's not like you have to take all the crossbow enhancements too if you'd rather use axes. The dwarf tree has enhancements that let you use CON for your weapons, might be worth considering for a high-CON rogue.

[unbongwah]

First off, I think you may have your priorities backwards. DDO is 95% killing monsters and 1% dealing with traps; therefore, your focus should be on the former, not the latter.

Second, being a good trapper depends a lot more on having the right gear & buffs than your base stats or how many APs you spend in Mechanic. Things like Skill Boost and Mechanics help, ofc, but they aren't requirements.

Third, while the rogue PrEs are geared towards specific weapons (Acro = staff, Ass = TWF kukris / daggers, Mech = xbows), you aren't forced to use them. You can sidestep the preferred weapons if you wish.

Now, that said, a pure rogue may not be the best fit for you, depending on what your revised build goals are. You might prefer a rog / rgr like a Tempest trapmonkey (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/423116-Tempest-Trapmonkey-for-new-players) or a rog / ftr. Fortunately, you should've received an LR +20 Heart of Wood, which will let you completely revise your build.

BTW, did you mean you took a +2 Supreme tome to all stats? There is no "+2 tomes for all of the skills," AFAIK.

[Kyleron]

First off, I think you may have your priorities backwards. DDO is 95% killing monsters and 1% dealing with traps; therefore, your focus should be on the former, not the latter.

Second, being a good trapper depends a lot more on having the right gear & buffs than your base stats or how many APs you spend in Mechanic. Things like Skill Boost and Mechanics help, ofc, but they aren't requirements.

Third, while the rogue PrEs are geared towards specific weapons (Acro = staff, Ass = TWF kukris / daggers, Mech = xbows), you aren't forced to use them. You can sidestep the preferred weapons if you wish.

Now, that said, a pure rogue may not be the best fit for you, depending on what your revised build goals are. You might prefer a rog / rgr like a Tempest trapmonkey (https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/423116-Tempest-Trapmonkey-for-new-players) or a rog / ftr. Fortunately, you should've received an LR +20 Heart of Wood, which will let you completely revise your build.

BTW, did you mean you took a +2 Supreme tome to all stats? There is no "+2 tomes for all of the skills," AFAIK.

Sorry, I meant I had the +2 Stat tomes (Str, Dex, Con....). I play in a very sporadic way, in spurts then take a week off. So, I have never played deep into character development. Although I have played for years, the highest level character I have ever had is a level 14 wizard.

Thanks to everyone for the explanation on late game mechanics. My biggest fear was to be a worthless rogue at higher levels. I will take a look at both the ranger and fighter paths.