Rogue/ranger questions. Need advice.

[Vigilark]

Leaning toward just taking 3 levels rogue the rest ranger. What starting stats for a new character do you recommend (human)? What weapons to dual wield? What armor type do rangers wear? Can they dw in heavy armor? Sneak? I want to be able to spot and disable traps, open locks well solo for hard and normal content. I'm not much into grouping. Not yet anyway. I started a rogue with low intel and couldn't spot the first trap in the first dungeon (outside the tutorial, I skipped it since this isn't my first character). This lead me to think I need to reroll. Should I just have like 10 or 12 wis then rely on a tome (which I know nothing about but keep hearing people mention them) or start with 14 wis?

Anyway, feel free to give your insights or recommendations.

[Hazelnut]

Leaning toward just taking 3 levels rogue the rest ranger. What starting stats for a new character do you recommend (human)? What weapons to dual wield? What armor type do rangers wear? Can they dw in heavy armor? Sneak? I want to be able to spot and disable traps, open locks well solo for hard and normal content. I'm not much into grouping. Not yet anyway. I started a rogue with low intel and couldn't spot the first trap in the first dungeon (outside the tutorial, I skipped it since this isn't my first character). This lead me to think I need to reroll. Should I just have like 10 or 12 wis then rely on a tome (which I know nothing about but keep hearing people mention them) or start with 14 wis?

Anyway, feel free to give your insights or recommendations.

One level of rogue is sufficient for trapping on a ranger. Take it at level 1.

I found that an Int of 16 was needed for search and disable on hard and you still need gear. You will want to add at least 4 more points into int either through levelling up or through enhancements to keep up the trapping (or tomes).

I found that a Wis of 14 was needed for spot to work on normal or hard reliably. You will also need a Wis of 14 to use the top level ranger spells. For spot to work at high levels, you are going to need gear. You don't need 14 right away and if you buy a +2 wisdom tome from the DDO store, you could use that.

Note: spot (tells you traps are near) works with wisdom. Search (to find traps) and disable device (to disable them) work with inteligence.

Next up is Con and Dex. Con is needed for more hit points. Dex will end up being your melee stat if you focus on the tempest enhancement tree. These should be roughly equal in my opinion. Put level ups into DEX if they didn't go into INT.

As for weapons, as a first life character you probably want to focus on either melee (two weapon fighting) or ranged. Since you were talking about two weapon fighting already, you want to focus on the ranger tempest tree. That means you will (eventually) be dual weilding scimitars. In my opinion, you want to sword-and-board until level 4. Then sword and a light weapon (dagger, hand-axe, light mace, etc.) until you get to treat scimitars as light weapons.

The ranger is proficient in light armor (same as the rogue) so you are limitted to that.

You could take medium and heavy armor proficiency as enhancements but in my opinion it isn't worth it. If you do, you won't have evasion (ranger level 9 get it) and you will lose out on dodge (which is probably okay since you have heavy armor). Heavy armor does affect some skills but I'm not sure if it affects disable device. maybe someone else knows?

That is my opinion. Others will have different opinions.

[Vigilark]

Hmm. Think I'll just pick up a longbow feat on my rogue then haha, if possible. Or maybe that crossbow enhancement? Main reason for ranger was the ability to use better weapons.

You only need a few points in disable device? What's the point in being able to put a lot of points in that ability then? I've been keeping it maxed on my rogue. hope that wasn't a waste. then again, not much else to put it in, maybe diplomacy or heal.

[Hazelnut]

Hmm. Think I'll just pick up a longbow feat on my rogue then haha, if possible. Or maybe that crossbow enhancement? Main reason for ranger was the ability to use better weapons.

You only need a few points in disable device? What's the point in being able to put a lot of points in that ability then? I've been keeping it maxed on my rogue. hope that wasn't a waste. then again, not much else to put it in, maybe diplomacy or heal.

If you want awesome ranged as a rogue take the Rogue Mechanic enhancement tree and use a Great Crossbow or Heavy Repeating Crossbow (when you get the feat through enhancements).

Maybe I wasn't clear in my explanation. You do need to keep disable device maxed out for it to be usable AND you are going to need gear to make it even better as you progress to higher levels. You also need to keep spot and search maxed. Open locks should be really close to maxed as well.

[Vigilark]

That was a great help about dex in the temp tree. I've seen people recommend 16 str and 14 dex and was considering that. Especially if they could wear heavier armor. Then again, one of the joys of being a ranger was not needing to have a high dex for the improved two weapon fighting /sigh. Seems I'll be needing to crank dex regardless.

[Hazelnut]

That was a great help about dex in the temp tree. I've seen people recommend 16 str and 14 dex and was considering that. Especially if they could wear heavier armor. Then again, one of the joys of being a ranger was not needing to have a high dex for the improved two weapon fighting /sigh. Seems I'll be needing to crank dex regardless.

Dex builds (meaning using dexterity to hit and as a damage booster) are not popular right now. The default is to use strength. So many people prefer to pump up strength instead of dexterity. In my opinion, the ranger temptest tree (which gives you dexterity to-hit and for damage) with light melee weapons and scimitars is worth putting more points into DEX and less into strength. It is a decision you have to make. My advice followed the path implied by the enhancement tree.

Another advantage (if sticking with rogue) is that you can have less dex and more int when you focus on the Rogue Mechanic enhancement tree because you get int to-hit and damage with crossbows.

There are lots of options. Sometimes too many.

[Vigilark]

Maybe I wasn't clear in my explanation. You do need to keep disable device maxed out for it to be usable AND you are going to need gear to make it even better as you progress to higher levels. You also need to keep spot and search maxed. Open locks should be really close to maxed as well.

I was referring to "One level of rogue is sufficient for trapping on a ranger. Take it at level 1." At level 1 you can only put a few points in disable device. This would probably be sufficient til what around level 4 maybe?

[Hazelnut]

I was referring to "One level of rogue is sufficient for trapping on a ranger. Take it at level 1." At level 1 you can only put a few points in disable device. This would probably be sufficient til what around level 4 maybe?

Ah! I see what I missed. You put as many points as you can into Disable Device, Spot, Search, and Open Locks in every level (including ranger levels) to be an effective trapper. Even though Disable Device is not a ranger skill, you can put points into it if you have 1 level of rogue already. It's just that it costs you twice as many skill points. But with a lot of inteligence that won't be a problem.

[unbongwah]

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/423116-Tempest-Trapmonkey-for-new-players

[Enderoc]

If you do rogue splash/multi/or pure I suggest firmly you get harper anyway possible through favor, vip, or buying it. I put everything into intelligence and with tomes, no gear just plus five tools...I can search and disable anything even a few levels higher than me on elite with just one rogue level. I was pretty psyched about that because I have a named pair of goggles that give me plus ten to spot and disable, but I prefer wearing my conc-op greensteel right now.