Tempest/TWF build request...

Hello everyone. I have just started playing DDO again after about a year hiatus and came back to find that things have changed vastly in the toon department. I have always liked playing rangers and I am partial to TWF. I had a good Tempest build back in the day but now with all the changes and nerfs I am not sure where to start. My last tempest was a max dex build with a 36 DEX, splashed monk with a good WIS for added AC, weapon finesse for rapiers/short swords, and all the Tempest enhancements. Swapped out armor for robes and bracers. Now while I loved the high to hit and *decent* AC i found that i was not damaging mobs as much as I would have liked to, hp were lacking and on elite content i was getting 1 or 2 hit killed by named mobs. Now I am looking for something that I can still TWF/Tempest but do more damage. I solo a lot and would love to have good hp, self healing, self buffs, etc. I am almost leaning towards an elf fighter with the dragonmark displacement, taking the TWF feats and going STR based, complimenting the stats with auction house +1 tomes to satisfy the DEX req for GTWF. Maybe splash 1 level of caster for ability to wand whip blur/stoneskin? Any thoughs would be greatly appreciated.

A few builds to get you started:

• In the "oldies but goodies" department, there are still rogue-splashed rgr 18 builds like my Tempest trapmonkey or the Exploiter. Tempest III ain't what it used to be, unfortunately, but it's still a solid versatile combo IMHO (tho I'm slightly biased); and I'm hoping T3 gets a buff with the Enhancement changes later this year.
• For something more DPS-focused, have a look at the Badger and my own variant. Nice thing about it is it's a combo which can be adapted to any race or number of build pts. And I was just trying to come up with a Dragonmarked elf variant, too... ;)
• The classic Monster (ftr 12 / rgr 6 / monk 2) is still a solid build, IMHO, but the nerf to Tempest I way back when killed its DPS. But it still gets tons of feats, Evasion, and good TWF DPS.

First off welcome back. The secret to not burning out and quitting a game you enjoy is to take breaks from it often :) Thats my philosophy anyway.

At some point in August we will see the release of a rather large change in the way Enhacements work and until I (or I guess anyone else) has seen them live it will be hard to tell ~exactly~ what has changed and what hasn't and what builds will be viable and which won't.

I'm sure builds that work now will still be good after the update.

As somethng different why not think about an Elven 18 FvS / 2 Monk. Lots of self healing, self buffing, evasion and the possibility to have decent offensive spells and good dps.

Good places to start :)

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=219755

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=219885

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=200561