My thinking is:
- At low levels, if your Reflex saves are good enough for Evasion, then Resist + Protection from Energy should be enough to protect from half-damage. And if you fail your Reflex saves, then Evasion is meaningless and you're relying on MRR+energy buffs anyway.
- At higher levels, when the MRR cap on light armor / Mithral Body comes into play, going beyond 100 MRR becomes more important, particularly when dealing with spells that can't be Evaded.
- If we're talking about heroic leveling: how late do you want to backload your Artificer spell progression? Is it really worth delaying Lightning Sphere, your first good CC spell? Or Armor of Speed? Or Tactical Detonation + Deadly Weapons? Like you said, sometimes the best defense is a good offense; all of these are important parts of your DPS toolkit, particularly if we're talking first-lifers without a bunch of gear and past lives to fall back on.
- It's not easy to raise the MDB of Mithral Body which doesn't scale with level like light armors do, so one of the advantages of light vs heavy (i.e., higher Dodge) is unfairly capped on Warforged. But I guess the meatsack races need some gearing advantage, otherwise why play one?
- It's not just about MRR; PRR is important too and Adamantine Body provides twice as much as Mithral Body - more if you invest in Enhancements like Adamantine Durability and Supporting Construction. 6 APs into RMM gets you +20 repair amp, +6 PRR, and perma-Shield with Adamantine Body. Again, those are survivability buffs that are more useful to the first-lifer than the TR vet who breezes thru content on the way to their next life.
Now if we were talking about a fleshie Al-quisitive - e.g., Artificer 2 / Alchemist 18 - then I think the calculus changes a bit, since Alchemists have to deal with arcane spell failure plus they can grab Evasion as a bonus feat (Liquid Luck) so you don't have to "dilute" your build by splashing rogue or monk. Run something like 41 Inquisitive / 31 Vile Chemist / 8 Harper.
But after saying all that I guess I should actually post a build this time.
Code:WF Inquisificer Artificer 20 Warforged Stats 32pt Tome Level Up ---- ---- -------- Strength 8 4: INT Dexterity 16 +3 8: INT Constitution 16 12: INT Intelligence 18 +2 16: INT Wisdom 6 20: INT Charisma 6 24: INT 28: INT Skills 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 ------------------------------------------------------------ Concent 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23 Repair 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23 Spellcr 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23 Disable 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23 Open Lo 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23 Search 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23 Spot 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23 UMD 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23 Heal 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 Haggle 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 9 Balance 1 1 2 Tumble 1 1 ------------------------------------------------------------ 32 9 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 11 Feats 1 : Point Blank Shot 3 : Precise Shot 4 Arti : Adamantine Body 6 : Precision 8 Arti : Quicken Spell 9 : Insightful Reflexes 12 : Maximize Spell 12 Arti : Improved Critical: Ranged 15 : Spell Focus: Evocation 16 Arti : Improved Precise Shot 18 : Spell Penetration OR Greater Spell Focus: Evocation 20 Arti : Heighten Spell OR Empower Spell 21 Epic : Overwhelming Critical 24 Epic : Burst of Glacial Wrath 26 Destiny: Holy Strike OR Epic Spell Power: Electricity 27 Epic : 28 Destiny: Doubleshot OR Hellball 29 Destiny: Dire Charge OR Arcane Warrior 30 Epic : 30 Legend : Scion of: Plane of Air Enhancements (Spent: 77+0r +0u / Max: 80+0r +0u AP) Inquisitive (41 AP)Warforged (11 AP)
- Inquisitive, Hit the Streets, Mind Like Iron, True Seeing, Undaunted, Master Inquisitive
- Dual Shooter, Law on your Side
- Crossbow Adept, Observation, Improved Law
- Crossbow Adept, What First?: Shoot First, Improved Observation, Stop in the Name, Intelligence
- Crossbow Adept, What Later?: Ask Questions Later, Inquisition Style: Martial Inquisition, Greater Law, Intelligence
- No Holds Barred, Arresting Assault, Improved Uncanny Dodge, Inquisitor's Path: Optimistic, Diplomatic Immunity
Battle Engineer (11 AP)
- Improved Fortification, Warforged Constitution, Improved Fortification II
- Mechanist III
- Damage Reduction III
- +15 Melee and Range Power
Harper Agent (8 AP)
- Battle Engineer, Infused Weapons, Infused Armor
- Crossbow Training, Thaumaturgical Conduits III
- Action Boost: Power III
Renegade Mastermaker (6 AP)
- Agent of Good I
- Harper Enchantment, Strategic Combat
- Know the Angles III
Leveling Guide
- Renegade Defender, Alchemical Shield
- Easily Fixed, Supporting Construction III
- Hrp0 Agent of Good I; Hrp1 Harper Enchantment
- Hrp1 Strategic Combat; Hrp2 Versatile Adept I I, II, III
- Hrp0 Ability Score: Intelligence; Hrp3 Strategic Combat II
- Inq0 Inquisitive; Inq1 Dual Shooter
- Inq1 Law on your Side; Inq0 Hit the Streets; Inq2 Improved Law
- Reset Harper Agent
- Inquisitive: Mind Like Iron
- (none)
- Crossbow Adept, Observation
- Crossbow Adept, What First?: Shoot First, Improved Observation, Stop in the Name
- Inquisition Style: Martial Inquisition, Greater Law
- BE0 Battle Engineer; BE1 Thaumaturgical Conduits I, II, III
- Hrp0 Agent of Good I; Hrp1 Strategic Combat; RM0 Renegade Defender
- RM1 Easily Fixed; RM1 Supporting Construction I, II, III
- RM0 Alchemical Shield; Inq4 Crossbow Adept; Inq4 What Later?: Ask Questions Later
- Inq3 Intelligence; Hrp1 Harper Enchantment
- Inq0 True Seeing; Inq5 Inquisitor's Path: Optimistic; Inq5 No Holds Barred
- Inq5 Arresting Assault; Inq5 Diplomatic Immunity; Inq5 Improved Uncanny Dodge
- BE1 Crossbow Training; BE0 Infused Weapons; BE2 Action Boost: Power I
- BE2 Action Boost: Power II, III; BE0 Infused Armor; Hrp2 Know the Angles I
- Hrp2 Know the Angles II, III; War0 Improved Fortification; War1 Mechanist I
- War1 Mechanist II, III; War0 Warforged Constitution
- Inq0 Undaunted; War2 Damage Reduction I, II, III
- War0 Improved Fortification II; War3 +15 Melee and Range Power; Inq4 Intelligence
- Inq0 Master Inquisitive