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[shawnvw]

I'm going to make a Shadar-kai at SacredFist 13/Monk 1/Rogue 1. I'd prefer to be DPS, but my party is probably going to need me to tank (which means a lot of avoidance).

That gives me access to a Racial enhancement tree, nine class trees, and the Harper tree. (I don't have Feydark Illusionist or Vistani Knife Fighter). Where do I start?

Also, I'll probably choose these feats:

1 - TWF
1 (human) - Dodge
1 - (Martial Arts Feat) - Mobility
3 - Precision
6 - Swords to Plowshares
9 - IC Bludgeon
12 - ITWF
15 - Quicken Spell
18 - GTWF

Any thoughts about this?

[unbongwah]

I'm going to make a Shadar-kai

1 (human) - Dodge

I think you're having an identity crisis.

1 - (Martial Arts Feat) - Mobility

Mobility by itself doesn't do much good. I only take it if it's a pre-req for other things I want, like Spring Attack or Tempest's Improved Mobility. Since you're splashing monk, I would probably invest in extra stance feats. This is a pretty feat-starved build, though, since you want six heroic DPS feats (TWF x3, StP, IC:Blunt, Precision) plus some added tankiness.

[shawnvw]

I think you're having an identity crisis.

Mobility by itself doesn't do much good. I only take it if it's a pre-req for other things I want, like Spring Attack or Tempest's Improved Mobility. Since you're splashing monk, I would probably invest in extra stance feats. This is a pretty feat-starved build, though, since you want six heroic DPS feats (TWF x3, StP, IC:Blunt, Precision) plus some added tankiness.

I didn't realize that Shadar-kai, although human, don't get that bonus feat. Also, the reason the monk splash was recommended to me was to get the Ocean stance dodge cap and the various dodge and combat bonuses. Finishing moves are complicated to me, so I may not bother with them.

So how about:

1 - TWF
1 - (Martial Arts Feat) - Dodge
3 - Precision
6 - Swords to Plowshares
9 - IC Bludgeon
12 - ITWF
15 - Quicken Spell
18 - GTWF


Is that better? If all those Monk 1 dodge bonuses stack, then I'd have 8% dodge at 1st level.

[C-Dog]

I didn't realize that Shadar-kai, although human, don't get that bonus feat.

Every race is a little diff from every other.

o https://ddowiki.com/page/Shadar-kai

Finishing moves are complicated to me...

So is designing a character for DDO, for anyone.

I'm guessing you have some experience build characters for tabletop, maybe a lot of experience. Trust me when I say that all that means almost NOTHING when translating to DDO builds. Lots try it, about 5% succeed - and there's a strong chance most of those are simply lucky.

Find a tank build, and either follow it or, at worst, tweak it slightly.

Trying to build your own from scratch as a new player is a bad bet. For anyone.

So how about:...

No one is going to stop you from discussing your build here, but no one will stop anyone else from posting about their build either, in between your posts or after. With that in mind, I strongly recommend you start your own thread, which you can come back to later if/when you wish, link if you want, and which will be only about your build (and semi-related tangents ).

[unbongwah]

I didn't realize that Shadar-kai, although human, don't get that bonus feat.

But...they're not human? They're Fey humanoids, probably descended from elves.

Also, the reason the monk splash was recommended to me was to get the Ocean stance dodge cap and the various dodge and combat bonuses.

The more stance feats you take, the more you benefit from using them. The Master / GM Ocean stance will also boost your ki regen, which is used for Sacred Fist specials.

Finishing moves are complicated to me, so I may not bother with them.

With only monk 1, you'd only be able to use the elemental finishers. Probably the only useful one is spamming Earth for the free crit bonus.

If all those Monk 1 dodge bonuses stack, then I'd have 8% dodge at 1st level.

You can also spend 4 APs on Reed in the Wind: "If you successfully damage your target you gain a +3%/+6%/+9% Insight bonus to Dodge for 6 seconds." Normally I wouldn't bother but it sounds like you're trying to squeeze out as much Dodge as you can and Sacred Fist doesn't add any Dodge AFAICT.

Are you planning to go CHA-based to take advantage of Divine Dream: "While centered, you may use your Charisma score for attack and damage with weapons."

[shawnvw]

Trying to build your own from scratch as a new player is a bad bet. For anyone.

"New player"? You wanna see my Founder's Helm, buddy?

[C-Dog]

"New player"? You wanna see my Founder's Helm, buddy?

New to character building. As evidenced by your various and stated confusions.

[shawnvw]

New to character building. As evidenced by your various and stated confusions.

Just because I don't have everything memorized doesn't mean I'm new to...ah, forget it. I come here for expert advice. Besides, *everyone* is new to building Sacred Fists.

[shawnvw]

But...they're not human? They're Fey humanoids, probably descended from elves.

Their first stated feat is "Human".

Are you planning to go CHA-based to take advantage of Divine Dream: "While centered, you may use your Charisma score for attack and damage with weapons."

Absolutely, yes. In fact, I'm thinking I shouldn't bother with Greater TWF, and keep raising my CHA instead of running my DEX up to 17. With all of this character's Whirlwind and Chain attacks, do I really need to invest in more off-hand damage?

[Arkandor]

But...they're not human? They're Fey humanoids, probably descended from elves.

They used to be shadow fey in earlier editions of D&D, but now there are also descendants of elven worshipers of the Raven Queen who came to the Shadowfell to serve her, and Netherese Shadar-kai born to Shadovar humans. DDO's Shadar-Kai are the later.

[C-Dog]

Their first stated feat is "Human".

Innate feat, not selected feat. That's related to how they are treated as a "type", not re character building. This is akin to the question of whether an undead dragon is affected by dragon-bane or undead-bane weapons/Favored-Enemy enhancements.

DDO can be complicated and non-intuitive, no argument there - that's the nub of the issue.

[Starshroud]

I'm looking to play a (principally solo) tabaxi (principally melee) rogue.

Based on what I think is a fairly comprehensive search for insight into this idea, I'm thinking it could be um... suboptimal?

If so, what might I have to compromise on?

TIA!

[Starshroud]

... I'm requesting a build.

[unbongwah]

I'm looking to play a (principally solo) tabaxi (principally melee) rogue.

Rogues are tough to solo because they have zero magic: no buffs, no heals. Also a lot of their DPS depends on sneak attacks which are harder to proc reliably when you're alone. That said, a DEX Tabaxi Assassin or Acrobat is going to look like...pretty much every DEX-based rogue.

For a DEX-based melee soloer, my preferred classes are bard (Swashbuckler) and ranger (Tempest). With a rogue splash, either class can also do traps. E.g., Tempest Trapmonkey has been a go-to build for a very long time.

[Starshroud]

Sounds like my perception was correct unfortunately. Looks like I have two viable choices:

Take your solo advice or...
Give up soloing for this character and plan on grouping instead.

Thanks for the reply!

[unbongwah]

To be clear, anyone can solo on lower difficulties with a hireling, particularly if you're playing a trapper. But rogue is definitely more challenging than classes with lots of self-buffs / self-healing to solo.

Good luck and have fun.

[eldersinger]

Hi all!

I don't necessarily need a full build, I can flesh out the details, but I would like some high level guidance. For flavor reasons, I'm looking to build a Tiefling Scoundrel Bardificer. I recognize this is deeply suboptimal, but I'd like to make it work as best as it can . I have all the enhancement trees, a +8 supreme tome, and a fair number of epic past lives. For starters I assume the best Scoundrel Bardificer will probably be a swashbuckler since that's what the Scoundrel is all about. I'm open to changing that, just saying my assumption out loud. I imagine it'll be 3 bard/17 artificer as we just dip in enough to get swashbuckling, and it makes sense to me that we'll probably use light hammers since they get a solid boost from Swashbuckling and can work with the Battle Engineer weapon training. There are quite a few points I'm stumped about.

1) Should I focus on INT or CHA? I could pretty easily get either to hit & damage, but if it's plausible to get tactical detonation DCs it seems like that would be a big win, so I lean towards INT? It kinda feels bad to spend AP on getting CHA out of Tiefling Scoundrel just so I can increase the imbue die size, but maybe that's what's necessary.
2) What spell powers should I scale and what imbue should I use? Tiefling Scoundrel, Swashbuckler, and Battle Engineer each get an imbue but there's a tension between stacking sonic and electric spell power. Should I just try to have both at a somewhat lesser number and switch the imbue depending on the quest?
3) What do I need to make the runearm an effective part of the build?
4) While I'm going off the deep end should I do a fighter dip for feats and BAB? It's not clear to me that artificer levels 16 and 17 are that big a deal.

Sorry this is very unstructured but as you can probably tell I could use the advice!

[unbongwah]

I imagine it'll be 3 bard/17 artificer as we just dip in enough to get swashbuckling, and it makes sense to me that we'll probably use light hammers since they get a solid boost from Swashbuckling and can work with the Battle Engineer weapon training.

While that's technically true, the crit bonuses from Swashbuckling and Reconstructed Arms don't stack; and in terms of critical threat range, there's no reason to favor light hammers over other weapons. Either daggers with Vistani Knife Fighter or sickles / kamas with Swords to Plowshares will likely have better DPS than light hammers with BE's Hammer Training.

You could technically do a bard 3 / Artificer 17 Inquisitive build. I'm not sure what you'd gain from this combo, though, since the main appeal of Dashing Inquisition (Swashbuckle with light crossbows) is being able to use Dashing Scoundrel for +10% Doubleshot, which precludes a Runearm. But if you take Cannoneer instead, are you really gaining anything from Swashbuckling?

[eldersinger]

While that's technically true, the crit bonuses from Swashbuckling and Reconstructed Arms don't stack

Ah, I didn't look closely enough at that. Thank you for pointing it out! I guess I'll look at a Vistani build - or perhaps just abandoning Swashbucker in entirety and relying on Spellsinger to make up some of the Tactical Detonation DCs I lose by gimping myself with 3 levels of bard.

edit: Actually I initially misread your post. Do you think if I abandoned the runearm idea and went with Inquisitive w/Dashing Scoundrel the bard splash essentially works?

[LordPNut]

OK so I have 12fighter/8monk. Id like to redo her to be useful? lol. I have a lesser heart so cant change classes. But would like help with feats and a path to go, like qstaff ,wraps , great sword etc. I have +6 tomes currently lvl25. If there's a current build or something close or link to it would be helpful. Thanks