Dwarven Warlock

[Sydril]

I've seen a few melee based caster builds around and thought I'd share mine. just hit level 12 and the build is working very well. Combo Melee / Nuker. He puts out tremendous amounts of damage and has great staying power.

All in all its not really all that much different from the Warforged versions that are so popular (for obvious reasons).

I chose dwarf for the flavor of the build, and the axe, toughness and spell resist enhancements.


Pure Dwarven Sorcerer (no multi you get spells earlier and have boatloads of SP. Pally 2 is nice for some things but its apples and oranges)

Feats:

Weapon Prof: Greataxe
Toughness
Extend
Skill Focus: UMD (this one could be replaced with something else, I took it because I went true neutral)
Power Attack


Stats at start (32 point):

16 (raise at levels)
14
16
12 (concentration, spot, umd, 1 rank in tumble)
8
12

I like having a decent reflex save (17 or so now buffed) but you could easily go with 18 str and 8 dex.

Weapons: Current favorites are +4 keen GA of Righteousness and a +4 holy Greataxe.

Spells are all non DC based offense, mostly fire spec and buffs.

HP are just a little over 200 now but with the right gear I expect to approach 300 at 14. I've had very few problems dealing with damage and very little issues with sp management. You do need to invest in potions of course until that umd gets up there.

Anyway these melee casters are very viable builds, and quite fun to play. I've had very few problems in parties, far less than the melee bards and clerics I've played but thats mainly because most people expect a sorcerer to be a nuker whether he does it with an axe or a spell.

[Twerpp]

How usable is your UMD?

Can you hit anything with Power Attack on?

I was considering Dwarf too mostly for the extra hp. Not ready to give up entirely on DC spells or pour stat increases into str though.

[wiglin]

Twerpp here is the one I rolled up. I do not touch dc based spells though. It is quite capable build.

I love showing up to an elite reaver raid asking to tank. Holding aggro is very easy when you are spamming firewall, and since you are the one tanking you pretty much always have charge. It also makes it easier to keep him facing one directions with the aggro magnet that is firewall, so the casters can charge in and get charge.

Including temporary hp's I can get around 360ish.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=119427

[Sydril]

How usable is your UMD?

with the +3 feat I expect it will be around 23 or 24 at 14. thats with a 20 charisma and maybe the rabbit gloves.

Can you hit anything with Power Attack on?

Yes, fairly easily actually. I get around a +22 to hit with it on now.

Currently at 12:

+6 level
+5 Axe
+2 enhancement
+8 Str (24 base + rage)
+4 GH
+1 Haste
+1 Steady handed armbands (picked up a pair for 250k gold)

Damage currently is D12+29 or something. Crits in the 120's Glancing blows hit at around 6-8 i think.

Ran Tempest elite and Bam and didn't have trouble with the blackguards at all.