Help Wanted: Clerical Assistant (Build Request)

[Fahrenheit]

Build Request: 28pt Non-Drow character that makes an excellent companion to a dedicated cleric in a 2-character party.

My wife and I just started playing DDO because we liked the low-key nature of the game, and the fact that the loot distribution system seems designed from the ground up to avoid problems, unlike a certain other MMO which shall remain nameless. We also have children, and rather extensive lives outside of games. We want to be able to get up from the keyboard at the drop of a hat (or, more likely, the sound of shattering glass) without inconveniencing other party members by our unexpected extended AFKs.

We're newbs to DDO, but not to MMOs. I've played every edition of PnP D&D made, so I have a good understanding of the base rules, although the DDO enhancement system takes some getting used to.

So... she likes playing Clerics. To be honest, she likes to play things that bash other things, with some healing tossed in along with it. I think she'll eventually splash a couple of Pally levels. I want to play something that goes along nicely with her, such that we can do as much as possible in the game with just the two of us. Both of us are "explore everything you possibly can" sorts of players, so a door we can't open or a map section we can see but not get to is one of the worst things we can imagine.

I want a character that's going to be able to do everything she can't. I'm thinking it has to have a couple levels of rogue, if only for the traps. A Strength build would be nice, for a number of reasons (forcing open doors, better hit/dmg, etc). High strength lends well to 2H fighting styles (e.g. Power Attack), which means either a feat for a 2h weapon, or more likely a level of fighter/barb/pally/ranger for the Martial Weapons Feat. High int to open int-based doors and traps is also a good idea, especially as it'll fill out the copious skills I'll need.

After that, DPS, minor CC, and general utility would be awesome. She'll have healing and some buffing covered fairly well, and both of us are likely to be melee sorts. Keep in mind that it's a 28pt characters, no tomes or other unusual gear. We'll will usually play with just the two of us, and won't worry too much about end-game content because we can't regularly schedule long game sessions with a bunch of other people.

I'm thinking something like a Rog/Barb/Bard Warchanter, probably human for the extra feat and skill points, although I'm open to suggestions.

I'm not well-versed enough to post a full build, but I'm looking at:

16/10/12/14/14 stats, starting with Rogue, & picking up a 2nd level of it around 10th level to make best use of skill points on rogue-only skills. I don't know when or how much barb or bard to get, or if a different class makes more sense.

[Arianrhod]

Unfortunately, building a 28-point duo that can do everything is really, really hard. It's a little easier with drow, but drow have some inherent weaknesses (low con, less than stellar enhancement choices) that limit them somewhat. If it were me, I'd suggest that the cleric-who-likes-to-bash-stuff go ahead & take a paladin level or 3, and go for a decent strength on that character, freeing up the other to go mostly wizard with 2 rogue levels, for maximum arcane flexibility.

Don't worry about bashing doors, DDO doesn't have that. What it does have is some levers & runes that require a certain strength, intelligence, wisdom or charisma to operate. The strength ones tend to have the highest requirement (I know of at least one quest where someone needs a 25 strength to get the lever open, but that quest is one you probably won't be duoing anyway, at least not before you've done most everything else). If 25 seems insanely high to you, welcome to DDO, heh. Due to the nature of online gaming (it's a long topic...), DDO has had to come up with challenges for those who run quests over & over to get the very best gear & stack every conceivable bonus type on one character; in order to create situations where even some of these characters will occasionally need a team to make it through, some of the numbers get very high. Spell save DCs, DCs for disabling traps (and search DCs to find them in the first place), and some other things (like those levers & runes) get very high, and require a significant investment in specializing a character to get past them. Admittedly, a lot of these things are optional, and as a duo, you'll probably find you have to skip a lot of optionals, just becasue you can't specialize for everything. Best bet is to experiment a bit first to find out what style of play suits you best, and design your characters to focus on that. Trying to build just 2 characters who can do everything in a game designed around groups of four is likely to lead to frustration.

[CrazySamaritan]

My suggestion;
Halfling with dragonmark
Rogue2/WizardX

This way, she'll be able to do the STR/WIS levers/runes, and you can do the Int runes and UMD, so you should be as capable as her of soloing.

16 int, 14 cha, min, I think.