Some Skills questions

[chrichton]

Newb here - been playing the 10-day, and just signed on. I have rolled a Ranger/Rogue/?? and I have some questions regarding skills.

UMD - How many points is worth it or pointless (pun intended )
Tumble - why put any here?
Haggle - worth it at all?
Swim - worth it at all (if you have gear that gives big boost)?
Balance - How much is "good"?
Open Lock & Disable Device - How far do you need to go in order to be useful (NOT at level cap, but along the way)
Listen - I find this better than Spot for 'seeing' those hidden foes - true?
Jump - how important is it really to be able to jump higher/farther for a perchable character?

TIA for opinions

[Spartus]

Newb here - been playing the 10-day, and just signed on. I have rolled a Ranger/Rogue/?? and I have some questions regarding skills.

UMD - How many points is worth it or pointless (pun intended )
Tumble - why put any here?
Haggle - worth it at all?
Swim - worth it at all (if you have gear that gives big boost)?
Balance - How much is "good"?
Open Lock & Disable Device - How far do you need to go in order to be useful (NOT at level cap, but along the way)
Listen - I find this better than Spot for 'seeing' those hidden foes - true?
Jump - how important is it really to be able to jump higher/farther for a perchable character?

TIA for opinions

First, I would suggest looking through the Ranger and Rogue forums. There are several discussions about these skill you might be able to get some useful information from. In fact, there's a lot of useful information in general there, if you're willing to spend some time looking for it.

My opinions (I've only reached 9th level, so my perspective may be somewhat limited):

UMD - Very useful. There are Race Required magic items that have a lower minimum level requirement than their non-RR counterparts. If you can overcome the UMD to use them when you find them, you now have more powerful magic items to use. Also, using wands/scrolls/etc. you wouldn't normally be able to can really help with self-sufficiency.

Tumble - Your total tumble skill reduces the amount of damage you take from falling. A feather falling item can reduce this importance, but I've heard that there is a quest where feather falling doesn't work and you take falling damage anyway, but Tumble still reduces it. Can't remember the name of the quest, and haven't been in it yet myself.

Haggle - Depends on if you have the extra points to put into it. I personally love having it max'ed out. It has helped on my single, non-twinked (and constantly broke) character.

Swim - Once you get an Underwater Action item, I don't know if this skill will do anything for you or not. I've heard there is a quest it's important in, but again, can't tell you which one and haven't been in it.

Balance - I've kept this one maxed. Less time on the ground doing nothing but getting beat on is a good thing.

Disable Device - Either keep it maxed all the time or don't bother with it at all. That's my opinion.

Open Lock - You can let this one fall behind Disable Device a bit. I never let it fall more than 1/2 ranks of Disable Device, but that's just a guess.

Listen - I haven't compared this with Spot for noticing hiding enemies. However, Listen will NOT alert you to traps or secret doors, and Spot will.

Jump - I've put as many skill points into this as I can afford. I like the options it opens up to reach up to ledges I couldn't otherwise. I haven't played a low Jump character for comparison.

[MrCow]

UMD - How many points is worth it or pointless (pun intended )

As many as you can reasonably put in. It is a powerful skill in DDO.

Tumble - why put any here?

The general rule of thumb is 1 full rank so that you can do the tumbling action, as you can tumble through certain things at full speed (like solid fog). The main reasons to bother with more than 1 rank is either for style (flips) or because your playstyle works very well with using it as a defensive measure to avoid attacks.

Haggle - worth it at all?

Its worth it if you are making a character specifically for buying and selling (usually high-CHA bards) or you will have a heavy reliance on consumable items, such as potions/wands/scrolls. Often, haggle can be skipped.

Swim - worth it at all (if you have gear that gives big boost)?

Swim nets +1% movement bonus while swimming. There aren't enough quests to make this skill worthwhile though.

Balance - How much is "good"?

A total balance of about 20 (this includes ranks, DEX bonus, items, etc.) is usually fine for a large chunk of DDO. One raid, The Twilight Forge, puts the desired amount into the high 30's. This is a good area to put points in if you don't want to try and tie up an item slot for balance, have low DEX, or have extra skill points.

Open Lock & Disable Device - How far do you need to go in order to be useful (NOT at level cap, but along the way)

If you have high DEX you can skimp on Open Locks, but you still want some ranks in it. I'd recommend you keep Disable Devices maxed or near max.

Listen - I find this better than Spot for 'seeing' those hidden foes - true?

Spot will make it easier to visually see a monster and show you if a nearby trap or hidden door is around (and therefore is regarded as more useful, overall). However, most monsters tend to have a lower move silently than they do a hide skill (notiably, glass spiders) making it more likely that you can tab-target a critter, but the extra non-monster detection bonuses associated with listen (such as the creaking floors of unstable floors in Tomb of the Wizard-King) are very few. Also, listen wil give a red footsound noise indicator to show where the things are, but it doesn't show you what way they are facing (which is pivotal for stealthy characters).

Jump - how important is it really to be able to jump higher/farther for a perchable character?

This one probably boils down to playstyle, but having a jump of around 20 near the high levels without spells like Jump and Greater Heroism help a lot so that you can get out of nasty monster crowds. If you aren't a high STR character then a few ranks here are good to have.

Responses in red.

[tihocan]

Another reason to invest more than 1 rank in Tumble is if you have a negative Dex modifier or an armor check penalty that prevents you from having a positive Tumble with just 1 rank.

As far as Balance is concerned, I'd suggest to try to get 10+ at all times, and have an item you can swap for quests where it matters most (e.g. Titan).