Blender: 8Wiz/6Ranger/2Monk Stealthy Evading BattleMage

[Ryss]

If you are looking for an interesting battlemage build, here is your answer .

Disclaimers:
1) This build is *not* uber by any means. However it is not a weaksauce either and probably the most powerful battlemage.
2) I've shamelessly stolen the build idea from Avalanche here: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=153445. Thanks go to Valiance. I am going to compare these two builds, so that thread deserves a look.

Let's go!

Race: Warforged
Class: Wizard 8 / Ranger 6 / Monk 2
Alignment: LG

Purpose: This is a TWF melee fighter with a little arcane offense, uninterruptable self healing, very respectable HP, WF immunities, stealth, Tempest speed and evasion (with good reflex save). It'll do nice DPS with very high STR and you can also switch to stat damaging whenever you want.

STR 16->32 (+6 item, +4 levels, +2 tome, +2 rage, +2 ram's)
DEX 15->22 (+6 item, +2 tome, +1 ranger, -2 stance)
CON 16->30 (+6 item, +2 tome, +2 rage, +2 wf, +2 stance)
INT 15->24 (+6 item, +2 wiz, +1 tome)
WIS 6->14 (+6 item, +2 tome)
CHA 6

The good news is that this build doesn't need all those tomes. A +1 INT tome at level 1 is good enough. You can eat the rest later.

Note: If you are interested in stat damaging only, you can also go DEX based. In that case your DPS will decrease significantly; your hp will be 16 lower; you'll lose OTWF, but you'll gain +5 to reflex saves. Not a good trade off though.

HP:
16 Monk
48 Ranger
32 Wizard
20 Heroic Durability
160 CON
30 GFL
10 Argo Favor
5 Monk Enhancement
40 Racial Toughness
18 Toughness
---------------
379, you can add GS HP item and Minos helm for 63 (45+18) more: 442. Very respectable. You'll put a lot of builds to shame.

AC: You can only reach 50 with self-buffs and raid items. Forget it.

Saves:
F/R/W
14/14/10 Classes
10/6/1 Stats
3/3/3 Nightshield
1/1/1 Alchemical
4/4/4 GH (from planar gird or GH scroll with %75 success rate)
0/0/1 WF
0/1/0 Haste
---------------
32/29/20
34/31/22 with +5 res item
28 Reflex without any expensive/rare item should be good enough for evasion.

Level Progression:
ranger-wizard-monk. Then 2 ranger, then wizard-ranger alternated until you have 6 ranger levels. Then 1 more wiz, then monk and the rest wiz (Rgr-Wiz-Mnk-Rgr-Rgr-Wiz-Rgr-Wiz-Rgr-Wiz-Rgr-Wiz-Mnk-Wiz-Wiz-Wiz). This is done so that you can max a lot of skills. However this way the build will bloom lately. You can go Rgr-Wiz-5Rgr-2Mnk-7Wiz if don't want/need stealth skills.

Feats:
1. Dodge
2. (W) Extend
3. Mobility
3. (M) Power Attack
6. Spring Attack
9. OTWF
12. Imp Crit
12. (W) Quicken
13. (M) Toughness
15. Maximize
---------------
18. GTWF
18. (W) Empower (or take Maximize here and choose some other feat for your level 15 feat. Another toughness perhaps?)
Wizard and monk bonus feats come to our rescue.

Skills:
Put points into Move Silently, Hide, Concentration, Balance, Jump and 1 point to Tumble. Pay attention to class and cross class skills when assigning points. Take balance with monk levels for example. You will increase concentration at every level.

To hit:
+11 BAB
+11 STR
+5 Weapon
+4 GH
+1 Haste (self cast, extended)
---------------
+32, +5 DP clicky, -6 PA = +31

Base damage:
+11 STR +5 Wpn +6 PA = +22, +26 against favored enemies.

SP:
335 wiz + 100 Magi + EoS II (20) + 119 Int + 22 Ranger + 11 Wis = 607 plus shroud item.

Spells (Wiz: 5/4/4/3) (Ranger: 2)
---------------
1. MM, Nightshield, Ray of Enfeeb, Jump, Shield, Ram's, Longstrider or Camouflage
2. Blur, Resist, False Life, Scorch
3. Displacement, Haste, Rage, Prot.
4. Wall of Fire, Repair Crit, Stoneskin

Enhancements:
Ranger Sprint Boost I
Wizard Improved Quickening I
Way of the Patient Tortiose I
Disciple of Pebbles
Racial Toughness IV
Ranger Tempest I
Wizard Lineage of Elements II
Wizard Lineage of Force II
Wizard Lineage of Deadly Elements I
Wizard Elemental Manipulation III
Wizard Force Manipulation III
Wizard Energy of the Scholar II
Ranger Dexterity I
Wizard Intelligence II
Wizard Wand Mastery III
Warforged Constitution II
Warforged Construct Thinking I
Warforged Inscribed Armor I
Warforged Power Attack I

Pros:
- Very fun build that will be the last man standing in many groups.
- Tempest melee speed.
- Fine SP pool for self buffing.
- Almost top-notch soloer.
- Uninterruptable self healing combined with evasion. At cap raise you'll get uninterruptable reconstructs.
- Stealth.
- Arcane offense (albeit limited by mana).
- WF immunities.
- Self cast Haste + Blur + Displacement + Stoneskin.
- Can use GH and Reconstruction scrolls with 75% chance.

Cons:
- If you want to keep your DPS up, you need PA. If you want PA, you need Divine Power clickies (sigh). Some people run with 40 charges per shrine, if you have a lot of clickies and don't mind micromanagement you can do this too.
- No GTWF untill cap raise.
- Not enough SP for using offensive spells too much. No problem for soloing, favor and loot runs in general. If you are rich, you can drink Mnemonic pots and really become a blender .
- Dispelling mobs are a pain in the you-know-where. But this is equally valid for every buff-dependent build.
- True seeing mobs are annoying but you can still stand on your feet with quickened repairs.
- Resists and prots at 8th level wiz aren't stellar.

Compared to Avalanche:
Avalanche is a better meleer without question. Blender's lower melee DPS requires help but in return it has more arcane power. A fair trade-off in my opinion. They are fairly equal in skills and other aspects. If you value melee damage above all else then go Avalanche. If you want more offensive spells, go Blender.

Beyond level 16:
GTWF, Reconstruct, Cone of Cold, more SP, Empower for even more burst offense, full resists, prots and scorch.

Have fun!