new player question on first toon

[kennfusion]

So I am a newer player and have been mostly playing around with several low level characters to get a feel for the game.

I figure that my best bet is to focus now on one character and go for 400 favor to open drow and see more of the game and get a deeper feel for it.

Fighter seemed the most straight forward way to build a first character.

I liked the idea of glancing damage, so have been building a 2h weapon fighter, but now I am wondering about weapon speed and if my big 2h greatsword, even with glancing damage might not have been the best choice. I have the feat respect from Fred available and wondering if I would be better off with dual wielding instead?

So far I have been mostly playing solo, but would probably like to start grouping too.

any suggestions would be helpful. thanks

[dungan]

What are your starting stats? 2wf requires a dex of 15 to start and 17 for improved. If you're willing to reroll, you might consider a 2wf temest ranger, self healing/buffing and great damage output. You may also want to give a great axe a swing, or a falcion for the better crit range.

[Leyoni]

There are some situations where I absolutely love the glancing blows when fighting 2-handed.

The nice thing about the fighter class is that you have enough feats to actually do both -- fight 2-handed and with two weapons. As a class fighters get bonus feats at first level and then at every even level after that. This means you can have it all when it comes to choices of combat style.

There are three stats that are going to be important to you -- STR, DEX, and CON. You need to be able to reach 17 DEX as a base score to use the full line of TWF feats and get the most out of two-weapon fighting. You need 13 STR as a base score to use Power Attack but should have substantially more STR as it is a key stat for the fighter class. And, you need as much CON as you can get since AC is almost pointless at the end game unless you can get to the 70+ level (which is very difficult for a 28 point fighter build, maybe not even realistically possible).

Dwarf, warforged, human and halfling all offer different things as the race of choice. Because base stats do not include enhancement points choosing halfling is possibly the worst of the choices. Dwarf and warforged are probably the better choices since both offer CON enhancements.

Personally, I'd recommend Dwarf for a 28 point build with starting stats of 16/16/16/8/10/6.

If you are too far along to restart the character then make sure your DEX will be able to reach 17 without enhancements or items (starting stat plus tomes only) before you take on TWF.

[kennfusion]

thanks for your thoughts. Yeah, I started my dex at only 14, so too low for dual wield. I am not too far in, only level 3, and had been thinking of starting over any way.

The ranger sounds interested, because I am not so sure about tanking and the intimidate skill, and have been avoiding grouping because of it.

One question, what are tomes? Perm stat bonuses? Or is that the 32 point goal?

thanks again for your advice.

[Leyoni]

thanks for your thoughts. Yeah, I started my dex at only 14, so too low for dual wield. I am not too far in, only level 3, and had been thinking of starting over any way.

The ranger sounds interested, because I am not so sure about tanking and the intimidate skill, and have been avoiding grouping because of it.

One question, what are tomes? Perm stat bonuses? Or is that the 32 point goal?

thanks again for your advice.

Tomes are stat boost items that are permanent. ATM they come in +1, +2 and +3 versions. A 14 DEX is not automatically too low but getting a +3 tome is pretty difficult.

Ranger gets the TWF line for free regardless of DEX as class feats. However, there are a lot of reasons not to go that way.

Once mod 9 hits (DDO:EU on 4 or 6 August depending on if you are VIP or F2P) the DPS king is going to be the fighter class with the Kensai enhancement line. As a fighter you do not need intimidate. What you do need is the ability to hit stuff and kill it effeciently. Do that and you will be fine with or without the intimidate skill.

[Pwesiela]

thanks for your thoughts. Yeah, I started my dex at only 14, so too low for dual wield. I am not too far in, only level 3, and had been thinking of starting over any way.

The ranger sounds interested, because I am not so sure about tanking and the intimidate skill, and have been avoiding grouping because of it.

One question, what are tomes? Perm stat bonuses? Or is that the 32 point goal?

thanks again for your advice.

Tomes are books you can find in random loot and as reward for hitting 1750 total favor. They permanently up your stat by +1, +2, +3, etc. as an "inherent bonus." You can call them permanent stat bonuses, because they never go away. However, they do not stack. "Eating" 3 +1 tomes of the same stat will not boost that stat by three, only by 1. However, if you eat a +1 and then a +2 of the same stat, you'll have the +2 bonus, but not +3. Upon reaching 1750 total favor, you get a bound +2 tome of your choice and the ability to create new characters with 32 stat points instead of 28, like you have. 32 points do not apply to the drow race, however. I'd suggest playing one character to 1750 favor (not that hard to do, and I still have 2-3 original 28 pt characters that I love to play) and then look at other builds.