Solo Melee FvS

[NorthHelix]

I am looking to make a soloing melee character with the ability to heal/buff myself.
I purchased favored soul and I have unlocked drow. I do not have WF yet, but I may consider picking it up.
I do not have tomes or access to 32 pt builds.

I am thinking an elf Favored Soul with Longsword.

Acouple of questions:
I'm trying to decide between dual longswords or longsword and shiled?
Is it worth the feats to get dual wielding of long swords? I 'll need TWF and OversizedTWF (I forget the exact name)

Should i splash anything into this or just FvS?

And finally any suggestions on starting stats?
Thanks

[Anneliese]

Do you have access to the monk class?

[Bunker]

I think the Elf race gets benifits and bonuses for wielding Scimitars as well as longswords. Take a look at all your weapon options.

As for feats: Most players that have been around a while will say that dual wielding is important if you want to be an affective melee dps build. That means taking the TWF line of feats including improved and greater two weapon fighting.

Splashing another class: If anyone answers, more times then not the answer is splash 2 monk. This gives you evasion and also 2 extra feats from a list of available monk feats which will be great for a melee type build.

As for starting stats: Not really my area.

[RavenStormclaw]

You have two options:

Elf dual wiedling scimitars
WF two handed fighting with a greatsword

Personaly I think WF is the better choice but I will try to give you options for both

Elf
Stats
Str 16 Dex 16 Con 12 Int 8 Wis 10 Chr 12
all level up to str, will need to buy +1 dex tome from store or use list level up point in dex
feats in order: TWF, tougness, ITWF, maximize, Ic:slash, empower, GTWF

WF
stats
Str 16 dex 10 Con 16 Int 8 Wis 10 Chr 12
all level ups to str
feats in odrers: Adamantine body, THF, extend, ITHF, IC:slash, maximize, GTHF

suggest switching out IC:Slash for another metamagic of your choice once you have run the shroud enough times to make a mineral II weapons (this has the keen ability essentially negating the need for Ic: slash)

My personal choice is the warforged becauise THF now applies a chance for special effects to go off on glancing blows and WF have enhancements that increase this even further.

But I gave you a basis to compare good luck.

[jsaving]

I am thinking an elf Favored Soul with Longsword.

Although it may not look like it at first glance, scimitars are better than longswords. The reason is that many weapons have special abilities that only activate on critical hits, and scimitars have a larger critical range than longswords. This isn't really a factor at low levels but it becomes quite important at midgame and especially endgame.

As to weapon style, sword-and-board is better at low levels (even if you have TWF) because the shield AC bonus is still meaningful. So is the TWF to-hit penalty, for that matter, whereas the extra damage you're dishing out isn't especially significant. At midgame and endgame these conclusions change so you are then better off dual-wielding.

Should i splash anything into this or just FvS?

Despite the weapon-related special abilities a favored soul receives, you won't be in the same ballpark as a warrior melee-wise unless you splash. Monk2 for evasion/toughness/PA and ranger6 for TWF/ITWF/Tempest are two common paths taken by melee-oriented favored souls who want more melee power than a standard battle cleric would have (and make no mistake, favored souls are only marginally stronger in melee than clerics). Less commonly, you could consider fighter4 for the feats plus access to weapon specialization, or maybe even some paladin levels if you were opting for a high-charisma build.

And finally any suggestions on starting stats?

As a melee-oriented favored soul, you'll want to start with a high strength and put all level-up points there as well. This means you won't have the wisdom at endgame to reliably affect enemies with your spells, which in turn means there's little point in starting with a very high WIS at character creation. Certainly you don't want to boost it above the 1-for-1 range, and even 14 is probably too much considering how much you could use those points elsewhere.

Moving on to other stats, experienced players who don't mind banking on tomes and/or stat-boosting items will often opt for 15 DEX and 8 CHA. But depending on a +2 DEX tome and a substantial harvest of charisma boosters may not be something you want to do if you're fairly new to the game, so it may be more reasonable to start with 16-17 DEX and 10-12 CHA instead. CON is something you'll want to boost to 12 while INT can remain at 8 unless you're willing to make a slight sacrifice elsewhere.

Putting all of this together, I'd suggest going elf with stats 16/16/12/8/10/12. (You could consider dropping CHA, WIS, or even CON by 2 if you wanted a slightly higher initial DEX or INT.)

Good luck!

[NorthHelix]

Thanks for the suggestions,

I think I'm gonna try an elf dual wielding scimitars - FvS 14/Ranger 6 and get tempest.
Will dual Scimitars need OTWF?

I don't have monk yet or tomes - but i see tome are on sale today. When i get a chance to log on later, i may pick some up if they're cheap enough.

[NorthHelix]

Jsaving - I just re-read your not on splashing and you're saying monk2 and ranger 6. so i should be aiming for a FVS12/monk2/ranger6?
If this is the case, what order should i take which classes?

Thanks

[jsaving]

Ordinarily, you'd want to take the highest-skill-point class at first level, which would be ranger. However, DDO grants +80 spell points to characters who begin life as a primary caster (sor/wiz/clr/fvs) so you'd lose that bonus if you started out as a ranger.

That's the tradeoff -- 16 extra skill points at character creation versus 80 extra spell points. Because you're talking about a splash that will significantly reduce your SP, I'd be inclined to minimize the SP hit by starting out as a favored soul rather than a ranger, but this isn't a make-it-or-break-it difference if you really like the idea of those extra skill points.

You might take a look at Arkat's Dalphinix build, available at http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=196994. It's a solid example of what a viable FvS/ranger/monk should be.

[Xyfiel]

Magical training increases by 80 the maximum spell points at the first level of a Cleric, Sorcerer or Wizard

This feat can be taken only once, for the first caster class that obtains it.

Retrieved from "http://ddowiki.com/page/Magical_training"

Favored souls also receive this, it just hasn't been updated yet. It is first level you take one of the classes, not based on char level.

[NorthHelix]

Thanks for the tip Xyfiel.
I am about halfway through level 3. (Getting delayed by issues with my DSL connection.)
I'm really enjoying the character and she seems to fit my play-style.

I did L1 FvS1 - Feat Quicken - Spells CLW and Summon Dog (I forget the exact name)
L2 Rgr1 - Feat ?? (I forget what I ended up taking and servers are down for maintenance so I can't check)
L3 Rgr2 - Feat OTWF (automatically get TWF)

Now knowing that the magic training is based on the 1st caster level not char level, would it make more sense to restart with ranger L1+L2, take the OTWF and then at L3 take FvS1. Having the healing right away is a great benefit, but in the long run, will taking ranger as my first level end up with better melee ability?

I like Quicken in that I am able to prepare for a big fight by buffing up, then turning on quicken for any in-combat heals, the turn it off to conserve magic. (Ok. Not really "Buffing Up" yet, but healing up and summoning my dog)

[CrustyMedic]

To be honest I wasn't sure either about making a malee FvS, so when I rolled one up I let DDO make the decisions and followed their advancement path. Very happy playing this toon. It's level 9 atm. At level 7 I solo'd Tear of Daakan on normal of course and was successfull without shrine use and store use...I only needed a couple of lesser mana pots that were in my inventory. I was very happy with this test as I have seen groups do...well, not so good. Just my 2 cp.

[Noctus]

Ordinarily, you'd want to take the highest-skill-point class at first level, which would be ranger. However, DDO grants +80 spell points to characters who begin life as a primary caster (sor/wiz/clr/fvs) so you'd lose that bonus if you started out as a ranger.

That's the tradeoff -- 16 extra skill points at character creation versus 80 extra spell points. Because you're talking about a splash that will significantly reduce your SP, I'd be inclined to minimize the SP hit by starting out as a favored soul rather than a ranger, but this isn't a make-it-or-break-it difference if you really like the idea of those extra skill points.

This information is incorrect.


The bonus +80 Spellpoints are not bound on taking your 1st character level as a caster, but to your 1st level as a caster, regardless of when you took that caster level.

For example, a *1st level as Cleric / 2nd level as rogue* will have the same SP amount than a *1st level as Rogue / 2nd level as Cleric*, but the later will have a whole bunch of more skillpoints.

---> Always take the higher skillpoints class 1st. there is no trade-off with Spellpoints.

[HolyCrusader2010]

Well, I'm very new myself, but I hope my two cents are worth something.

I find myself in the same situation. Only bought favored soul, no monk, no 32 buy, not even drow.

I made a human. 8 wisdom and int, 13 cha, 12 dex, 14 con and the rest in strength, if I remember correctly. I did this because I read that at 28 pb, you really have to chose between spellcasting or melee, I went with melee. So my spells are ones that don't allow saves; Buffs mostly. Works great so far.

I use the shield method and I must say, it's working nicely. Having massive AC combined with the super-saves of a favored soul and the unmatched healing I must say this is my favorite solo class so far. Added to that I have the toughness feat and the enhancements I get from both human and Favored soul, so I got a ton of hp, adding to my already high survivability.

I picked the sovereign host for the longsword proficiency and went with that. Later on I found out that at level 20 I can use cure light wounds without cost. For soloing this is nice I guess.

Yesterday, at level 5, I managed to buy a +1 mithril full plate. Ever so happy with that. Combined with my shield +2 I now have 26 Ac I believe. I completed the proof is in the poison solo on normal difficulty, which was a nice field test that it indeed works.

Oh, these are my spells:
l1:
Cure light wounds -> switched to bless at level 4
Nightshield (more saves and immunity to magic missiles got me through truth is in the poison)
Divine favor (+1 attack/damage, scaling)
Protection from evil

l2:
Cure moderate wounds (makes cure light wounds obsolete)
resist energy? Don't know what it's called, but the 10 absorption to an element of your choice. This one is sooooo great.

No idea how this will work at the higher levels, but so far I'm having a blast.