Little Help would be gratefully received.

[Baragrim]

Hey guys im fairly new to all of this malarkey and have an idea for a character but am unsure as to the "best" route to take it forward stat and build wise.

The character will be a Drow he will be ostensibly a melee character with the ability to cast damaging spells (those who recall everquest think a shadow knight esque those who like warhammer should bear in mind hes going to be called Mallakith and therefore think witch king as well).

My first thought was to run a fighter/sorceror hybrid but really am struggling to find what the important starting stats and skills should be as I've not really played either class to past the island before trying something else.

So to my plea does anyone have any tips on where to start - whether the fight/sorc combo would work and suggestions for feats as and when I get close to levelling.

Cheers in advance

[Gnorbert]

My recommendation would be to mix Sorc with Ranger instead of Fighter. Fighter would give you more armor but that armor will just cause arcane spell failure when you try to cast. so, since you will be using lighter mithral armors there's no need for heavy armors. Fighter would give you more feats, but as a ranger you will get a lot of free class feats including the Two weapon fighting line without needing a high Dex to qualify for it. Ranger also gives you access to the Tempest enhancements which will really help out with making up the ground lost by the caster levels.

I would try something like...

Ranger 12/ Sorc 8
Str: 16
Dex: 15
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 10
Cha: 15

You could even go lower on Dex to pump up another stat of your choice since at ranger 11 you'll get Greater two Weapon fighting for free as a ranger feat. I wouldn't lower dex though since you will have evasion and will want to have your reflex saves up as high as you can. You will need to wear a wisdom item to cast the ranger spells you get starting a ranger level 4.

Leveling order IMO
Ranger 1-2
Sorc 1-4
Ranger 3-6
Sorc 5-8
Ranger 7-12

This progression will put you at BAB 8 at level 12 so you can take Improved critical as your feat at level 12. It also gets you to some useful spells early in the character so you will get an idea for how the concept feels. You will have to watch out that from level 5 until level 9 you will have Sorc showing in the party window as your class... people might get confused about what role you will play in groups so you should be really clear up front when joining groups.

You would go for the Tempest I & II enhancements for Two Weapon Fighting goodness. Your casting won't be putting out crazy damage but you will be able to stand in your own Wall of fire while blending your enemies with whichever swords you choose.

You could conversely reverse the level split and go 6 ranger/ 14 Sorc which would boost your casting but you would lose a lot of Base Attack Bonus and you lose Evasion which is granted at ranger level 9 for free. I wouldn't do this though.

Feats are up to you, some recommendations...
Toughness
Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Khopesh
Oversized Two Weapon Fighting
Improved Critical: Slashing
Extend Spell
Maximize Spell


Don't try any DC driven spells... you won't be CCing anything with your low DC so saveless damage spells and buffs will be your best bets.

Have a go at it and let me know how it works out for you.

[Baragrim]

Cool I hadnt thought of ranger (to be honest dark elf and ranger have never really met in my psyche apart from drisisizzzzizit lol).

I'll get going on it now

[flynnjsw]

Someone had a build for a "spellsword", and it was very good. I will edit this to add in the link when I find it.

**EDIT**

And here it is...
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=182069

[Baragrim]

Thanks for that ill investigate that build too ive got two spare slots so might run the sorc/fighter or ranger and this build and see which i have more "feel" with.