So...sell me on your DPS/traps build

[Vanshilar]

I'm looking to make a DPS character that also has full trap skills and has good survivability. Obviously the former and the latter involve trade-offs to have both, so I'm not looking for *max* DPS and *max* survivability, just a good mix of both. But I do want the trap skills.

I was initially looking at the exploiter build, but unfortunately, I don't have monk (nor warforged, nor favored soul), and monk seems to be a critical factor in maintaining a useful AC for the build. More recently though I've also been considering the rogue 13 / ranger 6 / barb 1 build (tasmanian devil if halfling), as well as fighter 12 / ranger 6 / rogue 2 build, which would probably need some extra int in order to have enough skill points, which may be okay since I'll be doing a 32 point build, and can use +2 dex and +2 int tomes. However, I don't know if there's other builds that have trap skills that I've been overlooking (such as a barb 18 / rogue 2).

Race-wise, I've been leaning toward dwarf with twin dwarven axes, since they have extra con as well as spell defense, and so I can save a feat compared with halfling with khopesh (although I'd take a 5-10% decrease in DPS due to not having halfling guile, and using dwarven axe instead of khopesh). Those two seem to be the ones that are best for me, since halflings can also have saves; although a human would net more skill points, humans are somewhat lacking in saves.

Skill-wise, I would want disable, search, and UMD maxed. Otherwise, I would also like to have open, balance, and jump, though they may not be maxed. (As a side note, I've found that a tasmanian devil could pretty much max these out on 8 int, meaning it can spend more points elsewhere.)

Feat-wise, I would want to have toughness for sure. The two weapon fighting feat series as well (I've already made a THF barb so don't want to duplicate my characters and equipment needs too much). Other than that, I doubt there's much in the way of extra feats; this was partially why I was looking at dwarf as well.

Equipment-wise, don't expect me to be relying on double madstone rage and yugoloth potions in order to reach stratospheric levels of HP and damage. I'll have what a regular player has at level 20, not the arsenal of a powergamer. So builds that are too heavily dependent on equipment for their survivability or their DPS won't work well for me.

I guess I'm just soliciting opinions on what you feel are the advantages/drawbacks of the builds I've mentioned, as well as any suggestions on other builds that I should also consider:

Ranger 18 / 1 rogue / 1 something (possibly rogue, barbarian, fighter) -- tempest 3
Rogue 13 / ranger 6 / barb 1 -- acrobat 2 for survivability, tempest 1
Rogue 13 / ranger 6 / barb 1 -- without acrobat for more DPS, with tempest 1
Fighter 12 / ranger 6 / rogue 2 -- kensai 2, tempest 1
Barb 18 / rogue 2 -- frenzied berserker 3 for lots of HP, but will be TWF so barb THF stuff will be more or less wasted

Any suggestions on which one my next character should be? I'm also not quite sure on where they rank in terms of DPS, because I'm not sure yet on how the latest updates have changed the DPS rankings.

[Emizand]

Rogue/Monk 19/1 Assassin III. Sorted it for ya!

[Anderei]

Rogue/Monk 19/1 Assassin III. Sorted it for ya!

He doesnt have monk nor does he want to buy it. Otherwise the usual exploiter would fit nice for this.

[Kaeldur]

Rogue/Monk 19/1 Assassin III. Sorted it for ya!

Did you even read his post?


Anyhow... I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with any of those builds... The most survivable may be either the rgr18/rog1/whatever or the fgt12/rgr6/rog2 build...

I think a class that is very survivable (although take my advice with a pinch of salt, cause I'm a bard lover) is the bard... Can do pretty much everything fairly well. I have never tried anything like this, so I might be speaking dung, but something like 12 levels of either brb/rgr/ftr, plus 6 levels of bard and 2 of rogue might be interesting... I think a rgr12/brd6/rog2 would be cool, but you wouldn't have any dump stats... You'd need a semi decent charisma, semi decent wisdom, average intelligence, semi decent constitution, good dexterity and great strength...

Well... anyhow that's my opinion =)

[Vanshilar]

I don't have monk, so I wouldn't be able to do rogue 19/monk 1. However, I could replace that monk with something else, like fighter (for an extra feat) or barbarian (for the run speed).

However, without the one level of monk, is that build still very survivable? My impression is that most builds use a monk level for the extra boost to AC, to shore up their defenses (to justify, for example, not taking toughness). Without that, I don't know if 19 levels of rogue would leave me with too few HP to work with. Also, my impression (correct me if I'm wrong) is that assassin skills use int as their modifier; if so, I wouldn't really be able to take int as a dump stat, forcing me to divert points to it that could've been spent elsewhere.

[unbongwah]

I'm no expert, but I came up with this version of the rogue 2 / ranger 6 / fighter 12 build. Note that the requester said they would use a +2 major tome; you'd have to adjust your build accordingly.

You could also substitute barbarian for fighter: you'd give up your Kensai bonuses to dwarven axes and all those extra feats; but gain more HPs and skill points (you'll probably want to add Intimidate), Frenzied Berserker II, and DR 6.

[dasein18]

jump, evade, and heal through traps... build for dps. traps can be fun, but if you plan to do a lot of raids at or near cap ... trap skill are not generally needed. I plan to respec (whatever reincarnate that is called, dont really care atm), my ranger18/roque1/mk1 to drop search & disable and pump up UMD as much as possible.

If you really want to disable traps that if fine, but you might find your dps is not used when the group is two or three mobs ahead of you as you search.. disable.. switch gear around.

I enjoyed doing traps on this one build, but will probably never build another toon with much trap skills unless I really have no use for the skill points.

Just my opinion.

[Asymetric_War]

18 rog / 2 pally scimitar-specced elf. Assassin III. You won't have high ac but you will have massive aggro reduction from enhancements so that works out. High strength, high con, medium dex, starting int of 14 and starting cha of 12.

Get improved critical and a couple nice scimis and you'll be doing north of 100 a swing on average counting sneaks at lvl 20. with g2wf you get to swing a lot. as long as you've got a halfway decent tank or agro ***** in the party mobs will melt in front of you, not to mention that with assassin III all your sneaks are also vorpals....

oh, and take toughness twice. it's worth it. My reincarnated version of this toon has over 320 hp at lvl 15