Revisiting paths: Builds for new players

[ScottishViking]

Amazing. This thread is incredibly helpful. Thanks tihocan!

[tihocan]

Thief-Acrobat (L20 Rogue)

Concept: Staff user with good athletic skills, and of course able to take care of traps and locks
Original path's flaws: No Two-Handed Fighting feats, no Toughness except on Human
Main fixes: Revised feats to be less squishy and a better two-handed combatant

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Good, Neutral, Neutral Good, Lawful Neutral, Lawful Good

Stats and Race (28/32 pt):
........Drow.....Dwarf......Elf.....Halfling...Human...Warforged.
.Str.....17......17/18.....17/18.....15/16.....17/18.....17/18...
.Dex.....14......13/14.......14........14........14........13....
.Con.....13........16........12........14........14......15/16...
.Int.....12........12........12........12........10........12....
.Wis.....9.........8........9/10......9/10......9/10.......7.....
.Cha.....10........6.........8.........8.........8.........6.....

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Str.

Skills: Max out UMD, Disable Device, Open Locks, Search, Spot, Balance, Diplomacy, Jump and Tumble.

Feats (by level), except Human: Toughness (1), Stunning Blow (3), Two-Handed Fighting (6), Power Attack (9), Improved Evasion (10), Improved Critical: Bludgeon (12), Crippling Strike (13), Improved Two-Handed Fighting (15), Skill Mastery (16), Greater Two-Handed Fighting (18), Slippery Mind (19)
Feats (by level), Human: Toughness (1), Stunning Blow (1), Two-Handed Fighting (3), Power Attack (6), Cleave (9), Improved Evasion (10), Improved Critical: Bludgeon (12), Crippling Strike (13), Improved Two-Handed Fighting (15), Skill Mastery (16), Greater Two-Handed Fighting (18), Slippery Mind (19)

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Rogue): Acrobat II, Balance II, Cheat Death (capstone), Dexterity III, Faster Sneaking I, Haste Boost III, Search I, Skill Boost III (except Human), Sneak Attack Accuracy III, Sneak Attack Training III, Subtle Backstabbing II, Tumble II
Enhancements (Drow): Enchantment Resistance I, Perception I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Constitution I, Kundarak Search I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense II, Tactics II
Enhancements (Elf): Enchantment Resistance I, Perception I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Halfling): Cunning II, Guile III, Luck (Reflex) I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Human): Adaptability Strength I, Improved Recovery I, Racial Toughness II, Versatility III
Enhancements (Warforged): Constitution I, Great Weapon Aptitude II, Healer's Friend I, Racial Toughness II, Tactics II

Soloability by level:
No hireling..: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
With hireling: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Tips:
- Your main weapon will be the quarterstaff.
- Use Diplomacy to politely ask your opponents to attack someone else. This will let you land sneak attacks more reliably.
- You do not have to sneak to land sneak attacks. Read this page for more information on sneak attacks.
- Ultimately you would want to reach 39 UMD to be able to reliably use Heal scrolls. This can be achieved from 23 (base skill at L20) + 1 (Skill Mastery) + 3 (16 Cha with +6 item and +2 Cha tome) + 4 (Greater Heroism) + 2 (Head of Good Fortune) + 6 (exceptional bonus from Shroud raid item), which are reasonable items to obtain if you get all the way to level 20. In the meantime, accept you may fail some checks and rely on your skill boost to make it less likely.
- Time your Stunning Blow to land it on attacks that grant a Glancing Blow (i.e. 1st or 4th animation, or 3rd as well with the Greater THF feat). There is some chance for the Glancing Blow to trigger a 2nd save vs. Stunning Blow if the main attack is saved against.
- Try using a Weighted staff to increase your chance of landing Stunning Blow and also get a small % chance of automatically stunning an enemy on every hit.

Variants:
- NOTE: This build may be updated in the future, to take into account changes to the Acrobat line of enhancements.
- Be aware that choosing to use a staff as your main weapon puts you behind in terms of melee effectiveness, since it is a rather weak weapon. In addition, rogues typically benefit more from two-weapon fighting than two-handed fighting (as it doubles your sneak attack damage). The attack bonuses granted by the Acrobat line of enhancements will not entirely compensate for this. So it actually makes sense for an Acrobat to be dual-wielding rapiers instead. This was not done here is because it would make it too close to the Dark Blade path, and would not use the Acrobat staff bonuses. For a dual-wielding Acrobat, you may simply follow the Dark Blade build but take the the Acrobat line of enhancements instead of Assassin.
- There is not much benefit from staying pure, so that splashing one or two levels of Fighter or Monk can be considered. The proposed build remains pure mostly because the benefit of splashing is not huge either, and a pure rogue is more new-player friendly. With one level of Fighter, you mostly gain an extra feat, a few more HPs, and weapon proficiencies that allow you to use more two-handed weapons than just a staff (like a Vorpal Greatsword). A second Fighter level would bring +1 Str and one more feat (at the cost of 1d6 sneak attack damage). Monk brings extra feats too, the Wind stance for even faster attacks, and the Wis bonus to AC (note however the proposed build is not meant to achieve high AC, as this is difficult on a Str-based build, and Monk is pretty much mandatory - so if you splash Monk for AC you will want higher Dex and Wis, and the Combat Expertise feat, see e.g. this thread for such a build).
- The Insightful Reflexes may be considered to take down base Dex to minimum score, and thus be able to increase Str and Con. This is useful mostly on Human (taking it instead of Cleave) or when splashing Fighter or Monk (that give extra feats). However, keep in mind the expensive Dexterity III enhancement is required for Acrobat II.
- Although overall the Bluff skill is currently not worth investing into, it may be improved some day. And if you are planning to solo a lot, it can be somewhat useful to land more sneak attacks. To get Bluff, just drop Wis/Dex to gain an extra +2 Int.
- If you are planning to solo a lot, sneak skills will be useful. Increase Int by 2 (dropping Wis/Dex) and max Hide and Move Silently, taking points from Jump and Balance.
- Rogue Thief Acrobats can now add their Dexterity Modifier to quarterstaff sneak attack damage.

Color code: best to worst = green, yellow, orange, red

[KirzanDDO]

For the Human Tempest, you say to start at 14 DEX, isn't this a bad thing for Two-weapon Fighting? Will I have to deal with the negatives throughout leveling? Thanks in advance.

[tihocan]

For the Human Tempest, you say to start at 14 DEX, isn't this a bad thing for Two-weapon Fighting? Will I have to deal with the negatives throughout leveling? Thanks in advance.

No, it won't affect TWF at all. Rangers get the TWF feats for free regardless of their Dex. Dex remains useful though (that's why it's at 14 and not 8) for (1) to-hit with a bow, (2) reflex saves, and (3) AC at lower levels when it matters.

[KirzanDDO]

No, it won't affect TWF at all. Rangers get the TWF feats for free regardless of their Dex. Dex remains useful though (that's why it's at 14 and not 8) for (1) to-hit with a bow, (2) reflex saves, and (3) AC at lower levels when it matters.

Thanks a lot for the input!

Yeah at level 3 (when I got TWF) I equipped an off-hand and the bonus which is written next to the damage of the weapon (the one that goes down while moving) went down by 4. I seriously asked in advice but I didn't really get a clear answer. I'm guessing it's the to-hit bonus? So if I'm understanding this correctly, dual-wielding even with TWF brings this bonus down.

I'm sorry for the questions, I just adore the depth of DnD but I never really played the PnP game... I just like how well made it is and I'm still learning the basics.

[KKDragonLord]

Thanks a lot for the input!

Yeah at level 3 (when I got TWF) I equipped an off-hand and the bonus which is written next to the damage of the weapon (the one that goes down while moving) went down by 4. I seriously asked in advice but I didn't really get a clear answer. I'm guessing it's the to-hit bonus? So if I'm understanding this correctly, dual-wielding even with TWF brings this bonus down.

I'm sorry for the questions, I just adore the depth of DnD but I never really played the PnP game... I just like how well made it is and I'm still learning the basics.

TWF without feat and two "one handed" weapons is -6 main hand -10 off hand
TWF with feat and two "one handed" weapons is -4 main hand -4 off hand
TWF with feat, one "one handed" weapon in the main hand and one "light" weapon in the off hand is -2/-2
Alternatively you can get the Oversized TWF feat to use an "one handed" weapon on off hand as if it was "light" (but it might be better to get something else instead)

[tihocan]

In addition to what KK said above, I'll just add that the first Tip on the Tempest build description gives hints as to what weapons you should be using.

[Atoro87]

What levels would you advise taking the KoTC prestige and Unyeilding Soverignty enhancements at? I grabbed the pre-reqs for KoTC 1 by level 6, now 7 almost 8, but I took US instead since it seems like the ultimate "Oh ****" button and still have yet to grab KoTC.

If I reset I think I might have room for both at this point at the expense of dropping some toughness or other enhancments. I don't have the points though I'm a bit hesitant to drop US since it's saved me or a party member a few times already, once notably the whole party since it let me live to rush a shrine.

[tihocan]

What levels would you advise taking the KoTC prestige and Unyeilding Soverignty enhancements at? I grabbed the pre-reqs for KoTC 1 by level 6, now 7 almost 8, but I took US instead since it seems like the ultimate "Oh ****" button and still have yet to grab KoTC.

If I reset I think I might have room for both at this point at the expense of dropping some toughness or other enhancments. I don't have the points though I'm a bit hesitant to drop US since it's saved me or a party member a few times already, once notably the whole party since it let me live to rush a shrine.

KoTC1 can wait indeed... it's not such a huge bonus and you can live without it for a while. I would suggest grabbing it when you start running the Demon Queen at least.

[tihocan]

Arcane Archer (L20 Ranger)

Concept: Ranged build (using a bow), still able to switch to melee when required
Original path's flaws: Too many points spent in Wis, very weak in melee due to lacking feats for it
Main fixes: Took Wis down to increase Str/Dex/Con (depending on race), fixed feats to be better in melee

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Good, Neutral, Neutral Good, Lawful Neutral, Lawful Good

Stats and Race (28/32 pt):
........Drow.....Dwarf......Elf.....Halfling...Human...Warforged.
.Str.....15........14........15........14........14........14....
.Dex.....18......17/18.....18/19.....18/19.....17/18.....17/18...
.Con.....13........16........13........14........14........15....
.Int.....10........8.........8.........8.........8.........8.....
.Wis.....10......11/12.....10/11.....10/11.....11/12.....10/11...
.Cha.....10........6.........8.........8.........8.........6.....

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Dex.

Skills (except Human and Drow): At all levels, keep maxed out Spot, Hide, Move Silently and UMD. At character creation, get one rank (two skill points) in Tumble and spend the rest into Balance. On further levels, spend your last skill point into Balance.
Skills (Human and Drow): Same, but also keep Concentration maxed out at all levels.

Feats (by level), except Human: Weapon Focus: Ranged (1), Favored Enemy: Undead (1), Point Blank Shot (3), Favored Enemy: Giant (5), Mental Toughness (6), Improved Crit: Ranged (9), Favored Enemy: Construct (10), Improved Crit: <See note below> (12), Toughness (15), Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider (15), Power Attack (18), Favored Enemy: Elemental (20)
Feats (by level), Human: Weapon Focus: Ranged (1), Toughness (1), Favored Enemy: Undead (1), Point Blank Shot (3), Favored Enemy: Giant (5), Mental Toughness (6), Improved Crit: Ranged (9), Favored Enemy: Construct (10), Improved Crit: <See note below> (12), Power Attack (15), Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider (15), Maximize Spell (18), Favored Enemy: Elemental (20)
Special note: The Improved Crit feat at L12 is meant to boost your melee effectiveness and will depend on your race (to take advantage of racial bonuses to some weapons). Dwarves should get Slashing, Elf and Drow Piercing, while Human, Warforged and Halfling may pick either of these.

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Ranger): Arcane Archer I, Conjure +2/+3/+4/+5 Arrows, Devotion II, Dexterity II, Energy Resistance Boost I, Favored Attack I, Favored Damage II, Favored Resistance I, Imbue Force/Acid/Explosive/Terror/Force Burst/Slaying Arrows, Master of Archery (capstone), Skill Boost III (except on Human), Sprint Boost I
Enhancements (Drow): Dexterity II, Enchantment Resistance I, Melee Attack I, Melee Damage I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Constitution I, Melee Attack I, Melee Damage I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense II
Enhancements (Elf): Aerenal Elf Melee Attack I, Aerenal Elf Melee Damage I, Dexterity II, Enchantment Resistance I, Racial Toughness II, Ranged Attack II, Ranged Damage II
Enhancements (Halfling): Cunning I, Dexterity II, Guile I, Luck (Reflex) I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Human): Adaptability Dexterity I, Improved Recovery I, Racial Toughness II, Versatility III
Enhancements (Warforged): Constitution I, Construct Thinking I, Hardiness I, Healer's Friend I, Racial Toughness II

Soloability by level:
No hireling..: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
With hireling: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Tips:
- Do not expect to be a killing machine with a bow. In DDO, ranged damage is purposedly lower than melee, because it is also much safer to attack from distance. The Manyshot feat, that you get at L6, will allow you to fire multiple arrows per shot for a duration of 20s (and can be activated every 2 minutes). This is when your ranged damage will really shine, so use it wisely!
- As a result, one of the most important things a ranged character needs to learn is when it is best to switch to melee, and this build is able to melee reasonably well when required to. Starting at L2 you can dual wield weapons (using a light weapon in off-hand to lessen the to-hit penalty): use axes on a Dwarf, rapiers/shortswords on Elf and Drow, and any reasonable combination on other races (making sure at L12 that you use weapons compatible with your Improved Crit feat).
- Ranged attack speed increases with your Base Attack Bonus, and this is one reason why ranged attacks are awfully slow at low level (when you should be meleing most of the time). It will improve as you level up! You may also carry some Haste potions to boost your attack speed in important fight.
- A common ranging strategy is called 'kiting' and consists in shooting at enemies while running them around, preventing them from hurting you. As effective a solo tactic as it may be, it often frustrates your teammates in a party, because chasing monsters around is not fun and it takes longer to take them down. There are at least two ways to avoid such a counter-productive playstyle in a party: (1) start by aggroing monsters with your bow, but instead of running them around, stand your ground and just switch to melee when they reach you, or (2) wait until a melee grabs aggro before shooting with your bow.
- Just like melee attacks, ranged attacks get to-hit bonuses when standing still. So avoid running and shooting at the same time unless you need it to stay alive (remember you also get a -4 to-hit penalty when shooting while moving).
- Once you get Evasion at L9, make sure you are using light (or no) armor as otherwise Evasion will not work. This build is not really meant to achieve high AC (if you want to be safe, attack from distance!), so you can use your armor slot to get useful magic effects rather than focus on AC (e.g. elemental resistance, False Life or Fortification), possibly using robes/outfits (which are faster to swap than armor).
- Remember that you need a Wis of at least (10 + spell level) to cast a spell. You can use items, enhancements, tomes and the Owl's Wisdom spell to meet this requirement.
- You may start casting spells at L4, but will receive very few base spell points to do so. Use items giving bonus spell points ('of Power', 'of Wizardry') and increase your Wis (for bonus spell points) so as to get a larger spell point pool. You can also temporarily pick the Energy of the Wild Ranger enhancement to boost your spell points at early levels.
- You may start using healing wands at L1, even if you are not able to cast any spell yet.

Variants:
- It could be tempting to start as a Rogue for UMD, but overall it is best to stay pure Ranger on such a build, because the Ranger capstone enhancement increases your ranged attack speed. However, a Rogue splash is still viable, especially if you want to be able to handle traps and locks on your own. The Rogue Haste Boost enhancement will also compensate to some extent for the loss of the capstone, and you will gain 1d6 sneak attack at short range. Note that if you want to be able to deal with traps and locks, you will need to increase your starting Int (you may drop Wis for this) to ensure you will get enough skill points to max out UMD, Spot, Search, Disable Device (while you can live with half ranks in Open Lock), i.e. a minimum of 12 Int (10 on Human).
- It is possible to go Str-based instead of Dex-based (i.e. starting with a bit higher Str and spending level-up points in Str instead of Dex). The main benefit is higher damage output, at the cost of lower to-hit. The Dex-based version was preferred here because it is easier for new players who may not have good enough gear to compensate for lower to-hit. The Str-based version would overall be more effective through most of the game (with appropriate gear), although if you start running Epic content at L20, the to-hit loss will probably matter against the highest AC foes.
- To keep presentation simple, the Elf presented here focuses on Piercing weapons for melee damage (typically dual wielding a rapier with a shortsword), but going for Slashing weapons works just as well (with a scimitar/kukri combination). Just switch your L12 Improved Crit feat to Slash and pick the Valenar instead of Aerenal Elf melee enhancements if you go this route.
- Other potentially useful Favored Enemies include Aberration (useful from mid to high level), and Goblinoid (low to mid level). In the current state of the game, the most important Favored Enemy to get in the long term is Evil Outsider.
- There is some freedom for the L18 feat in the Human version. Maximize was chosen to be able to self-heal faster in tough fights. Other options include Skill Focus: UMD, or saves feats like Luck of Heroes or Lightning Reflexes.

Color code: best to worst = green, yellow, orange, red

[tihocan]

Necromancer (L20 Wizard)

Concept: Wizard focused on the dark arts of Necromancy
Original path's flaws: No Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy (making it unable to take the Pale Master line), no Toughness feat except on Human, Maximize and Extend taken too late, some skill points wasted in Search on the Human version
Main fixes: Revised feats (including in particular Toughness and Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy), and also increased Con a bit for even more HPs

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Good, Neutral, Neutral Good, Lawful Neutral, Lawful Good

Stats and Race (28/32 pt):
........Drow.....Dwarf......Elf.....Halfling...Human...Warforged.
.Str.....10........10........10........10........10........10....
.Dex.....10.......8/10.......10........10.......8/10......8/9....
.Con.....14........18......14/15.....15/16.......16......17/18...
.Int.....20........18........18........18........18........18....
.Wis.....8........8/10......8/9.......8/10......8/10......8/9....
.Cha.....10........6.........8.........8.........8.........6.....

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Int.

Skills: At all levels keep maxed out Concentration, UMD, Balance, Diplomacy and Move Silently. Put 1 rank (two skill points) into Tumble at character creation only. Spend points into Jump until you can reach +10 before casting the Jump spell. Put rest into Hide, and when you get extra points, invest in Spot.

Feats (by level), except Human: Extend (1), Toughness (1), Maximize (3), Empower (5), Spell Focus: Necromancy (6), Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy (9), Heighten (10), Spell Penetration (12), Quicken (15), Greater Spell Penetration (15), Mental Toughness (18), Spell Focus: Enchantment (20)
Feats (by level), Human: Same, but take Mental Toughness at L1 and Improved Mental Toughness at L18.
Special note: The feats Spell Focus: Necromancy and Empower were switched on 2011-01-31, in order to gain access to Empower earlier (yummy fireballs!). If you already took Spell Focus: Necromancy at L5, no worries, just pick Empower at L6.

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Wizard): Elemental Manipulation III, Energy of the Scholar III, Improved Empowering I, Improved Heightening II, Improved Maximizing I, Improved Spell Penetration II, Intelligence III, Lineage of Deadly Elements II, Lineage of Elements II, Master of Magic (capstone), Pale Master III, Shroud of the Lich, Summon Skeletal Knight
Enhancements (Drow): Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Constitution I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense I
Enhancements (Elf): Arcanum I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Halfling): Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Human): Adaptability Intelligence I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Warforged): Constitution I, Force Manipulation II, Inscribed Armor I (must take early), Racial Toughness II, Wand and Scroll Mastery II

Spells taken when leveling up.
Be careful that the main goal of this list is not to give you the best spells, but to ensure you get most spells whose scrolls cannot be bought from vendors. Other important spells should be manually inscribed in your spell book, buying scrolls as needed. If you cannot afford them all, try to get at least those listed in the Dynamic Hand Sorcerer build (also use this list to pick alternate spells when leveling up if you happen to already have some of the spells below in your spell book). NOTE: this list is not quite up-to-date and will be updated in the future.

• L1: Acid Spray / Chill Touch / Expeditious Retreat / Hypnotism / Mage Armor / Niac's Cold Ray / Shield
• L2: Charm Person / Magic Missile
• L3: Electric Loop / Snowball Storm
• L4: Fog Cloud / Resist Energy
• L5: Acid Blast / Haste
• L6: Chain Missiles / Frost Lance
• L7: Dimension Door / Wall of Fire
• L8: Solid Fog / Symbol of Flame
• L9: Cloudkill / Cone of Cold
• L10: Repair Light, Mass / Symbol of Pain
• L11: Acid Fog / Create Undead
• L12: Symbol of Fear / Symbol of Persuasion
• L13: Delayed Blast Firewall / Otto's Sphere of Dancing
• L14: Prismatic Spray / Symbol of Weakness
• L15: Horrid Wilting / Otto's Irresistible Dance
• L16: Polar Ray / Trap the Soul
• L17: Energy Drain / Wail of the Banshee
• L18: Dominate Monster / Mass Charm Monster
• L19: Hold Monster, Mass / Summon Monster IX
• L20: Greater Shout / Symbol of Death

Special note (Warforged) Same spell selection, except that at L1 Hypnotism should be replaced with with Repair Light Damage, then you should make sure you always buy and inscribe the appropriate Repair spell when you gain access to a new level of spells (note: Repair Mass scrolls cannot be bought, but unless you are playing with a static group or guild of Warforged players, there is no hurry to get them... the most important Repair spells to inscribe are Repair Moderate, Repair Serious and Reconstruct).

Soloability by level (except Warforged):
No hireling..: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
With hireling: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Soloability by level (Warforged):
No hireling..: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
With hireling: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Tips:
- You may think of a Necromancer as controlling an army of undead to take over a dungeon (as per the official description of the path). This is not how it works in DDO, where creatures under your control are usually weak, and your army most often consists of a single one (although it is sometimes viable to get more). Overall, controlling undead is not such a big part of being a Necromancer. Being a deadly caster is, but you will need to wait until the mid-levels to really enjoy your insta-kill spells.
- At low level, the Shield and Mage Armor spells can be useful to boost your AC. However, later on this will not be enough, and your best options to avoid punishment will be fast movement (Haste), Blur/Displacement, Jump, Diplomacy, and crowd control spells.
- To solo in the earliest levels, it can be easier to buff yourself and swing a staff (with the highest + you can find) than to try and get everything done with spells.
- With items boosting your Hide/Move Silently and the Invisibility spell, you will have enough sneaking ability to be able to avoid some encounters or approach monsters with stealth to get in spell-casting range. It can also be useful to make sure monsters target your pet, hireling or teammates when an encounter starts. If you get the Shroud of the Wraith enhancement (after L18 in this build), you can be even more stealthy.
- Use your Death Aura spells to recover Hit Points in undead form. Remember to warn your party healer that you cannot be healed as undead, and thus he should not waste ressources on you.
- Carry large stacks of spell components. Running out of them in the middle of a quest can be embarrassing.
- There is a lot to learn from MrCow's videos, especially about soloing with a Warforged caster.

Variants:
- IMPORTANT: The spell progression listed above still needs to be updated, make sure to pick your death aura spells when leveling up since they are not available from scrolls.
- If you enjoy the Pale Master summons, then consider (1) investing in more summoning enhancements than the one listed above, and (2) picking the Augment Summoning feat. You may pick it at L1 (on a Human delaying Mental Toughness to L18 and giving up on Improved Mental Toughness, on other races delaying Extend to L3, and shifting other feats accordingly - but still picking Spell Focus: Necromancy at L6 to qualify for Pale Master I, and eventually giving up Spell Focus: Enchantment). Note however that summons' usefulness tend to decrease as you level up, so you may plan to respec out of Augment Summoning at higher levels.
- Enhancements in this build are focused towards elemental (fire/cold) spells. This is the most common and overall the most useful specialization, but choosing to focus on lightning/acid is also viable. The force/repair line, however, is not worth investing too much into. Keep in mind some of the elemental boost enhancements are required for Pale Master summons though.
- The Insightufl Reflexes feat can be worth picking if you have trouble dodging AoE spells and timing traps. It could replace Spell Focus: Enchantment for instance (see the point below though). If you plan to take this feat, do not invest any point in Dex at character creation.
- Spell Focus: Enchantment is taken at L20 to boost your DC on Mass Hold Monster in particular, which is a very useful spell in some Epic content. If you do not feel like you need this extra +1 DC, you may replace it e.g. with Enlarge (to kill from distance or land touch spells like Otto's Irresistible Dance more easily), Improved Mental Toughness (for more SPs), or Insightful Reflxes as suggested above (in which case you should take this new feat at L18, delaying Mental Toughness to L20, because Insightful Reflexes is not a Wizard bonus feat).
- On another hand, if you really want to maximize your DC on Mass Hold, you may want to pick both Spell Focus: Enchantment and Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment. This may be done by taking Spell Focus: Enchantment instead of Quicken at L15, then Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment at L18, thus delaying Quicken to L20 (and removing Mental Toughness).
- If you decide to give up on Mental Toughness (for one of the feats mentioned above), remember that besides the Spell Points loss, this will also make it impossible to go into Wraith form (but at this point the Lich form is more useful anyway).
- This build, the Elementalist and The Ingenious Sage Wizard paths are all pure caster builds, able to perform all typical caster tasks. More original builds could for instance splash rogue (to handle traps and locks and more survivability through Evasion / UMD) or some melee class (for a mixed caster/melee build). But such advanced options are not considered by the original paths provided in DDO, and thus are out of the scope of this guide (note they are also more difficult to build right, and often require more gear to be effective).

Color code: best to worst = green, yellow, orange, red

[tihocan]

Whirlwind Fighter (L20 Fighter)

Concept: High damage dealer, dual-wielding weapons, favoring offense over defense.
Original path's flaws: Waste of a few feats (multiple Toughness, Two-Weapon Defense/Blocking...), some races are wasting the L20 level-up stat point into Dex, the Dex-based races start with 18 Dex instead of 17, and the build "cheats" by taking Toughness at L20 even though it is not a Fighter bonus feat.
Main fixes: Moved feats around (for better saves mostly), and optimized stat points better.

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral, Chaotic Good, Neutral, Neutral Good, Lawful Neutral, Lawful Good

Stats and Race (28/32 pt):
........Drow.....Dwarf......Elf.....Halfling...Human...Warforged.
.Str.....16......16/17.....16/17.....15/16.....16/17.....16/17...
.Dex.....17........16........17........17........16........16....
.Con.....13........16........13........14........14........16....
.Int.....10........8.........8.........8.........8.........8.....
.Wis.....10......10/11.....10/11......9/10.....10/11......8/9....
.Cha.....10........6.........8.........8.........8.........6.....

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Str, except for races that start with 16 base Dex, that should invest their first point (at L4) in Dex if they cannot get a +1 Dex tome before leveling to L6 (other points should still be invested in Str).

Skills, except Human and Drow: At character creation, get one rank (two skill points) in Tumble and spend the rest into Balance. On further levels, spend all skill points into Balance.
Skills, Human and Drow: Same, but also keep Intimidate maxed out at all levels.

Feats (by level), except Human: Two-Weapon Fighting (1), Toughness (1), Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Khopesh (2), Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting (3), Weapon Focus: Slash (4), Weapon Specialization: Slash (6), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (6), Improved Critical: Slash (8), Power Attack (9), Greater Weapon Focus: Slash (10), Greater Two-weapon Fighting (12), Greater Weapon Specialization: Slash (12), Stunning Blow (14), Iron Will (15), Superior Weapon Focus: Slash (16), Luck of Heroes (18), Cleave (18), Quick Draw (20)
Feats (by level), Human: Same, but add Iron Will at L1 and pick Lightning Reflexes at L15.

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Fighter): Attack Boost III, Critical Accuracy III, Haste Boost III, Kensei III, Kensei Khopesh Mastery III, Khopesh Specialization II, Strategy (Stunning Blow) II, Strategy (Trip) I, Strength II, Toughness II, Weapon Alacrity (capstone)
Enhancements (Drow): Enchantment Resistance I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Constitution I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense II, Tactics I
Enhancements (Elf): Enchantment Resistance I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Halfling): Guile II, Luck (Reflex) I, Luck (Will) I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Human): Adaptability Strength I, Improved Recovery II, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Warforged): Constitution I, Construct Thinking I, Healer's Friend II, Power Attack I, Racial Toughness II, Tactics I

Soloability by level:
No hireling..: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
With hireling: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Tips:
- At low level, wear the highest AC armor you can find (ideally [Mithral] Full Plate). Carry a shield for times when you need to save on healing costs.
- Later on, your AC will be too low to matter. This is when you can simply wear robes/outfits, which are faster to swap than regular armor. You may also wear guard items to punish whoever hits you.
- Your main weapon will be the Khopesh, which you can start using at L2 (use another light weapon in your off-hand at L1 and L2, and a Khopesh at L3+ once you get the Oversized TWF feat to avoid the extra to-hit penalty). Khopeshes can be difficult and expensive to obtain, but this choice will pay off in the long run.
- Your maximum damage output will come from using together your Haste Boost and your Kensei Power Surge ability.
- Quick Draw is mostly taken so that you can switch weapon sets faster, e.g. switching from dual-weighted blunt weapons (to stun your enemies) to a more damaging set once they are stunned.
- Cleave is meant to be used when using a special effect weapon in your main hand (e.g. Vorpal) and fighting multiple enemies. It is sadly a weak feat for dual-wielders because only your main hand will hit on a Cleave attack, but there are not many other Fighter bonus feats worth taking at that point. It can also be used to quickly grab aggro from a group of monsters.
- On Human or Drow, use Intimidate to avoid chasing monsters that are attacking your teammates.

Variants:
- With access to Dex tomes you may decrease your starting Dex to boost your Str/Con. The goal is to reach 17 Dex with only base + tomes, to qualify for Improved and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting. Since +2 Dex tomes are ML7, you will not be able to get Improved TWF at L6 if you want to rely on one, so just pick Power Attack at L6, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting at L8 and Improved Crit at L9.
- A few feats may be changed to better fit your own preferences, without hurting the overall effectiveness of the build (mostly: Cleave, Quick Draw, Luck of Heroes).
- It is interesting to invest more into strategic feats with Combat Expertise / Improved Trip / Sap, turning yourself into a nice melee crowd-controller. This was not done here because it really helps to have 32 pt build and some Int tome. Start with the 28 pt. stats, but use your 4 extra build points to bump Int to 12, and use a +1 Int tome to increase it further to 13 so as to be able to pick Combat Expertise (CE). For instance this could be done with CE taken at L14, Improved Trip at L15, Stunning Blow and Sap at L18 (thus dropping Iron Will, Luck of Heroes and Cleave). You could also decide to take these strategic feats earlier to take advantage of them while leveling up, although you would have to delay some other important feats to to so. Warforged or Dwarf is best for such a build since they get Tactics enhancements.
- A Warforged may pick Adamantine Body for the extra DR (and AC at lower levels), delaying for instance Toughness to L15 (and Iron Will to L18 instead of Luck of Heroes). For the DR to still be useful at higher levels, some action points should be invested in Warforged enhancements to boost DR, and the Improved Damage Reduction feat may also be taken (which may be best done through the free feat swap, since it is not a Fighter bonus feat, e.g. swapping out Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting for Improved Damage Reduction, then taking back Oversized TWF as a future Fighter bonus feat, instead of Cleave or Quick Draw). The Adamantine Body feat can also simply be dropped at higher levels if you do not find it useful anymore.
- Races that get bonuses with specific weapons through enhancements (Dwarf, Drow and Elf) may prefer to go for these weapons instead of Khopeshes (Dwarf: Dwarven Axe, Drow: Rapier, Elf: Rapier or Scimitar): although on average they will probably not outdamage Khopeshes, this is a viable option. You may take Stunning Blow at L2 instead of Khopesh proficiency, and the Kensei enhancements should be modified accordingly (also if using Rapier, replace Slashing feats by corresponding Piercing versions). As far as figuring out a useful Fighter bonus feat to pick at L14... good luck with that!
- This build basically fits the same role (main damage dealer) as the Vanguard Warrior path. The main differences between Two-Weapon Fighting (this build) and Two-Handed Fighting (Vanguard Warrior) are that TWF allows more options in weapon combinations, is more effective w.r.t. special attacks like Stunning Blow (because your target may have to make two saves), and is a bit higher damage vs. a single target, while THF is easier to equip (you only need half the weapons) and is more effective when fighting multiple opponents (thanks to glancing blows).
- This build is close in spirit to the Storm of Kargon (Barbarian) and The Truthbringer (Paladin) paths. There is no real "best" when comparing one to each other, so go with the class that appeals to you most! To give a rough idea of the main differences, in terms of self-sufficiency and defensive potential, Paladin >> Fighter > Barbarian, while in terms of sustained damage, Barbarian > Fighter > Paladin. The Paladin playstyle is also more "active" (there are more short-term buffs and special abilities to keep track of).

Color code: best to worst = green, yellow, orange, red

[Tinrae]

I've been following this thread closely as I am a newer, very casual player who most likely will never devote much time to learn all the intricate rules of build-making, yet I still want characters that function decent enough for how I play. Your posts detailing and explaining not only the "whats" but the "whys" of these builds have been extremely helpful.

Thank you.

+1 rep already given long ago.

[stenkiller12]

Ppl i'm a lvl 3 paladin.
What weapon should i wear?

[tihocan]

Ppl i'm a lvl 3 paladin.
What weapon should i wear?

Assuming Flame of Justice since this is the only Paladin path I've done so far: use either Falchion, Greatsword or Greataxe until you start using Divine Sacrifice regularly (then try to use Falchions only).

[Atoro87]

Assuming Flame of Justice since this is the only Paladin path I've done so far: use either Falchion, Greatsword or Greataxe until you start using Divine Sacrifice regularly (then try to use Falchions only).

^This. I just hit 10 with Tihocan's Flame pally build and with Imp Crit Slash, a falchion and Divine Sacrifice/Exalted Smite I'm knocking out triple digit crits fairly regularly. I have an Axiomatic Greatsword of Pure Good as a back up weapon and though I might hit higher damage per-crit it's not as often.

Think of damage like waves or wrinkles. If you use a greatsword/greataxe you're going to hit higher top end damage, but less often, for the surfers out there bigger waves but less per set. Falchions are going to give you lower top-end damage but you'll hit crits way more often, effectively smoothing the wrinkles between top and bottom end or, going back to the surfing analogy, more waves per-set of more consistent size instead of having dismal lulls and monstrous peaks.

My turn to ask a question now!

I pulled a +1 int tome unbound on a Tempest's Spine run the other day and I'm trying to decide whether or not to feed it to my Dark Blade who's a level 6. If I don't give it to him I'm considering trading it for something else or putting it up on the AH. since you always have some sound advice what would you sat Tihocan? thanks in advance!

[tihocan]

I pulled a +1 int tome unbound on a Tempest's Spine run the other day and I'm trying to decide whether or not to feed it to my Dark Blade who's a level 6. If I don't give it to him I'm considering trading it for something else or putting it up on the AH. since you always have some sound advice what would you sat Tihocan? thanks in advance!

Personally I like to keep +1 Int tomes for new characters starting with an odd Int, to save one build point at character creation.
Using it on a Dark Blade (with an even base Int) is probably not that useful in the long term, since at some point you should eventually get a +2. In addition, until you get exceptional bonuses to Int, you will probably be at (base + tome + 6), so the tome better be even.

[Zachski]

Would you recommend a Dwarven Rogue (Dark Blade, Str Based) to take Axe Enhancements, or is there just not enough room?

Also, for Warpriest, would it be possible to both melee and be a party healer at the exact same time? The way I see it, if I focus on meleeing instead of casting offensive spells, I have more SP to heal my allies with.

[tihocan]

Would you recommend a Dwarven Rogue (Dark Blade, Str Based) to take Axe Enhancements, or is there just not enough room?

Also, for Warpriest, would it be possible to both melee and be a party healer at the exact same time? The way I see it, if I focus on meleeing instead of casting offensive spells, I have more SP to heal my allies with.

Dwarven rogue: If you are dual wielding axes, sure. If you are using khopeshes, no
Yes, a Warpriest can both melee and be the party healer. There aren't many situations where a cleric must only be healing (this happens pretty much only in a few raids).

[Zachski]

Dwarven rogue: If you are dual wielding axes, sure. If you are using khopeshes, no
Yes, a Warpriest can both melee and be the party healer. There aren't many situations where a cleric must only be healing (this happens pretty much only in a few raids).

Eh, Khopeshes are overused anyway. They're axe-wannabes (j/k)

Truth be told, I like the 1d10 damage. I like crits, but I don't like relying on them, so higher consistent damage is great for when sneak attacks aren't working. Besides, when one of these crits, it really hurts.

I do have on issue. though. It seems that when I'm sneaking and get into sneak attack range, the monster will suddenly notice me. And sometimes, when I do a single sneak attack from stealth (I.E. The enemy hasn't noticed me and my hireling is idling back a bit waiting for me to give her the go ahead), the first of the two attacks will sneak attack just fine, but the second one deals normal damage. Is that normal?