Revisiting paths: Builds for new players

[tihocan]

IMPORTANT: I am not playing anymore and thus this thread is not going to be updated further (at least by me). This means some builds are most likely outdated. If someone else wants to take over this thread it's ok with me, you are welcome to copy / edit / replace my own builds (just ask moderators to help with the transition).

In DDO, paths are pre-made builds that make it easy for a new player to jump into the game without having to understand the complex D&D character build mechanics. When following a path, you do not need to make your own choices at character creation nor when leveling-up, everything is done automatically. This is a great idea, but unfortunately many such paths have flaws that can make them at best sub-optimal, and at worst totally non viable in the long term, forcing the player to either reroll or buy some expensive respec tokens from the DDO store.

The purpose of this thread is to revisit each path and propose a new version (sometimes almost the same, sometimes quite different) that you can follow in order to keep a viable character from level 1 to the level cap (20). Note that to do so you must choose the "Customize" option during character creation (and follow this thread for how to spend stat points, skills, which feats to take when leveling up, etc.).

Update 9 remark: I am aware some builds would benefit from some slight revisions due to changes in U9. I will work on them as I find time to (which may take a while). Let me know if you think something should be fixed fast.

THIS IS A WORK-IN-PROGRESS: I will be adding paths regularly over the next weeks. If you are interested in a specific path, send me a message, I will keep a log of the requests, and will adjust my planning accordingly.
You are more than welcome to post feedback, not just on builds themselves, but also on how the presentation is laid out, what should be better clarified, what information may be missing, etc.

PATH INDEX

• Barbarian: Bastion of the Outlands, Savage of the Wild, Storm of Kargon
• Bard: Spellsinger, Virtuoso of the Sword, Warchanter
• Cleric: Scourge of the Undead, The Font of Healing, Warpriest of Siberys
• Favored Soul: Angel of Vengeance, Beacon of Hope, Divine Avenger
• Fighter: Stalwart Soldier, Vanguard Warrior, Whirlwind Fighter
• Monk: Henshin Mystic, Ninja Spy, Shintao Monk, The Path of Light, The Path of Shadow, Two-headed Heron
• Paladin: The Flame of Justice, The Mighty Protector, The Truthbringer
• Ranger: Arcane Archer, Deepwood Sniper, Tempest
• Rogue: Master Mechanic, The Dark Blade, Thief Acrobat
• Sorcerer: Arcane Cannon, The Dynamic Hand, The Voice of Power
• Wizard: Elementalist, Necromancer, The Ingenious Sage

README FIRST

• Official build description
  The description you can read my hovering your mouse on the build name in each build is the one from Turbine. Keep in mind the revised version may be somewhat different from this description (although I tried to stay true to the original spirit of each build).
  
• Alignment
  For most builds, alignment is not that important (in the color code I am using, only red should absolutely be avoided). A few general rules to pick your alignment (the first rules supersede those that follow):
  - Make sure it is compatible with alignment restrictions from any class you may want to multiclass with.
  - If you are planning to have a high enough UMD, it is best to be Neutral.
  - Being Neutral is a bit better than other alignments in the long term, to avoid unholy damage and be able to use some specific items.
  - Being good-aligned makes it easier on non casters, since you can use Pure Good weapons, which are among the most useful randomly generated weapons you can find at lower levels. For this reason I chose to favor good alignment in some of the builds, as it is more "new-player-friendly", but keep in mind the previous rule.
  
• Tumble
  The ability to tumble can be handy in a varietey of situations. Even if some builds listed here do not spend points into Tumble, it is almost never a bad idea to spend 1 rank in it (you should be able to catch up on whatever skills you sacrificed after you acquire a +2 Int tome). This is especially useful for a Warforged melee who may be using a Docent of Defiance (which dramatically slows you down when its special effect triggers, so that tumbling around is key to be able to keep moving).
  
• Dragonmarks
  Most builds do not use dragonmark feats. The first reason is that dragonmarks need to be unlocked (even if this is very easy). The second reason is that dragonmarks are typically not worth a feat slot, except sometimes on a fighter. Use dragonmarks at your own risk!
  
• Warforged body feat
  Many original paths took a body feat for Warforged. However, many builds do not benefit much from it, especially past the lower levels. The paths proposed here do not take a body feat unless there is a long term benefit in doing so, but it can be viable to take one early, then respec out of it later once it does not help anymore (but be aware of potential side-effects of body feats, for instance taking Adamantine body on a rogue is a bad idea because being considered as heavy armor, it will disable Evasion).
  
• Feat respec
  For builds or variants that suggest feat respec while leveling up, it is best not to use the single free respec given to all characters. This free respec should be saved for a potential high level feat respec, which can be extremely expensive.
  
• Enhancements
  The enhancements listed in the builds are not a full list. There is a lot of freedom in how one can set up enhancements for each build, and a lot is a matter of personal preference. Those listed here are the most important ones to consider (the ranks given in the builds are the minimum ranks you should invest into, it is ok - and often a good idea - to get them to even higher ranks). For more information on enhancements, please read this post.
  
• Skill points vs. Ranks
  If a build says to increase a skill by one rank, it means getting +1 to the skill. This may require spending 2 skill points as cross-class skills augment only by 0.5 for every skill point spent.

COMING NEXT
Here is the order in which I am planning to go through paths. Feel free to send me requests if you want one to be done sooner

Half-Elf and Half-Orc variants of all current paths (will start working on this once I'm done catching up on some other notes I took in the past months)
Virtuoso of the Sword (Bard)
Divine Avenger (Favored Soul)
Shintao Monk (Monk)
Angel of Vengeance (Favored Soul)
Scourge of the Undead (Cleric)
Henshin Mystic (Monk)
The Voice of Power (Sorcerer)
Deepwood Sniper (Ranger)
Bastion of the Outlands (Barbarian)
The Path of Light (Monk)
The Path of Shadow (Monk)
Two-headed Heron (Monk)

[tihocan]

The Font of Healing (L20 Cleric)

Concept: Support cleric, with focus on healing, who can also use spells offensively but is weak in melee.
Original path's flaws: No Maximize feat to boost offensive spells like Blade Barrier, a couple builds points wasted in Dex, and non Human/Drow version spend more skill points than they should be allowed to (not really a flaw, rather a cheat!)
Main fixes: Revised feats and moved some points from Dex to Str, since in the long term they will be more useful to avoid encumbrance issues without a Str item (and in the short term they will help melee at low levels, at the cost of lower AC).

Character generator version: Human (28 pt)

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......10/12.......10........10....
.Dex.....10........8.........10........10........8.........8.....
.Con.....13......16/17.....12/14.......14......14/15.....16/17...
.Int.....10........8.........8.........8.........8.........8.....
.Wis.....18........18........18........18........18........16....
.Cha.....12......10/12.......12......10/12.....12/14.....10/12...

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Wis.

Skills (except Human and Drow): Max out Concentration.
Skills (Human and Drow): Keep Concentration maxed out at all levels. At character creation, also get one rank (two skill points) into Tumble, and spend your last two skill points into Balance. On further levels, spend your extra skill point into Balance as well.

Feats (by level), except Human: Mental Toughness (1), Extend (3), Empower Healing (6), Quicken (9), Maximize (12), Spell Penetration (15), Toughness (18)
Feats (by level), Human: Mental Toughness (1), Toughness (1), Extend (3), Empower Healing (6), Quicken (9), Maximize (12), Spell Penetration (15), Greater Spell Penetration (18)

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Cleric): Divine Intervention (capstone), Divine Vitality I, Energy of the Zealot II, Extra Turning I, Follower of the Sovereign Host, Heal II, Improved Empower Healing II, Improved Spell Penetration II, Improved Turning I, Life Magic IV, Prayer of Incredible Life II, Prayer of Life II, Radiant Servant II, Unyielding Sovereignty, Wand and Scroll Mastery II, Wisdom II
Enhancements (Drow): Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Constitution I, Faith I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense II
Enhancements (Elf): Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Halfling): Hero's Companion II, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Human): Adaptability Wisdom I, Improved Recovery I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Warforged): Combat Training I, Constitution 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:
- If you want it, a Cleric should be best to make money (because you do not need to spend much money on gear or consumables). If you find yourself being broke because spending all your cash on wands and scrolls, then stop! Ask other players to play smarter, bring their own healing or contribute to your expenses.
- At low level, buff yourself with Bull's Strength (starting at L3) and use a shield and a weapon you are proficient with to contribute a bit to melee damage. Once you realize you do not hit much anymore and/or do not do any meaningful damage, focus only on offensive spells to contribute to the fights.
- At some point your AC will not be good enough to avoid being hit, even on a 2. You can happily run around with two weapons (to boost your spells) and a good looking robe or vestment (faster to swap than armor).
- Spell-wise, carry around a mix of buffs, damage and crow-control spells, to use depending on the situation.
- A healer's first priority is not to heal others, but to stay alive.
- Improved Turning I, Life Magic II, Cleric Heal II, and Divine Vitality I are required to qualify for Radiant Servant at level 6, so make sure you have acquired all of those enhancements before then! Similarly, Radiant Servant I, Prayer of Life I, Prayer of Incredible Life I and Unyielding Sovereignty are required for Radiant Servant II at level 12.

Variants:
- Str, Dex and Cha may be changed slightly depending on personal preferences; Str mostly for encumbrance (and melee at lower levels), Dex for reflex saves (and AC at lower levels), and Cha for better turn Undead and other usage of turns in general (like Divine Vitality and Radiant Servant healing auras).
- Mental Toughness can be handy, but players comfortable with spell point management and use of scrolls/wands may prefer to swap it out (taking Toughness at L1, and as last feat taking e.g. Greater Spell Penetration or Empower spell for even stronger offensive casting). On the contrary, someone who has little interest in offensive spells and enjoys having lots of spell points to heal friends may prefer to take Improved Mental Toughness instead of Spell Penetration.
- On an Elf, enhancements you can pick the Follower of the Undying Court and Undying Call enhancements instead of Follower of the Sovereign Host and Unyielding Sovereignty, so as to be able to raise Dead at L6. However, once you can raise dead by yourself (i.e. at L7 if you can afford the scrolls, or L9 otherwise), you should switch to the Sovereign Host enhancements since they are more useful in the long term.
- This build is close in spirit to the Beacon of Hope Favored Soul path. In short, the Cleric is more versatile (thanks to the abiliity to swap spells at shrines), while the Favored Soul gets more spell points and at L20 gains some very useful Damage Reduction and free casting of Cure Light Wounds, making it more powerful overall.

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

[tihocan]

Savage of the Wild (L20 Barbarian)

Concept: High damage dealer using two-handed weapons, favoring offense over defense.
Original path's flaws: Does not give access to the Frenzied Berzerker enhancement until L15, starts with too high Dexterity.
Main fixes: Lowered Dexterity in favor of Constitution and Wisdom, and re-ordered feats to be able to take the Frenzied Berzerker line at L6.

Character generator version: Dwarf (28 pt)

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.....18........18........18........16........18........18....
.Dex.....10......10/11.......10......10/12.....10/11.....10/11...
.Con.....14......17/18.....14/15.......16......15/16.....16/17...
.Int.....10........8.........8.........8.........8.........8.....
.Wis.....10......10/11.....10/11.....10/12.....10/11.....10/11...
.Cha.....10........6.........8.........8.........8.........6.....

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Str.

Skills, except Human and Drow: Keep Balance and Intimidate maxed out at all levels. At character creation, get one rank (two skill points) into Tumble and spend your last two points in Jump, then on next levels always spend your extra skill point into Jump.
Skills, Human and Drow: Same, but also keep Listen maxed out at all levels.

Feats (by level), except Human: Two-handed Fighting (1), Power Attack (3), Cleave (6), Improved Critical: Slash (9), Improved Two-Handed Fighting (12), Greater Two-Handed Fighting (15), Stunning Blow (18)
Feats (by level), Human: Same, but add Toughness at L1 (NOTE: my original build was a more min/max version taking Toughness at L18, but I decided to change it after feedback from Zaqs_dk; if you started a build with this other feat progression it is ok to keep following it as it remains entirely viable: you can find it here)

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Barbarian): Constitution I, Damage Boost IV, Extend Rage III, Extra Rage I, Frenzied Berzerker III, Hardy Rage II, Improved Damage Reduction I, Might (capstone), Power Attack III, Power Rage III, Sprint Boost I, Toughness II (if Human)
Enhancements (Drow): Enchantment Resistance I
Enhancements (Dwarf): Axe Attack I, Axe Damage II, Constitution I, Spell Defense I, Tactics I
Enhancements (Elf): Enchantment Resistance I, Valenar Elf Melee Attack I, Valenar Elf Melee Damage II
Enhancements (Halfling): Cunning I, Guile II, Luck (Will) I
Enhancements (Human): Adaptability Strength I, Improved Recovery II, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Warforged): Constitution I, Construct Thinking I, Great Weapon Aptitude II, Healer's Friend 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, save your few rages for the important fights in the quest, and wear the highest AC medium armor you can find (typically Breastplate / 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: try to stay raged most of the time, and rely on your DR to mitigate damage and on your high HP buffer to stay alive. This is when you can simply wear robes/outfits, which are faster to swap than regular armor.
- Guard items, that proceed when being hit, can be quite effective on barbarians.
- On a Dwarf, use Greataxes. On an Elf, use Falchions. On other races, use either Greataxes, Falchions or Greatswords.
- The Frenzy ability you gain with Frenzied Berzerker I is useful when the extra damage inflicted on yourself does not matter, but may be avoided otherwise. This contrasts with the Death Frenzy obtained with Frenzied Berzerker III, which is a significant improvement on your DPS output, and thus should be used as much as possible.

Variants:
- The Frenzied Berzerker line is mostly useful starting at L12, thus one may prefer to swap Cleave and Improved Two-Handed Fighting if not Human, to boost glancing blows earlier (and delay the Frenzied Berzerker enhancements until L12).
- Warforged may choose to start with the Adamantine Body feat instead of Two-Handed Fighting (THF), then take THF at L3, then respec Adamantine Body for Power Attack at L5. The idea being that Adamantine Body in the early levels can make it easier.
- If you are undecided between Two-Handed and Two-Weapon fighting, it can make sense to start with 15 Dex (this is easiest on a 32 pt build). This way, you may eventually be able to get the Improved and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feats with just a +2 Dex tome. However, keep in mind that the cost of feat respec at L20 is very high, and it may actually be easier to obtain a lesser reincarnation token if you decide to switch feats at that point.
- On a non Human, you may prefer Toughness instead of Stunning Blow at L18. Both are valid choices, so pick whichever you prefer. If you go for Toughness, do not forget the corresponding class and race enhancements.
- Intimidate is mostly here to avoid chasing monsters around when they are after someone else. It is a useful skill, but only if you use it... If that is not the case, better max out Spot instead.
- The most popular multiclass variants splash two levels of either Fighter (for extra feats) or Rogue (for evasion and UMD). The main losses are the capstone enhancement (+2 Str and extra chance of special effect on Glancing Blows), and the +2 to Str and Con a L20 barbarian gains when raging.
- This build basically fits the same role (main damage dealer) as the Storm of Kargon path. The main differences between Two-Weapon Fighting (Storm of Kargon) and Two-Handed Fighting (this build) are that TWF allows more options in weapon combinations, is more effective w.r.t. special attacks like Trip and 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 Vanguard Warrior (Fighter) and Flame of Justice (Paladin) paths. To give a rough idea of the differences, in terms of overall sustained damage output, Barbarian > Fighter > Paladin (but all three classes can take the role of a primary damage dealer). In terms of self-suffiency, Paladin > Fighter > Barbarian. Finally, the Paladin is the one with most "active" combat (maintaining buffs, timing special attacks), while Fighter and Barbarian are more straightforward to play.

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

[tihocan]

The Ingenious Sage (L20 Wizard)

Concept: Generalist wizard.
Original path's flaws: Poor feat selection (e.g. too many Spell Focus feats, no Empower, no Toughness, Quicken taken too late especially on Warforged).
Main fixes: Switched some feats to be more useful overall and qualify for Archmage enhancements, also increased Con a bit.

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: Mental Toughness (1), Toughness (1), Maximize (3), Extend (5), Spell Focus: Enchantment (6), Empower (9), Heighten (10), Spell Focus: Evocation (12), Spell Penetration (15), Quicken (15), Greater Spell Penetration (18), Spell Focus: Necromancy (20)
Feats (by level), Human: Mental Toughness (1), Toughness (1), Extend (1), Maximize (3), Empower (5), Spell Focus: Enchantment (6), Spell Focus: Evocation (9), Heighten (10), Spell Penetration (12), Quicken (15), Greater Spell Penetration (15), Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment (18), Spell Focus: Necromancy (20)
Special note: The feat progresion for all races was modified on 2010/10/27 to be able to pick the Archmage enhancement line. If you started this build prior to this date, you can find the old feat progression to follow in this post.

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Wizard): Arcane Bolt, Archmage Enchantment I (Hypnotism), Archmage Evocation I (Magic Missile), Archmage II, Archmage Secondary Spell Mastery I: Evocation, Archmage Spell Mastery I: Enchantment, Concentration II, Elemental Manipulation III, Energy of the Scholar II, Force Manipulation II, Improved Empowering I, Improved Heightening II, Improved Maximizing I, Improved Spell Penetration II, Intelligence II, Lineage of Deadly Elements II, Lineage of Elements II, Master of Magic (capstone)
Enhancements (Drow): Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Constitution I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Elf): Arcanum I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Halfling): Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Human): Adaptability Intelligence I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Warforged): Constitution I, Inscribed Armor I (must take early), Racial Toughness II, Wand and Scroll Mastery I

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 / Detect Secret Doors / Expeditious Retreat / Hypnotism / Mage Armor / Niac's Cold Ray / Shield
• L2: Burning Hands / Charm Person
• 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 / Symbol of Persuasion
• L12: Create Undead / Symbol of Fear
• L13: Delayed Blast Firewall / Otto's Sphere of Dancing
• L14: Prismatic Spray / Symbol of Weakness
• L15: Otto's Irresistible Dance / Polar Ray
• L16: Mass Charm Monster / Trap the Soul
• L17: Energy Drain / Wail of the Banshee
• L18: Hold Monster, Mass / Horrid Wilting
• L19: Dominate Monster / Summon Monster IX
• L20: Greater Shout / Symbol of Death

Special note (Warforged) Same spell selection, except that at L1 Hypnotism should be replaced 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 will be 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Once you get cheap (1 spell point) Hypnotism (at L6) and Magic Missile (at L12) spell-like abilities from the Archmage enhancements, remember to put them on some hotbar and take advantage of them (their cost will not be increased by metamagic feats like heighten, extend, maximize...).

Variants:
- You may pick different schools for your Archmage specialties (keep in mind they are tied to your Spell Focus feats). The choice of Enchantment and Evocation here is because both are useful through most content.
- The proposed build stops at Archmage II because higher tiers start being significantly expensive in terms of Action Points, without gaining that much. You may decide you want higher tiers of Archmage though, in which case you should make sure you get your Greater Spell Focus feat. Human get it here at L18, but other races do not: it is a bit tricky to change the feat order due to the restrictions on Wizard bonus feats (which as far as I know do not include Greater Spell Focus). One way to do it would be to replace Empower at L9 by Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment, taking Empower at L15, thus delaying Quicken at L20 (and dropping the Necromancy Focus).
- On a non Warforged, UMD may be very useful to heal yourself at higher levels. However, this is not the purpose of this build (where UMD is taken mostly because of the lack of truly useful skills, and it can prove handy sometimes). UMD for self-heal requires some investment in gear (e.g. Golden Cartouche from Delera, Head of Good Fortune from Reaver raid, crafted item from Shroud raid, +Cha tome, ...), and a few tweaks in the build: first, Cha should be raised to 12-14 (at the expense of lower stats like Str/Dex/Wis preferably); then the feat Skill Focus: UMD should be taken (e.g. instead of Spell Focus: Enchantment). Human is recommended for the extra feat and the Human Versatility enhancement (because of the skill boost). If you are looking for a non-Warforged self-healing wizard, a Necromancer build may be more appropriate though.
- 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 few points invested in the force/repair line are here to boost your (amost) free Magic Missiles.
- This build is similar in spirit to the Dynamic Hand Sorcerer path. Refer to this page for an overview of the differences between Sorcerer and Wizard, to see which one you would enjoy most.
- This build, the Necromancer and Elementalist 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]

The Dark Blade (L20 Rogue)

Concept: Good damage dealer, decent survivability, and of course able to take care of traps and locks.
Original path's flaws: No Power Attack (leading to a serious lack of DPS when unable to sneak attack), no Toughness (rogues are somewhat squishy).
Main fixes: Revised feats for better damage output and survivability.

Character generator version: Halfling (28 pt)

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.....14........14........14........12........14........14....
.Dex.....18......16/17.......18........18......16/17.....16/17...
.Con.....12........16......12/14.......14........14........16....
.Int.....16........14........14......14/15.......14........14....
.Wis.....8.........8.........8........8/9.......8/9.......6/7....
.Cha.....10.......6/7........8........8/9........8.........6.....

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Dex (note that on a Halfling, you will need a +1 Str tome by L18 to qualify for Power Attack - easily bought on the Auction House at this level).

Skills (except Human and Drow): At all levels, keep maxed out Search, Disable Device, UMD, Open Locks, Spot, Balance, Diplomacy, Hide and Move Silently. Split your remaining points equally between Jump and Tumble.
Skills (Human and Drow): Same, but you should be able to max out both Jump and Tumble instead of splitting points between them.

Feats (by level), except Human: Two-Weapon Fighting (1), Weapon Finesse (3), Toughness (6), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (9), Opportunist (10), Improved Critical: Pierce (12), Improved Evasion (13), Greater Two-Weapon Fighting (15), Crippling Strike (16), Power Attack (18), Skill Mastery (19)
Feats (by level), Human: Two-Weapon Fighting (1), Toughness (1), Weapon Finesse (3), Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting (6), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (9), Opportunist (10), Improved Critical: Pierce (12), Improved Evasion (13), Greater Two-Weapon Fighting (15), Crippling Strike (16), Power Attack (18), Skill Mastery (19)
Special note: The feat progresion for all races was modified on 2010/10/28 when the build was converted to a pure Rogue build for the capstone enhancement. If you started this build prior to this date, you can find the old feat progression to follow in this post.

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Rogue): Assassin III, Damage Boost II, Deadly Shadow (capstone), Dexterity II, Haste Boost III, Hide II, Move Silently II, Search I, Skill Boost III (except Human), Sneak Attack Accuracy IV, Sneak Attack Training IV, Subtle Backstabbing II
Enhancements (Drow): Dexterity I, Enchantment Resistance I, Melee Attack I, Melee Damage I, Perception I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Constitution I, Kundarak Search I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense II
Enhancements (Elf): Aerenal Melee Attack I, Aerenal Melee Damage I, Dexterity I, Enchantment Resistance I, Perception I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Halfling): Cunning III, Dexterity I, Guile III, 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 II, 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:
- Early on, dual-wield a rapier in your main hand with a shortsword in your off-hand. Around mid levels you should be able to switch to dual rapiers without missing too much (the Human build may start dual wielding rapiers at L6).
- 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.
- If you ever get to the point (around L16) where you start running the Shroud raid regularly, consider crafting a Radiance rapier. It is an awesome weapon for such a build.
- 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.
- Your Spot skill wwill be a bit low in the early levels. If you want to spot traps, try to get your hands on an item boosting this skill, and possibly invest a few action points in enhancements increasing it (probably getting rid of them later when you can spot traps reliably enough).
- From L6 to L11, if you find yourself struggling with traps due to lack of good gear, consider picking the Mechanic I enhancement rather than Assassin I. You may then respec your enhancements upon reaching L12, to grab Assassin II.

Variants:
- If you are more concerned about low level content / ease of leveling rathen than optimality at L20, consider splashing one level of Fighter at L2. This gives you proficiencies with all martial weapons (so you can in particular use picks in addition to rapiers / shortswords), +16 HPs (counting the Fighter Toughness enhancement), an extra feat (so that you can pick Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting on a non Human for +2 to-hit, and on a Human Weapon Focus: Pierce, Skill Focus: UMD or Combat Expertise), and +2 Fort saves. The cost at L20 is -1 Reflex saves, loss of a few skill points (to be lost in Jump / Tumble / Balance) and losing the capstone (so -2 Int and -4d6 sneak attack damage).
- Another very good option is to go Strength-based instead of finesse. In which case you would swap Weapon Finesse for Khopesh proficiency and Improved Critical: Pierce for the Slash version (Elves/Drow may also decide to use rapiers, taking Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting instead of Khopesh). Your main stat would be Str, while Dex should be just enough so you can pick the Two-Weapon, Improved Two-Weapon and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feats (with base score, level-up stat increases and tomes, it must be 15 for TWF, and 17 for ITWF and GTWF). Being strength-based means higher damage output, at the cost of reduced to-hit (on Elf/Drow/Halfling), reflex saves and AC (note that the latter is mostly relevant at lower levels).
- 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, split some points between Balance, Jump and Tumble (instead of just Jump and Tumble) so that you can max out Bluff. Among Balance, Jump and Tumble, Balance is the most important, while you can stop investing in Jump and Tumble once you are comfortable with respectively how high you can jump, and from how high you can fall without taking too much damage. Note that a 40 Jump skill (with buffs) is the maximum you need, and at L18 you can obtain a Jump clicky that gives you +30 to it.

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

[tihocan]

Warchanter (L18 Bard/L1 Fighter/L1 Barbarian)

Concept: Bard with decent melee abilities and great buffs, but weak offensive spell-casting (still able to Fascinate for crowd-control though).
Original path's flaws: Some combat feats not appropriate to such a build (Cleave, Stunning Blow), waste of a few build points in Cha, trying to get too many skills (resulting in particular in low Concentration)
Main fixes: Revised feats and optimized build points and skills to focus on the build's strengths. Splashed one level of barbarian (for proficiencies and to take advantage of the warchanter's raging ability) and one level of fighter (for the extra feat), making it a better combatant.

Character generator version: Human (28 pt)

Multi-class progression <- click for more info: Create your character as Bard, then take your second level as Barbarian, levels 3 to 9 as Bard, level 10 as Fighter, and finally Bard from 11 to 20.
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........17........16........17........17....
.Dex.....10.......9/10.......10........10.......8/9.......9/10...
.Con.....14......17/18.....14/15.....15/16.......16......16/17...
.Int.....10........8.........8.........8.........8.........8.....
.Wis.....9........8/9........8.........8........8/10......8/9....
.Cha.....14........12......13/14.....12/14.....13/14.......12....

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Str.

Skills (except Human and Drow): Keep maxed out at all levels UMD, Perform, Concentration and Balance. Get one rank in Tumble (at character creation only) and spend the rest into Jump. Jump will have to lag behind a bit because of skill points lost on the Barbarian and Fighter levels, which is fine. On these two levels, just ensure you do not end up with 0.5 in any skill, as it may prevent you from maxing it out later on.
Skills (Human and Drow): Same, but also keep Haggle maxed out at all levels.

Feats (by level), except Human: Extend (1), Weapon Focus: Slash (3), Power Attack (6), Toughness (9), Improved Crit: Slash (10), Two-Handed Fighting (12), Improved Two-Handed Fighting (15), Greater Two-Handed Figthing (18)
Feats (by level), Human: Toughness (1), Extend (1), Weapon Focus: Slash (3), Power Attack (6), Two-Handed Fighting (9), Improved Crit: Slash (10), Improved Two-Handed Fighting (12), Greater Two-Handed Fighting (15), Empower Healing (18)

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Barbarian): Sprint Boost I, Toughness I
Enhancements (Bard): Extra Song II, Inspired Attack III, Inspired Bravery III, Inspired Damage III, Lingering Song III, Lyric of Incredible Song I, Lyric of Song I, Song Magic II, Wand and Scroll Mastery II, Warchanter II
Enhancements (Fighter): Haste Boost I
Enhancements (Drow): Enchantment Resistance I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Axe Attack I, Axe Damage I, Constitution I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense I
Enhancements (Elf): Enchantment Resistance I, Racial Toughness II, Valenar Elf Melee Attack I, Valenar Elf Melee Damage I
Enhancements (Halfling): Cunning I, Guile II, Hero's Companion III, Luck (Fortitude) I, Luck (Reflex) I, Luck (Will) I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Human): Adaptatability Strength I, Improved Recovery I, Racial Toughness II, Versatility III
Enhancements (Warforged): Constitution I, Construct Thinking I, Great Weapon Aptitude II, Hardiness I, Healer's Friend II, Racial Toughness II

Spells taken when leveling up.
Spells followed by brackets may be swapped for the spell given in brackets, at the character level also provided. Swapping spells is often a non-mandatory minor optimization, so you may decide not to do it if it is too expensive for you (you can also directly pick the spell that should be swapped to, but be careful that you may wish you had the other spell while leveling up).

• L1: Cure Light Wounds [Feather Fall at L6]
• L3: Expeditious Retreat
• L4: Focusing Chant
• L5: Blur / Heroism [Summon Monster II at L15]
• L6: Cure Moderate Wounds [Invisibility at L12] / Detect Secret Doors
• L8: Displacement / Haste / Rage
• L9: Good Hope
• L12: Cure Serious Wounds / Dimension Door / Freedom of Movement
• L13: Break Enchantment
• L15: Cure Critical Wound / Cure Light Wounds, Mass / Greater Heroism
• L16: Greater Dispel Magic
• L18: Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass / Mass Suggestion / Otto's Irresistible Dance / Remove Fear
• L19: Eagle splendor / Heroes' Feast
• L20: Remove Curse

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:
- The idea is (starting at L2) to swing a two-handed weapon (Falchion, Greataxe or Greatsword), relying on blur/displacement and the Warchanter's DR song for defense.
- Use your barbarian rages when you expect not to have to cast spells or use scrolls in the next minute (put your 'Dismiss Rage' feat on a hotbar so you can quickly get out of rage if needed).
- The Warforged will enjoy not being fatigued after the rages. Other races may rely on lesser restoration wands / potions to get rid of fatigue faster.
- The Human version has room for Empower Healing, making it more viable to heal the party through mass heals at high levels.
- Carry a devotion weapon to quickly swap to when you need to heal (a clicky works too, or an item if you can spare the slot).
- Remember that you need a Cha of at least (10 + spell level) to cast a spell. You can use items, enhancements, tomes and the Eagle's Splendor spell to meet this requirement.
- Learn to take advantage of Fascinate: even with non-maxed Cha and no +Perform item, it remains a very strong ability against non-immune mobs.
- When you get your Barbarian level at L2, take the Barbarian Damage Reduction Boost I enhancement, it will be useful to mitigate damage in tough fights. You can drop this enhancement once you reach L7 and get the Warchanter's Ironskin Chant (which gives almost the same DR, but for a longer period of time).

Variants:
- One may prefer to go for dual-wielding instead of Two-Handed Fighting. 32 pt builds will help meet the Dex requirements (15 for Two-Weapon Fighting, 17 for Improved TWF and Greater TWF, where only starting Dex + level-up + tomes count). Str should be taken down to 16, and Cha can also be reduced a bit if needed. Splashing two levels of ranger instead of Barbarian and Fighter can be a decent option to get the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, a favored enemy and Bow Strength.
- If you want to add Empower Healing to be a more useful healer on a non Human, it may be better to replace the Barbarian level with a second level of Fighter. This will give you one extra feat (so you can for instance take Power Attack on the first Fighter level, then pick Empower Healing at L6), and +1 Str with the Fighter enhancement, but you lose the Barbarian fast movement, sprint boost, and ability to rage.
- Alternatively, you can replace the Fighter level with Barbarian, gaining Uncanny Dodge, enhancements for +1 Con, longer Rage and 1 extra Rage, but losing the haste boost and one feat (dropping Extend, or Empower Healing on a Human).
- Splashing more than 2 levels can be ok on such a build (which is not focused on offensive casting), but keep in mind we do not know yet what Warchanter III (L18 Bard enhancement) will give us.
- Staying pure Bard is also a viable option, thanks to the Warchanter II enhancement that allows you to get proficiency in one type of martial weapon (so that don't need to spam Master's Touch too much). The main benefit from the capstone enhancement is the extra +20% length on buff songs, and your 20th Bard level also grants an extra +1 to-hit and damage on Inspire Courage. However, you lose one feat (Greater Two-Handed Fighting, Extend or Empower Healing), 20 HPs, your Sprint and Haste boosts, the ability to Rage up, and will need to rely on Master's Touch until you get Warchanter II at L12.
- This build gives up offensive spell casting in favor of melee abilities. It is possible to focus more on spells, by favoring Cha instead of Str. However, keep in mind that Warchanter requires Power Attack (13+ Str with base Str and tomes) and Weapon Focus, two feats that are wasted if you are not fighting. For such a build, more feats to boost spells should be taken (Heighten, Spell focus: Enchantment, Spell Penetration), at the expense of the Two-Handed Fighting line, and it is best to remain pure Bard.

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

[PointyRhiana]

The Dark Blade (L19 Rogue/L1 Fighter)
snipsnip

Since my thread went byebye in the forum mess last night, I'll just ask here. I've finally reached level 2 on the character that is on this path. Is this when I take the fighter level? And what skills should I put points in? Since most of them are Rogue based, and I'll be a fighter, so it'll take more points...

[Brennie]

Heres the simplest one (since its 2am and i don't feel like doing the harder Mechanic revise :P), but this is how i would revise the Dark Blade:

Fighter level dropped in favor of the capstone, power attack bumped to 18 replacing OTWF on non human, while OTWF is bumped to 18 replacing weapon focus: peirce for humans. All fighter-related entries deleted, and Rogue Deadly Shadows added to enhancement list (I'm assuming you left a few AP wiggle room in your builds? If not, i may need to re-tailor the enhancements).

The Dark Blade (L20 Rogue)

Concept: Good damage dealer, decent survivability, and of course able to take care of traps and locks.
Original path's flaws: No Power Attack (leading to a serious lack of DPS when unable to sneak attack), no Toughness (rogues are somewhat squishy), Weapon Focus instead of Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting (the latter gives an extra +1 to-hit in the common situation of dual wielding non light weapons).
Main fixes: Revised feats for better damage output and survivability.
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.....14........14........14........12........14........14....
.Dex.....18......16/17.......18........18......16/17.....16/17...
.Con.....12........16......12/14.......14........14........16....
.Int.....16........14........14......14/15.......14........14....
.Wis.....8.........8.........8........8/9.......8/9.......6/7....
.Cha.....10.......6/7........8........8/9........8.........6.....

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Dex (except on a Halfling, where the first increase at L4 should be spent into Str if you are unable to obtain a +1 Str tome to qualify for Power Attack).

Skills (except Human and Drow): Max Search, Disable Device, UMD, Open Locks, Spot, Balance, Diplomacy, Hide, Move Silently. Split your remaining points equally between Jump and Tumble.
Skills (Human and Drow): Same, but you should be able to get both Jump and Tumble instead of splitting points between them.

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

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Rogue): Assassin III, Damage Boost II, Dexterity II, Haste Boost III, Hide II, Move Silently II, Rogue Deadly Shadow, Search I, Skill Boost III (except Human), Sneak Attack Accuracy IV, Sneak Attack Training IV, Subtle Backstabbing II
Enhancements (Drow): Dexterity I, Enchantment Resistance I, Melee Attack I, Melee Damage I, Perception I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Constitution I, Kundarak Search I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense II
Enhancements (Elf): Aerenal Melee Attack I, Aerenal Melee Damage I, Dexterity I, Enchantment Resistance I, Perception I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Halfling): Cunning III, Dexterity I, Guile III, 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 II, 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:
- Early on, dual-wield a rapier in your main hand with a shortsword or dagger in your off-hand. Around mid levels you should be able to switch to dual rapiers without missing too much.
- 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.
- If you ever get to the point (around L16) where you start running the Shroud raid regularly, consider crafting a Radiance rapier. It is an awesome weapon for such a build.
- 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.
- Your Spot skill will be a bit low in the early levels. If you want to spot traps, try to get your hands on an item boosting this skill, and possibly invest a few action points in enhancements increasing it (probably getting rid of them later when you can spot traps reliably enough).

Variants:
- Another very good option is to go Strength-based instead of finesse. In which case you would swap Weapon Finesse for Khopesh proficiency and Improved Critical: Pierce for the Slash version (Elves/Drow may decide to use rapiers instead of Kopesh, taking Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting instead of Power Attack at 18, and moving Power Attack to replace Weapon Finesse at level 3). Your main stat would be Str, while Dex should be just enough so you can pick the Two-Weapon, Improved Two-Weapon and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feats (with base score, level-up stat increases and tomes, it must be 15 for TWF, and 17 for ITWF and GTWF). Being strength-based means higher damage output, at the cost of reduced reflex saves and AC. Races without a Dex bonus (Human, Warforged and Dwarf) would benefit from it most.
- It is possible to splash a single level of fighter in order to gain martial weapon proficiency, a bonus feat, and access to the Fighter Toughness I enhancement. Doing so would mean you cannot gain Rogue Deadly Shadows capstone enhancement (+2 int and +4d6 sneak attack damage), will lose 2 to your assassinate DC, and will have slightly lower skill totals from CrossClassing skills with fighter's low skillpoints. A fighter splash build can be found HERE
- 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, split some points between Balance, Jump and Tumble (instead of just Jump and Tumble) so that you can max out Bluff. Among Balance, Jump and Tumble, Balance is the most important, while you can stop investing in Jump and Tumble once you are comfortable with respectively how high you can jump, and from how high you can fall without taking too much damage. Note that a 40 Jump skill (with buffs) is the maximum you need, and at L18 you can obtain a Jump clicky that gives you +30 to it.

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

My changes and additions in Deep Sky Blue so you can spot them easier. Couldn't figure out how to color deletions >_> Sufficed to say Fighter levels dissapeared, reference to fighter levels dissapeared, considerations of what to do with weapon focus: peirce on a human dissapeared. Bits and peices that no longer worked (Dwarves using dwarven axes, for example) have also dissapeared.

I hope this meets with your satisfaction (And please feel free to rework my talky bits. Not feeling very poetic when passed 2am!)

[CrunK.]

The Dark Blade (L19 Rogue/L1 Fighter)

Concept: Good damage dealer, decent survivability, and of course able to take care of traps and locks.
Original path's flaws: No Power Attack (leading to a serious lack of DPS when unable to sneak attack), no Toughness (rogues are somewhat squishy), Weapon Focus instead of Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting (the latter gives an extra +1 to-hit in the common situation of dual wielding non light weapons).
Main fixes: Revised feats for better damage output and survivability.

Multi-class progression <- click for more info: Create your character as a Rogue, then take your second level as Fighter, then levels 3 to 20 as Rogue.
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.....14........14........14........12........14........14....
.Dex.....18......16/17.......18........18......16/17.....16/17...
.Con.....12........16......12/14.......14........14........16....
.Int.....16........14........14......14/15.......14........14....
.Wis.....8.........8.........8........8/9.......8/9.......6/7....
.Cha.....10.......6/7........8........8/9........8.........6.....

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Dex (except on a Halfling, where the first increase at L4 should be spent into Str if you are unable to obtain a +1 Str tome to qualify for Power Attack).

Skills (except Human and Drow): Max Search, Disable Device, UMD, Open Locks, Spot, Balance, Diplomacy, Hide, Move Silently. Split your remaining points equally between Jump and Tumble. On your Fighter level you will not have enough skill points for everything, so invest them in some of the skills above (making sure you do not end up with an extra .5 in any skill - spending a point in another Fighter skill if necessary), then catch up on your next rogue levels (do not spend points in Jump, Tumble or Balance until after all other skills are back to max score, and max out first the first skills listed).
Skills (Human and Drow): Same, but you should be able to get both Jump and Tumble instead of splitting points between them.

Feats (by level), except Human: Two-Weapon Fighting (1), Weapon Finesse (2), Toughness (3), Power Attack (6), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (9), Improved Evasion (11), Improved Critical: Pierce (12), Crippling Strike (14), Greater Two-Weapon Fighting (15), Skill Mastery (17), Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting (18), Slippery Mind (20)
Feats (by level), Human: Two-Weapon Fighting (1), Toughness (1), Weapon Finesse (2), Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting (3), Power Attack (6), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (9), Improved Evasion (11), Improved Critical: Pierce (12), Crippling Strike (14), Greater Two-Weapon Fighting (15), Skill Mastery (17), Weapon Focus: Pierce (18), Slippery Mind (20)

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Fighter): Toughness I
Enhancements (Rogue): Assassin III, Damage Boost II, Dexterity II, Haste Boost III, Hide II, Move Silently II, Search I, Skill Boost III (except Human), Sneak Attack Accuracy IV, Sneak Attack Training IV, Subtle Backstabbing II
Enhancements (Drow): Dexterity I, Enchantment Resistance I, Melee Attack I, Melee Damage I, Perception I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Constitution I, Kundarak Search I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense II
Enhancements (Elf): Aerenal Melee Attack I, Aerenal Melee Damage I, Dexterity I, Enchantment Resistance I, Perception I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Halfling): Cunning III, Dexterity I, Guile III, 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 II, 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:
- Early on, dual-wield a rapier in your main hand with a shortsword or light pick in your off-hand. Around mid levels you should be able to switch to dual rapiers without missing too much (the Human build may start dual wielding rapiers at L3).
- 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.
- If you ever get to the point (around L16) where you start running the Shroud raid regularly, consider crafting a Radiance rapier. It is an awesome weapon for such a build.
- 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.
- Your Spot skill wwill be a bit low in the early levels. If you want to spot traps, try to get your hands on an item boosting this skill, and possibly invest a few action points in enhancements increasing it (probably getting rid of them later when you can spot traps reliably enough).

Variants:
- Another very good option is to go Strength-based instead of finesse. In which case you would swap Weapon Finesse for Khopesh proficiency and Improved Critical: Pierce for the Slash version (Dwarves may decide to use dwarven axes and Elves/Drow rapiers, taking Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting instead of Khopesh, and Weapon Focus: Slash at L18). Your main stat would be Str, while Dex should be just enough so you can pick the Two-Weapon, Improved Two-Weapon and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feats (with base score, level-up stat increases and tomes, it must be 15 for TWF, and 17 for ITWF and GTWF). Being strength-based means higher damage output, at the cost of reduced reflex saves and AC. Races without a Dex bonus (Human, Warforged and Dwarf) would benefit from it most.
- It is possible to stay pure rogue, although at this point there is not much incentive to do so, the main benefit being +1 to your Assassinate DC. You would have to drop the Oversized TWF feat.
- A Human may prefer to take Combat Expertise instead of Weapon Focus, for a more defensive build (on a non Human, Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting would have to be dropped, which may require to sometimes switch back to rapier & shortsword/pick instead of dual rapiers, when unable to hit reliably enough).
- On a Human, Weapon Focus: Pierce may be replaced by Skill Focus: UMD, and swapped using your free feat exchange once you obtain the gear necessary to boost your UMD high enough.
- 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, split some points between Balance, Jump and Tumble (instead of just Jump and Tumble) so that you can max out Bluff. Among Balance, Jump and Tumble, Balance is the most important, while you can stop investing in Jump and Tumble once you are comfortable with respectively how high you can jump, and from how high you can fall without taking too much damage. Note that a 40 Jump skill (with buffs) is the maximum you need, and at L18 you can obtain a Jump clicky that gives you +30 to it.

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

Is this up to date for the latest update? It was recommended to me in another thread and I like it.

If its not updated what would I need to do differently? I have a +2 Tom package I can use on a 28 point build at level 7 if needed.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[Donovitch]

Noticed no points put into bluff- I hear with recent changes that Bluff is SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful for rogues- any chance we can see an update? @ the Dark Blade rogue

[Anedac]

Savage of the Wild (L20 Barbarian)

- On a non Human, you may prefer Toughness instead of Stunning Blow at L18. Both are valid choices, so pick whichever you prefer. If you go for Toughness, do not forget the corresponding class and race enhancements.

Looks like you would probably be okay!

[Mayar]

Greetings, fellow adventurers!
I am a new player in need of advice. Being a casual gamer, I am aiming for a toon which is self-sufficient and less gear dependent and in the same time - if not desirable in parties/raids then at least useful. So far, reading this forum I found that Warpriest of Siberys and Divine Avenger are paths that suit my playstyle and goals(melee char with healing a buffs). Now the questions that bother me these days are:
- Is the two-handed human Warpriest in full plate a 'better choice' than the two-weapon fighting Avenger with weapon finesse?
- And end game wise - are short swords(Drow) comparable to scimitars(Elf) for the Avenger?

Thank you in advance.

[Winter_storm]

Even though I'm still a noob. Thats a hard question. Its better to try a build you think you might like and pay attention to other classes as you lvl up to see if this is right one your playing or maybe try another one that fits you better. I started as Paladin and landed up playing a rogue and wizard. I think cleric warpriest is a strong build just let parties know you're not a heal-bot, parties get mad if you don't say anything before you join.

[tihocan]

Greetings, fellow adventurers!
I am a new player in need of advice. Being a casual gamer, I am aiming for a toon which is self-sufficient and less gear dependent and in the same time - if not desirable in parties/raids then at least useful. So far, reading this forum I found that Warpriest of Siberys and Divine Avenger are paths that suit my playstyle and goals(melee char with healing a buffs). Now the questions that bother me these days are:
- Is the two-handed human Warpriest in full plate a 'better choice' than the two-weapon fighting Avenger with weapon finesse?
- And end game wise - are short swords(Drow) comparable to scimitars(Elf) for the Avenger?

Thank you in advance.

Your last question is the easiest one: scimitar is a better weapon than shortswords. Since both races get similar enhancements for them, this remains true.

About Warpriest THF vs Avenger TWF: really depends on the Avenger build. You have something specific in mind? If you are talking about the official Avenger path, I just checked it out the compendium to see if it had been updated, and it looks like it still really sucks.

[Brennie]

The Font of Healing (L20 Cleric)

Concept: Support cleric, with focus on healing, who can also use spells offensively but is weak in melee.
Original path's flaws: No Maximize feat to boost offensive spells like Blade Barrier, a couple builds points wasted in Dex.
Main fixes: Revised feats and moved some points from Dex to Str, since in the long term they will be more useful to avoid encumbrance issues without a Str item (and in the short term they will help melee at low levels, at the cost of lower AC).

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......10/12.......10........10....
.Dex.....10........8.........10........10........8.........8.....
.Con.....13......16/17.....12/14.......14......14/15.....16/17...
.Int.....10........8.........8.........8.........8.........8.....
.Wis.....18........18........18........18........18........16....
.Cha.....12......10/12.......12......10/12.....12/14.....10/12...

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Wis.

Skills (except Human and Drow): max Concentration.
Skills (Human and Drow): max Concentration, add 1 rank into Tumble and dump remaining points into Balance.

Feats (by level), except Human: Mental Toughness (1), Extend (3), Empower Healing (6), Quicken (9), Maximize (12), Spell Penetration (15), Toughness (18)
Feats (by level), Human: Mental Toughness (1), Toughness (1), Extend (3), Empower Healing (6), Quicken (9), Maximize (12), Spell Penetration (15), Greater Spell Penetration (18)

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Cleric): Cleric Heal II, Divine Intervention (capstone), Divine Vitality I, Energy of the Zealot II, Extra Turning I, Follower of the Sovereign Host (non-elves only), Follower of the Undying Court (elves only), Improved Empower Healing II, Improved Spell Penetration II, Improved Turning I, Life Magic III, Prayer of Incredible Life II, Prayer of Life II, Radiant Servant II, Undying Call (elves only), Unyielding Sovereignty (non-elves only), Wand and Scroll Mastery II, Wisdom II
Enhancements (Drow): Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Constitution I, Faith I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense II
Enhancements (Elf): Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Halfling): Hero's Companion III, Luck (Fortitude) I, Luck (Reflex) I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Human): Adaptability Wisdom I, Improved Recovery I, Orien Balance I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Warforged): Combat Training I, Constitution 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:
- If you want it, a Cleric should be best to make money (because you do not need to spend much money on gear or consumables). If you find yourself being broke because spending all your cash on wands and scrolls, then stop! Ask other players to play smarter, bring their own healing or contribute to your expenses.
- At low level, buff yourself with Bull's Strength (starting at L3) and use a shield and a weapon you are proficient with to contribute a bit to melee damage. Once you realize you do not hit much anymore and/or do not do any meaningful damage, focus only on offensive spells to contribute to the fights.
- At some point your AC will not be good enough to avoid being hit, even on a 2. You can happily run around with two weapons (to boost your spells) and a good looking robe or vestment (faster to swap than armor).
- Spell-wise, carry around a mix of buffs, damage and crow-control spells, to use depending on the situation.
- A healer's first priority is not to heal others, but to stay alive.
- Improved Turning I, Life Magic II, Cleric Heal II, and Divine Vitality I are required to qualify for Radiant Servant at level 6, so make sure you have aquired all of those enhancements before then!
- Radiant Servant I, Prayer of Life I, Prayer of Incredible Life I and Unyielding Sovereignty (or Undying Call for elves) are required for radiant Servant II at level 12, so make sure you have aquired all those enhancements before then!

Variants:
- Str, Dex and Cha may be changed slightly depending on personal preferences; Str mostly for encumbrance (and melee at lower levels), Dex for reflex saves (and AC at lower levels), and Cha for better turn Undead and other usage of turns in general (like Divine Vitality and Raidant Servant Healing Auras).
- Mental Toughness can be handy, but players comfortable with spell point management and use of scrolls/wands may prefer to swap it out (taking Toughness at L1, and as last feat taking e.g. Greater Spell Penetration or Empower spell for even stronger offensive casting). On the contrary, someone who has little interest in offensive spells and enjoys having lots of spell points to heal friends may prefer to take Improved Mental Toughness instead of Spell Penetration.
- This build is close in spirit to the Beacon of Hope Favored Soul path. In short, the Cleric is more versatile (thanks to the abiliity to swap spells at shrines), while the Favored Soul gets more spell points and at L20 gains some very useful Damage Reduction and free casting of Cure Light Wounds, making it more powerful overall.
- Unyielding Sovereignty or Undying Call may be replaced with Cleric Charisma II, to qualify for Radiant Servant II. The same number of AP must be spent, but gives the cleric stronger turn undead, more turn undead, and bonus to charisma based skills (Diplomacy, Intimidate, Bluff, Haggle, and UMD), at the expense of a martial weapon proficiency, +1 to hit with that weapon, and a powerful heal (or ressurection, for elves).
- Elves may choose Unyeilding Soveriegnty instead of Undying Call if they wish, gaining a powerful heal instead of a raise dead (true ressurection if used on another elf). Drow and Warforged also have Faith enhancements that can be used to qualify for Radiant Servant, but they do not mesh with the healer/caster nature of the build very well, and are not reccomended.
Color code: best to worst = green, yellow, orange, red

I was unsure whether to list Undying Call and Follower of the Undying Court under cleric enhancements, elven enhancements, or leave them out entirely and put in a "variant" footnote pertaining to elves. I decided to put them under Cleric Enhancements, but if you feel that it is too confused or cluttered, feel free to add an elf-optional footnote under variants.

Nothing needed to be deleted in this one, the changes were more additions than anything else. One again, my additions in Deep Sky Blue, to make it easier to see what i changed

[tihocan]

(Font of Healing stuff)

Thanks again... Things are a bit tough right now, my TODO list keeps growing, but I'll get there someday

[Smacx]

Two of the builds here that I'm interested in (Warpriest of Siberys and Tempest) require Toughness. I've looked through the feats available to cleric/fighter and ranger/rogue and I havn't seen this feat available?

How does one go about getting this set up correctly?

[tihocan]

Two of the builds here that I'm interested in (Warpriest of Siberys and Tempest) require Toughness. I've looked through the feats available to cleric/fighter and ranger/rogue and I havn't seen this feat available?

How does one go about getting this set up correctly?

I'm not sure what you mean here, but the feat should be available. Where did you look? (don't look into the class-specific feats in the compendium, those categories are all messed up and mostly irrelevant).

[tihocan]

I was unsure whether to list Undying Call and Follower of the Undying Court under cleric enhancements, elven enhancements, or leave them out entirely and put in a "variant" footnote pertaining to elves. I decided to put them under Cleric Enhancements, but if you feel that it is too confused or cluttered, feel free to add an elf-optional footnote under variants.

Nothing needed to be deleted in this one, the changes were more additions than anything else. One again, my additions in Deep Sky Blue, to make it easier to see what i changed

Thanks again, I just updated my build to pretty much the same thing. I need to add a "Thanks" section to give you credit, will be done later

I actually recommended Unyielding Sovereignty for Elf as well, because IMO once you can raise dead by yourself, the heal is more useful overall.
I didn't suggest Cha II, I really don't think it's worth it unless you want a good Turn Undead build, in which case you'd start with a higher Cha.