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 This means some builds are most likely outdated.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

[Ninetoes]

I'm actually surprised that no one's commented on this. Good work, as usual.

[mjllux]

i like this a lot, ill be checking back regularily to see what you got.

[Dawnsfire]

Great idea! The starting paths need a lot of help, I am glad someone is doing this.

[tihocan]

Thanks, sorry progress is a bit slow, but I'll get there eventually

If you happen to roll one of these builds, by all means please let me know if you like it or not, what you think may be improved, and in particular any kind of little mistake there may be (I made them without a planner, so there are certainly a few minor things wrongs, like starting stats not summing up, feats missing a prereq, etc... already fixed a couple thanks to pms ).

[Ninetoes]

Thanks, sorry progress is a bit slow, but I'll get there eventually

If you happen to roll one of these builds, by all means please let me know if you like it or not, what you think may be improved, and in particular any kind of little mistake there may be (I made them without a planner, so there are certainly a few minor things wrongs, like starting stats not summing up, feats missing a prereq, etc... already fixed a couple thanks to pms ).

My Significant Other/Longtime Wow Player is being introduced to DDO for the first time after much harassment, I'll be using this as a guide. Feedback to follow.

[Irinis]

Warchanter (Bard 18/Fighter 1/Barbarian 1)

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

Please also note that Drow make squishy Warchanters at only 14 CON, I speak from experience! I'd recommend Human as #1 for a Warchanter, then Dwarf, then WF (only 3rd because of the penalty to CHA)... Halfling's only ok, and Elf 28pt is painful at higher levels.

Remove curse is easily available as a pot and on wands, I personally wouldn't take it. Detect secret doors? Clicky that. Eagle's Splendor you take at 19? Long before then you should have a +6 CHA item and Eagle's doesn't stack with items.

[tihocan]

Please also note that Drow make squishy Warchanters at only 14 CON, I speak from experience! I'd recommend Human as #1 for a Warchanter, then Dwarf, then WF (only 3rd because of the penalty to CHA)... Halfling's only ok, and Elf 28pt is painful at higher levels.

Well, I put Drow in orange, which means not that great. Human is also what I'd recommend (thus the green), I put WF ahead of Dwarf because I'm going for a THF build (WF get enhancements for that) and a barbarian splash (not being fatigued after raging is always handy), but I agree it's debatable. I was actually going back and forth between green and yellow for WF, and I'm still unsure about it. Edit: actually I think I'll move it to yellow for now...

Remove curse is easily available as a pot and on wands, I personally wouldn't take it. Detect secret doors? Clicky that. Eagle's Splendor you take at 19? Long before then you should have a +6 CHA item and Eagle's doesn't stack with items.

The reason for Remove Curse / DSD is to save an inventory slot. Eagle's Splendor is here to potentially save an item slot (since Cha is not a main stat on this build, you can actually skip a +6 item if you're short on slots and don't mind the -1 UMD). The main alternative I was considering was Cat's Grace when you want to boost reflex saves, but it didn't seem to be that much better.
If you can suggest better spells that would actually be more useful, please do so I considered some offensive spells like Hypnotism / Glitterdust just for the rare situation where we might be lucky to get them do actually land, but from my own experience playing a warchanter with low Cha, I'm so used to not using my offensive spells that I never think of them as something worth trying... That's why I figured saving some inventory / item slots may be more useful in the end.

Thanks for the comments!

[tihocan]

How to pick your enhancements

The builds listed here do not include a full list of enhancements and when you should take them. There are two reasons for this: (1) writing down a full list for each race is a lot of work, and most importantly (2) there is a lot of potential customization in enhancements so that you can fit them to your own personal preferences (there is never one single best enhancement setup). So, the enhancements listed in the builds are only the most important ones, that you should try to get first. You can only take enhancements for the race you picked, and, in the case of a multiclass build, you can only take enhancements of a class after you got your first level in that class.

When you get extra action points and no enhancement listed in the build is available, feel free to pick whatever you like, keeping in mind the following:

• You can reset your enhancements every 3 days, for a moderate amount of gold that depends on your character level. So do not worry too much about picking the wrong enhancements, in the worst case scenario, you'll just get some a bit later than an optimal setup, until you get the money to reset them.
• As long as you have at least one level in a class, you can pick your enhancements at this class trainer (including enhancements for all your other classes).
• You don't need to spend action points as soon as you get them. In fact, it can be better to save a couple points so you can pick some useful enhancements as soon as you level up.
• Among the most important enhancements are the so-called "prestige" enhancements, that are not currently available to all classes. These include the Bard Warchanter, the Rogue Assassin, Ranger Tempest, etc. Typically, these enhancements are made of 3 tiers, available respectively at class level 6, 12 and 18 (note that some enhancement lines are not fully implemented yet, for instance there is only Warchanter I available at this time). These enhancements often have other enhancements as prerequisites, so make sure you fulfill these prerequisites first.
• The order in which you pick enhancements is not a huge deal (just try to get your prestige enhancement(s) and prerequisites as early as possible).
• Some enhancements give access to special abilities that should be dragged to your hotbar to be made available. These abilities can be the enhancements themselves (e.g. "Haste Boost I"), or a separate icon (e.g. the Warchanter I's "Ironskin Song", that appears when you expand the Warchanter's enhancement in your enhancements list), so make sure you don't forget to make these available on some hotbar. Also, if you upgrade an active enhancement (e.g. from "Haste Boost I" to "Haste Boost II"), drag the new upgraded version to replace the old one, as otherwise you may still be using the lower level version.
• Wonder why you don't see an enhancement available? Click the "show unavailable" box on the trainer enhancement UI and mouse over the enhancement to check the prerequisites. A typical requirement is to spend a minimum number of action points before you can unlock the enhancement (which means you will probably be forced to pick some enhancements not listed in these builds to be able to unlock all those that are listed).
• For each build, I listed what I consider to be the minimum enhancement level you should reach. It is often a good idea to train it further if you have enough action points. For instance, if a Cleric has "Wisdom II", you will first need to take "Wisdom I", and if you can afford it (and it brings you to an even Wisdom), feel free to go for "Wisdom III".

At some point in the future, I may provide an example of a full list of enhancement progression for each path and race. But this is not my priority, so try to learn that part in the meantime. It's actually fun, and there is no risk involved since respec is easy

[tihocan]

The Dynamic Hand (L20 Sorcerer)

Concept: Generalist sorcerer
Original path's flaws: No Heighten and no Spell Penetration makes it weak for CC/insta-death spells, squishy (no Toughness)
Main fixes: More Hit Points and more useful feats (at the cost of less spell points and lower will saves)

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.....8.........10.......8/10.......10........10........10....
.Dex.....10........8.........10........10........8.........8.....
.Con.....14......17/18.......14......14/15.......16......17/18...
.Int.....12......10/12.....10/12.....10/12......8/10.....10/12...
.Wis.....8.........8.........8.........8........8/10.......6.....
.Cha.....20........16........18........18........18........16....

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Cha.

Skills: At all levels keep maxed out Concentration and UMD. On 32 pt versions and Drow, at character creation get one rank (two skill points) in Tumble and spend rest into Balance, then on further levels spend your extra skill point into Balance.

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

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Sorcerer): Bloodline of Power (capstone), Charisma II, Concentration I, Elemental Manipulation III, Energy of the Dragonblooded II, Improved Empowering I, Improved Heightening I, Improved Maximizing I, Improved Spell Penetration II, Lineage of Deadly Elements II, Lineage of Elements II
Enhancements (Drow): Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Constitution I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense I
Enhancements (Elf): Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Halfling): Luck (Fortitude) I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Human): Adaptability Charisma I, Improved Recovery I, Racial Toughness II, Versatility III
Enhancements (Warforged): Constitution I, Construct Thinking I, Force Manipulation II, Hardiness I, Inscribed Armor I (must take early), Racial Toughness II, Wand and Scroll Mastery 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: Acid Spray [Jump at L7] / Hypnotism (non Warforged) or Repair Light Damage (Warforged) [Hypnotism at L7]
• L2: Niac's Cold Ray [Ray of Enfeeblement at L10]
• L3: Nightshield
• L4: Scorching Ray
• L5: Web
• L6: Haste
• L7: Fireball (non Warforged) or Repair Serious Damage (Warforged) / Resist Energy
• L8: Wall of Fire
• L9: Displacement / Knock / Phantasmal Killer [Fire Shield at L14]
• L10: Cone of Cold
• L11: Acid Blast [Rage at L15] / Cloudkill / Enervation
• L12: Flesh to Stone (non Warforged) or Reconstruct (Warforged)
• L13: Ball Lightning / Dimension Door / Mass Suggestion (non Warforged) or Flesh to Stone (Warforged)
• L14: Finger of Death
• L15: Acid Fog (non Warforged) or Mass Suggestion (Warforged) / Prismatic Spray / Protection from Elements
• L16: Polar Ray
• L17: Horrid Wilting / Otto's Sphere of Dancing
• L18: Wail of the Banshee
• L19: Hold Monster, Mass / Otto's Irresistible Dance
• L20: Energy Drain

Special note: The spell progression was slightly altered on 2010/11/08. Nothing major, but if you started the build prior to this date, you may find some inconsistencies (just swap spells as needed to match the new progression).

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:
- 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.
- 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.
- Since you cannot swap spells easily, carrying the following arcane scrolls (or wands / clickies) is advised (once you can afford them!): Summon Monster (any level), Invisibility, Stoneskin, Break Enchantment, Teleport, Greater Teleport, Greater Heroism, Reconstruct, True Seeing.
- Also get some Enervation scrolls at L9 to be used before casting Phantasmal Killer: they will help you land those insta-kills more reliably.
- The purpose of Magic Missile, past the lower levels, is not so much to deal damage but rather to control aggro: it is a spell that (almost) never misses, and only hits your selected target. It can be useful for instance to pull a specific monster to you, out of a group chasing someone else.

Variants:
- On a Warforged, UMD is less critical, though still useful (in particular to use race-restricted gear and help party members with scrolls like Raise Dead and Heal). One may prefer to lower Int and give up UMD in favor of extra Wis, Dex or Str, especially if planning to play mostly solo. Another option is to invest in Jump instead of UMD, although only a few points are necessary to reach the maximum useful value (40), considering the Jump spell will give +30 at higher levels, and Greater Heroism +4.
- A Warforged may consider taking the Quicken feat: because they can self-heal, Warforged casters tend to be more reckless than other races, and the ability to throw quickened Repairs/Reconstructs in the heart of combat can be quite useful. Depending on your personal preference and playstyle, Quicken may replace Toughness, Extend, Empower or Greater Spell Penetration.
- On 32 pt builds, if you are planning to use a +2 Int tome at L7, you may start with -2 Int (increasing e.g. Wis or Dex for saves), at the cost of losing a few points in Balance.
- 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 (in which case spell selection should be altered to reflect this choice). The force/repair line, however, is not worth investing too much into.
- There is room for variations in the spell selection. For instance Knock (or Scorching Ray at higher levels) may be replaced by Blur (mostly for buffing other party members when Displacement is too costly). Mass Suggestion or Acid Fog may be replaced by Disintegrate (especially if soloing, to avoid being helpless against monsters immune to elemental damage), in which case Horrid Wilting is less important and Trap the Soul could be taken instead. Otto's Sphere of Dancing may be swapped for Delayed Blast Fireball (to favor direct damage over crowd-control). Enervation can be swapped at L20 for Stoneskin if you find you never need to use both Energy Drain and Enervation. Acid Blast can be taken earlier (instead of Fireball) to be more effective against fire-immune monsters like Blackbone skeletons.
- If you are planning to solo at L5 on a non Warforged, consider taking Fireball before Haste, since it will help you kill groups of monsters faster (while Haste is mostly useful in a group to increase attack speed - it also helps with running speed but you can still rely on striders or expeditious retreat clickies at this level).
- This build is similar in spirit to the Ingenious Sage Wizard path. Refer to this page for an overview of the differences between Sorcerer and Wizard, to see which one you would enjoy most.

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

[tihocan]

Tempest (L18 Ranger/L1 Rogue/L1 Fighter)

Concept: High damage dealer with decent survivability and self-sufficiency, focused on dual wielding weapons, but able to pull out a bow when needed.
Original path's flaws: Some weapon feats are messed up (e.g. Elves are given Improved Crit: Slash and Weapon Focus: Pierce, Humans are given Khopesh proficiency but Improved Critial and Weapon Focus in Piercing weapons).
Main fixes: Revised combat feats, also splashed Rogue and Figther for UMD and an extra feat.

Multi-class progression <- click for more info: Create your character as Rogue, then take levels 2 to 5 as Ranger, level 6 as Fighter, and 7 to 20 as Ranger.
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.....16........14........16........16........14........14....
.Con.....14........18........14........14........16........17....
.Int.....10........8.........8.........8.........8.........8.....
.Wis.....10......10/11.....10/11.......11......10/11.....10/11...
.Cha.....10........6.........8........8/9........8.........6.....

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Str.

Skills (except Human and Drow): At L1, max out Balance, UMD, Concentration, Spot, Tumble, Jump, Open Locks. On next levels max out UMD, Open Locks and Spot (make Open Locks absorb the skill points lost by the Fighter level, so that eventually Open Locks should be -2 compared to the max score you could reach).
Skills (Human and Drow): Same, but at L1 you can dump extra points into Haggle, and on next levels spend your extra skill point into Balance (except at the Fighter level and the three levels after, where you should use this skill point to catch up on UMD, Open Locks and Spot to max them out).

Feats (by level), except Human: Toughness (1), Favored Enemy: Undead (2), Dodge (3), Mobility (6), Spring Attack (6), Favored Enemy: Construct (7), Improved Crit: Slash (9), Power Attack (12), Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider (12), Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Khopesh (15), Favored Enemy: Elemental (17), Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting (18)
Feats (by level), Human: Dodge (1), Toughness (1), Favored Enemy: Undead (2), Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Khopesh (3), Mobility (6), Spring Attack (6), Favored Enemy: Construct (7), Improved Crit: Slash (9), Power Attack (12), Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider (12), Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting (15), Favored Enemy: Elemental (17), Skill Focus: UMD (18)

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Fighter): Attack Boost I (except on Human), Toughness I
Enhancements (Ranger): Devotion II, Dexterity II, Energy Resistance Boost I, Favored Attack I, Favored Damage II, Favored Resistance I, Skill Boost III (except on Human), Sprint Boost I, Tempest III
Enhancements (Rogue): Haste Boost I, Sneak Attack Training I
Enhancements (Drow): Enchantment Resistance I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Constitution I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense II
Enhancements (Elf): Enchantment Resistance I, Racial Toughness II, Ranged Attack I, Ranged Damage I
Enhancements (Halfling): Cunning I, Guile II, Hero's Companion III, Luck (Fortitude) I, Luck (Reflex) II, Luck (Will) I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Human): Adaptability Strength 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:
- You may start dual-wielding weapons at L3. Before you obtain Khopesh proficiency (i.e. before L3 for Human and before L15 for others), your ideal main-hand weapon will be a scimitar (or a Dwarven Axe on a Dwarf if you invest on the axe enhancements - remember to get rid of them once you start using Khopeshes). In the off-hand, start by using a light weapon (ideally a kukri, or possibly a race-favored weapon if you pick enhancements for it). Once you see you are almost never missing anymore (or once you take the Oversized Two-Weapon Fighting feat), switch to a weapon similar to your main hand for better damage output (ultimately, you should be dual-wielding Khopeshes).
- Good khopeshes can be difficult to find (this is a reason why except on the Human version, the proficiency feat is taken rather late). But once you reach L15 you can start looking into crafting to make your own.
- 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 L5, 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.
- Once you get Evasion at L11, make sure you are using light (or no) armor as otherwise Evasion will not work.
- This build has the potential to reach useful UMD, but it will take a while (and some gear) before it really makes a difference.
- Rangers get archery feats for free. Even without being a bow specialist, starting at L8 you will be able to deal meaningful damage from range while Manyshot is active (drag it somewhere on a hotbar!).
- Remember you can open locks, so carry thieves tools and try to get your hands on an item boosting this skill.
- You may start using healing wands at L2, even if you are not able to cast any spell yet.

Variants:
- It is possible to go Dex-based instead of Str-based, in which case dual-wielding rapiers would be your best weapon choice. It requires Weapon Finesse (taken at L3, so that a non Human would delay Toughness to L15, taking Dodge at L1), and gives better AC/reflex saves/ranged to-hit, at the cost of reduced damage output.
- With slight modifications, this build can be able to handle traps as well. Increase Int to 14 (12 on a human), so as to be able to max out Disable Device, Search, Open Locks, UMD and Spot (give up a few points in Open Locks to compensate for the loss of skill points on the Fighter level). 32 pt build, Drow and/or going Dex-based will make this easier to achieve. On a Human, you may want to keep the Ranger Skill Boost, in order to avoid running out of boosts when facing difficult traps.
- Instead of going for traps, +4 to Int (obtained by 32 pt build or by taking down Con/Wis slightly) can let you max out the Hide and Move Silently skills, if you enjoy sneaking (which can mostly be useful in solo play).
- The so-called "exploiter" build consists in replacing the Fighter level with a Monk level, the goal being to reach higher AC. For such a build it makes most sense to be Dex-based, and ideally to add Combat Expertise in order to be able to reach really high AC. Wisdom should be increased to at least 14, at the expense of Str, and Int should also be boosted so you can qualify for the 13 Int requirement for Combat Expertise (access to 32 pt build and Int tome will help with that). Also, remember than Monk requires being Lawful.
- Even if you do not care about AC, replacing Fighter with Monk can be a reasonable choice: you gain +2 Reflex and Will saves, at the cost of 1 BAB and 10 HPs.
- Races who get bonuses with specific weapons through enhancements (Dwarf, Elf and Drow) may use these weapons instead of Khopeshes without incurring too much of a DPS loss. Khopesh may then be replaced by Skill Focus: UMD, or one may choose to go for either a pure Ranger or a Ranger 19/Rogue 1 build instead (both are also very good options). Remember to swap feats for Slashing weapons by similar feats for Piercing weapons when using Rapiers.
- If you already have good Khopeshes to use at L12 on a non Human, feel free to swap Power Attack and Khopesh proficiency.
- Other potentially useful Favored Enemies include Aberration (useful from mid to high level), Giant (low-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.

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

[tihocan]

Vanguard Warrior (L20 Fighter)

Concept: High damage dealer, using two-handed weapons, favoring offense over defense.
Original path's flaws: Waste of a few feats (multiple Toughness, Improved Sunder, Slicing Blow... and the Human version is even missing a feat at L1).
Main fixes: Tweaked feat selection, in particular for better saves.

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

Special note You will need to pick a Kensei specialty weapon. On a Dwarf, pick Greataxe. On an Elf, pick Falchion. On other races, pick either Greataxe or Falchion (overall the Falchion will be better against monsters with no fortification, while the Greataxe will be better against monsters with fortification, or that are made helpless e.g. with Stunning Blow).

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Fighter): Attack Boost III, Critical Accuracy III, Fighter <weapon (see note above)> Specialization II, Haste Boost III, Kensei <weapon (see note above)> Mastery III, Kensei III, Strategy (Stunning Blow) II, Strength II, Toughness II, Weapon Alacrity (capstone)
Enhancements (Drow): Enchantment Resistance I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Axe Damage II, Constitution I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense II, Tactics I
Enhancements (Elf): Enchantment Resistance I, Racial Toughness II, Valenar Elf Melee Damage II
Enhancements (Halfling): Guile I, Hero's Companion III, 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, Great Weapon Aptitude II, 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.
- Guard items, that proceed when being hit, can be quite effective on this build.
- Your maximum damage output will come from using together your Haste Boost and your Kensei Power Surge ability.
- On Human or Drow, use Intimidate to avoid chasing monsters and gather them around you to take advantage of your two-handed weapon's glancing blows.

Variants:
- A few feats may be changed to better fit your own preferences, without hurting the overall effectiveness of the build (mostly: Great Cleave, Quick Draw, Luck of Heroes, and Bullheaded for Human).
- A Warforged may pick Adamantine Body for the extra DR (and AC at lower levels), taking Toughness at L3, Power Attack at L9, and shifting the saves feats (eventually losing 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.
- This build is close in spirit to the Savage of the Wild (Barbarian) 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.
- This build basically fits the same role (main damage dealer) as the Whirlwind Fighter path. The main differences between Two-Handed Fighting (this build) and Two-Weapon Fighting (Whirlwind Fighter) 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).

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

[tihocan]

Some of the proposed paths are multi-class, i.e. take levels in more than one class. I tried to do it only when there was a significant advantage in doing so. When leveling-up such a build, keep in mind the following:

• Your first level (i.e. character creation) may not be the class you'd expect (for instance the Tempest Ranger build will have you start with Rogue).
• To level up in a different class, find that class trainer once you have enough XP to level up, and ask him to level up in this class.
• Follow exactly the class progression given in the build. If you try to level in the wrong class, in many situations you will notice something is not working as expected as for instance you may not be able to pick a feat recommended in the build at this level. If you still mess up and realize too late you leveled in the wrong class, do not panick, since most of the time you should be able to fix it on your next level (send me a pm if you are not sure how to do this).
• Once you are multi-classed you may talk to any of your classes' trainers to spend your action points (enhancements for all your classes will be available regardless of the trainer's class).

[tihocan]

The Flame of Justice (L20 Paladin)

Concept: High damage dealer using two-handed weapons, favoring offense over defense.
Original path's flaws: Low Constitution, no Two-Handed Fighting feats.
Main fixes: Higher Constitution, Two-Handed Fighting feats for better damage, Extend for longer buffs.

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.....16........16........16........14........16........16....
.Dex.....10........8.........10........10........8.........8.....
.Con.....12........16........12........14........14........15....
.Int.....10........8.........8.........8.........8.........8.....
.Wis.....10......10/11.....10/11.....10/11.....10/11......9/10...
.Cha.....18......14/15.....16/17.....16/17.....16/17.....14/15...

Ability increase every 4 levels: All in Str, except the L20 point should be spent in Cha if your starting Cha was 16 or less, and the L16 point should also be spent in Cha if your starting Cha was 15 or less.

Skills, except Human and Drow: Max out UMD.
Skills, Human and Drow: At character creation, max out UMD, get one rank (two skill points) in Tumble, and spend the rest into Balance. On further levels, keep UMD maxed out and spend extra points into Balance.

Feats (by level), except Human and Halfling: Toughness (1), Two-handed Fighting (3), Power Attack (6), Improved Critical: Slash (9), Extend (12), Improved Two-Handed Fighting (15), Greater Two-Handed Fighting (18)
Feats (by level), Halfling: Toughness (1), Power Attack (3), Two-handed Fighting (6), Improved Critical: Slash (9), Extend (12), Improved Two-Handed Fighting (15), Greater Two-Handed Fighting (18)
Feats (by level), Human: Toughness (1), Two-handed Fighting (1), Power Attack (3), Extend (6), Improved Critical: Slash (9), Improved Two-Handed Fighting (12), Greater Two-Handed Fighting (15), Skill Focus: UMD (18)

For more information about picking enhancements please read this post.
Enhancements (Paladin): Charisma I, Courage of Good II, Devotion II, Divine Might IV (or highest tier you can get), Divine Sacrifice II, Energy of the Templar II, Exalted Smite III, Extra Lay on Hands II, Extra Smite Evil IV, Extra Turning I, Follower of the Sovereign Host (except Warforged), Knight of the Chalice III, Resistance of Good I, Toughness II, Unyielding Sovereignty (except Warforged), Weapons of Good (capstone)
Enhancements (Drow): Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Dwarf): Constitution I, Racial Toughness II, Spell Defense I
Enhancements (Elf): Racial Toughness II, Valenar Elf Melee Attack I, Valenar Elf Melee Damage I
Enhancements (Halfling): Cunning I, Guile I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Human): Adaptability Strength I, Improved Recovery I, Racial Toughness II
Enhancements (Warforged): Bladesworn Transformation, Constitution I, Follower of the Lord of Blades, Great Weapon Aptitude II, 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:
- You may start using healing wands at L1, even if you are not able to cast any spell yet.
- 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 (available on potions / wands / clickies) to meet this requirement.
- Paladins can start casting spells at L4, but 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.
- For all races, the Falchion will be your weapon of choice as soon as you start using Divine Sacrifice regularly (Elf should use Falchions immediately, while Warforged may start with Greatswords to take advantage of their +1 to-hit in the early levels, and other races can start with either Falchions, Greatswords or Greataxes).
- Once you reach L14, keep the Holy Sword spell memorized (grab components for Greatsword at House Jorasco's Apothecary). This powerful weapon will be quite useful (especially against some monsters with Damage Reduction), until you can find / craft even better Falchions.
- Read Junts' excellent paladin guide here, especially the parts about important buffs and how to use your special attacks.

Variants:
- UMD is the most useful long-term skill, but if you are more worried about short-term ease-of play on a non Human or Drow, you can instead get one rank in Tumble and spend your other points into Balance. If you happen to have a +2 Int tome you can use at L7, then start with the rank in Tumble and the other points in Balance, then after using your tome, spend all points into UMD until it is maxed out (and then keep it maxed and spend your last few points into Balance).
- The reasoning for spending the last level-up point(s) into Cha on some builds is to make sure you are not locked out of Divine Might IV (which requires 20 base Cha, so it can be reached with a +3 Cha tome). Another option to consider is to start with higher base Cha (taking down Wis and Con) so you can spend all level-ups into Str (in the long term the loss in Wis does not matter much, and Str is overall more useful Con). If you think you will never get a +3 Cha tome (having a good chance at one requires a few months of regular raiding), and do not want to be Drow, you can do the same stat shift and still spend your last level-up point(s) into Cha (ending with 18 base, which is relatively easily increased to 20 with a +2 tome). However, consider also that Divine Might IV is not mandatory and you can live without it (this build just ensures you can get it some day), especially if going Warforged or Dwarf, where the Cha requirement is difficult to reach.
- 32 pt builds (except Warforged) may prefer to start with +1 Str and -3 Wis. It will make it harder to cast spells early on, but in the long term +1 Str is a bit more useful.
- An Elf may prefer to initially pick the Follower of the Undying Court and Undying Call enhancements instead of Follower of the Sovereign Host and Unyielding Sovereignty (similarly, a Drow may pick Follower of Vulkoor and Vulkoor's Avatar). However, at higher levels the Sovereign enhancements are more useful, and you should reset your enhancements to switch to these (unless you are an Elf without UMD and no other way to raise dead).
- This build is close in spirit to the Vanguard Warrior (Fighter) and Savage of the Wild (Barbarian) 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

[Atoro87]

I'm running through my first character on DDO, which is pretty darn similar to NWN in terms of rules IMO, and the first thing I did was check for newbie build guides.

I rolled a dark blade from this guide, rogues are always my first choice on any game, and so far he's pretty good. I'm only to level 4 but with the enhancements listed and the fighter splash I do pretty decent DPS and can hang it out in a fight fairly well.

That being said this build definately needs some support, soloing is possible but to make life easier I look for a cleric most of the time. Yesterday had a team with a cleric, fighter, and myself. Dominated poor trogs and kobolds like it was our job.

I'll post back as I progress, and I'm looking forward to trying some of your other builds, keep up the good work.