Revisiting paths: Builds for new players

[Zachski]

Yep sorry, Empower Healing shouldn't be used on CLW, I didn't think of when to take it exactly, just that you could start using it earlier than L18
Actually you'd probably be best taking THF at L3 and PA at L6, because typically PA isn't very good to use early on (the extra miss % offsets the extra damag).

Except for the fact that I'm not missing very much at all. It only takes 2 my two BAB (which, if I counted correctly, only increases it to 8 to-hit instead of 6) and yet gives me +4 damage.

http://my.ddo.com/character/thelanis/vinfurr

My character sheet. Influences that I've counted...

+3 due to strength
+1 due to song
+1 due to Weapon Focus
+1 due to Ember Great Axe (which I'm not wielding in my character sheet, but I will go back to wielding when it's time for adventuring)

[Feithlin]

Since the last update, the rogue's capstone has changed a lot. The Assassin template should now be considered as a pure rogue template, without fighter's splash imo.

[Brennie]

Since the last update, the rogue's capstone has changed a lot. The Assassin template should now be considered as a pure rogue template, without fighter's splash imo.

You mean LIKE THIS?

[Feithlin]

Exactly How quick !

[House0430]

Since the last update, the rogue's capstone has changed a lot. The Assassin template should now be considered as a pure rogue template, without fighter's splash imo.

Hello, longtime reader first time poster (ok, so I've only been a member for about two weeks, sue me). Anyway is there any way to replace my level of fighter with rouge or am I re-rolling (again)? I'm only level 3 (rouge 2/fighter1) so it's not that much of a dilemma, and I am kinda holing out to unlock the Drow race. On another note, I'm also interested in the Virtuoso of the Sword path, but I wanted to see what you guys had to say about it, thanks a bunch.

[Brennie]

Hello, longtime reader first time poster (ok, so I've only been a member for about two weeks, sue me). Anyway is there any way to replace my level of fighter with rouge or am I re-rolling (again)? I'm only level 3 (rouge 2/fighter1) so it's not that much of a dilemma, and I am kinda holing out to unlock the Drow race. On another note, I'm also interested in the Virtuoso of the Sword path, but I wanted to see what you guys had to say about it, thanks a bunch.

There is a means of swapping around a few class levels, but it is a very expensive (Costs real-world money) method. As a level 3, you would almost certainly find it easier simply to reroll.

In order to "Respec" your character, you can obtain Lesser Hearts of Wood (Which I *believe* only come from the DDO store, but i could be wrong about that). Lesser hearts come in varying sizes (+1 to +3) which allow you to change 1-3 levels, as well as starting stats, skills, and feats.

[House0430]

There is a means of swapping around a few class levels, but it is a very expensive (Costs real-world money) method. As a level 3, you would almost certainly find it easier simply to reroll.

In order to "Respec" your character, you can obtain Lesser Hearts of Wood (Which I *believe* only come from the DDO store, but i could be wrong about that). Lesser hearts come in varying sizes (+1 to +3) which allow you to change 1-3 levels, as well as starting stats, skills, and feats.

Yeah... I'll probably just re-roll, just sounds easier. Also how long does it take to get 400 total renown, if it's not that hard I may just gun through some quests to get it, but Drow seems to be the way I want to go for some of my future characters.

[Zachski]

By the way, Tiho, I just loaded up the new Voice of Power default path to test it out.

Right from the get-go, I'm vaguely impressed.

10 Str, 16 Con, and 18 Cha for a Human

Feats are Mental Toughness (maybe not the best choice) and Spell Focus: Enchantment

Skill points are in Concentration and UMD

Spells are hypnotism and magic missile

I'll see how it works out later. For now, though, the stats seem fine. No useless dex or anything.

[Zachski]

Also, now that Pale Master is actually GOOD, I'm wondering... what feat should I replace Augment Summon with?

[Chronick]

Are these builds still ok to follow given the recent update?

[tihocan]

Hello, longtime reader first time poster (ok, so I've only been a member for about two weeks, sue me). Anyway is there any way to replace my level of fighter with rouge or am I re-rolling (again)? I'm only level 3 (rouge 2/fighter1) so it's not that much of a dilemma, and I am kinda holing out to unlock the Drow race. On another note, I'm also interested in the Virtuoso of the Sword path, but I wanted to see what you guys had to say about it, thanks a bunch.

If you want to go pure, best is to reroll.

Note that at this point I'm leaning towards keeping the Fighter splash, and proposing the pure version as a variant. The main reason is this build is meant for new players, and IMO the benefits of the Fighter splash from L1 to L19 outweigh those of the L20 capstone. I may still change my mind later (what do you guys think?), but for now this is what I think I'll be doing (soon (TM)).

[tihocan]

Yeah... I'll probably just re-roll, just sounds easier. Also how long does it take to get 400 total renown, if it's not that hard I may just gun through some quests to get it, but Drow seems to be the way I want to go for some of my future characters.

400 favor is typically reached around L6-7.

[tihocan]

By the way, Tiho, I just loaded up the new Voice of Power default path to test it out. (...) For now, though, the stats seem fine. No useless dex or anything.

Cool Until now, the few paths I had checked still had the same flaws...

[tihocan]

Also, now that Pale Master is actually GOOD, I'm wondering... what feat should I replace Augment Summon with?

Assuming non Human, you could do:

Augment Summoning (1), Toughness (1), Extend (3), Maximize (5), Spell Focus: Necromancy (6), Empower (9), Heighten (10), Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy (12), Quicken (15), Spell Penetration (15), Greater Spell Penetration (18), Mental Toughness (20)

You'll probably want to respec out of Augment Summoning at some point, if you pick Enlarge, or something else (may need to do a bit of feat shuffling if you want a non bonus wizard feat).

[tihocan]

Are these builds still ok to follow given the recent update?

As far as I know, yes. Stuff I still need to work on is:
- Enhancements for Ninja Spy
- Explain pure rogue variant for Dark Blade
- Possibly convert Mechanic to repeater build (not necessarily because it's more effective, but mostly to make it more different from Dark Blade) - Haven't made up my mind on that one yet.

Search Brennie's posts in this thread if you want suggestions on these, he's been faster than me

[House0430]

400 favor is typically reached around L6-7.

Ahh... Good to know. I do have a question about power attack, how useful is it really? I know that it's a -2 attack and a +4 damage, but it almost seems like a waste of a feat (always has to me, even in PnP), especially if I'm not going down that feat progression.

[Brennie]

Yeah... I'll probably just re-roll, just sounds easier. Also how long does it take to get 400 total renown, if it's not that hard I may just gun through some quests to get it, but Drow seems to be the way I want to go for some of my future characters.

400 favor is easily achievable in the 5-7 range, as Tihocan said, but you should make sure you check your Quest Compendium (Book icon on your menu bar in game) and make sure all the lowbie quests are done on Elite. Fortunatly the Harbor and Korthos are pretty easy, even on Elite, and easier to get groups for, so this is almost a non-issue.

Word of Warning - Don't be fooled by Drow's shiny stat bonuses and unlockable status. Drows are honestly not all that good. The lack of Con really hurts them, and they lack any good enhancements that many other races get. Halflings typically outperform drow rogues, Warforged outperform drow wizards, Humans outperform drow sorcerors, and drow really aren't suited to any other class except paladin (Although they supposedly make good TWF paladins).

Ahh... Good to know. I do have a question about power attack, how useful is it really? I know that it's a -2 attack and a +4 damage, but it almost seems like a waste of a feat (always has to me, even in PnP), especially if I'm not going down that feat progression.

Power Attack is one of the most essential feats for any melee character (less essential for rogues, but still highly reccomended). Power Attack trades up to 5 To-Hit for an additional +5 damage per attack (+10 with a two-handed weapon). Eventually, in game, most characters will have such high to-hit, that a -5 doesn't have any meaningful negative impact at all. BUT adding 5 damage to each hand while Two-Weapon Fighting, or adding +10 damage while Two handed fighting, can have a HUGE impact on overall DPS.

Power Attack is less useful to low level characters, since everyone still misses on occasion at the low levels, so the tradeoff actually matters. But once you get around 10ish (Really depends on your character, as some classes to-hit scales a lot faster than others), power attack is essentially free bonus damage.

[Zachski]

I believe it actually trades your BAB's hit bonus up to 5 for anything. Because my warchanter has 2 BAB, and thus trades 2 of his to-hit, but because he's a self-buffing class that buffs his own accuracy, it doesn't matter as much to him as it would, say, a Fighter or Barbarian.

[Irinis]

If you want to go pure, best is to reroll.

Note that at this point I'm leaning towards keeping the Fighter splash, and proposing the pure version as a variant. The main reason is this build is meant for new players, and IMO the benefits of the Fighter splash from L1 to L19 outweigh those of the L20 capstone. I may still change my mind later (what do you guys think?), but for now this is what I think I'll be doing (soon (TM)).

On my Dwarf Rogue the fighter splash also allows her to use Dwarven Axes... so I'm definitely keeping the splash variant over the capstone.

[House0430]

Word of Warning - Don't be fooled by Drow's shiny stat bonuses and unlockable status. Drows are honestly not all that good. The lack of Con really hurts them, and they lack any good enhancements that many other races get. Halflings typically outperform drow rogues, Warforged outperform drow wizards, Humans outperform drow sorcerors, and drow really aren't suited to any other class except paladin (Although they supposedly make good TWF paladins).

Oh, as far as any Rouge class goes I'm defiantly sticking with halfling, I was thinking something Drow Bard-ish, a straight-up "buff bot" with secondary casting abilities.