Tempest Ranger without the Kopesh?

[AFN]

I have been having a blast playing my Ranger/Rogue (currently lvl 10). I took a lot of advice in creation, and one of them was the usual selection of kopesh feat for max dps.

I have had a change of heart.

I find that the 'max dps' build just doesn't fit this character's personality. This is not an end-game toon, and frankly I'm not interested in grouping where my weapon choice is a deal breaker. This guy was built for slow play and adventuring. I am using him to learn the quests as well as the dynamics of both solo and group play. I find that I want nostalgia, and I want a look, and also that I don't really want to re-roll. Everything is awesome about the versatility of this build except for my choice in weapons.

So let's talk feat swapping. If I were to ditch the kopesh proficiency feat, what direction should I take?
Options/questions I have in my head are currently:

1. Go longsword and put the feat into Skill Focus: UMD (one of the optionals in tihocan's tempest build). If not UMD, which feat?

2. Go bastard sword and just trade one exotic for another that fits the character better.

3. If I'm not interested in max dps, could I reasonably expect to get by without having to carry two longswords or two bastard swords into my mid-upper levels without being too nerfed? This would free up yet another feat (OTWF)

Thanks for taking the time to read -- I look forward to your comments/criticisms.

Adam

[Zion_Halcyon]

Go with what you like - if you are doing this for a look, go with that look then and what you like the best.

If you go longsword over bastard sword though, I would actually suggest taking toughness as your feat - you can keep piling on toughness I believe, even if you already took it once, and it stacks - more HP is always nice.

[grodon9999]

Scimitar or rapiers. The look cool and will give you decent damage.

Bastard swords are poorly implemented in this game, a waste of a feat.

[ArichValtrahn]

My tempest uses Rapiers. Works well enough.

[MalkavianX]

Scimitar or rapiers. The look cool and will give you decent damage.

Bastard swords are poorly implemented in this game, a waste of a feat.

I agree with this 100%. IF you have the cash to spend. Scimitars and rapiers are so stupidly priced it's not even funny. Bastard swords on the other hand are a dime a dozen. Just look at the difference in price between a, say for instance, WoP rapier vs a WoP bastard sword.

This kinda makes me want to switch my pally's khopesh feat for bastard swords actually.

But if money is no object, then by all means go for the rapier or scimitar. My elven ranger is currently using dual scimitars. My kids informed me that he should be carrying one flaming and one icy though....

[maha0201]

Bastard swords on the other hand are a dime a dozen. Just look at the difference in price between a, say for instance, WoP rapier vs a WoP bastard sword.

You mean WoE, since only pearcing wepons can have oP :P

And you may try out kukries - deacent crit and a bit lower dice than scimitars (1d4 over 1d6 - 2,5 over 3,5 dmg)

[SpeeDer56]

You could multiclass with monk to make use of their stances and skills since they can use long swords without being off-center now with the new feat, and get bonus damage and attack enhancements from the elven race if that's what your character is.

[MalkavianX]

You mean WoE, since only pearcing wepons can have oP :P

And you may try out kukries - deacent crit and a bit lower dice than scimitars (1d4 over 1d6 - 2,5 over 3,5 dmg)

My bad, I guess I was used to lookin at my rogues rapiers. Carry on.

[Daliyn]

If you're not into max dps, you have a lot of weapon choices. Bastard swords one of the worst, because they need an extra feat as well.

Scimitars and Rapiers have already been mentioned, kukris and longswords as well. Another possibility are heavy picks. Ridiculous low crit range, but a crit multiplier x4 makes them viable as well. And they look cool, nobody else uses them (apart from my paladin ), and they're cheap as hell.

[Merlocke]

Rapiers!

[Aerendil]

I agree with this 100%. IF you have the cash to spend. Scimitars and rapiers are so stupidly priced it's not even funny. Bastard swords on the other hand are a dime a dozen. Just look at the difference in price between a, say for instance, WoP rapier vs a WoP bastard sword.

Actually, there are a TON of weapons in DDO that are a dime a dozen.

Expensive weapons on the AH:
- khopesh
- scimitar
- rapier

Semi-expensive:
- shortsword (now, with Ninja Spy PrE - previously was cheap)
- longsword (slowly getting expensive with Whirling Steel Strike - everyone's gobbling them up).
- dwarven axes

Cheap:
- anything else

If this is your first major melee toon, then IMO use anything and everything you can get your hands on.
If you can easily get a +5 metalline of pure good Battleaxe instead of a Scimitar for 1/10000th of the price, then do it!

IMO, the beauty of Tempest is that you get your AC boost and 100/100 (and 5% if T3) with *any* melee weapons, so take advantage of that. Limiting yourself to one weapon type, while it looks cool/pretty, is expensive and in many cases a bit of a headache to collect all of the weapons you want.
It's much, much easier if you open your search options up a bit.

As for feat swaps, good question. You have a couple of options here, really.
You need Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Improved Critical, Power Attack, and Toughness. If going for Tempest III, you'll also want OTWF more than likely.

I'm not sure if you're splashing anything else to give extra feats, but some other suggestions would be Combat Expertise, Two-weapon Defense, a skill focus if you wanted a boost somewhere, Maximize (if you want to self-heal efficiently), etc.