Poacher of the Undead - 11rng/8Pal/1rog Hum - Thoughts?

[clericreborn]

Greetings all!

For starters:
TL;DR version:
Designed as TWF solo-character, Hunter of the Dead + Tempest, 21+ ranks rog skills, still useful to a group at lvl 20.
Evasion and GTWF from Ranger 11, Divine might and great saves from Paladin 8, solo access to all non-raid content with rogue 1.

And for the rest of you, I recently rolled up something a little bit different, wanting to have fun with prestige and MC while avoiding vanilla character builds. Now this is designed as an all-in-one solo character, who can still prove useful in a group at any level. Thus more points have been put into INT than I would prefer just to get the skill points, as I also should note I am a F2P with no money to spare for tomes. Additionally, this may cause some debate but I decided not to worry about spells and dumped Wis. This is a melee specialist build only.

Thus, while I greatly appreciate feedback from the crowd, PLEASE REMEMBER that I can afford NO TOMES, and that I am going for VERSITILITY not pure dps.

Here's the details:

Human 11 ranger/8 Paladin/1 Rogue
Progression Rog,Rang->2,Pal->4,rang->6,Pal->6,Rang->9,Pal->7,Rang->11,Pal->8

Stats
Lvl 1
14 14 15 14 8 14
Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha

Lvl 20 (no equip or tomes, just lvl bonus and enhancements)
16 14 18 14 8 18
Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha

Feats
Hum Toughness
1 Dodge
3 Combat Expertise
6 Mobility
9 Spring Attack
12 Force of Personality
15 Nimble fingers
18 Undecided (Perhaps Extra turning for divine might)

Skills:
21+ ranks in UMD, Spot, Search, Disable Device, Open Lock
(dumped all others)

Enhancements
Human Adapt Con 2
Human Great Adapt Cha 4
Human Versitility 1
Human Versitility 2
Human Versitility 3
Human Improved Recovery 2
Racial Toughness 1
Racial Toughness 2
Racial Toughness 3
Paladin Bulwark of Good 1
Paladin Bulwark of Good 2
Paladin Charisma 2
Paladin Charisma 4
Paladin Divine Light 1
Paladin Divine Might 1
Paladin Attack Boost 1
Paladin Attack Boost 2
Paladin Attack Boost 3
Paladin Extra Smite Evil 1
Paladin Extra Smite Evil 2
Paladin Extra Turning 1 1
Paladin Extra Turning 1 2
Paladin Hunter of the dead 4
Paladin Improved Turning 1 1
Paladin Resistance of Good 1
Paladin Resistance of Good 2
Paladin Toughness 1
Paladin Toughness 2
Paladin Toughness 3
Ranger Dexterity 2
Ranger Dexterity 4
Ranger Energy Resistance Boost 1
Ranger Energy Resistance Boost 2
Ranger Energy Resistance Boost 3
Ranger favored attac 2
Ranger Tempest 2
Paladin Saves Boost 1
Paladin Saves Boost 2
Paladin Saves Boost 3
Ranger Search 1

Total 80 pts

Now I admit I've not made it to end-game myself, but I'd like to think that a toon such as this would be able to provide some decent damage in a group. If I have any glaring omissions, or any noob naivety, please let me know. I would welcome ideas to improve the build but remember above all else this character is designed to:

#1 Substitute for Rogue Locksmith / Solo all non-raid content
#2 Do enough Damage to be useful to a group
#3 Be sturdy enough to survive most content solo
#4 Take full advantage of Hunter of the Dead and the TWF fighting style.

So I ask you, given the above:
What say ye internet?

[Warwolf42]

Unless I'm mistaken, you need ranger 12 for tempest 2u

Edit: Just pointing out the OP is Ranger 11 and has Tempest 2 in his enh.

[Symar-FangofLloth]

Unless I'm mistaken, you need ranger 12 for tempest 2

GTWF is at 11 for +20% offhand chance (total of 90% at this point). Tempest2 is at 12 for +10% offhand chance (total of 100%).

What's paladin 8 give you, OP, that you think is better than 100% offhand swings? Just curious... maybe it is better, maybe not.

[Phidius]

...
12 Force of Personality
15 Nimble fingers
18 Undecided (Perhaps Extra turning for divine might)

Skills:
21+ ranks in UMD, Spot, Search, Disable Device, Open Lock
(dumped all others)
...

Feats

1. Will you really be needing Force of Personality? With a 14 base Charisma, your saves should be high enough without it.
2. Nimble Fingers: I don't think it's necessary. Get the highest +gear you can, and you'll be fine without it.
3. Extra Turning: I don't think it's worth a feat for DM1. Once you get a +2 Cha tome for DM2 then maybe...

Extend, Power Attack, Improved Crit are feats I'd rather have.

Skills
Open Lock: My wiz/rog has 4 ranks and treats Dex as a dump-stat, yet has little difficulty getting the locks that are important. To be honest, the only lock I couldn't get at level was easily avoided by just getting the key for it.

I'd suggest getting some balance instead.

Enhancements
These are easily reset, so it's not a big deal. However, I noticed that you have a lot of clickie enhancements (Boosts), but didn't take all of the Favored Enemy lines (Resistance(3), Armor Class(3), Damage(6))

[clericreborn]

I was waffling on Pally 8, the extra turning was nice and there was a time when I was still looking at spells...

I can take tempest 2 if I drop favored attack and extra turning 2, going to 12 Rang

Also, I was thinking as I posted this that there might be general concern about the stats. If I dropped the lvl in pal I get a few extra skill points to play with. If I dropped 12 INT I would still to 19-20 for my skills of choice.

Perhaps put those points into STR and move some CON over....
End up with 19 Str, 16 Con, or 20 Str if I dropped dex to 12..

Other thoughts?

[clericreborn]

Feats
Open Lock: My wiz/rog has 4 ranks and treats Dex as a dump-stat, yet has little difficulty getting the locks that are important. To be honest, the only lock I couldn't get at level was easily avoided by just getting the key for it.

I would love to hear other people's experiences with this. From what I've read, keeping those skills high is a must if you want to do any higher level content with locks or traps.

Is Open lock really dumpable without compromising my ability to solo all content?

[hydra_ex]

I would love to hear other people's experiences with this. From what I've read, keeping those skills high is a must if you want to do any higher level content with locks or traps.

Is Open lock really dumpable without compromising my ability to solo all content?

OL is extremely easy to get high. DD is a bit harder, but with evasion, traps shouldn't be that much of a problem even if you can't disable them.

[clericreborn]

Thank you all for the input. There may be some flexibility for my skills, and it seems I could certainly dump several feats for power attack and other combat-enhancing feats. That said, no one seems to have given an opinion about my biggest question:

Do you think this type of character build is viable in end-game groups?

If not, what could be done to fix that?

[sigtrent]

Do you think this type of character build is viable in end-game groups?

If not, what could be done to fix that?

It would not be totally useless, but it wouldn't be especially desired either.

To fix it, you would have to change your goal of "Versatility" to something else. There is some place for versatility but you still need to pick a primary role and play that pretty well. I tend to call these kinds of builds "skirmishers" They are DPS characters that make sacrifices for well rounded defenses. They are good for beating on bosses and trash mobs but you don't want a party full of them. They can help a raid by doing side jobs which free up pure DPS and tanks to do the heavy lifting. Since they can self heal the healer can stay focused on the tanks but the party can project force in multiple locations if needed.

The thing is, you invest more in your defenses in some places than is usefull, and less in DPS where you will be contributing the most.

1. You should put all level ups into strength. You should go to Ranger 12 to get Tempest and the top bark skin bonus.
2. You should lower paladin to 6, 7 at the most
3. Drop the paladin save boosts and attack boosts (human versatility has the same boosts already included and those are generally not handy boosts anyway)
4. Go take a look at other Tempest ranger feat lists and mostly copy them. Your feat list is rather poor. you should have... Power Attack, Improved Critical (your choice), and probably oversize two weapon fighting (although its more optional) Keep Toughness, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack. Combat Expertise is probably not a great choice, but it could be handy occasionally or when you are soloing.

[clericreborn]

Well I could certainly boost my DPS by changing my stats and feats around a little

L1
S15 D12 C15 I12 W8 Ch15

L20 (No tomes/Gear)
S20 D14 C16 I12 W8 Ch18

1 Toughness
1 Dodge
3 Power attack
6 Mobility
9 Spring Attack
12 improved crit slash
15 WF Slash
18 WS Slash (Or possibly Khopesh?)

Add in the 12th lvl of Ranger for Tempest 2, maybe slant my enhancements more towards favored enemy damage, and this should be pretty solid.

Every post seems makes this build a little stronger. Any other opinions?

[ghettoGenius]

I think the best template Ive seen for this type of build is the 12/6/2 format. However, the main question is what to fill those last 2 levels with. Rogue would give you some sneak attack and skills, but I think youll get more out of (and be more group friendly) going fighter or monk. Fighter seems most appealing to me as it would give you 2 feats (which are tight on tempest multi builds), better BAB and +1 str.

[ghettoGenius]

Well I could certainly boost my DPS by changing my stats and feats around a little

L1
S15 D12 C15 I12 W8 Ch15

L20 (No tomes/Gear)
S20 D14 C16 I12 W8 Ch18

1 Toughness
1 Dodge
3 Power attack
6 Mobility
9 Spring Attack
12 improved crit slash
15 WF Slash
18 WS Slash (Or possibly Khopesh?)

Add in the 12th lvl of Ranger for Tempest 2, maybe slant my enhancements more towards favored enemy damage, and this should be pretty solid.

Every post seems makes this build a little stronger. Any other opinions?

You need 4 levels of fighter to qualify for weapon specialization.

[clericreborn]

Thank you for the input, but this toon is specifically designed to pinch-hit as a rogue, and give me access to as much content as can possibly be solo'd. To drop it would defeat that end entirely. As I already have evasion, I went 7 paladin for the extra health and saves.