Wise to splash Ranger for wand usage?

[Mirra_of_the_Long_D]

I made a barbarian for the first time and so far I'm lovin' the class. At the moment I'm lv 4, with enough xp to level up to 5.

I started putting points into UMD thinking that I could get it high enough to use cure light/mod wands but I quickly realized that with my 0.5 ranks per level, combined with my sexy dwarven charisma of 6, I was never going to self heal effectively.

My original plan for this character was to take 2 levels of rogue so that I could (attempt to) max my UMD, get Evasion, and be a semi-decent trap monkey when soloing. But, I realized that this would take more skill points than I was willing to invest in my INT score, so I scrapped this plan.

So my question to you fellow barbarians is: would it be acceptable to take one level of ranger for the wand usage ability? I realize this is my character and I can screw it up however I see fit, but I would prefer not to gimp myself more than necessary. As much as I would love to remain pure barb, I honestly don't see this character reaching level 20 and so I'm not too worried about end game content/capstone. I do plan on taking the Frenzied Berserker prestige class though. Would it be wise to hold off until level 7 to take the one ranger level?

[Samadhi]

I actually did do this on an old barbarian of mine; and it was handy for quicker leveling, although I regretted it and ended up LRing to get rid of that level at cap.

IMO a better solution is to go 18 barbarian / 2 rogue - that way you get evasion, a couple extra skill points to pick easy locks, and the UMD to use wands and eventually heal scrolls as well. Just because you are splashing rogues does not mean you need to mess with the Int for traps.

[Emili]

Wand usage only has one place really... is a secondary source and useful for supposrting others on a top off or if you have to hold someone else up (backing you out of the fight). A lower level perk. Higher level is nearly all mana, scroll and potions. Potions do not remove your weapons ... even with quick draw wand use removes such and lets face it cool-down is cool-down. UMD <- items and shall be high enough "Scrolls"

IMO a better solution is to go 18 barbarian / 2 rogue - that way you get evasion, a couple extra skill points to pick easy locks, and the UMD to use wands and eventually heal scrolls as well. Just because you are splashing rogues does not mean you need to mess with the Int for traps.

Even if you wished to mess with traps ... while not the greatest DC ... an base int of 8 still will disable most when you have items and buffed. One rank in OL opens most doors and chests when buff... Rogue means Haste boost, evasion, SA and UMD is what such 2 level splashes like that bring to the table.

[Mirra_of_the_Long_D]

Thanks for the imput guys. I think I will go ahead with my original plan and spash in the 2 levels of rogue. If it doesn't work, well, I can always re-roll.

[Thrudh]

I did this with my first barbarian... Wands are a lot cheaper than potions for a new player... Plus, I really liked being able to heal other players (or get them up if they were incapped). Plus, a ranger level gets you Bow Strength and a favored enemy.

But in the long run, it's a bad idea...

And nowadays you can use the Aid clickable from Korthos to get up an incapped party member.

[Vellrad]

I'm not expert builder (especially about meeles) but if you want to multiclass to ranger for wands, consider adding 2nd ranger lv for TWF. OR, if you want only wands, maybe 1 lv of cleric will be better than 1 lv of ranger?

[ddobard1]

I don't enjoy 1 level of Ranger in a Barbarian. If I wanna heal, then I pick potions. For 2 levels of Rogue better start with a level of Rogue, and take the other in the middle of levelling. I enjoy Rogue in a Barbarian, but to multiclass you should plan before roll the Character. Only imagine two ways here, or stay pure Barbarian, or reroll.

[Thrudh]

I don't enjoy 1 level of Ranger in a Barbarian. If I wanna heal, then I pick potions. For 2 levels of Rogue better start with a level of Rogue, and take the other in the middle of levelling. I enjoy Rogue in a Barbarian, but to multiclass you should plan before roll the Character. Only imagine two ways here, or stay pure Barbarian, or reroll.

Potions are cheap for you, a vet player... Potions are very expensive for a new player... Wands are much cheaper.

Splashing a rogue first level, and planning out the skills only really matters if you're going to get the trap skills...

If you're splashing rogue for full UMD, evasion, haste boost, and maybe a few ranks in Open Lock, you don't have to take rogue first level.

[DelScorcho]

If you are keeping the character, no. I'd recommend splashing two fighter levels for 2 extra feats and buying pots until you get the silver flame pots. If you just want the past life feat for a future build, take any other levels that will help you quickly and cheaply level, just so long as you have more barb levels than any other class.

The two rogue levels will get you UMDing wands by like 13 and scrolls near cap, but you will need to purchase a whole lot of pots for the leveling process. If you don't mind the added expense, have at it.

[Rav'n]

Thanks for the imput guys. I think I will go ahead with my original plan and spash in the 2 levels of rogue. If it doesn't work, well, I can always re-roll.

Mirra... if you're only level 4, I'd take the plunge and re-roll now. You'll want to take Rogue at level 1. This opens up alll the skills for you and will ensure that you get your UMD high enough to UMD Heal Scrolls. (Between battles when you dismiss Rage.)

[Vellrad]

Mirra... if you're only level 4, I'd take the plunge and re-roll now. You'll want to take Rogue at level 1. This opens up alll the skills for you and will ensure that you get your UMD high enough to UMD Heal Scrolls. (Between battles when you dismiss Rage.)

Hey, if I take rouge at lv1, then when I get lv of another class, is it class or cross-class skill?

[KillEveryone]

If you are raged, you will not be able to UMD any wand or scroll.

Always pack pots. You may not be able to dismiss that rage fast enough and switch out to your healing item. Sucking a pot will at least give you a second to get away from the mob so that you have a chance to dismiss your rage.

[Thrudh]

Mirra... if you're only level 4, I'd take the plunge and re-roll now. You'll want to take Rogue at level 1. This opens up alll the skills for you and will ensure that you get your UMD high enough to UMD Heal Scrolls. (Between battles when you dismiss Rage.)

Again, if you only care about UMD (and a barb/rogue isn't likely to be doing full trap skills), you can take rogue at level 5, and catch up on all the UMD skill...

It can actually hurt you to take rogue at 1st level if you want to use all those skill points on one skill and not be forced to spread them out among a bunch of skills...

But rerolling at 4 is no big deal, so if you want to redo for a barb/rogue, go ahead...

[Thrudh]

Hey, if I take rouge at lv1, then when I get lv of another class, is it class or cross-class skill?

It will be cross-class skill, but your max will be full skill...

Let me explain...

If you were a pure barbarian... you can only gain 0.5 UMD skill each level... you could only max out at 11.5 UMD skill (but it would cost you 23 skill points since it's cross class - 2 skill points for every 1 rank of UMD).

Put 1 level of rogue in there, and you can max out at 23 UMD skill... When leveling as a rogue, 1 rank of UMD costs 1 skill point... When leveling as a barbarian, 1 rank of UMD costs 2 skill points (cross-class, but you can get a full point of UMD each level instead of only 0.5)

[eonfreon]

Hey, if I take rouge at lv1, then when I get lv of another class, is it class or cross-class skill?

It becomes a class skill at cross-class skill cost. So a 2-to-1 cost.
In other words it allows you to put 1 full point per level in the skill but will cost you 2 points to raise it up 1 point.

[Hokonoso]

barbs get a ton of skill points per level and honestly as a 20 barb with 60-70 str there isnt a single skill that is useful (jump is capped from str, you only get knocked down on a 1 so balance not so useful, you'll never intimitank as ftr/pal do it better etc...) so if you splash 2 rog lvls you get enough points to max umd and still get OL or anything else up to max/useful range.

i still think it is a bad idea lol, but that has more to do with personal preference and not how good it is in practice, but imo when raged you cant cast spells and with 900hp evasion doesnt mean much when the healers are overhealing you anyways. i tested putting on 3 extra shroud items (over the cleansed ones) to see if the overhealing in a normal pug shroud would keep me alive, and i still kept over 50% life, if i had evasion it prob would have been even higher, as a barb there really is no reason to cleanse those extra guards, just throw them on while tanking and the healers will heal you lol.

[Belwaar]

You want cheap healing? Go grab a hireling cleric and solo to your heart's content.

[Thrudh]

barbs get a ton of skill points per level and honestly as a 20 barb with 60-70 str there isnt a single skill that is useful (jump is capped from str, you only get knocked down on a 1 so balance not so useful, you'll never intimitank as ftr/pal do it better etc...) so if you splash 2 rog lvls you get enough points to max umd and still get OL or anything else up to max/useful range.

FYI ... Intimidate is a still a good skill for barbarians to pick up... Barbarian Intimidation is an enhancement that is an AOE debuff with NO SAVE: -2 to hit, -2 to saves on all mobs... That's pretty sweet actually.

[Ciaran]

I wouldn't do 1 level of Ranger on a Barb. 2 Rogue is better, but you won't have the UMD to use wands reliably until later. If you're going for an evasion Barb, make sure you plan out your saves and your DEX to make sure you'll have a high enough reflex save to make evasion work.

I'm leveling another Amazon currently (had one on another server before I took a break) and it's still a great build that I highly enjoy. I'm going Khopesh and TempestI/FzB II.

18/2 Evasion Barbs are fantastic too! For obvious reasons (boosting DEX for evasion), TWF would be a good choice, but I'm sure a THF Barb would do fine as well.

[TFPAQ]

I have a WF Fighter12 (Kensei II)/Monk7/Wiz1. I took the Wiz lvl for wanding. I didn't count on being at approx. 720 hp without rage pot or madstone boots going off.

He is pretty much self-"unhealable/unreconstructable". On your barb your hp potential is going to get you in the same spot (or higher).

So are you looking to wand heal while soloing, or what? If so, it is still a slow process (at least with WF you can buy critical repair wands as opposed to only serious for ranger/clerics, etc).

If you are going to be grouping, I'd skip the wand whipping and the lvl.