hybrids and altaholism

[frznvimes]

First off, I should admit that I am an altaholic. I tend to spend a lot of time planning characters, have fun with them for a while, and then abandon them for the next interesting thing (I'll come back to all of you... someday). I have found that the characters I enjoy the most are the ones that can take on more than one role or play style (not necessarily at the same time). As such, I'm usually looking to make character that perform fairly well in multiple categories rather than being the most powerful build overall.

Due to my... condition, it is only natural that the FvS appeals to me as a divine caster more than a cleric, but I'm also torn over how to build mine. I'm trying to make a hybrid offensive caster/melee character (and healer, of course) and am willing to accept that sometimes one or both modes of offense won't work and I'll have to play a nannybot as a result (although I'm trying to minimalize this while keeping a dual profile). I've had enough of two handed weapons and warforged for the moment, so I decided to go the 1h weapon route. At this point I became lost in the various possibilities (more so than usual, that is), so I was hoping to find out if I've gotten a good grasp of the situation.
I guess I'll start out with a list of what I'm considering.



Stats (32pt human on left, elf/drow on right)
____
twf
____

str - 14
dex - 16 (+1 tome)
con - 12
int - 8/10
wis - 16 (+5)
cha - 10

_______________
sword 'n board
_______________

str - 15/16
dex - 10/8
con - 12/14
int - 10/8
wis - 17 (+5)
cha - 11



Skills
_______
concentration
umd



Feats
_______________
with all builds
_______________
toughness
quicken
extend
max
____________________
two weapon fighting
____________________
[i]twf
itwf
gtwf[i/]
_______________
sword 'n board*
_______________
empower
heighten
imp crit
spell pen

*twf human gets one of these, probably empower.


Race
______
human
______
(+ +2 con,+1 str if s sword 'n board)
+ +1 damage (d8 vs d6)
+ Unyielding Sovereignty
+ CLW capstone
+ +1 str/wis (enhance)
+ extra feat

____
Elf
____
+ +2 attack
+ +2 damage
+ crit range (scimitar)
~ Undying Call
~ +2 save against enchantments
- command undead capstone (seems mostly useless by 20)

_____
Drow
_____
(+ +2 attack if twf (small weapons))
+ +2 attack
+ +2 damage
+ invis capstone (appeals to me a tad more than CLW capstone, but then again I'm used to invis+hide/ms rather than on its own)
+ blue
~ semi-proficient w/ rapiers
~ +2 will save against spells
~ +2 save against enchantments
- child of Vulkoor



So, there are two basic decisions, race and melee combat style. Elf and drow are ahead of the human for melee combat and behind for casting, and sword 'n board is ahead of twf for casting and behind for melee.
Because I'm not focusing heavily on melee (and therefore won't typically be hitting on 2+), it's not clear to me if the drow's +2 attack bonus (from a light offhand weapon) may not be that far behind the elf's improved crit range. Taking into account that I much prefer the drow's capstone to the elf's, the drow may be a better choice for me if using twf. If going sword 'n board, the +2 attack bonus disappears and I have room for improved critical: slashing, which muddles things again.
I'm not very familiar with the divine spell list (I mostly play arcane casters), but I'm not sure how important it would be to get empower+heighten from going sword and board. It seems like most of the decent save-based spells are level 6+ and so gain minimal-to-no benefit from heighten (blade barrier, symbol of stunning, destruction, implosion. Maybe symbol of persuasion). Blade barrier is about the only damage based spell that I'd use with empower (it would be nice for healing, but I do have maximize and enhancements). Is this correct?
So would it be correct to think that by going twf I gain a larger advantage in melee than I would gain in casting by going sword 'n board?
My current thinking, if you can't tell, has me leaning more toward a twf drow. Am I missing anything/incorrect anywhere?

(Thank you in advance for any insights you may share, and congratulations for reaching the bottom!)

[Nyvn]

Sounds like Impact's Superior Soul would fit you, twf human caster/healer melee capable fvs.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=243539

[frznvimes]

Sounds like Impact's Superior Soul would fit you, twf human caster/healer melee capable fvs.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=243539

Ah, thank you. Somehow I missed it when researching. It's pretty much what I was thinking about, and there's a lot of useful information in that thread. I had forgotten that elves can get racial enhancements with longswords too, and confirmed my suspicions about heighten.

I think I will go with drow, the capstone is just too tempting to me (and I can featswap gtwf for empower if I feel the extra bb damage and healing would be more important).