Questions

[ddoguy84]

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all :-).

I've come new to DDO. Few guys at my new job play, so I figured I'd come give it a shot. I may spend a little money to unlock the full array of races and classes, but other than that, I'll probably stick to what's available for free.

Was looking at paladin as a class. Been a pretty successful choice for me in other games. Is it a decent class for someone new to DDO? Decent solo characters? Don't figure I'll get too much into build mechanics until I understand the game a little bit better. How are the pre-set paths for them? Sort of had my eye on "the mighty protector"

Is dwarf a decent race for them? I'm going a bit back and forth between them and humans, seems like it's more a matter of picking a certain part of being a paladin to excel in.

I've seen a little bit in other posts, so I apologize for repeat. Just trying to get things figured out.

Thanks.

[TheDearLeader]

For Paladin, I'd suggest Human, and paying for 32-point build. Also, Junts has a great guide for making Paladins that you may be interested in.

Hope you enjoy playing the class. Make sure you start your character on the same server as your coworkers.

[GBantaR]

Hi Welcome

You're going to enjoy DDO! Hope you've already started to.

FIRST OF ALL, do NOT use any of the built-in "Paths" that come with the game. They are, politely, garbage. This is because they were all programmed back in the day before a lot of new updates, mods to the game, etc., so they actually don't work like they're supposed to. If you do want to follow one of the paths, go to this page:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=232660

Most of the paths are available there, and pretty much all of the paths you would want to play anyways. Use these "custom builds" to duplicate the original intention of the path you want.

IMHO, Paladin is a tough class for new players to start out with. They have a whole gamut of special abilities which need to be carefully used in order to get the most out of the class. That being said, if you are willing to invest the time and do a little studying about them, they are definitely a very solo-friendly class as well.

Here's a good post in the Paladin forums about creating Paladins, the different types of Paladins there are and how to play them:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=218542

If Paladins are your style, great. Otherwise, you have a number of other options for solo-friendly, new-player-friendly characters.

If you're willing to pay for warforged, warforged arcane casters (wizards or sorcerers) are almost certainly the best solo toons in the game. This is because they come with self-healing (repair spells) and a lot of DPS and versatility (more versatility with Wizards, more DPS with Sorcerers). They do take a little experience to get used to, but are a very powerful choice if you're willing to put that time in.

Probably the "easiest" solo-friendly build is a Fighter or a Barbarian, especially at the lower levels when you're still learning the game. You get to run around and smash everything, nothing can really hurt you, it's fantastic. If you go this route, make sure to bring a Cleric hireling with you, especially when soloing. This little buddy will follow you like a shadow and be your personal heal-bot, healing you whenever you take damage. Running like this is almost retardedly simple - which may not be to your taste.

Whatever option you choose, one thing to consider is splashing a level or two of Rogue if you're REALLY interested in solo play. The ability to handle traps, plus the Use Magic Device skill (if you can work it into your build) are VEEERY nice to have on a solo build. If you decide to do this, I recently laid down some ground rules for Rogues or Rogue Splash builds that want to be able to handle traps, here:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...66#post3413866

Hope that helps! Would have even more advice but baby just woke up.

Enjoy DDO. I'm sure you will.

Edit: Also, what Leader said about Paladins. They really almost require a 32 point build. Drow make very good Paladins, so if you really want to play one, roll a Fighter, grind out 400 "Favor" (you'll learn about it in-game) and then roll a Drow Paladin (Drow automatically get 32 points in their build).

[ddoguy84]

Thanks to all so far. i definitely enjoy the link with builds to mirror the pre-set paths. I did decide to go ahead and purchase 32 point builds as well as most of the races and classes that were available. I don't plan to really spend much after this, but I lik ehaving the abilitiy to at least start out a character in the best way and with the most options.

I'll spend today thinking about how I'd like to start out. I don't mind a challenge, so I may go with paladin. Drow seems like a cool race, so I could look at that. If I have 4 characters available on this server and I eventually have all those slots filled, I'd like them all to be different races and classes. I know Drow are suited to some other things too.

Taking drow out of the equation, what would the next best race be?

[Shishizaru]

Thanks to all so far. i definitely enjoy the link with builds to mirror the pre-set paths. I did decide to go ahead and purchase 32 point builds as well as most of the races and classes that were available. I don't plan to really spend much after this, but I lik ehaving the abilitiy to at least start out a character in the best way and with the most options.

I'll spend today thinking about how I'd like to start out. I don't mind a challenge, so I may go with paladin. Drow seems like a cool race, so I could look at that. If I have 4 characters available on this server and I eventually have all those slots filled, I'd like them all to be different races and classes. I know Drow are suited to some other things too.

Taking drow out of the equation, what would the next best race be?

With the option of 32 pt builds, I would say human is actually a stronger candidate than Drow. No bonus/penalty to stats (Dwarves get +2 CON but -2 CHA, and CHA is important for Paladins. Not to say Dwarven Paladins are not viable though). The extra feat is great because Paladins are a feat-starved class. Extra skill point per level is a nice bonus (counters Drow's inherent +2 to INT). Access to nice Enhancements (healing amp, human adapatability, etc).

Drow are okay for a some different builds, but arguable fit Paladin the "best" in that the majority of their points go into stats that actually matter. (Note that 32 pt builds are NOT applicable to Drow, since they are already technically 32 pt builds. The difference is that you have no control over where the 4 extra points go on a Drow). Basically what I meant to say is that Drow is usually used as the poor man's 32 pt build.

[ddoguy84]

Thanks again. We'll see. Starting to maybe consider other options before I try paladin if there are things that'll get me into the game more easily and still be fun solo.

[Persiflage]

I'm pretty new to DDO too, and am thinking of rolling up a Paladin. I've got the Vet status so it'll start at 4th, and I've got 32-point builds... I'm doing this for almost exactly the opposite reason to the OP's: to whit, that I haven't played a Paladin since AD&D 2nd Edition (yes, I go back that far, and much farther still!) and they look like they could be a lot of fun in this game.

Junts' guide to Paladins seems to suggest that high-AC builds are really tough to do if you don't already have a high-level character to shower loot on them. I'm no fan of grinding away to get "stuff", as time is pretty much the scarcest resource for me. I've recently introduced my girlfriend to the game (she's completely wet behind the ears with RPG's in general, let alone DDO) so I'm looking for a build that will work well both solo and in combination with one other character: with me handling most of the "tricky" stuff.

Given all of the above, can anyone point me at a solid Paladin build that'll be fun to play all the way through and still be useful at high levels? I *totally* understand people taking builds that don't really do their thing until end-game (I've been a rabid PnP min-maxer for most of my life, after all) but I'd rather not wait for the smacktastic goodness, at least not this time around. With such a laundry list of criteria, can someone point me at a step-by-step character "recipe" to follow, at least for the first few levels?

Many thanks in advance!

[ddoguy84]

Well after being sick, I've had some time to think about what I really wanted to do here. Talked it over with the guys at work, and I'm deciding to go with a Human Paladin, following something similar to the following build:

http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...3&postcount=19

I have access to 32 pt builds. My only question is regarding wisdom. I know a lot of people knock wisdom down to 8 in favor of other stats counting on toms and items and such to have enough wisdom to cast spells at level. Was looking at that build thinking CON was a tad low, but I didn't want to knock wisdom down too much since I won't necessarily have a great deal of in-game money for tomes on my first character.

Question is, would it be ok of me to keep wisdom at 10 and bump CON to 15 there? Will that make any difference whatsoever?

[ddoguy84]

Pardon my noobness, I can see from the character generator that when I take the Wisdom from 11 down to 10, it's still not enough to raise CON.

Nevermind then. Onward.