Help choosing builds for Trio

[PurpleTimb]

Guess it stems from me not knowing the exact level of play these folks have. I assumed they got 32 point builds by unlocking, meaning they also all have vet status. The first 1-3 levels can be rough on a wiz and rog/wizzies if they are going by strict rules of no hirelings AND try for hard/elite completes. Sure, agreed. Lev 4 to 7 can be slightly annoying, but as long as you start with 14 str, dont mind casting master touch and dont try to squeeze too many hard/elite runs in before FW=should be fine/easy. Id say a stack of cure serious pots each, maybe 2 stacks. stack or four of haste pots=should get them into PM 2 range if they are competent players.

I guess I should have stated our resources more specifically. We're not VIPs, but have purchased TPs in the last couple of double bonus sales. All of us have 32 point builds, shared banks, monks and pretty much every adventure pack. Our highest level characters are 13th, so we'll have the ability to pass down some plat for AH purchases and the like, but no twinking with greensteel and the like.

Thanks for your PM recommendation jeremyt. I like it, and it's got me thinking outside the box, but I don't think it's what I'm looking for here.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=304591

still on front page to this section of the forum actually Penciled out a 14 bard warchanter 6 barb with supportive past lives. Barb PL is critical, fighter PLs let it go from ho-hum stunning blow DC of 44 to 47. Lotsa grind...but anywho. it has 863 to 873hp buffed and raged depending on enhancement allocation.

LOL. I stand corrected. 20th level bards with 4 past lives are not squishy.

[herzkos]

yeah, an 18/2 wf wizzogue is viable in a trio with two fleshies.

it becomes even easier if the other 2 are melee capable or
even if all 3 are.

all the wizzogue needs to do is carry some repair wands/scrolls on them.
only use their sp for emergency repairs, use the wands/scrolls for the rest.

[unbongwah]

Id say a stack of cure serious pots each, maybe 2 stacks. stack or four of haste pots

HA! I knew it! You work for the Potion Makers Guild, don't you?

Don't let potion addiction claim another lost soul!

On the 18/2 Wiz/Rog, my question was how effective will he be as a WF in a party with a fleshy divine and melee? Will the fact that he'll have to do all his own healing limit him too much in his CC and nuking role?

WF still benefit from divine healing too, they just take a penalty to it. As long as whoever is playing the WF wizard takes a rank or two of Healer's Friend, it should be fine.

[Mister_Peace]

Don't let potion addiction claim another lost soul!

There is absolutely* no evidence of negative side-effects of potion addiction.

I also vote for three monks. The monk with traps can just spam Rogue Haste, Fists of Light and Healing Ki, so not too many clickies. Healing Ki uses character level, not monk level.

[jeremyt]

I guess I should have stated our resources more specifically. We're not VIPs, but have purchased TPs in the last couple of double bonus sales. All of us have 32 point builds, shared banks, monks and pretty much every adventure pack. Our highest level characters are 13th, so we'll have the ability to pass down some plat for AH purchases and the like, but no twinking with greensteel and the like.

Thanks for your PM recommendation jeremyt. I like it, and it's got me thinking outside the box, but I don't think it's what I'm looking for here.

LOL. I stand corrected. 20th level bards with 4 past lives are not squishy.

Gotcha gotcha. Yeah just brought up the PM shindig to bring up just how varied effective teams can be. It is a pretty extreme example.

With the 'runty stuns' build the barb PL gives it about a total of 47 HP (20 hp barb PL + 40 hp barb PL rage + 10 passive barb PL -23 hp switching feat slot to toughness) the extra build points would buy you the lst point of con 19 to 20. So if with gear layout in mind that puts you odd, thats another 20 HP down (but in that instance you would drop con to 18 and gain 4 build points to mess around with). But, if your figuring for zero past lives, his stun DCs would become suspect as well, due to the extra +4 str from barb PL rage and no fighter PLs..so would drop stunning blow, gaining a feat, and a huge wad of APs from not taking full line of tactics, meaning id have to start questioning if dwarf was really the best race for the toon's resources, and that would prob be no: dropping more HPs, its no longer runty stuns, its a DPS warchanter.. But agreed not a build for anyone to tackle If i set my mind to it with kick backs from resources/twink where possible from my other toons i dont see a 4 PL endgame build being too unfathomably hard to attain. Now GEARING out that build, now that IS a grind.

Some unsolicited advice based on what resources you did list.
Level 13 toons: make sure you run chronoscope a few times before rolling up your lowbies. The gear sets from there are no brainers and bound to account. The gloves and cloak are disgustingly good. Blow through tangleroot a few times or the protect the tavern quest in the sharn series. You get bound to account, lowered min level random gear. Run it every time I TR, this life i got a no min lev cloak with 5 clicks of exp retreat. Ive pulled multiple ML 5 mod fort rings that BTA from tangleroot.

Buy a ML 4 outfit of invuln off AH if you have to. If your struggling in some lower end content this is a pivotal item. I sock away upgrades at 6 and 8 to include lesser then regular elemental guards. All for CHEAP or just found running around.

If you break down and decide on warforged, get the blademark docent from the house D series. Its good for all WF builds from level 5 to 16.

If you decide on blend builds to work as your healing resource Id strongly suggest making the other two people in the group healer friendly. A fvs/cleric really could start caring less how easy folks are to heal in later level content. Unless they are main tanking horoth as a no AC meat bag. Then they care. BUT a bard throwing heal scrolls or a paladin multiclass tossing cure serious, they work WAY better with heal amp minded people.

[jeremyt]

HA! I knew it! You work for the Potion Makers Guild, don't you?

Don't let potion addiction claim another lost soul!

WF still benefit from divine healing too, they just take a penalty to it. As long as whoever is playing the WF wizard takes a rank or two of Healer's Friend, it should be fine.

Heh, yeah. I dont find myself stocking much anymore though. My guild has +2 shrines and +30 resist shrines, + with all the easy to obtain BTA twink gear= not too resource intensive to level any toon, even crappy ones.

My soul is lost, this is correct, but alas it is not the IV drip of starter CLW pots that ripped it from my body. I attribute it more to the constant act of genocide within the reality that is DDO

[PurpleTimb]

I also vote for three monks. The monk with traps can just spam Rogue Haste, Fists of Light and Healing Ki, so not too many clickies. Healing Ki uses character level, not monk level.

The all monk party does sound a little different and promising. Will a light monk spamming fists of light be enough healing for the group? I'm confused by your trapping monk comment. Do you mean for this to be the party's healer? or would we include a clonk or other healer?

[Tinco]

To spin the monk idea a bit further:

Light monk dwarf 20, great stunner, buffer and dps
Dark monk 12/rogue7/Fighter1, traps and dps (build could be tweaked, not sure if it works out)
Clonk 17/3, heals and dps

This should be quite an enjoyable group, at least until the first kick-ass handwraps drop

[Alektronic]

To spin the monk idea a bit further:

Light monk dwarf 20, great stunner, buffer and dps
Dark monk 12/rogue7/Fighter1, traps and dps (build could be tweaked, not sure if it works out)
Clonk 17/3, heals and dps

This should be quite an enjoyable group, at least until the first kick-ass handwraps drop

Lol on the handwraps comment. I would substitute the clonk for a dark monk 20. IMO, the healing from light monk, and also self-healing thru scrolls/pots will be more than sufficient for any content that you would want to tackle. Also, the extra dps dark monk 20 will bring more to the table in a 3man group than a clonk.

[Darkrok]

18/2 Warforged Wiz/Rog
20 Warforged Warchanter Bard
Mix in whatever Warforged melee the other player would like. Doesn't really matter...Barbarian works, Fighter works, Paladin works (and gives a third toon some emergency healing with Lay on Hands)

While all 3 require Warforged none of them require any fancy equipment or 32-point builds. If you stick with THF on the melee toon and the bard they're all insanely easy to gear up and play.

[Hahnsoo]

There are several quests that are difficult to complete without an arcane. I would not recommend a trio without at least one wizard or sorcerer. My current static trio started as a Warforged Barbarian, Halfling Rogue, and Halfling Monk (with Dragonmarks), and we got to level 15 pretty easily. I recently retired the Barbarian and power-leveled a Warforged Wizard/Rogue to replace him. The group now lacks a tank and is doubled up on Rogues, but it is far more effective than its previous incarnation, mostly because of the sheer cheese that is a Warforged Wizard. And the quests that once caused us serious trouble due to a lack of ranged support are now a walk in the park.

I would look at the attribute spread and make sure your trio can hit the runes/levers that you need. While most quests can be completed without them, it is nice to consider. This probably means running a Wizard, a Cleric (or Monk), and a Bard (or Paladin or Sorcerer, although I don't suggest having two Arcanes). Alternatively, you can run a Rogue with high Int and have a Sorcerer for the Charisma.

My "dream team" trio would be:
Cleric with a Fighter splash - Battle Cleric. It's a shortman static group, so we aren't necessarily looking for a dedicated healer (healing hirelings can cover incidental healing). Half-Orc or Dwarf would probably be the best choice here. Elf with a Falchion COULD work. Alternatively, a Clonk (Cleric with a Monk splash).
Wizard with a Rogue splash (Warforged) - The current cornerstone of my static trio. Archmage Evoker spec, with Transmutation on the side for later (Free Haste! Great for small static groups). Puts out great ranged damage.
Paladin or Bard - High Charisma a must to hit various runes. I'd probably want a Paladin more than a Bard, but a Bard Spellsinger can keep the SP flowing.

[KongColeus]

He and his friends do not OWN warforged so proposing WF is rather silly. I doubt they bought Favored Soul or they have earned 2500 favor yet. I am also assuming they do not own MONK, Half Orc or Half Elf.

I like the trio you had there OP.

(Drow or halfling) 18 wizard/2 rogue. Perfect. This assumes you have cracked 400 favor by now to get the drow. You have firewalls, haste, buffs, and just about every trap in the game completed.

Dwarf (fighter, ranger, barbarian) some sort of DPS. I prefer the TWF ranger because of the buffing he can do later on and multi shot.

Cleric(Human) or battle cleric(dwarf).

[unfiguroutable]

[color=violet]Posted this in the Class Discussion forum yesterday, but realized it more correctly fits here and rather than bump it there I'm reposting it here. Sorry if you're reading it twice.

I'm looking for some build advice for my static group of 3 players. We've been playing exclusively together about 3-4 times a week for around 9 months. We want to restart our characters now that we all have 32 point builds and more experience with the game. I want to plan out or party to get some good synergy and try to cover all the requirements. We're fairly casual players, so our focus will be more on quality of experience while leveling and not on how to be the best uber raid gods once we reach cap. I'm not a fan of using hirelings, as our first party got addicted to us each having our own dedicated hireling heal-bot, and it became a liability as we got to higher levels.

I was considering a wizard/rogue, a battle cleric and a melee DPSer, but we're open to any options that would make a good balanced party. One of our players is slightly less experienced than the others, so I was hoping to find a DPS build for him that is a little more basic, so he doesn't have to juggle too many clickies, cool-down timers and the like. Not necessarily a beginner build, but something that is not too complicated to play.

I understand the synergies of an all WF party, but that wouldn't be my first choice as 2 of 3 haven't purchased it and my anti-WF bias makes it hard for me to spend TPs on that.

I'm open to any suggestions on how to make our party.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[unfiguroutable]

Pally bard and a wf wizz. they all heal themselfs. max buffs all the time! slash rouge for traps and boxes on the bard

[Hahnsoo]

He and his friends do not OWN warforged so proposing WF is rather silly. I doubt they bought Favored Soul or they have earned 2500 favor yet. I am also assuming they do not own MONK, Half Orc or Half Elf.

I did read the OP. It had this line:

an all WF party, but that wouldn't be my first choice as 2 of 3 haven't purchased it

That line seems to imply that one of them has Warforged.

As far as their other resources:

We're not VIPs, but have purchased TPs in the last couple of double bonus sales. All of us have 32 point builds, shared banks, monks and pretty much every adventure pack.

[wax_on_wax_off]

I'd suggest a few things:
1. A pure or splashed wizard will definitely be in the lineup due to the versatility.
2. A cleric should be in the lineup (radiant servant is so good at the moment, empower healing + maximise to make undead go splat, quicken and extend in time for blade barrier)
3. Stealth is cool for a short-man group, try to work some move silently in for everyone (invisibility spell covers hide usually).

My idea:
1. 18 wizard / 2 rogue WF Archmage (GSF: enchantment, SF: necro at least).
2. Half-elf 17 cleric / 2 monk / 1 fighter (w/ rogue dilettante). Intimidate can lock down trash for everyone else to beat on. AC + high wisdom means excellent survivability. Something similar to a Valiance 2.0 build. Human can be substituted here.
3. Helves Angel. Excellent persistent melee DPS and ranged burst DPS.

Notes:
1. Move Silently + invisibility and you can stealth many quests.
2. Invisibility and you can stealth most quests.
3. Survivability and self sufficiency are awesome which all of these builds can have.
4. Trap skills aren't strictly necessarily, imo.
5. Everyone there has evasion which is cool.