Aussie evening group?

[whitehawk74]

...
d. This will be a stealth/assasin focused group, all characters must have move silently

all? how?
im in melbourne, play alot, but the party itself doesnt interest me, but if you are starting an Auskiwi Guild and are looking for people, send me a PM.
I mostly play on Argonessen, but all my char slots are full on that. Any other server is cool with me.

[JasonJi72]

Im in for sure mate.

so far as I can tell:

Bard, mage, healer, rogue covered right?

I'll play a monk or ranger then most likely.

Kyber or Orien?

Edit: GMT +9, but we don't do daylight savings time here (Korea). Can you adjust for daylight savings time for what time to play please? I am no stranger to permadeath, but this will be my first static group, but I am looking forward to it.

[learst]

Cut and paste from above:

Confirmed so far
Octavi - Warforged 18wiz(PM)/2rogue (I normally play melee clerics and I feel like a change).
Wax_On_Wax_Off - Bard (of some description)
Mick.P - Cleric
Voxson5 - Ranger/Monk
Stillwaters - Wiz(PM)/Monk

Not confirmed
Learst - ? (support class of some type - time might be too late)
JasonJi72 - ? (not confirmed as I havn't heard back from Jason yet)
Duncani_Daho - ? (not sure if he wants to play non-PD)
Teech - Rogue (may play if there is a free spot, in a Tuesday night static)

Looks like we have 1 spot left to confirm. We need to confirm classes and server. Is everyone ok with Orion? Vox, you looking to build for ac/intim?

Edit: Just realised times might not work for Learst (starting 10pm Adelaide time)

Hm, 10 pm Adelaide time would be 11.30 pm, so I guess it would be kinda late for me. Since you almost have a full group, and JasonJi just replied; I guess you guys are all set. But thanks a lot to Octavi for the earlier consideration.

All the best and have fun!

[Octavi]

all? how?
im in melbourne, play alot, but the party itself doesnt interest me, but if you are starting an Auskiwi Guild and are looking for people, send me a PM.
I mostly play on Argonessen, but all my char slots are full on that. Any other server is cool with me.

Plenty of ways to include stealth in a build, often by splashing rogue or monk. Not looking to start a guild, just a static group.

[Stillwaters]

Hey i'm just looking to learn the trade secrets of stealth - i've played many chars mostly rogues but never bothered with learning ddo stealth besides a few tricks.

Loving the idea of a ninja group - and the xp should be nice if we get the stealth bonus!!

Thanks for letting me in

[Octavi]

Im in for sure mate.

so far as I can tell:

Bard, mage, healer, rogue covered right?

I'll play a monk or ranger then most likely.

Kyber or Orien?

Edit: GMT +9, but we don't do daylight savings time here (Korea). Can you adjust for daylight savings time for what time to play please? I am no stranger to permadeath, but this will be my first static group, but I am looking forward to it.

Great to hear Jason. Easiest way I have of working out time difference is to type into google "what time is it in Adeaide". This will give you the current time right now and you can work out the difference (looks like start time will be 9:30pm in Korea).

Bard, Mage, Healer and AC tank covered (no intimi - hate only). I should be able to cover rogue as well (about to post build to make sure). Obvious fits I can see - DPS rogue, Tempest TWF ranger, Dark monk, Fighter/Monk (GodHands build + new update stuns would rock), Barb/Rogue. Basically anything with good front line DPS as we already have a good mix. If you dont feel like playing a melee that's cool too. Most importat thing is to play something you will enjoy.

Seems likely to be Orien

Feedback on my build here: http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...00#post3716200

[Octavi]

Confirmed
Octavi - Warforged 18wiz(PM)/2rogue
Wax_On_Wax_Off - Bard (of some description)
Mick.P - Cleric/(Monk or Rogue?)
Voxson5 - Ranger/Monk
Stillwaters - Wiz(PM)/Monk
JasonJi72 - ? (Monk? Ranger?)

Looking good guys. All going well I would like to get started this Wednesday. Things to do before then:
1. Work out your build
2. Roll it on Orion
3. Let me know what your char name is (I'll post mine once I've rolled)
4. Would be great if you could have voice, much more fun
5. Get ready to ROCK KORTHOS! (10pm Adelaide time kick off)

Update: My characters name is Uthandar

[Teech]

Just my 2c about wiz/rogs and rogue skills. I noticed you started another thread about it and you'll likely get more expert advice there, but just my 2cp.

In general, wiz/rogs are probably better than pure rogues at rogue skills, unless we're talking about mechanic rogues.

Simply because both search and disable have intelligence as their skill modifiers.
So long as you splash rogue, you'll be able to max out the necessary skills and your int modifiers should take you above most rogues. Just get the relevant skill boost items (+?? to spot/search/disable) and you'll be set.

Pure non-mechanic rogues can only beat you if they use enhancements. Rogue skills and rogue boost, but I think your int mods will generally still make you come out on top.

In short, don't worry about it too much...

[wax_on_wax_off]

all? how?
im in melbourne, play alot, but the party itself doesnt interest me, but if you are starting an Auskiwi Guild and are looking for people, send me a PM.
I mostly play on Argonessen, but all my char slots are full on that. Any other server is cool with me.

Stealth is an exciting play style for anyone that hasn't tried it. There are various tiers to how you can stealth;
1. Invisibility. This will cover a majority of your stealthing desires if you are solo, you can invis and simply run past mobs to the end of the quest, sure, they will hear you but you will be past them before they can figure out what is going on.
2. Invisibility + Move Silently. This is the easiest option for a group to stealth. If more than 1 invisible person moves past a mob without being silent then the mob will find the 2nd or 3rd person to pass. However, if everyone successfully moves silently then the mob will not be the wiser at all.
3. Invisibility + Move Silently + Spot and/or Listen. The biggest trick to being stealthy is not bumping into anyone and not bumping into mobs is dependent on you being able to spot/hear them.
4. Invisibility + Move Silently + Hide. When you get right down to it, invisibility gives something like a +20 to your hide skill, some mobs with exceptionally high spot, true seeing or see invisibility abilities will be able to see you, a good hide skill can overcome this.

So, in general, if we are going to succeed in the goal of our entire group having a stealth option we will;
1. Have no more than 1 person that can only succeed at 1.
2. Have no more than 3 people than can only succeed at 2.
3. Have 2-3+ people that can succeed at 3.
4. Have 2-3+ people that can succeed at 4.
(I'm not sure that this adds up right ... see how we go and what is offered)

Spells like camouflage, mass camouflage, invisibility, good hope, heroism, prayer, greater heroism, cat's grace, mass cat's grace, etc might give us a necessary edge when stealthing. I think it is likely that when we get to a certain point that we may need to resort to the AH or craft for ourselves (using the U9 crafting system) appropriate stealth items (hide, move silently, spot and listen as appropriate) as even with quite good hide skills some mobs are quite nosy in at level, normal quests (with a move silently of ~53 my monk got heard in Running with Devils on normal, a level 16 quest. I think). I imagine that we'll play it by ear and see how we go.

We seem to either have 7 confirmed or we in the end don't have a rogue at all?

One thing that I do notice and I thoroughly support is the following;
We have 1 divine; divines are difficult to build in this context so one is the perfect number. I'll be backup as a bard.
We have traps covered; if we are going to consistently challenge ourselves with elite/hard content then being able to disable traps will be important.
We have 2 dedicated melee. 1 ranger/monk + 1 monk provides 2 AC capable characters who can hopefully hold aggro. Someone needs some intimidate though, is that going to be me?
We are heavy on the casting side of things; for what we are attempting casting will excellent to provide our selves with efficient self efficiency.

So the list as I can see it is:
Octavi - Warforged 18wiz(PM)/2rogue (I normally play melee clerics and I feel like a change).
Wax_On_Wax_Off - Bard (of some description)
Mick.P - Cleric
Voxson5 - Ranger/Monk
Stillwaters - Wiz(PM)/Monk
Jason - Ranger or Monk

I'd be a bit sad to see us start without an aspiring assassin, perhaps I'll skip the bard idea and go with that instead.

*edit* the ranger/monk is an 11/9 split, so will bring maxed hide & sneak (of course) as well as AA ranged support and dark monk melee (ToD). Will also be able (with a little luck) to do the various WIS runes (Tear, Xorian Cypher etc)

Voxson, I just thought I'd mention; Monk Earth Stance III and IV are getting a significant boost in U9 to provide a +1 critical multiplier on 19s and 20s. Probably a more optimal split now for the AA/monk is 12 monk, 6 ranger, 2 fighter. You lose a feat that way but there would be a significant DPS boost. Not sure if you knew about the change and just wanted to mention it anyway.

Hi Octavi, Thank you for your advice. I bought the 32 point build from the DDO Store so I think it works on all of the severs. If it doesn't then I will purchase it.

Hey Mick, I'd suggest to read up on the Valiance 2.0 build and, to a lesser extent, Valiance 1.0. These builds show some of the versatility of the cleric class but obviously in a context that isn't completely relevant to our context (as it is solo focused and gear dependent).

However, I think an 18 Cleric or Favoured Soul / 2 Monk structure could work very well for what you are looking for. Racial choice and overall build focus will depend on your priorities. Half-elf is a very attractive choice whether you are leaning towards a focused caster build or a hybrid build (a build that can cast as well as smack things occasionally). Paladin and Rogue dilettante would be your first choices for feats, respectively. I'd love to throw ideas around, feel free to hit me up.

Hey Octavi, what Teech is said is correct that you won't have any need to worry about your search and disable at all if you go with the wizard/rogue option. This will comprise the majority of the trap disabling stuff but I just thought I'd mention that being able to spot the trap if you don't know the quest (spot skill, wisdom based) and surviving to disable the trap (reflex save, boosted by insightful reflexes if you take it, Hit Points as well for the times you roll a 1) are important aspects of disabling traps as well.

From what I know, actually fitting in UMD, Search, Disable, Concentration, Move Silently will be very tough. Not to mention Hide/Spot and others. Never forget the 1 rank we put in tumble too.

/rant off

Footnote: We should all have UMD. Being able to use an invisibility scroll on yourself will be crucial from time to time, not to mention all its other amazing uses for the aspiring self sufficient character.

Time for me to go muck around in the character generator again ...

[Stillwaters]

FEW QUESTIONS:

if you want assassin - i'm quite happy to switch to a bard im more comfortable in that suit the wiz/monks i keep looking at are filling me with doubts.. though "dethstun lichfist" was kind of amusing

Also are we starting on snowy korthos with no gear or as vets, can we hand off gear? (i have capped a mech rogue and a tanking pally on orien)
can we purchase tomes for our builds at lvl 7??

[wax_on_wax_off]

FEW QUESTIONS:

if you want assassin - im quite happy to switch to a bard im more comfortable in that suit the wiz/monks i keep looking at are filling me with doubts..

Also are we starting on snowy korthos with no gear or as vets, can we hand off gear? (i have capped a mech rogue and a tanking pally on orien)
can we purchase tomes for our builds at lvl 7??

That might be a decent option though I'd started to work up an appetite for a bard and am about to TR a monk of mine into a rogue anyway, oh well, see what everyone wants.

I think the plan is to start at level 1. I don't think we that we have to start Snowy Side unless some of us have to for other reasons but either way is fine. My understanding is that this is a no-twink group. However, I'm a bit concerned about tomes and maybe would like the option to twink tomes for ourselves through the store or AH if we desire to give ourselves more options for our character builds but I guess we should have a consensus on it.

I'm happy not to use the AH, especially as the crafting system is looming to satisfy all our stealth kit desires.

I'm quite happy to play a bard, I've been mulling it over in my head the last few days and I'm getting enthusiastic about it.

Maybe you and Octavi can fight over who is the rogue and who is the palemaster?

[Stillwaters]

OK now i'm real tempted to throw together a half elf black lotus assassin - we lose some arcane power in the group but should be fairly solid melee (plus we gain trap parts)

I noticed you had some thoughts on it WAX.. is it viable for our group? the flavor is bada$$ but if it is way too gear intensive it might be worth a miss - is there a cheatsheet for the build or should i d/l the character builder and mess around?

[krackythehoodedone]

Hello Darlings

Just a little message from Pomland.

Would love to join our Antipodean Brothers and Sisters for a quiet game of DDO and a little chat about the cricket.

Ok a lot of chat about the cricket

Twenty years worth (about) ?

Luv

[wax_on_wax_off]

OK now i'm real tempted to throw together a half elf black lotus assassin - we lose some arcane power in the group but should be fairly solid melee (plus we gain trap parts)

I noticed you had some thoughts on it WAX.. is it viable for our group? the flavor is bada$$ but if it is way too gear intensive it might be worth a miss - is there a cheatsheet for the build or should i d/l the character builder and mess around?

I'd say it's totally viable. Helf is an excellent choice for the build too with fighter dilettante and the stunning blow enhancements. Hopefully by the time the DC starts to feel weak or matters U9 will come along and you will get that awesome boost.

I do like the potential of the build to hit 41 DC at cap with basic gear and 44 with stupid gear but I'm not sure how valuable that will be in epics, not that I'm too sure how important endgame viability will be for us in reality. PrE-end game your stunning fist will rock and you'll dish out massive sneak attack damage, it will be fun as.

U9 Black Lotus was what I had in mind if I played a rogue but I'm going to TR into one anyway so didn't really want to double up. The dilemma I had was with starting stats. Either 14, 15, 14, 14, 14, 8 for generalist with good assassinate DC or 15, 15, 14, 8, 16, 8 for stunning fist focused. Either way all level ups go into strength. I definitely think the int-dumped version is superior just it seems wrong to dump int flavour wise.

After that you'll just have to check out your skills to see what you want. Search, disable, UMD, tumble (1), some concentration (maybe all points given on monk levels and see how that feels), move silently are the must haves. A few points in balance. Spot will be important and should probably be maxed or close to for traps and spotting foes. Hide, diplomacy, bluff are the last 3 of which are very tempting. Did I miss any?

See you tonight

[wax_on_wax_off]

By tonight I do of course mean tomorrow night.

So I think I'm starting to be reasonably settled on my character. I'm thinking a two weapon fighting virtuoso with 2 fighter and 2 rogue splash.

The trickiest thing I'm finding is trying to decide on what skills I would like/are necessary.

Must have at maximum: Concentration, Move Silently, UMD, Perform
Will have something in: Balance (4-8), Tumble (1)
Will have something in courtesy of the rogue levels: Open Lock (4), Jump (3)
Options: Haggle, Hide, Listen, Bluff.

Obviously, it'd be nice to have all of these. However, I'll have to decide how many are worth it and lower my other stats to accommodate. The 2 stats that I can take away from to get these skills are strength and charisma. I'm fairly comfortable to invest between 2 and 6 points into charisma though obviously it's harder to cast spells with a lower charisma and I'll have less Spell Points. My investment into strength will be between 6 and 10 points, again, with what skill choices allows.

Here is a few ideas that are influencing my ideas:
Bluff: I think we should have 1 person in the group that can do this.
Haggle: Ditto.
Listen: Ditto (assuming a couple of other people have spot).

Having someone with a good haggle score will lower the cost of bags and other consumables which may help us significantly if we are going to be untwinked.

Bluff I am aware can be used while stealthed to make a single mob follow you out of a group to open up the possibility of ambush. It has uses in combat as well though stunning fist, stunning blow, unbalancing strike, hold person etc are better.

Spot is probably better generally than listen but I am aware that there are some mobs in the game with significantly higher Hides than Move Silently so someone with a listen skill might come in useful and a bard is well suited to that as they don't have access to Spot.

Any ideas? Perhaps I can wait and see what everyone rolls up and fill in the gaps

[voxson5]

Voxson, I just thought I'd mention; Monk Earth Stance III and IV are getting a significant boost in U9 to provide a +1 critical multiplier on 19s and 20s. Probably a more optimal split now for the AA/monk is 12 monk, 6 ranger, 2 fighter. You lose a feat that way but there would be a significant DPS boost. Not sure if you knew about the change and just wanted to mention it anyway.

.

Still playing in the planner but ty, gives me some more to think about

[voxson5]

I keep coming back to Elf monk9/ranger11

13/16/12/13/16/8

13 str = power attack
16 dex (primary stat, all level ups) = weapons finess (wraps), AC, to hit with bows, reflex, hide/move silently
12 con = all i could get
13 int = combat expertise + enough skill points for hide/move silently/balance & maybe some UMD in ranger levels
16 wis = stunning fist DC, AC, will save (my save weakpoint initially, only monk levels really boost this)
8 cha = ran out of points :P

Thinking wind & water stance, (wind for ranged/water for melee)

Cant get the stats to be as good (remember, focus on AC / ranged combat & melee w/stunning fist) with any other race:

-human/Helf ends up with one less dex initially, looses -2 dex from racial, looses -2 to hit & damage with bows
but: +1 feat, better healing amp, more skillpoints/Dil bonues

-Halfling also ends up with less dex (need to up str), looses racial weapon, ends up with same con
but: +1 ac, cunning & guile, +1 to hit

-WF gets 2 less wisdom & cha....(same con) , looses racial weapons, looses racial dex
but: racial tactics line, more con, more HP from toughness enhancements, immunities, WF PA, +2 ac from composite plating (makes it +1 AC over halfling at low levels), WF brute fighting enhancements (hate generation)

Actually, WF is looking pretty good for what i had planned to do

-Dwarf gets same stats as elf (more into dex, less into con = same stats at end), looses racial dex & weapons
but racial tactics line, more con, more hp, more balance, AC vs giants etc


Hmm, with arcanes & a divine - looks like WF is the way to go

*edit - added in WF things i forgot*

[JasonJi72]

Looks like the time will be 30 min behind local time. 10pm is good for me.

I have been playing around with the planner with a stealth capable Palladin Intimitank. It seems like it would fit the party well. Im looking at 16-18 Palladin with at least 2 monk. It's kinda hard to fit stealth on a Pally. I have a few more kinks to work out.

When is the start date, and on what server?

[Stillwaters]

I believe the server was Orien, and the time was 10pm wed Adelaide time

Im going for a black lotus build Half elf monk1/rogue19 "Kickpuncher"
uses unarmed attack for super fast sneak attacking
and reasonable stun for defense/offense

STR 14 DEX 15 CON 14 INT 14 WIS 14 CHA 8

Skills
Balance
Disable
Hide
Move Silent
Search
Spot
UMD
Touches to tumble (1) jump (3) Concentration (4)
But now i'm thinking more of grabbing bluff (h-elf pulling) and not taking balance till midgame
no open lock either

[wax_on_wax_off]

Looks like the time will be 30 min behind local time. 10pm is good for me.

I have been playing around with the planner with a stealth capable Palladin Intimitank. It seems like it would fit the party well. Im looking at 16-18 Palladin with at least 2 monk. It's kinda hard to fit stealth on a Pally. I have a few more kinks to work out.

When is the start date, and on what server?

Tomorrow night, Wednesday, 13th April, Orien server seems to be the consensus.

I love the 18 paladin / 2 monk build idea. Stealth wise considering everything else that the build will bring you can be perfectly comfortable only sporting move silently. Perhaps a defining point here is whether we are allowed to use a supreme tome at level 7. I think the biggest challenge will be choosing race. 12 intelligence is enough to max Intimidate, UMD and Move Silently which I think is really all that you need (some concentration will be nice if you take stunning fist but it isn't crucial). This works well as you need roughly that to qualify for Combat Expertise anyway (+1 tome will get you there, +2 tome will get you some more skill points after level 7 but I'm not sure if we can have those). I'd suggest that half-elf with rogue dilettante as a good option unless the extra feat from human is crucial. Rogue Dilettante will give some nice DPS in a majority of contexts (~37.5 DPS, a Monks Touch of Death in comparison gives ~31 DPS).

I keep coming back to Elf monk9/ranger11

13/16/12/13/16/8

13 str = power attack
16 dex (primary stat, all level ups) = weapons finess (wraps), AC, to hit with bows, reflex, hide/move silently
12 con = all i could get
13 int = combat expertise + enough skill points for hide/move silently/balance & maybe some UMD in ranger levels
16 wis = stunning fist DC, AC, will save (my save weakpoint initially, only monk levels really boost this)
8 cha = ran out of points :P

Thinking wind & water stance, (wind for ranged/water for melee)

Race wise, the only two real choices for a non-level-18-ranger ranged character are half-elf and elf as otherwise you won't have access to slayer arrows.

Stunning fist is definitely very strong in the next update but you might be stretching yourself too thin if you try to build in very high AC, stunning fist and ranged combat. I'd at least suggest to not worry about combat expertise and prioritise DPS in the form of ranged combat and melee combat. This is especially true if Jason builds the paladin. DPS wise, wind stance won't add DPS for bows unless haste isn't available or you need the +3 dex to hit (you won't very often). Earth Stance III will add 10% DPS vs 0 fort which is quite significant. The DPS gain from 6 to 11 ranger is only significant if you can't afford the feats otherwise. Elf won't affect unarmed DPS at all while Rogue Dilettante in contrast will give 10.5 sneak attack every hit which adds up to ~40 DPS (for comparison, Touch of Death is about 31 DPS). Between strength and dexterity based, I think strength based will give more satisfaction; I'm playing a dex based monk at the moment and it is starting to get a bit painful how long it takes to kill some enemies (in Reaver's Reach quests for instance), also, even if you go the dexterity path you'll find that it is possible to temporarily boost your strength up higher than your dexterity anyway.

15/16/14/10/14/8 for half-elf. 1 or 2 level ups in dexterity for IPS, rest in strength. 10% bonus DPS from earth stance for bows, 10.5 damage per arrows or fist with rogue dilettante, +5 damage when using human versatility: damage boost (grouped with manyshot + fighter haste boost it is lethal), extra healing amp, +2 strength (fighter strength I, human adaptability: strength). The biggest cost of losing the ranger levels is the loss in versatility from losing spells (as 6 ranger you will only have 2 spells but luckily that covers the 2 most important; rams might and camouflage).

With the changes to Ki generation in U9 I don't think building for ToD is necessarily a good idea as it will be significantly harder to generate Ki and in particular you would have to forgo using stunning fist for the opportunity to use ToD whereas at the moment we using stunning fist for the purpose of building Ki for ToD.

As an alternative to the arcane archer/monk variants, perhaps an unarmed tempest build would suit you better? My favourites at the moment include 12 ranger / 7 rogue or fighter / 1 monk. When unarmed you don't benefit from the shield bonus that tempest gives but you can still have 100% offhand proc which, when coupled with the bonus to attack speed that unarmed inherently has, will give you roughly the fastest number of hits/second possible (4.78/second, a TWF barbarian in comparison has a measley 3.07/second). Additionally, you have 30 point resists, +5 barkskin spell, mass camouflage and all those goodies. Additional perks include some of the fastest vorpaling when using kamas (not so relevant in U9) an extra FE and still excellent ranged combat (like every ranger does). Half-orc is the best racial choice here for the bonus action boosts DPS wise. Many other choices are strong though and a more balanced character would probably be half-elf going the 7 fighter path for higher DCs but still some sneak attack with rogue dilettante and all the other half-elf perks. Dwarf or Warforged would work well too.

Skill wise, it'll always be tricky with what we want to do. The priorities for a ranger/monk might be hide/move silently/spot/concentration. UMD is important too. A few points in balance can be put in on monk levels. 1 whole rank in tumble as usual (on a monk level).

Regarding stance choice for melee, I tend to find I swap stances depending on the context. It wasn't until I was doing Prey on the Hunter that I found that I had to be in water stance to more often land stuns, before that everything has been getting stunned in Air (which is the best melee damage stance).

Why do I get all ranty? /facepalm. Feel free to tell me to get back in my box.