Warforged Mystical Fighter for the casual gamer

[Kalizaar]

I need some advice.

I play MMOs to have fun and not stress over what's "best" or "optimal". So I guess it would be fair to say that I often play "flavor" characters in most MMOs. I've looked through a lot of builds on these forums, many of which sound a little like what I'm looking for, but often times it sounds like they're built around the idea of only caring about level 20 and assuming a person has bajillions in platinum and thousands of clickies and such.

First off, I rarely solo. I don't need to be able to solo the epic content. I have a good group of friends I game with almost exclusively. I'm not worried about end game. I'm not concerned on whether or not I'll be invited to a group obviously. I don't need to do maximum DPS to not feel like a complete failure. I most likely won't have access to the best equipment. I don't have a ton of money saved up. Oh, and I don't know where to get clickies nor do I want to rely on them if I can avoid it.

I'll be starting at level 4 and taking my time to enjoy all the content. Maybe some day I'll get to 20, but that's not really my goal besides being a consequence of me going through content having fun.

Now, saying all that here is my latest "flavor" idea of what I want to play. Again, let me state that I have read many of the build threads and that I'm trying to narrow it down with your help.

I'm completely infatuated with the idea of a Warforged character swinging a giant weapon while using magic to protect himself. That just screams "awesome!!" in my head. In my mind I see this character as melee focused. He's not throwing balls of flame and lightning. He's a lumbering hulk with blades and magic alike bouncing off him, his magical aura, or missing him entirely. As he laughs maniacally as things fail to destroy him he continues to swing that giant weapon around with utter glee.

That's the flavor approach.

The game mechanics approach?

The various common builds I see people mention talk about 18 wiz/2 rog, 12 wiz (or sorc)/6 fig/2 rog, 18 fig/2 rog, etc. Most of the builds talk about two weapon fighting, epic gear, and a bunch of clickies. But I want a big two handed weapon, I'll have a lack of epic gear, and I'll have no clickies unless they're real easy to come by.

I like the idea of my character casting the spells required more than the idea of him using a bunch of wands and scrolls. For some reason wands and scrolls seem "cheap" to me somehow. Must be my history of old school pen and paper where those were rare things. In reading the forums it sounds like many characters count on a high UMD and simply use wands and scrolls to replace what you would normally need a whole class for. Almost makes me wonder why there are even classes in DDO. Anyhow, that's just my preference.

If I'm swinging a big sword around it doesn't do me much good unless I can actually hit with it. That tells me I need a high BAB I suppose. Now that comes with either a lot of levels in a melee class or evidently by using a Divine Power clicky. Well if I don't want to use clickies that means I either need enough levels in Cleric/FvS to cast it myself, or I need enough levels in a melee class for a high enough BAB.

Either of those non-clicky scenarios most likely leaves me without enough levels in wiz/sorc to have blur, displacement and stone skin.

So that makes me then wonder about Clerics, Favored Souls and Paladins. In my mind if I pretend it's magic instead of holy power, are there divine spells that can offer me similar benefits as if I were using blur, displacement and stone skin?

A benefit of going that route would be that I'd have access to Divine Power so I could actually melee decently, right? But then what about the lack of Reconstruction? Would having divine healing spells be effective enough for me to self-heal my warforged by taking those enhancements?

The next thing that I wonder is about the Warforged damage resistance. How useful is it? Does anyone stack as much of it as possible? I know Adamantine armor gives 2 DR, warforged enhancements give another 3, and through feats you can grab a few more. Keeping in mind that I'll actually be playing this guy through the levels and I'm not just looking at lvl 20, is it worthwhile to pick up Adamantine Armor and/or a bunch of the DR additions?

So to simplify all this:

"Flavor" desired:
1. Warforged - Mandatory
2. Uses 2 handed weapons - Mandatory
3. Melee as primary combat - Mandatory (melee character, not a "caster" besides buffs and heals/repairs to aid in being melee)
4. Some sort of "magic" (wiz, sorc, cleric, fvs, etc) used to enhance his melee combat, protect him from harm, and heal himself. Preferably through classes own magic/abilities.

Things to keep in mind:
1. Will almost always be in a group of 4-6 friends
2. Doesn't need to be able to solo epic content, but might have to solo normal and occasional hard stuff here and there when friends are offline
3. Needs to be playable from lvl 4-20 (not necessarily uber, but still playable)
4. Would prefer not to rely on wands, scrolls and clickies unless they are really easy to come by and don't totally ruin the immersion or "flavor" of the character concept.

As long as the "flavor" and "keep in mind" things are met I'm comletely open to any class combination. Thinking outside the box is great fun. Cookie cutter builds aren't required unless they really fit what's been stated. I have access to everything, plus 32 point builds, plus starting at level 4 veteran status which means lvls 1-3 can be gimpy as long as lvl 4 brings enough together to be playable.

Oh, and finally "Well what role do you want to provide to the group?" is a non-issue. Whatever role he's capable of filling is the role he'll provide. We're a group of friends who like to have fun playing these games. We don't obssess over having every specific detail, role, etc. covered as long as we all have fun.

So what do you all think?

[sebastianosmith]

I like your attitude and style. Games should be fun and you seem to recall that. If I were in your shoes and wanted to satisfy your stated requirements, I'd go Fighter 12 / Wizard 6 / Rogue 2 with Kensai II / AM I with a transmutation focus. You'll be good at self repair, provide fairly decent DPS and be able to pick and disable often enough to be useful in either solo or group content. With veteran status, start level 1 Rogue, pump skill points into trap and disabling - maybe UMD for your random wands and scrolls, then next 6 fighter levels. Hit Kensai I, take final rogue and start some wizard levels. Alternate as you'd care to with feat selection in mind. I know it's magic user later than you wanted but you'll find plenty of repair pots or scrolls along the way.

Let me know if you want to group sometime. I like flavor as well.

Best of luck to you.

[Roguewiz]

Sounds like what you're looking for is more Favored Soul and Bard than the rest. Favored Souls can opt to take Healing and Defensive spells, as well as a few offensive buff spells. Couple that with their Combat Feats they gain as they level, they make extraordinarily good melee characters. As a Warforged, your favored weapon with them is a Greatsword.

Warchanter Bard is another route you can take. It is the route mine is going. Expansive buffs from songs, spells, and melee. At level 14 my Bard, fully self buff w/power attack running swings for 2d10 + 41 (Using Insanity Greatsword). I have the AC of a Barbarian, but considering the displacement and temporary hp from songs/buffs, it doesn't matter too much. Plus, he is running around with 320hp. His Dex, Int, and Wis are low. His Str, Con, and Cha are high.

Paladin can work for you, but they don't have much in the department of "Defensive buffs". Everything they have from a defensive standpoint comes from enhancements. Offensively, they have some good spells, and of course; exalted smite

My opinions? Favored Soul or Bard.

[Dasthug]

Sounds like what you're looking for is more Favored Soul and Bard than the rest. Favored Souls can opt to take Healing and Defensive spells, as well as a few offensive buff spells. Couple that with their Combat Feats they gain as they level, they make extraordinarily good melee characters. As a Warforged, your favored weapon with them is a Greatsword.

Warchanter Bard is another route you can take. It is the route mine is going. Expansive buffs from songs, spells, and melee. At level 14 my Bard, fully self buff w/power attack running swings for 2d10 + 41 (Using Insanity Greatsword). I have the AC of a Barbarian, but considering the displacement and temporary hp from songs/buffs, it doesn't matter too much. Plus, he is running around with 320hp. His Dex, Int, and Wis are low. His Str, Con, and Cha are high.

Paladin can work for you, but they don't have much in the department of "Defensive buffs". Everything they have from a defensive standpoint comes from enhancements. Offensively, they have some good spells, and of course; exalted smite

My opinions? Favored Soul or Bard.

Agreed. Definitely sounds to me like you either want a buff/melee focused pure FvS (with some healing of course) or a Warchanter bard, potentially with with fighter/barb splash.

[Roguewiz]

Agreed. Definitely sounds to me like you either want a buff/melee focused pure FvS (with some healing of course) or a Warchanter bard, potentially with with fighter/barb splash.

My Bard is either going 18 Bard/42Fighter (for cheats...err feats), or 18 Bard/4 Fighter (more cheats...err feats)

[Mister_Peace]

Paladin.

[unbongwah]

In my mind if I pretend it's magic instead of holy power, are there divine spells that can offer me similar benefits as if I were using blur, displacement and stone skin?

Not really: paladins get Angelskin (DR 5/evil), but that's all I can think of in the way of physical DR; and no divine spells grant concealment, IIRC. You'd also miss out on Haste.

But then what about the lack of Reconstruction? Would having divine healing spells be effective enough for me to self-heal my warforged by taking those enhancements?

Yes, although you'd be at a disadvantage due to your WF healing penalty; OTOH if you go FvS you hopefully have enough SPs to make up for it.

The next thing that I wonder is about the Warforged damage resistance. How useful is it? Does anyone stack as much of it as possible?

WF FvS are the only builds I see which might try to add in that DR, because it stacks with LoB capstone. Otherwise, there are items in-game which grant DR comparable or better.

Melee bard or melee arcane comes to mind; a bard would have higher BAB & HPs & songs, but an arcane gets repair spells and some of the better buffs (e.g., energy resist, Stoneskin) which bards don't. Have a look at Tukaw and Arcane Knight for monk / pally / sorc mixes; you could also do rogue 2 / ftr 6 / wiz 12 such as this build.

Melee FvS is also an option, like Soul Survivor, but it doesn't get the arcane buffs & repair spells you seem to want.

[whomhead]

I would strongly recommend checking out the Soul Survivor. He says it is not a beginner build, but if you don't try to set yourself up as a tank, and just focus on healing and DPS/buffs, then I think this is basically what you are looking for. And as an unintended benefit, you would actually be able to get into groups, should you decide you want to at some point in the future.

[Kalizaar]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

One build I found on the wiki seems to fit the bill pretty well except it's missing any Rogue levels. The Warforged Bladecaster (http://ddowiki.com/page/Warforged_Bladecaster). I wonder how it would work if you lowered Fighter to 10 in order to add 2 Rogue. Or keeping fighter at 12 and dropping wizard to 6 instead.

I've also started working on a WF FvS who is pretty tough and is handy for healing the group, but more often than not I find myself turning into the group's healer which I'd rather avoid.

There are so many options! Well, at least when you're not overly concerned about whether your character would be considered "gimp" by min/maxers or not.

[voodoogroves]

Oh wow that's a pretty .... not-casual-capable build. Not to put too fine a point on it, but any WF melee arcane that can't cast reconstruct is really probably .... very sub-optimal.

I think a WF FVS 20 might be exactly your cup of tea. If you wanted arcane, I think we could come up with some arcane options.

[bigolbear]

check out the tukaw build.

Id also suggest 12 fighter 8 wiz for a mostly mele with a few buffs or pure wf sorc using masters touch spell to get weapon proficiency.

One important tip: if your going to mix in a caster class and want to mele effectively you'll need divine power clickies - id recomend dedicating a slot to them.

[spume74]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

I've also started working on a WF FvS who is pretty tough and is handy for healing the group, but more often than not I find myself turning into the group's healer which I'd rather avoid.

Kali, get back to healing, NOW!

[Kalizaar]

Kali, get back to healing, NOW!

ROFL, ok ok, keep your britches on, Spume!

[Phidius]

I would agree that the best build to go after is the WF 20 FvS, but if you're set on Arcane (and don't mind being sub-optimal), check out the "Capricious" link in my sig.

"Flavor" desired:
1. Warforged - Mandatory Check
2. Uses 2 handed weapons - Mandatory Check
3. Melee as primary combat - Mandatory (melee character, not a "caster" besides buffs and heals/repairs to aid in being melee) Check - although it has spells for mass damage when surrounded, melee is used for 1-on-1 action
4. Some sort of "magic" (wiz, sorc, cleric, fvs, etc) used to enhance his melee combat, protect him from harm, and heal himself. Preferably through classes own magic/abilities. Check - Reconstruct, Displacement, Haste, Stoneskin

Things to keep in mind:
1. Will almost always be in a group of 4-6 friends
2. Doesn't need to be able to solo epic content, but might have to solo normal and occasional hard stuff here and there when friends are offline
3. Needs to be playable from lvl 4-20 (not necessarily uber, but still playable)
4. Would prefer not to rely on wands, scrolls and clickies unless they are really easy to come by and don't totally ruin the immersion or "flavor" of the character concept. Scrolls of Reconstruct, Teleport, Greater Teleport, and Greater Heroism are bought in stacks of 100 from the vendors.

I've recently swapped out the iTHF and gTHF feats to grab Empower, Spell Focus: Conjuration in order to take the Water Savant2 for a more damage casting focus, but I didn't update the build.

[Kinski]

I need some advice.

Things to keep in mind:
1. Will almost always be in a group of 4-6 friends

So what do you all think?

I think you will almost always be in a group of 2-3 friends if you don't get back to healing and stop wasting precious time here!!!

On a serious note, thanks for all the info. If I ever wanted to stray from the master race, I may look into a couple of these builds

[Tostig]

So what your saying is you want to play a class that has heals so that I think I might actually be able to mash my clerics kill buttons. But, then your actually going to play him like a frothy mouthed barbarian so as to crush my hopes. I hope you rust!

[Kalizaar]

So what your saying is you want to play a class that has heals so that I think I might actually be able to mash my clerics kill buttons. But, then your actually going to play him like a frothy mouthed barbarian so as to crush my hopes. I hope you rust!

You know, I hadn't thought of it that way. But... Yeah! Exactly!!