Road to Completionist: Blades version 8.0

[Fratricide]

My character Blades will be on his 8th life towards completionist. I wanted to make a post to share my perspectives as how builds on the road to completionist differ from many others who only look at life once you hit 20. As with all my builds I try to accomplish the following things:

• Have a unique build that incorporates maximum value and synergy of my gear and classes chosen to accomplish specific objectives.
• Ensure maximum survivability at every level, since I spend half the time doing quests solo.
• Do not build for level 20, but rather level 18/19 since the last 2 levels represent almost 1million XP and tend to take the longest and I TR within a few days of lvl 20 anyways.
• Leverage existing gear I collect thru prior past lives.

My Lineage includes the following:

Blades 1.0 Ranger (12RGR/6PAL/2MNK)
Blades 2.0 Favored Soul (17FVS/2MNK/1ROG)
Blades 3.0 Rogue (12ROG/6MNK/2FTR)
Blades 4.0 Paladin (8PAL/6MNK/6RGR)
Blades 5.0 Monk (12MNK/6FTR/2ROG)
Blades 6.0 Wizard (20WIZ)
Blades 7.0 Sorcerer (20SOR)

Blades 8.0 will be a Half Elf Barbarian
Based on the slightly irrelevant level 20 standard, this character should look something like this:

(11BARB/6FTR/3ROG) with Stalwart Defender PRE

STR:32 DEX:26 CON:26 INT:22 WIS:23 CHA:22 -Gear Stats Only (no buffs)
With buffs my STR could be 42 - 48
(14 +4(lvl) +2(tome) +7(item) +3(exc) +2 (enh) +6(rage) +2(yog) +2(guild) +2(stalwart defender). With Rage spell, madstone boots, greater abishi set would be 48.
With my personal rage & stalwart defender my CON would be 36, putting my HP at 718 with base healing amp at 25% and damage reduction of 5/-
(20base +24ROG +60FTR +132BARB +260CON +45Shroud +10Agent +30GFL +20Tougness +20YOG +22Tougness feat, +25gem +50enhancements)


My Armor Class will be relevant until epic with bumps throughout leveling. Final AC will be around 57 sustained while raged with the ability to pump it up to 80 with buffs while not raged.
Sustained 59: (10 Base +8 armor +8 dex +5 protection +6 dodge +4 insight +5 Monk dilettante, +5 past life barkskin, +2 stalwart defender, +4 shield wand, +1 haste +1ship buff) Temporary 70: (+6imp uncanny dodge +5human versatility IV) With party buffs 80: (+4inspire heroics, +2recitation, +4pally aura) and -2 when raged.
Notable skills with gear & buffs: UMD 49, Disable Device 60, Open Lock 54, Search 55, Spot 40
Notable feats: Evasion, Greater Two Weapon Fighting, Imp Crit Pierce & Slash, Combat Expertise, Imp Uncanny Dodge, Oversized Two Weapon Fighting, Power Attack, Half-Elf Dilettante: Monk
Saves: add additional +3 to all saves for pally aura
Fortitude 34 (12 base +11con +5item +2luck +4GH)
Reflex 35 (9 base +8dex +5item +2luck +4GH +6imp uncanny +1haste) and +3vs traps
Will 26 (6 base +6wis +5item +2luck +4GH +3rage)

The goals of Blades 8.0 is to benefit from the killing speed of a barbarian with the utility of a rogue and survivability of a FvS. Early on, his weapons of choice will be your standard 2 handers (Malestrom, Carnafax, SoS). At level 12+ I will use dual Chaosblades when I need to heal up and Deathnip / EEE Heavy Pick for general beatdowns. As for armor I would start with crafted mithril chain + guild slot and eventually move into my Icy Raiments.
Optionally if I choose to play Blades much at Epic I could ditch the AC in favor of improved saves / to hit by replacing my Monk Dilettante with Paladin and replacing Past Life Ranger with Khopesh or Weapon Focus: Pierce.

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.9.1
DDO Character Planner Home Page
Blades Version 8.0
Level 20 True Neutral Half-Elf Male
(6 Fighter \ 11 Barbarian \ 3 Rogue) 
Hit Points: 382
Spell Points: 40 
BAB: 19\19\24\29\29
Fortitude: 17
Reflex: 13
Will: 9
               Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(36 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             14                    22
Dexterity            14                    20
Constitution         14                    18
Intelligence         14                    16
Wisdom               14                    17
Charisma             14                    16
Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7
 
               Starting          Feat/Enhancement
              Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               6                     9
Bluff                 6                     7
Concentration         2                     4
Diplomacy             2                     3
Disable Device        6                    26
Haggle                6                     7
Heal                  2                     3
Hide                  2                     5
Intimidate            2                     7
Jump                  6                    15
Listen                2                     3
Move Silently         2                     5
Open Lock             6                    20
Perform               n/a                   n/a
Repair                2                     3
Search                6                    26
Spot                  6                    11
Swim                  2                     6
Tumble                6                     9
Use Magic Device      6                    26
 
Level 1 (Rogue)
Feat: (Half-Elf Dilettante) Half-Elf Dilettante: Monk
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Favored Soul
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Monk
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Paladin
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Ranger
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Rogue
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Sorcerer
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Wizard
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack
 
Level 2 (Barbarian)
 
Level 3 (Barbarian)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
 
Level 4 (Barbarian)
 
Level 5 (Barbarian)
 
Level 6 (Barbarian)
Feat: (Selected) Past Life: Warrior of the Wild
 
Level 7 (Barbarian)
 
Level 8 (Barbarian)
 
Level 9 (Barbarian)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons
 
Level 10 (Rogue)
 
Level 11 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Two Weapon Fighting
 
Level 12 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Weapon Fighting
 
Level 13 (Fighter)
 
Level 14 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Critical: Piercing Weapons
 
Level 15 (Fighter)
 
Level 16 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Combat Expertise
 
Level 17 (Barbarian)
 
Level 18 (Barbarian)
Feat: (Selected) Oversized Two Weapon Fighting
 
Level 19 (Barbarian)
 
Level 20 (Rogue)
Enhancement: Fighter Armor Class Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost I
Enhancement: Barbarian Sprint Boost I
Enhancement: Barbarian Improved Damage Reduction I
Enhancement: Barbarian Extend Rage I
Enhancement: Barbarian Extend Rage II
Enhancement: Barbarian Extend Rage III
Enhancement: Barbarian Extra Rage I
Enhancement: Barbarian Extra Rage II
Enhancement: Barbarian Hardy Rage I
Enhancement: Barbarian Hardy Rage II
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Attack I
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Attack II
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Attack III
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity I
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity II
Enhancement: Fighter Stalwart Defender I
Enhancement: Improved Monk Dilettante I
Enhancement: Improved Monk Dilettante II
Enhancement: Improved Monk Dilettante III
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Human Versatility I
Enhancement: Human Versatility II
Enhancement: Human Versatility III
Enhancement: Human Versatility IV
Enhancement: Half-Elf Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate I
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate II
Enhancement: Barbarian Constitution I
Enhancement: Barbarian Constitution II
Enhancement: Rogue Dexterity I
Enhancement: Fighter Strength I
Enhancement: Fighter Strength II
Enhancement: Half-Elf Monk Wisdom I
Enhancement: Barbarian Toughness I
Enhancement: Barbarian Toughness II
Enhancement: Barbarian Toughness III

[Lithic]

Black text on dark grey background means I couldn't read half of what you wrote.

I do agree with the "build for lvl 18" bit though.

[Fratricide]

You are too quick to read my posts... haha, it has been fixed (was updating after it posted)

[seobanio]

Neat Post blades. I find the leveling builds really interesting as I am in a position where I want at least like 6 past lives on all my toons. So I thought I would share some of what I have been learning so far.

I've been talking to lotusfly a lot (He has completionist and what, 17 past lives now?) about it. I'm doing a sorc life and he highly recommends taking one lvl of barbarian for just a about every life where you are not planning on three classes already. He takes the one lvl for sprint boost to speed through quests. I was pretty skeptical at first... then I did a TR with him lol.* VERY fast stuff. I think it took a week and a half.
*By did a TR, really I mean, piked a TR.

At the moment I'm doing some sorc life TRs, anything different you do than just a regular sorc? Going to do acid savant because acid rain and firewall apparently = zerg from what I have seen. I just tr'd last night, so we'll see.

Anyway, cool post, have fun getting to completionist.