Attributes

[Madae]

I'm preparing for the future and I'm wondering if I should maybe alter the way I'm doing my stats. Obviously strength is pretty important, and that's what I've been focusing on, but right now I'm sitting at a base Constitution of 16. I'm building my character to be purely 2HF DPS, but I would like to know if it would be a good idea to invest in some more hit points for the late game, or if 16 is fine. I suppose I could also get some +2 books somehow, but that'll probably cost a lot one way or another.

Also, I'm sitting at 14 base dex I believe. Would it be worth it to up that any as well?

[somenewnoob]

You really shouldn't put any points in dex unless you are going to be TWF for the feats. If you were starting from scratch you'd want to max your str, and put all the rest into con.

At this point you should probably just put points into str, getting a con tome is a good idea too.

[Madae]

You really shouldn't put any points in dex unless you are going to be TWF for the feats. If you were starting from scratch you'd want to max your str, and put all the rest into con.

At this point you should probably just put points into str, getting a con tome is a good idea too.

I figured as much on the dex. I guess I wasn't convinced that I would be doing 2HF instead of 2WF. There was also some extra ac in there that I suppose I thought I could have used. I will probably redo that at some point when I get a gem or whatever. I also raised int up to 10, but since I only get 3 skill points a level anyway, that probably wasn't that great of an idea.

If I were to buy tomes and I did a reincarnate (i'm pure fighter, so it would be relatively cheap), would that destroy my tomes? I'm guessing it would, because I can see some issues cropping up with having 8 int at creation and then doing a reincarnate after using a tome to raise it to 10.

[somenewnoob]

I figured as much on the dex. I guess I wasn't convinced that I would be doing 2HF instead of 2WF. There was also some extra ac in there that I suppose I thought I could have used. I will probably redo that at some point when I get a gem or whatever. I also raised int up to 10, but since I only get 3 skill points a level anyway, that probably wasn't that great of an idea.

If I were to buy tomes and I did a reincarnate (i'm pure fighter, so it would be relatively cheap), would that destroy my tomes? I'm guessing it would, because I can see some issues cropping up with having 8 int at creation and then doing a reincarnate after using a tome to raise it to 10.

If you reincarnate you DO LOSE the tomes you applied. I reincarnated my fighter too because I wanted to redo his starting stats (You never really roll the toon you want as your first toon). So if you have tomes, reincarnate, THEN use the tomes. That's what I did. You can still buy the tomes right now, just don't use them.


If you do reincarnate, max str as high as you can, and then the rest in con is a good idea. Dex helps at low levels only when AC is still useful. Around level 14ish quests you are going to be getting hit a lot anyways no matter what your AC is unless you have a specialized build for AC. Int isn't really that useful to a fighter either, so just leave that wis and cha all at 8 too.

There is a nice character planner that helped (and still helps!) me a lot in planning builds:

http://www.rjcyberware.com/DDO/

Very helpful. Can make a build, then come to the forums and get a critique on it.

[licho]

Max str to 18, Raise con to 16.
If you are 28pb last 2 points into int, there is always some use of balance, jump, intimidate.
If you have 32pb, just max str and con.

Do not worry about AC, on low levels u can keep them in "still does matter" but in long run it will be hard to sustain.

2h is more first timer friendly (u need ony str for that).

3 skill point/level (i assume human) is ok, spend like 10 points into jump, buy one point in tumble, spend 1sp into balance each level and max ranks in intimidate.

True reincarnacion reset your tomes, so if you get some nice near level 20th it could be wiser to bank them, and use in next life.

[Madae]

Here's another unrelated question... sort of.

The power critical feat - I think I read somewhere that it wasn't necessary, and that it was a waste, but I'm not sure I understand why. Also, how does it work exactly? Is this just a bonus +#'s that gets added to your roll to determine whether or not you crit, or does this actually affect the threat range on your weapon directly?

And also, the Fighter Critical Accuracy in the enhancement tree... do all of these stack together?

Ah yes, and how about Improved Critical? That apparently affects the threat range, but I have a feeling that they don't all stack together - that sounds like a bit much.

[somenewnoob]

Here's another unrelated question... sort of.

The power critical feat - I think I read somewhere that it wasn't necessary, and that it was a waste, but I'm not sure I understand why. Also, how does it work exactly? Is this just a bonus +#'s that gets added to your roll to determine whether or not you crit, or does this actually affect the threat range on your weapon directly?

And also, the Fighter Critical Accuracy in the enhancement tree... do all of these stack together?

Ah yes, and how about Improved Critical? That apparently affects the threat range, but I have a feeling that they don't all stack together - that sounds like a bit much.

Power critical: It gives a bonus to CONFIRM critical hits (not the actual attack roll). After you roll a critical, you have to roll again to confirm the critical hit. (I know, it's a little weird).

Fighter Enhancement critical accuracy: Also to just CONFIRM critical's. As far as I know it does stack with power critical.

Improved critical is the one that doubles the threat range of the weapon type.

I would say improved critical is a must have, doubling the threat range of a weapon is pretty nice! All things being equal you will crit twice as much with this feat, which is HUGE. Power critical, optional. The enhancements, I would take it, at least the first couple. The only time you will have a tough time confirming a critical hit is against high AC mobs.

If you are going to be a pure fighter you will have a LOT of feats. My pure human fighter has both power crit, and imp crit, and several of the imp crit enhancements. And he still has enough feats to get 4 or so toughness feats.

My advice would be to take both feats if you are going to be a pure fighter. But definitely plan your build out beforehand and see what you will take where to make sure you aren't missing anything you really will want.

This is a bit about critical hits, I never played pen and paper D&D past 2nd edition and there was no "confirm critical" in that, so this was kind of confusing to me too.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Critical_hit

[mournbladereigns]

I figured as much on the dex. I guess I wasn't convinced that I would be doing 2HF instead of 2WF. There was also some extra ac in there that I suppose I thought I could have used. I will probably redo that at some point when I get a gem or whatever. I also raised int up to 10, but since I only get 3 skill points a level anyway, that probably wasn't that great of an idea.

If I were to buy tomes and I did a reincarnate (i'm pure fighter, so it would be relatively cheap), would that destroy my tomes? I'm guessing it would, because I can see some issues cropping up with having 8 int at creation and then doing a reincarnate after using a tome to raise it to 10.

When you Lesser/Greater Reincarnate you keep your tomes, and get to respec your character level by level. The only things you can't change are race, alignment, and with a few pluses you class choice. You can redo stats, feats, skills and ap.

[mournbladereigns]

Here's another unrelated question... sort of.

The power critical feat - I think I read somewhere that it wasn't necessary, and that it was a waste, but I'm not sure I understand why. Also, how does it work exactly? Is this just a bonus +#'s that gets added to your roll to determine whether or not you crit, or does this actually affect the threat range on your weapon directly?

And also, the Fighter Critical Accuracy in the enhancement tree... do all of these stack together?

Ah yes, and how about Improved Critical? That apparently affects the threat range, but I have a feeling that they don't all stack together - that sounds like a bit much.

Power Critical feat simply adds +4 to confirm critical rolls.

How crits work is that if your natural dice roll is when the weapons threat range, then there is a chance it is a critical hit. You then make a second *To-Hit* roll to confirm the critical. If this second attack hits, then its a critical hit.

Generally, if you can hit, you can crit. So Power Critical is kind of a wasted feat, especially on a Kensai, as they get all kinds of bonuses to confirm crits anyway.

The critical accuracy enhancements do stack with feats (But again, unless you need it as a requirement for Kensai, not worth taking.)

Improve critical affects the threat range of your weapon. What natural numbers on the die you need to have the attack be a critical 'threat'. The greater the threat range, the more critical hits the weapon will do. So Improved crit affects the base chance you have of a critical happening. The conform critical feats/enhancements simply affect the to-hit roll to confirm the crit.

The basic idea of this system is to prevent toons who could barely hit a target. i.e. only on a natrual 20 Then only do critical hits when they do manage to hit.

[TheDjinnFor]

I'm preparing for the future and I'm wondering if I should maybe alter the way I'm doing my stats. Obviously strength is pretty important, and that's what I've been focusing on, but right now I'm sitting at a base Constitution of 16. I'm building my character to be purely 2HF DPS, but I would like to know if it would be a good idea to invest in some more hit points for the late game, or if 16 is fine. I suppose I could also get some +2 books somehow, but that'll probably cost a lot one way or another.

This is a character you've already created? Put all level up bonus points in strength.

Otherwise, here's what I'd do for 28 pt dwarf THF (you never specified what you had, so I just assumed):

Str 18
Dex 14
Con 16
Int 8
Wis 8
Cha 6

imo you'll cap jump by the end game with a simple +30 jump spell, so you only need balance; the +1 reflex over +1 skill for me is worth it as a front-line fighter.

Also, I'm sitting at 14 base dex I believe. Would it be worth it to up that any as well?

Dex is nice if you invest in saves and get close to 30 reflex in total, which you might be able to do with a pure Fighter. Don't waste level up bonus points in dexterity, though.

[Madae]

Ok, so what about Keen on an item? Do "double's threat range" effects stack? So, a greatsword would be 18-20 normally, 16-20 with keen. Would Improve Critical change that to 14-20? or 12-20?

[SaneDitto]

Keen and Improved Critical do not stack.

[somenewnoob]

Keen and Improved Critical do not stack.

This.

And ideally you would rather have the feat, so you don't have to use a weapon property on keen. Because you can't take the holy burst feat!