My damage seems abysmal so far - will it stay like this?

[karl_k0ch]

fighters and barbs suck,

If you have a lvl 7 cleric you should be as the hand of gods among mortal scum.

Your stats should be wis and str with a decent bit of con and chr. You need to make sure you can take the radiant servant prestige enhancment line at lvl 6 so check its prereqs and work them in asap. Your a weapon beyond all others against undead as a cleric and should focus on chains like the catacombs and deleras as well as other undead centric quests if u can.

lvl 4 spell at 7th u can use called divine power will remove any difference between you and a fighter or barb and your ability to heal your self makes you alot better solo.

You might want to re-read the OP. And/or any of the replies.
Hint: OP is not referring to the damage of a cleric.

[Rydin_Dirtay]

Carnifex is not a very good weapon for most of Delera's. It is merely a +2 Great Axe vs. non-critable enemies, which is like 90% of Deleras.

Instead, OP, get a +1 Holy Maul or +1 Holy Greatclub or whatever and go to town. Yeah, pull out the 'fex for Ghouls or whatever, but really I'd rather have a +1 Holy Greataxe for those, too.

[goodspeed]

it looks like you spread yourself a lil thin. Though I can't quite tell from the ddo page.

Id swap heroism out for something else. Plenty available on a 5 minute timer from gear or pots. Blur goes a long way.

Not sure if id go with force of personality as a feat. Could prolly slot something else there.

[countfitz]

It's been said a dozen times but yeah, TWF at level 7 is not the thing to do. Take the feats for later, fine, but even with the feats, THF is going to give you a big damage boost up until you have the complete TWF chain.

Also, Dual scimis without OTWF is why you're missing.

Also, the "casting" classes don't start to outperform the melee until level 12ish, so patients. When you're playing with your buddies at level 20, and you're out DPSing them with your bard and they're on barbarians and fighters, you'll feel a lot better.

[wax_on_wax_off]

Whoa, ok, I learned a lot of info, and now for some replying:

@Aurora1979, I made the character a while ago, but I am 95% sure I put my point into Strength and started 16. I believe I used a +1 tome to Dex as well, to have 17 w/o items for later TWF feats. I had considered oversized TWF in the past, and I completely forgot about it - maybe that would be a big help.

I will head to Korthos to get those goggles.

@rest, I am glad I kept that Carnifex around from a pally I no longer play, so I will borrow that for now then and see how it works out. My gear is pretty awful, I agree.

I have no idea what to expect in later levels and instances, so I will go do all of these things before trying the next part again. I'll report how much it helped me.

EDIT: Missed the above post while replying - so, I take it that it'd be a great idea to start unlocking things for buffs then. I am still somewhat unfamiliar with DD rules... to have 95% hit, I would need what value to my attack rolls? 20? Sorry if that sounds weird, I haven't played in a little while.

EDIT 2: Found the +2 goggles for an affordable price, so I went on and got them.

The formula is your Attack Bonus (AB) which is comprised of you BAB and all relevant buffs vs the enemies Armour Class (AC).

It's impossible to know what number you need for 95% really as enemy armour class is changing all the time. The general strategy is to have a good AB comparative to an average character of your level and then you'll be pretty well off as long as youre doing level appropriate quests (as AC is balanced around that).

1d20+AB vs AC of 10+buffs

Some other things to note:
Moving and attack causes -4 AB
Flanking an opponent gives +2 AB (just have to not be targeted by mob)
Sunder reduces enemy AC temporarily
You can hit enemies automatically if they're stunned/held (from a spell or ability)
BAB is your class given affinity with combat. It affects your attack speed and ability to hit (among other things).

[Gorbadoc]

Also, your buffs suck right now. As a level 7 bard, you would have Haste and Displacement, and you'd be in that level range where Inspire Courage gains another bonus every level or two. You're not a level 7 bard, though; you're a level 4 bard who also has a few levels of other things. Those other things are useful, of course; the delay in your buff growth is the price you're paying.

just for a heads up, the +2 attack from goggles wont stack with bard song. its good for low lvls since u dont have many songs and they dont last that long, but later its just as wearing +nothing goggles of uselessness
and also takes u a bit of cash every times u repair it (even though its neglible)

It's good at low levels, because at low levels the goggles do stack with every bard song you actually have.

If I understand the item correctly, they give a competence bonus to attack. This stacks with Inspire Courage. It does NOT stack with Inspire Greatness, which is acquired at bard level 9.

[kaleid0star]

Great friendly thread and good advice


Whoever claims the ddo community is elitist should look at this thread

We were all new once and I wish I'd had checked the forums before when I first started. He genuinely wanted to learn more about the class so people chimed in.

I'm quite surprised actually that instead of forcing/spamming him with different min/max bard builds, people are actually just giving sound advice on how to make the OP's toon work the way HE wants it.

+1 to all the friendly posters!

[Gorbadoc]

I'm quite surprised actually that instead of forcing/spamming him with different min/max bard builds, people are actually just giving sound advice on how to make the OP's toon work the way HE wants it.

Once you see enough bards, it becomes clear that a good bard build is worthless if the player doesn't understand it. A good bard is always ready to switch roles during a fight (tank for a caster, spot heal, Fascinate, melee DPS, survive a near wipe and raise the cleric, grab initial aggro with a throwing dagger and shield block while the melees do their job...). Judging when to change what you're doing requires understanding exactly how good (or bad) your build is at its various abilities.

Also, I'm tired of the jokes about bards being buffbot pikers. I want every bard player to have what it takes (build-wise and knowledge-wise) to abuse Fascinate and lay on the melee DPS + spot healing.

[78mackson]

Hard to tell your base stats from myDDO... but if your base Strenght was below 16 I would advise you to consider a re-roll; no worries, you will re-run the same content way faster now with the new found knowledge of the quests.. would take me 3-4 hours to reach a first life lvl7, maybe a day or two for you but well worth having a good foundation in this rather unforgiving end-game.

if re-roll; start with 1 fighter (and/or rogue) and 7 bard to access self-haste and displacement + all the other goodies bards brings.. evasion is mega overrated till end game and most new players(and old) will end up dead the few times they really need it anyway...

but if not...

0. use two hander til lvl 12.
1. go back to Khortos and get angers gift set.
2. include power attack in the build, and turn it on.
3. See if crafting is something for you(and ask others to do it for you!). get perma stat items for very low cost!
4. Haste(house J) and Bull strenght pots(market place) is you best friend.
5. Get house P favour, 75, as soon as possible. (not that important if you are in a "big" guild.)
6. Human versitility is nice. MAX AP's in it. use it with haste boost (from fighter or rogue).

weapons: carnifex preferred but any other two hander with holy and lots of + is nice. and carry a maul for the undead with holy on it. (can also be crafted!).

play Inspired Courage song > cast blur > drink haste pot > run to a group of mobs > press 1-2 on your keyboard at the same time(haste + dmg boost) > swing - swing > you win. > cough a heal potion > rinse repeat...

good times.

[Jubylina]

I leveled my bard as a warchanter, and she was fun and awesome(thf) but once i hit cap and started bringing her into epics - her fascinate wasn't high enough to land consistently and my damage was abysmal compared to other melee and I got so frustrated that I respec'd her as a Spell Singer. This was before the days of the updated Epic Elyd's Edge which would make this a viable TWF build.

They do have their uses - and can be very useful if you have a max strength build - but jack of all trades is a difficult one to pull off with the Warchanter.

My 2 pp from my bard experience.

[Gorbadoc]

I leveled my bard as a warchanter, and she was fun and awesome(thf) but once i hit cap and started bringing her into epics - her fascinate wasn't high enough to land consistently and my damage was abysmal compared to other melee and I got so frustrated that I respec'd her as a Spell Singer. This was before the days of the updated Epic Elyd's Edge which would make this a viable TWF build.

They do have their uses - and can be very useful if you have a max strength build - but jack of all trades is a difficult one to pull off with the Warchanter.

My 2 pp from my bard experience.

That can't be right. As long as you have a +Perform item, maxed perform ranks, and a +Cha item (all standard stuff), you should have a DC well above that of a twinked wizard's CC spells. Granted, there are many monsters with Mystery Immunities (those aggravating ones where CC doesn't work but the game engine can't be arsed to flash an "Immune" sign over the monster's head). They're just part of life, though. Wizards have to suffer through them, too.

In comparison, how do you find your spellsinger performing in epics?