8 strength

[cru121]

I have never played a character with low strength before. How bad is it to have low strength? I'm about to start a human sorc, 18 con, 18 cha. I am wondering if 11 str and 17 con would make my life much easier early.

This character is not a crafter. But I want to loot all my full plates.

I have resources to gear him (e.g., +4 crafted str with MC at 5, strength tome, +1 ship buff).

So I guess my real question is: Is 12-14 buffed strength enough to not have to worry about encumbrance?

And end game, is ~16-17 strength enough?

[Bacab]

I have never played a character with low strength before. How bad is it to have low strength? I'm about to start a human sorc, 18 con, 18 cha. I am wondering if 11 str and 17 con would make my life much easier early.

This character is not a crafter. But I want to loot all my full plates.

I have resources to gear him (e.g., +4 crafted str with MC at 5, strength tome, +1 ship buff).

So I guess my real question is: Is 12-14 buffed strength enough to not have to worry about encumbrance?

And end game, is ~16-17 strength enough?

I did that on my Evoker FVS...hated it. You get turned helpless super fast.

I would lower CON to 17 or maybe 16 (not sure what Tomes are available to you).

Try to get an 11 STR...and of course a +1 STR tome is cheap. Also I am glad you mentioned you having gear to raise STR.

I am also guessing you can rock the 5 Piece Abashi (not Epic...the Regular). That will provide some nice bonuses.

[HarveyMilk]

It's doable. You'll want a +2 str tome and a str item. It's no big deal. You're trading a no hassle approach to str (putting points into it and not worrying about getting stat dmg/needing a str item, etc) for 20 more hp. It's a fine trade. Completely personal preference. I have both types of casters.

[MRMechMan]

You will find yourself at medium encumbrance fairly often.

12str you need 215lbs or less-basic gear and pots means you are a fullplate and a tower shield away from -10% speed,

14str you need 290 or less

16str you need 380 or less.

Assuming you aren't halfling.



The loot/str is exponential btw. Every 5 str you get, you can carry ~2x as much.

Worse still, a ray of enfeeblement has the potential to make you helpless (or at very least overloaded) quite easily, and low level shamans like to cast that a lot.

[Dandonk]

I have 18 strength with shippies on one of my older sorcs, 8 base + 6 item + 2 tome + 2 shippie. He's not my crafter either, but does carry around a bag of challenge mats from time to time.

What I can say from this experience is... take moar strength. Noaw! The (deleted) ingredients from every (deleted) different (deleted) pack weighs a ton*. And heaven forbid you want to loot something, too. Poor Fyresupport still gets medium/heavy load from some of the rays he gets hit with.

So, if I ever TR him (or even LR), he's definitely getting more strength. Lugging loot around is heavy work.


* I've actually cleaned out his bags from everything not BTC, except for the challenge stuff (he's my challenge/event grinder). It still weighs too much. Sad WF.

[Dendrix]

Ray of Enfeeblement is pretty common. Good roll and you are helpless :/

[cru121]

Will go with 11 starting strength then. Thanks guys.

[darthhento]

Str on a sorc? Useless.

18 con, 18 cha, rest into int for extra skill points. Done.

XO, Darthwolf

[Tyraelus]

You will have some problems early on but 8str is worth it in the long run. You can always slot a +6 str into some epic gear. So if you have some free epic slots and at least a +2 tome, go for it.

[Claransa]

I have never played a character with low strength before. How bad is it to have low strength? I'm about to start a human sorc, 18 con, 18 cha. I am wondering if 11 str and 17 con would make my life much easier early.

This character is not a crafter. But I want to loot all my full plates.

I have resources to gear him (e.g., +4 crafted str with MC at 5, strength tome, +1 ship buff).

So I guess my real question is: Is 12-14 buffed strength enough to not have to worry about encumbrance?

And end game, is ~16-17 strength enough?

If it were me I would go with the 17 CON 11 STR. As a human you'll have to take one of your human adaptabilities in CON to qualify for the third tier of racial toughness. It takes you back to 18 CON (stacks with items) and nets you 10 hps.

[rossiza]

My wizzy started with 8, used +2 tome and have +6 item, and I still use titan gloves clicky every now and then after being enfeebled.

[MRMechMan]

Str on a sorc? Useless.

18 con, 18 cha, rest into int for extra skill points. Done.

XO, Darthwolf

Unless, of course, he is TRing at cap. HP really matter very little during leveling due to very little spike damage, even on elite. EVEN if you are building for endgame, starting with 16 con does not gimp a character and lets you dump 6 build points somewhere.

3 extra skills might be worth 1hp/level to him. Being able to carry 2x+ as much gear might be worth 1hp/level to him. There are times when that extra few hp will save your a$$, but the str or int can too.

As long as you start with 18 cha and 16 or more con, you will be fine.

[Sarisa]

Ray of Enfeeblement can do upwards of 11 strength "damage".

Which stacks with

Exhaustion (-6 STR, -6 DEX, -25% movement speed)
or
Fatigue (-2 STR, -2 DEX, -10% movement speed)

Both are spammed starting about the desert, so having a buffed+equipped STR of 14 or higher is strongly recommended there.

[Matuse]

Strength damage is incredibly common.

Helplessness from 0 strength is bad.

Heavy encumberance from super low strength is also bad.

8 strength is a terrible idea.

Personally, I'd never make any character under any circumstances with less than 12.

[Puppetian]

Agreed, going with 8 STR is incredibly annoying, particularly on lower levels.

[Iaga]

My evoker soul started with a base str of 8.

It was a nuisance for the ridiculously short period of time it took me to reach higher levels.

Once you reach the higher levels, and can equip a +6 str item, read a +2 tome and use a +2 ship buff ... it's a now largely a non-issue 99.9% of the time i've been playing end game with this guy (a year, if not longer)

IMO, tough it out at low levels - it's not really a big deal at end game.

[Rumbaar]

My wizzy started with 8, used +2 tome and have +6 item, and I still use titan gloves clicky every now and then after being enfeebled.

This!

[wax_on_wax_off]

If you're starting a human sorc then you're already going to be behind significant HP compared to your better geared, tincan counterparts; don't make the problem worse by upping your strength needlessly.

My current palemaster that I'm leveling has 8 base strength, I did it without a second thought and it hasn't bothered me at all. Ray of Enfeeblement is very rare until you get into the mid levels but at that point decent +4 to +6 strength items are available so it is no big deal. I haven't even used a +2 strength tome (as I keep giving them away to guildies).

Low levels the +3 strength from abishai set (+2 on charged gauntlets, +1 from set) was enough that I didn't have to worry about encumbrance.

Sure, I leave a full plate in the chest if its the beginning of a quest and it doesn't have a nice prefix or suffix for decon'ing but other than that the cost has been very low. On the flipside I have ~350 HP at level 14 and have been able to save quite a few quests by tanking traps when the disabler has failed to go and finish the quest/raise someone on the other side (elite chains of flames comes to mind).

[Phidius]

I haven't played a pure sorc in a very long time, so I'm not familiar with the gear slot requirements - if you have empty slots that you don't need for anything else, it's probably not a problem. I trust you've worked out your gear layout for leveling and at cap?

In my experience with other classes, though, I tend to have difficulty fitting everything in. Trading 1 HP/level for a free slot would be a bargain for me. Of course, all of my builds invest in strength, both starting abilities and gear - I can resist the siren song of melee, even on casters

[MRMechMan]

Ray of Enfeeblement is very rare until you get into the mid levels

I think priest mobs start casting it at ~level4. And don't stop until vale.