28 pt melee to duo with a casting cleric wife

[Sygrda]

Okay, since I have gotten so many good responses for myself on building a nice cleric, I am trying to find a good build for my husband. For those who helped me on the other thread, after reading the responses I have made a few templates I will try... but did decide to go human instead of dwarf when I saw the benefits .... My husband needs a nice melee to go with me. He is does not want to be a caster (no chance of that). He does not mind being sneaky, but is not much of one for backstabbing, he tends toe to toe anything in site. He knows how to position himself and move mobs around where he wants them... he has been a tank in the past, but seeing it is a first life, it is not an option. We are VIP but only have 28 pt builds. Second life he will happily tank. He is a very experienced player in other MMOs, and is looking for a good build to complement my spellcasting and healing, so we can duo as much as possible... just wants a strong melee build not a primary ranged. We love doing the content together, but are very new to the game, so any ideas and builds and advice would be welcome. I think we are hoping for something versatile but not gimped.

[morticianjohn]

The easiest and most simplistic would be a Two handed fighting pure barbarian. Half orc

max str rest into constitution (or maybe a couple of points into dex)

feats would be

power attack
improved critical
improved sunder
two handed fighting
improved two handed fighting
greater two handed fighting
toughness

This build was suggested in the other thread and I just wanted to add it here for you. Alternatively a monk could work well for a duo team. Monks have evasion, and higher AC/healing amp so a monk would be easier to heal than this barb build.

[weedf16]

Definitely do not go rogue if you guys are going to be duo-ing. If he is the only melee in the group, then he will have most of the agro and thus no sneak attack. I suggest a monk. Monks can be exceptional melees with outstanding crowd control (stuns). They are also very self sufficient, thus freeing up your blue bar for offensive divine casting

[t0r012]

My opinion ;
Human two handed fighting paladin.

hearty with some self sufficiency, lay on hands and raises for when things go wrong.
some spike damage for bosses and intim to help keep the aggro. hunter of the dead and human for the amp to keep SP usage to a minimum.

[kclark1980]

Question while I think about this but is he looking for pure builds or maybe something with a splash?

[morticianjohn]

My opinion ;
Human two handed fighting paladin.

hearty with some self sufficiency, lay on hands and raises for when things go wrong.
some spike damage for bosses and intim to help keep the aggro. hunter of the dead and human for the amp to keep SP usage to a minimum.

I have a distaste for 28 point paladin. I think they are an abomination and should be banished from the game.

To a lesser degree I think losing out on those 4 build points makes monk less attractive. These classes just use so many stats it's nearly impossible to keep them on equal footing with the barbs and fighters. Can you make one (28 pt pally or monk) and do fine with it? Yes, but it will not keep up with a 28 pt barb or fighter.

As far as multiclassing I think some splits would be good but anything too complicated will probably be lost for a newer player depending on how much knowledge they acquire about the game. Level a simple build first IMO

[Mubjon]

I mostly build clerics, but I have built a few melee and only one I would recommend for a 28 pt build (mostly because of a lack of stat points) is a barbarian or fighter.

I would recommend Human as well for the basic reason of Healing amp, extra feat and Human versatility. Go fighter would be my first choice due to the Human Versatility and Haste boost that can both be activated (if I remember right)

Put points into Strength and con to at least 14 and rest into intelligence to help with skill points or dex if going two weapon fighting/ac

[Bart_D]

It sounds like your husband might enjoy a barbarian like the one morticianjohn suggested. He might go THF berserker first life, then a fighter tank next life. This is pretty straightforward and should be quite easy to get gear for.

If you exclusively duo, he might try a more versatile character; a rogue1/ranger18/monk1 (search forum for "exploiter") can be very survivable and do a lot of things such as UMD and trapping and have excellent TWF melee at the same time. I'm no expert on those but maybe something like str 16, dex 14, con 14, int 14, wis 8 cha 8 (int for many skills) or more wisdom if trying for good unarmored ac. Compared to a THF barbarian, TWF and good ac will require more gear though.

Edit: I think Cleave is missing from morticianjohn's list of feats. It's not awesome but required for the frenzied berserker prestige which is pretty awesome. I'd drop Improved Sunder for it (a max strength raging barbarian will hit just fine). Another potential feat is Stunning Blow which could be taken instead of Toughness, but that's probably a preference thing.

[Sygrda]

He is trying an orc barbarian... he had fun last night, will try to make him a more structured build in the char creator. I had fun with him, using a lot of wands at low level that we find instead of my own powers... Makes my power available for healing. When it is just the two of us I bring up one of the monster pets, kind of funny watching them randomly aggro everything and us live through it. I know they are rather useless because the lack of control, but it sure makes for laughs. Very useful when it is just two of us and we are plowing through everything. Keeps things away from my squishy self, until I get more control and he is less all over the place....

Rat runs in and eats zombies face... husband kills everything around, I keep him alive... and pew pew with a wand and laugh hysterically when the rat runs off to pull another group before we are ready.

The massive damage and aggressive crazy play right now is so not us, it is a ton of fun though, because it is not our normal careful planning. Once we get to a point where we actually die, and I actually have more useful spells and a better understanding of basic things then we will actually think, but the controlled chaos has been entertaining.

[Bart_D]

That sounds like great fun

A horc barbarian isn't too hard to make, the one he has started may very well be excellent... Go ahead and describe it here if you want comments. Some useful skills are: Tumble (1 rank is enough), Balance (to get back up if knocked down), Jump (not too many ranks, high strength when raging will eventually make it reach cap of 40), Intimidate (to make sure enemies attack him and not you), maybe Spot if he has spare points. It's quite popular to mix barbarian with 2 fighter levels to get extra feats + haste boost enhancement while still being able to get frenzied berserker 3 as barbarian 18.

[morticianjohn]

He is trying an orc barbarian... he had fun last night, will try to make him a more structured build in the char creator. I had fun with him, using a lot of wands at low level that we find instead of my own powers... Makes my power available for healing. When it is just the two of us I bring up one of the monster pets, kind of funny watching them randomly aggro everything and us live through it. I know they are rather useless because the lack of control, but it sure makes for laughs. Very useful when it is just two of us and we are plowing through everything. Keeps things away from my squishy self, until I get more control and he is less all over the place....

Rat runs in and eats zombies face... husband kills everything around, I keep him alive... and pew pew with a wand and laugh hysterically when the rat runs off to pull another group before we are ready.

The massive damage and aggressive crazy play right now is so not us, it is a ton of fun though, because it is not our normal careful planning. Once we get to a point where we actually die, and I actually have more useful spells and a better understanding of basic things then we will actually think, but the controlled chaos has been entertaining.

Remember that cleave is required for the barbarian prestige line (I forgot it when listing the feats just take cleave instead of improved sunder)

One of the first spells that you'll find good use out of is soundburst which you obtain at level 3 as a cleric. If the enemy fails a save it will stun them which will give the barb enough time to put some enemies away before either of you start taking damage. The game starts out pretty easy but soon enough you'll find that having the right spell for the situation is the only thing keeping you alive.

Holy smite is a cleric spell obtained at level 7. It is the first spell you'll get that will allow you to (situationally) do comparable damage to your barbarian partner. At level 11 you can take Blade barrier which is when clerics can really start to shine. The nice part about being a cleric is that you can swap spells. I advise you to try them all out.

[Lonnbeimnech]

Barbarian thf is a good choice, except that as a duo you wont have trap skills, and barbarians life expectancy drops off to about 10 seconds when he is out of range for heals. This could be a problem in any quest where you have to split up.

I suggest 2 rog/18 barb thf, it can do all the things a barb does, but with a slightly less dps + evasion + traps skills + he can wand heal himself with umd.

[Fishcatch22]

Although he has already found a character he enjoys, I thought I'd still put this out there.

Is he still entirely opposed to spellcasting? Does he understand that being a spellcaster in this game does not necessarily imply being squishy? I think he would do very well with a Warchanter Bardbarian... since you two will be duoing all the time, it will add more versatility your to combo... A Barb kills things fast and well and can take a beating, but that's it. As people said, as soon as you stop healing him, he won't be too great anymore. Playing a Bardbarian, he can give you guys access to all the good Arcane buffs (haste, Blur, Displacement, Heroism, GH, ect.) plus handy Bard songs, provide emergency backup self-heals, and still be very effective in melee. He can even still be a Horc if he wants. The build would take many of the same feats the barb build did, but he would have to fit in Weapon Focus:Slashing (or bludgeoning; Mauls aren't terrible IMO, but Slashing is more useful generally) and Extend spell. The class split would be along the lines of 2Barb/18Bard, with fighter being able to be substituted for any of those barb levels (more feats available, but you lose out on barb run speed and rage.)

[tekkentroop]

In a dedicated duo which doesnt pug, Id also suggest that the melee takes a rogue splash. My preferred build would be human 12 fighter 6 ranger 2 rogue, extremely versatile, but if your husband likes barbs, he should go for it. Barb/Cleric a good combo, a barb does great damage but sucks without a healer in party. Ive leveled my barb to 19 and one of the best pugs I was in had 4 divines (no healbots, so one could concentrate on blade barriers, one on melee, one on healing and one on piking)

[Sygrda]

Tekk actually, second life that is the kind of build he wants to do, he wants the 32 points though to play with when he does that build. I think this time he is Barb with a splash of fighter. First time around I want to do caster cleric... but at level 6ish if I want to scream, I may swap to a battlecleric... second time around either a Battle cleric of some sort, or a FS ... or who knows, 32 points makes a lot of things more possible... I was considering FS because of all the which to heal with arguments... so when I get to my third time through, I can make a real decision.... but same with the battlecleric. I am having a fun time in game... I figure all the screw ups I do this time around will be erased as soon as I start again anyhow... as long as I can get up to 20 and reincarnate myself into something... new and improved, with all the knowledge from this life.

On the bard splash, it sounds fun to me, but i would be more likely to try that mix than he is. But who knows. Once he gets through this life, maybe he will expand his horizons.

Anyway, keep sending ideas if you have them... as I said I do tend to be indecisive, and he may decide to try random things with me if I have a meltdown on spells in a few levels. I do miss melee already a little lol, and getting used to the keys, even when I remap in spellcasting has been interesting. And honestly, if it does not help me, it will help others. I have seen a lot of people trying the game out.

Well have a good time gaming this weekend all.

[Bart_D]

There's no need to be only casting spells as a cleric. You probably have longsword proficiency so use that. You also have spells to help you melee: divine favor now and divine might is level 4 spell. If the longsword doesn't do enough damage, you can grab a greataxe or something (look for Carniflex when farming delera's, or try get one with high +tohit), not being proficient is only -4 to hit it might not be too bad and ardor clickies should be affordable for first life characters.

Btw, as 2nd life you'll get 34 build points.