Advice for melee build

[alemulet]

Hello all, i always played with casters arcanes and divines and i dont have experience in melee path.. so im a bit bored with casters and was thinking about a good melee build, by good i mean good dps (dont need to be the best), decent surviability (can take some hits, not so squishy) and if possible some degree of auto suficiency. All races, all classes. 32 pts or 34 (if i tr my art)... im taking all advices/ideas.. i just wanna the pros and cons about the build.

thx in advance

[Jsbeer]

Well currently a Half-Elf (Dark or Light) monk with cleric dilly would seem to fit what you are looking for. But I understand that the changes in the new expansion are going to affect monks quite a lot. I would suggest waiting for the expansion to come out if you want to be safe. Perhaps a 2WF Half-Elf fighter with cleric dilly could also work, and is less likely to be affected by the forthcoming changes.

[Zorth]

carry at least 400 pots of heal or repair serious, I carry 500. Carry all pots of 20 resist at all times. Have four of the goggles from Tangleroot that provide deathward. Make sure to carry cure disease and cure poison pots. carry all other pots, such as jump, lesser restore. have all pots that you should need to be self sufficient. Know your build and know your role.

Reserved.

Reserved.

Reserved.

[wax_on_wax_off]

Monk, light path, half-elf, rogue dilettante.
16 str+level ups, 15 dex+3 tome (for grandmaster air), 15 con+3 tome (for grandmaster earth), 14 wis. (+3 tomes in dex and con let you start with 16 strength or start with 14 str or hope for +3 tomes at cap).
TWF*3 (1, 9, 15), Improved Critical: Bludgeoning (12), Stunning Fist (2), Power Attack (6), Improved Sunder (18), Stunning Blow (6), Toughness (3), Precision (1) <--U14 feat choice that seems good but anything can go here really (Skill Focus: UMD etc)
Skills: Balance (10), Concentration (23), UMD (11), Tumble (1), Intimidate (or something else)

[RS-Makk]

Monk, light path, half-elf, rogue dilettante.
16 str+level ups, 15 dex+3 tome (for grandmaster air), 15 con+3 tome (for grandmaster earth), 14 wis. (+3 tomes in dex and con let you start with 16 strength or start with 14 str or hope for +3 tomes at cap).
TWF*3 (1, 9, 15), Improved Critical: Bludgeoning (12), Stunning Fist (2), Power Attack (6), Improved Sunder (18), Stunning Blow (6), Toughness (3), Precision (1) <--U14 feat choice that seems good but anything can go here really (Skill Focus: UMD etc)
Skills: Balance (10), Concentration (23), UMD (11), Tumble (1), Intimidate (or something else)

WoWo - what's the trade-off these days light vs dark? (a dark could also be a fairly good survivable build also?)

[Kinerd]

The trouble with all half-elf scroll dilettantes is that you have to stop fighting to use scrolls. Unlike casters, you have no reliable AoE CC, so if you are by yourself (which is to say with no one else to hold aggro) this usually puts you in the situation of being hit while you're healing, throwing you into a recursive loop that you can probably get out of but is nevertheless very annoying.

At least 3 monk gives you the inherent ability to heal while fighting with Fists of Light. If you go all monk you also have excellent saves, Improved Evasion, the capability for excellent Healing Amp, good (though not excellent) melee CC ability. You don't have a significant spike heal ability, however, so you can get stuck in the same situation as above with CSW potions, which is pretty annoying too.

A significant (non-splash) amount of ranger or paladin levels gives you a significant spike heal. You could go something like 14 ranger / 6 monk, build for ranged (manyshot & 10kstars) or melee (punching & more punching), Maximized CSW with heal amp will keep you up very well indeed. The trouble with builds like these is you don't really get into the good stuff until very late: the ranged style especially doesn't grow into itself until 17 at the earliest.

.

Frankly, nothing will compare with a caster's survivability. It is imperative to keep this in mind if you want to play a melee for any length of time.