Advice needed - for a buddy

[voodoogroves]

Maybe not, but it's a big piece of the survivability pie, and achievable without giving up too much on your character. After a barb life, I bet he'd come to like evasion pretty quick if he had decent saves.

Sure, maybe ... and maybe I'm trying to channel him a bit and reacting as I expect he will. I for one know my most survivable characters are NOT the ones with evasion, and oddly never have been. Great saves and a one-button-heal is the core.

From an experience perspective, and this is true in many genres - not just gaming - it is likely less important to him that he gets hurt less over time (as there are other ways to mitigate or repair from that), but more that he has something he can do when he DOES get hurt.

For his situation, the cost is 2 feats. PA, Cleave, Great Cleave, Toughness, Improved Crit, THF, ITHF, GTHF, Quicken sounds like a feat-set that's all kind of smashy, plus can pop a quickened cure. He'd lose the THF feats first, I'd suspect. His only benefit would be being able to pop a lock now and then, since I'm sure he wouldn't want to be doing traps.

[EllisDee37]

Sure, maybe ... and maybe I'm trying to channel him a bit and reacting as I expect he will. I for one know my most survivable characters are NOT the ones with evasion, and oddly never have been. Great saves and a one-button-heal is the core.

Heh, sounds like the mentality I gravitated toward on my evasion pally. AC? PRR? Pshaw! Give me unlimited 300+ hp heals, 50-across saves and call it a day. hehheh.

[Orratti]

12/8 Barb/Ftr squeeze the shield feats and khopesh in then twist in healing spring. Not self sufficient but will usually be able to take a few big hits between healings. Pretty simple to run and has enough feats to give a few different fighting options while getting the heavy barb hits.

[ZzpxpzZ]

I will throw my vote in towards something like Helf 12 Pal, 6 Fighter, 2 Rogue.

Hunter of the Dead 2, Kensai 1. Rogue for max UMD and evasion.

Monk dille.

Crank the healing amp as high as possible and your simple paladin cure moderates and cure crits will hit for over 100, you will have some decent resistances to some annoying affects from HotD 2, and great saves combined with evasion.

DPS wont be as high as a barb but it wont be too bad either while leveling focusing on 2HF and the cleave line. EDs are the great DPS normalizer anyway which is why survivability has gone so far up in importance for end game characters nowadays rather than merely focusing on pure DPS.

This build definitely leans a bit more towards the survivability side but should be very fun to play.

[Therigar]

I was going to start with some smart remark about how it is always "my friend" who needs help. But, this will have to do.

I like the ranger/fighter suggestion. The great thing about it is that the whole TWF line comes for free. That means he can choose TWF OR THF at any time without problems.

I also like the half-elf suggestion but the problem with cleric dilly is that he has to invest build points in WIS. IMO that is a waste.

I would go all STR and CON and ignore the UMD stuff. Instead I'd rely on healing amp to make the ranger spells effective. Keep in mind that WIS only needs to reach 14 with gear to cast the highest level ranger spells. An 8 WIS is sufficient -- especially with so many items now having augment slots where you can toss a +6 WIS if needed.

I would also wear heavy armor for the PRR and use shield with either bastard sword or dwarven axe in quests where evasion isn't necessary. In quests with lots of ray spells, lightning, traps, etc. I would wear light armor so the ranger evasion could kick in.

Your knowledge of the quests should help decide what to wear on what quest.

TWF feats are all free with the ranger levels. Tempest I and II with focus on slashing weapons and exotic weapon of his choice; THF feats plus PA, Cleave, Great Cleave.... IMO that will make for a powerful character very similar to what he's played before but better suited to take damage.

Not sure on Kensai I. Might be better to go Stalwart and to pick up the shield feats. This is why I suggest bastard sword/dwarven axe -- works with THF feats and benefits from double-strike from shield feats. Allows turtling if necessary.

Probably quickdraw for rapid shifts among weapon sets plus other obvious considerations.

Dilly on half-elf would be barbarian I would think.

[EllisDee37]

TWF feats are all free with the ranger levels. Tempest I and II with focus on slashing weapons and exotic weapon of his choice;

Well, the TWF line is technically free but you don't save any feats if you go tempest, which requires dodge, mobility and spring attack as prereqs.

[ArcaneArcher52689]

I know he doesn't currently have access, but if you can convince him to buy monk, he will notice a HUGE increase in his survivability.

But without monk, I'd say thf pally

[Therigar]

Well, the TWF line is technically free but you don't save any feats if you go tempest, which requires dodge, mobility and spring attack as prereqs.

It isn't so much about saving feats as being able to get more of them by working in class splits.

Benefit of Tempest is that it works to improve TWF by increasing the off-hand procs -- making the spending on feats saved from the TWF line worth using on dodge, etc.

It also grants a shield bonus, increased PRR and, per the wiki, an attack speed boost.

So, I'm not sure where you're finding fault or why.