Weekend Warriors #4 - Knight of the Holy Stick (pal 14+ / rog 5)

[unbongwah]

Greetings and welcome to another edition of Weekend Warriors! As always, the goal is to come up with a newbie-friendly first-life build which is a little more unusual & interesting than the standard F2P builds. This build is inspired by Willan's thread, as well as EllisDee37's Evasion Paladin.

The premise is simple: a paladin who wields the humble quarterstaff. Staves have several things going for them thanks to the post-U19 Acrobat PrE, like +15% attack speed, Quick Strike (up to +25% doublestrike for 10 secs., 12 sec. cooldown), Staff Specialization (+1 crit range & multiplier). Doesn't hurt that Sireth is (still) one of the best epic weapons in DDO. And paladins still have a lot to offer newbies: Divine Grace & Lay on Hands to boost survivability; Divine Might / Favor / Sacrifice, Exalted Smite, and Zeal to boost DPS.

Pros: solid DPS, high saves, Evasion, rogue skills, self-healing, decent PRR (lt armor + Defensive Stance), minimal tome pre-reqs (+2 STR for Overwhelming Crit).
Cons: low AC, no ranged DPS options; druid & paladin are alignment-incompatible, which means no druid splash for Ram's Might + Shillelagh like many staff builds.

Race: I went with human for all the usual reasons; i.e., extra feat & skill pts, heal amp, Versatility & Adaptability, etc. But part of the beauty of this build is it can be adapted to any race you like.
Stats: At a minimum you want STR 16 CON 14 CHA 14, leaving 6 pts to spread. I started INT 10 CHA 16 for extra skill pts & higher saves & Div Might; but really it's up to you what to do with those extra pts.

Class split: the core of this build is rog 5 for access to tier-5 Acrobat enhs (i.e., Staff Spec); and pal 14 for Zeal (+10% doublestrike). Then the only question is what to do with that last level. For this build I took a fighter splash for an extra feat & Extra Action Boost; but you could also take pal 15 for an extra lvl 4 spell slot (CSW or DW), rog 6 for more skill pts, maybe a wiz splash if you'd rather have an extra metamagic.

Skills: I prioritized UMD & Concentration, with as much Search, Disable, and Heal as I could squeeze in with remaining pts. I staggered out the rog lvls to max out skill pts, but this meant delaying Staff Spec to lvl 13.

Without further ado, here is the build:

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 04.20.01
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 28 Lawful Good Human Female
(1 Fighter \ 14 Paladin \ 5 Rogue \ 8 Epic) 
Hit Points: 356
Spell Points: 260 
BAB: 18\18\23\28\28
Fortitude: 18
Reflex: 11
Will: 8

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(28 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 28)
Strength             16                    27
Dexterity             8                     8
Constitution         14                    14
Intelligence         10                    10
Wisdom                8                     8
Charisma             16                    16

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 20

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 28)
Balance               3                    14
Bluff                 3                    11
Concentration         4                    32
Diplomacy             3                    11
Disable Device        4                    24
Haggle                3                    11
Heal                  1                    17
Hide                 -1                     7
Intimidate            3                    11
Jump                  3                    22
Listen               -1                     7
Move Silently        -1                     7
Open Lock             3                    11
Perform               n/a                  n/a
Repair                0                     8
Search                4                    24
Spellcraft            0                     8
Spot                  3                    11
Swim                  3                    16
Tumble                3                    14
Use Magic Device      7                    34

Level 1 (Rogue)
Skill: Balance (+4)
Skill: Concentration (+2)
Skill: Disable Device (+4)
Skill: Heal (+2)
Skill: Open Lock (+4)
Skill: Search (+4)
Skill: Spot (+4)
Skill: Tumble (+4)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+4)
Feat: (Human Bonus) Cleave
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack


Level 2 (Paladin)
Skill: Concentration (+3)
Feat: (Deity) Follower of the Sovereign Host


Level 3 (Paladin)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Heal (+2)
Feat: (Selected) Two Handed Fighting


Level 4 (Rogue)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Disable Device (+3)
Skill: Search (+3)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+3)
Enhancement: Human - Human Versatility: Damage Boost (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Human - Improved Recovery (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Staff Control (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Staff Training (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Thief Acrobatics (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Thief Acrobatics (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Thief Acrobatics (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Sly Flourish (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Quick Strike (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Quick Strike (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Quick Strike (Rank 3)


Level 5 (Paladin)
Skill: Concentration (+2)
Skill: Heal (+1)


Level 6 (Paladin)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Heal (+2)
Feat: (Selected) Great Cleave


Level 7 (Rogue)
Skill: Disable Device (+3)
Skill: Search (+3)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+3)


Level 8 (Fighter)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Jump (+3)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Two Handed Fighting
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Sly Flourish (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Knight of the Chalice (Pal) - Fiendslayer I (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Knight of the Chalice (Pal) - Extra Turning (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Knight of the Chalice (Pal) - Extra Turning (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Knight of the Chalice (Pal) - Extra Smite (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Knight of the Chalice (Pal) - Extra Smite (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Knight of the Chalice (Pal) - Divine Might (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Knight of the Chalice (Pal) - Divine Might (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Knight of the Chalice (Pal) - Divine Might (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Kensei (Ftr) - Kensei Focus: Maces and Clubs (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Kensei (Ftr) - Haste Boost (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Kensei (Ftr) - Haste Boost (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Kensei (Ftr) - Haste Boost (Rank 3)


Level 9 (Paladin)
Skill: Concentration (+3)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons


Level 10 (Rogue)
Skill: Disable Device (+3)
Skill: Search (+3)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+3)


Level 11 (Paladin)
Skill: Concentration (+2)
Skill: Heal (+1)


Level 12 (Paladin)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Heal (+2)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Handed Fighting


Level 13 (Rogue)
Skill: Disable Device (+3)
Skill: Search (+3)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+3)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Sly Flourish (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Staff Training (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Staff Training (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Sweeping Strikes (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Strength (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Staff Training (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - No Mercy (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - No Mercy (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - No Mercy (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Staff Lunge (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Staff Specialization (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Thief-Acrobat (Rog) - Vault (Rank 1)


Level 14 (Paladin)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)


Level 15 (Paladin)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Extend Spell


Level 16 (Paladin)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)


Level 17 (Paladin)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)


Level 18 (Paladin)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Healing Spell


Level 19 (Paladin)
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)


Level 20 (Paladin)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Concentration (+1)
Skill: Use Magic Device (+1)
Enhancement: Human - Human Adaptability: Strength (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Knight of the Chalice (Pal) - Courage of Heaven (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Knight of the Chalice (Pal) - Fiendslayer II (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Knight of the Chalice (Pal) - Divine Sacrifice (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Knight of the Chalice (Pal) - Vigor of Life (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Knight of the Chalice (Pal) - Exalted Smite (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Sacred Defender (Pal) - Holy Bastion (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Sacred Defender (Pal) - Divine Righteousness (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Sacred Defender (Pal) - Sacred Defense (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Sacred Defender (Pal) - Extra Lay on Hands (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Sacred Defender (Pal) - Extra Lay on Hands (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Sacred Defender (Pal) - Extra Lay on Hands (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Sacred Defender (Pal) - Durable Defense (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Sacred Defender (Pal) - Durable Defense (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Sacred Defender (Pal) - Durable Defense (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Sacred Defender (Pal) - Resilient Defense (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Sacred Defender (Pal) - Resilient Defense (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Sacred Defender (Pal) - Resilient Defense (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Kensei (Ftr) - Extra Action Boost (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Kensei (Ftr) - Extra Action Boost (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Kensei (Ftr) - Extra Action Boost (Rank 3)


Level 21 (Epic)
Feat: (Selected) Epic: Overwhelming Critical


Level 22 (Epic)


Level 23 (Epic)


Level 24 (Epic)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Selected) Quicken Spell


Level 25 (Epic)


Level 26 (Epic)
Feat: (Epic Destiny) Epic Destiny: Perfect Two Handed Fighting


Level 27 (Epic)
Feat: (Selected) Epic: Blinding Speed


Level 28 (Epic)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Epic Destiny) Epic Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting

The AP spread is meant as a leveling guide, not set in stone; you may wish to, e.g., move up the Sacred D. enhs or max Extra Action Boost sooner and push back the KotC enhs to make room. You might also choose to add some Assassin or Mechanic enhs instead. The only must-have is 32 APs into Acrobat for Staff Specialization.

Feats: mostly focused on DPS (Power Atk/CL/GC/IC:Blunt/OC & THF chain), with a few metamagics to help out. Quik+Emp Heal is mostly for Renewal and/or Rejuv Cocoon when you acquire them. If you decide to drop the ftr splash for pal 15, I would drop Extend and rearrange later feats accordingly: i.e., ITHF @ lvl 12, GTHF @ lvl 15, Emp Heal or Quicken @ lvl 18.

More later if I have time...

[unbongwah]

Weapons: here's a list by min lvl of some of the named staves that are worth acquiring, IMHO:
ML:4 - Chieftain's Spear (note the higher base dmg and 19-20 crit range)
ML:6 - Arlyn's Staff (x3 crits, 1.5[W], Force dmg, and Red augment slot all make it better than the average staff)
ML:8 - Theurgic Stave (again note the better base dmg & crit profile; the augment slots let you customize it for DR-breaking, extra DPS, or Devotion bonuses)
ML:12 - Staff of Shadow upgraded to Bloody (avg DPS, but Lesser Vampirism + Bodyfeeder is a nice survivabilty combo and Life Stealing can still be nice in heroics)
ML:12 - Greensteel staves (this should go w/out saying, but if you can acquire a full set of GS staves (Lit2/Min2/Pos2), they're pretty great too; though not exactly a realistic expectation for a first-lifer.)
ML:14 - Dreamspitter (base dmg & crit profile are typical, but fully upgraded it's got a nice array of effects. [Once it has Holy, get an arty to buff you with Cold Iron / Silver when you need a DR-breaker.)
ML:14 - Breeze (higher base dmg & better crit range and the bonus effects are nice; but I think it's the only staff in the game with DEX-only to dmg, which makes it a bad fit for a STR-based staff build.)
ML:16 - Luminous Truth (ignore caster bonuses - double crit rng & dmg bonuses and drops from a F2P quest so anybody can farm for it)
ML:18 - Rahl's Might (noteworthy mostly for x3 crits and bonus dmg effects)
ML:20 - Stout Oak Walking Stick (double base dmg, x3 crits, no-save trip on vorpals, slippery surface immunity)
ML:21 - drow quarterstaff (19-20 crits & 3[W] dmg mod, although this still puts it behind Stout Oak)
ML:23 - Sireth for obvious reasons, I think.
ML:25 - Dreampiercer (in terms of raw DPS, Sireth is better, but Life-Stealing and GEOB still have their uses)

[unbongwah]

Reserved x2

[Caprice]

I have tried crafting a few similar builds but the thing I always get stuck on is that with the poor Paladin skill points either the trap skills have to be sacrificed or the Rogue levels need to be spread out all the way to 20, in which case the staff use feels like almost an afterthought. I think you've made a reasonable compromise but I think that should be a caveat: with trap skills capped at level 13, newer players may have to give up on trapping in the later teens and especially on harder difficulty levels because the DCs inflate so quickly. Fortunately having Evasion, solid saves, and Vault should make it relatively easy to get past traps without disarming them. I would also say that I normally think Spot is important on a "newbie friendly" trapper, since otherwise newer players are not going to know where to stop and look without guidance. As usual it is probably best if you can run with the more experienced friends/guildmates or look up the quests on the DDOWiki.

[giftie]

I like it a lot! I'm really tempted to turn my stick-fighter into this.

Which ED would you run this in? Fury for Exalted Smites, or just plain old LD?

That last level gives me a bit of a headache. Personally, I'm tempted to spend that last level in Monk, and trade Quicken, Extend and Blinding Speed for Master of Forms - although that isn't an option for a F2P build. I didn't find a better way to utilize the extra feat from Monk but to free up THF and get Magical Training. I do like echoes on low-SP builds. Even without Master of Forms, Dance of Flowers is very nice.

[unbongwah]

Which ED would you run this in? Fury for Exalted Smites, or just plain old LD?

Good question: since Pulverizer doesn't stack w/Staff Spec and doesn't work with Sireth, I think it basically boils down to whether or not you can keep Blitz running. Since you're gonna need to max out a Primal ED anyway to take PTHF & PTWF, it might as well be FotW so you can experiment to see which is better. However, you'll need to drop defensive stance if you go FotW.

Personally, I'm tempted to spend that last level in Monk, and trade Quicken, Extend and Blinding Speed for Master of Forms - although that isn't an option for a F2P build. I didn't find a better way to utilize the extra feat from Monk but to free up THF and get Magical Training. I do like echoes on low-SP builds. Even without Master of Forms, Dance of Flowers is very nice.

Well, apart from losing extra action boost and violating my self-imposed "F2P-friendly" rule, adding a monk splash makes things more complicated, since there's a strong case for taking more monk lvls: i.e., extra feats, Adept of Forms, Shadow Form. OTOH, if you drop below pal 14, you lose Zeal, which is the main incentive for taking so many pally lvls in the first place.

Magical Training is not a bad idea; I keep forgetting it's a chooseable feat now. Although in that case I might be tempted to take wiz splash instead of ftr, to get MT + metamagic free, a net gain of 1 feat. It does mean giving up extra action boost, though, so...decisions, decisions.

[giftie]

Good question: since Pulverizer doesn't stack w/Staff Spec and doesn't work with Sireth, I think it basically boils down to whether or not you can keep Blitz running. Since you're gonna need to max out a Primal ED anyway to take PTHF & PTWF, it might as well be FotW so you can experiment to see which is better. However, you'll need to drop defensive stance if you go FotW.

Well, apart from losing extra action boost and violating my self-imposed "F2P-friendly" rule, adding a monk splash makes things more complicated, since there's a strong case for taking more monk lvls: i.e., extra feats, Adept of Forms, Shadow Form. OTOH, if you drop below pal 14, you lose Zeal, which is the main incentive for taking so many pally lvls in the first place.

Magical Training is not a bad idea; I keep forgetting it's a chooseable feat now. Although in that case I might be tempted to take wiz splash instead of ftr, to get MT + metamagic free, a net gain of 1 feat. It does mean giving up extra action boost, though, so...decisions,
decisions.

I really like the core of your build, 14/5, and how it's distinctly non-fotm, so I personally wouldn't get more than 1 level Monk. Actually, I'm kind of ashamed for even bringing up sticking Monk levels onto your build, but I'm considering at least running Wind Stance for more doublestrike instead (especially in FotW without Lightning Mace).

What's the problem with FotW and defensive stance? If it's just that Primal Scream don't work, I can live with that. But if it interferes with Adrenaline, Fury Eternal and/or Unbridled Fury I need to rethink some..

[EllisDee37]

I will SOON™ (heh) be finished with my challenge farmer (back to 16 yesterday, get 4 AP today and call it done) after which I'm going back to my paladin. The plan is to get a couple million martial karma, ER down to 20 for the 3% doublestrike then immediately TR into a 15/5 pally/rogue sireth user.

I don't have any plans to post the build to the forums, mainly because it requires Sireth to be good and that seems kind of niche. But maybe I'll post it anyway just to make it easier on myself as I level. Referring to one thread is simpler than flipping between multiple workbooks in my build worksheet.

Anyway, the concepts I plan to implement:

• I won't touch staffs until I can equip sireth. Minimum 23, or higher if you don't have one yet.
• Mainly falchions until sireth since I have them from previous lives, including a lit2, but the usual suspects would be solid. (Carnifex, Sword of the Thirty, Whirlwind, Cloudburst.)
• Since I have 5 rogue levels, full trapping only makes sense. In order to manage the skill points I'm thinking the 5 rogue levels at 1, 6, 11, 16, and 20. I may switch that to 1, 5, 10, 15, 20; not sure yet. This will delay pally goodies, such as not giving you free ghost touch until 8, which means I'll need to craft a ghost touch weapon for delera's part 1 and necro1.
• I'll be racing up the human tree for greater heroism as early as possible, followed immediately by racing to sealed soul. I won't be doing much if anything in the acrobat tree until a full respec at 23. I do envision hitting the mechanic tree as well as human skill bonuses. (Nimble fingers, awareness.)
• This will be a doublestrike build, via 10% zeal + 9% epic past lives + 20.83% Quick Strike = ~40% standing doublestrike. So 14 pally levels is a core feature.
• Since I'll be dropping sealed soul @ 23 when I switch to acrobat, I really kind of want deathward as a native spell. Thus 15 paladin. Plus, 15/5 just feels "cleaner" to me than 14/5/1.
• I personally will almost certainly make this a Divine Crusader. My kensei warpriest is LD, my tempest trapmonkey is FotW, so it is highly appealing to me to make this guy DC regardless how good or bad it is. For me, variety trumps optimization.
• Initial research seemed to indicate that once I equip sireth, I end up taking very little of consequence in KotC; no exalted smites, etc... Most of the AP gets spent in the acrobat tree. (Abundant Step!!!!)
• Twists are problematic. Initial thinking is take either sense weakness or momentum swing as the "big ticket" twist #1, then brace for impact and rejuvenation cocoon. Cocoon will be a departure for my pally who has always had massive CSW heals, but taking deathward as my second level 4 spell leaves me with just CMW. Cocoon seems like a natural fit. It'd be nice to get regenerating turn undead but I have no plans to do an epic completionist.

That's my initial thinking, anyway. I've been mulling this over since I got the raider's box but took a 2-life detour to work on both my challenge farmers. I'm pretty excited to get back to my pally and make this happen.

What's the problem with FotW and defensive stance? If it's just that Primal Scream don't work, I can live with that. But if it interferes with Adrenaline, Fury Eternal and/or Unbridled Fury I need to rethink some..

It interferes with adrenaline. (The "gain adrenaline on vorpal" effect doesn't work in stance, I don't think.)

[unbongwah]

My hope is that between +15% atk speed & Quick Strike, staves will be viable by lvl 4, esp. if you've got Chieftain's Spear & Theurgic Stave. Your Exalted Smites & Div Sacrifices suffer, but I backloaded them pretty far anyway. Though I'm disappointed there don't seem to be more good staves in the upper-teen lvls, apart from Rahl's Might.

[giftie]

It interferes with adrenaline. (The "gain adrenaline on vorpal" effect doesn't work in stance, I don't think.)

Well, that sucks. I suppose it's WAI? Upside is that the Human tree is one of the better ones with access to Hamp and/or GH, and I could just shuffle the points there much like you did.

My hope is that between +15% atk speed & Quick Strike, staves will be viable by lvl 4, esp. if you've got Chieftain's Spear & Theurgic Stave. Your Exalted Smites & Div Sacrifices suffer, but I backloaded them pretty far anyway. Though I'm disappointed there don't seem to be more good staves in the upper-teen lvls, apart from Rahl's Might.

Like you, I found staves useful from low levels, and once you get Staff Mastery they should be better than most other alternatives. Apart from Rahl's Might's different damage types for DR-breaking purposes, it's still slightly worse base damage than Theurgic Stave and if you slot it with double ML16 elemental damage it outdamages some variations of upgraded Rahl's.

So, yeah, I share your disappointment.

[unbongwah]

Well, that sucks. I suppose it's WAI?

Rage effects and defensive stances have never gotten along and it's been that way since EDs came out, so I'd say it's WAI.

Upside is that the Human tree is one of the better ones with access to Hamp and/or GH, and I could just shuffle the points there much like you did.

Or put it into Assassin for more sneak atks. Plenty of options for what to do with 8 extra APs (I'd still max out extra LoHs).

[EllisDee37]

[*]This will be a doublestrike build, via 10% zeal + 9% epic past lives + 20.83% Quick Strike = ~40% standing doublestrike. So 14 pally levels is a core feature.

I forgot PTWF; make that ~45%.

[Xianio]

I won't touch staffs until I can equip sireth. Minimum 23, or higher if you don't have one yet.

I don't understand why you would make this choice.

A 15% attack speed increase coupled with a (nearly) always on 25% doublestrike is insanely powerful. Not to mention that getting that 25% doublestrike comes with the added benefit of [3]W.

While your base stats may be better, 25% doublestrike and 15% faster attacks are wicked powerful.

I forgot PTWF; make that ~45%.

It'll be 50+ with a doublestrike item.

15/5 Paladin / Rogue

If you take 14 / 5 / 1 with the 1 being monk it raises to as high as 60+ standing doublestrike (with master stance)

In addition, if you go LD and land a crit on Lightning Mace you gain +15 (but it doesn't stack with items) giving you 'around' 70 doublestrike albeit only infrequently.

[Cardtrick]

Though I'm disappointed there don't seem to be more good staves in the upper-teen lvls, apart from Rahl's Might.

I know the base stats aren't anything to write home about, but isn't an upgraded Dreamspitter still fantastic in the upper teens? +5 Holy Force Burst of Greater Evil Outsider Bane, with level draining?

Unless the game at those levels has changed a lot more than I realized, the level draining actually adds a lot of DPS, especially with the attack speed and doublestrike chance this kind of build has.

My old acrobat used to use a Force Burst Rahl's Might for most generic trash and an upgraded Dreamspitter (no Force Burst available, at the time) against demons/devils and particularly high-HP enemies.

[unbongwah]

I know the base stats aren't anything to write home about, but isn't an upgraded Dreamspitter still fantastic in the upper teens? +5 Holy Force Burst of Greater Evil Outsider Bane, with level draining?

Good point: I had forgotten about Dreamspitter and Breeze. I've added both to the original post. Thanks!

[ArcaneArcher52689]

Another option for a higher level q-staff:
Luminous truth
http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Luminous_Truth

Keep in mind with staff spec, it's a 15-20/x3.

And as far as newbie builds go, it's a lot quicker/easier to get than rahl's might

[unbongwah]

Another good suggestion and added. Thanks!

[EllisDee37]

I don't understand why you would make this choice.

Several reasons:

1) I have lots of nice falchions (festival icy burst keen, lit2, etc...) from previous lives.
2) Sticks don't get really good until rogue 5.
3) Going with falchions for heroic levels frees me up to space out the pally and rogue levels in a way most suited for maxing trapping skills (which I will be doing) as well as getting to cure moderate as quickly as possible.

It'll be 50+ with a doublestrike item.

Good call. Now I have to figure out how to slot a doublestrike item. *sob* hehheh

If you take 14 / 5 / 1 with the 1 being monk it raises to as high as 60+ standing doublestrike (with master stance)

That has a couple drawbacks. First and foremost is that it's contaminated by a dirty yellow bar. Second is that losing the second level 4 spell means I'd have to rely on flesh render goggles for deathward, which would annoy me beyond all reason. Most importantly, though, is that it would cost me feats on a feat-starved build.

In further sub-optimal news I will also be going human instead of bladeforged.

In addition, if you go LD and land a crit on Lightning Mace you gain +15 (but it doesn't stack with items) giving you 'around' 70 doublestrike albeit only infrequently.

My kensei warpriest is already an LD build, and my tempest trapmonkey is fury. My 15/5 pally/rogue will be divine crusader. (When I wanna play an LD build I'll log onto my fighter.)

[Cardtrick]

Hey, just wanted to bring this thread back to life a bit and report my experience with the class split.

I TRed into a quarterstaff build recently. I wound up using pretty much the build in the first post here -- except that I went with 1 wizard rather than 1 fighter, and my build points were allocated a bit differently since I was running a 36 point build with various tomes.

But I just wanted to say that this class split is a lot of fun. I just got my character back into epic levels a couple of nights ago, and I've been running around the low level epics enough to get a better sense for how it plays when it all comes together. I'm a big fan of the class split. Very solid melee DPS and great survivability.

I want to plug the 1 Wizard splash a bit, too. There's no change to feats compared to the Fighter splash, since you can use the Wizard bonus feat for Extend. (I really wouldn't drop Extend on this build -- it's just too useful for the short-duration buffs.) But getting the free Magical Training feat is awesome -- an extra 80 SP and Echoes of Power to help keep Cocoon running if things really fall apart. I'm spending only 2 APs in the Wizard trees, but I'm getting a ton of value out of them -- a 1 SP 2-minute quickened Invisiblity from the first core of Archmage and 1% stacking doublestrike and an additional Cleave attack from the first core of Eldritch Knight. I also get 3 first-level spells, which I use for Shield (10 minutes when Extended, grants magic missile immunity), Jump (10 minutes), and Sonic Blast (awesome for smashing breakables). I really loved having the cheap self-cast Invisibility -- I've never been great at invisizerging before, but it was just so easy with this (I bound the SLA to my 'B' key and used it all the time).

Without considering any epic destiny abilities, I have 4 AOE cleave style attacks. I open combat against groups with Great Cleave, then Cleave, then Sweeping Strikes, then the EK Cleave, by which point Great Cleave and Cleave are almost ready again. So in the first 6 seconds against a group, I can spam 6 cleave AOE attacks -- even when I'm not running in LD or twisting Lay Waste.

At level 20, I was wearing light armor (the Crystal Cove light armor for the dodge bonus + mobility feat) and the Guardian ring for PRR -- in sacred defense, which I'm always running in, that's giving me 60 PRR with no relevant past lives. Saves are great. Strength was already in the mid 50s at level 20 when under the effects of Divine Might and twisted Primal Scream -- obviously it'll get much higher still as better gear becomes available.

I don't normally play many EEs, but this build feels capable of them without the usual level of pain -- I'll definitely be playing more of them than usual this life.

[mna]

My hope is that between +15% atk speed & Quick Strike, staves will be viable by lvl 4, esp. if you've got Chieftain's Spear & Theurgic Stave.

We made one of these characters in the house, on an account that doesn't have any adventure packs yet. It's fun with decent lootgen staves anyway.
Sorta sub-optimal as a first-life elite-streak trapper though but caused interesting reactions... I gather paladin trappers aren't all that common...


Oh, and also happened to get some useful tomes from the cards. And while it's still at low levels, I thought it might be worthwhile to look if the +3 Int and Str tomes (and the +0 heart of course) could be worked in somehow to get more useful skill points for the trapping part... just push the remaining rogue levels further out I guess? (Instead of 7, 10 and 13, take them at 8, 12 and 16, say? And in the LR put the first level up stat point into Int, for an even number after 11?)