Purple Dragon Knight query

[DANTEIL]

So I just bought the Wheloon pack that also came with the PDK iconic class. I've recently returned to DDO and have started playing again, so these Iconic classes are a bit new to me. I am also not into the TR side of the game -- I primarily enjoy running dungeons mostly solo and leveling up, and TRing requires more fore-planning than I am willing to do.

My question is this: If I wanted to play around with the PDK class, is there anything terribly gimped about just going ahead and taking advantage of the predefined auto-level to 15 and going from there? The Enhancement lines seem to be either DPS (Kensei?) or Tank? (Stalwart Defender), so my preference would be the DPS line, although I'm not usually in favor of skill-clicky boosts (which seem to be all over the place with this class). Are there any feats or enhancements (or gear?) that are must-haves for the PDK starting at 15?

[Nandos]

Iconics take some planning too, you only have to take level one as a predefined class. Purple Dragon Knights are considered the weakest of the 4 Iconics and don't have any "must have" racial enhancements.

The one thing to keep in mind is you are going to have to grind out low level Coin Lord and House K favor to get your backpack and bank slots. If you are VIP no problem, but if you are premium and can't open elite, I strongly recommend leveling your PDK to level 3, buying some level 2 gear, then joining one of the many Elite Korthos and Harbor groups that run all the time. It is *much* easier and funner IMO to run elite groups that way than being level 15 and trying to get people to open low level elite quests for you.

The Purple Dragon Knight tree could really use some improvements. It has some strange enhancements. Three that do stuff when you are under 50% hitpoints, and one that helps you with "knight" weapons when your charisma is higher than your strength. Maybe they want you to multiclass with Paladin/FVS/or Sorcerer for that ability.

[DANTEIL]

Thanks for the response. It's a bit disappointing to hear that PDKs are the weakest Iconic class. No wonder it's packaged together with the quest packs! lol

I went ahead and created one to start at Level 15 just to try out a couple of the Wheloon quests (I wanted to see some of the new content). Damage was pretty good but the lack of self-healing was a real pain. I haven't done enough yet to run into inventory issues, but I remember what a mess inventory management was in DDO when I played before, so your point about going back for Coin Lord favor is well-taken. Yes, I'm Premium so I'll have to see what I can do about finding a willing group if I decide to stick with this PDK.

[unbongwah]

Purple Dragon Knights are considered the weakest of the 4 Iconics and don't have any "must have" racial enhancements.

Nah, I think PDK/ML/SDK are equally gimp; BF are the only OP Iconic. Magic robots FTW!

PDKs are just regular humans who get a special line of enhs rather than Dragonmarks, which like you said are kinda odd or weak; but any (non-DMed) build which does well as human will do equally well as PDK. [I've been trying to come up with a CHA-based PDK melee/caster, but so far I haven't cooked up anything I like.] Sun elves are an INT-based race who make great wizards, so naturally Turbine designed Morninglords around light-based caster DPS + blunt weapons. [EDIT: if they wanted to base sun elves on a Forgotten Realms PrC or trope, something akin to Arcane Scholars would've worked well.] SDK are a decent choice for any DEX-based build, but their special abilities mostly suck.

[Banker]

I've been playing with PDK builds... Since I only have PDK at the moment, maybe that'll change Saturday! Came up with a 15 Pally/4 Fighter/1 Ranger - Ranger for 1 Favored Enemy! Similar to that other (pally/fighter) build sometime ago. Both are intimi tanks, where one has Cleave & Greater Cleave, while the other is just a plain intimi tank. Trade off between them is HP. The plain is in the area of standing 390 HP/465 or so self buffed.

I built one Fighter/Pally/Sorc but there was some problem with it, I think HP was the main issue. Although a Pally/Sorc could make it with the PDK enhancements. Then I was thinking of that Wizard Enhancement line for 'fighter' abilities - but couldn't get to a decent build because of HP and the split of CON, CHA & INT. Although it could be a challenging and interesting character to run.