Acrobat Inquiry

[ThomasHunter]

Planning an acrobat (pure) as I looted the level 7 staff from TOEE. I'm thinking Halfling with the following Feats and starting stats:

STR - 13 (I actually have a +4 upgrade tome that I would use to get to 17 STR)
DEX 18
CON 16
INT 14
WIS 8
CHA 8

This is a second life toon with a monk PL.
1 Power Attack
3 Cleave
6 Dragonmark of Healing (figure it would start to come in handy about here)
9 Precision
12 IC:Bludgeon
15 Great Cleave
18 THF
21 OC
24 ITHF
26 PTWF
27 Watchful Eye
28 Tactician

Does this make sense? Should I drop a stat and pump STR to 14 to get ITHF sooner?

Do I need Precision? This one seemed iffy to me or just use the PA for a stance?

Finally, is the DM really needed? I like the utility of it, but seeing what others think.

Thanks!

[svinja]

I have a 28 pure acrobat.

- I have Precision, but note that if you intend to run in LD all the time, you can't use Momentum Swing and Lay Waste with precision. I run in DC mainly. LD's Pulverizer does not stack with acrobat's crit range increase, while the DC Celestial Champion does stack. Some of the DC capstone doublestrike is wasted though, as it puts you over 100.

- I did not try Tactician specifically, but other (like from combat mastery or legendary tactics) bonuses to tactical feats do not apply to Sweeping Strikes, at least not in the tooltip. I assume Tactician doesn't work either.

- I did take 14 starting STR but mine is a 36 point build human

- I have GTHF, PTHF, Epic DR, ISA instead of dragonmark, Tactician, Watchful Eye

[AbyssalMage]

Planning an acrobat (pure) as I looted the level 7 staff from TOEE. I'm thinking Halfling with the following Feats and starting stats:

STR - 13 (I actually have a +4 upgrade tome that I would use to get to 17 STR)
DEX 18
CON 16
INT 14
WIS 8
CHA 8

This is a second life toon with a monk PL.
1 Power Attack
3 Cleave
6 Dragonmark of Healing (figure it would start to come in handy about here)
9 Precision
12 IC:Bludgeon
15 Great Cleave
18 THF
21 OC
24 ITHF
26 PTWF
27 Watchful Eye
28 Tactician

Does this make sense? Should I drop a stat and pump STR to 14 to get ITHF sooner?

Do I need Precision? This one seemed iffy to me or just use the PA for a stance?

Finally, is the DM really needed? I like the utility of it, but seeing what others think.

Thanks!

It's a personal choice honestly. I run a 12/7/1 Halfling Monk/Rogue/Druid so different build in some respects.

Precision vs. Power Attack -
You're going to do more damage with Precision more often than Power Attack. Power Attack is a static +5 damage so at lower levels it is better. At higher levels, with SA damage and melee power scaling, you will do more avg. damage with precision. Precision also allows you to bypass Fortification which is its key ability for your build.

Cleave/Great Cleave -
Require Power Attack as a prerequisite so that may influence your choice above. Keep in mind you do less damage generally because you lose out on both Double Strike and Attack Speed. But it is super fun to Cleave/Great Cleave/Sweeping Strike a group of NPC's.

Yes, I would start at 13 Str if you have a tome to get you to the 17 Str mark for gTHF. I personally have to start at 14

My play style -
1 - Precision
3 - DM
6 - Power Attack // Dodge // Weapon Focus (+2 melee Power)*
9 - THF
12 - IC: Bludgeon
15 - iTHF
18 - gTHF
21 - OC
24 - ISA
27 - Blinding Speed

* - I am leaning towards Weapon Focus mostly because of the +2 melee power.

[MalarKan]

It looks awesome. Its your build and you will have lota fn with it. You will learn things along the way and in the end you will have enough experience to do other things for the next life since it will have more stat points at character build screen . Go for it!

[unbongwah]

The following build presumes you have Harper. If not, you don't need so much INT and can boost CON or DEX instead; APs can be shifted from Harper to Assassin (Nimbleness would be nice for +5 MP).

Half-Pint Acrobat
Rogue 20
True Neutral Halfling


Stats
               34pt     Tome     Level Up
               ----     ----     --------
Strength        13       +4       4: DEX
Dexterity       18       +4       8: DEX
Constitution    14       +4      12: DEX
Intelligence    16       +4      16: DEX
Wisdom           8       +4      20: DEX
Charisma         8       +4      24: DEX
                                 28: DEX

Feats

 1        : Power Attack
 3        : Cleave
 6        : Least Dragonmark: Healing (can be swapped for Great Cleave)
 9        : Two Handed Fighting
10 Rogue  : Defensive Roll
12        : Improved Critical: Bludgeoning
13 Rogue  : Improved Evasion
15        : Improved Two Handed Fighting
16 Rogue  : Opportunist
18        : Greater Two Handed Fighting
19 Rogue  : Crippling Strike
21 Epic   : Overwhelming Critical
24 Epic   : Improved Sneak Attack
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic   : Great Cleave (or Precision or Improved Sunder)
28 Destiny: Perfect Two Handed Fighting


Enhancements (80 AP)

Halfling (13 AP)

Halfling Luck
Jorasco Dragonmark Focus III, Cunning I
Lesser Dragonmark of Healing, Break out the Leeches, Halfling Guile
Greater Dragonmark of Healing, Halfling Guile

Thief-Acrobat (42 AP)

Staff Control, Stick Fighting, Tumbler, Kip Up, Cartwheel Charge, Followthrough
Thief Acrobatics III, Fast Movement
Quick Strike III, Haste Boost III
Shadow Dodge III, Sweeping Strikes III
Improved Defensive Roll III, No Mercy III, Staff Lunge I
Staff Specialization, Spinning Staff Wall, Vault

Assassin (11 AP)

Knife in the Darkness, Dagger in the Back, Assassin's Trick
Sneak Attack Training, Stealthy II
Venomed Blades II, Sneak Attack Training

Harper Agent (14 AP)

Agent of Good I
Harper Enchantment, Traveler's Toughness II
Versatile Adept III, Know the Angles III
Versatile Adept III


Destiny (24 AP)

Legendary Dreadnought

Legendary Tactics I, Extra Action Boost III
Momentum Swing III, Imp. Power Attack, Damage Boost III
Lay Waste, Critical Damage III
Lightning Mace
Advancing Blows, Devastating Critical
Master's Blitz

Twists of Fate (22 fate points)

Sense Weakness (Tier 4 Fury)
Grim Precision (Tier 3 Shadowdancer)
Rejuvenation Cocoon (Tier 1 Primal)

If you find you don't need your halfling DMs for healing anymore, you can swap the DM feat for Great Cleave instead and take whatever you like for lvl 27 feat.

TBH, Crippling Strike is mostly useless in epics, but I like it thematically; and I don't consider the alternatives (Skill Mastery, Slippery Mind) to be any better.