Build Request: Trapper/Healer/Etc - To help guide a brand new player (Barbarian)

[trancefate]

TLDR: Need trapper/support build to show first time ddo barbarian player through the game. Want to emphasize his fun, would like to be able to solo if things get hairy. Starting @ L4, have everything unlocked (may even have a 36pt char if he doesn't logon soon).




Hello there builders! I would like to level a character with my friend who is a brand new player. He has chosen human barbarian so I have advised him on a fairly foolproof STR based human THF build. I reincarnated a character to level as a water savant with him. I realized shortly however, that this may not be the best experience for him for a handful of reasons. Firstly, we have no healer, and relying on mercs is fine (especially to teach him to solo) however it just isn't quite the same. Secondly, he is missing all of the secret doors and traps and a lot of that is the magic of DDO for first timers. Finally, when my character starts to come online, being a reincarnated character of a third life ddo veteran since closed beta testing... i'm simply going to annihilate everything in my path without regard.

In conclusion, I want to make a character that can not only show my friend all the traps and secrets while walking him through, but also be able to heal us both without issue. Finally, I would love to be able to solo if things get hairy since my friend is new, but what I would prefer is a character build that can focus on turning him into a blender of death.


I've been building characters for a long time but i've been out recently, and just wanted to bounce it off of you all. I will be starting at level FOUR by the way... my first thoughts were something like 1-2 rogue splash on a dc focused fvs but i haven't touched a divine since before they got any PRE's.

[unbongwah]

My vote would be rogue-splashed Swashbuckler: healing's not as good as a "real" healer, but it's usually sufficient for a pair of duo-ers; and melee DPS is great, ofc.

If you have Harper, consider an INT-based version of this build: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...or-new-players

[EllisDee37]

Bard Trapper is an excellent suggestion, with traps, buffs and healing.

Another option would be to have your friend be a warforged barbarian with you as a pale trapper. You can trap, heal him with repair spells, and buff him up with the fun stuff. (Haste, blur, greater heroism, true seeing.)

[trancefate]

Thanks for the advice! I am definitely considering the swashbuckler route as I haven't played it yet. However, any suggestions on a dc divine caster/trapper, is that feasible? I mean I know i could pull it off but I don't know what is efficient anymore or what levels certain enhancements unlock etc etc etc. Would also consider a repeater healer if thats a thing.

Anyhow, i'm off to try and knock out 26-28 so I can tr this char before he gets off work.


(By the way, he's f2p for now, so no WF sadly, he wanted to be one lol)



One more thought: How would you go about building your int based trapper bard? would you go melee and forgo cha as a dumpstat? possible on a 32pt build if I don't get this 36pt available in time?

[unbongwah]

However, any suggestions on a dc divine caster/trapper, is that feasible? I mean I know i could pull it off but I don't know what is efficient anymore or what levels certain enhancements unlock etc etc etc.

Possible, sure; a good idea...wellll, that largely depends on how concerned you are about EE viability. DC-based casting gets pretty rough in EEs, esp. if you don't have the past lives, gear, etc. to make up for any splashing. There's also less synergy between divine casters and rogue / arty splashes than there is with wizard.

One of my just-for-fun builds is a DEX-based rog 5 / druid 15 - either TWF w/daggers or Acrobat staff build. Its melee DPS pales compared to pure rogues, ofc; but the druid levels provide plenty of healing, buffs, and utility spells like Sleet Storm. It's not a serious caster DPS build, either, but it can use Ice Storm and both Creeping Colds, due to those spells having no DCs. Alternatively, she can go for fire elemental form and use Body of the Sun; DCs stink, but it's a Fort save so you always do at least half-dmg.

Would also consider a repeater healer if thats a thing.

I posted a repeater bard a while ago; it would not be hard to convert it to any caster class, though the lack of metamagics sucks.

[trancefate]

Possible, sure; a good idea...wellll, that largely depends on how concerned you are about EE viability. DC-based casting gets pretty rough in EEs, esp. if you don't have the past lives, gear, etc. to make up for any splashing. There's also less synergy between divine casters and rogue / arty splashes than there is with wizard.

One of my just-for-fun builds is a DEX-based rog 5 / druid 15 - either TWF w/daggers or Acrobat staff build. Its melee DPS pales compared to pure rogues, ofc; but the druid levels provide plenty of healing, buffs, and utility spells like Sleet Storm. It's not a serious caster DPS build, either, but it can use Ice Storm and both Creeping Colds, due to those spells having no DCs. Alternatively, she can go for fire elemental form and use Body of the Sun; DCs stink, but it's a Fort save so you always do at least half-dmg.

I posted a repeater bard a while ago; it would not be hard to convert it to any caster class, though the lack of metamagics sucks.

I suppose I really should have clarified a few things... 1) i'll have 2 sorc past lives (about 500k exp from 28 now) and 2) i'll be reincarnating at 20 (unless this is a bad idea now days?) I'm trying to farm up lives on this guy

[EllisDee37]

If I were going to do a cleric trapper, I would most likely go int-based harper battle cleric and not even think about DC casting.

[eachna_gislin]

I suppose I really should have clarified a few things... 1) i'll have 2 sorc past lives (about 500k exp from 28 now) and 2) i'll be reincarnating at 20 (unless this is a bad idea now days?) I'm trying to farm up lives on this guy

Thanks for the advice! I am definitely considering the swashbuckler route as I haven't played it yet. However, any suggestions on a dc divine caster/trapper, is that feasible? I mean I know i could pull it off but I don't know what is efficient anymore or what levels certain enhancements unlock etc etc etc. Would also consider a repeater healer if thats a thing.

Anyhow, i'm off to try and knock out 26-28 so I can tr this char before he gets off work.


(By the way, he's f2p for now, so no WF sadly, he wanted to be one lol)



One more thought: How would you go about building your int based trapper bard? would you go melee and forgo cha as a dumpstat? possible on a 32pt build if I don't get this 36pt available in time?

I play trapper clerics all the time . Here's how I do it:

Square away your trapping gear on the previous life if you can. I like to farm up Tharne's Goggles and Goggles of Perception on each of my toons for eventual trapper splashes, and then craft myself gloves for opening/disabling. If I know I'll trap the next life, I also farm and unlock a Dark Blue ioun stone, as it gives +15 spot from level 5 and up. If you were around for the last Crystal Cove and made a set of leveling Spyglasses, they would be a solid substitute for the goggles.

If you can't do this, then farm up some BTA items from Cannith Challenges, or scrounge gear from elsewhere. Worst case, ask friends/guildies/kindly strangers to make unbound shards and trade them to you, then fit them into BTA gloves/goggles. BTA means you can use them on other toons down the road and not have to worry about replacing them.

I'd also try to grab the Sage's Locket (+4 Evocation) necklace from Friends in Low Places (Wheloon). It's amazing in heroics and quite handy even in lower epics.

Collect a giant stack (a few hundred) +5 Thieves Tools. You can make these in one of the house C machines.

If you still have your choice on which +2 favor tome to grab, get Intelligence. Skill points are priceless as you level, while you can always add Wisdom later.

For a caster cleric with trapping...

Starting Attributes:

Str: 8
Dex: 16
Int: 16
Wis: 16
Con: varies (depends on build points)
Cha: 8

Feats:

1-Wizard Past Life or Toughness
3-Maximize
6-Empower Healing
9-Empower
12-Quicken
15-Spell Focus: Evocation
18-Mental Toughness

These feats are solid for heroics.

Take rogue, then cleric levels until you get blade barrier (12) then your second rogue level (13), and then cleric to 20.

There's more synergy between trappers and casting clerics than most people think. People get so hooked on the idea that you "must" start with 18 wisdom that it often doesn't occur to them to try a 16 Wisdom build.

* Trappers and Clerics both need wisdom
* Clerics get the Find Traps spell

Put all stat level ups into Wisdom.

Put points into your skills in the following order: Disable Device, Search, Spot.

Technically you should put the points into Spot before Search (because Find Traps buffs Search), but I find chasing after nooblets who need healing means you never know how many spell points you'll have free to use the spell. If you can't find the trap box, you can't disable it. If you can't Spot the trap, your barb friend will just run through it and find it for you .

If you end up with spare skill points, put them into Heal. You probably won't be able to afford another cross-class skill like UMD or Spellcraft or Jump.

While a 16 wisdom and a 2 level splash do "hurt" your casting DCs, you can do quite well in heroics and EN quests, EH if you have some gear to boost your DCs and you avoid areas with high spell resistance (Drow/Gianthold). Since you're going to "burn and turn" (run to 20 and reincarnate) you don't need to worry about epic content.

The big trap with a build like this is trying to do too much. You probably can't push both evocation and necromancy (it will be really hard to hit DCs on both) and you need to be prepared to limp along for more than a few levels before you get enough skill points to start improving your Spot.

With evocation you can CC (Soundburst and Holy Smite), damage (light/alignment spells), and insta-kill (implosion). And you get the oh-so-lovely Blade Barrier. Since evocation does it all, evocation is what you'll use. The sorc past lives will help with evocation.

Since you have previous lives and hopefully have a start on your casting gear plus 36-point builds, you should be fine.

If you haven't yet TR'd and you definitely want to go cleric, try to grab a Scepter of Healing from Invaders! in the Harbor, and a Dalorent's Seal from the Necropolis. Those two items have good divine spellpower plus augment slots to fit even more. The Scepter also lets you use Wisdom to damage (which is nice on a cleric). Even caster clerics should be able to hit stuff now and then .

"Of course" you should also try to have regular solid TR gear (the Silver Flame necklace, a Voice/Mantle/both/Master's Gift, a couple sets of heavy armor for a cleric, striding gear, greensteel, etc.)

EDIT: To do any "trapper-caster" mix, take 1 rogue, then as many levels of the casting class till you get to your bread-and-butter damage spell, then the second rogue, and then finish with the casting class.

The wizard spell is Wall of Fire
The cleric (and favored soul) spell is Blade Barrier. Yes, I have done Trapper-FvS lives.

You could (of course) do this on a Druid, or a Sorc/Bard/Warlock, but the latter classes will be stretched thin due to needing 4 stats. The more gear and tomes you have, the easier it is to carry off builds like this.

[EllisDee37]

Starting Attributes:

Str: 8
Dex: 16
Int: 16
Wis: 16
Con: varies (depends on build points)
Cha: 8

Feats:

1-Wizard Past Life or Toughness
3-Maximize
6-Empower Healing
9-Empower
12-Quicken
15-Spell Focus: Evocation
18-Mental Toughness

This looks like a drow build. Wouldn't human be better for more skills and an extra feat?

You can't take Wizard Past Life until level 3.

Here's my best approximation of the build you describe:

Divine Trapper
18/2 Cleric/Rogue
Drow


Level Order

1. Rogue           6. Cleric         11. Cleric         16. Cleric
2. Cleric          7. Cleric         12. Cleric         17. Cleric
3. Cleric          8. Cleric         13. Rogue          18. Cleric
4. Cleric          9. Cleric         14. Cleric         19. Cleric
5. Cleric         10. Cleric         15. Cleric         20. Cleric


Stats
               30pt     32pt     Tome     Level Up
               ----     ----     ----     --------
Strength        10       10                4: WIS
Dexterity       16       16                8: WIS
Constitution    12       13               12: WIS
Intelligence    16       16       +2      16: WIS
Wisdom          16       16               20: WIS
Charisma        10       10


Skills
          R  C  C  C  C  C  C  C  C  C  C  C  R  C  C  C  C  C  C  C
          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
         ------------------------------------------------------------
Disable   4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Search    4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Spot      4  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  1  1  1  1  1  4  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Open Lo   4                                   6                       10
Balance   4                                                            4
Jump      4                                                            4
UMD       4                                                            4
Heal      2                 1                                          3
Swim      3                                                            3
Concent   2                                                            2
Spellcr   2                                                            2
Tumble    1                                                            1
         ------------------------------------------------------------
         44  5  5  5  5  5  6  6  6  6  6  6 12  6  6  6  6  6  6  6


Feats

 1        : Toughness
 2 Deity  : Follower of: Sovereign Host
 3        : Maximize Spell
 6        : Empower Healing Spell
 7 Deity  : Unyielding Sovereignty
 9        : Empower Spell
12        : Quicken Spell
15        : Spell Focus: Evocation
18        : Mental Toughness

[EllisDee37]

If I were going to try for a caster cleric trapper, I'd go human. And then I'd take cleric at level 1 so that I could use both level 1 feats on casting. Otherwise you're looking at toughness and nimble fingers as your level 1 feats, both of which would be mostly a waste. Better to start cleric and get maximize and empower (for divine disciple SLAs) immediately.

For leveling order, I think I'd race to cleric 7 for positive energy burst, cure critical, fom and deathward, then take rogue 2.

Something like:

Divine Trapper
18/2 Cleric/Rogue
Human


Level Order

1. Cleric          6. Cleric         11. Cleric         16. Cleric
2. Rogue           7. Cleric         12. Cleric         17. Cleric
3. Cleric          8. Cleric         13. Cleric         18. Cleric
4. Cleric          9. Rogue          14. Cleric         19. Cleric
5. Cleric         10. Cleric         15. Cleric         20. Cleric


Stats
               34pt     36pt     Tome     Level Up
               ----     ----     ----     --------
Strength         8       10                4: WIS
Dexterity       16       16                8: WIS
Constitution    12       12               12: WIS
Intelligence    16       16       +2      16: WIS
Wisdom          16       16               20: WIS
Charisma         8        8


Skills
          C  R  C  C  C  C  C  C  R  C  C  C  C  C  C  C  C  C  C  C
          1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
         ------------------------------------------------------------
Disable      5  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Search    2  3  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Spot      2  3  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  23
Open Lo      1              ½  ½ 10  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½  ½     17
Heal      4                                                        1   5
Concent   4                                                            4
Spellcr   4                                                            4
Tumble    1                                                            1
UMD       1                                                            1
         ------------------------------------------------------------
         24 12  6  6  6  6  7  7 13  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7


Feats

 1        : Maximize Spell
 1 Human  : Empower Spell
 1 Deity  : Follower of: Sovereign Host
 3        : Mental Toughness
 6        : Quicken Spell
 7 Deity  : Unyielding Sovereignty
 9        : Empower Healing Spell
12        : Improved Mental Toughness
15        : Spell Focus: Evocation
18        : Greater Spell Focus: Evocation

This would let you start off with the divine disciple SLAs right out of the gate. For enhancements, levels 1-6 would be all divine disciple, then 7-14 would be all radiant servant, then go divine disciple the rest of the way:

Divine Disciple:
Level 1: Core 1, Nimbus of Light III
Level 2-3: Spell Power (Light) III, Spell Critical (Light), Spell Points III
Level 4-5: Searing Light III, Spell Power (Universal) III, Spell Critical (Universal)
Level 6: Holy Smite III, Core 2
Radiant Servant:
Level 7-9: Core 1-3, Extra Turning III, Altruism III, Scroll Mastery III
Level 10-14: Intense Healing III, Unyielding Sovereignty, Endless Turning III, Wisdomx2, Aura

At 13 when you get Blade Barrier, reset the DD tree to take Universal spell power and crits instead of Light, taking the same enhancements. From 15 to 20 spend all your AP in DD.

[eachna_gislin]

This looks like a drow build. Wouldn't human be better for more skills and an extra feat?

You can't take Wizard Past Life until level 3.

I usually play half elf, so I'm not used to accounting for an extra feat. It's not supposed to be a drow. Probably would be better to be human. Although you end up with an extra feat that's a rogue feat. I pulled the Dilly feat off in an edit and forgot to replace it with a different feat.

Are you sure you can't take Wizard past life until 3rd level? I have a 2nd level cleric that has it as her 1st level feat that I'm playing now. I guess it could be a bug.

[EllisDee37]

Are you sure you can't take Wizard past life until 3rd level? I have a 2nd level cleric that has it as her 1st level feat that I'm playing now. I guess it could be a bug.

Active past life feats require character level 3, including completionist. You sure you aren't confusing it with the passive feat that's autogranted at level 1?

Probably would be better to be human. Although you end up with an extra feat that's a rogue feat.

You can still get max ranks in your trapping skills taking cleric as your first level.

[Lanhelin]

TLDR: Need trapper/support build to show first time ddo barbarian player through the game. Want to emphasize his fun, would like to be able to solo if things get hairy. Starting @ L4, have everything unlocked (may even have a 36pt char if he doesn't logon soon).

I have another suggestion, if you want to go the Enchantment direction instead of Necromancy/Pale Master. It's a bit more of tactical gameplay and most of the time you can let your Barb mate kill the mobs while making the fights easier for him with cc :-)

Artificer 1 / Druid 1 / Wizard 18

Race I'd choose Warforged (to repair oneself) or Half-Elf with Cleric Dilettante to use scrolls (without the need to skill UMD, the points are needed for trap skills)

Recommended feats (no order): Augment Summoning, Enlarge, Heighten, Quicken, Spell Focus, Greater Spell Focus, Spell penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, Insightful Reflexes, Mental Toughness

Start with Str 8, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 8 - all ability ups into Int

Start with Arti, then Druid, then Wiz.

Why Arti? Because of Trap skills, three arcane spell slots (Master's Touch, Repair Light Damage, *whatever*), additional 90 SP for 4 AP only and the lever pulling pet.
Why Druid? Because of Charm Animal and Lesser Vigor and another lever pulling pet if you prefer wolf over defender.

Though Charm Animal will always remain at spell level 1, its DC will be affected by enchantment focus feats and enhancements and can be raised to about 30+ in epic levels which is totally sufficient for most animals (though it may take a few attempts when cast in higher epic quests). The only disadvantage is due to a persistent bug charmed animals cannot be released manually, but it also lasts only about one minute. Especially in early levels it's a very good spell to let all the spiders, wolves, worgs, scorpions, lions, bears etc. fight on your side - these were the most annoying enemies when I played my first Rogue 2 / Wiz 18 Enchanter.

Lesser Vigor can be helpful in early levels and when you're out of scrolls or other healing possibilities.

Two Rogue levels grant the Evasion feat, and this can be helpful too. I also played a Rogue 2/ Druid 1/ Wiz 17 Enchanter in the past, but the additional spell points and spell slots from Arti imho offer the better advantages.

Enhancements:
Arcano Technician: 4 (Energy of Creation)
(Half-Elf: 17 (Improved Dilettante III))
(Warforged: 2 - xx (Inscribed Armor))
Archmage: 32 - xx (School Mastery II)
Pale Master: 11 - xx (Vampire)
Harper: 8 - xx (Harper Leadership)

Charmed mobs (and summons and hirelings) will get +8 to all ability scores. In cases charmed mobs with just a few HP left, they will die when released because the +8 Con buff vanishes immediately. Champs can become charmed too and it's better to have the champ spider fighting on your side than against you.