New to DDO - PDK First Life Help

[Razzyx]

Just started DDO recently and I am currently playing a FvS, I saw some videos and read about the PDK and I was really interested in it. I would be most appreciative if I could get some advice on a First-Life PDK 2H build. Looking around online I only see builds for PLs. I purchased VIP and the PDK as a brand new player, don't judge my wallet-fu. I am somewhat lost when it comes to cross-classing and optimal builds, get a bit dizzy when trying to determine everything from the skills to the abilities and proper feats. I would be eternally grateful for a build that I can go off of.

[lronEnema]

Welcome to the game, Razzyx.

I can give you dome general advice on PDK and maybe point you in the way of some builds. Firstly I would recommend ddowiki.com as an excellent resource when planning builds. Lots of details on classes, races, enhancements, gear etc.

The basics, much of which you probably already know. PDK are an iconic class, which has pros and cons:

Pro: When you create the character, you get enough xp to level to 15. You can go straight there or start at any level up to 15. If you don't level up to 15 straight away to still keep all the xp and can go to 15 whenever you want by visiting a trainer. I would recommend starting at 1 so that you can learn how to play the build in easier content. Level up when you are on top of things.

Cons:
1. You must go to 30 before you can reincarnate into another life. If you are a non-iconic character you can reincarnate at lvl 20 (getting either a class or racial past life) or go to 30 and get an epic pastlife as well as the class or racial.
2. Your first level is fixed (fighter in the case of PDK). You can change this by using a +1 heart of wood (you have to go to lvl 15 before you can do this, but it is possible). The main significance relates to the capstone which you can only get by being a pure build of one class at lvl 20. For example sun elf (another iconic) make good wizards. However their first level is cleric. If you want the wizard capstone you need to swap the locked in cleric level for wizard. The difference in capabilities of a lvl 20 wizard vs 19 wizard/1 cleric is very large.

Second note - you can build anything and get to lvl 30. You could build a 5 cleric/9 wizard/6 alchemist and get there. The difference between a 'good' build and a 'poor' build is the quest difficulty they can handle or how much they will need to be carried by other party members.

OK - specifics about PDK. What really makes them different from vanilla humans is Cormyrean Knights Training. This is a low tier enhancement (ie easily achievable for low investment) in their racial tree. IT allows you to use charisma to hit and for damage when using shortswords, longswords, bastard swords, and greatswords. It also gives bonuses to your tactical DC's (stunning blow, trip, sunder etc) so long as your charisma is higher than your strength.

You would not go too far wrong by building a pure fighter. Don't completely dump strength but make charisma your primary stat and have constitution of 14 at the very least. Fighters get a lot of bonus feats, I would recommend working in stunning blow and maybe also impoved trip for some basic crowd control in addition to all the standard cleaves, weapon focus, fighting styles etc.

Here is a link to some iconic builds: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...=1#post5783401 .****however please note - the PDK build is a straight forward strength build. I would make Charisma your primary stat, but still take 14 strength and use one of the weapons that allow Cormyrean Knights training. Two hHanded fighting is in a good place at the moment so I would choose a greatsword and use the Kensai variant******

For your first life I would keep things simple, but it is worth noting that there are some interesting ftr/bard/rogue multiclass builds that use the charisma synergy between bard enhancements and Cormyrean Knights training to get great tactical DC's for things like spinning ice (Freezes mobs around you so they aren't hitting you and you are doing extra damage to them). Here's the link: http://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread...archanter-Bard It is an old build but still viable (as noted, so is every build depending upon quest difficulty) I strongly recommend not trying this one as your first character.

The biggest drawback to fighter is that they have very limited self-healing. If you are soloing you will benefit from taking a cleric hireling along.

There is a huge amount more I could write, but it is best to jump in with a basic build and start learning on the job. Recommend joining a guild and use voice chat in parties so that you can get advice and recommendations. Most people in the game are very decent. Don't be put off if you come across one or two who stroke their own ego by putting others down.

General tips - make sure you wear a false life, constitution and insightful constitution item appropriate for your level. More hitpoints is never a bad thing.
Get into crafting (see ddowiki.com) as it allows you to gear your character easily.
Read the pages on ddowiki about reincarnations carefully before you do your first TR (true reincanation)

If you are on Ghallanda, drop me a tell and I can fix you up with some essences (for crafting) and anything else you might find useful - characters are Yakface, Yaktastic and Gruntfuttuck. Am on at some point most evenings between 6PM and 10PM GMT

[Mercureal]

I am not a top-tier character builder by any means, but I have a fair bit of experience at it so I thought I'd make some suggestions. I don't want to assume what you know, so I'll cover some very basic info and some of this stuff you may already be aware of. First, for a THF character you want to build around the Strikethrough (https://ddowiki.com/page/Strikethrough) mechanic. This means taking feats and enhancements as you build the character that will maximize your Strikethrough percentage.

• You'll want to take the Two-Handed Fighting feats (https://ddowiki.com/page/Two_Handed_Fighting), which require a Strength of 15 for the first, and 17 to qualify for the other two.

Second, you want to look at the PDK abilities. They largely overlap with Human, but as mentioned above, PDK gets an interesting mechanic with Charisma. Given these points, I would suggest considering taking most of your levels as a Paladin. Paladin has good synergy with THF/Strikethrough and Charisma, and is probably in a better place than Fighter as a melee class right now, they have good damage, good defence, spells, and decent self-healing.

• In particular, the Knight of the Chalice tree (https://ddowiki.com/page/Knight_of_t...e_enhancements) has a lot of good combat abilities as well bonuses to Strikethrough (something you can't get through the Fighter trees).

If you wanted to go mostly Paladin, you would just refuse training at the beginning of the game, and go level-up with the Paladin trainer. The Fighter level is not a waste by any means, since you get a free feat with it and access to Hast Boost at Tier 1 of the Kensai tree.

There are lots of build guides to Paladin, and I saw a very recent one using PDK, link here: https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...-THF-DPS-Pally.

It's straightforward to follow all of the build choices, with a few small adjustments. If you don't have tomes, you will need to put points into Strength to qualify for the THF feats, I'd recommend starting with at least 15 and taking the first at level 1 with your bonus Fighter feat. And you would put something else in where he has Completionist.

Hopefully this is helpful, and good luck!

[Seph1roth5]

Paladin's are a great first life character. They're good at dps, heals, aoe damage. I say go 18 paly/2 fighter. 1 fighter from pdk doesn't do much, might as well take a 2nd level in fighter for a free feat.

Go pure charisma, but make sure to have enough str for two-handed fighting (17 for the greater feat). Do you have sharn or ravenloft? The iconic gear is pretty decent if you don't have any of the expansions. Definitely get a good greatsword for comyrian training. Get all the good stuff in knight of the chalice and you're good to go.