Doing an "Old School" playthrough...need build suggestions

[MrGharus]

My friends and I are doing an "Old School" playthrough with brand new first life characters. To be clear, this is to enjoy the heroic level aspects of the game. Not for speed of leveling, not for soloing, not for endgame or reaper viability. Just builds for first life, first time players

Anyway, what we define as "old school" harkens back to when DDO was new. We have some self-imposed rules:
No auction house items
No broker items
No promotional items
No DDO Store items
No using the waterbreathing ring granted at the beginning.
No trading items from our other characters or through shared bank

Basically, only quest reward items, items from chests, and items from regular vendors.
Greensteel, Cannith crafting, pirate event items are allowed as well

I have a human paladin build I'm doing with dragonmark of finding to boost chests, but I'm mostly winging it. I'm looking for ideas for that build (or a better dragonmark of finding build). Also looking for other good builds to fit into this campaign idea. Need a trap monkey, maybe a rogue vistani knife fighter assassin with trap skills. Probably need a healer, a tank, a bard, and some kind of arcane caster too.

Most players will be free-to-play or premium with minimal investment, at least initially, so I'd prefer not to use any pay races or classes, unless they are super cool.

Also need suggestions on content to run with good quest rewards or lots of random chests for many drop chances. And maybe top picks for adventure packs (this is where we plan to have players spend most of their DDO points) to get for this kind of campaign.

Thanks, in advance,

Gharus

[Hazelnut]

My friends and I are doing an "Old School" play through with brand new first life characters. To be clear, this is to enjoy the heroic level aspects of the game ...

... but I'm mostly winging it.

That's pretty much the best reason to do it. And, that being your reason, I also think winging it is probably the best way to handle it.

Think less about good builds for first life characters and more about a balanced party. If you are trying to enjoy the heroic levels for their own sake and don't get hung up on running reaper (or even always running elite), then enjoy it. A balanced party should have:

• A healer to keep everyone alive
• A rogue (or good artificer) to deal with those traps (they can be a lot more scary on a first life)
• A tank to take aggro
• Some solid DPS

Those less than perfect characters you get from winging it add to the fun.

And remember, you do get a free feat swap out of Fred if you really need it.

I would say that everyone should be allowed the option of purchasing (or obtaining in whatever way they choose) a lesser heart so they can re-build from scratch if winging it turns out to hurt too much.