Is this RogueLock a terrible idea?

[MrGharus]

My friends and I are playing through Heroic mostly free-to-play content. We are doing a self-defined "Old-School" playthrough where we can't buy gear from auction halls, brokers, or other players, and can't use promotional items, so random chest loot and quest rewards are where we are getting our gear (thus my Dragonmark of Finding on this build to boost chests). I wanted to play a warlock trapper and came up with this thief-acrobat staff wielding eldritch aura warlock build. Its a 32 point first life, no tomes, build. For our purposes, is this viable, or have I missed the mark? Thanks for your anticipated lambasting! LOL!


Character name: Staff Eldritch Aura RogueLock
Classes: 15 Warlock, 5 Rogue
Race: Human · · · · · · · ·Alignment: Neutral

· · ·Start Tome Final · · ·Incorp:· · ·0% · · ·Displacement:· · 0%
Str:· · 15· · 0 · ·22 · · ·HP:· · · · 330 · · ·AC:· · 16
Dex:· · ·8· · 0 · · 8 · · ·PRR: · · · ·16
Con:· · 14· · 0 · ·14 · · ·MRR: · · · ·31 · · ·+Healing Amp:· · ·5
Int:· · 16· · 0 · ·16 · · ·Dodge: · ·2/25 · · ·-Healing Amp:· · ·0
Wis:· · ·8· · 0 · · 8 · · ·Fort:· · · 25% · · ·Repair Amp:· · · ·0
Cha:· · 15· · 0 · ·17 · · ·SR:· · · · · 0 · · ·BAB: · · · · · · 14
DR:
Immunities: Magic Missiles, Fear

Class and Feat Selection
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level Class · · · · · ·Feats
1 · · Rogue(1)· · · · ·Standard: Cleave
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Human Bonus: Power Attack
2 · · Warlock(1)· · · ·Pact: Warlock: Pact: Great Old One
3 · · Warlock(2)· · · ·Standard: Quicken Spell
4 · · Warlock(3)· · · ·Charisma: +1 Level up
5 · · Warlock(4)· · · ·Warlock Save Bonus: Thought Shield
6 · · Rogue(2)· · · · ·Standard: Least Dragonmark of Finding
7 · · Warlock(5)· · · ·Warlock Pact Spell: Pact Magic: Knock
8 · · Warlock(6)· · · ·Warlock Pact Ability: Warlock: Entropic Ward
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Strength: +1 Level up
9 · · Warlock(7)· · · ·Standard: Spell Focus: Evocation
10· · Warlock(8)· · · ·Warlock Save Bonus: Thought Shield
11· · Warlock(9)· · · ·Warlock Pact Spell: Pact Magic: Phantasmal Killer
12· · Warlock(10) · · ·Standard: Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Warlock Resistance: Resistance of the Great Old One
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Strength: +1 Level up
13· · Warlock(11) · · ·
14· · Warlock(12) · · ·Warlock Save Bonus: Thought Shield
15· · Warlock(13) · · ·Standard: Two Handed Fighting
16· · Warlock(14) · · ·Warlock Pact Spell: Pact Magic: Dominate Person
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Strength: +1 Level up
17· · Rogue(3)· · · · ·
18· · Warlock(15) · · ·Standard: Improved Two Handed Fighting
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Warlock Pact Ability: Warlock: Create Thrall
19· · Rogue(4)· · · · ·
20· · Rogue(5)· · · · ·Strength: +1 Level up


Skills
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skill Points· · ·48 ·6· 6 ·6· 6 12· 6 ·6· 6 ·6· 6 ·6· 6 ·6· 6 ·6 12 ·6 12 12
Skill Name· · · ·01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20· Total Buffed
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Balance · · · · · 4 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 4.0 · 13.0
Bluff · · · · · · 4 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 4.0 · 17.0
Concentration · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 12.0
Diplomacy · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 13.0
Disable Device· · 4 ·½· ½ ·½· ½ ·3· ½ ·½· ½ ·½· ½ ·½· ½ ·½· ½ ·½· 3 · · 3 ·3· ·23.0 · 37.0
Haggle· · · · · · 4 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 4.0 · 17.0
Heal· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · ·9.0
Hide· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · ·9.0
Intimidate· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 13.0
Jump· · · · · · · 4 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 4.0 · 20.0
Listen· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · ·9.0
Move Silently · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · ·9.0
Open Lock · · · · 4 ·½· ½ ·½· ½ ·3· · ·½· · ·½· ½ ·½· · ·½· ½ ·½· 3 ·½· 2 ·1· ·19.0 · 29.0
Perform · · · · · 2 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 2.0 · 15.0
Repair· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 0.0 · 13.0
Search· · · · · · 4 ·½· ½ ·½· ½ ·3· ½ ·½· ½ ·½· ½ ·½· ½ ·½· ½ ·½· 3 · · 3 ·3· ·23.0 · 41.0
Spell Craft · · · 2 ·2· 2 ·1· 1 · · 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· 1 ·1· · ·3· 1 ·1· ·23.0 · 36.0
Spot· · · · · · · 4 ·½· ½ ·½· ½ ·3· ½ ·½· ½ ·½· ½ ·½· ½ ·½· ½ ·½· 3 · · 1 ·2· ·20.0 · 35.0
Swim· · · · · · · 2 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 2.0 · 18.0
Tumble· · · · · · 2 · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 2.0 · 11.0
Use Magic Device· 4 · · · ·1· 1 · · 2 ·1· 2 ·1· 1 ·1· 2 ·1· 1 ·1· · ·2· 1 ·1· ·23.0 · 46.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Available Points· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0· 0 ·0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enhancements: 80 APs
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human - Points spent: 12
1 Core ·(1) Versatility I: Skill Boost
2 Tier1 (1) Dragonmark Focus: Tharashk Dragonmark Focus
3 Tier1 (1) Dragonmark Focus: Tharashk Dragonmark Focus
4 Tier1 (1) Dragonmark Focus: Tharashk Dragonmark Focus
5 Tier1 (1) Skill Focus I: Nimble Fingers
6 Tier2 (2) Lesser Dragonmarks: Lesser Dragonmark Spell: Knock
7 Core ·(2) Adaptability: +1 Strength
8 Tier2 (1) Fighting Style: Great Weapon Aptitude
9 Tier3 (2) Greater Dragonmarks: Greater Dragonmark Spell: Treasure Finding
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enlightened Spirit - Points spent: 42
1 Core ·(1) Eldritch Aura
2 Tier1 (1) Spiritual Defense
3 Tier1 (1) Spiritual Defense
4 Tier1 (1) Spiritual Defense
5 Tier1 (1) Resilience of Soul
6 Tier1 (1) Resilience of Soul
7 Tier1 (1) Resilience of Soul
8 Tier1 (1) Resilience of Body
9 Tier1 (1) Resilience of Body
10 Tier1 (1) Resilience of Body
11 Tier2 (1) Resist Energies
12 Tier2 (1) Resist Energies
13 Tier2 (1) Resist Energies
14 Tier2 (2) Shield
15 Tier3 (1) Eldritch Burst
16 Tier3 (1) Eldritch Burst
17 Tier3 (1) Eldritch Burst
18 Tier2 (1) Spiritual Bastion
19 Tier2 (1) Spiritual Bastion
20 Tier2 (1) Spiritual Bastion
21 Tier4 (2) Medium Armor Proficiency
22 Core ·(1) Aura of Courage
23 Core ·(1) Shape Vestments
24 Core ·(1) Aura of Menace
25 Tier2 (1) Power of Enlightenment: Light I
26 Tier2 (1) Power of Enlightenment: Light I
27 Tier2 (1) Power of Enlightenment: Light I
28 Tier3 (1) Spiritual Ward
29 Tier3 (1) Spiritual Ward
30 Tier3 (1) Spiritual Ward
31 Tier4 (1) Spiritual Retribution
32 Tier4 (1) Spiritual Retribution
33 Tier4 (1) Spiritual Retribution
34 Tier5 (1) Spirit Blast
35 Tier5 (1) Spirit Blast
36 Tier5 (1) Spirit Blast
37 Tier5 (2) Beacon
38 Tier5 (2) Displacement
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thief-Acrobat - Points spent: 20
1 Core ·(1) Staff Control
2 Tier1 (2) Acrobat Staff Training I
3 Tier1 (1) Sly Flourish
4 Tier1 (1) Sly Flourish
5 Tier2 (2) Quick Strike
6 Tier2 (2) Quick Strike
7 Tier2 (2) Quick Strike
8 Tier3 (1) Sweeping Strikes
9 Tier3 (1) Sweeping Strikes
10 Tier3 (1) Sweeping Strikes
11 Tier1 (1) Sly Flourish
12 Core ·(1) Stick Fighting
13 Tier2 (2) Acrobat Staff Training II
14 Tier3 (2) Acrobat Staff Training III
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soul Eater - Points spent: 6
1 Core ·(1) Inhuman Understanding
2 Tier1 (1) Subtle Spellcasting
3 Tier1 (1) Subtle Spellcasting
4 Tier1 (1) Subtle Spellcasting
5 Tier1 (1) Taint the Blood
6 Tier1 (1) Hungry for Destruction I
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[C-Dog]

... Heroic mostly free-to-play content.

Most F2P is older, so "easier", so that's good.

And as such, I'm assuming this is not going to 30? (Makes a diff...)

... random chest loot and quest rewards are where we are getting our gear (thus my Dragonmark of Finding on this build to boost chests).

DMoF doesn't boost the "quality" of what you find, just the ML. So, rather than find ML 3-5 loot in The Harbor (Level 2 quests, Quest Level 4 on Elite), a chest successfully blessed will dump out ML 4-6 - which is nice if you're Character Level 4 (which is "max" for Quest Level 2 if you're going for the Elite XP Bonus), but it's hardly a game changer.

MUCH better imo would be to take some Feat to boost your DPS, so you can get through quests more reliably and faster. More quests = more chests + more end rewards = more loot selections. AND you don't have to constantly berate people who open chests before you Bless them, and they don't have to wait around for you to do that slow, unreliable dance on every chest. Win/win.

I wanted to play a warlock trapper and came up with this thief-acrobat staff wielding eldritch aura warlock build. Its a 32 point first life, no tomes, build. For our purposes, is this viable, or have I missed the mark?...

Well, first, 'locks are so strong (esp on Elite) that you can glom anything on to Warlock 10 and use it as a Racial Reincarnation template; Warlock 10/X 10 done. So Warlock 15 + Rog can certainly work.

However, unless you just love melee or just hate blasters, I don't think* you want to make it 1st life as a "melee" character with an interesting healing/damage aura - you're going to be a blasting warlock who also traps. Splitting stats, feats and AP between melee and blasting is just a recipe for disaster - if there's a way to make a 'lock fail, this could* be it.

(* It would take someone more familiar w/ melee locks to say if the concept is viable or no. If(?) it is, I'm betting you'd still want to focus more on one or the other, and not split the difference.)

3 AP into TA for the added speed, a few AP into Mechanic for a boost to trapping (handy for a 1st life build without good gear!), and the rest into TA and SE (and switch to Aura later... maybe), done. (And you could toss in a level of Barb for even faster kiting - speed saves lives.)

Here is a quickie on a Lock 10/ template - just expand it to 15*, and you're set.
o https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...=1#post5964591

(* or 14 'Lock + 1 Barb - seriously, think about it)

One of the advantages to GOO is Knock - so you don't "need" OL and could save the points if you wanted. (Altho' Knock is never ~as~ strong as OL (cuz of the gear+tool bonuses), it will still open 90% of the locks in the game - your call.) But you could still take less OL and get full ranks in Spot - a "must" unless you, personally, know the locations of all the traps in the game (including the "possible" locations for semi-randomized ones!)

Maybe something like this (to start, VERY rough sketch) - based (very loosely) on this build.

(Edit - here is another spin on what you're doing, just swap in "rogue" instead of "arti" and you're set. https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...=1#post6171343 )

Warlock-Trapper
15/4/1 Warlock/Rogue/Barbarian
True Neutral Human


Level Order

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

Stats
. . . . . . . .32pt . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . --------
Strength. . . . 11. . . .4: CHA
Dexterity . . . .8. . . .8: CHA
Constitution. . 14. . . 12: CHA
Intelligence. . 16. . . 16: CHA
Wisdom. . . . . .8. . . 20: CHA
Charisma. . . . 17. . .

Note: With your situation, you want all the loot you can carry, and you do NOT want to lose Evasion; 11 Str will help w/ both of those, while the rest of the build points go toward Cha (DPS) and trapping.


Skills
. . . . . R .W .W .B. W. R .W .W .W .W .W .R. W. W. W. W. W. R .W .W
. . . . . 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. . .2. 1. 1. 1. 1. . .2. 1. 1. 1. 1. . .2. 1. 1. 23
Search. . 4 .1 .1 .1. . .2. 1. 1. 1. 1. . .2. 1. 1. 1. 1. . .2. 1. 1. 23
Spellcr . 2 . . . .½. 4. ½ . . . . . . .6 . . . . . . . . 6. . .2 .1 .22
UMD . . . 4 . . . . . 2. 3 . . . . . . . . 6 . . . . . . . . 6 . . 1. 22
Spot. . . 4 .1 .1 . . . .3. 1. 1. 1. 1. . .2. 1. 1. 1. 1. . .2. . . . 21
Jump. . . 4 . . . .3. . .1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Open Lo . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Bluff . . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Balance . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Haggle. . 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Swim. . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Concent . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Tumble. . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .48 .6 .6 .8. 6 12. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6 12. 6. 6. 6. 6. 6 12. 6. 6
Note: Open Lock 4 will get you through early Heroics, until you get Knock (@ Lvl 8). You may have to re-roll to get a high #, but it'll work. And the boost to Charisma/DPS will be worth it imo.


Feats

.1. . . . : Force of Personality
.1 Human. : Insightful Reflexes
.3. . . . : Maximize Spell
.6. . . . : Empower Spell
.9. . . . : Heighten Spell
12. . . . : Extend Spell
15. . . . : Mental Toughness (or?)
18. . . . : Improved Mental Toughness (or?)
12. . . . : Extend Spell

.2 Warlock: Pact: Great Old One


Spells

1. False Life (2), Shield (4), Entangle (4)
2. Suggestion (7), Invisibility (10) (11), Knock (8)
3. Dimension Door (7) (10), Displacement (13) (15), Phantasmal Killer (13)
4. Evard's Black Tentacles (12) (14), Teleport (19), Dominate Person (19)
5. Waves of Exhaustion (17)

Enhancements
Human (3 AP)

• Spell Power Boost
  1. Improved Recovery

Soul Eater (Tier V, ~40+ pts)
Tainted Scholar (~22+ AP)
Mechanic (8 AP)

• Arbalester
  1. Mechanics II, Awareness II (or some other mix)
  2. Skill Boost III (= +2+6 for "real" trapping, and +6 to any other task)

Thief-Acrobat (3 AP) (optional, and late, after Rog 3 at least)

• Staff Control
  1. Fast Movement (+4% at CL 18)

You get Feigned Health early, with Chain by Character Level 3, then swap to Maxed/Empowered Consume/Stricken w/ Cone by Level 5. And the rest is easy...

[KoobTheProud]

I've played a lot of Warlock in a lot of different configurations and I have yet to see a non-pure Warlock that is half as strong as a pure one.

[Discpsycho]

The first question as a melee/ranged attacker is "where is your crit profile coming from?" While it's slightly less critical in heroics, you'll need it all the more if you're not stockpiling gear

If you have to melee, trap and Warlock, I'd suggest 15 Warlock / 3 Bard / 2 Rogue. Swashbuckling gives crit profile and attack speed, Warlock gives AOE / Temp HP / burst, Rogue for trapping and Evasion. If you've got Vistani, use a dagger for +20% doublestrike. Rogue first, three Bard levels to rush Swashbuckling, Warlock until you need Evasion or ~15.

[C-Dog]

I've played a lot of Warlock in a lot of different configurations and I have yet to see a non-pure Warlock that is half as strong as a pure one.

"Half"?! Maybe into Epics - maybe - but leveling you can easily go 18/X and be 90% as strong, maybe more, and that's ample for Elite. Locks are one of the few casters that do not have to rely on Caster Level (depending on the build).

Meanwhile, the OP said he wanted to be a trapper for his group - so, while your point raises an interesting tangent, it's not really on topic.