Returning Player, never got past first life, looking for dwarf starter solo build

[adonanon]

Hi!

I've played this game off and on since release, but I never get very far into making past lives or anything like that. In fact I've never done it o.o

Right now I'm trying real hard to play a dwarf. Not just a dwarf, but a dwarf focused on dwarven waraxes with strikethrough, and a shield (maybe an orb?) Class itself doesn't really matter, but I want to have more utility then just a fighter whacking at things endlessly. I have a character planner, but I'm not very good at making characters, I've followed a few strimtom builds in the past, and they're great and all, but I guess I want to capture that first dwarf I played in DnD 2.0 back in the day?

I would really appreciate any thought into if this is viable. I was trying to fit in the dwarven tree for 'throw your weight around' but I'm not 100% sure that's a good idea? I've played and enjoyed the melee caster trees, like EK, Warpriest, and Enlightened Spirit. I've also played around with a build that had 2 rogue levels and EK/PK trees and that was fun having the ability to trap find, but like I said I really would like to work in the dwarven waraxe and strikethrough probably with a shield if that's possible? I'm not very good at knowing which classes to 'splash' in to know what would work the best either.

If y'all could give me some tips to go off of, I can try my best to make my own build using the tips (I dont want to waste your time asking for you to create a full build for me) but like I said dwaxe and shield/rune arm/orb would be where my focus is (if possible) armor doesn't matter too much to me but utility does.

Thank you for any advice you could give me.

[adonanon]

I decided to try out a little something, please let me know where I can improve. Like for instance, since I don't have any SLA's (other then mage armor and shield) should I be taking all these Metamagic feats? Also not sure about vampire, but free heals? Finally, there's four points left over, they go into the kensei weapon enhancements, the DDOBuilder I used is bugged a little I guess EDIT: I felt some things were off so went ahead and changed them up a little. Instead of full on Kensei I went into Vanguard, but I kept reed in the wind, added mobility, so I should have about 14% dodge most of the time, plus a free shield bash on people who miss. Edit 2: Ok so I just read that evasion stops working on anything heavier then small shield/light armor. Not sure what I should do in this instance - Drop two levels of fighter and one of rogue, get to 18 wiz for the additional core EK skill? Or stick with light armor? I know I'm just basically talking to myself at this point, but this is helping Edit 3: I decided to drop the 2 fighter levels and one rogue level. I lost evasion, but keep trapfinding and disable device. Also while I will not be using a tower shield (I didn't realize it was 50% spell failure) I keep the dwarven axe auto obtain and the shield proficiency for large shields (at 15% spell failure, it is wiped out from the EK tree cores) and medium armor. In this way, I can also keep Reed in the wind for that 14% dodge, as well as since I'll be shield bashing a lot I also give enemies -1 to all their saves when I do this. But I also gain the level 18 wizard EK core! Which is awesome since it gives back the 2 second deflect missiles I lost in the vanguard tree, plus more goodies. I'm really feeling this build now. Oh also I added whirlwind attack, which I believe does not overlap cooldown with eldritch tempest or anything else I have from enhancements.


Character name:
Classes: 18 Wizard, 10 Epic, 2 Legendary, 1 Fighter, 1 Rogue
Race: Dwarf · · · · · · · ·Alignment: Neutral

· · ·Start Tome Final · · ·Incorp:· · ·5% · · ·Displacement:· · 0%
Str:· · 10· · 0 · ·11 · · ·HP:· · · · 850 · · ·AC:· · 14
Dex:· · 13· · 0 · ·14 · · ·PRR: · · · ·10
Con:· · 19· · 0 · ·22 · · ·MRR: · · · · 0 · · ·+Healing Amp:· · ·0
Int:· · 16· · 0 · ·24 · · ·Dodge: · ·6/25 · · ·-Healing Amp:· · 49
Wis:· · 10· · 0 · ·10 · · ·Fort:· · · ·0% · · ·Repair Amp:· · · ·0
Cha:· · ·6· · 0 · · 6 · · ·SR:· · · · · 0 · · ·BAB: · · · · · · 15
DR:
Immunities:

Class and Feat Selection
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Level Class · · · · · ·Feats
1 · · Rogue(1)· · · · ·Standard: Insightful Reflexes
2 · · Fighter(1)· · · ·Fighter Bonus: Dodge
3 · · Wizard(1) · · · ·Standard: Mobility
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Metamagic: Quicken Spell
4 · · Wizard(2) · · · ·Intelligence: +1 Level up
5 · · Wizard(3) · · · ·
6 · · Wizard(4) · · · ·Standard: Shield Mastery
7 · · Wizard(5) · · · ·Metamagic: Mental Toughness
8 · · Wizard(6) · · · ·Intelligence: +1 Level up
9 · · Wizard(7) · · · ·Standard: Improved Shield Bash
10· · Wizard(8) · · · ·
11· · Wizard(9) · · · ·
12· · Wizard(10)· · · ·Standard: Whirlwind Attack
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Metamagic: Improved Mental Toughness
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Intelligence: +1 Level up
13· · Wizard(11)· · · ·
14· · Wizard(12)· · · ·
15· · Wizard(13)· · · ·Standard: Spell Penetration
16· · Wizard(14)· · · ·Intelligence: +1 Level up
17· · Wizard(15)· · · ·Metamagic: Maximize Spell
18· · Wizard(16)· · · ·Standard: Improved Shield Mastery
19· · Wizard(17)· · · ·
20· · Wizard(18)· · · ·Intelligence: +1 Level up
21· · Epic(1) · · · · ·Epic Feat: Epic Mental Toughness
22· · Epic(2) · · · · ·Epic Destiny Feat: Perfect Two Handed Fighting
23· · Epic(3) · · · · ·
24· · Epic(4) · · · · ·Epic Feat: Greater Spell Penetration
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Intelligence: +1 Level up
25· · Epic(5) · · · · ·Epic Destiny Feat: Perfect Shield Mastery
26· · Epic(6) · · · · ·
27· · Epic(7) · · · · ·Epic Feat: Embolden Spell
28· · Epic(8) · · · · ·Epic Destiny Feat: Arcane Warrior
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Intelligence: +1 Level up
29· · Epic(9) · · · · ·
30· · Epic(10)· · · · ·Epic Feat: Blinding Speed
· · · · · · · · · · · ·Legendary: Scion of the Shadowfell
31· · Legendary(1)· · ·Epic Destiny Feat: Wind through the Trees
32· · Legendary(2)· · ·Intelligence: +1 Level up

Granted Feats
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deflect Arrows
Light Armor Proficiency
Medium Armor Proficiency
Mobile Spellcasting
Quick Draw
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enhancements: 80 APs
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dwarf - Points spent: 18
Core1 Toughness I
Tier1 Weapon Training I: Axe Training
Core2 Constitution I
Core3 Toughness II
Core4 Constitution II
Tier2 Weapon Training II: Axe Training
Tier3 Weapon Training III: Axe Training
Tier3 Dwarven Runes - 3 Ranks
Tier4 Weapon Training IV: Axe Training
Tier4 Axes
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eldritch Knight (Wiz) - Points spent: 41
Core1 Eldritch Strike
Tier1 Improved Mage Armor - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Arcane Siphon - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Battlemage - 2 Ranks
Core2 Spellsword
Tier2 Improved Shield - 3 Ranks
Core3 Imbue the Blade
Tier3 Eldritch Accuracy
Tier3 Arcane Barrier
Tier3 Critical Mastery - 3 Ranks
Tier4 Knight's Transformation
Core4 Subtle Force I
Tier4 Force's Point
Tier4 Offhand Defenses: Shield Striking - 3 Ranks
Tier4 Armored Arcana
Tier5 Improved Knight's Transformation
Tier5 Eldritch Tempest - 3 Ranks
Tier5 Force's Edge
Tier5 Knight's Arcanum: Knight's Striker
Core5 Subtle Force II
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pale Master - Points spent: 13
Core1 Dark Reaping
Tier1 Negative Energy Conduit - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Skeletal Knight - 3 Ranks
Core2 Pale Shroud: Shroud of the Vampire
Tier2 Cloak of Night
Tier2 Corpsecrafter - 3 Ranks
Core3 Undead Augmentation I: Inflict Weariness
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kensei - Points spent: 4
Core1 Kensei Focus: Kensei Focus: Axes
Tier1 Reed In The Wind - 3 Ranks
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vanguard - Points spent: 4
Core1 To the Fore!
Tier1 Unbalancing Shove - 3 Ranks
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weapon Damage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Melee Power:· 72
Doublestrike: 8%
Strikethrough: 45%
Mainhand damage ability multiplier: 1
Offhand damage ability multiplier: 0
Off-Hand attack Chance: 20%
Fortification Bypass: 0%
Dodge Bypass: 0%
Helpless Damage bonus: 50%
Ranged Power: 72
Doubleshot Chance: 0%

Sneak Attack Attack bonus: 0
Sneak Attack Damage: 1d6+0

[Coffey]

Looks like you put a lot of time and effort in making this build. EK Melee builds are a lot of fun combined with PM healing.

The problem with Dwarf "Throw Your Weight Around" builds is that you will have no Hit ability as Con is only Damage and you will be missing a lot of hit chances because of it. Strength is the default To Hit Stat.

While you can build a Max Con build it is difficult to increase both stats to be effective because as you level you will need ever increasing ability to Hit as monsters Armor Class increases. No To Hit no damage and it becomes more apparent as you level. Its a new player trap.

Most people build Melee Wizards that have Int to hit and damage which is obtained in the Harper Agent Enhancements Tree. This way you can Melee effectively with Int as well as cast offensive spells in concert PM self heal.

You can use Strength as your primary stat with Int and Con next in importance and play as a Melee but you will fail at getting full damage from your offensive spells as Int is your casting DC stat as a Wizard. You can melee and use defensive spells, run speed and jump etc. Also you will have less spell points as they are based on Int.

Here is a build by a well known streamer Strimtom you can check out called How to be a death knight for free to play!

You can adapt this to a Dwarf build very easily. There is a famous Dwarf that helps people with their builds on this forums that may be able to help you. Just be patient because people share their time to help when they can.

[adonanon]

Looks like you put a lot of time and effort in making this build. EK Melee builds are a lot of fun combined with PM healing.

The problem with Dwarf "Throw Your Weight Around" builds is that you will have no Hit ability as Con is only Damage and you will be missing a lot of hit chances because of it. Strength is the default To Hit Stat.

While you can build a Max Con build it is difficult to increase both stats to be effective because as you level you will need ever increasing ability to Hit as monsters Armor Class increases. No To Hit no damage and it becomes more apparent as you level. Its a new player trap.

Most people build Melee Wizards that have Int to hit and damage which is obtained in the Harper Agent Enhancements Tree. This way you can Melee effectively with Int as well as cast offensive spells in concert PM self heal.

You can use Strength as your primary stat with Int and Con next in importance and play as a Melee but you will fail at getting full damage from your offensive spells as Int is your casting DC stat as a Wizard. You can melee and use defensive spells, run speed and jump etc. Also you will have less spell points as they are based on Int.

Here is a build by a well known streamer Strimtom you can check out called How to be a death knight for free to play!

You can adapt this to a Dwarf build very easily. There is a famous Dwarf that helps people with their builds on this forums that may be able to help you. Just be patient because people share their time to help when they can.

Thank you for getting back to me!

I see what you're saying about the throw your weight around. However, I did make sure to take Eldritch Accuracy in the EK tree, which gives me INT toward to hit for both melee weapons and shields. So, while I gain the damage from con, I gain to hit from int. I am putting all of my levels into int, so I think it said I would have 24 int (+ 7) to hit, but only 22 con (+6) to damage. Thats without any armor or buffs of course. I am not sure if that is going to work if I split the two like that? Instead of just focusing on one? But if I split it, and get CON too, it would also help my hit point total...I dunno lol. However, I was looking at the harper tree, and the +int to hit/dmg doesn't include shields, but the Eldritch Accuracy will help with shield to-hit. While Throw your Weight around doesn't work for shields, for 1 point I think it'll be my best bet?

I hope I'm not coming off as horrible, its hard to show that I'm just being inquisitive. I don't even know if this will be a good build overall lol

[Coffey]

This could work but keep in mind that as a first life character you will need to max Int to be effective with offensive spells. So in essence you gain HP and Fortitude saves from Con but your damage stat and to hit are not maxed because you are split between Int and Con. A lot of your damage comes from Crits when you melee and Spellsword does not crit. You will also effectively gimp your Spell casting ability without max Int stat for spell DCs. Spell DCs need to as high as possible so monsters cant save and you get full damage and not half if they save. Half damage is no fun.

You can run a strength melee variant that also heals and buffs but it would miss the great combination of casting and melee w/o getting the Harper Tree which can be bought through favor gained DDO points.

PS You are very polite and i have enjoyed helping you!

Sorry for all the editing i am tired atm.

[adonanon]

Just wanted to give an update. I had to change Vampire for Lich, because it just works better and Vampires heal almost never happens for me. Still mulling over whether to get 10% incorporality to increase it to 15% at max, or get +2 Necromancy (and thus only have 5% incorporality).

Been playing all night, got nearly to level 6 (from start at level 4) but I'm gonna go lie down haha. I will say this, I'm having fun with it so far. No clue how it will work out in the end, but I've been cruising pretty easily through hard difficulty (+1 level from my own). I'm hesitant to try harder difficulty then that at this point.

[DoctorOfLiterature]

First, it’s great you are having fun and experimenting!

It also is great that so far your build is doing what you want.

I expect that as you get into higher level content you may have more trouble because you are trying to do so much and at higher levels saves and DCs get harder. If your build continues to work, great! If not, try to get to 20 and TR. Wizard pl is good and you will have more ability points. If you do start to struggle, try to play quests where you are two levels above base dungeon level, as you won’t lose any exp and it will be easier.

I’ve played EK pale master wizard as a dwarf and it works great! I’ve also played a pure dwarf fighter and gotten him to lvl 27; it also works well although no self healing means lots of pots and healing hires. I think they redid vanguard tree snd there is more self healing options now for fighters though.

On your next life I would suggest 17 Wizard, 2 fighter and 1 rogue. 2 fighter levels gives you Second Wind feat that allows you to heal 50% of hp/day. Make int your main stat with con second but put all lvl up points and enhancement points into Int. Get Harper and it is 11 or 12 points to get hit and damage w int. Harper is free to vip or w 310 points of Harper favor. This will concentrate your points in one skill for hit, damage, trapping (int good for all trapping skills except spot), and wizard casting DCs. You can be a dwarf but don’t use the enhancement tree until later lives when you have racial pls for racial points. Use light armor so you don’t have spell failure penalty until you can take the EK feat that allows medium armor.

[adonanon]

First, it’s great you are having fun and experimenting!

It also is great that so far your build is doing what you want.

I expect that as you get into higher level content you may have more trouble because you are trying to do so much and at higher levels saves and DCs get harder. If your build continues to work, great! If not, try to get to 20 and TR. Wizard pl is good and you will have more ability points. If you do start to struggle, try to play quests where you are two levels above base dungeon level, as you won’t lose any exp and it will be easier.

I’ve played EK pale master wizard as a dwarf and it works great! I’ve also played a pure dwarf fighter and gotten him to lvl 27; it also works well although no self healing means lots of pots and healing hires. I think they redid vanguard tree snd there is more self healing options now for fighters though.

On your next life I would suggest 17 Wizard, 2 fighter and 1 rogue. 2 fighter levels gives you Second Wind feat that allows you to heal 50% of hp/day. Make int your main stat with con second but put all lvl up points and enhancement points into Int. Get Harper and it is 11 or 12 points to get hit and damage w int. Harper is free to vip or w 310 points of Harper favor. This will concentrate your points in one skill for hit, damage, trapping (int good for all trapping skills except spot), and wizard casting DCs. You can be a dwarf but don’t use the enhancement tree until later lives when you have racial pls for racial points. Use light armor so you don’t have spell failure penalty until you can take the EK feat that allows medium armor.

Thank you for getting back to me!

I totally forgot I would have gotten Second Wind with 2 levels of fighter xD Whoops!

I will have to look closer at the harper tree, at cursory glance I did not know it did so much (I was also very tired last night and kind of just mulling over things). I also did not know I could play dungeons up to where I am two levels higher, I usually try to stick with my level in the adventure's compendium.

However, like I said I never did past lives. How many past lives should I/can I have for wizard? Would it hurt to jump around with lives (like if I had my fill of wizard after this life, can I jump over to say druid, and then back to wizard the next life)? Or is it just better to 'enhance' past lives by doing multiple of a certain life up to a point?

Also just as a final thought, I found it very amusing to see all the 'miss' 'dodge' 'blurred' messages popping up when things tried to hit me last night xD I sometimes did get hit pretty hard by hard 'unique (is that the right word?)' bosses but that's what a cleric companion is for yeah? xD

Edit: I also just noticed I don't need Improved Shield Mastery to get Perfect Shield Mastery. Would you suggest Dropping Imp Shield Mastery for Spell Focus: Necromancy, or would the 5% doublestrike (plus defenses and 3 melee) outweigh the DC from Spell Focus?

[DoctorOfLiterature]

Thank you for getting back to me!

I totally forgot I would have gotten Second Wind with 2 levels of fighter xD Whoops!

I will have to look closer at the harper tree, at cursory glance I did not know it did so much (I was also very tired last night and kind of just mulling over things). I also did not know I could play dungeons up to where I am two levels higher, I usually try to stick with my level in the adventure's compendium.

However, like I said I never did past lives. How many past lives should I/can I have for wizard? Would it hurt to jump around with lives (like if I had my fill of wizard after this life, can I jump over to say druid, and then back to wizard the next life)? Or is it just better to 'enhance' past lives by doing multiple of a certain life up to a point?

Also just as a final thought, I found it very amusing to see all the 'miss' 'dodge' 'blurred' messages popping up when things tried to hit me last night xD I sometimes did get hit pretty hard by hard 'unique (is that the right word?)' bosses but that's what a cleric companion is for yeah? xD

Edit: I also just noticed I don't need Improved Shield Mastery to get Perfect Shield Mastery. Would you suggest Dropping Imp Shield Mastery for Spell Focus: Necromancy, or would the 5% doublestrike (plus defenses and 3 melee) outweigh the DC from Spell Focus?

The big thing from Harper is the INT to Hit and Damage and it takes 11 APs to get that. EK tree does have INT to hit but not damage. Since Wizard uses INT for spells and Rogue skills use it too, it really makes sense to make INT your main ability. But beyond those 11 most people don't spend more. EK should be your main enhancement if you want to do melee primarily, as you do.

With respect to PLs, there is no absolute right or wrong way to do them and people have different strategies. I would recommend looking the PLs over and thinking about what PLs would be best for the type of builds you like to play. So if you want to continue to focus on melee then there are certain PLs that are better; for casters there are others; and so on. While you do probably get greater impact by taking 3 together, if you hate playing a life or just want to change it up, you should do so.

https://ddowiki.com/page/Past_Life_Feats

So a few general things about PLs. First in any given life 1-20 lvl, you can take EITHER a race or class PL. The first racial PL in any race is pretty unimpressive--a +1 bonus in a skill. But the second life is better; a +1 bonus in an ability. And the third racial PL is very good; 1 enhancement point in the racial tree. So if you have 15 racial pls in five different races, you would start out with 5 bonus racial points; that's why it would be easier later to try and get Throw Your Weight Around without diluting the enhancement points you might need in other trees. People used to default to doing racial lives first because of this and also because racial completionist gives you an automatic feat with +2 for all abilities and all skills. Class completionist used to require you to use one of your feats but now it too is automatic. And it is easier to get class completionist because it requires only 1 life in each of class (15 lives) where racial completionist requires 3 in every race (42 lives).

In terms of your current life, if you took Wizard as your PL you would get a passive bonus of +2 spell penetration. If you took 3 wizard PLs you would have +6 spell pen and that would really help you with your spells. You could also take a Wizard feat (not granted--you have to spend a feat to get it) that is good for casters; a +1 to your spell DCs, and again, +3 DC if you have 3 wizard lives.

If you went with Dwarf instead, you would a +1 to balance (bleh), but your second dwarf life is a +1 in Con (good for any character), and your third dwarf life would get you a bonus racial enhancement point. Although this is good, I would suggest doing the Wizard first because it is one of the best class lives for anyone who does spell casting.
https://ddowiki.com/page/Racial_Past_Life_Feats

Epic PLs are also really powerful but obviously you have to go from 20-30 and as I said above, it probably makes sense to defer doing that until you get more confident in your character building and get better gear. Also getting the bonus ability points (32 instead of 28 after first PL and 34 after second) will make it easier to get through epic. After you get a few class or epic PLs though it can be helpful to get some Epic PLs because the epic PL stances are really powerful.
https://ddowiki.com/page/Epic_Past_Life_Feats
There are four epic spheres and you can have one stance active from each of them. Some of them are good in general, some are good for melee, some for ranged, some for casters and some healers. If you picked four Epic PLs, one from each sphere, and got 3 PLs in each, then you could have those four active stances and you would also get 1 enhancement point (1 AP for every 12 epic PLs).

There are also Iconic PLs that you get by going from 15-30 and the great thing about them is that when you TR at 30 you get BOTH the Iconic PL for whatever your iconic is, PLUS you also get a class PL! So you get two PLs for 15 levels, which is really efficient. On the other hand, the Iconic PLs are probably the least good. You can have ONE Iconic stance active though and it isn't a bad idea to get three Iconic PLs in whatever Iconic gives you the best stance for your toon. For example, Deep Gnome stance is really good for casters because it is +1 illusion DC and +5 acid spell power or +3 illusion and +15 acid power for three Deep Gnome lives; that can really make your color spray and your acid well spells powerful. Aasimar Scourge gives you +2% doublestrike and 3 of those lives is +6%! That can be really good for melee.

So it does help to know what you like to play and focus on those PLs first. Or alternatively, there are PLs that are good for all characters--with bonuses in Fortification or healing amp for example.

Bottom line on PLs is you do want to TR at 20 to get the 32 point build in your next life and either Dwarf or Wizard could be helpful. It might be better to get 3 of the same first but it isn't necessary. Do what is most fun and don't let PLs control your choices too much, but hopefully you will now make those choices knowing what your options are and what the impacts are.


In terms of shield mastery vs necro focus, you need to think about how you want to play and build accordingly. While Wizards are pretty multifaceted and can do both EK melee as well as caster, it does make sense to focus more on one. If you take necro but you still don't have enough spell pen or DC to make your necro spells hit for full damage, it might be a waste. And if you take some melee feats but not enough to crit enough, then that is sort of weak too. Does that makes sense. So I don't think there is a right or wrong answer but I would recommend deciding what you want to focus on. You can mix in some other types of feats because Wizard is multi-dimensional, but there is a point of diminishing return. So if you want to use shield and you want to focus on melee, I would stick with shield mastery.

[adonanon]

The big thing from Harper is the INT to Hit and Damage and it takes 11 APs to get that. EK tree does have INT to hit but not damage. Since Wizard uses INT for spells and Rogue skills use it too, it really makes sense to make INT your main ability. But beyond those 11 most people don't spend more. EK should be your main enhancement if you want to do melee primarily, as you do.

With respect to PLs, there is no absolute right or wrong way to do them and people have different strategies. I would recommend looking the PLs over and thinking about what PLs would be best for the type of builds you like to play. So if you want to continue to focus on melee then there are certain PLs that are better; for casters there are others; and so on. While you do probably get greater impact by taking 3 together, if you hate playing a life or just want to change it up, you should do so.

https://ddowiki.com/page/Past_Life_Feats

So a few general things about PLs. First in any given life 1-20 lvl, you can take EITHER a race or class PL. The first racial PL in any race is pretty unimpressive--a +1 bonus in a skill. But the second life is better; a +1 bonus in an ability. And the third racial PL is very good; 1 enhancement point in the racial tree. So if you have 15 racial pls in five different races, you would start out with 5 bonus racial points; that's why it would be easier later to try and get Throw Your Weight Around without diluting the enhancement points you might need in other trees. People used to default to doing racial lives first because of this and also because racial completionist gives you an automatic feat with +2 for all abilities and all skills. Class completionist used to require you to use one of your feats but now it too is automatic. And it is easier to get class completionist because it requires only 1 life in each of class (15 lives) where racial completionist requires 3 in every race (42 lives).

In terms of your current life, if you took Wizard as your PL you would get a passive bonus of +2 spell penetration. If you took 3 wizard PLs you would have +6 spell pen and that would really help you with your spells. You could also take a Wizard feat (not granted--you have to spend a feat to get it) that is good for casters; a +1 to your spell DCs, and again, +3 DC if you have 3 wizard lives.

If you went with Dwarf instead, you would a +1 to balance (bleh), but your second dwarf life is a +1 in Con (good for any character), and your third dwarf life would get you a bonus racial enhancement point. Although this is good, I would suggest doing the Wizard first because it is one of the best class lives for anyone who does spell casting.
https://ddowiki.com/page/Racial_Past_Life_Feats

Epic PLs are also really powerful but obviously you have to go from 20-30 and as I said above, it probably makes sense to defer doing that until you get more confident in your character building and get better gear. Also getting the bonus ability points (32 instead of 28 after first PL and 34 after second) will make it easier to get through epic. After you get a few class or epic PLs though it can be helpful to get some Epic PLs because the epic PL stances are really powerful.
https://ddowiki.com/page/Epic_Past_Life_Feats
There are four epic spheres and you can have one stance active from each of them. Some of them are good in general, some are good for melee, some for ranged, some for casters and some healers. If you picked four Epic PLs, one from each sphere, and got 3 PLs in each, then you could have those four active stances and you would also get 1 enhancement point (1 AP for every 12 epic PLs).

There are also Iconic PLs that you get by going from 15-30 and the great thing about them is that when you TR at 30 you get BOTH the Iconic PL for whatever your iconic is, PLUS you also get a class PL! So you get two PLs for 15 levels, which is really efficient. On the other hand, the Iconic PLs are probably the least good. You can have ONE Iconic stance active though and it isn't a bad idea to get three Iconic PLs in whatever Iconic gives you the best stance for your toon. For example, Deep Gnome stance is really good for casters because it is +1 illusion DC and +5 acid spell power or +3 illusion and +15 acid power for three Deep Gnome lives; that can really make your color spray and your acid well spells powerful. Aasimar Scourge gives you +2% doublestrike and 3 of those lives is +6%! That can be really good for melee.

So it does help to know what you like to play and focus on those PLs first. Or alternatively, there are PLs that are good for all characters--with bonuses in Fortification or healing amp for example.

Bottom line on PLs is you do want to TR at 20 to get the 32 point build in your next life and either Dwarf or Wizard could be helpful. It might be better to get 3 of the same first but it isn't necessary. Do what is most fun and don't let PLs control your choices too much, but hopefully you will now make those choices knowing what your options are and what the impacts are.


In terms of shield mastery vs necro focus, you need to think about how you want to play and build accordingly. While Wizards are pretty multifaceted and can do both EK melee as well as caster, it does make sense to focus more on one. If you take necro but you still don't have enough spell pen or DC to make your necro spells hit for full damage, it might be a waste. And if you take some melee feats but not enough to crit enough, then that is sort of weak too. Does that makes sense. So I don't think there is a right or wrong answer but I would recommend deciding what you want to focus on. You can mix in some other types of feats because Wizard is multi-dimensional, but there is a point of diminishing return. So if you want to use shield and you want to focus on melee, I would stick with shield mastery.

Ok all of what you said makes sense. I do enjoy having a caster ability to my characters (even just a little like bards and paladins and such) so it sounds like three wizard past lives would really make my playing experience better! So I think I will focus on that. In fact, I was thinking about making my next life a pure necromancer, 20 wiz for the greater death aura SLA. Play with the more spell side of it.

As for how I will build my current life, I'm unsure. I think I'm going to get the +1 dc to necromancy spells. I am picking up a lot of spell pen otherwise, so I hope it will help. I also decided to go with the +2 necromancy dc from the shroud enhancement. So while I am mostly melee'ing right now, it will slowly develop into me using my Negative blast and Death Aura more, along with any other spells I might gather along the way

Thank you for all your help. I do have one final question though - I heard that getting the augment summoning feat wasn't good to get. If I were to focus on my minions/companions/pets in the harper tree as well, would that still be the case? I'm just curious if I work on better minions if its viable at all (for my next life)

[DoctorOfLiterature]

I’ve never used Summoning feat but I can’t recommend it. It just doesn’t seem seem like a good use of valuable feat slot as pets and summons are just not smart or good enough to justify investing that much in.

[adonanon]

I’ve never used Summoning feat but I can’t recommend it. It just doesn’t seem seem like a good use of valuable feat slot as pets and summons are just not smart or good enough to justify investing that much in.

I see, roger that, thank you Thank you both for all your help. I hope I can keep making decent builds and enjoying the game the way I would like to

[jfgddo]

I’ve never used Summoning feat but I can’t recommend it. It just doesn’t seem seem like a good use of valuable feat slot as pets and summons are just not smart or good enough to justify investing that much in.

I'm currently running with Summons feat, and although they are not very smart, if you invest in PM skeleton knight, he does get pretty tanky and deals somewhat decent damage and almost never dies. With Death Aura running and doing EK for melee, its a fun build IMO!

One point about DDO is you can make whatever kind of character YOU like. It took me several past lives to start making decent characters, but I still make them to what I like. My playstyle varies to what my next live will be, so its constantly varied at least. I also incorporate trapping into all my builds, so you can imagine some peoples reactions when they see some of MY builds lol.

They may not all be super uber powerful kill everything with a wave of the hand, LOL, but I have FUN!!!!

[adonanon]

I'm currently running with Summons feat, and although they are not very smart, if you invest in PM skeleton knight, he does get pretty tanky and deals somewhat decent damage and almost never dies. With Death Aura running and doing EK for melee, its a fun build IMO!

One point about DDO is you can make whatever kind of character YOU like. It took me several past lives to start making decent characters, but I still make them to what I like. My playstyle varies to what my next live will be, so its constantly varied at least. I also incorporate trapping into all my builds, so you can imagine some peoples reactions when they see some of MY builds lol.

They may not all be super uber powerful kill everything with a wave of the hand, LOL, but I have FUN!!!!

Thank you for responding

Yes, I totally agree! I'd rather have fun instead of necessarily one shotting everything. This dwarf build (I actually tweaked it a bit since last edit/post) doesn't one shot anything, even on normal difficulty. But, I have a bunch of melee attacks and if I don't want to melee attack (say, I'm up against a pudding/rust monster) I sit back and let my pet/summon/hireling have at it, and I can support them with death aura and negative burst spells. And while I only have around 220-240 hp at the moment, I can crit on one tick of Death Aura for over 80 hp of healing xD I hardly ever get to near death!

I'm already looking into my next life, and I am using part of an old (like years ago old) Strimtom build (from memory) for an acid based arcane archer ranger - but I made the test character with a tabaxi. That one I can one shot easily with (if not, two shot) but I make it more interesting to me by adding a ton of hide/move silently and sneaking around sniping monsters in the back. I really also want to try it with a melee rogue or maybe even a melee ranger to get those sneak attacks in but in a more difficult way (since I have to be so close).

But i guess the big problem with me and this game is because of how in depth and how varied you can make your characters. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but every other day I want go 'hmm, today I want to try an alchemist' and end up making a whole new character xD