CM, I am looking for another job, and have been. The 13 hours have been killing me, as has the incompetent management. No real luck so far. If I get first shift, it won't affect game-time, until the shift rotation. At which point, no more game time. If I pull 2nd, then it'll be 3 months before I can hit game time. 3rd shift, I could theoretically play for a couple of hours, but have to leave at 8pm in order to reach work on time. I'll probably be volunteering for 3rd just to stay away from shift rotating and the asshole who is the 2nd shift lead.
I intend to run a new Druid before even considering a TR into one. There's too much unknown right now to formulate a build, and of course we can expect some bugs.
As far as the next TR group, I'll be fine to let Corwin run the Druid, and take the Rogue spot. Of course, if Dte wants to try an Artificer, then I may push on into Druid as well.
Remember that while Druids have healing, it comes in a level later save for cure light wounds. So A druid will not have cure Moderate until 5, and then it goes from there. Ultimately, most quests don't even require a full healer, and after awhile a Druid can act as a group healer at need.
It's also possible I'll not TR at all and focus on getting my batch of alts up instead. I have an Artificer, Ranger, and Sorcerer as well as the Monk. Depending on the Enhancement reset and how certain PrEs are changed, I may try Bard again, especially if we have enough melee to work with. One of the issues with the current group was I ended up being more a Fighter by necessity, as we had only one melee.
It's also possible I could attempt both Trap and Bard duties, as they do get a decent amount of skill points. Particularly if I TR Rachail or Fireflash, netting a 36 point build. Or another Exploiter, which has an easier time of being a trap-monkey than even a Bard.
One thing Peter might try other than Paladin again is Monk. A Light Monk is very similar in a lot of ways to a Paladin, including self healing, high saves, and very survivable. Very clicky based as well, with the various finishers and strikes. It's bound to be getting a bit boring playing the same class effectively 8 times now, 4 characters with a TR each.
*Edit*
TWF Khopesh Bard w/ trap skills is a bit of a nightmare. You need all of 5 stats and +2 Tomes just to do it, 2 levels of Fighter for feats, and still I'm lacking quicken and maximize in the planner. Feats are also so tight that Virtuoso is the only PrE option. Human might help, but I lose 5 to all my saves that way, and Evasion is only as good as your reflex save.
So that's not likely to happen. TWF Khopesh, maybe, if Warchanter loses it's feat pre-reqs. I suppose I could dump IC
lash and just use crafted Keen weapons, but meh. Rapier looks like a better option, as that frees up a feat. At least then I could grab Maximize and have effective healing, and qualify for Spellsinger. Only issue there is I have all of two Rapiers, the same one, and they sit in at ML14.
I much prefer the Exploiter option, as it doesn't require a minimum of 14 starting INT and a +2 Tome to boot. Rangers get the TWF feats for free, and if the inane Tempest pre-reqs are ditched then I won't be constrained on feat choices like Fireflash was originally.
Pure Rogue is also nice, though I wish I had more feats. I may consider a 18/2 similar to Rhogu, just to fit in OTWF and Fighter past life for instances when the to-hit isn't enough. My current Rogue build plan uses the Pally past life, assuming Rachail as she has a number of Khopeshes waiting.
Most of the build planning, however, needs to wait as the enhancement reset will change alot of what we plan for now. Feat requirements for PrEs may drop, ap costs will change, and the differences in builds will be drastic.
*edit 2* Triple bonus points in the DDO store until the 1st (Sunday).