You'll get more help than you can stand…
Ask away. We can offer advice from beginner to guru and much of it will even be good. You can ask in this thread here, or you can go to the more generic DDO thread in our MMO forum,
here. Totally up to you.
Welcome and Hi.
The DDO ruleset is (loosely) based on the 3.5 Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. This was released as OGL content, so you can actually bone up on the core rules by going to
www.d20srd.org.
DDO itself has diverged from that quite a bit, but it's still a good read.
Most of the major differences are behind the scenes, but some of the major ones center around changing to-hit rolls, TWF off hand attacks, AC, and some other things from a roll D20 vs target system to a % based system. Some races are a bit different, mostly Pay-to-play ones. Monk, a pay-to-play class, is also considerably different from it's PnP incarnation.
The thing about DDO, and D&D, is that you can make a wide variety of builds, many completely unplayable, if you're not careful. To that end, I'd highly suggest getting the DDO character planner
http://www.rjcyberware.com/DDO/. Very useful. Another useful link is the
http://ddowiki.com/. Warning, spoilers galore.
Thanks. Found the other thread too, but it seems to be pretty inactive.
Also forget to mention, I am thank god not totally unfamiliar with D&D. Neverwinter Nights 1/2 and the Baldur's Gate saga has kept me busy for many many many hours.
Currently I'm a first lifer level 7 Human Paladin splashed with a rogue level. Took Hunter of the Dead for the healing amp according to
this guide. I assume he knows what he is talking about.
DPS
How does one raise dps? All the weapons I find in chests seem to be carbon copies of eachother. +1/2 enchantment and/or some form of elemental damage.
At level 7 I am running Delera's Tomb over and over for experience and the unique loot. Mostly I want the axe since people seem to swear by it. Already have the voice trinket.
I swear my dps hasn't changed one bit from when I was level 2 and smacking kobolts about. I even raised my STR to 20 through gear and the 1 bonus point. Still hitting around the 20~30 range.
Power Attack/Cleave of course.
I'm going to have a pretty bad time if this keeps up.
Wont even mention the brief stint on Hard. That really was a rude experience.
Evasion Paladin pointless?
Second question is about the survival build that I am running. I did part 1 of Delera's solo at level 6 without hireling. Won't say it was easy, but I managed. Though it send me running and swearing off that place until I had Ghost Touch from my Hunter line. I was pretty proud of my paladin for being able to solo that.
At level 7 I came back for more with my Mace +2 (for the skeleton archers). Took such a beating that I ran back to entrance and summoned my emergency mistress to heal me. Then I blasted through the place, which made my paladin feel useless since I choose to sacrifice dps for survival/self healing when I can get a cheap level 3 hireling and destroy the place with pure dps.
Another point is the beating I took from huge mobs. Already I take such a beating that I need to have a hireling to heal me since selfhealing gets me nowhere, but it will only get worse at level 8 when I switch out my heavy armor for light to activate Evasion. I really don't see the point to survive a fireball to the face only to be cut down by the 5 melee buddies.
Several times I was tempted to just roll a pure monk and go everywhere with a hireling. Only thing currently holding me back are all the nice things Hunter of the Dead gives me. (And Lay on Hands if I am completely honest) Perma Ghost Touch? Immune to fear? Immune to level drain?
I will most likely want to kill myself as monk when I start running into things that drain me. Or the changing of wraps whenever I meet a wraith.
If you're on the Khyber server, you can hop in the guild, and we can help you in game. Depending on level we may even have someone in your level range. Someone is usually starting a new alt or reincarnating an old one. List your characters here, so one of the officers can add you.
Thanks for your offer azraelck, but I will decline for now. Though I will probably love the social aspect of a friendly guild, I am playing from europe. The time difference would keep any social interaction to a minimum.
I admit I only registered to ask you these questions. I try not be one of
'those' who only come running when there is something that benefits me and joining you guys on Khyber will make me feel like a douche.
BBQ