I think the Ranger's role is primarily taking out what's coming ahead - or at least crippling it so that the upcoming enemies are easier to defend.
That's how I see it, personally, but I'm still a relatively newbie here.
And Rogues can do something some other classes can not do (at least not that I know of) : Disarm traps, yes, even use the parts of traps for building new traps or "grenades" (the Free Agents have something for that), as far as I understood it, plus Rogues can open some doors others cannot open or need a spell for opening.
Which leads me to me doing the Dryden's Crypt in the Catacombs today on "hard". I knew there is such a oor I just cannot open - so I bought a "bell of opening" ? or how it is called in the DDO shop.
D'oh ! I lost contact to the servers, had to restart …
At one point AFTER this quest I found out that the price for these "bells" have been discounted ! I had paid 40 points for it - ca. an hour or even less later it was only 32 ! Had I waited long enough … *sigh*
But well, I've git the Family Treasure now.
Apropos treasure - I noticed that I had forgotten a nice thing about trading : If you ever did the Waterworks quest chain for the first time … - One of the rewards is an discount by the harbor merchant - Elpeth whatshername … I've checked her prices and she definitively pays a bit more for the stuff you sell her !
So now I'll rather sell my stuff at hear in the future …
I'm slowly but steadily aiming at my 10.000 Plat … I'm even checking treasure chests now about what to take with me …
- It's because every item description has at the very bottom of the description window a tiny entry of a "base value" … So, if I don't have enough storage room in my inventory anymore, then I'm taking from the chests what has the highest value …
Right now I'm at mid-7000s.
Because repair still consumes a lot of money, the better the weapon, the higher the repair costs …
And last : Yesterday I finished my second run-through of Tangleroot Gorge … Sadly the end reward/bounty didn't include the fire resistence ring I wanted to have (and did this run-through for), but at least I've got a +3 con belt now …
Plus I have a +3 two-handed weapon now …
About character building . I think it should be clear to everyone what a character/toon at least NEEDS to be effective in his/her role ... Wizards, for example, need relatively high values in Int,Wiz & Cha, depending on what kind/class of magic user this is, Rangers use mainly dex & str, and all, no matter which class, need con.
That's how I see it. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Aprops "playing a soul stone" : After having slain the former Splinterskull Chief, I wanted to "clean" the place where the old Totem was, too - and was killed by the traps leading to the throne room !
I was followed by Flower, the still mostr versatile Cleric Hireling I've encountered yet, and her last yell before she was killed as well was full of anger and hatred directed at mr : "But that wasn't part of the plan !" Although an NPC, she managed that I felt guilty ... Fortunately, there was an resurrection shrine nearby, which I used. Bothwere up and happy again and what followed was indeed the cleaning of the former witch doctor's own "throne room" ...