A Solo Challenge/Collective Diary - All Are Invited

[GuntherBovine]

Do you play solo? Would you like to share experiences with other solo players? Then this is for you

General Challenge Rules

• You must roll a new character for this challenge
• Your character can never party with another player character
• Your character must be "untwinked". You cannot give items to your tournament character from any of your other characters. You cannot take items out of your account bank. Your character cannot accept any item mailed to him/her. You can buy items from the AH or from strangers - no purchases from friends unless you can buyout the same item at the same price on the AH
• Your character must start at level 1 - no veteran characters
• No TR's
• No purchases from the DDO store can go into the inventory or be equiped by the tournament character. Exception: cosmetic items
• Hirelings you buy with plat are fine. No gold seal hirelings
• No participating in in-game lotteries

Specific Tournament Rules

• Each quest can be done once on Normal, once on Hard and once on Elite
• Quests are not to be done on Casual
• Don't set out to kill Rares in explorer areas more than once. If you happen to bump into Rare en route to somewhere else, it is fine to kill it
• It is recommended that you join the challenge guild on Khyber, but it is not required. If you don't join the challenge guild, then you can only use guild benefits from your guild that are available from the challenge guild
• It is recommended that you do all of the optionals available and go for the Ransack and Conquest bonuses for each quest
• You can play any race, any class, etc.
• No equipment restrictions

I hope that is all clear. Let me know if you have any questions

Joining the Challenge
If you want to join the challenge, reply to the post with the latest player list and add your name to the bottom of the list.

Forum Name         Character Name           Rank Lvl Race       Build
GuntherBovine      Sundree Bovine           1    1   Elf        19 Rng/1 Rog Arcane Archer

Collective Diary
The point of this thread is to build a sense of community among solo players. So please periodically post about your character's progress, describing any noteworthy challenges, near death moments (NDM's) and/or finds. Also, update your entry in the latest character list to show your current rank and level. Move your entry so that the tournament list is sorted in descending rank order. Post the character list in your update.

Resources
* Impaqt's Soloing 101 - a Beginners Guide to Soloing
* Thanimal's Axesinger build
* A WF W18/R2 PM build
* A Drow Rgr12/Pal6/Rog2 build
* Chimeran's Bear Shaman build
* A thread discussing solo builds
* My solo journal (but not for this tournament)
* augie's Journal of an Experienced Newbie
* Goldeneye's Guide to Choosing Your Best End Reward
* Kaidar's New Players Journey
* Impaqt's A New Players Guide to Getting Ahead in Stormreach
* The many, many people contributing and organizing the Definitive Static Rewards and Unique Loot
* MrCow's Diaries of a True Reincarnate (Melee)
* Steiner-Davion's Definitive Collectables List
* Aranticus' Clickies, The Route To Self Sufficiency
* DDO Wiki!!
Mockduck's DDO Cast
* Ollathir's All-In-One links thread: ***DDO Links***

11/29/10 Edit: Removed the rule about not participating in festivals and corrected a spelling error
01/14/11 Edit: Changed the rule about killing rares
02/23/11 Edit: Changed the guild location to Khyber

[Dirac]

I did this under nearly exactly your rule set a few years ago. The only difference that I can tell is that I forced myself to do every thing possible in each quest - each monster, each collectable, breakable, trap, etc. I made it to level 13 before I became tired of the game. I would have two suggestions:

1. Do not allow the AH. This is a type of twinking. It allows serious meta-gaming because certain items are worth so much more to real world power-gamers than other things. Also, those who know how to work the AH can become much richer and thus more powerful than those who are not as experienced.

2. Do any quest as many times as you want on any difficulty. I found not being able to run certain quests again a drag. There is already an xp hit for dong it too many times. It seems like a good idea at the time, but the challenge just ends up making it less fun.

I think I am done with this particular challenge, myself, but I wish you the best of luck. It was some of the most fun I had in the game.

Edit: I found the old thread concerning the challenge: here

[GuntherBovine]

I did this under nearly exactly your rule set a few years ago. The only difference that I can tell is that I forced myself to do every thing possible in each quest - each monster, each collectable, breakable, trap, etc. I made it to level 13 before I became tired of the game. I would have two suggestions:

1. Do not allow the AH. This is a type of twinking. It allows serious meta-gaming because certain items are worth so much more to real world power-gamers than other things. Also, those who know how to work the AH can become much richer and thus more powerful than those who are not as experienced.

The problem with this is that the items that drop in quests are at such a lower level then the character. My main toon is finally getting +2 weapons now that she is running level 8 quests. Also, lots of players enjoy buying and selling on the AH. In your post, you said, "I considered not using the AH for about 10 seconds. Not because I thought it would be too hard, but that I love the AH. I love finding neat stuff, good deals, and selling cool things I find. For me, the AH is a big part of my fun." Why did you change your mind?

2. Do any quest as many times as you want on any difficulty. I found not being able to run certain quests again a drag. There is already an xp hit for dong it too many times. It seems like a good idea at the time, but the challenge just ends up making it less fun.

Could you expand on this? I haven't had any problems through level 8. The main problem I have is that most of the quests at my level are long or very long and I rarely have that much playing time.

Edit: I found the old thread concerning the challenge: here

Sadly, you created the thread shortly before you abandoned the character. I would have enjoyed reading about more of your adventures.

[GuntherBovine]

Not surprisingly, not exciting has happened. I like to take Self-Sufficient as my first Feat and Iron Companion as my first enhancement. An Iron Defender is so overpowered compared to enemies in level 1-2 quests. I will swap out the feat around level 5-6. If I can use stealth on a quest, I won't summon the Iron Defender, otherwise I will. I haven't used a hireling so far.

As for the AH, yes you can make money off the AH and I love to do so. However, my experience has been that since U7, doing the harbor quests will generate more money faster. My toon has found 2 Small Eberron Dragonshards and bought a third from another player for 4.5k. She cleared 7k a piece on the first two and has yet to list the third. Just to see how much this toon can make just questing, I am not buying for the AH or pawn vendors in order to resell.

My equipment for the most part is Korthos items. A +3 Open Locks gloves is the only found item I have kept.

[Dirac]

The problem with this is that the items that drop in quests are at such a lower level then the character. My main toon is finally getting +2 weapons now that she is running level 8 quests. Also, lots of players enjoy buying and selling on the AH. In your post, you said, "I considered not using the AH for about 10 seconds. Not because I thought it would be too hard, but that I love the AH. I love finding neat stuff, good deals, and selling cool things I find. For me, the AH is a big part of my fun." Why did you change your mind?

Good point. I might start with being able to buy from the AH, but not sell and see if that makes the right balance between challenge. When I did this it was pre-korthos and pre-dungeon scaling, so it was a lot harder to solo.

I don't play the AH much any more. That was pre-shroud, and it is a lot faster to make money just running higher level quests than playing the market.

Could you expand on this? I haven't had any problems through level 8. The main problem I have is that most of the quests at my level are long or very long and I rarely have that much playing time.

That is one reason, some quests fit your time better. xp is still another, especially if you are running with a TR character, which I probably would if I had to do it again. The main reasons, though are 1: fun, some quests I like a lot more and would like to do them more often and 2: rare drops, the early quests chains are the place to find +2 items, Tangleroot for +3 items, muckbane, delera's for voice and cartouche, etc.

Sadly, you created the thread shortly before you abandoned the character. I would have enjoyed reading about more of your adventures.

As a pure melee, things started getting very difficult. I could still do them, but there were, essentially, no short quests to do. Everything took a big time committment. Also, The Shroud made high level characters fun to play again for me. I'd have to think back about some of the accomplishments up to level 13: I think I had only single digit deaths and re-enters. However, I look forward to seeing yours.

[Ron]

I play a character under basically the same rules (except no AH, no Hirelings, and I run Casual prior to Normal). It's a pretty slow process, because I do it for a while, then leave, then come back. I'm not really in any hurry, heh.

http://www.rjcyberware.com/DDO/DDOSolo.php

I find that there is WAY too much XP available (under my rules), I am generally well over the level of the quests I am running. I could skip quests to get to appropriate levels, but I am more inclined to just let the character run the quests (due to my completionist nature, not to mention, Elite is REALLY hard, heh).

Anyway, good luck. It's a fun challenge. Much different from the usual DDO play.

[GuntherBovine]

Good point. I might start with being able to buy from the AH, but not sell and see if that makes the right balance between challenge. When I did this it was pre-korthos and pre-dungeon scaling, so it was a lot harder to solo.

To me, the point of this challenge is to have fun and to share that fun. For me, what is fun is grabbing every collectable and smashing every crate/vase/etc. If I can't sell things on the AH, then that would really take away the fun of grabbing and smashing. Now, there is a little suspense every time I grab or smash something - will I get something good this time? A deadly feverblanch? A vial of pure water? Some masterwork arrows? A useful potion? If I can't sell it on the AH, then that little suspense is gone as those items are no longer money makers. Of course, your mileage may vary.

I play a character under basically the same rules (except no AH, no Hirelings, and I run Casual prior to Normal). It's a pretty slow process, because I do it for a while, then leave, then come back. I'm not really in any hurry, heh.

First off, your character planner is awesome and I use it for all of my characters. Thank you so much for taking the time to keep it up to date. I saw a post of yours on your solo character - a female cleric if I remember right. Yours and other posts made me think that there are quite a few players who play solo.

I find that there is WAY too much XP available (under my rules), I am generally well over the level of the quests I am running. I could skip quests to get to appropriate levels, but I am more inclined to just let the character run the quests (due to my completionist nature, not to mention, Elite is REALLY hard, heh).

I try to do the quest the first time on Normal with my character one level above the quest level. I purchased some quest packs, but not so much that I feel like I have too many options when I level up. I do Hard and Elite when I can. My level 8 toon is now doing the level 3 quests on Elite - "The Swiped Signet" still managed to kill her.

Anyway, good luck. It's a fun challenge. Much different from the usual DDO play.

For me, solo is my usual DDO play. I got so disgusted with low level PUG's that I switched over to playing solo. Once my toons start struggling with solo play, I will probably starting PUGing again.

[Ron]

I try to do the quest the first time on Normal with my character one level above the quest level. I purchased some quest packs, but not so much that I feel like I have too many options when I level up. I do Hard and Elite when I can. My level 8 toon is now doing the level 3 quests on Elite - "The Swiped Signet" still managed to kill her.

Yeah, Swiped Signet is tough. That's one of the last level 3 quests I haven't yet done on Elite. Pretty much I'm just avoiding it until I HAVE to do it (which is more or less now, as I'm basically done with all the other level 3s on elite).

Wait unitl you get to Devil's Assault. My Level 9 character cannot finish that quest on Casual (a level 6 quest). And I've tried two or three times now, knowing exactly what to expect and taking every defensive measure I know (a full range of buffs and protections/resists). I get my arse beat down every time (generally on the final wave). That's a tough quest to solo.

[GuntherBovine]

Yeah, Swiped Signet is tough. That's one of the last level 3 quests I haven't yet done on Elite. Pretty much I'm just avoiding it until I HAVE to do it (which is more or less now, as I'm basically done with all the other level 3s on elite).

My advice - after you kill the WF party, cast Exp Retreat and Invisibility on yourself (I am assuming you have those clickies). Then run down the ramp, across the big room, up the ramp, past the door, to the switch and kill the archers there. They were chewing up my toon and I couldn't kill them from below. Once I cast invisibility on my toon, they started shooting my summons instead and let me get up to them.

Wait unitl you get to Devil's Assault. My Level 9 character cannot finish that quest on Casual (a level 6 quest). And I've tried two or three times now, knowing exactly what to expect and taking every defensive measure I know (a full range of buffs and protections/resists). I get my arse beat down every time (generally on the final wave). That's a tough quest to solo.

I haven't purchased Devil's Assault and based upon your description, it isn't on my list.

Last night, I soloed Proof is in the Poison on Hard. It took me 80 minutes to do and I was out of SP's before the final two battles, but my hireling, summons and wand collection got me through. I am sure I spent far more on wand charges than what I earned in loot. I think with enough wands, I could do it on Elite.

[GuntherBovine]

Forum Name         Character Name           Rank Lvl Race       Build
GuntherBovine      Sundree Bovine          16    4   Elf        19 Rng/1 Rog Arcane Archer

Deaths or Near Death Experiences since last update
I got killed in the Mabar festival. I was killing some zombies and didn't realize that someone had activated a Mummy Warrior. It killed me with 2 hits before I knew I was in danger. In quests, the closest I had to a NDE was going toe-to-toe with Bloodknuckle

Quest I had the most trouble with since last update
Redemption on Hard. I was fine but Heyton kept dying. I finally figured out that casting Mage Armor and Cat's Grace on him would greatly increase his survivability

Best Find since last update
Muckbane! First time I got one. Goldscuttle gave me a bow and a heavy pick of Repitilian Bane that were useful

How Did It Go since last update
I had played Arcane Archers before and realized later that sneaking around took a lot of time without adding much value. Sundree's big problem is a terrible Will Save, which means she can easily be held. I haven't used a hireling yet and I am undecided on if I will. My experience is that hirelings with melee characters tend to charge into combat and get killed

[GuntherBovine]

Forum Name         Character Name           Rank Lvl Race       Build
GuntherBovine      Sundree Bovine          22    5   Elf        19 Rng/1 Rog Arcane Archer

Deaths or Near Death Experiences since last update
I went down to 10 hp while doing "Walk the Butcher's Path" on Hard.

Quest I had the most trouble with since last update
"Walk the Butcher's Path" on Hard. My bow isn't very useful on Hard quests as the mobs are on me before I can kill them and with a weak Will saving throw, Kobold Shamans on Hard are too successful with Hold Person

Best Find since last update
Other than collectables, +3 Search googles

How Did It Go since last update
Surprisingly easy. "Walk the Butcher's Path" was the only quest I had a hard time on. I am up to 54k plat by selling items that I find or from offers on the trade channel. Hopefully I will get enough by level 7 to buy a +2 Int Tome

[GuntherBovine]

Forum Name         Character Name           Rank Lvl Race       Build
GuntherBovine      Sundree Bovine          26    6   Elf        19 Rng/1 Rog Arcane Archer

Deaths or Near Death Experiences since last update
In the next to last boss battle in "Proof is in the Poison" (Oran Zatio?), I didn't buff enough before the big fight and got knocked to single digit HP's.

Quest I had the most trouble with since last update
"Proof is in the Poison". The quest is so freaking long and I kept falling into the acid.

Best Find since last update
No finds come to mind

How Did It Go since last update
I am really enjoying this build. I have a lot of tactical options during quests, which makes things interesting. When I am able to see a long ways, I am able to kill a lot of stuff with the bow. Combine that with the Steel Companion and she rarely gets in tough melee battles, though she is pretty good when she has to melee.

[Frotz]

Quest I had the most trouble with since last update
"Proof is in the Poison". The quest is so freaking long and I kept falling into the acid.

There's only one room that requires precision jumping, the one where you have to jump from pedestal to pedestal to hit the switch on the wall. If you're falling in anywhere else you're either just having some bad luck or don't know the right route. In the room with the half-flights of stairs and all the pipes you can either clamber up or make simple jumps to get up to the valve if you go the right way.

[GuntherBovine]

There's only one room that requires precision jumping, the one where you have to jump from pedestal to pedestal to hit the switch on the wall. If you're falling in anywhere else you're either just having some bad luck or don't know the right route. In the room with the half-flights of stairs and all the pipes you can either clamber up or make simple jumps to get up to the valve if you go the right way.

How did I fall in the acid? Let me count the ways. In the first room with acid, I just blew an easy jump and landed in the acid. I ran out of the acid and was immediately ambushed. In the room with the half-flight of stairs, I had no problem getting to the valve. I then got greedy and decided to go smash the barrels on islands along the walls. It takes a lot better jump then I have to jump safely from island to island along the walls. In the acid room with the switch, I again missed a jump on the way to the switch. I made it from the switch to the exit without a problem.

[Philibusta]

This is a really interesting idea. Kudos.

I got some guildie-social-party-keep-u-with-the-Joneses type characters. but I do greatly enjoy my solo play. Ah, the freedom. Freedom from waiting around for a pug; freedom from guild responsibilities (lol and on the other end, "freedom" from ship buffs); freedom from other people telling me what gear I should have or what spell I should cast or how I should play my character; freedom from idiot Barbarians that run face-first through all the traps before I can disable them for XP and parts.

I recently started a solo character (who wouldn't be eligible for this tournament, if it's even still going. He's a Vet char and slightly (just slightly) twinked). Having alot of fun with him though and finding his survivability is pretty good.

If you're still doing this tournament thing, please PM me or something and let me know. I might be interested in participating. I could roll up a new character (using your tourney rules) to do it.

Just one question though: You have a rule about "Each rare in an explorer area can be killed only once." You're probably already aware of this, but there are numerous rares in wilderness areas (Three-Barrel Cove, The Red Fens, Ataraxia) that are just kind of there, out in the open (i.e. no need to zone to a "small cave" or anywhere to get to them.) So um....wanna send me a party invite when you run into one of these guys the second time, so I can watch you run away?

Anyway yeah I like your idea, very interesting and could be fun to have a solo character in a guild of like-minded people to discuss various solo experiences, strategies, funnies, etc. Thanks for posting and reviving this thread, might not have seen it otherwise.

<<Shhhhh....there's some people out there that will get their knickers all in a twist if you do this too much. They use the rather ugly word "necroing" (Ewww..brings up some very disturbing mental pics). They might whine at you and ask you why you're not posting to only the shiniest-brand-newiest-of-the-new threads. I suggest laughter followed by forgetting them.>>

[GuntherBovine]

I got some guildie-social-party-keep-u-with-the-Joneses type characters. but I do greatly enjoy my solo play. Ah, the freedom. Freedom from waiting around for a pug; freedom from guild responsibilities (lol and on the other end, "freedom" from ship buffs); freedom from other people telling me what gear I should have or what spell I should cast or how I should play my character; freedom from idiot Barbarians that run face-first through all the traps before I can disable them for XP and parts.

Exactly.

If you're still doing this tournament thing, please PM me or something and let me know. I might be interested in participating. I could roll up a new character (using your tourney rules) to do it.

I am still doing it. I sent you a PM

Just one question though: You have a rule about "Each rare in an explorer area can be killed only once." You're probably already aware of this, but there are numerous rares in wilderness areas (Three-Barrel Cove, The Red Fens, Ataraxia) that are just kind of there, out in the open (i.e. no need to zone to a "small cave" or anywhere to get to them.) So um....wanna send me a party invite when you run into one of these guys the second time, so I can watch you run away?

I had been meaning to change the rule. I didn't want people to farm rares for XP, but the rule was too restrictive because as you say, sometimes you run into the same rares as you are en route to somewhere else.

Anyway yeah I like your idea, very interesting and could be fun to have a solo character in a guild of like-minded people to discuss various solo experiences, strategies, funnies, etc. Thanks for posting and reviving this thread, might not have seen it otherwise.

If you are looking for solo builds, check out my Soloing 102 thread.

[Morgothrond]

[QUOTE=GuntherBovine;3389137]Do you play solo? Would you like to share experiences with other solo players? Then this is for you]

I just wanted to say thanks for the soloing advice you've placed in several posts. I tend to agreee with you regarding your opinions about low level parties, as a fairly new player and a fairly casual one (none of my toons have reached above level 6 due to my job or my wife getting in the middle, though i finally convinced her to join me) soloing is the best choice, specifically to do things at your own pace without annoying other experienced players, around here my experience has been that of experienced players either dishing my builds or running around in a quest with me trying to enjoy the whole of it lagging behind or not knowing what to do, i sincerely hope it has only been my experience and not a general rule.

That is why I wanted to thank you, you've dedicated some time to write all of that advice.

Right now i am running an elf wizard lv 3 and counting. Haven't died a single time. For what I have read, elven wizards are not popular among posters here, but I really enjoy taking my pen and paper character and try to reproduce it here, playing as a dungeons and dragons fan.

Regards from Mexico.

[GuntherBovine]

I just wanted to say thanks for the soloing advice you've placed in several posts.

Wow. I am touched. Thanks!

Right now i am running an elf wizard lv 3 and counting. Haven't died a single time. For what I have read, elven wizards are not popular among posters here, but I really enjoy taking my pen and paper character and try to reproduce it here, playing as a dungeons and dragons fan.

To me, the most important rule is to play what you enjoy. I started an "Arcanes for Newbies" post and never finished it. It is below. Hopefully it will help you. Also, do the Waterworks quests as quickly as you can and take the eternal wand of acid splash. It is awesome for extending your SP's

GuntherBovine's Guide for Newbie Arcanes

This guide is intended to help players playing their first Wizard or Sorcerer through levels 1 to 4.

When I first started reading the forums for how to play a wizard, I kept finding conflicting advice:
* "You are going to suck until you get Wall of Fire
* "You can solo all of Korthos and the Harbor with just a big weapon and web"
*"At very low level as a Wizard, first Hypnotize and then Web are your only real contributions to quests"
* "You are better off using spells for buffing and stick close to your party"
Later I realized that the conflicting advice was all good advice, but the posters didn't provide context for their advice so the advice appeared conflicting. So I am going to try to provide a lot of context and then put my advice within the context.

Definitions

Build Types
For arcanes, there are three common build types:
S20 - a build where the character will wind up with 20 sorcerer levels
W20 - a build where the character will wind up with 20 wizard levels
W18/R2 - a build where the character will wind up with 18 wizard levels and 2 rogue levels. The first level taken is always rogue and the second rogue level is typically taken 9

Combat Style
How do you play when in combat. Generally, there is a primary way you play and a secondary way
Self-buffed melee - you kill things by whacking on them with a melee weapon. You cast spells on yourself to maximize the damage you deal and minimize the damage you take
Nuker - you kill things with spells
Crowd Control (CC) - you either freeze large numbers of enemies or convert them to your side
Your questing style may vary as you level because of SP limitations and what spell availablility.

Questing Style
How do you play in a quest
Slow and steady - you want to play it safe through a quest, have a plan of action before entering an area, killing everything in an area, then healing up. You typically want to do all subquests and smash all the breakables
Charger - you want to get a quest quickly, killing mobs quickly and then moving on to the next area. You are likely to skip subquests
Zerger - you run through quests, killing enemies only when you have to. You rarely do subquests

Social Style
What other players do you play with
Solo solo - you do quests by yourself with no hirelings or summons
Solo with company - you do quests without other players, but with hirelings and summons
Static group - you play with the fixed group of friends
Guildie - you play with different players, but they come for a fixed pool of typically experienced players
Pick Up Groups (PUG's) - you play with players you find through the social panel
You may wind up playing multiple social styles. For example, you might solo a lot of quests but find PUG's for elite quests and quests designed for parties (e.g. Kobold Assault)

Quest Selection Style
How do you choose which quests to play
Everything one time through - you play every quest, but only once at each difficulty level
What levels me up quickly - you play quests that you will get the most experience per minute of game time. You aren't very concerned about favor
What you can find a PUG for - your quest choice is driven by what PUG's are running. You typically try to earn favor with each quest, but you will repeat quests if that is what the group wants to do
Elite!!!1! - you play quests primarily on elite for the challenge and to get the max favor quickly

General Discussion

Now that we have a skleleton, time to put some meat on it.

Build Types
W18/R2 - This is the build if you are going to do a significant amount of soloing. The rogue skills are vital if you are soloing because traps on elite can kill you and you can get to chests behind locked doors. This build at early levels does significantly less spell damage than the other builds. You don't get the Apprentice's Robe after The Grotto quest (you get the Ember Shortbow instead), so at level 2 will be casting 1-10 Niac's where as a W20 or S20 will be casting 3-30 Niac's. You also have significantly less SP's at early levels than a W20 or a S20. Consequently, the Nuker combat style is out at early levels. Your rogue skills will make you popular with parties. You can be effective at any type of quest.
S20 - Sorcerers get far more SP's than Wizards, but can't change spells as easily. S20's tend to favor the Nuker combat style and avoid the self-buffed melee combat style. You have to pick your spells carefully if you are going to play a variety of quests. Invest in scrolls, wands and clickies to provide spells to make up for the small number of spells that you know.
W20 - W20's are more flexibles than S20's, but don't have as much SP's.

Combat Style
Self-buffed melee - Here is a 28 point build for this type of character. WF is the race of choice for this questing style because a WF of their immunities and their ability to self-heal while in combat. W18/R2 is the best build type for this type. Wizard provides an increased number of buffs over a sorcerer and rogue levels provide evasion. Your three most important stats are Intelligence, Constitution and Strength.
Nuker - Here is a S20 build and here is a W20 build. It is vital for a nuker to know the saving throws of the enemies you are facing (see here. When you hit level 2, you want to get the Robe of Duality, an end reward from the catacombs quest line. It is bound to your account, so an excellent twink item. At level 2, buy a superior weapon for each type of damage spell you use (freeze for cold and combustion for fire are the main two). They provide a 75% boost to your spell damage (the description is wrong), last for 3 minutes and have 3 charges. You want to always equip a weapon that boosts your SP (Power II at level 1, Power III at level 2, Wizardry II at level 4). At level 4, put your SP boosting weapon in your left hand and put in your right hand either a +1 conjuration or +1 evocation weapon depending on the spell you are casting.
Crowd Control (CC) - you either freeze large numbers of enemies or convert them to your side

Advice

The most important advice is to play what you enjoy playing. If you get a kick out of playing a Halfing self-buffed melee or a Dwarf nuker, go for it.

To me, you should first decide on your Questing Style, then your Social Style, then start making build choices to fit those two styles.

[JoeyWMD]

so a crazy modded version of PD rules involving soloing? Interesting, if you were on Ghallanda I'd roll up a bard to play with, matter of fact may X-Post over there, one question. Vet Status? it IS an account option.

[GuntherBovine]

so a crazy modded version of PD rules involving soloing? Interesting, if you were on Ghallanda I'd roll up a bard to play with, matter of fact may X-Post over there, one question. Vet Status? it IS an account option.

I just updated the location of the guild - it is on Khyber, not Sarlona. Yeah, I am currently playing an even crazier modded version where the toon is mostly self-found. She is up to level 7. I was planning on writing up her adventures as a user guide as no one was paying attention to this thread.

Edit: I don't understand your question on Vet Status. Are you saying you want to start a toon at level 4? Doing so would IMHO screw up the quest restriction.