TOPIC: LFO - R2 Weird Magic - Fri 10:13 AM

Greetings, fellow adventurers! Let’s work out classes ahead of time so we walk in with builds ready.

We three have NM main and HC+ alternate builds.
1) Elf preferred (alternate Bard, Druid, Cleric, or Wizard). Elf casts Alertness every room.
2) Barbarian preferred (alternate any melee type)
3) Human fighter preferred (alternate Dwarf fighter or other melee type)

We are bringing lots of healing potions and scrolls.
We can loan out:
- 4 x Canteens of Quaffing (Drink a healing potion as a Free Action) with a 10-point healing potion each. Slotless.
- 3 x Horns of the Blessed Ox (cure user 2 points of damage/game). Slotless.
- Hardcore-ready builds w/rare-level gear and a +1 treasure token for all classes.
Looking forward to our run!

Hello!

It seems like 5 of these went back in the pool this morning and I picked up 2 of them. 3 left currently!

We should be fine with NM... build review/guidance would be appreciated =)

1) Druid preferred
2) Dwarf Fighter preferred

Glad I could snag another run.

Hello William! Glad we have compatible class preferences.

I'll be very happy to look at your builds. My key question is whether your goal for the Druid is primarily polymorph, primarily healing/damage spells, or a mix of all three. Personally, when I mostly played Druid I found that builds trying to do all three did poorly at all three (particularly in to-hits at higher difficulty levels), but hey I'm a great believer in folks playing the character that brings them the most joy.

Also, please note that although my three have NM builds we are perfectly fine with playing at HC ... it's been rather a while since we've had a chance to practice physical sliding.

Hey Andy,

I am trying to stay heal/spell since focus. I am looking to probably maximize where the builds are weak and I will swap to arcane charm, ear, belt next year so I might just head that direction now. Hoping to find what is the glaring weakness.

Wiltey
Class: Druid

STR: 15
DEX: 15
CON: 18
INT: 11
WIS: 19
CHA: 15

Melee:
Hit: 4 Damage: 2 AC: 16

Range:
Hit: 3 Damage: 0 AC: 20 Missle AC: 0

Spell:
Damage: 11 Heal: 12 Resist: 0

Saves:
Reflex: 19 Fort: 21 Will: 18

Treasure:
Min: 13 Max: 13

Health: 52

Damage Reduction:

Melee	Range	Spell	Fire	Cold	Shock	Sonic	Eldritch	Poison	Darkrift	Sacred
0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Melee Mainhand: +2 Scepter of Might
Melee Offhand: Orb of Might
Ranged Mainhand: +1 Blunderbuss
Ranged Offhand: Archer’s Buckler
Head: Crown of Focus
Eyes: Lenses of Divine Sight
Left Ear: Earcuff of Vitality
Right Ear: Rum Drinker’s Earcuff
Neck: Amulet of Treasure Finding
Bead: Bead of the Lucky Traveler
Bead: Bead of Chugging
Bead: Bead of Focus
Torso: Armor of Boarding
Wrist: Charm Bracelets
Hands: Gloves of Focus
Back: Lucky Cloak
Back: +2 Cloak of Resistance
Ring: Greater Ring of Reflexes
Ring: Ring of Storms
Waist: Shaman’s Belt
Shirt: Shirt of the Fae
Legs: Pants of Focus
Shins: Flameguard Greaves
Boots: Boots of Might
Figurine: Figurine of Power: Reaver
Charm: Lucky Charm
Charm: Charm of Brooching
Charm: Charm of the Abomination
Charm: Charm of Spell Storing
Charm: Charm of Spell Swapping
Ioun Stone: Ioun Stone Silver Nugget
Ioun Stone: Ioun Stone Platinum Nugget
Ioun Stone: Ioun Stone Gold Nugget
Ioun Stone: Ioun Stone Fluorite Sphere
Ioun Stone: Ioun Stone Beryl Prism
Slotless: Gregor’s Tome of Focus
Slotless: Lotus Blossom Bowls
Slotless: Harlax’s Helpful Lamp
Slotless: Lamp of the Marid
Slotless: Horn of Rally
Slotless: Greater Mistletoe
Slotless: Canteen of Quaffing
Slotless: Horn of the Blessed Ox
Runestone: Empty

Andrew
Class: Dwarf Fighter

STR: 34
DEX: 16
CON: 17
INT: 11
WIS: 19
CHA: 9

Melee:
Hit: 19 Damage: 16 AC: 26

Range:
Hit: 3 Damage: 12 AC: 26 Missle AC: 0

Spell:
Damage: 0 Heal: 0 Resist: 0

Saves:
Reflex: 20 Fort: 18 Will: 17

Treasure:
Min: 7 Max: 7

Health: 65

Damage Reduction:

Melee	Range	Spell	Fire	Cold	Shock	Sonic	Eldritch	Poison	Darkrift	Sacred
0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0

Melee Mainhand: Axe of the Dwarvish Kings - Dwarf
Melee Offhand: Ravager Large Shield
Ranged Mainhand: Mighty Sling
Ranged Offhand: Ravager Large Shield
Head: Defender Helm
Eyes: Lenses of Heimdall Sight
Left Ear: Earcuff of the Sacred
Right Ear: Earcuff of Enlightenment
Neck: Viv’s Amulet of Noble Might
Bead: Bead of Guided Strike
Bead: Bead of Greater Binding
Bead: Bead Unseen Vision
Torso: Death Knight Armor
Wrist: Charm Bracelets
Hands: Death Knight Gauntlets
Back: Lucky Cloak
Back: +2 Cloak of Resistance
Ring: Ring of Heroism
Ring: Ring of Reflexes
Waist: Belt of the Brave
Shirt: Shirt of Blessed Strength
Legs: Pantaloons of the Deeperdark
Shins: Basic Greaves
Boots: Death Knight Boots
Figurine: Figurine of Power: Reaver
Charm: Charm of the Abomination
Charm: Lucky Charm
Charm: Charm of Thorns
Charm: Charm of Enlightenment
Charm: Charm of Brooching
Ioun Stone: Ioun Stone Gold Nugget
Ioun Stone: Ioun Stone Platinum Nugget
Ioun Stone: Ioun Stone Jasper Ellipsoid
Ioun Stone: Ioun Stone Beryl Prism
Ioun Stone: Ioun Stone Faceted Amber
Slotless: Harlax’s Helpful Lamp
Slotless: Lamp of the Efreeti
Slotless: Tankard of Celebration
Slotless: Horn of Rally
Slotless: Horn of the Blessed Ox
Slotless: Canteen of Quaffing
Runestone: Empty

William, as you requested I’ve looked for weaknesses in your builds. I’ve tried to keep the fixes reasonably affordable.

Both builds are very solid, well-made, and certainly NM-ready. Very impressive.

Druid
Your Druid clearly emphasizes healing first and spell damage second. Very useful, particularly when a Cleric, Paladin, or both don’t show up.

Your biggest weakness is running out of damage spells while combat is still ongoing. The faster the monster falls, the less healing the party needs and the more time you have to heal them. Let’s plan for a run with five combat rooms needing an average of three rounds each. That’s 15 combat rounds. A 5th level Druid has 7 attack spells. Spell Swapping and Spell Storing gives you only 10 attack rounds without sacrificing healing spells, and you are unlikely to hit Nightmare ACs with physical weapons.

A cheap and effective solution is a big stash o’ Scrolls Bless and pre-run coordination with the Cleric. Cleric casts Bless the first round of the first combat room, you use a Scroll to cast Bless the first round of every following combat room. Since statistically that will mean the party will probably land one more hit per room, for five bucks per run you effectively get +4 solid attacks per run (for a total of 14), still have all your healing spells, and give the party +1 saves vs. Fear as a bonus. I can give you four Scrolls Bless on our run if you’d like.

Dwarf
Again, a basically solid build. Good HP and AC, as a Dwarf should have.

Two opportunities for improvement jump out. Your Lenses of Heimdall Sight already lets you see the invisible, so you can swap out your Bead of Unseen Vision for another bead. I strongly recommend the $3-$4 Bead of Whole Vision, which eliminates your current 50% chance of missing an incorporeal monster. By my tracking we encounter incorporeals in roughly half the dungeons, and next year sounds as if it will be very undead-heavy.

The other is a matter of personal preference. Your Charm of Thorns does +2 Retribution damage to the monster only if the monster hits your AC26 in melee – not by ranged or spell attacks. If you replace the Thorns with a $22 Charm of the Fire Newt, your Dwarf will do +2 points of damage every hit the Dwarf lands with the axe, making the Dwarf particularly more effective against foes with Damage Resistance. A more budget-friendly replacement would be the $5 Charm of the Earth, which would do +1 point of damage every hit. The issue is whether you would get more joy from boosting your Death Knight set’s Retribution damage or from doing overall more damage with your axe.


William, I hope you find this helpful, and I look forward to our run together!