Strimtom’s Beginner Basics Build Guides
Table of Contents
- Melee Builds
- Spell Builds
- Specialist & Archetype Builds
- Gear Lists & Evaluation
- Leveling & Enhancements Overview
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Melee Builds
Beginner Fighter
This section describes a melee fighter build designed to be played with a sword and shield. The build emphasizes shield defenses, shield bash and stun capabilities, and passive shield hits while attacking with an axe. It is suggested to use a dwarven war axe for maximum effectiveness, though the approach accepts other races with a modification that the dwarven war axe proficiency may need to be moved depending on race choices.
- Do I have to play as this race?
- No, any race works, but dwarven war axe proficiency is optimal for the intended weapon synergy. If not playing a dwarf, proficiency should be taken by level 2 with adjustments to the feat order.
- How Easy/Hard is this build to play solo?
- Shields provide strong defense against traps, making solo play feasible with potions and a healer hireling.
- Do you have an alternative build?
- Yes, there is a dedicated fighter tank build intended for group play with significantly lower damage, ideal for party dynamics.
Class/Race/Alignment/Stats (example from provided text):
- Classes: Fighter 20
- Race: Dwarf
- Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
- Stats (28pt / 32pt / Level Up):
- Strength 17 / 18
- Dexterity 13 / 14
- Constitution 16 / 16
- Intelligence 12 / 12
- Wisdom 8 / 8
- Charisma 6 / 6
- Feats (selected milestones):
- 1: Two Handed Fighting, Fighter: Weapon Focus: Slashing
- 2: Fighter: Dodge
- 3: Mobility
- 4: Fighter: Weapon Specialization: Slashing
- 6: Improved Two Handed Fighting, Fighter: Whirlwind Attack
- 8: Fighter: Improved Critical: Slashing
- 9: Spring Attack
- 10: Fighter: Greater Weapon Focus: Slashing
- 12: Greater Two Handed Fighting, Fighter: Precision
- 14: Greater Weapon Specialization: Slashing
- 15: Tactical Mastery
- 16: Tactical Supremacy
- 18: Power Critical / Fighter: Superior Weapon Focus: Slashing
- 20: Tactical Combatant
- 21 Epic: Patience
- 22 Destiny: Perfect Two Handed Fighting
- 24 Epic: Eerie Aim
- 25 Destiny: Doublestrike
- 27 Epic: Overwhelming Critical
- 28 Destiny: Deific Warding
- 30 Epic: Epic Damage Reduction
- 30 Legend: Scion of: Arborea
- 31 Destiny: Shield Mastery Specialty
- 33 Epic: Tactical Training
- 34 Destiny: Titan's Blood
Beginner Barbarian
This build is a straightforward two-handed barbarian melee with emphasis on raw damage. It provides passive healing and early hit points to sustain during fighting. The author notes that lock bash is optional earlier in the progression, but can be adopted early if desired to unlock lock picking.
- Race recommendations: Half-Orc recommended for lock picking and extra strength.
- Solo play: Very easy with potions and healer hireling; blood trait and frenzy-related abilities help sustain.
- Alternative builds: A tank-focused fighter is available as an alternative.
Stats/Feats/Enhancements/Spells/Destinies: (Representative example from the provided data)
- Classes: Barbarian 20
- Enhancements: Frenzied Berserker, Ravager, Occult Slayer (various AP allocations, totals shown in document)
- Destinies: Fury of the Wild, Primal Avatar, Legendary Dreadnought, etc.
Beginner Paladin
This build emphasizes a two-handed holy warrior with strong smiting capabilities, healing spells, and defensive auras. It leverages greatsword-based play and includes various Paladin-centric enhancements and spell lists across multiple levels.
- Races: Human recommended for access to a wide range of feats; other races can be used with modifications to feat selection and UMD requirements.
- Solo play: Paladin provides healing and immunity to several effects, enabling solid solo play with a healer hireling for best results.
- Alternatives: Bow Paladin is mentioned as a viable alternative for ranged play with Horizon Walker synergy.
Key Progression:
- Classes: Paladin 20
- Race: Human
- Alignment: Lawful Good
- Stats (28pt / 32pt): Strength 17 / 18, Dexterity 8 / 8, Constitution 14 / 14, Intelligence 8 / 8, Wisdom 11 / 12, Charisma 14 / 14
- Feats: Includes Two Handed Fighting, Power Attack, Improved Two Handed Fighting, Greater Two Handed Fighting, Weapon Focus: Slashing, Power Critical, and others across levels.
Beginner Monk
A hand-to-hand monk focused on melee techniques to stun and control foes, with emphasis on discipline and using ki-powered abilities. This build emphasizes dexterity and wisdom for hit/damage, with early reliance on Con or Wis for certain paths.
- Race: Wood Elf recommended for stat synergy; other races acceptable.
- Solo play: Considerable, with early wis-damage contributions from henshin mystic and later Wind/Whirlwind Attack improvements.
- Enhancements/Destinies/Spells: Shintao path with various AP allocations; Ninja Spy and Henshin Mystic as sub-trees.
Beginner Sorcerer
A fire-dominant evocation wizard-like sorcerer, with strong explosion spells and dragonborn synergy to maximize fire-based damage. The build includes standard spell sets, deities (Onatar), and multiple destinies (Draconic Incarnation, Primal Avatar, Fury of the Wild, etc.).
- Race: Dragonborn highly recommended; other races less optimal due to power/strength differentials.
- Solo play: Mixed; early levels slow, but level 4 scorch accelerates progression; potion hireling support recommended.
- Spells/Enhancements/Destinies: Complex tree choices including Dragonborn Breath, Evocation-focused paths, and elemental synergy.
Beginner Wizard
Evocation-focused wizard with double specialization for battlefield control and high-damage spells. It uses Archmage-like capabilities with a focus on evocation and enchantment schools with additional fighter-like melee potential in some paths.
- Race: Gnome recommended for INT-based benefits and color spray crowd control; Drow for INT bonus possible.
- Solo play: Rough early game; strong endgame potential with well-managed spell points and compendium metamagics.
- Enhancements/Destinies: Archmage, Pale Master, Eldritch Knight (Wizard), Gnome flavor feats, Draconic Incarnation for evocation synergy.
Beginner Cleric
A fire-domain cleric build focused on burning enemies with holy fire, while providing healing and crowd control. Complex spell lists across levels emphasize offensive and defensive capabilities with aura and smite options.
- Race: Human recommended for synergy; other races possible with feat adjustments.
- Solo play: Slower start for spellcasters, but with metamagics and spell-like abilities can grow into a robust caster.
- Key spell lists: Cure Wounds, Bless, Shield of Faith, Death Ward, Flame Strike, Fireball, Mass Heal, Solar alignment-focused spells.
Beginner Favoured Soul
A holy archon-like favored soul build with direct healing and light-based damage spells, leveraging wisdom for hit/damage and access to a close-quarter melee option via quarterstaff when early leveling.
- Races: Human recommended for flexibility; alternative races viable with feat adjustments.
- Solo play: Very easy, especially once Close Wounds and other spell-like abilities come online.
- Destinies/Spells/Enhancements: Divine Disciple, Warpriest, Radiant Servant, and Favored Soul-specific core trees with a focus on Wisdom-driven combat and support.
Spell Builds
Beginner Sorcerer (reiterated for emphasis)
A fire-dominant spellcraft user with strong metamagics, scorch and chain-lightning synergy, and Evocation-based upgrades. Dragonborn is highly recommended for direct elemental synergy with fire.
- Spells: Burning Hands, Scorch, Fireball, Chain Lightning, Delayed Blast Fireball, Meteor Swarm, Arcane Tempest, Sunburst, etc.
- Enhancements: Dragonborn abilities and Draconic Heritage, plus Arcane Knight/Eldritch Knight options for spell-sword synergy.
- Destinies: Draconic Incarnation, Exalted Angel, Primal Avatar, Unyielding Sentinel, etc.
Draconic & Elemental Focus (Draconic Incarnation)
A cross-tree Evocation-focused lineage with Dragon Breath, Arcane Studies, and culminating boosts to Dragon Breath and Dragonform for epic-level power. With Draconic Exposure and Evocation core mastery, this path emphasizes maximizing true dragon-inspired power.
Archetype Builds
Beginner Rogue
Assassin rogue build focused on dual-wielding daggers with powerful sneak attack damage and high evasion. A Vistani tree option provides an AoE front-line attack synergy, though not mandatory.
- Race: Elf recommended due to dex-based stat bonuses and racial traits.
- Solo play: Challenging but manageable with trap handling and stealth; epic Quick Cutter at level 20 simplifies endgame.
- Key: Feats include Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Critical: Piercing, Greater Two Weapon Fighting, Eerie Aim, Overwhelming Critical, etc.
Specialist Archer (Ranger)
A bow-focused ranger with heavy emphasis on dexterity, archery feats, and favored enemy improvements. The build centers on mobility, accuracy, and long-range damage with a heavy investment in 'Favored Enemy' bonuses and archery-specific class features.
- Race: Elf or Wood Elf for dex boosts.
- Solo play: Good at range; traps are avoidable with evasion and reflex saves.
- Spells/Enhancements: Deepwood Stalker, Arcane Archer, Gnome flavor for INT-based synergy (in some variants).
Beginner Bard (Spellsinger -> Stormsinger)
A hybrid spellcaster that emphasizes sonic damage, healing, buffs, and crowd control, with scaling into Arcane Song-like abilities at higher levels. The Stormsinger variant adds electric/damage-based upgrades and deeper spell synergy.
- Race: Tiefling recommended for charisma and spell power synergy; other races workable with adjustments.
- Solo play: Very easy with Shout-like spells, horn of thunder, and healing capabilities.
- Destinies: Spellsinger, Stormsinger, Warchanter, Shiradi Champion, etc.
Gear Lists & Evaluation
Gear Evaluation Guide outlines three lists: Melee, Range, and Caster. Each list ranks gear with a legend and scaling advice. The aim is to help players reliably identify upgrades and to guide item improvements across different play styles. Each list includes:
- Main Stat importance (STR/DEX/INT/WIS/CHA)
- Saving throws, fortitude, resistance ratings
- Dodge, Fortification, Healing/Repair/Amplification bonuses
- Other effects: True Seeing, Doublestrike, Accuracy, Seeker, Elemental Absorption, etc.
The document includes extended tables describing the significance and scaling properties of many stats for each build type. Items with higher main stats improve hit/damage pools across melee, ranged, and caster builds. Healing, resistances, and survivability remain critical for late-game viability, especially for endgame content where threat reduction and spell resistance become more relevant.
Leveling & Enhancements Overview
A concise overview of leveling path progression and AP spending for the various classes. This includes generic notes such as:
- Always begin with left-core and right-core choices when possible, then swap cores as you level (e.g., Dark to Light at level 12, entire tree swap at level 20).
- Spent AP totals per destiny (e.g., 68 AP spent for certain paths with 56 base +12 PDP), and max AP values to guide early decisions.
- Destiny and enhancement paths are listed for each class, including specific moves like Epic Tactics, Esoteric Touch, Combat Brute, and Mastery lines across Kensei, Vanguard, Shintao, and more.
- Leveling requires attention to spell-like abilities, weapon proficiency choices, and synergy between class multiclassing options (e.g., Artificer/Rogue cross-builds).
This section is followed by a wide array of detailed level-by-level guidelines for each class, including Action Boosts, Shield Specialization, Parrying Bond, Blood Tribute, Well Weathered, and many others. It provides concrete mid-game and end-game targets and situational tips for solo and group play.
Additional Notes
- Several sections reference “Insert Video Here” placeholders, indicating multimedia content was intended but not included in the document.
- The document repeatedly emphasizes the importance of using the left sidebar to navigate builds, and explains the rationale for some alignment choices (e.g., chaotic neutral or lawful good depending on class and intended play style).
- A variety of comments and opinions are interspersed, offering practical tips on pairing races with specific weapons, parsing damage, and dealing with specific in-game constraints (e.g., the need to possess certain race-specific feats when using particular weapons).
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