Armor Use..........................| 160 60
Combat Maneuvers...................| 141 41
Polearm Weapons....................| 218 118
Physical Fitness...................| 159 59
Dodging............................| 114 28
Magic Item Use.....................| 25 5
Harness Power......................| 159 59
Elemental Lore - Air...............| 78 17
Mental Lore - Telepathy............| 142 42
Perception.........................| 159 59
Climbing...........................| 111 27
Swimming...........................| 111 27
Spell Lists
Minor Elemental....................| 26
Spell Lists
Bard...............................| 49
So at the moment this is what I'm looking like, I need to pick up a bit more MIU for sure, in due time. now that I'm at 160 I won't overtrain armor, only did so to get into augmented chain (ASG 15, whatever that one is). Trying to get CM to 1x, trying to keep dodge at .5 because I find it useful. Going to take air to 30, then swap back to telepathy for a bit and then back to air. Not sure how important PT is but I've kept it at 1x, not sure if I should drop to .5 or keep as is. Going to move climb/swim to .5 I think, but is that necessary?
1WICKEDEND
ZAIT
Re: Thoughts on current build
04/14/2012 06:59 PM CDT
>Trying to get CM to 1x, trying to keep dodge at .5 because I find it useful. Going to take air to 30, then swap back to telepathy for a bit and then back to air. Not sure how important PT is but I've kept it at 1x, not sure if I should drop to .5 or keep as is. Going to move climb/swim to .5 I think, but is that necessary?
Stay at 1x in physical, it helps with a lot of things and isn't all that expensive. Climbing and swimming I generally stay half trained in, but you most likely have more than enough for your level. In another 20 levels or so, you may want those to be around 40 ranks each, just to make things a little easier on yourself for getting into/out of some areas with less trouble.
It seems like you should have training points left over, even with what you have trained in, though it's hard to say for sure. The one thing that does stand out is the over-training in spells. If even ten of those were cut out, you would likely have enough points to get both CM and dodge to 1x. I never used polearms with my bard, but I generally tried to stay close to .75x in dodge even using a shield. Going without one, I think I'd want to be as close to 1x in dodge as I could get.
Air and telepathy lore.. this is another spot the spell training sets you back on, as both of those can be singled in, though obviously not necessary. The points may also not be available for that anyway, depending on your other choices.
If you're determined for whatever reason to keep the number of spells you have for now, you might want to consider dropping four of the bard songs and putting them to the elemental side for 430, then skipping spells totally for the next 15 levels until you get back to singled cost in them again. Put the points that get freed up toward catching up the other skills you want.
Stay at 1x in physical, it helps with a lot of things and isn't all that expensive. Climbing and swimming I generally stay half trained in, but you most likely have more than enough for your level. In another 20 levels or so, you may want those to be around 40 ranks each, just to make things a little easier on yourself for getting into/out of some areas with less trouble.
It seems like you should have training points left over, even with what you have trained in, though it's hard to say for sure. The one thing that does stand out is the over-training in spells. If even ten of those were cut out, you would likely have enough points to get both CM and dodge to 1x. I never used polearms with my bard, but I generally tried to stay close to .75x in dodge even using a shield. Going without one, I think I'd want to be as close to 1x in dodge as I could get.
Air and telepathy lore.. this is another spot the spell training sets you back on, as both of those can be singled in, though obviously not necessary. The points may also not be available for that anyway, depending on your other choices.
If you're determined for whatever reason to keep the number of spells you have for now, you might want to consider dropping four of the bard songs and putting them to the elemental side for 430, then skipping spells totally for the next 15 levels until you get back to singled cost in them again. Put the points that get freed up toward catching up the other skills you want.
WOLFES2
Re: Thoughts on current build
04/18/2012 10:22 PM CDT
I'm seeing several things. You are a polearm bard, not a pure bard. There's zero reason to be more than 1x in spells. That is a point sink there that need not exist. Perhaps you are running for some spell, but I wouldn't as a polearming bard. Just me...
You are under trained, significantly, in Dodge. It should very much be 1x.
You are moderately under trained in CM, should be singled. You are losing more AS than you are gaining with the telepathy lore.
Over trained in telepathy lore, in my opinion. At cap, I have roughly 30 ranks and find it to be plenty. The rate of return diminishes rapidly after that.
Single air lore. Using a polearm, you should prefer the idea of removing 3 seconds (1035) or RT over almost anything else spell or cman driven to aid combat.
You are significantly over trained in Perception. There's no need to be over .5x in it. Between 30-50 ranks at cap is plenty unless you are an archer or lock picker.
Climb and swim are fine. By about the time you are hunting the Bowels and most certainly hunting Nelemar (assuming you make it) you will want almost double the swim as climb. I stopped climb at 40 ranks.
Physical Fitness is pretty critical. I am minimum single in it with all professions and am doubled with my bard, whom is in GoS. It's involved in a lot of hidden rolls.
I saw no MoC. I would suggest 5 ranks at least just so you can hit two critters in a room at once. Knowing when to use the skill is pretty important though, as the RT can climb fast. I liked 30 ranks mostly for defensive purposes over the offensive capabilities with the skill, as a polearmer.
Mental Mana Control...helps a decent bit with 1040 which is pretty important by near cap hunting. Additionally, it helps with mana pulses and using 1013 to leech mana.
I'm not seeing much else that you need to add or alter beyond the above. Polearming is pretty straight forward. The primary thing to address is the lack of dodge and CM. I'm surprised you're not having some DS issues yet. I suspect it's not a huge DS loss once the numbers are presented but on paper here it seems like a bunch of missing ranks. You need to CM to get more ranks in Charge or another knockdown maneuver. There are simply times when you need some crowd control that doesn't require mana or casting. You may not use charge often or sweep or feint...but there will be times you miss it if you only have .5x in CM.
~Galenok
You are under trained, significantly, in Dodge. It should very much be 1x.
You are moderately under trained in CM, should be singled. You are losing more AS than you are gaining with the telepathy lore.
Over trained in telepathy lore, in my opinion. At cap, I have roughly 30 ranks and find it to be plenty. The rate of return diminishes rapidly after that.
Single air lore. Using a polearm, you should prefer the idea of removing 3 seconds (1035) or RT over almost anything else spell or cman driven to aid combat.
You are significantly over trained in Perception. There's no need to be over .5x in it. Between 30-50 ranks at cap is plenty unless you are an archer or lock picker.
Climb and swim are fine. By about the time you are hunting the Bowels and most certainly hunting Nelemar (assuming you make it) you will want almost double the swim as climb. I stopped climb at 40 ranks.
Physical Fitness is pretty critical. I am minimum single in it with all professions and am doubled with my bard, whom is in GoS. It's involved in a lot of hidden rolls.
I saw no MoC. I would suggest 5 ranks at least just so you can hit two critters in a room at once. Knowing when to use the skill is pretty important though, as the RT can climb fast. I liked 30 ranks mostly for defensive purposes over the offensive capabilities with the skill, as a polearmer.
Mental Mana Control...helps a decent bit with 1040 which is pretty important by near cap hunting. Additionally, it helps with mana pulses and using 1013 to leech mana.
I'm not seeing much else that you need to add or alter beyond the above. Polearming is pretty straight forward. The primary thing to address is the lack of dodge and CM. I'm surprised you're not having some DS issues yet. I suspect it's not a huge DS loss once the numbers are presented but on paper here it seems like a bunch of missing ranks. You need to CM to get more ranks in Charge or another knockdown maneuver. There are simply times when you need some crowd control that doesn't require mana or casting. You may not use charge often or sweep or feint...but there will be times you miss it if you only have .5x in CM.
~Galenok
