Averial

[tiphareth]

Can anyone suggest a good Averial build for a new player with no heavy gear requirements? Thanks in advance!

[the1kobra]

The Avariel's biggest weakness is that, with elf, they get a total of a -5!! constitution penalty. You can still probably make a reasonably functioning AA, though a rogue will likely have too few HP to really be useful. Below's an attempt to make a working Avariel ranger. I chose ranger because they 1: Get a CON bonus in LLs, ameliorating the subby penalty some, and 2: Because the DEX and WIS bonuses help a ranger.

If you want to take Katanas, you'll need exotic weapon proficiency. They make a solid weapon for dex rangers, especially if you get a razor. Any finesseable weapon should work, really.

12/17(20)/13(10)/14(12)/14(16)/8
Pre-epic(7): Blooded, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus, IMPR Crit, Blind Fight, Called Shot, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Or Extend spell if not required), 5 Favored Enemy
Epic(7): Armor Skin, Epic Will, Iron Will, Great Fortitude, Greater Weapon Focus, Great Dexterity 1+2
Epic Ranger(10): Epic Weapon Focus, Epic Prowess, Bane of Enemies, 7 Favored Enemies
Legendary(7): LSA Tumble, Legendary Weapon Focus, Legendary Will, Legendary Fortitude, Great Dexterity 3+4, Free Feat (Recommend: Legendary spell focus enchantment if using a slashing weapon, combine with tome of enchantment)

Skills(5):
Discipline, Tumble, Parry, Hide, Listen

Final Stats (Level 60, BUR AC, and +12 items, assuming favored weapon is the katana):

12/44/14/12/16/8
24/56/26/24/28/20

Saves: 64/64/63
AB: 20+10+15+8(foci)+20(enh)+23(dex)+2(Bane of Enemies) - 4(dual) = 94/89/84/79/98/94/89

AC: 10+12+2+22(light Armor)+18(WIS) + 17(armor) + 17(nat) + 17(deflection) + 20(dodge) = 64 + 71 = 135

This should be quite solid, admittedly it's a bit tight on skills and STR checks will be a problem. It should still handle okay though. Be sure to grab the paragon STR check feat when you make it past 60.

Oh, also, be sure to grab outsiders, abberations, and undead as favored enemies. Those are the most useful off the top of my head. There are others for sure, pick wisely.

[kite]

Kobra's advice is good.
I think ranger would be the best choice, probably a dex based dual wielder. It benefits from the stat increases and in legendary levels regains some of the lost con.

There are probably a number of builds in the ranger section that could be adjusted to suit, or perhaps I should say improved, as averial is a favourite race of mine (atleast in d&d in general, I no longer have any toons using it).

[Raj]

All good but don't suggest katana as weapon to every newbie who wants to make a dualwielder dexter, it's a damn hard weapon to get multiple copies of db/dis versions and even lvl 20/29/35 are in demand, and it's a worthwile choice only for when the player is half way to demigod and puts his hands on a item that only rarely drops (by that time he proly reincarnated the averial to a UR variant).

In the meanwhile, he's fighting with a -2 ab penality because of weapon size, for the same crit range of kukris (lil better base dmg but with all the added dices of elem/exo it's nothing to speak about) that are way easier to get, or just let him choose other light weapons that have no market value and net a spare feat, having a vast array of crafted weapons with different dmg beats having dev crit from a weapon you can't swap nor craft.

Btw, blind fight with CC listen is wasted; even toughness would be a better feat to pick, and when you count on being able to equip a stygian razor, a dex arti for blindness immunity is a realistic aim.

[desocupado]

Here a few options: Battle druid, Dex bow ranger, Arcane archer, Assassin, Divine Slinger and Lifethreader.

Of these, Lifethreader/Battle Druid are the least gear reliant.
Followed by Slinger, Dual wield Ranger/Assassin, Arcane Archer and Bow Rangers (this is the order of difficulty to get gear).

The -3 Con and -2 Int REALLY hurt an elf character, making ranged ranger the most plausible choice when considering Hipoints, Fortitude save and Skillpoints.

In fact, going Wisdom (zen) as a bow ranger grants better Saves/ Called shot DC, but getting all the ranger bows is quite hard, and called shot build doesn't work well until you get to high levels.

[Lythe Featherblade]

Dex bow ranger? if you do go dex on a ranger, prepare to melee, you need zero feats to use called shot effectively with a bow if you do, but feats really help your melee.

And a zen (bow) ranger is one of the least gear reliant classes out there, you can still be pretty effective with a storebought +15 shortbow and any unlimited quiver including the guaranteed drop easy to get ranger secret.

Lifethreader is very gear reliant because number (and level) of spell slots determine how long you can be effective.

[the1kobra]

Any finesseable weapon should work, really. I prefer slashing ones because BT needs a transmutation book to work otherwise, though handaxes, sickles, kukris, etc, should all work fine. Katanas also have a d10 base damage, which, isn't much, but it's nice. Also if AB is a concern you can always use a small weapon in the offhand and mainhand a katana.

Also, I don't think blindfight is useless if you have listen, because it's nice in case you get blinded or deafened. It's a nice fallback so you don't get hosed defensively or offensively. I will say that extend spell is really nice though, especially for invis purge, maybe take it at L60 instead of LSF enchant.