So I've been having fun goofing around at level 13 for a while now. Running enjoyable but low xp quests, breaking the elite streak, and goofing around with soloing challenges. But although I've been wasting time for the sake of fun, it's also, partly, because Im procrastinating making an important decision about my character: Evasion or No?
Evasion is really cool. On my last life I was struggling to find a good Fort item (note: I still don't have Minos Helm or Necro4) but I pulled a Plate of the Defender and the stats on that looked amazing! Mithral! +5 enhancement! +4 Protection and HEAVYFORT! I multiclassed Fighter for the Heavy Armor Proficiency, put on the plate and was very very very happy at how much tougher my character was. The only problem was that I took much more damage in the last two parts of the Shroud. I didn't know why at the time, but as it turns out, Rangers get Evasion for free at level 9 which drasticaly reduces the amount of damage they take from reflex saves (like all the fire an' brimstone Harry spouts) but Evasion is deactivated by Medium and Heavy armor, such as the Plate of the Defender. In short, even though I was getting more AC, I ended up taking more damage from stuff that has reflex saves. Generaly, AC was great against mobs and Evasion was great when it really mattered -- against traps, against casters, against end bosses. So, I resigned myself to do more self-healing against the mobs and have Evasion to mitigate the overwhelming damage spikes.
That was fun, but this time I wanted the heavy armor experience so I planned stay pure Paladin -- unless the going gets rough. Well last night the going is got rough. Specificaly, I was running Framework at level and died TWICE from traps and barrels. Usualy my 400 ish hitpoints give me enough of a buffer but not there!
Technicaly, this new character is even better suited to cloth/light armor and Evasion than my previous character. My Ranger only had enough dex to qualify for Mobility (DEX13) wheras my Paladin has to qualify for TWF (DEX17) and also gets an improved reflex save from Paladin Charisma.
But on the otherhand, I was enjoying the look of the Heavy Armor, and it's not like I'm gonna go Monk for the super huge AC boost.
As soon as I level up I'll be level 14 and able to pick Icy Raiment or Plate of the Defender. Since I'm doing that I may as well get a headstart on Evasion if that's the route I end up going. But to do that, I need to make up my mind.
Right now I'm leaning towards Evasion. I know it works and I already have a bunch of Evasion friendly gear. But I wish I was able to make heavy armor work for me -- it looks so medieval!
You best figure out what your end build is going to look like ... What I normally do is figure out ib comparing the trade offs. First thing you should know is you best aim that reflex save high to actually use evasion as one day you're going to be in end-game (epic's and elites) where evasion only matters if ya make the saves - figure 'bout a 35+ reflex save. While pally pulls a lot from the cha bonus to all saves - reflex is actually one of thier weaker one unless shored up some...
ReplyDeleteThe flip side of coin ... PrE's married with such, DoS tends to favour heavy armour and Kotc seems to favour the pure with weapons of good on capstone.