G: Playing Your Strong Points

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Updated Fri, Feb 13, 2009 by Darkgolem

Playing Your Strong Points

Guide to Using 3.3 Enhancements

Enhancements for Dungeons and Dragons Online are designed to allow you to have the maximum amount of choice in development of your character. You can specialize in certain areas, or chose to have a broad variety of abilities with less specialization in any particular area. However, assuring you have the enhancements you want is difficult, and it takes careful planning to arrange your use of action points to be the best advantage.

Authors Note: Make sure to click on an image to enlarge it for better ability to read it.

How the System Works

The enhancement system allows you to use action points gained at each level to purchase permanent enhancements for your character. These enhancements can make your spells cause less aggression from your enemies when you damage them, make you better at various skills, allow you to gain a greater benefit from healing spells, make your class abilities more effective, and other benefits.

Enhancements build upon each other. For example, you can chose at a lower level to cause more damage with fire and cold spells, then later spend more action points to increase this same type of damage more, and later in levels, increase this damage further still.

Terms

Listed below is are terms used for this guide:

Progression: This is a requirement for choosing many enhancements; it is the number of action points you must already have spent, regardless of your level, to take the enhancement with this progression requirement.

Class Level: This is a requirement for choosing many enhancements; it is the level in a particular class you must have to take an enhancement with this class level requirement.

Cost: This is the cost in action points you must pay for a particular enhancement.

Benefit: This is the benefit you get from taking a particular enhancement.

Requirement(s): These are the required feats, class levels, enhancements and progression you must have before taking a particular enhancement.

Point of Advancement: This is the point where you have gained enough experience points to gain another action point.

Choosing Your Enhancements:

When you decide to make a character, you should plan your character carefully. Since the opportunity to respec your character is rare, choices you make can ruin your character's development. While the enhancement system has a respec system, it has a time limit, and is expensive. Planning

Click To Enlarge: List of Enhancements in Order of Important

how your going to purchase enhancements is an important part of planning your character.

When you chose your enhancements, first look over the enhancements available for your chosen character class and race, and decide how you wish them to interact. If no list is available, simply make a first level character of the same class and level and as soon as you are in the game, click on the enhancement page of your character, and check the “show all” box. This will show all the enhancements available for your class and race. Then look over the enhancements you wish to have. There is a tool tip for each enhancement showing details in requirements and so on for the particular enhancement.

For example, you might chose to have a rogue who is particularly good with skills involved with disarming and detecting traps, a barbarian who has very high hit points, a sorcerer who specializes in force spells, or similar. Choose the enhancements which you wish for your character as you develop (including the ones you wish to have at highest levels), and then list them in importance.

After you have chosen what enhancements you wish to have, look cost in action points for the enhancements you wish to have. Add up the cost, if it is higher than the maximum level in the game x 4, then you won't be able to afford the enhancements. Reduce the number of enhancements you wish to have until then number is below maximum level x 4. It is advisable to assume you will have to spend points you don't intend, so you might consider deducting some action points “off the top” of the max level X 4 number.

Planning Your Enhancements:

Now that you have your enhancements picked out, you have to plan the order that you will take them. List our your enhancements, dividing them by level and progression requirements, lower class level and lower progression requirements first. At this point, your list should have your least expensive, lowest class level, and lowest progression requirement at the top of your list, with your highest at the bottom.

The next step in the enhancement planning process is to figure out if you can afford them.

Charting your Enhancements Cost:

Now that you have a list of your enhancements and what requirements you need to get them, in the order they are available, you should make a list showing if you can

Click to Enlarge - Charting my Enhancments

afford them. Simply write on a sheet of paper a numerical list (vertically), writing each number 4 times (see image). These numbers represent action points as you receive them. To the right of the numbers write the point of advancement in your gaining action points that you will take a particular action point, plus your current progression (action points you have spent so far) and what the enhancement costs. Whenever you have a point of advancement where you do not need to spend an action point, instead of an enhancement name, type "save" and simply keep your progression for that point of advancement the same, with nothing in the cost column.

At this point, you will notice that there are periods where you must spend action points to advance your progression, and you have nothing on your list of enhancements you what which you can get. For now, type "unknown" in the enhancement name column, assume a progression of one for this unknown enhancement, and list the cost as one. Later in the process of figuring out your enhancements, you can come back and figure out what goes here.

Also, you will note that about two-thirds of the way through this process, you will find you no longer have to worry about progression, because you will always qualify for the progression requirement for the enhancements you wish. This is the most tricky part of choosing enhancements. Make sure that you always take your most desired enhancement chain from your list whenever possible, otherwise, you will find you may not be able to afford it later. In the image given of this list, note the boldfaced portionin the lower right where I make an error in the order I pick my enhancements.

Getting Down to Details:

Now that you have a (semi) concrete view of when you will take enhancements, you need to get the details and adjustments made in your list

. First, make any changes you need to make sure you can afford your most desired enhancements, and meet their requirements. Then go back to the "unknown" enhancements. Refer to the list online of enhancements you haven't considered and fill these in now.

In the example given, since this particular wizard is organized to be specialized in the energy series of enhancements, plus have maximum intelligence and spell points, I decide to take some things which will advance those goals.. namely improved heightening and improved maximizing, and some enhancements to make my repair and force spells better. Note that since these enhancements require I have to HAVE those feats to take them, I will need to make sure I have those feats when I get to the appropriate level. I also move an intelligence enhancement lower down my list, making sure it fulfills requirements for progression and cost, etc, when I do so. Now my list looks something like this.

Some things to note with this image, first, I tallied the total amount of action points I have available, so as to make sure I have earned enough to take an enhancement at the point I wish to. I also have moved my more important feats higher up in this scale to assure they are taken, after checking that I have enough progression and meet level requirements.

Finishing Information:

Now that you have planned out your enhancements, put your notes aside for when you train. Remember that the level cap will be rising, and you will need to save your action points for higher enhancements that will undoubtedly cost more, and be more powerful. Finally, remember that while the enhancement system can be confusing, it is more versatile, allowing a variety of builds. Finally, worse comes to worse, you can always respec if you have to.

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G: Playing Your Strong Points

Playing Your Strong Points

Guide to Using 3.3 Enhancements

How the System Works

Terms

Choosing Your Enhancements:

Planning Your Enhancements:

Getting Down to Details:

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