

The glare off those things is so bright Ejecta has to wear shades

So I have this problem. It is a good problem to have, no doubt about it, a delicious dilemma indeed. But still, it exists.

My Gamer Girl – who is awesome, and yet at the same time, amazing – has chosen to mark the event of my birthing day anniversary with a gift. This does not sound like much of a problem yet, does it? Most husbands probably get a birthday gift from their wives. But wait.



It is the gift itself which is causing the quandary. Because this year, my birthday gift was two Heroic Otto’s Boxes and two Epic Otto’s Boxes. Apparently she bought the Turbine Points some time ago when they were on sale*, and had been hoarding them until last month when the boxes finally came back into the DDO store.

* Naturally, both sale points and Otto’s Boxes became available at the same time this very week! But that was certainly not something she could count on.

And thus the quandary. Tremendous character growth opportunities! Past lives! Epic past lives! Seriously bolstering for one or two characters. But which ones? And what bolstering?

I tried attacking the problem by figuring out which of my characters I would most want to be end-game capable. But I have issues with this, I can never pick just one or two. The best I’ve been able to do is a “heavy rotation“. And even that is seemingly not something I can really follow.

I have A.D.D. of the D.D.O. Or in shorter terms, ADDO.

My Gamer Girl suggested a different tack. Maybe I could figure out which past lives I would want the most, and the past life itself would determine who would get it. For instance, if boosting DCs seems like the right choice, then clearly I am talking about my wizard.

Which brought me to the real topic of this blog entry: heroic past lives and scaling.

Do they? In role playing games, character growth is all about incremental improvements. Get a little better here, and then later, do it again. Eventually, you end up pretty powerful.

But I am not certain that most of these past life feats count even as incremental improvements when compared to epic end-game requirements. I mean, 10 hit points? 10?

Although the wiki already has all of the various past life feats in tables, I find the way that they are organized to be confusing and hard to read. So I made my own.

In the following table, the “passive bonus” attributes are achieved automatically when you have that past life, and can be obtained three times. The “active feat” means that you have to select the feat (using up a feat slot) to get the benefit.

Class Passive Bonus Active Feat Artificer +1 INT skills. +1 UMD. 15% chance to use rod/wand/staff without expending a charge. 10 uses of Enchant Armor or Enchant Weapons. Barbarian +10 HP +20 hit points. +2 Intimidate. 1 use of Rage. Bard +2 to saves vs. enchantments and illusions. +1 bard song. +1 CHA skills. +1 Enchantment DC. 3 uses of Inspire Courage. Cleric +1 Conjuration DC. +1 Turn Undead attempt. +2 levels Turn Undead DC. +2 Heal skill. 5 uses of Cure Light Wounds. Druid +2 minion ability scores. +2 elemental resistances. 3 uses of Flame Blade. Favored Soul +1 spell penetration. +20 spell points. +2 Diplomacy. 10 uses of Avenging Light. Fighter +1 attack. +1 tactical feat DC. +2 Intimidate. +1 Max Dex Bonus of armor and shields. 3 uses of (BAB=level and +4 attack). Monk +1 damage. +2 Concentration. +1 step unarmed damage. 1 use of (evasion for 20 seconds). Paladin 5% Healing Amplification. +2 Heal. 3 uses of Divine Favor. Ranger +2 ranged damage. +2 elemental resistances. +2 Spot. 3 uses of Barkskin. Rogue +1 sneak attack damage. +2 saves vs. traps. +1 to all skills. 3 uses of (+level to hide and move silently, +1 sneak damage per two levels, +1 sneak attack per four levels). Sorceror +1 Evocation DC. +20 spell points. +10 spell points. +5 spell points per level after 1st. 10 uses random elemental ray. Wizard +2 spell penetration. +2 Wand DC. +1 to all DC. 10 uses of magic missile.

And now I throw it out to you all. Which of these are worth having on an end-game character? Are there any at all that are worth having even if you are only going to take it once? Or do you need three past lives to really see any benefit?

To be frank, I do not see a single active feat that I would ever take on any character except the Sorceror feat which is just another stacking Improved Mental Toughness. And even that would only be on someone with plenty of feat slots to spare.

But maybe this is just me. What do you think?

And, hurry, would you? These Otto’s Boxes are seriously burning a hole in my pocket.

🙂 😀 🙂