Scouting � Rangers and Rogues

Rangers lead the way, but rogues can as well. Usually rangers and rogues have the best spot (and search) check, so let them lead the party - especially in new dungeons that no one has any experience with. They have the best chance to spot any traps before setting them off, and may be able to disable the trap. Again, voice chat comes in really handy here. Anyone discovering a trap can communicate the fact quickly enough that the party all knows to halt.

Wizards, Sorcerers, and Bards

Let the melee classes deal the damage and take the damage.

Use your magic supportively to maximize your party�s damage, or offensively, to help bring down enemies.

At low levels I�ve found sleep is the best spell to knock out several monsters, and it�s always easier to take down sleeping monsters. Perhaps you will choose to charm a monster instead, enlisting him to fight on your side, or summon a monster of your own to aid in combat.

Besides his spell points, a wizard, sorcerer, or bard should carry scrolls, wands, and other items with spell abilities.

Bards should also use their songs to buff the party, cast sleep to knock out monsters and then enter melee or use a bow as they see fit.

Clerics

Clerics should bless the party (or other group buffs) before any major encounter. In the beginning, the cleric can join in the melee, but he should be attentive to his party members� health. As the situation warrants, he should be prepared to drop back and start healing where necessary.

Please be aware that some cleric players don�t want to play healer and wish to concentrate as melee combatants and buffs themselves (protection from evil, aid, and several more). When they do this, their spell buffs are generally only good for one or two melee encounters before their buff timers run out. In some dungeons, the rest spots are rare and few. So there will be periods where the cleric will run out of spell points and still have to melee, so it�s a good idea for him and everyone else to carry healing spell wands and potions.

Fighters/Paladins

You are the shield and prime damage dealer. You must carry an assortment of weapons and be ready to change tactics as the situation develops

• blunt weapons for skeletons and slimes
• slashing weapons for zombies
• magic weapons for creatures with DR magic
• cold iron weapons where needed
• bane weapons to the right monster type
• missile weapon to bring down monsters at range, so carry plenty of arrows
• protect your casters and help your teammates bring down enemy casters
• don�t let the enemy surround you, move and flank them

While two-handed weapons are great for dealing damage quickly, it only takes one hit from an enemy to deal damage and in some cases poison you. The party will always be outnumbered in a dungeon. Using a shield to block their most damaging attacks and absorb some of the damage goes a long way in extending your durability and the party�s healing capacity.

Rangers/Barbarians

Your class abilities restrict you to light and medium armor and don�t usually allow for a shield, with the ranger concentrating on archery or two-weapon fighting and the barbarian on two-handed weapons. Standing toe-to-toe against the enemy is not a good spot for these melee classes. The barbarian is primarily a hit and run combatant and with his barbarian speed � he makes an ideal charger for the enemy casters to bring them down quickly. Let the fighter and paladins pin down the enemy warriors, move around behind them and hack them down. Even with d12 hit points, if five kobolds surround you they will bring you down, so don�t stand there and let them do it.

Rangers focusing on archery are just great, aside from just be able to just about nail anything in range. I love my ranger when in Irestone Inlet or Red Fang; he scores 20+ point of damage on a critical hit, and then the ogre or giant spider turns toward me and charges! I quickly move back and change to sword and shield to defend myself. In melee range, missile weapons are more a liability than an effective weapon (as they should be).

Rangers also have scout functions similar to the rogue (see below).

Rogues

Rogues are your best searchers and are the only class that can open locks and disable traps. Along with rangers, rogues are the best scouts for detecting ambushes and traps. Rogues/Rangers should lead the party moving silently. The party should hang back at least forty feet, if not more. In melee combat, rogues should use their Hide/Move Silently to get behind the enemy group and backstab the casters. There are certain quests where this is a very effective way to handle tough opponents. It�s in all the party pre-battle setup.

Once in general melee, rogues should fall back to support the party as an archer. Their low hit points, weak armor and small shields make them too weak to stand on the line of battle. I have seen too many of them be killed by a single blow.

Other essential dos and don�ts of a party member:

You are a party member, a team member, and your job is to help the party as a whole accomplish the mission and succeed. Whether you heal, fight, cast spells, search or disable traps, and so forth, if the party succeeds, you succeed. Know your role and help where you can.

• don‘t loot while there is fighting going on around you
• don‘t run off to scout by yourself, then complain when no one comes to help you
• don‘t run off and bring all the monsters back to the party‘s position while they are resting
• give the rogue time to search for and disable traps
• give the cleric time, by standing still and letting him heal you or buff you
• everyone should have a healer‘s kit and spare healing potions
• everyone should have a repair kit, warforged should carry Oil of Repair

I am sure I did not cover everything there is for combat tactics. The highest character I have is 4th level, so I have not seen everything. But from what I have seen and experienced, I�ve found that a lot of the inherent combat tactics from PnP D&D have made into DDO. Aside from the neat and cool aspects of the encounters, traps, ambushes, levers, secret doors and other nuances of the game environment, it is very exciting being in the thick of battle. Sometimes everything works as planned, and sometimes it doesn�t. Recently, the developers went through the dungeons and changed some encounters, so there were several instances where I was surprised, as the encounter was different and more challenging. There are variables that change every time you enter a dungeon (most are minor, such as numbers of monsters though AI changes are interesting, as you have to adjust your tactics on the fly. The first time I saw an ogre let loose with his giant long bow, I had to scramble to get behind cover (yes, cover works).

Don�t forget running and withdrawing is an option, to heal up and regroup away from the enemy. When fleeing, remember, you don�t have to be the fastest�just be faster than the slowest member of the party.

More for Dungeon and Dragons