Coming in beta16, an awesome new feature to share your successes (and failures .. mostly failures :> ) as easily as possible: automatic online character sheets!

You can see an example here: http://te4.org/characters/68/tome/afb7da0e-0612-11e0-b16d-001cc000edf0
On the left pane of the site there is a list of the last 5 updated characters, to see what is going on.

How does this work?
Automagically!
Just make sure the game is logged on your online profile and any characters you create will be registered with te4.org and everytime you save the character sheet will be updated.
When you check the ingame charsheet (using 'C', or the menu) there will be a link (clickable too!) at the top of the window to your online char sheet.

Have fun!

This will turn into a multi-part series of character builds covering specific race/class combinations. First, I will cover Dwarf Fighters - one of my best and favorite.

Today I will be talking about how I build my fighters, why I choose dwarf fighters in particular, talent choices, when to raise what talents and stats, combat tactics, egos and artifacts to look for, dungeon completion order, and what to not do.

First, let me give a bit of a background on myself when it comes to dwarf fighters. As of this writing, I've made 42 Dwarf Fighters after profiles were created - and I've had 4 make it to the Far East, and 1 to the Final Battle. They are easily in my top three best played race/class combination, one of my favorites, and to me, the absolute easiest race/class combination to play.

Now then, why a dwarf when playing fighters? Well, for several reasons - they are naturally inclined to be fighters in the world of T4 - with good starting hp, along with strength and constitution bonuses, they cover two of the three more important stats for a fighter. Their racial in particular is probably the best for a fighter, as it will raise your armor [scaling very very nicely, about thirty or so armor], and huge boosts to two saves [something like sixty or so (however saves as of beta15b don't exactly do much - this is slated to change in beta16)]. Their penalty to magic doesn't matter at all anymore as scrolls/potions have been removed, and runes/infusions can scale off of any of the three stats you will most likely max.

I like to max out strength, dexterity and constitution, this will leave about fifteen or so points left after raising those three stats to the natural maximum of sixty. They go to either willpower or cunning, depending on the kit that I have available - and because I should be about level forty-five at this point, it's probably my final kit. I will raise the stats in particular by maxing out strength first, and once I start to reach the 'max per level' cap, the extra points will be going to constitution. Not only will this raise my hp [and allow me to get health], but it will also help the dwarf racial scale, and it scales very well.

My level fifty talent point distribution looks like this:

Class Lvl
Shield Pummel 4
Resposte 5
Overpower 1
Assault 5
Shield Wall 5
Shield Expertise5
Last Stand 5
Shattering Shout5
Second Wind 5
Battle Shout 5
Precise Strikes 1
Rush 5
Quick Recovery 5
Fast Metabolism 5

Generic Lvl
Disengage 5
Track 5
Massive Armor 5
Health 5
Weapon Combat 9
Weapon Mastery 10

Shield Pummel should be maxed because the stun duration is based off of the tlvl of Shield Pummel. Riposte now scales the counter hit chance better with points, and Assault is maxed out of pure lack of good things to put points in. Shield Wall should be your first priority to max out as it's your class defining talent, as should Shield Expertise as it directly effects Shield Pummel, Overpower and Assault. I really like Shattering Shout, especially for fighters as it's a massive cone of damage, and fighters lack AOE attacks entirely outside of this ability. It starts out at a low AOE, but I believe at lvl 5 it's radius caps at 5 - quite large, believe me. Second Wind is also useful for that quick boost to your stamina as at times you will run out stamina in cases that you would prefer not to. Battle Shout is useful for a quick boost to survivability as well. Disengage is your quick escape option, and is also very useful for dashing multiple tiles during the Mount Doom Dash - as is Rush. Rush is also important for chasing down those blasted mages - orc mages in particular. Track is your version of sense - sure it's not passive as Heightened Senses is, but it effects a greater area and scales with a stat you'll be raising anyway. And, of course you'll be maxing Massive Armor, Health, Weapon Combat and Weapon Mastery, because ... well, you're a FIGHTER. Some people will argue that 10 points in both weapon mastery and weapon combat is too much, and, they’re right. It is too many points, as both talents scale horribly with additional points. HOWEVER, other than if you somehow get a good amount of cunning, or you REALLY want to use the field control tree for some reason, there’s no other good options for generic point use. If you do wish to invest in these other tree’s further, take away from weapon mastery, not weapon combat. Attack is scaled off of both strength and dexterity evenly, so as a fighter you will have high attack, but you absolutely want to make sure that you can hit everything all the time. At lvl 50 and fighting things that are level 70/80/90, you WILL NEED attack as high as 200 to make certain that you will hit.

- Class Talents -
I like to save up class points so that I can raise each new class talent level at the same time, and so that I can max out shield wall as soon as possible. After that, I go for shield expertise, then shield pummel and the two regenerative talents.

- Generic Talents -
I put a point into Massive Armor so that I can wear it, and then raise weapon combat and disengage/track going back and forth. Health takes priority over this if I can raise it however. There's no real urgency to get any specific generic talents with fighters.

- Dungeons -
I like to do The Maze, Old Forest, Trollshaws, Kor’pul, Sandworm Lair, Daikara, Tol Falas, Iron Throne, Unknown Cavern, Underwater Cave [amulet of the fish required], Spider Lair, Grushnak, Rak'sor, Gorbat then Vor.

I like to do the maze first because it’s almost entirely 1v1 fighting with things that don’t hit very hard [only minotaurs, and you’ll probably fight only four or five of those]. Also, it doesn’t have escorts, and escorts level off of your level, so it will make doing all future escorts easier. If you would like to pretty much ensure all your escorts will live, after doing the maze, you could do the sandworm lair, but I find that that is unnecessary. OF I like to do second because it’s the next least frustrating and easier of the dungeons for a fighter, also, you might luck out and get some good escorts. Following the initial two dungeons, it’s pretty open actually as you should/could be at about level 12 now, which means you have shield wall and shield expertise maxed or close to it – and that means that you are pretty well settled.

Regarding the order of the prides – it’s mostly for the ease to do them/artifact you acquire. You really want the Glory of the Pride as it makes everything else much easier, thus, Grushnak first – and it’s also you against people built like you, so understanding what you’re up against is a nice thing. Grushnak also has a unique layout that really helps as a fighter, no mass open arena levels like the other prides. I like to save Vor for last as Vor can be one of the easiest or most dangerous depending on how you have your kit and what resists you have. If you have really good cold/fire/lightning resists then you could do Vor earlier. Rak’sor is also the same, it can be either pretty quick death or a relative walk in the park. With Rak’sor however, you’ll want poison/disease/hex/curse resistance/curing, along with blight/darkness/fire resistance. The specific status resistance will be hard/impossible to get, or get high, so a good temporary wild infusion will be fine here.

For the side quests, I would recommend doing them when you feel comfortable with them. Personally, I always do the merchant quest, save the Elven Ruins for right before the Iron Throne [be careful, you WILL be about eight levels under what you are supposed to be to come here], do the cursed once I’m about level 15, and the tempest quest at about level 15 as well, or once I have 50% lightning and cold resist constantly, along with about 500/600 hp. I do the heading back west quest after I do the Unknown Cave, Spider Lair and Underwater Cave mostly. Sometimes I put it off until after I’ve done Grushnak, but not always. Once back west, I do the dungeons again in the same order that I did them the first time.

In this next section, I won’t be using what material or item type because it doesn’t really matter that much as in beta15b and betas before it, egos don’t scale well, if at all, with what material level they are on. This is scheduled to change in beta16 however.
- Specific Egos and Artifacts -
Amulet:
Greater Telepathy
Teleportation
Vitalizing
Daneth's Neckguard
Garkul's Teeth
Choker of Dread

Ring:
Vargh Redemption
Ring of the Dead
Ring of the War Master
Glory of the Pride

Shield:

• element* of deflection

Fire Dragon Shield
Lunar Shield

Digger:
Delving

Cloak:
Thick/Oiled of fog
Serpentine Cloak
Ureslak's Molted Scales

Belt:
Blurring of the titan/life/resilience
Girdle of Preservation
Girdle of the Calm Waters

Gloves:
Powerful of iron grip
Gloves of the Firm Hand
Stone Gauntlets of Harkor'Zun

Lite:
Scorching of Elbereth
Eldritch Pearl
Wintertide Phial

Helm:
Prismatic/Shalorn of greater telepathy/precognition
Helm of the Dwarven Kings
Runed Skull
Crown of the Elements

Boots:
Stealthy/none of almost any
Shifting Boots
Frost Treads

Weapon:
Elemental of rage
Razorblade, the Cursed Waraxe
Wintertide
Malediction

Armor:
Impenetrable of the dragon
Radiant/Fortifying/Hardened of x
Behemoth Hide
Scale Mail of Kroltar
Plate Armor of the King

The reason that I like these egos/artifacts in particular [not counting the zone artifacts, I’ll add those in later], is because they help with survival the most. Trust me, you aren’t meant to deal damage, you are meant to absorb as much of it as possible. This makes fighters and sun paladins very similar, however, in my opinion, sun paladins have a much easier time. I like to go with as much resistance to as wide of damage types as possible – magic WILL kill you [unlike with paladins]. Your armor will soak up a vast majority of the physical attacks, so you don’t need to worry too much about that. Unlike sun paladins who have to fight back because of using active or triggered talents, fighters survivability is almost entirely non drain inducing sustains, and passives. Fighters simply outlive their opponents, and in order to do that, you need as much resistance and hp as possible.

This will probably be rewritten or at least reformatted as I go into more and more class builds; and decide on the best approach to display and write them. Thank you for your time, and you can expect a write up again in probably a week or two. I hope this helps, if you have any questions or comments, feel free and again, I’ll post another one up soon.

FM

FAR EAST

“This is all your fault!” Eden rattled the Orb of Many Ways frantically, but it offered no response.

Eden’s self-proclaimed stellar sense of direction had failed him in this strange new land. Despite his half-hearted wanderings, he hadn’t come across a single trace of civilisation (apart from a few orc patrols who angrily told him to ‘wait for the next beta’). For all his aspirations of becoming a loner in Middle-Earth, he soon found that being alone wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, and his present isolation was making his brain behave in strange ways… the fact he had all-but-made an imaginary friend before becoming stranded didn’t help matters.

“Now are you sorry you abandoned me? If you were wearing me, you could have fled from Novan and not needed to use the farportal…”

“Quiet!”

“I hope those ballyhooed Frost Treads have sturdy soles… you’re going to be wandering for a long time…”

“Quiet I said! Quiet! I…” Eden’s initiation into the insanity club was postponed as he spied the telltale entrance to a cave mere yards away. Approaching the entrance he saw that the cavern was submerged.

“An underwater cave… Shouldn’t be too difficult to traverse. Right…”

Fortunately, the sound of approaching hoof falls brought Eden away from his premature death on the end of a naga’s trident. A patrol was approaching him, and not just any patrol – a patrol of humans and elves in shining armour. Sun paladins!

“By Eru’s knapsack, I’m saved!” The paladin patrol (or palatrol) came to a halt by Eden’s side as he gasped, “Thank you, thank you! I-I-I’ve been lost for days! I went through this portal and it dropped me in the middle of nowhere and I haven’t got a clue where I am! But now I’m saved, hahaha! Please, won’t you help me?”

GATES OF MORNING

“High Lady Aeryn. We found some vagabond not affiliated with the Sunwall out in the wilds. Probably a spy.” The pair of paladins that had dragged Eden’s bruised body the distance of the journey to the Gates of Morning dropped him unceremoniously, “Deal with him as you will.”

Eden got to his feet, tenderly feeling his many aches and pains as he did, “You’re the boss here? I’ve gotta tell you, I don’t think much of the hospitality around here. Would it hurt ya to roll out a red carpet for new arrivals? I just think that with this treatment I’ll…” Eden looked up, noticing who he was talking to for the first time, “… okay-I’ll-be-quiet.”

The woman who stood before Eden was glaring at him with such intensity that he imagined she was trying to melt him with imaginary heat vision. Not that it would’ve been necessary; the sheer gleaming of her armour was enough to give Eden a mild suntan just by standing there.

Eden waited as the woman perused him. When no greeting seemed imminent, he coughed and began, “Anyway, my names Ed--”

“I am High Sun Paladin Aeryn, ruler of the Sunwall.” The woman spoke over Eden, “Followers of the sun, who wield the power of the sun to punish the enemies of the sun.”

“Thanks for clearing that up. So, anyway--”

“Who are you, traveller?” Aeryn sniffed with distaste, “You have the smell of orcs about you.”

“I should imagine so! I’ve just fought through a whole dwarven-hallsworth of them, and I haven’t had the chance to fit a bath into my schedule. I don’t suppose you warriors of the sun have a bath house of the sun I can use… of the sun?”

An entirely humourless smile crossed Aeryn’s face, “You seem to be under the delusion that you are welcomed here, rogue. I, for one, doubt your story. We have heard of no dwarven halls in the surrounding lands, and I find it hard to believe someone as un-shiny as you could have performed such a feat anyway. I find the idea of you being an orcish spy far easier to believe…”

“How can I be an orcish spy?! They barely understand what they’re seeing half the time, let alone what others are seeing for them!”

“High Lady Aeryn!” A sun paladin approached Aeryn, who had entirely ignored Eden’s speech, “News of another spider attack reaches us. Scouts saw a group of the fiends dragging an anorithil into Ardhungol.”

“Anorithil?” Exclaimed Eden, “You mean like Beturin?”

“Indeed! That was her name!”

Aeryn scowled, “And how did you know that?” Drawing her sword, she advanced on Eden, “Not an orcish spy, but a spider spy? A spy-der?”

Eden drew his knives, “Oh, whatever. You’re obviously itching for a fight of the sun, lady of the sun. I’ll give you a fight, of the sun!”

“Eden?”

Both Aeryn and Eden turned to the sun paladin in confusion. Raising his visor, he was revealed to be Belebeth, the sun paladin Eden had assisted in the Trollshaws. “Is that you? Never thought I’d see you again! How fare you?”

“You know this knave?” Aeryn mumbled, sheathing her sword.

“Indeed. He was the rogue who helped me to my recall portal I told you about.” Belebeth turned to Eden and grinned, “Come quite a way from your home in Bree, haven’t you?”

“We cannot control our circumstances, only our responses…” Eden replied with humility, but not before shooting a smug look at Aeryn.

“So, you’re not a spy…” Aeryn muttered, “But then, how do you know Beturin?”

“Saved her too,” Smiled Eden, “She’d be fertiliser for Old Man Willow right now if it wasn’t for me.”

“Well then,” Aeryn displayed a smile as gleaming as her armour, “Why not rescue her again, from these spiders? Do that, and maybe we can talk further about your admittance here…”

“Deal! After all, how big can these giant spiders be?”

ARDHUNGOL 1

“WAAAAAH!”

Eden was hurled against the cavern wall, rolling to the floor in cloud of dust. Turning his head, he beheld the gigantic mandibles only inches away from piercing his neck. He swung his dagger, by luck hitting the scuttling horror in one of its many eyes. The pain was enough for it to flinch, giving Eden the opportunity to regain his footing and bring the creature down with a frantic flurry.

“That’s not a spider!” Shrieked Eden, “That’s… that’s two mumakil tied together!”

 Level 30!
 +3 Cunning
 +2 Precision
 +1 Cunning/Packing

This scenario repeated itself many times as Eden attempted to explore the caverns – far more times than he would’ve liked. Although adventuring was never truly safe, Eden felt a sense of peril that he hadn’t felt before. During one of the quiet moments between battles, he heard a sinister voice in his head that was not his own.

“Eden?” Arenji hissed, “Your time comes, and not a moment too soon.”

“You!” Eden spoke to thin air, “This little subconscious ploy shows just how desperate you are!”

“Fool yourself if you will, whelp.”

Eden moved on, ignoring the voice, when he noticed something peculiar. “Arenji… if I’m to die… why aren’t you happy?” Indeed, Arenji’s voice was bitter, “I thought you delighted in seeing people brought to their end.”

“In most cases, yes,” Arenji grumbled, “But there is a meddler in your affairs…”

“Meddler? What do you mean?”

Arenji was silent. All of a sudden, Eden felt a presence behind him. Spinning on the spot, he saw no one.

ARDHUNGOL 2

 Level 31!
 +3 Strength
 +1 Whirlwind
 +1 Efficient Packing

Eden fell back with exhaustion. He was fighting a group of dragon hatchlings, both red and white, that didn’t seem to be dwindling. He couldn’t help but hear the distinctive scuttling sounds of giant spiders blocking off his escape routes too. Only when it was too late did he perceive the source of the hatchlings; a pair of drakes, one red and one white. Eden couldn’t hope to face them, the main body of the hatchling horde stood directly between him and them. With his escape blocked by spiders, he had no choice but to read a scroll of phase door.

The scroll deposited Eden in a new cavern, but from the nearby sounds of roaring and scratching, he guessed that he wasn’t too far from his previous location.

A faint red glow came from the darkness beyond. In its light Eden could almost make out… an orc’s face?

“Hello, something seems to be happening down the--”

???

“I… I can’t move…”

“Good. That’d just make my work harder. Can you see me?”

Although Eden didn’t feel his eyes open, his vision slowly returned. Unable to move his head, Eden could only see from his current viewpoint that he was in a dark, underground chamber. The air was deathly cold.

“I’m freezing…”

“Ahh, quit complaining.” Came Grim’s response. Her familiar face appeared in Eden’s field of view, smiling as always, “You’re lucky I found ya in time.”

“Lucky?” Eden mumbled, “Lucky how?”

“Don’t you remember? You were attacked by this orcish pyromancer and his drakes, not to mention a whole heap of giant spiders. They totally surrounded you. You were in a right state; looked like a crimson jelly exploded.”

“Oh, yeah…” Eden moved to wipe his face, but found he couldn’t move his arms, “I remember that damned pyromancer now. Makes this cold a bit more bearable thinking about it. Where are we?”

Grim offered no response, too busy with something out of Eden’s field of view to reply. Eden asked another question, “How did you find me, anyway?”

“Uh? Oh…” Grim shrugged, “Turned out there was a second farportal to the east that didn’t need the Orb of Many Ways. It’s what all those sun paladins and anorithils were using to show up in the west. I went through it, found that Sunwall place, got told to go to Ardhungol by the scary lady, and found ya in a spider web. Simple. Ooh! I think I’ve got this figured out now…” Grim ducked out of view again. A few moments later, Eden felt the paralysis slowly fade from his limbs. “That better?”

“Yes. So… I’m going to be okay?”

“Right as rain,” Grim twinkled, “Just one thing. You kinda lost a rib. Hope you don’t mind.”

“One rib? Of course not.” Eden sighed. He felt safe, a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a long time, “Looks like I owe you big-time, Grim. Still, I got pretty far for a punk from Bree, didn’t I? I wonder if the townspeople will accept me now, once they’ve seen all I’ve gone through…”

Grim made a long and hesitant noise, tugging the collar of her robe awkwardly, “Well, maybe… I mean, people are a little more accepting now than they were in the old days…”

In an instant, Eden was suspicious, “What do you mean? You have fixed me up properly, right? I’m not disfigured or anything? I have to say, I didn’t know you to be much of a doctor…”

“Doctor?! Nah, I’m hopeless at that stuff,” Grim giggled, “I ended up in prison when I tried to get that splinter out of old man Gardner’s finger once…”

“Then… what have you done? And what is that?!” For the first time, Eden beheld the tool Grim held in her hand – a bonesaw.

“I can hardly ply my trade without it, can I Eden?”

“Trade?!” Thoughts of dread were rapidly accumulating in Eden’s mind, “Why is it so cold?! How did you heal me?! And where are we?!”

Grim smiled, a picture of glee, “The Paths of the Dead, silly!”

You have died!