Warrior Template (Maybe mage?)

[Cheddar]

So I decided to try melee out- I am pretty much going with the basics:

Fencing 100
Anatomy 100
Tactics 100
Spell Resist 100
Healing 100

Well, I decided I needed a bit more to round myself out, and after looking at the necromancy forms availible went that route; this also meant picking up Spirit Speak.

This shit is the bomb!  I did not realize spirit speak could heal as well.  So, I am altering my template somewhat:

Fencing 100
Tactics 100
Spell Resist 80
Anatomy 80
Healing 80
Necromancy 100
Spirit Speak 100
Hiding 60ish


Now, the problem here is what do I do for poisons, could I possibly drop healing, will a lack of focus/med cripple me, and what about repairs on equipment? 


edit.  Option 2 would be to go mage.  It would be much easier to get the skills up this way, but I would be much more squishy armor wise.

Magery 100
Meditation 100
Spell Resist 100
Wrestling 100
Necro 100
Spirit Speak 100
Eval Int.  100

[WindupAtheist]

When Age of Shadows came out, I took my old-school warrior and ditched parrying and resisting spells for necromancy and spirit speak, and dropped the arms lore and smithy I had for do-it-yourself repairs and took focus.  The result was thus.

Mace Fighting
Tactics
Anatomy
Healing
Focus
Necromancy
Spirit Speak

It survives fairly well despite the lack of parry or resisting spells, and doesn't require any special gear.  Bandages, spirit speak, and using the curse weapon spell for life leech give you a few different ways to heal, and the latter two will heal you even if you're poisoned.  Still, I wasn't keeping up with all the paladins out there doing WTFPWN damage, so eventually I made some changes.

Mace Fighting
Tactics
Necromancy
Spirit Speak
Resisting Spells
Focus
Bushido

This template walks around under the vampiric embrace spell permanently, and relies upon it for poison immunity since it can't cure.  (The highest level of poison can still affect me, but I encounter that rarely, and even then it's mostly just annoying.)  It also requires a suit with pretty good fire resistance to counteract the fire penalty from vampiric embrace, but there are relatively inexpensive items like Brightsight Lenses or Ember Leggings that can cover that.

Those drawbacks aside, this template fucking rules.  I put on a good slayer weapon for the double damage, cast curse weapon, then start smacking with lightning strikes.  I leech back so much life that any critter that can't insta-kill me in under two seconds basically can't kill me at all.  I still don't do damage like a paladin, but I can sit happily in the middle of a pile of monsters that would smash a paladin flat in short order, so long as I keep curse weapon up and keep spamming those lightning strikes.

[Cheddar]

Mace Fighting
Tactics
Necromancy
Spirit Speak
Resisting Spells
Focus
Bushido

I was actually about to post some changes - I was looking at a simliar template; only difference being I was going to get parry instead of focus and fencing instead of macing.   I figure potions can help cover the stamina/cure gap - I did not realize that Vampire form had poison immune until a few minutes ago.  Good to confirm it is a good template!

Whats the deal with repairing items?  It seems that even though some of my armor is at 0 it still has the same effects.

[WindupAtheist]

When an item reaches zero durability, damage is applied to its maximum durability.  When that reaches zero, the item is destroyed.  So by all means repair your shit, because you're drastically cutting into its lifespan.  Repairing an item typically reduces its maximum durability by one, so each bit of damage an item takes at zero is basically equal to an entire use/repair cycle lost.  Maximum durability can be restored with powder of fortification, but one powder capable of restoring 100 points will run you around 100k.  Nothing you can't afford if you take proper care of your gear and only need it sparingly, but nothing to sneeze at either.

Anyway, I've experiemented with parrying instead of focus.  It's nice, but hitting lightning strike on every swing while also keeping curse weapon up perpetually really eats into the mana.  For drawn-out fights, like beating down mid-range or better paragons, I'd rather have focus.  That's just personal preference though.  Having bushido without parrying makes me a bit of a heretic, but I get by just fine.

I guess if I had a suit with the all-around nice resists, extra fire to compensate for vampiric embrace, defense chance and all that other stuff, and piles of mana regen on top of it all, I wouldn't miss focus.  That's not impossible, it's just more time and (a lot) more money than I care to sink into a relatively small upgrade in capability.

EDIT:  What's your usual playing time anyway?