Use Magic Device, or UMD, is a character skill in DDO that allows you to use a wand, scroll or restricted item even though you would not normally be able to.

What that means is that with a high enough UMD you can cast scrolls of Heal or wands of Cure Light Wounds even though you are a rogue or sorcerer, you can equip Elvish race-restricted weapons as a Warforged or Chaotic alignment-restricted items as a Lawful character. With a high enough UMD you can essentially expand your character’s utility immensely.

If you are serious about accessing as many magical devices as possible especially as a non-magic-using class you will want to shoot for a buffed UMD score of 44, which is currently the highest ranked item in the game – the Scroll of Resurrection. However having a total UMD rank of 40 will still allow you to use basically everything else.

If you do not plan to use high-level scrolls or restricted items or if your overall character design will not feasibly allow it, a better method is to target the UMD Difficulty Check (DC) of the specific items you plan on using. It may turn out you really only need a total rank of 20.

To determine the UMD DC of an item, simply double its level and add 18. Or rather -

(item_level * 2) + 18 = DC

So the DC of old faithful, Wand of Cure Light Wounds, which is a level one item, is 20. So what does that mean? That number is the what you will make your UMD skill check against.

To successfully use this wand as, for example, a Rogue you would need to roll higher than 20 on a d20+UMD. If you are not familiar with dice shorthand that means you roll one 20-sided die and add your total UMD rank. What that also means, therefore, is that if you have a total UMD rank of 20 you will be able to use this wand 100% of the time without failure.

What makes up a character’s “total” UMD skill rank?

UMD is determined by adding the ranks you spend points on after leveling, your Charisma modifier, the Skill Focus: UMD feat and a very few rare items in game which have a UMD skill boost.

It is a primary skill of Rogues and Bards and a secondary skill for everyone else, meaning they will only spend one point to raise their UMD a rank while all other classes must spend two skill points.

Rogues and Rangers can temporarily boost UMD through their respective Action: Skill Boost enhancements. Humans get the same type of boost through the Human Versatility Bonus enhancement and Bards can get a boost to UMD via the Spellsinger enhancement (at level six). But other than that, UMD bonuses are pretty hard to come by, so if you are dedicated to having a high UMD, make sure to always reserve your skill points to keep it maxed for your level and consider assigning Skill Focus: UMD as one of your feats.

So if you decide to emphasize UMD in your DDO character build, keep this in mind. Sometimes it could be worth having the one-level splash of Rogue or Bard for this among their other talents.

Also keep in mind when designing your character, that if you play a class with casting abilities you already have access to wands and scrolls of spells your class has access to. As an example, even though as a Ranger you start at level 1 with no spells you will be able to use the Wand of Cure Light Wounds because it is one of your class spells you will later be able to cast.

Tags: UMD

The so-called Update 1 was released yesterday. Along with it came some changes – like the switch from releasing infrequent modules to releasing frequent updates to the game.

A new adventure was added, The Path to Inspiration, for characters in the level 17-19 range. Some lower-level adventures will have an “Epic” difficulty setting for characters level 20, starting with Demon Sands. There are numerous other little tweaks and fixes.

But the big news is that now you can purchase 32-point character builds in the DDO store, not only that but the option is account-wide and used for every character created thereafter.

The price to enable the 32-pt build option is currently 1495 Turbine Points, which puts the value of this unlock somewhere in the $18(US) range. Expensive, yes, and about the same cost as buying a shared bank account.

So, is it worth it to buy this? Is the 32-pt build a necessity to create a viable character? The answer as you might have guessed is NO.

It really depends on the sort of characters you want to play. If you would like to play a simple fighter or wizard with no fancy monk or paladin splashes, then you absolutely do not need a 32-pt build. A server-wide (not account-wide) 32-pt build option is enabled free upon reaching the 1750 favor mark, so just play your vanilla character until then and don’t worry about spending the cash.

If you are simply dieing from impatience and cannot wait to play your Bardbarian or Intimitank then yes, you should consider laying out the money for 32-pt builds right off the bat. For more complex class combinations and perhaps even for not-so-complex monk builds having the 32-pt build option open is almost a requirement.

Tags: 32-pt Builds

Hi guys, this is Fortuente. I have been playing a lot more Dungeons and Dragons Online lately since the release of Eberron Unlimited and I see myself playing even more in the future. So I have decided to resurrect DDO Guides (you might have noticed I haven’t made a post here in more than a year).

That said, I also plan on changing the format somewhat. On my other guides/sites such as LOTRO Guides and The Best WoW Leveling Guide I use a blog format though I do not approach them as blogs strictly speaking. Each post is it’s own mini-guide on a particular topic and that is also the format I had planned to use with DDO Guides.

However, as you may notice, merely writing strategies and helpful tips has not been quite enough to keep me posting regularly. So from now on with DDO Guides I plan on simply writing about topics that not only will help you play DDO more effectively but also important news from Turbine and my own personal playing experiences as well. Also look out in the coming month for a graphic redesign of the site.

And if you are interested in being a DDO “journalist” for this site which receives thousands of page-views a week,  please contact me with some examples (i.e. forum posts, blog entries, character builds, etc.).

Character Planner

Have you ever had an idea for a great Dungeons and Dragons Online character build but you’re not sure how to go about testing it without sinking hours into the actual game? While splashing one level of monk into your level 16 fighter may seem like a good idea, it may ruin it and then you would either have to be forever content with having that one useless level in monk or delete the fighter and start again!

Ron over at R&J Cyberware created a special application that allows you to plan out all the stats, feats and whatnot of your DDO character before you even hit the create button in the game. He calls it simply the Dungeons and Dragons Online Character Planner and has made it available as freeware.

This is Windows software, but I imagine if you are playing DDO on Linux or a Mac you will already have the knowledge to run a simple EXE on your computer. This piece of software has also become legendary amongst seasoned DDO vets, as it provides a way to fully plan and optimize your character without going through the painful process where one misstep can destroy hours of time invested in your character.

Currently I am using it to help me fine-tune my Drow Exploiter Ranger. I’ll be writing more about this particular build in coming posts, as it is what I am playing right now.

Tags: Character Planner

I would have to say that out of my list of most annoying monsters in Dungeons and Dragons Online, slimes have to be at the top of the list. The reason I say that is because of their ability to degrade and ultimately destroy your gear.

Even though many players have their own opinions on what weapon material degrades the fastest or what type of side weapon to carry to deal with slimes, everyone can agree on what the single best weapon in the game is to deal with these oozing menaces: Muckbane.

Overpowered Muckbane is not, at only a +1 enchantment level. However, it does an additional +1 damage to slimes and, most importantly, it takes no permanent damage from them (or Rust Monsters). So you can use this weapon as long as you like and pass it to as many of your alternate characters as you wish – maces are a simple weapon so even a wizard can use them (assuming they don’t fry the slimes with magical fire first).

Muckbane occurs as a random drop from the monster Muck. Muck is a mini-boss slime that you can sometimes find lurking in the Kobold Brothers’ dungeon. Access to the Kobold Brothers is gained through Durk the Deranged in the Leaky Dinghy who gives you the quest Durk’s Got a Secret.

You will not see Muck every time you run through the Kobold Brothers. Whether he spawns is up to chance so you may see him on your first run, or you may have to come back a few more times to see him. He is not extremely rare, but to add to the difficulties of finding Muckbane, it does not always drop for every party member when you do defeat him. It is also worth mentioning that Muck appears to spawn more often at the hard and elite difficulty settings.

Because DDO has relatively lenient ownership rules for items, however, if you are helping someone find their first Muckbane and it drops for you but not them you can simply turn it over to them from the chest. Muckbane is also non-bindable so you can use it and then send it to a friend or one of your alternate characters.

Walkthrough

If you run this dungeon with a higher level character, or if you have one helping you, you can get to Muck’s spawn point in about 2 minutes with little effort. This precludes any sort of optional quest or barrel-smashing, let alone role-playing, but chances are if you are running this same dungeon several times in a row, RP is not foremost on your mind. And remember that if you are grouped with someone more than four levels higher than you, you will receive zero xp.

1) Make a bee-line for the third intersection on the map. There will be a group of kobolds before the the first bend. When you get to the bend follow it right then left at the intersection then right around the next bend and finally left. During this part you will encounter several slimes.

You will now be at a T intersection in roughly the middle of the map – there is a party of kobolds here for you to dispatch. Make sure to turn left at this intersection to head to the second Kobold Chieftan. Do not stray down the right passage as I have been told this affects the chance for Muck to spawn (though I’m not sure why).

2) About halfway down the passage you will have defeated a band of kobolds and see a door on your left. Go through that to defeat the first kobold chieftan (along with several cronies). Open the valve opposite the chest in this room; this will complete the Open Rear Sewer Entrance side quest and allow you access to Muck.

3)Run back to the T intersection and proceed down the other path. There will be single kobold throwers and shaman in the alcoves. They will not chase you, so you can avoid them by not being in their line of fire.

About halfway down this path there will be an open door to the Rear Sewers(opened by that valve you just turned). Just beyond the door and to the left is an alcove where Muck spawns. Kill it and cross your fingers!

If it is not there, then exit out of the dungeon, leave and re-invite your group and proceed from step one again. If you are not in a group you can abandon the quest and run back to the Leaky Dinghy to pick it back up – or wait five minutes for it to reset.

That is it – if you are lucky you will get a Muckbane on your first run, if not then you should score one after a few runs. I wouldn’t call it a rare weapon, per se. You will have to work for your loot, but I can’t see you spending more than an hour at this – and that is if you are profoundly unlucky. Have fun bludgeoning those slimes and oozes into oblivion!

Tags: Durk's Got A Secret, Muckbane

Character animations are as much a staple of MMORPGs as quests and virtual danger. They help give your character a little more … character.

Dungeons and Dragons Online is no different and his its own share of predefined and animated emotes. You can access the complete list in-game by typing /emotelist. I’ve included the list below with my own descriptions.

As with other RPG-style games you can also devise your own custom text emotes on the spot by typing /em then finishing the sentence “Your character does …” In other words, typing /em takes a reflective toke from his pipe. would read “Fortuente takes a reflective toke from his pipe.”

You can also combine the animated emotes from the emote list with your own custom text emotes simply by typing the animated emote instead of /em. For example, typing /shrug says, What me worry? would cause my avatar to shrug his shoulders while the chat box displays “Fortuente says, “What me worry?”

If you add the power of DDO’s alias command into your emote construction you can string together long lines of dialogue (i.e. songs for bards or incantations for mages) complete with character animations. The game-enriching RP fun you can have with this system can keep you entertained for hours. Be on the lookout for some custom role-play scripts you can copy and paste in future posts.

• /angry You shake your fist in anger.

• /beckon You beckon to those around you.

• /beg You beg for alms.

• /bow You bow courteously.

• /cheer You jump for joy.

• /cheer2 You clap your hands in triumph.

• /clap You clap appreciatively.

• /cower You cower.

• /cry You sob into the plams of your hands.

• /dance You dance a merry jig.

• /dance2 You do the Twist.

• /eat You eat.

• /flex You flex your muscles impressively.

• /gather You motion for everyone to gather round you.

• /groan You groan in pain.

• /grovel You drop to your knees and beg forgiveness.

• /hug You hug the air in front of you. Takes practice to hug someone else.

• /kiss You blow a kiss.

• /kneel You kneel on one knee.

• /LFH A ham icon lights over your head and you search for ham.

• /laugh You laugh heartily.

• /no You cross your hands in finality: no.

• /nod You nod in approval.

• /point You point afar.

• /poke You poke the air in front of you.

• /runaway You motion for those around you to run away.

• /salute You salute.

• /shakehead You shake your head in disapproval.

• /sheathe You sheathe your weapons.

• /show You hold out your hand in front of you, showing what is in it.

• /shrug You shrug your shoulders.

• /sigh You sigh.

• /sit You sit down.

• /sleep You lie down and sleep.

• /stop A STOP icon lights atop your head, informing your party to halt.

• /taunt You perform a physical “bring it on” taunt.

• /wait You wait, tapping your foot.

• /wave You wave.

• /yes You nod your head.

Tags: emotes