Hey all, noob trio starting here after hearing about the server. I am hung up on rogue and bard creation. How should I allocate rogue and bard starting stats? I figure rogue needs strength and stamina and I remember strength being easier to come by. Would you suggest 25 STA 5 STR? What about bard? No idea what stats he'd use. I imagine if he has stats that govern casting and fizzling, I'd probably want to pump them? Lastly, does race matter outside of preferential stats? Any races for those two classes you do NOT suggest? I appreciate any guidance you all might have!
You'll probably get as many different opinions on this as there are players, but basically it doesn't matter in the long run. You can come up with a reason to do it this way or that, but those stats mostly have minor effects, are easy to increase with buffs, and raid gear will get all of them to max except maybe CHA unless you sacrifice in other places. STR is good to increase because you will need to wear armor and carry loot, especially when you start. Being constantly encumbered just from your toolboxes and armor is going to increase the time you spend managing your inventory until you have weight reduction bags. When you get resurrected your strength is reduced further, to the point where you simply can't move after looting your corpse until the debuff wears off or you get a SoW cast on you. This stat is probably the most useful in that it actually does something that you notice (not going crawl speed as much). STR is easy to buff and find on gear, but this is true of all the creation stats once you're leveled up. Bards use CHA and DEX as factors in determining how often they miss a note when starting a song. The effect is minor and people get by just fine without pumping these stats at creation. There are buffs from shamans for both of these stats but if you check out some end game geared characters, CHA is usually the only stat that isn't maxed by their worn gear when unbuffed. Not that it's going to help much to have it maxed. Certainly won't save you from dying like a few extra points of STR would when you're encumbered and unable to flee. STA is easily buffed and commonly found on gear, but if you feel this helps you get started it's not as useless as WIS/INT/CHA for your melee characters.
Welcome to TAKP! One thing that I hadn't considered when making my Bard (who's only in his 30s, so I'm definitely not an expert) was religion. I went Agnostic for illusion fun but going Rallos Zek gives you some solid armor choices, especially if you're new to the server and unsure about raiding. There are two Fierce Heraldic BPs for sale in the Bazaar ~4.2kpp. A Wind-worn Chestplate is probably one of the few superior tradable alternatives and tends to sell for about double that. For other armor slots, you're likely looking at a larger difference: the legs are available for 7.5k now, with a tradable upgrade being crafted PoP armor like Farwater Plate Greaves which are going for 90k! Faction is not all-important in this era -- plus you have a faction song -- and the Fierce Heraldic armor wouldn't be a bad option for leveling, especially if you're using your Bard to tank. You'd be able to afford a set of it in your 30s and 40s (Darchon's new player guide is filled with great info and can help you get started on making plat) whereas farming other plate options like Moktor, Thurgadin, SS MQs, and Ornate would require level 50+ toons and/or be more expensive. But this would limit you from playing Vah Shir, and if your heart is set on a cat Bard then I would recommend playing whatever you fancy the most.
Not sure what your long term goals are on the bard but as a bard who has raided everything on the server, I wish I had put all my points into charisma. That being said if end game raiding isn't your goal i think solar and giantfortt gave you very solid advice.
