Advice needed building my first and second PvM toons

Hey hey people,

It's time to cap off the break after over one and half-decade, it was a tough decision but I made it. ‒ *still barking at the lack of time*.
I'm here to ask for your guidance to put things right over these two templates since I became distanced as the years go by.

Through my UO past, I made starts by collecting wool and then going by a Tailor build mostly, however, this time I'm inquiring about more interesting ways to startup, if not better, to keep my playing attention where possible. I want to make a great start this time around so that I won't quit again after shortly!

Basically, I managed to put out two different routed builds; a dexxer bard and a battle-miner.

Whilst I'm more leaning on the second version of the dexxer bard considering the 20%debuff of Discord, +5% barding check bonus sounds better than LJ's +10 bonus damage.

1. Dexxer bard #1

• 100 SW
• 100 Anatomy
• 100 Tactics
• 100 Healing
• 100 Lumberjacking
• 100 Music
• 100 Provocation

OR

Dexxer bard #2

• 100 MF
• 100 Anatomy
• 100 Tactics
• 100 Healing
• 100 Discordiance
• 100 Music
• 100 Provocation

100/100/25

2. Battle miner

• 100 SW
• 100 Anatomy
• 100 Tactics
• 100 Healing
• 100 Lumberjacking
• 100 Blacksmithy
• 100 Mining

100/100/25
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Have some questions based on the above builds:

1. What is the versatility of these dexxer bards? How far I can get further as far as PvM goes?
2. Which bard version would you prefer and why?
   
3. Can I also use either of the bard builds on IM runs without Magery? ‒ Plan to gate him.
4. What are the other interesting and / relatively better alternative builds, if any?

* Feel free to adjust the skills' value on your suggestions as they are roughly put with no in-depth thought behind.
** Note that I've not yet installed the game since I like planning things out in before making them real.

My little-to-none history had begun in 2013 with a friend where we barely spent two weeks on this shard. We played pretty much-secluded on our own, and that didn't go well and eventually, we got disjointed and inherently stopped playing. However, recently the urge to actually start over preponderated, hence I'm here as the OP.


Thank you for your attention and comments already.

Build #1 is great for instanced events. It's pretty much the go-to build. For #2, disco and provo can make almost any build viable. #3 Is a good battle miner, but you don't need blacksmithy on a battle miner. I'd recommend taking something different and put blacksmithy on a crafter character.

Out of these, I'd do the first. My issue is that I like magery and being able to recall. I'm a fan of "Keza"-type build:

• 100 SW
• 100 Anatomy
• 100 Tactics
• 100 Magery
• 100 Lumberjacking
• 100 Animal Lore
• 100 Veterinary

The idea here is that you have a pet (usually an ostard). That does the tanking for you. You heal it while you chop the enemy.

Hail and welcome back!
+1 everything @Blendax just said.

Just wanted to add you could also keep music/Provo. A great stater build, and plenty of char spots for the others. With Provo anything is your tank, I drag golems out of caves, and keep them agro'd on me till I need them.

Drop LJ for enough magery for recall and magic reflection. The rest could be hiding or resist.

Start with 50 magery and Provo and you'll be up and running in no time.

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My battle miner:

GM
mace
Anat
Music
Mining
Tact

80
Peacemaking
Healing

40
Magery

Enough magery to recall, and I never fail peace on elementals/golems. Peace is great for crowd control in this instance.

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Yes, dropping BS from the battle miner makes sense. However, I'm not sure I want to use an ostard which obliges me to take Veterinary. I had thought about going with peacemaking + health potions as Holden's build. Also, the exclusion of Mining and inclusion of A.Lore made me scratch my head ‒ Am I missing something?

I will consider having 35-40 Magery on my dexxer bard @Lemac, but for my battle-miner wouldn't it be more convenient to have a packhorse, and since gating asks around 80 Magery as opposed to @Holden's build. Here, I would like to have insight into decision making. Because when I have peace, why would I ever need Healing on top of this? Having around 90 Magery grants me g.heals, gating, and summons to help me in fights sounds better imho. Again, in case I'm missing a point please correct me.

• 100 mace
• 100 Music
• 100 Mining
• 100 Tact
• 95 Anat
• 90 Magery+45 Medit
• 80 Peacemaking

I never thought about Magery for the summons since Energy Vortex is an 8th circle spell, which means the dexterity wouldn't be so high as I originally imagined but not that of a big deal. I was just worrying some high-tier monsters can dispel them ‒ no idea how likely this to happen with provocation+discord though.

Any reason why do you prefer SW over MF when there is no LJ?

I already spoke with @BrecMadak on discord but I will put this out there for anyone reading.

My mix of characters is likely one of the strangest on the server. One thing they all have in common is NONE of them kept their starting setup. I switched some from healing over to magery, swapped peace or provo, and made changes to all 15 characters after trying things and seeing what worked.

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I have your build number 2:
A macer disco provo... and what i have to say is.. a very nice build for group hunting(everyone loves a disco in the group) and i didnt tryied yet but for ironman attemptives too.. To hunt alone in dungeons? i dont like, i feel so fragile to run around with slayers and no resist spells. And i kept 10 of magery to have the possibility to recall but is something i can take off.

I just started woking a build like the people was advising, the ossy tank.
I have to say, is very fun... mine have resist and i am using it to practice a little soloing hard mobs... my main goal is start ironman attempts soon.. the lack of barding makes hard to use him in every situation...


Battle mining for me is very boring... only makes sense if you are on BOD game.

The question you should make is: i want a char for every situation? or a char for a specific usage? if you want a char that will be able to explore all the game possibilities.. i would go to the tammer as soon as possible.

In my experience you still need healing. When the golems/eles spawn they immediately swing and they hit for 20+ with a dex suit ar. I suppose you could use scrolls potions wands to heal but it's much simpler for me to use healing.

Edit: I rarely if ever use a packhorse. There are a ton of forges naturally in the world. Fill up your pack or hop it to the forge and smelt then housedrop or recall to bank, deposit the ingots gold etc. Repeat.

Some very helpful inputs/links, guys.

Holden's build seems to be really grounded and stable, and a lot of my questions found an answer. Also, the design behind the build makes more sense now.

Have a few more questions to break down things:

1. However, Holden: I wonder how often do you fail to bandage yourself with 80 Healing?
2. Did you ever try to keep the Mining at lower levels before GM'ing? Does it really work, with or without Gargoyle stuff?
3. Does a plate mail set have the highest AR? What kind of damage ore elementals and golems do?
4. I thought that battle mining was a great way to make a profit regardless of BOD'ing?
5. Can I use battle miner to GM Blacksmithy?

Xavant_BR: I have never felt drawn to be a tamer in my UO past and this doesn't seem to be changing any time soon. And, no I can't afford to build a different character for every other niche situation, that's why I'm here and consulting veteran players.

One: Also speaking of having the advantage of GM Magery, you never mentioned how to prevent summons like EV to not aggro to me?

1 rarely. But by that time you can get it repeaced.

2 I believe it is the shovels that work with no mining, pickaxes need skill. *Could be switched.

3 best AR vs dex is invul bone, or gm barbed bone if you don't want to use invul.

4 correct. Stone/marble ingots are still around 500g per. Elementals also drop gold gems and magic items. Battle miner is separate from my bod pullers (which I also sell)

I don't play much, but I will look for you in discord. I'd be happy to show you how it works.

My initial comment for a provo dexer was just to give you a good all around starter character that is is very versatile and easy to get up and running.

As for the battle miner, +1 for everything @Holden stated.

There are definitely enough forges around that you can smelt as you go.

A pack horse is good in the beginning as your gonna need to smelt a lot to start building up the skill. Easy walk west from the west brit stables to the mountains, and plenty of forges there. Otherwise smelt as you go and recall when full, hence the magery need.

The golems and elementals can hit hard especially higher level ore ones, and with healing you can use it as you fight instead of having to stop the fight to cast a spell.
You will rarely fail to peace them, but they can break the peace as you hit them.

Gargoyle pickaxe only pulls one, but the shovels tend to pull 2 at once so again you are gonna get hit while waiting to get them both peaced.

A battle miner is basically a peace dexer, and can be used as such going after solo monsters, not just for mining, evil mage towers and demons come to mind. Another reason for healing and some magery.

This is mine: http://www.uorenaissance.com/player/1059351 and i don't even have 80 healing, but he still gets the job done.

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I understand your reasons my friend... so if you want a generalist:
-If you want MEELE and PVM, you need to put healing on him.
-60 of magery will help you to cast blade spirits and face mobs too hard to tank. magic reflect and mini heals(will require a balanced stat)
-My most flexible template for PVM is my Bard mage... provo/peace/music/eval/medir/resist/magery... All you need is some reagents and a instrument. Eval and resist will give you more please when in troubles.

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