Dungeons & Dragons Online

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Dungeons & Dragons Online is a massively multiplayer online version of Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition, set in Eberron. It was launched in 2006 by Turbine, unfortunately near the end of 3.5's life span. Initially released as Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, it has been changed to Eberron Unlimited and most recently to just the page title over its various updates, especially since you can now port into Forgotten Realms. It is currently the third most played MMORPG in the US, behind World of Warcraft and (sadly) RuneScape.

The Basics

It's an MMORPG (duh) where you can create a D&D character (extra duh) and fight monsters without the hassle of whiny DMs, railroading, or rules lawyers. Powergaming is a fact of life, and the in-game economy has long since collapsed due to high-level items being easily grindable and the Haggle skill being easily twinked.

While it may take a while for new players to build up to the fantastically obscene amounts of wealth required to buy or trade with older players, the game itself is very diverse. Almost anything available in pen-and-paper D&D is achievable, though characters are limited in their interactions with the environment (walk on it, jump on it, climb on it, or break it).

The game is freemium, meaning you can technically play for free but it goes much faster if you pay for stuff. Instead of using just straight-out money, you first have to buy Turbine Points (buying them in-store opens up a Premium account though). Points are then used to buy items. For those of you too cheap or poor to pay with real money, you can earn points by gaining favor with NPCs or finishing special quests. Points are set to the account in use, so building a couple of characters, earning the points, then buying more character slots and starting them all over is a viable and much scummed tactic.

The main drawback is that it doesn't have everything quite yet, and since it's run by a computer you can't ignore the rules. Also, as previously stated, environmental interactions are very limited.

Races

• Human - Not really special at anything. Not used by most Powergamers. +1 to two chosen stats, rather than the +2/-2 each other race gets.
• Tree hugger - Supposedly good for casting but their constitution suuuucks.
• Dorf - Beard? Check. Surly? Check. Axe? OH yeah. The only race that can use Dwarven Axes proficiently without a feat.
• Carny - The best rogues possible. Watch your pockets.
• Warforged - They don't need regular armor most of the time and are immune to a lot of effects. Pay-to-play.
• Drizzt clone - Yeah, most of these guys even have a variation of Drizzt as their names. Pay-to-play, unlocked at 400 total Favor.
• Half-Elf - HERESY. Pay-to-play.
• Half-Orc - EXTRA HERESY. Make awesome Barbarians. Pay-to-play.

Classes

• Fighter - Hit things with swords. Cleave/Greater Cleave/Whirlwind for fun and profit.
• Cleric - The most broken of the free classes. Fight like a Fighter and fix yourself up. Level 6 gives the most broken healing spell available, and level 9 gives you Raise Dead.
• Wizard - Destructive, yet fragile. Low CON but high DPS, with lots of ranged attacks. Bring a cleric. Oh, and you can be a non-evil Necromancer. What.
• Ranger - Can summon and control wild beasts along with fancy bow work and get extra damage and attack bonuses for dual wielding.
• Rogue - Sneaky bastards stole my money. Bonus to hide, back stab, and the only class that can disable locks or traps Oh look, Artificers do that too.
• Sorcerer - Like a wizard, but they don't need to transcribe spells or prepare them ahead of time. Unlike the pen-and-paper game they don't have familiars (though that might change).
• Paladin - Like a crappy knockoff of a cleric; they can use all the same items and spells, but have a smaller spell pool and stink at regular attacks without an active ability turned on. Most of their abilities focus on resisting or damaging Evil creatures, but suck at anything else (like the huge number of neutral types of damage). Make a cleric instead.
• Barbarian - Specialize in ignoring attacks, Raging, and killing anyeverything in his or her way. Also really good at resisting enchantments.
• Bard - Sing songs to hurt your enemies and buff your friends. Versatile and reliable.
• Monk - Hate spending money? These are your guys. Weapons and armor only slow them down, and late-game characters are considered adamantine, silver, and immune to almost everything. Pay-to-play.
• Favored Soul - Like an even more unbalanced Paladin, they have a huge wealth of spell points but limited spells (mostly healing). They can't hit for crap and tend to be a pain. Make a cleric, damn it. Pay-to-play.
• Artificer - The second most broken class, awarded for completing all of House Cannith's challenges. They get an Iron Defender familiar which acts as a separate character (making your character slot a twofer), can repair and damage constructs as a skill, open locks and disable traps, and are the only character that can use Rune Arms, which are basically steampunk laser cannons that add bonuses to your other weapons. They get bonuses to crafting and in general can tear apart anything that gets in their way. Pay-to-play before the level 20 House Cannith challenges.
• Druid - The FIRST most broken class, they can heal massive amounts of health, have a permanent familiar (similar to the Artificer's Iron Defender), can make their own food, turn wild animals to their side, summon an extra animal on top of that, buff allies, debuff enemies, and transform into a number of powerful monsters. Basically, they're a walking army with a cleric's healing abilities and get bonuses to everything they do. There's a reason they're the most expensive Pay-to-play class. Their one and only drawback is that they can't use metal items at all, which leaves out most types of good weapons and armor. They make up for this by turning into living fire, though.

Awesome stuff

Every year, usually once in February and again on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, the game opens up the Crystal Cove adventure area. Here, you fight pirates, look for treasure, and can buy pirate-themed items. Hats, in particular, can have up to four different enhancement bonuses applied to them, and can be some of the best items available in the game with a max bonus of +15 Natural Armor, +10 to any ability or skill, and make it easier to find treasure so you can buy more pirate stuff.

The staff at Turbine are also reportedly neckbeards, making reference to pretty much everything a fa/tg/uy would consider awesome. Such gems include Schenker, the scorpion king, Detritus the earth elemental, and the Dread Admiral Tricorn having OVER 9000 skulls printed on it. Kobolds that aren't enemies tend to be of the Dawww variety. They also LOVE making fun of World of Warcraft, with one quest-giving NPC asking you to bring him ten rat tails and laughing when your character flips out about it.

Ever heard of the Giant empire that ruled Xen'drik? Well, this thing gives an explanation on how it collasped, as allows you to take part in a very engaging storyline where you do battle against both giants and dragons!! Hell, you even get to destroy a doomsday device with your bare hands! Downside: it's one of the most expensive things to get in the game. Either use real money or play dem vidya's my Neckbeards.