Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SoulGamit 05-16-06, 01:10 AM	I have read both the Preliminary Binder Guide and the Tips/Tricks thread, as well as done a google search... and I can still find nothing on a low-level Binder. Has anyone ever played a Binder from a low level? How does it fair? What vestige is good to bind? I know that one of the Binder's key abilities is that of versitility, but what vestigas can you bind to fill certain roles? Any tips in general? Also, what vestiges benefit the most from the Knight of the Sacred Seal's Vestige Surge ability and/or Rapid Recovery?
LucRivNor 05-16-06, 07:13 AM	Amon is always a good choice form low to high level. Breath + extra attack is always good. Naberius is good for social days. Ronove is good for trick/feather fall (never fall down in Sharn in Eberron setting) and the speed is good for combat/travel When you reach level 2 vestige, Malphas is really good with invisibility/sudden strike combo, but the scouting bird is an awsome scout. Just make him scout all the dungeon, make him spy in city, make him do the bird messenger, ...without the risk of being involved. It die? Summon another!! At level 3, they are all really good except Karsus. I suggest to play a melee binder (high STR) because if you dont have the stat to do melee, you give up many good vestiges. The other themes (ranged, mage,.. ) have less vestiges and are good any way with a melee binder.
Todd 05-16-06, 09:47 AM	At level 3, they are all really good except Karsus. Are you kidding me?!?! With Detect Magic at will, Dispel Magic every 5 rounds, & use wands/staves like a Wizard with +2 to their DC, Karsus can be flat out fantastic in some situations. I'll freely admit that he might be a better secondary bind at higher levels but there are situations where binding Karsus as your only vestige is great. Personally I agree about the melee focus. I'm playing an Anima Mage now and in going through the various vestiges there were a lot that weren't useful to me because they are so melee focused. My general thoughts are: 1. Don't depend on Savnok, or any other single vestige for that matter. His armor is good but stay flexible and leave yourself free to change your bind as needed. Flexiblity is the #1 advantage of the Binder. 2. Focus on Cha & Con first, then Str & Dex but try to keep all of them reasonably high. I like keeping Str & Dex about the same since it allows you to go Str Melee with something like Amon or Savnok ... or to go Dex melee with Paimon. 3. Bind to fit your gear, party, and tactical situation. For instance if your party has found a powerful magic rapier then Paimon might be a good bet. However if your group has a charger already then Amon is probably not going to be as useful to the group as a whole. Vestiges: 1st level Amon & Ronove are both good & have powers that scale well with level. 2nd level Savnok & Malphas can both be really useful. Dahlver-Nar is neat if you have an insane Con ... or party access to some sort of Con boosting like the un-nerfed polymorph. 3rd level Paimon is great for Dex based fighting & Andromalius is great for utility & flanking damage. The Binder class has some big break-points. For instance an 8th level Binder is hugely more powerful than a 7th level Binder, having both a 2nd iterative attack & being able to bind 2 vestiges. Once you can bind two vestiges think about binding one for offense, say Andromalius, and one for defense, like Savnok. Or you can pick two that complement each other like Paimon & Ronove.
SoulGamit 05-16-06, 06:50 PM	With 32 point buy, I put all my stats at 14 except wisdom, which is at 10. It seems like every stat but wisdom is important to the binder. The real question is what I should put my stats into, probably charisma. So from what I gather, This is the run-down to the low-level binds: Malphas for scouting/rogue role Naberius for social days Amon for damage Savnok or Dahlver-Nar for tanking, not sure what's better at low levels, assuming you have a chain shirt as apart of your equipment. Thanks for all the help
TheOne 05-16-06, 10:47 PM	I started a binder at level three and he is currently level five. Paimon is my typical vestige. I use a dex based fighter with a rapier and shield. At level 5 my AC is 25 and I usually use combat exp to push my AC much more. Nobody can hit me and a low levels whirlwind attack is handy against lots of weak opponents.
SoulGamit 05-16-06, 11:26 PM	How do you get your AC so high with just Paimon?
TheOne 05-17-06, 12:21 AM	10(base)+5(+1 mithral shirt)+3(+1 Darkwood heavy shield)+5(dex, base 16+4 from paimon)+2(insight. pact augmentation) = 25. Then this is boosted can be boosted even more with dodge(+1) and combat expertise(+3) for AC 28/29