Are paladins that bad? That everyone mentions sk/wars, but not paladins?

War/Sham/Monk = WIN

When I started on this server I played with three other people totally new to the server as well. We rolled nearly exclusively as SK, SK, SK, Bard until 30s and we realized how the penalty multiplier works on this server - so yeah, I think you can make anything work.

I had been thinking of an iksar trio yeah, since the Kunark zones are prettier and have cooler looking monsters. We want to start playing together from lvl1 onwards.

Ranger/Bard/SK might also be fun.

You'll take 5 times longer to level than a non hybrid setup but it sounds like a blast :)

That's why a halfling setup with a warrior, rogue and cleric/druid is so damn tempting. They look cool, got a good starting zone and have hide/sneak. The xp bonus seals the deal. Great dex on them buggers make the warrior keep easy aggro once he acquires proccing weapons.

It's just that the damn mechanics of the war/rog/cle can be a bit boring =D

Yeah the all-iksar crew (SK/warrior, monk, shaman, and necro) would be pretty effective and look fantastic. A shaman and necro can keep the melee healed without problems, although casters will be a little rough.

Another fun unit that I always wanted to try was Rogue, Shaman, Enchanter, Bard. This group has sick dps (rogue+charmed pet with the bard tanking. Anyone can tank something that is 65% slowed), mana/hp regeneration (the shaman would be getting like 70 mana/tick. Wizards eat your heart out), and debuffs (malo/tash = I slow you 100%). Plus a lot of parentheses.

You could also try the all-dark elf squad: SK, Cleric, Enchanter, Magician. You should have no problems 1-60 if your enchanter is decent.

Or if you want to be really awesome, you could go Gnome Warrior/Cleric/Enchanter/Magician. Zones would simply implode from the coolness of that group.

I think the group that would level the fastest to 60 would be Enc/Enc/Mage/Cleric. Two charmed/maloed pets and some pretty solid mage dps with the cleric keeping everyone alive is just ridiculous.

Lots of good choices :D

Four Mages would destroy and be extremely low item dependent.

Bard Rogue Ranger Monk

Paladin = useless? :p