>Tac Hands/Exotics Fire Giant Outlander: Couldn't take the
>Executioner while unwanted without at least 1 rest. Mostly it
>just wasn't even a possibility... I'd have put this one high
>on my list for killing a non-casting mob, but I didn't prep
>much (at all) with him.

Not a great tank; more the kind of character that wins PKs because he does so much damage the other guy runs out of hit points first. It's hard for that kind of style to stand up to guardian HP.

>Juol: Tac2 Hands/Swords Fire Giant Outlander: Same as tac,
>possibly worse, hard to say since this character was ruined
>before he spent much time at hero.

I think this character probably could've done it once up to speed.

>Nefla: Pre-barrier/regen changes I could take down the
>Executioner pretty handily through prep + regen + shifting
>between cobra and tiger, and post she was still a viable
>raider and explorer, but mostly because cobra regen and
>because the cheetah had better defenses than the lion.

Yeah, that's about what I'd expect -- tiger is a good tank for an offense form, but that's not saying much. It'd need a lot of healing to do it solo in one go, and cobra provides that nicely.

>Fordun: Goodie dwarf tribbie, flails and maces, sanc/healing
>pendant + gates + pretty heavy prep usage. I couldn't raid
>Outlander for #### with him. I *assumed* I would have enough
>DR/Healing to take on the spirit, but that wasn't true, and it
>tore me up the few times I tried it without a bunch of help.

I think this character'd be able to do it with some of the right tactical choices. Picking the right weapons to wield for the Spirit would be one of the biggest. It shouldn't be too hard to find a couple maces that'd work pretty well and rock out the drum.

Note, I'd expect maledictions to just not go his way once in a while and have him be forced to retreat, but I think you should be able to do it in one go let's say 80% of the time.

>(Name I can't remember): Empire dagger mace arial, balance of
>sisters and striking (didn't get to striking). She was very
>useful in PK, but the maran inner's divine retribution
>destroyed me the few times I went in with Hunsobo... She was
>very useful in PK, but I didn't really expect much in the mob
>fighting/exploring area.

Yeah, dagger is another one of those 'sort of a good tank against PCs because they run out of hp first' kinds of things that doesn't really stand up well enough to a guardian. Your legacies also are purely PK focused and not particularly useful for fighting mobs.

(Not that there's anything wrong with building a character that way, just, you know what you're getting.)

>Noellia: Wood-elf Bard, Nexus. I could pretty much stand at
>the big D all day and not have to worry about him killing me,
>but then I wasn't really doing a lot of damage that way
>either... She was a very mixed bag as far as exploring goes,
>high defense, but low offense output. She did alright, but
>work killed her before I had a chance to hero and really get
>out there exploring like I intended.

I think this character'd be able to do most of the guardians given enough time, but you're right in that there's not a lot of pure damage coming out of a bard and she'd probably shine more in a group vs. group kind of raid. There are angles you could work here to put out the damage faster, but in general raiding solo with a bard is sloooow. It still generally can be done in one go if you save your mana for healing and just beat it down hand to hand, but...

Bards look a little better vs. the cabals with multiple lower-hp guardians (Nexus, Empire).


>I thought about putting this in an email just to you instead,
>but apparently you don't care for email :P

I'm bad at answering it, and my mailbox is full a lot. :(

Plus, whenever possible I think it's good for everyone to see this kind of discussion and learn from it -- whether you agree with my assessment or not, maybe I've raised some points you didn't consider.