Caladbolg Inquiries (primarily store TP)

[Arcon]

My main question is "How much store TP is sane with /sam?"

Not sure what "sane" means, but /SAM will give you 15 Store TP, which is an 8-hit build all by itself. To get a 7-hit, you'd need another 15 Store TP, which seems reasonable to get (Rajas Ring, Goading Belt, Brutal Earring, Tyrant's Ring for example). A 6-hit build, while possible, would probably be less efficient, because you'd have to sacrifice many other things for it, like Haste, DA and Accuracy. Speaking of which, the rest of your TP set should consist of Zelus Tiara, AF3+2 hands, legs and feet, and possibly body, unless you have something better (I'm not aware of anything). That will pretty much cap your Haste, aside from rounding errors. Atheling Mantle, Rancor Collar also sound like decent choices.

As for WS, VIT is the only WS modifier, but STR and Attack will play a role on any physical WS. If you WS in Koenig Gear, you'll probably just lose every bonus you possibly get from the VIT anyway. Twilight Helm would probably be ideal for the head slot, Ares's Cuirass for body. I'm not up to date on many items from the last two updates, so forgive me if some of these sound outdated, I'm sure others could correct me, but Spiral Ring also comes to mind, as does Warwolf Belt, the new STR and VIT neckpiece (+6 on both I believe), or Apathy Gorget which is also pretty cheap these days. PLD AF3+2 hands, Jingang Hose and Dilaram's Sollerets for feet, if you can get your hands on some, otherwise try Jingang Greaves. Some situational pieces include Vampire Earrings, if you macro for nighttime or Shadow Mantle, on Darksday. Not sure if VIT earrings are worth it, since there's nice Attack items for those slots (namely Centaurus Earring) or even a Moonshade Earring with TP Bonus as latent effect. Second earring slot for Brutal. If you need more Attack (unlikely inside Abyssea, outside probably necessary), try using Anguinus Belt over Warwolf, Attack earrings over VIT. Second Earring I'd keep Rajas, for the Store TP.

Speaking of which, you could also replace the Pole Grip with a Rose Strap, and switch the Tyrant's Ring for Blitz Ring. That way your Haste would be capped and you'd keep the Store TP on your WS set.

Another thing, I see a lot of people suggesting elemental Gorgets/Belts, although I don't see them as being very useful, since Torcleaver is a very high fTP WS, even at 100% TP. The damage increase from those would only be ~2%. You have to see if that beats 6STR/VIT or 9VIT on neck, and 5STR/VIT or 15Att 1DA on waist.

[Dart]

Not sure what "sane" means, but /SAM will give you 15 Store TP, which is an 8-hit build all by itself. To get a 7-hit, you'd need another 15 Store TP, which seems reasonable to get (Rajas Ring, Goading Belt, Brutal Earring, Tyrant's Ring for example). A 6-hit build, while possible, would probably be less efficient, because you'd have to sacrifice many other things for it, like Haste, DA and Accuracy. Speaking of which, the rest of your TP set should consist of Zelus Tiara, AF3+2 hands, legs and feet, and possibly body, unless you have something better (I'm not aware of anything). That will pretty much cap your Haste, aside from rounding errors. Atheling Mantle, Rancor Collar also sound like decent choices.

As for WS, VIT is the only WS modifier, but STR and Attack will play a role on any physical WS. If you WS in Koenig Gear, you'll probably just lose every bonus you possibly get from the VIT anyway. Twilight Helm would probably be ideal for the head slot, Ares's Cuirass for body. I'm not up to date on many items from the last two updates, so forgive me if some of these sound outdated, I'm sure others could correct me, but Spiral Ring also comes to mind, as does Warwolf Belt, the new STR and VIT neckpiece (+6 on both I believe), or Apathy Gorget which is also pretty cheap these days. PLD AF3+2 hands, Jingang Hose and Dilaram's Sollerets for feet, if you can get your hands on some, otherwise try Jingang Greaves. Some situational pieces include Vampire Earrings, if you macro for nighttime or Shadow Mantle, on Darksday. Not sure if VIT earrings are worth it, since there's nice Attack items for those slots (namely Centaurus Earring) or even a Moonshade Earring with TP Bonus as latent effect. Second earring slot for Brutal. If you need more Attack (unlikely inside Abyssea, outside probably necessary), try using Anguinus Belt over Warwolf, Attack earrings over VIT. Second Earring I'd keep Rajas, for the Store TP.

Speaking of which, you could also replace the Pole Grip with a Rose Strap, and switch the Tyrant's Ring for Blitz Ring. That way your Haste would be capped and you'd keep the Store TP on your WS set.

Another thing, I see a lot of people suggesting elemental Gorgets/Belts, although I don't see them as being very useful, since Torcleaver is a very high fTP WS, even at 100% TP. The damage increase from those would only be ~2%. You have to see if that beats 6STR/VIT or 9VIT on neck, and 5STR/VIT or 15Att 1DA on waist.

neck slots were tested, they're so bloody close that it really doesn't matter unless you're a min/max type. I use gorgets/belts and they've never let me down. My numbers have always been very solid.

Arcon hit most of it on the head, go for a solid 7 hit (you can 6 hit inside abyssea with atma of the scorpion queen, rr, AoA) and keep your basic set. I'm not sure how much you use drk inside abyssea for but there is that. Otherwise stick to that 7 hit as previously mentioned.

Also for the ws, outside remember that on anything relevant (IE voidwatch) you will have a rough time capping your fstr. So use your normal ws gear, bale+2, heafoc, ares body, twilight helm, spiral ring, rajas, etc) inside abyssea where your fstr is capped most of the time you can go with a vit+ build.

[Arcon]

[..] bale+2 [..]

He was talking about PLD, he just came here because no one in the PLD forums answered (I didn't see it there), and he figured DRK would have more experience with Torcleaver than PLD.