I think I've come to the conclusion that I need to reroll my min-max fighter. While nice that I can kill things readily, and I've put some good time into him, there seems to be an eternal gap that I'd never be able to leap with the old guard players/griefers and their pre-grind limit. I guess that sounds like bitching, but if you're going to be a fighter, the only real point is to be able to compete, even if only in the future. More importantly, I miss out on a large portion of things that would make hellmoo fun with my petty eight brains raw.
I've considered pistols and also whips, but I don't really understand the stats required to get the most benefit... an area (amongst many) the wiki fails miserably. For example, that 13 brawn is what you need to get the best results from pistols.
So to continue my route of begging advice, I'll ask a few more questions. I was spoiled by ripper early, will whips be excruciating, or does the dps go up with whips skill as opposed to fists? What are some of the stat caps for whip combat? Would attempting pistols just be too counter-productive? Do brainy characters shoot for the skies with brains, or is there a "limit" that is pointless to exceed (maybe for feint returns)?
I know it sounds like I'm asking for more min-maxing advice, but I always feel supremely frustrated building a character around mechanics I don't understand or can't find info about, and I'd rather be able to eventually hold my own in combat either way. Sorry, as always, if I gave anyone a noob-coronary.