Yuan ti build and exp penalty

reptilia · Post by **reptilia** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 7:44 am

What would be the experience penalty for a yuan-ti with the following classes:
4 warrior/1 bard/2 red dragon disciple and intending to have weapon master after 10 RDD levels? Think I remember that prestige classes do not count in exp loss, right?

Another question is:
- what order should I take in the mentioned classes to get the best result?
- how many levels for each class?

(trying to roleplay a bit as a dualwielder with two scythes

)

Can someone help me out?

swcarter · Post by **swcarter** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 3:49 pm

You'll take an experience penalty if your warrior and bard classes differ by 2 or more. I think the penalty is 25%.

Since yuan-ti have favored class ranger, and since rangers get free dual-wielding feats, you might want to consider using ranger instead of warrior. Or switch to one of the numerous races with fighter as its favored class.

SWC

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 3:55 pm

There's also the racial xp penalty.. which is about the same as the Drow race, I think. That totals to 3, or 75%? I don't exactly know how they add up. It would probably be like levelling a singleclass Svirfneblin.

reptilia · Post by **reptilia** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:19 am

Tricky, are you sure there is a racial xp penalty counted in %? I know that yuan ti needs just more exp to level up as if it was 2 levels higher i.e. for level 2 it needs 6000 exp, for 3 - 10000 and so on, following the regular leveling rule.

The idea for a ranger sounds tempting, thanks

What about the class levels distribution and order I mentioned?

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:36 am

reptilia wrote:Tricky, are you sure there is a racial xp penalty counted in %? I know that yuan ti needs just more exp to level up as if it was 2 levels higher i.e. for level 2 it needs 6000 exp, for 3 - 10000 and so on, following the regular leveling rule.

I just go by what I find in the manual, incomplete as it is. The regular leveling rule after level two makes so much sense I'm wondering why I've never thought of that before. Is it like a pnp thing? Where did you read about it?

It means you can totally overcome your lack of levels at the end of the OC, doesn't it? Sounds like a bit powergamey to me.

reptilia · Post by **reptilia** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 2:37 am

As you advance in levels the exp needed is raised by 1000 + exp you needed to get to the current level, i.e. to get to 2 lev a human needs 1000exp, to 3 - 3000exp, 4 - 6000exp, 5 - 10000exp and so on.
For yuan ti the rule is the same with one exception: level 1 starts with the requirement of 6000 exp.
When i.e. a human reaches lev 30 he has 465000 exp, and a yuan ti 528000. So it must earn 63000 more (31000+32000) to reach lev 30. I don`t know if the game provides enough exp points for a yuan ti to reach lev 30...

The same exp rule is also in i.e. Fallout and many other rpgs

What`s a pnp?

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 2:43 am

reptilia wrote:For yuan ti the rule is the same with one exception: level 1 starts with the requirement of 6000 exp.

So it is the levels that are modified and not a percentage of all the experience one gathers. That is news to me and will affect my future builds. Staying in the last levels of the OC long enough will eventually help you overcome any character levels you might lack at the end of the game. I always asumed racial XP penalties would continue be a plague throughout all levels.

PNP means Pen and Paper. The game uses a lot of hardcore Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 rules that are nowhere explained in the manual. I hadn't heard of this one yet.

reptilia · Post by **reptilia** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 3:20 am

Edited my previous post.

Assuming that I want my yuan ti to be a warrior/bard/RDD/WM with bard only 1 lev, I would get the 25% exp penalty (as Swcarter wrote). It means that now I`m not so sure if that could get me to 30 lev (with MOTB).

I still need help with class order and level distribution

baron667 · Post by **baron667** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:07 am

wm is not worth it anyway considering that both stats and then every feat you choose should be WM-oriented, and you get the wm levels so late that there's nothing about them you might really enjoy for the rest of the game. well, also nothing that could really come handy, if you dont care about fun itslef.

reptilia · Post by **reptilia** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:11 am

So if not the wm, what would you suggest? What could be better for completing this character?

baron667 · Post by **baron667** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 5:30 am

i dont want to discourage you, but my remark was pretty technical: wm is not worth it if you dont make a pretty simplicistic ftr6+wm7 + only then the remaining stuff if you like some.

i was planning one "samurai assassin" (title of a film

) by developing a ftr/rog/assassin, and plannig to add wm, but then realized ALL my feats (as well as initial stats but that was ok) would have had to be spent on WM reqs in order to reach them all still pretty late in the OC, and then realized, after some good amount of level squatting and thus plenty of options still open, that going on with ftr+rog levels brought much more benefit in battle.
and i still had a next to perfect str-oriented thief and needed no neeshka for that matter.

i realized (with practical ingame experience, not mere speculation) that filling all 4 class slots at any cost might turn counter-productive.
also, same can be said if you plan on paper too much, but then do not consider the actual campaign, if you're playing the official campaign(s).

that was, however, only my personal experience.
cheers

Scottg · Post by **Scottg** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:59 am

Dual-wielding Scythes is a *really* bad idea.

Your attack numbers will absolutely suck, and you won't be able to hit anything.

Here is the break-down. Note that you will ALSO have a -2 penalty for *both* Scythes with the required Monkey Grip feat - so "add" that on as well.

Dual-wield - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more

Monkey Grip - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more

Toss in your level 2 penalty and call yourself the "whiff master" or the more dignified "Lord of Air", because that's all you'll hit (..and I don't mean air elementals).

Choose either:

A Scythe two-handed, or

A Scythe with Monkey Grip (and -2 penalty), and a large shield, or

A One handed weapon of your choice with the feat two-weapon fighting and either a light weapon in your off-hand (only a -2 penalty both weapons), OR with a *non*-two handed weapon (-4 penalty both weapons). Obviously a light weapon in your off-hand is preferable.

Additional problems with 2-weapon fighting:

1. It only gives you *1* extra attack (in addition to the other penalties).

2. It requires a 15 in Dexterity, and chances are you want Strength as your primary attribute. Worse, the additional "enhanced" Two-Weapon fighting feats requires even higher levels of Dexterity.

Considering that penalties are a problem for actually hitting anything - it is advisable to use light weapons IN BOTH HANDS. More specifically Kukri(s).

Further, consider the *RANGER* to "get around" the problems with Dexterity (..they have a two-weapon combat specialty feat that requires you to use light armor, but gives you the feats for "free" and does NOT require a high dexterity.) Also, a Yuan-Ti has this as their favored class so it doesn't count for XP penalties.

Optimally you should consider *6* levels as a Ranger to pick-up the 2nd two-weapon fighting feat: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting. (..a second off-hand attack at a base of -5 is bad, but at higher levels it can still hit on occasion.)

Ranger - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more

What additional classes you add to this really depends on how you want to play the game.

1 *Option*:

THE consummate dual-wield class is the Invisible Blade.

Invisible Blade - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more

It has several things going for it:

1. High base attack bonus
2. Intelligence modifier AC bonus (..particularly useful to augment your light armor).
3. Feint-based Bleeding Wound can add a LOT of damage to an opponent that isn't sneak attack immune.

It requires some extra things - Bluff 8, Combat Expertise and Feint (feats), and a requirement to *always* increase your Bluff skill to the maximum at level-up (for your feints) - essentially requiring the feat Able Learner in addition.

IF you want to add-in the RDD build then it would work something like this:
Yuan-ti:
1st level Bard w/ feat Able Learner (always increase Bluff at each level)
2nd level Ranger
3rd level Ranger with combat style 2-weapon fighting, additional feat: Weapon Focus Kurkri (required for IB)
4th level Ranger
5th level Ranger
6th level Ranger w/ feat Combat Expertise (required for Feint which is required for IB)
7th level Ranger (you will need a Lore skill of 8 to choose the RDD class next)
8th level RDD
9th level RDD w/ feat Feint (required for IB)
10th level Invisible Blade
11th level Invisible Blade
12th level Invisible Blade (feat of your choice, Power Attack or Improved Critical Kurkri)
13th level Invisible Blade
14th level Invisible Blade
15th level RDD (feat that you didn't choose for 12th level)
16th level RDD
17th level RDD
18th level RDD w/ feat Cleave

It can carry-over into MOTB with RDD and then back to either Ranger or Bard and still work well (..better as a Ranger to Ranger level 11).

Intelligence should be 14, Charisma should be 14, Constitution should be 14, Strength should be 17+, Dexterity should be 12+ and Wisdom - whatever works-out (bearing in mind that you probably won't be able to cast your Ranger single 1st level spell per day without at least an 11). (Note that it isn't even worth trying for Ranger spell casting.)

That is just one option among many.

reptilia · Post by **reptilia** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:04 pm

Wow, that`s what I call a feedback

and that`s what I wanted to hear. I owe you one

Tomorrow, I`ll put your advices to a good use and inform you of the results. My character will finally become LEGEN... wait for it...DARY!

Scottg · Post by **Scottg** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:21 pm

reptilia wrote:Wow, that`s what I call a feedback and that`s what I wanted to hear. I owe you one Tomorrow, I`ll put your advices to a good use and inform you of the results. My character will finally become LEGEN... wait for it...DARY!

You're welcome!

Try building the character in this module to see how it works out, before playing it in the campaign:

Vordan's Hero Creator -- Neverwinter Nights 2 Vault

Note the installation instructions:

"INSTALLATION:
(1) Move the file "Vordan's Hero Creator.mod" into your My Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/modules folder.
(2) Move the file "vhc.hak" into your My Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2/hak folder. "

If you like the idea of the IB class then remember that the feint feat is something you drag from your character sheet (feat heading), and place on the quick-bar (bottom left on-screen keys). Then you can select the feint feat from it when ever you want to feint an opponent.

Also note that the character I outlined should increase in Strength at each level-up opportunity (4,8,12, 16, 20).