This forum is to be used for all discussions pertaining to Obsidian Entertainment's Neverwinter Nights 2, the Mask of the Betrayer expansion pack, the Storm of Zehir expansion pack, and the Mysteries of Westgate adventure pack.
Playing the OC I've been toying with the idea of playing a rogue using ranged weapons to get the most out of the high dex. As in most RPGs ammo seems to be a limitation to going pure ranged. Unenchanted arrows are cheap enough, but dealing with resistant enemies will be a lot tougher on my wallet. Attacking with +1 arrows will cost me 1gp per hit, and I imagine the heavier stuff is more expensive than that.
Money aside there's also the matter of supply. Are there enough arrows in stores to fulfill my needs even if I can fork out the money?
Or will I find ammo-less weapons and unlimited quivers similar to those of Baldurs Gate 2?
I could of course go the Arcane Archer route, but that feels a bit cheesy from an RP perspective and I would like my thief to be a crossbow user anyway
You have to be pretty close to the target to score a "sneak attack" (..like 15 feet I think).
Worse - crossbows are absolute cr@p with respect to attacks per round.
The bow/crossbow gets the attack number increase. The ammo gets the damage increase. You can't enchant either (unless you are playing SOZ).
Final note: Many opponents are immune to criticals (and thus sneak attacks) in this game.
..as to the ammo.
There are several "unlimited" sellers of various ammo, crossbows bolts however don't have elemental damage.
Despite all this you can still make a *decent* archer in this game.. but it requires using a bow, the AA class, and the Fighter class with the specialization feats. (..in an effort to increase damage per attack.) The additional classes can be Rogue (X) and (Wizard (1) or Sorcerer (1) or Bard (2)). (..there are of course *other* sneak attack classes you could substitute for the Rogue like Shadow Thief of Amn or Assassin.) The AA class should be taken to 9 levels for the +5 damage, and the Fighter levels will need to be at least 4 to get the Weapon Specialization for your Bow (short or long). You also need feats: Rapid Shot, Many Shot, and Improved Rapid Shot.
The thief is in there because I cant stand Neeshka. Having worked as a highschool teacher she gives me flashbacks of annoying little girls I've giving her a bow and sneak attacking was iffy at best.
I'm aware of the low number of attacks from crossbows, but from what I've read I could still get 3APR with the appropriate feats, which should be enough even if it isnt optimal. The extra APR(s) that I miss out on are also at such a low attack bonus that I wont hit things much with the extra attacks anyway. It would also save feats as I only need rapid reload and rapid shot. Damage output against late game crit-immune enemies shouldnt be all that much worse than from a rogue wielding a melee weapon.
The simples AA build seems to be a wood elf ranger with just a touch of bard/mage, and maybe one or two levels of rogue for the skills (I REALLY dislike Neeshka, Imoen, Mission, and their ilk) and possibly evasion.
The thief is in there because I cant stand Neeshka. Having worked as a highschool teacher she gives me flashbacks of annoying little girls I've giving her a bow and sneak attacking was iffy at best.
I'm aware of the low number of attacks from crossbows, but from what I've read I could still get 3APR with the appropriate feats, which should be enough even if it isnt optimal. The extra APR(s) that I miss out on are also at such a low attack bonus that I wont hit things much with the extra attacks anyway. It would also save feats as I only need rapid reload and rapid shot. Damage output against late game crit-immune enemies shouldnt be all that much worse than from a rogue wielding a melee weapon.
The simples AA build seems to be a wood elf ranger with just a touch of bard/mage, and maybe one or two levels of rogue for the skills (I REALLY dislike Neeshka, Imoen, Mission, and their ilk) and possibly evasion.
You can only have 2 attacks per round with a crossbow and utilizing feats (specifically Rapid Reload).
The 3rd attack per round can be gained via Haste..
If you are interested in Rogue abilities, then you can always leverage one level of Rogue (to open up the skills), select the feat: Able Learner, and then continue on with a class (or classes) that has several skill points per level.. and perhaps build a character with a decent Intelligence, and use a Human for race. You do need to be cautious of Multi-(base) class penalties however.
Here is a build I crafted for those interested in the OC that leverages the Rogue class and is a fair bit different than a "melee" or ranged type attacker. Note that it does require MOTB installed (..because it utilizes the Arcane Scholar class):
Please be aware that the "note" section on the build is *lengthy*, but describes in fair detail the reasons for various choices that were made, and even how to use the character (based on those choices).
There are few elemental damage bolts (ammo).
Rapid Shot does work once Rapid Reload is chosen.
The overall number of attacks aren't that bad (with Rapid Reload and Rapid Shot active), and the damage can be decent.
It's still not as good as a Fighter/AA using a bow.. but sneak attacks can compensate.
Because of this I tried to build a strictly OC based build that is basically a Rogue, and mostly compensates for those occasions where sneak attack won't work.
Thanks for clearing that up. I read about the APR on the NWN2 wiki but didnt have the time to verify the claim myself. What little time I've had for NWN2 in the last few weeks has been spent on an arcane archer. Your assassin build looks very interesting and seems close to what I originally had in mind, and I might use that for an evil playthrough.
