Paladin(X)/Fighter(4) - level progress

Vavrek · Post by **Vavrek** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 7:40 am

Few weeks ago I decided to play IWD 2, after playing IWD 1 and BG series before, but the third edition of ADnD rules pretty messed my plans up. It nearly choked me off playing this game. But I was still determined to play it.

With a little help from some party creation guides, I managed to create my first party, but problem is with my paladin/fighter. I have found this char in Ken Egervari's UPP guide, but there is no information about level progression, so I don't know how to start build this char - as a paladin or a fighter at lvl 1, and how to add other class levels. I've written to Egervari, but he answered me that he don't really remember anything about the game anymore, as it's been so long.

So I'd like to ask for help from you guys. What is the best way to build this character?

Benefactor · Post by **Benefactor** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 11:39 am

You can take them in any order as long as you choose paladin of helm. But i would probably take the fighter levels first. Or take 2 paladin levels first and then the fighter levels.

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Sat Feb 05, 2011 5:06 pm

It won't really make a difference in which order you take those levels. If you have a fighter4/paladin12 at the end it won't make a difference whether you started with 4 fighter or 12 paladin levels or mixed them. There's hardly a difference between paladin and fighter levels, so just take what you like.
If you have high charisma you might want to take at least 1 paladin level early for the saving throw bonus, if you want high intimidate skill start with fighter so you can put 4 points into it at creation, if you want combat power early take 4 fighter levels early to get bonus feats and weapon specialization.
You should have at least one fighter level in chapter 5 for quest purposes.

I'd go fighter1-paladin1-fighter4-paladin x but you can choose whatever you like.

koz-ivan · Post by **koz-ivan** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:24 am

kmonster wrote: I'd go fighter1-paladin1-fighter4-paladin x but you can choose whatever you like.

that's pretty much they way i'd go too, start with either the 1 pal level, then 4 straight ftr, but any combo that has all 4 ftr levels in the first 5 works fine.

smileycrawford · Post by **smileycrawford** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 12:03 am

If the player you are making has a decent enough wisdom, have you considered doing Fighter(4)/Paladin(4)Cleric(22)? Cleric's make awesome front end fighters with their magic. I have a Assimar Pal(2)/Cleric(X) as my main fighter and as his spells have progressed, he has become awesome! He was pretty solid at the start as well, but his magic puts him over the top.

koz-ivan · Post by **koz-ivan** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 6:41 am

the main thing to watch for w/ that build is favored class, and avoiding the xp penalty.

the other is the real tradeoff between the ftr & pally levels vs the cleric levels, 8 non caster levels is a lot in "regular" mode - but pretty much ok for a 30 level hof build.

smileycrawford · Post by **smileycrawford** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 10:30 am

koz-ivan wrote:the main thing to watch for w/ that build is favored class, and avoiding the xp penalty.

the other is the real tradeoff between the ftr & pally levels vs the cleric levels, 8 non caster levels is a lot in "regular" mode - but pretty much ok for a 30 level hof build.

I have another character with Fighter(2)/Barbarian(3)/Rogue(3)/Ranger(2)/Cleric(x), and she is still very good in the regular game, so the 8 levels of Fighter/Paladin combined is still good. It does take her longer to get to the powerfull spells but she was very strong in the prologue/chapter 1/chapter 2.

Majorman · Post by **Majorman** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:11 am

Fighter(2)/Barbarian(3)/Rogue(3)/Ranger(2)/Cleric(x)

Ok, you don't need to be a powerplayer and optimise every charcter in the party, but might I ask you what you intended to do with that character? I can't justify such a mix from a roleplaying point of view, nor can I justify it from the system bonuses you get. Why stop at level 2 fighter instead of level 4? Why add ranger level to a character that already has a few levels in barbarian AND a fighter? And what are the benefits of the rogue in the mix?

So am I missing something, or you did it for the sake of experimenting?

smileycrawford · Post by **smileycrawford** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 2:28 pm

Majorman wrote:Ok, you don't need to be a powerplayer and optimise every charcter in the party, but might I ask you what you intended to do with that character? I can't justify such a mix from a roleplaying point of view, nor can I justify it from the system bonuses you get. Why stop at level 2 fighter instead of level 4? Why add ranger level to a character that already has a few levels in barbarian AND a fighter? And what are the benefits of the rogue in the mix?

So am I missing something, or you did it for the sake of experimenting?

Ranger for two weapon fighting, ambidexterity and favored enemy(Troll), barbarian for faster speed, uncanny dodge and rage, fighter for extra feets, and rogue for sneak attack and evasion(only went up to level 2 on rogue). I didn't go up to level 4 with fighter as I would have had to raise rogue and ranger to level 3 then, essentially gaining nothing for going up 2 levels, or face an experience penalty. Also, this would have reduced the number of cleric levels I could have taken. This character is a female drow.

I did this to essentially get a whole pile of feats or bonuses to my character at the start of the game, and then turning them into a powerfull cleric by the end.