The "tank" character

KidD01 · Post by **KidD01** » Mon Nov 25, 2002 9:04 am

I've played till chapter 3 now.....yes it may be sounds slow. Yet The reason behind it was because I love to experiment using different mix of party and I mostly stick to pure class than dual or multi ones

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Have anyone of you ever try using this mix :
1. one tank (barbarian or fighter or paladin), one ranger, 2 clerics, one rogue and one sorceror (or wizard)
2. one ranger, 2 clerics, 2 rogues and one sorceror (or wizard)
3. 2 clerics, 2 rogues and 2 sorceror (or wizard)

I tried using the 1st mix as follows :
one Paladin of Illmater (Aasimar), one ranger (half-elf), one cleric of Oghma (half-elf) , One cleric of Tempus (drow), one rogue (tiefling), one evoker (High Elf)
The result : need more punching power ! My party often runs out of healing potion

Later on I swap the Drow Cleric with a Shield Dwarf Barbarian - Finally the party can pack more punch !

Aranan · Post by **Aranan** » Mon Nov 25, 2002 6:25 pm

It looks to me like you have too many ECL races. I'm totally against those in 99% of situations. A couple stat points are rarely worth losing your BAB progression, saves, spell progression, feats, hitpoints..

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 12:38 am

I'm in total agreement with Aranan.
Besides, if you need more punching power, why not drop the ranger for another tank? Fighters are a force to be reckoned with if handled right.

Patrick · Post by **Patrick** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 1:49 am

My Party is pretty good

I too am in chapter 3 and from what you are saying about healing and such, I recomend a multiclass charter or two at least. My party is
1. Aasimar Paladin
2. Shielddwarf fighter/cleric of Helm
3. Ghostwise halfling barbarian/cleric of Helm/Rogue
4. Half elf Druid
5. Elf or half elf bard/ranger
6. Elf evoker
The best part is I have (with the bard) 4 characters that can heal, 5 if you count the paladin. Any kind of days work in adventuring needs lots of healing. I also think its cool to have one of just about every character.

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 10:20 am

I also restarted, but was still in Chapter one so hadn't gone too far

My current party is doing well enough that I upped the difficulty rating

I have:

Half elf Druid with one level (only) Barbarian
Shield Dwarf Fighter - single class
Tiefling Rogue with one level (only) Ranger (dual wielding)
Drow Cleric of Tempus - single class
Wild elf Monk of Dark Moon/Sorceress dual classed equally
Moon elf Wizard (Conjurer)

I have only two chars that can heal, but with tactical play and the occasional reload I have found this to be fine. So far so good

Bloodstalker · Post by **Bloodstalker** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 2:16 pm

I got this party...

Human Fighter
Human Druid/ 1 level Ranger
Strongheart Halfling rougue with 1 level of ranger
Drow Cleric
Shield Dwarf Fighter
Wild Elf sorceror

I guess I don't like multiclassing much. I screwed up the first party by doing to much of it

Aranan · Post by **Aranan** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 2:33 pm

I might as well post my party

Human Sorcerer (Going for cold and fire offensive spells)
Dwarf Fighter4/BarbarianX (currently Ftr3/Brb4)
Half Orc Cleric [Ilmater] (I kinda wish he was Tempus though.. oh well, he works ^_^)
Strongheart Halfling Rogue (I'll eventually throw in two levels of fighter for the bonus feats and BAB addition. This guy serves as the party's archer)

Gwalchmai · Post by **Gwalchmai** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 3:34 pm

I recently finished the game with
Human Druid 16
Elf Paladin of Mystra 16
Aasimir Cleric Silverstar of Selune 16
Strongheart Halfling Rogue 16
Half elf Ranger 6/Bard 10
Human Fighter 1/Abjourer 15

I found that I lacked a lot of bare-knuckle fight power, with only a paladin for a tank. But I still muddled through all the fights, and I had tons of buffing spells. Still, next time through I will try some more fighter-types.

Nuke · Post by **Nuke** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 4:47 pm

Speaking of tanks - anyone considered using summons and seriously buffing them up ? For example (if you have only one tank char) casting 2 animate dead , then casting pfe 10', bull, hope, barkskin, mass haste etc.
Any of you had some serious experience with summonables ?
I'm only asking because my party has 2 tank (pally,barb) chars but most of the damage comes from spellcasters (2 pure sorcerers , 3/12 rouge/necromance , 12/1 cleric/druid - probably going for about 18 cleric/12 druid ). I've yet to complete the game but I'm already eager to try having more then 6 ppl under command.

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 5:19 pm

Originally posted by Nuke

Speaking of tanks - anyone considered using summons and seriously buffing them up ? For example (if you have only one tank char) casting 2 animate dead , then casting pfe 10', bull, hope, barkskin, mass haste etc.
Any of you had some serious experience with summonables ?
I'm only asking because my party has 2 tank (pally,barb) chars but most of the damage comes from spellcasters (2 pure sorcerers , 3/12 rouge/necromance , 12/1 cleric/druid - probably going for about 18 cleric/12 druid ). I've yet to complete the game but I'm already eager to try having more then 6 ppl under command.

Yes, I always use summons. My first party had a Necromancer who could animate dead, early on they are a powerful ally. My current Wizard is a conjurer. I have just about muddled through so far though

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 5:37 pm

Being a fan of melee heavy parties I have 3 full tanks (half orc barb, twin shield/gold dwarf fighters), one half-tank (halfling ranger/rogue), an Aasimar cleric of Lathander plus and a sorceror with 2 barb levels in case someone attacks him directly.

So far it works OK, basically because I can rotate the tanks while the rest of the gang attacks ranged or with spells. The sorc's barb levels of course have their negative effect on his spellcasting abilities, but I guess some levels later he'll be a great char. In most cases the tanks just chop the enemies, the cleric casts buff spells if he doesn't use his crossbow and the sorc and the r/r care about enemy spellcasters.

KidD01 · Post by **KidD01** » Wed Nov 27, 2002 1:07 pm

I've seen most of you dualing or multi class it - as I posted, I'm a purist if it comes to "tank" So any advice how many tanks and what char config makes a good tank ?

Side note : I beefed my rogue skills on high diplomacy, bluff, intimidate, sneak, open door, search & move silently. Voila ! She's so bad that the mind flyer on underdark decide to let us pass after my party "liquidate" the elder brain

Nuke · Post by **Nuke** » Wed Nov 27, 2002 2:42 pm

About dual wield vs 2h weapons - seems the latter works better.

Considering you need to use short sword to get lesser bab penalty (which lowers your damage and forces you to use "piercing" damage which seems to be the least reliable as far as critter resistances go ) OR to dual wield heavy weapons - which inflict a serious bab penalty (which could be very well used to pump into power attack) the good ol' 2h sword or axe works better.
Situation : 20 strg , dual wield +4 bastard swords. No power attack to offset the bab penalty.
With dual wield you get let's say 4 attacks per round which inflict let's say 15+15+14 (10-19 dam total) + 11 (7-16 dam).
20 str , Massive Halberd of Hate +4.No power attack.
You get 22+22+21 (14-31 dam). Considering you can add the 4 bab you'd lost on dual wield activating power attack - 26+26+25.
On the side note - that halberd has basic 2d8 (!) dam AND vampiric drain 1d4 which is PERMANENT not temporary - which basically heals my barb. Also has extra dam fighting good chars.

The good thing about dual wield is that you can get nice extra stuff from weapons - true - but in most cases those "extras" come at the cost of enchantment level (and we all know what that means). Unless of course you find some really kickass wep - but that happens after 2/3 of the game.
But if my barb can hit critically for 84 damage I don't think I need a short sword that webs the opponent.
IMHO - dual wield is great for fighting spellcasters/archers - greater chance to interrupt their spells/attacks.

And yes - that's pure hypocrisy.
My next party will have a dual wielding char.