[QUOTE=Ennian Kether]
Heidrek i liked your idea but does it make a good character in HoF?
I was also think of making an Paladin of Helm 3/ Fighter 7/sorcerer X this way I could benefit from the extra feats of the fighter and the special abilities of the paly.Maybe:
STR 16 DEX 10 CON 16 WIS 10 INT 10 CHA 18
or
STR 10 DEX 16 CON 16 WIS 10 INT 10 CHA 18
What do you think?
[/QUOTE]
Actually I thought up that idea with HoF in mind. I'm playing HoF now and have just started the Dragons Eye. What I have found is that in HoF mode the only offensive spells that are worth casting are those without saving throws (Malison, Power Word: Blind, Great Shout), those with added difficulty to save against (Chaos), or high level spells (level 7 plus, sometimes level 6 if you have GSF in the school and maxed out spell casting stats to inc. the DC). Anything else will almost always be saved against. Confusion,Slow, Horror, Hold Person, Emotion: Fear etc. aren't even worth casting. Fireball etc will always be saved against, and against rogues, evaded. This means that unless you plan on being an 18th level plus spell caster you may as well not bother with offensive spells.
You can however still get alot of use out of the defensive spells available at lower levels. Mirror Image still rocks, stoneskin is useful too if cast in advance. Improved Invis. is great, particularly on a character who has Sneak Attacks. Grease still slows oncoming opponents, even if they save (which they will), allowing an extra few missile attacks before they get to melee range. Dispel Magic lets you save other disabled party members. Emot.: Hope is always useful and Fireshield is like an enhanced Death Armour effectivelty allowing you to dish out alot of retributive damage. You will get hit in HoF mode - alot.
In my party I have a dual wielding Bard/Rogue who acts in a similar capacity. In Normal mode his Chromatic Orbs rocked, and his other disabling spells were brilliant. In HoF mode, you may as well never cast these.
His new routine is as fighter with tricks. Unfortunately I gave him only 10 str as I planned to use him as an archer, so I'm boosting his Str with itmes etc. Even so he is still very capable, using Mirror Image and Imp. Invis. prior to combat or in combat, Improved Haste or Emotion Hope to buff the party (and his damage), while the cleric casts Recitation. His fav. trick is to mirror image then go into melee. next rond he should still have some images, so he Great Shout's his opponent for a guaranteed 1 round of stunning. Then goes to town and recasts mirror image when necessary. He's good, but the problem is investing all those points in Charisma which have no combat use. Had I put them into Str or Con he'd be better at his new job. The other flaw is that to get him to cast Wail of the Banshee he needs 26 levels of Bard. This leaves few other levels for rogue limiting his sneak attack. I have a Sorc. and a Wizard in the party who can both cast Wail, but the thought of having 3 Wails cast simultaneously, or 2 and a Malison is just too good to pass up - not much survives that.
The build above will not have these flaws. He will be a combat oriented character whose other classes provide versatility and enchance his combat ability. In Normal mode he can funtion as either a tank or Wizard early, moving into his other classes in the mid game and finally really coming into his own in Hof. He should end up around Fighter15/Wizard8/Rogue7. I took a similar tack with my Fighter/Druid, after Fighter8 I started taking Druid levels. Once he gets to Druid 15 so we can cast Elemental Leigon I'll start giving him more Fighter levels to boost his feats. In the mean time he has still funtioned well as a front line fighter, slowly building his reserve of spellcasting power until he is now quite formidible.
