I hate to get geeky but mine is to keep a scrap of paper so you can remember what your characters are specializing in, cuz I never remember.
T3 = repair
Bao = demolitions
Atton surprises me cuz he has a bunch of wierd ones.
oh, and u need to remember what stats too. The first several times I gave bao a blaster when it was clear his STR is higher than his DEX.
duh.
[or one could print the walkthrough out]
"Learn to know the dark side of the Force and you achieve a power greater than any Jedi..."
Hmmm. I don't know if these are advanced tips or if they are fitting for beginner, but here are my exclusive tips for Bao-dur.
Do not make him a jedi. It is unnecessary. Keep him as a technician, increase his intelligence first, then his constitution (both up to 18). Make sure he gets all the cross class skill feats (so he becomes a master of all trades), stealth, treat injury, etc... You do not need to increase his strength or dexterity, because you get enough +attack and +damage with superior upgrades (when you increase intelligence and all his skills).
This way, Bao Dur becomes a master of the workbench, capable of creating the most advanced upgrades possible. You can go for melee weapons or ranged weapons, whichever combination you want, because his upgrading skills will make even the most mundane blaster a formidable weapon. His high constitution is necessary (both for vitality points and D-package implants).
I suggest going for +skills items on implants, head, gloves and belt. I'd probably go for medium armor (heavy if you can spare the feats) and upgrade it with as much damage resistance/immunity items as possible. Recent testing shows damage resistance/immunity is superior to defense, since enemies rarely have trouble hitting all but the extremely high dexterity characters.
If you use Bao Dur this way, you can still make him into a formidable warrior, but he becomes really good at helping out the entire team (since he can craft quality upgrades).
Walk among them... these beasts that are less than you are. See their strength, see how easily you fall to their muscle and skill. Why do you stand for this, why do you submit to the flesh when death is bred in your bones?
Neither. Or rather, constitution 18 (base, not with items) first, then strength (no dexterity).
Constitution 18 (base) is the breakpoint for the most advanced implants, and there are so many good ones out there that you need to get this stat to 18 (I mean, there are +2 to all stats implants, +6 to all skills implants, etc...). The added vitality bonus is just an extra.
I have changed my view on dexterity quite a bit after my first character. Even if you get a dexterity only character (and equip the character with high end dexterity equipments), you'll still be hit at least half the time (the attack rating of enemies improve faster than your defense).
It is a MUCH better idea to get light armor (for those who want to stick to using force powers restricted by armor) and upgrade it with damage resistance/immunity items. My Sith Marauder always got hit, but he never lost vitality points (except boss fights and even then they could only hit me for 30 damage or so).
So you probably want to put those extra points into strength, because of the damage and attack bonus (both of which are nice). Also, I am inclined to remind that double bladed light sabers gain x1.5 strength bonus to their damage (in the main hand), as opposed to x1 bonus on single bladed sabers (so high strength characters are better off using double bladed lightsabers).
Sorry for the long post but I'm always happy to answer other questions you might have.
Walk among them... these beasts that are less than you are. See their strength, see how easily you fall to their muscle and skill. Why do you stand for this, why do you submit to the flesh when death is bred in your bones?
Out of curiosity, what's the advantage of going strength over dex? My basic impression was that going Dex, then picking up lightsaber finessee feat (and you gain so many levels, that feat really are no big deal to acquire in this game), was more advantageous across the board?
Strength gives you damage bonus, dexterity doesn't.
My hint to newbies would be to take a sentinel, 16 intelligence, 15 con, 15 str and the rest 10. Take the class skill feats and a few offensive force powers (depending on alignment) Improve con to 18, str to 16 and then boost wisdom or strength, depending on how you want to play.
You can take all skills to a high level this way so you never have to rely on party members. Believe me, it's a relief.
No 16 con is enough here the best character for LS MALE GURADIAN/WEAPON MASTER;
str 14
dex 14
con 16
cha 12
the rest 10.
with 16 u can use the bavarkian battle implant 3+ in str and thats the only implant u need.
The at the feats chose all the toughness perks first to get max possible vit points.
powers take all the lightsaber perks forget the melee ones cause later u wont use it and it will be a useless perk...choose all the speed perks to master speed thats important and all the health ones. blaster deflect is also very nice, gotta to have that
Then add only str and dex take dex to about 18-20 the rest only str.
you will create a monster, like i did, still got the save game if anybody is interrested.
Str vs Dex issue: Strength gives bonuses both to attack rating and to damage. On the other hand dexterity increases defense and if you take the lightsaber finesse feat, attack rating (you can't increase your damage through dexterity, feats or not).
Sentinel with intelligence for skills: While this is a character fun to play (you do not have to depend on any other NPC), it requires high intelligence (16 is ok, 18 is better) and is not really that advantegous. I have to admit, my first character was created with this idea in mind and also aimed for high dexterity/defense (and now my ideas has shifted to the opposite about both issues). I already explained the defense dilemna (enemies gain attack rating faster than you gain defense) and the thing is, certain NPCs are SO MUCH BETTER at getting those skills high up (to craft upgrading items) that you don't need to bother. Bao Dur is more than capable as explained above (if you do not make him a jedi), and if you go DS, you can use the Hanharr trick to get an even more unbalanced character capable of crafting any item.
Of course writing up a best character is kinda impossible since so much depends on how you want to play and what items you want to use.
Walk among them... these beasts that are less than you are. See their strength, see how easily you fall to their muscle and skill. Why do you stand for this, why do you submit to the flesh when death is bred in your bones?
How can a character like Bao-Dur be better at some skills then I? It's just the gear head feats that's the difference, I think, but that is easily compromised by a level more or simply a higher intelligence. My main character can nearly craft every item just as good as any other. (except for the stealth items since I don't use stealth)
Well, the thing is, you can get your character better than Bao Dur, true, but you would be focusing a part of your stats on getting high intelligence, and most of it would be to simply craft certain upgrade items (let's admit it, nobody gets awareness up to 27 and there are some upgrades that require it).
Of course it is better (especially if you like to travel alone, the solo gamer style) to have your character capable of opening high end locks and recovering mines, as well as accessing the thoughest computers and repairing those droids/devices you find around the game. But the thing is, you don't have to pick a sentinel and get high intelligence to do these things. You can still get yourself a purely brawling jedi and enjoy the high end upgrades for sabers.
Of course, because of the intelligence glitch, you can never get your character better than Hanharr, since he gets 100+ rank in skills that require intelligence (and can still invest max points in others).
Walk among them... these beasts that are less than you are. See their strength, see how easily you fall to their muscle and skill. Why do you stand for this, why do you submit to the flesh when death is bred in your bones?
Well, yeah, you have a point there. An awareness of higher than 15 is pointless, and so is a demolition of over 20 (or so). But you'll have to take some points in them, as well as security, computer use, repair, persuade and treat injury. So, that still is a lot of points. But it solely depends on your style of playing, and since the game isn't hard, I like it this way. I don't need the points I've put in intelligence anywhere else, so why not?
It mostly depends on what you want to do and your style of play. My first character was a sentinel/assassin, pretty much identical to what you described, because I wanted to solo. My latest character is a heavy sith marauder that is purely built for melee brawling. I still invested heavily in repair, treat injury and persuade (with some points in awareness and demolitions) but all dirty work (like computer access, droids and crafting) I left to NPCs.
Walk among them... these beasts that are less than you are. See their strength, see how easily you fall to their muscle and skill. Why do you stand for this, why do you submit to the flesh when death is bred in your bones?
good info.
i think i was adding to str [for +hit%], but read in some guide that high dex will give u the same [hit%] + the ac. I had figured just to use upgrades to up damage.
didnt know about all the super implants. that sounds sweet.
"Learn to know the dark side of the Force and you achieve a power greater than any Jedi..."
Begin as a sentinel with 14 STR, 10 DEX, 14 CON, 15 INT, 14 WIS, 10 CHA. Choose class skill (demolitions) first, then class skill (repair). Boost INT at level 4 and STR thereafter. Use demolitions and security whenever possible since you receive XP from so doing. Max out flurry, two-weapon fighting, heal and speed. Switch to weapon master at 15th level.
You'll have all skills covered if you do this, and you'll be powerful enough in melee combat to beat most encounters on your own. Not needing any companion, ever, gives you the freedom to pick your other party members based on who you want to have around.
Here's a tip for newbies: save often and use multiple slots. It's easy to just save at regular intervals (like when you first get to a planet) and then just quick save/load along the way.
Well quick saves have been known to break, so do yourself a favor and use those save slots.
However, those save slots seem to take up a huge amount of disk space. For some reason or another, my save folder is 3 gigs.
