Playing a Paladin in the original campaign

Arius · Post by **Arius** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:54 pm

[QUOTE=Avid Player]The amulet of health is sold by Neurik in the temple, the golden circlet can be bought from Eltoora.
I could buy them because i sold EVERYTING i got my hand on and could not use. (Scavenger mentality, from playing Fallout)

[/QUOTE]

Neurik doesn't appear until Chapter 2 or 3 so how can you buy an amulet from him for a fight in Chapter 1E?

Eltoora doesn't sell the Golden Circlet in Chapter 1.

Avid Player · Post by **Avid Player** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 4:32 am

Sorry, my mistake. I thought you were already in chapter 2, hence the referring to Neurik and Eltoora.

In my present game the gods have smiled upon me, found a Astral Blade +8 in a chest in the Moonwood orc camp.

Krusader · Post by **Krusader** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 6:33 pm

So, what's the minimum value for the DEX stat I need in order for my paladin to profit from the Parry feat?

Arius · Post by **Arius** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 10:42 pm

[QUOTE=Krusader]So, what's the minimum value for the DEX stat I need in order for my paladin to profit from the Parry feat?[/QUOTE]

That totally depends on the situation you are in, mainly the attack bonus of the enemies you are facing and what type of armor you are in (to factor in your armor check penalty). If you are wearing full plate and a tower shield, your DEX will have to be through the roof, like in the mid-high 20's, to give you even a decent chance of making a successful parry. Parry is more suited for light/no armor warriors such as rogues and monks. If you are planning on being an ironclad tank, I don't recommend taking any points in parry at all.

Ningengirai · Post by **Ningengirai** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 2:58 am

[QUOTE=Arius]Regarding the lawful-chaotic alignment shifts:
I'm certain that in the NWN Origional Campaign there is no deed/action that will result in a shift between these two alignments. Once you are set on lawful or neutral or chaotic , there is no adjusting it. There are several ways to change between good and evil however. I'm not sure about how it is in SoU/HotU. There's also no benefit I know of for having an alignment on the high side of good (100) instead of the low side or in between (EDIT: 70 or higher).[/QUOTE]

In HOTU, something as simple as going into a house and 'robbing' a chest there may result in alignment shifts toward chaotic.

Galuf the Dwarf · Post by **Galuf the Dwarf** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 11:08 pm

Dusting off the thread

Just to note, I did try rejecting rewards. That only raised my at-the-top Good rating instead.

At this point, I thought I'd talk about a Prestige Class I was interested in: The Champion of Torm.
1) What level do you all suggest starting that at? I have just met the minimum requirements in a previous file, so I'm curious.

2) How many levels should I take in that and continuing as a Paladin (if possible)?

That's all I can think of for now.

Galuf the Dwarf · Post by **Galuf the Dwarf** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 12:56 am

What? No suggestions?

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 7:00 am

I didn't suggest anything before as I can't really give any level suggestions, though I may check to see when you get the benefits later on.
That prestige class should give you some of the benefits of a Fighter class, the extra feats are handy as for when you want to take it, I'm not sure, it would depend on how happy you are with your Paladin I suppose. When you do start putting in CoT (Champion of Torm) levels you may want to consider alternating between Paladin and that class so you keep getting the bonuses from both classes as you continue to level up.

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 7:06 am

i usually go up to ten levels as a prestige class from as soon as i meet the requirements, but as ravager suggested i alternate between the two classes so they kind of level up equally.

Galuf the Dwarf · Post by **Galuf the Dwarf** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:46 pm

Well, as of the last couple of hours, I'm wrapping up Chapter 2 with Lionel Derthur (wish I put a 'y' instead of the 'u' in his last name

), and here's where I am: (highlight below for spoilers)

Spoiler

I've finished the Serpent's Gems and Bounty Hunt quests, as well as all quests on the North and East Roads. The only sidequests left are the ones in the Charwood, and that's it. With Daelan's help (including a ton of stat & protection buffs), Brother Toras actually bit the dust - even though Daelan died about 2 times.

Tomi's definitely my fav henchman, followed by Daelan. Dunno about Linu, but I bet she'd be up there if I really needed a cleric.

One big question for you: Which armor should I go with: Enkidu's Armor (+9 armor, 5 slashing & piercing resist, 50 lbs) or Mithral Splint Mail (+10 armor, 18 lbs)

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 4:22 am

I would say it depends completely on the circumstances, if you're a bit of a packrat like I am and like to carry lots of stuff around then use the Mithral armour or if you're enteing an area where lots of enemies use slashing/piercing weapons go for Enkidu. I'd probably keep hold of both suits of armour anyway, leaving one in a Bag of Holding.

Tomi was always my favourite hench too.

Galuf the Dwarf · Post by **Galuf the Dwarf** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 12:36 pm

[QUOTE=Ravager]I would say it depends completely on the circumstances, if you're a bit of a packrat like I am and like to carry lots of stuff around then use the Mithral armour or if you're enteing an area where lots of enemies use slashing/piercing weapons go for Enkidu. I'd probably keep hold of both suits of armour anyway, leaving one in a Bag of Holding.

Tomi was always my favourite hench too.

[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that's what I'm currently doing. That, and maybe I should have also hoped to get a set of White Dragon Armor if there's any big cold-damage areas (particularly from the sounds of some Chapter 3 area names).

Edit: Here's 2 more questions.

1) As of where I stopped last night, I just reached level 12, and am about to enter the final Chapter 2 area. I've currently got 10 levels of paladin and 1 in Champion of Torm. This time around, I'm thinking of going with my next lvl in CoT (for the extra feat) and then go with the alternating suggestion from there. I just don't know which feat(s) I should go with. I'm eyeing these feats
- Improved Initiative
- Knockdown
- Thug
- Weapon Focus (Longsword) for the Holy Avenger in HotU
- Blind Fight

2) As for the new NPCs (from SoU?), I was curious what Dorna Trapseeker was like, alignment-, level- and stat-wise. I hear she's a rogue/cleric, so I'm not quite sure I'd find her very useful in place of Tomi. I hear Deekin's a decent NPC (and has an alignment like CG or some-such; He's a bard, from what I hear), but it's good to ask first. Anyways, when I get into HotU, I'll likely take Tomi & Linu for the sake of having a person for locks & traps as well as a healer.

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 4:16 pm

Blind Fight is quite a useful feat at the beginning of HotU, considering what you'll be facing there, but I don't know if I'd be choosing it before starting that game. Knockdown seems to be the most useful on your list there discounting a Weapon Focus if you find a really good weapon. I haven't had that much experience with Improved Init in NWN, so I don't know how useful (or not) that it would be.
I thought Holy Avenger was found in the middle of SoU?

Bear in mind that you start a new character at Level 1 for SoU and carry that character into HotU NOT the one from the Original Campaign, also the henchmen in the Original Campaign are not avaiable in SoU and only for a short time in HotU.
This is why the henches in SoU fit broader roles than the OC ones do (Rogue/Cleric, Barbarian/Sorcerer and Bard), if you need a Rogue type in SoU, you will only have your own character and Dorna to rely upon (unless an item can be smashed of course

).

Galuf the Dwarf · Post by **Galuf the Dwarf** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 8:38 pm

Ravager wrote:Blind Fight is quite a useful feat at the beginning of HotU, considering what you'll be facing there, but I don't know if I'd be choosing it before starting that game. Knockdown seems to be the most useful on your list there discounting a Weapon Focus if you find a really good weapon. I haven't had that much experience with Improved Init in NWN, so I don't know how useful (or not) that it would be.
I thought Holy Avenger was found in the middle of SoU?

Good to know. Definitely going with Knockdown, but as for feat #2: Any other feats you suggest for the meantime, then?

Bear in mind that you start a new character at Level 1 for SoU and carry that character into HotU NOT the one from the Original Campaign, also the henchmen in the Original Campaign are not avaiable in SoU and only for a short time in HotU.
This is why the henches in SoU fit broader roles than the OC ones do (Rogue/Cleric, Barbarian/Sorcerer and Bard), if you need a Rogue type in SoU, you will only have your own character and Dorna to rely upon (unless an item can be smashed of course ).

Well, for kicks, I just tried importing a character file I made with my pally into SoU, and it surprisingly worked, items, XP and all. :speech:

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 4:54 am

Well, I always loved Whirlwind Attack, but that needs a slew of other feats to get (not that those are too bad - Spring Attack is quite useful). It depends on your attributes and what feats you already have.

Nice!

Of course SoU is designed for Level 1 though, so that kind of defeats the point.

You could export your character from the OC when it gets closer to level 14-15 and play with it there, that's the kind of level that's recommended to play HotU anyway.

Arius · Post by **Arius** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 5:25 am

[QUOTE=Galuf the Dwarf]

2) As for the new NPCs (from SoU?), I was curious what Dorna Trapseeker was like, alignment-, level- and stat-wise. I hear she's a rogue/cleric.[/QUOTE]

Dorna starts as a Rogue 1. If you do not specify she will multiclass to cleric. Personally I think a rogue/cleric is a horrible multiclass combination, although there is worse. You can make her level only as a rogue if you like. I made the mistake of taking a level without checking what she took and saved my game (then I was stuck with a cleric 1/ rogue 1). So make sure you talk to her and tell her how you'd like her to level. You may even need to do this after each time you load, I can't remember.

As for your feats in the OC: blind fight is quite useful for invisible creatures but its not my first choice as a feat. If you havent focused in a weapon you really should ASAP because anything that increases your "to hit" modifier is very useful. Also weapon focus longsword in an excellent feat, as there are plenty of powerful longswords in the game. I went through all of the OC and SoU without knockdown but I hear it makes fighting the very strong wizards you encounter a piece of cake. You just knock them down over and over and benefit from the attacks of opportunity as they rarely have any discipline skill to counter the knockdown. I'd strongly reconsider taking imp. initiative and thug, but that's just me.

Galuf the Dwarf · Post by **Galuf the Dwarf** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:03 pm

[QUOTE=Arius]Dorna starts as a Rogue 1. If you do not specify she will multiclass to cleric. Personally I think a rogue/cleric is a horrible multiclass combination, although there is worse. You can make her level only as a rogue if you like. I made the mistake of taking a level without checking what she took and saved my game (then I was stuck with a cleric 1/ rogue 1). So make sure you talk to her and tell her how you'd like her to level. You may even need to do this after each time you load, I can't remember.

As for your feats in the OC: blind fight is quite useful for invisible creatures but its not my first choice as a feat. If you havent focused in a weapon you really should ASAP because anything that increases your "to hit" modifier is very useful. Also weapon focus longsword in an excellent feat, as there are plenty of powerful longswords in the game. I went through all of the OC and SoU without knockdown but I hear it makes fighting the very strong wizards you encounter a piece of cake. You just knock them down over and over and benefit from the attacks of opportunity as they rarely have any discipline skill to counter the knockdown. I'd strongly reconsider taking imp. initiative and thug, but that's just me.[/QUOTE]

Here are my current feats:
- Weapon Focus (Greatsword) (took that at first level; WF is a requirement for Champion of Torm)
- Power Attack
- Cleave
- Great Cleave
- Improved Critical (Greatsword)

Arius · Post by **Arius** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:12 am

[QUOTE=Galuf the Dwarf]Here are my current feats:
- Weapon Focus (Greatsword) (took that at first level; WF is a requirement for Champion of Torm)
- Power Attack
- Cleave
- Great Cleave
- Improved Critical (Greatsword)[/QUOTE]

I really hate to be a nitpick but IMO Great Cleave is useless in the OC. The reason is that you very rarely ever see a melee fighter take advantage of it. In over 90% of all fights you Cleave once but then since you cannot pick your next target, you usually hit an opponent that has too many HP to drop in one blow. So effectively you just use the cleave feat. And if you do drop the next target, chances are it wasn't much of a threat to you anyway, being that weak. I suppose it's good to avoid being flanked by a bunch of weaker enemies but that's all.

In HotU, it might be a good feat because your character will reach levels above 21, where you can take overwhelming critical (has Great Cleave as a prereq.).

Personally I find more use for Weapon Focus than Great Cleave.

Galuf the Dwarf · Post by **Galuf the Dwarf** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:42 am

[QUOTE=Arius]I really hate to be a nitpick but IMO Great Cleave is useless in the OC. The reason is that you very rarely ever see a melee fighter take advantage of it. In over 90% of all fights you Cleave once but then since you cannot pick your next target, you usually hit an opponent that has too many HP to drop in one blow. So effectively you just use the cleave feat. And if you do drop the next target, chances are it wasn't much of a threat to you anyway, being that weak. I suppose it's good to avoid being flanked by a bunch of weaker enemies but that's all.

In HotU, it might be a good feat because your character will reach levels above 21, where you can take overwhelming critical (has Great Cleave as a prereq.).

Personally I find more use for Weapon Focus than Great Cleave.[/QUOTE]

I've found Great Cleave to be well worth it. I like dropping mobs, no matter how strong or weak they are. Less aggrivation.

Could you still try to suggest what feats to take now anyways?

Ravager · Post by **Ravager** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 4:33 pm

I like Great Cleave too, it's not the best feat in the game, but it is a good one.

What's your character's INT and DEX?