Advices on fighter's hla

[Lancelot122]

I do remember havin' no critical strike at all with that feat too when I tried it. Could it be bugged or sometin?

[Crenshinibon]

Perhaps. It could just increase the chance of a critical hit or perhaps certain conditions need to be met.

[Jedi_Sauraus]

maybe the critical hits were averted by a helmet ?? I remember being disappointed by "smite" due to this. Who did you test Critical Strike on ??
according to the discription all of your rolls are set to natural 20's

edit: I just had a depressing thought; perhaps all the things you like to stun like dragons ect are immune to stun ?? I guess I'll put in 2 or 3 for testing purposes, if this thread is still around in a week or so I'll post my results

[Lancelot122]

Oh Saurus, of course! The helmets! hehe, so Critical Strike and the like are indeed quite useless, because alot of ennemies are protected against a critical strike..

[Crenshinibon]

I tested it on my own characters. Who better?

Apparently the Circlet of Netheril provides enough defense to null critical hits.

Still, a good number of characters don't use helmets so it might be a worthy investment...

[Jedi_Sauraus]

Does anyone have a complete list of creatures that cannot be stunned ?? if there are any ??

I'm in saradush now and I just had Jaheira own that little party downstairs in that merchants basement was testing power attack. it's really good after 2 or 3 hits per person she had all 5 of them stunned and proceeded to chop them up. now for the harder fights toss in greater mallison into the equation ............ they have to save at -8 penalty or be stunned and 1 is always an auto fail so it could be nice vs some harder enemies as well

for a dual wielder with belm offhand there's no sense getting GWW as it only gives you one extra attack per round. IMO GWW is best for two handed weapons

Critical strike may be nice against some enemies but a unfortunatly a good proportion has those damn helmets on.

the thing I can't decide on is whether to give the dual wielding half of my team CS or power attack CS was very nice against that dragon in suldanesselar.

[Crenshinibon]

Yep. I usually Belm/Kundane and the other weapon that gives a bonus attack. Works rather nicely.

I'd say put two in CS, three in PA, two in Hardiness, one in Resistance and the rest to GWW.

[Buster]

I would have one in Warcry and split the rest between GWW and Hardiness. Sometimes being surrounded by a bunch of baddies you can get rid of about half of them most of the time. MR *sets* your resistance at 40%, if you had more then you have lost it and can't build on it. IMO if you have the right weapon combo for the right enemy then that makes up for CS and PA.

Thanks

[anarchistica]

As far as i can tell...

• Critical Strike: Sure most opponents have helmets, but doesn't this also make you do maximum damage?
• Deathblow (prerequisite)
• Greater Deathblow: Don't underestimate this ability. This will kill Mind Flayers, Beholders and Abyssal Demons and it works for ranged attacks! Arrows of Detonation, Frag Grenades, Fire Seeds... ouch...
• Greater Whirlwind Attack: It's awesome but mostly for shield users or two handed weapon users (Keldorn). I prefer dual-wielding (even without Improved Haste).
• Hardiness: Unpatched (Baldurdash) it will stack with itself. Otherwise, still awesome.
• Power Attack: By the time you get this, most enemies will have a decent save vs. death. It's a prerequisite though.
• Resist Magic: 40% Magic Resistance is nice if you haven't got anything else. Just think of how annoying Drow's Magic Resistance is and they have 50 (right, or 65 like Viconia?).
• Smite: It worked on humanoid Abazigal and can buy you some time to cast spells, use items and perhaps set traps if you push him back far enough (or push him into traps a la Ring of the Ram).
• War Cry: No idea, i think it's useless based on the description. A save vs. spells with no penalty? Pfft.
• Whirlwind Attack (prerequisite).

[Lancelot122]

Some nice replys here, thx you guys!

[weak-ling]

A straight Fighter gets a maximum of 21 HLA's. I usually arrange them like this:

1 Whirlwind
1 Deathblow
1 Power Attack
1 Critical Strike
Just prequisites; I never use those.

1 Hardiness
For fights against strong pyhsical opponents; I don't have to use this one too often but there are a few fights where it helps alot.

1 Smite
Excellent tech with multipile uses. Can be used to get out of tight situations. And you can force the enemy to go where you want it to be (Into traps, away from weaker party members, ...). Furthermore, ... it's fun.

15 HLA's left
I distribute those between Greater Whirlwind and Greater Deathblow. GDB is really great. It works on a lot of enemies, in SoA and in ToB; try it and you will be surprised. And as anarchistica said: I works with arrows of detonation, i.e. I can kill an entire room filled with mind flayers and umber hulks in one single hit.
GWW is used mostly to pummel bosses (and other strong single enemies) faster. Aside from that I don't use it that much except if using a two-handed weapon.

[Pellinore]

And as anarchistica said: I works with arrows of detonation, i.e. I can kill an entire room filled with mind flayers and umber hulks in one single hit.

Surely the designers never thought of this....