Help me build a char

AnotherUser · Post by **AnotherUser** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:00 pm

Hi all,

I played NWN quite a bit, but it always locked up on me when I got to Neverwinter, so I never finished it.

I played a straight Monk, as I never really got all the ins and outs of the feats, attribute mins and maxes etc.

I have started a Monk in NWN2, and just cleared the Bandit Camp, and I find myself wanting to try something different. It feels like I already played the Monk class and now want to branch out to something else.

Back in the old days, I used to play a Scout. It was a loner ranger/rogue/fighter type player that basically knew enough skills to melee and cast a few worthwhile spells. I am toying with the idea of something like this, but no idea how to build this type of player, what levels of what class, what prestige class etc.

My other thought process is to work on an evil battle cleric. A cleric that has turned evil and is out for personal gain. I think I would want to tie in rogue type attributes here as well if possible. Something along the lines of a person with cleric abilities that turned bad and to a life of crime. I would need help on a nice build for this also.

I have actually read almost this entire forum, and have no doubt that some of you can help me with these. I dont know much about "At this level you get this", or "to be this prestige class, its best to do this and this". I have browsed through the manual of course, so the requirements wouldnt really be an issue, but I have a hard time figuring out how to build these guys, what levels to take when and what skillset to work on with them.

smass · Post by **smass** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 2:14 pm

Maybe a ranger/rogue would work for you. This is my preferred character. The ranger has either two weapon fighting or bow specialization, an animal companion, and good melee. Couple that with a rogue and you get a stealthy character who can open locks and disarm traps as well as put points in "use magic device" and he can cast spells from scrolls and use wands. You will also have enough skill points to make him a smooth talker and take some points in diplomacy. In melee he gets very good dodge feats and sneak attacks as well.

Stats should be something like:
S-16 (keep pumping strength if you are a two weapon specialist or Dexterity if you are an archer)
D-16
Con-12
Int-12
Wis-12
Ch-10

Rogue/Ranger 9/11 is a good mix. First level should be rogue for the initial skill point bonus. Put skill points in open lock, disarm trap, search, use magic device, diplomacy, tumble, hide, and move silently. Then take Ranger level follow by alternating ranger and rogue levels until you get to level 5 rogue/5 ranger. Then take all ranger levels until level 11 to get maximum bonus from your combat specialty (two-weapon or archer).

I find that the plethora of scrolls in the game give me ample opportunities to cast spells and I pick up spellcasting NPCs like the Bard and Sand to provide the magic firepower. Someone else may suggest a mixing in a prestige class like shadowdancer but I like a straight ranger/rogue.

AnotherUser · Post by **AnotherUser** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 2:30 pm

Thanks for the quick reply, lots of good info there.

Is there any order of feats that would work best?

smass · Post by **smass** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 5:40 pm

I am not a power-gamer type - I like to role play a bit and choose feats that fit my play style - so I can just relay my own preferences.

I went with a two-weapon specialist so my feats were melee intensive. I went with dodge, mobility, spring attack, and two weapon defense, improved two weapon defense to help with AC. This fit my idea for a mobile melee style character - I could run through hordes to get to spellcasters (without worrying about attacks of opportunity) and slice them up while my other characters took care of the mobs. I used a long sword and a short sword combo so I didn't go the weapon focus/improved crit route - although this would have been good for dual-wielding rapiers for instance. You can find some good rapiers and short swords so if you dual wielded one or the other and then took weapon based feats you could really pump your to-hit and damage bonuses.

You really only need 4-5 levels of rogue to be able to beat most traps and locks so you could add a few fighter levels to get more feats and weapon specialization.

My second play through will be with a wizard/eldritch knight. I haven't worked out a build for that character but the idea was to play a spellcaster with some combat ability and take Neeshka along for the rogue duties. With my ranger/rogue I dumped Neeshka and traveled mostly with the bard (good buffs and lore), Sand, and Kelgar. My Eldritch Knight will be evil aligned and probably travel with Neeshka, Bishop and Qara for a change of pace.

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:46 am

You have to be non-evil to be an Eldritch Knight in this game, FYI. At least from what I remember in NWN 2. Just like you have to be non-good to become a Pale Master. Which means, a neutral character can be both! Which, if used right, a single level of Pale Master grants you a level with a new set of class skills, a bonus to Natural armor and more spells. Good for an Eldritch Knight setup, and even though you couldn't be an evil EK in this game (for some strange reason...) the Pale Master levels if you chose to take some would give that evil feel to a neutral character.

Going by game mechanics, EK is a good prestige class to mix with a wizard. Not just to be a front line melee character with spells. A higher BAB will let you hit more often with touch and ranged touch spells. Such as Shocking Grasp and Vampiric Touch for touch spells. The fun ones come into play with Enervation and Ray of Enfeeblement, both ranged touch attacks, as well as Acid Arrow and well...I think that may be the limit of uses in the NWN 2 game. You can make a caster that is able to toss rays out that will not only drop the strength, but also levels of the enemy from a distance. Coupling that with shocking grasp (5d6 damage from a 1st level spell is nice), and Vampiric Strike (Max 10d6 damage at level 20 caster level) to damage the enemy and heal yourself when taking damage with those two and some protections spells? You have a very fun wizard to play.

The trick is to keep yourself set up with long duration spells of protection. Which means Extend Spell is pretty much a necessity. Extending spells like Shield, Haste and Displacement will let you at higher levels run through several fights with a significantly higher chance of avoiding being hit. Mage Armor and Stoneskin become a necessity with this build, with Death Armor and Fire/Elemental Shield providing backup for when your Shield and Displacement spells are done with. When your AC drops, putting those spells on your guy will not prevent you from being hit, but it will hurt those who strike you up close whenever they do. Which, will help you bring them down faster, especially if you have one or two of those Vampiric Touches left to deal with the enemies who get too close and stab you with their swords.

smass · Post by **smass** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:10 pm

Good ideas for the Eldritch Knight Magrus. I was also thinking that tensors transformation would be a nice spell to use in melee once you have used up some of the offensive spells. My EK will specialize in two handed swords. The intention was to make the classic "Galdalf type" mage/fighter.

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 6:00 pm

Eek, that is going to be hard to balance attributes I think. You need a high Int and Dex in order to good spells and Dodge bonus to AC. Then a high Con for bonus HP which are also a necessity. A Str of 16 or higher is needed to make decent use of a 2-handed weapon as well, thats when including strength enhancing items. It would be fun to play if you could pull it off though.

smass · Post by **smass** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 8:24 am

Good points. I rolled up a human wizard with the following stats:

Human: S-15 D-15 Con-14 Int-15 Wis-10 Ch-8

There are a good number of +3 strength and Dex items available so once I have them I will have 18 stength and Dex. I would then pump Int at level breaks to get to 19 by level 16.

With a drow or Tiefling I can get the following:

Drow: S-15 D-16 Con-14 Int-16 Wis-10 Ch-10
Tiefling: S-16 D-16 Con-14 Int-16, Wis-10 Ch-8

The drow and tiefling would each have the level progression penalty but ability scores are higher - but the human will get a bonus feat...not sure which one to go with...

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 9:56 am

Go with the Human out of the three. You will need to take a level of Fighter, Ranger, Paladin or Barbarian in order to get proficiency with all martial weapons. Keep this in mind. The manual has the entry requirements wrong, check the game itself when you create your character at first and pick the class so you know what the requirements are. With a Fighter/Wiz/EK build, you will already be losing 1 caster level on your first level of taking EK and a second with your fighter level. Having a level adjustment of just +1 on top of that means you will end up at a max of caster level 17. Which, you will still end up with all of your spell level access, but you won't get 9th level spells until your last level-up. That might hurt your gameplay near the end of the game.

The human bonus feat can allow you to get a feat better suited to combat. Improved initiative would be a good one for a melee based caster. Or Weapon Focus as well if you plan on sticking to one particular weapon.

smass · Post by **smass** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 11:22 am

I thought I would have to take a fighter level to - but I was able to take martial weapon proficiency with my bonus feat without taking a fighter level - not sure if it is supposed to work that way or not - but that allows me to progress a bit quicker.

I am going to run this character up to Neverwinter tonight to see if I can get to level 6. 5 levels of Wizard with martial weapon feat should allow me to take Eldritch night on my 6th character level. We will see how it works out.

By the way, here is a great discussion on Eldritch Knight builds from the Bioware forums: [url="http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=528793&forum=109&sp=0"]Eldritch Knight Builds[/url]

Some great ideas and an entertaining read to boot