Ok, I was fooling around today at work, and came up with this build:
Deep gnome
Starting stats: STR 16, DEX 12, CON 14, WIS 10, INT 14, CHA 4
Classes will be (Bard/Fighter/RDD/Frenzied berserker)
Levels up as:
1 Fighter: power attack, weapon prof exotic
2 Bard: -
3 Fighter: Cleave, WF(Katana)
4 Bard: STR +1
5 Fighter: - (I know this is not good, but I do not need the song, and at least I get +4 hp)
6-15 RDD: Great Cleave; STR +1, Improved power attack; STR+1, Impr. Crit (katana); Power crit (katana)
16-20 FB: STR+1 (plus one stat, and a feat which I am unsure yet)
Skills are:
In the beginning lore until 8 for RDD
After first level of bard UMD. If I remember correctly, there is a bug or something which lets you to pump up skills to the normal max (3+level) which are cross class skills for your current class however it was class skill some time ago.
Also perform to 6, for the bard song.
The remaining skills should be pumped into tumble for 20, and on fighter, FB levels to intimidate.
And the end stats should be quite impressive:
STR: 28, HP: 302, BAB: 16 and of course the bread and butter of all - MR 31.
With some equipment:
Attack: 16 (base) +9 (str) +5 (+10 str belt) +1 (small creature) +1 (WF) +5 (enchantment) -6 (impr. power attack) +1 (bard aura)= +32/+27/+22/+17 -which are fine
Damage d10 (katana) +d6 (some elemental damage on it) + 21 (str, two handed weapon) +20 (enhanced power attack) +5 (enchantment) +1 (bard aura), for a great total of: d10 + d6 + 47
AC: +10 (base) +1 (small) +4 (slippery defense) +4 (RDD) +5 (boots of sun soul) +8 (greater armor of earth children) +7 (enchantment on it) +5 (amulet of natural ac) +5 (ring of protection) +2 (tumble), which means 51, nice.
I would like to have oppinions please, maybe corrections to make this build better. Also some skills and the last feat is needed.
Thanks.
mad gnome
*spoiler Alert*
Sorry, but I'm not going into details to check for errors you might have made...
If you're going through the OC, then I'd suggest using a warhammer instead of a katana. Reason, the Rift Hammer. True, you get it only in the last 1/3 of the game, but the +6 and 1d8 sonic means, slightly better to hit and an equal average damage, but it's just a very minor detail.
It does save you one feat, which means... you can swap the Fighter for... oh I dunno... the Barbarian? The Barbarian Rage and the Berserker Rage stack... this means... much fun-ness when you actually reach near the end game. Of course, you can't wear the neat armor you have in mind. Of course, with a Dex like that, a self made mithral fullplate +5 will give you the same AC... without the neat other things though.. and the gem means it's a pretty iffy gamble.. unless you give yourself gems you need. Just a thought anyways.
Also, personally, criticals are overrated. By the time you get those critical feats in the OC, everything you face off are practically immune to it already.
What skills are you aiming for? I note Lore and UMD... nothing else really matters and you get 2 skill points +1 from INT.. that's quite more than enough really. I'm not sure if you need to max out UMD for the items you plan on using.. but otherwise.. why the Bard level at character level 4? If you're going Fighter, might not it better to take 4 levels and Specialize on the katana? I think 1 Bard level qualify you for RDD (I'm not 100% sure though). If you're not taking Diplomacy, I think none of the other skills are really worth going for. If you are, I might suggest taking the feat that allows you to buy all skills for 1 point and max out Diplomacy and UMD. Then you can drop the Int to 10 and put it in Con or Dex.
I might also suggest reduce maxing Str from 16 to 14. Its a mere +1 reduction to your overall Str bonus to anything, BUT it's a good +2 boost to Dex and Con bonuses overall. You might want to think about that.
On a closing note, I'm not sure you can get enough XP in the OC to reach character level 20 with a deep gnome. I'm not sure about the NWN2 version, but last I checked, they are LA +3, which means you start as a level 4 character equivalent and end as a level 23 equivalent. I finished my human character run barely scraping level 20 right before facing off with Garius one last time.
This is not a bug. If I'm correct, this is strictly by the D&D 3.5 rules. You'd still need to pay 2 skill points for each skill level though.If I remember correctly, there is a bug or something which lets you to pump up skills to the normal max (3+level) which are cross class skills for your current class however it was class skill some time ago.
Sorry, but I'm not going into details to check for errors you might have made...
If you're going through the OC, then I'd suggest using a warhammer instead of a katana. Reason, the Rift Hammer. True, you get it only in the last 1/3 of the game, but the +6 and 1d8 sonic means, slightly better to hit and an equal average damage, but it's just a very minor detail.
It does save you one feat, which means... you can swap the Fighter for... oh I dunno... the Barbarian? The Barbarian Rage and the Berserker Rage stack... this means... much fun-ness when you actually reach near the end game. Of course, you can't wear the neat armor you have in mind. Of course, with a Dex like that, a self made mithral fullplate +5 will give you the same AC... without the neat other things though.. and the gem means it's a pretty iffy gamble.. unless you give yourself gems you need. Just a thought anyways.
Also, personally, criticals are overrated. By the time you get those critical feats in the OC, everything you face off are practically immune to it already.
What skills are you aiming for? I note Lore and UMD... nothing else really matters and you get 2 skill points +1 from INT.. that's quite more than enough really. I'm not sure if you need to max out UMD for the items you plan on using.. but otherwise.. why the Bard level at character level 4? If you're going Fighter, might not it better to take 4 levels and Specialize on the katana? I think 1 Bard level qualify you for RDD (I'm not 100% sure though). If you're not taking Diplomacy, I think none of the other skills are really worth going for. If you are, I might suggest taking the feat that allows you to buy all skills for 1 point and max out Diplomacy and UMD. Then you can drop the Int to 10 and put it in Con or Dex.
I might also suggest reduce maxing Str from 16 to 14. Its a mere +1 reduction to your overall Str bonus to anything, BUT it's a good +2 boost to Dex and Con bonuses overall. You might want to think about that.
On a closing note, I'm not sure you can get enough XP in the OC to reach character level 20 with a deep gnome. I'm not sure about the NWN2 version, but last I checked, they are LA +3, which means you start as a level 4 character equivalent and end as a level 23 equivalent. I finished my human character run barely scraping level 20 right before facing off with Garius one last time.
Thanks for the imput. Made some corrections, I checked yesterday ingame, that if I take fighter as 1st lvl, charisma is not an issue, it affects only the spellcasting abilites, so you can change to bard class with cha 4. This means more other stats.
Warhammer is a solid choice, I only chose katana since it's my personal preference. To be honest there is nearly no difference between the two, d10+d6 has the same average base damage as 2d8. And katana has better crits. Of course a feat would free up for luck of heroes or something.
I would not like to take fighter 4 because of the xp penalty. Deep gome's favored class is rogue, and with +3 ECL and 20% xp penalty there's no chance to reach lvl 20 in the OC. With +3 ECL I think it can be done - I'm only at the back alley however, but at lvl 9 which seems fine (and no henchmen quest done yet) - you must not level up your comrades, and solo as much as possible. And +3 ECL is a boon as well as a curse. You will gain level at +3, however your CR will be - and so gained xp - your actual level. You will get much more xp this way than a normal human.
The problem with dropping str to 14 is the following: with str 16 you will have 28 str by lvl 16, with the +10 belt it is 38, for a bonus of +14. This means that damage for a two-handed weapon will be +21. However if I drop 2 str, the bonus will be +13 which means +19 for two handed. So I would lose +1 attack and +2 dmg. And are you sure that +10 str bonus form item and the rage str bonus stacks?
Also I think this is a fine, all around pvp char. Mages will have problems with MR, and I think it would fare well against a WM as well (because of the deathless rage). And AC 51 is really a lot, I'm not sure if one can confirm more than 1 crit/round on it.
Warhammer is a solid choice, I only chose katana since it's my personal preference. To be honest there is nearly no difference between the two, d10+d6 has the same average base damage as 2d8. And katana has better crits. Of course a feat would free up for luck of heroes or something.
I would not like to take fighter 4 because of the xp penalty. Deep gome's favored class is rogue, and with +3 ECL and 20% xp penalty there's no chance to reach lvl 20 in the OC. With +3 ECL I think it can be done - I'm only at the back alley however, but at lvl 9 which seems fine (and no henchmen quest done yet) - you must not level up your comrades, and solo as much as possible. And +3 ECL is a boon as well as a curse. You will gain level at +3, however your CR will be - and so gained xp - your actual level. You will get much more xp this way than a normal human.
The problem with dropping str to 14 is the following: with str 16 you will have 28 str by lvl 16, with the +10 belt it is 38, for a bonus of +14. This means that damage for a two-handed weapon will be +21. However if I drop 2 str, the bonus will be +13 which means +19 for two handed. So I would lose +1 attack and +2 dmg. And are you sure that +10 str bonus form item and the rage str bonus stacks?
Also I think this is a fine, all around pvp char. Mages will have problems with MR, and I think it would fare well against a WM as well (because of the deathless rage). And AC 51 is really a lot, I'm not sure if one can confirm more than 1 crit/round on it.
Hmm... I'm never one for the criticals since I prefer solid consistency than boost a random chance for more damage.. esp in the OC where you're facing off against crit immunes when you get those nice crit range and damages.
Not sure exactly how the game determines what to throw at you and how much xp is given... so you might be right there.
I'm not sure that item bonuses and the rage bonuses stack. But unless a new patch changes things, the Barbarian and Berserker Rages are considered 2 separate abilities. Their use per day do not stack, each has it's individual total according to your level in the class, and their active bonuses do stack with one another, making you a pretty insane powerhouse during the time in which they are both active.
My last human warlock had a min AC of 51 post level 17 or so... and well. Other than dragons, nothing much dealt enough damage to to matter. In fact, the last battle against duh king... I came out pretty much untouched!
Not sure exactly how the game determines what to throw at you and how much xp is given... so you might be right there.
I'm not sure that item bonuses and the rage bonuses stack. But unless a new patch changes things, the Barbarian and Berserker Rages are considered 2 separate abilities. Their use per day do not stack, each has it's individual total according to your level in the class, and their active bonuses do stack with one another, making you a pretty insane powerhouse during the time in which they are both active.
My last human warlock had a min AC of 51 post level 17 or so... and well. Other than dragons, nothing much dealt enough damage to to matter. In fact, the last battle against duh king... I came out pretty much untouched!