important stat breakpoints?

[Krysalyn]

for those of you more familiar with the 3rd ed rules and IwDII, are there any specific stat values that should be targetted, or avoided?

i.e. with Int, are there breakpoints for additional skill pts at certain Int values?

for Dex, are there values that are pointless to try to get to for char wearing heavy armor? medium armor?

for Con, besides fortitude saves, can you lower this quite a bit and not worry about hit points if you use the "max hit points per level" option? does it factor into fatigue or stamina at all?

for Str, are there any breakpoints for more melee damage? i.e. 13 Str doesnt give a bigger bonus than 12 str, but 14 will...

Wis, are there breakpoints for monk AC bonus?

Cha, except for the party spokesman, is this used at all in anything important? if so, is there some min or max that is targetted?

thanks again.

[HighLordDave]

Under the D&D3 ruleset, you only get a bonus on an even-number attribute score beginning at 12 (14, 16, 18, etc.). Similarly, you start to rack up penalties at 10, but these are also only on even-numbered scores (8, 6, 4, 2). This means if you are going to drop a score, you're better off dropping to an odd-number to avoid a penalty, but you want to shoot for even-numbers to get the bonus.

Each armour has a maximum DEX bonus to AC; you'll have to check the individual armour for its maximum bonus. This means for a character with a high DEX, he or she is actually better off wearing a lower-class armour like chainmail instead of plate because of the DEX penalty.

You should pick your character's attribute scores based on their class (high CHA for bards and sorcerers, high INT for wizards, high WIS and CHA for paladins and clerics, etc.), but remember that you're going to get bonus points later in the game as you advance in levels, so don't think that you have to max out INT for your wizard early in the game.

Since IWD2 isn't heavy on role-playing, I drain out INT and WIS for all of the characters that don't need those scores (wizards, clerics, monks, thieves) and pump up STR, CON and DEX. I don't take full advantage of the skill system, but being a hack-and-slash game, skills are kind of unnecesary for most characters, so high INT isn't a must for each party member.

[koz-ivan]

wow a lot of good questions...

int - most classes get 1 skill point / level 1 is also the min no matter how low int goes, also for humans the 1 bonus skill is after int bonus so a int 3 ftr gets the same skils as a 11 int ftr. this is why you see a lot of min int builds. int of 13 for expertise can be pretty handy. some dialogue paths check vs int.

dex - 15 is the min value for ambidex, 13 is min for rapid shot, 12 (ie +1) is the max most heavy armours allow. a lot of my tank builds stop at 13-14 to allow for rapid shot feat and some ac dex bonus. not a big medium armour fan, iirc they max out around a dex of 15. imo dex could be set fairly low 8-12 for a tank, cat's grace could be used to raise it if need be.

con - depends on the class, a sorc / wizard will only get 4 hp / levelup cutting into that with a negative is asking for trouble, also concentration for casters is tied to the con score, it will be harder to cast spells if con is too low. a extreme example is a con 1 elf wizard, apparently they die upon their first level up...

str (and all stats give bonuses on the even numbers, and no change on the odds) in general you want wiz types to carry at least 50 pounds, and as high as possible for those who fight hand to hand. (possible exception a finesse ftr)

wis & the monk ac, it's all on the even numbers.

cha - sorc's & bards use cha as their apellcasting stat (like int for wizards or wis for rangers / druids / paladins / clerics) it's also tied to some skills "use magic item" & "animal empathy" it also affects all of a paladin's special abilities (saves, turn undead, lay on hands, smite evil) & a clerics ability to turn undead.

[koz-ivan]

Originally posted by HighLordDave
but remember that you're going to get bonus points later in the game as you advance in levels, so don't think that you have to max out INT for your wizard early in the game.

Since IWD2 isn't heavy on role-playing, I drain out INT and WIS for all of the characters that don't need those scores

your spellcasting stat affects how hard it is to save vs your spells, higher is always better, imo if you're looking to shave a few points off to raise something else you are going the wrong way.

and you lower wisdom? or did you mean charisma? watch out for making your will saves too low or your char won't be around much if enchantments are flying...

[Krysalyn]

Originally posted by koz-ivan
your spellcasting stat affects how hard it is to save vs your spells, higher is always better, imo if you're looking to shave a few points off to raise something else you are going the wrong way.

and you lower wisdom? or did you mean charisma? watch out for making your will saves too low or your char won't be around much if enchantments are flying...

are your char's values for Dex, Con, Wis used as the baseline for your saves? or are the base saves based on your class, and just the modifier affects those save throws?

[HighLordDave]

Originally posted by koz-ivan
and you lower wisdom? or did you mean charisma? watch out for making your will saves too low or your char won't be around much if enchantments are flying...

I usually drain out INT, WIS and CHA on characters that I don't think need high scores in them. Fortitude save is based on CON, the Reflex save is based on DEX and so the only one I am hurting is Willpower save, but I think there are enough magic items in the game to make up for a -2 or even a -3 Will save based on WIS.

Plus, since you build up saving throws as the characters gain levels and the monsters you encounter early often don't cast spells, I figure it's a fair trade to drop WIS down to 7 or 5 for some characters and get their STR, CON or DEX up to 16 or so with the intent of adding to these scores with level-based attribute bonuses or magic items later in the game.

I take a "brute force" approach to the IWD games, so I don't put much stock in his INT, WIS or CHA for characters who don't need high scores in those attributes.

[koz-ivan]

Originally posted by HighLordDave
I usually drain out INT, WIS and CHA on characters that I don't think need high scores in them. Fortitude save is based on CON, the Reflex save is based on DEX and so the only one I am hurting is Willpower save, but I think there are enough magic items in the game to make up for a -2 or even a -3 Will save based on WIS.

well if it works for you...

imo will saves are the single most important save of the three, as quite often failure will take you out of the fight completely, (hold, charm, sleep, horror) and can make the early game very difficult until the really good protections become avalible. i can't recomend going below a -1 wis modifier.