Beat Bg2 for like the 20th time and now I am really bored. I want to play NWN but have no idea how to build a character. Usually play solo FMT in bg2. Know any good resources? Seems crazy.
Beat Bg2 for like the 20th time and now I am really bored. I want to play NWN but have no idea how to build a character. Usually play solo FMT in bg2. Know any good resources? Seems crazy.
The game itself has "recommendation" buttoms and templates for you to follow while creating a character.
But if you really really wish for a FMT in Neverwinter Nights tjen don't level him evenly. It's not the same as 2nd edition and your character will be good at nothing. What I suggest is:
1- to gain one level in rogue class and maximize open locks and disarm traps . (have high dexterity and intelligence) 2 - one or two levels in fighter class to get some combat feats (feats weapon finesse and point blank shot or weapon focus) 3- gain the next four or five levels as a wizard (spell progression is the most important thing for you) 4- every three or four levels thereafter level up as rogue again to maximize you skills .
Following this method you would end the Original Campaign as a ROGUE 3 (levels 1-8-13) / FIGHTER 2 (2-3) / WIZARD 11 (levels 4,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,14,15,16) , which is quite good !
Don't forget the xp penalty if your lowest class level becomes significantly lower than your highest when dual- or triple-classing. See manual about "Favored classes".
I'm really looking for a melee powerhouse with a lot of great defensive spells and potentially sneaking/backstab if that's important. I see all these crazy builds online I don't know anything about. Looking for a very high melee damage output character that can take a lot of hits and can move pretty quickly.
I played FMT as a dual weilding 10apr character using stoneskin and mirror image and haste mainly.
@ahhyep Multiclass works very differently in 3rd ed and is not the way to automatic overpoweredness like 2nd Ed. If you want a melee powerhouse and you are new to the rules I would recommend a more conventional build on your first go.
There is a Web site at nwn2db that is a great place to play around with 3.5 E character building. Mind you, nwn2 is quite a bit different from nwn, but you can actually see how different things impact to hit and character development. There is also (or was) a community of people that will critique the build.
If you want to stay basic though I recommend going straight Bard. You won't have sneak attack but you'll have a good utility spell selection, 3/4 BAB (which is second best), and lots of skill points so you can sneak and stuff.
Straight bard? I always wanted to play that in BG2 but the blade was never as good as FMT. How's melee output/survivability? btw have no idea what BAB means.
BAB is base attack bonus which is 3e's THAC0. There's Full BAB, 3/4, and 1/2. Fighter BAB progresses like +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6/1 (You have two attacks, +6 first swing, +1 second swing)
3/4 is like +0 +1 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6/1 +6/1
So it's not as good as a fighter but is second best. And again you have lots of skill points, 4+int so you can put points into stealth, open locks, disable device, etc. for your rogue skills.
You have mage armor, protection from alignment, ghostly visage, displacement, haste, invisibility/improved invisibility, ethereal visage, and energy buffer for defensive spell options and if you put skill ranks into use magic device you can end up using any wand or scroll in the game. You can wear light armor but if you cast spells in it there is a % chance based on the armor that they will fail if it as a somatic component which will be listed in the spell description.
If you go for strength you can do decent damage or go a dex build with weapon finesse and two weapon fighting if that's your thing. If strength I recommend a longsword since you can use it with a shield or if you just have the longsword equipped you'll add .5 of your strength to damage. So if you have a +2 to strength you'll do 1d8+3 when twohanding a longsword.
If dex use like a rapier and shortsword.
Bards are much better in NWN2 since they can cast in armor and do have mirror image which I don't believe was implemented in NWN1.
Also you can use your bardsong which gives bonuses to attack and damage. In NWN1 the bardsong lasts 10 rounds but in NWN2 the buff songs are constant auras.
So at level 1 even if you have a +0 to attack with your Bardsong you have +1 to attack and damage.
So if you have a longsword and 14 strength you'd be have +3 to hit doing 1d8+4 damage at level 1.
Wow that sounds great, however it looks like I can dual class for full BAB then get a lil crazy with spells later? Full bard sounds OK too.
I guess it depends if the armor class and defensive abilities you can get as a bard are better than full con/str fighter + full bab? itemization etc etc
Is it like 75% fighter, 75% mage, 25% rogue > 100% fighter?
In bg2 you can have a full fighter or paladin etc have a party member cast improved haste on you and can "passively go to town" much better but you solo in NWN besides a hireling from what i remember so i think casting haste on yourself would almost itself outweigh passive fighter BAB + con + ac?
For instance in BG2 robe of vecna + ring of protection +3 is much better than the best plate and alternate ring you can get...
You could go Bard 16/Full BAB class 4 (Ranger, Fighter, can't make a Bard/Paladin due to alignment restrictions).
This way you would still get up to 6th level spells which is the max for Bards and get 4 attacks at 20.
As long as you keep putting points in perform your level 16 Bardsong will give +2 to atk, +3 dmg, +3 will, +2 fort, +2 reflex, +20 Temporary Hit Points, +5 ac, and +4 to all skills.
And it depends really on what you want. If you go 100% fighter you can hit things really hard and your damage probably (?) will be better.
Bard shines in that you have lots of skill points to put into things like diplomacy, stealth, and use magic device and you have decent fighting ability and you have healing and you have spellcasting.
The fighter will fight better than a Bard but the Bard is a jack of all trades so it can do a little bit of everything which is why I suggested it when you mentioned the FMT.
If you're evil you can make a Bard 16/Blackguard 4
like Bard 8 then go into Blackguard for 4 levels and then Bard 8 again.
You'd get 1d6 sneak attack, charisma to saving throws and you'll at least have a 16 in charisma before items so that's +3 to all saving throws, bull's strength as a spell-like-ability, turn undead, smite good, and create undead to summon a ghast.
Just make sure when you make your character you have a strength of at least 13, put 5 points in hide when you can, and get the power attack and cleave feats before level 8.
Since NWN builds are incredibly versatile you can experiment a lot with class combinations. I can't remember the specific levels but I've done a sorcerer/paladin/Red Dragon Disciple to great success. I hear Bard/rogue/fighter(?)/RDD is also a decent build and fits your FMT theme relatively well.
@ahhyep If you explain your character concept we can help you optimise the build. For example, do you want strength or finesse based melee? Or perhaps ranged combat? Or perhaps you would like to focus on spell casting or support? And so on.
So stats scale like 8: -1 10: +0 12: +1 14: +2 16: +3 18: +4 etc
So a 14 strength gives +2 to attack and damage and lets you carry more. 12 dex gives +1 to ranged attack rolls and +1 to AC and +1 to reflex 12 Con gives +1 to HP per level and fortitude saving throws 14 Int gives +2 skill points per level 8 wisdom gives -1 to will saves Cha 16 lets you cast up to 6th level bard spells (max)
Notice skills also scale with statistics, like diplomacy, intimidate, and bluff so 16 charisma will give you +3 to those.
It's very depth-y and requires a lot of knowledge to really work with the system but I suppose that's D&D for you XD
@Vallmyr has a good idea, but if you want to optimise you can go 16/8/16/8/8/16 and pump everything into STR. You will have to wear armor though, but that's quite alright. You don't need to cast spells in battle, and you were planning to use only buffs anyway
EDIT: This is sub-optimal if you don't want to continue into epics, as you would end with 21 STR. If you are stopping at level 20 I would start with 15 CHA (and 10 in DEX or INT) and end with 20 STR/16 CHA.
Also, if you start with 16 charisma you'll need to find a +6 charisma item to cast 6th level spells since 16 Bard has 0 casts of 6th level spells but knows 2. You'll need a 22 charisma total for the bonus spell to actually cast the 6th level spell.
Comments
The game itself has "recommendation" buttoms and templates for you to follow while creating a character.
But if you really really wish for a FMT in Neverwinter Nights tjen don't level him evenly. It's not the same as 2nd edition and your character will be good at nothing. What I suggest is:
1- to gain one level in rogue class and maximize open locks and disarm traps . (have high dexterity and intelligence)
2 - one or two levels in fighter class to get some combat feats (feats weapon finesse and point blank shot or weapon focus)
3- gain the next four or five levels as a wizard (spell progression is the most important thing for you)
4- every three or four levels thereafter level up as rogue again to maximize you skills .
Following this method you would end the Original Campaign as a ROGUE 3 (levels 1-8-13) / FIGHTER 2 (2-3) / WIZARD 11 (levels 4,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,14,15,16) , which is quite good !
I played FMT as a dual weilding 10apr character using stoneskin and mirror image and haste mainly.
http://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/hakpak/original-hakpak/player-resource-consortiums-prc-pack-v35
http://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn1/other/tool/prc-character-creator-18-linux-and-mac-compatible
If you want to stay basic though I recommend going straight Bard. You won't have sneak attack but you'll have a good utility spell selection, 3/4 BAB (which is second best), and lots of skill points so you can sneak and stuff.
Fighter BAB progresses like
+1
+2
+3
+4
+5
+6/1 (You have two attacks, +6 first swing, +1 second swing)
3/4 is like
+0
+1
+2
+3
+3
+4
+5
+6/1
+6/1
So it's not as good as a fighter but is second best. And again you have lots of skill points, 4+int so you can put points into stealth, open locks, disable device, etc. for your rogue skills.
You have mage armor, protection from alignment, ghostly visage, displacement, haste, invisibility/improved invisibility, ethereal visage, and energy buffer for defensive spell options and if you put skill ranks into use magic device you can end up using any wand or scroll in the game. You can wear light armor but if you cast spells in it there is a % chance based on the armor that they will fail if it as a somatic component which will be listed in the spell description.
If you go for strength you can do decent damage or go a dex build with weapon finesse and two weapon fighting if that's your thing. If strength I recommend a longsword since you can use it with a shield or if you just have the longsword equipped you'll add .5 of your strength to damage. So if you have a +2 to strength you'll do 1d8+3 when twohanding a longsword.
If dex use like a rapier and shortsword.
Bards are much better in NWN2 since they can cast in armor and do have mirror image which I don't believe was implemented in NWN1.
Also you can use your bardsong which gives bonuses to attack and damage. In NWN1 the bardsong lasts 10 rounds but in NWN2 the buff songs are constant auras.
So at level 1 even if you have a +0 to attack with your Bardsong you have +1 to attack and damage.
So if you have a longsword and 14 strength you'd be have +3 to hit doing 1d8+4 damage at level 1.
Here's the link to all the information for the Bard.
http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Bard
Wow that sounds great, however it looks like I can dual class for full BAB then get a lil crazy with spells later? Full bard sounds OK too.
I guess it depends if the armor class and defensive abilities you can get as a bard are better than full con/str fighter + full bab? itemization etc etc
Is it like 75% fighter, 75% mage, 25% rogue > 100% fighter?
In bg2 you can have a full fighter or paladin etc have a party member cast improved haste on you and can "passively go to town" much better but you solo in NWN besides a hireling from what i remember so i think casting haste on yourself would almost itself outweigh passive fighter BAB + con + ac?
For instance in BG2 robe of vecna + ring of protection +3 is much better than the best plate and alternate ring you can get...
This way you would still get up to 6th level spells which is the max for Bards and get 4 attacks at 20.
As long as you keep putting points in perform your level 16 Bardsong will give +2 to atk, +3 dmg, +3 will, +2 fort, +2 reflex, +20 Temporary Hit Points, +5 ac, and +4 to all skills.
And it depends really on what you want. If you go 100% fighter you can hit things really hard and your damage probably (?) will be better.
Bard shines in that you have lots of skill points to put into things like diplomacy, stealth, and use magic device and you have decent fighting ability and you have healing and you have spellcasting.
The fighter will fight better than a Bard but the Bard is a jack of all trades so it can do a little bit of everything which is why I suggested it when you mentioned the FMT.
like
Bard 8 then go into Blackguard for 4 levels and then Bard 8 again.
You'd get 1d6 sneak attack, charisma to saving throws and you'll at least have a 16 in charisma before items so that's +3 to all saving throws, bull's strength as a spell-like-ability, turn undead, smite good, and create undead to summon a ghast.
Just make sure when you make your character you have a strength of at least 13, put 5 points in hide when you can, and get the power attack and cleave feats before level 8.
http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Blackguard
spell casting for defensive abilities
Str: 14
Dex: 12
Con : 12
Int: 14
Wis: 8
Cha: 16
Thoughts?
Edit: Maybe lower intelligence in favor of strength if you don't care for skill points.
8: -1
10: +0
12: +1
14: +2
16: +3
18: +4
etc
So a 14 strength gives +2 to attack and damage and lets you carry more.
12 dex gives +1 to ranged attack rolls and +1 to AC and +1 to reflex
12 Con gives +1 to HP per level and fortitude saving throws
14 Int gives +2 skill points per level
8 wisdom gives -1 to will saves
Cha 16 lets you cast up to 6th level bard spells (max)
Notice skills also scale with statistics, like diplomacy, intimidate, and bluff so 16 charisma will give you +3 to those.
It's very depth-y and requires a lot of knowledge to really work with the system but I suppose that's D&D for you XD
EDIT: This is sub-optimal if you don't want to continue into epics, as you would end with 21 STR. If you are stopping at level 20 I would start with 15 CHA (and 10 in DEX or INT) and end with 20 STR/16 CHA.