Question about character builds...

NeveroddoreveN

Can someone suggest character builds for the character classes Bard, Ranger, and Druid? I have never played this classes and am interested in trying them out. I just don't know the class abilities and such.

sarevok57

if you are playing single player campaigns then you don't need to worry about optimal builds

so often do i see players think that if they don't have an optimal character they won't be able to finish the game, and luckily that is not true

the best part of the gaming experience for NWN and its campaign is to build a character that you like, not what someone else told you to do

in fact, a fun run could be having a gimped character because of a couple of bad choices and that's alright, it makes your character that much more interesting and your gaming experience that much better

so i say if you want to try out those classes, test them out for yourself the way that you think is good, and you will be good to go

NeveroddoreveN

Well, I have never played these classes before in video game or pen and paper form, and what abilities they have or will have. I am asking if someone could kinda give me an overview (not telling me how to play the class, but rather what it will have ability-wise.

sarevok57

okay doke;

BARDS; are kind of like "rogue/sorcerers" they have almost as many skills as a rogue but can cast spells up to level 6, most of them mage, but they can actually cast a couple of cleric spells ( healing cure light wounds )

and as i mentioned before, their spell casting is like sorcerers ( CHA based ) and they know only a certain amount of spells per day, but they don't have to choose what they memorize because they can cast on the fly, but their spells known are going to be less than that of a mage ( as i said they only hit up to level 6 )

depending on how you play your bard, if you are more melee focused and not to worried about spells, then grabbing levels in red dragon disciple is a good choice, but if you are more skill and spell focused i would stick with staying a bard for at least the first 20 levels and then after that you may perhaps might multiclass into something else if you wish

plus, if your perform skill is high enough you can get a bunch of bard songs that can give you and your allies bonuses in combat ( the higher level you are, the better the abilities are )

important ability scores; CHA ( this affects your spell casting and you will need 16 to cast up to level 6 ) higher CHA will also give you bonus spells per days as well

RANGERS; are really good at fighting their favored enemy, which they get to pick a new one every 5 levels ( pretty handy ) plus how they fight is up to you, because they have 2 main fighting techniques; archery or dual wield style, at levels 2,6 and 11 ( i believe ) they automatically get fighting style feats for free depending on what style you choose, although they "lose" these feat benefits if you are wearing armor that is heavier than light, plus you can only choose one of these styles

plus they can also cast druid spells up to level 4

important ability scores; DEX ( which helps both fighting styles )
WIS: for your spell casting ( you will want at least 14 if you want to be able to cast up to your max level of spell levels, and the only point to go any higher than 14 would be to make your save DCs of your spells higher, but you don't need to worry too much about that because strong enemies will probably never fail their saves against your spells no matter how high your WIS is ) although higher WIS will give you bonus spells per day as well, so its up to you

DRUIDS: druids have 2 major things going for them; spells and shapeshifts, so how your plan on playing your druid is going to affect how you do things, if you are more into the spell casting sort of stuff, then stick with druid all the way until the end, and crank that WIS through the roof for higher spell DCs and more spells per day

now if you are more into the shapeshift sort of play, you can multi class into a shapeshifter to get more creatures that you can shift into

important ability scores; WIS ( this affects your spell casting, and you will need at least 19 WIS to cast level 9 spells, but with a druid ( especially if you are going the full caster route ) you will want to crank your WIS as high as this ability can go to get more spells per day, and to make your spell DCs as high as possible, CON might be a good second choice because it will give you a bonus to spell concentration checks, and then perhaps DEX if you are using spells that require a lot of range touch attacks ( this will give you a bonus to hit for those type of spells ) so keep an eye out