Sufficient Strength for wizards and clerics

Ian579

Edit: The concern of this thread is about encumbrance issue.

My wizard and cleric won't be responsible for carrying items, and they will be using ranged weapons and staying away from melee combats.

Is 8 Strength sufficient for a wizard?

I suppose 8 is not enough for clerics because they usually wear plate armors.

Cerabelus

If they won't be carrying I'd go 10, I don't like negative attributes unless I can't avoid it.
Yeah Clerics need more for armors and shields, if I remember Heavy shield is 15 weight and fullplate is 50.

Ian579

Cerabelus wrote: »

If they won't be carrying I'd go 10, I don't like negative attributes unless I can't avoid it.
Yeah Clerics need more for armors and shields, if I remember Heavy shield is 15 weight and fullplate is 50.

Thanks. Then I guess 10 Strength is fine for my cleric.

As for my wizard, I think the -1 penalty is not a problem because Strength is of no much use to him anyway.

Zaxares

Clerics usually also have various spells to boost their strength (such as Divine Power, or Righteous Might) so a mediocre Strength score isn't as bad a handicap as it might seem. I would still aim for about a 14 Str on a Cleric just so they're not immediately encumbered from their Plate armor + Shield + weapons if they happen to get Poisoned, but that's mostly a QoL thing.

Wizards can largely treat Strength as a dump stat, yeah, although personally I wouldn't go below 8 for much the same reasons as above. If Wizards must engage in physical combat at all, they'll probably be using a crossbow, which doesn't grant Strength bonuses in most cases. (Most of the time I pick up the Expertise and Improved Expertise feats on my Wizard and just switch them on at all times for a considerable AC boost. The AC bonus remains even while spellcasting, as long as you don't move or attack.)

Ian579

Zaxares wrote: »

Clerics usually also have various spells to boost their strength (such as Divine Power, or Righteous Might) so a mediocre Strength score isn't as bad a handicap as it might seem. I would still aim for about a 14 Str on a Cleric just so they're not immediately encumbered from their Plate armor + Shield + weapons if they happen to get Poisoned, but that's mostly a QoL thing.

Wizards can largely treat Strength as a dump stat, yeah, although personally I wouldn't go below 8 for much the same reasons as above. If Wizards must engage in physical combat at all, they'll probably be using a crossbow, which doesn't grant Strength bonuses in most cases. (Most of the time I pick up the Expertise and Improved Expertise feats on my Wizard and just switch them on at all times for a considerable AC boost. The AC bonus remains even while spellcasting, as long as you don't move or attack.)

Well... the duration of Divine Power is not as long as Bull's Strength so I think it cannot help counter the encumbrance issue.

Thanks for the interesting information of Expertise and Improved Expertise. I will try to find more reviews or guides about the two feats.

FreshLemonBun

In NWN this is far less important than in a rules strict table top games of D&D where potions might not have an infinite supply, and where it affects more things like skills and max dex bonus. Potions of Bull's Strength will usually do the trick.

Cerabelus

Depending on the module you'll be playing there's usually opportunities to use Strength boosting items like gloves & belts, Gauntlets of Ogre Power (+2) & the belts of giant strength (+2 to +10).

A Cleric in the original campaign with 14 strength can get the Gauntlets of Orge Power (+2) and the Belt of Fire Giant Strength (+5) than Boots of Speed combined with spells like Divine Power and Battletide for a short time you'll be dishing out some good hits, also don't forget the Extend Spell Metamagic.

Extend allows for certain spells to last x2 longer for the cost of a higher spell slot, Divine Power is 4th LVL (3rd if your Strength Domain) memorised at 5th will last more than long enough for a major battle or hit and run tactics.

Ian579

@Cerabelus Thanks. Sorry for not being clear, but my concern is about encumbrance, not how low Strength affects melee combat. I had just edited the question to clarify that.

sarevok57

my wizard had both 8 STR and CHA and i had no problems, just make sure to grab plenty of bags of holding

( i believe you can get 3 in chapter 1 - 1 from the merchant in the docks district...? 1 from the cloak of stars merchant after completing her wizard mini quest, and another one in helm's hold from the little boy who buys and sells stuff )

plus buying greater magic bags can be good as well ( the ones that reduce weight by 80% )

Ian579

@sarevok57 Thanks for sharing your experience. The second paragraph probably should be changed to a spoiler content. (I haven't started playing the game.)

Zaxares

Ian579 wrote: »

Well... the duration of Divine Power is not as long as Bull's Strength so I think it cannot help counter the encumbrance issue.

Thanks for the interesting information of Expertise and Improved Expertise. I will try to find more reviews or guides about the two feats.

Ahh, I was thinking more about how to boost the Cleric's Strength when needed in combat. For encumbrance, yeah, you can probably throw on a Gauntlets of Ogre Power and a Belt of Giant Strength for long-lasting Str gain, and buy up Bags of Holding/Magic Bags when you can.

Cerabelus

@Ian579 no worries, as Sarevok57 said keep an eye out for bags of holding, they will be your pack mule.

You can get by with low strength but using bags and stat boosts will help a lot.

As you progress through the game you'll collect potions an healkits, they start weighing a lot.

DuckOfNormandy

My default cleric has a strenght of 16. He is a battle cleric anyway and with magic domain and a planar ally he casts a lot of defensive/improve spells on himself and the ally, with the result of a deadly duo