Neverwinter Nights 2/Mask of the Betrayer/Storm of Zephir

[TevashSzat]

I had a fairly intricate build worked out. Basically, my aim was a wizard that could do well in close quarter fighting.

IIRC, it ended up being

10 Wizard
10 Blackguard
10 Duelist

Basically, with 10 Wizard/Blackguard, I could cast all wizard spells. I pumped up Int which allows for higher spell dcs and synergizes with Duelist, giving me +1 AC for every Int + modifier. Basically, I ended up being a wizard that could tank b/c of parry mode.

The feats are really tricky since you have to balance Duelist feats with Wizard ones, but everything worked out in the end. If you need it, i can try to remember a more exact version of what I did

[frogbeastegg]

I started a game with the build I linked to, more to get a feel for the game than anything else. I've played far enough to reach the first fort. Much better than the first time I played it! The game feels like a worthy entry into the Bioware AD&D 'series' now, and so far it's more absorbing than the original NWN.

Thanks for the build suggestions. I'm level 4 with that cleric template and I'm not quite liking it. It's partly due to the spear; it's slow, rubbish, and I spend most of my time missing. I'm not sure any form of cleric is for me. They are a bit too ... not enough swords and fireballs of deadly death The two most enjoyable AD&D characters I have played were my kensai/mage from BG2 and my fighter/sorceror/red dragon disciple from HoU. Both characters were hard to hit, ploughed through mobs with fancy swordwork, then blasted tough guys with fireballs.

I'm looking at the eldritch knight and thinking that might be better. Can anyone recommend a strong build with that? I have seen several online and none appeal to me, since they rely on dual wielding scythes and other craziness.

I have Tony K's AI hack. Which settings are people using for close combat fighters? I've played with all the obvious ones and nothing stops the dwarf from sprinting ahead into a mob. Sometimes my other two characters get there in time to save him, others not. He just got my entire party wiped out by singlehandedly charging a massive bandit camp.

[Kekvit Irae]

Thanks for the build suggestions. I'm level 4 with that cleric template and I'm not quite liking it. It's partly due to the spear; it's slow, rubbish, and I spend most of my time missing. I'm not sure any form of cleric is for me. They are a bit too ... not enough swords and fireballs of deadly death The two most enjoyable AD&D characters I have played were my kensai/mage from BG2 and my fighter/sorceror/red dragon disciple from HoU. Both characters were hard to hit, ploughed through mobs with fancy swordwork, then blasted tough guys with fireballs.

If you're looking into a "waggle your finger and they die" type of character, look no further than the Warlock. Their damage output sucks- same progression as a Rogue's sneak attack, +1d6 every two levels, as opposed to a fireball which is 1d6 every level- but their main advantage is they have UNLIMITED spells. Seriously, you will NEVER run out. The d6 hit points and ability to wear up to Medium Armor (with the right feats) without arcane failure makes them a very good choice for survivability. Once you hit 10th level or so, you'll be outdamaging any wizard or sorcerer for the sheer fact that you never need to rest once (except for regaining lost hit points).
You can also modify your Elderitch Blast with both a Blast Shape and Blast Type, which means your lousy 1d6/2lvls can possibly turn into a 1d6/2lvls +2d6 fire damage for several rounds vs every enemy within 10 feet. Ouch. My personal favorite is Noxious Blast, which is undoubtably the most broken spell in the game in terms of balance issues. Any enemy hit by your blast must make a Fort save or be dazed for 10 rounds. TEN ROUNDS. Combine that with Elderitch Chain (modifies your blast to be like Chain Lightning) and Weapon Focus: Ranged Touch Attack (RTA's ALWAYS critical on a 20, no need to roll to confirm it) and Improved Critical: Ranged Touch Attack (ALWAYS crit on a 19-20), and you have a recipe for pain.

I have Tony K's AI hack. Which settings are people using for close combat fighters? I've played with all the obvious ones and nothing stops the dwarf from sprinting ahead into a mob. Sometimes my other two characters get there in time to save him, others not. He just got my entire party wiped out by singlehandedly charging a massive bandit camp.

Use the voice commands. V-E-E sets your party into Follow mode. They won't attack unless you command them otherwise, for when you're near a hallway of traps and don't want Khelgar doing something stupid like charging in and setting every trap off. V-W-E sets Attack mode.
Muck around with the behavior settings until you find the right combination. Most notably, Switch To Melee Range and Use Melee Attacks (I turn them off for people like Qara when I would rather have them cast spells than attack).

[Crandaeolon]

Warlock is okay power-wise, but it's a terribly boring class to play - using the same few skills over and over and over and over again gets stale very fast. I'd say that selecting a Warlock as my PC was the single most important thing that turned me off NWN2, haven't been able to touch it since.

Besides, the 20 second nap that recharges everything isn't that much of a limitation for the other caster classes...

[frogbeastegg]

I'm wondering about a swashbuckler/wizard/eldritch knight. Uh oh. Brace yourself for a froggy effort at character design.

Wizards need high int. High dex will keep me alive. Swashbuckers can add int to their attack rolls, converting it into a stat which powers both physical and magical killing. High dex benefits them too, and they are aimed at being hard to hit and have skills to support this. Swashbuckler has a higher HP base too, so a few levels in that will enable me to take more than one hit. Taking these two classes together will allow me to naturally fill the requirements for eldritch knight, a prestige class which will turn me into a sword-waving fireball-blasting dealer of death.

Because the classes focus on the same stats I will be able to pump int and dex sky high. Um, other than that I'm not sure what else to spend points on. Constitution and a bit of strength?

Skills wise, most of the ones I want appear to be covered naturally by these classes: diplomacy, tumble, concentration, spellcraft. I hear use magical device is one no one should be without; neither class has that one so I'd have to sink points into it or pick up that feat which allows all skills to be treated as class skills. Is UMD worth that? It would have to be pretty good to justify the wastage involved in either method of pumping it. There are so many skills it's hard to tell what I actually need. High int should give me a good amount of points to play with.

As far as the level split goes, it looks like it is the full 10 with eldritch knight or you lose the better benefits. I've seen it said again and again that in such a scenario wizard needs to reach 8 to give me a total caster level of 18 to open up the highest level spells. That means 2 levels left over for swashbuckler, or 12 if I take the character across into Mask. Level 3 is where the swashbuckler gets the feat which adds int onto attack calculations, so I definitely need level 3 ASAP or there's no point in taking the class. If I'm missing a single wizard level at the end of the original campaign it's not the end of the world, is it?

Feats are harder. Martial weapons is a must for eldritch knight, and will be supplied for free by swashbuckler. I'd use a rapier, so I guess some of those weapon focus type feats? Other than that, no idea.

It should be simple to put together. 3 levels of swashbuckler, followed by as many wizard levels as I need to open up eldtritch knight, 10 levels of that and then back to finish off wizard.

In terms of equipment, it looks like I would be limited to light armour or robe types in order to keep the swashbuckler bonuses and the maximum dex bonus. No shields, or again I lose bonuses. As mentioned, I'd use a rapier. There are some decent ones, right?

I don't know if choosing a spell specialisation is a good idea, or if I should remain a generalist.

Race ... I'd prefer human. I wouldn't be crippling myself by not taking air gensai instead? That race has better bonuses for this design. However the -2 charisma could hurt in the campaign since I want to be a smart talkative type.

Someone please point out the incredibly obvious thing I have missed which makes this entire idea a bad one. Should I have managed to create something viable, a little help with my skills, stats and feats, please?

Rapier. Fireballs. One of those white shirts with the big baggy sleeves. Sounds fun.

[TevashSzat]

I had a fairly intricate build worked out. Basically, my aim was a wizard that could do well in close quarter fighting.

IIRC, it ended up being

10 Wizard
10 Blackguard
10 Duelist

Basically, with 10 Wizard/Blackguard, I could cast all wizard spells. I pumped up Int which allows for higher spell dcs and synergizes with Duelist, giving me +1 AC for every Int + modifier. Basically, I ended up being a wizard that could tank b/c of parry mode.

The feats are really tricky since you have to balance Duelist feats with Wizard ones, but everything worked out in the end. If you need it, i can try to remember a more exact version of what I did

Wow.....I just realized how much of an idiot I am. How the heck did I write Blackguard when I meant eldricht knight????

Basically, your build with swashbuckler is a more offensive (melee wise) but less defensive build for me. Its up to you, but I prefer Duelist to Swashbuckler. The damage difference can be offset by the flourish that you get from Duelist.

Anyways, going for rapier means that you NEED weapon finesse. It will let you use your dex bonus to attack modifiers instead of str, but you won't get any +dmg.

[frogbeastegg]

Use the voice commands. V-E-E sets your party into Follow mode. They won't attack unless you command them otherwise, for when you're near a hallway of traps and don't want Khelgar doing something stupid like charging in and setting every trap off. V-W-E sets Attack mode.

For that you earn a cookie. A chocolate chip one. Two simple commands and suddenly my party has a survival urge! Not only that, they are pretty smart in their skill usage and weapon swapping.

Wow.....I just realized how much of an idiot I am. How the heck did I write Blackguard when I meant eldricht knight????

I did wonder why you posted a blackguard in response to a request for good aligned builds

It looks like a nice, reliable, easy to understand build. I'd use it if it weren't for my total inability to survive the initial levels as a plain wizard. Hehe, I'm so hopeless I managed to die repeatedly as that cleric!



I have started the swashbuckler/wizard/eldritch knight I wondered about. It's a case of making it up as I go along and hoping it turns out ok.

I went with 18 int, 16 (or was that 17?) dex, 12 con, 10 str. I'll just keep dumping extra points into int until I reach 19, then pump dex. Feat-wise, I have luck of the heroes, able learner, weapon finesse and whatever the remaining class freebies are. I have purchased a +1rapier from the blacksmith at the fort, found some boots which add to tumble, and some gloves of greater concentration. Hehe, still no idea what I'm doing with feats; I'm picking whatever seems most useful when offered. I did 3 levels of swashbuckler, and I have gained my second wizard level. The build is handling with ease the areas where I struggled with the cleric.

The swashbuckler part of the build has proven to be very strong. I'm able to handle most fights without needing to buff or blast with spells. I'm hitting more often and killing far more than the spear using cleric. In tough fights I buff up with shield and nothing manages to hurt me. Magic missiles and the ranged damage cantrips provide a bit of ranged punch. Being a level 2 wizard I don't have many uses or much damage, so they are more of a toy than a tool. If a battle gets a bit rough I can turn on combat finesse and parry modes, and sit there blocking most incoming attacks whilst my party do the killing.

With this character the game's proving to be quite absorbing.

[TevashSzat]

As for survival, one word: stoneskin

Basically, once you get that, you're set and can survive fights. By the time stoneskin wears off, its usually time for your party to rest anyways

[Kekvit Irae]

As for survival, one word: stoneskin

Basically, once you get that, you're set and can survive fights. By the time stoneskin wears off, its usually time for your party to rest anyways

Taking all five Fey Heritage feats instead is a wonderful choice as well. 5/Cold Iron damage reduction is nothing to sneeze at, especially when combined with other feats/class abilities that grant damage reduction (19th level Warlock with all Fey Heritage feats gets 10/Cold Iron damage reduction, making the Warlock tank almost as well as a Fighter).
And Eldritch Knight needs damage reduction to stay alive, since the whole PrC is a waste except for the Rogue hitpoints and Fighter BAB.

[caravel]

I haven't played any of the Bioware games since the days of BG, IWD, BG2 and Torment. Is NWN any good? I've seen it on the buget label and thought about picking it up.

[Kekvit Irae]

NWN1 is only enjoyable with both expansions (the original campaign really sucks, but the expansion campaigns are pure love).
NWN2 is enjoyable with or without the expansions, just be sure to install the player-made AI modifications.