Unarmed melee character on HoF : my wood elf nun/rogue

[Tioma]

Difficulty settings : HoF + Tactics4IWD2 + Undead Targos/Tougher Torak.
Special rules : exclusively barehanded melee, no weapons, no armor, no spellcasting except for protective spells coming from wearing items and few protective scrolls usable by everybody.

Well, I'm trying to build a nice pure melee character, unarmed and without armor (without using spells as well), able to survive on HoF from scratch. So far, a monk (Ancient Order)/rogue seems the best choice. Here's my character :

Xenia, F, wood elf, nun(Ancient Order)/rogue, initial stats : 20/20/8/8/10/8.
She has now level 7/7 using mainly sneak attacks and hit'n'run tactics.
Remark: wood elves have +2 in Str and Dex and -2 in Con,Int and Cha
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Finally, I was not entirely satisfied with my char and restarted with a newly created one:

Xenia, F, strongheart halfling, nun/rogue, initial stats: 15/20/10/13/10/8. Current status : level 14/3, stats : 19/20/10/13/10/8, abilities and feats : Arterial Strike, Expertise, Hamstring, Power Attack, Alchemy=8 and Poisoned Weapon (usable with Claws coming from Vghotan's necklace) among others.

So I put Int=13 in order to get Expertise which might be useful in the future. I also reached 8 levels in Alchemy and got Poisoned Weapon feat. The third thing is inequal dual-class progression. After getting 3 levels as rogue, I'm planning to progress as monk up to level 21 then again as rogue up to level 10 (extending level caps).

Tc, Yigor

[Aerich]

Well, if you're requiring that the character be unarmed, a monk is the only choice. All other classes receive penalties for barehanded attacks.

You can only hit and run for so long.

What I dislike about multiclassing monks is that they lose the monk's special attack progression once they gain +1 BAB from another class.

[GawainBS]

The 8 in CON sounds like an awful bad decision...

[Tioma]

Originally Posted by Aerich

What I dislike about multiclassing monks is that they lose the monk's special attack progression once they gain +1 BAB from another class.

Are you sure ? Damn, they state that old order monk can multiclass to rogue without penalties. Do you think that a pure monk would be a better choice ? Maybe I'll try a duo then, 1 monk/rogue and 1 pure monk. It will permit me to compare them.

Tc, Yigor

[Tioma]

Originally Posted by GawainBS

The 8 in CON sounds like an awful bad decision...

Well with hit'n'run tactics high Con is not necessary. If Str is not high enough, the game will quickly become boring on HoF. High Dex is also extremely useful in this playsetting, so I still think dats Dex=Str=20 is the best choice in the beginning.

Tc, Yigor

[Tioma]

I still remain with dual-class monk/rogue. Even though BAB is calculated only from monk's level (it seems to be the only penalty), monk/rogue is funnier to play thanx to grand variety of barehanded special attacks!

My nun/rogue has now level 6/5, 67hp, AC=17 and stats 20/22/8/8/10/8. Damage at a sneak attack : 1d8+6+3d6=10-32, it's already cool.

[Tioma]

Xenia has now level 7/7 after completing Targos haven (~100,000XP on HoF +Undead Targos). I'm planning to install Tactics4IWD2 too if it's compatible with HoF. Let's check.

[GawainBS]

Well, if you use only your Monk BAB, I think you'll get into trouble with your to hit.
Also, I still feel that this low CON is a real defunct. With 14 CON & 16 STR & 20 DEX, you'd have at this lvl an extra 42 HP and you'd have - 1 AC and -2 damage, which can be compensated if you take Power Attack and use a dagger or short sword. (That way, you can still use finesse and you get both Monk & Rogue BAB added together. Also, I don't think you get To Hit bonuses from your fists, they only count as "+ X" for penetrating DR.)

Just my thought. Maybe I tend to think too much in P&P terms...

[Tioma]

Hey Gawain, thanx for the feedback! Well, maybe U are right and low CON will hinder me later. So far, it's not so important on HoF, 40hp is just 1 tough hit by a goblin. I guess, I wouldn't be able to make honest melees at least until monk's level 20. My idea was the full profit from wood elf stat modifications and I don't really wanna restart cuz some battles are quite tedious.

The challenge of this game is to play unarmed and without armor. Using Power Attack, I can switch between hit and damage bonuses. In sneak mode I hit almost always goblins and skeletons so I put +5 damage bonus and with +5 from STR, it's quite substantial.

Thanx again,
Yigor

[GawainBS]

You're welcome and I wish you the best of luck! :-)

[Tioma]

GawainBS

Undead Targos Palisade battle : All defenders quickly died in the very beginning and I remained with 3 dozens of senior undead. Those Senior Zombi and Drowns are almost immune to my current barehanded attacks (kinda 0-5hp per hit when they have ~500hp). So it was very tedious until I realised that I should beat only the 3rd remaining chief. That task turned out to be easy for my smart and swift character. So I've officially won the battle though there are still 2 dozens of senior undead wandering inside the palisade lol.

[GawainBS]

I never played with that mod... Then again, this goes to show that DR is a bitch, and you probably need some other weapon to overcome it.

[Aerich]

Yes, the DR will be a problem for this character, although sneak attack will help somewhat.

I dislike the low Con too. In addition to the HP factor, you will also be more vulnerable to spells requiring Fortitude saves.

[Tioma]

Hey, Aerich and GawainBS! Yeah, finally, I was not entirely satisfied with may char as well. I had some ideas to improve it. Here's my current character :

Xenia, F, strongheart halfling, nun/rogue, initial stats: 15/20/10/13/10/8. Current status : level 11/3, stas : 18/20/10/13/10/8, abilities and feats : Arterial Strike, Combat Expertise, Hamstring, Power Attack, Alchemy=8 and Poisoned Weapon (she's authorized to use a simple 1d4 dagger in order to use it) among others.

So I put Int=13 in order to get Combat Expertise which might be useful in the future. I also reached 8 levels in Alchemy and got Poisoned Weapon feat (I authorize her to use a simple 1d4 dagger in order to use it) . The third thing is inequal dual-class progression. After getting 3 levels as rogue, I'm planning to progress as monk up to level 21 then again as rogue up to level 10 (extending level caps).

What do U think ? Tc,
Yigor

[GawainBS]

I still think that CON is too low. I'd rather dump CHA all the way for some extra CON. Also, you might want to consider using better daggers, since you'll need the To-Hit bonuses those weapons provide. Also, install the bonus merchants, that will unlock a very useful item for you.