Back + Couple of questions

[MegaToerist]

Hello all!

After a "few" months of absence (got hooked onto Medal of Honor while waiting for NWN), I'm back again.
NWN night is not yet out here in Europe, but I'm already planning what I will use as a character.
During this stage, I've run into a few questions:

1) Dual-wielding: the description of the "Two-weapon fighting" feat says that you only get -2/-2 penalties when yu use a light weapon offhand (and have ambidexterity). Which weapons are considered "light"? Does a short sword qualify?
2) In the character generator from WotC, it says you can use a quarterstaff dor dual-wielding. How exactly does this work in relation to the penalties (-4/-4 or -2/-2)?
3) Which skills are useful in the game? I wanted to go for a ranger dual-wielding short swords, and seem to have a nice focus on Hide, Move SIlently, Listen, Spot, Heal, Parry, Concentration, Persuade, Search. Are there any vital skills missing?

Thanks,
Geert

[Crosswind]

If you're going to be meleeing, discipline is good.

Prevents you from getting violated by knockdown, etcetera.

-Cross

[jim0525]

the short sword is considered a small weapon and not a light weapon. they are looking for something like daggers. my character is using a rapier (or sabre, i forget) and a dagger. the quick item slots are great. you can switch to a bow really fast.

[Sabre]

The Player Hand Book describe Light Weapons as one that is smaller in size than your character. So for medium size characters - human, elves, half-elces, dwarves, half-orcs - a short sword is considered as a Light Weapon, since its size is Small. For small characters - gnomes, halflings - a dagger would be Light, while Short Sword is not. Size categories includes; Unarmed, Tiny, Small, Medium and Large - Unarmed is always counted as Light Weapons.

If you use the Quarterstaff as a double weapon, the penalty is the same as sif you're using a one-handed and a light weapon, so it would be -2/-2 - with Ambidexterity and Two-Weapon Fighting feat.

[MegaToerist]

So I won't be using two short swords
Took a look at the rapier, and it seems close to RP too

I edited my (temporary) character, and this is how he looks:

Enaloindir
Human Male Ranger
3rd level

12 Str
16 Dex
12 Con
14 Int
12 Wis
10 Cha

Skills:
Hide (6), Move Silently (6), Parry (6), Spot (4), Listen (4), Heal (4),
Search (4), Discipline (cc)(2), Persuade (cc)(1)

Feats:
Ambidexterity (Ranger), Improved Parry, Two-Weapon Fighting
(Ranger), Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus (Rapier)


Any comments?

Geert


P.S. Messed around a bit with the character editor, and just try to hit this guy

Human Male Rogue/Ranger
10th/10th level

12 Str
20 Dex
12 Con
14 Int
13 Wis
10 Cha

Skills:
Hide (23), Move Silently (23), Parry (23), Spot (23), Listen (23),
Heal (23), Search (23), Discipline (cc)(11), Persuade (23), Disable
Device (21), Use Magic Device (4)

Feats:
Ambidexterity (Ranger), Dodge, Improved Parry, Improved Critical
(Rapier), Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (Ranger), Mobility, Point-
Blank-Shot, Two-Weapon Fighting (Ranger), Weapon Finesse,
Weapon Focus (Rapier), Weapon Focus (Dagger)

Rogue Ability: Skill Mastery (Hide, Move Silently, Parry, Spot,
Listen)

A +14 bonus on top of all normal combat bonusses, parrying 4 attacks each round...should be hard to hit. Perfect scout if you ask me

[Sabre]

Don't have the game yet so I don't know how closely it follows 3ed, but you might consider raising Wisdom to 14 - since according to the PHB, you need 14 to access level 4 Ranger spells.

[MegaToerist]

I was planning to do that with the ability increases you get each 4th level...

[average joe]

Originally posted by MegaToerist
Perfect scout if you ask me

Well, if you ask me, a 20th level character tends to be perfect at whatever they do....

[MegaToerist]

If you played ToB, a 20th level character got his behind kicked quite hard...

I've heard that even lower-level characters are quite powerful in 3E...Anybody with experience knows that?

[Mathurin]

Any weapon one size category or more smaller than yourself is considered light for means of two weapon fighting, as well as rapiers and any double weapon, and yes a short sword qualifies. For some reason though I don't think they made quarterstaffs double weapons in NWN.

[average joe]

Originally posted by MegaToerist
If you played ToB, a 20th level character got his behind kicked quite hard...

I've heard that even lower-level characters are quite powerful in 3E...Anybody with experience knows that?

That was also 2nd edition rules, and you were playing with GOD-LIKE characters.