Favorite Start off Class

[GawainBS]

I do know pretty well how Critical Strike works. I have to admit that I did forget to take in to account the effects of Master Speed. I was talking about unbuffed characters. Still, something that depends on luck, is something I try to avoid. The main principle to good builds in d20 is to minimize the impact of dice rolls, i.e. luck. I have a friend who doesn't even roll below 12 on a d20, while I'm lucky if I roll above 9, so that's reason enough for me to avoid Critical Strike. Besides, the Stun Effect gives a save, which means it isn't guaranteed to stun. Once again, with my luck, enemies with a +1 Fort save save against a DC 30 by rolling 20, while I, with my +15, fail on a DC 12 by rolling a 1. (Unless KotOR did away with the "1 always fails, 20 always succeeds" rule, which could be.)
Of course, the more attacks you get, the more it pays of, that's true.

Doing 40 damage in each swing isn't so hard to compensate for Power Attack. It would require endgame gear, though. I think that KotOR's PA doesn't increase the critical multiplier, otherwise, it might work well with some crystals.

Finally, "Critical Multiplier" is the number of times your base damage is multiplied, not the threat range. The Nextor crystal doubles the threat range, which is a 10% increase in critical chance, not a 5%. (Not really 10%, the real % depends on the AC of the target, but that would be nitpicking.)

So, Flurry remains standing as the most reliable source of extra damage. Not the biggest. I, personally, prefer reliability above size.

Even then, the other main advantages of the Scout easily mark it out as the best starting class, unless you take a lot of pre-Jedi levels. Maybe that the Soldier would pull ahead.

[Caden]

The thing is, I'm pretty sure that without Sneak Attack, all you can hope for with endgame gear is to do 25 damage. Maybe 30 tops. Still, not 40. You would need Sneak Attack and to focus on strength gear in order for Flurry to be on par with Power Attack. Power Attack certainly doesn't depend on luck anymore than Flurry. Power Attack adds just raw damage.

Even without Master Speed, in early game, Power Attack is still the more reliable choice. Let's say at the start of the game you have two weapons equipped that deal 7 damage each. Flurry level 1 will add one extra swing for a total of 21 damage. Power Attack level 1 will add 5 damage to each of your two swings for a total of 24 damage. It doesn't stop there, because the penalties make it even worse. Flurry lvl 1 gives -4 to chance to hit and a -4 to defense, while Power Attack lvl 1 gives only a -3 chance to hit. You could say that Flurry can do more than 21 damage if you have Sneak Attack, but in early game you don't really have a means of stunning the enemy so Sneak Attack can't be used as a factor in early game. So early game, I would say Power Attack is slightly superior. As the game progresses, Flurry becomes less inferior, but then you eventually get Master Speed and that makes it so Power Attack remains superior. I just don't think the extra swing from Flurry will be able to do 40 damage without Sneak Attack.

You brought up some good points with Critical Strike. I don't exactly believe in luck, but I do understand that dice rolls aren't exactly random. I believe they are dependant on how the person throws the die. You don't actually have a 1 in 20 chance of landing a 19 with a 20 sided die. Kotor uses a computer, so I can trust that the numbers are actually randomized. Personally, I've never killed bosses faster than when I've used Critical Strike. The DC for the stun is 30 if the attacking character has a high strength. So it would be really difficult for most characters and even bosses to be able to resist it. I honestly don't know if Kotor did away with the "1 always fails, 20 always succeeds" rule.

[GawainBS]

Just as an exercise, I'll try to see if you can get to 40 damage.
2d10 Base for a double lightsabre.
1d6 from a crystal. (Forgot the name.)
1d8 from the Luminari (?) Crystal found on Korriban. (I believe 1d8 vs Dark Side, but what isn't Dark Side in this game.;-))
+3 from that same Crystal.
+2 Weapon Specialization. (If you're a Guardian.)
+15 from 30 STR. (IIRC, a double lightsabre adds 1.5x STR to its mainweapon, which is the one used for Flurry.)

= 24-54 damage. That's 39 damage average. You could also use those two super end-game crystal from Yavin, but I forgot the stats about them.

Anyway, if PA hadn't such a horrible animation, I would check it out next time.

[Caden]

IIRC, a double lightsabre adds 1.5x STR to its mainweapon, which is the one used for Flurry

I've never heard of this, surprisingly. If it's true then it is 39 damage. If it isn't true, then 30 strength only adds 10 modifiers to damage. Which means your roll is 19-49. Which is 34 average damage. (Edit: Upon further testing, the damage of a weapon remains the same, no matter which hand you hold it in. Only the chance that it will land a blow might vary.)

I play the Xbox version so I never considered the two crystals on the Yavin Space Station. Those crystals are on the PC version only. However, upon further inspection of the Yavin crystals, I learned that the Heart of the Guardian will actually drop your damage by 1 and the Mantle of the force will raise your damage by 2. This is when combined with the Solari and Sigil crystals.

Of course all your math depends on a lot of things. The Solari crystal only adds 1-8 damage against all darkside characters. Yes, there is a lot that isn't darkside. Anyone who is neutral, a monster, or robot will not be effected by the 1-8 damage. It also requires that you are lightside to even use the crystal. It also requires that you are a guardian for the +2 damage and that you focus on strength and neglect dex and wis. Basically, you have to meet a lot of criteria to even reach the 34 average damage that I've been talking about. Power Attack will certainly be even more useful to anyone who didn't meet all the requirements for your math.

Let's say you are a sentinel fighting a rancor. All of a sudden that 34 becomes 27. The same applies if you are darkside and can't use the Solari crystal all together. Let's say you didn't focus solely on strength, then it drops even further below 27. Whereas Power Attack gives 40 damage no matter what class or crystals you are using, or what your stats are. You've basically argued that 40 damage isn't hard to get, but you've also argued that only 1 type of build can come close to it with Flurry, and that build would be better off using Critical Strike since it is strength based.

So if my math is correct, even with all your stipulates you can only aquire 34 average damage--36 with the Mantle of the Force on the PC version.

[The Eyes of Evi]

I tend to go either Scoundrel/Sentinel or Scoundrel/Consular.
Skill points! Delicious, lovely skill points!

[Klorox]

Scout is my favorite.

You get more than enough skills, if you stop at level 4,5, or 8 (my recommendations) you have more feats than a Soldier of equal level (actually, the same amount at level 8), and the special Uncanny Dodge ability comes in handy as well. Scouts get the best saving throws, which helps any of the jedi classes out.

I personally think level 4 is the best to stop at. After that, just make sure you use Zaalbaar and Carth as much as possible, because you're a bit fragile at such a low level.

[jetblast]

I would say scout, it's basically a mix of both soldier and scoundrel , making a perfect balance of the two