Looking for a little advice in a build.

[GawainBS]

Hello

I'm going to get NWNII and MotB. I really would like to play a Ftr2/Wiz8/EldritchKnight 20.
The plan is to mainly buff myself and compagnons and wade in to melee and slinging spells.
So, my question is: which feats would you recommend? I know that NWN played very differently from P&P, so that's why I seek your aid. You can only deduce so much about the feats-database here on GB without playing the game.

I was thinking about Power Attack for starters. Toughness and Improved Initiative. Knockdown & its Improved friend maybe. Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

[Tricky]

I think most Metamagic feats are useful, aside from maybe silent and still spell. Spell focus, penetration.. all good. I think the most useful for buffing are Extend Spell, Persistent Spell and Empower Spell. Combat casting, obviously. Augment Summoning perhaps, if you want to use conjurations. It really depends on the kind of wizard overall.

As for the combat feat, since you already have more than 13 Intelligence, it's interesting to consider what you might be able to do with the other combat feats that have that attribute requirement. There's a few, but they might individually make for very different builds.

What kind of attribute distribution are you aiming for?

[Claudius]

You can only take 10 levels of eldritch knight.

You could take Fighter 8/Eldritch Knight 10/Wizard 8/Harper Scout 4

Fighter 8 gives epic weapon specialization...
Harper Scout keeps medium BAB and 3 caster levels and grants tumble but requires crap feats...

Many other possibilities..

Fighter 2/Ek 10/Wizard 10/Assassin 8

[GawainBS]

Oh, I thought that in the Epic levels, you could take more than 10 levels in a PrC, since it is so in P&P and in NWN. Obsidian's been sloppy with this title as well. Seems like the Player Resource Consortium has some work to do on NWNII.
Assassin is out, no intrest in evil. I'm past the age of 13 where "teh evil is teh c00l." (I just don't like sneaking in NWN, it's more hassle than it's worth.)
Assuming NWN II still has a 30 point buy, I think I'll go for: 15,12,14,16,10,8.
Thanks for the advice so far.

[Claudius]

I believe its a 32 pt buy with every attribute set at 8 and modified by race. First 6 pts cost 1 next 2 cost 2 each next 2 cost 3 each.

[GawainBS]

Make that STR 15 a 16 then.

[Scottg]

Hello

The plan is to mainly buff myself and companions and wade in to melee and slinging spells.

The best class for this (bar none IMO) is 20 levels of Favored Soul. Choose empower spell, extend spell, and persistent spell. Melee feats would include power attack, cleave, great cleave.

The best epic class to add to it is at least 5 levels of Frenzied Berserker for its effect on power attack (which is +20 damage with a two-handed weapon used as a two-handed weapon).

Other good classes to add are charisma modifier classes for adding to your savings throws (i.e. one level of Warlock with "The Dark Ones own Luck" and 2 levels of Paladin or Blackguard).

[Claudius]

Fighter 8 (feats and GWF/EWF)
Cleric 7 (to attain a high caster level 21 to resist dispel) (I would like FS but no 9th level spells )
Stormlord 10 (spellcasting at high BAB + bonuses)
FB 5 (supreme cleave, Enhanced Power Attack)

needed feats: power attack, cleave, great cleave, toughness (can take earth domain), great fortitude. monkey grip, WF spear, GWF spear, EWF spear

[Scottg]

(I would like FS but no 9th level spells )

Sure there are:

Implosion, Gate, Storm of Vengance, etc. (..no Storm Lord though, not that its needed).

I just tested a FS 20, Pal 4, Warlock 1, Frenzied Berserker 5.

Aasimar starting attributes of 14, 12, 14, 14, 10, 18. Charisma up to 22, Strength up to 16, and Constitution up to 15.

All kinds of persistant spells on.

I will however "retract" the inclusion of empower spell.. for this build it isn't worth it and Feats are "tight". A required set of feats here is Epic toughness to get Epic Resilience, a "MUST" for this build. (note that an FB gets the required toughness at level one required for epic toughness.)

Also note that you can't get epic divine might with this build, but the FB's enhanced power attack more than makes up for this.

Note that with the persistent spells, a Nymph Cloak +8, and the *2* savings throw bonuses provided by the Paladin and the Warlock, that the characters savings throws are *very* good (no other attribute or savings throw increases). Something like:

Fortitude = 43,
Reflex = 34,
Will = 36

While thats the "killer app" of this build, there are also things like access to Divine Power, Divine Might, occasional haste, more than a little resistance to most forms of elements, and of course 10-silver damage reduction.

[Claudius]

With Divine Power would such a favored soul get 6 attacks/round? I haven't tried high level divine

[Scottg]

With Divine Power would such a favored soul get 6 attacks/round? I haven't tried high level divine

I believe Divine Power gives you the exact same BAB as a fighter of the same *character* level.

i.e. 30/25/20/15/10/5 at character level 30.

..its also why adding 5 levels of Cleric (and the Strength domain) to an epic Wizard can make for such a powerful character.:mischief:

[GawainBS]

I'm set on the Eldritch Knight, so suggesting other base classes is quite lost one me.
Further, I do not see why Favoured Soul would be any better, with his very limited spells known. Then I'd rather take Cleric: same spells, more choice, build-in turn undead.
It's good to hear that Power Attack adds double damage to twohanded weapons. Probably going to install the Prestige Class Consortium to get the P&P Power Attack.
I think I'm going to settle for Ftr2/Wiz8/EK10/HarperAgent5/FrenziedBerserker5.

That would mean I need Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Alertness and Iron Will. Persist Spell is too good to pass up, and I'll probably take Quicken Spell as well. Improved Initiative too. Am I missing anything good?

Thanks so far for the advice.

[Tricky]

I think I'm going to settle for Ftr2/Wiz8/EK10/HarperAgent5/FrenziedBerserker5.

Err, bad news. You may only mix four classes in your salad.

[GawainBS]

Fair enough. I don't know yet if I will take more Fighter or more wizard levels.

[Scottg]

I'm set on the Eldritch Knight, so suggesting other base classes is quite lost one me.
Further, I do not see why Favoured Soul would be any better, with his very limited spells known. Then I'd rather take Cleric: same spells, more choice, build-in turn undead.
It's good to hear that Power Attack adds double damage to twohanded weapons. Probably going to install the Prestige Class Consortium to get the P&P Power Attack.
I think I'm going to settle for Ftr2/Wiz8/EK10/HarperAgent5/FrenziedBerserker5.

That would mean I need Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Alertness and Iron Will. Persist Spell is too good to pass up, and I'll probably take Quicken Spell as well. Improved Initiative too. Am I missing anything good?

Thanks so far for the advice.

I've no problem with the eldritch knight route.. you however ALSO prefaced that you wanted:

"The plan is to mainly buff myself and companions and wade in to melee and slinging spells."

At almost any level a cleric, FS, druid, or SS, can do this better than an eldritch knight. Also note that an FS's spell listing is not so limited as the description would lead you to believe.

OK, but why?

1. Armor and casting spells.
2. Shield use and casting spells.
3. Buffing yourself and your companions, there are overall more buffs *particularly* companion buffs with the Cleric/FS class - AND notably fairly essential healing buffs.
4. Typically an overall *higher* BAB without Divine Power, and a vastly superior BAB with Divine Power.
5. For the FS, damage reduction that doesn't "run-out" and can't be stripped by spell.
6. Very good offensive spells at higher levels, and typically *BETTER* large area offensive spells.

On the "flip-side" you have a wizard/eldritch knight:

1. Excellent concealment for the character via Mirror Image and Displacement/Greater Invisibility.
2. The best single-opponent offensive spells (particularly the Missile Storms and the Bigby's). Empower Spell is extremely useful for this class combo.
3. Access to spell-breach spells (..against tough opponents you can target, it will actually work in comparison to Greater Dispell).
4. Via Mordenkainen's Disjunction the ability to lower the target's spell resistance (its also a way to effectively target non-targetable opponents to strip them of some spell buffs and lower their resistance). Note that this works with Assay Resistance to effectively get a target down 20 points in spell resistance.

Feats for the Wizard/EK/FB base build:

Melee:
Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Power Attack, and..

Disarm and Improved Disarm (optional extras that can work quite well).

Magic:
Empower Spell (for Wizards/Sorcerers), Extend Spell (required for Persistent Spell), Persistent Spell, and..

either:

..as an OC/MOTB build:

Spell Penetration, Greater Spell Penetration, Vampirc Feast, Epic Gate. *OR*,

..as a power build:

1st level only Spellcasting Prodigy, Spell Focus Necromancy, Greater Spell Focus Necromancy, Epic Spell Focus Necromancy, Vampric Feast (..even to the detriment of melee feats).

Class structure:

Primarily a spell caster (..and race, preferably Drow):

Wizard 12/Arcane Scholar of CandleKeep 3/ Eldritch Knight 10/ Frenzied Berserker 5.

additional required feat = Weapon Proficiency Martial (for your EK class).

ASoC = improved empower spell at level 3.
FB = enhanced power attack at level 5.

Primarily Melee (a race that has either Wizard or Fighter as its preferred class OR a Human or Half-Elf):

Wizard 10/Fighter 5/Eldritch Knight 10/Berserker 5..

Fighter = Heavy Armor, Shields, Tower Shields, Martial Weapon Proficiency, and more feats (which is almost required).

..the meta magic feat Still Spell will pretty much be a requirement here. When attacking with spells you'll likely go without Armor. But once you have armor on you might still need to be able to cast spells (perhaps to re-buff), without having the spell fail.

Final Note:

A caster is usually more fun to play, but a melee character is more effective in MOTB.

[GawainBS]

Thanks for the advice, but I am well aware of the difference in spellists. A Cleric is something for a second playthrough.
I won't take Still Spell, I'll rely on the Shield Spell and Bracers of Armour. It reminds me more of my P&P character.

I'll keep the advice of Vampiric Feast in mind, but I was considering to become a Transmuter and dump Evocation & Necromancy. Not so sure how wise that would be in NWN, but in P&P, it wouldn't be bad for a Gish.

Thanks!

[Scottg]

Thanks for the advice, but I am well aware of the difference in spellists. A Cleric is something for a second playthrough.
I won't take Still Spell, I'll rely on the Shield Spell and Bracers of Armour. It reminds me more of my P&P character.

I'll keep the advice of Vampiric Feast in mind, but I was considering to become a Transmuter and dump Evocation & Necromancy. Not so sure how wise that would be in NWN, but in P&P, it wouldn't be bad for a Gish.

Thanks!

If you are building for the OC/MOTB - don't worry about saves generally, remember that the bonuses are only 1 each for a particular focus (i.e. max 3 for an epic focus). Spell Casting Prodigy gets you 2/3rds of the way to an epic focus for *ALL* focuses. So its actually worth the feat at 1st level.

You do need to worry about spell resistance with both campaigns though, and particularly fairly early in the OC (so pile them on as quickly as you can).

Do NOT specialize in a spell school to obtain more spells per day, its almost never worth it - especially considering that you can scribe scrolls.

As for bracers of armor.. well better rely on mage armor and improved mage armor instead. It will be a while before they get good.

[GawainBS]

You still have unlimited rests per day? Then specializing really wouldn't be worth it, true.
Oh, I nearly forgot about SR, since it's so easy to overcome in P&P. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Tricky]

One rest counts as one day. This also affects abilities that can only be cast once per day. Unrelated, but while time passes on most of the maps with a day/night cycle, you can only make it speed up by travelling from one map to another. Resting on a map doesn't speed up the passage of time. Odd that, it would seem simple to implement.

[Scottg]

You still have unlimited rests per day? Then specializing really wouldn't be worth it, true.
Oh, I nearly forgot about SR, since it's so easy to overcome in P&P. Thanks for pointing that out.

..you always have unlimited rests.. but you can't rest when opponents are near by.

..for the OC there isn't any real problem to this provided you have a few spare offensive spells scribed to scrolls AND that you always scribe/use your major defensive spells from scrolls (thus leaving you with all your spell slots for attack and disabling spells).

Where there IS a problem is with MOTB for about the final 85% of the game, but the game also provides a few solutions so that you can deal with it and still rest fairly often (..but there is a finesse element to implementing those solutions).