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I'm an experienced KOTOR player, but a relative newcomer to KOTOR 2. When I first started playing KOTOR 2, I couldn't actually see the big differences between the games, but as I kept playing I soon saw some of them. Therefore, I needed to start the game back again and evolve my character someway else. But there are still some things that I don't know, and I would like to ask some more experienced players some questions, if they can tell me.

So... First questions about my character

I've decided to use a Jedi Guardian, I find it more fun to hack and slash than killing everyone with a Force Wave like the Consular does. Also with a Guardian it's easier in moments like that when you have to show your fighting skills in front of the Handmaidens on Telos, or the Mandalorians on Dxun.
1st question
Do you consider that it would be useful to get all the combat feats (Flurry, Power Attack, Critical Strike). If not, what would you consider the best one of them to get to Master level.
2nd question
Duelling or Double Bladed? I actually am inclined to double-bladed, because I think it does more damage, and is also more spectacular
3rd question
Is it actually possible to get all the way up to level 50, which I heard is maximum? If yes, what is the total number of feats that you get?
4th question
What is the total number of points that you can invest in a single skill? I know that in KOTOR the maximum is 23
5th question
Since the Guardian is not known as having very high wisdom, I was thinking that it would be best if I spent my Force Power Points mostly on auras like Valor, Speed, Energy Resistance etc., because offensive powers like Stasis Field or Force Wave tend to fail when playing a Guardian

Those are aboult all the questions I had about my character. But last but not least, I also have 2 questions about your followers. I'll use Atton Rand as an example to make it easier:
1st Question
I got informed here on gamebanshee that you get to train your followers to become Jedi. The question is the following. Atton Rand is a Scoundrel. Is it required that he reach a certain level as a Scoundrel, let's say 15, and then become a Sentinel? or is it possible to never level him up since I meet him on Peragus, and keep him a level 3 Scoundrel until he becomes Jedi?
2nd Question
As you know, for Atton Rand, some skills, like Treat Injury, are cross class. I was thinking of geting him the Treat Injury Class Skill Feat, but then a question came to me. What happens when he becomes a Jedi Sentinel? Will the Treat Injury become a class skill? Or do I still have to get him the Treat Injury Class Skill feat?

I hope you don't fall asleep reading all I wrote, but I would be very grateful to anyone who can answer my questions. Thank you in advance.

oh... and a last question. Your followers can become Jedi only if you choose to become a Jedi Master? or you can teach them even if you are a Weapon Master or a Watchman?

lucian862703 wrote:oh... and a last question. Your followers can become Jedi only if you choose to become a Jedi Master? or you can teach them even if you are a Weapon Master or a Watchman?

You can teach them it no matter what class, you just need enough influence.

As you know, for Atton Rand, some skills, like Treat Injury, are cross class. I was thinking of geting him the Treat Injury Class Skill Feat, but then a question came to me. What happens when he becomes a Jedi Sentinel? Will the Treat Injury become a class skill? Or do I still have to get him the Treat Injury Class Skill feat?

I think you have to do all his level ups over when he becomes Jedi OR if he becomes jedi, it will just add up to the rest of his levels. So if sentinel has treat injury as class skill, so will it be the skill of anton. I think however that some of his other skill will be seen as non class skill. You have to see it as multi classing in d & d.


Since the Guardian is not known as having very high wisdom, I was thinking that it would be best if I spent my Force Power Points mostly on auras like Valor, Speed, Energy Resistance etc., because offensive powers like Stasis Field or Force Wave tend to fail when playing a Guardian

So what's the question? You're best to take defensive force powers, indeed.


Is it actually possible to get all the way up to level 50, which I heard is maximum? If yes, what is the total number of feats that you get?

I only got to level 30 or so. At 50 you should have every feat avialible, though I think you'll only get there if you exploit exp. bugs (like killing creature that keep respawning, or somethink alike).

Do you consider that it would be useful to get all the combat feats (Flurry, Power Attack, Critical Strike). If not, what would you consider the best one of them to get to Master level.

I would just take flurry.

Duelling or Double Bladed? I actually am inclined to double-bladed, because I think it does more damage, and is also more spectacular

I think double bladed requeres (bad spelling today) 2 weapon fighting feat, not sure. You also take a hit on defense, but again, I'm not sure. It does do more damage.

1) It is not necessary to get all the combat feats. Just one could suit you fine. But as a Guardian, you do get a huge number of feat points to spend, so getting two wouldn't change your build much either. Mathematically, critical strike is the best combat feat there is. But i've personally had better experience with the flurry feat. Never bothered with power attack.

2) IIRC, dual single bladed lightsabers with two-weapon fighting will yield the best damage output in the game.

3) As the previous poster said, the maximum level you could reach in the game is only about 30 or thereabouts. The cap of 50 is near impossible to hit without cheating or killing the same respawns countless times.

4) The max number of points you can invest in any given skill has always depended on your character level. I.e. A level 25 character will have his capped at 28. I'm not too sure about the exact cap though, it could be slightly higher in kotor 2, but not by much.

5) Speed and other defensive buffs are the best possible powers you can get as a guardian. No point trying to stun people with the miserable wisdom and charisma multipliers of a pure guardian.

6) It is possible to hold your teammate's levels. But all of them require you have a high influence with them before the option appears to turn them into jedi. Furthermore, there are three characters that also require other sidequests or minor events to be completed before you can turn them into jedi.

On a few of your questions...

The question of which combat feat is the best has been analyzed to death, if you want to do a search of the forums to find relevant threads. As Loki says, critical strike is mathematically the best, but I personally prefer flurry or power attack (the animation is probably the coolest for the last one).

As others have said, you'll only reach level 30-35 in the game, even if you do every single quest and kill every single enemy (without exploits or cheating). You won't need to go much higher, the game is already too easy once you hit the high 20s.

As for weapons, you can actually break the combat system (relatively speaking) if you dual wield blasters. As for lightsabers, I think two properly upgrade lightsabers will give you best damage. Personally, I usually use a single blade. All the cool Jedi do it.

Nightmare wrote:Personally, I usually use a single blade. All the cool Jedi do it.

Amen to that!

At the risk of repeating lots of stuff people have already said...

1. Combat Feats.
I don't advice getting them all, because - as you know - you can only ever use one of them at the time. Which feat tree is better? Not sure. I prefer Flurry myself, but it's a matter of preference. Look at it this way, do you want sometimes to do a lot of damage, then choose Critical Strike. Do you want to do more damage, but at the risk of not hitting, then choose Power Attack. Or do you simply want an extra attack at the cost of lowering the chance to hit (or not if at master level), then choose Flurry. Flurry or Critical Strike seem the better choices to me, since the point of power attack sort of escapes me. Usually the hard opponents seem to be those with both high vitality and defense, so with power attack you'd hit harder but also miss more often. So what's the point? Lesser foes will go down quicker, but they're less dangerous to begin with, so what does it matter? If that sith assassin only has 30 vitality left, do I really care if I kill him doing 40 points of damage or 60? As the old saying goes, nobody cares how many hit points the monsters had once they're all dead. And if I have trouble hitting my foe, I think an extra attack is better than doing more damage. After all, the damage potential is immaterial if I can't him in the first place. But other people prefer Power Attack and Critical Strike, and I'm not saying they're wrong to do so. To quote Jolee, "Think for yourself." It really is up to personal preference.

2. Double-bladed does do more damage. I think it has a 50% damage increase on hits. You need the Two-Weapon Fighting feats at master level to cancel out the massive penalities, though. But it's worth it. I prefer two lightsabers (one standard, one small) over the double-blade, though. You might ask why, when the double-blade comes with increased damage. Well, I prefer the sentinel and don't focus on Strength, for one. But more importantly, two lightsabers means buff up with lightsaber crystals and upgrades in two sabers instead of one. And there are some ludicrously powerful stat-boosting lightsaber crystals and upgrades in this game.

3. Yes, it's possible to get to level 50, though you'll have to exploit a few bugs to do it, because the experience you'll normally pick up in the game will "only" bring to around level 30 or so. But you can gain more experience and so level by exploiting bugs in the game. Is that cheating? You tell me. Basically there are three ways you can do it. I think I'll just put them in spoiler tags for good measure.

Spoiler

3A. The easiest is setting mines and then retrieving them again. Naturally this requires you to build the Demolitions skill. Simply plant a mine some place where nobody will step on it. The game will "remember" that it's your mine, though, so you get no experience for just picking it up again. Instead just leave the map so that the computer loads a new map, then return to the map where you mine is and retrieve it. You'll note you get experience for doing so. This can be repeated as often as desired throughout the game.

3B. The two other exploitable bugs are the two "infinite xp" bugs. one is during the Sith attack on the Mandalorian base on Dxun. You'll note that at the entrance, there'll always be at least two sith assassins. If you kill one, another will spawn in his place. Usually you don't get to stick around for this fight, because Mandalore will appear and tell you to leave with him, while his men will "clean up the Sith". However, Mandalore's interjection triggers only after the six assassins right in front of his room are dead, and they are triggered/uncloaked only when you go near Mandalore's room. As long as you keep yourself and your companions from triggering those assassins, you can fight the two respawning assassins for as long as you like and gain xp. I find the best way to avoid triggering the six assassins is to drop both your companions while there is no fighting in the back of the camp.

3C. The third and most used way to build extra xp is the infamous Hssiss respawn point in the tomb of Ludo Kressh on Korriban. After two visions of the past and the Shyrack nest, you get to a room where you can go left and meet the ghost of christmas present (visions of Kreia being attacked by your other companions) or go right and get into a room with the body of a dead jedi. When you examine the body and get his loot, two Hssiss appear. The thing is, two Hssiss always appear when you touch that body. So you can examine it ten times and spawn 20 Hssiss, that you then slash to pieces for xp. Mind you, you'll want Force Storm for that, because 20 Hssiss can do a mean bit of damage. And this bug is tough if you're light side. Not because Force Storm is costly for LS so much, but rather because LS jedi regain their force points very slowly in the tomb, if at all. This is quite the reverse, if you're DS.

I've played the exile up to level 43 or so myself exploiting these bugs. So yes, you can reach level 50. Why anyone would bother is beyond me, though. Honestly, once you get to about level 35, there really is no point in leveling up any further. At that point you have long since gained pretty much all the powers and feats you could want, and the enemies are dropping like flies. The game balance breaks completely after you reach about level 30 or so.

4. Skills.
You can always have a skill level only up to your current level plus 3. Since the game caps at level 50, it follows that you can up to 53 levels in a skill. That's also why the maximum in KotOR1 is 23, since the game caps at level 20. It's the standard of the d20 RPG system KotOR is based on.

5. Guardian.
Honestly, whatever you prefer will work. Only the consular ever gets more than one force power every time you level up, so the guardian has just as many force powers as the sentinel. The prestige class you can take a level 15 is far more important. I prefer to play sentinel and then switch immediately to jedi master at level 15. It's a very powerful combination, because it combines the skills of the sentinel with the force focus of the jedi master (which is sort of the consuler upgrade class). The jedi master's force powers are difficult to resist, but I still use the lightsaber quite a lot and plow through the enemies just fine. Even at the highest difficulty setting. So don't worry about it. Besides, the jedi master can "push" the alignments of his companions toward the extremes. You haven't played KotOR2 until you've seen HK-47 bathed in LS mastery

Once you get to choose any prestige class, there are very few challenges left in the game. But definitely choose energy resistance and build it no matter what class you play. It's undoubtedly the best defensive power in the game. Always build speed for everyone. Force shield and force valor are useful, but I rarely use them early in the game. I only ever build them later because they are part of the special LS power you gain after the masters meet on Dantooine.

On training NPCs to become jedi.
The only character whose "jedification" depends on level is the Handmaiden. And that's only because she can't be "jedified" until after the third sparring match, which only triggers once you reach level 18, IIRC. For everyone else it depends either on location or nothing at all. The only thing that is always key is influence. Every character starts at influence 50 (which is neutral). From then any influence change either gains or loses 8 points, IIRC. You influence above 90 to have a chance of turning a character into a jedi, meaning you need at least five influence gains with each character. I won't say more on the matter, since you can easily find an influence guide or a walkthru to help you with it if needed. Or you can just ask again. As for skills, there is no problem. If it was a class skill before, then it always will be. I don't think it works quite that way in the original D20 RPG system, but regardless, in K2 a skill is always a class skill as long as it is for one of your classes, and you can always increase it to your total class level plus 3 no matter what. That goes for all the characters. You need the class skill feats only if a skill is currently cross-class and you need it to be a class skill.

Phew, sorry about the length.