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Here are *3* party members (to be used together) for SOZ:

Songbow | NWN2 Character Builder
Dancer | NWN2 Character Builder
Oddjob | NWN2 Character Builder

Kaedrin's is here:
Welcome to Custom Content for NWN2 by Kaedrin - Kaedrin's NWN2 Custom Content
-with the download here:
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NW ... ail&id=209


Claudius originally asked me for a "classic" group of 4: Fighter, Thief, Cleric, Mage for SOZ, but after thinking about it - well it would be just that: a Fighter, Thief, Cleric, Mage. (..there would of course be additional detail, but I think most could get to that on their own.)

I think I've gotten about as much milage from the standard classes, so I decided to try Kaedrin's again.

Yes, it's over-powered (or at least several classes are). But most notably it's over-powered to what you can do (maximally) in relation to the campaigns and most modules.

So to compensate I decided on a non-standard mix of classes with built-in limitations AND with the express condition of limiting the party in SOZ to 3 (..most of the time).

Note: This party is purposefully made to be more difficult for SOZ. It's easy enough to make a party that can "breeze" through the game, and that's something I've already covered with the "Power party for SOZ" thread.

Limitations include:

Different builds/members where:
One member without magic
One member with limited magic
One member without any real offensive capability for *most* of the SOZ campaign.

Basic offensive capability is largely limited to:
1 Melee'er, and
1 Ranged Attacker (bow).

At mid-levels this can be augmented with summons and even magical attacks, though the latter is generally discouraged given the "lore" I'll present below.


Note: Support for crafting and enchanting items will need to be derived from companions in the game. Always "pick-up" a companion and then immediately "dump" them from your party. That way later you can put them back in the party and use gold at CK to level them up as needed for various crafting.


NOTE *CAUTION*:

-there are imperfections in the Skill sets of Dancer and Songbow, they do NOT scale properly as a result. Dancer in particular has the Tumble skill as a class skill for the Fighter (..a change implemented by Kaedrin's to the Fighter class), as a result there are actually a few more skill points to use for Dancer's build (..because you should be putting points into Tumble at each level-up as a Fighter). Songbow has problems at Arcane Archer levels with skills..

Lore:

Songbow (large, female - Elf):

Songbow (unlike many Star Elves), was born and raised on the prime material plane. She is relatively young and unlike many from the beyond the prime - has an inquisitive nature. Like most of her people though she has a natural affinity for song and makes use of it to pattern magic to her desire. She was raised in a settlement near a community of Wood Elves, and picked up the habit of archery - displaying a keen ability with the bow, further augmented by her own power with song.

She started "adventuring" and soon found it was not easy, most of the lands were held by humans and their ways were strange. After several "incidents", she started carefully studying the behavior of human noble women - and found that most were accompanied with pitiful looking Warders. So she hired a such a "Warder" for herself and eventually settled on the name Oddjob for her "Warder".

As it turns out, while Oddjob is superb at getting her out of trouble with leering human males and abusive pricing on goods and services, he actually gets her into to more *real* trouble - and she is never quite certain where he is going or what he is constantly looking for. But Oddjob rarely ever leads her to boring destinations, so she happily follows where her "Warder" leads her, even if she is the one that wards him from danger.

More recently she has encountered the magnificent Dancer on-board ship (..with Oddjob's recent "excursion"). Dancer's blade practice on deck is wondrous - a true art-form despite the "roll" of the sea. She has decided he will make an excellent companion on their travels.



Build specifics.

This should be the second build in the group for SOZ (..the first is Oddjob).

Songbow is likely to be the main method of attack for the group.

She's also the predominate "Leader" of the group, at least when speaking. Of course as a singer she emphasizes the beauty in speech, lacking the ability to intimidate others.

On of the most important things to plan for this build is her spell selection.

1st level: Primary: Grease, Inspirational Boost; Secondary: Joyful Noise, Amplify.
2nd level: Primary: Mirror Image, Sonic Weapon; Secondary: Silence, Heroism.
3rd level: Primary: Haste, Deep Slumber; Secondary: Mass Curse of Impending Blades, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance.
4th level: Primary: Shadow Conjuration, Siren's Grace; Secondary: War Cry, Baleful Blink
5th level: Primary: Ethereal Visage, Greater Heroism; Secondary: Mind Fog

Lore:

Dancer (large, male Elf):

Like Songbow, Dancer is both young and not altogether typical for his race. While he is strong and quick, he is also introverted - rarely speaking to others (..even his family). Despite his introverted nature, and despite his race in general, he enjoys wandering - so much so that in his own community he is know as "Wanderlust". He often spends the greater portion of any given year traveling Faerun, but usually returns once each year for at least a few weeks to visit family and to provide tales at fireside.

He is reasonably average in appearance for his race, though of course copper elves are generally very pretty (..and Dancer is no exception). But what "draws" others to him is his blade dancing, which seems to "weave a spell" all its own. This is also less than typical for his race - eschewing the use of traditional bows for large swords.

Though he is entranced with Songbows gift for song, he can barely tolerate magic. Instead he is more familiar with the use of alchemy (..and drinking in general). He isn't sure what to think of Songbow's man-servant Oddjob. The man is hardly a "man" at all - at least with respect to combat. Fortunately however, the man appears to have no *interest* in Songbow and regularly whores himself to human wenches whenever he starts drinking. He is also quite useful for dealing with the drudgery of daily contact with other races, and on top of that makes some nice spirits for drinking.


Build specifics:

This should be the third build in the group (after Songbow).

Dancer is largely designed to engage groups of opponents, and only thereafter using Songbow to whittle down each opponent. This isn't to say that Dancer won't be effective offensively, but rather that it's not his focus. Early in the build he needs to be equipped with armor, shield, and as many protection spells as Oddjob (and Songbow) can load on him. As the spells get better Dancer can start wielding 2 Scimitars and lower the amount of armor (to mithril chain shirt).

Other than Perform, there isn't much to him "skill-wise".

He is there to "draw" and maintain "threat".

Lore:

Oddjob (small, male - Human):


Oddjob got his nick-name from Songbow, likes it, and never tells anyone his real name. In fact he is largely a reclusive individual - except when he drinks. His joy in life is the pursuit of patterns, particularly scripted patterns like glyphs, sigils, runes, pictographs, etc.. In fact it's literally a compulsion for him - and one he has only recently realized is Divine in nature.

He was first drawn to Songbow when he heard her sing at a tavern. He was drunk at the time (..very drunk), and the beauty of her song meant less than the next ale. Then he started listening more intently to the pattern and order in her song, and most disconcertingly sobered up and became *entranced*. Her pattern was more addictive than some of the other "goods" he had inhaled and ingested in the tavern. There was a *need* to feel that way again so he researched her habits and needs and offered his service as a man-servant. He is similarly entranced by Dancer's blade work, though thankfully most everyone else is as well, but perhaps not for the same exact reason.

As for his life before Songbow and Dancer..

Oddjob is, for lack of a better word, a coward.

Socially he is the minor son of an impoverished lord. He was always at the "bottom of the pile" in his family, constantly taking beatings for the general bad turn of events his family had suffered financially. As the youngest and smallest child in the family there wasn't much he could do but hide - and he had gotten good at that.

He was also fairly good at more intellectual pursuits, always looking for information that could lead to personal empowerment (either financially or with respect to skill or magic). His particular aptitude was magical study, but frustratingly - only its study. Casting arcane spells always led to disaster. At one point he had given up on the study of the arcane and signed up for monastic life. It wasn't until latter that he found out the "monastery" wasn't really one at all, but rather a school for spies and assassins. Gathering information while hiding (either in plain sight or deep in shadows), was *delightful* - and if only his order was limited to those pursuits. When the masters of his order started going into detail with respect to the use of poisons - well, that was to much; time to slip-out before making himself noticed by his superiors.

Still, that "monastic" training was very useful - it not only provided him with the skills and tactics necessary to spy on others for an income, but it also allowed him "access" to places of knowledge that were other-wise off-limits. Places where he could indulge his growing need to "consume" various patterns of arcane script. Ultimately it even led to the truth of his addiction. As he had been spending much of his time in the catacombs of the city's library - a Cleric of Deneir passed him by on the way to some shelf and was literally struck by light (..lighting up the entire floor of that catacomb in fact). After helping the Cleric up, the Cleric mentioned that he had a vision from his god and that it was his God's will that was directing Oddjob's "need". If he liked it or not, he was a servant of Deneir.. He didn't much care for this news and quickly ran for the nearest tavern. Several months of nursing other more tangible addictions seemed to dull his need, at least until heard Songbow..



Build specifics:

This should be the first build in your group.

Oddjob is for the most part there as support. Buffs? Check. Thieving skills? Check. Disabling spells for opponents? Check.

While he could become a mediocre fighter with enough buffs (particularly Divine Might), that's not his "thing".

Oddjob is designed to help and then hide.

He doesn't even really have much access to offensive spells until 4th level spells, but he still dislikes using them. Of the offensive spells he does use, he primarily prefers scaring others (to death) - with some small comfort that the spells are just illusions. If others take them for real and have a heart-attack as a result, ..well, then that's their problem. It's not like the threat was real.

Note: this should be the character selected for you overland map travel. He has a high "hide" skill and also has a 10% movement bonus. You will need to purchase cloak of the elvenkind/ring of hiding for him at Samargol (ASAP).

I've just started up a game with this build group.

It meets the requirements of difficult, and it seems to be scaling well at each level-up.

At Hardcore, difficult fights are just that - difficult.

Still, *if* you actually use your brain and think about the actions you take for each character then it can be a bit less difficult. Things like:

a. don't engage opponents much higher in level than you are.
b. know the limitations on damage vs. opponent.
c. spend your resources (gold and magic) on Hiding and improving Dancer's AC.
d. engage battles with "support" (like guards).
e. make sure to rest before Dancer get's to low in health (with the possibility of an encounter interrupting your rest).
f. level-up your party (via "grinding") before going into encounters with large numbers of opponents.

etc..

-for the most part your party's augmented "hide" skill really serves as the empowerment needed to "pick and choose" most of your battles.

TIP: You want Dancer to engage enemy's first. The round it takes for Songbow to sing Song of Courage, and Oddjob to cast Barkskin on Dancer, is about the right amount of time for Dancer to start "dancing" with the enemy (..at least on overland map encounters).

TIP: Keep Oddjob on puppet mode. Cue up his actions, and then generally move to directing Songbow's attacks. Dancer pretty much does his "thing" by himself (..assuming you have him off puppet mode and that each member in the party has the "issue command" of "attack nearest".) After Oddjob completes his casting, I usually switch back to him, hit "Ghoststep" and then Hide, and move him up near Dancer but far enough away to avoid a chance detection. This way I can use him to cast disabling spells or healing spells/kits on Dancer if/when needed.

I'm somewhat surprised at how well the this group is doing despite the imposed limitations.

On thing I have altered is the priority for Dancer's class-build. Basically continuing with Dervish and delaying 2-weapon fighting. Also front loading Improved Combat Expertise (while again delaying two-weapon fighting feats).

The tower shield +1 and Improved Combat Expertise just add to much AC to miss-out on. (..the broach of shielding stacks nicely as well.)

Despite the high AC I still have to use Oddjob to use healing kits on Dancer with more difficult fights.. like the optional temple ruin in the Samarach jungle.

I did however use the 2 levels of Champion of the Wild for Elegant Strike - which helps out nicely with additional damage.

Raptors and Willow-wisps make for good leveling. I've just hit level 10 and arrived at the sword-coast.

I've finally finished SOZ with this party.

I did some "grinding" to level 21 with Megaraptors in Chult (from level 17).

The final battle even on "very difficult" was easy, less than a minute.


Magic consisted of:

7 Silences (ground) cast about the enemies position before being "seen".
3 Weirds cast immediately after Songbow and Dancer are "detected", in a radius that includes as many Major casters as possible.

Buffs: Haste, Deathward, Mirror Image, Heroism, Living Undeath.


Melee/Ranged:

Adamantine Scimitars and Arrows with full enchantments. Longbow with full enchantments.

Attack the major spell-caster NOT in the Weird radius (for the first Weird casting). Follow-up with the Herald.

Now I know what geniuses do when they play video games! The story was really good. I didn't check out Kaedrin's too much or the actual builds. To be honest.

The one thing I didn't understand was what dancer's motivation for being with the other two is? Does songbow chat him up? Maybe I got a onesided view of Oddjob? But I wondered about the dynamic between them in relation to dancer.

..I wish I was a genius.

Dancer's got the "hots" for Songbow (and it's mutual).

Oddjob doesn't - Songbow is more of an actual addiction (when she sings). He handles all the servant work, negotiates prices for equipment, books resting, and then "drags" them all across Faerun in search of "patterns" and script relating to patterns (..because of the god Denier). This actually works fairly well with SOZ's story - one God's subjects thwarting another, and the overall need to uncover a conspiracy.

Basically a "power couple" with their manservant.

Awesome! I was hoping for a some polyamory, but Oddjob is awesome as is :laugh:

Claudius wrote:Awesome! I was hoping for a some polyamory, but Oddjob is awesome as is :laugh:

His tavern "binges" typically includes multiple human females (..sometimes simultaneously). I suspect that Songbow even scolds him for wasting her gold debauching himself. (..she's down in the communal room singing for money, while he is upstairs making the timbers creak - spending that money.) It's a complicated relationship.

Once he makes it to level 19, Oddjob scares himself (almost to death). Turning into a Nightwalker can do that to a person.