Fighter to Weapon Master

[RPBoy06]

So, I have read the guide to making a weapon master... but it lacks a detailed instruction on skil point allocation... can anyone tell me how to make an excellent Fighter to Weapon Master character? (only going to use the prerequisite points for Intimidation)

[JackOfClubs]

Skills don't matter as much to fighters. Most guides tell you to max out Discipline to avoid things like Knockdown and Called Shot. I usually put extra points into Lore (up to 20 after which it is usually irrelevant) and Heal. (I also like to take cross-class points in Open Lock, Disable Trap and Search but that is just my personal quirk. Most fighters won't need this.)

Tumble can be nice but it is cross-class (unless you take levels of Rogue or Monk) and won't be effective in heavy armor due to the Armor Check penalty.

Spot and Listen (which I think may be class skills for the Weapon Master) can be good if you are worried about Rogues sneak-attacking from the shadows, but I usually don't bother with them.

[Fiberfar]

I usually make WM's with the highest possible melee AB. which is 72. No matter what you encounter you should be able to hit it.

They end up in something like 14 fighter/26 WM

[RPBoy06]

AB is what?

[Magrus]

Attack Bonus

Really, you have to decide what you want with your character. If you want a pure fighter type, you can go for Fighter/W.M. only, or you can toss a level or so of Barbarian in to get rage and fast movement, or something else. It's all up to you.

What kind of character are you picturing? What kind of weapon? Heavy armor? Insane hit points, two weapons, fast runner, able to sneak around, cast some spells?

[RPBoy06]

Well, I'm new to NVW.. but I basically want a character that is strong that can basically kill lots of things with little hp loss... I don't know what is good for a weapon or armor... so ya'll need to help me on that =) I also don't think spells would do me any good... cause they are only one time use correct? I don't know which is better pure fighter or weapon master/fighter but since W.M. is a prestige class, isn't it beneficial to become a W.M.?

and what does it mean on a weapon if it's 1d8?

[Magrus]

Hmm, first time. I'd suggest playing as a human fighter. Pick the fights as they say in the book to become a W.M. Then, become a W.M. and level until level 7 in that class (you should end up maybe 15th level overall, give or take a level or two either way). This would land you with a lot of hit points, the major abilities in the W.M. class and the feats you need for the W.M. class.

1d8 means you do between 1-8 points of damage each hit. 1d4 is 1-4, 1d10 is 1-10.

I'd personally say, for simplicity sake, toss on a longsword and tower shield and use the best armor you could find. It won't cost you any extra feats, will give you decent damage, critical, and you'll end up with a good amount of defense with a big shield and heavy armor too. It's not the best, but it's simple and for a first run through, keeping things simple is always good. You spend more time worrying about the game than finding the perfect build/equipment mix.

I'd suggest making your stats so that you get a 13 in Int and Dex, along with at least 14 in Con and Str, the rest, won't matter all that much, that's up to you. Cha is good if you want to get extra options in conversation, but if you just want to kill stuff, it's pointless for this build.

A decent setup for your stats to start might be:

Str 16
Dex 13
Con 14
Int 13
Wis 10
Cha 10

This gives you no penalties, and gives you all of the requirements you need to get the feats you'll end up needing. Then, you can use your bonuses to stats (level's 4, 8, 12, 16, etc) to boost whatever you want. I'd suggest either Str or Con. Str gives you better chance to hit and damage, Con gives you better H.P. and Fortitude Saves.

Hope that helps.

Oh, as to spells...you get a certain amount per day you can use, dependant on class level in a spellcasting class, and relevant ability score for that class. They can be useful if done right. It does complicate things knowing the right time to use which spells and such though. Also, it would complicate your fighter/WM build.

As far as skills, I'd go with Lore, Discipline and Heal. You should have 3 skill points/level to use and you could max each of those. The Heal skill is useful, the higher it is, the more you heal with those Healer Kits you'll find. (each skill rank=+1 H.P. healed )

[JackOfClubs]

Personally I would recommend a Greatsword or Greataxe as the weapon of choice. They do substantially more damage and the Weapon Master is all about damage. Scythe is also nice but it requires Exotic Weapon Proficiency.

Shields are OK early in the game, but the enemies you really need to worry about are the ones that can usually hit regardless of your armor class. Get the Greater Belts (Archer/Brawler/Swordsman) if you are worried about taking damage.

[Fiberfar]

Weapon Master's aren't allways about damage. If you play on a server that got a high AC rating AB is better than damage. But it is still not worth taking WM with a kukri or dagger.

[Magrus]

True, keep in mind this is the first character this person is making in the game though. The simpler approach the better IMO.

A Greatsword isn't a bad idea rather than the Longsword and shield though. I just thought the shield might help him survive to get to the higher level's easier. If it's the first time through, chances are he won't break 15th level if I'm not mistaken.

[JackOfClubs]

Ah, good point. But surviving the early game can be done with a weapon that is not the Weapon of Choice. In other words, it still makes sense to take your Weapon Focus and Specialization in greatsword even if you do most of your early fighting with long sword and shield. It even makes sense to use whatever weapon you find that gives you the best AB and/or Damage regardless of what focus you take, at least until you can get a decent weapon in your area of focus. (That is one of the frustrating things about the weapon customization in NWN, in my opinion. It doesn't add benefits to an existing weapon but forces you to trade off one benefit for another. The system in HotU is much better: expensive but you get exactly what you want.)

When I said that the WM is all about damage, I meant that most of the special abilities you get are geared toward increasing damage: Ki damage & Increased Multiplyer increase the damage of your hits. Ki Critical improves the threat range of critical hits, which means you have a better chance of doing more damage. The only ability that improves AB is Superior Focus which comes at level 5 & 10. This really is independent of the server you are playing on although if you are having trouble in a particular environment, obviously that needs to be addressed. But as Magrus says, that is a rather esoteric consideration.

[t.a.j.]

If you are talking about my build then please note that it is a very tight build, i.e. one that expects you to meet a lot of requirements at certain levels, which may be hard to do, maybe not the best thing for a first game, since you'll have basically no room to expriment on your own.

Also, it was meant for HotU mostly, because during the early levels it is a rather weak build (as the two weapon feats only come into play rather late you could be stuck with a two bladed sword without the two weapon fighting skills in the mid game). This can be mitigated as outlined above (using sword and shield), but if you play the main campaign, then you spend most of your time not doing what your character is meant to do, which seems a bit frustratin to me .

If you want to go Weapon Master in the main game, I'd recommend a progression like this:

Lvl 1: Weapon Focus, Dodge, Expertise
Lvl 2: Two Weapon Fighting
Lvl 3: Ambidexterity
Lvl 4: Mobility
Lvl 5: -
Lvl 6: Spring Attack, Whirlwind Attack

then go into Weapon Master, grab Improved Critical at lvl 9, Toughness or maybe Iron Will at lvl 12

at 15, take another level of fighter and get weapon specialisation

Use 2 short swords, which are the best of the small weapons or 2 long swords, which will mean that your attack bonus is lacking (you -4 on your AB when using 2 medium sized weapons, -2 when using small weapons), but you do more damage and the best weapons in NWN are long swords. (e.g. the Balde of the Galdiator that you can aquire comparitvely early.)

Alternatively, you could wait another 2 lvls to get into WM and use a double weapon (like the two bladed sword), which allows you the advantages of both long sword and short sword (less AB loss and more damage) at the cost of a feat (exotic weapons proficiency)

a recommended progression would be:

Lvl 1: Weapon Proficiency Exotic, Weapon Focus, Two Weapon Fighting
Lvl 2: Ambidexterity
Lvl 3: Dodge
Lvl 4: Expertise
Lvl 5: -
Lvl 6: Mobility, Spring Attack
Lvl 7: -
Lvl 8: Whirlwind Attack

Then 7 lvls of Wepaon Master WM

Lvl 9: Improved Critical

from here on you're free to do what you want.
If you want Weapon Specialisation (which will give you +2 damage with your weapon of choice) you have 3 choices:

a. Interrupt your WM progression at lvl 12 to take another fighter level and chose Weapon Spec. as your standart lvl 12 feat. Then continue with WM as normal.

b. Take 2 Fighter levels after WM7 (lvls 16&17) and take WS as your fighter bonus feat on lvl 17.

c. Take two more WM lvls as 16&17 and a fighter lvl as 18 and use your lvl 18 feat to aquire WS.

I'd prefer a. but it does mean that your WM special abillities will be delayed another level.

And finally, in answer to your original question:

You should have a decent number of skill points, probably 5 per level if you spread your abillities as I have recommended.

Lore is a great skill, since it allows you to identify items and read some mysterious runes that you come upon time and again. If you chose it, max it though since the difficulty of identifying items only increases as you level up.

Discipline is almost mandantory, though it's usually ok to be a few (1-3) ranks behind your possible maximum.

Tumble is a wonderful skill because of the AC bonus it gives you.
If you choose to multiclass with rogue, it's mandantory, if not, you should seriously consider spending cross class skill points on it.

Use Magical Device you get only if you multiclass with rogue. This one skill lets you use almost all magical items, including wands and scrolls to cast wizard spells.

Persuade: getting 12 or so ranks in this is recommended.

Intimidate: 4 ranks are required before you can take Weapon Master, so 8 of your early skill points go here.

Craft Armor, Weapons: Well, you can use these skill to change the appearence of you equipment, so if you want to do that, put points here. 5-6 ranks should be enough to do almost anything.

Spot and Listen are nice to have, allowing you to discover hidden enemies, traps and secret doors early. On the other hand, you sooner or later discover those anyway (in the official modules at least) so getting along without ever increasing either is perfectly possible.

Well, hope that helped