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Is there a way to make your attack modes single attacks like NWN and KOTOR? Right now I have power attack, really nice and all but in order to use it I need to switch into "power attack mode" meaning EVERY hit is a power attack. Can I use this as a single attack since I don't enjoy missing to often but when facing something easy to hit I want to be able and use it as a single attack.

Also this attackstyle really minimizes the ammount of different attacks you can do. As a fighter what attack modes would be best to use and when? and again can I use these as single attacks or am I stuck with attackmodes making them pretty much useless for me since I tend to forget switching modes during a battle.

Please advice me how this attack mode system works...

De_Priester wrote:Is there a way to make your attack modes single attacks like NWN and KOTOR? Right now I have power attack, really nice and all but in order to use it I need to switch into "power attack mode" meaning EVERY hit is a power attack. Can I use this as a single attack since I don't enjoy missing to often but when facing something easy to hit I want to be able and use it as a single attack.

Also this attackstyle really minimizes the ammount of different attacks you can do. As a fighter what attack modes would be best to use and when? and again can I use these as single attacks or am I stuck with attackmodes making them pretty much useless for me since I tend to forget switching modes during a battle.

Please advice me how this attack mode system works...

Powerattack works as it did in NwN1. It is a toggle. This I'd think goes for Expertise and similar attack modes as well, although I can't remember.
So no - you can't use it for "one attack" unless you deactivate it after the attack.

The other specific attacks (knockdown, whirlwind etc) are activated per attack.

Xandax wrote:Powerattack works as it did in NwN1. It is a toggle. This I'd think goes for Expertise and similar attack modes as well, although I can't remember.
So no - you can't use it for "one attack" unless you deactivate it after the attack.

The other specific attacks (knockdown, whirlwind etc) are activated per attack.

So for someone like me, the attackmode might be best left out of the choices of feats? Can I for example leave power attack out of the list and just go with knockdown or whirlwind instead? Or is powerattack needed for something else?

I feel for example like picking points in parry was a waste, I figured this was a passive chance for a parry, instead it's an attackmode which puts me into a state of not attacking. Is there a situation where parry or power attack modes come in handy? So far I haven't seen enough benefit from either of them.

Powerattack is needed for Cleave (and thus Greater Cleave) amongst other, so for any meele character it is a feat I'd most definately take.
Powerattack is - as said in the description - good against easy to hit enemies because it provides more damage for a loss of power. (Or when bashing something )

Xandax wrote:Powerattack is needed for Cleave (and thus Greater Cleave) amongst other, so for any meele character it is a feat I'd most definately take.
Powerattack is - as said in the description - good against easy to hit enemies because it provides more damage for a loss of power. (Or when bashing something )

So when does parry come in handy then? Never? Kinda wasted let's see ehrm 4/5 points into it? But anyway gonna start over soon so this is a good trialrun

Hm, I have a bone to pick with that too. This is just my take on it, but in the end you simply trade an advantage for a deficiency (+plus the fact that you have one less feat to spend on something else), as you won't always be facing those easy-to-hit creatures. And those you do face probably aren't high-level enough to be worth the lost feat versus gained xp. I believe it's better to be prepared for the toughest battles, but feel free to prove me wrong.

De_Priester wrote:So when does parry come in handy then? Never? Kinda wasted let's see ehrm 4/5 points into it? But anyway gonna start over soon so this is a good trialrun

Parry was pretty useless in NwN1, so I'd expect it is as well in NwN2. Although I plan on trying to make one when I finish with my current game, just to try it out. But "normally" - I'd stay away from Parry.

Tricky wrote:Hm, I have a bone to pick with that too. This is just my take on it, but in the end you simply trade an advantage for a deficiency (+plus the fact that you have one less feat to spend on something else), as you won't always be facing those easy-to-hit creatures. And those you do face probably aren't high-level enough to be worth the lost feat versus gained xp. I believe it's better to be prepared for the toughest battles, but feel free to prove me wrong.

Because Powerattack is a requierment for Cleave, then I'd select that feat every single time for a meele character. Cleave is divine and greater Cleave, doublely so
But when using a finess approch, or non-high damage scoring weapon, you can easily reach a state where you have a high attack bonus, but lower damage and Powerattack enables you to trade some of that bonus for damage.
It does indeed have its benefits, although it is no a game-winning/critical feat (few are though).

Xandax wrote:Because Powerattack is a requierment for Cleave, then I'd select that feat every single time for a meele character. Cleave is divine and greater Cleave, doublely so
But when using a finess approch, or non-high damage scoring weapon, you can easily reach a state where you have a high attack bonus, but lower damage and Powerattack enables you to trade some of that bonus for damage.
It does indeed have its benefits, although it is no a game-winning/critical feat (few are though).

Now cleave is handy, to be sure, but for someone using two weapons I doubt it has as much use as for example someone wielding a 2h high damage weapon. Or am I wrong here? The finesse aproach, for example someone dualwielding would probably prefer something other than power attack and cleave because they don't help as much. For a single weapon using or two handed weapon using character I bet these are far more effective.

As for parry, I'm seriously going to stay away from it from now on, it seriously blows

De_Priester wrote:Now cleave is handy, to be sure, but for someone using two weapons I doubt it has as much use as for example someone wielding a 2h high damage weapon. Or am I wrong here? The finesse aproach, for example someone dualwielding would probably prefer something other than power attack and cleave because they don't help as much. For a single weapon using or two handed weapon using character I bet these are far more effective.

As for parry, I'm seriously going to stay away from it from now on, it seriously blows

As I said - for any meele character, I'd take Cleave and Greater Cleave when getting the feats for it. And I'd even take it well before taking dual wielding feats personally. Now this is however very subjective, but Cleave is free attacks and I value free attacks very much as meele.

So okay, the use for the power attack mode is getting cleave and greater cleave, are these two only active while in power attack mode or always?

As for parry don't touch it.

Are there any other attack modes like power attack that actually have a benefit without a penalty?

De_Priester wrote:So okay, the use for the power attack mode is getting cleave and greater cleave, are these two only active while in power attack mode or always?

As for parry don't touch it.

Are there any other attack modes like power attack that actually have a benefit without a penalty?

Cleave is passive, meaning each time you get the kill-hit, you make an additional meele attack for free. Cleave gives one, and if I recall right, G. Cleave allows multiple as long as you keep getting the kill-hit.
They are very nice

But do those two cleaving feats weigh up against say a fortitude and a willpower saving feat? Come to think of it, it probably doesn't matter; either will determine the outcome of your actions on different but equal grounds. More than likely that is simply the point of roleplaying. We could merely throw dice at each other all the time, but that would hardly be interesting now wouldn't it..

Tricky wrote:But do those two cleaving feats weigh up against say a fortitude and a willpower saving feat? Come to think of it, it probably doesn't matter; either will determine the outcome of your actions on different but equal grounds. More than likely that is simply the point of roleplaying. We could merely throw dice at each other all the time, but that would hardly be interesting now wouldn't it..

True the roleplaying perspective is very important when it comes to these choices simply because there are no "right" choices just choices that come in handy in situations. For example you might go through a game hardly dealing any of the killing blows or you might down every single one. It's a choice that fits with your role as such I asked why power attack was needed since it's not something I'd consider fitting for my persona (took it by accident). However we can probably agree that parry is crap

Tricky wrote:But do those two cleaving feats weigh up against say a fortitude and a willpower saving feat? Come to think of it, it probably doesn't matter; either will determine the outcome of your actions on different but equal grounds. More than likely that is simply the point of roleplaying. We could merely throw dice at each other all the time, but that would hardly be interesting now wouldn't it..

In my personal opinion, they far outweigh the savethrow feats when playing meele characters. But yes, it is subjective (or rather, I can't be bothered - right now - to make mathematical calculations to find out ), however there is multiple equipment in the game which offers ST bonuses, and fewer that offer free damage.

Personally I like parry kinda for the roleplaying aspect. I don't disagree that it is largely useless, but it is possible to design a character that makes parry feasable.

Parry is really an ALL or nothing thing. To design a character that uses parry one must invest in everything possible to absolutly max parry in every way. I'm not just talking about max skill points, but also 24+ dexterity, skill focus parry, all the two weapon fighting feats (two weapons are highly recomended for the extra attack *extra block*), as well as parry boosting items. With all this parry can block almost all attacks and land a handful of counters as well.

Of course, anything else is more efficient for mele combat. Just saying if you max out everything, parry is not completely useless.

Snipercon wrote:Personally I like parry kinda for the roleplaying aspect. I don't disagree that it is largely useless, but it is possible to design a character that makes parry feasable.

Parry is really an ALL or nothing thing. To design a character that uses parry one must invest in everything possible to absolutly max parry in every way. I'm not just talking about max skill points, but also 24+ dexterity, skill focus parry, all the two weapon fighting feats (two weapons are highly recomended for the extra attack *extra block*), as well as parry boosting items. With all this parry can block almost all attacks and land a handful of counters as well.

Of course, anything else is more efficient for mele combat. Just saying if you max out everything, parry is not completely useless.

It isn't useless, but it is so situational that it offers no benefits compared to most any other possible strategy making it less then usefull.