GameBanshee Forums

Hey guys

I REALLY suffer from the new character syndrom. Everytime i start with a new character it doenst seem to work for me. Can anyone help me on getting a good character to go through the whole game, based apon any of your successful characters. I was possibly thinking of playing the "evil" way... and maybe joining the theives guild instead of the Watch but im not sure if thats the "best" way to go. Any ideas would really help.

Thanks guys.

In honesty, I really don't think that there IS a best character for playing thru....


I play wizards, and only restarted twice. Once because I goofed and didn't get the feats I wished, and the other because I missed a few quests that I had actually been looking forward to (Like meeting Fenthick...)

Mostly, just play how you like. Just pick a class and play thru the full game (ore read the Walkthru all the way thru it), and THEN go and decide which class(es) work best.

One thing, tho: If you intend to do the Thieves Guild, I really don't think a Paladin would suit your needs. Maybe a Rogue?

That depends on how it doesn't work for you. Do you feel underpowered? Or just not having fun with the build? I find fighter types to be monotonous so I mostly play casters, or caster hybrids.

The best of both worlds and most powerful character is a fighter/wizard/eldritch knight IMO. With the right build you have plenty high AB, and all levels of spells (that includes lvl 9 ). You can mix it up with buffing to melee or slinging powerful spells so there's never a dull moment in combat. The only places you will not be so good is in picking locks and convo skills.

I found my warlock build to be pretty well rounded, as well as my bard build. Pretty good in combat, some good spells, can "rogue it" for unlcoks, get UMD, high saves, and good in convos.

Another good mix it up build would be a straight cleric or druid (or throw in a couple fighter lvls). You can cast powerful spells (dmg and buff) and have a high enough AB to melee.

There are many many ways to play the game, so it is difficult to recommend a build that will suit your needs. If you want to go the shadow thief route, you definitely want to play an evil or at least chaotic neutral character. And you can play just about any style as good, neutral, or evil so don't let that hinder your build decision.

Thanks for getting back to me lads

I think i'm going to try the F/W/EK build... how many levels of each do you think? I definatly would like the L9 spells so what do you guys recommend? What feats should i take and what stats to bring?
Do you think if i'm an Abjuration wizard as well?? Or just General? Oh... and what race to... possibly Aasimar?

So many questions i know, but i really want a character i wont get bored of.

Thanks lads.

Contains a minor spoiler:

My own preference is a Human Rogue. You get two starting Feats because you are human (Dodge and Toughness are good), plus an additional skill point per level-up for Human. Weapon Finesse and Two-Weapon fighting at levels 3 and 6.
STR should be no more than 10, imo, and you can leave WIS on 8, but CON is best at 12 or 14 for extra health points, CHA at 10, and the rest spent on DEX and INT.
You won't need Point-Blank Shot if you have Two-Weapon Fighting, but it's a handy feat, all the same.
Other useful feats are Weapon Focus (any light melee weapon you prefer) and Slippery mind, and Strong Will (Rougue Will save is very low); Improved Evasion and Stealthy are also good.

Playing a Rogue, you need to remember to keep in Stealth mode, and walk around behind enemies while the rest of the team keeps 'em occupied, then you attack from behind, frequently killing an opponent outright with one blow: even more effective with Two-Weapon Fighting.

I have tried just about everything, but I find the Rogue most satisfying, even though not a spell caster or a fighter. Better still, I don't need Neeshka any more after dealing with her ex-partner, which gives me an improved choice of party members.

tian0020 wrote:Thanks for getting back to me lads

I think i'm going to try the F/W/EK build... how many levels of each do you think? I definatly would like the L9 spells so what do you guys recommend? What feats should i take and what stats to bring?
Do you think if i'm an Abjuration wizard as well?? Or just General? Oh... and what race to... possibly Aasimar?

So many questions i know, but i really want a character i wont get bored of.

Thanks lads.

If you want lvl 9 spells you have to be a single-class character, or you won't have a high enough Wizard level to get 'em - at least so I thought until I read the post above by Cyrinn!
Imo, mixed class characters are weaker that single-class chars. At least I have found 'em so.
Aasimar are best as healer types: Cleric, Paladin - or it's just a waste of their extra Wisdom. And you will never be able to get their INT level as high as, say, a Sun Elf, who get extra INT. And extra INT means more memorised spells available - a must for Wizards!

Dark Elves make good Wizards, good Rogues. Good Sorcerers - but they have a +2 level adjustment which annoys the hell out of me, because I like 'em best.

You can get lvl 9 spells, multi-classed with an arcane trickster as well as harper agent.

Ok, onto the build.

Race: Sun Elf would be the best since they get +2 INT. Drow would good, but the -2 lvl adjustment is no fun. Humans are good too, since humans are good at everything. Aasimars would be bad I'm afraid since you incur a lvling penalty and they give no bonus to INT. Aasimars are good for the sorc EK, since you can substitute paladin lvls for fighter, but they will not receive lvl 9 spells with this build (but you can make it happen if you want).

Levels: Ideally, 2 fighter/ 8 wizard / 10 EK is what you want. The two fighter levels get you high BAB early on, and +2 BAB to final build, and 2 bonus feats. The 8 lvls of wizard will enable you to reach lvl 9 spells as well.

You could go 1 fighter/ 9 wizard and get an extra lvl 8 and 9 spell slot, but at the cost of AB and a feat. A much less viable combo would be 3 fighter/ 7 wizard because you would only be gaining +1 AB and a few HP and giving up lvl 9 spells.

The pally/ sorc build is inferior because you lose out on bonus fighter/wizard feats and skill points for what? charisma to saves? but then you must take 2 lvls of pally and lose out on lvl 9 spells so you can see where I am going with this....

So that is the basis for the build. I could go into more detail on feats and spells, but is more of a play style choice.

Edit: You did ask. I would either be a generalist mage or necromancer because 1. divination is the least useful school 2. you can "play" the build and specialize in save-or-die spells like oh, cloudkill which is deadly (pun intended ) when you get it.

Perfect guys.

The 2F/8W/10EK looks to be my choice now... Sun Elf will be great to. I think i'll use a longsword as my weapon.

About Feats then... what Feats should i take? As the 2 levels of fighter are first, should i take a weapon specializtion? Or use the extra feats on things like toughness?

What stats should i take?

I really appreciate the help lads.

Fljotsdale wrote:Contains a minor spoiler:

My own preference is a Human Rogue. You get two starting Feats because you are human (Dodge and Toughness are good), plus an additional skill point per level-up for Human. Weapon Finesse and Two-Weapon fighting at levels 3 and 6.
STR should be no more than 10, imo, and you can leave WIS on 8, but CON is best at 12 or 14 for extra health points, CHA at 10, and the rest spent on DEX and INT.
You won't need Point-Blank Shot if you have Two-Weapon Fighting, but it's a handy feat, all the same.
Other useful feats are Weapon Focus (any light melee weapon you prefer) and Slippery mind, and Strong Will (Rougue Will save is very low); Improved Evasion and Stealthy are also good.

Playing a Rogue, you need to remember to keep in Stealth mode, and walk around behind enemies while the rest of the team keeps 'em occupied, then you attack from behind, frequently killing an opponent outright with one blow: even more effective with Two-Weapon Fighting.

I have tried just about everything, but I find the Rogue most satisfying, even though not a spell caster or a fighter. Better still, I don't need Neeshka any more after dealing with her ex-partner, which gives me an improved choice of party members.

I like rogues too, and my arcane trickster is quite a fun hybrid. But I would bump that STR up a bit. Sure, you don't "need" it with sneak attack...but there are many critters you can't sneak attack and hide is bugged so far anyway. Plus, who doesn't want to do more damage? Even if it did work, from my experience, it's pretty easy to just run around enemies to backstab then have to enter sneak and walk behind them.

Or, just take 2 lvls of warlock and cast devil's sight and darkness at will. You can sneak attack everyone without "lining up your sneak attack."

I can understand, however, from a RP perspective why you would want to have high hide and move silently, and that's fine. On the other hand you could take all those points from those 2 skills and max diplomacy and bluff and ace every convo or max UMD or other useful skills.

The fun thing about games like NWN2 is there are a million and one ways to play the same character type

tian0020 wrote:Perfect guys.

The 2F/8W/10EK looks to be my choice now... Sun Elf will be great to. I think i'll use a longsword as my weapon.

About Feats then... what Feats should i take? As the 2 levels of fighter are first, should i take a weapon specializtion? Or use the extra feats on things like toughness?

What stats should i take?

I really appreciate the help lads.

Stats...how could I forget that LOL!

Well, something like:

STR 12 Nice to be able to carry stuff and melee damage
DEX 14 will keep you alive early on, but is less important once you get EK CS
CON 12 HP's are always nice, but I never have had problems playing at 12 + items/buffs
INT 18 (+5) or 4 and one into STR or something...
WIS 8
CHA 8

You get a few more points than this, but it's up to what you want to be good at. STR, DEX, and CON are the obvious choices, unless you don't want low wis and cha for some reason.

Equipment: Longsword is good and a longsword + mithral heavy shield is even better. Or, you could just use a greatsword...

EK chain shirt is the obvious choice for armor. Until you can afford it, you will have to wear padded or leather I'd say and live with the once in awhile spell failure.

Feats: Lvl 1 is tough because luck of heroes and spellcasting prodigy are both great. Toughness is good at some point early on as well.

Well, weapon focus and knockdown are good for melee...even improved knockdown...weapon specialization would be good, but you will have to save a fighter lvl until your BAB is +4. Power attack is useful at times, and combat expertise can help when casting while being attacked.

The most important spellcasting feat you will want to take ASAP is practiced spellcaster (unfortunately you must download a fix to get this or use the console), followed by extend spell and maximize spell later on. You can always take spell focus and greater spell focus if you want to PWN at a particular spell or school (save-or-dies from necromancy are particularly potent).

Skill Points: Concentration and Spellcraft are the most important. With the rest, I would throw them into Tumble, then well....I don't know....whatever you like because the above 3 will make you a daedly combatant and the rest is just icing...

Sounds like a great build mate.

I have the latest patches so hopefully the practised spellcaster will be there.

So the best way to do this is...

Lv 1:- Fighter, Lv 2:- Fighter... LV's 3-10:- Wizard... 10-20 EK... ??

Thanks

tian0020 wrote:Sounds like a great build mate.

I have the latest patches so hopefully the practised spellcaster will be there.

So the best way to do this is...

Lv 1:- Fighter, Lv 2:- Fighter... LV's 3-10:- Wizard... 10-20 EK... ??

Thanks

Yes and Yes.

The feat was added in patch 1.04 and that's the route I would take. I would take PS at lvl 3 (best) or 6 (ok), but remember you must have 4 pts in spellcraft to take it.