Ultimate Melee Character build: The Kaze no Kama

[DirtyFinger]

The [url="http://nwn2.wikia.com/wiki/Kaze_no_Kama_-_M(11)%2CF(12)%2CIB(5)%2CDC(2)"]Kaze no Kama[/url] is a Monk 11 / Fighter 12 / Invisible Blade 5 / Divine Champion 2 build with Deep Gnome as a chosen race for power builds.

This build is a late bloomer and very very hard to play from level 1 upwards.
It get's a bit easier in Mask of the Betrayer, but still, the critical levels where feats become available that make the Kaze rule the battlefield start at 21.

However, if you manage to survive up till then and equip your character with good gear (the build is heavily gear dependent), then you will get the strongest melee build you'll ever see.

Assuming a level 30 character fully equiped with items you'll either find in the game or be able to create, you'll end up with these combat values:

Main Hand Attack Bonus: +55/+55/+50/+50/+45/+40/+35/+30/+25/+20
Damage: 1-6 +12 +8(slashing) +5d6(fire) +5d6(cold) +5d6(lightning)
Off Hand Attack Bonus: +50/+45/+40/+35/+30/+25/+20/+15
Damage: 1-6 +9 +8(slashing) +5d6(fire) +5d6(cold) +5d6(lightning)
AC: 74
HP: 438
Fortitude: 29
Reflex: 31
Will: 25

The elemental damage comes from self enchanted kamas+8.
And yes, that's 18 attacks per round, starting with AB 55.
The AC 74 is no typo either.
And don't forget the extremely high saves.

The character is - apart from a haste spell - unbuffed.

The equipment however includes items that give +8 attribute points to at least DEX/WIS/INT.
The idea behind the build is this: Maximize the bonuses you can get from attribute bonuses.

DEX improves attack bonus (weapon finesse) and AC for every 2 points.
WIS improves AC (monk) and saves.
INT improves AC and damage (Unfettered Defense,combat insight)
CON improves HP (no surprise there).
STR improves the amount of stuff you can carry (and nothing else)
CHA only social value, unless you take a drow with paladin levels instead of divine champion. in that case, CHA improves saves.

You start out with
STR 6
DEX 18
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 18
CHA 4

and continually raise DEX to 26. Here you can see why playing the Kaze from the start is rather hard: STR 6
STR won't matter later, once you pick combat insight, but before that, battles will be hard unless you get some elemental damage kamas.

Monk 11 will give you greater flurry, Fighter 12 gives access to epic weapon focus and epic weapon specialization.
Invisible Blade gets you an additional AC+5 and divine champion +1 to saves and an extra feat.

So, if you want to ever get the feeling that you could really take on a certain god and win, then this is the character for you.
If get's to level 30 well before the end, despite the ECL 3, so no worries.

Cheers !

[Lord_Arokh]

Tweaks

So, a good lvl 30 build, but has a low range for when you can use it. Some ideas for making it better would include:
-nuking the con a bit to increase strength so that you can carry all the gear you want to equip. You won't need the con since you will very rarely get hit.
-Since the race you chose is small, the kama will not be considered light in the off hand. According to the IB description, which states that you must only be wielding light weapons for bleeding wound to work, you would not get those dmg bonuses.
-Choosing a different race (Drow or Tiefling) would allow for the kama to be light in the off hand. Both would allow you to get higher int, and there for more skills, dmg, as well as ac (going duelist rather than IB). You get the haste and hp benifits which are nice, and you don't waste weapon focus on a weapon you won't use. Yes you will lose 5 ac do to race, but you make up for it with 10 uncanny defense bonus.

I ran out of time but I have more to say later.

BTW I am only trying to be constructive/helpful.

[DirtyFinger]

So, a good lvl 30 build, but has a low range for when you can use it. Some ideas for making it better would include:
-nuking the con a bit to increase strength so that you can carry all the gear you want to equip. You won't need the con since you will very rarely get hit.

Well, there are things like traps, magic missiles and natural 20s. I usually avoid sacrificing too much constitution for frontline fighters.

-Since the race you chose is small, the kama will not be considered light in the off hand. According to the IB description, which states that you must only be wielding light weapons for bleeding wound to work, you would not get those dmg bonuses.

Actually, bleeding is nearly irrelevant due to too many damage resistant mobs. You can as well just take 5 levels of duelist (which would even be slightly better). Although I admit that I didn't think of that ... might explain why I never saw any bleed damage. I always thought that was because very few opponents survive round 2.

-Choosing a different race (Drow or Tiefling) would allow for the kama to be light in the off hand. Both would allow you to get higher int, and there for more skills, dmg, as well as ac (going duelist rather than IB). You get the haste and hp benifits which are nice, and you don't waste weapon focus on a weapon you won't use. Yes you will lose 5 ac do to race, but you make up for it with 10 uncanny defense bonus.

The drow is actually the second best race for power builds and works best with Paladin instead of Divine Champion Levels due to higher charisma which means even better saves. The drawback significantly lower AC and light sensitivity. But way better attributes.
And it's a matter of preference if you want to take Duelist 5/Paladin 2 or Duelist 7. On the whole, the better saves are worth more than +2 AC. Sacrificing Monk levels is impossible and sacrificing fighter levels will cost you Epic Weapon Specialization. This will lower damage output a bit but might be acceptable for the boost in AC.

Way I see it, best race for power builds is Deep Gnome because of the +5 AC bonus.
Next comes Drow because of the stat bonuses and better AB (due to size).
Third is a tie between Tiefling and Halfling (the one with the extra feat).

And if you want to play the original campaign and want to gain strength quickly, then the best race is the Air Genasi.
With that one you can raise Monk levels straight to 11 without alternating with Fighter levels to avoid XP penalties, because the Air Genasi is the only DEX+2 race with fighter as preferred class.

[Sergio1992]

Help me, with building my kaze no kama. Actually I got my second level of invisible blade, and I followed wikipedia step by step.
But I can't understand some things:
Should I use two kama, or one kama and one kukri?
How do I know If an item can be enchanted?
How do I know if an item is worth an enchantment?
May you suggest me what's the best item I should use?
Thank you.

[Scottg]

Help me, with building my kaze no kama. Actually I got my second level of invisible blade, and I followed wikipedia step by step.
But I can't understand some things:
Should I use two kama, or one kama and one kukri?
How do I know If an item can be enchanted?
How do I know if an item is worth an enchantment?
May you suggest me what's the best item I should use?
Thank you.

Kama only - 2 of them (..it's why the build utilizes the Invisible Blade levels - well that and the AC bonus).

Any *melee* weapon can be enchanted in MOTB. Go to the thievesguild.net site for info on enchanting.

I'd purchase (or craft) one Alchemical Silver kama and one Cold Steel kama, and then craft in the enchantments you want. (..this provides a "spread" on the two types of substantial damage reduction - i.e. Devil and Demon respectively.) The best enchantments in MOTB are (in order):

1. The highest Enhancement as you can get,
2. The highest Sonic damage you can get,
3. The highest Acid damage you can get,
..

[Sergio1992]

Kama only - 2 of them (..it's why the build utilizes the Invisible Blade levels - well that and the AC bonus).

Any *melee* weapon can be enchanted in MOTB. Go to the thievesguild.net site for info on enchanting.

I'd purchase (or craft) one Alchemical Silver kama and one Cold Steel kama, and then craft in the enchantments you want. (..this provides a "spread" on the two types of substantial damage reduction - i.e. Devil and Demon respectively.) The best enchantments in MOTB are (in order):

1. The highest Enhancement as you can get,
2. The highest Sonic damage you can get,
3. The highest Acid damage you can get,
..

Thank you, I'm having some problems going into shadow mulsantir. My kaze get his ass kicked by some shadow that are guarding the vault. I don't know how to proceed further. I got only one kama, and an average ac of ~31.
Also, my kage does 14 point of dmg every two seconds xD.

Edit: another question: what If I try to enchant Myrkul's wrath? Will it work, or will I just mess with it?

[Scottg]

Thank you, I'm having some problems going into shadow mulsantir. My kaze get his ass kicked by some shadow that are guarding the vault. I don't know how to proceed further. I got only one kama, and an average ac of ~31.
Also, my kage does 14 point of dmg every two seconds xD.

Edit: another question: what If I try to enchant Myrkul's wrath? Will it work, or will I just mess with it?

Read the thievesguild guide.. it will answer your questions on enchantment.

You don't need to go into a fair bit of Shadow Mulsantir until latter.. and you can come back at almost anytime (for about the 1st 75% of the game).

Don't forget that your companions should have "buffs" that can help-out.

In the Shadow realm (of Mulsantir proper) you have among other nasties: Greater Shadows and Nightwalkers.

Greater shadow - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more
Nightwalker - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more

Note that Greater Shadows have no damage reduction.. but Nightwalkers do.. UNLESS YOU USE AN ALCHEMICAL SILVER weapon.. (in your case a kama version). Go back into regular Mulsantir and purchase some, or purchase some crafting supplies to make some. Also note that Nightwalkers are immune to cold damage.

PS: If you have other questions unrelated to the thread's build, please find a similar topic with a search and post there, OR if you can't find something similar then go ahead and make your own new thread (..with a SPOILER tag in the subject line if it will contain spoilers).

[Sergio1992]

Read the thievesguild guide.. it will answer your questions on enchantment.

You don't need to go into a fair bit of Shadow Mulsantir until latter.. and you can come back at almost anytime (for about the 1st 75% of the game).

Don't forget that your companions should have "buffs" that can help-out.

In the Shadow realm (of Mulsantir proper) you have among other nasties: Greater Shadows and Nightwalkers.

Greater shadow - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more
Nightwalker - NWN2Wiki, the Neverwinter Nights 2 wiki - Races, classes, skills, and more

Note that Greater Shadows have no damage reduction.. but Nightwalkers do.. UNLESS YOU USE AN ALCHEMICAL SILVER weapon.. (in your case a kama version). Go back into regular Mulsantir and purchase some, or purchase some crafting supplies to make some. Also note that Nightwalkers are immune to cold damage.

PS: If you have other questions unrelated to the thread's build, please find a similar topic with a search and post there, OR if you can't find something similar then go ahead and make your own new thread (..with a SPOILER tag in the subject line if it will contain spoilers).

I need to get kaelyn or okku is gonna kick my butt without help

[Elrohir.]

Enchant your kamast with 2 types of elemental damage and whatever is the highest enchantment safiya can do, then just kick some butt.

[Ragin Cajun]

will this build work ok with just the OC game or do you have to have the expansions?

[Ragin Cajun]

And if you want to play the original campaign and want to gain strength quickly, then the best race is the Air Genasi.
With that one you can raise Monk levels straight to 11 without alternating with Fighter levels to avoid XP penalties, because the Air Genasi is the only DEX+2 race with fighter as preferred class.

I only have the OC currently and do not see the Air Genasi as a race to select from. Does this only appear with one of the expansions?

[Scottg]

I only have the OC currently and do not see the Air Genasi as a race to select from. Does this only appear with one of the expansions?

MOTB.. Not only that but you need MOTB for the Invisible Blade class as well.

In fact you shouldn't even try this build in the OC (even if you have MOTB installed) - it isn't a particularly good build at lower levels.. largely due to the Deep Gnome racial penalty and the lack of any significant elemental damage until late in the OC.

An Air Genasi is only a 1 level penalty, but it doesn't have the spell resistance, it doesn't have the AC bonus of the Deep Gnome, and it has a penalty to Wisdom.

The outrageous AC of the build *requires* the Deep Gnome.. which has +5 to AC. (..+1 for small size and + 4 dodge bonus.)

[Ragin Cajun]

you can roll a different character to start and then convert to this type build at a higher level?

[Scottg]

you can roll a different character to start and then convert to this type build at a higher level?

not really..

..you can play a somewhat similar character in the OC, and start a new one in MOTB (..which I believe starts at character level 18 using a race without level penalties.. -3 for a Deep Gnome puts it at 15 to start). It isn't really a conversion of your old character though (..something you can never do.. well unless there is a mod for it).

Again though, barring the 3 level penalty.. the kama averages about 2 damage per hit, add-on weapon specialization at lvl 8 (per the build) and you'll double that to 4 damage per hit. Who knows, you might even have +1 elemental damage by this time as well. Totaled that's 5 per attack, with about 3-4 attacks with two weapons - and it's likely that one of those attacks won't "hit" per round, so figure 10 to 15 damage per round. (..and remember that's level 8 with no racial penalty, with the Deep Gnome's 3 level penalty you'll be at level 8 when a no-level penalty race is at 11). I can assure you that there are much better builds for the OC.

[Scottg]

I created this build to flesh-out a good melee build for the OC (..and the OC ONLY):

Reaver, the right hand of Garagos | NWN2 Character Builder

Note that there is no level penalty and it has a good selection of skills for the OC (..at a time when they are useful).

UPDATED.. the build is overall improved, and is now rather excellent.

[Sergio1992]

Classic kaze no kama build is like that: Monk 11 / Fighter 12 / Invisible Blade 5 or Duelist 5/ Something else 2

I guess, knowing that bleeding damage, doesn't work, what If I change the invisible blade and something else with 7 weapon master level?? :O
I would get a fighter- monk - weapon master.
Would It be bad?

[Scottg]

..deleted