Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

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AlwaysSummer Day
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by AlwaysSummer Day »

ok so I am thinking -

33 concentration
33 craft alchemy
33 craft weapon
33 craft armor
30 spellcraft
30 tumble
7 disable device
31 Lore Planes
31 Lore History
31 Lore Arcana
31 (?)

The last one could be diplomacy but I feel like a dwarven Lore Master should know the Geneology of royalty and nobility in the clans, Architexture/Engineering, and Geography of where clanholds are. I have definitely RPed all of these things extensively. As a wizard who has traveled to 3 other planes I do not think I can go without those but grrrrrrrrr :evil:

I think I can drop 33 points into diplomacy and have like 7 in each lore skill. . . but that really makes me RPing him as a Dwarven Loremaster quite a stretch. Retconning half a decade of RP is not something I want to do.
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Rhifox
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by Rhifox »

Why do you need 31 points in each of your lore skills? If you settled on 20-25 each, which is already the level of 'among the top scholars in the world', you could easily spread out more.

I keep using this example, but I feel it appropriate: Incredibly powerful epic wizards like Szass Tam, Elminster, Blackstaff Arunsen, or Halaster Blackcloak, have 20-25 points in Knowledge: Arcana (Halaster Blackcloak is the highest at 25 ranks + 7 Int bonus for a total of 32). If you want to be a loremaster, then 20 ranks in each of your desired knowledge skills counts as being a loremaster, and gives you a lot more spare points to spread out.
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AlwaysSummer Day
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by AlwaysSummer Day »

Rhifox wrote:Why do you need 31 points in each of your lore skills? If you settled on 20-25 each, which is already the level of 'among the top scholars in the world', you could easily spread out more.

I keep using this example, but I feel it appropriate: Incredibly powerful epic wizards like Szass Tam, Elminster, Blackstaff Arunsen, or Halaster Blackcloak, have 20-25 points in Knowledge: Arcana (Halaster Blackcloak is the highest at 25 ranks + 7 Int bonus for a total of 32). If you want to be a loremaster, then 20 ranks in each of your desired knowledge skills counts as being a loremaster, and gives you a lot more spare points to spread out.
Sadly that does not apply as well in the game when a DM asks for a lore roll as it does in PNP. Oftentimes they ask for rolls nearing 100 probably due to bardic knowledge skewing skill averages so heavily.

Also I did the breakdown if you read my post. Dividing the available skillpoints out amongst them all would leave me with about 7 in each one.
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Thorsson
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by Thorsson »

Bardic Knowledge no longer works like that, although maybe the DMs will need educating on the fact. Still, having Knowledge doesn't mean you know everything!
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NegInfinity
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by NegInfinity »

AlwaysSummer Day wrote:ok so I am thinking -

33 concentration
33 craft alchemy
33 craft weapon
33 craft armor
30 spellcraft
30 tumble
7 disable device
31 Lore Planes
31 Lore History
31 Lore Arcana
31 (?)

The last one could be diplomacy but I feel like a dwarven Lore Master should know the Geneology of royalty and nobility in the clans, Architexture/Engineering, and Geography of where clanholds are. I have definitely RPed all of these things extensively. As a wizard who has traveled to 3 other planes I do not think I can go without those but grrrrrrrrr :evil:

I think I can drop 33 points into diplomacy and have like 7 in each lore skill. . . but that really makes me RPing him as a Dwarven Loremaster quite a stretch. Retconning half a decade of RP is not something I want to do.
Lore: Local. Or whatever it is called.

Also, max when I met him, did not strike me as expert in planar knowledge (even if he travelled there, that does not mean maximum knowledge). Then again, I only met him very briefly.

You could also probably drop tumble and send those points to lore, because you can buff yourself.
chad878262
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by chad878262 »

Hey there ASD... Golem has commented on the lore rolls and I don't think based on his comments DC's are going to differ much from PnP... So general knowledge would be DC 10 (and can be known even with no points in a lore category). DC's go up from there to 15, 20 and 30...30 being highest. Therefore, assuming you have a decent INT for a wizard you should absolutely be considered a lore master even with 20 points (after all you only need a 3 to beat a DC 30 if you have an INT of 24, INT 28 = auto success since skill rolls cannot critically fail). So basically, depending on your INT, if you put enough points to make it to DC 30 on a roll of a 1 you should be golden on everything, but the most obscure knowledge (lost to time, no longer written record, that kind of stuff).
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by DM Golem »

AlwaysSummer Day wrote:
Rhifox wrote:Why do you need 31 points in each of your lore skills? If you settled on 20-25 each, which is already the level of 'among the top scholars in the world', you could easily spread out more.

I keep using this example, but I feel it appropriate: Incredibly powerful epic wizards like Szass Tam, Elminster, Blackstaff Arunsen, or Halaster Blackcloak, have 20-25 points in Knowledge: Arcana (Halaster Blackcloak is the highest at 25 ranks + 7 Int bonus for a total of 32). If you want to be a loremaster, then 20 ranks in each of your desired knowledge skills counts as being a loremaster, and gives you a lot more spare points to spread out.
Sadly that does not apply as well in the game when a DM asks for a lore roll as it does in PNP. Oftentimes they ask for rolls nearing 100 probably due to bardic knowledge skewing skill averages so heavily.

Also I did the breakdown if you read my post. Dividing the available skillpoints out amongst them all would leave me with about 7 in each one.
The days of super high lore skills are over; so the days of super high DCs in DM events are also over!

Chad speaks true that one should be thinking of DCs in the 30-40 range for difficult stuff. So for example, 21 skill points + an INT mod of 9 is going to be, in effect, very very knowledgeable in a given area. If you want to play a character that is very knowledgeable in everything, I would aim for that. Its also fine to have some areas not covered, I think, to the same level

There will be circumstances where having a 30+ skill rank + intelligence will be rewarded, but that will definitely be rarer than it is now.
AlwaysSummer Day
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by AlwaysSummer Day »

We all know DM's make decisions on DC individually and sometimes on the fly. Although there may be a general agreement that DC's were too high in the past I am sure there will be plenty of bards walking around with some of these lore skills maxed out + Bardic knowledge. Pointing out that bardic knowledge is currently disabled on the player roll means nothing as lore rolls are used pretty much exclusively in DM events. I might drop each skill down to the 17/18 mark but he will never be considered the most knowledgeable in any subject again.

Fun fact btw a 27bard/3warlock shield dwarf will maxed out lore and all the lore feats + equipment can reach into the low 200's on a buffed lore roll :lol:
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DM Golem
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by DM Golem »

AlwaysSummer Day wrote:We all know DM's make decisions on DC individually and sometimes on the fly. Although there may be a general agreement that DC's were too high in the past I am sure there will be plenty of bards walking around with some of these lore skills maxed out + Bardic knowledge. Pointing out that bardic knowledge is currently disabled on the player roll means nothing as lore rolls are used pretty much exclusively in DM events. I might drop each skill down to the 17/18 mark but he will never be considered the most knowledgeable in any subject again.
I think you are misunderstanding but I may misread this. Bardic Knowledge won't be additive onto other lore skills anymore by DMs. Check this post: http://www.bgtscc.net/viewtopic.php?p=653678#p653678

+33 will be the maximum anyone can achieve from skill points (stats, items and spells of course enhance that).

I may have read your post wrong, though.
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by Deathgrowl »

AlwaysSummer Day wrote: Fun fact btw a 27bard/3warlock shield dwarf will maxed out lore and all the lore feats + equipment can reach into the low 200's on a buffed lore roll :lol:
Not likely. Here's the maximum you can achieve even in vanilla NWN2:

33 ranks
30 bard levels
20 int modifier
3 Skill focus lore
1 background
50 skill bonus cap

137.

I might be missing a +2 lore from race or something, but you can't reach even 150.

Just nitpicking here! I'll leave again now! :P
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NegInfinity
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by NegInfinity »

Deathgrowl wrote:
AlwaysSummer Day wrote: Fun fact btw a 27bard/3warlock shield dwarf will maxed out lore and all the lore feats + equipment can reach into the low 200's on a buffed lore roll :lol:
Not likely. Here's the maximum you can achieve even in vanilla NWN2:

33 ranks
30 bard levels
20 int modifier
3 Skill focus lore
1 background
50 skill bonus cap

137.

I might be missing a +2 lore from race or something, but you can't reach even 150.

Just nitpicking here! I'll leave again now! :P
.... I think that upon rolling over 100 on any lore skill character's head should immediately explode from knowing too much. ... and deal splash damage within 100 foot radius, with number of 1d6 dice equaling character's hd.
AlwaysSummer Day
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by AlwaysSummer Day »

Deathgrowl wrote:
AlwaysSummer Day wrote: Fun fact btw a 27bard/3warlock shield dwarf will maxed out lore and all the lore feats + equipment can reach into the low 200's on a buffed lore roll :lol:
Not likely. Here's the maximum you can achieve even in vanilla NWN2:

33 ranks
30 bard levels
20 int modifier
3 Skill focus lore
1 background
50 skill bonus cap

137.

I might be missing a +2 lore from race or something, but you can't reach even 150.

Just nitpicking here! I'll leave again now! :P
33+ from ranks, +27 from bard level, +2 from dwarf, +3 from skill focus, +4 greater heroism, +13 from int bonus, +2 eldritch lore, +15 legend lore, +6 otherworldly whispers, +1 background, +2 courteous mageocracy, +8 Inspire competence, +? items, +20 roll. On a perfect roll this is 136 + items which I did not know had a 50 point cap. All the same 186 is quite a bit.
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Deathgrowl
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by Deathgrowl »

Greater heroism, legend lore, otherworldly whispers, and alll other spells count towards the 50 skill point cap.

Even the inspire competence.
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AlwaysSummer Day
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Re: Ideas for Maxwells rebuild?

Unread post by AlwaysSummer Day »

I hate how there is so much information you cannot find in the game manuals or the wiki :|
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