The Real Adventure Party #2

[aaron22]

/// we are pretty far from dead broke. api has about 4k gp which would be alot if she wasnt an adventurer. and tbh we could do more dungeons and we would have more gold. the castle we did was pretty profitable but mainly for equipping our characters instead of filling our coffers. it also cost us a bit in the amount we spend to keep us alive in a place with that much difficulty. i really dont think we have an issue regarding our gear. i do know that many of us dont have the things they "want" i think that is alright though. it took me 8 levels to get a shield LOL. we do the best we can with what we have and then when we do find something that is similar to something we would want. then it is quite the reward indeed. api is only level 9 would she have good gear at that level. maybe its me, but i would think not.

[Xorena]

Holly had 2kgp at the end of the last adventure and a few diamonds. She traveled to Roaringshore and bought two resurrection scrolls from a shady man in an inn.

With only enough gold for the boat ride to Baldur's Gate, she wandered the city and quietly observed until she spotted what looked like an honest-looking woman to sell her and Peter's diamonds for her. They agreed 4k was a good price and Holly returned to Peter with his share in a small leather purse.

He opened the strings and gasped at the coins, then got a funny look on his face and made some excuse to leave. Holly shrugged and looked longingly at the open-air bar. It's not as much fun by herself anyway.

Instead she found a merchant selling gear of all kinds. Hoping to improve her ability to skulk around the dungeons, she bought a couple of pieces, then went in search of a merchant who had a deal on healing potions to bring for the next adventure with her friends.

[Xorena]

// On the gear issue: Holly was using a cursed sword that entire time. Peter tells me I would have been better off using nothing at all. It had -8 charisma. I really didn't know any better, hah. She also was using a belt that emits light, something I'm told is a bad idea for a rogue. No hat (are those useful or just for RP?) Much of the rest of her gear is a random hodgepodge of what we have found in the dungeon.

I bought a new belt, gloves and vest from a merchant. I'm also saving gear we come across that has open lock and disable device for those tricky locks and traps.

I'm not at all complaining about the lack of gear and I'm enjoying the challenge. It's been impressed upon me, though, that I'm really going to need good hide and move silently gear when she gets to a higher level (assuming we live that long). I'm not in a rush.

[aaron22]

/// yea i hope that my comment didnt come off as anything other than i am ok with not having the things i desire. "i" very much wish to have better stuff but "api" does not. she would think she has the best stuff in the world. i also do not know who to speak to to get the res scrolls. you said shady guy. could you at least point me in the right direction please. lots of shady guys in roaring shores LOL

[darrkone999]

(( So, I would be the one who has been speaking with Young Werther in PM's here. I did express an interest, considering I'm both new to this server and such ^^ Been leveling up my bard..and now a single point of fighter to 4. So I should be in range by next Sunday with fingers crossed. Couldn't appear last Sunday because my internet had been in a flux for a couple of days.


Edit 1: Erm, May I ask as to a rough area to head to at around level 4? Aimlessly wondering about ends in many deaths I've found.

Edit 2: It's been answered. Cheers! ))

[khaevil]

// We've only got two server veterans. Now the n00bs will outnumber the vets!

[aaron22]

// We've only got two server veterans. Now the n00bs will outnumber the vets!

/// i am a noob2. i think i have only been playing a month or so longer than you. and this is my first and only server. i love that about this group. i still haven't figured how to play a druid yet LOL.

[khaevil]

// As far as I can tell, druids turn in to a bear and tank while rogues stabs stuff in the back. Seems to be working anyway. Later on it should be turn into a bear then cast a bunch of spells, when the threat is great enough to bother.

This is the first actual organized group I've seen in NWN2, instead of a bunch of people with solo builds playing together.

That's actually something that I was wondering about when I saw the bard/fighter class combination. That sounds like a solo build and I suspect you got some bad advice from someone. You don't need to even consider how well you can solo. We adventure as a group, depend on us.

I may not be a veteran of this server, but I've been playing in groups where the same people are together every session for more than a decade, and I've seen that same mistake made countless times. Solo players focus on the ability of their character, but that's the wrong way to think about it. It doesn't matter so much what you do, it's what the group does because of you. If you just hide in a corner every battle, but make two other people do double damage, you are the highest damage contributer.

I have a strong suspicion you're looking at those fighter levels that give you 5 AB and 8 damage at the cost of +2 ab and damage to the whole group from lost bard inspiration, assuming you're taking fighter to 12 and taking all available feats. If you count everyone in the group evenly for a group of five that's the equvilant of +10 AB and damage to yourself. And that's not even considering the loss of all the other great stuff a bard brings, which is substantial.

If you just fancy the idea of a bard/fighter then great, this is a group for fun we're not trying to "win". But if you think that's going to be a powerful class combination for group play, I suspect you're in for some major disappointment. You'll be half the buffer you could have been and your damage is going to be an after thought compared to what the rogue, wizard and druid are capable of.

Edit: Build previously linked to here was changed.

I'd suggest something more like Bard(27)/Rogue(3).

Take the bard inspiration boost feats available on this server as well.

Evasion from rogue is important for a group friendly tank, so the casters can unload their area spells without having to worry so much about hitting you. Fighter allows full plate and a tower shield, but full plate's only 1 more AC over a chain shirt and the tower shield comes with an attack penalty. The arcane spell failure makes it so you can't even wear that stuff if you want to cast spells.

A bard/shadow dancer would also have evasion and give the overpowered hide in plain sight feat. But it shouldn't be necessary for a bard to hide in our group and people stealthed while singing is just... *shakes head*

[Young Werther]

//I suggested that darkone999 make a more tankish melee bard with a high damage output without any specific build advice. I suggested it for the reason that we may have problems with AI threat targeting our squishy characters in light of the AI's targeting behavior. (see: http://bgtscc.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=53494) Holly is going to DPS like crazy and I thought we could use someone who could tank with the spell mirror image bard style while doing nice damage and pulling aggro that way. Dread pirate would be worth looking at as it improves the song and gives two weapon fighting which is a nice damage boost. But I agree bard should be the primary focus as it helps the group a lot but at the same time it doesn't need to focus on casting buffs as our wizard, druid and cleric have those covered. So I would rely on a charisma item to get full spell access if it were me. But Kaevil is absolutely right we are just playing for fun so anything works, really.

Towards that end here is a sample build: http://nwn2db.com/build/?248791

It's ugly since it has to remove armor to cast but it does bring imp. knock down to the table to help us control enemy casters at least.

Later if I am going to be fireball happy we can use fire immunity spells no problem negating the need for evasion there... and there are no feats besides dread pirate ones to boost the inspire courage song on the server last I knew about.

[aaron22]

/// in few levels casters will not be a problem because of api and/or holly will make short work of them without getting hurt too badly.we are already making that progression to that right now. tough melee seems to be our heel right now. we can handle multiple standard melee enemies no problem, but the one single extra tough one with a couple adds was a major hurdle for us last week.

I think you are both correct on what would be a good fit for us. a melee dps tank works well or something that helps us hit more often both accomplish the same thing. we could make almost anything fit with the group. but yes. like former michigan football coach, bo shembechler said, "no man is more important than the team. no coach is more important than the team. the team, the team, the team." obviously he is speaking of football and winning the big ten and such, but it is relevant to this as well. if we go out trying to be individuals working alongside each other, we will not work as well as if we can maximize our talents and allow others to cover the huge flaws that would occur from this. work as a team and we will win much more than if we are 5 individuals because our foes are far tougher than any individual could survive.

[khaevil]

//
I just wanted to make sure he didn't have some solo power build. It seems like every other player has some sort of gish build, and when I saw fighter/bard I got visions of gish.

We could discuss builds forever with the incredible variety NWN2 allows.

I'll make one suggestion anyway: Drop 4 levels of fighter for 4 levels of bard.

That would up inspire courage by 1, drop BAB by 1, and lose greater and epic weapon focus. So it's a trade of 3 attack for 1 damage for the bard.

And, you end up with the same number of feats as bards get bonus feats at 23 and 26. But, you don't take two weapon focus feats, so you'll have two more feats to spend which should easily compensate for the loss of 3 attack.

I think it's better for solo, and definately better for group play.

[Young Werther]

//getting power attack from 6 fighter seems vital to me with the falcion. That's +6 critable damage at the cost of 3 ab and we got lots of ab buffs in store.

Another idea would be to make a feinter instead. It would help Holly land sneak attacks and deny enemy dex armor for our attacks.

[aaron22]

Another idea would be to make a feinter instead. It would help Holly land sneak attacks and deny enemy dex armor for our attacks.

doesnt that sound a bit ridiculous. maybe its me, but having one of OUR guys feint gives US and advantage in a fight to the death.

[Young Werther]

//The focus on idividual damage over the over all team damage was just an idea to help even out our aggro from our other single damage sources (rogue/mage). I'm worried about squishy people dying really fast when they get focused. Knockdown eliminates an enemy temporarily and gives us +4 melee ab against them when successful

Maybe we got enough buffs where that's not a problem if all the enemies focus on 1 person but now that I think about it that hasn't been such a problem yet.

[aaron22]

/// no a KD feat on a melee toon would be ideal because we dont have any archers to eat the ab penalty. it would also keep scramblers of the squishies when they try to get past our front line. but KD is most effective on a str based build or you run into alot of KD misses factoring that we usually take on mobs way above our equivalency. i am pretty sure joules is able to handle the run bys now without just running and making tumble checks. holly is likely soon gonna be taking skills to avoid aggro lock i am sure as well.