Complete newbie in need for help

[Arrow]

Alright...so after searching these forums for a good 2 hours I've finally come to the conclusion that I have absolutely no idea on what I could/want to play, though I have a few 'playstyles' i enjoy so I hope that is enough for you guys to make some recomendations.

Act I - The Situation
Me and a friend decided to check out the server again, and while he quite quickly settled on a gnome favored buffuing/healing cleric I'm really unsure on what to play.

Act II - Concepts that sounded 'cool' to me but fell flat to various reasons
a) Basically anything Fighter related that included Eldritch Knight/Wizard stuff sounded really cool to me since I love the concept of weaving spells with melee - but after reading up a bit it sounds like the CL fix basically made those combinations less than ideal
b) Melee Warlock sounded like a really cool idea...but my mate's playing a cleric so I guess that falls flat if I don't wnat to be a complet snowflake Fey Warlock.
c) Fighter with a bit of animal companion stuff sounded cool enough, but requiring 2 epic weapons for dual wield (which would be a requirement...because ranger) was a bit of a throw off.


Act III - Stuff that I would love recommenations for
a) Anything that comes close to the above and is viable²
b) Any Cleric-Fighter kind of builds sounded pretty cool, too
c) Anything melee related that isn't 'just' hitting things with weapons

AKA: I really like hybric melee/magic, melee/ranged stuff and have no idea what I can play that fits that theme.





²viable = playable at level 30 without requiring the mercy of others to get into dungeons because your build is so despicable that you're more or less carried along more than anything

[Kiran]

Favoured soul covers you well. Mix in Paladin or Blackguard and rogue and you are golden.
Bard as well. Lots of interesting builds you can do there, great for groups too.

Both super strong builds.

[Steve]

Hi, welcome back to the Server!

You have many options. The minimum you need to be viable caster of any merit is CL 25. THIS was supposed to be the setup when the dispel fix came online. It means you have a 25% chance of being dispelled. Also, dispel casting mobs were supposedly reduced, but Bosses will still kick your toon's arse!

Anyway, you could consider:

Cleric 26 / X 4 with Practised Spellcaster and Animal Domain
Warlock 20 / Dragonslayer 10 with Practised Invoker

There is so much...maybe you could limit your interests ?!

[Valefort]

If it's a gish you want and you're afraid of dispels you can do it that way : http://nwn2db.com/build/?193158

However for the first 23 levels it is played as a nimble wizard with no melee damage, no problem you're a wizard anyway. Only when it gets combat insight he can actually hurt stuff with his sword (or any finessable weapon you pick).

You have to play shortie for this build to work (because they use finesseable weapons with 2 hands and thus you get more damage).

[Steve]

If it's a gish and you're afraid of dispels you want you can do it that way : http://nwn2db.com/build/?193158

With that many Wizard levels, you can probably get Dragonslayer before Eldritch Knight and save yourself a Feat on Martial Weapon Proficiency.

And...considering such a high DEX, you could go for up to Improved TWF...and even, take 5 Swashbuckler levels for Insightful Strike = more INT dmg.

If possible.

[Rudolph]

Another, larger, kind of 30 CL gish you might like is this one:
http://nwn2db.com/build/?245407

Gishing and Blood Magus go well together: the PrC grants cool extras, good health and spell casting options even after Tenser is up, namely in the form of blood draughts and scars (correct me if I'm wrong, experts!).

[Valefort]

Yes, I could spend one less feat but it was done that way in order to get wizard bonus feats at wizard 10&15 in epic levels. If you want Dragonslayer before Eldritch knight you have to take 10 wizard levels pre epic (because BAB 5 needed for dragonslayer) and so you lose an epic ability point to gain a pre epic feat.

As for swashbuckler i'd love to add it ofc but it won't be CL 30 anymore, TWF though .. might be an option but you will suffer more from DR on monsters and since your damage is already low I think two-handing a short sword is better.

Adding deadly defense might be a good idea on that build, I dropped the weapon focus and picked that.

[Steve]

I think a Level 9 casting gish is always going to do more damage via spells, than melee. TWF at least allows for more possibilities with items (like 2 epic daggers, or short swords, for example).

I really do hope that CL 25 is enough. That was always the base consideration when agreeing to apply the Dispel Fix. Though 25% of being dispelled is rather high...I guess. But then again, just be careful!!

[Arrow]

Thanks for the huge help so far, basically my problem with picking warlock is that I'm going to be grouping with a cleric that, in RP context, most likely wouldn't really like travelling arround with one. But I'll keep all the cool warlock suggestions in mind for a second character because I really want to play one.

As for the Gish build without Warlock (thanks to Valefort) is there any way that I can make that work without playing a shortie? Because I'm really interested in the Melee Gish kind of concept.

If that doesn't work however the FS/Pally suggestion sounds really nice, what kind of weapon would you use and how would you progress through the levels with that?

EDIT:
While searching the nwn2db I found this: http://nwn2db.com/build/?177240
Stuff like this still valid? Because a range/melee mix sounds interesting, too.

[chad878262]

You don't have to play a shortie to play a gish and still be viable. It sounds like evil / neutral leaning evil doesn't align, so no Palemaster... What about the below, which is 29 CL gish which could be made 30 CL by going W13 / EK10 / DS7, basically just lose 1 AB to hit max CL, which honestly is probably the way to go. In any case, this gish get's crafting as well, which is not in yet, but will hopefully be in sometime soon...In the meanwhile feel free to replace crafting with Power Attack / IPA for instance:

http://nwn2db.com/build/?235432

[Arrow]

That build looks fantastic chad. Now I'm just trying to decide between the blood magic build and yours, but seeing as how blood magic might be a bit controversial in some RP situations I'll probably go with the "pure" magic build in that case. Thanks a lot guys.


EDIT: What kind of weapons would the dragonslayer build from chad be using since I don't see any weapon specializations?

[Valefort]

As for the build I proposed you can do the same on a medium size race but ... it will deal noticeably less damage (-4 compared to the gnome/halfling), probably not a good idea, chad and rudolph's builds are better (but hey they use armor and armor is ugly ).

Regarding the sword and bow build it still works, it doesn't rely on spells heavily, but it's a jack of two trades master of none, you also need to be elf or half-elf since it has arcane archer in it. I added the AB/AC/Damage for sword and bow respectively (with end game kind of items, ie +4 ones), those are good, just not the best (but entirely playable).

[chad878262]

That build looks fantastic chad. Now I'm just trying to decide between the blood magic build and yours, but seeing as how blood magic might be a bit controversial in some RP situations I'll probably go with the "pure" magic build in that case. Thanks a lot guys.


EDIT: What kind of weapons would the dragonslayer build from chad be using since I don't see any weapon specializations?

It doesn't focus on a weapon, it uses the best one you can afford/find. Mine used a Greater Vilebite Axe (battleaxe) I found in Durlags because it was +3 w/ bonus negative energy damage and vampiric regen, but that's only because that is the best weapon he found for having 2 bonus dmg and vamp regen. You can cast GMW making any weapon +5 so really you just use whatever weapon has the best extra bonuses (i.e. 1-4 or 1-6 bonus damage, Vamp Regen 3, etc.)

[Eclypticon]

Easy to play builds:

Favored Souls (FvS)
FvS Blackguard
FvS Pally

Druids
Any shifter with dragon shape

Warlocks
HiPs Lock
Con Blaster
Controller Lock

Alternatively, you could try a STR based cleric (15) frenzied berserker (L5) Hierophant (10) (CL at L30 +)

[Garn Greymoon]

I'll take a super simplified approach here.

Give ranger, black guard or paladin a shot. They all have spell casting and make excellent ranged or melee characters and pair very well with fighter which is incredible to give you additional feats and the nice part is you get high BAB.

They are really good for getting your feet wet and not worrying too much about CL.

And his your dying for spells. Just dip 3 levels into a class that has us magic device and you can pretty much use any wand.