Water Dancer

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Sun Wukong
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Re: Water Dancer

Unread post by Sun Wukong »

Which means you could increase the number of sneak attack dice. You know, have a bit of variation to the usual 'Fighter/Rogue/HiPS' build.
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chad878262
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Re: Water Dancer

Unread post by chad878262 »

With feint you don't need hips, but you do need some feats to increase bluff.
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Sun Wukong
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Re: Water Dancer

Unread post by Sun Wukong »

chad878262 wrote:With feint you don't need hips, but you do need some feats to increase bluff.
And maybe Shield Slam feats to go along with it, and a strength based build. Or multiclass into something for EDM... Ideas that all kind of lead towards a heavy plate.
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chad878262
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Re: Water Dancer

Unread post by chad878262 »

How does feint requires plate? With duelist ac from int and parry no armor is required.
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Sun Wukong
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Re: Water Dancer

Unread post by Sun Wukong »

If you go feinter as a dexterity based build, and you cannot feint for whatever reason... And you are up against a critical hit immunity to boot, then you are only get about half of your possible extra damage from intelligence. I suppose you can try to duke it out and bleed the enemy with Expose Weakness, but you might end end up doing no more than: 1d6 (Rapier) + 4 (Enchantment Bonus) +7~ (Intelligence modifier) damage on your regular hits. It can feel like a struggle since you are unlikely to be sitting in the middle of an Acid Fog, or Firewall, or something of similar effect.

Hence, because wearing all that feint equipment kind of makes it so that you cannot be a proper sneaker, it is easier to just go for a high strength, fullplate, and or EDM on top. Get that Shield Slam, and what not else.
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aaron22
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Re: Water Dancer

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Comments Only wrote:If you go feinter as a dexterity based build, and you cannot feint for whatever reason... And you are up against a critical hit immunity to boot, then you are only get about half of your possible extra damage from intelligence. I suppose you can try to duke it out and bleed the enemy with Expose Weakness, but you might end end up doing no more than: 1d6 (Rapier) + 4 (Enchantment Bonus) +7~ (Intelligence modifier) damage on your regular hits. It can feel like a struggle since you are unlikely to be sitting in the middle of an Acid Fog, or Firewall, or something of similar effect.

Hence, because wearing all that feint equipment kind of makes it so that you cannot be a proper sneaker, it is easier to just go for a high strength, fullplate, and or EDM on top. Get that Shield Slam, and what not else.
some mobs will be a nemesis for some builds. they will just seem to do a better job at killing you then you will them. this is where consumables become important. with a high UMD you can use scrolls and/or wands to help you out in this. can be as easy as a summon or avasculate to tilt the odds a bit in your favor above what you normally are using as consumables.
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chad878262
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Re: Water Dancer

Unread post by chad878262 »

aaron22 wrote:
Comments Only wrote:If you go feinter as a dexterity based build, and you cannot feint for whatever reason... And you are up against a critical hit immunity to boot, then you are only get about half of your possible extra damage from intelligence. I suppose you can try to duke it out and bleed the enemy with Expose Weakness, but you might end end up doing no more than: 1d6 (Rapier) + 4 (Enchantment Bonus) +7~ (Intelligence modifier) damage on your regular hits. It can feel like a struggle since you are unlikely to be sitting in the middle of an Acid Fog, or Firewall, or something of similar effect.

Hence, because wearing all that feint equipment kind of makes it so that you cannot be a proper sneaker, it is easier to just go for a high strength, fullplate, and or EDM on top. Get that Shield Slam, and what not else.
some mobs will be a nemesis for some builds. they will just seem to do a better job at killing you then you will them. this is where consumables become important. with a high UMD you can use scrolls and/or wands to help you out in this. can be as easy as a summon or avasculate to tilt the odds a bit in your favor above what you normally are using as consumables.
Well said by Aaron, but I would also add that even for crit immune enemies The DEX/INT build is not that far behind a STR build and at best an EDM char is going to last for maybe ~14 minutes at having the bonus damage... With SB and Combat Insight doing double INT damage only getting 1/2 means you are where you would be as a STR build, more or less. You aren't getting Power Attack, but you do have some bonus damage capability from Duelist. Generally you aren't going to be a DEX build... Your DEX will be somewhere between ~20-24 (with an item) and INT will be ~26 or 27 w/ an item to get you to 30. That's +10 AC from INT for 10 duelist levels and +20 to damage from stacking SB and Combat Insight.

Your AB will be fine since you have all or mostly all high BAB classes. If we assume a final BAB of 29 (if you take 3-4 levels of Whirling Dervish) and a DEX of 19+3=22 then your AB would be 29+6+4(EB)+1(EP)=40 which can be further enhanced by wands/potions such as (greater) heroism, bless and aid, and if you go to WD 4 you get a +1 AB as well. Add in Expose Weakness and this is more than fine, even in those cases where Feint doesn't work. Your AC will also be fine at 43 minimum (10 + 16[INT/DEX] + 5[Duelist deflection] +12[armor/natural/dodge and this is not taking in to account Luck of Hero's or any other feats nor is it taking in to account any AC you might gain from other classes/PRC's, UMD use, etc.

The damage calculation provided also does not consider precise strike which is +2d6 damage, does not multiply on a crit and DOES apply to crit immune. IIRC Flourish which does an additional 2d6 damage every 12 seconds also applies against crit immune enemies. So I am fairly certain a Duelist build will work just fine against crit immune enemies.
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Hrafnar
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Re: Water Dancer

Unread post by Hrafnar »

I played around with a few versions including a HiPSer and I think Vale's suggestion of SB 20/Duelist 10 is probably the closest to what I imagine:

http://nwn2db.com/build/?265133
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aaron22
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Re: Water Dancer

Unread post by aaron22 »

does the duelist 7 elaborate parry feat grant the ac bonus if dual wielding light piercing weapons?
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Hrafnar
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Re: Water Dancer

Unread post by Hrafnar »

Looks like it does. At least, I can't find anything to suggest that it doesn't.
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aaron22
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Re: Water Dancer

Unread post by aaron22 »

Elaborate Parry: At 7th level, the duelist masters the art of defense with her blade. Whenever she wields a light or one-handed piercing weapon, she adds her duelist level to Parry checks.
the only reason the question comes up is the singular use of the word "blade" and it indicating one handed "weapon".
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"You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice."
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