Need ideas

[ajcolt]

Talk about overwhelming. Woah. How many freaking classes can their be! I've looked through them all and narrowed a few things down.

These are the classes that caught my attention in alphabetical order from the wiki:

• Barbarian looks like a single class knock em, sock em class
• Bladesinger seems interesting as a gish fighter though it is racially locked to elf
• Cleric/Priest is a definite possibility
• Dervish just because it looks like it would be good for two weapons or maybe even two-handed
• Duelist with the parry and fits with swashbuckler
• Fighter of course because melee
• Frenzied Berserker possibly, but not sold on the roleplay aspect of it
• Invisible blade is a bit meh, but does seem to be a good class for two-weapon fighting
• Ranger and maybe with order of the bow, but I noticed OotB damage doesn't work on crit-immune like undead or constructs. Bummer.
• Swashbuckler with two-weapon fighting or duelist
• Tempest possibly if two-weapon fighting
• Thief Acrobat just because it sounds fun and has some defensive stuff
• Weapon Master though it seems pigeonholed with all the requirements
• Whirling Dervish seems pretty soild with the extra attack bonuses

I looked over the gods in forgotten realms and i'm not a huge fan of worship me or die and pretty much all the evil ones seem to be that way. So keep that in mind. I'm meh about barbarian roleplay though it seems that is what I am looking for as far as being tough and self sufficient. I do not really want to have to rely on a ton of healing pots or kits while going toe to toe with small groups of enemies. Any help is appreciated.

[zhazz]

It really depends on what you're trying to achieve with the build.
All classes have great RP potential, even the barbarian.

The best way to create a character is not to look at classes and attributes. But rather define what kind of personality, goals, morals, and background your character will/should have. The once you have that defined you can start looking at what classes support that fantasy.

An example:
Your character could be a half-orc skjald, who records and tells the history of her people. Due to her ancestry as a half-orc, she feel that civilized lands are treating her and her nomadic tribe of half-orcs quite poorly. Seeking to rectify this she has a strong desire to let others know about the culture of her tribe, their legends, and values. She has chosen to do this through a combination of song and dance, based on those very legends, which are retold through her performances.

Being nomadic in nature, her tribe constist mostly of barbarians, of which she is also one. When she fights she does so with a two-handed bladed weapon, employing a dancing style, while singing the balads and legends of her tribe to inspire herself and those around her. To watch her fight is to watch the story and legend of her tribe being told.


Now how would you build such a character?
Obviously you would start with Barbarian as the base, and dump the most levels into that, to have a solid base for her connection to her tribe and their ways.
Secondly you would likely want to augment with Bard for the performance roleplay.
Lastly, to both add some combat power, and further augment the character fantasy, you could add Dervish.

Thus you end up with a Barbarian 14 / Bard 7 / Dervish 9 build.

For skills you can pick Lore: Local, and Perform to portray the story-telling aspects.

Add some points in Survival, Craft Alchemy, and Lore: Nature. This augments the character with the ability to find and identify plants, grind them into trance-inducing substances used in the character's dances to heighten her connection to the spiritual legends of her tribe.

Finally some points in Diplomacy rounds off the character, making her the ambassador for her people that she wants to be.



And that's just one way of making a barbarian character interesting.
Does it fit your style, or the type of character you want to play? That is for your to decide.

Point being that picking a concept is more important than the classes. Once you have the concept, the classes present themselves easily enough.

[ajcolt]

Good Point and example. The main thing is that I don't think I want my characters origin to be from a barbarian style tribe. I'm not committed to a particular style of fighting, just melee. Two-weapon seems fun, but I can't be sure it will be effective. The same with two-handed or weapon and shield or single weapon. I think I'd have fun with all three styles. I'd also like to clarify from what I read about forgotten realms gods is that the evil ones are all about worship me or die. Not all forgotten realms gods. WHOOPS. Playing as or with villainous characters can be very fun, but the whole worship or die thing is off putting to me.

[Dagesh]

Some brief thoughts.

First, you can make more than one character. If you're new to BG, there will be a learning curve to see what you enjoy here. There's no external requirement to put all your eggs in one basket.

Second, just about any build will work successfully. Bard is not a bad way to start and the instrument of choice is only limited by your imagination (I've seen drums).

[Rhifox]

The main thing is that I don't think I want my characters origin to be from a barbarian style tribe.

The way I like to see barbarian personally is that it's an 'untrained' warrior, not necessarily from a barbarian tribe. Fighter levels are for someone who has received formal martial training in some way, while barbarian (or rogue in some cases) is for any character that's learned how to fight only through the school of hard knocks. So barbarian IMO also works for street fighters, thugs, pit fighters, and so on.

Just food for thought.

[Hoihe]

Good Point and example. The main thing is that I don't think I want my characters origin to be from a barbarian style tribe. I'm not committed to a particular style of fighting, just melee. Two-weapon seems fun, but I can't be sure it will be effective. The same with two-handed or weapon and shield or single weapon. I think I'd have fun with all three styles. I'd also like to clarify from what I read about forgotten realms gods is that the evil ones are all about worship me or die. Not all forgotten realms gods. WHOOPS. Playing as or with villainous characters can be very fun, but the whole worship or die thing is off putting to me.

Gods that work with evil PCs and aren't "WORSHIP OR DIE" off the top of my head

Hoar - REVENGE! And as ironic punishment as possible. Evil form is being cruel in that irony and taking enjoyment out of it.
Helm - Perfect mercenary god for bouncers of underworld types, trustworthy. Also generally good for tyrant types.
Mask - Lie and cheat your way
Kossuth - The world needs purity, and fire provides
Fenmarel - Great god for those Eldreth Veluuthra types.
Brandobaris - It's all in the loot and adventure, in some cases, unscrupulous adventure.

[chad878262]

Hoihe, out of the list of gods you listed only Mask is an 'evil' deity (and only because server timeline is 1e...) Agree with you statements of each and you did call out that those gods 'work with evil PCs', but just thought it should be made clear for the OP that they are not actually evil deities.

@OP - your list of classes is far too long to give any advice on building... One thing I do note in Barbarian and Dervish that you could consider would be to do something like F12/Dervish10/R4/AK4 (or WoD4). Dervish gives dervish dance which is similar to Barbarian Rage, but more of a trained style rather than the unbridled fury ala rage... Rogue gives you evasion (and in turn access to expose weakness) as well as uncanny dodge and Anointed Knight (or WoD) gives good skill access and a bump in important Will saves. As a bonus the one feat you have to take (Iron Will) is returned with free Toughness (and in turn access to take Steadfast) on top of free blindfight.

Archer Ranger is best as either Ranger 30, R21/A9, or R26/F4. Order of the Bow Initiate could work though if you wanted to just go Ranger 11 / OOBI 10 / Assassin 9. Wouldn't get double one shot and spells would be mostly useless, but could be an option.

Definitely could list 3-4 options for every class on the list, but that would be information overload. If you could narrow it down to one or two archetype's that most interest you from an RP perspective than I'm sure the rest of use could help you come up with a mechanical interpretation that would support your vision.

[ajcolt]

Thank you four for chiming in. I went with a two-weapon swashbuckler to start. Not exactly the ideal choice for low level adventuring as it turns out . That's fine though. At level 5 swashbuckler gets to add int to damage so it should be much easier from there on out.

[chad878262]

Thank you four for chiming in. I went with a two-weapon swashbuckler to start. Not exactly the ideal choice for low level adventuring as it turns out . That's fine though. At level 5 swashbuckler gets to add int to damage so it should be much easier from there on out.

SB16/IB5/A9 would be a fun dual kukri build... SB gets epic precision and evasion on BG, IB bleed is kinda worthless, but if you want to pump bluff and be a feinter might be cool... Also the AC from INT works well with a DEX/INT dual wielder.

Another option is SB16/WM7/Duelist 7... There is only like 1 duelist ability that breaks/doesn't work when dual wielding so duelist is still a decent addition for INT to AC and stuff.

[qwertyh88]

And just a really quick tip for those new to the realm, RCR is 100% exp back for lvl 10 and under, there is plenty of opportunity to try your character and tweaks

[PiaMango]

Play what interests you the most RP wise. I've lost count of the number of characters I've built and abandoned that were mechanically fun/strong but whose RP felt dry / personality lacked depth. That being said, for a first character I would advise against anything that doesn't use a shield or get AC bonuses from other sources (eg monks). Armour Class is king when it comes to leveling. Playing a rogue who can burst down a mob down to half health in one flurry is satisfying, but if you are not adventuring with others you'll likely be getting hit out of stealth every time and will have to spend a lot of your time running/healing which isn't so much fun.

[ajcolt]

What does everyone think of weakening critical? It seems pretty strong. Is it worth taking 19 levels of swashbuckler to take it?

[chad878262]

What does everyone think of weakening critical? It seems pretty strong. Is it worth taking 19 levels of swashbuckler to take it?

It's amazing when it works. Many epic bosses will be immune (though not all). BTW, weakening crit is SB14 while SB19 is WOUNDING crit. Weakening is STR, Wounding is CON. This is why I recommended SB16/WM7/D7. The synergy being that WM will give you more crits while SB16 means you get evasion (and thus expose weakness to lower AC and thus proc more crits) with SB14 meaning you land lots of Weakening Crits. Usually I would build it as a one weapon rapier build, but could also work as a dual kukri build. Only issue being the massive feat requirements would mean a human dual wielder would need to spend one epic feat for GTWF while a non-human (and non-strongheart) would actually 'waste' two epic feats for ITWF/GTWF. However, if you're dead set on dual wielding it still works. Of course you could go SB19/F4/WM7, dropping dualist to pick up 3 extra feats, so long as you have either human or a race with Fighter as the favored class. This would give you both weakening AND wounding crit and would still get LOTS of crits. Loses the INT to AC and AC from Tumble you would get from dualist so basically you are trading some defense for more offense.

[AlfarinIcebreaker]

While we're at Swashbuckler/Weapon Master, does Epic Precision affect regular Critical Hits, or only Sneak Attacks? Probably not, but worth checking.

[ajcolt]

What does everyone think of weakening critical? It seems pretty strong. Is it worth taking 19 levels of swashbuckler to take it?

It's amazing when it works. Many epic bosses will be immune (though not all). BTW, weakening crit is SB14 while SB19 is WOUNDING crit. Weakening is STR, Wounding is CON. This is why I recommended SB16/WM7/D7. The synergy being that WM will give you more crits while SB16 means you get evasion (and thus expose weakness to lower AC and thus proc more crits) with SB14 meaning you land lots of Weakening Crits. Usually I would build it as a one weapon rapier build, but could also work as a dual kukri build. Only issue being the massive feat requirements would mean a human dual wielder would need to spend one epic feat for GTWF while a non-human (and non-strongheart) would actually 'waste' two epic feats for ITWF/GTWF. However, if you're dead set on dual wielding it still works. Of course you could go SB19/F4/WM7, dropping dualist to pick up 3 extra feats, so long as you have either human or a race with Fighter as the favored class. This would give you both weakening AND wounding crit and would still get LOTS of crits. Loses the INT to AC and AC from Tumble you would get from dualist so basically you are trading some defense for more offense.

I think your suggestion of SB/WM7/D7 is very good. Not having to worry about obtaining a specific set of mithril armor and deflection AC item is very appealing. SB/tempest/WM looks pretty good since the requirements and bonus feats have a lot of synergy. I still haven't set in stone what skills Yasha should have and disable device is pretty tempting which means some rogue levels are required for trapfinding because without trapfinding the disable device skill is pretty useless.