Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Pretty sure you only get the benefits of Rapier if you have the Monkey Grip feat. Otherwise the Shortsword will be superior for a Halfling.

About the rapier with a halfling, I recall it requiring monkey grip feat before you can use it with Weapon Finesse. But as for Shortsword on a small race, as long as you do not have anything on your off hand you get 1*5 modifier to strength modifier or intelligence with Combat Insight.

Thus, it is possible to make a DEX/INT based Swashbuckler 12/Frenzied Berserker 5/Duelist 10/Shadowancer 3. You go for Swashbuckler 12 to get Epic Precision so that you can get that 2.5*Int modifier added as damage against everything. Thus even base 16 intelligence with +2 INT item gives you +10 damage per hit. I have not tested it, but the wiki page does mention that Epic Precision should allow Insightful Strike to work against critical hit immunity.

Thus you can go heavy on dexterity to become a better sneaker, get more AB, AC, and more Expose Weakness bleeding damage. Not to mention get that +20 damage per hit with a Shortsword when you turn on your Improved Power Attack.

Thus the damage could be something like this:
1d6 (Shortsword)
+4 (Enchantment Bonus)
+10 (INT*2.5)
+20 (Improved Power Attack)
+2d6 (Duelist)
= 44.5~

And the best thing is, you do not have to trigger sneak attacks to get that damage per hit.

OK thanks for all the thoughts on this folks. I think I finally decided. I'm going to make a Ranger 21/Fighter 4/FB 5 hin that uses a large weapon like a great sword! He'll have a lot of bravado for sure ...

Thoughts on optimizing this build?

1) What are the best favored enemies to take? (up to 5)

2) How useful do you think the following feats would be?
- Backstab
- Northlander Hewing
- One Weapon (does this even work with a 2h? the "nothing in your offhand" language is confusing)
- Knockdown (not worth it due to character size?)
- Practiced Spellcaster (is it really worth it with ranger spells?)

PhantomLamb wrote:1) What are the best favored enemies to take? (up to 5)

Giants, Undead, Elementals, Outsiders, Orcs?

PhantomLamb wrote: 2) How useful do you think the following feats would be?
- Backstab
- Northlander Hewing
- One Weapon (does this even work with a 2h? the "nothing in your offhand" language is confusing)
- Knockdown (not worth it due to character size?)
- Practiced Spellcaster (is it really worth it with ranger spells?)

- I would skip Backstab.
- Northlander Hewing is nice on its own, it is an alternative to IPA.
- One Weapon works with 2-handed fighting.
- I would skip knockdown.
- Practised Spellcaster, it is, and I would drop either Fighter or Frenzied Berserker to get closer to caster level of 30. You get AC, fire damage, and AB, from your spells.

Deathgrowl wrote:If you want something other than ranger though, consider sneak/death attack in combination with twohanded weapon and power attack.

Fighter12/rogue3/assassin8/wilderness stalker7?

Or even enhanced power attack: fighter12/rogue4/assassin9/fb5

I have a duel wielding rogue with the f/r/a/ws build that works pretty well. He is currently level 19 and the death attack still regularly procs with an 18 intel and 8 levels of assassin. With the proc it's pretty much a guaranteed kill unless there are other things around you hitting you in the face. I could see it working well with a great sword and you wouldn't have to stack dex to meet the SD requirement. That said your ac would be pretty terrible if you don't want to take the hit on full plate against your skill checks. Would be good to invest in some concealment items (wands/scrolls/etc)

http://nwn2db.com/build/?277019

This is where I'm going. Since he's a halfling and can't hit supremely high STR, I think it's probably smarter to max out the PA damage bonuses.

He's level 5 now, so I haven't committed too far. But his base stats are down. Any final thoughts?

Illegal build. Need to have three of the fighter levels by level 20.

Ah didn't know that, thought it was by 30. Thanks, updated the build.

I would take expose weakness earlier... But if you want to go for a halfling with as many Favored Power Attack Feats as possible... I would actually use this build right here: http://nwn2db.com/build/?277021

I am not too happy about the caster level being just 25~, which means you can be and will be dispelled. So I would try to limit my need to rely on buffs to survive. But over all, it should do fine enough.

Edit: Pick ranger combat style I guess... If you find some bow with a large amount of Mighty, or some gnomish crossbow that gives crossbow feats and large amount of Mighty property, then you can make use of that.

Sun Wukong wrote:I would take expose weakness earlier... But if you want to go for a halfling with as many Favored Power Attack Feats as possible... I would actually use this build right here: http://nwn2db.com/build/?277021

We're not far off, thanks. Maybe I'll toss fighter out the window, but I feel like it gives me some flexibility.

Sun Wukong wrote:Edit: Pick ranger combat style I guess... If you find some bow with a large amount of Mighty, or some gnomish crossbow that gives crossbow feats and large amount of Mighty property, then you can make use of that.

Or just use a sling!

Yeah, a sling could work just fine.

http://nwn2db.com/build/?277023

Very similar to what you did here. Keep in mind I'm already level 5 and don't really want to recreate, so the Luck of the Heroes and stats are committed.

This version gets Steadfast, +2 STR feats, and Weapon Focus. I'm assuming there's some nasty death spells floating around which is why you almost always recommend Steadfast. I could swap those four for four FPE if that's the route I choose, but it's not a decision I need to make right now.

Thanks again!

You could take 5 levels of Frenzied Berserker sooner, the only reason I left mine to level 30 was so that I could get FPA for each of my Favored Enemies.

As for RCR, since you are below level 10, you can actually do a 100% experience RCR. Just ask someone to hold your items and gold, talk to RCR guy, login with new guy, take your stuff and experience. That is about 30~ minutes tops.

Think I prefer it. Seems like from your list, I'd only really need 4 FPEs on the top end anyway, if I go that route.

I took FB 5 later to get Bane earlier. Could play with that too. Thanks again!

Bane of Enemies gives damage against favored enemies, Frenzied Berserker gives more damage against everything, and there are areas without your selection of favored enemies. Thus, in my books, the Frenzied Berserker 5 gives more versatility.