Ranger/Fighter/WM and perhaps Tempest

[qwertyh88]

Hi. I am new to the server so be gentle with me. I am trying to create a playable, not uber ranger ~.

The concept I am going for is a STR based dual wield ranger that has is true to the ranger creed, ie part warrior, part rogue, part caster.

Changes made. Please refer to http://nwn2db.com/build/?242982
for easier viewing. Thanks.

Questions:

Is my parry high enough?
What are the most ideal 4 favored enemies?
Attack drops by -2 when dual wielding from the nwn2bd build

[Thorsson]

Parry is not much use, particularly if you dual wield. Look it up on the NWN2 Wiki if you wish to know more.

Other points:

1. Ranger at level 16 stops 1 level before free Outdoor HiPS, but at least 5 past where it needs to be for a non-HiPSter.
2. It has CL16, which means it is going to get dispelled constantly. The only good point is that not too many Ranger spells help a Strength TWF anyway, but OFC that raises the question again of why so many Ranger levels.
3. Too many non-Epic Feats at Epic levels; you miss out on Expose Weakness, for example.
4. You get GTWF twice, which definitely says you have too many Ranger levels, better to get more Fighter for more Feats; then you could maybe afford such Feats as Power Critical and Exotic Weapon Prof (Bastard Swords aren't that good anyway).
5. Most people take Undead, Giants and Orcs as FEs I think.
6. NWN2DB is bugged on TWF; it always assumes you have a light weapon in the off-hand.

I'm not keen on Ranger & Fighter in the same build, they cover too much of the same ground, but with your classes you would probably be best off going Ra10/F8/Te5/WM7 or Ra6/F12/Te5/WM7 (the latter misses out on Expose Weakness, but gains EWS and MWM).

[qwertyh88]

1.) I wasn't so keen about outdoor HIPS since I have no idea who useful outdoor HIPS can be? And I didn't invest any skills into hide or move silently. I put ranger to lvl 16 to be able to access 4th lvl casting spells. CL will be an issue of course but again I have no idea how often players are dispelled in PvE?

Parry was gotten to be a bandage solution to the low AB for going a strength based dual wield. Is my AB high enough not to need it?

Thanks for your help!

[Thorsson]

1. My own experience says that you will be dispelled quite a lot; basically any area that has casters will hit you with dispells. Personally I wouldn't want to rely on spells unless I was at least CL28, although others seem happy with CL25. In any case, the spells work best with a Ranged, sneaky Ranger. As for Outdoor HiPS; well it's a lot less use than full HiPS, but still, HiPS is widely regarded as the strongest single Feat in the game. However you would need Hide/MS skills.

2. I think that you didn't read the Wiki! Parry does nothing for your AB. It restricts the number of attacks you can make per round (which is why it particularly hurts a TWF). It adds a little defence, but basically it's just not worth it. I thought that it might be worthwhile at low-mid levels, but my personal testing says no, not even then. About the only possibly use I can actually see would be as a Duellist/Assassin: Duellist because you can actually get it to a worthwhile level and Assassin, because it's there to help defence until you can re-HiPS.

Part-time Rangers are really just not worth it. Either take a small number of levels for the free Feats and skill access, or go to at least 21 levels, where you get free PTWF and can take Bane of Enemies.

Personally, for a Str TWF I wouldn't take Ranger at all on BGTSCC; I'd look at Fighter/Tempest/Dervish builds or similar. It's got more AB, AC, damage, plus you have 'Dance' for tough fights. Here's a couple: http://nwn2db.com/build/?241459; http://nwn2db.com/build/?241707

[qwertyh88]

No, I read about parry and this is how I interpret it.

With 3 parries per attacker grouped into beginning, middle, and End.

So parry against an attacker with 6 attacks per round.

I will parry the 1st and 3rd and 5th attack.

So essentially instead of rolling against my AC..the 1st and 3rd attack will be rolling against my parry check. This is what I meant about using parry to offset my AC.
2 out of 3 highest attacks are countered by parry.

Is this interpretation off?
Thanks again.

[Thorsson]

You said AB! It does help your defence, but the price you pay is decimating your damage. Not generally a good exchange.

Let's imagine you were defending against someone with 6 attacks, then you would indeed Parry the 1st, 3rd & 5th if you were successful. What happens when they are a TWF with 12 attacks though?

Also you have a maximum of three Ripostes. You have to beat the Parry check by 10 to get one of those. So that's <3 attacks against the 9 attacks you can get without Parry. It will take you more than three times as long to kill enemies; meanwhile they still get 3+ attacks against you!! Trust me, Parry is rubbish.

[qwertyh88]

My bad about the AB. Yes...against a dual wielder that parry would be insufficient. But how many dual wield do you encounter in p v e?

In regards to weapons, I am thinking of bastards swords/katanas because I think they are easier to come by.

And as a gentle reminder, I am not looking for an uber character build. I am looking for a playable character.

I may go for a 8ranger/10 dervish/5 tempest/7WM build.
(Dervish seems very feminine to my male character...)

Or maybe a 9 ranger/9 Dervish/5 tempest/7WM build is better just for expose weakness?

[Thorsson]

Casters are uber on BGTSSC. No chance of any melee being uber, except maybe Dwarven Defenders.

While Dervish 10 is boosted here (+1AC, 1000 cuts 3x a day) I think Expose Weakness still trumps that.