Advice needed - Paladin/Dervish balancing RP/Mechanics

[korul]

Hello,

I'm new here and more than rusty on NWN2 as a whole. So bear (or wolf) that in mind

I have a thing for Falchions (always had), so I was instantly drawn to Dervish. I also am fond of goblinoids, and as tnose (in my mind) mesh well as a fantasy, my path was set... For a half-orc Sune Paladin/Dervish. This might not seem to make much sense, but for RP reasons I really wanted to try.

The problem i stumble upon is the exact class mix needed to both fulfill the dancing falchion devil mechanically, and expresive goblinoid devoted to beauty in thought and actions, more than appearances.

What I came up with is a mix of Paladin/Dervish with supporting Fighter and possibly WM?

Would be very thankful for advice, as I'm more than likely to screw myself over.

Goals:
1. Having cohesive mechanically character at both level 20 and (rather ambitious) 30, not suffering too much on the way.
2. Having high scores in skills I deem important for the RP background (Diplomacy, Sense Motive, Performance)


Ideas I had, with cons I see
Till 20
A Dervish 10
Fighter 3-4
Paladn 3-4
WM 3-4
Problem I see here lies with having Performance stuck at 23, but it gives me access to the lvl 10 Dervish early

B Dervish 5
Fighter 4
Paladin 6
WM 5
Problem is not having access to the fun later Dervish stuff, but being able to level up performance past 20, which I feel would be appropriate

Overall, I feel that WM is a strong option, but it may not be worth it? Not sure. If I cut it, I could either go for
lvl 30
Fighter 12, Dervish 10, Paladin 8
or
Fighter 4 Dervish 10 Paladin 16
Or some other way I'm missing.

I know I'm not focusing that much on the Paladin, but it's more of the core of values and drives of the character, rather than goal and aspiration - she doesn't seem like a one to become a really high ranking paladin and would rather be a representation of the values associated with the church.

Thank you for feedback in advance and sorry if this is a messy post!

[Nomster]

I am horrible with builds but the RP concept is interesting. The idea that Sune would welcome a half-orc as a paladin is tickling to the mind but you seem to have thought of how to RP out the Sunite aspect of it.

I would not worry about perform so much. Even 10 perform shows training and if you happen to put down some points in charisma, you get a few extra from there. Otherwise, there is good performing gear around and lately DM Ghost has had an NPC selling musical instruments with some perform points on them. You do not need to aim for high perform as there's no mechanical advantage to your character having so much and you are probably struggling with skill points anyway.

Do note that if you use paladin spells, your character will be easily dispelled. For that reason, I would probably take a paladin dip or invest far more heavily in paladin.

[Maximvs]

Half orc paladin of sune makes my eye twitch.

If you want to represent the core values of a god, you don't necessarily need to be a paladin or cleric. You can make an extremely devoted fighter/rogue for example. Also, if you're looking to make it closer to actual PnP, paladins cannot take paladin classes back after multiclassing. If you're planning on 3-4 paladin lvls maximum, I'd just skip the class entirely if I were you.

[Steve]

Cleric 3 (Luck and Chaos domains) / Fighter 12 / Dervish 10 / Divine Champion 5.

Or just Fighter 12 / Dervish 10 / Divine Champion 8

[Thorsson]

1. If F & P get out of step by more than 1 level you will get an XP Penalty (same goes for Fighter and Cleric, Steve!).

2. You haven't said what you were thinking of at level 30 with WM in. But with Dervish 10 that would be 17 of your levels accounted for - logical for the remainder would be F8/P5, presuming you want EDM. You could put off an XP Pen until level 29 with this split.

3. If you get Dervish 10 early you'll probably need Able Learner, because otherwise maxing Perform/Tumble will be costly.

4. With Dervish you want to max Perform. Don't listen to any fule who says otherwise!

Edit: Actually this is very hard to pull off, you have very little room for manoeuvre on either stats or feats if you wish to miss avoidable XP Penalties and make best use of your stats - maybe someone else can come up with an improvement: http://nwn2db.com/build/?244933

[korul]

Thank you all, but may Sune bless the beautiful soul of Thorsson.

Beside showing me how much I forgotten (xp penalties), and that would I brewed is basically useless (I really screwed up stat base: could have gotten 1-2 "free" stat points with similiar end result, I can't reasonably get high enough CHA and don't have CON to aim for cool defensive epic feats). What you shared gave me some perspective. Will see if it actually semi-work, but I don't feel like restarting, as my more game-y friends would prefer me not to, as they want us to stay at similiar level

I don't think that with Falchion 18-20 base range I necessarily need lvl 7 WM, so I can go
Der 10
WM 5
Pal 7-8
Fig 7-8

And yes, it will be not-so-good, but hopefully will suffice. I really feel that if I want to defend the RP concept I require those Pally levels, and yes, I will strive to get as high Performance as I can.

Thank you all for input, if sb has anything else to add, will gladly hear out

[Thorsson]

You know about RCR?

[Akroma666]

1. If F & P get out of step by more than 1 level you will get an XP Penalty (same goes for Fighter and Cleric, Steve!).

2. You haven't said what you were thinking of at level 30 with WM in. But with Dervish 10 that would be 17 of your levels accounted for - logical for the remainder would be F8/P5, presuming you want EDM. You could put off an XP Pen until level 29 with this split.

3. If you get Dervish 10 early you'll probably need Able Learner, because otherwise maxing Perform/Tumble will be costly.

4. With Dervish you want to max Perform. Don't listen to any fule who says otherwise!

Edit: Actually this is very hard to pull off, you have very little room for manoeuvre on either stats or feats if you wish to miss avoidable XP Penalties and make best use of your stats - maybe someone else can come up with an improvement: http://nwn2db.com/build/?244933

Saw this the other morning. Very interesting and nicely done!