Server Favored Soul Refresher

[Vogar Eol]

Hello, my character name is Rashal, and I've been away from the server for a while. Quite a while, actually. Now I'm trying to remember some of the finer details of the server and nwn2.

Rashal is a human Level 24, and a Favored Soul of Oghma. He is not multiclassed, so no EDM. He does have an excellent spell selection, plus all five Fey Heritage feats. Otherwise, his feats are pretty much Extend Spell, Silent Spell, and a few of the Auto Silence epic feats. A very solid character, but by no means a Paladin/FS or a Cleric/FS fully power built.

Now that I'm playing again, I'm almost regretting not going for a multi-class. I have a base of 15/material damage reduction, but still walked into several places exploring that pretty much instantly killed me. Losing 2400 experience a go is moderately depressing.

Sure, sure... "Take people with you" is all well and good. I've not exactly had much luck with that. A few of you on the forums have probably seen me gather some folks for trips "north". To date, I really haven't found anyone willing to go adventuring unless they were well outside my epic range. I've lead several small groups off to the Trolls and the like, but definitely was carrying the party.

Is there much of a use on the server for a tanky-healer and mass-buffer? I'm really not seeing people going to the harder areas where one is needed. I really feel like I should just rebuild for more damage from EDM so I can at least go have some fun exploring. Walking around with Greater Sanctuary gets very boring. So does standing/sitting around the fire.

Should I rebuild?

[Valefort]

This is weird, some areas had their difficulty increased but not to the point of being instantly killed. Just where did you go ? And how do you reach 25 DR ?

[Vogar Eol]

Sorry, had to fact check. It's 15/- not 25/-.

[aaron22]

Hello, my character name is Rashal, I have a base of 25/material damage reduction

this is all i saw..

[Vogar Eol]

So much hate. It's a class feature combined with five otherwise useless feats. Gimmicky, but adds some RP flavor and utility.

[Valefort]

So, where did you to get insta killed ? Darkhold ascent ? That's the only area that I can think of where you can be wiped like that.

[ARHicks00]

Favored Soul are useless unless you played to play a primary healer or buffer/dps-tank build. They have a whole lot of Charisma, but nothing they can put it towards that is useful other than UMD. There spell DCs are based on their wisdom, which brings me to my next point, if you want to spellcast with holy magic, you're better off playing a cleric.

Tanks are useless in any NWN2 server as no matter how your high saves or how high your AC is, there is always one enemy that can bypass one or both of your defenses. You need a dps tanks with emphasis on dps than tanking. That or you can play a full dps. Parties in this server (and other servers) can do a quest without a healer so primary healing is not necessary. Also primary healing doesn't take you far if you have no offensive.

With that being said, your best bet would be to go Favored Soul 27/BG 3, Favored Soul/Clr 3, or Favored Soul 26/Pally 4 so you can put that Charisma to use. If you're trying to be buff dps/tank with good healing then a Clr 9/DSlayer 7/Wpriest 4/Hospit 10 of Silvanus using Water and Healing Domains. Water gives you Evasion and Healing for empowered healing. You also get Spot, Tumble, and Listen.

If you want to do a EDM Holy healer build then go Star Elf as they get points towards Charisma with ECL or Aasimar for Str 22/Wis 19/Cha 22 finish. Ditto with Star Elf or Aasimar as Favored Soul except no wisdom and a higher charisma and strength. I always say if you're going EDM, you might as well go paladin since their offensive buffs help them achieve just that.

[Vogar Eol]

I really would not change much if I rebuilt. He'd still be human and Oghma. I'd just go for FS/Cleric, with the EDM added instead of some metamagic.

[metaquad4]

You can go one better than that.

One of these:

FvS/Blackguard (3)/Rogue (3)
FvS/Paladin (4)/Rogue (3)
FvS/Cleric (With Water Domain) or FvS/Cleric (3)/Rogue (3) for without water domain

Evasion is a giant boon, both to yourself and to your party. If you take epic prowess, you can then take expose weakness. It lets you hit things easier, and it also lets you wittle down enemy's AC, which helps not only you, but anyone with you. Its a massively amazing feat for melee and if you can, you should always take it. Any melee build can benefit from it, and your entire party does as well.

Not only that, but reflex spells won't bother you anymore.

And, in addition, if you take rogue you can pick up tumble, which is 2 more AC (from 10 tumble to 30 tumble) as well as a detection skill.

[Valefort]

You really don't need to do all that crazy stuff, FS alone is fine. Pump some STR if you're not happy with the killing speed but that's it, the powerbuilding described here is by no means necessary.

But please tell where you went to be butchered.

[ARHicks00]

I really would not change much if I rebuilt. He'd still be human and Oghma. I'd just go for FS/Cleric, with the EDM added instead of some metamagic.

Good. EDM goes along than strength since most monsters don't have any kind divine energy resistance. Strength can be negated with a good 10/- to 15/-.

[Calodan]

You really don't need to do all that crazy stuff, FS alone is fine. Pump some STR if you're not happy with the killing speed but that's it, the powerbuilding described here is by no means necessary.

But please tell where you went to be butchered.

There is only a couple of areas where this can happen from my experience. However it is possible now and again in places like the Frost Giants and the Vault of the Dead to get an odd spawn and get mobbed with a obscene amount of 1 roll failures to die.....Not frequent with a FvS though. So I am curious as well where this person got butchered with a pure FvS. I run a 26 FvS/4 R build with a spear and shield of all things. So I am confused as to how they got butchered at all.

[Vogar Eol]

Mob had great axes, and I suspect they were the material that bypasses my DR. I was getting hit for +60 damage. Didn't have time to react with Ethereal or Sanc.

[Vogar Eol]

I've also noticed that the serve has a lot more +4 gear floating around now. I vaguely remember fighting the Balor with a group before I left, but don't remember if the gear there was worth the effort.

I've also been seeing the insane prices for gear in shops. Don't even get me started on the price some items are fetching on Auction now. Last few mithril fullplates went for close to half a million.

What are people actively doing to earn coin and experience in epic levels? I remember the old days of large groups working around in Cloakwood, outside Nashkel, and Trolls' Ford. Looks to me now that just doesn't happen anymore anywhere. I have seen a lot of 3 player groups in the mid level areas, however.

[Vogar Eol]

Also, what are the downsides for being a 26-27 Favored Soul rather than a full 30 Favored Soul? How much does that matter for dispel checks, Spell Resistance, caster level, and the like?