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

In the last few days I tried to read everything on this forum about sneaky characters and I made two builds for this melee specialist. If you don't mind I'd like to ask for your opinions about them.

Fighter/Assassin/WoD/Rogue

Fighter/Rogue/WoD

One doesn't have to be an expert on rogues and hipsing characters to know that by not focusing on dex it will be average at best when it comes to sneaking (probably even with hide/ms gear and Cat's Grace/+4 dex item). I just hope one of these migh work just fine.

Hits is not as easy as Hips, but I guess it could work (with emergency potions/items) and instead of assassin spells (Cat's Grace for max Mithral BP bonus, Invisibility and Imp. Invisilibty just in case) it has Crippling Strike and Epic Precision (or maybe it doesn't have enough SA for those?).

I found a few feats/abilities that piqued my interest, like the Backstab, One Hander and HitS

P.S. I know my skills are all over the place, but I still prefer variety over min-maxing when it comes to (rp) flavoring skills.

I see nothing wrong with either build. Both have a good amount of DEX, ab and skill points which are the three things you need in order to play a stealthy type build. Obviously having AC is nice too but with HiPs and using it for both offense and defense you will only need average AC.

Two fine builds good sir.

~Thumbs up~

Thanks. : )

I think I'll try the one with the assassin levels. Do you have any advice for the main weapon? I know the server is full of good scimitars and longswords, but I thought a mace and bludgeoning damage might be better.

First build is better than the second because the second has no way of landing Sneak Attacks apart from the first flurry out of stealth. No HIPS or Feint means no reliable way to land sneak attacks (sure you can try to corner sneak, but it's not reliable). You cannot sneak attack a prone opponent (eg. via Improved Knockdown) in NWN2.

There's also a neat mace with OnHit Stun (Sune's Kiss?); it's only +1 enhancement though. You could think about using a flail now that they've been upgraded to x3 critical modifier.

Damn, I totally missed that knockdown part. I thought flat-footed enemies are easy targets for sneak attacks. In that case yeah, being able to hips is definitely a good thing.

Flail wouldn't be my first choice when it comes to melee weapons. That mace with stun sounds good, but usually on hit effects have terrible dc's so they only land when the target rolls 1. I wouldn't count on that. :p

Anyway, bludgeoning damage still sounds good imo, but maybe I'll just go with scimitars and imp. critical.

On hit items will work more often than you think, as well the assassin death attack paralyze. The enemy has to save against the effect on every hit so if you land 4 death attacks out of stealth each round the enemy has to save 8 times or get stunned/paralyzed...just one roll of "1" and that enemy is as good as dead.

chad878262 wrote:On hit items will work more often than you think

But the proc rate is high enough to focus on weapons like that? I checked the nwn2 database to see what can I expect without relying on random generated items:

Fist of the Legion (mace) EB+1, On Hit: Stun DC14
Kiss of Sune (mace) EB+1, On Hit: Hold DC14

Sleepwalker Kin (morningstar) EB+2, On Hit: Sleep DC14

Bruiser (warmace) EB+3, On Hit: Stun DC18

Dragon's Breath (halberd) EB+4, On Hit: Stun DC14, +1d6 Fire

+1-2 EB is kinda low even tho the build has Expose Weakness after lvl23. The warmace and halberd seems fine, but a sneaky character with a big ass weapon sounds rather silly.

Could always pay a wizard or priest for a greater magic weapon cast or but potions from a master Alchemist... Right now they are capped, but you can still get to +4 weapons with a very long duration for a couple thousand gold (easily made up for during any loot run). You would really only need it for tougher areas like the frost giants, but it would make a big difference, especially if you gave a group of large numbers.

Well, that's true. Also lately I started to play a soon-to-be master alchemist mainly for "campfire rp" and support purposes. With him I could provide my assassin with potions, elixirs and wands.

I will think about this mace topic, as it counts as light weapon maybe I could take a simple two weapon fighting feat instead of imp critical so for 2 AB I can get another attack per round (after imp knockdown or expose weakness it would still hit the target), or maybe even more if I can fit in the improved version.

Vesgar wrote:Well, that's true. Also lately I started to play a soon-to-be master alchemist mainly for "campfire rp" and support purposes. With him I could provide my assassin with potions, elixirs and wands.

I will think about this mace topic, as it counts as light weapon maybe I could take a simple two weapon fighting feat instead of imp critical so for 2 AB I can get another attack per round (after imp knockdown or expose weakness it would still hit the target), or maybe even more if I can fit in the improved version.

If possible with a sneak attack build you want PTWF since more apr= more sneak attacks. One extra apr doesn't really help though. Basically divide your apr by 3 and that is yuppie first flurry. 6 apr = 2 sneak attacks. 7-9 = 3, 10-12 = 4. So TWF would give you one more sneak out of stealth I guess, but shield for more defense would probably be better.

If I wanna keep it based around str, then I can't manage dex higher than 19. So GTWF is the best I can get for 9 apr. Maces are light weapons, so it would be better just to focus on dex and finesse, but I'd like to keep it as a "heavy hitter" or shadow warrior and rather not turn it into an agile duelist, macedancer. :d

I think I'll just stick to a single weapon style with a pocket-shield for emergencies.

Could go for a feint build, maybe with ghost faced killer? Either way for STR based it sorta feels like you'd be better off using a big weapon two handed with IPA rather than a mace.

For rp reasons my character can't really use bluff in conversations, so that would be a total waste while also forcing me to max it at the expense of other skills. Also I don't really like Feint mechanically. I guess I'm just too lazy to watch out for the right timing every single round.

I guess I could pick a large weapon, a falchion maybe with imp. critical? Yesterday I checked the appearance changer with a couple of weapons and the falchion and the scimitar have similar models, the warmace looks absolutely terrible tho. :d

What do you think about Arterial Strike?

For a very long time this character will have only 1d6 SA (if we are not counting the assassin DA) and even later it will only have 2d6. If I start the fight from stealth with SA and keep fighting without hipsing away for another SA, then it would be just better to use Arterial Strike, don't you think?

edit: I just read the description of Arterial Strike again and it seems like I missed that "extra" part. So I guess it won't work with a simple 1d6 Sneak Attack as it needs at least another 1d6 to be used.

chad878262 wrote:On hit items will work more often than you think,... get stunned/paralyzed...just one roll of "1" and that enemy is as good as dead.

On hit Stun/hold/sleep are all against will saves, and will and reflex saves never autofail on a roll of 1
So these weapons are only good, as long as the enemy will save is below the dc-range.

You want a weapon with on hit blind (or any other onhit that rolls against fortitude) - these work on a roll of 1. (There is a nice Katana in the avernus shop.)


Arterial Strike - i would guess the bleeding effect is blocked by damage resistance and many monsters have it in higher CR areas. (Not tested the feat myself.)


Hide in the Shadows - last i tried it was almost useless - as you need a way to get away from monsters to succeed at hiding.

Entering into the shadows renders you immobile for four seconds while you attempt to blend. If any hostile creatures are within melee attack range the attempt will fail.

Swashbuckler could be an option with the recent changes:

Disarm at level 8, Epic Presicion at 12, evasion at level 16