Practical skill caps vs RP skills

[HauteCarl]

Hello all,

I am in the midst of deciding where to put my spare skill points and have a few questions. I would like to invest heavily in some rp skills but do not want to under develop any needed skills for mechanical reasons.

How much disable device is needed mechanically for the server, what is the highest trap dc and likewise for open lock, I do see a few 99dc locks in the gate I assume those cannot be picked?

Search- Is search useful for anything mechanically on a rogue with trap sense? I am not aware of any hidden secrets on the server that have a search dc, though I have played on NWN1 pw that did.

Tumble, Is 40 pretty much the cap? I know dex bonus does not count toward the AC but if you get +10 from gear can you get another +1 ac for getting it to 50?

Umd - Is there a no fail point for say level 9 scrolls or is taking this skill 29 enough for everything?

[Tsidkenu]

Disable Device: A few areas have epic traps which you can recover and sell for a very tidy profit. I think their recover DCs are in the high 50s to low 60s although an actual trapper can confirm that. Epic Traps cannot be set; they turn into Deadly traps to prevent griefing of transitions (yes, some people in the past did that. Sigh). Disable DCs will be 10 points lower than recover, obviously, so you're looking at 40s to 50s to disable them.

Open Lock: There are a few DC 100 locks in the Netherese Maze that are very handy shortcuts. Since that area is UD only now it is fairly irrelevant, though. Otherwise you probably only need ~20 ranks (including dex mod) to open close to 100% of chests etc. If you need more, utilise Lockpicks (+1, +3, +6, +10).

Search: Same as Open Lock. You usually don't need more than about ~20 ranks in this skill, although having more will give you more chance of spotting those horrid epic traps in higher level areas.

Tumble: There is never any reason to exceed 30 base ranks in tumble. Ever. The max AC bonus is +3, as it is calculated from base ranks only (not modifiers).

UMD: DC for using scrolls is 25 + Spell Level, therefore the highest DC you will see is 34 for 9th level scrolls. You can usually stop at about ~29 total ranks of UMD (includes CHA modifier and any +UMD items you might have) and use a scroll/potion of Greater Heroism for the remaining +4, although if you get dispelled having 33 UMD (rather than relying on Gtr. Heroism) can also be worthwhile.

[HauteCarl]

Thanks a lot for the info, this will allow me to trim some points and apply them to some RP skills. Regarding Open Lock, I will take that to the mid 30's or so, I know I have encountered some doors with a DC of 60-61 or so on the surface realm, Durlags tower I think?

Also, is there a cap on the saves bonus from spellcraft similar to how tumble has an AC cap?

[Endelyon]

Open Lock: There are a few DC 100 locks in the Netherese Maze that are very handy shortcuts. Since that area is UD only now it is fairly irrelevant, though. Otherwise you probably only need ~20 ranks (including dex mod) to open close to 100% of chests etc. If you need more, utilise Lockpicks (+1, +3, +6, +10).

Very solid and informative post, I just wanted to take this opportunity to point out that recently Valefort fixed it so that the Netherese Maze now runs between Durlag's Tower and the Illithid Mines once more, just as it did in days of yore (in other words, it can be accessed from the surface again). I believe the DCs on those shortcuts are around 75 though, most doors in the module with a 99 DC don't actually lead anywhere. There are also some DC 80 locks in Dragonspear Castle that allow you to bypass the lever puzzles.

@HauteCarl:
Saves from spellcraft and AC from tumble don't actually have a hard cap as far as I know, but we do have a soft cap of +3 AC from tumble and +6 from spellcraft because you can't reach 35 or 40 base ranks in either skill on our server.

[Tsidkenu]

Yes. Spellcraft grants +1 save vs. spells for every 5 base ranks (so max +6 with 30 base ranks). Note that this does not include ranks from your character's intelligence modifier or items. Spent level up points only (like with Tumble).

[Hoihe]

Yes. Spellcraft grants +1 save vs. spells for every 5 base ranks (so max +6 with 30 base ranks). Note that this does not include ranks from your character's intelligence modifier or items. Spent level up points only (like with Tumble).

Duelist 7 works the same with parry on the server! Every 6 ranks grants 1 deflection bonus.

[Nemni]

I am not aware of any hidden secrets on the server that have a search dc, though I have played on NWN1 pw that did.

I know of at least one such door, but I don't know the DC. Somewhere between 20-30 would be by guess, including the d20 roll.

[HauteCarl]

Yes. Spellcraft grants +1 save vs. spells for every 5 base ranks (so max +6 with 30 base ranks). Note that this does not include ranks from your character's intelligence modifier or items. Spent level up points only (like with Tumble).

Duelist 7 works the same with parry on the server! Every 6 ranks grants 1 deflection bonus.

Is deflection bonus standard or do you need to be in parry mode to have it in affect? Does this apply to any class with skill points in Parry or only the duelist class?

[Sun Wukong]

If I am not mistaken, the deflection you get will not stack with one from items. You need to have 7 levels of Duelist, otherwise you do not get it, and only base skill ranks count... Not bonuses from items or feats.

[chad878262]

The deflection applies regardless of being in Parry Mode, but Comments Only is also correct that it does not stack. It essentially opens up an item slot while allowing you to get deflection AC one higher than what is possible from an item.

[HauteCarl]

Thank you everyone for all the helpful information!

[RaiderOne]

From the descriptions of some of the skills they operate differently to the base game. Example tumble makes no mention of the +1 AC per 10 ranks. I assume these skills are changed to match the new descriptions?

[chad878262]

From the descriptions of some of the skills they operate differently to the base game. Example tumble makes no mention of the +1 AC per 10 ranks. I assume these skills are changed to match the new descriptions?

Tumble AC and spellcraft saves are vanilla nwn2.

[RaiderOne]

Tumble AC and spellcraft saves are vanilla nwn2.

The BGTSCC wiki makes no mention of the AC bonus, and though I cant check (at work) im pretty sure the in game description dosent either.

[chad878262]

Tumble AC and spellcraft saves are vanilla nwn2.

The BGTSCC wiki makes no mention of the AC bonus, and though I cant check (at work) im pretty sure the in game description dosent either.

As I said, it's vanilla so no mention is due to copying over vanilla text in the wiki. While it likely should be updated to accurately explain the additional bonus it's a low priority in comparison to other projects being worked.