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

I am trying to finalize a melee build I have come up with, and would appreciate your input.
The RP concept is a heavy armor fighter build with no divine or arcane spellcasting. Knight type with sword and shield who can go two hand to dish out some damage. Former mercenary - army type. I want him to be tanky while doing some damage, being able to clear most of the content solo and not be useless in PVP. So I went with barb20/f6/AK4.

Build as is: http://nwn2db.com/build/?284588

I think that defensively he is ok, with tower shield, damage reduction, a large HP pool and full tumble/spellcraft (Is he?). I don't know how good he will be offensively.
I might have feats to spare though, and I don't know what to do with them. If I don't take monkey grip (go for the tower shield with the feat) and no armor skin I get two extra feats. Perhaps I could use them to get +2 str. Or I could get shield bash + something. Or PA-IPA.

If anyone is willing to give me a pros/cons of my current build or alternative approaches to tweak it I d be grateful.

This looks like a solid tank ( ) !

I would consider dropping knockdown and/or improved knockdown for combat expertise and/or improved combat expertise. Also picking normal rage instead of whirlwind frenzy could fit the theme more, he'd gain some fast healing and a bit more damage at the cost of some AC while raging, which can be offset by CE/ICE.

Anything I could fit in to improve the damage? Or the saves (reflex will be terrible)?

Knockdown is there for pvp, but I have no clue how useful it will really be. If it does not add anything to the build I can drop it. And then I will have 3-4 feats to play with. CE-ICE are two.

I was thinking about normal rage too, what is the actual effect on damage between the two rage modes?

Looks good, you will be able to solo the frost giant king with ease. In the epic levels there are not many mobs worth knocking down, except some of the weaker dragons.

The contingency heal on normal rage is bugged and does not work.

What makes the normal rage stand out is the +13 will saves including steadfast.

I would take normal rage for one handed and whirlwind for two handed weapons.

It might take a little longer to kill epic enemies with high damage resistance if you do not have proper epic weapons. However, your build is focused on defense.

The reflex saves dont matter so much. It sometimes causes you to be immobilized, tough the enemies wont be able to hurt you because of your defense, so its more like a little break from combat. The only exception is storm of vengeance. There is a bug which does not apply your spellcraft ranks to the saves and you get stunned for two rounds instead of one. But you can just move out of the area. (gust of wind does not dispell it any more)

I would read this thread about the comparison between pa and nh:
viewtopic.php?f=49&t=63421

I would do what Valefort said. Maybe also drop NH and E.Dr III for PA/IPA. But not sure about that...
NH,PA/IPA are your basic feats to improve DMG output.

Regarding Reflex saves: They are so low that it will not matter to improve them. I guess your wearing armor and therefore are protected by Heavy Armor efficiancy (20% elemental dmg reduction?). Also your DEX is low , so you cant make much from Mithral Chainmail.

Better you calculate your Ac and Dmg befire playing. Then we can judge if its enough.

Regarding skills: stop at UMD 13 (-2 for CHA,+2 for synergy from Spellcraft 5+), Tumble at 30, Spellcraft at 30.

You could try to make an offensive/Defensive build with Barb20/FB5 and something else and pick whirlwind frenzy for extra AC.

Good twohanded offensive/defensive barbs are for example Barb20/FB5/Battlereger5 with whirlwind frenzy and extend rage 4.

Right, update. Removed KD/IKD. Got 2 feats. I checked the wiki and barb can get both Great str and Epic rage as the normal + extra feat at 20(correct??), so I can squeeze 2 great strengths in the epics and keep an early prowess/EW. Fixed the skills as suggested.

Replaced NH with IPA, had to drop extend rage 3. Kalgain, thanks for the link, I think NH is too situational for my liking. Not sure, but I feel IPA is better. Will extend rage 2 + the amulet be enough?

Tumble calculates bonus to AC on base ranks? Meaning I will get +3 at 30 lvls even when wearing plate and shield?

Got CE. No room for ICE right now. Unless I drop 1 level of DR.

http://nwn2db.com/build/?284724

I will make an attempt to calculate AC and damage:

AC not raging with shield: 10(base) + 1(dex with +3 item) + 8(full plate) + 3(tumble) + 2(barb bonus) + 12(armor,deflection,dodge,natural +3 items) + 8(+4 shield) + 3(CE) = 47 AC
When raging this will get to either 52 (normal rage, ice troll) or 55 (WF)

AC raging 2 handed: 10(base) + 1(dex with +3 item) + 8(full plate) + 3(tumble) + 2(barb bonus) + 9(armor,deflection,dodge +3 items) + 3(CE) + 8(ice troll) + 5(WF dodge)= 49 AC
If i go normal rage this will be 44.

Am I forgetting something? There is also a 14 point damage reduction.

Damage:
1 handed: 1d12 + 3(EB) + 14 (38 str) + 6(IPA) + 1 AK = 31
2 handed: 1d12 + 3(EB) + 21 (38 str) + 12(IPA) + 1 AK = 44
Assumed a +3 weap, cause i m poor The above are for WF, if normal rage its +2?

AB : 30 (BAB) + 14 (STR, raging) + 1 (epic prowess) + 3(weap) - 6 (IPA) - 3(CE)= 39 AB
It's highly likely I am forgetting things in the calcs, can someone please verify? Never done them before.

It's all correct except for WF with shield, there's a -2 AC penalty there. Otherwise the damage bonus from normal rage scales too, +1 for normal, +2 for greater, +3 mighty, +4 epic rage.

Thanks, edited the post. I also forgot -3 AB from CE.

Edit: So, how are those numbers holding up? They will get better with +4 items ofc.

Hey,

those numbers seem all fine for me. Well done!

You can handle most of the server.

Thank you all for your input, I think I m ready.