Returning Player - Help Needed

[Garn Greymoon]

Hi everyone, it's been a few years and I've got the itch to come back and play. There's been a bunch of updates and I was hoping I could get some of you build experts some advice and help.

I'm looking at playing a sword and sorcery type of character, the initial thought is some sort of blade and augmented by spells. Since i foresee playing at all sorts of odd hours and short sessions most likely, i would like for the character to be fairly self reliant if possible. I'm curious whether it's worth going the arcane route or the divine route and also including summons or being more reliant on the blade. I'd rather not visit Myrkul sooner than need be!

I'll build up a story after the build is thought up.

[K'yon Oblodra]

Heya Garn,

first off all welcome back. There was a discussion about the exact same topic on discord today. I think the conclusion was kind of that the divine route is the better one to take though both are perfectly viable.

One of the strongest sword and magic of whatever sort builds is probably still the Favored Soul either pure or small dips.

You could however also go a arcane gish build way with for instance Eldritch Knight and other similar classes.

I honestly am no expert in builds so I'll just let the others give you concrete stuff XD.

Cheers K'yon

[Mutko1]

I have a arcane gish/ Sorc/Thaumaturge/EK/Dragonslayer. Pretty good RP , summons help you and you top at about 40AB , 49AC, 20DR from Ethereal visage + everything else auto still spell and i believe lvl 30 caster level. It's pretty powerfull can solo stuff like frost giant/ fire giant general/ dracolich and so on.
Of course by solo i mean you and your summon which is pretty powerful by itself!

First levels are kind of tough but i think after 12-13 you can solo level up easily all the way to 30!


Really unique, fun and strong build!

[Hoihe]

Hi everyone, it's been a few years and I've got the itch to come back and play. There's been a bunch of updates and I was hoping I could get some of you build experts some advice and help.

I'm looking at playing a sword and sorcery type of character, the initial thought is some sort of blade and augmented by spells. Since i foresee playing at all sorts of odd hours and short sessions most likely, i would like for the character to be fairly self reliant if possible. I'm curious whether it's worth going the arcane route or the divine route and also including summons or being more reliant on the blade. I'd rather not visit Myrkul sooner than need be!

I'll build up a story after the build is thought up.

http://nwn2db.com/build/?314009

I recommend this build.

It can work with moon elves, sun elves and tieflings. You could also do it with humans, but you'll need dump stats.

You can reorder the classes. ideally, it's best to put all your duelist levels before level 20 to get good damage and AC ASAP. I put wizard first for RP.


Playstyle is:



Solo: You don't buff up but prepare:
1 Improved Mage Armor
1 Spiderskin
4 Mirror images (or rely purely on wands and prep even more debuffs/damaging spells)
3 Shields (in case you need to use non-shielding Rapier vs an enemy you can't afford to lose your shield AC to, but should be rare especially with endgame gear).
1 Greater Heroism
1 Greater Magic Weapon
1 Keen
As many Spell Mantles as you expect to need in the area (only need it when fighting stuff like yuan-ti queen or expecting multiple save or dies).
A few spell breaches.

Rest go purely into damage, summoning or debuffs/controll spells. Maybe even some RP spells like scrying or analyze dweomer or stuff.

You want to have a wand of mirror image, dimension door and spell mantle.

It's ideal to get a rapier with vampiric regen for sustain, but you can wear regen capes without it costing anything.


Buff your vampiric rapier or any other weapons you have that's less than +3/+4 EB with GMW. Use keen and whetstone on all rapiers you will use. With a vampiric rapier, you can afford to drop your AC substantially (not use Shield or CE/ICE) due to constant regen.

Maybe carry some scrolls of Heroism for a long-term, cheap, easily reapplied buff to AB.


Try to catch out enemies in 1 vs 1, using HiPS to reduce their AC for your EW and Flourish to hit more easily. My rhythm is:
Opener: HiPS -> Flourish. Attack normally until Flourish is off CD (Your EW will be off CD alongside Flourish) and HiPS->flourish again.
If needed, use CE/ICE or Athkatlan.
Sometimes it's better to use CE+Athkatlan over ICE.

Avoid HiPSing to land attacks when fighting casters.

When the enemy has too much AC, if you didn't prophibit necromancy, use Curse of Impending Blades (or mass if fighting more than 1). If you forbade necromancy, use a wand to do the same. Also use Corrosive Grasp if it's a boss.

If your enemy has too much AB, use Bigby 5, Deafen and Taunt to be able to avoid CE/ICE reducing your ABY.

If enemy has too much DR, use damaging spells to take them out. Ideally, there I prefer to rotate HIPS -> Flourish to apply EW (does 14 dmg per rounds), casting a spell. By the time the spell hits them, your EW is off CD. This way you can maximize DPS.

If enemy has too much SR, either use SR-ignoring spells or Breach/Assay them. Doron Amar sells a sword that gives spell pen if you really must.

If you are surrounded, drop mirror image/displacement, maybe use a few Cloud spells on yourself (Cloud of Fire gives evasion and does 2d6 dmg per round: perfect spell for you). Definitely use Curse of Mass impending blades due to high value.

When fighting a boss, read a scroll of some cheap buff. Personally, I use Spell Mantle + Protection from Evil + Mirror Image. Go ICE + Athkatlan with Shield rapier and HiPS dance around them until they run out of dispels. Then while still turtling up, apply you IMA/spider and maybe other buffs you think relevant and then also slap them with Enervate, Ray of Enfeeblement, Corrosive Grasp, BlackFire, urse of Impending Blades and Deafen (all spells without saves to deal heavy debuffs).



If you're in a party:

Enable ICE and Athkatlan and try to draw enemies to attack you over others. If you want to be tricky, you can use your HiPS to make the enemies waste spells on you. However, use HiPS sparingly: it'll make enemies attack your friends and not you, and unlike you with your 50+ AC without any buffs, they will likely wind up losing a lot of HP.

If your party has a wizard to reliably buff you or a stronger tank, buff up with the Boss-buffs and act as a off-DPS off-tank.

When fighting bosses, rather than HiPS dance to draw out dispells, simply facetank the boss until he's out of dispels then buff up.





This build is a LOT of fun to me.

Currently tested:
Capable of soloing Yuan-ti queen and black dragon in serpent hills (using Spell-mantle facetanking and full-buffs for boss, no-buffs except for MI elsewhere)
Capable of soloing Elite Lizardman chief (needs full buffs for bossfight)
Capable of soloing Chaos (you go full turtle and rely entirely on spells to do damage, since undead are your weakness in melee due to DR and no crit)
Capable of carrying a level 19 PC down to the Netherese ruins and back with the lvl 19 not doing much except a few spells here and there.
Capable of fighting fire giants without any buffs. Can't solo balor. Can solo the general with full-buffs. Takes forever. Can tank the balor, even after dispel.
Capable of fighting Frost giants. Can't solo the boss (probably L2P issue on my end. Issue is with too many enemies in the room and needing buffs).

Current gear:
+4 shirt (56K from epic merchant)
+4 dodge boots (dunno cost, prolly around 200-300K)
+2 natural armor amulet
regen cape with concentration bonus (cloak of spellblade IIRC is how it's sold?)
Ring of Knight (IIRC 50K?) (+2dex, con, toughness)
1 open ring slot (I use Ring of Untherite Generals which gives me 3 cure mass moderate wounds/day)
+3 shield rapier and vampiric rapier. Vampiric rapier is hard to get, you can get like vamp regen 3 if you're very lucky, but I think just 1 is enough.
Circlet of Mages (think 100K?) +3 int
Belt of Hill Giant (+3 str)
Open gauntlet slot (I use Mad gent's gloves and Guantlets of Fury)


Over all, other than dodge boots, and the vampiric rapier, I'd say you should easily get the gear I have by lvl 20. +3 dodge is pretty cheap so not that big of a deal. Meaning, you should be able to play this build without much issue. I recommend getting duelist levels as early as possible to capitalize on damage and AC early, as your spells are only relevant when fighting bosses anyway.

Vampiric rapier can be susbtitued by not goin 14 cha and instead 14 str and carrying heal kits.

In my playing here, I had the most fun with this build (alongside a traditional rogue).



Fun bonus: Your punches deal 14 + 1d3 + 2d6 dmg on your first strike. You can punch a lot of things dead without much effort. Bonus points if your char doesn't look physically assuming.