Video-Based Walkthrough for NWN2: Mysteries of Westgate
Selene, F CE Wood Elf Rogue 5 / Assassin 10
For my evil playthrough I wanted to build a character that was particularly suited to the benefits offered by becoming a Vampire, chiefly a +6 boost to Strength and a +4 boost to Dexterity. A Monk would certainly be up to the task, more so because becoming a Vampire also provides +1d6 to unarmed damage.
But I've already provided on exposition on Monks in my treatment of Khelgar, so I wanted to show something else. In SoZ, I have Finch make use of the Hide in Plain Sight power by simply keeping himself in stealth, using his Curse Song without breaking his stealth mode, keeping his Inspirations active, and otherwise letting the rest of the party do the dirty work.
Here I show a different way to utilize Hide in Plain Sight. Selene utilizes it to go into stealth, select a position from which she can strike at vulnerable enemies with sneak attacks. She can also use Hide in Plain Sight when she gets targeted by several enemies, thereby avoiding danger and allowing her sturdier party members to take the heat. She can then resume her search for an advantage position with which to resume her powerful sneak attacks.
Her weapon of choice is the Golden Bamboo Staff, which she has further enhanted, and which can stun its targets with a very high DC of 22. If she stuns her target, which is very frequently, she can continue to sneak attack that target while it remains in a stunned state. A swift death usually follows.
A high Strength score will increase her chances of connecting on her targets with her staff, and increase the damage of her blows in addition to sneak attack damage. A high Dexterity score augments her armor class, her use of Evasion, her Hide and Move Silently skills and by extension her use of Hide in Plain Sight.
*Note* The ability bonuses provided by becoming a Vampire will exceed, but not stack with, ability bonuses provided by any items available during MoW.
Stats
- Str 18 - The idea is that her damage will come from hefty two-handed swings of her quarterstaff, with damage multiplied by x1.5, and augmented even further by her frequent sneak attacks. Her Strength will get boosted even further once she becomes a Vampire.
- Dex 17 - Higher Dexterity will improve her armor class, as well as her use of the Hide and Move Silently skills in conjunction with her Hide in Plain Sight power. Higher Dexterity will also benefit her use of Evasion.
- Con 10 - Somewhat low, but her build is centred around Hide in Plain Sight and other Assassin abilities that will minimize the number of times she's ever attacked or takes damage.
- Int 14 - At least a decent amount of Intelligence is commendable for a skills-intense build.
- Wis 8 - Not especially important, and all the more so once she acquires immunity to mind-affecting abilities upon becoming a Vampire.
- Cha 8 - I do rely on conversational skills, but I figure acquiring a lot of skill ranks in them will suffice.
- 4th level: +1 Dexterity - To bring Dexterity to an even 18.
- 8th level: +1 Strength - Strength is essential to pretty much any damage dealer build.
- 12th level: +1 Strength - Raises her Strength to 20. When combined with the +6 Strength bonus she gets upon becoming a Vampire, her Strength reaches a total of 26. That means increases chance to hit and increased damage with each blow of her staff.
Skills
- Appraise - Important during MoW, since even with the ability to raise a lot of gold through the Lizardfolk Witch many of the items I want are really expensive. Only the main protagonist can use it.
- Bluff - Can be useful for some dialogue skill checks during MoW.
- Disable Device - She'll have the primary responsbility for disarming traps and so on, especially as Rinara will at one point leave the party altogether.
- Hide - The key skill for an Asssassin, as making a Hide skill check is necessary to take advantage of the Hide in Plain Sight ability.
- Intimidate - A key conversational skill for Selene.
- Move Silently - Allows her to move around without blowing cover after she's used Hide in Plain Sight.
- Open Lock - Allows her to unlock doors and traps, especially once Rinara is no longer in the party.
- Search - The skill for finding secret doors and traps.
- Tumble - Allows her to move about without provoking Attacks of Opportunity. Will also provide a +1 Dodge bonus to AC once she gets at least 10 ranks in the skill.
- Use Magic Device - 15 ranks allows her to equip items without class or alignment restrictions, including the Boots of the Sun Soul +2 that I find for her.
Feats
1st level (Rogue 1): Thug - Adds +2 bonuses to skill checks for Appraise and Intimidate. It can only be taken at 1st level, like any other background feat.
2nd level (Rogue 2): No feat selected.
3rd level (Rogue 3): Blind-Fight - It allows her a chance to re-roll to strike a concealed character and will also protect her against armor class penalties when concealed enemies try to attack her.
4th level (Rogue 4): No feat selected.
5th level (Rogue 5): No feat selected.
6th level (Assassin 1): Use Poison - Allows an Assassin to apply poison to a weapon without having to make a saving throw to avoid taking damage from the poison itself. Not that I ever used it, but it is automatically obtained on gaining the 1st level in Assassin.
Death Attack +1d6 - Death Attack requires a bit of explanation. Performing a successful Death Attack on an enemy that has not yet engaged in combat (i.e. combat has not yet started and the game engine has not yet performed initiative checks) will, in addition to sneak attack damage, also force the target to make a Fortitude saving throw or else become paralyzed. Otherwise, Death Attack damage will always stack with Sneak Attack damage whenever a successful Sneak Attack is made, whether or not the target has started participating in combat.
Power Attack - To maximize damage with two-handed swings of her Quarterstaff. Power Attack is always more effective for characters wielding two-handed weapons. The penalty to attack bonus is more or less negated by the build's ability to very often catch opponents flat-footed.
7th level (Assassin 2): Uncanny Dodge - Automatically obtained on taking a 2nd level in Assassin. Allows Selene to retain her Dexterity bonus to armor class even if she's caught flat-footed.
Poison Resistance +1 - Automatically obatined on taking a 2nd level in Asssassin.
Ghostly Visage (once per day) - Automatically obtained on taking a 2nd level in Assassin. I often uses this as a welcome defensive resource for Selene to provide her with damage reduction against particularly intense fights against numerous enemies. Really comes in handy during lower levels.
8th level (Assassin 3): No feat selected, but Death Attack damage now at +2d6.
9th level (Assassin 4): Poison Resistance +2 - Automatically obtained on taking the 4th level in Assassin.
Cleave - A natural choice for a Strength-based build. More follow-through attacks will not only mean more damage inflicted on enemies over time, but will also mean more chances to stun targets with the Golden Bamboo Staff.
10th level (Assassin 5): Death Attack +3d6 - Automatically obtained on gaining the 5th level in Assassin.
Improved Uncanny Dodge - Automatically obtained on gaining the 5th level in Assassin. The character cannot be sneak attacked except by a creature with levels in a class that allows sneak attacks that exceed the Assassin's own levels by four levels.
Darkness - Automatically obatined on gaining the 5th level in Assassin. The Assassin can cast the spell once per day.
11th level (Assassin 6): Invisibility once a day - Automatically obtained on gainiing the 6th level in Assassin. Soon to be overtaken by Hide in Plain Sight.
Poison Resistance +3 - Automatically obtained on gainiing the 6th level in Assassin.
12th level (Assassin 7): Death Attack +4d6 - Automatically obtained on gaining the 5th level in Assassin.
Sneaky - Adds +2 bonuses to both Hide and Move Silently, which will augment her use of Hide in Plain Sight.
13th level (Assassin 8): No feat selected.
14th level (Assassin 9): Death Attack +5d6 - Automatically obtained on gaining the 5th level in Assassin.
Greater Invisility (1/day) - Another defensive resource that can come in handy during intense fights. It can give her 50% concealment, which can be really helpful when she may still have to wait a few seconds before being able to use Hide in Plain Sight again.
15th level (Assassin 10): Weapon Focus (Quarterstaff) - And lastly, increasing her chances of landing blows with her staff.
Inventory
- Primary Weapon: Staff of Doom (Quarterstaff +3, Stun DC=22 75% / 3 rounds, +1d6 fire damage) - I purchased the Golden Bamboo Staff from Okuzo and then further enchanted to both raise the enhancement bonus to +3 and add +1d6 fire damage. Selene can use Power Attack with this to maximize her damage output, especially on sneak attacks. Furthermore, the very high DC of the stun effect means that she'll stun her targets with great frequency. And a stunned target is one that can be tagged for subsequent sneak attacks, whether or not Selene is standing behind or in front of the target.
- Secondary Weapon: Tempest's Touch (Longbow +2, +10 electrical resistance, unlimited ammunition +1d6 electrical damage) - Purchased from the Druid Merchant in the Market Triangle. Can come in handy if she needs to attack targets at long range. Her Elven ancestry allows her to use Longbows without having to take any Fighter levels or such.
- Helmet: Domino Mask (+10 hit points, -4 Concentration, immunity to death magic, immunity to mind-affecting spells, Fear (5) 1 / day, Ghostly Visage (9) 2 / day) - She won't be able to access the mask's powers once she becomes a Vampire. I guess I still have her wear it more for literary purposes than anything else.
- Amulet of Natural Armor +1 - Purchased from Mintassan. Every little bit of armor class can always be helpful, even for characters who aren't dedicated tanks.
- Armor: Fukio's Silks (+3 armor class, Mirror Image 1/day, +6 Move Silently) - Purchased from Okuzo. The armor class bonus certain helps. The Mirror Image once a day also provides an additional defensive resource for a character who can sometimes be vulnerable if caught out in the open. The bonus to Move Silently will also help her use of the Hide in Plain Sight power.
- Cloak: Cloak of Mysteries (+3 deflection bonus to armor class, +3 Bluff, Spell Focus: Illusion) - Looted from Skyrim Bloodfang during the Cloak of Mysteries quest. It becomes Selene's source of a deflection bonus to armor class. The boost to Bluff may also come in handy during certain conversations.
- Gloves: Bracers of Bruising (+3 Strength, +3 Intimidate) - Looted from Viglor at the conclusion of the Rinara's Fortune quest. The +3 Strength will have obvious benefits for a damage dealer build. These bracers are are even more meaningful for Selene than they were for Mantides during the good playthrough, since they also provide a bonus to her use of the Intimidate skill. The Strength bonus from the Bracers will ultimately, however, be overtaken by the enhanced Strength score she obtains once she becomes a Vampire.
- 1st Ring: Ring of Merchant Rule (+2 Charisma, +4 Appraise, light) - Looted from Dallia Urdo during the Okuzo's Honor quest. The +2 Charisma bonus will help his Warlock abilities. The +4 bonus to Appraise will help him sell goods for more, and buy goods for less.
- 2nd Ring: Ring of Resistance +2 - Purchased from Mintassan. Improved saving throws are always a good thing. It will also enhance her use of her Evasion ability.
- Belt: Belt of Agility +2 (+2 Dexterity, Freedom of Movement) - Purchased from Mintassan. The Dexterity bonus will improve her armor class, her Evasion ability, and her use of Hide in Plain Sight power. The Dexterity bonus from the Belt will ultimately, however, be overtaken by the enhanced Dexterity score she obtains once she becomes a Vampire.
- Boots: Boots of the Sun Soul +2 (+2 dodge bonus to armor class) - Purchased from Mintassan. The +2 bonus to armor class stacks, and is certainly welcome for any character. Even though Selene is more of a damage dealer and certainly not a tank, every little bit helps for every character. Selene can wear the Boots despite the class limitation owing to her having 15 ranks in the Use Magic Device skill.
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