Opinions on class

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As some know, I'm going to be starting NWN1 again and giving it a go with the expansions and a few modules.

Just a few questions to raise if I may, and get opinions on what I'm thinking of doing.

I want that bard woman as my henchman, just to see if there's an interesting romance tied in with that (yeah, I decided to start OC again too...). I also decided it might be fun to have a ranged character to go with a ranged henchman, so I decided with a ranger. I went half-elf so that I could go Arcane Archer when the opportunity arises. I just noticed though, that the Arcane Archer 'kit' says it requires 1st level arcane spells. Does this mean I just need to take 1 level in Wizard / Sorceror and that's it? Or will I need to level say, Sorceror levels as Arcane Archer increases in levels (to get higher level Arcane Archer abilities)?

Is this a good class, or a crap one? Will it work well with the bard chick or had I better get a melee tank ?

Feedback please!

 

All you need is one arcane level (Sorcerer / Wizard / Bard).

Arcane Archer can be a cool class because some of the Arcane Archer abilities are pretty nifty. When I did an AA, I had about 7 wizard levels because I wanted some balance between spells and arrows. Main thing that is interesting is that AA requires completely different tactics than other classes.

My main question for you would be whether you REALLY want to have two ranged characters. Given the high amount of fights with hordes of low level monsters in the OC, having at least one character who can carve through them quickly (with a greataxe, or a fireball) can help save your sanity a bit. Having an Arcane Archer along with Sharwyn might be an interesting challenge.

But that's the fun of things, I guess.

 

That's what I thought as well. Also, a lot of the fights are through tight dungeons or other buildings (like the prison), where you don't really get much opportunity to put space between you are your enemies - I assume that ranged guys incur a penalty when the mobs get in close?

I want Sharwyn as the henchman, but I also fancy the AA class. What melee classes could be good fun? I thought about maybe a Barbarian mixed in with something else, perhaps Weapon Master?

That's another thing, I notice a lot of the Prestige Classes have armour or weapon restrictions. What if I say, mix a Barbarian in with a Blackguard for example (one leather, one mail). Would I still be restricted to 'medium' armour? I'm not sure how this all works to be honest.

 

As far as I am aware, none of the classes have armour 'restrictions' so much as they don't come with armour 'proficiencies'. In other words, a pure Barbarian can't wear heavy armour, but as soon as he multiclasses with someone who can, then he can as well.

All the melee classes can be useful. A pure barbarian would take forever to get enough feats to qualify for Weapon Master. You need to have fighter levels to speed that process up.

Arcane Archer is great, but I just don't recommend doing it with Sharwyn, if you insist on playing the OC. If you must have Sharwyn, I'd use her as support for your melee character. Ranger / Rogue / Shadowdancer could also be an interesting option because then you could also deal with all the traps and locks etc as well as being able to Hide in Plain Sight which is a nifty ability.

 

Thanks Harbs.

I just looked at the prestige classes again and the Shifter class seems to be very cool. What would be a good 'normal' class to mix with that one? Preferably one that can walk into a whole bunch of mobs and be able to cope.

 

Shifter is probably the most interesting prestige class of them all, but is also the hardest to get right because you've got to understand what the heck are all the pros and cons of each shape and what items you are wearing 'carry forward' into the shape (e.g. some things carry forward into humanoid shapes but don't carry forward into animal type shapes). But it's cool because you can choose the best shape for the situation (whether you want the shape that's immune to fire, or the shape with the best AC, or the shape that does the most bludgeoning damage etc etc).

A Shifter requires enough Druid levels to get the first Druid shape, so Druid has to be one of your other classes first. Apart from that, some people like to add in a level of Monk as well, to get an additional AC bonus.

 

That sounds good to me, Monk / Druid / Shifter... now I just have to work out how many levels to put into each and when!

Damn complicated game this.

 

Character design is fun, though. Unless you keep restarting to try out new designs......

Still think you'd be better off with SoU and HotU then the OC.

1) They're better
2) You haven't played them before, so they're new to you
3) The henchmen are less idiotic and you have better control of them
4) You'll get to a higher level and thus better Shifter Shapes to try out.

 

Sharwin's preferred weapon is the double-bladed sword. She's not bad with it, but doesn't have many hit points and has a mediocre AC. She's just fine through most of the first chapter. There are a few enemies that will tear her apart if you're not careful though. The cleric is surprisingly good.

I find that taking each of the NPC's for a little while is quite fun -- they each give you a special item which boosts abilities and you can get all the items. By the end of the game that could mean up to +8 to charisma and dex, a +4 to con and strength (but not all, three items are amulets, two are rings and one is a belt).

For the OC I am intentionally staying away from prestige classes (the game was not designed with them in mind). A fighter-type/rogue with a dex build is a lot of fun. The rogue gets sneak attacks (1d6 for every two levels of rogue) but those attacks don't work on some enemies like undead. With haste and improved two-weapon fighting you get a lot of attacks -- if you're using a meat shield and let them attack first all your attacks are sneak attacks.

One bad thing I've heard about shifters -- there is an xp bug. When shifted you actually become the creature -- and earn xp as the creature (which is, of course it's favored class). Having levels in druid is not an issue, but a third class becomes an issue and can result in the 20% xp penalty if the levels in druid and the third class are not within one level of each other (your original race and favored class is not considered because, when shifted, you are no longer that race). If the third class is a prestige class, this is not an issue -- Champion of Torm and Dwarven Defender are reasonable choices. So, you would need equal monk/druid levels for a shifter. You must have five levels of druid to be a shifter -- most of the prestige classes require five levels of another class to qualify (arcane archer is probably the toughest with a minimum of eight levels).

 

Started SoU and got annoying that I could only choose from 2 henchmen .

Downloading that Daggerford thing now, see what that's like. It's well over 200mb though, so will take some time!

 

Barmy, you get another henchman option later on in SoU. And he is one of the single most memorable NPCs in any game (even if he seems a bit annoying to start off with). Dorna and Xanos are average, but still 100 times less frustrating than the OC ones.

 

Elven Monk9/Wizard1/AA10 with Zen Archery.

Low, low HP. Decent AC. Great AB.

Speed. The best hit 'n' run archer in the game.

Half-Elven Bard4/Rogue6/AA10.

For that rogue approach to archers.

Ranger 6 / Bard 4 / AA 10.

+19 AB. All AA tricks. Good HP.

 

Had a look at HotU, made a guy (Monk 4/Druid 5/Shifter6) and can't for the life of me work out how to shape shift... I have the abilities but they are greyed out, even after resting. Don't get it.

 

I agree with HB on the Druid/Shifter/Monk. Did a Druid 20/Shifter 17/Monk 3, which was great fun. I only took the monk levels for discipline, tumble and the AC bonus. Free Evasion and Cleave was nice too. Results were very nice: without any gear, I could change into a drow and get 50+ AC, and get a free +6 longsword to boot.

Couldn't seem to hit the Valsharess in HotU in any form, due to low BAB, so I changed into a Basilisk and petrified her (lucky critical failure!). Just so many options to have fun.

There are a few bugs to pay attention to, as T2Bruno mentioned. I only had trouble with the xp-bug if I shifted into a drow. Still, because of the way xp works in NWN, you shouldn't experience too much trouble with it, I certainly never did.

Another thing I encountered was that if I leveled up while shape-shifted, I wouldn't get the extra skill point for being human, as, at that time, I wasn't human. So remember to shift back if you level up.

I highly recommend Douglas Crew's Shifter FAQ. Knowing your shapes is half the fun, and a very big help once you run into trouble.

Don't know what's going on with your problem, BA, haven't encountered any problems like that myself.

 

I think an Ranger-AA with Sharwin would not be that difficult. One of the worries here was that both characters are range fighter. But Sharwin can be a decent melee fighter at some point and you can augment her weakness with a strong animal companion.

 

I currently have Sharwyn in HotU and she is hopeless. I will have used up all of the charges in the Rod of Ressurection on her before even getting off level one of Undermountain.

 

Well, I'm to NWN too... I got Diamond edition so I started right with HotU and found that Sharwin is back! But she doesn't remember me, the only one who remember me is... that little...
Anyway, I started the OC again, just to see if Sharwin will remember me in HotU Too bad they changed her portrait.

I found an AI tweek for henchman that is just great. So I want Sharwin stays as a ranger, she will do that; with this mod, you can configure lots of the fighting options making them very valuable.
Read about it here: http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=4510
Just the installer will do.

[ November 17, 2006, 09:15: Message edited by: Sydax ]

 

SPOILER
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How come Deekin tells you he made his book based on 'your' adventures in NW?