Boeroer

The first "faction quests" can all be done. With the second one that follows you'll choose your faction. You can always unlock all factions' shops.

Yes, it does. Come, Sweet Winds also does.

Shoot low DR stuff. Use Whisper of Treason. A lot. That's it basically.

Yepp.

Maybe. It was ridiculously good when they introduced it. At least I had the impression back then.

You have to stack attack speed bonuses. For example: - Frenzy: 33% - Speed enchantment on weapon: 20% - Durgan refinement on weapon: 15% - Gloves of Swift Action: 15% Those bonuses are multiplicative (IF they stack), so the the more you can stack the easier it gets. Dual wielders already have halved recovery (50%). For them it's easy to reach 0 recovery. There is a thread here in the forum that goes into great detail. Somebody should really write a wiki article about it though. Then a simple link to it would be enough.

Thanks for testig it so quickly. Hm... that's weird. I never experienced that behaviour. But I have to admit I didn't use it for a while because I played no implement wizard for some time now but only a wiz tank. Maybe they changed the push distance in order to balance it a bit? 'Cause I found it to be crazy powerful when I did my hurtstacker build with implements (patch 2.something). Prevented whole bounty groups from reaching me, containing them in the AoE while I blasted them to death. I also did a hilarious test with Pull of Eora and Fire Stag some time ago and also didn't see those far pushes. However I still think it's one of the best CC spells for me. Lasts a long time and totally messes up the "tactics" of the AI. And most of the time packs a mob together so they can be nuked properly. But if you want to combine Chillfog or Wall(s) of Flame it would then it would indeed be better if enemies wouldn't get pushed out of the AoE.

They get swirled around in the AoE - they don't get pushed out of it. In My opinion it's one of the best CC spells there is. The enemies normally stay in the AoE even if the spell misses from time to time and can be nuked to death without fighting back.

Yeah there are certain parties that could do it - I meant normal parties Although I doubt that 6 chanters would have an easy time because of their chants' low ACC and the lack of self buffs besides consumalbles (which every class can use). I guess 5 ciphers and a speedy wizard could do it: Alacrity, Chillfog + Pull of Eora + Bitter Mooring (or any other beam spell), Boots of Speed and 5 * Ectypsychic Echo might kill everything before it kills you... 5 wizards with Eldritch Aim, Chillfog, Pull of Eora, 6 Wall of Flames and Combusting Wounds and a priest with buffs 5 wizards with Eldritch Aim, Martial Power + Blast + Envenomed Strike plus a priest with buffs 6 fighters... naaaaah!

If you want to attack with no recovery in order to steal a lot of duration you could also duplicate Spelltongue with the Helwax Mold and dual wield it. With Alacrity and dual wielding you'll already have 0 recovery with no armor. With gauntlets, Durgan steel and Spelltongue's speed stealing you can easily reach 0 recovery with weapon attacks in full plate and even use Vulnerable Attack with no speed loss. Immunity to fear is easily achieved with 2 lore and a scroll of prayer against fear. A wizard usually has a lot of options to lower deflection - I don't think he needs Outmaneuvering. So I don't find Steadfast to be a really good choice. Little Saviour is always nice.

There is a big misconception about the expansions: they are not meant to be played after the main quest. They expand the main game, they are not adding a new closed story line like BG, NwN or ID used to. So you can always go back and forth throughout the main quest line. Once you jump into the pit on Burial Isle there is no turning back and no chance for expansion any more. Everybody struggles at Crägholt Bluffs with lvl 9. Lvl 9 is a good level for entering the White March/Stalwart - but Crägholt is high level content which becomes doable with lvl 13 or so (strongly depends on difficulty and player proficiency and meta knowledge). Don't be frustrated when you get obliterated at lvl 9 - everybody does.

Yes. DEX reduces the casting animation as well as the recovery time. It's bonus gets applied to recovery AFTER the other bonuses to recovery got calculated. Speed bonuses/malus to recovery that also work with casting are (universal recovery bonuses): - Alacrity of Deleterious Motion: 50% OR - Frenzy: 33% (no stacking with Alacrity) OR - Swift Aim: 20% (no stacking) OR - Swift Strikes: 25% (not 100% sure it works with spells, might be melee only, no stacking) OR - Time Parasite: 50% (no stacking) OR - Their Champion braved the Horde alone: 40% (no stacking) - Bloodlust: 20% (stacks) - Blood Thirst: 0 recovery after kill - Anitlei: 10%, (stacks) - Spelltongue's stolen attack speed: 15% - Gauntlets of Swift Action: 15% - Potion of Power: 25%, (no stacking) - Svef: 15% (no stacking I guess) - armor penalty (-x%) - Cautious Attack (-20% ?) - Penetrating Shot (-20% ?) That's all I can shake out of my sleeve right now. Attack bonus speed on weapons only works on that weapon's attack. Thus, speed enchantment on weapons/shields and Durgan Steel only work with attacks with the enchanted weapon. Durgan reinforcement on armor (-15% recovery malus) however helps when casting. So you could use Frenzy with Bloodlust and Spelltongue and Gauntlets on a barb to speed up casting. Or Alacrity and Spelltongue and Gauntlets on a wizard. After calculating the recovery DEX further influences it. Funnily I think a barb could be the fastest caster there is. Too bad he lacks a lot of spells.

Great, happy to hear it works for you.

Monk (normal build) + Moon Godlike is a perfect synergy of class and race. It makes early game a lot easier and is still nice later on. Heavy armor in the early game also makes a monk's live a lot easier. For monk beginners it's def. the best pick. As is high MIG and INT. Torment's Reach + Force of Anguish are a lot of fun. Veteran's Recovery as soon as possible. Shod in Faith as soon as possible. Then you'll have the perfect mix of tankyness and damage. Have a look at the monk's builds in the list. They are very different but all three (I guess) are very nice to play with their own unique style. Monks usually need a lot of micromanagement to get the most out of them.

ROFL for "crit happens".

Yes - but it doesn't matter which defense gets targeted. If you receive a crit from the dragon's fear aura but are immune (scroll or steadfast or whatever) it still triggers Frenzy.

Yeah sure. I just thought because QuiteGoneJin initially said he wanted a backstabbing rogue with lots of maneuverability options and stuff my suggestions should evolve around those things. If we put backstabs and positioning aside then I also would use a very similar approach as you. Just more INT and lower DEX - but all of the special attacks like Crippling Strike and such because of the full attacks. Played the Devil like this with Godansthunyr and also Bittercut (both have two damage types instead of one) and the Barricade as well as Aspirant's Mark and it worked really well. Also took Pen. Shot for an opening volley with a Blunderbuss and for the Barricade's Thrust. But back then the crit-bash triggered ToTV twice - don't know if it's still effective enough compared to a normal shield.

That you don't like monks gives me serious doubts about your definition of fun. What makes a melee build fun for you? Rogues are a very tricky melee class. I never found them to be a source of great fun (with some exceptions). Barbs and monks are my source of fun in melee.

Badgradr's Barricade is inside Durgan's Battery and has 10% reflection against ranged attacks and bash. When you crit with bash it procs Thrust of Tattered Veils (unlimited times per encounter). It's a medium shield. Also note that Starcaller comes quite late. Funny... my approach for a tanky backstab rogue would be totally different - although I like the combination of starcaller, flanking and low INT. Your version is tanky but not useable for backstabs any more. But maybe QuiteGonJin doesn't want that any more anyways. I guess with constant Deathblows through flanking and stunning Vulnerable Attack is a waste by the way. But what else to take with low INT...? A good alternative might be Penetrating Shots: it works with Thrust oTT and doesn't slow you down in melee.

You could have used the Cloak of the Frozen Hunt instead. It's only +6 but still...

You mean "the other human watcher" I guess?

As Loren pointed out you only have to command the backstabbing from stealth. It doesn't matter if you get detected on the way to the target you want to backstab. So you can do it even with a low stealth score.

I would neither take Savage Attack nor Vulnerable Attach for a backstabbing rogue. Both don't increase your damage a lot compared to Sneak, Deathblows and Backstab. I would use Fast Runner and/or Graceful Retreat instead so I can get away without getting punished and without using Escape - leavin that for diving in with +25 deflection instead of diving out. Deflection against diseng. attacks would be at +57. Maybe enough to make even Riposte worthwhile (strike back while disengaging). Persistent Distraction only works if you trigger the flanking affliction - it can be good if you flank and makes fleeing easier - you don't need the fuzz I talked about then. But it doesn't work if you want to reach the back line on your own, destroy a caster quickly and retreat. But when flanking a lot it's def. a good pick - esp. if you run very fast because then you can eat a lot of diseng. attacks very quickly without noticing and *bam* you're dead. Smoke Cloud may be a great way to flee, too. *Pouf* and engagement is gone. I also think that a more defensive build with Vet. Recovery and Sup. Deflection is better than using the perfect glass cannon... who kisses the ground all the time. I still think for a hit and run approach Envenomed Strike and Deep Wounds are great picks - maybe even Runner's Wounding Shot (also works for melee). You can leave after a hefty backstab and the target will still die after some secs while you target the next. Using a scroll of Binding Web with a stab helm also seems to be a great way to kill stuck enemies while zipping around like a ball lightning.

Fair enough.

If your knowledge of the contents is not too good (which encounter comes next, what damage types are blights most vulnerable to, what damage type do trolls use and so on) it is pretty hard. When you have good meta gaming knowledge it becomes a lot easier.