Favourite NWN2 character builds (excluding SoZ and MotB for now)

[Monte Carlo]

It's a bit difficult, Krezack, because I don't know if all the interface improvements are XP features or are also delivered by patch. Most of the problems you describe are polished off by the time you install MotB / SoZ. The tactical view gives you a nice zoomed-out overhead perspective. Yeah, the AI is a bit dungeon-siege, go into the character AI tab and enable full puppet mode to control them.

 

I tend to turn it on for crowd-control enemies, having made sure my spellcasters don't drop all their best stuff on a kobold.

 

It's no spoiler because he tells you straight off that he wants to be a monk, and that's Khelgar. Personally, he makes a better vanilla, typical dwarf tank warrior, but you might want to get him to go all Bruce Lee for a bit of variety.

 

Cheers

MC

[Humodour]

Cheers MC. I'll wait till the expansions arrive and then try again. Hopefully the freezing is fixed.

[ramza]

I don't know about you guys, but I went with a pure cleric in the OC and I believe it's by far the most useful class in the campaign. You do not get any decent healer until later in the game, so you really need someone to do the job. I cannot count the times my cleric saved my party from total disaster (i am playing on hardest difficulty and with mods that increase the difficulty as well). Evil and Sun domains are musts...

[Monte Carlo]

3E D&D turned the cleric from stand-at-the back healer to potential monster with domains etc.

 

I've got a Grey Orc single-classed cleric, War & Chaos domains, in my SoZ party. He's only level 7 at the moment, so he's just starting to become useful but he's still a handful in combat and is one of the most durable / useful characters. I could probably dump my fighter / blackguard because the cleric is versatile enough to step in, but my Sorc / Pale Master is the weakest character who I am nuturing just to see what happens. A high STR dual-wielding wild elf Rngr / Rog / Assn, all evenly classed (currently 3/3/3), is getting the most kills - mobility + high tumble + sneak attacks + poison =

[Sannom]

Edit 2: How do I select all party members in this game? It's not letting me highlight an area like in IE games.

 

The OC without MotB is a pain when it comes too this, believe me. You can't select all of your characters at once, they all follow you if you don't give them orders to the contrary (generally not a nuisance, but sometimes I really wanted to be sneaky with my stealthy character, and ordering everyone to just stand there was a pain), the camera is glued to the character you're controling, etc. They just took NWN's model while adding control of all your companions. A pain, I say.

 

MotB added the Strategy Mode for the camera, a BIG improvement for me. Things are a lot better with this. Even if they forgot the unforgettable : a shortkey to select everyone at once without having to draw a selection box.

 

For your stability problems... well, did you check your drivers are the latest available? There must be an english site that enables you to "scan" for this kind of thing. I know one (www.touslesdrivers.com) but it's in french.

[Pope]

I just assigned the Follow Me, Hold and Attack buttons to my quickbar, and after a while I didn't even notice the lack of party selection anymore.

 

But I must agree the game would be unplayable for me without the strategy view, combined with a non-character-fixed camera. I also assigned changing the camera angle to my scroller button, which essentially turned my scrollerwheel into the camera button (scrolling to zoom, holding + moving mouse to change the angle). There really is nothing wrong with NWN2's camera, assuming you have MotB and take some time to find out what configuration suits you best.

Edited July 25, 2009 by Pope

[Humodour]

Edit 2: How do I select all party members in this game? It's not letting me highlight an area like in IE games.

 

The OC without MotB is a pain when it comes too this, believe me. You can't select all of your characters at once, they all follow you if you don't give them orders to the contrary (generally not a nuisance, but sometimes I really wanted to be sneaky with my stealthy character, and ordering everyone to just stand there was a pain), the camera is glued to the character you're controling, etc. They just took NWN's model while adding control of all your companions. A pain, I say.

 

MotB added the Strategy Mode for the camera, a BIG improvement for me. Things are a lot better with this. Even if they forgot the unforgettable : a shortkey to select everyone at once without having to draw a selection box.

 

Good to hear about MotB. I'm getting by with just selecting all via the silly hotkey. But I have to make sure they're always selected otherwise some sod runs off to a monster far away to battle it by himself. Totally annoying.

 

For your stability problems... well, did you check your drivers are the latest available? There must be an english site that enables you to "scan" for this kind of thing. I know one (www.touslesdrivers.com) but it's in french.

 

Certainly the latest graphics driver. Everything else is up to date to about April, so I don't think drivers will fix the problem unfortunately. As I mentioned in the other thread they've become less frequent now, and bearable. Might have been shadows.

 

Pope: there's a hold button?! Hooray!

 

I don't know about you guys, but I went with a pure cleric in the OC and I believe it's by far the most useful class in the campaign. You do not get any decent healer until later in the game, so you really need someone to do the job. I cannot count the times my cleric saved my party from total disaster (i am playing on hardest difficulty and with mods that increase the difficulty as well). Evil and Sun domains are musts...

 

Clerics are fine, but I've always preferred Druids. Plenty of healing power, more offensive spells, some more exotic buffs, an animal tank, and some truly awesome shapeshifting (with which you dish out massive damage, tank supremely, and cast spells from once you've got the Natural Spell feat... you also look cool).

[Oerwinde]

Of the characters I played with, I liked my Fighter/Cleric/Warpriest the best.

[~Di]

Don't forget about the drop-down menu on the top-right of your screen. On that menu you can tell your companions to stay where they are, to follow you without attacking, or to "attack", which means that they will instantly follow you and attack enemies they see. Now if you've got them all in puppet mode all the time, I can't really say because I only use puppet mode on rare occasions. I actually like the party AI, and leave it on most of the time.

[Humodour]

Can't wait to play a Yuan-ti Pureblood once I get SoZ. It's like a Drow but actually worth the ECL penalty.

 

Also, I have questions about level caps. If epic levels are introduced in MotB, does that mean MotB ends at about level 30? Does it start at lvl 1? What about SoZ?

[Sannom]

Can't wait to play a Yuan-ti Pureblood once I get SoZ. It's like a Drow but actually worth the ECL penalty.

 

That race is cheated I say I mean, absolutely not disadvantage, sweet stats bonuses, bonus feats, armor bonus, magic resistance, etc. I can't understand how the Deep Gnomes can have a ECL of +3 and that race only a +2

 

Also, I have questions about level caps. If epic levels are introduced in MotB, does that mean MotB ends at about level 30? Does it start at lvl 1? What about SoZ?

 

You continue in MotB with your character from the OC, so that would make it a level 20 (ECL not included) start if you bring your character from the OC in MotB. But since you start at level 18 (ECL not included) when you create a new character, perhaps there is a subtetly I'm not aware of.

 

For Storm of Zehir, I think you start a level 3 or something, for your whole party.

[Humodour]

Can't wait to play a Yuan-ti Pureblood once I get SoZ. It's like a Drow but actually worth the ECL penalty.

 

That race is cheated I say I mean, absolutely not disadvantage, sweet stats bonuses, bonus feats, armor bonus, magic resistance, etc. I can't understand how the Deep Gnomes can have a ECL of +3 and that race only a +2

 

TBH I think that the Yuan-ti race is reasonably balanced. Two levels behind is a lot - fewer stat points, hitpoints, feats, and fewer spellcasting hit dice. On the other hand, the Svirneblin is underpowered for the ECL penalty, which is a shame.

 

Also, I have questions about level caps. If epic levels are introduced in MotB, does that mean MotB ends at about level 30? Does it start at lvl 1? What about SoZ?

 

You continue in MotB with your character from the OC, so that would make it a level 20 (ECL not included) start if you bring your character from the OC in MotB. But since you start at level 18 (ECL not included) when you create a new character, perhaps there is a subtetly I'm not aware of.

 

For Storm of Zehir, I think you start a level 3 or something, for your whole party.

 

Oh! I'll have to restart the game when MotB arrives then. I've designed this char with the notion that it won't reach epic levels and is purely for NWN2.

 

The devs said something about most characters being around level 18 the first time they play the game. 20 requiring solving pretty much every quest and exploring all areas. So new MotB chars starting at 18 makes some sense. A similar thing happened in ToB too.

[Sannom]

Well, I could see the reasoning for ToB, but for NWN 2? That game doesn't reach BG 2's level when it comes to sidequests, I don't see how people can not reach the max of XP allowed in NWN 2.

 

TBH I think that the Yuan-ti race is reasonably balanced.

 

But it seems unfair. The magic resistance is what brings the +2 ECL, but the other races that has that ECL level really aren't as gifted as the Yuan Ti.

[Mamoulian War]

My companions in the tutorial cannot multiclass. Is that normal?

 

In OC you can't multiclass your companions, with exception of Khelgar Ironfist, after he finishes his Monk quest...

[Spider]

And you can't multiclass him either, just have him change class.

[Humodour]

I'm up to the Fort before Neverwinter and I'm just not feeling this game. I dunno I've heard MotB is on par with Torment and SoZ with BG1 so I'll push on, but something is missing.

 

To be fair, it's still better than Oblivion and NWN1 OC. But NWN1 HotU was better than NWN2 OC I'm thinking. More exotic characters and locales.

[Mamoulian War]

I'm up to the Fort before Neverwinter and I'm just not feeling this game. I dunno I've heard MotB is on par with Torment and SoZ with BG1 so I'll push on, but something is missing.

 

To be fair, it's still better than Oblivion and NWN1 OC. But NWN1 HotU was better than NWN2 OC I'm thinking. More exotic characters and locales.

 

Yeah OC is pretty much the weakest campaign of the whole pack, i was kinda dissapointed about it when i played it for 1st time, but at the end i had my share of fun So dont stop to play and if you want more fun, don't make yourself powerful character and make some "in-house rules" for yourself, like only 1 rest allowed per dungeon (that for example made the game more fun for me at 2nd playthrough )

[Humodour]

I'm up to the Fort before Neverwinter and I'm just not feeling this game. I dunno I've heard MotB is on par with Torment and SoZ with BG1 so I'll push on, but something is missing.

 

To be fair, it's still better than Oblivion and NWN1 OC. But NWN1 HotU was better than NWN2 OC I'm thinking. More exotic characters and locales.

 

Yeah OC is pretty much the weakest campaign of the whole pack, i was kinda dissapointed about it when i played it for 1st time, but at the end i had my share of fun So dont stop to play and if you want more fun, don't make yourself powerful character and make some "in-house rules" for yourself, like only 1 rest allowed per dungeon (that for example made the game more fun for me at 2nd playthrough )

 

Yeah OK. I'll set the difficulty to max aswell.

 

Also, I felt this way about Deus Ex 1 and Planescape: Torment the first time I played them, and they became my favourite games of all time.

Edited July 26, 2009 by Krezack

[Monte Carlo]

^ I agree, the early part of the game and the NPCs aren't anything much to write home about in the early part of the game. You can actually feel the level-building, vanilla 'early days' aspect of the design. Then you get to Neverwinter, the story develops a bit, you get access to more NPCs and stuff like The Trial and it all gets much better. Stick with it.

 

MotB is great, even though I'm not actually a big fan of that type of design. It really puts an original twist on the game, I like the spirit meter though the NPCs are trying a bit too hard to be planescape-y if you get my drift (and there's a bear NPC whose dialogue always reminds me of the end of Anchorman in San Diego zoo!).

 

SoZ is an almost plot-free zone, it's a combat-heavy exploreathon with an interesting overland map thing going on. I enjoy it immensely, have just got into the crafting side of it (which is uber-easy to use) and am making silly magic items for ThE WorST FanTAsy SEttIng EvAr!!!

 

My only disappointment with NWN2 is that the fan mods have dropped off, NWN1 was a worse game but with much better mods.

 

Cheers

MC

[Darth InSidious]

I'm up to the Fort before Neverwinter and I'm just not feeling this game. I dunno I've heard MotB is on par with Torment and SoZ with BG1 so I'll push on, but something is missing.

 

To be fair, it's still better than Oblivion and NWN1 OC. But NWN1 HotU was better than NWN2 OC I'm thinking. More exotic characters and locales.

The first act of the game can feel interminable. It picks up a lot after that, though. Sure, it's still not the most brilliant thing ever, but it's solid and fairly fun... just achingly slow-starting.

 

TBH I think that the Yuan-ti race is reasonably balanced.

 

But it seems unfair. The magic resistance is what brings the +2 ECL, but the other races that has that ECL level really aren't as gifted as the Yuan Ti.

The bizarre part is having the same level adjustment as the Drow, IMO, who get fewer special abilities and -2 Constitution (?!) on top of the stat bonuses a Yuan-Ti gets...

[Humodour]

I just can't get into the game knowing full well I'll restart in a few days when MotB and SoZ arrive and thus have to do act 1 all over again. I'm going to play HoN and plan a character instead.

 

Yuan-ti

1 Monk/Druid 25/Nature's Warrior 5

Str: 14 (power attack)

Dex: 10

Con: 8

Int: 14 (some combat feats? any int dialogue checks?)

Wis: 18

Cha: 14

 

Spellcasting Prodigy

Extend Spell

Empower Spell

Power attack

Natural Spell

Toughness

Improved Power attack

Spell Penetration

Greater spell penetration

etc.

 

Diplomacy

Spellcraft

Concentration

Craft Alchemy

Lore (PrC)

Survival (PrC)

some other stuff

 

Hardest difficulty.

 

The first act will be tough until I get to level 7 (really level 5) and can shapechange. Thoughts?

 

Is it worth taking able learner and pumping Intimidation and Bluff if they'll always only be half my level? Would any dialogue checks actually succeed?

 

Am I right in assuming Monks don't get multiclass penalties in NWN2? Jeff Hughes said that on the Bio boards in 2006 but obviously that was one man and a while ago.

 

Edit: Oh, fuxxor it, I'll do a human druid and play a Yuan-ti bard or something in SoZ for the lulz.

Edited July 26, 2009 by Krezack

[Monte Carlo]

Druids are pretty groovy all on their own without being diluted with multiclassing.

 

I made one with a few levels of Barbarian, purely because I wanted to rage / weapon profs and ended up with Bbn 3 / Drd 15 before my eye wandered onto something else. This was for the first level of MotB and it was a pretty awesome all-round character. The only downer was a less than epic skill point score, I mitigated that with a human with an INT score of 14. Yes, I was monkey-gripping a greataxe and using a shield.

 

(Human Bbn levels 1-4 - pwer attack / cleave / monkey grip, 42 HP with 14 CON + rage and martial weapon profs)

 

My stats were something like this at level 1:

 

STR 13

DEX 13

CON 14

INT 14

WIS 14

CHA 10

 

Got my STR / DEX up to 14 then dumped the rest of my points into WIS.

 

Optimal? No. Fun? Yes.

[ramza]

My characters:

 

OC: human cleric

 

Motb: half-elf f. soul/stormlord/warpriest

 

Soz: 1) human fighter/duelist/invis. blade 2) gold dwarf barbarian/frenzied berserker 3) strongheart halfling spirit shaman/sacred fist 4) wild elf sorcerer/arcane trickster/arcane scholar

[Kelverin]

I am going through these games as well

 

OC: Halfling cleric also I am trying Jaesun's Jack of Hearts fun and challenging so far

 

Motb: I will use the same as the OC

 

Soz: 1) Wood Elf Ranger, Grey Orc Cleric, Shild Dwarf fighter, Human Wizard/Red Wizard

(Not a fan of D/R/C/Y/%/! no matter how powerful)

Edited July 26, 2009 by Kelverin

[Mamoulian War]

my current SoZ playthrough

 

Strongheart Halfling Rogue/Shadow Thief of Amn/Invisible Blade

Gray Orc Cleric/War Priest

Duergar Fighter/Neverwinter Nine/Dwarven Defender

Rock Gnome Wizard/Arcane Scholar of Candlekeep

 

And I played OC and MotB with pure Wizard