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Chloe Seven
2012-09-02, 03:11 PM
Hi all, I've lurked here forever, mostly the OOTS comic board, and love the geekery and theorising on character builds and such.

So I've decided to go for a playthrough of Neverwinter Nights 1 and, inspired by Tarquin, I've decided to go for a defense and gadget/crazy prepared oriented Fighter build, maybe with some Weapon Master or even Monk. Problem is, I've never ever played anything but a Sorcerer or Wizard before (in any D&D based CRPG, or any game that has magic for that matter). I usually prefer to go around playing the haughty sorceress type, pretty much like a chaotic neutral V.

Basically I'm looking for advice on a defense-oriented Fighter, just like Tarquin, as well as is possible in Neverwinter Nights 1 (Diamond edition with CEP 2.4). Anyone have any experience with this? Abilities, feats, etc? One thing that's confusing me is how Dexterity factors into AC - is it my dexterity modifier or the whole dexterity attribute?

Craft (Cheese)
2012-09-02, 03:21 PM
One thing that's confusing me is how Dexterity factors into AC - is it my dexterity modifier or the whole dexterity attribute?

Modifier.

The hard thing about NWN CharOp is all the usual tricks you can use (even the core-only tricks) simply don't work. You can't build a trip-focused fighter, for instance. On the caster side of things almost all of the utility spells are gone (or horribly mutilated into worthlessness), leaving just blasting, healing, buffing, and debuffing. Even worse you can't control your henchmen so any role you aren't capable of handling yourself you have to trust the AI with.

Chloe Seven
2012-09-02, 03:23 PM
I've never played actual pen&paper D&D of any edition, so my education has come from this site and a few CRPGs (3.0 and 3.5). I wouldn't know what the usual tricks for a melee class are, so I've nothing to unlearn!

Driderman
2012-09-02, 04:12 PM
It's worth noting that fighters have a limited use for dexterity, as the heavier armours usually cap your dex modifier addition to AC at 0 or 1. If you've got the expansions your best bet is probably going for a Weaponmaster build (requires dex 13 and int 13 if I'm not mistaken) and focusing on increased threat range critical hits on your weapons.
As already mentioned, your gadgetry is rather limited. I suppose you could do a Fighter/Rogue/Blackguard build for sneak attacks and summons and try and get a hold of items that plays into your sneak attack, ei: stuff that stuns or makes your enemies flat-footed.

Agent_0042
2012-09-02, 04:51 PM
IIRC, Knockdown (http://nwn.wikia.com/wiki/Knockdown) is amazing.

Thrawn4
2012-09-02, 04:55 PM
My advise would be to play Baldur's Gate instead. Or just the second part, if you lack time. Way better story, fights and NSC's.

Kane0
2012-09-02, 05:39 PM
Straight fighter build? Easy. It was called the 'improved fighter' build.

Go for fighter 23, WM 7 and CoT 10.
WM gives you insane crits and CoT gives you much better saves than a fighter along with the same fighter bonus feats and some neat CHA abilities if you can find cha boosting items.

If you want defense, go for something like a scimitar with a tower shield, get some heavy armor and leave your dex at 13 or so, just enough for combat expertise and the other feats you need to qualify for WM. You will also want an INT of at least 14, maxing discipline and maybe taunt if you want the lolz.

And dont forget to find a weapon with keen and something with haste.

Basic build, but its very effective for what it is.

<--- Was a big NWN player :smallcool:

tyckspoon
2012-09-03, 01:54 AM
You could probably find mods that would make it easier to do, but with the standard Neverwinter Nights package what you want to do doesn't really work IIRC; I think the closest you'd get would be putting a heavy focus on the Parry skill and/or the Expertise feat, neither of which are terribly effective ways to go... the way the combat engine resolves stuff heavily rewards a focus on enhancing your autoattacks, since using items/spells/special abilities is rather cumbersome unless you're willing to put up with pausing the game every three seconds.

TheOOB
2012-09-03, 02:07 AM
You could probably find mods that would make it easier to do, but with the standard Neverwinter Nights package what you want to do doesn't really work IIRC; I think the closest you'd get would be putting a heavy focus on the Parry skill and/or the Expertise feat, neither of which are terribly effective ways to go... the way the combat engine resolves stuff heavily rewards a focus on enhancing your autoattacks, since using items/spells/special abilities is rather cumbersome unless you're willing to put up with pausing the game every three seconds.

Ewww, parry is not very good.

Fighters in NWN are easy. Start with 16 STR, 13 DEX, 13 INT, and as much CON as you can shake. Increase STR on level up. Max out discipline. For OC also put points into Search and Persuade(No Lore or Heal in OC, money is no problem).

For a defensive fighter, go Exotic Weapon Proficiency, Power Attack, Cleave, Weapon Focus(Katana or Bastard Sword or Dwarven Waraxe), Weapon Spec, Improved Critical, Knockdown, Improved Knockdown, Toughness, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Combat Expertise, Whirlwind Attack. After all that, if you still have feats left over, improving saves is good.

I'd suggest multiclassing into Weapon Master, as you don't need 11 fighter bonus feats, and once you take 10 WM levels, take CoT for the remaining levels(CoT is directly better than fighter once you have weapon spec).

The real trick for fighters in NWN is magic items. You want attack bonus, AC bonuses, save bonuses, and damage bonuses(also something that grants haste). Knockdown and Whirlwind attack are the only two feat based special attacks that are worth it(Knockdown is better than disarm, and the modes are mostly for prerequisites. Called shot is pretty bad).

EDIT: Quick workable build for a Katana Weapon master

Human Fighter 1(Exotic Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Focus, Dodge)
Fighter 2(Mobility)
Fighter 3(Expertise)
Fighter 4(Spring Attack)
Fighter 5
Fighter 6(Whirlwind Attack, Weapon Spec)
Weapon master 1
Weapon master 2
Weapon master 3(Improved Critical)
Weapon master 4
Weapon master 5
Weapon master 6(Knockdown)
Weapon master 7
Weapon master 8
Weapon master 9(Improved Knockdown)
Weapon master 10
Cot 1
Cot 2(Power Attack, Cleave)
Cot 3
Cot 4(Toughness)

This build gets the knockdown feats and cleave a little later than I'd like, but It's powerful, and is ready for epic levels(you always want either 20 levels in a base class or 10 levels in a PrC before epic levels, bonus epic feats are really, really good.

Gavinfoxx
2012-09-03, 02:09 AM
Get the latest PRC Pack, for extra character build options...

I think this is the latest version..

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Hakpaks.Detail&id=7870

Sturmcrow
2012-09-03, 02:12 AM
Its not a straight fighter but for the first game I did a fighter and took a few rogue levels, repeatedly sneak attacking while Dual Wielding Katanas pureed enemies. Bonus is that there are quite a few ridiculously strong Katana magic weapons in the first NWN.

For straight fighter what was suggested earlier is probably the best