43 respuestas en este tema

[Naeryna]

I start Storm of Zehir over and over again and I always use bard as party leader. I start the game, play a little, then I give up.

 

That sucks! I often take favored soul as other companion and one fighter and one spellcaster.

 

I always take points in hide and spot/listen with bard, and some survival and search, along with perform, UMD, dipl., conc, but my bard doesn't have enough skills for apraise, tumble, lore and craft skills. I try to have most skill max.

 

I don't know how to build up a favored soul. I'm using fully patched game, so wisdom is important, but at lower levels only good spells are buffs. For spellcaster, I think I want sorcerer. But they die easily. I don't want to memorize spells, but I'm willing to reconsider cleric and wizard.

 

I don't know which fighter to take. I heard paladin sucks, vanila fighter is blah, ranger and monks may be good, swashbuckler was good when I played with him, but nothing extra. I think I want to choose monk or swashbuckler, but that may backfire.

 

Don't want to use cheats or mods.

 

 

Any help?

[Tchos]

I tried favoured soul when I started SoZ, but I missed certain cleric abilities, so I eventually went for cleric instead.  I've played it with a variety of different party members, and it plays well no matter who I bring, though some fights can be tough when certain characters are underleveled because I picked them up late or was using a different party for some time.

[Naeryna]

Maybe cleric would solve my troubles. Especially one with animal domain, and I would also get more XP.

 

 

I watched biglos on youtube, watch him build his party, and I notice he use lot of ranged weapons alongside with melee weapons. Will ranged weapons help me in this campain and do I have to have high dex for that? I would rather have high strenght.

 

 

Will it help if all my characters have one level in high BAB class? I notice biglos's characters all have one class with high BAB.

[Tchos]

I generally like to have a ranged weapon on each character, even if they don't have any DEX, just in case.  Maybe your spellcaster is out of spells, or just doesn't want to waste them on some petty creatures.  Maybe the enemy has cast an AoE that you don't want to walk through, or maybe they're up on a hill that would take too long to climb around.  Maybe the enemy has a buff like Body of the Sun that hurts anyone standing nearby.  Any number of reasons why you might want to stay at a distance.  It's not specific to this campaign that I know of, but just a general thing for me.

 

I tend to specialise and not multiclass much, but in SoZ I made some bad choices in classes, and I still got all the way to the end, except for beating the final boss.

 

I wouldn't put a level in a high BAB class for every class, but I'm no expert in that.  I'd defer to Ark's knowledge on that.

[Dann-J]

When in doubt, stick to the classic D&D party - fighter, cleric, wizard, rogue. That gives your party a wide range of abilities to suit any situation. Although given that the survival skill is quite useful in SoZ, you could always replace the fighter with a barbarian or a ranger.

 

I've been toying with an all-halfling party in SoZ. They all have missile weapons (slings, throwing axes, shuriken, darts), for which they have a +1 racial bonus to attack, plus their racial dexterity bonus on top of that. They tend to soften enemies up from a distance, then the tanked fighter and cleric mop up the rest. While the tanks have the attention of the enemy, the rogue makes frequent sneak-attacks with her darts.

 

Another advantage of halflings using slings is that not only do they get the racial bonus to attack, and the usual strength bonus added to the damage that slings always get, but they also get 1.5x strength damage when using a sling two-handed (ie. with no shield). Halflings rule - when you know how to work to their strengths.

[GCoyote]

Because the overland encounters in SoZ always occur at some range, missile weapons make more sense here than in some other campaigns.  The high level of crafting possible makes some real killer bows a definite possibility.  Also in one play-through I took the team skill "volley(?)" and literally wiped out some enemies without ever closing to melee.  

 

And like Dann-J says, don't underestimate those halflings.  

[joe6pak]

It's been a while since I played SoZ.  I pulled up a couple of saved games and this is what I had:

On my first playthrough I had two pretty offensive casters at the end

Rogue/Shadowdancer

Wizard/Arcane Scholar

Fighter/Weapon Master

Favored Soul/Sacred Fist(High Wis/Offensive)

 

On the second play not through

Barcher=Bard+Arcane Archer

Halfling Arcane Trickster = Wizard+Splash of Rogue+Arcane Trickster

Druid(More of a melee than a caster)

Swashbuckler/Duelist

 

I don't know why I stopped playing the second time through.  It seemed like a fun group.

[Naeryna]

When in doubt, stick to the classic D&D party - fighter, cleric, wizard, rogue. That gives your party a wide range of abilities to suit any situation. Although given that the survival skill is quite useful in SoZ, you could always replace the fighter with a barbarian or a ranger.

 

 

I don't like rogues, They seem overdone, I much prefer bards, they are great support characters, but can't do on their own. And I played with them for so long they are overdone as well.

 

I don't think fighter would work. They get too little skills. I was thinking of cleric1/monkX build where character would advance as monk with one level of cleric, so you can get high BAB and spells. But recently I started to playing as cleric1monk2 and it seems he only got level 1 cleric spells even thou I got practiced spellcaster.

 

If I go with cleric1monk3 caracter, I don't know who his party members should be. Should I choose another fighter or another healer?

 

What about sorceror with scribe scroll feat?

[Arkalezth]

When in doubt, stick to the classic D&D party - fighter, cleric, wizard, rogue.

 

This is a good way to go. Not necessarily the best, but you'll have everything you need. You can substitute each of those classes for one with a different role: the fighter could be a paladin (no, they don't suck) or a barbarian, the cleric could be a druid, etc. And remember the feat Able Learner: For instance, a rogue 1/bard X could support the party and still take care of locks and traps, and a barbarian 1/fighter X would have survival and fast movement on the overland map.

 

Favoured souls don't need wisdom unless you want to cast offensive spells (the problem is that they aren't too many of those in their spell book). If you're not familiar with their spells, cleric may be a safer bet (i.e. more beginner-friendly), just to ensure you don't end up lacking anything important. But unless you mess up the spell selection, a FS works just as well, or even better in some situations.

 

Dedicated archers are pretty good on SOZ because you can enchant both your bow and your arrows, so they can end up doing a lot of damage (and taking the enchanting feats with your wizard or warlock if you have one is a good idea). As a rule of thumb, yeah, keep a ranged weapon on all characters, just in case, but you can consider making at least one of them a proper archer (if archery is your primary form of attack and you're not a caster, focus on DEX, yes).

 

Generally speaking, one level on a high BAB class isn't going to do much. In the case of casters, anything that delays their casting progression is bad, so try to keep them as pure as possible (prestige classes that advance spellcasting in most or all their levels are fine, though). In the case of non-casters, and aside of a few exceptions, like paladin, a bit of multiclassing is generally good (a shadowdancer level is pretty much mandatory on your rogue if you wanna be stealthy, and frenzied berserker and/or weapon master can improve a fighter's abilities).

 

Regarding monk/clerics (change the race to human for more skills): http://nwn2db.com/build/?127057

[Axe_Edge]

A vanilla fighter with high strength, two handed great sword, great cleave, whirlwind is anything but blah to watch, especially when ai is on.  Maybe take a one level dip into barbarian to increase his speed.  Keep that high BAB progressing.

Having said that, when in battle use the space bar to pause the game, turn ai off, command each character, unpause, let the party do their thing, then pause again and repeat. 

 

Fancy builds are cool and helpful.  Pure builds are very capable in SoZ

Melee up front, casters in the rear.

Attack enemy casters quickly (ranged weapons or spells).

It its helpful for the main character to be a ranger. Helps on the overland map.  Choose "Abominations" as a favored enemy on the first or second choice.

Watch out for ECL. My first runthrough was with a drow rogue. He only achieved 17th level at endgame. The closer to 20 the better.  17 was too low. 

Get a cleric and keep its spell progression going.  Extending some buffs is fantastic.  I do persist a couple sometimes, but persistent is not totally needed and seen as a waste by many.

I've gone through many times and have used all companions. The deep gnome really helped me at endgame during my last playthrough.  Much more powerful than I expected him to be.

 

****Utilize the caravan fix from the beginning so that you don't forget.  Caravans get lost without it.

[Tchos]

You can have any member of your party take the lead on the overland map, and use their particular skills.  It doesn't have to be the main PC.  My main PC was a wizard, and I only had her take the lead on the overland map when I wanted to find spellcrafting goodies instead of using the rogue's Move Silently and Spot or the druid's Survival.

[Axe_Edge]

Tachos, you're correct. I just get tired of changing back to the ranger to lead. Regardless, Naeryna should have a ranger present to make it a little easier. Ranger isn't absolutely necessary, just a little easier.

Use Kaedrin's PRC and pick up the dinosaur companion when available. That thing rocks. Umoja has one too.

[Arkalezth]

I just get tired of changing back to the ranger to lead.

 

Same here. It doesn't have to be a ranger, though. Ideally, the OLM leader should have:

 

- Increased speed.

- Survival, but it doesn't have to be maxed.

- Spot or listen.

- Hide or MS. Hide is probably better because there are more items that buff it.

- Search.

 

More skills are better, but those are the basic ones. Ranger has all those, but other classes work as well, especially if you multiclass: barbarian, rogue, monk...

[Naeryna]

I took human rogue1bardX party leader (Hide, Listen, perform, UMD, conc, open lock, disable device (all maxed), some points in heal, search, survival, tumble, appraise, buff, maybe other skills idk), aasimar cleric with animal domain (dino comp), swashbuckler yuan-ti, and human sorceror with scribe scroll feat.

I took Umoja this time, I didn't played with him before.

 

This time I equipped all of them with missle weapons and I think I'm having great time now. I think missle weapons made big difference.

[Dann-J]

Unfortunately the Ai seems hell-bent on having entire groups of enemies heading straight for the main PC, even when someone else actually did the damage to them via spell or ranged weapon. I prefer to make a high-constitution tank (ie. meat shield) the first PC. You don't want your squishier party members always being the first ones attacked.

 

Fighters might be low on skill points, but they're mainly about the feats. Cleave, great cleave, weapon focus/specialisation, improved criticals - anything like those that are always active are good, as you don't need to stop and activate anything.

[Naeryna]

Yes, bard/rogue has 12 con, which isn't that great, but I don't believe it would be deal-breaker. I usually make my bard's con 14, but this one needs hight dex and high int, alongside with strenght and charisma. I think I would put my other characters behind monsters and bard.

 

 

What about items that increase con? Will that increase hitpoints?

[Tchos]

What about items that increase con? Will that increase hitpoints?

 

They do normally, yes, but if you're using Kaedrin's pack, they'll hurt you instead.

[Jfoxtail]

Speaking to themed parties... 

 

The "Outdoor Elven" party of four rocks this game; especially if you like Elves. 

 

I ran them as 'brothers' of nature called together. 

 

Elven Ranger / Shadowdancer. The Shadowier of Meliki - Wood Elf - Build Dex, dual short swords (good one early in game), weapon finesse. Tanks very fine thank you.

 

Elven Druid. Your healer substitute in the D&D classic 4. I opted out of the Dinosaur companion but you could perhaps roleplay one as a "wild elf" from more southern lattitudes.

 

Elven Wizard / Arcane Archer. Speaking of how to blast the random encounters just watch this guy / gal. You only need about 5 levels of AA so Wizard heavy build early. 

 

Elven Swashbucker / Rogue. Just enough Rogue to handle traps and locks. Another dexer with the rapier ( good one early in game).

 

Of course you end up being able to craft or buy so much by Neverwinter that you can seriously overpower this 4 some with items. But they all can take some survival skill for the Camp Feats and get a special Elven Party feat. 

[Arkalezth]

If everything else fails, something I may try on Tchos' module (which has SOZ's party system) is a party where most or all of its members are summoners: rangers, druids and clerics with animal domain get an animal companion, warlocks get infinite undead summons (The Dead Walk), blackguards get a skeleton warrior and a dire rat... you basically have double the party members.

 

Add a rogue level to one of the members (maybe the ranger) for locks and traps, crafting feats to the warlock if you're into crafting (and Flee the Scene for infinite party haste), and maybe also get a bard to inspire the whole army.

[Dann-J]

If everything else fails, something I may try on Tchos' module (which has SOZ's party system) is a party where most or all of its members are summoners: rangers, druids and clerics with animal domain get an animal companion, warlocks get infinite undead summons (The Dead Walk), blackguards get a skeleton warrior and a dire rat... you basically have double the party members.

 

 

Using animal companions as meat shields? You monster!

 

I'm not impressed by the black guard's minons in NWN2. I much prefered the NWN version of the class, where you could summon some really useful minions. I'll take a succubus over a dire rat any day (especially on long, cold, lonely nights), and those ghasts were very useful with their knockdown feat.

 

One advantage of having lots of animal companions and summons in SoZ is that you can exploit a bug that gives you more XP when leaving an overland encounter area. The XP is calculated based on the average party level, so having several summoned creatures with levels much lower than 'real' party members drags the party average down considerably.

[Arkalezth]

I don't remember the rat's stats, but the skeleton is pretty good. The AC isn't too high, but it can be buffed, and offensively is similar to a fighter of the same level, maybe even better if you get it ASAP.

 

A character can have a max of three summons at the same time: an animal companion, a familiar and a summon of any other type. For maximum cheese, you could give everyone in the party a level in, say, wizard and druid, and have them memorise Summon Creature I. Then, summon your army after every fight, and exploit away.

[Tchos]

I miss the Infinity Engine, where Animate Dead could give you 10 or so skeleton minions.

[GCoyote]

I was actually considering an entire party of  muilti-class/Bards and named after a metal band, maybe    Dead Zeppelin,  Arrowsmith,   Molly Battleaxe?  Then I remember I have way too many better things to do with my time.  

[Dann-J]

I was actually considering an entire party of  muilti-class/Bards and named after a metal band, maybe    Dead Zeppelin,  Arrowsmith,   Molly Battleaxe?  Then I remember I have way too many better things to do with my time.  

 

The Jax'n Five? One of them in particular would be both 'bad' and 'dangerous', have a chimp animal companion, and an unnatural fondness for halflings.

[GCoyote]

Yeah, the pun-tential is nearly unlimited, unlike my recreation time.