Thanks in advance. I am playing a Human Fighter [Default] without expansions. Now :Level 4 after completing Peninsula District with Tomi. I have been focusing on Greatsword-Tank rather than two-weapon style but now wondering whether the improved chance of disrupting spell-casters with dual-wielding trumps damage from Greatsword??? Starting a new character at this point would not be a problem. My current stats are:

Strength --------- 16
Dexterity --------- 13
Constitution ---- 14
Intelligence ---- 13
Wisdom -------- 12
Charisma ------ 10

Notable Equipment: Half-Plate, Greatsword+1, RoP+1, Cloak +2AC versus Evil], Gloves of Discipline, Ring of Fortitude.

I have been thinking of adding single ranks in Wizard and Rogue after getting 5 levels as Fighter. Eventually aiming towards 3 ranks in Wizard and Rogue and a 10th Level Fighter. But last night I began leaning towards substituting Cleric-Rogue for minor classes rather than Wizard-Rogue.

The ability to cast spells such as Silence or Dispel Magic while wearing armor in Melee situations might be more useful than pre-buffing and wand usage. All comments appreciated.

Not particularly. Spellcasters have all the durability of wet tissue paper. More important is having the right countermeasures to their spells. Once you're through their defenses it really doesn't matter what kind of weapon you're using, they're dead meat. Don't even bother with Wizard. You won't be able to do anything useful with it. Rogues already get the ability to use wands and scrolls (via the "use magic device" skill) and your intelligence is far too low for your own spellcasting ability to ever be relevant. Cleric is slightly better than wizard, but not by a whole lot. Those two spells will be largely useless. Dispel Magic has a chance for success based on your caster level. Since you'll only have a few levels in wizard, your chance for success will be exceedingly low. Silence has a will saving throw, meaning you need a jacked intelligence score (20+ minimum) or else your opponents will just resist the spell. This is not worthwhile for your multi-classing character.

Rogue is an excellent multi-class choice. Typically it's ideal to begin your career as a Rogue then multi-class into Fighter, rather than the other way around (you get like 40 bonus skill points for taking your 1st level as a Rogue) but it's up to you as to whether that's worth restarting over with a new character. The Rogue has a lot of synergy with the Fighter, and contrary to the stereotypical image of a sneaky and agile warrior he's actually well-equipped for the two-handed sword with heavy armor approach you're using.


Personally I like a 3:1 Rogue:Fighter ratio, but anywhere from 4:1 to 2:1 works nicely.

As stated, don't bother multiclassing into Wizard or Cleric -- you won't have enough casters levels to do useful stuff. Fighter/Rogue can easily multiclass, though.

For strength characters a 2H is almost always better than dual-wielding unless you're playing on a server with ridiculously powerful weapons that trump the bonus damage you get from a 2H weapon and 1.5 strength modifier. However, 1H weapon and shield is almost always the most powerful at higher levels due to shields scaling too well. You'll be fine in the official campaigns as a 2H user, though.

Ok, thanks. I did not know about all the bonus skill pts for starting as Rogue! Nor had I considered that Rogues can use Magic Wands, etc. Can they cast from Scrolls??

Now I am thinking of a Robin Hood-type character. A Human Ranger/Rogue with 2-4 levels of Paladin. Would have to think a bit more about whether Rogue or Ranger would be the Major Class. Probably Rogues need to get Level 7 to take care of their main functions adequately but I would not want their weak HP+6- levelling feature.

Hmmmmm. Lots to think about.

Strength -------------- 13 (5)_
Dexterity ------------ 14 (6)
Constitution --------- 13 (5)
Intelligence --------- 12 (4)
Wisdom ------------- 12 (4)
Charisma ----------- 14 (6)

Thanks. Also the whole concept of a Bard/Rogue has always intrigued me from Baldur's Gate days since it seems a natural character-type IMHO.

Rogues can bypass requirements to use any magic items, provided you have a sufficient skill rank in Use Magic Device. Those levels in Ranger really aren't doing anything for you here. The only things the class has going for it is the favored enemy bonus and animal companion, but as a multi-class character their progression will be so slow that they really won't matter at all. Just go Rogue/Paladin and leave your third class slot open for something else. Your stats are spread too thin here. You're never going to get meaningful spellcasting ability with that little Paladin investment so drop wisdom. Intelligence is nice to have, but you really can't afford it with the commitment you have to charisma so drop that too. Top up the constitution score for more hit points and pump strength for good combat performance. I'd recommend the following distribution:

str 16
dex 14
con 14
int 10
wis 8
cha 14

Thanks @Darvin

Well now I have learned a bit more about the Pixie familiar and see that it can take care of most non-combat Rogue functions such as Traps, Locks, Scouting. That would mean I could choose Daelan or Linu without needing Rogue skills of my own if I have either Mage or Sorcerer levels.

Hmmmm....I really am more of a Paladin type in RL which suggests Sorcerer if I go Arcane. Wonder how closely familiars can be micro-managed?? And are there penalties if they get destroyed as in Baldur's Gate??

Also just learned that Sorcerer's are presented with a nifty item at the Training Academy which helps them against the weaker enemies of Prelude and Chapter1. I have generated a Rogue and noted his Skills/Feats so that I can compare it to a Sorcerer.

Strength ------------- 15
Dexterity ------------ 12
Constitution -------- 14
Intelligence -------- 12
Wisdom ----------- 10
Charisma ----------- 14

Agree about an extra point in Strength for this mostly melee character -so Intelligence [10] ]would be better. I would try to avoid playing any Paladin character with a Wisdom penalty. Much prefer working out a way to meta-game/compensate for lower Dex.

Disable Trap ---- 5
Heal ------------- 4
Hide ------------ 6
Listen ---------- 6
Lore ------------ 4
Mve Silent ----- 6
Open Lock ----- 6
Persuade ----- 6
Search ------ 5
Spot ------------ 5
Set Trap --------- 4
UseMgcDev --- 5

Feats: Alertness and Point Blank Shot -- but now I realize that I was still stuck in my Ranger-thinking [Ambidexterity + Dual-Wield] when I passed over the Two-Weapon feat.

The imagined character would mostly be a Paladin with just a few levels of Rogue. Now I want to go create another character that is mostly a Sorcerer with a bit of Paladin so I can compare them in my mind. Enjoying a sense of story-line and some empathy for at least a semblance of RP is always important for me. ~Cheers!

BTW, this exercise is only about Part I campaign. I do not have Hordes of the Underdark, NWN2 and no interest in Epic PvP. I would however probably be interested in sampling several fan-creation modules, particularly ones featuring interesting stories, quests, characters -- rather than adrenaline pumping encounters.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------

Done.

Strength ------------------------- 12
Dexterity ------------------------ 12
Constitution -------------------- 14
Intelligence ------------------- 14
Wisdom ---------------------- 10
Charisma ---------------------- 15

Feats: Spell Penetration and Still Spell
Spells: Burning Hands, Mage Armor

Now to take them out for test drives...... Later, and thnx again.

Totally forgot about the Pixie. NWN1 familiars are crazy good. Keep in mind that the Pixie's abilities will be based on your Wizard/Sorcerer level, so you can't do much (really, any) multi-classing if you want a useful familiar. You take a small amount of damage if your familiar dies and you can't summon it again until you rest. You can directly control them if you want, but otherwise it's pretty much the same as companions. 12 dexterity isn't going to be a very big hindrance; I was waffling over whether to suggest 12 or 14 in my previous post. Personally I'd drop your intelligence down to 10 so you can begin with 16 strength, but it just puts you a little behind the curve so if you really want the extra skill points it's okay. Just keep in mind that you get (relatively) few skills whenever you take a level in Paladin, so be sure to budget accordingly so you can "top them off" every time you take a level in Rogue. There's a reason why I go as high as 4:1 ratios when multi-classing Rogue - those skill points are awesome. Alertness isn't worth a feat, and your stats are not well-placed for being an archer so point blank shot isn't very useful either. Knockdown is a nice feat. Absolutely; I play pen and paper and am a firm believer that optimization is a tool to build the character you want, not an end goal in and of itself.

That said, Paladin/Sorcerer is a really tough combination to play. I tried to make it work in Icewind Dale 2 (a game with an extremely generous point buy system; I think I had 16 strength, 14 dex, 14 con, 12 int, 6 wis, 18 cha, if I recall correctly) and it fell flat on its face. Good luck with that.

Paladin/Sorcerer CAN work... but it's really an advanced build, and even then suboptimal. I should know, I tried to make an Elven Fighter/Mage when NWN1 first came out, because that was awesome in Baldur's Gate. Worst character ever. I get wanting to play a concept that suits you for RP, but this kind of character is an exercise in frustration unless you really know what you're doing. And I only reached that point after playing for half a year or so.

Also, if you don't have the expansions, a paladin/sorcerer style character won't even have access to the spells and abilities that make it worthwhile. (Flame weapon spell, divine might/shield feats, Red Dragon Disciple prestige class.)

Rule of thumb for NWN1 multiclassing is: Don't multiclass spellcasters. Spellcasters need as many levels as they can get to cast the good spells. If you know what you're doing and/or are playing with epic levels, this rule can be adhered to less strictly, but for the most part it still applies.

Paladin/Rogue can work, though. Just remember you can't get the good dual-wield feats unless your DEX score is at least 15. (But you don't need to dual-wield. A greatsword also works for sneak attacks.)

Or paladin/Cleric, with just a few paladin levels, for a more spellcasting-oriented holy knight. (I know what I said about not multiclassing casters, but clerics are more forgiving than most.)

I'd avoid characters with 3 classes, because you're very likely to run into multi-class XP penalties. (Non-human characters will also run into these if you multiclass, unless you know what you're doing.) The main campaign in NWN1 is... really quite bad. At its best, it's mediocre. At its worst, it's mind-numbing tedium of endless pointless trash-mobs to fight. Fan-made stuff can be much, -much- better, especially if you are looking for story over combat. Some of my favourite RPG stories exist as fan-made NWN1 modules.

However, many/most of them require the expansions. Indeed, pretty much all the good ones I can think of do, with one or two exceptions. If you like this game, I strongly recommend picking them up. They're cheap on GOG, and regularly on sale to boot. Plus, the expansions themselves are much more fun than the original game.
(I'm not sure if you have Shadows of Udrentide, the first expansion, but if you do I might even recommend playing that instead of the original campaign. It also starts at level 1 and is much more fun in my opinion.)

Nah, Wizard/Cleric is definitely a worse combination.

But yes, multi-classing with casters is really advanced stuff and is pretty underwhelming even if you know what you're doing. If you have your heart set on Paladin/Sorcerer, I'd recommend cheating for higher stats. You'll need 'em.

Well, my Elven fighter/mage also had low STR, weapon finesse, dual wielded rapiers and daggers, (with weapon focus/specialisation feats for both) wore armour without the still spell feat, and focussed heavily on the parry skill.

I think he gave that cleric-wizard a run for his money for utter lousyness.
(What can I say, I looked at all the cool new abilities that weren't in Baldur's Gate and tried to squeeze them all in one character.)

As for a paladin sorcerer though, you do not need to cheat higher stats. You just need to realise that for a arcane gish character in NWN1 to work you need to aim for something like sorcerer 16/ paladin 4. And rely heavily on buffs.

With a stat spread like 16/10/14/10/8/16, buffing spells, full armour, divine might, still spell and spells like Flame Weapon and Improved Invisibility you will be both tough and hard-hitting. Your base attack bonus will suck, but as a sorcerer you can cast a lot of True Strikes and those don't suffer from spell failure, so you can still hit the bosses. Darkness is also great and spell-failure free. Your spellcasting will be relatively limited, but with high CHA your spells will still work just fine if you focus on save-or-suck stuff.

It's a pretty decent character on you reach the mid-teen levels, and quite fun. But unfortunately, even at its best this character is pretty much a second-rate cleric power-wise.

(You tried this build in Icewind Dale 2, but that is a wholly different animal. Without meta-magic, divine might and weapon-buffing spells, there are none of the synergies that make this combo workable in NWN1.)

That's... pretty bad.

I'd say Sorcerer 18/Paladin 2 would be preferable if you lack the expansion packs. The only thing you gain from those extra two levels of Paladin is a few 1st level spell slots (who cares, 1st level scrolls are dirt cheap). The BAB difference doesn't let you hit any important threshold. If you have the expansion packs, the the Turn Undead ability will let you qualify for Divine Might and that is totally worth those extra levels.

I will grant you Divine Might, but he's playing without the expansion packs so it doesn't exist. IWD2 has a feat that allows you to ignore a certain percentage chance of arcane spell failure, so I actually was able to have a shield equipped at no penalty and use spells to boost my AC. The bigger problem was that the 20 strength half-orc Barbarian/Fighter just roared in and killed everything. That guy was basically carrying the entire party on his back.

To give the OP an alternative, you might want to consider staying with the fighter and going into the weapon master prestige class. It's a class which focusses on specialising in a single weapon, and gaining lots of bonuses with that weapon. Greatsword is a good choice for the class, and one which served my character well from level 1 to epic levels in the module I just played through. Your ability scores (to be precise, your dex and int) are at exactly the minimum you need to meet the prerequisites for the class. The other major requirement is that it needs you to take 6 specific feats, which is something that a fighter is less concerned about.

It does require HotU, but as others have said, getting the expansions is a good idea as they add a lot to the game.

Thanks. From Baldur's Gate Forum I gather that folks prefer IWD series or Planescape:Torment unless interested in creating original modules. So I think I will go that route before buying the expansions of NWN.

Not that I won't still enjoy a few more days of fooling around enough to get to know the NPCs a bit. I find the whole concept of Game Designing very interesting.

Cheers!!

Now what in the world did they say that makes you think that? I would not agree with that statement at all. Doubly so as you don't need to be interested in *creating* original modules to *play* original modules. Sure, IWD and PT are better than the default original campaign...but Shadows of Undrentide is better and Hordes of the Underdark gives those two a run for their money.

Then you have quite a few custom campaigns already built and ready for you to play that are better than anything mentioned so far (things like the Aielund Saga, Swordflight, Hex Coda, A Dance With Rogues, etc).

You don't have to want to build to enjoy the custom content of NWN.

Speaking of picking up NWN, now is definitely the time to do it.