The more I think about it the more certain I am that mobs don't scale in SoU.

There used to be a really good in-depth Shifter guide on the old Bioware NWN boards. I'll see if I can dig it up again (it may be lost to time though, since the old boards shut down).

All good points, and I realize why you only go for the minimal Pally levels (very similar to the famous Exalted Sorceress build). It's just that it's such a late bloomer that I personally wouldn't bother with it unless I knew my character was going to make it to close to max level. As well, I spent most of the last years of my NWN playing career on a server where the mobs had enhanced AI and they'd dispel your ass as a first strike, so if you didn't max or almost max your caster levels, you'd be dispelled and super squishy right off the bat. That's likely not a concern in the regular campaigns, so stopping the SOR levels at level 18 or so would probably not be an issue.



*edit* Here is a link to the Shifter guide. I believe it was updated with info to patch 1.69, but can't say for certain (I didn't re-read the guide, so not sure if it says in there somewhere). Maybe that will help in getting a Shifter going in the campaigns.

Just to be clear, I'm not planning on taking the same character through all three campaigns. Doing it as Bioware intended.

But yes, tinyE is right, this has been amazingly helpful. I'll make sure to get enough bard levels by 20.

That's a good idea, I think. Gives you a chance to use different classes and get a different experience with each campaign.

I've done the NWN OC with a WIZ 1/FTR 1/CLC X (original run), pure WIZ, and pure SOR. Gone through SoU with a Bard/FTR (original run), Ranger/Rogue, and SOR. Did HotU with a FTR/Rogue/WM (original run), and Bard/FTR/RDD. Good fun every time.

Exactly! Too many choices I want to try to stick to doing the same thing every time.

I really want to try a roguish character next. I was holding off since a great deal of custom campaigns require you to play one.

My original OC run was with a pure fighter, but my stat placement was horrible so I restarted mid-way through chapter 2. I ended up playing through as a much better-built Fighter/Barbarian. For original SoU run was with a Fighter/Blackguard. My original HotU run was with a Fighter/Rogue/Shadowdancer.

On my more recent playthrough of the series, I used Fighter/Rogue/Weapon Master in the OC, and played through SoU and HotU with a single character: Sorcerer / Barbarian (one level only).

I created so many different characters as a teen playing this game. Learning the hard way why a Ranger 3 / Wizard 4 is not a very good idea... ah, good times. Wish I still had free time like that.

As a teen? Ah, youth. I wish I had games like NWN when I was a teenager. As it stands, I started playing NWN in my early 40s.

And the amount of time I spent just making characters builds... well, best not to think about it. :P

HotU is fun and has its challenges, but you do not need the most powerful, optimized character to be successful. When choosing a build for a character, I would recommend taking one that comes together well during SotU, rather than one that takes more levels to develop and peaks in HotU.

I played NWN2 with a dwarf fighter8/frenzy berserker5/weapon master7.
He could kill an armee without even starting to sweat.
Do these classes exist in NWN2 and is this effective to?

note: In MotB I took 10lv of dwarven defender because I became lawful good.
I know that you can have only 3 classes in NWN1.
Are there more or less chances for alignment shift in NWN1 than in NWN2?

My first NWN2 playthrough was with a Drow Bard 20. Never so much as touched a weapon after the intro, all buffs and debuffs afterwards. Yes, all the classes from NWN1 exist in NWN2, although in some cases the rules have changed.

The most important thing to note is that the improved critical feat does not stack with the keen weapon property in NWN2, but it does in NWN1. This greatly reduces the craziness you can pull with the weapon master by stacking critical enhancing abilities, but it's still pretty strong. Yes, three classes in NWN1, four in NWN2. Each campaign handles it differently. In general the shfits are significantly less prominent than in NWN2. The original campaign is actually the most reserved in the entire series for alignment shifts; it only hands out good/evil shifts, and only for unambiguous acts like refusing rewards or threatening to murder people.

Hey guys! Just reporting back in. Made it to the interlude so far, things are going pretty smoothly and I'm really digging this character. Thanks again for all the help, now I need to get back to figuring out how to put this necromancer mummy back in the ground. :)

He's a nasty enemy. Take it slow and careful, this is quite possibly the most deadly stretch of Shadows of Undrendtide. Make sure you stop off at the smaller tomb; there's always a class-specific item to be found there that's really good against undead.

Glad to hear you're enjoying the character.