For my fighter/rouge

STR 16 (Primary)
DEX 15 (I'll increase it to 16 when I'm level 4 to get +3 bonus)
CON 14
WIS 10
INT 10
CHA 12

Your comments? Should I lower WIS to 8? I thibk 14 con is enough (+2) a 16 con will give me only 20 hp more. IMO dex is important both for ac and missile attack. I like cha because of persaudation. I'll use knock and improved knock not disarm opponent feat so I gave int 10.

I assume that you plan on dualwielding and wearing light armor - otherwise the high DEX is wasted

I'd take 12 in INT instead of CHR as it gives extra skill points when you lvl up.

CON 14 is enough - you can choose the Toughness feat for extra Hp.

just my [img]graemlins/2cents.gif[/img]

That looks like pretty good stats to start off. You find items early on that will add to STR and DEX, so don't be too concerned about them (amulet, boots, bracers.) I wish I had created my character rather than using a pre-made one. LOL. Well, that's how you learn though right? It's been pretty fun so far, just now running into limitations.

[ 08-02-2002, 02:14 PM: Message edited by: Tobbin ]

I'm not thinking about dual wield or light armor. High dex gives you ac bonus as I know. I'm very familiar with 2nd edition so I'M used to give high dex:) even with a full plate I wont benefit dex bonus? or for bow

DEXTERITY has many benefits. Pumping it up is good. If nothing else, it allows you faster movement rates, better chance to get attack first, better reflexes to avoid damage. I have my Dexterity pumped up to 17, 22 with items equipped. (Course my character does have thieving skills too, so . . .)

STRENGTH is good when you want to hurt something or to open stuff (bash chests, etc.)

Both of these are good overall for any character. CON is too as it allows you to negate poison/disease to some effect. Plus you get more HP's that allow you to live longer. LOL Intelligence is good for skill points, but you can get by with this being lower (unless you go mage). Where I messed up was that I didn't pump into CHARISMA which helps for persuade and especially in my case Sorceror spells (I have 11 so can only cast 1st level). Ah well, I might try to pump it up to get 3rd level (2nd level spells). That's what I meant by just now running into limitations. If I had known the game would give you items to pump up strength and dex, I wouldn't have added so much to them (I have 24 STR & 22 DEX). I do avoid most traps and magic spells now though (as DEXTERITY plus DODGE gives you a better percentile on avoiding damage).

A fighter wearing makeup? ("rouge.") Besides, rouge is for old ladies. The modern fighter goes with a light base, white lipstick and a hint of blush.

Seriously, DON'T LOWER YOUR WISDOM. You're going to have enough troubles with "will" saves. Don't compound the problem.

DROP your Charisma (-2) and INCREASE your Intelligence (+2). Intelligence gets you more skill points. If you start as a rogue (and you'd be insane not to due to the level 1 skill points you'll lose by starting as a fighter), you can put one of the FOUR EXTRA skill points into PERSUADE and you'll be right back where you started.

DROP your Strength (-1) and INCREASE your Intelligence (+2). Once again, skill points. You can make up your strength with guantlets, potions, what-ever. And most of the time, you don't really need that much strength. You can NEVER make up for lost skill points, and with a Rogue, skill points make all the difference as you have so many skills to support.

Also, with a 14 INT, you can use knockdown (13 str), and disarm (13 int). Knockdown is great, but I like disarm a lot, too. i.e., disarm them, then knock them down. With two weapon, exotic weapon and ambidexterity and using the +1 two-bladed sword, you'll be a disarming, sneak-attacking, knock-down death machine.

Dexterity doesn't help you move any faster.

Dexterity isn't a major skill for fighters. Once they get into heavy armor, they can have a maximum dexterity bonus to AC of +1. Dexterity is required for a few feats, like disarm, so if you want these feats, pump it up. Otherwise, go all strength and constitution.

For a good fighter, you might want to consider adding a few levels of rogue. This way, you'll be able to do sneak attacks, which give you bonus damage.

There's a chart on page 176 of the manual which has all the various armor types, and the maximum dexterity bonus to AC when wearing them.

sneak attack is nice 16d additional damage.
3 rogue level is enough in my opinion

17 fig / 3 rog excellent idea

That's a good idea. I have 9 levels of Ranger right now and 3 levels of Thief. Was thinking of raising up more in thief, but want to gain some sorceror. I will plateau early though because my Wisdom is only 11. I can get 1 more point to add at least though, so should be able to get up to 4th level sorceror. Might go the rest as Ranger.

Hmm I put my dexterity at 20 to start with because I'm a elven ranger planning on dual wielding a lot. Is that wasted? I scrimped by on strength because I got the weapon finese feat. I cant seem to remember what my other stats are but I do know I went semi low on constitution and strength and charisma.

Dexterity is NOT the prerequsite for Disarm. Intelligence is the prerequsite for Disarm. Dexterity (13) is the prerequsite for DODGE.

These are the NWN ability prerequiste numbers (I looked them up in the manual):

STRENGTH: 13 will get you ALL strength feats.

DEXTERITY: 15 will get you ALL dexterity feats.
DEXTERITY: 13 will get you all dexterity feats, EXCEPT ambidexterity.

INTELLIGENCE: 13 will get you ALL intelligence feats.

There are NO constitution, wisdom or charisma limited feats.

NOTE: You still have to meet all other prerequsites. Such as other feats, class restrictions, etc.

Unless you plan on wearing leather or padded armors, 20dex is wasted. Studded leather only grants you a maximum dexterity bonus of +4, which you get with 18dex. I have an elven ranger with 18dex, and after quaffing a Cat's Grace potion, neither his armor class nor his chance to hit with his longbow were improved.

I agree with all the people who say intelligence is important for a rogue, and I'd say it's good to have for a ranger as well, at least if you intend to use the ranger's stealth skills some. My ranger has 10int and is starved for skill points.

Wolverine, you don't need 20 dexterity for a ranger, but it doesn't hurt. Take the weapon finesse feat first chance you get. That way, your dexterity bonus will be used for attack rolls, and you'll have a better chance of hitting.

I wouldn't put any more points into dexterity as you level up. Work on strength or constitution, but make sure your wisdom is 15 (to get spells).

Also, keep an eye out for good padded or leather armors. With high dexterity, you can wear lighter armors, and your AC might go up. With padded armor, your dexterity bonus can be up to +8. I haven't seen any good padded armors in the game, but there are lots of nice leather armor choices.

Up until I found the Shadow Legion Armour (You need to have thief skills to use this - which is like Leather +5, I think), I was using Studded Leather [normal - +2]. Can't remember how bad the dex modifier goes with that armor, but it is still considered light armor and gets +1 over the Leather. My Ranger abilities did not get disabled. I think it does affect magic user spells though with, I think, a 25-35% failure rate. Still, it should be awhile before you need to worry about spells.

I believe ranger spells are divine, so they won't be affected by armor.

tobbin, a sorcerors spells go by CHARISMA, not wisdom. and if you want to cast forth level spells, you need a 14 charisma. just a reminder is all, [img]smile.gif[/img]

LOL. Yeah, I kinda found that out. Man, was I bummed out when I took the sorceror class and was stuck without spells and had to go back to the PRIOR level so I could add +1 to Charisma. Oh well. I had never tried Sorceror before as I was used to Wizard. I'll have to say that it is convenient not having to memorize spells. I just cast whatever I want as it comes up. It is just too cool. Hopefully when Epic Levels come out, I might be able to go higher. What I used to do before was to raise up to 13th level Ranger and then switch over to MU until 14th level (Dualing). That gave me basically the abilities of both. Took FOREVER though, but it was cool. Now I can add in Thief too, OH MY!!!!!!!!!

"sneak attack is nice 16d additional damage.
3 rogue level is enough in my opinion

17 fig / 3 rog excellent idea"

Try going the other way. I have a 13th level pc- 10 Rogue (sorry, he's mascara free)/3 fighter.

He got the nice fighter feats, dual wields a rapier and sickle (it adds to his STR, glows, and does bonus damage... an odd, but effective, left hand weapon).

He has a lower attack bonus and lower HP than an equivalent fighter, but he makes up for it... like his sneak attack damage, which is up to about +5d6 now. I let the monk run in first, draw the attention, and start sneak-poking with my rapier. It's great fun and horribly effective- with the improved critical feat on the rapiers already high crit threshold, I strike as quickly as a sewing machine, but pump out damage like my level 18 Half Orc Barbarian...

Also, don't forget to through in the 11 skill points per level.

Sorry, I had sorceror skills and was just stating that. If you don't have magic abilities, it does not matter. If you plan to use stealth or other Ranger abilities (possibly ambidexterity), armor may affect this.