Hello Ironworkers! How many of you out there have tried to create the perfect character for playing this game?

What are your choices and why. My order of leveling up has been cross matched time and time again and I still haven't come up with the perfect match yet.
Do you like a pure character or at least hit fighter 1 time time to get all the bene's.?
Hit points are very valuable but what class besides barbarion can you stack them up in? Looking for your perfect characters here.
So far Monks seem to have it made in this game, and majic users need a few more hit points. Fighters add great weapons usage imediately, as opposed to wizards or bards.

Great game btw and looking forward to the up-coming expansion.

I haven't gotten very far into the game, but to my knowledge bard's are exceedingly balanced. They are a rogue, fighter, and sorcerer infused all into one class. Never before have I been a fan of them, but they just rock! :D

If you have a character who is perfect in rolls and all, it is no fun.
I quote from a handbook somewhere: "Sometimes the most flawed characters are the most interesting to play."
A perfect one would be boring.

I will try a Bard sometime and take your advice soon. I must admit not having met to many in the game makes me feel a little uneasy about seeing one all the way through to the end. A good challenge ahead of me ;) </p> Now for a good start here is a character that is going good for a third level guy;

Barbarian-Fighter-Druid
HP=39
All armor and shield proficiency's
Martial and simple weapon proficiency's
Barbarian Fast Movement
Barbarian Ragex1
Immunity to sleep
Hardiness vs. Enchants
Skill Affinity's:listen,search, and spot
Keen sense
Weapon proficiency: Elf, and Druid
Lowlight Vision
Toughness
Weapon focus (longsword)
Nature Sense
Animal Companion
Great Fortitude</p> I don't know where to go with him from here but good start anyway. Possibly Cleric for War Domain power [img]smile.gif[/img] Have fun everyone!

You already have three classes that is the limit in this game.

Pure Cleric
Str 14, dex 10, int 10, wis 16, con 14, cha 12

(stay below 14 and the price is 1pt per char, get a lot of milage !)

Domains : Knowledge (for the identify magic), Magic (couple of good attack spells in there, but mainly for the stone skin)

What can I say. Blow a feat on martial weapons. He can now use the astral long sword. He can use armor, a shield, helm, belt, boots, guantlets, the whole shebang.

and the spells. Espeically the summon creature. He always has a top notch monster tagging along, Every other level it gets up graded (until he can cast 9th level spells that is).

Blast at range with spells, or mix it up with the confidence of someone wearing the heaviest of armor. I love it !

my fav is sorcerers [img]smile.gif[/img]

Elven wizards, with an astral blade in each hand! The problem is that. level per level, clerics have Better armor, More Hit Points, and more powerful spells...

Have to go with the pureclassed cleric. The domains you want to use depend on your playing style (i.e. offensive magic, close combat, creature summoning etc.), but you can do a lot of things. You may have some trouble with traps, but that's not worth the disadvantages of wasting your points on rogue levels or find/disarm abilities (although high int will let you do the latter to a certain degree).

fighter 4 rest barbarian. that's it, gotta love greater rage when you have 20 str without it ;)

Hey cormack and all! I am always a Druid if the game allows. I see that you are an Elf, well so am I. Having your animal companions and summoned beasts makes up for lower hit points, and also allows you to step back and cast your spells. Nature itself is out of balance in this game so why not a Druid for a perfect character?</p> The Ability score modifiers range from -5 to +15 and even higher in some cases. Also the Point Buy System differs from race to race, point per ability, and finally what amount of pool points you receive to start with. Mixing and matching for a perfect character is very illusive because all classes can finish the game they were created for.
Cross-Class skills are repeated and if you are not careful you can split your ranks and they don't end up benefiting your character in anyway together like that. They won't improve to a full rank. Ranks are added into every check made with the skill, so the more ranks a character has, the better his checks will be.
Exclusive skills are treated as class skills so I can see the reason for you hitting fighter at least for one level. Battle on everyone!

A druid becomes allmighty later on in the game when he can shapeshift into a dragon or powerful elemental. This gives him the possibility to be a strong spellcaster (using spells like Sunbeam, Finger of Death, Elemental Swarm) and a enormously powerful melee fighter (in the form of a dragon (or slaad, giant, balor or golem) or an elder elemental.

Druids are definitely to be careful with when they reach high levels.

Depends on what your are making, but some fun and powerful characters:

Long-range specialist:
Elf
Rogue
Wizard
Spec long bow
point-blank
rapid fire
combat casting
and other goodies
no armor (buck-nakked!)
with a dire badger to boot. Going with 7 rogue/13 wizard for the character I'm playing right now.

Sneak Attack Jack! :
Human
11 rogue
9 fighter
Lots of str and dex.
Two routes to go here (well three sort of), go with big 2handed weapons for some massive damage, or duel-weld, or use an exotic double weapon. Each has +'s and -'s depending on what other feats you want.

Improved bounty hunter:
7 rogue
13 fighter
decent str,con, and intel.
This is a very well rounded character that can cast spells from scrolls, pick locks, set traps, and disarm them. It is fun if you have to explore every corner and like to set up your fight like a game of chess (plan out the traps, what type, and how or what to use extra for the fight from potions to scrolls).

For the Official Campaign that came with the game I'm likeing my rogue/wiz elf since all quests are open to me and I'm not worrying about traps or locks.

Monks and sorcs all the way to oblivion [img]tongue.gif[/img]

SO I take that this game uses 3RD edition rules correct?? And in most games on this forum I would say Cleric\Socerer(mage), but maybe this game isnt like "most games"!

I use a Battle Priest

Death, magic - spheres

with death sphere - u get phantasmal killer which kills just about anything, cept Gollums, and undead. Any human, demihuman, bug, or anything not undead will kill 98.5% of the time.

the the God Power is to summon powerful undead as your ally - right now im 15th level and i have Shadow Fiend helping me before that was a Huge Mastiff was pretty cool. It progresses with level.

I like the Cleric cuz if you haven't really noticed, the game is Packed full of Undead! and when ur high enuf level the cleric Turn Undead feature can turn just about All undead. - Ghoul Ravengers seems like they get a saving throw or a will save cuz it don't always werk on them but sometimes it does.

with the magic sphere u get stone skin, Ice storm, and melfs Acid arrow. Which i found to be invaluable thru out the game. especially at higher level with ice storm and Melfs arrow.

Kinda wish u can double up the spells cast with a slot ... they don't give enuf slots to put your spells in either. Just a thought.

Lvl 6 Fighter/ 9 Rogue (if higher level just add more rogue lvls), and go for the duel wielding keen scimitar(or rapier)/kukri. Large critical threat ranges and sneak attack makes killing easy, and you get plenty of skill points.

I'm a big fan of druids but have been trying a sorceror this time around and have found that unless you have a long background in D&D and are familiar with what spells are really good then you could very easily screw yourself over when picking new spells.

A sorcerer with 81 HP and 'crushing hands' if you know what I mean [img]smile.gif[/img]

My druid is cool! Level 18, two funky swords, 170 somming hit points, and its only chapter 3...
She kicks butt.
My advice:
Get a druid.

Druids all the way.

You get a cool animal companinion in addition to your henchman. You can summon another creature for a total of 4 people attacking bad guys. Excellent buff spells (Barksking, Bull's Strength, Stonesking, Endure Elements, Protection Elements, Ultravision). My Druid has power attack and Cleave and soon will have improved critical for the scimitar. I mostly walk up on the front lines and bash the enemy. For larger groups I use area effect spells.

What's not to like about the druid.

yeah! Kytor rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He's a dire wolf, and he acts as a distraction, a good tank, and he's furry!
Yay!

I adore my Dwarven 1/4 Barbarian and 3/4 Fighter.
Has alot of hitpoints and hits hard... he can really take a beating and give one as well.
I haven't taken him through the whole game yet but it's gonna be fun!

I played the game through as a Barbarian/ Fighter.
Level 1 Fighter/ Level 19 Barbarian.

Damage reduction and agility really match well with high scores in secondary skills. The hit point factor ensures a hardy battle and thats my choice cormack ;) </p>D.W.

Singleclassed cleric was mine. I took the Animal domain (upgrades your summons; I just let the dire boar I got at 1st level smack around everything in the prelude), and Martial Weapon proficiency. Add Extra Turning for additional turning, and you really can rock. The only bad part is traps, but that's what I got Tomi for. ;)

Oh, by the way, Harm rocks. Easily one of the best spells in the game. Nothing like taking a boss monster down to 3hp instantly. :D

I would say that this forum has given me a fantastic outlook upon the game and I can really relate to everyone's choice for the perfect character profile.

I must have started over 20 times trying to figure out every which way one can go. If you are into the toolset bulk and hit points hould go before spells, because making rods, with spell powers, will give you extra power to shock and awe mass enemy's confronting you.</P> As a soldier you must follow the comanders decision and be true to yourself. Never harm or kill any innocent people and treat everyone equaly. Good to meet you a;;

So far (early in Ch 2) I must say that I am extremely satisfied with my human monk. I love going close up and watching him surrounded by 4-5 enemies. He dodges blades, his fists and feet are deadly. It is especially fun when he kills one opponent, then turns and cleaves another, killing him also! Now that he has Improved Evasion I am not even that worried about running into traps anymore!
I also created a Ranger 2/Druid 1 through the Prelude that I think will be pretty good. Can anyone comment on this combo? I have not seen it posted in this thread.
Thanks.

The bad part about multiclassing in the 3rd edition is obvious when one of the classes is a spellcasting class (especially druids, clerics, wizards, and sorcerers). In the previous edition/BG2, the xp just split between the two classes. This let you get to higher levels in the spellcasting class; it just took longer and more xp.

In 3rd edition/NwN, you only get 20 levels, and if you multiclass you have to split them between the classes. Thus, every level you take in another class is one less for your spellcasting class, thus a greater reduction in spellcasting ability than in the last edition. Thus, if you want to get 9th level spells, you need to reach 17th level in druid, which only leaves 3 levels that you can take in another class or classes. Plus, since druid and ranger are not a favored class for any races except humans and half-elves, you would have to take either of these two races to avoid a 20% xp reduction for your classes not being within one level of each other.

My personal opinion, it all depends on what you want to play. If you don't mind losing some spell power from druid to have a good number of levels in ranger, then go right ahead. If I am any of the main spellcasting classes, then I make it a point not to multiclass, especially if the other class is not a spellcasting class.

Human Illusionist. At Level 4

Str 14
Dex 14
Int 15
Wis 8
Con 14
Chr 10

Spells (these last all day)
Bulls Strength
Cats Grace
Protection from alignment : Evil
Mage Armor
Resist elements
And a few acid arrows

Quarter Staff : 1d6 damage
+1 because I'm using it 2 handed
+2 from my strength
+2 (usually) from the bulls strength

1d6+5 damage, +5 to hit
AC 17

Level 4 Illusionist and kicking butt !

I can't believe I'm hand to handing 3 prisoners at a time in the Peninsual, and winning usually without a scratch !

The Best "Ranger" combo would be ranger/Wizard 19/1.

Level 1, make a ranger, 12 int
Level 2, go to wizard (general) for 1 level, don't even botehr to spend your skill points.
Level 3 and up : Ranger all the way.

Equip him/her as a ranger. Good weapons, armor, etc. The only spells you should have memorized are Identify Magic and mage armor. Mage armor is only for emergancies because it's only going to last 2 minutes (it's backed up by the power of a level 1 mage..even if you're 19th , sorry). Hot key your armor so you can pop it off at the push of a button to cast your spells.

You fight like a ranger, cast spells like a ranger...

And can now use every mage wand and spell you stumble across. Wands of Fire. Scrolls of Horrid Wilting. Time Stops. You'll have to keep two extra magic bags in your inventory, one for all the wands and one for the vast collection of spells you will amass.

Every mage quest is now open to you. Every alchemy lab can now be used by you (albeit you're casting from scrolls, not naturally). And you're still basically a ranger who can fight like the devil.

Probably the best ranger combination in my opinion.

Of course I prefer doing the same thing with a paladin, but that's just me.

16 Rogue 4 Fighter.

9D6 Sneak attack, crippling strike (adds +2 strength ability damage to opponent), opportunist (+4 to attacks of opportunity),Slippery mind (auto re-roll against mind affecting spells).

Taking the last of the fighter class nearing max level allows you to max out discipline avoiding being knocked down etc. Plus your rogue will get 4 attacks per round as opposed to 3.

My 2c. [img]smile.gif[/img]

My monk rocked! No stats now due to new system, but she was bad. I did the barbarian14/fighter6 in my first game, and he was cool, but that monk rocked. Stunning blow, improved knock down, flurry of blows. Nighty night nasties.