Quote:
Originally posted by Bozos of Bones:
Very well, I shall not bear grudge.
The thing about me seeing fighters as tanks is true... mostly. But my biggest remark for the combo is the loss of rogue skill points. If you want to use a rogue in IWD2, he must be VERY proficient to use him effectively. A ranger/rogue gives a bit higher amount of skill points than the fighter/rogue, and needs less levels of ranger for effectiveness. The ranger's armor penalty is negated because of rogue's higher penalty and you can freely use dual weapons. Advanced search is very cool, and free. Couldn't find a use for wilderness lore, but I know it must do something.
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1. 10 or 11 levels of rogue are enough to be a very proficiently skilled rogue. (FYI, I never put any SP into pick pocket skill.) A Fighter 6/Rogue 10 is a very capable rogue and a solid warrior.
2. I agree that a ranger/rogue will generally be a more skilled rogue than a fighter/rogue. No argument there at all.
3. "The ranger's armor penalty is negated because of rogue's higher penalty and you can freely use dual weapons." I don't see there really being any such thing as an "armor penlty". (I'm assuming that you're talking about the fact that ranger's only start with 2 armor feat points and rogues only start with 1 armor feat point.) Rogues are really meant to be high DEX characters and high DEX characters are meant to wear light armor.
The best heavy armor, IIRC, has a +10 AC bonus and +1 or +2 Max DEX bonus for a total of +11 or +12. The very best light armor has a +6 AC bonus and a +6 max DEX bonus for a total of +12. That means that they are EQUAL in terms of protection. Furthermore, if you took the armor feats and put that +10/+2 heavy armor on your rogue, you'd lose all of his additional DEX bonus and you'd take a heavy armor check penalty. Not worth it. AND heavy armor is just that ... heavy. Many high DEX rogues (or ranger-rogues or fighter-rogues) do not have high STR's to match. Wearing heavy armor would strain their limited carrying capacity.
Rogues (and fighter-rogues and ranger-rogues) are MEANT to wear light armor, plain and simple.
4. Wilderness Lore. There is a very good use for WL.
The Fell Wood. WL makes finding your way thru the Fell Wood a snap. WL is a good skill for any ranger, barb, or druid to take. Also note that WL is a WIS based skill. If by chance, you don't have a ranger, barb, or druid in your party, have your CLERIC take a point of WL. As a WIS based skill, your cleric's high WIS will increase the effectiveness of WL.
Also, Wilderness Lore can be used anywhere to try to scope out what enemies might lie ahead in the area. Other than the Fell Wood, is it necessary? No. But if you're just starting IWD2 and haven't played all the way thru, it can give you a heads up to the trouble ahead. If you have already played all the way thru, it can still be a nice little little role-playing bene.
BoB, I've played IWD2 all the way thru a few times in both Normal and HOF mode. And I've played both ranger-rogue and fighter-rogue MC combos. Both are very good multiclass combos. I'd suggest taking the combo that best fits your vision of the character. You want a swashbuckling fighting rogue, play a fighter-rogue. You want sneaky scout type of rogue that's more at home in the forest, play a ranger-rogue. If played to their strengths, both are very good MC combos that should serve any party well.