Kensai stuff

[Dace De'Briago]

Originally posted by Raistlin Majere: a preeproh-what warrior?

pe·riph·er·al ( P ) Pronunciation Key (p-rfr-l)
adj.

1. Related to, located in, or constituting an outer boundary or periphery.
2. Perceived or perceiving near the outer edges of the retina: peripheral vision.
3. Anatomy.
Of the surface or outer part of a body or organ; external.
Of, relating to, or being part of the peripheral nervous system.
4. Of minor relevance or importance.
5. Auxiliary.



[ 01-01-2004, 10:13 AM: Message edited by: Dace De'Briago ]

[Feral]

And I'm guessing Dace De'Briago meant 1 or 5, not 4.

[Klutz]

Originally posted by Ny'irilit: hey all, i was wondering what stuff there is in TOB for kensais, i already have the belt of innertial barrier, and the celestial fury (oh my god), i have boots of speed, the necklace of the seldarine as ive only just started the game. but what kind of stuff should i be looking for? i have 5 slots in katana, 2 in single weapon proficiency, and 2 on longsword (blackrazor) my char has excellent attack, nearly unmached, but he cant defent for sh*t any ideas? TIA

I'm not far in TOB myself, but I can tell you plenty of helpful stuff in from SOA. The notion of attacking from the flank has already been well covered, but if you absolutely have to take hits yourself, there's quite a few good ways of getting the Kensai's AC down. You'll never get it as low as someone that can use a shield, but you can get close.

Potion of Defense: My new favorite method. Sets your base AC to 0, which for a Kensai is a full 10-point improvement. Lasts quite a while too.

Potion of Stone Form: Like Potion of Defense, sets base AC to 0, and grants +3 to saves as well, but also penalizes your DEX by 3. Since each point of DEX from 15 to 18 is also worth a point of AC, effectively you're only getting 7-8 points of AC instead of 10 if you have a DEX of 18-19. Still not bad.

Shield Amulet: Found in De'Arnise Keep in SOA. It has lots of charges that each set your base AC to 4, which is a 6-point improvement.

Party buffs: Barkskin from Clerics/Druids and Ghost Armor (possibly other spells from that series) from Mages/Bards can give your AC a solid boost for a battle. Improved Invisibility from a Mage/Bard will give you 4 points of AC on top of the armor spells. Clerics especially also have several group buffs that directly or indirectly help AC (EX: Chant, Defensive Harmony, Prot from Evil 10' Radius).

Damage resistance: Without specific spoilers, there do exist items and abilities that will actually reduce the % of physical damage taken from each hit, reducing the need for good AC to be an effective tank. I'm sure a search on "damage resistance" or "physical damage resistance" on the forums will turn up lots of juicy info on this topic if you're interested.


If you like the idea of letting other party members take the hits for you but are having trouble with flank attacking, here's a couple more options. These require modifying your proficiencies or waiting till you get enough XP to learn new ones:

Two-handed weapons: All two-handed weapons have a range of 2, which means you can use them to hit an enemy from behind a friendly party member that is in direct melee with the enemy. Halberd, Quarterstaff, Spear, and Two-Handed Sword all have a range of 2 and there are good ones of all 4 types to be found in TOB and/or to be brought in from SOA.

Throwing weapons: Want to really not get hit? Kensais can use throwing weapons that also have melee versions. Axe and Dagger are the two SOA proficiencies where you can find good Kensai-suitable throwing weapons. I'm not sure if TOB adds any throwing weapons of note beyond what can be found in SOA, but the SOA ones are fantastic.