Just bought NWN diamond

[Kazilan]

This is my first time playing the game with any expansions and I look forward to playing on this server. I hope to give it a go sometime later this week, once I've familiarized myself with the content on the expansions. Any recommendations for someone new to undermountain?

[Carson Drayke]

I started on Undermountain a couple months back. Most of what I have to say, you can find looking around here anyway, but I'll note a few things:

This is very much a powergaming place. There are powerful magic items and bad guys with very high AC, Spell Resistance, and immunity to sneak attack. While you can play anything, for a starting player, you're most likely to have fun if you build an Arcane Archer or Weapon Master and do what you can to maximize your AB (the big benefit of taking lots of levels in one of those 2 classes).

Not to say you won't be able to have fun with another build, but there's much you won't be able to do by yourself and options to party up are limited much of the time. Ziroc has really built a great place and there's a lot of stuff you'll want to go explore, which means you'll want to be able to fight large numbers of bad guys.

Also, one of the things you'll find is that you'll want to be able to explore and retrieve things without fighting the whole dungeon. An amulet that can cast Greater Sanctuary unlimited times is available not far into Undermountain. It's hard to resist using (possibly abusing...never really heard a verdict on what is frowned on as far as exploits go) this as a form of "Super Stealth" considering many of the enemies seem to have True Sight and can spot characters using Hide/Move Silently, making those skills less useful (though I still usually build them up for a character with rogue levels).

[Neo the Warrior Cat]

There are two class combos in particular that have very high BAB.

Fighter/Arcane Archer (feel free to take Wizard for the single level so you gain access to the True Strike spell, a bard level wouldn't add any BAB), and Fighter/Cleric/WM. The cleric self-buffs can outweigh some of the later bonuses to AB that the WM gets, and you only need around 15-16 actual cleric levels.


Paladin/Red Dragon Disciple will have an attack bonus in the mid 60's if you start with max str and pump strength every 4 levels, in addition to a few Great Strength feats after you get Dev Crit. Just make sure you don't take ANY bard or RDD levels until after level 20 so you don't mess up your BAB growth.

[Kazilan]

I've never been very good at powergaming, unfortunately. The character I just started playing in SoU is a fighter/rogue, I've always preferred swashbuckling types. Weaponmaster sounds like it might be fun, too. Would a fighter/rogue/weaponmaster build be effective?

[robertthebard]

Note that Bard/AA is highly effective, very highly effective, in Undermountain. Druid/Wiz/AA is also very effective. I've already posted a screenie of my Druid/AA with over 100 AB. The key here isn't fighter, it's AA. They are very potent in general, and particularly so in Undermountain. The last time I compared stats, with Javan, I believe, my Bard/AA was 1 or 2 points of AB lower than the Fighter/Wiz/AA combo. Not all that much base stat wise, considering bard song boosts with decent Charisma.

[Carson Drayke]

Sure, 13 levels of rogue opens up Epic Dodge which is very nice and 16 levels gives you Crippling Strike, which is useful too. Take enough fighter to get bonus feats, since you need 6 for WM (and your swashbuckler may be focusing on Dex so you'd need a 7th for Finesse and possibly more for dual-weapons).

I like the same sort of characters and wasn't a powergamer, but it's surprisingly easy to turn to the dark side. Biggest thing is to map out your character in advance, what you're going to do with feats and abilities (usually pouring all increases into Str or Dex, whatever your AB stat is).

Or, what is a little less daunting is to ignore all of that, build something just to get in there and decide as you go what you want to change next time. It doesn't take long to build half a dozen characters to level 40, so you might as well just learn as you go and start over when you want to.

[Neo the Warrior Cat]

Originally Posted by robertthebard The key here isn't fighter, it's AA. They are very potent in general, and particularly so in Undermountain.

Oh, that's the truth of it. For me it's a personal preference due to the ability to pick up Epic Weapon Spec, although a bard song can make up some of the difference there. (But not all considering that you want to take mostly AA levels) The bard also gets Use Magic Item, which is a ridiculously powerful skill.

[Greything]

Welcome.

Just getting past the first few levels can be a problem. Items with immunity to death magic are vital.

If anyone else is playing just contact them. Many of us go around with bag fulls of spare equipment and will gladly donate quite powerful items.

Others may be doing quests and joining up with them can get you good XP.

Best builds are another matter. Buffs and spells fail eventually, usually at the worst possible time. Best to balance AB, AC and the ability to run or hide.

[Unglaublich Verwustung]

If you want to swash your buckles then fighter/rogue/wm is definitely the way to go - you may not quite get to the uber ABs of the Arcane Archer but it is possible to get into the high levels, and AAs just don't swash!

[robertthebard]

Maybe not, but we certainly can buckle... :growl: