Little help for a newbie

[Aragon]

Hello all

Just got NWN this Saturday past and after experimenting with it all day Sunday I must say I'm impressed and really looking forward to playing for keeps. As I'm a chronic re-starter ( and I do mean chronic ) I thought I would get a little advice and perhaps save myself some grief.

My plan is to be an Elven Ranger/Rogue/Fighter ( 15/3/2 ) and I realize at some point I will incur a 20% XP penalty but this is the first rpg that I've played where an Elven Ranger has real potential so to hell with the XP! So, is there value in going solo ( no henchmen ) to make up for the lost XP or would I get the same XP regardless?

I'll start as a Rogue to get the skill points and then level each class evenly til Rogue 3/Ranger 3/ Fighter 2 and then all Ranger from there...is this wise? Also, I'm planning starting stats of STR 14 DEX 18 CON 12 WIS 8 INT 14 ( luv them skill points ) CHA 10. I realize I'll never be a spell caster but I'm a MIGHT orientated player so I don't really mind but will the low wisdom hurt me in other ways? I was thinking of using any rings, necklaces etc of Wisdom to boust it but I thought I noticed that Attribute Bonuses will not stack...I had Hide Armor +1 and Bracers +1 but I only got +1 increase to my AC...is this so?

What FEATS would you recommend for a charcter like this?

Well this is getting long so I'll stop there. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

[Ronn_Bman]

I am also a chronic "restarter". [img]smile.gif[/img] I owned this game for 2 months before I got past the prelude. I don't think I can answer all of your questions, but I do have some ideas.

The game's difficulty level is based on you traveling with a hireling, so it may be too tough without one. My character is a dwarven 11th level fighter/3rd level rogue, and 99% of the time now I could go it alone, but early on I needed quite a bit more help. Actually, now I spend more time keeping the hireling alive in combat than s/he spends helping.

The 20% XP penalty takes place as soon as you have more than 1 level between your highest class and the other(s) class(es). Racially favored classes are excluded, but since the racially favored class for an elf is wizard, it doesn't help in your case.

Based on your plan, as soon as your ranger class reaches 4th level, you will begin incurring the penalty because your Ranger class will be two levels above your fighter class.

Here's something I don't know if you've considered, and I'm not completely sure it's right, but the manual says, "your multiclass character suffers a -20% XP penalty for each class that is not within 1 level of his most experienced class.

If I read that right, your character will began taking a 40% penalty when your ranger reaches 5th level. 20% each from his fighter and rogue classes. Now that's getting costly. Hopefully someone else will chime in to say if that double penalty is the way it works.

Some bonuses do stack even for attributes, so you will be able to jack your Wisdom up, if you need to.

Feats to choose? With a ranger/rogue/fighter you have too much going on for me to guess at your desired character focus....lol.

Just a question, why bother with the fighter class when you're planning on ending with a high level ranger? I've seen other people talk about doing similar things, and I'm not sure I understand the benefits. I'm not knocking the idea, I just don't know the benefits.

[ 12-02-2002, 05:31 PM: Message edited by: Ronn_Bman ]

[Aragon]

Hello Ronn_Bmann

Thanks for the reply and LOL as I understand all too well about restarts. I've restarted Wiz 8 35 times and I'm yet to finish!!! [img]redface.gif[/img]

I was considering taking a henchman with me til I beefed up abit and it now sounds like that would be a good idea. As for the XP penalty I was under the impression...and please do correct me if I'm wrong...that it only occurred between first and second classes and second and third classes ie 15/3/2 would incur the 20% penalty because of the 15 versus 3 levels but there would be no penalty for the 3 versus 2 levels because it is within one level...wishful thinking or what? For 20% I'll suck it up but for 40%...time for a rethink!!

I really only wanted the Fighter class to get some of it's FEATS...I could be way off about the whole plan. :-/

Good to know some attributes will stack. I was a little perturbed that my AC Modifier didn't and worried that none did.

Thanks again!

[Memnoch]

Keep in mind that taking a henchman along with you will allow you to complete the henchman quest which is worth quite a bit of XP in its own right. If you want, you can take a henchie along with you (all of them at differing stages) to complete their quests early on and then drop them when you start to get powerful enough that you don't need them.

[Whailor]

Actually I did so that I played alone and collected all the henchmen quest items. Generally you can recognize these due to the items having no real use at all, having sort of special names and with value 0, what you cannot sell. Then, just before I was about to finish the chapter, I went and seeked out all the henchmen, hired all of them (Persuasion can save some cash here hehe) and sopke to them. They told me their stories and I have them the item(s) needed, thus completing their quests. And then I booted them again, and so on [img]smile.gif[/img]