An Advanced Fighter class (good for beginners)

[ScottG]

This is for a member here (Target) who wanted to play something fairly easy for NWN's. However, anyone else might find it useful so I'm making it a "post". It does require HOTU installed, but it is specifically for the original NWN's mod.. Functionally this is a character build for levels 1 through 20 (and if you want to skip right to that w/out the reason why then just scroll/read below starting at:CHARACTER PROGRESSION). Also if you want to see what the net result is in comparison to a pure fighter then go all the way down to bottom: WHAT'S THE NET?.

I originally suggested a Fighter to Target, but on closer inspection I think I have the solution for a (Fighter *+*).. or something every bit as good as a Fighter BUT BETTER.

Concept:
A pure Fighter is a pretty basic class to trodge through NWN's, but it does have the advantage that it is often easier at every level in the game. Still though, it can be improved on with virtually no detriment to what a fighter does best - melee (and remember that a fighter does this better than every other class when considering each level). So with HOTU installed (and its new feats and prestige classes) lets build an Advanced Fighter, (or at least my version of one).

First of all lets look at why the Fighter is better at melee than the other classes:
1. hit dice (almost as good as a Barbarian) which allows for a higher hit point level as you increase in level.
2. the best attack base and number of attacks per level
3. a LOT more Feats (and there are a LOT of excellent melee-type Feats - something that can "make or break" the quality of a melee class).
4. the Feat "Weapon Specialization" which ONLY a Fighter, (with 4 levels as a Fighter), has. Ultimatly allowing more damage per attack which is essential for melee.


CHARACTER PROGRESSION:

Here is the character's class progression, (below you will find details on why the progression was structured the way it is):

Race: Human

Alignment: Start with Lawful Good (only required at level-ups 5 & 7), Non-Evil only at levels 8 through 17.

Attributes as follows:

Str.16
Dex.13
Con.16
Int.13
Wis. 8
Char.8

ALWAYS increasing Str. at the appropriate character level-ups.

Levels:

Level 1: Fighter; Feats: Power Attack, Cleave, Exotic Weapon Prof.; Skills: 4 in Discipline and 2 in Tumble (save the rest of your skill points until latter when mentioned)

Level 2: Fighter; Feats: Wepon Focus Bastard (or Katana); Skills: 1 in Discipline

Level 3: Fighter; Feats: Toughness; Skills: 1 in Discipline and 1 in Tumble

Level 4: Fighter; Feats: Weapon Specilization (based on your weapon focus); Skills: 1 in Discipline

Level 5: Paladin; Feats: None; Skills: 1 in Discipline, 8 in Persuade, 1 in Tumble

Level 6: Fighter; Feats: Blind Fighting; Skills: 1 in Discipline

Level 7: Paladin; Feats: None; Skills: 1 in Discipline, 2 in Persuade, 1 in Tumble

Level 8: Champion of Torm; Feats: None; Skills: 1 in Discipline, 4 in Hide, 2 in Move Silently

Level 9: Champion of Torm; Feats: Improved Critical (based on your weapon focus), Great Cleave; Skills: 1 in Discipline, 1 in Hide, and 1 in Tumble

Level 10: Champion of Torm; Feats: None; Skills: 1 in Discipline, and 1 in Move Silently

Level 11: Champion of Torm; Feats: Expertise; Skills: 1 in Discipline, 1 in Move Silently, and 1 in Tumble

Level 12: Champion of Torm; Feats: Knockdown; Skills: 1 in Discipline, 1 in Move Silently

Level 13: Champion of Torm; Feats: Improved Knockdown; Skills: 1 in Discipline, 1 in Hide, 1 in Tumble

Level 14: Champion of Torm; Feats: None; Skills: 1 in Discipline, 1 in Hide

Level 15: Champion of Torm; Feats: Extra Smite, Dodge; Skills: 1 in Discipline, 1 in Move Silently, and 1 in Tumble

Level 16: Champion of Torm; Feats: None; Skills: 1 in Discipline, and 1 in Hide

Level 17: Champion of Torm; Feats: Mobility; Skills: 1 in Discipline, 1 in Move Silently, and 1 in Tumble

Level 18: Fighter; Feats: Springing Attack, and only then Whirlwind Attack; Skills: 1 in Discipline, 1 in Hide

Level 19: Fighter; Feats: None; Skills: 1 in Discipline, 1 in Move Silently

Level 20: Fighter; Feats: Improved Power Attack; Skills: 1 in Discipline, 1 in Hide


REASONS WHY:

1. Race: Human's get an extra Feat (highly advantageous - especially at level 1 for a melee character), AND they don't incure an experience point penalty for progression in their highest class when dual-classing.

2. Alignment: The 2 levels of Paladin require a Lawful Good character and because it can be difficult to change your alignment to Lawful in this mod. - you should start (and continue with) this alignment until after your second level as a Paladin is achieved. After that your alignment can be anything you want so-long as it isn't evil (which is easy enough to do), for the Champion of Torm levels.

3. Attributes: Our two pre-eminent attributes are Str. and Con. - simply because Con. gives more hit points (for the abuse your character will recieve while in melee), AND Str. not only provides a Bonus to Attacks but even more importantly provides additional Damage while in melee (as well as allowing your character to bash open chests and doors more effectivly). (Note: this is why we keep plowing in points at level-up for Str. - its essentially the foundation for our characters attack meathod.) As for why the increases in Dex. & Int. - well several of the more advanced feats above require a 13 in either one or both attributes. Additionally the dex. bonus of +1 to AC conincides nicely with the max. dex. bonus while wearing full plate armor, and the Int. bonus allows quite a few more skill points throughout the "level-ups" of the character - which allows us far greater lattitude for many important skills. Wis. and Char. are of course getting HOSED here, but it isn't so bad. Charisma based bonus/detriments to skills (in this case the important skill Persuasion) are offset by the increase in skill points that can now be placed in Persuasion via the character's enhanced Int.. Wis. savings throws are screwed, BUT as the character progress in the Champion of Torm class savings throws are not only increased in Wis. (far beyond the -1 penalty caused by the 8 points of Wis.), but are increased in ALL savings throws (and rather substantially to).

4. Weapon of Choice: we want the highest damage range weapon that allows for the use with a shield - (a very important melee item that can also typically confer magical protection of one sort or another). The higher the weapon damage - the faster the fight ends, also the better you can penetrate opponents with damage resistance. The 2 weapons to choose from in this mod. are: Bastard Sword OR Katana (the choice is up to you, there are good swords of each type BUT throughout the game I believe there is better diversity available from Katanas). Both weapons will require the exotic weapon prof. Feat. The Weapon Specialization Feat adds even more of that precious damage. And the Improved Critical Feat allows critical hits to occur more frequently.

5. Important Melee Feats: These I've all loaded up front at the appropriate time. Power Attack is nice - useful on low AC opponents early in the game and even more useful much latter in the game for piling on damage to tougher opponents (when you have the higher attack number to compensate). More importantly however, Power Attack allows you to select the Cleave feat which is AWESOME for taking on mobs of opponents. Toughness will boost those miniscule hit points you have early in the game (and throughout the game). Blind Fighting allows you to essentially disregard the expenditure of points in the skills Spot & Listen, PLUS it denies your attackers bonuses to hit while their hidden or invisible (particularly nice against spell casters who have cast invisibility). Great Cleave simply adds to the effectiveness of Cleave (and rather substantially). Finally, once your attack base is up higher (and your attack bonuses are up higher), the use of Expertise becomes worthwhile to increase your AC level.

6. Lesser Feats: These feats (though worthwhile having), are not nearly as effective as the melee feats just mentioned. Knockdown and Improved Knockdown can be nice to have on occasion (and it works well with your Str. bonus). These 2 Feats are not as important simply because they are not critical to your characters melee abilty - they are a BONUS that works well against average sized opponents (often good latter in the game for sneaking up to spell casters and Knocking them down and then hacking away). Additionally of course the best way to utilize these 2 Feats is by sneaking up to the opponent, and your character won't be able to sneak very well until latter in level (when you have allocated a fair number of points into the skills Hide and Move Silently).

The Extra Smite Feat is allocated at a time when the Smite ability starts becoming worthwhile to use. Remember that the Smite evil attack (from the Paladin and Champion of Torm Classes) provides bonuses to attack and damage. The attack bonus comes from your Char. modifier; at your base of only 8 you don't have this BUT by this Character level in the game you should have at least one item that augments charisma that you can "slip on" for this specialized attack, PLUS you can quaff an eagles splendor potion to increase it further. Additionally the damage amount is based on level (which ever class has the highest level), and at this time the character has 8 levels allowing for 8 additional damage using this attack. Unfortunetly the Smite attack is concurrent with the Paladin and Champion of Torm classes - meaning that while both classes have this specialized attack, your character will only be able to use it once per day.. NOT twice per day. Ultimatly this means you don't get any extra Smite than what is mentioned on the Feat Extra Smite, i.e. you'll get 2 extra Smite Evils per day. Good for piling on the damage to those REALLY tough opponents - at Champion of Torm level 10 you will have +10 in damage w/out any detriments to attack.

Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack are really only about obtaining Whirlwind. Whirlwind is nice to have on occasion BUT it really isn't as good as the "Cleaves". Still, the attack is a bit different - particularly good for a mob of very tough opponents (which for the most part you won't really see until you get to advanced character levels). IF you have tried Whirlwind before and are not particularly impressed with it, then consider any other Feats that strike your fancy. Also, (if you go the Whirlwind route) don't discount Spring Attack totally either - it can be usefull even for a "fighter-type" character.

Finally Improved Power Attack can be usefull if you make it to level 20, otherwise (at lower character levels with lower attack bases and bonuses) its not worth the massive attack detriment to gain the damage bonus. Alternativly consider Improved Expertise if your more defensive in nature.

7. Skills: Discipline is a must (you don't want to be Knocked Down, and there are plenty of opponents who can do this to you), so you will always plow points in here. Spot and Listen have effectivly been taken care of by the Feat Blind Fighting. Tumble is used to increase AC. Persuasion is virtually a neccesary for communicating with NPC's. Considering our slight detriment to the skill from our Char., I'd consider that 10 throughout the game will be sufficient (though not excellent). We plow in points to this skill at a time when it isn't costly (while were Paladins). The Hide and Move Silently skills are there because they are VERY useful - not only for the Knockdown feats but also for just scouting out an area.. (even though its low and the character will wear Armor with the worst penalty, you can still move just into the range of seeing an opponent BEFORE the opponent can see you.)

8. The Class Structures: As mentioned above, the reason for the Fighter levels is to have extra Feats, AND the Feat Weapon Specilization. The two levels as a Paladin is to obtain immunity to Fear and Disease (both quite usefull) AND to allow the natural allocation to the skill Persuasion w/out penalty (to 10 points). Additionally the Paladin levels allow the character to increase their Savings throws by sliping on items with Charisma modifiers and quaffing eagles splendor potions. The Champion of Torm class simply continues on just as if we were a Fighter (bonus Feats and same hit dice), but also adds SUBSTANTIAL savings throw bonuses (overcoming our Will savings throw problems), and adds a nice "once per day" attack ability, (though it is based on charisma, by this character level you should have several ways to enhance charisma).

Note: There is a exp. point detriment at levels 5 and 7 (i.e. our Paladin levels. We could have structured these levels w/out the penalty BUT the problem would have been that we were not high enough in level to increase Persuasion to our required minimum of 10 w/out the skill point penalty.


WHAT'S THE NET?:

In comparison to a pure fighter we loose out on a Feat or two (I think its only one though), and some experience points while dualing-over to a Paladin. Not bad for gaining immunity to disease and fear, exta points earlier for Persuasion, LOTS of natural savings throw bonuses (+5 total) AND the ability to increase them even further by enhancing Charisma, and finally a couple nice specialized attack bonuses.