Tried the Ultimate Melee Character?

Remove all ads!

Any one try the Ultimate Melee Character that is posted on this web site? I am in the process of forming this character, just wanting to know if anyone has tried it out or not..

[ November 05, 2004, 08:45: Message edited by: Beren ]

 

I went trough the faq and i've played a similiar character.

I would like to note it's nowhere NEAR the ultimate melee build.

And both Tumble and UMD are very valuable... sorry Hacken Slash, that build ain't that good.

But if you're already playing it, it'll go right trough the OC, SoU and HotU. But then again, so does my pure melee sorcerer.

Meatdog could most likely improve that build, i prefer to aim for uberness from the start.

 

I've tried my version of that character and found that it leaves somewhat to be desired.

 

Well, the character build is wrongly named to begin with. It is in no way ultimate in melee. It wastes too many skillpoints that could be used to lower intelligence and take a more suitable race, namely Dwarf. It is a good solo build, but far from the ultimate melee build it claims to be. I don't agree with the high wisdom, it can (and should) be lower.
My first suggestion is lower wis to 10, cha to it's lowest and put some points into str. The only skills needed for a melee build are Discipline, Tumble and maybe Spellcraft. Any excessive points you can put into heal. The class choices up to level 15 is all right. His thoughts on feats are less good, but I don't feel like going into detail without a fully thought out build in front of me. On top of that, the build is incomplete as it doesn't continue past level 15.

Now, if you want, I can think out a Bard/Rdd/fighter with the melee uberness in mind. But I'll only do that if there's interest for it, as I don't have that much time right now.

As a final note, Hack's build is good, but it's a polyvalent build, not a melee build. It's good, just not an ultimate build, not even in versatility.

 

I feel so...so...violated!

But you guys are right...there are ways to make a better melee character...although I'm still trying to figure out what "polyvalent" means.

Nevertheless, I had fun writing it, I had fun playing the character, and it was a small way that I could help support SP.

Oh...and I used the word "ultimate" just to make sure that I got everyones attention.

 

For the record I enjoyed the build very much. Aside from the part where the fire giants kicked the **** out of me, but I'm a horrible gamer, Power or not.

 

Hacken, the fact the build is polyvalent is a good thing. It for one means it's not a munchkin build that can do one thing extremely well, but sucks at everything else.

polyvalent = being good in different things, actually, it means being good at doing different kind of things successfully. Basically, polyvalent is the opposite of specialist. And I for one consider polyvalence something good.

For the record: I have no idea if polyvalent is a correct English word

 

So far I am playing this build, and I am having a good time playing. The only hard part that I have come across is that point in time is when you fight the skeleton wizard or what ever he is. It is in Chapter 2. I finally beat him but it took me awhile. Other then that pretty good from my experience so far.

 

Well, he was pretty far off the standard scientific defintion, but the way the word gets used in literary analysis is not too different. In that setting, "polyvalence" refers to a text having multiple distinct meanings (think of the medieval quadriga, for example, as a "polyvalent" system of interpretation). Having a character with multiple distinct strengths is fairly similar. Although, technically, the opposite is actually "univalent" rather than "specialist." Which, by the way, reminds me of what Grandpappy Jansen used to say every year at the Griffin-sausage snorting contest: "When one won't do, Poly will pull you through." Of course, he was referring to my great aunt Poly, who smelled strongly of halflings, of all things, because they used them as filler in the sausages during the turtle famine...

 

the only thing a melee really needs is knockdown/power attack(for cleave)/cleave and dodge, expertise if you have low hp class or low con. the +1 to saving throw feats are also good, but not really that important.

Choose Human, because of their awsome ability to have their highest class be their favored.

stats = about 14 cha/16con/16str/10dex/12-13int/8wis

You'll want to take 1-2 levels of paladin because divine grace rocks when you have charisma... yes this is very very good so you can shrug off magic attacks, which is a melee characters worste nightmare!!!!

maybe 2 levels of rogue, 3 if you want that last sneak attack. Evasion rocks hard, so does uncanny dodge.

the rest go to fighter, you can grab as many feats as you want.

of course this is very debatable. You could go with only 2 levels of fighter for feats, then the rest paladon for special abilities.

You could also get rid of paladin alltogether, lower CHA and raise dex, then go barbarian for rage, uncanny, (take only 2 levels of rogue for skills and evasion). Barbarian rocks.


Also remember to take rogue at second level so you can get 5 ranks into tumble when you take it, then again at 7 so you can finish off with 10 ranks in the skill. this is the for sure way to get the quick 2 AC bonus + a moderate tumble so you can move around without taking attacks of opportunity.

Discipline and Parry are nice, parry only if you have low hp/con because some players like other stats more than con, (which is dumb if you ask me, 'cause melee really needs the HP). Otherwise Taunt is another good skill to have, so mages have trouble casting on you, and melee chars/rogues get hit more often.

You really don't need anything more than this to be the most powerful melee class around... I'm actually going lv2 fighter/rogue and then all paladin, possible weapon master later. Paladin's special abilities are really really awesome, lay on hands and divine grace alone are enough to take the class.

 

The Ultimate melee in nwn? A cleric. Being able to utterly buff their stre, con and con, raise their attack bonus to that of a pure fighter(divine power), cast divine favor, prayer, battletide, spell resistance, improved inis(trickery domain), stoneskin(lotta different domains), summon a dire wolf by thrid level, and a dire tiger by level 9(animal domain).

For the most powerful combo I would choose Animal and Strength. So you get stoneskin, divine power as a third level spell, and true seeing as a third level spell, and cats grace. Plus your summons will be uber.

 

Clerics are nice, but one thing you learn quickly from playing melee, is they suck in melee, because of their BAB. A pure fighter wins out most of the time because of all the feats a fighter attains, he doesn't need summons or divine favor. If you want a strong class you get barbarian and fighter, and now you have a fighter with the ability to kick butt non-stop. It's too bad they don't have the berserker prestiege class, (deathless frenzy makes it overpowered, but undoubtedly the strongest melee class. +6 str which stacks with rage, so with greater rgae, that's +12 str, +6 con, +4 will, no fatigue, TONS of HP, 3 extra per level).

 

It is called divine power. Raises their BAB to that of a fighters, plus they have a much better defense.

 

Never!!! and Divine power isn't any replacement for good natural power, that's why a dragon is better than any single character of it's equal level!!! Natural ability > that generated.

A cleric also doesn't have sneak attack and rage, and with rogue skills I can use scrolls, + tumble raises my defense.

Barbarian raises my attack above that of any cleric, and all the abilities/feats the fighter uses take only a standard action, as while the cleric casts a spell, I'm already attacking him 3 times! or raging and nailing him once hard with powerattack.

Now, if you go the route of paladin instead of barbarian, there's divine shield and attack, which adds charisma bonus to defense or strength or both, (2 separate feats). Coupled with expertise my character has almost 40 defense right now, and I'm not using ring of protection or amulet of natural armor, because I would rather have rogue items to plant traps.

Ensare trap + negative energy trap are great. and it's very easy to plant minor traps while being attacked as well A Cleric will never be as good melee as a fighter, not to mention a fighter can drink potions faster than a cleric can heal himself, so that doesn't really factor in towards the cleric.

The best shot for a cleric in melee is to attempt to stun, with sonic burst I think it is, or hold person/monster. Clerics are spellcasters, and semi-melee.

Fyi, Tensers Transformation > Divine Power, since while the wizard can woop on you like a fighter, he can also cast tons of direct damage spells. Quick step back and he casts lightning bolt. Fighter still wins, (knockdown), but cleric doesn't do so well, since for a cleric to get knockdown he misses out on a lot of better class spells.

You could also argue a cleric can rely on will saving throw spells to take down any melee character, but since an item to protect someone from all mind effecting spells/abilities in NWN is common, (I've found 3 in the first 2 caves I entered in chapter2), I don't think that'll work either.

There's a reason a clerics title is "Heal B " and not uber tank

 

Actually a wizardx/monk 1 would be my next choice as a tank/ultimate melee character next to the cleric. The level 9 shapeshift to a dragon using a monks bab is pure ownage.

Also traps arent melee

Lets say a cleric is level 15, and his base stre is 14, with +6 from items.

With divine power he now has a total of 26 stre, with a bab of 15. This would bring his total attack bonus to around +23. Now remember that the cleric can always enchant his own weapon, so add another +5 for a nice 28. Now we cant forget about divine favor for another +5 for a total of 33. And that is with only 3 spells. Also factor in that clerics can easily get a AC of 40+(without expertise), damage reduction and a automatic 50% miss chance. Now factor in around 20-30 damage a hit and some of the best spells in the game(harm anyone?) and the ability to heal himself and you have a killing machine. Plus you cant forget word of faith, which auto blinds anything it hits without a save.

And on another note I would be very surprised to see a fighter be able to knockdown a mage before the mage could kill him. :-D

 

Gah, I wrote like 2 pages worth of stuff and decided it wasn't worth the trouble lol.

Basically, Cleric is ok, but my fighter at level 14 has just as high a BAB with a few potions, not including strength boosting items, (because I use swordsman/brawlers belt instead of strength +5, and thiefs gloves instead of ogre power +3), and I just don't need that high a BAB. My damage is between 20-30 with 3 attacks, almost 4, just another 2 levels, unless I haste . I can cast spells like crazy because of my rogue abilities, and well... setting a trap does more damage than almost anything you can do.

Potion of heal = anti-harm .

And then I moved on to say... doesn't matter, since without a partner, you get overwhelmed, no matter how good a melee you are. Eventually NWN sends too many monsters at you at once

I would say though, the ultimate melee class is actually a compilation of 1-2 levels of every melee classs, (and a few extra of a single class, which will be your favored class because you're going to pick human). I actually madea character like this using paper and pencil... it was amazing to say the least, I was a dragon without spells NWN only let's you take a max of 3 classes though, so you can't do it, but if you were to make the ultimate melee class, that would be it.

 

Just to give you all an update on my "ultimate character." It has been fun so far, think I am lvl 7 in RDD. Just a couple of lvls away from getting wings. "Tommy like wingies" What do the wings do for you anyways? Just for the effect? I would highly doubt that you get a bash attack with wings, probably some little things that look cute or something. Well anyways better get back to work. Until next time.

 

I will say again a cleric cant get hit, can become invicable to spells and melee attacks.

 

You're thinking of a lv18+ wizard la la la