New Party

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Well, I got bored with my party of four and decided to nick them and start over. I was going to do just a two person party, but couldn't come up with a good combo that fit everything I needed. So I decided to go with this party of three:

Ravaatra Gellantara
Female Aasimar Lawfully Good
Paladin of Ilmater 3/Cleric Morninglord of Lathander X
STR 16 DEX 13 CON 10 INT 5 WIS 16 CHA 20
Weapons: Large Sword (Slashing), Mace (Bludgeoning), Crossbow(Missile (Piercing))

Will start as Paladin for three levels, then squat two to keep from getting hit with XP penalty.

Marros Droverson
Male Human True Neutral
Rogue 2/Barbarian 2/Druid X
STR 18 DEX 14 CON 16 INT 6 WIS 18 CHA 4
Weapons: Axe (Slashing), Polearm (Piercing), Sling (Missle(Bludgeoning))

I thought the idea of a barbaric druid sounded kind of cool. I'm mostly going to be using the shape change ability with him and for spells, they will mostly be healing spells. He will start off as a Rogue, then add the Barbarian levels and then continue as a Druid.

Crueak Arborshate
Male Drow Chaotic Evil
Rogue 2/Ranger 1/Barbarian 2/Wizard X
STR 10 DEX 20 CON 10 INT 20 WIS 10 CHA 10
Weapons: Dual Small Blades (Piercing), Quaterstaff (Bludgeoning), Bow (Missile (Piercing))

I want him to be dual-wielding small baldes with Weapon Finesse for melee attacks in the beginning. Once he has enough Wizard spells, he'll become the mage bomber. He will progress as so: Rogue 1, Ranger 1, Wizard 1, Rogue 2, Barbarian 1 & 2 and then continue on as Wizard.

?s
1) What damage type will my Druid do when he changes shape?
2) What abilities can my Druid use when he has changed shape? I've heard that you can rage, I'm wondering if I could hide as well.
3) Does a sling require more Dex or Str? I originally thought it would be Dex since it's a missle firing weapon, but knowing how a sling works, I was wondering if instead it relied on strength.

[ September 10, 2004, 17:02: Message edited by: Vassago ]

 

1) Depends on what you shapchange into. http://gamebanshee.com/icewinddaleii/shapechange.php

2) I've also heard that you can rage. I suspect you can use about anything except for spellcasting.

3) I'm not sure, but I think that in Baldur's Gate 2 the strength counted for slings.

 

Slings use Dex.

In BG II it was the Sling of Seeking which used your strength modifier for calculating rolls. It was a special item, other slings used Dex in BG II too.

You can take points off Wis for the paladin. The Lost Followers quest gives all paladins +1Str and +1Wis each time.
And she wont get hit by any XP penalty.

What do you get at barbarian L2?

 

I'm pretty sure that a Paladin of Ilmater can only m/c into a cleric of Ilmater, though I could be wrong.

Why are you adding Barbarian levels into your Mage, and the Rogue levels into the Druid? Seems to me you'd be better off dropping those to boost your spellcasting class, especially since that poor Drow's gonna be getting xp penalties out the yin-yang.

 

IIRC slings use DEX bonus to-hit and STR bonus for damage.

Since your pally is an aasimar, you won't get XP penalty (paladin is preferred class), so why not multi into Painbearer of Ilmater. Then you can still advance as a paladin (if you so desire).

I also agree with Kam in that it would be better to put more levels into your spellcasting classes earlier--but then I like throwing lots of spells around when I play...

 

If you can live with a lawful neutral druid you could try making a
Monk of the old order 1/ranger 1/Druid x (ranger for ambdex & 2 weapon fighting, skip this if you prefer 2-handed weapons).
The monk level gives you your wis-bonus to AC even when shapeshifted. Much more useful than a barbarian rage and you'll get the useful evasion and +2 to all saves while only spending a single level.

 

Need Wisdom for the Cleric levels.

Um, just checked, and you only get Uncanny Dodge if attacked by invisible foe, so dropping this down to 1 level for Druid.

You can only multi to Ilmater if you want to take additional Paladin levels, which I'm not.

Why would he be getting xp penalities? The male drow's favorite class is Wizard, so it's ignored and all the other classes are within one level of each other.

I think I may end up going Monk 1/Barbarian 1/Druid X. I don't plan on him being a dual wielding character, more so a two-handed weapon guy. I like the 1 level of Barbarian for the added hit points and Rage ability. I also like the added AC from Monk when shapechanging. Would it be worth it to take 2 levels of Monk and get Deflect Arrows?

I had originally planned on mixing Rogue w/ both the Druid and Wizard so that they could hide and then have my Paladin/Cleric come rushing in. I like having 2 levels of Rogue with a Wizard. With the max INT, I can cover all the abilities I need for talking and Rogue skills. I am also rethinking the Paladin/Cleric in exchange for some other fighter combo. I would love to have a pure Monk, but how good are they in the tank position?

Ravaatra Gellantara
Female Aasimar Lawfully ?
Monk of the Old Order X
STR 18 DEX 18 CON 12 INT 6 WIS 20 CHA 6
Weapons: Large Sword (Slashing)/Fists, Mace (Bludgeoning), Crossbow(Missile (Piercing))

Of course, having a party that could hide in the shadows would be cool, especially since that's the way I like to play, hide, scout, position, attack from the dark

[ September 13, 2004, 14:57: Message edited by: Vassago ]

 

Err...

Barbarians can't be Lawful and Monks can't be otherwise. Rage is useless as you don't want to get tired in the middle of a fight do you? Though it is great to be able to use all available weapons.

One thing I've never really understood is getting 20Wis just so you can get an armour bonus of 5.
AFAIK AC from armour (and sheild?) is added even while shapeshifted. You can get an 8+1 Heavy Armour as soon as the IceWall.

Ofcourse since both Druid and Barbarian can only use upto Medium armour you might as well take a Fighter level and forget the Barbarian. Two for 2 extra feats.

Deflect Arrows is pretty much useless. It only becomes active if your off-hand is free. This means that it is not compatible with Two-handed weapons, Dual-classing and Sheilds.

 

I would think that 18 WIS for the Druid is a must, since it gives them bonus spells. I wasn't sure on the alignment, that's the only thing that I get confused on when creating these characters in my head. I probably will end up dropping the Barbarian from the Druid and adding a Fighter level. That will still give him a boost in hit points plus an extra feat.

Two levels of Fighter won't get you two feats. So it's one a level 1 and another one at level 3.

I wasn't aware of that. Interesting.

 

Vassago, once again, fighters get bonus feats at level 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10,... That's why 2 levels of fighter certainly do give extra 2 feats.

Armor and shield AC does not count while shapeshifted.

Rage isnt nowhere near useless as well. 3 rounds + your newly improved con modifier = most likely 9 rounds of +2 to hit&damage (+3 to damage with twohanded weapons) and +2 to hp/level. Also, there's WILL bonus, +2 at normal and +3 with Greater rage iirc. To hit an damage increase by 1 again with Greater Rage.

I dont know what you mean with wisdom of 20 giving armor bonus of 5.
It does increase Armor Class. It has nothing to do with Armor AC, though. Wisdom affects many other aspects of monk profession, not just AC and especialy if multiclassing into a priest, it's the perfect choice, maxed out prior to any other stat.

 

Vassago is taking 1 barbarian level, repeat 1.

Rage is definately useless for someone with just a single barb level.
If you want proof then go back to the ambush at the entrance to the blockade where you are jumped by all the barbs and a couple of priests. They have to recast their rages before even half the scrap is over.
Getting fatigued in the middle of a fight is not an option.
The only thing that a single level of barb is useful for is the increased speed.

Ive never used shapeshifting really coz I found the inability to cast spells a bother. Do spells like Aid and Bless, or Bull's Strength, still affect you after shapeshifting?

Guess I didnt get my point about the monk across properly.
I dont understand why getting an AC bonus from 1 monk level is such a rage. Afterall devine spell casting suffers from no failure %age due to armour and sheild. These two together can get you upto 14 points of AC.
As far as Marros is concerned monk actually makes a lot of sence, specially the way you intend to play him. I was commenting generally.

And Vassago, get this clear now.
Fighters get an extra feat at creation and an additional feat at every even level-up. Thus an L30 Human fighter would have 16+11+1=28 feats. Not 27 as per your calculation.

 

Rage is still a welcoming addition to melee capabilities. Sure, if the char is not a full time meleer then i probably doesnt have that high con to keep his rage up for long. 5 rounds are guaranteed, though. It wont equal Tenser's Transformation, to be sure, but it'll give a nice bonus if the char gets the urge to smack some heads.
When the rage ends and the char becomes fatigued, a simple retreat is the perfect solution. From then on it's casting spells.
Rage is more of a fun addition than a neccesary thing, but it's still useful. For no price you get solid fighting bonuses, some penalities later, but you have plenty of spells to dish out when you tire.

Aid, Bless and other buffs do affect you. I'm not too sure about Bulls strenght, since shapeshifting alters your strenght the same as the spell. Two ability enchancments do not stack, as the game says so many times.
IIRC it does, however.


It seems heavy armor cant keep up with Wis AC. I havent tried this, i havent even beat the game yet, but it's very popular, i'm sure it cant be for no reason.

 

For N level spells, your WIS must be 10 + N. Ergo: for level 9 spells, you need WIS 19.

Paladin is favoured class, so you don't have to fear the XP penalty. Your paladin class isn't counted, and so it's as if you had a single class.

 

About WIS bonus to AC: Read the stuff about AC in the JUPP guide and enlighten yourself. It's by far the easiest way to get to godly AC figures.

Sure, you can get +16 to your AC using Mithril Plate (+10 armor, +2 DEX) and Tower Shield +2 (+4 shield bonus), but that's nowhere near the best you COULD do.

Try a Monk with 18 wis/dex, cast Spirit Armor on him and have him wear the Every God's ring and Chimandrae's Slippers. You'll get +6 AC from both DEX and WIS and Spirit Armor gives +6 more for a total of +18 already, without having to carry a shield. Add level-up stat points, WIS-raising potions, quest rewards for paladins/dreadmasters and possible racial bonuses, and your AC skyrockets while the guy in that heavy armor is forevermore stuck with that +16 AC bonus.

 

Ravaatra Gellantara
Female Deep Gnome Lawfully Neutral
Monk of the Old Order X
STR 16 DEX 20 CON 10 INT 4 WIS 20 CHA 4
Weapons: Axe (Slashing)/Fists, Polearm (Piercing), Sling (Missle(Bludgeoning))

Changed her over to a pure Monk. I've always wanted to play one. I also made her a deep gnome after reading Mudde's reply on another thread. I've always been skeptical about using a dg b/c of their ECL penalty, but I figured with a party of three and all the nice save/bonuses they get, why not. So what kind of damage does fists do anyway?

Marros Droverson
Male Human Lawfully Neutral
Monk of the Old Order 1/Fighter 2/Druid X
STR 18 DEX 14 CON 16 INT 6 WIS 18 CHA 4
Weapons: Large Sword (Slashing), Mace (Bludgeoning), Crossbow (Missle(Piercing))

Dropped the Barbarian and Rogue levels and added 1 Monk for bonus AC during shape changing and 2 fighter levels for extra hit points and feats. Since I've dropped my Paladin/Cleric combo, he's going to have to be the healer. I will miss Animate Dead, but oh well, this party is about trying something new.

Crueak Arborshate
Male Drow Chaotic Evil
Rogue 2/Ranger 1/Fighter 2/Wizard X
STR 10 DEX 20 CON 10 INT 20 WIS 10 CHA 10
Weapons: Dual Small Blades (Piercing), Quaterstaff (Bludgeoning), Bow (Missile (Piercing))

Switched from Barbarian to Fighter, although, he will progress differently than I had originally stated. His progression will be like so: Rogue 1, Ranger 1, Wizard X, Fighter 2 at some point and the other Rogue level. I will probably progress him until I get third level spells before going back and picking up 2 Fighter and other Rogue levels. Or I may just drop them completely, just depends on how he does. I figured with the max INT, I can beef up Rogue skills and talking skills so that his 10 CHA doesn't end up hurting too bad in the long run.

Oh and in case someone was wondering where I came up with their names, I found this nifty little name generator: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20010208b

 

IMO the paladin should have higher CHA,high CHA gives her better saving throws and it also give you better prices in stores, and a lower WIS, you'll find a ring later on that gives you +5 WIS.

 

@Elvenblade
I dropped the Paladin, see the post above yours.

 

Fists do more damage as the monk levels up (but weapons are better than fists at lower levels). Also, the monk gets more attacks earlier with fists than with other weapons

 

Fists do bludgeoning damage. They start as 1d4 but that goes up during levels. IIRC at L20 its 1d20.
Monks get a new attack per round after adding 3BAB instead of 5 as for the others. You loose this advantage if they gain BAB from any other class.

Ease-of-use says it avoids you getting hit with an attack of opportunity. Whatever that means. Better install that component.

 

Attacks of oppurtunity havent been incorporated into IWDII. A very big missing chunk of D&D indeed.

Monk unarmed damage should start at d6 for medium sized and d4 for small. As even different sizes havent been implemented, it's d6 for all races at lvl1.
1-3: d6
4-7: d8
8-11: d10
12-15: d12
16-20: d20
After level 20, the dices get seperated and you actualy roll 2 dices for determining damage.

It's true that monks get an additional unarmed attack at every BAB+3. Bear in mind, though, that eventhough they keep up the same number of attacks as any warrior, their is lower. While warriors increase their BAB for 5 points over 5 levels, it takes monks 5 levels for 3BAB.