Paladin, DivChamp or NW9 levels?

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So I'm playing through the OC again as the only class that seems really to appeal to me given the story - a good-aligned warrior type (in this case, a Pally). I'm going the RDD route, and I'm currently at Pal 4/Sor 1. By next level, I'll have enough pips in Lore to qualify, where I plan to do RDD from here on out as the quickest route to the maximum benefits of the RDD.

This will leave me with 4 or so levels to play around with, and I'm wondering what to do here. In the past with this build, I took Divine Champion levels, but they felt like a waste and/or kind of redundant with my Paladin levels. Also, I've never made an official Neverwinter 9 prestige class, and this time around I think it might be a good idea. Though I personally think NW9 levels are better suited for a Ranger build, I'm considering it here.

Or - further still - should I just give him more Paladin levels? Paladin spellcasting was never really a priority for me for this build, since I always keep Elanee and (often) bring along Zijhave.

Thoughts?

 

How about turning evil and becoming a Pale Master....

 

I never play evil characters. Can't, won't. No appeal for me. I even feel strange playing neutral. Chaotic good is as close as I get.

 

take a look on this build, it is prety much what you are doing http://nwn2.wikia.com/wiki/Divine_Dragon_Pal(9),Sor(1),RDD(10),DC(10)

 

You could try a build like the one I am currently playing; it has good BAB, spell casting ability, turn undead and decent HP.

Below is the character I am playing....

Race: Human
Alignment: LG
Class: Cleric / DoomGuide
Level: 8 / 2
Domains: Evil and Sun - (Turn Outsiders and Expectional Turning)
Feats: Selected those required for WP and Doomguide
Stats: STR 14 DEX 14 CON 12 INT 10 WIS 17 CHA 14

When I level up the character to level 12 I plan on taking 1 level of War Priest and level 13 will be 1 level of NW9. By the end of the OC I believe my character will be as listed below

Race: Human
Alignment: LG
Class: Cleric / DoomGuide / War Priest / NW9
Level: 8 / 8 / 2 / 2
Domains: Evil and Sun - (Turn Outsiders and Expectional Turning)
Stats: STR 14 DEX 14 CON 12 INT 10 WIS 20 CHA 14

By level 30 my character will be...
Race: Human
Alignment: LG
Class: Cleric / DoomGuide / War Priest / NW9
Level: 8 / 8 / 10 / 4
Domains: Evil and Sun - (Turn Outsiders and Expectional Turning)
Stats: STR 14 DEX 14 CON 12 INT 10 WIS 20 CHA 16
This provides the character with a BAB of 26, spell casting level of 25, turn undead ability of 17 thanks to empower turning, and access to all weapons and armors without taking any feats.

This build would be more powerful in the undead turning category if the WP Prc actually helped with the turn undead ability like in PnP.

To improve my character spell casting ability I select the Spell Casting Prodogy feat at first level. The higher level feats will be extend spell, maxim spell, etc... to improve the character spell casting ability.

 

That's a great build, and one I've been thinking of doing for a while. I'd do the same except I'd make my race Aasimar. I love how the Doomguide has high BAB. The 1d6 for hit points kind of blows, but isn't that big of a deal. For me, I would consider a level of either Paladin or Fighter early on for the extra feats, so I don't have to waste a feat on Martial Weapons.

What's the difference between improved turning - which is a feat - and exceptional turning, which you get from the Sun domain? Because it may be redundant with the Doomguide abilities, and it'd be nice to take the War domain for the free proficiency + weapon focus in your deity's favored weapon (in the case of Kelemvor, the bastard sword).

@ Equestor,

Yeah, I've seen that before. And after reading it again, I can definitely see the logic in saving DivChamp levels until epic (or MotB) levels. I think going all Pally and RDD makes sense for the rest of the OC.

 

Death Rabit,

Doomguides do not get a high BAB; they get the BAB of a Cleric and 1D6 for a hit die. They do however get a ton of useful feats for free for dealing with the undead. If the Doomguide did get a high BAB my build would look like this....

Race: Human
Alignment: LG
Class: Cleric / DoomGuide / War Priest / NW9
Level: 9 / 10 / 10 / 1
Domains: Evil and Sun - (Turn Outsiders and Expectional Turning)
Stats: STR 14 DEX 14 CON 12 INT 10 WIS 20 CHA 16

Since they don't and I want to hit the magical BAB of 26 I have to take less Cleric and Doomguide levels and increase the NW9 levels.

 

Then there must be a typo in the in-game description for the Doomguide. It definitely states that Doomguides get a warrior BAB. Good to know.

 

Yeah it sucked the first time I played but you only loose a total of 3 BAB when taking the Doomguide over a warriro Prc.

What I like about the Doomguide class is that by level 8 you are immune to negative energy effects and energy drain and by level 10 you are also immune to death magic. You also provide your companions a +4 to their saves vs. Negative Energy/Energy Drain and Death Magic.

My build is all about improving the PC companions longevity by giving them bonuses. I imagine the build would improve if I ended up going with a Paladin; this is the route I would go if I selected a Paladin over a Cleric....

Edit....
Race: Aasimar
Alignment: LG
Class: Paladin / DoomGuide / War Priest / NW9
Level: 16(12) / 10 / 2(6) / 2
Stats: STR 14 DEX 14 CON 12 INT 10 WIS 16 CHA 24 +

This build provides +2 to the BAB and +7 levels to the turn undead ability; however, it does not provide the casting power of the Cleric/DG/WP/NW9 build.

 

sadly it is typo that have existed since before release, when the manual was linked to show the new classes and feats, several people pointed this out. Obsidian had to make an official statement correcting this.

I haven't checked in game, but I'll take your word for it. but I think the corrected it to state it get's medium BAB over the class description, in that part where it states how the class progress.

 

I recommend checking out NWN2 Wiki page; I updated all of the Doomguide Class and one or two other classes as needed. I want to make sure my fellow NWN2 gamers who visist the Wiki page had correct information to go by when they decide to great a character.

 

Did you continue leveling up as a Paladin or did you select another class to level up?

 

I'm leveling up as an RDD up to level 14, where I'll take 1 level of Paladin (to get Divine Might) then I'll finish all 10 levels of RDD. After that, I'll be starting MotB, where I'll take straight DivChamp levels.

That's for this run-though, anyway. Next time I'm going to try a Sorcerer.

 

After my current game I plan on playing an Evil character; something I normally do not do. Here is the build for my Evil character....

Cleric - 8 levels
Blackguard - 10 levels
Doomguide - 10 levels
War Priest - 2 levels

What do you think of this build?

 

I think it looks badass. It has Drow written all over it. The only problem I really see is that with the Blackguard levels you'll delay your high-level spells for quite a while. But if this is a tanking build that shouldn't be a big deal.

You may want to try the new race of Orc that came with the new expansion. Their favored class is the Cleric (not that it matters with this build) and they have a cool painted-face avatar. My default race pick for any build favoring Charisma is always the Aasimar, though (personal preference). Decent benefit with almost zero downside.

Question: with the evil character, rather than destroying undead when you turn them, you recruit them, right? I don't really know how evil divine characters work...

 

from pure power-gaming 10 levels of Blackguard is a waste, it will add very little to a cleric. from an RP perspective, Blackguard and Doomguide doesn't mix well, since kelemvor is a neutral god (who once went good) and BG's are evil.

your character will probably do fine in both OC and MoTb but that has more to do with the how easy they are, then class strength.

 

I was thinking the same thing, actually...

 

Here was my thought to my build RP wise...

My character is LE at the start of the game worshipping one of the LE deities. As he progresses he move towards being a Dark Warrior for his deity; a Blackguard. Upon reaching his full potential he discovers the Evil that he is doing is not right and he wants to correct the world for all the wrong he had done and slowly over time he is able to turn his life around and remove some of the Evil / Undead to the world and in doing so becomes one of Kelemvor followers. He starts off LE and end the game as LN almost bordering a LG character.


Or from another view...

He starts off following Kelevmor and becomes one of his truest disciples; during a conquest to remove a lich, the lich imposes a question which makes the character contemplate his existence; as time passes he decides to try something different, evil, and as it ends up the character likes the evil ways and soon enough he is consumed by it and rebels againts the ways of Kelemvor. He eventually switches to an evil deity; one that appreciates his command of the dead.

 

both a nice concepts, not that you have to justify it for me just making observations from two extremes. personally I tend to go with a mix of rp and powergaming in my builds.

as for buildwise, what race and stats are you going to take?

Aasimar with a semi high CHA and WIS and maybe str around 14-16?

 

Yuan-ti True Blood...

STR 14
DEX 14
CON 12
INT 12
WIS 16
CHA 16

Free Feats: Blind fighting and Alertness
Other benefits: +1 AC and MR

I may take Hero's Luck for an additional +1 AC and +1 to all saves....
The Domains will be Sun and Earth....

I don't plain on raising my character WIS beyond 16; every increase in stat will be towards CHA or STR. I will start off on the Evil path and move towards LN/LG.

---------- Added 0 hours, 5 minutes and 48 seconds later... ----------

This build isn't about high level spells; the build is about his connection to the undead.

I don't know how the game reacts to an evil character for undead purposes; I know for a Good or Neutral character undead are destroyed if your turning level is 2x their HD. I wonder if an Evil character would take control instead of destroying and anything you cannot control you freeze just like Good and Neutral characters...

As stated in my above post I will go Yuan-ti. They offer the best stats, +1AC, 2 free feats, and MR for a being 2 levels lower. I think it is a good payoff.