Ultimate melee characters

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Hi to everyone here!

Im pretty new to RPG's (the only one ive played before IWD2 is IWD1) but im mostly a powergamer (i.e. i make the monster char and then invent the story behind his origins)

Anyway, recently ive been obsessed with the Ultimate melee character. These are what ive tried... Ive read JUPP (its amazing) and the other UPP and i got most of my ideas from there. Thanks to the authors

half orc Fighter (4) Barbarian (x) - Good, but when my battleguard began dishing out more damage i thought i needed a change. Tested up to lvl 14

Half orc Barb (1) Fighter(5) Talos (6) - Quite successful, but my hands were tied by the fighter levels. Feats were convinient- i planned to specialise in maces, spears (i used the nine paces very effectively) and axes, but it meant i couldnt squat for more than 2 levels at a time. Also i couldnt risk dropping a fireball on him. His reflex saves werent amazing and he had no spell resistance

New proposition - Drow male wizard (15) Stormlord (8) Fighter (7) (could be Stromlord 11, fighter 4)

Stats
STR 18
Dex 9
Con 16
Int 18
Wis 14
Cha 5

Plan - Start as wizard, get fighter at level 2 for various weapons, rush to tensers (level 12/maybe 13), then return to fighter/talos until holy power is reached, and finish up with wizard spells.

I plan to use heavy armour in battle, using the wizards spells to buff him up nad help him survive e.g. mirror image. Cats grace gives him sufficent dex to take full advantage of heavy plate mail. If in trouble, cast invisibility and walk out. perhaps even use vampiric touch to heal a bit. Primary role - berserker, secondary arcane caster/divine buffer

Other characters -
Deep gnome tank/ wizard (straight out of JUPP arcane party), secondary arcane caster, learns rogue skills
Drow Monk/cleric - can tank, but high dex means shes an excellent archer and as the frontlines are crowded anyway... primary divine caster
Drow sorceress - primary arcane spellcaster/Diplomat
Drow druid - supremely fragile until level 5, when he takes his place in the frontlines. Also acts as an primary healer, freeing up slots for the cleric.

Anyway, the question i wanted to ask is - does tenser;s bonus and champions strenght stack?
Also does divine shell and shield/ghost/ spirit armour stack?
if not perhaps a drow stormlord/fighter would make a better berserker. If anyone has any suggestions to how to make my berseker better, please tell me. thx in advance.

Alternative Choices

Watcher of Helm (12), Sorceress (12) Fighter (4) Paladin (1) Ranger (1)

Str 18
Dex 9
Con 16
Int 5
Wis 16
Cha 16

The whole point of this char is to dual wield the Holy avenger and something else (prolly golden heart longsword). This character gets the advantage of divine grace, divine shell, self cast buffs, and can be a better auxillary healer/divine caster, but loses some arcane castings, the ability to use all weapons until level 24 (without incurring multiclass penalty that is). Also she will lose elemental feats - not a big deal as not a great arcane caster anyway

The other possible char is:
Female Drow Cleric of Lathlander (20) Paladin(3) Fighter(4) Monk(3)

Str 18
Dex 18
Con 16
Int 5
Wis 18
Cha 5

This character can have decent AC due to monk bonus and magic armour, as well as be a good secondary divine caster and use the dual longswords effectively due to decent BAB bonuses. But she misses out on tenser's transformation nd all those protective arcane spells. (And it begs the question - why did a drow decide to be a paladin anyway?)

Thx

[ January 23, 2005, 17:35: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

Do you intent to use Wes Weimers' Ease-of-Use Mod?

if your answer is yes:

use alternate shapes and
additional spells for druids
remove alignment restriction
better bastard swords
(some HoF items in normal)

Druid24/Paladin2/Barbar2/Monk1/Cleric(Bane)1

Leveling:

Paladin2
Barbarian2
Druid 4
Monk1
Cleric1
Druid 20

Stats:
Str. 12
Dex. 06
Con. 10
Int. 14
Wis. 18
Cha. 16

always improve Wis (on lvl. up)
further impr. of Wisdom:
+2 Paladin quest (and +2 Str.(needed to gain Pwr Attack and Cleave)
+4 Cleric(Bane) quest
+4 (-2 Dex.) via Holy Transferrence
+5 items (ring of gods)
final Wis = 40 -> AC +15
Dex in highest half-dragon form 28 -> AC +9
Attack rating around 45/40/35/30
natural DR 16
natural MR 29

Important feats (feats in brackets are optional):
exotic weapon, bastard sword (once)
(large swords)
(TWF)
impr. crit
(ageis of rime)
(aqua mortis)
(scion of storms)
(spirit of flames)
blindfight
lightning reflexes
(snake blood, 1st lvl only)

This build is able to dish out 40-115 damage per strike, crit. 13-20 x2 (with know they family as an offhander -> translates to shifted forms as do other items affects, but not haste)

concentrate on spells which are (long time) buffs and area damage spells that last several rounds (cloud spells, electric charge)

cast buffs, hide in shadow (or get invisible by other means) locate mob; cast cloud spells (out of line-of-sight), change to appropriate elemental form (so you won't recive damage from your own spell) and let the slug feast beginn.

Skill as you wish. I invest some in the rogue department as I use this build for soloing (normal).

Only con I can think of is the slow speed (use potion of speed to counter this, has to be use via inventory screen) and the use of mods (but if you are a powergamer you may overlook this)

 

Pure arcane casters (wizzie/sorc) can get pretty nasty meleers. Mordy's sword takes care of weapon and hitting, all the buffs make you next to immortal.

 

I don't count Mordenkainen's Sword as being 'melee'.

 

It summons a weapon. Nuff for me

 

it's stil not a melee weapon though

 

If the enemy is within touch range when you fight, then I say it's melee.

 

This is so
I found arcane casters could be good tanks/ decoys, but melee damage? That must be done via summons (eg. Mordy's sword, Animate Dead).

My Human Battlegaurd[8]/ Barbarian[20]/ Fighter[2] was good at melee. But then, he usually hid behind the deep gnome since he had to neglect his AC in favour of his damage capability.

 

Ive finally decided on a
Deep gnome rogue 3/Paladin of mystra 3/fighter 3/Illusionist (20?)(13?) Cleric of helm (7) Although its still flexible.

But looking at the damage my druid is dealing in wildshape, this guy may finally end up not being my berserker.

Im gonna try a Deep Gnome Druid(16)/Illusionist(12)/Monk(1)/ Dreadmaster(1) next game. Combining powerful wildshapes with massive WIS monk bonuses, magic armours and tensers suggests a monster-tank who can deal enormous damage as well, as well as cast spells when not berserking

Stats
Str 8
Dex 13 (or whatever max dex can be)
Con 10
Int 18
Wis 20
Cha 1