Multiclassing

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Excellent. Thanks Shrikant. I'll probably only install that part of the mod.
That will give me +5 to my monk's attack rolls, which will (once he gets enough levels) offset the reduction for expertese. I love how these things work out. In effect, having 20 dexterity gives me a bonus 10 AC!

It seems there's a bunch of things for improved weapons: improved Holy Avenger, two-handed Greatsword Holy Avenger, Improved Moonblades, Improved Monk Fists, Stronger B.Swords, Forgotten Armour and Shields, damage resistance for Armour and Shields... I don't think I want all these. Not yet, anyways.
Is it magic weapon finesse that I want?

 

The extra druid shapes are pretty cool, the treant has great Str and entangles when he hits. Try the will-o-wisps to frustrate monster who can never get a hit.

 

Both the Druid Additional Spells & Alternate Shapeshifting are vastly overpowered. Combined they make the Druid a one man destruction army. Even a Sorcerer may find it impossible to stand up against one.
Damage resistance is crazy as well. It is like your front line fighters having Stoneskin cast on them permanently. Majority of the creatures you meet can only manage a damage of 15 or less. So they hardly ever get damaged, even when stunned.

@Geoff
I believe its the Improved Monk Fists component that you are looking for. Magic Weapon Finess allows you to use finess to calculate the to-hit rolls for touch spells and conjured weapons like mordy's sword.

 

Eh... el timtor, pure monks are weak regardless of their level. Ahem:

-The weapons you find along your journey are much better then a monk's fist. Let's compare the fists to a 2 handed weapon. A greataxe benefit from the 1.5x strength mulitplier while the fists do not. Fists also do not have damgae bonuses that 2handed weaps do. Not to mention the various special abilites that many weapons have which the fists lack.

-The high lvl abilities of a monk are poor when compared to the high lvl abilites of other classes. A cleric with 4 lvls of fighter has spells that far surpasses the monk's abilities. In fact, the only real useful monk ability is the magic resistance and damage resistance. But a drow fighter/cleric will have a higher magic resistance then the monk and have spells that not only offer damage resistance but increase melee capability as well. The AC bonuses gained by the monk as he levels up is rather useless because you can get that and much more by replacing those monk levels with cleric or sorceror lvls, which gives you better AC AND better buffs. So in conclusion, a spellsword (fighter 4/ spellcaster x) will have much better spells and combat enhancements then a monk does. *Much* better.

[ June 23, 2005, 19:57: Message edited by: Hahkeal ]

 

@ Hahkeal

Yes, you raise some valid points as well.

I guess it's how you expect to use your monk. Most times I've had one in my party, he/she is used for recon/skirmish/rogue stuff. I generally don't expect my monk to be a tank. I'm also too lazy to micromanage fifty bajillion buffs and special abilities, so those aren't such a big deal for me.

But that's my playing style, so no biggie, hey...

 

Mmmm, you said you are "too lazy to micromanage". Well, the ironic thing is... you will need A LOT of micromanaging for that pure monk to survive in HoF because it is just too weak imo. But, like you said, as long as you are having fun...

 

Monks get more attacks than fighters or 'spellswords', though, and have a higher AC. True, you could have your spellsword buff himself, but why not have a spellcaster buff the monk, making him even better? Seems like a better plan of action to me than making two characters decent for one fight. Give that monk some buffs and make him untouchable!

 

Geoff, to answer your question:

This is how I would lvl up the sorc/fighter/paladin

Get sorceror lvls until you are lvl 20. Then take a lvl of paladin (preferably BEFORE the Holy Avenger quest). Afterwards take fighter and paladin lvls, making sure they are only 1 lvl apart to avoid xp penalties. Take the last 3 lvls of sorceor at the very end because it is of least importance (considering sorcerors improve only slightly after lvl 20). In order to take full advantage of this spellsword's capabilites, I suggest you level squat. In fact you can even fill those extra 2 slots you have left with 2 more characters and have them stay at lvl one throughout the entire game to bring down the party lvl average and thus, experience a even more drastic increase in xp. If you dont level squat, this character's melee capabilites comes way too late into the game.

Ahem did you read what I wrote earlier? A monk's natural high AC is negated when you consider the fact that a spellsword can wear armor, plus obtain better AC's AND better buffs through the use of spells such as tensor's, divine sheild, etc... Also, alot of buffs can only be cast on self (holy power, the vital Draw Upon Holy Might, mirror image, Tensor's) so a spellsword would benefit from more buffs then a monk. Sure, monks get more attacks, but thats when haste and mass haste comes into play. A fully buffed spellsword will have better melee capabilites then a monk, not to mention access to offensive spells as well. And in HoF, when you need all the spells you can get, a pure monk is obsolete

[ June 24, 2005, 00:28: Message edited by: Hahkeal ]

 

@ Hahkeal

One thing to keep in mind after you get that first paladin level: once you level up as anything but paladin or your order's preferred class, you lose the ability to level as a paladin.

Thus, to avoid xp penalties, even assuming your character is human, you'll have to get your paladin(3)/fighter(4) levels out of the way before gaining any more sorc levels.

 

I'm running a party of 4 with a high ac mc wizard character

Currently he's a male Drow 2 lvl fighter 2 lvl Barbarian 10 lvl Transmuter

Str 16 Dex 21 Con 14 Int 16 Wis 10 Chr 6

By the end my plan is to have him be a manic nearly unhittable Tenser's Transformation juggernaut

fighter 4 ranger 4 barbarian 4 thief 4 Transmuter 14

unmodified stats:

Str 16 Dex 24 Con 14 Int 17 Wis 10 Chr 6

With buffs, items, and Tensers going:

Str 22-24 Dex 29-32 Con 14 Int 17 Wis 10 Chr 9

His ac at that point maxes at 71, with a low of 68 when everything's active ... not quite unhittable, but he'll have plenty of mirror images for when he does get smacked.

The rest of his party is fairly solo class:

Drow Female Cleric of Lathander
Drown Male Rogue 1/Enchanter X
Human Sorceror

When Heart of Fury starts I'll add:

Drow Female Druid 12/Cleric X
Human Bard 11/Sorceror X

 

Yes, el timtor, to make all that mumble jumble I said more clear:

-sorceror 20
-paladin (it would be most beneficial to have a lvl of pally before doing the Holy avenger quest)
-paladin (2 lvls of pally grants immunity to fear, -which can be useful)
-fighter
-fighter
-fighter
-paladin
-fighter
-last 3 lvls goes to sorceror (because it is of least importance considering sorcerors do not gain extra castings at higher lvls after lvl 20)

Oh, and lvl squat when you can!

[ June 24, 2005, 00:20: Message edited by: Hahkeal ]

 

Got it. I did it like this with a solo character, except I started adding pally/ftr leveling after sorcerer(10).

 

I dont know where you got this from Hahkeal. Sorcerers continue to learn new spells right upto L30. Infact they only learn their 4th level 9 spell at L27. This ties in perfectly with taking 3 levels as a Paladin.
You must be confusing them with mages, who dont get any higher level spell slots after L21.

 

No, no, no, you have misunderstood what I said... I know they learn new spells... but by that time you already have all the spells you need. What I meant was the sorceror does not get extra castings at higher lvls. You see, I was talking about spell progression, not spells known. In other words, I was talking about the number of times they can cast per day, not the number of spells they know. Past lvl 20, the sorceror only gets extra castings at lower lvls and the boost is very insignificant.

[ June 25, 2005, 00:18: Message edited by: Hahkeal ]