Weakest link?

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Who or whom is the weakest member of your characters party?

 

Strength-wise, my Sorcerer(30)

The weakest is probably my Ranger(x)/Rogue(10). Just not powerful enough to do anything and his thieving skills are pointless since my Fighter can handle the damage from the traps and whatnot.

 

used to be bard, but now I have party of one fighter, one battleguard of tempus, one sorcerer and one thief/mage (one level of thief), and all of them are A+++ bashers.

 

It was the Monk for me, but that was the first time I played, and I don't think I knew how to use him properly.

 

It has always been the barbarian/fighter 4. He just can't compete with the spellswords and summons, endurance or damage wise.

 

Hojo, how can your barb/fighter be your weakest character? Did you make him a master of daggers or something My monk still tends to be somewhat weak (human lvl 14) but it may be that his speed gets him into trouble because he gets to the fight too quickly.....

 

In Heart of Fury mode, a Fighter / Barbarian would be the weakest by far but in Normal mode they usually carve up the bad guys. But Hojo Jojo probably has the management of his spellcasters down to such a fine art that they make his simple hack'n'slasher look ordinary.

 

No.

NE shield dwarf barbarian 15/fighter 4
str 22, dex 18, con 20, int 3, wis 16, cha 1
skills: wilderness lore
feats: the usual tanking feats, specializing in axes.

LE drow enchanter 11/fighter 7
str 16, dex 24, con 12, int 14, wis 10, cha 8
skills: concentration, spellcraft, intimidate
feats: armored arcana 3, expertise, subvocal casting, dodge, specializing in axes, combat casting.

You tell me which is a better tank.

[ January 12, 2004, 17:31: Message edited by: Hojo Jojo ]

 

Hojo, I have a 3rd fighter/ 13? Barb Half-Orc who carves them up with the +5 Greatsword of Slaying (previously +4 massive halberd of hate). I think his strength normally sits around 30 with a con of 18. He has heaps of hp's. Is it that you enjoy buffing characters? With my full party I hardly ever need to buff anyone and they all (normally) survive each major encounter.

 

In terms of enjoyment, I can say with confidence that I enjoy buffing more than I do ordering my clerics to cast Heal on my "tank" every other round, which is what happens to the shield dwarf barbarian listed above. The drow spellsword currently is going into the fray with AC in the mid 50s, and he's not even using brazen bands and fire dance talisman. I'm not worried about str because Tenser's Transformation takes care of it, saving my cleric a Champion's Strength.

[ January 13, 2004, 05:39: Message edited by: Hojo Jojo ]

 

Can you please explain how you can get AC into the mid 50s? I thought most of the buffing bonuses didn't stack up no matter how many layers you put on.

 

I'm going to use the statistical mean of rolls for the sake of convenience.

base:
+10 generic

feats:
dodge +1 generic
expertise +5 generic

buffs:
barkskin +5 generic
ghost armor +5 deflection
shield +7 armor
haste +4 generic
tenser +4 generic

equipment:
large shield +2 +4 shield

10+1+5+5+5+7+4+4+4=45 AC.

Dexterity bonus is the one that's variable. The lowest I can get from dex is +8, if I roll the min on tenser. The mean I get from dex is +9, if I roll the mean. The highest I can get from it is 11, if I roll two 4s. Sadly, I don't have a Tymora's Loop, so 53-56 AC after you add dex.

[ January 13, 2004, 19:22: Message edited by: Hojo Jojo ]

 

OK, looks impressive. Do any of those buffs start to run out by the time you've finished casting them all? And, how do you have enough time to buff anyone else in the party (one good reason to have less people in your group)?

 

The shortest buff on that list is Tenser's Transformation, which lasts 1 round/level. For him, it's 11 levels. Next is Haste, which lasts 1 round/level(+3, if you used Improved Haste instead of regular Haste, and that also lets you buff everyone at the same time), but I use a L18 sorcer to cast it. Barkskin lasts 10 min/level, which is really long. Here's how I distribute the AC buffs on this guy. The part after the hyphen states how much buffing the member is responsible for doing.

wizard/fighter (above): shield-self, ghost armor-2 members, tenser-self (very end)
druid: barkskin-4 members
wizard/paladin: ghost armor-2 members
sorcerer: improved haste-party (very end)

 

By all means, if you're already using Tenser's Transformation to boost STR, use the Champion's Strength as well. They STACK together, giving a max of +16 to STR!

 

Hojo.... that's a lot of buffing! Do you work in Business Administration or something? How long does it take to cast all those spells?