Unarmed melee character on HoF : my wood elf nun/rogue

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Difficulty settings : HoF + Tactics4IWD2 + Undead Targos/Tougher Torak.
Special rules : exclusively barehanded melee, no weapons, no armor, no spellcasting except from protective spells coming from wearing items and few protective scrolls usable by everybody.

Well, I'm trying to build a nice pure melee character, unarmed and without armor (without using spells as well), able to survive on HoF from scratch. So far, a monk (Ancient Order)/rogue seems the best choice. Here's my character :

Xenia, F, wood elf, nun(Ancient Order)/rogue, initial stats : 20/20/8/8/10/8.
She's now of level 7/7 using mainly sneak attacks and hit'n'run tactics.
Remark: wood elves have +2 in Str and Dex and -2 in Con,Int and Cha.
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Finally, I was not entirely satisfied with my char and restarted with a newly created one:

Xenia, F, strongheart halfling, nun/rogue, LN, initial stats: 15/20/10/13/10/8. Current status : level 14/3, stats : 19/20/10/13/10/8, abilities and feats : Arterial Strike, Expertise, Hamstring, Power Attack, Alchemy=8 and Poisoned Weapon among others.

So I put Int=13 in order to get Expertise which might be useful in the future. I also reached 8 levels in Alchemy and got Poisoned Weapon feat (I authorize her to use a simple 1d4 dagger in order to use it) . The third thing is inequal dual-class progression. After getting 3 levels as rogue, I'm planning to progress as monk up to level 21 then again as rogue up to level 10 (extending level caps).

Take care,
Yigor

 

Xenia has now level 7/7 after completing Targos haven (~100,000XP on HoF +Undead Targos). I'm planning to install Tactics4IWD2 too if it's compatible with HoF. Let's check.

 

Good job!!! You have to be really patient to try that!
Do you have to reload often or do you know how to play to avoid getting hit?
A few lucky hits from a goblin in HOF would kill a char like that.

 

Thanks Mudde, yeah I have a certain know-how since I tried a similar game 4 years ago. Not so many reloads but a lot of running and passing through doors lol. So it's quite tedious in the beginning. I try to vary attacks, slowing down monsters and inflicting bleeding wounds.

Yeah, the honest melee is impossible, at least until monk's level 20 I guess.

Take care,
Yigor

 

Undead Targos Palisade battle : All defenders quickly died in the very beginning and I remained with 3 dozens of senior undead. Those Senior Zombi and Drowns are almost immune to my current barehanded attacks (kinda 0-5hp per hit when they have ~500hp). So it was very tedious until I realised that I should beat only the 3rd remaining chief. That task turned out to be easy for my smart and swift character. So I've officially won the battle though there are still 2 dozens of senior undead wandering inside the palisade lol.

 

Finally, I was not entirely satisfied with my char and restarted with a newly created one:

Xenia, F, strongheart halfling, nun/rogue, initial stats: 15/20/10/13/10/8. Current status : level 11/3, stas : 18/20/10/13/10/8, abilities and feats : Arterial Strike, Combat Expertise, Hamstring, Power Attack, Alchemy=8 and Poisoned Weapon (she's authorized to use a simple 1d4 dagger in order to use it) among others.

So I put Int=13 in order to get Combat Expertise which might be useful in the future. I also reached 8 levels in Alchemy and got Poisoned Weapon feat (I authorize her to use a simple 1d4 dagger in order to use it) . The third thing is inequal dual-class progression. After getting 3 levels as rogue, I'm planning to progress as monk up to level 21 then again as rogue up to level 10 (extending level caps).

 

How far did you get with your first character and which disappointments made you restart ?

 

Hey kmonster! Well, I was at Shaengarn bridge before the battle with Torak. It was not really a disappointment. I just saw that I missed 2 potentially useful feats (Expertise and Poisoned Weapon) and that it's probably better
to attain first 20 levels as a monk. I restarted cuz I'm perfectionist.

 

I'm surprised that you consider those feats as so useful.

"Envenom weapon" allows a fortitude save at DC 20, which nearly all HOF monsters should succeed because of the save and con bonus granted by HoF unless they roll a natural 1.
I doubt that 1-4 dagger damage with a 5 percent chance for 1-6 con damage twice is as good as 2-26 fist damage.

The powergaming guides consider AC as useless in HoF mode unless you get it very high, which should be impossible without caster support, so unless those guides are misleading the "expertise" feat might become useless in later chapters, as well as the high dex.

 

Yeah, you are probably right! Those 2 feats were not useful so far and I doubt as well that they will be. Do you suggest then to put max in STR and CON ?

Arterial Strike, Hamstring and Power Attack are quite useful, so I'll certainly keep them.

Lol, I've just finished Undead Targos palisade battle but maybe should restart once again. How about an earth genasi monk/rogue with STR=CON=20 ? He/she will have Stoneskin too as the special ability! I still need 13 in DEX though for some feats. I should choose the near-level progression in this case to avoid XP penalty.

Thanx again for the feedback,
Yigor

 

After thinking a bit, I decided to continue with my current char. An alchemist monk sounds good to me for roleplaying reasons. Even if Envenom Weapon isn't adapted to HoF, it still works sometime. My current character seems to me more balanced and polyvalent than the first one. I don't really care about powergaming and can survive with any char anyway. High CON doesn't seem more useful on HoF than high DEX. If you are vulnerable, it's just the matter of 2-3 additional hits.

Earth genasi would be better but I'll try it in another melee setting (honest melee barbarian/berserker without Hide/Invisibility).

I just tried to explain my reflexions.
Yigor

 

A bit of good news about Envenom Weapon : 1) It seems to work nicely when combined with monk's Stunning Fist. If an enemy is stunned then a poisoned attack touches him as well (at least, it's announced in the message window); 2) it can be used twice per day (the poisoning is not affected by bare-handed attacks and remains after resting).

 

Wow, Vghotan's necklace gives me the ability to use 2d4 claws (and +4 STR bonus) instead of fists. Those claws can be poisoned too so I don't need a dagger anymore.