Alternate setup (again, a rookie player here)

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1)Aasimar Paladin X/Fighter 4. I know there's a Holy Avenger, may as well specialize in it!

2)Dwarf Battleguard of Tempus. I love the idea of a pure classed Cleric who is quite the tank!

3)Male Drow Fighter 4/Rogue 3/Barbarian 3/Ranger 3/ Wizard X. This is my speedy scout, who will aadd the Wiz levels last. They're primarily for combat bonuses and protection. He'll also handle all of my locks and traps.

4) Human Paladin 1/Sorcerer X. I'll add that Pally level after I get Fireball. The Saving Throw bonus sounds awesome. Maybe I should go Aasimar?

5) Human Druid X. Hey, those Druid spells are pretty cool! I'm considering a Female Drow (or a Wood Elf) here instead, so that she'll be able to use a Bow instead of a cruddy sling.

6) Male Drow Bard X. I might mixd a different class in here, I'm not too sure. I'm still not convinced a Bard has much at all to offer after reaching level 11. Anyway, the Drow racial stats seem to fit a Bard really well, but I am concerned that having a Drow as my talker won't be a good idea. Thoughts?

 

What are the three levels of Barbarian for?

 

I don't think there are any penalties for having a drow front man, but if your worried you could always make the pally/sorc your talker. I'm also wondering if you have the mod that lets you multi-class a paladin of mystra to a sorc, since i think you'll lose your paladin benefits otherwise.

 

You won't lose your paladin benefits - you just won't be able to level up as a paladin any more.

Having a drow talker can actually be interesting because there is all sorts of extra drow-only dialogue content.

 

6) Bard/Sorcerer is nice (CHA for both). The only drawback is being a Drow, you will get a hefty penalty on your XP. Hence a male Drow is preferably a Wizard and a female a Cleric. So unless you change the race Bard/Wizard (any specialist since because of the Bard level he will be able to cast every spells; most people prefer Transmuter).

1), 4) and 5) would benefit greatly from a single Monk level: +2 to saves, extra speed and Evasion which means that you can cast many area spells and expect your characters to succeed in their Reflex saves while enemies burn (the greater spell focus can make it harder though), and last but not least extra AC for the Druid.

I definitely recommend it for the Paladin and the Druid (and I believe that even without maxing the WIS it can be a better option for the Sorcerer instead of a single Paladin level).

3) may look good on paper but it's not worth the trouble, too many levels and not that effective as a party member.

Fighter 4 for specialization and feats is ok but it's 4 levels and it forces you to level up the other classes to avoid XP penalties.

Rogue 3 is nice for sneak attack but it's not that good. With Rogues it's better to start as one (extra points at character creation) and take a second level to get Evasion or create an almost pure Rogue (at least level 10 for the Rogue-only feats).

Barbarian adds speed and combat efficiency but 3 levels don't bring so many perks and 1 level is almost as good since with 1 level you get the extra speed and the rage ability.

Ranger 3 is quite comparable to the 3 levels in Barbarian. It's more interesting to take only 1 level to get Two weapon Fighting and Ambidexterity for free rather than taking 3 levels which won't make that much difference. Unless it's for RP reasons I would rather take some Fighter levels and buy the feats with the extra Fighter feats rather than getting behind with 3 levels of Ranger. My advice 1 level only.

IMO this will be more effective: Male Drow Rogue 2/Barbarian 1/Ranger 1/ Wizard X.The main advantage is that you can save 9 levels for your Wizard class and you will still get enough points to max your Rogue skills. Try Male Drow Fighter 4/Rogue 3/Wizard X instead if you really want him to be a fighter.

The problem with Drows is that you don't level up so fast... Nevertheless the extra ability points look so good it's hard to resist.

 

Looking at the party, I suggest taking a Drow Rogue 1/Diviner X for the last slot. You don't need a Bard and the Sorcerer can pretty much get every dialogue option with the right stats.
The only think you really lack is someone else to help with character number 3's burden. Number 3 character will have a shortage of skill points, mind you.

 

1) I had the same build, heavy specialized in longsword for the holy avenger. But the damage outpout was too low, switching to greatsword yielded far more damage even without extra profiency points in it.
After 90 percent of the game she found the holy avenger, after 95 percent she switched back to greatsword again disappointed , still not specialized in it.

My advice: Don't go the longswords route unless you prefer a defensive summon replacement over a deadly killing machine.

A fighter4/paladin isn't better than a pure paladin. "Holy power" is a level4 spell the pure paladin gets at level 15, the multiclass never. It gives +4 damage.
Holy smite gives extra +4 damage for extra 4 paladin levels.
Compared to the +8 total damage potential the +2 extra specialisation damage doesn't sound great.

If you like micromanaging take a pure paladin.
If you like straight offense take a paladin3/fighter x with stats like 18-14(13)-18-5-7(8)-20.
Theese are also the optimal stats for a fighter4/paladin x since "holy power" is the first really useful spell you (won't) get.

Increase only strength at level up for deadly effects.

2)great

3)weird. There are only 2 remaining wizard levels beacuse of the ECL penalty.
In 3E pure rogues are powerful. They get
- lots of skillpoints
- 1-6 extra sneak attack damage for every 2 levels with any weapon
- extra feats at level 10,13,16,...
The BAB progression is nearly as good as the fighter's, 4 rogue levels yield as much as 3 warrior levels.
It's very different from 2E.

4)The saving throw and AC bonus is awesome, but the higher sorcerer level is even more awesome.
The first helps only one character, the latter helps both the caster and the other party members.
Aasimar start with 20 cha which makes their spells a little harder to resist but level up slower.
You need 2 skillpoints per level to get 10 spellcraft for the elemental feats without having the concentration suffer hard. Humans can do with 3 int, others need 12.

5)You need 10 spellcraft for scion of storms and you'll want high concentration. Humans get 2 skill points per level even with 3 int, other races need 10 int.
Taking an ECL race will slow the gaining of the cool spells and prevent her gaining level9 spells.
Slings, darts and throwing daggers get the same number of attacks per round as bows and you even get a strength bonus using them.
Humans get a bonus feat if you really want to use bows that much.

6) Drow can't take the mercantile background feat like humans or aasimar. The ECL penalty will slow the spell and BAB progression.
There are no other big disadvantages.


I disagree with Caradhras about taking monk levels.

Don't add monk levels, they'll weaken your party seriously.(at least in a normal game)
But it's a good idea to make your druid lawful neutral to be able to add monk levels in HoF mode if you want to play it.

 

That's why you install the Ease of Use mod that turns the Holy Avenger into a Great Sword. Ease of Use rules!

 

Thanks everybody. I'm going to seriously consider everything that's been posted here.

HB: The Barb levels on my scout are so he can move a lot faster and be tougher, since he'll have levels in Rogue early and Wizard later.

 

Have fun! Stop designing your party and start playing already!

 

Soon man!

Hey, speaking of adding a Monk level... will the Monk still retain Evasion, higher speed, and WIS AC bonus if shapeshifted?

If so, adding one level to my Druid build would be awesome!!!

 

Actually, that raises the broader question of exactly what does carry forward into shapeshifted mode (e.g. STR buffs, rings, feats etc)?

 

BTW, HB, I need a good plan or else I'm going to be restarting a lot. And that's annoying.