Best Melee Character?

Remove all ads!

I wanted to make a character who would be the BEST at melee, have certain dualling possibilities, and the BEST THAC0, level progression, hitpoints, number of attacks, etc etc...and if dualled, buffing capacity, tanking abilities, etc etc.

Any opinions?

 

The best melee character: the Kensai.
+ 1 bonus to hit and damage for every 3 levels
- 1 speed factor for every for levels
Kai ability (max damage in every attack) every 4 levels
- 2 to AC at character creation.
Advanced Weapon Specialization

And as for dualling possibilities:
Kensai/mage or
Kensai/thief
are very popular but in ToB I'd advice against this. You won't get fighter HLAs.

You should also consider a mc ranger/cleric. He gets all cleric and druid spells, fighter HLAs, starts with ** in Two Weapon Style. Buff him up with spells like Iron Skins, Call Upon Holy Might, Righteous Magic and he's unstopable...

 

I've heard alot of praise about Kensai's! I never knew what a kensai was until I read the Bg:SoA book.

I think many of the fighter classes have different advantages from one another.

I know barbarians have very high hitpoints. But I'm not sure about their Thaco.

 

Read the "Making a FAQ/Guide for Blades" thread...

 

Yes, blades can become the most powerful tanks for a short time (until their spells run out) and only so much a day. If you want a melee character I wouldn't take a blade however. The same basically goes for the Ranger/Cleric, although he's strong even without the spells. If you cast spells on top of what he already can do, you have one mean killer.
Without doubt the strongest melee character is the kensai, but he also gets hit a lot more since he can wear no armor. Barbarians are really tough, get cool immunities (I think), move faster and have really high hp. They can't dualclass though.

 

I really wouldn't say that. Remember that the Blade's high levels makes their spells only last sooo much longer, and you don't really need to spend all your misleads at once - two should do, though if you've been giving the Blade all the weapons and items he is due you should be able to get through most battles without bothering to buff up and cast spells, reserving these for more appropriate times.
Helm of Vhailor will also do wonders.
I've played my Blade through SoA and ToB again and I rarely had to buff up except for the meaner fights, like against Dragons and Bhaalspawn. (I was on Hardcore difficulty.)
The Blade can get through most encounters easily enough, what with the Rings of Gaax and other items.

The strongest melee class is indeed the Kensai, but when buffing up comes in nothing comes close to the Blade.

 

The reason I originally posted the thread was because I'd just finished ToB with an assassin/mage lvls 21/XX, and I was really tired of sneaking around, and preparing spells, etc etc. It was fun...but it eventually got tiring.

So I figured I'd make a character who had MINIMUM preparations before a battle. Someone like a fighter class, or a paladin. Someone who could mow through entire hordes without breaking a sweat!! Kensai's cant use armor and in ToB especially, thats a big No-No.

Any other ideas guys? I've heard good things about Berserker/Clerics, and also Undead Hunters...

PS:I added the bit about buffing to introduce a little variety in the (so-far) hypothetical character...

 

Best THAC0, fastest leveling, easy to use and nice hitpoints? Why the Half-Orc Fighter! Fighters level up at a steady rate, they can specalise and wear any armor. Half-Orc gives you access to 19 STR and 19 CON. Sometimes the best answers are right under your nose. First time I played the game it was with a half-orc Barbarian and I finished very easily however I was hit a few too many times than I would have liked (only being able to wear chanmail).

Just give him points in Katana, Flail/Morning-Star, Scimitar and Axe (for throwing) or sling and you have a character that'll slug anything around.

However if you want to be 'tricky' and try a nice dual: swashbuckler->fighter works very well gaining impressive AC bonus and the + hit and damage from the swashbuckler helps. No need to wear leather, just put all your thief points into traps and lockpicking and take the armor off when its time to open things or aviod that nasty looking floor tile.

N.B. This is for a melee combatant, there are heaps of melee/spellcasters out there but if you want to be ham-fisted (no twiddling of fingers) just try those two.

 

"First time I played the game it was with a half-orc Barbarian and I finished very easily however I was hit a few too many times than I would have liked (only being able to wear chanmail)."

Barbarians can also wear scale mail, and the only magic armor they can't wear is magic plate.

 

Sorry aobut that, technicality. Should have said 'medium armor'. Chain and scale are the same to me for D&D 2/2.5 since there is no dexterity modifier limit.

 

On one end there is the Kensai, and pure killing machine. On the other end in the Blade, who is a master of buffing. A good mix between the two is the Ranger/Cleric. The R/C gets the advatages of both Ranger and Cleric spells and HLAs. Means he can cast Ironskin, and be immune several physical attacks, while he uses greater whirlwind to decimate his opponents. Not to mention Insect Plague and Creeping Doom as a great way to prevent spells from being cast and/or recast.

 

I think the best Melee character is a theif dualed to a mage

for example Imoen:

I tried using Imoen in a Melee fight one time in watchers keep she was about level 23-5 in watcher keep level 3

I gave here some good equipment and the right spells and protections and sent Imoen to kill 4 demon knights in about 10 seconds!

I Gave her a * in scimitar and 2 weapon and had here use Belm and a vanilla +3 scimitar, gave her a fire giant strength girdle with stoneskin mirrior Image portection from magical weapons and gave her similar sequencers and contingencies.
after all this I send her in improved hasted have her cast imroved alicricity. then Imoen started going insane on all the damage spells and finished off with tensors transformation to kill (what's left of) everyone else.

And all of a sudden Imoen becomes a f/m/t
I have to wonder why, no one ever mentions using Imoen in a melee fight I guess it's a bit un-Imoenish to go up to the front lines and slaughter everyone unfortunate enough to cross her path

But if it's possible for Imoen to be a child of Bhaal then there is very little that could ever suprise me in this game

 

Thnks for the suggestions guys...right now, I'm trying out a Blade, thanks to Scythesong's guide..its got me VERY interested.

and after that, I'll probably try out a Fighter/Druid mc to the Shapeshifter class. Chris Williams' thread was pretty interesting too.

THanks again for the info..

 

@casey because thats a one-hit-wonder
A melee combatant is one that'll fight and keep fighting, fight well and fight well without any buffs/insane equipment. I don't think casting spells on enemies constitutes 'melee-combat'.

 

Well, you would have to use SK to do that, which opens up a whole new range of possibilities. In that case, I would suggest a m/c Kensai/Mage or, even better, a m/c Kensai/Mage/Thief. In either case, the inability of the Kensai to wear armour works perfectly with the fact that mages can't wear armour when casting spells, and thieves work better without armour.

 

I'm currently playing a solo-berserker. So far so good (I'm almost at the end of ToB, but haven't quite finished yet!). I found that it was very easy against beholders and illithids, as the rage ability makes one fairly immune to the mind control stuff. However, it has become difficult lately. Still, I'd recommend it.

Was that dual-class or multi-class? Which race? What were your ability scores? I've always been tempted to play BG2 "hard core", (see the Hardcore playing thread) and it sounds like this could be a viable option. Of course, any information about your successes would be of great interest!

[ November 13, 2003, 15:08: Message edited by: Trydan ]

 

dmc started his R/C in the SoA hardcore thread

P.S. - dmc - just noticed your last edit in the ToB hardcore thread. Congrats!

 

Brilliant! Thanks for the reference Splunge. That was precisely what I was looking for (and I didn't think to check SoA )