Kensai-Cleric and Kensai-Druid

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Last time through the game I decided to create a Kensai-Cleric character and she proved most interesting and extraordinarily powerful.

I'm no powergamer, so I made her specialize in the quarterstaff, which seemed an appropriate sort of weapon for the combination. To make the dual class possible, a 17 wisdom score was necessary. However, when you roll your stats, you're just doing a human fighter so the rolls don't go very high. After a while, I obtained the following 87 point character:

ST: 18/92, DX: 18, CN: 9, IN: 12, WIS: 17, CHA: 13

A physical stat had to suffer to obtain the high wisdom so I chose constitution. Hitting hard while avoiding getting hit is more important than being able to take the punishment. Also, I knew that there's a constitution enhancing belt available.

With high strength, grand mastery, two-handed weapon skill and the kensai bonuses, my PC was doing more damage with a quarterstaff than Minsc with a two-handed sword, which was good. I reached fighter level 9 while fighting the slavers and dualled. The game sucked for quite some time afterwards while my PC was a single class cleric: all the kensai restrictions remained in place (no armour, shields or missile weapons) with none of the bonuses - it stretched credibility that my PC supposedly "forgot" how to use a quarterstaff. I recovered my kensai skills sometime through the Unseeing Eye quest, in good time to administer a thorough booting to Gaal and his goons.

After that, it was sheer rock 'n' roll. Clerical spells can quickly make a character super powerful. Barkskin gives a very low armour class, while applications of Righteous Magic and Draw Upon Holy Might would result in the following physical stats:

ST: 25, DX: 23, CN: 23

along with extra HP and maximum damage. Simply incredible. Also, the clerical spell Aerial Servant is the best summons in the game until high level abilities kick in.

This was the first time that I've played the game where I ended up with a kill total higher than that of Minsc: 31% against 22%.

Complaints? A few. Specializing in quarterstaves, the best weapon available for a LONG time is the Staff Of Rhynn +4, and you can get this right away, which meant that there were no magic items to look forward to (eventually I preferred wielding the Rod Of Smiting because it looked better on the sprite walking around the screen). The cleric stronghold was quite lame (although conveniently situated). When I got to TOB, I found that the cleric maxed out very quickly: spell progression became more or less static and I soon ran out of quest spells worth taking. In fact the cleric's quest spells are quite poor. The holy symbol at level 25 was quite nice, but otherwise a cleric character doesn't have an awful lot to look forward to at high levels.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the experience so much that I thought to play a kensai-druid. I like to think that there's an elite cadre within the druid hierarchy, a cell of nature's true elite, specializing in staff and spear. The requirements are punitive: STR: 15, WIS 17 and CHA 17. I might have to take a character through BG1 to get the required stats.

There are some advantages, disavantages and tradeoffs relative to the kensai-cleric.

The principal advantage is the more rapid mid-level advancement. If you dual at level 9, you only need 125000 XP to become a 10th level druid and resume serious buttkicking. Druids have, IMO, a better weapon selection - there is a truly wicked spear available in the Sahuagin City and the end of SOA gives you a superb druid-only staff. Level advancement between 13 and 15 is very slow indeed, but when you do hit level 15, it's like Christmas and your birthday combined. Druids have a wider selection of HLAs, and better ones too: the elemental princes are brutal, and earth elemental transformation is none-too-shabby.

The druid doesn't receive the holy symbol at high level, but has other benefits, such as poison immunity and resistance to elemental damage. There's also a druid ring in TOB with the same benefits as the cleric's holy symbol apart from the strength bonus.

You need to make a tradeoff between the likes of Righteous Magic and Draw Upon Holy Might and Ironskins, a tradeoff between incredible power and invulnerability. The druid has fewer spells that benefit other party members, such as Protection From Evil 10' Radius and Free Action, but this is offset by some good offensive spells, notably Insect Plague.

I'm looking forward to playing the kensai-druid combination and expect it to be no less lethal and maybe even a bit more fun.

 

What was your ac with the kensai-cleric? And since you dualed at level 9 did that accually help much, or was it like playing a cleric with a couple extra damage and thaco points?

 

I could easily get an AC of -12:
Level 20 barkskin: AC 0
Kensai bonus: AC -2
Improved Cloak of Protection +2: AC -4
Ring Of Gaxx: AC -6
DEX 24 (due to 20th level Draw Upon Holy Might): AC -12

Since I ended up with two points in Single Weapon Style and mastery in flails, I could wield Flail Of Ages for an AC -14, which is pretty good going, even towards the end of TOB. Add Defensive Harmony to get AC -16. Protection From Evil 10' Radius gives an effective AC -18 against evil creatures. However, I preferred to wield a staff, so the minimum armour class I could generally achieve was AC -14 (I rarely bothered with Defensive Harmony, however - doesn't last long enough). Note that I could only get DEX up to 24 after I'd used the Machine Of Lum The Mad to restore the point of dexterity lost in Hell, otherwise it was 23. I didn't wear the Ring Of Earth Control for an extra AC point, because I eventually had a Holy Symbol of Helm on the other hand.

As for bonuses due to the dual class, they were significant. Level 9 kensai gave maximum hit dice together with +3 to hit, +3 damage, -3 weapon speed, 2 attacks per round and 3 x kai per day. Grand mastery added a further +2 to hit and +3 damage. Points in Two Handed Weapon style gave an additional damage bonus, as well as speed reduction. I wouldn't have got further kensai bonuses until level 12, which would have meant that I wouldn't recover kensai abilities until cleric level 13 (2,125,000 XP) which would be well towards the end of SOA. Level 9 was a good level to dual.

I don't play a powergame, but it strikes me that this combination is a powergamer's dream.

 

a friend of me (who knows pretty much everything bout this game it seems) told me that you cannot dual class druids, obvious he was wrong.

chris just proved that, and me myself have used a totemic druid\fighter.

just thought to mention it.

and as the manual says, multiclasses is also avaible as dual classes, with the exeption being rangers i think.

 

Playing through as a druid, used tomes from bg1 to get the stats I needed. Currently level 9/11 and doing great. Iron skins is a godsend, and Jahiria and Me send out Insect Plagues, and nothing will touch us. My party is me, Minsc, Jaheria, Amomoen, Aerie, and Nalia(who will be replaced by Imoen).

 

No, you can definitely dual class a ranger. The only one available iirc is with a cleric. In SoA , a ranger dualled to a cleric is great (although in ToB, the multi-class I think is better).

 

I thought I read somewhere that some Ranger kits cannot be dualled -- the Archer, IIRC.

A Kensai dualled to a Druid would be great -- grand mastery in Scimitars and Quarterstaves would rock! I mean, what else could you really put points in? Kensai can't use missiles, right? (been a while) and why would you bother with daggers or clubs? put some points in dual wielding and two handed weapons and you are GOLDEN!

[ November 05, 2003, 18:10: Message edited by: Lord Keldin Depaara ]

 

So far nothing can touch me, have a decent AC due to barkskin. Barkskin + Armour of Faith + Ironskins makes you near untouchable. Using Insect Plague and Harm as offensive spell seems to be working pretty well for me. I like it.

 

With TOB installed a high level multiclass Fighter/Cleric eats a high level dualclass Kensai/Cleric for breakfast.

 

Depends what you are going for. Besides, who cares what is the most powerful, last time I checked this game was about fun.

 

I've never played a Kensai/Cleric or Kensai/Druid. I typically don't dual-class, but both times I've done the cleric or druid dualled from a fighter, it was from a beserker.

The only problem I'd have with a Kensai/Cleric or Kensai/Druid combo is that Kensais are known as "Sword Saints" meaning you probably should be wielding a sword. A quarterstaff doesn't really cut it, and a spear isn't much better. At least druids have scimitars, but clerics can't use any sword.

 

They may be "typically" sword-saints, but mainly my view of them is an unarmoured fighter, one that concetrate more on his skill with a weapon, than defense. I think that kensai/sword-saint is a bad name for the class in general. I think that the beserker fights the cleric more, and the kensai fits the druid more.

 

Sword Saint, Schmord Saint.

A staff certainly works with a kensai. Look at Darth Maul. Look at Kilik from the Soul Calibur games. There are plenty of staff-weilding ass kickers. In many ways a staff is more realistic than a sword for an unarmored character anyway.

It works.

 

Tanks and Paladins may indeed wear armour, but a true fighter wears none- their speed, strength, agility, and skill with weapons are the only defense they need.

Armour is for wussies.

I will make a possible exception here for armour which acts as if it is not, like elven chain, but nevertheless, a true warrior fights unhindered.

Your armour hides your skin, put displays your fear. Unless you want to look bad-ass. Then it is ok.

 

Sword-saint:

A man who have been trained and learn to be one with his sword from his early childhood.

In reality, they never used anything else but swords.

Games tends to step away from reality

 

I just took it as based on a samurai from Japan. And there were some of them who went with naginatas (spear/halberds), the staff, etc. Really if you were going to take it literally you should only use katanas

 

The staff fits very well with a kensai-cleric combo; it's perfect, in fact. If you prefer a different image, make the character male and call him "Grasshopper". A kensai character doesn't have to wield a sword - the term represents a philosophy and regime of personal training and development which applies to every weapon. The kensai philosophy and attitude doesn't even have to be oriental - think of a European fencing master. I gave a justification for the existence of kensai-druids (an elite cadre within the druid hierarchy) who specialize in one or more druidical weapons. You could just as easily imagine a dwarf kensai who has a very special relationship with his axe. For that matter, why not a very unusual halfling character who has taken his short sword technique beyond mere mastery?

 

I have also mentioned in times past that the original sword saint of history, Miyamoto Musashi, had a tendency to use bokken, wooden practive swords, in real combat. So a sword saint with a club or stave makes real sense to me, particularily if you intend on dualling him to a cleric.