RDD/bard or sorcerer/I don't know

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I'm going to play RDD becuse it's best prestige class-good abilities,like that bonus to strenght,AC etc...bard i would prefer over sorcerer becuse use magic device skill,and third class i would like to be anything but monk becuse i want to use wepoans.some help please

[ November 05, 2005, 10:46: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

Just go for a Bard/Fighter/RDD (I'm assuming human here, to avoid XP penalties) Levels 4/6/10 pre-epic, then just do whatever with the epic levels (but personally, I'd probably go for 4 Fighter and 16 Bard). The extra feats are always handy, and you'd struggle to work in Paladin levels anyway with that character. In fact, it'd be impossible in the OC. Take the Bard levels at clvls 1, 7, 12 and 17 to hit the Tumble & UMD break points, and get the skill bonus at level 1. For weapon choice you're pretty free; I'd go for Greatsword, personally. Then continue merrily on down towards Devastating Critical post-epic. Still Spell might be a good idea, too. With 50% concealment (from Improved Invisibility), you'll find that AC isn't as important as for other melee types, freeing you up to make the most of that STR stat with a Greatsword. For starting stats, I'd probably go with:

STR: 16 -> 34 (that's +18 damage per hit with a Greatsword! )
DEX: 10
CON: 14 -> 16
INT: 14 -> 16
WIS:8
CHA:14 -> 16

WIS is a tad low, but you've always got plenty of feats, so Iron Will is an option. Keeping Spellcraft up will help too.

Have fun!

 

I have just finished Shadows of Undrentide with a Fighter 4 / Bard 4 / Red Dragon Disciple 5. It was a great combination in my opinion. The Use Magic Device skill is pretty cool and the Bard song adds some nice bonuses. RDD is an awesome prestige class. I think Bard provides more useful benefits than Sorcerer for a melee based character.

 

at witch level could i take RDD class?could i take pale master levels instead of fighter and what should i get with doing that

 

Pale Master - whilst possessing many attractive defensive abilites (mainly, immunity to critical hits) would give the problem that it would be impossible to obtain +16 BAB, and thus 4 attacks/round. Personally, I'd much rather choose fighter levels for this reason alone. Also, bear in mind that owing to apparently hard-coded limitations in the engine (well, even BioWare haven't been able to fix this yet), Bards and Sorcerers don't actually gain any bonus spells from their Pale Master levels!

The only pre-reqs for RDD (IIRC) are 10 ranks in lore and at least 1 level in either Bard or Sorcerer. It takes until level 7 to get the required ranks in lore (and I'd stop adding ranks to it then, btw), so you can add RDD levels from then. This is quite nice, actually, as it lets you hit the skill breakpoints before adding RDD levels.

EDIT: having said to take human to avoid XP penalties, I just realised that there's a bug whereby Human characters end up counting a Prestige class as their favoured class if it's the highest level. Sadly, there's no way of avoiding this pre-epic. On the plus side, you're still very powerful, so don't sweat it too much. You won't be hopelessly crippled by a -20% XP loss; it's much less noticeable than it sounds, owing to how NWN calculates challenge ratings.

EDIT 2: in case you're interested, important skills are: Discipline (keeps your weapon in your hand and your butt off the ground); Spellcraft (boosts saves vs. spells); Tumble (boosts AC) and UMD (gives the edge over sorc/RDD, imho). Lore is best left at 10 (you'll get good bonuses from being a bard, anyway). Anything else is up to you, but if you want to cast in combat, you'll need points in Concentration.

[ November 04, 2005, 22:02: Message edited by: The Magpie ]

 

thanks magpie but i witch wepon should i use.witch kind of wepoan i will find a lot in game(magic of course)

 

Weapon-wise, you just need to decide whether you want to use a shield or not. You don't need a shield to survive, and appropriate weapons (particularly in the OC) will spawn more often when you have the Weapon Focus feat. So, I'd choose Greatsword - the benefit of the extra damage is more important than the AC, imo. There are some great ones about, too.

 

Really? I never went for Weapon Focus because I wanted to keep my options open. Are you saying that more of my focussed weapons will show up once I get the feat? What a swizz!

 

In the OC & HotU - yes. In SoU - no (or at least, not that I'd noticed, having only played through once so far). Some chests (or monsters; the ogre in Undermountain level 1 is an example here) will spawn with different contents dependent on your weapon of choice. The chest at the end of the Peninsula mission is the most obvious example in the OC Chapter 1. Normally, it contains a Longsword +1. However, if you have Weapon Focus, it will contain whatever you've chosen to focus on.

And I wouldn't call it a swizz - there's so many varieties of weapons in the game that it's only fair that you allow people to specialise how they wish, and tying spawns to the WF feat is probably the best way to do it. And it's not all of the spawns, anyway. After all, some Exotic weapons would be criminally underrepresented otherwise (Bastard Swords, for example).

 

yes,i agree with magpie.the game should spawn weapons you chose the focus feat for becuse in case of some exotic weapons as magpie sad that weapons are seen very rarely and that is unfair for someone who want's to play with bastard sword.

I looked at blackguard prestige class and i think i could fit that in my RDD/bard.I'm going to be evil aligment to do so,right?

I have another question-do undead summons like the blackgourds cost take expirience like others do?

 

Yup, all summons suck experience. With a Bard/Blackguard, though, I'd still be tempted to take at least 15 levels of Blackguard for the Epic Vrock. They're definitely worth it for tough fights.

For that character, I'd take 7 levels of Bard, 3 RDD, 1 Blackguard (for Martial Weapon feat), 1 RDD (for 15 Spellcraft), another 3 Blackguard and then RDD until you get 10 levels of it. How you decide to go then is up to you, but I'd probably crank the BG levels. Whether you want to be a Blackguard mostly or a Bard is entirely up to you.

Feat progression should probably go: 1 - Power Attack & Cleave; 3 - Toughness; 6 - Great Cleave; 9 - Still Spell (Great for Bards & Sorcerers because they don't need to prepare them specifically); 12 - WF; 15 - Improved Critical, and then it's really up to you. Don't waste a feat on Martial Weapon, just use a spear or something until you get the first Blackguard level.

 

Just what is the point of Great Cleave?

 

Kill loops - especially in the OC. Lets you take down whole swathes of easy enemies in one stroke (basically). It's also a pre-req for Dev. Crit, which is handy for post-epic PvM.

 

Another RDD combo that I've enjoyed is the Bard/RDD/Arcane Archer. I took this through SoU and HotU and most of the battles were fairly easy.

 

I'd think RDD stacks quite well with sorcerer/paladin combo heavy on the paladin levels, maybe with a little still spell.