Dasaria II - A NWN2 Roleplay and Story-driven Persistent World

Just as a curiosity/discussion type thing .. wondered what everyone thought the best build/class is? Just in general, what's the best, in your opinion, and what do you think the easiest build is in relation to Dasaria 2 to level up with?

K

Of the classes I've played, I'd rank them like this from easiest to hardest.
Cleric
Paladin
Rogue / Shadowdancer
Ranger (archer)
Warlock / Duelist

Clerics are very easy to level up. They have spells to increase their attacks, armor class, hit points, saving throws, damage resistance, spell resistance...etc. Buffed they become better fighters than fighters with resistances to almost everything. Plus, the chances of being dispeled by and NPC are slim.

Paladins are easy to level. They have great attacks, armor class, hit points and saves. Plus they are monstrous against undead, one of the main enemies in this campaign.

Rogues are very hard to level, but once you get a level of Shadow Dancer they become very easy to level. HIPs is an extremely powerful feat.

Rangers that specialize in archery are pretty average leveling.

My Warlock / Duelist sucks at killing things. His blasts are weak and his melee is weak. But he's an awesome pirate that uses eldritch blasts instead of flintlock's, making him the best!

Well to be honest, I dont usually cross-class my characters, but I have rated the following classes and given them a score out of 10, 10 being hard and 1 being easy, based on my opinion and experiences:

Fighters - Quite easy to level, can take alot of damage and fight quite well, although you spend alot of money using heal kits and buying equipment. 2

Sorcerers - Decent at leveling at high levels, a little hard at low levels. Can deal alot of damage but fall over rather easy. Also you save alot of money as there isnt much heal kits to buy. You have rather alot of spells to use before you need to rest. 5

Warlocks - Like the sorcerer, but with more armor and no need to rest to get your spells back! 3

Wizards - Now I have only just started playing a Wizard and its at level 6, but already im finding it very hard. Like the sorcerer, they fall over very easily, the only difference being, having to prepare spells and then them spells having only one use! Is it ment to be this hard?! 9

Easiest-to-hardest:

Cleric (you cannot screw this up)
Any RDD Combo (and I'm talking distant second to Cleric)
Druid, shifter
Druid, melee
Paladin
Fighter (Melee) / or any Weaponmaster Combo
Bard
Fighter (Archery)
Ranger (TWF)
Ranger (Archery)
Rogue
Wizard
Arcane Trickster (Wiz/Rogue) -- Nearly impossible!

I've mae quite a few classes in Dasaria, many of them failed due to being too slow to level, bad build on my part or just not my play style. I'll do mine out of 10 as well, with 10 as hardest.

Fighter/ Rogue - Oddly the build I have for this is the easiest to level, as per my character Methos. I'm sure many people would be suprised to know that this 37 AC lochwarian is actually only 2 fighter, the rest rogue. He has low dex, odd for a rogue, and uses a tower shield and platemail. 1 out of 10.

Wizard- Hyel is hard to play, with all the planning in advance. Hard to level by himself, especially without polymorph. Hardest part is knowing when to conserve, and when to not conserve spells. 6 out of 10.

Warlock- It may just be me, but my warlock was horrible 8 out of 10.

Ranger(Melee) - Medium difficulty. With heal skill he can keep himself alive, and once they get HIPS they can heal quick once they hide, since heal can be used while stealthed. If you go stealth, I recommend assassin or rogue to give some sneak attack to add use to the great stealth ability of rangers. 5/10

Archer- Although not an archer ranger, I found it hard to level an archer build. 8/10

Spirit Shaman - Very difficult to play, even with the best build I could come up with. Can hardly kill a Kalem rogue face to face at level 8. Lots of spells, but few good starter ones, bascially a sorcerer Druid, so makes a great summoner, but you need to hit 9 before you get a really good one. The summons are just behind since your spells are behind a druids. With a level dip in anything you have level 3 spells when people are reaching their 4th. 10/10

Bard- Resonably hard to level, although still quite a good class to play. With Haven Song you can pretty much get yourself out of most binds, except against casters, and you get some useful party buffs. Hardest part of a Bard is the RPing.

Alright I will add mine.

Rogue/Assassin Rhode has been the hardest to level but the two major points in his build came when he first got Hips and then again when he got Improved invis. He pretty much needed to be about 3 levels higher than what he is attacking to have much of a chance prior to these two spells.

Cleric/Rogue De'mond is by far the easiest to level. She doesn't hide and has a fairly low Dex for a rogue but if an opponent turns their back to her she will bring out the two-handed weapon and get a sneak attack in with that. Same could be said for a fighter/rogue build but the cleric allows her to buff herself up and even heal herself it need be.

Figher/Weap Master/Duelist Reginald has been somewhat of a challenge. Parry helps even against sneak attacks has the opponent needs to get through the parry first before they can attempt to by pass the AC. I think of it as a kind of improved invis that gets better as you add more points to the skill. A draw back to parry is your attacks are limited to how many your opponent gets and if you make your riposte roll. However, he can't even hold his own against fighters of his own level and being restricted to a rapier limits his damaged output. I have noticed that his unarmoured AC is starting to get as high as his armoured AC so as the build continues he might get easier to level as the major duelist feats and Weap Master feats start to come into play. Also you can not initiate an attack while in parry mode so it is easy to forget that you have it active and are sitting around wondering why your party is being torn apart while your duelist is busy making faces at the enemy.

Easiest to hardest (though bear in mind I have no character higher than 16):

1. Cleric - This is so ungodly overpowered it's disgusting. It always amazes me when I get in a party with a Cleric who sucks*--I just assume the player is new to NWN2, or is playing per their own RP rules. With spells like Divine Power, Bull's Strength, Aid, Bless, Divine Shield, Battletide, etc., this is just impossible to mess up. And there are ways to make a Cleric much more powerful...

2. Bard - I'd have to say that my Bard was surprisingly powerful. I built him as a melee Bard (his build will be Fighter 2/Bard 18), and once I got past the lower levels he became very awesome. Honestly, I would put Bard up against an RDD build, what with all the inspirations and the totally awesome Curse Song.

3. Druid - I took two different pure Druid builds to level 16, and neither was a shifter. The Druid is quite powerful most of the time, but not ungodly so like the Cleric. The key is knowing how to utilize your animal companion, and keeping him buffed up with Stoneskin, Awaken, etc. Unfortunately, the AI isn't so great, so in some areas (like indoor ones with lots of traps) the animal companion goes from your biggest asset to a big hindrance.

4. Fighter/Rogue/Shadowdancer - Actually this character should maybe be moved up to #2 (after getting HiPS). It all depends on Use Magic Device, which I would say is overpowered, except that nothing overpowers pure caster classes anyway...

5. Wizard - Definitely hard to level on your own. It's very easy to buff up and become untouchable, but the problem is how to kill things? When your offensive spells run out, you basically suck...

Others: I haven't played these characters past level 8-9 or so, but I feel like a Fighter/Wizard/Eldritch Knight and that old cheesy Fighter/Bard/RDD/FB build would be up at #2 or so.

*Please note: I mean sucks from a powergamer standpoint, not from a fun to play with, roleplaying standpoint, etc.

Just remove divine power from the clerics to balance 'em out.

Seems to work for other servers.

I just can't help myself can I...

I don't have much experience leveling more than 5 or so people on the server so I'll stick to those.

2. Druid - Early levels with the right weapon and the flame weapon spell you'll tear through everything like its made out of cotton candy. I can't say much for higher levels, but they are far from being weak with some of the best unique spells and buffs that they have access to.

3. Cleric - I must suck at playing one, (but I did cross class a few levels with fighter for more feats so go figure) because I die all the time. It doesn't seem like super-easy mode because I get dispelled by enemies constantly. The game almost never fails at removing four or five of my buffs. Once those are gone my damage output plummets, I no longer have any damage reduction/spell immunity and it feels like I can't fight my way out of a wet paper bag. Otherwise, it is fairly easy.

4. Monk - Okay damage, though you'll suffer getting through monsters damage reduction until late in life. Heavily relies on using items and potions; probably more so than fighters. No one can run faster than you, so use it to your advantage. Protect the squishy people in your party with all those free knockdown and stun feats you have.

5. (Normally an 8, but -3 for the drow spell resistance) Arcane Trickster/Rogue/Wizard) - This is difficult. Especially starting out. You'll be sub par at everything until you manage to get into the mid levels. The insane spell resistance from being a drow increases my survivability ten fold, allows me to stand in my own spells, and saves me a few spell slots which would otherwise be wasted on pointless buffs.

With a high bluff skill and the use of feint you'll be able to do respectable damage to anything that isn't immune to sneak attacks even when you run out of spells. I usually save my big damage spells for things which are immune to sneak attack. This is definitely a very strategic class. Surprisingly its my only max level character, I guess I just enjoy it too much.

7. Bard - Bards were meant to be in a party. They run out of spells too fast to solo effectively and the Base attack bonus is low enough that this becomes a problem fast. Hitting things will be a chore, at least in mid levels, when you run out of spells/items to support yourself with. They could be higher on my list with good spell selection, but I didn't pick the best spells.

Jimmy wrote:Just remove divine power from the clerics to balance 'em out.

Seems to work for other servers.

I just can't help myself can I...

Jimmy - nerfin' clerics since 2001.

I used to have multiple characters on the server before I took a break. Now that I'm back, I can't seem to get the characters again. That said, I re-built my Ranger (archery based) from scratch using a brand new method which took a while to set up. That being the case, I don't find them too difficult. He hits fairly hard, and I can generally live through quite a bit. 5/10

My previous character was a fighter, and I found them difficult to play, but then, I preferred a two-handed weapon over sword'n'board. 8/10

Beyond that, I didn't really tinker much with characters. I had a rogue, but didn't really work with him much.

I have only leveled two characters a decent amount, but based even on low level experience this is what I've found:

Cleric: I don't really have a wide enough view on this to judge, though I've found they ARE pretty powerful. I got one through the extremely low levels pretty quickly, and only really had trouble in the aqueducts.

Paladin: Easy. Put enough points into strength and charisma, and combat will typically not be a problem for you. I have found that the cleave feat + the power attack feat helps a great deal. Plus, you have a distinct advantage over undead, which as others have mentioned show up a lot in Dasaria.

Warlock: If you're soloing, you're going to have a hard time leveling a warlock until you get to the higher levels, and even then you can be outdone by most classes. Although they are a little more sturdy than sorcerers and wizards, with the ability to wear armor and more HP, they get far less "spells", most of which are not overly useful at lower levels. Once you get the ability to take Chilling Tentacles, you're able to solo a few things, such as bandits, but the invocation is highly situational... if an enemy walks into it too early, you're as good as dead. The warlock doesn't become decently powerful until level 16, when they get their first Dark invocation. (I highly suggest Word of Changing.)

However, this class works as a decent mage in a party--with UMD as a class skill for warlocks, it'd be a good idea to pour points into that, and collect scrolls/wands. Use the scrolls and wands as a situation demands, and otherwise, keep blasting at your enemies from behind the cover of your meatshi--I mean party. At times, following this strategy, you'll be doing more damage than anyone else.

All the builds I have played were very strong in the Das2 PvE environment. I can't think of any build that would be inadequate to the content (i.e., once you've played through an area a few times, you start to get it a bit dialed in, regardless of your character's build). The one's I played are summarized here:

Pure cleric: Easy as can be due to the sheer buffage. Restricted to simple weapons, however, greatly diminishes damage output compared to a fighter or melee power-build. Still, a fun build that is alwys useful in groups.

Feinting Rogue with HIPS: Also quite easy post-HIPS as in most cases you have an easy retreat to heal and deal with any situation. Also, the damage output is insane with the constant sneak attacks from feint. AND, feinting helps any other rogues in a party greatly increase their damage output without the need for HIPS. Three UMD rogues (one with feint) and solid AC is an unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

Bard: A bit harder at the start, but from 15-20 a bard is an outstanding class in every respect. You just have to be careful leveling to take the right spells for later. A well-played Bard in a party can make for a really fun time. Agree with above poster about the difficulty in RPing - it's a lot of work to do it well.

Druid: Also fairly easy, especially at high levels with the insane pet and caster buffs. Potentially huge AC.

Wizzy/EK: Like the cleric, a powerhouse and fairly easy class to level. Vast possibilities to combine arcane power with a melee build. Make sure INT stops at 17 (which will give level 9 spells with a +2 int item) and put the rest into STR. Fun class, probably similar to cleric in overall power for PvE.

Haven't tried any pure melee builds, but I would imagine with enough healing kits, the damage output would suffice to make for a fairly straightforward time of it.

Probably the hardest class to level would be a pure wizzy, as they have pretty bad melee abilities and can be rendered into jello pudding with a couple successful debuffs (i.e., low WIS).

As far as PvP goes, since mostly that takes the form of contests in Das2, and there are strict limits to pre-battle buffing, I think the HIPS rogues may be the overall top performer as they can do a lot of damage quickly and use scrolls to debuff.

Just remember: any class with UMD of 10 (to use wands) will be very powerful. And if you really want it, pretty much any class can get their UMD that high.