Nightblade:
Wizard (Illusionist) 17/Assassin 21/Shadowdancer 2

Starting stats:

STR: 14
DEX: 18 (29)
CON: 12
WIS: 8
INT: 15 (20)
CHA: 8

Begin as an Evil Elf Wizard and start out with Dodge as your first Feat. Be sure to choose the school of Illusion for the extra spell per level. The only thing you loose by specializing in Illusions is Enchantment spells. For this build, they are unnecessary as your goal is to outright assassinate your enemies before they have time to react.

The next feat at 3rd level should be Mobility and this will cover the basic feats for the Shadowdancer class. Of course you should keep your Move Silently and Hide skills maxed out so that you can take the Assassin Class by your 14th level (req 8 Hide and Move Silent). Don’t worry about your skill points; you’ll have plenty to go around thanks to your INT.

The next feats to keep an eye out for are the following: Weapon Finesse, Two Weapon Fighting, Ambidexterity, and then Improved Two Weapon Fighting. Optionally, bowyers can tweak this template and ditch the melee skills for Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Improved Critical with a Longbow, etc. In the end, the feats you can take are very open to suggestion depending on your build. Only the base direction to go in is important before 20th.

Your Illusionist levels will also produce a few free feats over your career. You should get a freebie every 5th Illusionist level. For this template, you will need to take Extend Spell first and then Empower Spell as your second free Illusionist feat. Finally, the third free feat at 15th level Illusionist is your choice. Base it on the game server you're playing on and what your needs have become.

I'm pretty sure you can make take your 8th skill point in Move Silently and Hide at 13th level, so level as an Illusionist until then and next start on your Assassin levels 14th thru 19th. Then take one more Illusionist level at level 20 and max out your Spellmastery, Lore, and Concentration skills. All stat gains during your first 20 levels should be INT. You should be 14 Wizard/6 Assassin by now.

After you reach 20th level, all stat increases will go to Dex to increase your AC and Attack Bonuses further. At level 21 and 22 you should get your two Shadowdancer levels out of the way. This will also add a whole new element to your character. However, if you feel that survivability is an issue, you may decide to take 2 Shadowdancer levels right after you take your first Assassin level (and increase your Hide, Move Silently, and Tumbling to the required amounts.

If you built your character correctly you should have 14 Wizard levels and 6 Assassin levels by 20th. You should also have 5 attacks per round by the time you get your Improved Two Weapon Fighting feat (probably at 21st level). Thanks to your Elven heritage and Weapon Finesse, you can focus on Rapiers as your main attack weapons. Be sure to have a Rapier/Dagger combo handy in case you need those 2 extra attack points for tough to hit enemies and a couple of Maces for those Pierce resistant foes.

Prep most of your spells for combat. Any remaining spell slots can go to damage spells, but you'll first want to make sure you have enough buffs and “back up” buffs for when critical spells get dispelled. I recommend the following setup if you can manage it with your spell slots and INT boosting items for more spell slots. Try to get as close as you can to it and don't forget that you can always extend a spell if you run out of slots for its level.

Also note that 2nd level spells make up a good amount of the character's power. This is why Ultravision is extended (3rd level now) and all Stat buffs are empowered, which adds 3 to 7 points to each Empowered stat and frees up 2nd level slots for your Darkness spells--the lifeblood of the Nightblade. You may also want to slip in some extended Haste Spells if you play on a low magic server and can't get your hands on a Haste Item.

True Strike (x4)
Empowered Cat's Grace (x1)
Empowered Bulls Str (x1)
Empowered Foxes Cunning (x1 -- increases the Assassin's Death Attack DC)
Empowered Edurance ( x1 -- extra HP).
Extended Ultravision (x2)
Darkness (x5)
Extended Ghost Visage
Extended Flame Weapon (x2)
Extended Greater Magic Weapon (x2 - until you find +5 enchanted weapons).
Greater Stoneskin (x2)
True Seeing (x2)
Improved Invis (x2)
Shadow Shield (x2)
Greater Sanctuary (x1)
Premonition (x2)
Extended Death Armor (x2)
Extended Fire Shield (x2)
Extended Acid Sheath (x2)
* And don’t forget extra buffs for your familiar…

................. Strategies ....................

Normal Enemies: When the Nightblade sees an enemy he/she should immediately jump into the shadows and make his way to his prey. Upon exiting you should get several death attacks before the enemy gets to react. I believe you get 3 or 4 death attacks before the enemy can react depending on whether or not you are hasted. That's a significant amount of damage along with 3 or 4 fortitude saves vs. paralysis. Unless they are somehow immune to the death attack and criticals, the enemy is in for a world of pain.

Groups: It’s likely that you will have to deal with large groups of foes at some point if not all the time. If you don’t feel like playing cat and mouse with your prey or if they pose an unexpected threat, throw a Darkness spell at them. Anyone who does not have Ultravision will be at a disadvantage to hit you. Oh and how could I forget to mention, all of your attacks are now Death Attacks when you are in the cloud of Darkness!! I like to call this tactic the “Death Cloud” because if you are fighting a Nightblade and he casts Darkness on the area, expect your HP to drop rapidly and pray for a quick death. Only the sneak attack immune with Ultravision can compete with such firepower.

The best part is that casters and archers have a difficult time targeting you while in the Death Cloud, and as you eliminate your foes one by one, you auto target your next foe within range thanks to Ultravision. Want to make it even more intimidating, use your Hide in Plain Sight in the Death Cloud and make your prey’s life a living hell. Even creatures with True Seeing will be at a disadvantage in the Death Cloud as it doesn’t provide the same benefits of Ultravision under the Darkness spell…

Tougher Foes: When faced with tougher foes, you should keep in mind that as a master of stealth, you have a list of alternative tactics at your disposal. Can’t hit? Use your True Strikes. Getting pummeled? Don’t forget about those extended damage shields. Any creature foolish enough to attack you with all of them active will quickly learn the meaning of a biting vengeance. And last but not least, use your Greater Sanctuary to escape and regroup.

Special Abilities: This build relies on a lot of spell abilities along with class abilities to get the job done. Being a 19th level Assassin has its benefits. Your Death Attack should do 12d6 when all is said and done, and have a minimum Death Attack DC of 34 thanks to your 20 INT. An Empowered Foxes Cunning will add an additional 1 to 3 points to the DC and any additional INT boosting items are sure to raise it higher. With your Improved Two Weapon Fighting, you should get 3 to 4 Death Attacks with a DC of around 40, every time you jump out of the shadows.

Also, he will have a +9 to Poison saves as well as a few powerful bonus spells to help him such as Ghost Visage, Improved Invisibility, and another use of the corpse making spell, Darkness. The 2nd Shadowdancer level will not only add Evasion but also Darkvision for those late night encounters.

On top of all this he should be able to max out his Tumbling skill for 8 Dodge AC points, Use any item in the game, and have excellent Rogue skills overall. Uncanny Dodge will protect him from loosing that massive Dexterity bonus to AC, and his Reflex save should be nice and high to ensure Evasion saves his butt more than once.

Hiding in Plain sight is fun, but having a Familiar who distracts your enemies in combat is a great plus as well. I recommend the Panther for his stalking abilities, Evasion, and additional Sneak Attack damage, but feel free to mix it up based on your preference. Be sure to buff your little buddy with Stoneskin, Mage Armor, Cat’s Grace, Bulls Strength, Protection from Alignment, Flame Weapon, Improved Magic Weapon, and Improved Invisibility and you’ll be shocked how much damage he can dish out and how long the little guy lasts. After all, it’s just you two against the rest of the world…

Leveling:
1. Illusionist-1 (Dodge)
2. Illusionist-2
3. Illusionist-3 (Mobility)
4. Illusionist-4 (+1 INT)
5. Illusionist-5 (Extend Spell)
6. Illusionist-6 (Weapon Finesse or Point Blank Shot)
7. Illusionist-7
8. Illusionist-8 (+1 INT)
9. Illusionist-9 (Two Weapon Fighting or Rapid Shot)
10. Illusionist-10 (Empower Spell)
11. Illusionist-11
12. Illusionist-12 (+1 INT, Ambidex or Wpn Focus Longbow)
13. Illusionist-13
14. Assassin-1 (Max our Tumbling)
15. Assassin-2 (Spring Attack)
16. Assassin-3 (+1 INT)
17. Assassin-4 (Max Tumbling and other important skills)
18. Illusionist-14 (Max out Spellmastery & Conc, take Improved Two Weapon Fighting or Improved Critical Longbow)
19. Assassin-5
20. Assassin-6 (+1 INT)

21. Shadow Dancer-1 (Toughness or Improved critical in a Melee weapon).
22. Shadow Dancer-2 (Max out Tumbling)
23. Illusionist-15 (Max out Spellmastery & Concentration, Bonus Illusionist Feat—players choice)
24. Assassin-7 (+1 Dex, Great Dexterity I)
25. Assassin-8
26. Assassin-9
27. Assassin-10 (Max out Tumbling & other important skills, Great Dexterity II)
28. Illusionist-16 (+1 Dex)
29. Assassin-11
30. Assassin-12 (Great Dexterity III)
31. Assassin-13
32. Assassin-14 (+1 Dex, Max out Tumble and other skills, Bonus Assassin Feat – Great Dexterity IV)
33. Illusionist-17 (Max out Spellmastery & Concentration, Great Dexterity V)
34. Assassin-15
35. Assassin-16
36. Assassin-17 (+1 Dex, Great Dexterity VI)
37. Assassin-18 (Max out Tumbling, Assassin Bonus Feat – Improved Sneak Attack)
38. Illusionist-18 (Max out Spellmastery & Concentration)
39. Assassin-19 (Improved Sneak Attack)
40. Illusionist-19 (+1 Dex)

Edited By griphook on 10/06/05 20:03

Just a suggestion , why not go rogue instead of assassin for more skill points and getting epic dodge.

Here is what you lose by going this route
4 one use arcane spells that you already have access to
Death attack
Great DEX feats

Here is what you can gain
Level 10 Improved Evasion - definitely a good one in my book
Level 13 Defensive Roll
Level 16 Epic Dodge
Level 19 Crippling strike perhaps.
84 more skill points.
Epic dodge is an awesome ability to have

I like the build however, but thats how I would do it.

I personally think that the way the assassin class has been implemented in NWN is poor. It adds a lot less compared to using straight rogue. Shadowdancer suffers similarly but IMO not as much as the assassin.

Syrath
Quote: Posted 09/17/04 00:57:49 (GMT) -- georgel

Nightblade:
Illusionist 17/Assassin 21/Shadowdancer 2

Starting stats:

STR: 14
DEX: 18 (29)
CON: 12
WIS: 8
INT: 15 (20)
CHA: 8

Begin as an Evil Elf Wizard and start out with Dodge as your first Feat. Be sure to choose the school of Illusion for the extra spell per level. The only thing you loose by specializing in Illusions is Enchantment spells. For this build, they are unnecessary as your goal is to outright assassinate your enemies before they have time to react.

The next feat at 3rd level should be Mobility and this will cover the basic feats for the Shadowdancer class. Of course you should keep your Move Silently and Hide skills maxed out so that you can take the Assassin Class by your 14th level (req 8 Hide and Move Silent). Don’t worry about your skill points; you’ll have plenty to go around thanks to your INT.

The next feats to keep an eye out for are the following: Weapon Finesse, Two Weapon Fighting, Ambidexterity, and then Improved Two Weapon Fighting. Optionally, bowyers can tweak this template and ditch the melee skills for Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Improved Critical with a Longbow, etc. In the end, the feats you can take are very open to suggestion depending on your build. Only the base direction to go in is important before 20th.

Your Illusionist levels will also produce a few free feats over your career. You should get a freebie every 5th Illusionist level. For this template, you will need to take Extend Spell first and then Empower Spell as your second free Illusionist feat. Finally, the third free feat at 15th level Illusionist is your choice. Base it on the game server you're playing on and what your needs have become.

I'm pretty sure you can make take your 8th skill point in Move Silently and Hide at 13th level, so level as an Illusionist until then and next start on your Assassin levels 14th thru 19th. Then take one more Illusionist level at level 20 and max out your Spellmastery, Lore, and Concentration skills. All stat gains during your first 20 levels should be INT. You should be 14 Wizard/6 Assassin by now.

After you reach 20th level, all stat increases will go to Dex to increase your AC and Attack Bonuses further. At level 21 and 22 you should get your two Shadowdancer levels out of the way. This will also add a whole new element to your character. However, if you feel that survivability is an issue, you may decide to take 2 Shadowdancer levels right after you take your first Assassin level (and increase your Hide, Move Silently, and Tumbling to the required amounts.

If you built your character correctly you should have 14 Wizard levels and 6 Assassin levels by 20th. You should also have 5 attacks per round by the time you get your Improved Two Weapon Fighting feat (probably at 21st level). Thanks to your Elven heritage and Weapon Finesse, you can focus on Rapiers as your main attack weapons. Be sure to have a Rapier/Dagger combo handy in case you need those 2 extra attack points for tough to hit enemies and a couple of Maces for those Pierce resistant foes.

Prep most of your spells for combat. Any remaining spell slots can go to damage spells, but you'll first want to make sure you have enough buffs and “back up” buffs for when critical spells get dispelled. I recommend the following setup if you can manage it with your spell slots and INT boosting items for more spell slots. Try to get as close as you can to it and don't forget that you can always extend a spell if you run out of slots for its level.

Also note that 2nd level spells make up a good amount of the character's power. This is why Ultravision is extended (3rd level now) and all Stat buffs are empowered, which adds 3 to 7 points to each Empowered stat and frees up 2nd level slots for your Darkness spells--the lifeblood of the Nightblade. You may also want to slip in some extended Haste Spells if you play on a low magic server and can't get your hands on a Haste Item.

True Strike (x4)
Empowered Cat's Grace (x1)
Empowered Bulls Str (x1)
Empowered Foxes Cunning (x1 -- increases the Assassin's Death Attack DC)
Empowered Edurance ( x1 -- extra HP).
Extended Ultravision (x2)
Darkness (x5)
Extended Ghost Visage
Extended Flame Weapon (x2)
Extended Greater Magic Weapon (x2 - until you find +5 enchanted weapons).
Greater Stoneskin (x2)
True Seeing (x2)
Improved Invis (x2)
Shadow Shield (x2)
Greater Sanctuary (x1)
Premonition (x2)
Extended Death Armor (x2)
Extended Fire Shield (x2)
Extended Acid Sheath (x2)
* And don’t forget extra buffs for your familiar…

................. Strategies ....................

Normal Enemies: When the Nightblade sees an enemy he/she should immediately jump into the shadows and make his way to his prey. Upon exiting you should get several death attacks before the enemy gets to react. I believe you get 3 or 4 death attacks before the enemy can react depending on whether or not you are hasted. That's a significant amount of damage along with 3 or 4 fortitude saves vs. paralysis. Unless they are somehow immune to the death attack and criticals, the enemy is in for a world of pain.

Groups: It’s likely that you will have to deal with large groups of foes at some point if not all the time. If you don’t feel like playing cat and mouse with your prey or if they pose an unexpected threat, throw a Darkness spell at them. Anyone who does not have Ultravision will be at a disadvantage to hit you. Oh and how could I forget to mention, all of your attacks are now Death Attacks when you are in the cloud of Darkness!! I like to call this tactic the “Death Cloud” because if you are fighting a Nightblade and he casts Darkness on the area, expect your HP to drop rapidly and pray for a quick death. Only the sneak attack immune with Ultravision can compete with such firepower.

The best part is that casters and archers have a difficult time targeting you while in the Death Cloud, and as you eliminate your foes one by one, you auto target your next foe within range thanks to Ultravision. Want to make it even more intimidating, use your Hide in Plain Sight in the Death Cloud and make your prey’s life a living hell. Even creatures with True Seeing will be at a disadvantage in the Death Cloud as it doesn’t provide the same benefits of Ultravision under the Darkness spell…

Tougher Foes: When faced with tougher foes, you should keep in mind that as a master of stealth, you have a list of alternative tactics at your disposal. Can’t hit? Use your True Strikes. Getting pummeled? Don’t forget about those extended damage shields. Any creature foolish enough to attack you with all of them active will quickly learn the meaning of a biting vengeance. And last but not least, use your Greater Sanctuary to escape and regroup.

Special Abilities: This build relies on a lot of spell abilities along with class abilities to get the job done. Being a 19th level Assassin has its benefits. Your Death Attack should do 12d6 when all is said and done, and have a minimum Death Attack DC of 34 thanks to your 20 INT. An Empowered Foxes Cunning will add an additional 1 to 3 points to the DC and any additional INT boosting items are sure to raise it higher. With your Improved Two Weapon Fighting, you should get 3 to 4 Death Attacks with a DC of around 40, every time you jump out of the shadows.

Also, he will have a +9 to Poison saves as well as a few powerful bonus spells to help him such as Ghost Visage, Improved Invisibility, and another use of the corpse making spell, Darkness. The 2nd Shadowdancer level will not only add Evasion but also Darkvision for those late night encounters.

On top of all this he should be able to max out his Tumbling skill for 8 Dodge AC points, Use any item in the game, and have excellent Rogue skills overall. Uncanny Dodge will protect him from loosing that massive Dexterity bonus to AC, and his Reflex save should be nice and high to ensure Evasion saves his butt more than once.

Hiding in Plain sight is fun, but having a Familiar who distracts your enemies in combat is a great plus as well. I recommend the Panther for his stalking abilities, Evasion, and additional Sneak Attack damage, but feel free to mix it up based on your preference. Be sure to buff your little buddy with Stoneskin, Mage Armor, Cat’s Grace, Bulls Strength, Protection from Alignment, Flame Weapon, Improved Magic Weapon, and Improved Invisibility and you’ll be shocked how much damage he can dish out and how long the little guy lasts. After all, it’s just you two against the rest of the world…

Leveling:
1. Illusionist-1 (Dodge)
2. Illusionist-2
3. Illusionist-3 (Mobility)
4. Illusionist-4 (+1 INT)
5. Illusionist-5 (Extend Spell)
6. Illusionist-6 (Weapon Finesse or Point Blank Shot)
7. Illusionist-7
8. Illusionist-8 (+1 INT)
9. Illusionist-9 (Two Weapon Fighting or Rapid Shot)
10. Illusionist-10 (Empower Spell)
11. Illusionist-11
12. Illusionist-12 (+1 INT, Ambidex or Wpn Focus Longbow)
13. Illusionist-13
14. Assassin-1 (Max our Tumbling)
15. Assassin-2 (Spring Attack)
16. Assassin-3 (+1 INT)
17. Assassin-4 (Max Tumbling and other important skills)
18. Illusionist-14 (Max out Spellmastery & Conc, take Improved Two Weapon Fighting or Improved Critical Longbow)
19. Assassin-5
20. Assassin-6 (+1 INT)

21. Shadow Dancer-1 (Toughness or Improved critical in a Melee weapon).
22. Shadow Dancer-2 (Max out Tumbling)
23. Illusionist-15 (Max out Spellmastery & Concentration, Bonus Illusionist Feat—players choice)
24. Assassin-7 (+1 Dex, Great Dexterity I)
25. Assassin-8
26. Assassin-9
27. Assassin-10 (Max out Tumbling & other important skills, Great Dexterity II)
28. Illusionist-16 (+1 Dex)
29. Assassin-11
30. Assassin-12 (Great Dexterity III)
31. Assassin-13
32. Assassin-14 (+1 Dex, Max out Tumble and other skills, Bonus Assassin Feat – Great Dexterity IV)
33. Illusionist-17 (Max out Spellmastery & Concentration, Great Dexterity V)
34. Assassin-15
35. Assassin-16
36. Assassin-17 (+1 Dex, Great Dexterity VI)
37. Assassin-18 (Max out Tumbling, Assassin Bonus Feat – Improved Sneak Attack)
38. Illusionist-18 (Max out Spellmastery & Concentration)
39. Assassin-19 (Improved Sneak Attack)
40. Illusionist-19 (+1 Dex)

Cool concept, the Nightblade reminds me of Morrowind. The combination of stealth and arcane spellcasting sounds like it would make a fun and effective character, and the whole mage-assassin thing is great for RP purposes. That said, I think there are a few things you could do to improve this build.

For one thing, I agree with Syrath. Assassin would be a decent class if the Death Attacks actually killed oppponents rather than simply paralyzing them for a while. The thing about paralysis is that a lot of enemies are immune to it, whether from a spell or item, or just an innate resistance, many of the creatures and characters you play against will be immune to it.

Also I don't think you necessarily need 21 lvls of Rogue/Assassin; if you were to take only 19 lvls of Assassin you would lose 1d6 sneaks, but no feats, and if you were to take 17 lvls or so of Rogue you could get 3 Rogue bonus feats and 9d6 sneak attacks, and still be able to take 21 lvls of Illusionist in order to get another Wizard bonus feat and maybe even an Epic spell.

Also, just a little tip; if you start with 16 Int rather than 15, you get a few more skill credits at creation. Generally speaking, it's best to raise your Int first and then you're Dex, as this will get you the most skill credits. Of course, if you are taking any feats that require Dex as a pre-req, you will have to make sure that you have raised your Dex high enough by the time you take the feat.

Also, I probably wouldn't bother dual-wielding with this build, as your AB will be pretty poor as it is. With 14 Wiz and 6 Assassin lvls pre-epic, you get a rather unimpressive +11 pre-epic BAB. With your 29 Dex (why end on an odd number ??), that will give you 30 AB at lvl 40 (21 base + 9 Dex). Subtract 4 points for dual-wielding and you have an AB of 26. Ouch. IF, however, you were to drop the dual-wielding feats and take Weapon Focus, Epic Weapon Focus, and Epic Prowess, you would now have an AB of 34 at lvl 40. Much better.

If you want a still better AB, go Rogue rather than Assassin and take most or all of your Rogue lvls pre-epic. If you do something like Rogue 16/Illusionist 4 pre-epic, that will get you a pre-epic BAB of 14, rather than 11 with Illusionist 14/Assassin 6. If you take the 3 feats I mentioned earlier, you can now get to 37 AB, which is decently respectable for a melee build. Thanks for the feedback...

The concept behind the build is to have a little more fun with this uncommon marriage of classes. I started the build thinking how can I take full advantage of a high Intelligence rating which is added to the Assassin's Death Attack DC rating, and this is where I landed. You end up with a very good chance to paralize you opponent as if you had several more Assassin levels--unfortunately the build would be much more powerful if Bioware didn't treat it like an evil mind spell which everyone is immune to aparently. Actually the whole class is a sham compared to the original prestige class. But I digress...

Anyway, it's also a build for those who want to have fun and roleplay the "casting Assassin". Also, in my experience Improved Evasion and Defensive Roll proved unnessary with the build thanks to the arsenal of defensive spells. On the rare occassion when you failed an evasion roll, you had some kind of elemental protection to back you up. In fact you pretty much wind up with a stealth spellcaster who can tank fairly effectively.

Hitting opponents never proved to be that much of an issue, especially with so many attacks per round. The rare occassions when you fight an enemy that has an AC that was out of your realm of possibility only proves that some things are meant for 40th level fighters or 40th level mages to tackle.

If you want to play online or offline with this build I'm sure you'll have fun. I personally wouldn't go into battle with him in PVP, but then again, I really don't bother with that type of experience--I go out with my friends to get my frustrations out in life. That being said, if you need a build for PVP and you want to play king of the mountain, I would probably go with you standard 40th level Wizard who can more than likely nuke the room before it can react.