The Introspective Necromancer Halfling Bard 4 / Fighter 12 / Pale Master 24

I started thinking about building a build with the most PM levels possible and still having 4 attacks per round. This seemed the best path. It gets superior damage and extremely high AC, and its AB isn't bad, either. Also, I really wanted to see what the halfling bone arm looks like.

Starting Attributes
Str 14
Dex 12
Con 14
Wis 8
Int 14
Cha 14

Probably not playable 1-40 due to XP penalty, but it works PvM or PvP
Alignment: Non-good

Attribute Bonuses
Levels 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36 and 40 go to strength

Leveling
01: Bard (1) Luck of Heroes
02: Fighter (1) Weapon Focus (Scimitar)
03: Fighter (2) Toughness, Knockdown
04: Fighter (3)
05: Fighter (4) Weapon Specialization (Scimitar)
06: Bard (2) Disarm
07: Bard (3)
08: PM (1)
09: PM (2) Called Shot
10: PM (3)
11: PM (4)
12: PM (5) Resist Energy: Fire
13: Fighter (5)
14: Fighter (6) Improved Critical (Scimitar)
15: Fighter (7) Resist Energy: Electricity
16: Fighter (8) Improved Knockdown
17: PM (6)
18: Fighter (9) Resist Energy: Sonic
19: Fighter (10) Improved Disarm
20: Fighter (11)
21: PM (7) Epic Weapon Focus (Scimitar)
22: PM (8)
23: PM (9)
24: PM (10) Epic Prowess
25: PM (11)
26: PM (12)
27: PM (13) Armor Skin, Epic Energy Resistance: Cold
28: PM (14)
29: PM (15)
30: PM (16) Great Strength I, Epic Spell: Greater Ruin
31: PM (17)
32: PM (18)
33: PM (19) Great Strength II, Epic Spell: Epic Mage Armor
34: PM (20)
35: PM (21)
36: PM (22) Great Strength III, Epic Spell: Epic Warding
37: PM (23)
38: PM (24)
39: Fighter (12) Great Strength IV, Epic Weapon Specialization (Scimitar)
40: Bard (4)

Final Attributes:
Str 28
Dex 12
Con 14
Wis 8
Int 14
Cha 14

Final Saves (Vs. Spells)
Fortitude 27 (35)
Reflexes 22 (30)
Will 21 (29)

AB and Damage
(No buffs, normal scimitar)
40/35/30/25 19+1d6 (15-20 x2)

(+12 to Strength, +5 keen scimitar, haste, bard song)
52/52/47/42/37 34+1d6 (12-20 x2)

AC
36 (naked)
46 (mundane tower shield, mundane full plate)
75 (+5 full plate, +5 Ring of Protection, +5 Amulet of Natural Armor, +5 boots of the Sun Soul, Haste, +5 Tower Shield)

Hit Points 436 (Max Every Level)

Final Skillpoints 186
Discipline 43(52)
Perform 7(9)
Spellcraft 40(42)
Taunt 43(45)
Tumble 40(41)
UMD 13 (15)

(You might want to drop some taunt for some UMD.)

Skillpoint Distribution
01: Discipline(4), Perform(4), Spellcraft(4), Taunt(4), Tumble(4), UMD(3), Save(1)
02: Discipline(1), Save(4)
03: Discipline(1), Save(7)
04: Discipline(1), Save(10)
05: Discipline(1), Save(13)
06: Discipline(1), Perform(3), Spellcraft(5), Taunt(5), Tumble(5)
07: Discipline(1), Spellcraft(1), Taunt(1), Tumble(1), UMD(2)
08: Spellcraft(1), Save(3)
09: Spellcraft(1), Save(6)
10: Spellcraft(1), Save(9)
11: Spellcraft(1), Save(12)
12: Spellcraft(1), Save(15)
13: Discipline(6), Save(13)
14: Discipline(1), Save(16)
15: Discipline(1), Save(19)
16: Discipline(1), Save(22)
17: Spellcraft(5), Save(21)
18: Discipline(2), Save(23)
19: Discipline(1), Save(26)
20: Discipline(1), Save(29)
21: Spellcraft(4), Save(29)
22: Spellcraft(1), Save(32)
23: Spellcraft(1), Save(35)
24: Spellcraft(1), Save(38)
25: Spellcraft(1), Save(41)
26: Spellcraft(1), Save(44)
27: Spellcraft(1), Save(47)
28: Spellcraft(1), Save(50)
29: Spellcraft(1), Save(53)
30: Spellcraft(1), Save(56)
31: Spellcraft(1), Save(59)
32: Spellcraft(1), Save(62)
33: Spellcraft(1), Save(65)
34: Spellcraft(1), Save(68)
35: Spellcraft(1), Save(71)
36: Spellcraft(1), Save(74)
37: Spellcraft(1), Save(77)
38: Save(81)
39: Discipline(19), Save(66)
40: Discipline(1), Taunt(33), Tumble(30), UMD(8)
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CATS! The name reminds me of the Emo Rangers.

Go go Emo Rangers!

Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers! Hmm, quite nice, AB is very high to have so much Pale Master... It's a good melee with Arcane Epic Spells if I understood correctly... which should be rather good, especially Epic Warding, but Epic Mage Armor gets wasted with that +5 equipment... I would consider taking so many PM levels excessive... AC is good too. Why be a halfling in this build? To two-hand the scimitar, or get the small stature bonuses? If you're two-handing a scimitar, why are you listing an AC stat that includes a shield? And I'm not sure halflings can use tower shields at all - last time I tried it, they weren't allowed to. Also, with only 15 UMD, I'm reasonably sure you can't equip boots of the sun soul +5... I could be wrong on that, since I haven't tested... just an impression I get.

You might want to try dwarf as your race instead - you'd have more hitpoints, avoid the exp penalty, be able to use a tower shield and one-hand scimitar like you seem to want, and the tradeoff, a drop in Cha, is probably negligible. Unless it's been fixed since I've been away, PM levels don't give you new bard or sorcerer spells known, just spells/day (ie, in this build you'll only have the known spells of a level 4 bard, even though you should have the spells/day of a level 16 bard). And as far as I'm aware, the spells would be cast as if you were level 4 as regards duration, etc.

It's a good concept for a build, but I think you need to refine it or at least test your equipment strategy, since it seems like you didn't. Even if you stay halfling, you might want to consider getting rid of some points in charisma since they aren't doing you much good.
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Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience. Halflings indeed cannot use a tower shield.

Cheers,
Kail
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To hear the sound of Freedom, many gave their lives
They fought for you and me
Those memories will always live inside us, and now it's our time to be free
Quote: Posted 05/10/06 04:02:20 (GMT) -- Xylophone

Why be a halfling in this build? To two-hand the scimitar, or get the small stature bonuses? If you're two-handing a scimitar, why are you listing an AC stat that includes a shield? And I'm not sure halflings can use tower shields at all - last time I tried it, they weren't allowed to. Also, with only 15 UMD, I'm reasonably sure you can't equip boots of the sun soul +5... I could be wrong on that, since I haven't tested... just an impression I get.

Mistake. It's not suppposed to list a shield - two hand scimitar adds a lot of damage. Halfling is indeed for the small stature bonuses, since AB goes down to 39 without it (which I find unacceptable).

Quote: Posted 05/10/06 04:02:20 (GMT) -- Xylophone

You might want to try dwarf as your race instead - you'd have more hitpoints, avoid the exp penalty, be able to use a tower shield and one-hand scimitar like you seem to want, and the tradeoff, a drop in Cha, is probably negligible. Unless it's been fixed since I've been away, PM levels don't give you new bard or sorcerer spells known, just spells/day (ie, in this build you'll only have the known spells of a level 4 bard, even though you should have the spells/day of a level 16 bard). And as far as I'm aware, the spells would be cast as if you were level 4 as regards duration, etc.

The lack of caster levels is actually more of an issue in regards to epic spells (or do those use PM for duration?). I could go dwarf, but my stats would end up pretty much similar and I couldn't two hand the scimitar (that 12-20/x2 crit ratio isn't worth much if I don't have enough strength damage.

Quote: Posted 05/10/06 04:02:20 (GMT) -- Xylophone

It's a good concept for a build, but I think you need to refine it or at least test your equipment strategy, since it seems like you didn't. Even if you stay halfling, you might want to consider getting rid of some points in charisma since they aren't doing you much good.

Bah, charisma bumping was just kinda an automatic bard thing. Still, it's a good idea to drop it like you suggested. Likewise, I could probably be doing better things with equipment due to Epic Mage Armor. I'll see what I can do.
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CATS!
Quote: Posted 05/10/06 10:19:59 (GMT) -- avarielo

Mistake. It's not suppposed to list a shield - two hand scimitar adds a lot of damage. Halfling is indeed for the small stature bonuses, since AB goes down to 39 without it (which I find unacceptable).

Well in the case of a build that gives up on raising charisma it should be able to get another 2 points into strength... so you can make up the difference as a dwarf even. Or will let you get a little more out of the halfling race as well.

Quote: The lack of caster levels is actually more of an issue in regards to epic spells (or do those use PM for duration?). I could go dwarf, but my stats would end up pretty much similar and I couldn't two hand the scimitar (that 12-20/x2 crit ratio isn't worth much if I don't have enough strength damage.

I've read that the epic spells will use your PM levels as caster levels because you're taking them as a PM, but I haven't personally tested and won't swear by the veracity of what someone else has said.

Two-handing the scimitar is a tradeoff between bonus damage and AC the way two handed wielding usually is, in this case by going sword and board you'd trade off +4 to damage in return for a potential +7 or +8 to AC in an environment with +5 gear.

However, I'm not sure how much that damage will be missed. It's almost always a better decision to take the additional AC over the additional damage in NWN.
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Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
Quote: Posted 05/10/06 12:15:23 (GMT) -- Xylophone

Quote: Posted 05/10/06 10:19:59 (GMT) -- avarielo

Mistake. It's not suppposed to list a shield - two hand scimitar adds a lot of damage. Halfling is indeed for the small stature bonuses, since AB goes down to 39 without it (which I find unacceptable).

Well in the case of a build that gives up on raising charisma it should be able to get another 2 points into strength... so you can make up the difference as a dwarf even. Or will let you get a little more out of the halfling race as well.

Quote: The lack of caster levels is actually more of an issue in regards to epic spells (or do those use PM for duration?). I could go dwarf, but my stats would end up pretty much similar and I couldn't two hand the scimitar (that 12-20/x2 crit ratio isn't worth much if I don't have enough strength damage.

I've read that the epic spells will use your PM levels as caster levels because you're taking them as a PM, but I haven't personally tested and won't swear by the veracity of what someone else has said.

Two-handing the scimitar is a tradeoff between bonus damage and AC the way two handed wielding usually is, in this case by going sword and board you'd trade off +4 to damage in return for a potential +7 or +8 to AC in an environment with +5 gear.

However, I'm not sure how much that damage will be missed. It's almost always a better decision to take the additional AC over the additional damage in NWN.

The extra damage from weilding with two hands is much higher when strength is fully buffed. Besides, the AC is high enough already.

I'm pretty sure the build needs at least 12 charisma to get PM.

If you are lowering charisma however, gnome is a good way to go, since you can get your constitution higher and maintain the bonuses from being small size.
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CATS! Well, don't forget either that the halfling and gnome penalty stat is strength. Since you're at -2 to strength, you are at -1 AB and damage compared to a large-sized race.

The small stature AB bonus makes the character's AB a wash in a strength build, it doesn't actually improve it.

So subbing in a dwarf for this build, would start you with a 16 strength, 16 con, and 12 cha without having to siphon points from anywhere. Then if you don't change anything else you would then end on a 30 strength, and your AB would be maintained (the -1 from small stature being replaced by +1 from strength). If you still want to two-hand, you can, and you'd still be gaining in the hitpoints department.

As for why AC is better than damage for a melee fighter in my opinion - in NWN PvE, you tend to fight cannon fodder enemies in large numbers. The danger of these enemies is usually not in their ability to kill you but rather in their ability to wear you down over time and make you use up spells, potions, scrolls, and other consumable items. Having a high AC when you're a melee greatly reduces the ability of cannon fodder to inflict attrition on you so that you are closer to full power when you reach the next boss battle.

Bosses tend to be dangerous due to special abilities, on the other hand, which makes the boss battles the place to then use up your consumables in order to negate their advantages and secure victory for yourself.

That said, everybody's got their own style of fighting and an at least slightly different environment. I build around my own experiences and style.
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Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.