Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Wizu 05-05-04, 05:49 AM	To those who might know, this character and his adventures happen in Neverwinter Night; Shadows of Undrentide; Hordes of the Underdark setting at a persistant world server. That helps define what feats and all is available. Currently I have a character such as this, and his previous progression is unchangable. Neutral evil human; str 14 dex 14 con 14 int 14 wis 8 cha 14 Bard 1 power attack, cleave Bard 2 Bard 2/Barbarian 1 knockdown Bard 2/Barbarian 2 +1 cha Bard 3/Barbarian 2 Bard 4/Barbarian 2 lingering song Bard 5/Barbarian 2 Bard 6/Barbarian 2 +1 cha Bard 6/Barbarian 2/Blackguard 1 improved knockdown Bard 6/Barbarian 2/Blackguard 2 Bard 7/Barbarian 2/Blackguard 2 Bard 8/Barbarian 2/Blackguard 2 curse song, +1 cha Now, there is sale this book of glorious deeds for 2500 that has 50 charges of either divine might or divine shield. To use it however, I need to be able to turn undead. Third level of blackguard would grant me this and still give me bab of 16/11/6/1 before epic, but I wouldnt be able to access sixth level bard spells pre-epic nor get the best mileage out of bard song before it. Granted, I dont care much of maximising bard song if I can get (currently) +8 to damage and ac for 8 rounds for mere 50gp a pop. But there is also the situation of defensive bardic spells into which I rely when I battle. Improved invisibility would be only two more bard levels. But on the other hand third attack would also be only one more blackguard level, granting me 11/6/1. For the record, 6th evel bard spells available to me are energy buffer, ice storm, summon monster IV, mass haste, dirge. And I would only be able to get two of those, for once per day if pursuing bard 16 pre-epic. So, its immediate gain against long term gain. And theres lot to do before I am 20th level. Which road would be the most optimized route to take?
Funny Slaughter 05-05-04, 06:53 AM	how about UMD? i had a paladin5/rogue5/divine champion10 (etc in epic) when i played the game and i was able to use nearly everything. i had a blackguard armor as a pally, it was the best looking ;) gs Funny
pokemaniacbill 05-05-04, 07:03 AM	UMD is a nice skill, definitely... tough choice, tough choice, but when given the choice between another spell and 50 shots of a +8 to-hit and AC, go with the wise choice and take that next level of Blackguard if you can't make the UMD check.
Wizu 05-05-04, 08:02 AM	Problem is, the game mechanics need me to have turn undead ability to use the book, even umd +50 check doesnt cut it. And there is endless amount of those books for sale... Mmmh... Yeah, I'll go with the blackguard 3, one extra attack few levels earlier is always one extra attack, and divine might alone would crank my ac upto 46. Mwahahaha! Love 'em evil bards...
Funny Slaughter 05-05-04, 08:16 AM	do you feel any challenge while playing the game? in my experience even mild CO does render most of the encounters useless... gs Funny
Wizu 05-05-04, 08:31 AM	Ah, you see I'm not playing the singleplayer modes anymore, beaten those ages ago. This is in multiplayer server, a sort of a semipersistant server. Its highly populated and all, has many different dungeons and stuff like that. So as there spawns monsters whenever you walk, the keyword to survival is persistance. If you can have buffs that last the 8 hours before you can rest it means you can kill things the whole time. Thus get experience that is like 1/1000 of what it is in D&D. Even worse, this servers high level dungeons have odd habit of needing improved invisibility, ac in heavens and more damage output than you can squeese out of king of the smack. I think the correct term is hard. A little COing makes it tolerable.