NWN 1 - Fighter/Wizard

[Shadowfang]

Two weeks ago, i decided to make use of my, corona sponsored, free time to finally play MoTB since is considered here to be one of Obsidian's best works. For reasons too long to explain here i ended up playing NWN 1 instead, especially the SOU + HOTU expansions.

Because they werent exactly new to me, especially the SOU, i wanted to try a different character and because there isnt an Eldritch Knight in NWN (unless you download a fan made hak) i decided in going for a Fighter/Wizard focused on casting spells while using heavy armor through the still metamagic feat.

I started by creating a Human Figher with the following stats:

Spoiler

Strength 14
Dexterity 8
Constitution 14
Inteligence 18
Wisdom 10
Charisma 8

My 2nd and 3rd level were in Wizard, i ended up picking a 2nd lvl of Fighter but didnt bother with raising it any further through the whole SOU, where i ended up with a 2 Figther/ 10 Wizard.
I didn't have it exactly planned and i didnt knew how much levels of Fighter i was going to want, as long as i could kill spellcasters with a longsword and melee enemies with magic i was happy. Thankfully the SOU expansion was pretty flexible towards my low base attack.

I didnt want to pick many buffing spells out of fear of ending up with an underwhelming Cleric, so i avoided spells like Bull's Strength until HOTU.

Now, on the 2nd Chapter of HOTU, my character is 2 Fighter/ 19 Wizard with the following unbuffed stats:

Spoiler

Strength 17
Dexterity 8
Constitution 14
Inteligence 20
Wisdom 10
Charisma 8

In summary i am glad i have stuck with this character through the hard moments because it has been very rewarding. I didn't expect i could do so well in melee with so little levels in figther and i am glad i didn't get a Eldritch Knight hak because this character is way more fun than otherwise it would end up to be. Probably thanks to the lenient AB requirements of both expansions.

I am very satisfied with his performance, even if in melee against other fighters i might take more turns to get one killed than a pure fighter, but this is a small price to pay for being able to turn the rest of his party into stone/confused/dominated and still being able to finish off a Drow Mage to the floor with a knockdown while wearing a Full Plate Armor and a Tower Shield.

I haven't many arcane casters in D&D so my knowledge of the arcane arts was limited and this journey has been very enlightening without having to play a wimpy elf in silk robes.

 

[Arbiter]

Heavy armor in NWN (D&D 3rd edition) incurs an arcane spell failure chance.

 

[Poseidon00]

The Spellchain armor exists in HOTU, still gives you a 10% failure rate though and that may be unacceptable to some. I usually go the paladin/sorc route in NWN to take advantage of a few perks like Smite Evil.

Improved power attack + true strike is a good combo.

 

[Shadowfang]

Heavy armor in NWN (D&D 3rd edition) incurs an arcane spell failure chance.

The Spellchain armor exists in HOTU, still gives you a 10% failure rate though and that may be unacceptable to some. I usually go the paladin/sorc route in NWN to take advantage of a few perks like Smite Evil.

Improved power attack + true strike is a good combo.

Thats why i am using the still metamagic feat that allows me to cast spells without spell chance faliure while wearing armor, but i have to place the spells one slot above their level.
I also found out that there are many spells that don't have a somatic component like displacement, power word kill, wail of the banshee that can be cast as long you arent silenced without any spell faliure chance.

 

[Poseidon00]

Now that, I didn't know. Will have to take advantage of that.

 

[Chippy]

Player Resource Consortium was probably one of the best mods for a game ever made. Bit overwhelming if you're new to DnD rules, but they did stuff to NWN had to be seen to be believed.

It was just awesome.