Post by MightyKhan on Jan 28, 2008 23:28:26 GMT
Black Hearted Dragon:
4 Bard, 6 Blackguard, 30 Dragon Disciple
A word on the name.
The first version of this character build wore the name of Drakenzwaard, which is dutch for Dragonsword. After posting it in the open subrace forums, I changed it to "The Evil Dragon", hoping that would attract more new players than the original name would. When the open subrace building contest started, I decided to once again change the name. While I now name all my toons after songtitles, I could not find a song that entirely suited this character and came up with Black Hearted Dragon instead.
Why should I play this character?
If you use this build, your AB will be in the middle/upper 90s, your AC upper 120s, your fortitude save will be in middle 70s, your reflex and will saves will be in middle 60s, your hitpoints will reach 1400+, you will score critical hits as a weapon master, you will be able to tank pitfiends, help with scrolls and wands, set up a fear aura that weakens your enemies and you will be 100% immune to the element of your choice at all times. All of the above make for a very sturdy tank and in addition you will have a very cool appearance!
I took a screenshot of my character's character record after being fully buffed before my first descent to Stygia:
As always, the character sheet lies about AB. I believe I was hitting 96 that run. You should also note that that character is quite outdated (your own record will be different), but the version I wrote down here is way better.
Complete information on the changes made to the Red Dragon Disciple prestige-class can be read here, on the forums (scroll down a bit after clicking the link), or here, on the wiki.
(From this point on I will use abbreviations for Blackguard and Dragon Disciple, being BG and XDD respectively.)
The subrace you need for this build is:
This is the only open subrace with which this build is possible. Why? Because the build includes BG levels: at level 2, Blackguards receive the Dark blessing feat, which means your character adds it's charisma modifier to all his saves. Saves are very important on Higher Ground and for the most difficult areas you will need all your saves to be at least 60, but preferably as high as possible. In order to unlock BG, you need a base attack bonus (BAB) of at least 6, the Cleave feat and 5 ranks in the Hide skill. For normal races, the first 20 levels could have the possible breakdown of 5 Bard/10 XDD/5 BG. This results in a total BAB of 15, but you would lose the 4th attack you gain at 16 BAB that way! For 4 base attacks per round, a suitable breakdown is 4 Bard/10 XDD/6 BG. This, requires us to take our first XDD level before Bard level 5. Normally, this is impossible, because XDD needs a lore skill of at least 8 and the minimum level for this rank is 5.
This is where Tinker Gnome kicks in: taking 2 ranks in lore at character creation, in combination with the +6 lore from subrace edits, means we can start picking XDD levels at level 2!
You have probably noticed by now, that I'm not speaking of Red Dragon Disciple, but just Dragon Disciple, or XDD, instead. This is because on Higher Ground, are aren't necessarily a RedDD. To change the colour of the path you are walking, you need to find and use an altar on a secret location before your 4th XDD level. If you can't find it, do not worry, Red is quite a decent choice for a new player.
Why BG, why not take Paladin? They get Divine grace (the good version of Dark blessing) and have no requirements... True, but the feat prerequisites for BG (cleave, which in turn requires power attack) are also needed for Devastating critical (a feat that greatly enhances your critical hits). That is, imho, the "beauty" of this build: overlapping feat pre-requisites. If a paladin version wants the same critical hits, he has to choose power attack and cleave as well, in which case he could just as well have gone for Blackguard. That, and this build does not require any annoying alignment changes. Paladins must be lawful good, while Bards may not be lawful. Going BG instead of paladin also means you can easily do some high level runs, without having your saves lowered. In some areas, killing monsters shifts your alignment to evil, and a paladin's divine grace only works when he is of a good alignment and dark blessing requires evil. Also, while XDDs do not normally get immunity to critical hits, the BG levels allow you to use a ring with that item property. You'll have to find it first though... Paladin's do get innate fear immunity at level 2, but this can be covered through items as well.
So, let's get started!
Character creation:
Race: Gnome
Notice the skill point bonus? A lot of skills are very nice to have and this will increase the number of different skills you can maximise.
Subrace: Tinker Gnome - Note that this is case sensitive. It has to be exactly Tinker Gnome, or it won't work. If you somehow messed it up, use !delete to delete the character. Relog to create a new one afterwards (you can't use the same name immediately after deleting a character though).
Class: Bard - one of the 2 requirements for XDD. It also provides some needed skills, such as tumble (each 5 base points add 1 to your armour class (AC)), hide (for BG) and use magic device. UMD is a great skill to have as it allows you to use scrolls and wands and other items you couldn't use otherwise. In some areas, the immunities you gain from items are ignored and you have to get them through spells. Mage dead or none at all? You, the mighty dragon disciple, will use the necessary scrolls!
Alignment: Non lawful evil
This is because BGs need to be evil, while Bards cannot be lawful.
Starting ability scores:
Strength 14
Dexterity 14
Constitution 14
Intelligence 12
Wisdom 8
Charisma 14
Skills: 2 lore, 4 discipline - discipline is a must have skill for all characters, as numerous discipline checks will have to be made in order to avoid the most horrible of fates. Luckily, your discipline will get very close to the engine limit of 127! Discipline checks are not your problem. After subrace edits (these happen when you enter the Docks of Ascension for the first time), your lore will be 8, which is required for XDD.
Feats: Strong Soul -> Slippery Soul - this feat will allow you to take the Legendary Slippery Soul feat in legendary levels. Together, these feats give you +6 to your reflex and will saves. To get this feat, you need to pick Strong Soul first, then once you reach the docks of Ascension, type in !charedit[/color] and select the right feat to swap to (i.e. Slippery Soul).[/i]
Spells: If you don't have the Higher Ground Enhanced Hak installed, choose whatever you like, you're not a caster and are probably not going to use them a lot anyway. I'd go for Mage armour, as it will give you a slight AC boost for 4 hours and if you ever get to choose a second level spell, choose Darkness. This spell can be cast in armour, but hasn't really got any use in the higher levels, because almost every monster has true seeing and because it only lasts 4 rounds. Being able to conjure up complete blackness fits the theme of evilness though. > If you DO have HGenhanced, a must have spell is the first level spell True Strike. This spell too can be cast while wearing armour and will for a very short time (9 seconds) greatly enhance your AB, provided you haven't reached the attack bonus cap yet. With HGenhanced, you can pick Deafening clang instead of Darkness, which provides a small bonus to your damage for a short period of time.
After leaving the voyage and entering the docks, the subrace edits will be applied: +2 int, -2 wis and +6 lore.
Also remember to use the !charedit[/color] command to change Strong Soul to Slippery Soul![/color][/i]
Pre-epic levels:
Level 2: XDD
Skills: maximize discipline
Level 3: XDD
Skills: maximize discipline
Feats: Power attack - this will unlock Cleave, which is a requirement for both BG and Devastating critical.
Level 4: XDD
Ability scores: +1 strength
Skills: maximize discipline
If you do not want to be a Red Dragon Disciple, this is the LAST level you will be able to change. If you haven't visited the altar and changed your path earlier, you better start searching... Again, changing colour is NOT necessary.
Level 5: XDD
Skills: maximize discipline
Level 6: XDD
Skills: maximize discipline
Feats: Cleave - this will unlock Great cleave, which, in combination with some other feats, will eventually unlock Devastating Critical.
Level 7: XDD
Skills: maximize discipline
Level 8: XDD
Ability scores: +1 strength
Skills: maximize discipline
Level 9: XDD
Skills: save all points
Feats: Great cleave - mostly an enabler feat for Overwhelming and Devastating Critical. Although it can be really handy when there's a couple of monsters at near death standing next to each other... or for quickly getting rid of those annoying goblins that block your path.
Level 10: XDD
Skills: save all points
Why take this much XDD levels this soon? Why not start with BG at this level? Because at level 9, XDDs get +2 to intelligence, and the earlier you get this boost, the more skillpoints you will have in the end.
Level 11: XDD
Skills: save all points
Level 12: Bard
Ability scores: +1 strength
Skills: maximize tumble, put 5 points in hide to unlock BG
Feats: Blind fight - this is a must have, even with a character that takes the maximum in listen. While listen may eventually cut down conceal more than Blind fight does, it does not offer the defensive aspects Blind fight has. More information on how the listen skill works can be found here. Having blind fight also means you will always have at least the concealment reduction of 60 ranks of listen (some monster abilities lower your listen score).
Level 13: Blackguard
Skills: save all points
Level 14: BG
Skills: save all points
Level 15: BG
Skills: save all points
Feats: Weapon Focus (XXX) - I went for Great sword. Some say heavy flail is best because of the bludgeoning damage and perhaps even halberd would be a better choice because of it's double damage type, but any large martial weapon should do fine. Whenever XXX is mentioned again, you should choose the same weapon you chose here.
Level 16: BG
Ability scores: +1 strength
Skills: save all points
Level 17: BG
Skills: save all points
Level 18: BG
Skills: save all points
Feats: Improved critical (XXX) - a must have for every weapon user. And its an enabler for Overwhelming and Devastating critical.
Level 19: Bard
Skills: maximize tumble and UMD
Level 20: Bard
Ability scores: +1 strength
Skills: maximize tumble and UMD
Epic levels:
From this point on, leveling is quite straightforward. Each level will be XDD. The skills you maximize are discipline, tumble, listen, parry and persuade. A high parry skill lowers damage you get from critical hits. While some other classes get critical hit immunity, you'll have to do with parry, unless you find that particular ring I mentioned earlier.
A succesful persuasion lowers the target's spell resistance, increasing the chance that the magic users in your party can land their spells. To be able to use persuade, you first have to use the !opt tauntpersuade command. Next, try to taunt an enemy as you would in normal NWN. Notice that the check is instantaneous (a swift action)! If successful, a small visual effect will appear above the persuaded target to inform you of your success.
Each time you are able to increase an ability score, choose strength. Because of this simplicity, I will only put down the levels on which you have to choose feats:
Level 21: Epic Prowess - in addition to the normal +1 AB bonus, this will increase the AB you get from Legendary weapon focus by 1. Since your small gnome can not wield a large weapon, this is a good feat to take early in epic levels, to make up for the effective "loss" of weapon focus.
Level 24: Epic Toughness I & II - Epic Toughness? Yes, Epic Toughness. Why?!? These feats are chosen as investment feats for XDD and will allow you to fully benefit from the XDD class. Without these, you will miss out on a lot of strength, constitution, intelligence and charisma points, as well as the large size and the other XDD features. And they add an additional 200 hp, which is always nice to have.
Level 27: Epic Toughness III
Level 28: Epic Toughness IV
Level 30: Epic Toughness V
Level 32: Epic Toughness VI
Level 33: Epic Toughness VII
Level 36: Epic Toughness VIII & IX
Level 39: Epic Weapon Focus (XXX) - required for Legendary weapon focus and Overwhelming and Devastating critical
Level 40: Epic Toughness X
Legendary levels: - requires immortality.
Leveling in legendary levels is done through a conversation with the altar of legends. You will gain levels in the class you had most levels in at level 40, XDD in this case. When you first use this altar, because of gnome you will gain 80 unspent skillpoints! This allows you to take 2 more skills: Craft weapon and craft armour. Each 40 points in craft armour and craft weapon provide 1 point of AC and AB respectively.
Maximize discipline, parry, persuade, listen, craft weapon and craft armour whenever possible.
Level 41:
Level 42: Legendary weapon focus, Strength - Legendary weapon focus grants an additional 2 AB when using the chosen weapon, unless you have the epic prowess feat, in which case it grants 3 AB instead.
Level 43:
Level 44: Strength
Level 45: Armour skin - another must have feat for any tank. It raises your armor class by 2 points.
The XDD secret. In order to gain the stat bonuses from your 35th level of XDD, you need to seek out a particular object. I cannot tell you where it is precisely, but I can give you a hint: "Get Lost". Of course, you can ask anyone in game at any given time for more precise directions.
You will need to return to that same object every 5 levels after 35 (so at 40, 45 and 50 levels of XDD - total levels 50, 55 and 60 respectively) in order to get the corresponding stat increases. If you can't find it at level 45, that's not a big deal. You WILL want to use it at level 50, as you gain +2 intelligence at that level. If you don't use it then, you'll lose out on both skillpoints and hitpoints.
Level 46: Strength
Level 47: maximize tumble
Level 48: Overwhelming critical (XXX), Strength - instead of adding additional damage to a critical hit, overwhelming critical adds 1 to your critical threat range while using the chosen weapon, which, against an unarmored target, means an additional 5% of all your swings are possible critical hits. It also enables Devastating critical.
Level 49:
Level 50: Strength
Level 51: Devastating critical (XXX) - Devastating critical no longer allows for instant kills, but instead adds 1 to the critical hit multiplier when using the chosen weapon. This is the feat where you get your nice critical hits from.
Level 52: Strength
Level 53:
Level 54: Legendary Slippery Soul, Strength
Level 55:
Level 56: Strength
Level 57: maximize tumble, Greater Weapon Focus (XXX) - Greater Weapon Focus is a special Higher Ground feat that is not available in the normal game. You can take this feat in pre-epic levels, but only if you have HGenhanced installed (more information on HGenhanced at the bottom of the post). You do not need HGenhanced to take it in legendary levels, however.
You may wonder why we don't take any more tumble. The answer is very simple: taking more tumble is useless. The AC bonus you get from tumble (1 every 5 points) is lowered by the AC you get from draconic armor, but no further than 6. Taking a maximum of 30 tumble ranks will give us those 6 points and none of them will be taken away, while if we had 50 tumble (we'd have to take it as a class skill somehow) the AC bonus would again be 6. It is also enough to avoid getting attacks of opportunity from monsters when moving in close combat.
Level 58: Strength
Level 59:
Level 60: Power Critical (XXX), Strength - Power critical is a nice feat to boost your damage output with. It gives you a +4 bonus on all the critical hit confirmation rolls you make with the chosen weapon, which means you will score more critical hits. Power critical is, just like Greater Weapon Focus, a special Higher Ground feat, not available in normal NWN.
After maximizing discipline, parry, listen, craft weapon and craft armor, put as many points in concentration as possible. Having a few ranks in concentration doesn't hurt as there are some concentration checks in the game that make tanking a little hard if you fail them.
If this is not your first character...
The above version takes the cleave feat at level 6. There are, however, a few items to be found in a couple of legendary level areas, that, once consumed by a character with an open subrace, grant that character a small bonus. One of these items grants the Cleave feat. Which is ideal for this character!
This means you will have an additional feat to spend. There are a couple of things you can do here. Since there are a LOT of different possibilities, I have not listed them here, but if you want more information, send me a private message or find me in game, and I will be happy to help you get what you want.
Some notes on gear:
Medium armor is what you want. Your base dexterity score of 14 will max out at 26 when fully buffed. A breastplate offers a maximum dexterity bonus of 8 to your AC. This results in a total of 13: 5 from armor and 8 from dexterity. Heavy armor would only allow for 9 AC. Huh? A maximum dexterity bonus of 8 on medium armor? Yes, even that has changed here on HG. Get the Higher Ground Enhanced Hak to see most of the changes in game (also adds a lot more visual violence if you enable the enhanced mode with !enhmode).
As for shields, there probably isn't a big difference between tower and large shields, though some large shields possibly provide a better AC due to the limitation on dexterity bonuses on tower shields. Swap shields according to the situation you are in. Some shields offer nice elemental immunities you may need on some runs, while sometimes you just want AC.
Equipment with a bonus to strength helps your AB and damage, which is very important for a tank. Make sure this bonus is as high as possible (12) at all times! You will want to maximize your AC as well, so look out for items with a bonus to dexterity. This also helps your reflex save. A bonus to constitution will raise your hitpoints and your fortitude save, two more very important things for a tank. For this character, it is also of importance to get the maximum bonus to charisma, because this will help all of your saves. Wisdom gear helps with your will save, which should be maximized as well, especially at higher levels.
All gear with immunities and bonuses to saves on them is welcome - try to switch stuff around until !list imm shows a maximum of immunities. If you can't get all the basic immunities at once, switch your equipment around depending on the situation: lot's of fear auras? better get fear/mind immune (though mind does not always work). You see some of your mates on their backsides? Make sure you have knockdown immunity. Etc etc.
When choosing a weapon, take a look at the classes in your party with the !who party class command. If there's a mage, bard or cleric present ask them if they have Greater Magic Weapon for you (and keen if your weapon hasn't got it). If they do not have the spell, you should equip a weapon that will at least allow you to hit something. If they do have GMW, pick something (any weapon you can use will do, even simple weapons) with as much bonus damage as possible - the casters will provide the ability to hit. Very often, it is better to use a weapon you aren't focused in than a weaker weapon you ARE focused in. You may have slightly lower AB, but your damage output will be a lot higher.
If theres a lot of damage being dealt to your target, but you are unsure whether its coming from you or not, pause the combat log (right-click the drag bar, then click lower left: exclude combat information) and see if you can pick out your own hits. An easier way is done through downloading (and running) a logwatcher. I use Synan's LogWatcher myself and can really recommend it.
How should I play my character?[/u]
There is a guide on tanking and I really recommend reading it if this is your first tank. It can be found here. There is also a general guide for for new players, which I can really recommend taking a look at: The Newbie Guide.
How far can I take this build?
If you are determined enough, you can make your Black Hearted Dragon a Demigod. As far as I know, Arek was the first to achieve this with his Black Hearted Black Dragon. He did make a few minor changes, but nothing substantial. If you wish to go with his version, but don't know exactly how to do it, simply reincarnate once you hit 60. By then, you WILL know how to do it.
* Your HP will be high enough that you should be able to survive regular crits (unless you forget to chug heals when needed).
* Most Bards now have the "Dirge of the Deathless" epic song, which will keep you alive vs dev-critting mobs.
* The crit imm ring isn't that hard to find, if you do decide you need/want it.
Second, once I learned where the XDD color-change secret was, I reincarnated my dragon and used it to change to Black instead of Red. This makes him totally immune to Acid damage, which is generally useful throughout the Hells (and extremely useful on one layer in particular). It's not necessary, tho, and being 100% fire-immune is just as useful in certain situations.
My armor/shield combo was Breastplate of Hiraikos and Ever Watchful Eye, right through Nessus.
--Arek[/quote]
4 Bard, 6 Blackguard, 30 Dragon Disciple
A word on the name.
The first version of this character build wore the name of Drakenzwaard, which is dutch for Dragonsword. After posting it in the open subrace forums, I changed it to "The Evil Dragon", hoping that would attract more new players than the original name would. When the open subrace building contest started, I decided to once again change the name. While I now name all my toons after songtitles, I could not find a song that entirely suited this character and came up with Black Hearted Dragon instead.
Why should I play this character?
If you use this build, your AB will be in the middle/upper 90s, your AC upper 120s, your fortitude save will be in middle 70s, your reflex and will saves will be in middle 60s, your hitpoints will reach 1400+, you will score critical hits as a weapon master, you will be able to tank pitfiends, help with scrolls and wands, set up a fear aura that weakens your enemies and you will be 100% immune to the element of your choice at all times. All of the above make for a very sturdy tank and in addition you will have a very cool appearance!
I took a screenshot of my character's character record after being fully buffed before my first descent to Stygia:
As always, the character sheet lies about AB. I believe I was hitting 96 that run. You should also note that that character is quite outdated (your own record will be different), but the version I wrote down here is way better.
Complete information on the changes made to the Red Dragon Disciple prestige-class can be read here, on the forums (scroll down a bit after clicking the link), or here, on the wiki.
(From this point on I will use abbreviations for Blackguard and Dragon Disciple, being BG and XDD respectively.)
The subrace you need for this build is:
"Tinker Gnome" - requires Gnome
INT +2. WIS -2, +6 lore
INT +2. WIS -2, +6 lore
This is the only open subrace with which this build is possible. Why? Because the build includes BG levels: at level 2, Blackguards receive the Dark blessing feat, which means your character adds it's charisma modifier to all his saves. Saves are very important on Higher Ground and for the most difficult areas you will need all your saves to be at least 60, but preferably as high as possible. In order to unlock BG, you need a base attack bonus (BAB) of at least 6, the Cleave feat and 5 ranks in the Hide skill. For normal races, the first 20 levels could have the possible breakdown of 5 Bard/10 XDD/5 BG. This results in a total BAB of 15, but you would lose the 4th attack you gain at 16 BAB that way! For 4 base attacks per round, a suitable breakdown is 4 Bard/10 XDD/6 BG. This, requires us to take our first XDD level before Bard level 5. Normally, this is impossible, because XDD needs a lore skill of at least 8 and the minimum level for this rank is 5.
This is where Tinker Gnome kicks in: taking 2 ranks in lore at character creation, in combination with the +6 lore from subrace edits, means we can start picking XDD levels at level 2!
You have probably noticed by now, that I'm not speaking of Red Dragon Disciple, but just Dragon Disciple, or XDD, instead. This is because on Higher Ground, are aren't necessarily a RedDD. To change the colour of the path you are walking, you need to find and use an altar on a secret location before your 4th XDD level. If you can't find it, do not worry, Red is quite a decent choice for a new player.
Why BG, why not take Paladin? They get Divine grace (the good version of Dark blessing) and have no requirements... True, but the feat prerequisites for BG (cleave, which in turn requires power attack) are also needed for Devastating critical (a feat that greatly enhances your critical hits). That is, imho, the "beauty" of this build: overlapping feat pre-requisites. If a paladin version wants the same critical hits, he has to choose power attack and cleave as well, in which case he could just as well have gone for Blackguard. That, and this build does not require any annoying alignment changes. Paladins must be lawful good, while Bards may not be lawful. Going BG instead of paladin also means you can easily do some high level runs, without having your saves lowered. In some areas, killing monsters shifts your alignment to evil, and a paladin's divine grace only works when he is of a good alignment and dark blessing requires evil. Also, while XDDs do not normally get immunity to critical hits, the BG levels allow you to use a ring with that item property. You'll have to find it first though... Paladin's do get innate fear immunity at level 2, but this can be covered through items as well.
So, let's get started!
Character creation:
Race: Gnome
Gnomes (can speak Gnomish)
- Gnomes who have any Bard levels have Bard as their favoured class rather than Wizard.
- All gnomes receive 2 additional skill points per level. Skill points for levels prior to 41 will be granted upon taking level 41 at the Altar of Legends.
- Gnomes who have any Bard levels have Bard as their favoured class rather than Wizard.
- All gnomes receive 2 additional skill points per level. Skill points for levels prior to 41 will be granted upon taking level 41 at the Altar of Legends.
Notice the skill point bonus? A lot of skills are very nice to have and this will increase the number of different skills you can maximise.
Subrace: Tinker Gnome - Note that this is case sensitive. It has to be exactly Tinker Gnome, or it won't work. If you somehow messed it up, use !delete to delete the character. Relog to create a new one afterwards (you can't use the same name immediately after deleting a character though).
Class: Bard - one of the 2 requirements for XDD. It also provides some needed skills, such as tumble (each 5 base points add 1 to your armour class (AC)), hide (for BG) and use magic device. UMD is a great skill to have as it allows you to use scrolls and wands and other items you couldn't use otherwise. In some areas, the immunities you gain from items are ignored and you have to get them through spells. Mage dead or none at all? You, the mighty dragon disciple, will use the necessary scrolls!
Alignment: Non lawful evil
This is because BGs need to be evil, while Bards cannot be lawful.
Starting ability scores:
Strength 14
Dexterity 14
Constitution 14
Intelligence 12
Wisdom 8
Charisma 14
Skills: 2 lore, 4 discipline - discipline is a must have skill for all characters, as numerous discipline checks will have to be made in order to avoid the most horrible of fates. Luckily, your discipline will get very close to the engine limit of 127! Discipline checks are not your problem. After subrace edits (these happen when you enter the Docks of Ascension for the first time), your lore will be 8, which is required for XDD.
Feats: Strong Soul -> Slippery Soul - this feat will allow you to take the Legendary Slippery Soul feat in legendary levels. Together, these feats give you +6 to your reflex and will saves. To get this feat, you need to pick Strong Soul first, then once you reach the docks of Ascension, type in !charedit[/color] and select the right feat to swap to (i.e. Slippery Soul).[/i]
Spells: If you don't have the Higher Ground Enhanced Hak installed, choose whatever you like, you're not a caster and are probably not going to use them a lot anyway. I'd go for Mage armour, as it will give you a slight AC boost for 4 hours and if you ever get to choose a second level spell, choose Darkness. This spell can be cast in armour, but hasn't really got any use in the higher levels, because almost every monster has true seeing and because it only lasts 4 rounds. Being able to conjure up complete blackness fits the theme of evilness though. > If you DO have HGenhanced, a must have spell is the first level spell True Strike. This spell too can be cast while wearing armour and will for a very short time (9 seconds) greatly enhance your AB, provided you haven't reached the attack bonus cap yet. With HGenhanced, you can pick Deafening clang instead of Darkness, which provides a small bonus to your damage for a short period of time.
After leaving the voyage and entering the docks, the subrace edits will be applied: +2 int, -2 wis and +6 lore.
Also remember to use the !charedit[/color] command to change Strong Soul to Slippery Soul![/color][/i]
Pre-epic levels:
Level 2: XDD
Skills: maximize discipline
Level 3: XDD
Skills: maximize discipline
Feats: Power attack - this will unlock Cleave, which is a requirement for both BG and Devastating critical.
Level 4: XDD
Ability scores: +1 strength
Skills: maximize discipline
If you do not want to be a Red Dragon Disciple, this is the LAST level you will be able to change. If you haven't visited the altar and changed your path earlier, you better start searching... Again, changing colour is NOT necessary.
Level 5: XDD
Skills: maximize discipline
Level 6: XDD
Skills: maximize discipline
Feats: Cleave - this will unlock Great cleave, which, in combination with some other feats, will eventually unlock Devastating Critical.
Level 7: XDD
Skills: maximize discipline
Level 8: XDD
Ability scores: +1 strength
Skills: maximize discipline
Level 9: XDD
Skills: save all points
Feats: Great cleave - mostly an enabler feat for Overwhelming and Devastating Critical. Although it can be really handy when there's a couple of monsters at near death standing next to each other... or for quickly getting rid of those annoying goblins that block your path.
Level 10: XDD
Skills: save all points
Why take this much XDD levels this soon? Why not start with BG at this level? Because at level 9, XDDs get +2 to intelligence, and the earlier you get this boost, the more skillpoints you will have in the end.
Level 11: XDD
Skills: save all points
Level 12: Bard
Ability scores: +1 strength
Skills: maximize tumble, put 5 points in hide to unlock BG
Feats: Blind fight - this is a must have, even with a character that takes the maximum in listen. While listen may eventually cut down conceal more than Blind fight does, it does not offer the defensive aspects Blind fight has. More information on how the listen skill works can be found here. Having blind fight also means you will always have at least the concealment reduction of 60 ranks of listen (some monster abilities lower your listen score).
Level 13: Blackguard
Skills: save all points
Level 14: BG
Skills: save all points
Level 15: BG
Skills: save all points
Feats: Weapon Focus (XXX) - I went for Great sword. Some say heavy flail is best because of the bludgeoning damage and perhaps even halberd would be a better choice because of it's double damage type, but any large martial weapon should do fine. Whenever XXX is mentioned again, you should choose the same weapon you chose here.
Level 16: BG
Ability scores: +1 strength
Skills: save all points
Level 17: BG
Skills: save all points
Level 18: BG
Skills: save all points
Feats: Improved critical (XXX) - a must have for every weapon user. And its an enabler for Overwhelming and Devastating critical.
Level 19: Bard
Skills: maximize tumble and UMD
Level 20: Bard
Ability scores: +1 strength
Skills: maximize tumble and UMD
Epic levels:
From this point on, leveling is quite straightforward. Each level will be XDD. The skills you maximize are discipline, tumble, listen, parry and persuade. A high parry skill lowers damage you get from critical hits. While some other classes get critical hit immunity, you'll have to do with parry, unless you find that particular ring I mentioned earlier.
A succesful persuasion lowers the target's spell resistance, increasing the chance that the magic users in your party can land their spells. To be able to use persuade, you first have to use the !opt tauntpersuade command. Next, try to taunt an enemy as you would in normal NWN. Notice that the check is instantaneous (a swift action)! If successful, a small visual effect will appear above the persuaded target to inform you of your success.
Each time you are able to increase an ability score, choose strength. Because of this simplicity, I will only put down the levels on which you have to choose feats:
Level 21: Epic Prowess - in addition to the normal +1 AB bonus, this will increase the AB you get from Legendary weapon focus by 1. Since your small gnome can not wield a large weapon, this is a good feat to take early in epic levels, to make up for the effective "loss" of weapon focus.
Level 24: Epic Toughness I & II - Epic Toughness? Yes, Epic Toughness. Why?!? These feats are chosen as investment feats for XDD and will allow you to fully benefit from the XDD class. Without these, you will miss out on a lot of strength, constitution, intelligence and charisma points, as well as the large size and the other XDD features. And they add an additional 200 hp, which is always nice to have.
Level 27: Epic Toughness III
Level 28: Epic Toughness IV
Level 30: Epic Toughness V
Level 32: Epic Toughness VI
Level 33: Epic Toughness VII
Level 36: Epic Toughness VIII & IX
Level 39: Epic Weapon Focus (XXX) - required for Legendary weapon focus and Overwhelming and Devastating critical
Level 40: Epic Toughness X
Legendary levels: - requires immortality.
Leveling in legendary levels is done through a conversation with the altar of legends. You will gain levels in the class you had most levels in at level 40, XDD in this case. When you first use this altar, because of gnome you will gain 80 unspent skillpoints! This allows you to take 2 more skills: Craft weapon and craft armour. Each 40 points in craft armour and craft weapon provide 1 point of AC and AB respectively.
Maximize discipline, parry, persuade, listen, craft weapon and craft armour whenever possible.
Level 41:
Level 42: Legendary weapon focus, Strength - Legendary weapon focus grants an additional 2 AB when using the chosen weapon, unless you have the epic prowess feat, in which case it grants 3 AB instead.
Level 43:
Level 44: Strength
Level 45: Armour skin - another must have feat for any tank. It raises your armor class by 2 points.
The XDD secret. In order to gain the stat bonuses from your 35th level of XDD, you need to seek out a particular object. I cannot tell you where it is precisely, but I can give you a hint: "Get Lost". Of course, you can ask anyone in game at any given time for more precise directions.
You will need to return to that same object every 5 levels after 35 (so at 40, 45 and 50 levels of XDD - total levels 50, 55 and 60 respectively) in order to get the corresponding stat increases. If you can't find it at level 45, that's not a big deal. You WILL want to use it at level 50, as you gain +2 intelligence at that level. If you don't use it then, you'll lose out on both skillpoints and hitpoints.
Level 46: Strength
Level 47: maximize tumble
Level 48: Overwhelming critical (XXX), Strength - instead of adding additional damage to a critical hit, overwhelming critical adds 1 to your critical threat range while using the chosen weapon, which, against an unarmored target, means an additional 5% of all your swings are possible critical hits. It also enables Devastating critical.
Level 49:
Level 50: Strength
Level 51: Devastating critical (XXX) - Devastating critical no longer allows for instant kills, but instead adds 1 to the critical hit multiplier when using the chosen weapon. This is the feat where you get your nice critical hits from.
Level 52: Strength
Level 53:
Level 54: Legendary Slippery Soul, Strength
Level 55:
Level 56: Strength
Level 57: maximize tumble, Greater Weapon Focus (XXX) - Greater Weapon Focus is a special Higher Ground feat that is not available in the normal game. You can take this feat in pre-epic levels, but only if you have HGenhanced installed (more information on HGenhanced at the bottom of the post). You do not need HGenhanced to take it in legendary levels, however.
You may wonder why we don't take any more tumble. The answer is very simple: taking more tumble is useless. The AC bonus you get from tumble (1 every 5 points) is lowered by the AC you get from draconic armor, but no further than 6. Taking a maximum of 30 tumble ranks will give us those 6 points and none of them will be taken away, while if we had 50 tumble (we'd have to take it as a class skill somehow) the AC bonus would again be 6. It is also enough to avoid getting attacks of opportunity from monsters when moving in close combat.
Level 58: Strength
Level 59:
Level 60: Power Critical (XXX), Strength - Power critical is a nice feat to boost your damage output with. It gives you a +4 bonus on all the critical hit confirmation rolls you make with the chosen weapon, which means you will score more critical hits. Power critical is, just like Greater Weapon Focus, a special Higher Ground feat, not available in normal NWN.
After maximizing discipline, parry, listen, craft weapon and craft armor, put as many points in concentration as possible. Having a few ranks in concentration doesn't hurt as there are some concentration checks in the game that make tanking a little hard if you fail them.
If this is not your first character...
The above version takes the cleave feat at level 6. There are, however, a few items to be found in a couple of legendary level areas, that, once consumed by a character with an open subrace, grant that character a small bonus. One of these items grants the Cleave feat. Which is ideal for this character!
This means you will have an additional feat to spend. There are a couple of things you can do here. Since there are a LOT of different possibilities, I have not listed them here, but if you want more information, send me a private message or find me in game, and I will be happy to help you get what you want.
Some notes on gear:
Medium armor is what you want. Your base dexterity score of 14 will max out at 26 when fully buffed. A breastplate offers a maximum dexterity bonus of 8 to your AC. This results in a total of 13: 5 from armor and 8 from dexterity. Heavy armor would only allow for 9 AC. Huh? A maximum dexterity bonus of 8 on medium armor? Yes, even that has changed here on HG. Get the Higher Ground Enhanced Hak to see most of the changes in game (also adds a lot more visual violence if you enable the enhanced mode with !enhmode).
As for shields, there probably isn't a big difference between tower and large shields, though some large shields possibly provide a better AC due to the limitation on dexterity bonuses on tower shields. Swap shields according to the situation you are in. Some shields offer nice elemental immunities you may need on some runs, while sometimes you just want AC.
Equipment with a bonus to strength helps your AB and damage, which is very important for a tank. Make sure this bonus is as high as possible (12) at all times! You will want to maximize your AC as well, so look out for items with a bonus to dexterity. This also helps your reflex save. A bonus to constitution will raise your hitpoints and your fortitude save, two more very important things for a tank. For this character, it is also of importance to get the maximum bonus to charisma, because this will help all of your saves. Wisdom gear helps with your will save, which should be maximized as well, especially at higher levels.
All gear with immunities and bonuses to saves on them is welcome - try to switch stuff around until !list imm shows a maximum of immunities. If you can't get all the basic immunities at once, switch your equipment around depending on the situation: lot's of fear auras? better get fear/mind immune (though mind does not always work). You see some of your mates on their backsides? Make sure you have knockdown immunity. Etc etc.
When choosing a weapon, take a look at the classes in your party with the !who party class command. If there's a mage, bard or cleric present ask them if they have Greater Magic Weapon for you (and keen if your weapon hasn't got it). If they do not have the spell, you should equip a weapon that will at least allow you to hit something. If they do have GMW, pick something (any weapon you can use will do, even simple weapons) with as much bonus damage as possible - the casters will provide the ability to hit. Very often, it is better to use a weapon you aren't focused in than a weaker weapon you ARE focused in. You may have slightly lower AB, but your damage output will be a lot higher.
If theres a lot of damage being dealt to your target, but you are unsure whether its coming from you or not, pause the combat log (right-click the drag bar, then click lower left: exclude combat information) and see if you can pick out your own hits. An easier way is done through downloading (and running) a logwatcher. I use Synan's LogWatcher myself and can really recommend it.
How should I play my character?[/u]
There is a guide on tanking and I really recommend reading it if this is your first tank. It can be found here. There is also a general guide for for new players, which I can really recommend taking a look at: The Newbie Guide.
How far can I take this build?
If you are determined enough, you can make your Black Hearted Dragon a Demigod. As far as I know, Arek was the first to achieve this with his Black Hearted Black Dragon. He did make a few minor changes, but nothing substantial. If you wish to go with his version, but don't know exactly how to do it, simply reincarnate once you hit 60. By then, you WILL know how to do it.
I will say this: I did a couple of things different from the posted build. First, I maxed Craft Weapon rather than Parry. There are a few reasons for this:
* Your HP will be high enough that you should be able to survive regular crits (unless you forget to chug heals when needed).
* Most Bards now have the "Dirge of the Deathless" epic song, which will keep you alive vs dev-critting mobs.
* The crit imm ring isn't that hard to find, if you do decide you need/want it.
Second, once I learned where the XDD color-change secret was, I reincarnated my dragon and used it to change to Black instead of Red. This makes him totally immune to Acid damage, which is generally useful throughout the Hells (and extremely useful on one layer in particular). It's not necessary, tho, and being 100% fire-immune is just as useful in certain situations.
My armor/shield combo was Breastplate of Hiraikos and Ever Watchful Eye, right through Nessus.
--Arek[/quote]