Post by maljin on Mar 23, 2009 17:06:20 GMT
The Airy Wayfarer of the Staff
On Higher Ground there are some atypical class combinations (quasi classes) which will receive special benefits. One of them is called Staffmaster and is a blend between Wizard and Weapon Master. More information about quasi classes and the Staffmaster can be found here.
A Staffmaster is obviously a master of the Staff, dealing large amounts of damage in melee combat while relying on defensive spells ("buffs") to protect himself, which are usually the only spells a Staffmaster is gonna cast as most spells don't take into account the Weapon Master levels and are therefore much less powerful than normal Wizard spells. A list of spells which can be cast using Wizard + Weapon Master levels as caster levels can also be found in the thread linked above. Because a Staffmaster doesn't wear armor or shield like traditional warriors he must heavily rely on concealment, damage absorption ("soak") provided by his spells. This dependence makes a great deal of playing a Staffmaster. As long as you're under effect of your spells you'll be a match for every warrior in his heaviest and shiniest plate and will exceed most of them in raw damage output. Should you lose your buffs because of dispels (breach spells and mordenkainen's disjunction also belong to this category of spells), your character will often be dead in seconds.
This leads to some important points you should read before starting a Staffmaster:
The build itself: I'll start with general things like subrace, ability point distribution on creation and wizard specialization. This will be followed by a big table where level by level is explained to follow in a step by step manner as you progress your character. For those more experienced with character building, this table will be followed by an overview listing just the feats at the level taken, the skills at maximum level and the most important spells, you should be picking.
Before you go on reading, I highly recommend downloading HGEnhanced, an optional pack of modifications developed by the Higher Ground team. It adds more spells, feats and visual effects which will all help you enjoy this piece of art even more. If you are using the ARF2 updater to update your CEP version, you also have the possibility to install the newest version of HGEnhanced, which is the easiest way to install it in my opinion.
Subrace Selection
Human
"PT - Air Genasi"
- FC: Highest Class / BC: Wizard
- DEX +2, INT +2, WIS -2, CHA -2, 25% immune electrical, 25% vulnerable fire, speaks Auran
Human lets you chose a bonus feat which is needed to fulfill all requirements for the Weapon Master prestige class by level 15. Air Genasi increases both intelligence and dexterity which this character needs while the loss of wisdom and charisma is bearable. While the immunity to electrical is welcome the vulnerability to fire doesn't hurt this character much because you can cast elemental shield for 50% immunity to fire and cold as well as energy immunity which will provide up to 100% immunity to one chosen element.
Abilities and Alignment
Strength 16
Dexterity 12(14)
Constitution 14
Wisdom 8(6)
Intelligence 16(18)
Charisma 8(6)
The stats in brackets are the modifications made by the Air Genasi subrace: They will take effect once you've logged onto the servers the first time.
Alignment: Any
This characters classes don't require a specific alignment and you don't get any benefits like paladins or blackguards for being good or evil. But there is a particular quarterstaff attainable in legendary levels which requires good alignment to wield but you'll almost certainly become evil while trying to acquire it.
Wizard Specialization
HG is using different mechanics than your unmodified nwn. Should you chose a school specialization at character creation, your character will be "set back" to generalist upon entering the module (this doesn't involve any annoyances as far as I know; you'll just lose the additional spell slot from being a specialist and will be able to cast every spell). HG specialization is accomplished by visiting the spell pedestal at the docks. You'll find the pedestal on the hill right behind the bank of Waukeen. There you can choose one school to specialize in at the cost of two barred schools which you abandon (e.g. you can't cast any spells from these schools).
For Staffmasters specialization is recommended because you'll choose your spells from a limited pool where the loss of two spell schools (if chosen accordingly) doesn't hurt at all. This build will specialize in abjuration which will give you another rank of spell focus on top of the spell foci you'll select at your level ups, which will greatly increase the effectiveness of abjuration spells like mage armor, resist elements and energy immunity.
I recommend to abandon enchantment and necromancy as those are two schools are containing spells Staffmasters don't use often.
Table: Pre-epic (1-20) Levels
To keep the table below at a reasonable size I decided to list the skills taken without the explanation what each skill will do and why you want to take them. Please have a look below at the section where I've listed all skills taken on this build with the explanations. You might also be interested to read this post where I tried to come up with different possibilities to allocate the 10 free skill points you'll have by the time you reach level 60 after some discussion with Niilo.
[/i][/ul][/li][/ul]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]16 - Weapon Master(1)[/td]
[td]Strength +1[/td]
[td]Discipline +19
Listen +19[/td]
[td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]17 - Weapon Master(2)[/td]
[td][/td]
[td]Discipline +1
Listen +1
Tumble +1 (cc)[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]18 - Weapon Master(3)[/td]
[td][/td]
[td]Discipline +1
Listen +1[/td]
[td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]19 - Weapon Master(4)[/td]
[td][/td]
[td]Discipline +1
Listen +1
Tumble +1 (cc)[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]20 - Weapon Master(5)[/td]
[td]Strength +1[/td]
[td]Discipline +1
Listen +1[/td]
[td]
[/tr]
[/table]
Table: Epic (21-40) Levels
Table: Legendary (41-60) Levels
Abilities at Level 60 without gear
Strength 38
Dexterity 14
Constitution 14
Wisdom 6
Intelligence 18
Charisma 6
Saves at Level 60 without/with gear
Fortitude: 31 (57)
Reflex: 30 (56)
Will: 31 (57)
People usually try to push their saves over 60 to succeed most if not all checks. This build won't reach this mark but will fare very well until 60 and beyond with these scores, because it can avoid quite a lot of the "on hit" checks due to it's high concealment.
AB and AC at Level 60 (with items and his own buffs)
AB: 93 (up to 94 with bard song increasing craft weapon) at 7 attacks per round
AC: 103 (up to 104 with bard song increasing craft armor) with 90% conceal (81% vs blindfight)
Skills at Level 60
63 Discipline
Helps ward against discipline checks which are commonplace on this server. Any front-line tank should have as much discipline as possible. Increase this on every Weapon Master level but not on your Wizard levels.
63 Parry
The parry skill will reduce the damage on any critical hits that land on you. Parry score over 100 will also make you immune to devastating critical. Increase this in Legendary Levels when it is a class skill for Weapon Masters.
63 Craft Weapon
Every 40 points in this skill will add 1 attack bonus to your overall AB score. With bard song this skill will grant you 2 AB. Increase this on Wizard levels and again in Legendary Levels when it's a class skill for Weapon Masters.
63 Craft Armor
Every 40 points in this skill will add 1 armor class bonus to your overall AC score. With bard song and gear this skill will grant you 2 AC. Increase this on Wizard levels and again in Legendary Levels when it's a class skill for Weapon Masters.
63 Listen
Listen beyond 60 points will reduce the concealment of your enemies making them easier to hit. Due to not having blindfight, this build relies on listen to hit concealed enemies. Always make sure you're not deafened and cast clairaudience/clairvoyance (= bonus to listen skill) before attacking heavily concealed enemies. Increase this on every Weapon Master level but not on your Wizard levels.
31 Tumble
Every 5 points of tumble will grant you 1 point of AC. Because this build can't afford to take Legendary Skill Affinity (tumble), your tumble score is capped at 30 which equals 6 ac. Increase this on every level this skill is available. The last point going from 30 to 31 won't increase your ac, but if you decide on playing this character even longer than just to level 60, you'll be able to increase tumble to 40 ranks eventually and the point spent at level 59 will be the first step in this direction.
31 Concentration
Helps prevent spells from being disrupted while casting, and wards against concentration checks. While 31 Concentration is enough for most checks it is very low to cast while being surrounded in combat. It is better to disengage from combat, recast your buff and get back into the fray. Increase this on every wizard level and on every Weapon Master level the skill is available.
4 Intimidate
For this character not a useful skill on it's own, but you need it to become a Weapon Master. Make sure you've put in 4 points before level 15. The easiest way to make sure you do is putting all 4 points at once which is possible earliest at level 5.
3 left over
Have a look at this post, if you don't feel like leaving 3 points unspent, but I can assure you, that those 3 points don't matter at all.
Overview
Levels 1-15: Wizard; Levels 16-40 Weapon Master
Pre-Epic Feats:
1 - Luck of Heroes, Expertise
3 - Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff
5 - Spell Focus: Abjuration (Wizard Bonus Feat)
6 - Dodge
9 - Mobility
10 - Greater Spell Focus: Abjuration (Wizard Bonus Feat)
12 - Spring Attack
15 - Whirlwind Attack, Extend Spell (Wizard Bonus Feat)
16 - Weapon of Choice: Quarterstaff (WM Bonus Feat)
18 - Improved Critical: Quarterstaff
Epic Feats:
21 - Power Attack
24 - Cleave
27 - Great Cleave
28 - Epic Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff (Weapon Master Bonus Feat)
30 - Epic Fortitude
31 - Epic Prowess (WM Bonus Feat)
33 - Epic Will
34 - Overwhelming Critical: Quarterstaff (WM Bonus Feat)
36 - Great Strength I
37 - Devastating Critical: Quarterstaff (WM Bonus Feat)
39 - Great Strength II
40 - Armor Skin (WM Bonus Feat)
Legendary Feats:
42 - Legendary Luck
45 - Legendary Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff
48 - Epic Spell Focus: Abjuration
51 - Legendary Spell Focus: Abjuration
54 - Greater Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff
57 - Epic Skill Focus Listen
60 - Legendary Spell Focus: Divination (make sure you've found and read an Ancient Tome of Wisdom: Divination by this time)
Skills:
See section above. It contains the essentials on when to put how much points in which skill.
Spells often used at level 40+
All spells that can be cast on weapons can't be dispelled afaik and you won't lose them when you die, so you don't need more than one copy in your spell book unless you want to buff your party members with them.
- Flame Weapon
- Shock Weapon
- Weapon of Impact
- Blackstaff
Spells that have a long duration and are not critical to survive are listed here; which means you only need to recast them if you've been dispelled or died. Depending on available spell slots I usually have two or three copies of each of them (all extended).
- Mage Armor
- Shield
- Resist Elements
(- Burning Hands)
The following spells are critical for your survival, if one of them has run out or is dispelled you have to recast it immediately. I usually have four to six copies of each one, Tenser's Transformation sometimes even more (usually not extended).
- Tenser's Transformation
- Ethereal Visage
- Energy Buffer
- Premonition
Spells that are only used to buff party members are listed here. It depends on the party which spells and how many of them are needed.
- Flame Weapon
- Shock Weapon
- Greater Magic Weapon
- Keen Edge, Needle Point, Weapon of Impact
- Stoneskin
- Elemental Protection
And the last list contains spells which are only used in specific situations, or have to be recast very often because of their short duration. As you don't need all of them everywhere you go, you should just fill your spell book with those you'll need. The extend spell feat provides some flexibility here.
- Endure Elements
- Elemental Shield
- Mestil's Acid Sheath
- Energy Immunity
- Shadow Shield
- Spell Mantle
- Expeditious Retreat
- Clairaudience/Clairvoyance
About damage buffs on weapons (Flame Weapon, Shock Weapon and Blackstaff; more from other spellcasting classes)
The weapon buffs on higher ground work in a special manner in that they add damage to a weapon which is based on the caster level the spell is cast and on the damage dice on the weapon inherent before the spell is cast. Each weapon buff will add damage dices to the elemental (or exotic) damage dice on your weapon. How many dice depends on the caster level and which dice depends on the weapon. An example: You've found the level 20 rare quarterstaff Poetry in Motion which has 2d6 electrical, 2d6 sonic and 1d6 magical damage. Casting shock weapon with 20 caster levels will add 2d6 stacking electrical damage and your weapon will have 4d6 electrical damage bonus. Casting flame weapon will add 2d4 fire damage since the weapon doesn't feature any fire damage and so the lowest dice (d4) will be used for calculation. It's easy to see that the higher your dice on the weapon is, the more damage the corresponding weapon buff will add.
Blackstaff behaves slightly different: The number of dice depends on your Weapon Master levels (3 + 1 every 5 WM levels including legendary levels) and the dice itself is set at d10s (unless you find an item which can increase it to d12s). This damage does not stack with the same type on the weapon. In the example above you could add 4d10 fire damage to your weapon by casting blackstaff (which would not stack with flame weapon). Switching to do electrical damage available at level 23 (8 WM levels) would add 4d10 electrical damage but override the 4d6 from shock weapon and the base elemental type on your weapon because it's higher.
In a party it's worthwile asking for weapon buffs (acid, cold, sonic and so on) if your weapon features these types and returen your own buffs (fire and electrical, keen, greater magic weapon ... and blackstaff should you encounter a quarterstaff wielding monk...) to other characters using weapons. Without the types available the added damage is rather small and may often not go through your targets resists.
Blackstaff is different to use. Make sure you know what types of damage you have available at your level and the commands to toggle between them (see the link at the top of the thread or the section below) and use whatever damage is most effective on your current target. You can easily switch blackstaff damage in between a fight and can adjust to optimize damage or switch between targets rapidly. If you don't know what type is most effective ask around and sure someone will tell you. If in doubt you might wanna switch to some exotic damage (magic or positive particularly) since it's rarely resisted and you weapon won't feature a lot of high dices on these types decreasing lost damage from overlapping blackstaff overlapping buffs or inherent damage types.
About summons (Shaelgarn's Persistant Blade and Mordenkainen's Sword)
As of December 2011 all summons have been reworked and increase in power as their summoner gets more levels, picks up certain feats or is using metamagic to cast the summon spell. Since the power or summons casted by spells (opposite those casted using a feat) is determined by caster level to the highest extent, staffmasters are generally poor summoners since most spells are cast at a low caster level. There are some exceptions to this rule though: Mordenkainen's Sword and Black Blade of Disaster are staffmaster spells and cast at full caster level; and Shaelgarn's Persistant Blade, which oddly isn't a Staffmaster spell but summons the same things as Mordenkainen's Sword at high levels.
Black Blade of Disaster (BBoD) did not change as far as I know. It's not important for this Staffmaster anyway since with only 15 wizard levels, you'll never be able to cast level 9 spells. BBoD is therefor usually cast from spells and used as a decoy.
Mordenkainen's Sword scales with caster level and transmuation foci; you will notice different summons from those of original nwn from about level 15 on. It always summons an invisible construct (and therefor coming with immunities to critical hits, mind spells, poison, disease and so on) wielding some kind of weapon. The weapon might sport an enhancement bonus and extra damage (usually some exotic type like magic or negative) but isn't keen. So you generally want to buff your summon with keen edge or needle point depending on the weapon the summon wields. Flame and Shock weapon on the other hand are better kept for yourself, other partymembers and their summons since the spells are of little benefit without elemental damage on the weapon (see the section above).
Aside from those immunities mentioned above, spell resistance and some elemental immunties and resists, the defensive side of this summon (and most others as well) is rather poor. If you have extra spell slots, fill them with mage armor, stoneskin and protection from elements, these will benefit all summons a lot. You can also heal a damaged summon by dragging a heal pot over it's portrait to the right of the screen; the same goes for other potions like negative energy protection or stoneskin.
Shaelgarn's Persistant Blade is rather odd at the moment. It's not supposed to be a Staffmaster spell and boosted by evocation foci. As of the time I'm wirting this, Shaelgarn's Persistand Blade summons at high levels exactly the same summon (a Caligrosto) as Mordenkainen's Sword. Since summons are still being worked on by the development team, this might change and I'll update this post whenever I get more information.
Useful spells to make scrolls
You can't scribe both GS and MB scrolls until you've found them and read them as you don't have enough wizard levels to chose them manually at a level-up. On the other hand, you'll never be able to scribe your own BBoD scrolls because you're restricted to level 8 spells due to having only 15 Wizard levels (thanks to arek for the note). But having a stack in your inventory from a friendly Wizard or an own char who can scribe them can do you good once you're in a position where you have to pull enemies to the rest of your group.
Useful links
Edits
maljin
On Higher Ground there are some atypical class combinations (quasi classes) which will receive special benefits. One of them is called Staffmaster and is a blend between Wizard and Weapon Master. More information about quasi classes and the Staffmaster can be found here.
A Staffmaster is obviously a master of the Staff, dealing large amounts of damage in melee combat while relying on defensive spells ("buffs") to protect himself, which are usually the only spells a Staffmaster is gonna cast as most spells don't take into account the Weapon Master levels and are therefore much less powerful than normal Wizard spells. A list of spells which can be cast using Wizard + Weapon Master levels as caster levels can also be found in the thread linked above. Because a Staffmaster doesn't wear armor or shield like traditional warriors he must heavily rely on concealment, damage absorption ("soak") provided by his spells. This dependence makes a great deal of playing a Staffmaster. As long as you're under effect of your spells you'll be a match for every warrior in his heaviest and shiniest plate and will exceed most of them in raw damage output. Should you lose your buffs because of dispels (breach spells and mordenkainen's disjunction also belong to this category of spells), your character will often be dead in seconds.
This leads to some important points you should read before starting a Staffmaster:
- There are items which can protect you from the Staffmaster's nemesis: dispels. If you don't know yet where you can find these items, you should ask around as soon as you're immortal. Then it's a good point to venture to these areas and claim them for your character.
- You should know what your spells are doing exactly and which spells will overlap each other so you don't buff yourself with too many spells wasting slots for the important spells used for rebuffing after a casualty. This goes hand in hand with equipment choice: Whatever is covered by your spells doesn't really need to be covered by equipment (that's at least how I'm equipping my Staffmaster). The more safety in case of the said casualty you want, the harder it'll become to get equipment. This guide will help you taking the most important wizard spells while leveling up and will explain which spells you'll be using at given levels.
- The Staffmaster's spells are in many cases also better than what others could buff you with (you'll especially notice this once you've reached the higher legendary levels 50+) but only work on your own character. This doesn't mean that a Staffmaster doesn't need others to be successful or doesn't contribute anything to a party, so you should keep that in mind.
The build itself: I'll start with general things like subrace, ability point distribution on creation and wizard specialization. This will be followed by a big table where level by level is explained to follow in a step by step manner as you progress your character. For those more experienced with character building, this table will be followed by an overview listing just the feats at the level taken, the skills at maximum level and the most important spells, you should be picking.
Before you go on reading, I highly recommend downloading HGEnhanced, an optional pack of modifications developed by the Higher Ground team. It adds more spells, feats and visual effects which will all help you enjoy this piece of art even more. If you are using the ARF2 updater to update your CEP version, you also have the possibility to install the newest version of HGEnhanced, which is the easiest way to install it in my opinion.
Subrace Selection
Human
"PT - Air Genasi"
- FC: Highest Class / BC: Wizard
- DEX +2, INT +2, WIS -2, CHA -2, 25% immune electrical, 25% vulnerable fire, speaks Auran
Human lets you chose a bonus feat which is needed to fulfill all requirements for the Weapon Master prestige class by level 15. Air Genasi increases both intelligence and dexterity which this character needs while the loss of wisdom and charisma is bearable. While the immunity to electrical is welcome the vulnerability to fire doesn't hurt this character much because you can cast elemental shield for 50% immunity to fire and cold as well as energy immunity which will provide up to 100% immunity to one chosen element.
Abilities and Alignment
Strength 16
Dexterity 12(14)
Constitution 14
Wisdom 8(6)
Intelligence 16(18)
Charisma 8(6)
The stats in brackets are the modifications made by the Air Genasi subrace: They will take effect once you've logged onto the servers the first time.
Alignment: Any
This characters classes don't require a specific alignment and you don't get any benefits like paladins or blackguards for being good or evil. But there is a particular quarterstaff attainable in legendary levels which requires good alignment to wield but you'll almost certainly become evil while trying to acquire it.
Wizard Specialization
HG is using different mechanics than your unmodified nwn. Should you chose a school specialization at character creation, your character will be "set back" to generalist upon entering the module (this doesn't involve any annoyances as far as I know; you'll just lose the additional spell slot from being a specialist and will be able to cast every spell). HG specialization is accomplished by visiting the spell pedestal at the docks. You'll find the pedestal on the hill right behind the bank of Waukeen. There you can choose one school to specialize in at the cost of two barred schools which you abandon (e.g. you can't cast any spells from these schools).
For Staffmasters specialization is recommended because you'll choose your spells from a limited pool where the loss of two spell schools (if chosen accordingly) doesn't hurt at all. This build will specialize in abjuration which will give you another rank of spell focus on top of the spell foci you'll select at your level ups, which will greatly increase the effectiveness of abjuration spells like mage armor, resist elements and energy immunity.
I recommend to abandon enchantment and necromancy as those are two schools are containing spells Staffmasters don't use often.
Table: Pre-epic (1-20) Levels
To keep the table below at a reasonable size I decided to list the skills taken without the explanation what each skill will do and why you want to take them. Please have a look below at the section where I've listed all skills taken on this build with the explanations. You might also be interested to read this post where I tried to come up with different possibilities to allocate the 10 free skill points you'll have by the time you reach level 60 after some discussion with Niilo.
Level - Class | Ability | Skills | Feats and Spells |
1 - Wizard(1) | Concentration +4 Craft Armor +4 Craft Weapon +4 Intimidate +2 (crossclassed) Tumble +2 (crossclassed) |
| |
2 - Wizard(2) | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 |
| |
3 - Wizard(3) | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Intimidate +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) |
| |
4 - Wizard(4) | Strength +1 | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 |
|
5 - Wizard(5) | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Intimidate +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) |
| |
6 - Wizard(6) | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 |
| |
7 - Wizard(7) | Strength +1 | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Tumble +1 (cc) |
|
8 - Wizard(8) | Strength +1 | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 |
|
9 - Wizard(9) | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Tumble +1 (cc) |
| |
10 - Wizard(10) | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 |
| |
11 - Wizard(11) | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Tumble +1 (cc) |
| |
12 - Wizard(12) | Strength +1 | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 |
|
13 - Wizard(13) | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Tumble +1 (cc) |
| |
14 - Wizard(14) | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 |
| |
15 - Wizard(15) - You have become a Staffmaster! | Concentration +1 Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Tumble +1 (cc) |
|
- Blackstaff:
- Empowers your quarterstaff (it doesn't work on other weapons) with the same effect as GMW, but will scale higher. Additionally you'll do more damage per hit: How much damage and what damage types depend on your Weapon Master levels. This spell should always be cast on your weapon; just as Tenser's Transformation and Ethereal Visage after level 20.
- Premonition:
- The top of your physical soaking spells and will absorb a huge load of damage before collapsing. This is also the reason you want to find a Tome of Ancient Lore: Divination and take the Legendary Spell Focus in that school to empower the soak. Always have several copies of Premonition in your spell book in cause of an emergency or if the spell dissipates because it has reached the maximum amount of damage it can soak.
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]16 - Weapon Master(1)[/td]
[td]Strength +1[/td]
[td]Discipline +19
Listen +19[/td]
[td]
- Weapon of Choice (Quarterstaff):
- Specializes your character in a single weapon of which you have a weapon focus feat. Your only focus is in quarterstaff, so there isn't much to chose from. This feat determines for which weapon a Weapon Master will get extra ab, increased threat range and a higher damage multiplier on critical hits.
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]17 - Weapon Master(2)[/td]
[td][/td]
[td]Discipline +1
Listen +1
Tumble +1 (cc)[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]18 - Weapon Master(3)[/td]
[td][/td]
[td]Discipline +1
Listen +1[/td]
[td]
- Improved Critical (Quarterstaff):
- Increases the threat range of the chosen weapon. Stacks with Ki Critical and the Keen property on quarterstaffs (or your spell Weapon of Impact if the weapon lacks the property).
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]19 - Weapon Master(4)[/td]
[td][/td]
[td]Discipline +1
Listen +1
Tumble +1 (cc)[/td]
[td][/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]20 - Weapon Master(5)[/td]
[td]Strength +1[/td]
[td]Discipline +1
Listen +1[/td]
[td]
- Increased Multiplier (free feat):
- Increases the critical hit multiplier on your Weapon of Choice (in this case quarterstaff) by 1 from x2 to x3. You will now do more damage when you land a critical hit. Since your damage from blackstaff and other weapon buffs will be multiplied as well, this feat provides a notable increase in damage output against foes not immune to critical hits.
- Superior Weapon Focus (free feat):
- Grants you one additional ab with your Weapon of Choice at Weapon Master level 5 and 10, meaning you'll receive an additional +2 ab from this feat while using a quarterstaff.
[/tr]
[/table]
Table: Epic (21-40) Levels
Level - Class | Ability | Skills | Feats |
21 - Weapon Master(6) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 Tumble +1 (cc) |
| |
22 - Weapon Master(7) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 |
| |
23 - Weapon Master(8) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 Tumble +1 (cc) | ||
24 - Weapon Master(9) | Strength +1 | Discipline +1 Listen +1 |
|
25 - Weapon Master(10) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 Tumble +1 (cc) | ||
26 - Weapon Master(11) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 | ||
27 - Weapon Master(12) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 Tumble +1 (cc) |
| |
28 - Weapon Master(13) | Strength +1 | Discipline +1 Listen +1 |
|
29 - Weapon Master(14) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 Tumble +1 (cc) | ||
30 - Weapon Master(15) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 |
| |
31 - Weapon Master(16) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 Tumble +1 (cc) |
| |
32 - Weapon Master(17) | Strength +1 | Discipline +1 Listen +1 | |
33 - Weapon Master(18) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 Tumble +1 (cc) |
| |
34 - Weapon Master(19) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 |
| |
25 - Weapon Master(20) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 Concentration +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) | ||
36 - Weapon Master(21) | Strength +1 | Discipline +1 Listen +1 |
|
37 - Weapon Master(22) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 Concentration +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) |
| |
38 - Weapon Master(23) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 | ||
39 - Weapon Master(24) | Discipline +1 Listen +1 Concentration +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) |
| |
40 - Weapon Master(25) | Strength +1 | Discipline +1 Listen +1 |
|
Table: Legendary (41-60) Levels
Level - Class | Ability | Skills | Feats |
41 - Staffmaster | Craft Armor +26 Craft Weapon +26 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +44 Concentration +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) | ||
42 - Staffmaster | Strength +1 | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 |
|
43 - Staffmaster | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 Concentration +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) | ||
44 - Staffmaster | Strength +1 | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 | |
45 - Staffmaster | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 Concentration +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) |
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46 - Staffmaster | Strength +1 | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 | |
47 - Staffmaster | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 Concentration +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) | ||
48 - Staffmaster | Strength +1 | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 |
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49 - Staffmaster | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 Concentration +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) | ||
50 - Staffmaster | Strength +1 | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 | |
51 - Staffmaster | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 Concentration +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) |
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52 - Staffmaster | Strength +1 | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 | |
53 - Staffmaster | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 Concentration +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) | ||
54 - Staffmaster | Strength +1 | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 |
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55 - Staffmaster | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 Concentration +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) | ||
56 - Staffmaster | Strength +1 | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 | |
57 - Staffmaster | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 Concentration +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) |
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58 - Staffmaster | Strength +1 | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 | |
59 - Staffmaster | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 Concentration +1 (cc) Tumble +1 (cc) | ||
60 - Staffmaster | Strength +1 | Craft Armor +1 Craft Weapon +1 Discipline +1 Listen +1 Parry +1 some left over points (see below) |
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Abilities at Level 60 without gear
Strength 38
Dexterity 14
Constitution 14
Wisdom 6
Intelligence 18
Charisma 6
Saves at Level 60 without/with gear
Fortitude: 31 (57)
Reflex: 30 (56)
Will: 31 (57)
People usually try to push their saves over 60 to succeed most if not all checks. This build won't reach this mark but will fare very well until 60 and beyond with these scores, because it can avoid quite a lot of the "on hit" checks due to it's high concealment.
AB and AC at Level 60 (with items and his own buffs)
AB: 93 (up to 94 with bard song increasing craft weapon) at 7 attacks per round
AC: 103 (up to 104 with bard song increasing craft armor) with 90% conceal (81% vs blindfight)
Skills at Level 60
63 Discipline
Helps ward against discipline checks which are commonplace on this server. Any front-line tank should have as much discipline as possible. Increase this on every Weapon Master level but not on your Wizard levels.
63 Parry
The parry skill will reduce the damage on any critical hits that land on you. Parry score over 100 will also make you immune to devastating critical. Increase this in Legendary Levels when it is a class skill for Weapon Masters.
63 Craft Weapon
Every 40 points in this skill will add 1 attack bonus to your overall AB score. With bard song this skill will grant you 2 AB. Increase this on Wizard levels and again in Legendary Levels when it's a class skill for Weapon Masters.
63 Craft Armor
Every 40 points in this skill will add 1 armor class bonus to your overall AC score. With bard song and gear this skill will grant you 2 AC. Increase this on Wizard levels and again in Legendary Levels when it's a class skill for Weapon Masters.
63 Listen
Listen beyond 60 points will reduce the concealment of your enemies making them easier to hit. Due to not having blindfight, this build relies on listen to hit concealed enemies. Always make sure you're not deafened and cast clairaudience/clairvoyance (= bonus to listen skill) before attacking heavily concealed enemies. Increase this on every Weapon Master level but not on your Wizard levels.
31 Tumble
Every 5 points of tumble will grant you 1 point of AC. Because this build can't afford to take Legendary Skill Affinity (tumble), your tumble score is capped at 30 which equals 6 ac. Increase this on every level this skill is available. The last point going from 30 to 31 won't increase your ac, but if you decide on playing this character even longer than just to level 60, you'll be able to increase tumble to 40 ranks eventually and the point spent at level 59 will be the first step in this direction.
31 Concentration
Helps prevent spells from being disrupted while casting, and wards against concentration checks. While 31 Concentration is enough for most checks it is very low to cast while being surrounded in combat. It is better to disengage from combat, recast your buff and get back into the fray. Increase this on every wizard level and on every Weapon Master level the skill is available.
4 Intimidate
For this character not a useful skill on it's own, but you need it to become a Weapon Master. Make sure you've put in 4 points before level 15. The easiest way to make sure you do is putting all 4 points at once which is possible earliest at level 5.
3 left over
Have a look at this post, if you don't feel like leaving 3 points unspent, but I can assure you, that those 3 points don't matter at all.
Overview
Levels 1-15: Wizard; Levels 16-40 Weapon Master
Pre-Epic Feats:
1 - Luck of Heroes, Expertise
3 - Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff
5 - Spell Focus: Abjuration (Wizard Bonus Feat)
6 - Dodge
9 - Mobility
10 - Greater Spell Focus: Abjuration (Wizard Bonus Feat)
12 - Spring Attack
15 - Whirlwind Attack, Extend Spell (Wizard Bonus Feat)
16 - Weapon of Choice: Quarterstaff (WM Bonus Feat)
18 - Improved Critical: Quarterstaff
Epic Feats:
21 - Power Attack
24 - Cleave
27 - Great Cleave
28 - Epic Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff (Weapon Master Bonus Feat)
30 - Epic Fortitude
31 - Epic Prowess (WM Bonus Feat)
33 - Epic Will
34 - Overwhelming Critical: Quarterstaff (WM Bonus Feat)
36 - Great Strength I
37 - Devastating Critical: Quarterstaff (WM Bonus Feat)
39 - Great Strength II
40 - Armor Skin (WM Bonus Feat)
Legendary Feats:
42 - Legendary Luck
45 - Legendary Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff
48 - Epic Spell Focus: Abjuration
51 - Legendary Spell Focus: Abjuration
54 - Greater Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff
57 - Epic Skill Focus Listen
60 - Legendary Spell Focus: Divination (make sure you've found and read an Ancient Tome of Wisdom: Divination by this time)
Skills:
See section above. It contains the essentials on when to put how much points in which skill.
Spells often used at level 40+
All spells that can be cast on weapons can't be dispelled afaik and you won't lose them when you die, so you don't need more than one copy in your spell book unless you want to buff your party members with them.
- Flame Weapon
- Shock Weapon
- Weapon of Impact
- Blackstaff
Spells that have a long duration and are not critical to survive are listed here; which means you only need to recast them if you've been dispelled or died. Depending on available spell slots I usually have two or three copies of each of them (all extended).
- Mage Armor
- Shield
- Resist Elements
(- Burning Hands)
The following spells are critical for your survival, if one of them has run out or is dispelled you have to recast it immediately. I usually have four to six copies of each one, Tenser's Transformation sometimes even more (usually not extended).
- Tenser's Transformation
- Ethereal Visage
- Energy Buffer
- Premonition
Spells that are only used to buff party members are listed here. It depends on the party which spells and how many of them are needed.
- Flame Weapon
- Shock Weapon
- Greater Magic Weapon
- Keen Edge, Needle Point, Weapon of Impact
- Stoneskin
- Elemental Protection
And the last list contains spells which are only used in specific situations, or have to be recast very often because of their short duration. As you don't need all of them everywhere you go, you should just fill your spell book with those you'll need. The extend spell feat provides some flexibility here.
- Endure Elements
- Elemental Shield
- Mestil's Acid Sheath
- Energy Immunity
- Shadow Shield
- Spell Mantle
- Expeditious Retreat
- Clairaudience/Clairvoyance
About damage buffs on weapons (Flame Weapon, Shock Weapon and Blackstaff; more from other spellcasting classes)
The weapon buffs on higher ground work in a special manner in that they add damage to a weapon which is based on the caster level the spell is cast and on the damage dice on the weapon inherent before the spell is cast. Each weapon buff will add damage dices to the elemental (or exotic) damage dice on your weapon. How many dice depends on the caster level and which dice depends on the weapon. An example: You've found the level 20 rare quarterstaff Poetry in Motion which has 2d6 electrical, 2d6 sonic and 1d6 magical damage. Casting shock weapon with 20 caster levels will add 2d6 stacking electrical damage and your weapon will have 4d6 electrical damage bonus. Casting flame weapon will add 2d4 fire damage since the weapon doesn't feature any fire damage and so the lowest dice (d4) will be used for calculation. It's easy to see that the higher your dice on the weapon is, the more damage the corresponding weapon buff will add.
Blackstaff behaves slightly different: The number of dice depends on your Weapon Master levels (3 + 1 every 5 WM levels including legendary levels) and the dice itself is set at d10s (unless you find an item which can increase it to d12s). This damage does not stack with the same type on the weapon. In the example above you could add 4d10 fire damage to your weapon by casting blackstaff (which would not stack with flame weapon). Switching to do electrical damage available at level 23 (8 WM levels) would add 4d10 electrical damage but override the 4d6 from shock weapon and the base elemental type on your weapon because it's higher.
In a party it's worthwile asking for weapon buffs (acid, cold, sonic and so on) if your weapon features these types and returen your own buffs (fire and electrical, keen, greater magic weapon ... and blackstaff should you encounter a quarterstaff wielding monk...) to other characters using weapons. Without the types available the added damage is rather small and may often not go through your targets resists.
Blackstaff is different to use. Make sure you know what types of damage you have available at your level and the commands to toggle between them (see the link at the top of the thread or the section below) and use whatever damage is most effective on your current target. You can easily switch blackstaff damage in between a fight and can adjust to optimize damage or switch between targets rapidly. If you don't know what type is most effective ask around and sure someone will tell you. If in doubt you might wanna switch to some exotic damage (magic or positive particularly) since it's rarely resisted and you weapon won't feature a lot of high dices on these types decreasing lost damage from overlapping blackstaff overlapping buffs or inherent damage types.
About summons (Shaelgarn's Persistant Blade and Mordenkainen's Sword)
As of December 2011 all summons have been reworked and increase in power as their summoner gets more levels, picks up certain feats or is using metamagic to cast the summon spell. Since the power or summons casted by spells (opposite those casted using a feat) is determined by caster level to the highest extent, staffmasters are generally poor summoners since most spells are cast at a low caster level. There are some exceptions to this rule though: Mordenkainen's Sword and Black Blade of Disaster are staffmaster spells and cast at full caster level; and Shaelgarn's Persistant Blade, which oddly isn't a Staffmaster spell but summons the same things as Mordenkainen's Sword at high levels.
Black Blade of Disaster (BBoD) did not change as far as I know. It's not important for this Staffmaster anyway since with only 15 wizard levels, you'll never be able to cast level 9 spells. BBoD is therefor usually cast from spells and used as a decoy.
Mordenkainen's Sword scales with caster level and transmuation foci; you will notice different summons from those of original nwn from about level 15 on. It always summons an invisible construct (and therefor coming with immunities to critical hits, mind spells, poison, disease and so on) wielding some kind of weapon. The weapon might sport an enhancement bonus and extra damage (usually some exotic type like magic or negative) but isn't keen. So you generally want to buff your summon with keen edge or needle point depending on the weapon the summon wields. Flame and Shock weapon on the other hand are better kept for yourself, other partymembers and their summons since the spells are of little benefit without elemental damage on the weapon (see the section above).
Aside from those immunities mentioned above, spell resistance and some elemental immunties and resists, the defensive side of this summon (and most others as well) is rather poor. If you have extra spell slots, fill them with mage armor, stoneskin and protection from elements, these will benefit all summons a lot. You can also heal a damaged summon by dragging a heal pot over it's portrait to the right of the screen; the same goes for other potions like negative energy protection or stoneskin.
Shaelgarn's Persistant Blade is rather odd at the moment. It's not supposed to be a Staffmaster spell and boosted by evocation foci. As of the time I'm wirting this, Shaelgarn's Persistand Blade summons at high levels exactly the same summon (a Caligrosto) as Mordenkainen's Sword. Since summons are still being worked on by the development team, this might change and I'll update this post whenever I get more information.
Useful spells to make scrolls
- Gust of Wind
- Stone to Flesh (FtS)
- Greater Sanctuary (GS)
- Mind Blank (MB)
- Shadow Shield
- Black Blade of Disaster (BBoD)
You can't scribe both GS and MB scrolls until you've found them and read them as you don't have enough wizard levels to chose them manually at a level-up. On the other hand, you'll never be able to scribe your own BBoD scrolls because you're restricted to level 8 spells due to having only 15 Wizard levels (thanks to arek for the note). But having a stack in your inventory from a friendly Wizard or an own char who can scribe them can do you good once you're in a position where you have to pull enemies to the rest of your group.
Useful links
- Staffmaster Documentation provides essential information about entry requirements, spell changes and damage toggle commands, can also be acquired ingame using the "!doc quasi sm" command.
- Staffmaster Build Forum contains a host of excellent staffmaster builds you can consult for further inspiration or comparison. Also contains builds for other subraces than Air Genasi.
- Wiki page on Staffmasters is rather empty at the moment, but might contain condensed information in the future.
- HG enhanced wiki page, probably the most important link if you've just started out on HG since it contains everything about HG enhanced which is an immensely useful pack of changes on HG.
- The Newbie Guide provides another source of vast information especially helpful for starters. Also contains a link the the immortal guide which will guide you through the legendary levels as well.
- The Tanking Guide is definately a good read for everyone planning a melee character. You should however note that a staffmaster might not be the sturdiest chracter and play accordingly.
Edits
- 16.12.2009: Replaced gr. str III+IV with gwf and esf: listen. Makes str mod even (20) thus only 1 point of damage is lost instead of 2, no loss of ab, but with esf 127 listen is possible. Added picture of my lvl 49 -HC- staffy.
- 14.8.2010: Added a shorter guide with feats and skills for a quick glance if you don't want to read the whole level by level guide. Also included the new spell shock weapon and inserted a small paragraph about the functioning of the new weapon buffs. Removed the picture because it's quite outdated (the char's still alive though) and too big. Added link section for a quick overview on information about staffmasters.
- 1.12.2011: Added a small paragraph about the new and reworked summons (those relevant for staffmasters only). This is a work in progress and will be expanded as I gather more knowledge about summons myself. For comparison I built a test chamber toon following exactly this layout with lsf: trans. Stressing again: This is work in progress and I have no intentions changing anything about the build since it works great (up to lvl 52 with my hardcore toon). So far I'm looking at summons for staffmasters as gimmicks, and will treat them as such in this build (at least until I've got more knowledge about summons in general).
- 1.6.2012: Added one of these fancy level-by-level tables seen in most other Open Subrace Builds. I suppose this makes the whole breakdown a bit easier to read.
maljin