Build a better fighter!

[Don Jadell]

Okay folks, we've all got a look at the feats and races, now it's time to build a better fighter!

A few rules, you cannot multiclass, and you can only level till 12. Any race or subrace is open for use, and we are using nwn2's 32 point buy. So...go get it!

[Castian]

One thing that is probably underused with fighters is skill focus and able learner. Their ability to boost skills through all their spare feats adds some variety.

[BD_Dreamer]

I suppose you could use these abilities to boost some nifty cross class skills like taunt & tumble (though only base tumble helped in nwn1). Take a human fighter with 14 int for decent base skill points and that might help a bit ... plus you can qualify for expertise and improved expertise. The disarm and kd feats in nwn 2 also seem better suited for use by warriors, so pick those up as well.

[BD_Dreamer]

I give you Mister (or Miss) Flexibility. Not the best for damage, ac, ab or hp, rather a multi-talented fighter with a variety of abilities not typically used by fighters.

Level 12 Human Fighter

Starting Attributes
str 15
dex 10
con 14
int 14
wis 14
cha 12

Feats
1: able learner
1: strong soul
1: luck of heroes
2: expertise
3: weapon focus longsword
4: weapon spec longsword
6: improved expertise
6: knockdown
8: improved knockdown
9: improved crit longsword
10: greater weapon focus longsword
12: feint
12: greater weapon spec longsword

Equipment:
+1 longsword
+1 full plate
+1 tower shield
+2 dex from some eq
+2 str from some eq
+2 con from some eq

Attributes at level 12:
20 str (+2 from item, +3 from levels)
12 dex (+2 from item)
16 con (+2 from item)
14 int
14 wis
12 cha

Attack bonus
12 bab
+5 ab from strength
+2 ab using longsword

20 ab with +1 longsword

17 (-3) ab in expertise
14 (-6) ab in improved expertise
16 (-4) ab when using kd

Armor Class:
10 + 8 full plate + 1 magic full plate + 1 dex mod + 1 luck of heroes (assuming it stacks ... who knows), + 1 tumble + 3 tower shield + 1 magic tower shield = 26 ac
29 ac in expertise
32 ac in improve expertise

Saving Throws:
fort: +8 high throw, +3 con mod, +1 luck of heroes, +1 strong soul = 13 fort (14 vs death)
reflex: +4 low throw + 1 dex mod, +1 luck of heroes = 6 reflex
will: +4 low throw + 2 wis mod, + 1 luck of heroes, +1 strong soul = 8 will (9 vs death)

damage:
+1d8 longsword + 1 magic longsword + 4 greater weapon spec longsword + 5 strength
= 1d8 + 10 damage

HP: 12x(10/2) + 12x3 ~= 102 hp assuming no playing with dice

Skills:

skill pts: 2 + 1 + 2 = 5/lvl

discipline: 15 + 5 str = 20
concentration: 15 + 3 con = 18
taunt : 7 + 1 cha = 8
tumble : 7 + 1 dex = 8 (7 base = +1 dodge ac from tumble)
bluff : 7 + 1 cha = 8
search : 7 + 2 int = 9
disable trap : 7 + 2 int = 9
open lock : 7 + 1 dex = 8

Feint: This char can roll a d20 + 8 (bluff skill) to try and beat an opponent's spot skill + bab to remove their dex bonus to ac.

Summary:
102 hp

standard: attacks: 20/15/10 with 1d8 + 10 17x2 threat range, 26 ac
expertise: 17/12/7, 29ac
impr exp: 14/9/4, 32ac
impr kd: 16/19/14, 26 ac (on success)
impr kd: 16/15/10, 26 ac (on failure)

after successful taunt (equivalent of +6 ab)
standard: attacks: 26/21/16 with 1d8 + 10 17x2 threat range, 26 ac
expertise: 23/18/13, 29ac :cool:
impr exp: 20/15/10, 32ac :D
impr kd: 22/25/20, 26 ac (on success) :eek:
impr kd: 22/21/16, 26 ac (on failure) :(

saving throws: 13 fort, 6 reflex, 8 will (+1 vs death)

What the char lacks:

The char has a few less hp and slightly lower strength, thus 1-2 less damage and ab than a fighter made purely for those #'s could have. However, if taunt or feint are successful the net ab gain could far outweigh this.

More charisma or skill bonus items would be needed to make taunt & feint work against anything that actually has concentration or spot ranks. Another option would be to not worry about saving throws as much & drop wis to 12, put cha to 14, drop strong soul, drop heroes, add skill focus: taunt, skill focus: bluff. This would give +4 to both skills, but I like the saves a lot ...

[Zimith]

A failed experiment with a dex-based, dual-wielding fighter:

Level 12 Elven Fighter

Attributes
str 14
dex 18 (+3) 21
con 12
wis 10
int 13
cha 10

Feats:
luck of heroes
weapon finesse
weapon focus (short sword)
two weapon fighting
improved two weapon fighting
greater two weapon fighting
toughness
dodge
improved parry
greater weapon focus (short sword)
combat expertise
weapon spec (short sword)
improved weapon spec (short sword)
two weapon defense


Attacks with +1 short sword x2

+16/11/6 +16/11/6

Expertise ab: + 13/8/3

Damage

1d6 (average 4) + 2 (STR) + 1 (enhancement bonus) + 4 (greater wp spec) = average 11 (min 8, max 13)

Armor Class:
10 (base) + 2 (armor bonus leather) +1 (enhancement bonus) + 5 (dex) = 18

Expertise 21

Saving Throws:
fort: 8 + 1 + 1 = 10
reflex: 4 + 5 + 1 = 10
will: 4 + 1 = 5

HP MAX: 144

Skills:

Max ranks in

parry
Heal
lore (or dicipline?)

____________________

The dex based fighter has many drawbacks: chiefly having worse AC and dealing less damage than a strength based ditto. The nice part is of course the number of attacks (a total of 6 at lvl 12). The bad defensive abilities are raised with a few AC-boosting feats, combat expertise and parry, which should put this build somewhat back in the defensive business. If allowed to advance further than 12, I'd probably throw in feats like improved 2 wp defense, disarm and improved disarm, the two critical-enhancing feats and probably the expert tactician feat just because it'd look good. Overall though, this build just has too many drawbacks, and now matter how you turn and twist, the strength based version wins hands on. The whole concept will probably be better off going Duelist anyway. Rememeber though that a dex based ftr build is maybe the only valid way to
use the new dual-wielding rules while not being a ranger.

[Martinus]

I think high Dex/Int fighters should eventually multiclass as duelists - otherwise, they will always lose to heavily armoured brutes, imo.

[BD_Dreamer]

You forgot to add your +2 ab (now 18 ab while dual wielding) for shortsword focus and +1 ac (now 19 ac while dual wielding) from two weapon defense, so that helps a bit.

That dex build does have a decent parry score. If you had a +2 dex item (to square with my example), dropped toughness and took skill focus: parry, you'd have 24 parry (15 + 6 dex + 3 sf parry ).

This parry score is 2 less than the ac of the flexible fighter, but you get to add d20 to try and avoid attack rolls and improved parry grants 2 riposte attacks at full ab, if your parry check is 5 above the attack roll. So as long as you can keep up with the # of attacks, you should do pretty well with parry.

Example round vs 2 lvl 10 opponents
fighter: 18/13 (+2 for flanking, assuming you fight the rogue)
rogue: 13/8

fighter: 18 + 14 = 32 vs 24 + 6 = 30 (hits the hero on a bit of bad luck)
rogue: 13 + 15 = 28 vs 24 + 12 = 36 (riposte attack at 18 ab)
fighter: 13 + 10 = 23 vs 24 + 5 = 29 (riposte attack at 18 ab)
rogue: 8 + 16 = 21 vs 24 + 3 = 27 (parried, can't riposte: used 6 attacks*)

*A parry attempt counts as an attack, as does a riposte

Example round vs 1 lvl 12 Flexible Fighter
ff: 20/15/10, 26 ac

ff: 20 + 14 = 34 vs 24 + 9 = 33 (hits the parry fighter)
ff: 15 + 10 = 25 vs 24 + 6 = 30 (riposte attack at 18 ab)
riposte: 18 + 9 = 27 vs 26 ac (hits ff)
ff: 10 + 7 = 17 vs 24 + 2 = 26 (riposte attack at 18 ab)
riposte: 18 + 5 = 23 vs 26 ac (miss)

That's 1 hit for each, but it will be generally eaiser for the parry fighter to hit (18ab vs 26ac for parry fighter compared to 20 ab versus 24 + d20 for flexible fighter). The parry fighter's attacks are also potentially 18/18/13 ... if he gets that many ripostes. The flexible fighter will do 3.5 more damage per hit, but probably still lose unless the flexible fighter can get a few knockdowns.

Taunt & Feint also won't help versus parry.

[Scramasax]

Afaik, luck bonus to AC stacks :P Darned Luck of Heroes!

A powerful dual wield fighter is possible, Zimith. To save feats (no need weapon finesse) and increase damage, you could just use a str + dex wood elf. It's a rather unfun munchkin build with not much concept though. Much better to go ranger.

Level 12 Wood Elf Fighter

Starting Attributes:
Str 18
Dex 16
Con 12
Int 12
Wis 10
Cha 08

Feats:
1: TW Fighting
1: Weap Foc Shortsword
2: TW Defence
3: ???
4: +Dex(17)
4: Weap Spec Shortsword
6: Imp TW Fighting
6: Imp TW Defence
8: +Dex(18)
8: ???
9: Imp Crit Shortsword
10: Gtr Weap Foc Shortsword
12: +Dex(19)
12: Gtr TWF
12: Gtr Weap Spec Shortsword

Just two spare feats to play with, and with which to define your PC's style of fighting to something more than click-and-watch. Basically, you could tweak the above to get a starter feat (like Strong Soul) + a stand-alone feat (like Power Critical), or just go for any of the paired feats (like Power Attack and Cleave). For the two spare feats, I'd personally go for Improved Parry and Skill Focus (Parry) to shore up defence, and to take full benefit from having six attacks.

I would avoid Expertise altogether due to the AB penalty and the Int requirement, and the fact that Expertise mode and Parry mode are mutually exclusive. I would avoid Disarm again due to the Int requirement, and the fact that shortswords aren't big enough. I could reduce Wis and Cha further to get another skill point and access to the Int fighter feats (like KD), but my sensibilities just wouldn't be able to handle such levels of munchkinism.

Equipment:
Dual Shortswords
Any armour you please, though I'd suggest a Chainshirt to start.

Attributes at Level 12:
Str 18 (to be boosted thereafter)
Dex 19 (+3 from levels)
Con 12
Int 12
Wis 10
Cha 08

As I'd leave Dex alone and just put points in Str after lvl 12, the damage will rise a fair bit. Priority would be for a good Str item. I'm sure one could scrounge a +1 Dex item somewhere to round the Dex bonus up to +5. A +3 Dex item would make leather armour a good option.

Attack Bonus:
12 BAB
+4 AB from Str
+2 AB using Shortswords
-2 AB from TWF
Total= 16

Skills:
2 Base + 1 Int = 3/lvl

Tumble: 7 + 4 Dex mod = 11 (7 base = +1 Dodge AC)
Parry: 15 +4 Dex mod +3 Skill Foc = 22

Decent chance to make a run for it without AoOs. Decent chance to Parry/Riposte blows.

Armor Class:
10 Base + 4 Chainshirt + 4 Dex mod +2 Imp TW Defence +1 Tumble = 21 AC
Slightly weak base AC, unless you have good gear. Offset by Parry acting as a first line of defence.

Saving Throws:
Fortitude: +8 High, +1 Con mod = 9
Reflex: +4 Low, +4 Dex mod = 8
Will: +4 Low, 0 Wis mod = 4
Decent Fortitude and Reflex saves, atrocious Will save.

Damage:
+1d6 Shortsword + 4 Gtr Weap Spec + 4 Str = 1d6 + 8 damage (main hand)
or 1d6 + 6 damage (off hand)

The real fun is that you get 6 attacks like that instead of 3. It's a lot better than a monkeygrip greatsword ftr (same AB), because the strength and weapon spec bonuses just keep on adding up with each hit :)

You also need to be attacked with more than 6 attacks per round before Parry is nullified and being swarmed under becomes a danger. Possible, but harder.

HP:
12 lvls x 11 HP = 121 HP (max)

Summary:
Straight-up damage dealer. Does a lot of damage with two weapons, but is entirely reliant on the 2 spare feats to be otherwise somehow special in his style of fighting.

Weaknesses:
1) Lousy story. It's a munchkin, unless I can dream up of some good and plausible story... An impatient (no secondary skills, Cha 8), abrasive and sarcastic (12 Int, 8 Cha) wood elf, that was ejected from his forest village at a young age (no Ranger lvls), and was adopted and taught by some circus swordmaster (only showy feats, tumbling and parrying). Welcome to the wonderful world of the wood elven mega-munchkin.
2) Lousy Will save.
3) Lousy skills.

[Jim Fazater]

I don't think you used all 32 points there, did you? 10 points on Strength, 6 on Dex, 6 on Con, 6 on Int, and 2 on Wis. Those two points could raise your Int to 13 to unlock Int feats, or Wis to 12 for higher Will. Or raise your Cha so you can play him with some level of personality.

[Scramasax]

I minused two extra points for the wood elf option. +2 str dex, -2 int con cha. Is that right?

[Zimith]

The build still suffers a lot in comparison to a STR based fighter, Scram. The AB is not impressive and the off hand attacks even less so considering it's -2/-5/-10. Your AC is decent, I give you that, but remember tumble now requires ten ranks to provide an ac bonus. The build will suffer a lot when fighting high ac or dr enemies and I also wonder if parry would be a valid choise if fighting a high ab, high dmg foe. It'll certainly be possible to roll a fair dex based fighter, but it'll be inferior to a STR based ditto in many situations. To sum it up, it has the same weaknesses as any fighter but has strengths that will only work under certain conditions.

[Scramasax]

True that the build is very world dependent. In a world like BD, it would do decently I think. Most enemies came in threes. A good number for a parrying str ranger. Performance against a single high AB foe would depend very much on what +parry skill gear the chap has. Greater gloves of parry+6 would make a huge difference (almost akin a +6AC item, but it opens up more ripostes too). Performance against high AC foe would still be better than someone using expertise mode. Performance against DR foes is a weakness, but ameliorated by his being a decent str fighter rather than a dex fighter. Whether the foe is high damage or not matters only to the build's HP, which in this case is not great, but ok.

Unless the rules have changed dramatically, the AB would be same for both hands. He suffers -2 to all attacks, but isn't double-penalised, if you know what I mean. At level 12...
12/7/2 (main hand) +2 Shortsword -2 TWF +4 Str = 16/11/6 (main hand)
12/7/2 (off hand) +2 Shortsword -2 TWF +4 Str = 16/11/6 (off hand)
... which is lousier than single wield and 20 strength, but better than using any Expertise mode.

My conclusion... has strengths and weaknesses. Would do well in PWs with parry skill items and small clusters of foes. Would do poorly in PWs that have swarms that could overwhelm the 6 attacks.

Didn't know about the Tumble 10 restriction. Does the armour movement restriction apply too? Meaning any armour that restricts movement speed negates tumble AC.

[Jim Fazater]

I don't think wood elves get -2 Cha.

I don't think the build is too bad since you can have some nice AC with a mithral full plate. Also, if you have two weapons, one weapon could be adamantine and one could be cold iron or something else, so you'll be prepared for a lot of situations where enemies have DR.

The only thing is you don't need any more than a +3 Dex bonus, since a mithral full plate wouldn't support past that. Unless you really want to go for Parry and don't want armor check penalty.

[BD_Dreamer]

An interesting idea, but I think you're far better off going pure dex or pure strength than mixing them. You will have higher ab and the same or eventually higher ac (if you are dexer to high enough level). Your parry skill will also not be that great with mixed str/dex ... but I suppose parry items could get you by there.

An often overlooked problem with taking some str to improve dual wield damage is that the strength damage bonus is halved on off-hand attacks, so you are only getting +2 damage on the off-hand attack, compared to a fighter with 14 str's +1 damage.

16/11/6 + 16/11/6 is also not necessarily better than 20/15/10 versus high ac opponents where the +6 attacks will be useless and the +20 attack will have a much greater chance of striking than a 16. The flexible fighter will also be doing 2 more damage per hit with the main hand and 4 more damage per hit compared to the off hand and a higher bab means dropping into expertise will not hurt your attacks as much.

Six attacks is also very misleading if you are going to be using parry, because you have to use an attack to parry and one to riposte: at most you get 3 attacks. It can still be worth it, but only if your ab and parry can get you those 3 riposte attacks and make them hit. The mixed fighter also has a serious disadvantage in armour choice: You can use chain shirt and get good ac, but the -2 penalty to parry ... or you can wear leather and lose 2 ac, but have no parry penalty. The parry fighter doesn't suffer the problem and the flexible fighter can turn expertise on or off at will.

If you compare the "mixed fighter" against the parry fighter, the -2 ab and the -2 parry scores don't seem worth the aditional 1.5 average damage per hit either ... as that means your opponent is 10% more likely to hit you and you are are 10% less likely to be able to riposte and then 10% less likely to be able to hit them on the riposte attack.

[Jim Fazater]

An often overlooked problem with taking some str to improve dual wield damage is that the strength damage bonus is halved on off-hand attacks, so you are only getting +2 damage on the off-hand attack, compared to a fighter with 14 str's +1 damage.

You're basically getting one times your Strength on your main hand and half on your off-hand, making you get one-and-a-half times your Strength bonus overall. So, I'd say it makes sense to boost your Strength up a bit at the start, then either focus purely on Dex or Str. For a fighter that can wear heavy armor, I'd say Strength is a much better choice.

When you're using Two-Weapon Fighting and doubling your attacks per round, getting two hits for every one some guy with a greatsword would get, you're doing about the same damage. If you had 14 Strength and a greataxe, you'd swing for 2d6+3 damage. If you had two shortswords, you'd do 1d6+2 and 1d6+1, for a total of 2d6+3. The only real difference is that you get -2 to attack.

So, why take Two-Weapon Fighting in the first place, then, if it's just like using a two-handed weapon but requiring more feats, more Dex, and giving penalties to attack? For one, you look cool and get more attack animations. (I used dual waraxes with Jim because despite getting -4 to attack, I thought it was fun to use dual axes and then Power Attack.) For two, if you're a rogue, you want more total attacks since your sneak attack damage applies to every hit.

I'd have to say get your starting Dex up to 16 since it only costs you 6 points, then put the rest in Strength.

[Scramasax]

BD Dreamer, ripostes don't use up an attack, afaik. They are part of the same attack used to parry, but you can only have a maximum of 3 ripostes. For example, a 3.5 ranger with 7 base attacks could parry 7 incoming attacks, but he'd only be able to riposte 3 of those. It would not be spending 4 base attacks on parrying, and 3 on ripostes. But I do take your point that AB is important to the riposte, and armour also.

On TWF. Against very high AC foes, the large weapon user wins. 1 attack that connects, and 2 hopeful attacks that probably won't. The dual wield has 6 hopeful attacks that probably won't connect.

Against foes that have moderate AC, the dual wield wins. The large weapon user has 2 attacks that connect and 1 hopeful attack that won't. The dual wield has 4 attacks that connect and 2 hopeful attacks that won't.
Assuming 18 strength...
[Greater weapon specialisation (4) + Strength bonus (4 x 1.5 = 6)] x 2 attacks = 20 extra damage, + probably an extra 1d6 large weapon base damage.
[Greater weapon specialisation (4) + Strength bonus (averages to 3)] x 4 attacks = 28 extra damage.

The lower the AC of the foes, the greater the damage output of dual wield. And that's assuming expertise or monkeygrip doesn't affect the AB of the large weapon user. Is it a great build? Well, it's a lot of feats for a moderate extra benefit. Bottomline, I'm just going to play a wood elf strength ranger to get the feats for free, and use other advantages of that class to offset the lower HP.

Whew. Think I've throttled the topic to death, so I'd better stop here. Next build, please!

[Jim Fazater]

6 Strength damage (1.5 times 4 modifier) plus 4 Greater Weapon Specialization and 7 average base damage means a total of 17 damage per hit on average with a greatsword.

4 Strength damage plus 4 Greater Weapon Specialization plus 3.5 average damage with a shortsword means 11.5 average damage per hit with the dual wield build. And two less Strength damage with the off-hand attack, making that 9.5 on average.

Assuming moderate AC means hitting half of the time, the greatsword would hit 10 out of 20 times. That's a 170 damage score.

The dual wield build would have 2 less attack from Two-Weapon Fighting penalties. This means your main hand will hit 8 out of 20 times, and your off-hand would hit 8 out of 20 times, too. 8 x (11.5 + 9.5 = 21) = 168 damage score.

The dual-wielded shortswords actually fall a tiny bit short of the greatsword.

[Jim Fazater]

Here's my dwarven fighter:

Starting stats - 17 Str, 13 Dex, 18 Con, 10 Int, 10 Wis, 6 Cha.

1: Luck of Heroes (THIS FEAT RULES SHUT UP)
1B: Weapon Focus
2B: Power Attack
3: Toughness
4B: Weapon Specialization (boost STR to 18)
6: Power Critical
6B: Cleave
8B: Greater Weapon Focus (boost STR to 19)
9: Improved Critical
10B: Great Cleave
12: Dodge (boost STR to 20)
12B: Greater Weapon Specialization

I recomend using a large shield and dwarven waraxe. This build doesn't have enough Strength to really justify getting a two-hander. The build is sturdy, conservative, tough, rugged, and can dish out damage.

Your AC will be great with the +1 Dex bonus, Dodge, Luck of Heroes, and large shield. It can pack good punch against single foes with Weapon Focus/Specialization feats, Power Critical and Improved Critical, and against multiple weak foes, you can chew them up and spit them out with Power Attack and Great Cleave.

[BD_Dreamer]

Minimite Dexer Fighter

Level 12 StrongHeart Halfling Fighter

Starting Attributes
str 10
dex 20
con 12
int 14
wis 10
cha 8

Feats
1: weapon finesse
1: two weapon fighting
1: improved parry
2: weapon focus dagger
3: two weapon defense
4: weapon spec dagger
6: skill focus: parry
6: improved two weapon fighting
8: greater weapon focus dagger
9: improved critical dagger
10: improved two weapon defense
12: greater two weapon fighting
12: greater weapon spec dagger

Equipment:
+1 dagger
+1 padded armour
+2 dex from some eq
+2 str from some eq
+2 con from some eq

Attributes at level 12:
12 str (+2 from item)
25 dex (+2 from item, +3 from lvl)
14 con (+2 from item)
14 int
10 wis
8 cha

Attack bonus
12 bab
+7 ab from dexterity
+2 ab using dagger
+1 from a magical dagger
+1 for being small
-2 from dual wielding

22/17/12 +22/17/12 dual wielding two +1 daggers

Armor Class:
10 + 1 padded armor + 1 enhancement + 7 dex mod + 2 shield ac from itwd + 1 for being small = 22 ac

Saving Throws:
fort: +8 high throw, +2 con mod = 10 fort
reflex: +4 low throw + 7 dex mod = 12 reflex
will: +4 low throw + 0 wis mod = 4 will

damage:
+1d4 dagger + 1 enhancement + 4 greater weapon spec + 1 strength
= 1d4 + 6 damage

HP:

12x(10/2) + 12x2 ~= 90 hp assuming no playing with dice, 124 if maxed

Skills:

skill pts: 2 + 2 = 4/lvl

discipline: 15 + 1 str = 16
concentration: 15 + 2 con = 17
spot: 7 + 0 = 7
parry: 15 + 7 + 3 skill focus + 4 improved two weapon defense = 29

Summary:
90 avg/124 max hp

standard: attacks: 22/17/12 +22/17/12 with 1d4 + 6 17x2 threat range, 22 ac

parry defense: 6 attacks with 29 parry and improved parry for ripostes when roll is 5 > opponents attack roll and two ripostes at full ab.

saving throws: 10 fort, 11 reflex, 4 will

What the char lacks:

Damage. 1d4 + 6 is pretty low, though high ab and 17 threat range will result in a fair number of critical hits. A high ab and ikd means he'll often win 1v1 fights, but it won't be quick or pretty ... even with the -4 penalty for being small.

This build would have worked quite well on bd 2 where you can get tons of damage on a weapon to shore up his main weakness.

His ac could be better as well, but he -could- use a large shield + 1 for 24 ac if surrounded by more foes than he can parry against. And with more magical bonuses to dex (even a cats potion) or more levels to boost dex his ac will be quite good.

*edit to fix feats and add +4 parry for two weapon defense* Details details!
*edit to add improved parry

[Jim Fazater]

Is that a dual-wielder without Two-Weapon Fighting?

Edit: OK, looks like it's fixed.

Now time for my Two-Weapon Fighting build. Dwarven, of course.

16 Str, 15 Dex, 18 Con, 10 Int, 10 Wis, 6 Cha.

1: Luck of Heroes
1B: Two-Weapon Fighting
2B: Weapon Focus
3: Two-Weapon Defense
4B: Weapon Specialization (+1 Strength)
6: Power Critical
6B: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
8B: Greater Weapon Focus (+1 Strength)
9: Improved Critical
10B: Greater Two=Weapon Defense
12: Dodge, Power Attack, or something else.
12B: Greater Weapon Specialization (+1 Strength)

Using light weapons may be more effecient overall, but, either you use a handaxe for two more attack, or waraxes for two more damage. The waraxes look cooler, though.

[SnowBlood]

Like me motha' ustah say,
"If it ain't Dwarven, it's crap!"

[BD_Dreamer]

You need 17 dex for improved two weapon fighting and improved two weapon defense.

You only get 1 skill point per level, so what's it gonna be? :D

[Scramasax]

@BD Dreamer:
Think you missed out Improved Parry?
Makes all the difference if you want to riposte regularly. Probably have to drop Luck of Heroes to take it. Heh. I'd also start with 1 less Dex and 2 more Str for that extra bit of damage, and make up for it later. Cheaper that way.

All in all, it looks like TWF and Parry is workable *applauds*, but is a real feat-hog. Worse than qualifying for weaponmaster. 3 TWF feats +2 TW defence feats, +2 parry feats +5 weapon feats = a whopping 12 feats.

[Jim Fazater]

You need 17 dex for improved two weapon fighting and improved two weapon defense.

You only get 1 skill point per level, so what's it gonna be? :D

NWVault says I only need 15 Dex, just like in NWN.

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2GameInfo.Detail&id=53&category_select_id=5

And I have 10 Int, so I get 2 skill points per level. Unless you're saying there's really no other option than to get Tumble. Discipline is gone now, so I'm not sure what I'd put that other skill into. Intimidate, maybe?

"If it ain't Dwarven, it's crap!"

Damn straight. And that goes double for elven things. In my home, "elven" is considered an insult.

Edit:

Oh, but it does say I need 17 Dex for Two-Weapon Defense. Well, maybe just level up Dex a couple times. The Dex bonus could be fully used in mithral full plate.



Second edit:

New starting stats!

16 Str, 16 Dex, 18 Con, 10 Int, 8 Wis, 6 Cha.

Level up Dex once, then even out Strength to 18. Ta da! Took a couple points out of Wis to put them in Dex. Seeing how I envision this as NWN2 Jim, the lack of common sense is quite fitting.

[BD_Dreamer]

This thread (http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=501097&forum=95&sp=0) indicates you need 17 dex for improved two weapon fighting, but it could be wrong.

And yes, seems I forgot -another- feat. Let me edit that again.

I suppose I could drop 1 dex and boost str, but I'd rather have the higher ab/ac/parry ... and the odd value will still help once you include cat's grace potions/buffs.

[tlantl]

The best fighter you could ever build is one that kills everything it attacks, takes little to no damage from a fight. My suggestion is make a dwarf fighter give him power attack an stay at the bar. Attack every mug of ale that comes at you and purge regularly so you have room for more. Sit on the floor surrounded by pillows so that when you finally pass out you don't take falling damage. Oh, I forgot, you can't fall in NWN2.

[Jim Fazater]

You could always just get a greataxe, take Great Cleave, and just explode through endless streams of goblins and kobolds with little to no risk to your character. All those 1 - 4 experience kills really add up, especially when you mow through them with Great Cleave.

[Elithrar]

By the by, does anyone know if a bastard sword can be wielded as two-hander in NWN2? From my understanding (in PnP), it's a two-handed weapon unless you have Exotic Weapon Proficiency for it. I know, I know, it's not as powerful as a Greatsword or the like, but it's more at place, aesthetically, on an Elf :>

[BD_Dreamer]

Bastard swords are also great for the flexibilty of 1h + shield or 2h (assuming you take the exotic feat for it). I would definitely make a character using bastard swords if they put that part in, but I am not holding my breath.