Yet another run, this time starring a Necro, Max H2H Options

[pekkae]

As it's been relatively quiet for some time at the forum I though I'd do a post about a run I've been thinking about recently. I don't have the time to start this in the near future, but every now and then I find myself yet again tinkering with the crew composition. Any comments would be welcome.

Our last run with "double -5" worked extremely well for most parts of the game. While we has some difficulties, we managed to develop our crew to quite OP mid-game and break through the demofight.

This time instead of being insanely capable in spellcasting we thought we'd develop an extreme H2H crew, playing on insane. This is what is in the works:

The locks (edit: they turned out not to be locks ...)

PC: Necromancer. Shall get the Necro stuff thus with required buffs be a little bit competent in H2H as well. With 2 APR / Decent Thac0 through TPT & Giant Strength. We thinks she'll be ok.

Jaheira: Early game superpowers. Great 2H H2H. Skins & Critical Striking. She rocks.

Custom multiclass F/I: Early game ubertank. Will get fighter Thac0's & Critical Strikes. Worked amazingly well on the last run.

Riskbreaker (probably Imoen): Will get JD. Gets to amazing physical resistance though Hardiness + CBS + JD. Will be an amazing tank + damage dealer.

What we're thinking

A custom R/C multiclass. Shall get full access to druidic spells. So fighter Thac0's, Critical Strikes + skins. Oh and insanely low AC (effective should hover around -28 unbuffed mid game). The only character that can both tank + has about the best combat buffs available (Draw Upon Holy Might should work wonders + Righteous Magic). We think she'll be great.

And the last slot.

Valygar the Vagrant? Can probably tank a little bit with Vagrant bonuses + Defender of Easthaven + Greean leaves armour + Armor of Faith + Double Regen. And can summon. Gets ofc fighter thac0's & critical strikes.

But if not Vagrant, whom should we take? Regular fighters are out of question for physical resistance through only hardiness is rather useless on insane - the characters need something else to protect themselves or increased physical resistance though something else.

A custom made Swashbuckler/Fighter could work as a dual classed assassin->fighter.

What else?

This post has been edited by pekkae: Oct 4 2022, 06:50 PM

[ed boy]

I'm surprised that the bioware NPCs make the cut - Jaheira lacks the critical additional spells that an auramaster druid would get, and only has 15 strength, lacking behind other warriors. She has a unique item, but does that make up for creating a custom character with more optimized attributes?

Unless your swashbuckler is getting UAI before dualing, I would expect a kensai to be a stronger character. One of the advantages of a kensai that I have found is crucial is the THAC0 bonuses they get - in the mid to late game, there will be powerful enemies that a non-kensai will hit 50% of the time of less, and kensais being able to hit reliably does so much heavy lifting. If you are getting UAI before dualing, then it is probably worth saving the gauntlets for another character.

A kensai/rogue (dualing at level 27) is probably the most powerful warrior possible in IA because of being able to a bonus of 9 to THAC0 and damage - it's the only character I've found that is able to beat the EDE solo (but it cannot get to the EDE by itself).

[pekkae]

I'm surprised that the bioware NPCs make the cut - Jaheira lacks the critical additional spells that an auramaster druid would get, and only has 15 strength, lacking behind other warriors. She has a unique item, but does that make up for creating a custom character with more optimized attributes?

Unless your swashbuckler is getting UAI before dualing, I would expect a kensai to be a stronger character. One of the advantages of a kensai that I have found is crucial is the THAC0 bonuses they get - in the mid to late game, there will be powerful enemies that a non-kensai will hit 50% of the time of less, and kensais being able to hit reliably does so much heavy lifting. If you are getting UAI before dualing, then it is probably worth saving the gauntlets for another character.

A kensai/rogue (dualing at level 27) is probably the most powerful warrior possible in IA because of being able to a bonus of 9 to THAC0 and damage - it's the only character I've found that is able to beat the EDE solo (but it cannot get to the EDE by itself).

I never thought about creating a custom Avenger, since I find Jaheira is optimized enough. Also our Riskbreaker would be probably be Imoen, as she has really good stats for a Riskbreaker & her unique item more than makes up for non-optimized attributes. I don't remember if Valygar (as Vagrant) has Vagrant bonuses instead of having protector minuses, but I would make the changes in my local game if they are not there (protector gets -1 con and vagrant gets +1 con). Other stats are good enough. Plus Valygar's armour upgrade is really nice item for a Vagrant.

So I would have

Necro
Jaheira
Imoen
Valygar
Custom (Swashbuckler->Fighter)
Custom (PoL->M)

I would dual class Swashbuckler from level 2 I guess to a fighter. And yes, while the Kensai will hit more than anything else in the game in the late game my S/F having 10+ critical strikes makes up for it enough, meaning that compared to a Kensai S/F will have a slight edge in APR's + we'll have the Swashbuckler bonus effects in use as well. While it won't be as effective as a Kensai, the character is a little bit more flexible + can also be an amazing damage dealer. Plus we'll get amazingly low AC thanks to some thief specific items + bonuses. I also don't want to have a character with very limited utility at the same time, as dualling the PoL to a mage at level 15 will make it's cleric class unavailable for a pretty long time.

I'm quite sure the Swashbuckler doesn't get UAI, it's dropped from the HLA table.

This post has been edited by pekkae: Oct 9 2022, 03:29 PM