v1.0 Initial version
v1.1 Updated Sacred Fist info, few other minor changes.
Favored Soul Guide for Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
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Welcome to my guide on Favored Soul for Neverwinter Nights 2.
The favored soul is a new base class available that is similar to clerics.
They use the clerical spell list, but have a sorceror-based spell system
where they choose a small list of spells and can cast any of them up to a
daily limit for that spell level.
This and other factors make the FS very versatile in combat, being able to
cast the right spell for the situation. However, they are unable to function
well as offensive spellcasters and almost always engage in melee and cast
spells to support the party.
FS are the best healers in the game due to their casting system, once they
hit around level 15. Most FS will have a very high CHA for bonus spells.
They should always take advantage of their high Charisma to use high saving
throw bonuses, Divine Might or Divine Shield abilities.
This guide covers some concepts of healing, defensive casting, and how to build
an effective character.
Feel free to contact me with questions. It makes me feel important ;-)
My info is at the end of the guide.
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Table Of Contents:
I. Differences between Cleric and Favored Soul.
a. Domains
b. Turn Undead
c. Special Abilities
d. Less Armor.
e. Great Saving Throws
II. Spellcasting (it gets its own section)
a. Casting System
b. Attribute Usage
c. Caster Level explained.
d. Offensive Casting?
III. Role of Healing
IV. Role of the Favored Soul
V. Defensive Casting Analysis
VI. Race Selection
VII. Stats
VIII. Feats
IX. Skills
X. Weapon Selection
XI. Spells
XII. Multiclassing Considerations
XIII. Sample Builds
XIV. Clerical Prestege Classes.
XV Conclusion/Copyright/Contact Info.
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I. Favored Soul Differences
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The best way to understand Favored Soul is to compare it to the Cleric, which
we are all fairly familiar with. This helps us understand their strengths
and limitations.
a) Domains
Favored Soul does not get domains. This means they lose some versatility, as
they cannot cherry-pick certain nice spells to have such as haste, stoneskin,
barkskin, chain lightning, icestorm, and so forth. They miss out on free
feats that are also customized for that character.
However, FS make up for this in some of their other abilities, so the domain
lack is not a critical factor for a warrior-based favored soul.
Lack of domains IS actually the main reason why Favored Souls cannot be
offensive spellcasters, as we will discuss further.
b) Turn Undead
FS does not get turn undead either. This is not really so terrible, since
most clerics do not get a usable turn undead either, due to their multiclassing
tendencies. This does mean no easy access to Divine Might/Shield which uses
your naturally high CHA to pump your melee damage or AC.
But, that is what multiclassing is for, right?
c) Special Abilities
FS DO gain several nice abilities, as discussed below. It should be noted that
they are mostly abilities that are helpful in melee-combat.
1) Weapon Feats - You get 3 abilities with your favored weapon.
To use this properly, MAKE SURE to choose the right diety during
CHARACTER CREATION! In other words, pick one that uses the weapon that
you desire.
The first ability is proficiency. If you desire a warhammer (best choice),
you pick the right diety and you get that proficiency. You don't have to
wait around to take a fighter level.
Secondly, at level 4 you gain Weapon Focus. This is a very nice ability,
and saves you a feat.
Third, at level 12, you gain Weapon Specialization. Normally reserved for
4 levels of fighter, this is great to pick up relatively early.
2) Energy resistance - Every 5 levels, you get to pick one of 5 elements to
become resistant to. Kinda nice.
3) At level 17 you would get wings. But nooo. Instead, you get a 3x per day
casting of haste. It is pretty handy, but admittedly by then the clerics
are all running around with PERSISTENT haste to show you up. Oh well.
4) Damage Reduction - At level 20, you get 10/silver or coldiron resistance.
It is handy and all, but you will rarely take 20 FS levels when
multiclassing.
d) Less Armor
Note that FS does NOT get heavy armor proficiency. This is easily overcome by
Mithril Full Plate(medium armor), or taking a level in one of many other
classes that do provide.
e) Great Saves
Like monks, favored souls get HIGH saving throws for all 3 categories.
This equates to +6reflex saves over clerics at level 20.
f) Spellcasting
This is the biggest difference between clerics and favored souls.
In fact, I will cover this in the next section due to its size.
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II. Spellcasting
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a) Spell System:
A favored soul uses a sorceror style casting system. They select a short list
of usable spells. Then, they can cast ANY of those spells at will, up to
a certain number of castings per day of that spell level. This includes
metamagic, so an extended bless counts as a 2nd lvl spell slot for that day.
In contrast a cleric must hardcode, or select exactly what spells they wish to
store up and have no latitude to change it, until the next rest period.
However, they DO have the full clerical list to choose which ones to learn.
Whenever a FS levels up, they get to choose new spell(s) to put in their
known list. The manual says this follows the sorceror known progression.
However, this IS A LIE! A Favored Soul kinda follows the sorc chart, but
gains extra known spells per level, most of which are received on the first
levelup when they access the new spell level.
So, at level 20, a Favored Soul may know the following:
All cantrips
6 level 1 through 7 spells.
5 level 8 spells.
4 level 9 spells.
Sure beats the sorc system!
Whether the FS system is better than the clerical spell system is much debated.
I do have to say that FS can know more spells than the sorc, and the clerical
list of good spells is shorter than that for mages.
It really depends on the situation. To help illustrate the pros and cons,
here are some "real life" examples that highlight these:
Imagine 2 characters. A FS and a cleric in the same situation:
1) Both are about to enter a dungeon crawling with undead.
Cleric: Guess I will memorize LOTS of death to undeath and sunbeam...
FS: Gee, wish I had Death to Undeath and Sunbeam on my list...
2) Buffed characters encounter a group that dispels their death ward.
Cleric: Wish I had enough room to have memorized more than 1 deathward. Guess
I will have to win quick before he casts Finger of Dea..AAaahh! *thud*
FS: Bummer. Better cast deathward again quick! (casts spell). *tickle* Ooh,
was that a Finger of Death you used against me? lawl.
3) Badly wounded party...
C: Shoulda taken more than 2 greater restos. Wish I didnt have to guess which
combo of healing spells to take... and my worthless spontaneous heal is
total crap since it doesn't work on anything other than Cure XXX spells.
All I got is 150HP mass heals, and only our tank is wounded...down 458 HPs.
FS: Everyone's wounded. Mass Heal FTW! Our tank is going down... GrResto!
Our mage is wounded... heal. Rogue died. NP, I got rez. Tank is taking
steady damage.. regen works great. Sure is nice to use the appropriate
spell for the situation!
4) Runs into nasty lich with godly AC and damage resists.
Cleric: Um, don't suppose call lightnign will help much. Only got 2 hammers
left, 3 implosions won't help much... Hmm. Melee time I guess for 3 magic
damage per hit from div favor. Great...
FS: Ack, lich! K, Mr Lichie. Eat Maximized Searing light spam for 80HP each!
Then, eat empowered, then normal ones. Take 100s of damage from my divine
damage casting spam while everyone else stands around helplessly.
5) Just leveled up to level 7
C: Yay! Ill take 1 stoneskin, 1 div power, 1 deathward, 1 freedom move...
FS: At level8, I only get a few spells to put on my list. Wonder
which one I should get first?
Well, that gives you an idea as to the advantages and limitations of each.
b) Attribute usage.
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A "normal" caster such as a cleric uses WIS in 3 ways.
a. Spell access - Requires 15 WIS for level 5 spells, 18 for lvl8, etc.
b. Bonus spells are determined by the primary casting attribute.
c. Spell DC is increased for all spells by the primary casting attribute bonus.
In other words, a 16WIS gives a cleric +3 to all spell DC. 20 = +5, etc.
A favored soul uses CHA for a. and b. above. Therefore a high CHA is needed
for spell access (19 at least), and bonus spells per day.
HOWEVER, WISDOM is used for spell DCs! This is a serious problem, as a FS
needs both CHA AND WIS to cast effectively.
This is completely unlike ALL previous casters, which have a SINGLE main
attribute. So, keep this in mind.
BUG ALERT! Currently, NWN2 is bugged such that CHA actually IS used for
spell DC as well. So, a FS works just like a sorc in that CHA is the only
attribute needed, and WIS is worthless. THIS IS A BUG THOUGH. Do NOT
count on this being the case for long...
Anyways, in light of the CHA/WIS split, this gives you 3 choices:
1) Pump CHA, ignore WIS - You get lots of spells, but horrible DCs. Forget
casting offensively and expecting anything to miss their saving throw.
2) Pump WIS, ignore CHA - You get great spell DC just like a cleric. However,
you gain almost no bonus spell slots and must wear a +CHA item to even
have access to your higher level spells! A high WIS cleric can actually
out-slot you due to those bonus slots.
3) Pump CHA and WIS both - This splits your stats, and thus makes you mediocre
at both spell DC, and bonus spell slots.
As you can see, this is very disappointing. It means the favored soul casting
is inferior to the clerical system due to this Multiple Ability
Dependency(MAD)
c. Caster level Explained
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The effectiveness of your spells depends on your Caster Level.
This includes damage, duration, and ALSO ability to penetrate
Spell Resistance, and avoid getting Dispelled.
When you take a level in FS, you gain 1 caster level in FS also.
Normally, it is a 1 to 1 correspondance.
When you multiclass, you do not usually keep getting caster levels.
A 16FS/4fighter has a 16 caster level. However, there is a feat
called Practiced Caster, that adds +4 to your caster level. It ONLY
works if you have enough total character levels.
i.e. the 16FS/4fighter with practiced caster, will still ONLY get
level 8 spells (as a 16 FS). BUT his spells are cast as if he
is level 20! A 16FS/2fighter would have 18 caster level, since
it cannot exceed total levels.
Some prestege classes add partial clerical progression. A warpriest
gives a FS full caster level every TWO levels.
So a 12FS,8warpriest is really a 16FS for ALL spellcasting
purposes. He casts 8th lvl spells AND casts as a 16 FS.
Therefore, taking Practiced Caster would make him a 16FS for
spell selection purposes, but a 20 FS for spell effect, duration,
etc purposes.
It becomes confusing as people refer to Caster Level as two DIFFERENT
things!
a) How many levels worth of caster for SPELL PROGRESSION purposes.
b) How many levels worth for damage and effect purposes.
So, favored souls want a high caster level to have longer lasting
spells (ext battletide = 40 rounds instead of 32 for example), and
be harder to dispel (dispel check = 1d20 +15 to exceed Caster Lvl),
and get better effects (+5 magical vestment vs +4)
D. Offensive Casting?
---------------------
One would think that Favored Souls would be great battle-casters, just like
sorcs. Unfortunately not. There are three primary limitations.
1) Too short of a spell list - The least significant limitation is that sorcs
have a lot of battle spells and a few buffs. FS has a lot of buffs, several
so-so combat spells, and several heals. You are therefore a bit limited
on spells. However, a FS knows quite a few more spells per level than
a sorceror... plus there are fewer useful cleric spells. So this is not
so much of a factor.
2) MAD - As discussed, FS have their DC set by WISDOM, and spell access/bonus
slots by CHA. This means a true offensive caster would have to pump WIS
only, and forfeit bonus slots. FS does gain more slots than a cleric to
begin with, but not THAT many more.
A level 30 cleric with 44WIS (max possible) would have the following bonus
slots from 1 to 9: 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 That is 30 extra slots that a caster
cleric receives that FS mostly forfeits.
(A FS with 20CHA gains 2 1 1 1 1 bonus slots)
It is doable, but is just an irritating waste to gain half the benefit for
a high WIS as a cleric does.
3) Domains - The biggest hurdle for FS offensive casting is that of domains.
A cleric can take Air and Water and pick up Call Lightning, Chain Lightning,
and Icestorm. These 3 spells alone fill huge gaps in clerical offensive
capabilities.
At level 3, FS has no AoE offense. 4 will be all Hammer of Gods.
Lvl 5 only has flamestrike, which is a very weak spell, and Slay Living
which is so-so. 6 has bladebarrier which is very situational. 7 has Word
which is nice but no damage. 8 has firestorm which stinks. 9 is pretty
strong.
As can be seen, an offensive FS simply does not have enough good spells to
use, and is sorely lacking in offensive AoE spells.
The conclusion is that favored souls can cast offensively, but should not
attempt to play primarily as an offensive spellcaster. Stick to spells that
have 1/2 effect and assume all enemies will make their saving throws.
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III. Role of Healing
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Favored Souls are the best healers in the game. Hence, this section is
important.
For those who have played other games, especially massive multiplayer
online games (mmo's), the role of healing in D&D/NWN2 may surprise you.
In fact, healing in combat is RARE and not very useful most of the time.
In MMOs, healing during combat is very necessary for parties for two reasons:
a) Max HPs are low, compared to monster damage. An unhealed warrior can
die within 10 seconds if he has all the mobile monsters(mobs) attention.
An unhealed warrior is pretty much guaranteed to die during the course
of an entire fight. In NWN2, this is not really the case. Party
members are generally unlikely to take enough damage to die during a
typical encounter. Healing is used more after combat to prepare for
the next fight.
b) Healing per unit time is much stronger than damage. In other words a
single healer can do enough healing to the party to negate most if not
all monster damage for a while. Basically the healer's mana-bar extends
the party's effective HPs. In Magic the card game, lifegain is twice
as powerful as damage. In World of Warcraft, a healer can crank out
three times the healing as a damage based character.
In NWN2, healing is just not effective enough.
At level 8 for example, a FS can cast a 30 point Cure Critical
Wounds, but a Warrior can hit twice for 25, a rogue can sneak for 20,
and a mage can toss a 8d6 fireball that affects everyone.
A high level mass cure moderate wounds spell does NOT negate a chain
lightning, let alone several of them.
The upshot is that a FS will NOT be a full time healer in combat.
Occasional heals may be needed, but there are actually very few that are
worth casting in combat.
Note that in epic levels, this starts to reverse itself. The reason being
that offensive spells plateau, whereas certain healing spells continue to
scale (regeneration, greater restoration). Mass Heal is also a very
powerful spell that may be cast in combat, for up to 250 healing per person.
These spells far outstrip the offensive potential of even mighty 9th level
spells like Meteor Shower, maximized chain lightning, and so forth.
Favored Souls are actually BETTER healers than clerics, due to their ability
to use the right spell. Clerics have to guess which spells to use, and
FS may choose based on the situation.
For example, a cleric has to guess how many rezzes vs greater restos to use,
whereas a FS can use either one depending on the situation.
A FS can use a Neutralize Poison, or Remove Disease, or Resto, remove Curse,
etc, wheras a cleric is not going to have more than 1 of each prepared.
This is a VERY strong ability for the favored soul! Take advantage of it.
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IV. Role of the Favored Soul
-----------------------------
The FS's role is to buff the party and support the party by engaging in
melee combat, casting defensive and healing spells, and occasionally using
offensive magic. As discussed, most of the healing usually occurs at the
end of combat, and even then is performed by first aid kits moreso than
spells where rest is limited.
As mentioned though, at epic levels the FS can use his powerful healing powers
to turn the tide of battle.
The favored soul does not use hardly any offensive spells, and uses magic
to buff self and party and heal as needed. The FS is basically a
second rate warrior. However, this is actually not the case, as the buff
power of a FS is very impressive, and provides a large amount of defense
as well as offense. (various immunities, elemental damage reduction, AB,
etc).
In particular, there are 3 key spells (and 1 honorable mention) that
transform a FS from 2nd rate warrior, to very mighty in melee.
These are (for lvl20):
-persistent divine favor (+3ab/+3dmg for 24 hours. It got NERFED in MOTB,
but is still useful.
-extended Battletide(gives Haste effect = +1ab,ac, 1 bonus attack for up
to 4 minutes.)
-extended Divine Power (Base Attack Bonus is set to that of a fighter of
equivalent level. i.e. 30 FS gets 30bab.)
Most favored souls will multiclass and thus stick to around 25 or less
casting levels (including practiced caster). Hence, spell durations
will increase a bit on average, but not much.
Here is more detail regarding the main 3 buffs:
-- Divine Favor - +1 AB/dmg for every 3 levels. At 1 thru 5, the +1 is
not worth it. At 6-12, extended divine favor is pretty useful for heavy
fighting. At 13+, you gain access to PERSISTENT spell. At this point,
favor becomes a permanent buff you apply after each rest. Its like
having a +8 weapon, when everyone else has a +5, and is powerful.
At EPIC levels, it is not nearly as impressive but still useful.
-- Divine Power - Raises your BAB to your character level. At 20 FS,
this gives you +5AB and 1 extra attack. It is very helpful and often
results in an extra attack while leveling up. This spell should always
be Extended and takes most of your level 5 slots.
At epic levels, this can be seriously abused for huge AB bonuses. Here's
why... The AB gained from going from say 22BAB to 30BAB (30th lvl cleric)
FULLY STACKS and DOES NOT COUNT towards any kind of AB Cap!
This means you could have a level30 character with 15BAB, cast DivPower,
get 30BAB, and STILL get full benefits from +10weapon, div favor, heroism,
and other buffs that total the +20 cap.
-- Battletide - This ALSO gives you Haste, which adds a bonus attack
at full Attack Bonus. It also grants +1AC and +1AB.
At 20 FS these 3 spells alone provide
+10AB, +5damage, +1AC, and TWO extra attacks!
At 30, it jumps to +13AB thanks to scaling Divine Power.
For playstyle you start with buffs. DO NOT OVERBUFF, as it takes too long.
You have buffs for every situation, but most are not needed. Note you will
need to recast often to keep Divine Power and Tide up.
At 20, these have a 4 minute duration extended. Not bad, but not great.
This is why I don't recommend trying to pick up other short-duration
buffs like barbarian rage, dwarf defensive stance, and so on.
As you approach level 30, depending on build you will squeeze a bit of
extra duration out of your buffs.
With all this power, you can definitely fight very well and be a tank. However,
just because you CAN tank doesn't mean you should. Let the warriors in the
party take the brunt of the fighting. This frees you up to cast heal spells
if needed, or to go rescue a mage that is getting beat on. Fight, but don't
necessarily be the first one into the battle.
Really quick note: When making a new character, you MUST click the CUSTOMIZE
button when it gives you the option of several character builds such as
"default favored soul", and so on.
This gives you control over your initial feats, skills, and DIETY SELECTION.
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V. Defensive Casting
----------------------
Ok, I wanted to toss in this interesting sidenote that is important to all
clerics. One new choice is whether to use Defensive Casting mode or not.
The short version is: Leave defensive casting on at high level,
otherwise keep it off unless surrounded by several opponents.
Defensive Casting lets you avoid any attacks of opportunity when casting
a spell. However, it forces a concentration roll of 15 plus the spell level.
Casting without it in melee gives all baddies a free attack of
opportunity against you. For each one that hits, you will take damage
and force a concentration roll that is likely to be pretty high.
(The DC increases as more damage is taken)
The best way to do it is toggle it on and off as needed.
The trick is... whether it is needed or not.
And also, when is it correct to use.
I will try to answer this with the following chart. For each level below,
it gives the percent failure chance for casting the highest spell level.
I make several assumptions:
- no attribute mod (Constitution), positive or negative.
- no concentrate focus feats or anything.
- Uses maximum allowable concentration skill (i.e. character level +3)
- Assume no multiclassing, so that casting level = character level.
- Always casting the highest possible spell level.
- Gains 1 new spell level every 2 levels (sorcs,bards, and multiclassing
will lag behind a bit from this. So this is worst-case scenario.
In that case, subtract 5% per non-cleric level class)
The formula remember is 1d20 + concentrate skill has to equal or exceed
15 + spell level.
NOTE: A 1 is NOT automatic failure, so 23 concentrate = automatic
success always.
1: 55%
2: 50%
3: 50%
4: 45%
5: 45%
6: 40%
7: 40%
8: 35%
9: 35%
10: 30%
11: 30%
12: 25%
13: 25%
14: 20%
15: 20%
16: 15%
17: 15% (max of 9th lvl spells = 24DC)
18: 10%
19: 5%
20: 0%
This chart has several modifiers:
1) Every 2 CON past 10 including buffs and items gives a -5% chance to
the whole chart.
2) Every point of Concentration from items (i.e. gloves of concentration)
gives -5%.
3) The Skill Focus: Concentrate feat gives -15% as it is worth 3 skillpoints.
4) The Combat Casting feat gives -20%.
Examples:
A favored soul with 14 CON and a bear's endurance has -20% to the chart.
At level 14, they can use defensive casting with no chance of failure,
so they just leave it on all the time. The same FS with Combat Casting
feat can start leaving it on at level 10.
Conclusion:
If you are under level 10, you will probably never want to use Defensive
Casting. Once you hit a high enough level such that the chance drops to
0% , you will always use defensive casting and leave it on.
Otherwise, if you are surrounded by 3 or more baddies, you will probably
use defensive casting if the failure chance is under 20%. Else, you will
likely take your chances and hope the attacks of opportunity miss.
In MOTB campaign, you will always want to leave defensive casting on.
Since you start at level 18, you have already hit the 0% failure mark.
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VI. Race Selection
------------------
As a favored soul you will likely multiclass. This and other factors
limit the recommended races. Any small race is out due to the -2STR
and they have to use a small weapon. Another factor is that you need
high STR and CHA. In fact, my best choice is Human.
After careful analysis, I cannot find any compelling reason to go with
any other race that is worth the price.
Humans gain +2INT for all practical purposes due to their +1skill per lvl
ability. They also have a big advantage for multiclassing due to their favored
class being the highest level class. A bonus feat is definitely welcome too.
Gold Dwarf - Gain 2CON, but lose 2 INT basically and 2 DEX. Clearly this is a
poor trade, especially with no bonus feat like humans get. Regular shield
dwarf is really awful due to the -2CHA.
Elf - Wild Elf looks tempting with +2STR and DEX. You can live with the CON
and INT hits, making this race doable.
Drow pick up some CHA, but is not worth the big +2ECL, on top of probable XP
penalties.
Aasimir - +2CHA is great. +2WIS doesnt hurt, but is not a big factor.
-2INT, -1 feat, +1ECL over human makes it a net loss. Still, FS combos well
with paladin, which is the favored class, so this race is doable.
Half-Orc - +2 STR is tempting, but -4 INT and loss of a feat make it not
worthwhile. The -2CHA makes this race worthless.
Deep Gnome - The only advantage is the +4AC, plus size bonus which is kind
of a wash. Well, the Spell Resistance is nice too.
3ECL is really harsh though, as is the -2STR, lack of feat and XP penalty.
Then tack on a -4 CHA penalty, and this race is a no-go.
All the Genesai are a waste due to their -2CHA. The earth genesai is somewhat
tempting due to the STR and CON gains, but a Favored Soul's strength comes from
their high CHA usability. Taking a penalty hurts it badly. This largely
depends to what extent you plan on exploiting your CHA.
-------------------------
VII Stats Recommendations
-------------------------
For a human, I would recommend:
STR: 16 (Good AB/dmg)
DEX: 12 For AC purposes. 16 needed for max Mithril Plate bonus w/items.
CON: 14 (Decent HP bonus)
INT: 10 (3 skill points per level w/human bonus)
WIS: 8
CHA: 16 Max this!
Feel free to lower DEX and raise INT. The only use for DEX is to
get to 12 (or 16 for mithril plate) for AC reasons. Items can
certainly easily make up the difference, and you get extra skill
points for doing so.
There are 2 schools of thought. Many FS will go for maximum CHA in order to
gain big bonuses from it with proper multiclassing. These include bonus spell
slots, Divine Might/Shield, and +saves from pally/BG/Warlock.
Others will take enough CHA to gain spell access, then pump STR.
In this case, you can take a 14CHA and use an item to get spell access and
just crank up your strength. This is a good strategy for an Earth Genesai
for example to get maximum STR and high CON.
-----------------------
VIII. Feats Recommended
-----------------------
For a melee based favored soul, your feat choices are pretty loose.
They vary based on your multiclass choices since that gives you more or
less feats to work with. Very few of them are essential though.
Here are the recommended ones:
** Luck of Heroes - Essential. +1AC always, and +1 all Saves.
MUST PICK at first level!
-- Martial Weapons - You get this free if multiclassing. Should
never actually pick this one. Besides, you can cherry pick your
desired weapon by picking the appropriate diety.
-- Exotic Weapons - Never take this. Diety proficiency covers this one if you
want an exotic weapon.
-- Tower Shield prof - Very rarely would you ever want this, but can
get for free as Fighter or Warpriest. Possibly useful for
certain servers with uber tower-shields, despite AB penalty.
** Weapon Focus - A very strong feat. You get this for free at 4th level.
** Weapon Specialization - +2 damage per hit is nice. You get this free at
12th level.
** Extend Spell - ESSENTIAL. You have several short-term buffs that
must be extended.
** Persistent Spell - ESSENTIAL. This allows persistant Prayer and
Divine Favor, which are key.
-- Power Attack - Its a prerequisite only. Not useful with a 1-hander.
-- Cleave - Free attack is very nice, especially for leveling. However,
P/A and cleave are NOT essential... except for multiclass reqs.
** Blind Fighting - Pretty important pick. Apparantly, even with True Seeing
you STILL get stuck with the concealment penalty in darkness
or against displacement, invisibility, etc that results in misses.
-- Improved Crit - Not needed if you expect a keen weapon (doesnt stack),
OR have a bludgeon wpn since you have a keen spell. However, it does
reduce dependence on the things listed previous, so is worthwhile.
** Practiced Caster - ESSENTIAL if you multiclass. REQUIRES 4 ranks of
Spellcraft. DON'T BUNGLE THIS!
-- Power Crit - Decent, but not amazing. Don't be confused. When you "crit",
now you must reroll as if you are attacking again. If it misses,
then your "crit" becomes a normal hit. This feat gives +4 to
the "confirmation roll" (the second "attack"). Hope that makes
sense, as it's a major change from NWN1.
-- Greater Weapon Focus - Requires 8 levels of fighter. This is a prereq for
epic weapon focus, and is very nice for raising AB.
-- Knockdown, Imp KD - I would go this route ONLY if you have the 13INT needed
for Imp KD, since KD got nerfed. It is a pretty powerful feat though.
** Divine Might/Shield - These are KEY feats for a typical FS. You will need
to multiclass to get the prereq Turn Undead feat though.
-- Toughness - Always nice to have the extra HPs.
Certain other prerequisite feats may be needed for some multiclass combos.
Feats to avoid in general are:
-- Great Cleave - Getting more than 1 cleave per round is rather unlikely,
making this feat a waste. FS rarely use 2handed weapons,
which is best with great cleave.
-- Dodge - Not bad, but 13dex requirement is a waste of attribute points for
a +1AC against just 1 foe. Compare to luck of heroes which adds 1ac
always, AND a saving throw bonus.
-- Improved Power Attack - It's just not very good for a 1hander.
EPIC Feats:
In general, you want your basic feats at 21,23,25,27,29 to be mostly Great
Strength. This increases damage and AB. Ideally you would use bonus feats
to purchase other feats on the list below.
CHEEZE ALERT! If you take your 5,10,15,or 20th Favored Soul level post epic,
you can instead select certain EPIC FEATS. Let's see... do I want 10 cold
resist or do I want an Epic Spell. ;-)
** Epic Prowess - It is a +1AB bonus. Solid and nice to have.
** Epic Weapon Focus - Grants a +2AB bonus. Requires Greater Weapon Focus,
which needs 8 fighter levels. Great if you can fit it into your build.
xx Epic Weapon Specialization - +4 damage. Pretty nice, but it is impossible
to acquire the many prerequisites which would need 12 fighter levels.
It would not nearly be worth it.
-- Epic Armor Skin - +2 AC. Stacks with natural AC amulets and is quite nice.
However, currently bugged to only +1AC.
** Damage Reduction - 6 points of DR. Unsure about stacking n stuff in NWN2.
If it stacks with Damage Reduction items, it would be a valuable feat.
-- Epic Toughness - So-so. +30HP is good, but not worth an epic feat in my
opinion.
-- Epic Spell: Vampiric Feast - This spell is really really good and worth
the feat slot. Almost all of the foes would be expected to make their
saving throw. Even so, all foes within 20 feet of you lose 50% of their
HP and you GAIN those HP as healing (up to your max HPs). If you do
manage to kill something with this spell, it creates shadows that fight
for you temporarily. This is a great panic-button spell that can make
a huge difference in very tough fights.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You MUST take this spell on a FS level! Fighter,
stormlord, etc will NOT allow you to take this feat.
Also requires 25 spellcraft to take.
xx Overwhelming Crits - This was just a bad prerequisite for Devastating Crits
back in the day. There is no reason to take this weak feat.
---------------
Skills Overview
---------------
You have rather few skillpoints, so you are somewhat limited here.
Remember you can always subtract DEX to get INT, ONLY if you expect to
find an item with DEX on it very soon to avoid AC loss.
Best skills are:
-- Concentrate - Important since you need to rebuff or heal in combat
occasionally. Max it out, as you do NOT want a mass heal
fizzling because you were hit while casting.
-- Tumble - Even at 1/2 value in most cases, it is useful for the +1AC and small
chance of avoiding attacks of opp. Works especially well with
Mithril Full Plate due to lower AC penalty check.
16 ranks +3dex mod -2hvy shield -2Mit Plate = 15 = never fails
a tumble roll.
-- Spellcraft - The saving throw bonus is nice. In fact, it is very much
underrated. Adding up to +6 to all saving throws at level 27 is
really strong! Lets face it... 90% of the saving throws you
make are due to enemy spells, so the bonus usually applies.
You NEED 4 ranks to multiclass and take practiced caster!
Higher levels of spellcraft are needed for epic spells too.
-- Healing - Very useful, as a good heal roll can cure poison/disease too.
Saves spellslots. It does not scale well though. A bandaid
+1 heals 21 HP with 0 heal skill. Each point adds 1 HP to it,
such that a lvl 30 FS might heal for 50ish maximum.
Still, you will be using bandaids quite a bit during the first 10
levels.
-- Use Magic Device - Even 5 ranks (adjusted for CHA) allows use of scrolls
and other minor items. Maybe split Spellcraft and UMD.
Consider taking, but DO NOT raise above 5 (adjusted).
With 30 levels, it MIGHT be worthwhile to grab 15 to use
Sun Soul boots, and other clickie items.
Note: On hard difficulty, using a Scroll requires a pretty high
UMD roll or the spell fizzles.
----------------
Weapon Choice
----------------
Your choice of weapon depends on which dieties are available for your alignment.
You can pretty much pick whatever you want. For clerics, I like warhammer
since you can use Weapon of Impact on it. I would recommend taking a bastard
sword since they do the most damage. Looks like no Katanas are available.
In general DO NOT use a 2handed weapon ever. You do not have the super
high STR to make the 50% more STR bonus effective. Also, with your
damage bonuses from various buffs, the extra few points of average damage a
larger weapon does is not worth the loss of the huge shield AC you can get.
Since you do not have any special AC bonuses such as Red Dragon Disciples,
Dex-based characters, or even 20 tumble, losing the shield will cause you
to absorb a lot more damage in melee. You are guaranteed a shield that is
+1 every 4 caster levels thanks to Magic Vestment remember.
Dualwielding is out as well, due to the number of feats needed and the fact
that you dont have the DEX to get more than 1 offhand attack. Not to
mention the AB penalty and huge loss of AC.
If you love dualwielding, you would have to forego Divine Might/Shield for sure.
It is possible to go with DEX instead of STR and dualwield. It will require
heavy multiclassing to gain the needed feats.
-----------------
Spell Selection
-----------------
This is a very important topic for the FS. Since you only can have a small
number of spells known, you much choose very carefully.
As a reminder, a lvl20 FS has more known spells than a sorceror, so you have a
lot more latitude in choosing.
Also, every 2 levels a FS may dump an existing spell and replace it, as long as
it is 2 levels BELOW your current spell max.
i.e. A 10th lvl FS can replace a 1st,2nd, OR 3rd lvl spell, but NOT 4th or 5th.
These are my recommended spells per level:
Key: xx means replaced later on. ?? is a situational pick.
Level 1: 6 known at lvl20.
-----------
Prot Alignment - A key buff. Has built-in extension, and provides
immunity:Mind. The +2 saves is nice too.
Bless - Affects whole party and stacks with almost everything.
Divine Favor - A Key spell, especially at later levels. Persistable!
Shield of Faith - Great from 1 thru 20. Adds an AC Deflection bonus up to +5
xx Cure Light Wnds - Replace later. Handy early on.
Entrophic Shield - Just in case you are against ranged attackers. Rarely used.
Remove Fear - Just in case.
Level 2: 6 max at lvl20.
-----------
Aid - So so. +1 Stackable AB.
xx Bear's endurance - Pumping up your HP is nice but hardly essential.
Note though that it adds +2 to your concentration rolls which can be
very handy at mid-levels to perhaps lower defensive casting failure
from 10% to 0%... until you can find a permanent CON item.
xx Bull's Strength - Remove later on. Great early, worthless later.
Find Traps - Really handy when castable on demand.
Lesser Restoration - It is good to get all the cure type spells, since you can
use them on demand. Take them all.
xx Cure Moderate Wnds - Replace later on.
Sonic Burst - Adequate long range offensive spell for getting monster's
attention. Used for pulling only.
Darkness - Rarely used, but when/if you get blindfighting it
works pretty well vs enemy melee. DONT use on casters, as they will
completely ignore it and continue to cast spells at you.
Resist Energy - Fairly decent. Nice to have for such a low spell slot.
Level 3: 6 known at 20.
-----------
Prayer - Excellent when Persisted. Nice buff, if short duration initially.
?Weapon of Impact - If you use a warhammer, nice to have as needed. Otherwise
skip it.
BlindSight - Great to have. Take truesight instead if the 3rd lvl spells are
cramped. (i.e. you take Wpn of Impact or Magic Vestment)
Searing Light - Very useful for pulling, or spamming vs undead.
Remove Curse - Take all cure spells.
Remove Disease - Take all cure spells.
?Magic Vestment - Usually worthless, except on low magic worlds. Then it rules.
Protection Energy - Great long lasting buff. Use if you expect casters
and elemental damage, especially at lower levels where
the damage shield is relatively powerful.
Level 4: 6 known at lvl20.
-----------
Divine Power - Already discussed. Uber.
Death Ward - Very important to have.
Freedom of Movement - A nice buff.
Neutralize Poison - Get all cure spells.
Recitation - Yet another AB buff, similar to prayer.
?Greater Magic Weapon - Usually worthless, cept on low magic worlds/modules.
xx Cure Critical Wounds - Great early, garbage later.
Restoration - Another nice cure spell.
Level 5: 6 known at lvl20.
-----------
Battletide - Awesome. Provides a haste effect too.
Spell Resistance - Very solid. Provides good protection against lower level
spellcasters. Long duration is excellent. Gives you a
55% chance of resisting an equal level caster's spell.
True Seeing - Sees through stealth too. A nice spell, if you couldnt spare
slots for 3rd lvl blindsight.
Lesser Spell Mantle - Adequate spell defense. Guaranteed to absorb an issacs.
Raise Dead - Almost worthless since they only have 1 HP.
FlameStrike - It is pretty weak, but might be useful. Gotta pick something.
Level 6: 6 known at 20.
-----------
Heal - 150HP healing on demand is pretty strong.
Energy Immunity - Awesome spell when you can cast it as needed. Turns a hard
encounter into a trivial one.
Stone Body - Great benefits, bad side effects. However, casting DeathWard and
Freedom of Movement before this will NEGATE THE DOWNSIDE!!!
This makes the spell grossly overpowered. Note that the 50% spell
penalty has no effect on divine spellcasting. Ha!
Greater Dispel Magic - Sometimes this can be quite strong. I didnt bother with
the lesser versions since they are very unlikely to dispel much.
Blade Barrier - Occasionally useful to dish out some extra damage before melee
begins.
??Vigorous Cycle - 3HP regeneration to your party... for 10+1round per lvl. By
now I would expect you to have regen, so low magic world ONLY.
xx Planar Ally - Fun to play with as soon as you hit lvl12. It is a long
duration companion. Dump it later.
Level 7: 6 known at 20.
------------
Greater Restoration - A full heal. One of the best heals in the game.
Regenerate - Awesome healing spell during or before combat. Extended, this
spell is incredible... especially on the big HP tanks.
Resurrection - Castable as needed, this spell is great!
Word of Faith - A great offensive spell with no save. Basically it blinds
all foes and gets rid of summons.
Ethereal Jaunt - A getaway panic button. Great for persistent worlds where
you can't just reload.
Summon 7 - Not much else to take...
Level 8: 5 known at 20.
-----------
Honestly, none of these are any good. I use extended or stilled versions of
7th lvl spells mostly.
FireStorm - weak.
Spell Mantle - This might be worthwhile.
Summon 8 - So-so.
Mass Death Ward - Probably not worth using a lvl8 slot to cast it though.
Wall of Greater Dispel - This could be handy, but unlikely.
Level 9: 4 known at 20.
-----------
Mass Heal - A capped 150HP heal isn't so great, but multiplied by a big party
makes this quite useful. Especially since you can decide whether
to heal 150 to everyone, or use a greater resto on a tank.
Note... great vs undead. They will all eat 75 when they Save.. plus
heal any buddies nearby.
Storm of Vengence - A really handy offensive spell for a tough fight.
3d6 acid guaranteed to only enemies is nice. Plus, it
has a small chance (DC23 minimum) of zapping enemies for 3d6
more AND causing a 2 round stun. It does this EVERY
ROUND, which is what makes the spell so good. Even if the
bad guys roll only a few 1s over the duration, the stuns
will make the spell worthwhile.
Energy Drain - Now that the save has been removed, it is possibly useful to
soften up a nasty foe. -5 average levels is no joke.
Note: Monsters with high Spell Resistance may shrug it off,
depending on your caster levels.
Etherealness - Bail out your whole party! Good stuff.
Here is a discussion of some spells to NEVER take:
Any Cause Wounds spell - They are just horribly bad, and have no range.
The very few offensive spells you use are either used to Pull,
or as crowd control/mitigation.
Any offensive spell besides low level pull spells (sonic burst) or high
level mitigation (word of faith, storm) - Don't use. You are a warrior.
Beat them down and support the party.
Summon Monster - Not terrible, but not very useful either. Too short
duration to be of much use.
Any undead summon spell - Absolutely horrible. Much worse than summon
monster.
Gate - You get a horned devil now instead of a NWN1 Balor.
The Summon 9 is much stronger, though the weak spells he cast are
marginally useful vs crowds.
Righteous Might - Worthless. Adds 3 magical dmg per hit, but lowers AC,
and the other bonuses DO NOT STACK. The so called
damage reduction doesnt seem to work. Turning on Power
Attack is just as good and doesn't take a spell slot.
Harm - Garbage. Capped at 150HP, requires a touch attack which
is no problem. Allows a SAVE, which IS a problem. They will eat
75 damage 95% of the time. You can just beat them down and do similar
damage without using a spell slot.
Aura vs Alignment - Horrible. Its duration stinks, its SR granted is weak,
and the +4deflection AC doesn't stack and is worthless.
Undeaths eternal foe - Weak. Short duration, and Death ward provides most
of the same benefits for much longer.
-------------------------------
Multiclassing Considerations
-------------------------------
In epic levels, you don't need much more than 20-25 total FS casting
levels max. So you have more latitude for multiclassing after level 20
or so. Note that extra caster levels serves to prevent your spells from
being dispelled, as well as extending duration some.
There are a few things to consider:
a) You will want practiced caster feat, which requires 4 spellcraft ranks.
b) You want 18 caster levels of FS for 9th level spells.... ideally
obtained earlier rather than later.
c) You would probably want several warrior levels to get feats and more
BAB.
d) Obviously, watch for XP penalty if you went nonhuman.
e) Do NOT put points into Concentration and other skills if they are not
class skills of the new class. Just hold the skillpoints, or put into
tumble as paying double is wasteful. Plan accordingly.
In other words, weave the class levels so you can pay minimum price for
things like concentration and spellcraft.
f) Your BAB CONTINUES TO GROW after 21, unlike PnP or NWN1. You want high
BAB classes to help your fighting ability grow.
f2) However, you can use Divine Power to "cheat" your BAB to 30, regardless
of multiclassing... while the spell stays active of course. :-)
g) Remember that you MUST take Divine Might or Divine Shield WHEN LEVELING WITH
A TURN UNDEAD CLASS! In other words, that 4th pally level where you gain
turn undead had BETTER be on a feat-lvl(9,12,15,18). Otherwise, you will
NOT be able to take the feat, even though you qualify for it.
Here are the top options:
1) Paladin - 4 levels of pally gives you weapons and armor proficiencies with
solid BAB and HP gains. You pick up a +CHA bonus to saves at level 2, which
is very strong with your high CHA. You gain Turn Undead at level 4, which
is used as a prereq to Divine Might/Shield.
A FS build should almost always include either paladin or blackguard.
Note: Pally will cause alignment problems with Frenzied Berserker, Barb, and
bard/RDD.
2) Blackguard - You gain the same benefits as paladin, except with 3 levels
instead. Plus, you don't have to worry about XP penalties.
The downside is that you require Cleave and 5 Hide as prereqs, and cannot
take BG early on since it requires a BAB of 6 or better.
Every FS build should include paladin or blackguard.
3) Fighter - Provides free towershield, martial and bonus fighter feats.
One level can be taken early on at level 2 to jumpstart the warrior
progress. 2 fighter levels, one early, one later is the best choice.
Taking Fighter after lvl20 results in bonus EPIC feats!
Getting 8 fighter levels is ideal to pick up greater and epic weapon focus.
4) Divine Champion - A no XP penalty version of Fighter basically. The smite
ability actually is useable due to your high CHA, and Divine Wrath is a
solid buff that will last a while due to high CHA. Bonuses to saving throws
does not hurt either.
5) Barbarian - 10% Move,martial wpns, and Rage. Rage stacks with enhancement
bonuses, but it is quite short duration and you have enough short duration
buffs already.
A so-so choice. Watch alignment issues with pally.
6) Neverwinter Nine - Decent option as it has no prereqs except +6 BAB. A
single level provides a +2saving throw aura to your buddies and a slight
skill bonus. 3 levels gives a fast move and sneak attack option.
7) Stormlord - See next section. Good choice.
8) Sacred Fist - See next section. Kind of weak choice.
9) Warpriest - See next section. So-so choice.
Here are some marginal options:
-------------------------------
Dwarven Defender - tempting, but it needs extra feats as prereqs including
Dodge(13dex). Not worth the bugged stance and +1ac to me. Perhaps with
30 levels to play with, getting the damage resistance is more tempting.
Monk - So-so choice for FB since they do not have high WIS. See Sacred Fist.
Frenzied Berserker - You already have toughness most likely, and the frenzy
is very worthless since you have haste already. It
is not a good match for FS at all, since FB's use
2handers with huge STR for heavy Power Attk damage.
Ranger - They just don't have much, and do not synergize well with FS.
I don't want leftover druid spells, nor do I want bad dualwielding
if I wear light armor. NOR do I want a level 4 bear pet at lvl30!
Rogue - access to rogue skills like tumble and sneak. Weak due
to weak BAB and lack of enough skillpoints to take advantage of
the better skill access. With 30 level cap, rogues do look up
however.
Red Dragon Disciple - You must take 1 level of bard also. You gain many
benefits, but your BAB will suffer greatly. It makes you too dependent
on Divine Power. Watch alignment issues with Paladin.
Warlock - One warlock level is tempting, for Dark Ones Luck, which adds yet more
saving throw bonuses. It will cost you 1BAB and may introduce XP
penalties, so I do not generally recommend using this option.
Cleric - One cleric level gives you bonus feats (toughness and evasion are best)
and gives the Turn Undead ability plus heavy armor. You lose 1bab tho.
Epic characters with 30 levels opens multiclassing builds a LOT.
I still recommend getting in most of the FS levels early on for quick
spell access.
i. Sample Build:
----------------
The following is a simple build that uses high CHA for excellent spellcasting
with tons of bonus slots, and also takes advantage of huge saving throw bonuses
and a divine might that is very powerful.
Divine Champ is used for more Smite, bonus feats, even more save bonuses, and
divine wrath. It is a great choice in place of fighter due to XP penalties.
Human Lawful Good 20FS/4pally/6DivChamp
STR 16
DEX 8
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 8
CHA 16 +7pumps +5Great CHA = 28 natural
1 FS - Luck of Heroes, Pwr Attack
2 FS
3 FS - Extended Spell
4 FS - +1CHA, Free Weapon Focus
5 FS - Free Elemental Resist
6 FS - Practiced Caster
7 FS
8 FS - +1CHA
9 FS - Blindfight
10 FS - Free Elemental Resist
11 FS
12 FS - +1CHA, Persistent Spell, Free Wpn Specialization
13 FS
14 FS
15 Pally - Toughness
16 Pally - +1CHA, Free +Saves
17 Pally
18 Pally - Divine MIGHT!
19 FS - Free Elemental Resist
20 FS - +1CHA
21 FS - Get 24spellcraft, take Epic Spell:Vampiric Feast, free Haste
22 FS
23 Div Champ - Epic Prowess
24 Div Champ - +1CHA, Great CHA1
25 Div Champ - Damage Reduction or Armor Skin
26 Div Champ - Great CHA2
27 Div Champ - Great CHA3
28 Div Champ - +1CHA, Great CHA4
29 FS - Great CHA5
30 FS - Free Elemental Resist, Free Damage Reduction
BAB = 25
Div Might adds up to +15dmg per hit for 15 rounds.
Up to +21 saving throws from Div Champ and lvl2 Paladin abilities.
(40CHA = +15 modifier from pally, +3 constant DivChamp, +3 from Div Wrath)
Other ideas:
FS16/WarPriest4/Fighter8/2BG - STR-based, use CHA-item to get 20CHA. 26BAB,
with lots of free feats, especially epic wpn focus, and some +saves.
More independent of AB buffs thanks to very high natural AB.
FS18/Bard1/RDD10/Cleric1 - Weak BAB, but Super High stats.
RDD adds 8STR,2CHA,2INT,2CON so getting EPIC divine might is easy.
Easily gives +20 DIVINE damage PER HIT for 20 rounds or more. Sick!
Has full tumble access too.
Optional: Replace 2FS and cleric with 3Blackguard. Adds +saves, but costs
several feats.
Human, Cha Evil.
STR 17 +1pump +2GreatSTR +8RDD = 28 natural
DEX 8 (needs item bad)
CON 14 +2RDD = 16 natural
INT 11 +2RDD = 13 natural
WIS 8
CHA 16 +6pumps +2RDD = 24natural
Skills: Tumble 30, Spellcraft25, Lore 8, Concentrate 33, Perform 4, UMD 10
1 bard - Mad Skillz, Luck of Heroes, Able Learner
2 FS
3 FS - Practiced Caster:FS
4 FS - +1CHA
5 FS - Free WpnFocus
6 FS - Extended Spell, Free Elem Resist
7 FS
8 FS - +1CHA
9 FS - Power Attack
10 RDD
11 RDD
12 Cleric - Earth,Water(toughness,evasion), DIVINE MIGHT, +1CHA. free Hvy Armor
13 RDD
14 RDD
15 FS - Knockdown
16 FS - +1CHA, Free Elemental Resist
17 FS
18 FS - Persistent Spell, Free Wpn Specialization
19 FS
20 FS +1CHA (Now, we have 21STR, 21CHA)
21 FS - EPIC DIVINE MIGHT!!!
22 FS
23 FS - Epic Prowess
24 RDD - +1CHA
25 FS - Epic Spell: Vampiric Feast
26 RDD - free +2CON
27 RDD - Great STR 1
28 RDD - +1STR
29 RDD - Great STR 2, Free +2INT
30 RDD - Free +4STR,+2CHA.
FS20/Fighter8/ 2pally(taken last) - Dualwielding build.
Air Genesai ST:10 DX: 20 CN:14 IN:12 WS:6 CH:12
Pump DEX only, get Perfect 2wpn fighting at lvl 21.
Pally is for some saving throw pump. Could just take 2 more fighter instead.
Make sure to get Epic Weapon Focus for maximum AB.
--------------------------------
VII. Divine Prestege classes.
--------------------------------
With the expansion, I added a special section for the divine PrCs. These
are the classes that get some divine progression built in.
a) Stormlord
------------
The stormlord is an interesting and powerful class for a favored soul.
For a favored soul, they will likely be multiclassing anyways and can
pick up one of the prereq feats at level 4. Once that is done, it is
simple to replace 8 FS levels with 8 stormlord and take no BAB penalty.
Taking the final 2 SL levels is a matter of debate, as it guarantees -1BAB most
of the time. This highly depends on how much you plan on relying on Divine
Power to make up the BAB difference, or if the extra abilities are worth it.
In most cases, you want to take the full 10 levels of Stormlord.
Stormlord has FULL casting ability. SL levels are the same as FS levels
basically, except for special abilities. So the FS DOES lose out some on
their weapon specialization and elemental resists.
Stormlord gains the following abilities:
* Up to +3 enhancement for a SL weapon. An SL weapon is the spear plus any
thrown weapons. This bonus actually STACKS with existing enhancement!
Pretty cool.
* Electrical Resistance. Increases to 15, then grants complete immunity at
level 9 SL. Nice to have. Kinda takes the place of getting it for FS.
* Pumped Weapon - This is a clickie that has unlimited use and grants 20 rounds
of pumped weapon. It adds the following to any SL weapon (defined above).
1d8 electric, 2d8 on crits, 1d8 sonic (gained in that order). It is
irritating to have to click before every battle though.
Remember, you are a FS and already have to deal with several other short
duration spells!
* Avatar - At 10th lvl, SL can cast this at CHAR LVL, extended automatically.
(i.e. level 30 caster gets a 60 round one) Adds 3-18 more electrical per hit.
Pumps speed to 200%. The main benefit is IMMUNITY TO KNOCKDOWN!
You also can use thrown weapons moderately effectively. Equip a shield/dart
and you are good to go. The darts will be +3, and add 2d8 elemental. You
are unlikely to hit much though due to poor DEX and lack of enchantment bonuses
on darts. Still, it might be useful in a pinch.
The downside is that you need to take Great Fortitude which is weak. Plus,
toughness which is alright. And then you must weapon focus in a SL-weapon,
which is typically Spear. Hopefully you can find a diety that uses spear with
the right alignment.
Another big problem is that you are pretty much stuck using... a spear!
Spear is a weak weapon and loses 2.5 damage compared to greatsword. You
more than make up for that, but let's ask a better question... How many
FSs run around with 2handers?!? None! Since so much
damage comes from buffs and not high STR, most prefer the use of a shield.
Plus, a shield keeps you from getting beat up when casting in combat, whereas
a 2hander is not. At level 15 onwards, you are giving up 7AC(+5 hvy shield)
to equip a spear! NOT a very good tradeoff most of the time.
ProTip 1: Take Monkey Grip so you can use a spear in 1 hand and still use
a shield. You trade 1 feat and -2AB for lots of shield AC and item bonuses.
THIS IS THE PREFERRED METHOD WHEN GOING STORMLORD! It is worth the drawbacks
to use your shield.
ProTip 2: If you decide against going 1handed spear, you want to maximize the
usefulness of the 2handed attack. Use Improved Power Attack and high STR to
make the Spear hit really really hard. Adding 5 Frenzied Berserker levels
for Better Power Attack and supreme cleave is well worth it. Plus, FB gives
the toughness prereq for free.
Skills: SL uses the typical Spellcraft, Concentrate. Note that it LOSES
Diplomacy and Heal skills, to gain Intimidate. Keep this in mind that
you will likely need extra skillpoints to keep these up to date.
Conclusion: Stormlord is quite powerful. But as you find epic weapons with
4d6 x3 elemental damage, the 2d8 +3 bonus from SL starts to pale in
comparison. Do not sacrifice excessive feats just to pick up SL.
Build Ideas:
FS12/SL10/FB5/BG3 - Super Poker. Go with massive STR and 2handed spear with
improved pwr attack and supreme cleave to wreak havoc.
FS10/SL10/Pally4/DivChamp6 - CHA based build that uses Divine Might for extra
damage. Use monkey grip to play 1hand/shield style.
variant: FS8/SL10/Pally4/Fighter8 - Very lategame build that eats XP penalty
and is shorted on caster level and pickable 9th lvl spells. However,
using 8 fighter allows access to Greater and Epic Weapon Focus for a +3 AB
stacking bonus advantage. This might be used for a persistent world.
FS9/SL10/Bard1/RDD10 - Weak BAB build that relies on Divine Power. Has amazing
stats though, and delivers heavy damage, good HPs, great AC, strong immunities.
Use Monkey Grip for 1handed style.
This build is used when resting is not limited much due to buff reliance.
See my StormLord guide for more information if desired.
B) Sacred Fist:
------------
Sacred Fist is a Cleric/Monk hybrid. At first glance it seems extremely
powerful. However, it does not work as well for Favored Soul.
Heres why:
i. FS uses CHA instead of WIS for spell access. Clerics are forced to have
decent WIS, which happens to help with AC bonuses from monk and pumps
their stunning fist. Favored Souls however rely on CHA, which does not
really help the SacredFist combo much.
ii. FS needs 1 level higher for each new spell level threshold compared to
cleric. i.e. Needs 18FS lvls for 9th lvl spell access vs 17 for cleric.
iii. FS will not take advantage of their level up abilities gained by taking
SF levels. Clerics basically get no freebies while they level, so
sacrifice nothing to take SF levels, as opposed to FS which will lose
their elemental resists, wpn specialization, and so forth.
iv. FS gain no domains, which means no ability to customize their freebie
feats. They DO gain weapon focus:unarmed though from their diety.
v. Sacred Flame which is the big ability for SF adds WIS bonus plus SF lvl.
The WIS bonus will be less for a FS than a cleric. Therefore, expect
the Sacred Flame ability to be less powerful for a favored soul.
I would HIGHLY recommend playing a cleric to go with sacred fist.
The favored soul is a powerful divine class, and thus the FS/SF combo WILL
WORK! It is playable and can be fun. My point is that a cleric/SF combo
has more favorable game mechanics going for it, and will just work out
better.
If you really want a Favored Soul/Sacred Fist, read on:
The trick is determining exactly how much FS vs. how much monk you want to
go with. I should note that you CAN NOT use SF as a free BAB booster, then
play normally.
The bottom line is that you must play as a monk hybrid.
Note that equipping ANY weapon will cause a -8AB penalty!
You will need 1 level of monk plus combat casting to quality. DO NOT try
to go SF without taking a monk level! This basically means that most
races are unsuitable since they eat 20% XP penalty right off the start.
The primary advantages of the SF are as follows:
* Move speed bonus - SF levels stack with monk levels and provide speed
bonus based on the Monk movement chart.
* AC bonus - +3 at level 10. This compensates for not having monk levels
which give +1ac per 5 levels.
* Spell Progression - Gains full spell levels as if a FS level was
taken, EXCEPT at levels 4 and 8. So SF costs 2 levels to take.
* FULL Fighter BAB progression! This is really nice, being better than
either monks OR FS. If only one could take SF past 10 levels...
* Sacred Flame - The main combat ability. Adds around 10 fire damage
per hit to attacks for 10 rounds. This is a decent ability, but
only usable once per day. Great for boss fights!
* Uncanny Dodge - Even monks dont get this. Really good for chars with
lots of dex-based AC.
* Inner Armor - +4dodge AC for WIS modifier rounds. I would expect pretty
low duration though, since you likely have weaker WIS vs a cleric.
* Unarmed Damage - Derived by adding monk levels to SF levels, and checking
the monk chart.
Other factors:
SF must use Gloves as a weapon slot. That means no +8AC bracers!
Of course, this is a Sacred Fist/monk issue, and has nothing to do with
being a favored soul. Just something to note.
Problems with Sacred Fist:
- Monk gloves are usually inferior to weapons. A weapon has special
materials to penetrate DR. Open hand does not. Nor will you have
enough monk levels to gain their DR pierce capabilities.
Plus, monk gloves have no enhancement bonus.. it is +AB only.
I mean, you can do alright, but even a +8ab 4d6 acid, +8dex glove is weak
compared to having a +8AC +8dex bracelet AND a seperate +8 ENHANCEMENT
admantite weapon with 6d6 fire and cold.
- You get no glove slot, as mentioned above. Your glove IS your weapon slot
now.
- You get no Spell Resistance. The divine Spell Resistance spell can
compensate though.
- You don't remove Flurry penalty until monk lvl 5 and lvl 9. Greater
flurry is achieved with 11 monk levels for an extra attack.
Conclusion: SF lets you play as a mediocre monk with divine buffs.
It works reasonably well, but not as much as one might expect.
Build Examples:
none. The standard monk11/cleric9/SF10 is great as you gain 9th level
spells, AND greater flurry with 2d10 unarmed damage.
This does NOT WORK, since going FS instead of cleric would mean no 9th lvl
spells. (you need 18 caster levels instead of 17)
If you took 1 less monk and 1 more FS to get your spell access, than means no
Greater Flurry. So, this is kind of a bummer.
C) Warpriest
------------
The warpriest is a fairly weak prestiege class, but has much more
versatility than the others mentioned here. Think of a warpriest
as a fighter... except every other level it assigns you a feat
that gives 1 full divine casting level, instead of you picking.
The prerequisite is Combat Casting... one of the most useless feats
in existence. (Skill focus:concentrate is much better). It also
requires 4th lvl divine spells, and 8diplomacy, 5 spot. Yuck!
The WP has the following advantages:
- Full fighter BAB progression. WP is used to squeeze out a few
extra points of AB.
- 50% divine progression. Every even level gives 1 full divine
casting level.
- Provides heavy armor, Martial Weapon and Tower Shield proficiency. This is
usually not really necessary though, and kind of a waste for FS.
- War Glory - +1 to hit for all allies, EXCEPT YOU. -1 saving throw for
all enemies. It is only a 10 foot radius, which is about that of a
sonic burst or implosion. (i.e. tiny)
- Inflame - Up to +10 saving throws vs fear/mind! Except for one problem:
It lasts FIVE rounds. Plus, a 1st level spell pretty much negates
fear/mindhoze anyways.
- Remove Fear - Hmph. If you had cast Protection from Alignment, your
allies wouldn't be feared in the first place...
Plus with a short-cast range, you have to CATCH them first.. :-)
- 3:Mass cure light wounds - Here comes the big problem with these spell-like
abilities. They are cast at the WP level! That means as a 10th level
caster, BEST CASE SCENARIO! Wow, watch my 17th level character drop a
huge 11-18 point heal on everyone.
- 5:Fear Aura - A clickie ability that casts Fear once per day. The DC will
actually be pretty good! DC is: 10 +WPlevel +CHA bonus.
- 6:Battletide - Hey great! Except for the 10 round maximum duration. A 30
FS can extend battletide to last 60 rounds in comparison. At once
per day, it is not worth even putting on the bar.
- 7:Haste - 3x per day. Lousy duration, and battletide does the trick anyways.
Concievably useful in groups though if you are hard-up.
- 9: Mass Heal - Onc per day. Finally, something useful! Except will only
heal for 100 maximum. Any undead targeted will easily Spell Resist.
- 10: Implacable Foe. All allies (cept you of course), get 20 HPs!!!
Ten rounds later, they all LOSE 20 HPs. Apparantly this is SO powerful,
that it is only usable once per day and HALVES your movement for 10rounds.
I can't see this being useful for anyone...
The major failing of Warpriest is the existence of Divine Power.
This spell lets you have as low BAB as you want and STILL be uber.
ex: 9FS,19wizard,1PM,1rogue with 15BAB gets 30BAB with Div Power!
Plus, once again the extra FS level to get next lvl spells hozes us.
Example: 12FS/10WP does NOT give 9th lvl spells...
This kinda defeats the purpose of Warpriest to some degree, although
the less buffs you have to use, the better.
Example Builds:
16FS/10WP/4Pally is alright. I would expect fewer WP levels used though.
16FS/6WP/4Pally/4DivChamp is much better.
-------------------------------------------
VIII. Conclusion, Copyright, and Contact info
-------------------------------------------
This guide is copyrighted by Randomsome1. However, you may post it or
use it as you like as long as no contents are changed.
If you have any observations, questions, or comments, please email me at:
[email protected] and add NWN2Guide in the Subject.
Remove the spambegone part of course.
(I would probably miss any email in my spam-filled regular email, hence
the usage of my other account...)
I hope you enjoy the guide and find it helpful.
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