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True Scoundrel Guide

by NukeBlast

KOTOR: True Scoundrel Guide

\"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your
side.\"
-Han Solo

How right you are Han.  Time and time again, I read misinformed FAQs about 
how
weak ranged fighters become as the game progresses; lightsaber this, and
lightsaber that.  Anyone can simply refute these claims, but I am here to 
prove
it.  I have successfully run through this game as a dual wielding, blaster
pistol Jedi, with more success than any other build I have previously used.  
If
gunning down Dark Jedi with one round of attacking appeals to you, please 
read
on; for the rest of you: the Sith are holding dueling lessons on Korriban.  
The
ultimate goal of this guide is for you to end up with a powerful, dual 
wielding
blaster pistol, light sided, Jedi Counselor, scoundrel.

This is by no means a complete KOTOR guide.  I have simply become fed up 
with
the lack of \'saber-less\' guides, for the lack of a better term.  I am going 
to
assume you have played through KOTOR before and are familiar enough with it 
that
I can skip over many of the basics.  Lastly, this document contains 
spoilers; do
not read any further if the thought of accidentally reading a spoiler will 
cause
you to become agitated and/or sad.


Table of Contents

1. Character Stats
	1.1 Strength
	1.2 Dexterity
	1.3 Constitution
	1.4 Intelligence
	1.5 Wisdom
	1.6 Charisma
2. Starting Class
3. Skills
4. Feats
	4.1 Two Weapon Fighting
	4.2 Rapid Shot
	4.3 Blaster Pistol Weapon Proficiency
	4.4 Implants
5. Jedi Class
6. Force Alignment
7. Force Powers
	7.1 Force Heal
	7.2 Stasis Field
	7.3 Force Speed
	7.4 Force Valor
	7.5 Affect Mind
	7.6 Force Breach
	7.7 Force Armor
8. Allies
	8.1 Jolee Bindo
	8.2 Juhanni
	8.3 Bastilla
	8.4 Mission
	8.5 Zalbaar
	8.6 HK-47
	8.7 Others
9. Equipment
	9.1 Implants
	9.2 Headgear
	9.3 Left Arm
	9.4 Left Hand
	9.5 Body
	9.6 Right Arm
	9.7 Right Hand
	9.8 Belt
10. Final Results/Thoughts
11. Thanks


1. Character Stats

As we all know, stats can make or break a character.  Knowing what the 
various
stats do, and where to place your stat points are of paramount importance.
Please read the following carefully.

1.1 Strength.
Strength adds to your to-hit and melee weapon damage.  Since we are using
pistols, we can ignore this stat. Either leave it at base 10, so you don\'t 
incur
a penalty, or put it to 8 so you may use those two points elsewhere.  I
recommend 8 points.

1.2 Dexterity.
Dexterity adds to your to-hit and ranged weapon damage, as well as adding to
your defense rating.  This is the \'money\' stat, for not only does it help us 
hit
and damage opponents with our ranged weapons, it also adds to our defense.  
I
recommend 16 points for starting.

1.3 Constitution.
This stat determines how many hit points your character receives per level.
Since we will be a ranged attacker, we will be out of danger for a good 
portion
of the game.  I recommend 10 points as a base for this stat.  There\'s no
reason to incur a negative penalty in this stat by placing it at 8; by the 
same
token any more than 10 can be considered overkill for normal difficulty.  
With
all of the enhancements your character will receive from items and force 
powers,
I find that your ending HP is quite sufficient with this amount of stat 
points.

1.4 Intelligence.
Widely regarded as a waste of stat points.  Intelligence raises the amount 
of
skill points you receive.  Since all skill points are relatively useless, we
will leave this at a base of 10, as to not incur a negative penalty.

1.5 Wisdom.
Wisdom raises the amount of force points you receive as well as determines 
how
effective you are at using and resisting force powers.  This is the other
\'money\' stat for this build.  We need to be able to effectively use our 
force
powers on the enemy without them being resisted as well have the ability to
avoid the enemies force powers.  Think of wisdom as force dexterity.  I
recommend putting 16 points into this stat.  Combined with items, you should 
be
able to resist most of the dark Jedis\' attempts to strike you down with 
force
powers, while dealing out a beating yourself.

1.6 Charisma.
Charisma determines how amiable you are; how well you interact with others.
The higher your charisma, the better you\'ll be at being able to persuade.  
There
are plenty of persuade options in the game, none of which are truly 
critical.

In addition to being correlated with your persuasion skills, charisma also 
adds
to the amount of force points your character will have; and to a lesser 
extent,
the power in which you use the force.  Charisma does not have as profound an
effect on your force abilities as wisdom, but the effects are evident,
nonetheless.  For example; the more points you put into charisma, the more 
force
points you\'ll have available to you for casting force abilities.  In 
addition,
the power in which you use those abilities, will be greater than if your
charisma was lower.  I recommend putting 12 points into this stat initially,
and boosting it with various equipment throughout the game.

Note: if you plan on having your character only use the treat injury skill
(described below in greater detail; section 3), you could drop your
intelligence to 8; then using those skill points in charisma, boosting it to
12.  If dexterity or wisdom is more of a concern to you, you could also use
those two points to raise them a point, to 17.

My starting stats looked like this:
STR: 8
DEX: 16
CON: 10
INT: 10
WIS: 16
CHA: 14

Every subsequent stat point you receive should go into getting both your
dexterity and wisdom to 20.  Because of all the +dexterity equipment you can 
get
throughout the game, I recommend getting your wisdom up to 20 before your
dexterity.


2. Starting Class

As you\'ve read, we will be choosing the Scoundrel as our non-Jedi class.  
Why
choose the scoundrel class?  Sneak Attack, good reader, sneak attack.  As 
you
progress as a scoundrel, you will receive the feat, sneak attack.  Sneak
attacks allows you to do extra damage to stunned or unfocused opponents.  
Master
sneak attack(level 3) adds 3-18 damage to each successful attack, which may 
not
seem like much at first.  Keep in mind, however, that we will be using 
skills
and enhancements that will allow us to attack multiple times per attack 
round.

Along with sneak attack, we also receive Scoundrel\'s Luck, which increases 
our
defensive rating.  Since our character will not have a lot of hit points, 
we\'ll
take all the defense we can get.


3. Skills

As a scoundrel, we get more skills than the other classes.  Unfortunately, 
not
many of these skills are worth while.  I recommend that you max Treat Injury 
at
every level.  The higher your proficiency in treat injury, the more health
you\'ll gain from medical packs.

With your leftover points, you should do one of two things.  Add the points 
to
Persuade, which if you get high enough, could allow you to put your charisma
stat down to 8.  With those two extra points you\'ve saved, you could then 
move
the points into something more useful, like wisdom, dexterity, or 
constitution.
You could also, add the points into Repair.  The main reason for doing so is
that you may be able to unlock the functions of HK-47 when you purchase him.
Make the choice after determining if you\'re going to use HK-47 as one of 
your
main NPC allies or not.

All other skills can be performed masterfully by your allies.


4. Feats

As a scoundrel, we get the fewest feats of the bunch, so we have to make 
them
count.  I will list the feats you should consider getting, in order of
importance, highest to lowest.

4.1 Two Weapon Fighting.
Maxing this skill will greatly reduce the penalty of wielding your dual 
pistols.
Without this skill, you are penalized -6 for your chance to hit with your 
main
weapon, and a -10 for your chance to hit with your secondary weapon.  When
maxed, this skill will reduce that penalty down to a -2 per hand.  A must 
have
for this build.

4.2 Rapid Shot.
Rapid shot allows you to engage in an extra attack per round at the cost of
defense and chance to hit.  At the maximum level you lose 1 defensive point 
and
1 to-hit point.  Well worth the penalties for that extra attack.

4.3 Blaster Pistol Weapon Proficiency.
You need level one to use blaster pistols, but scoundrels already start with
this feat.  At the maximum level, this feat adds +1 to your to-hit and a +2 
on
top of your damage dealt.

4.4 Implants.
Depending on the level invested, will allow you to use level 1, 2, or 3
implants; which in turn can grant bonuses such as mind-immunity and 
+dexterity.


5. Jedi Class

The Jedi Counselor will be our class of choice for two reasons.  The first
reason is that we get an extra four force abilities as we progress, compared 
to
the other Jedi classes.  The second reason is that we obtain Force Focus.  
At
master level, force focus gives us a +6 bonus in both dealing and defending
against force powers.


6. Force Alignment

I have only gone through this build as a master light-sided Jedi, and I 
believe
this is the best alignment for this build.  I\'m positive that it can be done 
as
dark-sided, but the force powers that accompany a light-sided Jedi are much 
more
aesthetically pleasing to this build.  After all, we\'re supposed to be a 
blaster
wielding scoundrel that shoots his way out of a fight, not a dark counselor 
who
prefers to use the force to do his dirty work.  I suppose one could remain
neutral in alignment, but I don\'t honestly believe that there are any 
dark-sided
powers to use that warrant the penalty of being aligned as neutral.  The 
choice
is yours, but I will only out line light-side force powers in the next 
section.


7. Force Powers

As a light-sided force user, you will use these powers to enhance your 
fighting
and defending abilities to their upper tiers.  I will list the more optional
force powers toward the bottom.  As always, it is your preference as to 
which
ones you\'d like to get.

7.1 Force Heal.
Heals you and your party members.  This force power also nullifies any 
poisoning
you or your party members may have.  Use this instead of medical packs 
whenever
possible.  This will help you to save money and stock pile the medical 
packs,
which you will most likely need on the Star Forge.

7.2 Stasis Field.
At master level, this power has the chance to stun groups of enemies for 12
seconds.  This should be your most used skill.  Not only will your opponents 
be
unable to move or attack after a successful casting, but because they are
stunned, every successful attack you perform on them will result in your 
sneak
attack feat taking place.  Take into consideration that you will have an 
extra
attack per round from the rapid shot feat, and up to two more attacks per 
round
possible from force speed (covered in detail below, section 7.3).

If your normal attack and all three bonus attacks hit during your round of
attacks, that\'s an extra 4 * (3 to 18), or 12 to 72 damage you\'ll dish out 
on
top of your blaster damage!

7.3 Force Speed.
At level one, this power increases your movement speed and defense for its
duration, 38 seconds.  At level two, you gain an extra attack in addition to
extra defense gained.  At its master level, this force power will grant you 
two
extra attacks per round, a +4 to defense, and the faster movement speed.  
Try
casting this before and during every battle.  You may also wish to cast this
power to simply increase your movement speed.  Sometimes you have to 
tediously
run back and forth through certain areas in the game.  Cast this to reduce 
the
time it takes to get from point A to point B.

7.4 Force Valor.
Master valor grants the caster and his/her party a +5 to all attributes and
saves.  In addition, it also grants the recipients immunity to poison.  
There
are two drawbacks to this skill which makes it optional in the minds of 
many.
Drawback one: the duration on this spell is pitifully short; 20 seconds.
Drawback two: it\'s an expensive power to cast; and because of it\'s duration
you\'ll want to cast it often.  I believe, however, that this spell is worth
getting to master level.  The temporary boost it gives you in your stat 
points
can give you up to a +2 modifier on everyone in your party.  Not only that, 
but
the +5 to saving throws is huge; adding to your already high defense.  I 
highly
recommend using this power before and during large group battles, 
mini-bosses
and Malak.  Add this power on top of taking stims, and you\'ll be nigh
unstoppable.

*Any spell I list below here, you should consider optional in maxing, or 
getting
altogether.

7.5 Affect Mind.
Putting a point into this skill opens up a new dialog option; force 
persuade.
Get this skill if your persuasion is low, but be careful as many of the 
persuade
options are inherently dark-sided in nature.  Try to avoid using this on any 
of
your allies, as they\'ll usually know when you\'re using the power on them.  I
would avoid dominate mind altogether as affect mind serves it\'s purpose well
enough.  As a light-side user, you shouldn\'t need to force anyone against 
their
will.

7.6 Force Breach.
At master level, this will remove all helpful force powers on the target.  
Since
every Jedi you encounter is dark (Bastilla aside), there aren\'t many buffs 
to
breach.  All beneficial force powers are light sided, minus one: force 
immunity.
The dark Jedi who use force immunity are few and far between.  If you\'re
concerned, however, with breezing through the star forge and your final 
battle
with Malak, this wouldn\'t be a bad choice.

7.7 Force Armor.
At its master level, this force power gives its caster +6 to defense and 
saving
throws.  The major drawback to this power is, like force valor, that its
duration is only 20 seconds.  By the time you cast valor and armor on 
yourself,
your window of benefits isn\'t very long.  A good way to use this skill is 
have
one of your Jedi allies cast master valor while you cast this on your self.
You will, however, not be able to do this during any of the important solo
battles that take place during the game.  In such instances, you\'ll have to 
cast
both valor and armor yourself and reap the benefits in a very short time 
frame.


8. Allies

I won\'t explicitly tell you who to use in this section, but rather gloss 
over
the party members, who I feel, benefit you the most during your journey.
Remember that you are a ranged attacker that benefits from stunned or
pre-occupied opponents.  Jedi party members can fill both roles, but certain
non-Jedi members bring some other, much welcomed, benefits to the party.

8.1 Jolee Bindo.
Jolee is a neutrally-aligned Jedi counselor.  He is helpful in many regards.
If you fail to stun one or two opponents Jolee can chime in with a stasis 
field
of his own.  When you encounter mini-bosses, Jolee can use Force Kill on
individual targets or Force Lightning on groups of targets; making your life
much easier.  If you\'re tied up in battle, or simply don\'t have the force
reserves, he can cast force heal or force valor in a pinch.  Let\'s not also
forget that this game has many, hard-to-kill droids.  Have Jolee get Destroy
Droid, and you can cake-walk past their broken hulls.

8.2 Juhanni.
Juhanni is a light-sided Jedi guardian.  As a guardian, Juhanni should be 
used
as a melee combatant, engaging opponents while you work your game.  Give her
force speed and force healing, and she can be force to be reckoned with.

8.3 Bastilla.
As a light-sided Jedi, you will have to battle Bastilla on both the unnamed
world, and the star forge.  For these reasons, I recommend developing her as
little as possible.  It doesn\'t hurt to do her side-quest or romantic story,
but the star forge battle may take longer than if you hadn\'t.  Make sure you
strip her of all equipment before you run into Malak on the Leviathan.

8.4 Mission.
Mission is a non-Jedi scoundrel.  At first glance, Mission doesn\'t seem like 
a
very competent combatant.  She is, however, quite the opposite.  Mission 
shines
for one reason and one reason only; sneak attack.  Unlike your character,
Mission\'s sneak attack ability can increase to level 9, which can deal 
massive
damage on top of her attacks.  You can equip her in a plethora of attack 
options
such as a melee combatant, rifle user, or blaster pistol user.

There are many good melee weapons in the game, and some can come close to 
being
as powerful as finely crafted light-sabers.  Have Mission use a double 
bladed
weapon with flurry on stunned opponents, and she will probably kill faster 
than
even you.  The downside to Mission as a melee combatant is that she has a 
low
hit point pool.  Boost her constitution with equipment, implants, and force
valor to keep her going.

Another route to take with Mission is one similar to your own.  As a dual 
pistol
wielder, she can sit back with you and eliminate stunned enemies at 
lightning
speed.  The problem with this setup, obviously, is that you have to split 
your
limited pool of good blaster pistols with her.  To avoid that problem, you 
can
set her up with a good blaster rifle or heavy blaster.  This will also free
points from the dual wielding feat.

8.5 Zalbaar.
You can\'t assume that because someone is a Wookie that they should use a
crossbow.  One look at Zalbaar\'s stats and you should be able to tell that 
he is
befitting a melee warrior.  Equip him with some of the great double bladed
weapons throughout the game and use him as a high hit point tank.  Raise his
already high strength to do some extra damage, or raise his constitution to
help him live longer.  Make sure you get him the level 3 implant feat since 
he
cannot equip armor or headgear.  Because of his high hit point pool, make 
sure
you put all of his skill points into treat injury; otherwise you\'ll be using 
a
lot of force heal and medical kits to get him back to full health.

8.6 HK-47.
If you\'ve taken the time, and invested the points to repair HK-47\'s latent
abilities, he can become a very helpful ally.  A good heavy blaster, and 
flame
thrower will serve him well.  He has a high hit point pool, but can only be
healed by using repair parts.  He is also very expensive to upgrade.  If you
wish to use HK, brush up on your Pazaak skills to get some easy money.

8.7 Carth, T3, Canderous Ordo.
I will skip these teammates because I feel the other allies listed above do
their job better.  Your character and Mission wield pistols better than 
Carth.
T3 is the weakest combat character.  HK-47, Mission, and Zalbaar can all
competently replace Canderous in battle, as well.


9. Equipment

There are various FAQ\'s touching on the equipment throughout KOTOR.  Feel 
free
to use them in scouting out the equipment you\'d like for you and your 
allies.
I will list, briefly, in this section what my final character was wearing.  
The
equipment you use can be open to so much debate, that to think that any one
setup is the definitive, would be silly.  I was under much duress as  to 
which
equipment I used; I hope you take as much consideration.

9.1 Implant.
I mainly used +dexterity implants throughout the game.  At endgame, my 
character
was using the Advanced Alacrity, level 3 implant.  Dexterity +5.

9.2 Headgear.
I can\'t think of a better headpiece to wear than the Circlet of Saresh.  It
grants a +5 to wisdom.  If you use this headgear, you could leave your 
wisdom
at 19; the +5 from the helmet will put your end statistic at 24, for the 
extra
+2 bonus.

9.3 Left Arm.
I used various shields throughout the game on both arms.  Use them before
engaging Sith, droids or Mandalorians to absorb the blaster damage.

9.4 Left Hand.
My offhand.  Believe it or not, I was still using a fully upgraded Bendak\'s
Blaster up to the last battle.  I urge you to kill Bendak Starkiller, for 
you
will be using this pistol for a majority of the game.  Great pistols simply 
do
not become available until the end stages of the game.  This pistol deals a
moderate 5-10 damage, but also sports a +3 to attack modifier.

Before you get this pistol, undoubtedly, Carth\'s pistol will be equipped on 
your
right hand.  Once you receive Bendak\'s pistol, I recommend moving Carth\'s 
over
to the left hand while using Bendak\'s on your main hand.

9.5 Body.
Before you become a Jedi, make use of the various light armors you find on 
Taris
that don\'t give big penalties to dexterity.  I recommend not investing in 
medium
or heavy armors as you will be unable to cast various force powers later in 
the
game when you are wearing them.  I could not find a better robe than a 
simple
Jedi Master Robe.  My defense ended up at 33.

You can, however, find better robes.  Qel-Droma\'s Robe is a light-side only
robe that is found on Korriban.  The Star Forge/Darth Revan robe would also 
be
a good choice if you can manage to get them.

9.6 Right Arm.
Once again, I used mainly shields throughout the game.  If you\'re knee deep 
in
action, you may consider using Brejik\'s Arm Band and Belt to suppress melee
damage.  This is a good setup for dueling on Taris.

9.7 Right Hand.
Take note that you should be using your highest damage pistol in your main 
hand.
Until you master two weapon fighting, you will have a greater to-hit penalty 
in
your offhand.  The best pistol in the game is Cassus Fett\'s Heavy Pistol.  
It
does a huge 6-19 damage.  On top of its rifle-like damage, it has a +5 
attack
modifier and gives a 25% chance to stun an opponent per hit.  You will, of
course, pay dearly for a pistol this good, but to use anything less would be
criminal.  This item can be bought on Korriban.

9.8 Belt.
I found a nifty little belt in my journeys, the Adrenaline Stimulator.  This
belt boosts your dexterity +2 and adds a +4 to all saves.


10. Final Analysis

Let\'s quickly recap what you should have accomplished through reading this
guide.  You are quick killing scoundrel, who can attack multiple times a 
round,
toting dual-wielded blaster pistols, through feats as well as dealing that 
extra
oomph through sneak attack.  You wear only a robe, yet your defense is very
high; your saving throws are unparalleled.   You\'re also a light-sided Jedi
counselor who casts force powers not only to benefit him/herself but also 
your
party members.  The only good compliment to a blaster by your side is a 
stunned
opponent in front of you; stasis field is the basis of all your attacks.

The only challenge I have found with using this build for the game is the 
final
battle with Malak.  Because you are a light-sided Jedi, you are unable to 
kill
the captured Jedi in Malak\'s chamber.  Due to this fact, the battle is drawn 
out
considerably until he drains the life from each and every one of the 
captured
Jedi.  This is not necessarily a weakness due to the build, but an inherent
weakness of becoming a light-sided force user.  Grin and bear it; the final
battle is, after all, less than 1% of the game.


11. Thanks

Above all else, I hope you have fun experimenting, and tinkering with this
build.  I also hope that some of you may be influenced to write some
\'not-so-run-of-the-mill\' build order guides in the future.  All feedback and
correction information can be sent to the following email address:
[email protected]

V1.1: Thanks to Claude for clarification on charisma and robe choices.

Thanks for reading,
-NukeBlast

(7/15/04)
This work is not copyrighted.  Publish it word for word and get it on the 
New
York Times best seller list; I do not care.  All statistics and information 
were
derived from the PC version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic; 
published
by Lucas Arts, developed by BioWare.