Thor Build Challenge

[*Ceremorph]

I would suggest Favored Soul 26, Cleric 1, Palidin 2 and fighter 1.

(Good HP, AB, 30 Caster level, Excellent Saves, Persistent buffs, Weapon of Impact, Damge Resistance 10/Cold Iron, etc.)

You can see this build here: http://nwn2db.com/build.php?id=24360&version=1

And right there we see that the build would no longer be a concept build, but rather a "make a munchkin character" build. In reality, the Thor character shouldn't even have spellcasting abilities... you won't find any of the myths about Thor involving him casting spells. Let's also recall that the Diety of Thor in the Dieties & Demigods sourcebook is actually Ranger20/Barbarian20.

Of course, that build is rather silly in NWN.... although nobody can really be called silly when carrying Mjolnir, +5 chaotic distance ghost touch holy mighty cleaving returning thundering warhammer +109/+104/+99/+94 melee, +104 ranged which always receives a 20 on attack rolls; roll die to check for critical hit and always does maximum damage (116 points melee, 98 points ranged).

However... let's take this into NWN2, and ignore the idea of spellcasting classes... this lets us put together thor as the ultimate room-cleaner. If stormlord were allowed to work with weapons other than spear, I'd make an exception, but there's no real purpose to that.

So. I'm thinking Barbarian 17, to gain tireless rage. 7 levels of weapon master, to give an improved chance of critical hits and Ki attacks. 5 levels of frenzied berserker for enhanced power attack. And with the one remaining level, the obvious option would be either straight fighter, or additional levels of Barbarian or FB. This, my friends, would be Thor. Whereas a Favored Soul/Stormlord/Paladin/Shadowdancer.... would definitely not.

[*Lucereflame]

im probly going to go with the heavy barbarian way that was just posted.. focus on a Warhammer .. With lighting and i wish sonic (though not able to enchant sonic :-( ) the weapon master makes Sense Because.. well thor is known mostly for his hammer. And the Barbarian Rage.. would invoke his Strength and As in the Comics. he dose have a Frenzy Berserker Rage like Abilitiy.

[*MadPorthos]

Well here's the thing, what I described above, is a follower of Thor, not Thor himself. Can't even pretend to MAKE Thor, cause... well, he's a god. Even a plain old beginning demi god prolly can cast spells simply cause they are exercising thier divine will on reality of the plane they are in... by same token they give that to one who follows them, providing their worshippers powers.

Building something like barbarian, frenzied beserker, cleric is a progression that could even lead to stormlord, in one fascinated with Thor's association with thunder and lightning. Saying it's munchkin cause it's a caster or has some level of using both barbarian and frenzied beserker is ignoring that the first two of those classes complement each other and their "analogue" in the real world, is a savage (barbarian) warrior who focuses even greater on the combat and blood frenzy that is accepted in his culture.

This very beserk nature, though we might say oh, it's just madness or such, was viewed I think back in historical times as a gift from the gods... a fearsome one. If you accept that there are priests of these gods, who gain spells as they do in DnD, then it follows that one of these beserkers also could be a priest of thier god and have other gifts, blessings or what have you (spells) and domains similar to thier gods interests.

But yeah, maybe I done this a bit much. Didn't realize a Thor build was literally build Thor. :D

[*Ceremorph]

Nah, the munchkin comment came when people started suggesting prefab builds from the character builder. Cleric and/or favored soul made sense, but the one suggested build, although extremely powerful, really had nothing whatsoever to do with Thor, simply with making the most powerful character possible. Just like I would have had to comment if anyone had suggested Thor taking Shadowdancer levels.

[*Lost and not Found]

Unless your character's first five levels are fighter levels, going for Weapon Master is a mistake. The Weapon Master class consumes six feats to qualify for it. Six out of your seven standard pre-epic feats. And when it comes to game-mechanics, unless you somehow happen to find a Fiend's Ruin Warhammer, your ability to inflict critical hit damage becomes rather redundant against the 'critical hit immune' fiends.

And the fact remains, to get the most out of Barbarian's rage, you need to get atleast 17 levels of barbarian.

I've told about this build before, but Barbarian 20 / X something, works.
Barbarian 20 / FB 6 (Saves) / Fighter 4.
Barbarian 20 / FB 10.
Barbarian 20 / Fighter 10.

Who cares for the critical hits when you are pulling 40+ damage per hit, before damage reductions, and have enough hit points to ignore the slightly lowered AC.


Edit: Mad Porthos, I'm not having two accounts on this forum.

[*Ravenous]

On an offnote... Wonder why "powerbuilds" are so prevalent. There is no need to be able to smash through everything alone. DnD is a party-based RPG and so is NWN.

Sure your powerbuild will own everything and everyone, but who wants to PvP a powerbuild if they dont run one themselves? And add to that that most powerbuilds make no sense from an RP perspective, as in RP should lead to taking classes and PrCs and not the other way around IMO.

But then again, I spent most my time on a more "hardcore" server for NWN1 where you had to apply for PrCs to prove ya had the RP down and IC reasons for the class and then had to take at least 5 lvls in the class to. The 5 lvls went for all classes, not just PrCs, so that by lvl 20(max lvl on that server) you had to have at least 5 lvls in each class you picked.
No 1 SD level to get HiPS for a powerbuild etc.. Worked great.
Not that I advocate that kind of thing for S:CoD, just food for thought.

[*Lost and not Found]

Not that I advocate that kind of thing for S:CoD, just food for thought.

I remember that place, never stopped me from "Powergaming" as I wanted. And if people find the single level shadowdancer atrocious, they should sign a petition to have the Hide in Plain Sight allowed as one of the Rogue Bonus feats. Should prevent those 'awfull' Rogue 29 / Shadowdancer 1 builds.

Savage Axe/Kithra commented on Frenzied Beserker and in Lost's post I noticed something interesting about that. The Frenzied Beserkers initial +6 strength bests the maximum +5 enhancement bonus we have on SCOD, so it does have some interesting effect AND barbarian rage stacks on top of that +6. So when raging and frenzying, even a fairly low barbarian/frenzied beserker has +10 strength, +4 con. The drawback though is a huge AC penalty... -4 or -6... not sure of the total, if both the barbarian rage and frenzy penalties stack.

The bonuses and penalties stack, including the penalties from fatigue. And unfortunately activating both Barbarian's Rage and Berserker's Frenzy is going to eat up two rounds. One round for each. In addition, for the duration your character is under Frenzy, he or she will take six points of damage per round. Thus I would advice initiating Frenzy before Rage, as a counter to some Frenzy-related deaths.

Anyhow, 1d6 damage instead of the stock six would sound a lot more fairer. >,>

Anyhow, ...
Is there something to add?

[*TheFrozenWind]

[*Spiegel1]

Context is everything.

[*Ceremorph]

And if people find the single level shadowdancer atrocious, they should sign a petition to have the Hide in Plain Sight allowed as one of the Rogue Bonus feats. Should prevent those 'awfull' Rogue 29 / Shadowdancer 1 builds.

HiPS should be a selectable feat... but here is how I would envision it.

Type of feat: General

Prerequisite: Hide 15, Stealthy, Skill Focus: Hide, Skill Focus: Move Silently

Required for: None

Specifics: The character can use the hide skill when being observed. This ability will not always be successful in the frenzy of combat -- but disengaging from the enemy before attempting to hide in plain sight will succeed.

Use: Selected (Stealth Mode)

In exchange, the feat would be raised in shadowdancer level available... more greatly attuned to shadows than an assassin, so let's say level five. Probably never going to happen... but this in turn would open up HiPS to every class, but at the expense of three feats, while the skill prerequisite keeps it from being snagged by a third-level fighter (11th level minimum, and that would also depend on taking at least one level of a class with Hide as a class skill). Considering that it is one of the most powerful feats in NWN2, it's definitely worth it to people who want it and will probably still be taken often... but only by people willing to focus on the stealthy aspects of their character.

Note: this is not in any way an official position, just my interpretation of how it could be implemented differently.