NeverWinter Nights 2 MOB - Paladin

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*Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer: Paladin FAQ* by DonJarlaxleVersion 2.02, Last Updated 2007-10-31 View/Download Original File

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Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer - Paladin Guide

By: DonJarlaxle10/17/2007Version 2.02Game Version 1.10

====================

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

I. IntroductionII. Selecting Your RaceIII. Stats: Or Looking Good and Killing ThingsIV. Making the Most of Your Skill PointsV. Planning Ahead: Your Epic TaleVI. The Science of Feat Selection (or Where's Battle Blessing?)VII. Spelling Out Your Divine GiftsVIII. When the Straight and Narrow Isn't EnoughIX. Single-class Paladin ExampleX. Multiclass Paladin Sample Builds

A. Mystran Dragon Knight

B. Inspiring Holy SwordsmanXI. Contact InfoXII. Version HistoryXIII. Permissions and Copyright

====================

I. Introduction

First, a disclaimer. This FAQ assumes that you've already read the manual andhave at least a base understanding of the way character creation and levellingworks. It also assumes that you at least have a base knowledge of how the skillswork, how the feats work, and the benefits of each character race. If you don't

have such basic knowledge, read the manual, read another FAQ (such as abeginner's guide or walkthrough), or just play the game some and learn that way.

Now with that part over with, you're checking this FAQ out because you have theurge to play the typical knight in shining armor, who wanders the lands on hismighty steed (had Obsidian given him one) in search of evil to smite and fairdamsels to rescue.

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II. Selecting Your Race

Races that make effective Paladins are a very select group, in part because ofthe multiple-ability dependence (MAD) of the class. Races that provide bonusesto Strength, Wisdom, and/or Charisma are obviously something to look at. Youwant to avoid, like cooties, any race that takes a penalty to any one of theabove stats (any Dwarf minus Gold, Half-Orc, Deep Gnome).

Best Paladin Race:

- Aasimar: And, quite frankly, by a landslide. Forget the level adjustmentof +1, which is not that big of a deal. And forget looking at his racial spellsor resistances, which are just gravy. Instead, look at his +2 to both WIS andCHA. CHA is one of the two big stats for the Paladin. And the WIS bonus allowshim to get up to 16 WIS at the start on a 1-for-1 point buy. But the thing is,you only need a 14 WIS to cast all Paladin spells, so instead you take thosetwo free points from WIS and put them into STR. The Aasimar will qualify forthe epic Paladin feats the most easily by far because of this. Add to this thatPaladin is the Aasimar's favored class, making multiclassing easy should youwish to do it, and you've got the deluxe package.

**EPIC NOTE*** It should also be noted in the specific Aasimar vs. Humancomparison that to qualify for Epic Divine Might (as you'll see in detaillater on), the Aasimar has to take *2 LESS* Great Strength or Great Charisma

feats than a Human. Which means that the Human so-called advantage of the extra1st-level feat is not only made up for, but it is actually *ECLIPSED.*

Other Races Worth a Try:

- Human: His lone advantage over the Aasimar is 4 extra skill points at 1stlevel and one extra skill point per level afterwards (assuming the sameIntelligence scores). Still makes a solid, if not rather unspectacular,Paladin.

- Drow: Yes, it's weird, having a typically evil race being a champion of orderand goodness (even the few good Drow are still chaotic, including Drizzt andElistraee's followers), but the Drow gets a +2 CHA bonus, along with bonuses to

DEX and INT. Since those stats typically aren't high priority for a Paladin,you put those free points into STR. Spell Resistance and his racial spells arequite a boon. He would be almost as effective as the Aasimar, were his leveladjustment not +2. The Aasimar's +1 isn't such a big deal, but +2 is on thepush point. Light blindness is also an annoying weakness.

- Gold Dwarf: Does not suffer the CHA penalty of his Shield and Gray cousins.Still retains all the useful racial bonuses against certain enemies and use ofthe Dwarven Waraxe for free. The CON bonus makes him particularly durable.Prestige classing to a Dwarven Defender is also a worthwhile option toconsider, assuming you can get his Dexterity high enough.

====================

III. Stats: Or Looking Good and Killing Things

As mentioned before, Paladins are what is called a MAD (multi-ability dependent)class, a label that gets applied to a class with features that depend largelyon more than simply one or two key stats. Paladins also can't really afford astat with a negative modifier, either, making a stat line even more precariousto draw.

Strength: One of the two really important stats for a Paladin. STR should be no


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less than 14 to start, and should be higher if at all possible. Try to aim forno less than 18 STR by Lv. 20. You do have to hit things, you know, and that's afunction entirely of STR (except for Smite Evil, but that's too situational).Plus with Epic Divine Might as an option at epic levels now (much better thanGreat Smiting, if you ask me), it will pay to devote attention to STR as well asCHA, as you'll need a natural 21 in both.

Dexterity: This is the Paladin's least important stat, since he'll be wearingfull plate whenever he can. If you MUST take a stat with a negative modifier,make it Dexterity. Ideally, you won't have to unless you're a Gold Dwarf. Youreally want this at 10.

Constitution: You don't want a negative modifier at all, and you want a positivemodifier of some sort if you can spare it at all. That said, a 12 in CON istypically adequate. The benefits of a CON higher than that are slightlyoverrated and not worth giving up stat points in other key areas. Although ifyou find yourself able to take this to the highest score you can in a 1-for-1point buy (14 for most races), with everything else satisfied, go right ahead.

Intelligence: The second least important stat for a Paladin, but you never,NEVER want a negative modifier here. Paladins are starving for skill points asthey are. 10 is the bare minimum to take this stat down to. If, somehow, you cansqueeze a 12 out of this stat, do it (don't sacrifice STR, CHA, or a positiveCON modifier to do it, though).

Wisdom: 14. No more, no less. It will give you access to the Paladin's entirearray of spells. If you plan on only taking 4 Paladin levels or so, you canobviously leave this at 12.

Charisma: The other really important stat for a Paladin. CHA powers just aboutall of a Paladin's important abilities that set him apart from a plain ol'Fighter or Fighter/Cleric. Don't start with any less than a 14 in this stat.However, boosting CHA exclusively and ignoring STR is *NOT* recommended. Andbefore you bring it up, Great Smiting is *NOT* recommended (at least not forsingle-class Paladins ... more on that shortly).

Here are some sample starting stat lines. Obviously, you can adjust these to

taste and necessity, but these typically follow the principles I outlined above:

Aasimar: STR 16, DEX 10, CON 12, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 18Human: STR 15, DEX 10, CON 12, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 16

====================

IV. Making the Most of Your Skill Points

Paladins don't get many skill points, only 2 + INT modifier per level. Thus,judicious spending of skill points is crucial.

Must-have Skills:

- Concentration: Several of a Paladin's key buffs are short-term round/levelspells, making casting in the middle of combat a necessity. Concentration helpsprevent the Paladin's attempts to buff from fizzling out.

- Diplomacy: Especially in the OC, or in modules that are centered aroundrole-playing and conversation.

Take-if-you-can Skills:


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- Heal: Not so much in the OC, but in certain modules or persistant worlds withrest restrictions and limited numbers of healing potions, this is an importantskill. Can even replace Diplomacy to an extent if you have to.

- Lore: Instant identification of items is nice, plus it opens up someadditional conversation options.

- Craft Weapon: Always handy. Especially since a Paladin can convert a standardalchemical silver longsword into an instant devil-slayer with a merespell.

Interesting Options (Cross-Class):

- Spellcraft: 4 ranks allow you to qualify for the Practiced Spellcaster feat.

- Spot: Take 5 ranks, along with 8 ranks in Diplomacy to qualify for Warpriest.

====================

V. Planning Ahead: Your Epic Tale

With the introduction of epic levels and epic feats (up to 30 levels), onceagain many of MotB's builds will revolve around the eventual selection of apowerful but hard-to-get feat. Paladins have two such capstone feats --

Great Smiting (which was in NWN1) and the new Epic Divine Might.

Great Smiting requires CHA 25, as it did before. It simply multiplies yourPaladin levels when determining Smite Evil damage, as it did before, and itcan be selected multiple times.

Epic Divine Might requires STR 21, CHA 21, Power Attack and Divine Might, andit simply sets the durations and damage bonus equal to TWICE your Charismamodifier.

--------------------

Keep in mind that unless you're taking a certain prestige class (more on that),

you're gonna have to choose whether to pursue Epic Divine Might or GreatSmiting. It's unlikely you'll qualify for both with only 30 levels to workwith -- and if you do, you probably won't be good at both, as Great Smitingis really only worth it if you can take it multiple times.

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Also, keep in mind that regular feats are granted every TWO levels in epiclevels (21, 23, 25, 27, 29). Pure Paladins also get three bonus feats inaddition to those (at 23, 26, 29)

***NOTE*** Unlike in NWN1, these pure-class epic bonus feats are NOTlimited to a class-restricted list. These pure-class epic feats can

be used just like any regular feat.

Multiclassing aside, an Aasimar with the following starting stat line:

STR 16, DEX 10, CON 12, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 18

can get:

- Great Smiting at Lv. 23 (CHA 23 at Lv. 20 -> Great Charismas atLv. 21 and 23 -> Great Smiting with the Paladin bonus feat at Lv. 23).


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- Epic Divine Might at Lv. 25 (STR 21, CHA 18 at Lv. 20 -> GreatCharismas at Lv. 21 and two more at 23).

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A Human with the following starting stat line:

STR 15, DEX 10, CON 12, INT 10, WIS 14, CHA 16

can get:

- Great Smiting at Lv. 25 (CHA 21 at Lv. 20 -> Great Charismas atLv. 21 and two at 23 -> CHA increase at Lv. 24).

- Epic Divine Might at Lv. 27 (STR 18, CHA 18 at Lv. 20 -> GreatStrengths at Lv. 21 and two at 23 -> CHA increase at Lv. 24 ->Great Charismas at Lv. 25 and 26).

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In NWN1, Great Smite-based Paladins had that "all-or-nothing" and"one-trick-pony" quality about them. They had to boost their CHA entirelyand neglect STR altogether, resulting in a Paladin that could certainly

put a hurtin' on the Big Bad Evil Guy (BBEG), but was stunningly mediocreotherwise.

It appears the new kid on the block, Epic Divine Might, is the clear winner.The maturation process of an EDM Paladin may be slower compared to a GreatSmiter, but the fact remains that you are improving your STR, which meansmore consistent and non-buff-dependent damage and higher all-purpose attackbonus. And instead of one great spike of situational damage, EDM gives youa substantial damage bonus that lasts much longer than one limited-use hit.Plus, it's not alignment-dependent. It can punish the BBEG and the mobsalike.====================

VI. The Science of Feat Selection (or Where's Battle Blessing?)

Now with the capstone epic feat discussion out of the way, time for the otherfeats:

Paladin feat selection is fairly easy. You don't have the feat count of aFighter, but with enough planning, you can get most of the feats you want andstill be plenty effective in combat. And a great deal of the feats a Paladinwill select are pretty standard. In fact, if there's any gripe tastewise aboutPaladins, it's that they all tend to look the same, as opposed to Rangers orFighters who actually have some in-class variance.

Absolutely Essential Feats:

- Luck of Heroes: Can only take at 1st level. This is THE defensive feat totake. Period. If you're going to take ANY defense-boosting feat at all,make it this one. And really, you should take it.

- Blind Fight: An essential feat for all warriors. A lifesaver of a feat againstRogues and any other dangerous enemies that can hide or cast invisibility.

- Power Attack: The gateway to selecting the equally-as-essential Divine Might


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and Epic Divine Might. Power Attack is great in its own right as well. In mostmundane fights where a shield just isn't necessary, tuck it away, take thatlongsword (or whatever) in both hands, click on Power Attack, and start thekilling.

- Divine Might: Adds your CHA bonus' worth of divine damage to your attacks fora number of rounds equal to your CHA bonus. Obviously, this is huge, and justone of many sources of extra damage this class gets. This feat really takes offafter Lv. 10, when you're getting three attacks per round. It's also a great wayto put those Turn Undeads to good use against things that, well, aren't undead.And, obviously, you need it for Epic Divine Might.

- Great Charisma: You'll most likely need a few selections of this to get EpicDivine Might.

- Great Strength: Ditto above.

- Toughness: Just gained a whole lotta importance thanks to Epic Resilience(see below for why that's important). You can delay taking this until Epiclevels if you like (the feat itself has a bigger impact there, anyway).

Epic feats of note besides the capstones:

- Epic Toughness: Must take Toughness to qualify. The +30 HP is nice, but a

bigger deal is that it opens the door for ...

- Epic Resilience: Because nothing is more frustrating for a Paladin thanhaving potentially the best saving throws in the game and being all butimmune to anything requiring a save ... then rolling a 1 for auto-failure.Take this feat, and never worry about that crap ever again.

- Epic Prowess: A cheap, permanent +1 to attack bonus. Why not?

- Epic Fortitude: Requires Great Fortitude. +4 extra to Fortitude save. Butmore importantly, it unlocks ...

- Last Stand: Epic Prowess, Great Fortitude and Epic Fortitude required.

Grants 20d10 extra hit points (average 110) to you and all your allies for anumber of rounds equal to your CHA bonus. Useable once per day. Pretendyou're William Wallace or that guy from 300 who yells "This is Sparta!" Yeah,good times. Anyway, this feat is better than usual in a Paladin's hands, ashe'll have the Charisma to put it to good and long use in the epic fightagainst the BBEG and his army. It's nothing I'd give up Epic Divine Mightor Epic Resilience for, though.

Background Trait Feats (for 1st level):

- Devout: One of only two a Paladin should consider, both character-wise andeffectiveness-wise. A free +1 to Will saves alone is worth it. In comparison,the Diplomacy penalty of -1 is hardly debilitating to your use of that skill,

since your high CHA will more than make up for it.

- Flirt/Ladies' Man: The other Paladin-worthy background trait. You won't domuch Intimidating, as it's not a class skill for you, so the penalty thereis moot to consider. It plays to your strength of Diplomacy.

Other Useful Feats:

- Practiced Spellcaster: This feat helps some of your buffs last longer andmakes them more difficult to dispel by virtue of a +4 to your caster level.


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Remember that Paladin caster level is as it is in PnP now, a la half yourPaladin level. The +4 from this feat, however, is not divided by two; thus, aLv. 20 Paladin with this feat casts his spells at a caster level of 14. Whichmeans, for example, that Holy Sword lasts an additional 4 rounds. Must dip 4ranks into Spellcraft to unlock this.

- Extend Spell: The only metamagic feat Paladins should even consider. It'sa good choice though. Your 2nd-level spell slots actually become useful withthis feat, thanks to Extended Divine Favors and Bless Weapons.

- Divine Shield: Not as essential as its offensive cousin, Divine Might, butstill quite useful, especially as your Charisma rises into the 20s, increasingboth duration and AC bonus. It's a good first effect to activate before chargingin and/or activating your offensive buffs. If nothing else, it'll make a fewattacks miss that otherwise would've hit.

- Improved Critical (longsword): The necessity of this feat depends. If you havea Wizard in the party that can cast Keen Edge, then you can drop this feat forsomething else you may want (and Improved Crit does not stack with Keen in thisgame). Otherwise, go ahead and take this. FYI, the in-game Holy Avenger is not aKeen weapon. Improved Critical doesn't help one bit against creatures immune tocriticals (undead, constructs and elementals, mainly).

- Cleave and Great Cleave: Not as essential as some will have you believe, but

far from as worthless as others will have you believe. It's in the middle.Also, some misunderstand how Great Cleave works. It does not necessarily requireyou to kill every enemy in one hit to get any use out of it. It simply removesthe once-per-round limitation of Cleave. Say, you are a Lv. 16 Paladin with 4attacks per round. On your first hit, you kill an enemy, so you Great Cleave anadjacent foe. You do not kill that foe with the Great Cleave, but you kill himwith the second attack in your normal routine, which follows. You get to GreatCleave again. If you didn't have Great Cleave, you would not get another CleaveAttack after you killed that second enemy. As is evident, the hits can add upover time and make some battles against rather dangerous enemies easier. Anotherbenefit specific to the Paladin for taking Great Cleave is maximizing theefficiency of your offensive buffs, since you're getting tons more hits againstthe mobs while Divine Might, Holy Sword, et al are activated.

***MOTB CAMPAIGN NOTE*** If the expansion campaign is your primary concern,I'll go ahead and tell you that Cleave and Great Cleave are not worth it.The significance of these feats diminishes severely when even the "scrubs"can survive flurries of hits doing 35-40 points of damage each.

- Weapon Focus (longsword): Doesn't necessarily have to be a longsword, butfor the purposes of the OC it is the best for the Paladin. Not super-essential,but every little bit of AB always helps. This is an essential feat if you planto take the Divine Champion prestige class (a very good decision).

- Extra Smiting: A note on taking the Divine Champion prestige class: ExtraSmiting adds two smites per day both to the Paladin's Smite Evil AND the DC's

Smite Infidel. So a Paladin 15/DC 5, for example, would have 6 Smite Evils plus3 Smite Infidels for a total of 9 smites per day. Nice. This is a good feat ifyou plan on using your smites a lot.

- Extra Turning: Extra turn attempts mean extra uses of Divine Might and DivineShield. Not truly essential, especially if you get some serious CHAenhancements, but always nice to consider if you can spare it in your build.

- Great Fortitude: Required for Epic Fortitude, and by extension, Last Stand.You can delay this until Epic levels to make room for your earlier offensive


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progressions.

Interesting Option:

- Combat Casting: ONLY select this if you want to qualify for Warpriest.

Iffy:

- Armor Skin: Permanent +1 natural armor bonus to AC. Weak for an epic feat,especially when Luck of Heroes can be gained at 1st level and does a lot more.It stacks with Luck of Heroes, true, but there are many better epic feats toget.

- Knockdown and Improved Knockdown: These feats were once hideously broken.Now, with the expansion, they're barely even worth considering anymore. Isuppose that's a good thing, though. The expansion versions of these featsrequire an attack roll, and moreover, have a cooldown timer of 12 seconds(2 rounds) between uses.

Feats in Particular to Avoid:

- Divine Resistance: 5 points of resistance to elements is nothing compared tospells that the same Paladin alone can cast, never mind Clerics.

- Sacred Vengeance: Absolutely worthless. Bless Weapon does the same thing, andfor a million times longer.

- Overwhelming Critical: Previously known as the feat you had to take to getthe uber-broken and (thankfully) now-dead Devastating Critical. Now it'll beknown as the feat that nobody should take. Because it sucks. An extra 3.5damage on average per critical, and only criticals, with a longsword would bea hard sell at any level, never mind epic levels.

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VII. Spelling Out Your Divine Gifts

First thing to note: The proper D&D method of calculating Paladin caster levelis in NWN2. Meaning, caster level is now half your Paladin level, as opposed tothe full Paladin level a la NWN1. With that factored in, Paladin spells are, ina large part, inferior versions of the same spells that Clerics can cast a lotmore of. In fact, that's almost all they are.

Paladins also got cheated of all the nifty spells they receive in the SpellCompendium. Meaning, no Deafening Clang, no Find the Gap, no Strength of Stone,no Angelskin, no Zeal, no Divine Sacrifice, no Lawful Sword, no Righteous Aura,no etc., etc., etc., etc. All of which would help the Paladin avoid redundancywith the Cleric and allow the two classes to work together more efficiently.MotB did not change this one damn bit (the two new spells Paladins got are bothCleric spells as well: one of them is only situationally useful, and the other

is garbage).

Hopefully, Obsidian will put the rest of the Paladin's (and the Ranger's aswell) spells back in in a future patch or expansion.

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Paladins have 3 good spells that save their list from being completelyredundant half-baked Cleric stuff:


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1) 1st-level Divine Favor: A caster can only cast it on himself, thus why it'snot redundant with the Cleric who can also cast it. Gives +1 to hit anddamage per 3 caster levels, up to a maximum of +3. Paladins with PracticedSpellcaster will get the +3 maximum at 10th level; without it, they'll get itat Lv. 18.

NOTE: This spell used to do a lot more in a Cleric's hands. Before errata thePnP cap was +6; official Wizards of the Coast errata and the more recentPlayer's Handbook printings reduced it to +3. NWN2 didn't follow suit on thePnP errata +3 cap until patch 1.10. As of that patch, the spell is finallycorrect. Clerics and Paladins have the same ceiling on this spell now; Clericsjust hit it earlier.

2) 1st-level Bless Weapon: +2d6 damage to undead is nice. But an overlookedfeature is that it makes your weapon good-aligned, thus granting your weaponthe ability to bypass DR of x/good (important against evil outsiders). Lasts1 minute per caster level.

***MOTB CAMPAIGN NOTE*** The good-alignment feature becomes VERY important inMotB. You cannot craft Holy weapons in the expansion. AT ALL. (Not withoutcheating, anyway.) And forget about importing weapons from the NWN2 OC orelsewhere, because you'll never see those again, either. This means that BlessWeapon is one of the very few ways in the game to obtain the means to bypass DRof x/good. Now don't you feel special?

3) 4th-level Holy Sword: Turns any weapon you hold into a +5 weapon that, inaddition, also does an extra +2d6 divine damage against evil enemies. Lastsonly 1 round/level (hint: that's why you take Practiced Spellcaster). Likewith Bless Weapon, you also gain the ability to bypass DR of x/good with HolySword.

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So with a Cleric in the party (and why wouldn't you have one?), a Paladin's 1stand 4th-level slots should be entirely filled with those respective spells. Havethe Cleric cast Bless, Aid, and Prayer on the Paladin. Sadly, the Paladin's2nd and 3rd levels are still weak and redundant with the Cleric, a problem that

the Compendium spells would have solved.

If you have Extend Spell, fill your 2nd-level slots with Extended Divine Favorsand Bless Weapons. They'll come in handy, and that way you'll make those slotsuseful.

Should a Cleric be absent by chance, spells at each level worth noting are:

1st level:

- Bless- Protection from Alignment- Lionheart (new for MotB)

2nd level:

- Aid- Aura of Glory (only if you're not wearing a CHA enhancement of at least +4)- Bull's Strength (only if you're not wearing a STR enhancement of at least +4)

3rd level:

- Prayer


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- Magic Circle against Alignment- Greater Magic Weapon (and then ONLY if you have Practiced Spellcaster)

4th level:

- Death Ward- Freedom of Movement (which any other caster, including the Ranger, can cast,so you should not have to memorize this otherwise useful spell.)

***MANUAL ERROR NOTE***

This is about the 4th level spell Lesser Visage of the Deity, new for MotB. Yes,you read correctly: LESSER. The MotB manual gave Paladins a false ray of hope byerroneously mentioning the Greater Visage spell in their list, normally a9th-level Cleric spell that would've been nice. Nope, in reality they get thisLesser version, which is actually a rather crappy spell.

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VIII. When the Straight and Narrow Isn't Enough

Ironically, Paladins are best multiclassed either at around Lv. 4 (when theyget their divine defense abilities and Turn Undead, and thus access to DivineMight) ... or at Lv. 15 or higher (4th-level spells).

For low-Paladin-level multiclasses, remember to save your 4th level for acharacter level where you actually get a feat (say, 6th level) so you cantake Divine Might. Consider:

- Sorceror: Relies on CHA for spellcasting, and opens the door forEldritch Knight and Red Dragon Disciple.

- Eldritch Knight: With 30 levels of play, 4 Paladin levels can be the bareminimum while still possibly hitting 9th-level spells.

- Red Dragon Disciple: The only way to be able to qualify for both EpicDivine Might and Great Smiting, if you want to go that route. RDDs get

the all-important Blind-Fight at 5th level for free, which saves you a featon any worthwhile melee build.

- Favored Soul: Relies on CHA for spellcasting, again making for good synergywith 4 Paladin levels. Note that WIS score, not CHA, determines spell DCs.

- Fighter/Divine Champion: 4 Paladin levels set the foundation, the Fighterfeats and the Divine Champion feats and abilities take over from there. Makesfor a good spell-less Paladin feel (although you'll still get one 1st-levelspell with a 12 WIS). You still get a great buff in Divine Wrath, which withthe Paladin's high CHA will be long-lasting and effective. Plus Smite Infidelto handle enemies which may not be evil (yes, they exist).

For high-Paladin-level multiclasses, two prime choices exist:

- Divine Champion: Free feat selections of Blind Fight and Improved Critical gowell with any Paladin. And remember, take Extra Smiting and you get two extrauses of BOTH Smite Evil AND Smite Infidel, for FOUR extra smites overall.

- Warpriest: With the level cap raised to 30, this prestige class -- which isarguably a liability for Clerics -- just became a lot more attractive forPaladins, for several reasons. Namely, you no longer have to worry aboutqualifying for Lv. 4 spells early so you can squeeze in that all-important


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6th level of Warpriest (Battletide). You can now leave WIS at 14, allowing aPaladin/Warpriest build to focus on STR and CHA as any other Paladin would andshould. And you still get that all-important full BAB.

====================

IX. Single-class Paladin Example

Race: Aasimar

Starting Stats:

STR 16DEX 10CON 12INT 10WIS 14CHA 18

Skills: Concentration, Diplomacy, Spellcraft (dip 4 ranks for PracticedSpellcaster, cross-class skill)

Background: Devout

Level progression (all Paladin):

1) Luck of Heroes2)3) Blind-Fight4) STR +1 (17)5)6) Power Attack7)8) STR +1 (18)9) Practiced Spellcaster10)11)

12) Divine Might, STR +1 (19)13)14)15) (Dealer's choice here. I'd recommend either Extend Spell, Divine Shield or Improved Critical: Longsword.)16) STR +1 (20)17)18) (Dealer's choice here as well. Same recommendations as at 15.)19)20) STR +1 (21)21) Great Charisma (CHA 19)22)23) Great Charisma x2 (regular + bonus) (CHA 20, 21)

24) CHA +1 (22)25) Epic Divine Might26) Epic Prowess (bonus)27) Toughness28) STR +1 (22)29) Epic Toughness, Epic Resilience (bonus)30)

Final stats (no gear/buffs):


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Saves (no gear/buffs): F 25, R 17, W 20

AB (w/ non-enchanted longsword, no buffs): 37/32/27/22/17/12

HP (no gear/buffs): 390

====================

X. Multiclass Paladin Sample Builds

A. Mystran Dragon Knight (Paladin 9/Sorceror 1/Red Dragon Disciple 10/Divine Champion 10)

I chose to focus on the longsword, but you can obviously change that.This is a build that comfortably gets both Epic Divine Might and GreatSmiting. With 10 Divine Champion levels and a few takes of Great Smiting,he can put significant extra hurt on any nongood (neutral or evil) enemy

with his amped Smite Infidel. He gets 3 uses of Smite Infidel withExtra Smiting, and on top of that, 4 uses of Smite Evil, which is onlyone level weaker.

Most of the Divine Champion levels are held until Epic levels. In Epiclevels, DCs get to use their bonus feats to select the following pertinentPaladin-build feats: Epic Toughness, Epic Prowess and Great Smiting.

Race: Aasimar

Starting Stats:

STR 16

DEX 10CON 12INT 10WIS 14CHA 18

Skills: Concentration, Diplomacy, Heal, Lore (8 ranks to qualify for RDD)

Background: Devout

Level progression:

1) Pal 1 - Luck of Heroes

2) Sor 1 - True Strike, Identify, Beetle Familiar3) Pal 2 - Power Attack4) Pal 3 - CHA +1 (19)5) Pal 46) RDD 1 - Cleave7) RDD 2 - RDD STR +2 (18)8) RDD 3 - CHA +1 (20)9) RDD 4 - RDD STR +2 (20), Weapon Focus (Longsword)10) DC 111) DC 2 - Improved Critical (Longsword)


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12) Pal 5 - Divine Might, CHA +1 (21)13) RDD 5 - Blind Fight (RDD bonus)14) DC 315) RDD 6 - Great Cleave16) RDD 7 - RDD CON +2 (14), CHA +1 (22)17) RDD 818) RDD 9 - RDD INT +2 (12), Extra Smiting19) RDD 10 - RDD STR +4 (24), RDD CHA +2 (24)20) Pal 6 - STR +1 (25)21) DC 4 - Toughness, Epic Prowess (bonus)22) DC 523) DC 6 - Epic Divine Might, Epic Toughness (bonus)24) Pal 7 - CHA +1 (25)25) DC 7 - Epic Resilience26) DC 8 - Great Smiting I (bonus)27) Pal 8 - Great Charisma (26)28) DC 9 - STR +1 (26)29) DC 10 - Great Smiting II, Great Smiting III (bonus)30) Pal 9


STR 26DEX 10

CON 14INT 12WIS 14CHA 26



HP (no gear/buffs): 434 (464 w/ Beetle summoned)

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B. Inspiring Holy Swordsman (Paladin 6/Fighter 14/Divine Champion 10)

Again, you can change the Weapon Focus/Specialization to taste.

Leveling up with Fighter and DC levels in Epic gets pretty tricky. Unlikethe bonus feats from staying pure class, the Fighter and DC bonus featsARE restricted. Epic feats that can be selected using the normal Fighterand DC feats are Epic Prowess, Epic Toughness, Epic Weapon Focus (musthave Greater Weapon Focus, Ftr 8 to take) and Epic Weapon Specialization(must have Greater Weapon Specialization, Ftr 12 to take).

The 30th-level build gets all of Epic Divine Might, Epic Resilience, andLast Stand.

Race: Aasimar

Starting Stats:

STR 16DEX 10CON 12INT 12WIS 12


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CHA 18

Skills: Diplomacy (up to a point), Heal, Intimidate

Background: Devout

Level progression:

1) Pal 1 - Luck of Heroes2) Ftr 1 - Weapon Focus (Longsword)3) Pal 2 - Power Attack4) Ftr 2 - Cleave, STR +1 (17)5) Pal 36) Pal 4 - Divine Might7) Ftr 38) Ftr 4 - Weapon Specialization (Longsword), STR +1 (18)9) DC 1 - Great Cleave10) DC 2 - Blind-Fight11) Ftr 512) DC 3 - Toughness, STR +1 (19)13) DC 4 - Improved Critical (Longsword)14) Ftr 6 - Power Critical (Longsword)15) Pal 5 - Divine Shield16) Ftr 7 - STR +1 (20)

17) Ftr 8 - Greater Weapon Focus (Longsword)18) DC 5 - Great Fortitude19) Ftr 920) DC 6 - Extra Turning, STR +1, (21)

21) Ftr 10 - Great Charisma (19), Epic Toughness (bonus)22) DC 723) DC 8 - Epic Resilience, Epic Weapon Focus (Longsword) (bonus)24) Ftr 11 - CHA +1 (20)25) Ftr 12 - Greater Weapon Specialization (Longsword) (bonus), Epic Fortitude26) DC 927) DC 10 - Epic Prowess (bonus), Last Stand

28) Ftr 13 - CHA +1 (21)29) Ftr 14 - Epic Weapon Specialization (Longsword) (bonus), Epic Divine Might

30) Pal 6





HP (no gear/buffs): 390

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(More to come in the future)


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====================

XI. Contact Info

E-mail: [email protected]. Suggestions, contributions, rebuttals, etc.to this FAQ should be titled, "ATTN: NWN2 Paladin FAQ."

====================

XII. Version History

Version 2.02 - Update on Knockdown and Improved Knockdown.

Version 2.01 - Minor typo fixes.

Version 2.00 - Bumping up a full number for all MotB-compatible editions. - Added a few notes here and there. - Gave a little more detail on the spells section.

Version 1.00 (MotB) - First full MotB-compatible edition.

Version 0.98 (MotB) - Tentative revision for the upcoming expansion pack.

Version 1.05 - Took Practiced Spellcaster (fixed for patch 1.04) into account.

Version 1.04 - Moved Version History to the end. Why? Because I don't think too many people care to read it. - Updated for game patch 1.04.

- Some clarification of STR vs. CHA.

Version 1.03 - Commentary about Knockdown and Improved Knockdown in Feats section

- Feat changes to the Mystran Dragon Knight (removed Knockdown and Improved Knockdown)

Version 1.02 - Edited Stats section - Added example of single-class Paladin - Gave multiclass builds their own section

- Added an extra multiclass build

Version 1.01 - Added a Sample Paladin-based Builds section - Edited Feat Selection section - Added Permissions and Copyright - Fixed a couple of typos

Version 1.00 - First edition of the Paladin Guide.

====================

XIII. Permissions and Copyright

This FAQ will be hosted on the following sites:

GameFAQs1up.comMyCheats.com


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Permission to reproduce this FAQ must be granted by me, and will be granted ona case-for-case basis.

(c) Drew Garcia, 2006, 2007

*Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer: Paladin FAQ* by DonJarlaxleVersion 2.02, Last Updated 2007-10-31 View/Download Original File

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NeverWinter Nights 2 MOB - Paladin