1) DISCLAIMER: Please do not post here all the replies that read: "Powergaming is no fun, you should roleplay, powergaming is one step away from cheating, etc". I have heard this all before.

2) I want to see some info on the LEGITIMATELY earned things - tell me what you were able to attain through careful planning, clever use of skills, classes, feats and races - not through cheating.

3) Tell me what was your ever highest stat, or the max damage you dealt with a critical, or how much damage your sorcerer did with his Horrid Wilting, or what was your best AC, or how many HPs your barb had.

I will start:

I was proud to reach an AC of 65 with my lead tank.
Screenshot and details available on request.

i havent get IWD2 yet but id like to have a screenshot so i can see which stats and stuff i have to get with dalekeeper 2 ;)

Here's my boast so far:

I've made it to Chapter 3 with my original party without restarting and making a new party.

Oh poo! My best AC is for a monk = 31. I don't care about the screenshot etc, because I believe you, but how you do it man?

I am now going to pay more attention than making sure my magic missile kills the goblin! :D

I may try to see how much a crit does, but off hand probably around 50.

Hmmm.

AC goes up to 68, and Critical Hit damage is 144 :cool:

ok i hate all of you ( may rethink later ). you have made me feel bad and that just isnt very nice of you . . . so what if i just make sure the magic missile kills them ( if i may borrow the phrase ) i think my my best ac is only like 34 with my monk... how you get all the way to 68?

I suport powergaming. as if i was in the game i would do what ever it took not to get killed. so powergaming is jut roleplaying for a different personality

AC of 68 ?! Impressive, sounds for me massively like using a heavy field plate, expertise, a big shield, maybe some bracers and eventually spells - like bless, defensive harmony casted by a high level cleric, haste and such ... Am I far away from the truth?

The first time I played, my bard never took any damage until chapter 2! Also, my fighter once did somewhere near 300 damage with a critical!

I have nothing to boast of.

I'm still in Chapter one, and would restart, but I'm too lazy to re-do all those Fed Ex type quests. :rolleyes:

I know I've made a few multi-classing mistakes, and could choose my races better, but I guess nothing is lethal yet.

Oh well ... until I have something to boast of .. I'll just live through yours :grin:

Well, I know I didn't make the best decisions during character creation and leveling up, but I am still trucking anyways. I want to beat it with this party.

I've made it to Chap. 4 now, there's no turning back. My characters are all character level 12 and I can get up to 25 AC. What I need is some good armor. Geez. I think I'll faint if I ever make it up to 30 or more AC.

OK, time for some clarification of those figures. Those figures come from HoF characters and HoF items.

1) AC

It is a Svirfneblin Rogue 1 / Cleric of Mask 11 / Illusionist 6 / Monk of Old Order 1.

Base +10
Dexterity +7 (+5 from start, +2 more from Cat's Grace)
Armor +6 (Ghost Armor spell)
Deflection +6 (Divine Shell spell)
Expertise + 5
Monk Wisdom Bonus +10 (+5 from start, +1 from Potion of Holy Transference, +2.5 from Every God Ring, +1.5 from level up stat increase )

Where we are so far? Looks like 10+7+6+6+5+10=44

What's left is Generic AC which is +24:
+4 race bonus
+1 Dodge Feat
+2 War Chant of Sith
+4 Permanent Haste from weapon (HoF)
+1 from Off-Hand Weapon (Weimer's Mod Merchant)
+5 from Brazen Bands
+3 from Bandana (HoF)
+3 from Sunfire Talisman (HoF)
the last +1 is hidden somewhere in the char, I can't figure it out, but it is there.

2) With the damage:

Half-Orc Barbarian / Fighter

144 is actually not the Max - I did not use Maximized Attacks. The Max is at 152:

162 = 49 x 3 + 5

The +5 is the bonus to core damage that come from:
+2 Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise
+2 Emotion: Hope
+1 Bard Song

49 is the Max damage potential for my tank:
Core STR: +8
Champion's STR: +4
1.5 Two Handed: +6
-----------------------------
Total STR bonus: +18
Power Attack +5
Weapon Specialisation: +2
Base attack for Massive Halberd of Hate: 2d8+4

Total 32-49 damage potential.

Bottom line: Heavy Armor is USELESS, Dual-Wield is USELESS (unless you have a Pally with HoF Sera Sumat and some booster Off-Hand)

My rogue has an AC of 37 right now using the Dracus Chains armor from the Severed hand, ring of prot +3, brazen bands, his dex bonus, expertise and dodge. I could boost this a bit by adding cat's grace spells or giving him a shield...

The coolest damage I have done so far was with a fire arrow. With 1 arrow I had 104 points of damage, and it was not a critical hit. If you attack the beetle nest right above the crashed airship with something that adds fire damage you do an extra 100 points of bonus damage. So with 1 arrow I hit the nest for 104 points and destroyed it. Nothing overly spectacular but still cool.

I don't get it, why would you consider heavy armor useless? What am I missing?

Heavy armor does not allow you to take advantage of your maximum dex bonus. For example, with the full plate types of armor you only get around around a +8 or maybe +9 bonus to your AC, but usually you cannot make use of your dex bonus. Some HoF armors can give you +10 or +11 (and maybe allow +1 from dex).

With some spells, as Modjahed posted, you can add more towards your AC while still using your dex bonus-which in turn gives you a higher AC than the heavy armor itself would allow.

The Dracus Chain armor (normal mode verion) from the Severed Hand is one of the best in the game, IMHO. It is the only armor I know that allows you to use your maximum dex bonus. Dracus Chain is +7 armor, so my rogue with a +6 dex bonus in this armor get a +13 to his AC with just the armor equipped. The HoF version of this armor is even better (Chains of Dracus Fury: +8 and 1 extra attack per round, and full use of your dex bonus).

Heavy armor is not really overrated, but you can find some creative ways to get around needing it...

[ October 29, 2002, 21:57: Message edited by: Grey Ghost ]