Going solo

If you use a Rogue with some figher or ranger levels you can still have an excallent fighter once he gets the Bastard Swords: Fragrach or Scather. either one makes that rogue better than any fighter without an automatic hit sword. I'm still farting around with a solo character myself.

but i have used some NPCs. I like sending the evil npcs from homlet as cannon fodder but spare the others from the meat grinder.

Without using the wizard npc i can't see how you can finish the moat house. At least one person to charm a few bugbears to help with the final room clear out would be needed. (if you only have a single player character. You can't even get into the room unless you are invisible or if you intimidate the guy at the front door.

If you can charm a few of the tuff bugbears they can enter without triggering an interaction with the officer.

 

How is it in PR. I live in Vancouver myself, and am playing TOEE a lot more since the snow. Funny that the game, and the internet, makes the world so small.

 

I am intrigued by this challenge. I would imagine that a Rogue/Cleric with enough levels would be an interesting and possible approach. Yes, at first there would be issues with melee survivability and becoming overwhelmed, but with the quick gain of levels I think the potential for it would work out. You'd have to construct a very strong character and likely manipulate a few of the bugs in the system. This would be my first inclination...

Chaotic Good Elven Rogue 2/Cleric 18 of Corellon Larethian (Good, War)
Str: 14+ (Higher the better)
Dex: 18+
Con: 16 (or higher with the "rolls-point buy stat bug")
Int: 18 (need every possible skill point)
Wis: 18
Cha: 18

L1: Rogue (Feat: Improved Initiative [Alt. Combat Expertise])
Max out social skills as well as disable and open lock. 4 Ranks in Tumble and UMD also. No ranks in other armor penalty skills. Improved Init just to get that essential first move in combat. Alternatively you could take Combat Expertise for later use if you want to add an alternate feat at 3rd.
L2: Cleric (Bonus Feat: Weapon Focus [Longsword])
I think the War domain is simply a good choice because of the prevalance of magical longswords throughout. Obviously if you can get your hands on Scather or Fragrach (or both with console) weapon focus skills won't matter, but those weapons come late in the game. Also choose the Good domain for later crafting and simple spell power options.
L3: Cleric (Feat: Combat Expertise [Alt. Scribe Scroll])
My goal would be to fight as a walking tank and combat expertise is that added boost which could help. Alternatively if you took Combat Expertise at 1st I would take scribe scroll here in order to really expand on low level spell power. Once Cleric level 3 comes along a Resist Energy (Sonic) and a constant stream of self-centered Sound Bursts could be a godsend if surrounded.
L4: Rogue (Evasion to make you that much more survivable and also as a final skill boost)
L5: Cleric
L6: Cleric (Feat: Craft Wondrous)
A necessary boost in the power progression. Experience and gold will be abundant and so start using it!
L7: Cleric
L8: Cleric
L9: Cleric (Feat: Craft Arms and Armor)
It is unfortunate that this cannot be gained until this point, but you have to have it simply to get the benefit of the +3 armor bug.
L10: Cleric (all cleric from here on out actually so just hitting the feat levels we have...)
L12: Spell Penetration
L15: Greater Spell Penetration
Both of those are for the dismissals you'll need to start casting. Much better to get rid of a creature while they are at full hp than later
L18: Quicken Spell
For all those requisite pre-combat buffs (Divine Favor, Divine Power, Aid, etc.)

Granted that this character isn't going to win any speciality contests, but with enough armor and enough spelling up he might make it through.

Tactically there are some definite things that this character will need to do more than any other. One thing to definitely do in any combat situation is find a corner or a doorway. It doesn't matter if you're fighting 100 Hobgoblins or Bugbears if you can do it from a doorway or corner then you only need to face one at a time. Add in an Entropic Shield or Wind Wall and archers can be taken out of the equation to some degree as well. Now, surviving those opponents in the first place will take some near constant spelling up, but this character will be much more aware than others of what his limits are. Don't exceed those. Finally, what would be the consensus on NPC use? If you're okay with the idea of a "cohort" I would definitely pick up one of the various wizard (or wizardable) NPCs just to have that lifeline able to run away if overwhelmed (and therefore not have to reload all the time). Also they could add a needed boost to item creation.

Now there are obvious alternatives such as a Chaotic Good Rogue/Cleric of Kord with the Good and Luck domains (with the reroll set to missed saving throw). I think, however, that unless one uses an NPC that builds without cleric or rogue levels would be very difficult to manage...

Thoughts?

 

Rogue/Druid is actually a better choice than Rogue/Cleric for solo play. Animal Companion plus as many Bags of Tricks as you feel like carrying gives you meat shields and eventually fair offensive power, more skill points and thus better Rogue skills, AC is about the same or a bit better once buffs are figured in, slightly better range of offensive spells.

That said, you can solo with a Wizard, as long as you don't worry about opening locked chests until after you get the keys. I've done the full Moathouse and all the Nulb quests with a solo wizard and no reloads, though that was long before the Co8 mods.

 

Interesting option indeed. I think that at the highest levels though it would be a hard fight between a cleric/rogue and a druid/rogue with the cleric edging out simply because of the smack they can lay when fully buffed.

Perhaps something along the lines of the following for the rogue druid though?

Human Rogue 2/Druid of Obad Hai 18
Rogue levels to start to buff up the skills and then diving into the druid levels...

1st: SF: Conjuration, Augment Summoning
3rd: Scribe Scroll (gotta have healing scrolls in this one)
6th: Craft Wondrous
9th: Natural Spell
12th: Spell Penetration
15th: Gr. Spell Penetration
18th: Craft ???

A few more options at the highest levels and the buffs are helpful. The biggest benefit of the druid option is the veritable army which can be assembled especially after a high level summon followed by some scrolls of summon monster.

 

Actually, I'd use this progression for a Solo Rogue/Druid:

All Stats at least 14, preferably at least 16. Less important stats are STR, CON and CHA, but even then a 14 or better in each is useful.

L1 Rogue: SF:Conjuration, Augment Summoning - Won't get any use out of these until he hits his Druid levels, but they're very useful in the long run.
L2 Rogue: Evasion - Area spells become less of a threat. This level also is the last time that all skills can get a boost.
L3 Druid: Scribe Scroll - Unlimited castings per day of everything, and a good money maker. Best feat in the game. Character also gets animal companion.
L6 Druid: Craft Item. Extra XP now starts getting pumped into stat boosting items and, eventually, Bags of Tricks.
L9 Druid: Craft Weapon - Very few good enchanted weapons are out there for Druids in ToEE, even with the Co8 Mod Pack. You'll need to craft your own. On the other hand, a +3 Flaming Frost Shock Spear (Burst if you'd like) will eventually kill things very dead.

I'm not all that fond of Natural Spell for a solo Druid. Wild Shape is OK for Meleny or a Druid with low physical stats, but a Druid with reasonably good base STR, DEX and CON decked out in the best magical gear you can find or craft will have a better AC and be able to deal and take more damage every phase than the best available Wild Shapes in ToEE, in part because the Wild Shapes only get as many attacks per round as the Druid would in his natural form.

Strategy mainly comes down to using Bags of Tricks to keep a small army of lesser animal companions at all times, and Scribe Scrolls to keep all of those companions, as well as the primary companion and the Druid, buffed. Remember that the Druid eventually gets Stoneskin; between that and Barkskin, Endure Elements, etc, making the Druid's animal companions and the Druid himself very highly resistant to harm is possible. In most combats you'll be able to hang back and lob spells into the enemy while your magic-fang sporting army keeps them busy. The summoning limit is 10; I'd keep my buffed Animal Companion and 3+ buffed Bag of Tricks animals ready for use, then drop additional summoned animals on the bad guys as needed.

Your combat power would actually go up quite a bit if you dropped the Rogue levels, but the downside is that you'd be unable to open locked doors and chests in the temple until you found and killed whoever had the key.

 

One possibility would be levelling Spungoir to third and having him scribe a collection of "Knock" scrolls or the Chime of Opening you can "Humble NPC" away from Burne. That will have Knock on it. You'll be setting off a lot of traps, but at least you'll get through those doors and into those chests...

FR

 

Noticed something weird, I get the reward items but not knighted for the rescue of the Prince. Has this happened to anybody else as of late?

 

to Feyd: i haven't tried the knock chimes item, but several chests are anti-knock spell the chest with the frostbrand sword made my knock scrolls fizzle. so does the one next to the blacksmith in hommlet.
i can't remember too many others. but yest that would be an option without a rogue.
actually until the Co8 mods to add tougher locked chests, i never used a rogue. now they seem almost unreplacable. Before i could use a cleric with some interaction skills to trigger npc responses. now i just use a rogue.

I'd say the best all round character will be a cleric. depending on which domains they have: clerics have a few arcane spells. Travel and Earth Domains give the best spells to a cleric (ability to make wands).

I liked having a fighter with one level of sorcerer. then he could cast charm spells before combat.

Bards are good but are not good enough unless you have several levels invested in them.

whatever you do, only have a multiclassed character that has good ability scores in both characters or his/her xps will lag and drag.

i learned that with having a fighter sorcerer that had low or medium charisma. with blue elven mail you have excallent chances at casting and landing spells prior to combat.

Elven fighter/rogues rule with high dex because they can have rediculously high ACs with some organic magic items already in the game. ie..bracers ac5, ring of protection +3, gloves of dexterity +4 and the Heater Shield. with an eventual dex of 24 - man that's a hard to hit rogue. who cares what the str is?

 

big dawg, what was the alignment of your party? Evil parties get different rewards. you can always kill the knight with the rewards: then you get his stuff and scather.

 

Thats the funny thing I am LN.

 

Well, there is the option of having a ridiculously high Intelligence Cleric to just use cross class skills. Using the "point buy" bug you can get a single stat to equal your rolls. With a 48 intelligence you can be a straight cleric and max every skill at every level. Also the most important skill to max (imho) Appraise has an instant max (w/ a +21). Granted you won't need every skill completely maxxed and so a lower intelligence would be in order. Yes it's cheating, but the affect of a massive intelligence for a non-wizard is not exceedingly overwhelming... more skill points, better appraise, disable device, search, and spellcraft. All told the effect is a drop in the bucket when it comes to lessening the challenge of a solo game.

Double check your 3.0/3.5 rules... stats no longer affect multiclassing. Racial choices do that. That is the problem, however, for my Elven Rogue Cleric, but I really wanted longsword and longbow proficiency and an encounter with a failed roll vs. an enchantment spell is game over for a player going solo.

Cheers,

FR

 

I have never tried it myself, but if I did, and I might soon; the weather is not good where I am so I have time, I would choose a Dwarven Fighter/Cleric.

Perhaps a Dwarven Paladin/Cleric for the added social skills, but for the reasons I will label:

TOEE, especially with the mods, is VERY combat orientated, and although a Rogue might suffice, or a Druid with animal buddies, the fact is this: you have to fight. And a Dwarf with Fighter/Paladin and Cleric can not only fight but heal too. I am sorry the dialogue might not be so good. But, I cannot see the Elven counterpart surviving so well. With all considered, even all the magical goodies, I would probably equip a shield with warhammer. You can get the Curved heater and the hammer real easy. (Well, the Curved heater not so, but any magic hammer can be found, even Masterwork ones). I would take Spugnoir for the added magic punch to craft my artefact. I can get the Mithral armour, or the Dwarven Plate in little or no time, so I am near to impossible to hit.

I could of used a human as default, but for pure survival the Dwarf is far more resilient to survival than humans.

Now that I have written this, I think I will create the character to try this with.

 

So I'm through a big chunk of the game (most of first floor of the temple complete before I whisked off to Verbobonc and finished all of those sidequests) with my Rogue/Cleric mix and I definitely have some comments to make...

• While you may feel the temptation to give yourself ridiculous stats with a character editor don't go overboard too much. I gave my chracter 30's across the board and I was ridiculously overpowered. I would recommend a very high intelligence though simply for the fact that you're going to need a WIDE range of skills.
• Don't multiclass to the point where you begin taking an experience point hit. I've barely scratched the surface of the temple and I have effectively lost an entire level worth of experience points over the course of the game. How to reconcile this with the need for disable device and open lock? High intelligence and cross class skills. I would go that route first before multiclassing (if a cleric or druid that is) or make a human. The long and short of it is that if you fudge a bit on the intelligence rate and make sure you have a high dex (you're going to do that anyway right?) then you advance in levels so fast that you should be able to keep ahead of the curve when it comes to "thiefly" duties.
• Speaking of class selection, I would say that you're best off making a straight cleric or druid. You miss out on some things, BUT they are the most powerful and most hearty. A druid doesn't need fighter levels because of his Animal Companion and summons and a cleric just has to take a few rounds to "power up". When I do it all over again (and I'm going to definitely do this again) I'm going to make an Elven cleric of Ehlonna with the Good and Plant domains. "Plant" for the barkskin AC boost (with the eventual pursuit of an Amulet of Natural Armor +5) and "Good" for smiting weapons. Add Spugnoir to the mix to add shocking burst and we're in business.
• I would recommend Spugnoir as a wizard backup, BUT while your main character will be a tough customer and able to survive being swarmed by a mass of attackers (Combat expertise is my characters best friend), Spugnoir could very well become dead meat. I recommend a "steal all of his stuff" recruitment of Furnok to get his ring of invisibility and near constant use by Spugnoir. He's just there to blow stuff up and make you equipment.
• You're going to be making a lot of trips back and forth from places to sell stuff because of your limited inventory space. Consequently you should invest in a rank of Survival and save every time before you leave a place. Encountering four will'o'wisps without a resist energy prepared is a death sentence.

If anyone has any questions about specifics feel free to ask here. Those above are the "big ticket" items.

FR

 

Dead end for my solo guy

i have a human: rogue6, fighter 2,ranger 2 that can't open the door to rescue Prince Thrommel. i leveled up, added more spot and search points. nada.

that game came to a screetching halt with that mishap.

Clerics are the best for using in the multi class. a high level cleric with a level or two somewhere else makes that character awesome. I like the Cleric with the domain of travel or plants. then you can have stone skin or barkskin. both awesome for the slugfests that follow.

I tried this last character without any spell abilities to see how he'd do.

It was amazing to see him stomp everything that came it's way (once he made it to 4rth level). by the time he surged into the Moat house (6th level) they fell like wheat before his holy sword (most of my parties are chaotic good).

to think a solo character without any backup could do that, just didn't make sense.

bad guys did the most damage if hte character missed a few times and the hordes surrounded him and the crossbowmen poored in the missle fire. however, i did the moat house three different times and that only happened once. the other two my solo guy mopped the floors with the bad guys.

~

Clerics are the best for using in the multi class. a high level cleric with a level or two somewhere else makes that character awesome. I like the Cleric with the domain of travel or plants. then you can have stone skin or barkskin. both awesome for the slugfests that follow.

I tried this last character without any spell abilities to see how he'd do.

It was amazing to see him stomp everything that came it's way (once he made it to 4rth level). by the time he surged into the Moat house (6th level) they fell like wheat before his holy sword (most of my parties are chaotic good).

to think a solo character without any backup could do that, just didn't make sense.

they did the most damage if hte character missed a few times and the hordes surrounded him and the crossbowmen poored in the missle fire. however, i did the moat house three different times and that only happened once. the other two my solo guy mopped the floors with the bad guys.