Chapter 4, cannot kill anything even on "easy"

[bignuttz]

First of all, this https://imgur.com/a/QMqq9SY is my character.

I am a monk / druid / shifter.
It all started with the end of chapter 3. I needed 6+ hours (!!!) to kill Klauth.
In Chapter 4, everything just 2hits me or I am constantly missing a hit.

For example, in the room before you get to the portal to Maugrim, the Luskan Mage was easy. For the orther guy, the Luskan cleric, I needed 20 Minutes (!!!) with constant use of the portal stone... Its not a Boss, not a Mini-Boss, nothing. Just a regular enemy.

So this game became a MASSIVE chore to play. I even lowered the difficulty from Hardcore D&D to easy. But same problem: I dont have a single chance.

Is this char bad or is my game bugged?

[red255]

your character is a Half Elf Monk 3, Druid 7, Shifter 5?

I tried to respond in your other topic on how to play such a class.

I went into chapter 3 and made a Druid 12, Shifter 3, Monk 1. (which is how I split the level 16)

now you appear to be level 15, normally I'm level 17 or even 18 in chapter 4.

I started by asking about your gear. poking about the available weapons, the Drone Morning star which required me to take simple weapon Prof as a monk, was what Id consider using. as well as a Shield, for the shield AC.

we cast spells as a druid then shift to a form, shifter 3 gets the minotaur form, shifter 5 I guess has the drider form. goal is to use improved knockdown and powerful stacking enchantments and buffs.

Casting things like Bullstrength, Greater stoneskin, barkskin.

and using the various items we've gotten thru the campaign.

your DEX appears to be really high, and your wisdom not very high. not really sure what you were going for there. the monk is a minor hit, for getting the monk AC from your druid's massive wisdom while shifted. thats its POINT.

so basically I figure you don't understand the nuance of your class.

a shifter class, gear is very important, and selecting gear is non-standard.

because your shifted stats typically trump your non-shifted stats you don't need very high non-shifted stats, just 13 or 14 INT for the improved knockdown. and your stats can almost all go into wisdom.

I'm a little confused on how you are fighting things.

your character, probably is a little bad. but more than likely you are using him incorrectly.

So heres what you need to wear.

Weapon, Drone morning star +4 (crafted in part 3)
Shield, Hazernati's shield I guess, just a +5 shield.
Amulet, Red tiger tribe +4.
Belt. I normally go with a +5 STR belt.
Ring of power
Ring of improved evasion
Boots of Sun Soul +5
Chainmail of speed (sold in chapter 3 mercenary shop)
Dex gloves +5
Golden circlet (sold in chapter 2)
Cloak of fortification +3?

we want to cast some spells, mainly Bulls strength, barkskin, and greater stoneskin, then shift into a form like minotaur or drider. owls wisdom, the one that gives you +1 WIS per 2 caster levels. spell resistance.

we want to fill a bag of holding with potions, potions of heal, potions of aid, bless, rods of the ghost. what have you.

you are a shifter, you should shift to fight.

your character is apparently wearing monk gloves, those....arent good gloves.

if you were doing a monk you should be using at least a +3 kama at that point. because those demons need a +3 weapon to hit, and your gloves, just aren't enchanted. (you'd need like monk 12 or something)

[red255]

let me take a step back and talk about the Shifter forms.

a shifter minotaur form is gained at level 3 shifter. its weapon is a +1 Battle axe. rather underwhelming. once you get to epic levels it improves but regardless.

however if before you shift you were wearing an enchanted weapon, that was a +3 weapon, you would instead get a a +3 battleaxe.

in this case I would recommend the drone morning star +4 for the +4 enchantment and +1d6 electrical damage.

now your other gears magical effects also get added to the shifter form, depending on form. as well as your magical buffs cast on the unshifted form carry forward to the shifted form.

so if you have a shield that was 2 AC and +3 shield AC, the shifted form would get the effect of +3 shield AC, though not the 2 base shield AC. so we want to select gear with magical effects to increase our shifted form to good heights.

Secondly your attack bonus from leveling. Druid Shifter and Monk are 3/4 classes.

which means at level 1, 5, 9, and so on they do not get an base attack for leveling up.

to be able to hit things we want to maximize our attack bonus. by properly selecting levels, sure, and by properly selecting buffs that add to attack or strength.

the Aid and Bless spells come in potion form and can increase your attack by 1. for a short time. sharwyn's bardsong has some bonus to attack.

but from your picture I'm guessing you don't even shift to fight so why are you even a shifter?

but if your level split is like that you should at least be using a kama +3 even if you were fighting like that.

[76561198065047447]

Shifter is not an easy first character to play. It requires a lot of planning. In fact, I'd say it's the most planning intensive class in NWN.

Here is some info on Shifters:

For generic info: {LINK REMOVED}https://nwn.fandom.com/wiki/Shifter

For specific guidance: {LINK REMOVED}https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/nwnecbguild/zelle-s-shifter-guide-version-v-revisited-t2209096.html

[red255]

it requires knowledge more than planning.

it is a class that is different in utility than really any other class.

there was a player back in the day who liked the Halfling Druid, shifter, rogue. and was vocal about its incredibly utility, and ability to be both small and large, skilled or powerful, dexerous or strong as the situation demands.

but you have to understand how the class and forms WORK.

also the enemies in Act 4 have soak, I don't know particularly what the soak of the enemies in part 4 are specifically, except the demons have soak of +3/20 meaning if you want to hit them in melee damage you need to use a +3 weapon or deal more than 20 damage a hit. maybe it was more than 20. point is I was having a real tough time slashing thru there with the Uthgardt Ceremonial Two-Bladed Sword: that worked most other places because it was only +2.

and the guy's fists aren't enchanted at all not having enough monk for them to be considered magic.

which is his core issue.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1762569203

So using console commands, I made my own druid/shifter/rogue.

just as a base point.

he's fully legitamate at that point, I just consoled him up instead of playing the game again.

So lets do some comparisons to your guy. my guy has 40 AC, your guy has 30
my guy has 120 points of greater stoneskin and 220 HP

basically 340 HP, yours has uh, 148. massive increase in survivability.

Attack rating yours is ...16? mine is 23 not the greatest but I could push it a few more points up with aid and bless potions.

damage, yours is 1-6+3+1 electrical. average of 7.5

mine is 1-8+8+4+1d6 sonic. average of 20. huge leap here.

so in certain places, yes your character is bad. the real question is CAN WE FIX IT? simply with items from the shop or in your inventory at that point? or if required console commands.

I mean I'd be more than willing to give you this silly shifted monster I made in about 30 minutes of looking up console commands. learning that apparently you don't get Shield AC in minotaur form, and can only take weapon prof feats in the monk class, since the druid and shifter can't.

I'm reasonably sure your guy can be made better. alot better. but he'll probably still be bad.

[red255]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1762637104

so I attempted to make your guy, add some gear switches. use the minotaur form, use a decent weapon. use bulls strength and barkskin and stoneskin before transforming.

you are underleveled for some reason. I mean I STARTED act 3 at just shy of 14, and you are just barely 15? I don't really understand but I'm reasonably sure it can be fixed just by equipping the right gear and using the skill of your class.

made level 15 in chapter 3 after doing the trial, made level 16 between my first and second word of power, likely will make level 17 before the chapter ends. certainly would if i farmed the creator ruins 'indestructable golems' which were giving me 300 something XP a kill at level 16 with a companion. but even without that, I fully expect to be level 17 by the end of chapter 3 after killing all the giants and dragons. touching 18 in chapter 4, 19 would require farming.

but you are 15. and I'm not sure why.

[red255]

so I made it to chapter 4. level 17, as a fighter 4, Bard 3 RDD 10. looked at the shop inventory.

to fix your equips I would guess I would go to the shops
Buy
Robes of the dark moon,
Bracers of armor +5
Kama +3
Ring of Power
Ring of Regeneration
Boots of the sun soul +5
Amulet of Wisdom +5
Cloak of fortification +3.

use the barkskin and bullstrength and stoneskin spells
consider using potions of cats grace, owls wisdom, aid and bless.

probably shift into the minotaur or drider forms,

If you have the option use a decent henchmen, Grimgaw for damage, sharwyn for buffing. the rest aren't decent. Linu doesn't do anything you couldnt do better with a bag of potions.

[red255]

played thru the chapter.

95% sure your problem is using fists instead of a kama +3. what you did would probably work fine. the damage reduction in that stage was up to soak of +3. went right thru the balors and such. so thats likely the only gear switch you need.

[Lady Crimson (RIP)]

Any sort of multi classing, especially a shifter, is going to be a pain of a time unless you are very familiar with it.

If this is your first time, honestly going straight fighter and delving into either weapon master, champion, or RDD are all excellent ways to go for the first time.

[red255]

to do RDD you have to use some bard or sorc.

but a fighter/bard is very capable for the original campaign.

that said he made almost to maugrim with his build. and I'm reasonably sure his issue is lack of +3 weapons so he can't cut thru their soak.

[Shia Luck]

It all depends what form you are using. If it is unarmed then things like stoneskin give you your magic attack bonus to defeat DR and you don't have enough druid levels. Gloves don't merge ever. so you need stoneskin scrolls.

If it has a weapon then hold the one with the biggest enhancement bonus.

Use a shield, it will merge. Choose items with good item properties. AC all gets converted to the same type and doesn't stack so only the highest counts. Bonus to saves attributes or immunities etc are better than AC generally.

It's a bloody complicated class to start off with tho. Read the shifter guide sknymick posted above. That is brilliant.

Have fun :)

[bignuttz]

Hey there, I was a few days offline.

I am using all buffs and potions you mentioned. I don't know why I am so low-leveled. I did almost all quest I could find.

I'll try to get some kamas and try again. For the other stuff I don't have enough money I think...

[bignuttz]

Originally posted by red255:

so I made it to chapter 4. level 17, as a fighter 4, Bard 3 RDD 10. looked at the shop inventory.

to fix your equips I would guess I would go to the shops
Buy
Robes of the dark moon,
Bracers of armor +5
Kama +3
Ring of Power
Ring of Regeneration
Boots of the sun soul +5
Amulet of Wisdom +5
Cloak of fortification +3.

use the barkskin and bullstrength and stoneskin spells
consider using potions of cats grace, owls wisdom, aid and bless.

probably shift into the minotaur or drider forms,

If you have the option use a decent henchmen, Grimgaw for damage, sharwyn for buffing. the rest aren't decent. Linu doesn't do anything you couldnt do better with a bag of potions.

Where do I get henchmen in chapter 4?

[red255]

well you did mention dying to klaugh a ton of times, could have drained your gold and XP.

I don't generally accept the respawn penalty of gold and XP. either negating the death outright if it was from absurd trap damage like I'm walking around, all the chests with various traps that do 15 damage, and then theres one that does over 90. because game designers thought it would be funny.

dm_heal. sorry, no. No seriously. no.

I ended the campaign with tons of money. I purchased all the bags of holding and 80% weight reduction thru the campaign and looted most of everything of value, selling them as I went. doing most of the quests.

didn't really bother rerolling chests after part 1.

if you want to console gold, the command is dm_givegold. you could put an amount there but if you don't it just gives you alot of gold to make gold moot.

at this point in the campaign gold usually is moot for most people.

"Where do I get henchmen in chapter 4?"

chapter 4 is like the interludes of chapter 1 and 2, you bring the henchman with you from chapter 3. usually I'm leveling up and they stop leveling at 14, so its not as big of an issue to not have one.

[bignuttz]

Hm so I finished the base game. The trick with the kama + 3 really helped a damn lot.

I must have misunterstood something, I thought fighting with bare fists is the best /w a monk. Apparently, I was wrong.

Besides equipping kamas, I haven't changed anything. Maybe I was a bit underleveled, but yeah.
Beat the base game!

[red255]

fighting with fists is good for a straight class monk.

at level 10 your fists are +1, 13 your fists are +2, and 16 your fists are +3. (and deal 1d20)

with only a minor dip in monk like your monk 3 build, you are better off using kamas.

you are also better off using kamas in high level areas like hordes of the underdark, because you can enchant the kama heavily.

but at monk 3, your fists deal 1d6 (or 1d4 if small) + the damage on your gloves +your strength modifier.

your gloves were +3 attack and +1 electrical.

a kama+3 is 1d6+3 so you'd do 2 more damage per hit and bypass magical damage reduction up to +3.