I just answered the time-honoured question about damage resistance versus reduction for the many-eth time(fret not, I like being helpful like this), which highlighted something I thought for a couple of days: there needs to be a little more wiggle room in the thread formatting rules in the Build sub-forum.

For some thing, the Yardstick thingie doesn't handle prestige classes at all, so I just went ahead and made up my own name for the equivalent, that being Soup Base, but Cookiecutter would work as well, or something more formal sounding? Just as shiny.

Mostly, there needs to be at least one topic about equipment. Assuming 'you' are not good with the mechanical side of Amia, I would argue that a character built by you but equipped by me will be much better than a character built by me but equipped by you. Gear matters that much; it's not mass hysteria that makes people grind bosses for hours and buy the resulting kit at auction for a bajillion gold.

Likewise, a tactics ie (spell and summon selection) guide for arcane, Cleric and Druidic caster characters would be good.

Damage reduction could maybe use a sticky, as could the stealth engine.

Links to nwn wikia ought to be plastered all over the place, but it's not always worded that accesibly, and of course the Amian tweaks often make it wrong here.

Agreed, the posting guidelines are still being adjusted. If you have suggestions, I would just post them in the format you advise, really!

This is going to be something of a trial and error to figure out what maintains order without stifling the ability to express, so it'll evolve and we'll eventually figure out what the best overall presentation is.

So people put forward a finalised build and then discuss how it's best geared? Because I would give myself and all my children to you for coming up with this.

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Aoth Nathandem - Wizard of house Tholaunt and chosen of Ma'at.

I'd humbly suggest something honest to the RPG genre and divide the bunch by three into Rogue, Fighter and Wizard. The idea would be to briefly and coherently list and explain the mechanical side of things without touching too deep into the actual gameplay and tactics. When people asked about stuff like Dispel, DR, Stealth, BAB progression, etc. for the umpteenth time, they could be easily directed to the section where it's all kept sorted in a tidy list instead of having to scour the chaotic wiki let alone our own forum.

Rogue would give an overview of being sneaky. To wit, it would shortly and simply explain Traps (set, disable, craft), Stealth (spot, listen, hide, ms), and the relevance of things like Darkness, Rogue's Cunning and corners. Gearing could be mentioned in passing, but with reference to the Gearing Up Topic as it shouldn't be made overly complicated, rather a compendium explaining the core elements of sneakiness.

Fighter would give an overview of hitting and avoiding hits. To wit, it would shortly and simply explain the process of AC vs. AB, the feats affecting it, and the circumstantial bonuses or penalties to AC or AB. I'm not sure how to implement this without ending up littered, but I imagine that saving things related to magic (concealment, Haste, etc.) to the Wizard section would save some room. Herein would also be dumped the stuff about DR, easily accessible items to help with AC/AB, etc.

Wizard would give an overview of spells and casting. To wit, it would shortly and simply explain our everyday magicky FAQs like Dispel, Spell DC, Spell resistance, and mention some of the most pertinent spells to arcane and divine casters.

I think implementation would be the only way to test this. I don't have any solid proof that this might even accidently be the right way to do it, but I just fancied the holy trinity of Warrior/Thief/Mage.

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Every time you clock in the morning, I feel you just want to kill
All my innocence while ignoring my purpose to persevere as a better person
I know you heard this and probably in fear
-Kendrick Lamar, good kid

I don't see why we couldn't do that in addition to other methods of presentation, because different people think and receive information in different ways. It's not like we're capacity; we just have to make sure it doesn't get cluttered in the process, and that it remains easily accessible and searchable - that's all I'm really concerned about.

By the Queen of England and other realm of the Potato and Turnip, I hereby surrender all my netly time and headly brain to the proofreading, brainstorming, and doodling that might require my ten fingers and a keyboard to nourish our newest Build Forum babe. May she live long and prosper!

_________________
Every time you clock in the morning, I feel you just want to kill
All my innocence while ignoring my purpose to persevere as a better person
I know you heard this and probably in fear
-Kendrick Lamar, good kid

The trouble with gearset threads is that they rely heavily on knowing which items are available in the module. Some of the "essential" items for builds aren't in very accessible places. Others require someone of different classes or factions to buy them for you. Are we giving out that information here too? If not, aren't we undermining the point of gearsetting threads?

Experienced players will know what items are available which is exactly who you will want telling you what your character needs to be as close to the peak of their mechanical power as you can get.


I'm not sure we actually have faction or class-specific shops. You can find just about everything you need in the loot bins and through the Mythal system.

Though If you're meaning that you can't get that awesome scabbard from Kohlingen because you're a Tiefling, well that's something for the character to work around, not us.

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Aoth Nathandem - Wizard of house Tholaunt and chosen of Ma'at.

Plenty of class/faction/alignment restricted shops, and they usually have one or two items that you need to achieve the best possible gearset. Revealing that information here just doesn't seem right, but without it you're not giving the best available gearset.

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On a semi-related note, here's my gearset printout if it's useful to anyone:

http://www.docdroid.net/file/view/o7rp/nwn-gearsetting.pdf

Print these out and you can work through several (or hundreds) of possible combinations to get the best use of gear. Start with items with more "powers" than the mythal system will let you make, then fill in the rest. Watch as the amount of greaters and ints required goes through the roof!