Question....

[Wolverine129h]

OK....I started a new game with a fighter. I made my dexterity fairly high because I wanted to use the weapon finese. My question is...did i make a mistake by making my dexterity 16 instead of 20. I am using an elf and I plan on using chain mail for armor. Also...is it just me or does dual wielding suck..whenever I hit something it never does anymore than 4 damage. Ive tried using one rapier and one dagger and dual rapiers but neither seems to help much. Its kind of frustrating that I had to get a body gaurd for my FIGHTER.

[Tobbin]

Originally posted by Wolverine129h: OK....I started a new game with a fighter. I made my dexterity fairly high because I wanted to use the weapon finese. My question is...did i make a mistake by making my dexterity 16 instead of 20. I am using an elf and I plan on using chain mail for armor. Also...is it just me or does dual wielding suck..whenever I hit something it never does anymore than 4 damage. Ive tried using one rapier and one dagger and dual rapiers but neither seems to help much. Its kind of frustrating that I had to get a body gaurd for my FIGHTER.

16 Dex isn't too bad. You will have the opportunity to raise this by items you find in the game. If you make an UBER score, you will have to trade a lot of points to get what you want. Better to "spread them out" a little. As for dualing, it does suck initially, but once you put points into weapon proficiency and ambidexterity and get improved dualing, it'll be something special. See, you start off with all these penalties at 1st level cause you are just starting out. Give it some time. You can use a shield until your skills get how you want them. I have many of those benefits free as a Ranger, but he didn't really get good with dualing until 9th level.

[Glorfindel]

Like tobbin said Dual-weilding is really hard until you get all of the feats to reduce the penalities to as little as you can..... and personally i think if your anything but a warrior class dual-weilding is practically pointless as it takes your attack bonus's down to very low

[frudi_x]

why pump dexterity if you're a fighter? take 15 dex that you need for ambidexterity (since you're an elf it doesn't cost much to get to 15 dex) and pump strength instead. why would you want a fighter with higher dex than str?

[Tobbin]

Originally posted by frudi_x: why pump dexterity if you're a fighter? take 15 dex that you need for ambidexterity (since you're an elf it doesn't cost much to get to 15 dex) and pump strength instead. why would you want a fighter with higher dex than str?

It all depends on what you want to do with the character over the long run. Dexterity also affects AC (up to a point. I think it stops at either 17 or 18, can't remember). I can't remember the skill, but if you take it, you get to use your Dex modifier AS a stack against attack/damage. Also, if you choose Dodge, this will help you with your saves. I chose Thief (I know I keep saying this) and selected Dodge at level up. My character saves against a lot of traps (when they go off) and also saves against some magic effects (sonic waves). If I hadn't picked up high dex, he wouldn't be as good a Thief (obviously), and I did pick up that feat I was talking about that allows the Dex to replace STR in combat. I used a pre-rolled character and I was trying to take away some of the disadvantages that he had (He didn't have exceptional strength, but did have decent Dex) and still tried to maximize this for the Thieving abilities. So whenever I raised up abilities, I was pumping DEX (Didn't realize I would find items in the game that would pump up DEX on it's own though). So my Dex is higher than my STR now. Dodge seems to help in combat too. I didn't select the KNOCKDOWN feat, cause I wasn't aware of this initially, but did find an item that makes me immune to KNOCKDOWN, so it all kinda works out. What I'm saying is that if you ever plan (or even think you might) to add another class, having medium scores across the board is a good idea. I added a Sorceror level, and had to raise an ability score to do it (My Charisma was at 10 when I leveled up initially - can't learn 1st level spells. ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH. I had just boosted the STR ability at prior level up, so went back to an earlier save and when I leveled up, chose CHARISMA instead. Thereby allowing 1st level spells). Unless I raise the ability again, I will not be eligible for 2nd level spells. That's why I was saying that not having scores too high is good in the long run. Now, if you NEVER plan to multi at any point, then PUMP it up. PUMP IT WAY UP. Otherwise you are wasting the abilities that you don't need. Might come in handy in one or two situations, but unless it's Persuasion, Intelligence, or Wisdom (which can be mediocre), it's not all that important.

[ 08-03-2002, 07:12 AM: Message edited by: Tobbin ]

[frudi_x]

sure, dex affects AC, but if you're wearing any kind of heavy armor the dex bonus to AC will be cut to 1 or 2, up to 4 with medium armor (which in my mind is the worst choice; either go heavy and forget about dex or go light/clothes and pump dex as much as possible). and you will be using armor when you're playing a fighter... right?
i just don't see the reasoning... pumping dex instead of str, choosing weapon finesse (which only affects attack rolls, not damage!) and then complain about not doing enough damage per hit [img]smile.gif[/img] . should have just pumped str from the beginning. there is a reason why it's the prime attribute of a fighter, not dex.
of course, if you're planning on multiclassing, then dex might be required for your other class, but the original post doesn't mention any plans of it (if the character is indeed gonna be multiclassed, i apologize for my ignorance [img]smile.gif[/img] ), so i just presume we're talking about a plain old fighter.

[Wolverine129h]

OH damn......I thought weapon finesse affected weapon roles and damage. No wonder you guys were thinking that what I did made no sense. It taking me some time to get used to the 3rd edition rules.

[Zoltan]

3rd edition sucks
2rd edition rules (still)

[Tobbin]

Originally posted by Zoltan: 3rd edition sucks 2rd edition rules (still)

Nah, you didn't count in 1st edition.

3rd edition is ok.
2nd edition sucks.
1st edition RULEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nydlari]

Originally posted by Tobbin: quote: Originally posted by Zoltan: 3rd edition sucks 2rd edition rules (still)

Nah, you didn't count in 1st edition.

3rd edition is ok.
2nd edition sucks.
1st edition RULEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/QUOTE]Well, I agree with you 100% for a PnP game, but for a CRPG:

1st edition sucks.
2nd edition doesn't suck quite as bad.
3rd edition is ok.

D&D should have been left to PnP, and new systems should be developed for CRPG.