2.07.2007

Character Build: Neverwinter Nights 2 - The Dragon Knight

Here it is, as mentioned and promised before, the first part of my Neverwinter Nights 2 character build series. To start this guide, I'll post my Dragon Knight build. It's probably my most powerful fighter build, with high amount of damage output, armor class, and saving throws. So, basically, it's just a typical melee combatant with a little bit of flair. So, without further ado, let's take a look at the build.

The Dragon Knight
(Paladin 7/Fighter 2/Sorcerer 1/Red Dragon Disciple 10)

A Dragon Knight is a holy crusader, with powers that stems both from his dragonic heritage and divine sources.

A Dragon Knight must be of Lawful Good alignment since he is an honorable warrior, with unflinching dedication to fight evil and injustice, in the service to his god and for the safety of the realms. Aasimars are well-suited to become Dragon Knights because they are charismatic and are -usually- determined to vanquish evil. Though Humans with strong souls ( Strong Soul feat) are also good candidates. They usually serve the gods Tyr, Torm, Ilmater and, sometimes, even Helm. They are devoted to an ideal (hence the "Devout" background) or are natural leaders ("Natural Leader" background).

As for their skills, a Dragon Knight values life. He avoids unecessary fights and seeks peaceful resolutions, so a high Diplomacy skill is a top priority. Lore is also an important skill (and a requirement for the Red Dragon Disciple prestige class) since Dragon Knights can mostly be found in libraries, researching about their draconic heritage. Listen is also an important skill, Dragon Knights must have a keen hearing in order to sense cries for help from afar and/or quickly grasping vocal commands or instructions from their superiors.

Strength and Charisma are the main abilities of a Dragon Knight. But you need not to raise your strength. At level 10, the Red Dragon Disciple prestige class grants a total of +8 Strength -increasing attack and damage bonuses- and also a +4 Natural Armor Bonus. So all gained ability points must be thrown to Charisma. This will increase the effectiveness of the Paladin's Charisma based divine feats: Divine Grace (adds CHA modifier to all saving throws), Divine Might (a selected feat that adds divine damage to a weapon, equal to the caster's CHA modifer) and Divine Shield (a selected feat that grants bonus to armor, equal to the caster's CHA modifier).

So with all the bonuses from the Red Dragon Disciple prestige class (+8 STR, +4 Natural Armor etc.), the equipment (ability boosts, AC bonus, Damage bonus), and with Divine Might and Divine Shield activated, you can possibly achieve a total of 62 Armor Class and 300 -more or less- damage per round.

Starting Ability Scores
STR 16/DEX 12/CON 14/INT 10/WIS 12/CHA 17

Level, Ability and Feat Progression
01. Sorcerer 01 - Power Attack
02. Fighter 01 - Cleave
03. Paladin 01 - Exotic Weapons Proficiency
04. Paladin 02 - CHA +1
05. Paladin 03
06. Paladin 04 - Divine Might
07. Fighter 02 - Weapon Focus: Bastard Sword
08. Red Dragon Disciple 01 - CHA +1
09. Red Dragon Disciple 02 - Great Cleave
10. Red Dragon Disciple 03
11. Red Dragon Disciple 04
12. Paladin 05 - Divine Shield; CHA +1
13. Red Dragon Disciple 05
14. Red Dragon Disciple 06
15. Red Dragon Disciple 07 - Improved Critical: Bastard Sword
16. Red Dragon Disciple 08 - CHA +1
17. Red Dragon Disciple 09 -
18 Red Dragon Disciple 10 - Power Critical: Bastard Sword
19. Paladin 06
20. Paladin 07 - CHA +1

6 comments:

Unknown said...
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Anonymous said...

hey u said starting abilities are:
Starting Ability Scores
STR 16/DEX 12/CON 14/INT 10/WIS 12/CHA 17

but i cant reach this numbers,i dont have enough points...

Skron said...

If you can't reach that numbers, then you're probably not using an Aasimar. Aasimars (or maybe Drows) is the only race who can have that starting abilities.

Anonymous said...

Trying this build now. so far so good.

Anonymous said...

Why do you take two fighter levels, is it just for the extra feats?

I'm thinking of doing something similar but without the fighter levels, any disadvantage to this?

Skron said...

Yeah, I took the fighter levels for the two extra feats. But without fighter levels, the build could still work since it relies on Divine Strength and Divine Shield. You could always drop Critical Feats or just don't take up Exotic Weapons Proficiency. Its up to you.