Solo build help

[johnrbimmer]

Hey all,
I know the game is meant to be played in groups and I certainly spent most of my time playing with others. To mix things up I wanted to figure out a character that could solo most (not all....) of the quests in the game and allow me to explore on my own.

I figure that the character will have to be strong in the following areas:
Melee,
Self Healing, and
Picking locks.

Everything is else (i.e. Spell casting, disarming traps, massive DPS, etc...) is relatively secondary but still important.

My question to the community is what combination of classes and levels do you think allows one to achieve decent solo play?

I was thinking of a Human or Dwarf 8 fighter / 3 Paladin / 3 rogue concentrating on relatively balanced stats at the start (16 str, 12 dex, 14/16 con (depending on race), 15 int, 8 wis, 10/12 cha (depending on race), with appropriate +1 tomes (i.e. dex to 13 for dodge, int to 16 for additional skill points etc..). Skills would focus on open locks, UMD, when fighter or paly and a OL/UMD/Jump/Search etc when doing the rogue levels.

I am sure this type of character has been done numerous times by many people but I am beginning to wonder if a Fighter 8 / Rogue 4 / Ranger 2 might be better in terms of skills? The ability to use wands for healing comes from Ranager levels but I am obviously trading off fear immunity, divine grace and 2 ac points from the paly aura (with enhancements) which seems like a big trade off.

Any help from the rest of the community would be appreciated!

[Dariun]

I have a drow rogue/pal/fighter that is a pretty strong solo build (not a "batman" build though).

I think starting stats were:

STR 12
CON 10
DEX 17
WIS 10
INT 14
CHA 16

feats: toughness, weapon finesse, whatever you like (I took weapon focus: pierce, skill focus: umd, and repeating light crossbow cause I had a few nice ones)

High CHA was for paladin save bonus and UMD. 2 points could go from CHA to CON instead.

Low str/low con is the weakness of the build. Effective ranged attacks and UMD is a strength.

I've only taken him to lvl 7 (2 pal, 2 fighter, 3 rogue), but he can pretty much do it all. I have mithril full plate and mithril chain shirt (for evading). He was primarily meant to be a better version of my pure human rogue (and he is -- started with higher dex/cha and has all the drow/pal/fighter bonuses...).

[Girevik]

There is a lot to be said for the simplicity of a:

Dwarven Rogue-1/Ranger-the-rest build.

You should be able to spot/search-out/and disable any traps you run into, you should be able to keep yourself buffed up with almost maxed appropriate resistances, and you should be able to Wand heal between fights.

There are obviously a lot of ways to build for solo, but one of the problems with multi-classing too evenly is the loss of the "good" resists. Without someone else there to heal your damage, it is probably a good idea to avoid taking it in the first place.

[Dariun]

but one of the problems with multi-classing too evenly is the loss of the "good" resists.

True, but I have been finding a bunch of higher level resist and protection wands (which are incredibly useful).

Oh, yeah, and being fairly rich really helps a solo character. Being to buy all the wands, scrolls, and potions you need (as well as good stuff off the AH) is practically essential.

[johnrbimmer]

I like the combination of rog 1 / ranger x but I think it might be lacking in the AC department without the benefit of MFP or something. I know that means giving up evasion (I do have +5 MBP to use if I want to take advantage of evasion).

I figured resists would come from house buffs / items/ or scrolls.. but I do take the point on resists as important.

As for disable device for traps - I figured most of those are simply fixed by curing after trying to run through them (maybe without armour to benefit from evasion...). I can only think of one trap in the whole game (VON 4) that would require me to disable before progressing through the quest. I am sure there are couple of others, but I understand that some quests just can't be fully solo'd...

I was thinking that a combination of good AC (from Paly aura, Combat expertise at later levels, MFP and dex bonus etc..), HP, and saves is the way to go.

Thanks for the advice so far!

[VonBek]

Are you looking to keep this character for solo only? Or mix in grouping when you hit a tough spot?