Str 6 halfling... Insane?

[psykopeta]

Contemplating a new toon, and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with a str dumped halfling.

How horrible is the 3/4ths carrying capacity and str, do you get encumbered at the drop of a hat? Are str drains your biggest weakness?

Just wondering whether I'll level it up to 10 and then think "Oh my god what did I do....".... and hoping to avoid that.....

The worst part is... I like my stuff. I'd carry plenty of scrolls/wands/potions no matter what, I usually have all inventory space except about 30 spaces filled (including the purchased page). I can deal with leaving heavy armor in chests, but other than that I doubt I'm willing to make many concessions to weight.

hi, i started with 6 str(currently lvl 18, created the toon with enhancement pass, so i think the xp changes aren't affecting me, im keeping the same rythm as before), the reason is quite simple: 18 dex, 14 con, 18 int, 12 cha, no points left, even less for carrying trash, the only thing u'll find at lower lvls

and was gonna deal with encumbrance(which isn't hard wit ha bit of planning) to get real benefits, so tips:

-ingredient bag, your main/only enemy, mine is something around 150lbs, with that and w/o ship buff/rage u get encumbered (well, just add a few pots and u will XD) so get a smalller bag

- pots, dont bring several stacks of 100 each(i was carrying blindness removal, lesser restoration, csw, rage<---to avoid encumbrance when ship buffs faded, haste, curse removal,disease removal and heroism, only 100 eah and that's 10lbs/stack)

-u can craft a str item, at low lvl i did, now think im wearing maybe a +4 str helm of persusasion(so i can use it at lower lvl on next life, hate spending time in the crafting hall, and my regear on lvl take maybe 5 mins, because have everything ready from previous life, only craft if it's really needed, like the str item at lowl lvl, right before the abishai)

-centered or not?if u wanna be centered, keep in min u'll have to abandon some pots(at lower lvls can use a hire and bring only hero+rage+/haste pots, 100 each, no more XD)and avoid looting, this way u won't have issues

- the most important thing, u shouldn't accept opinions of ppl who haven't started with 6 int

[Stoner81]

I have a Halfling Rogue who is at level 14 currently and is mostly STR based, she will be LR'd to INT/DEX based with Weapon Finesse and STR will be dumped. As other have said just watch what you carry a little more and you should be fine.

Stoner81.

[visibleman]

Toon would be a rogueish multi, but woudn't need to be centered or anything.

If you are going Melee, you'll probably want to add Power Attack later on, depending on your Tome access this means a starting STR of 10.

[Failedlegend]

If you are going Melee, you'll probably want to add Power Attack later on, depending on your Tome access this means a starting STR of 10.

Actually Precision is better DPS-wise for most rogues.

[nibel]

How horrible is the 3/4ths carrying capacity and str, do you get encumbered at the drop of a hat? Are str drains your biggest weakness?

You will never wear any kind of armor, because armor weights a ton. Also, you would avoid to loot armor from chests because if this is not on the end chest, looting it might slow you down from medium load. (On PnP this is aliviated because halfling armor weights half of a standard medium armor)

You will not carry around stacks of 100 potions. 100 potions weight 10 lb and carrying 10 or so differente potions would put you on medium load. You either learn to live carrying 10-15 potions, or relies on clikies instead of drinkables.

You will not be a ranged toon, because amunition will put you in the medium load.

You will not carry around a golf bag of weapons because weapons weight a lot. Specially if you are going TWFing. You have to make the best you can with 3-4 sets, top.

You will be turned helpless all the time from Ray of Enfeeblement and Symbol of Weakness. In some level ranges, even wearing a str item will not help you much to avoid it. Think like a cha-dumped barbarian in IQ fighting the dream wraiths.

That was my experience running my 6-str halfling to cap some years ago.

[Failedlegend]

You will never wear any kind of armor, because armor weights a ton. Also, you would avoid to loot armor from chests because if this is not on the end chest, looting it might slow you down from medium load. (On PnP this is aliviated because halfling armor weights half of a standard medium armor)

You will not carry around stacks of 100 potions. 100 potions weight 10 lb and carrying 10 or so differente potions would put you on medium load. You either learn to live carrying 10-15 potions, or relies on clikies instead of drinkables.

You will not be a ranged toon, because amunition will put you in the medium load.

You will not carry around a golf bag of weapons because weapons weight a lot. Specially if you are going TWFing. You have to make the best you can with 3-4 sets, top.

You will be turned helpless all the time from Ray of Enfeeblement and Symbol of Weakness. In some level ranges, even wearing a str item will not help you much to avoid it. Think like a cha-dumped barbarian in IQ fighting the dream wraiths.

That was my experience running my 6-str halfling to cap some years ago.

Throw on a +6 str item...problem solved unless your a monk you'll be fine

[nibel]

Throw on a +6 str item...problem solved unless your a monk you'll be fine

It was a rogue build. I played it to cap.

Believe me, it is more painful than what you can put on theorycraft. Since there, I never made any haflling with les than 10 str (the other races can work with a base 8 because their load is not 25% smaller)

[jskinner937]

I had a 6STR cleric, and a 6STR monkish build. Im not saying i never had problems, but only the first life gearless cleric was helpless 1-2 times in kobold assault. Never after. If you have gear, problem solved.
My monk was never helpless and i carried a tonn of gear with him. Sometimes i made mistakes (switched out STR item), and lost my stance, but thats all.
~25STR was possible before U14 at level 20. Now pretty sure 30+ is easy even if you start with 6.

Monk is the worst to go with low strength by far. Medium weight uncenters you....with 6 starting strength, you cannot even carry your normal gear without this happening at early levels.

[Clatterfist]

Personally, I now always aim to start with a Strength higher than 10. My experiences have taught me that I'm going to find anything less than that annoying at best, and debilitating at worst. Like you, I also enjoy my "stuff" - I like to be well-supplied, with clickies, consumables, and alternative equipment. I don't want to be struggling to haul treasure on top of that, and I don't want to risk being rendered helpless by Ray of Enfeeblement, etc. at low levels. That just feels like a rookie mistake to me. For performance, safety, and quality of life, 4-6 build points into Strength is worth it all day long as far as I'm concerned.

[Enoach]

Committing to a 6 Strength start will mean committing to a +Str item for the rest of you character life.

As pointed out earlier being helpless sucks.

But another thing to point out is that all spells that reduce strength have Spell resistance. So one way to help avoid this is to wear a spell resistance item at low levels - This is actually good advice for those that start with higher strength. Example the Phiarlan Mirror Cloak ML 3 has a 17 Spell Resistance. Crafting you can make a 13 to 20 starting ML is 3. And while those amounts seem small SR 20 can still be around a 50% chance at the level 10 when running Elite at level.

Starting with a 6 strength is not necessarily a bad idea, but if you are not prepared for the consequences it can turn ugly.

Keep in mind that you maybe able to overcome the low strength by utilizing Ship Buffs (6->8) and keeping yourself constantly buffed with bulls strength (8->12) and Raged (12->14). But that might be a lot of drinking every 1.25 minutes.