SP character builds

[Delphidelion]

I'm curious to see what other people prefer for their character builds and why. I can never seem to find one that keeps me happy.

[D'Normal]

What do you mean with character builds?

I'd say especific builds dont really go in this game. Myself, I allocate my atribute and skills points according to my present needs and every game I have is diferent from the other so its quite unpredictable what my "build" would be.

But I can say that:

- Surgery is a favorite for me early on game (25% base chance to not get killed plus 4% each ranks adds up to a really nice odd of retaining your army in late game)

- Rarely I put points on to Ironflesh

- Usually go with 3 primary weapon proficiencies and weapon master with high points aswell

- Allways have high shield and power strike even if I'm planing on making a bow and arrow sort

- Another favorite of mine is trainer and I suggest you dont get points on this skill untill later game since weaklings are level 4 and up

- Persuassion, trade and leadership (obviously) are also skills I get some high points to.

All the other skills kinda depends on what I'm doing or what I'm planning to do, so I allocate accordingly. So far only skill I havent understand the real use and therefore never get points into its the tracking skill.


I'd say for you to find something that makes you happy... Just go with the flow with the game.
In my opinion if you go with that up there you can never go wrong, just remember what are your needs for the present game and what you are trying to achieve. If for example you started with wanting to go one handed sword and shield + bow and arrow and later you change your mind and want to go spear, 2 hander and trow instead - you can do this pretty easily because of weapon proficiencis, just keep using those weapons and they will get really nice proficiencies-damage-speed very fast (keep points on weapon master tho).

My 2 cents :)

[se05239]

I play as a commander, rather than brute, so I spend my points on these skills;
- Pathfinding (Cause I like my Nord army fast)
- Leadership (A large and quite cheap army? Yes thank you.)
- Surgery (Less units in your army dies.)
- Wound Treatment (Everyone gets fit for battle faster)
- First Aid (For myself, since I cannot take a punch in the face, and my companions)
- Engieneering (Speeding up sieges.)

My companions are fighters with points spent into the Training Skill.

[Validuz]

-Bow (insane dmg and u dont even have to get involved in the fight!
-Leadership(highly doubt any M&B lord can be without thisone :) )
-Trainer(cuz ur always the highest lvl partymember so ull always have the benefit of the trainer ability)

the rest i spread out over what'ev i seem fit. the rest like surgery etc i specc my companions with cuz i dont need to waste precious killingpower that i could use on me to things i could use on my companions.

[kenoxite]

-Trainer(cuz ur always the highest lvl partymember so ull always have the benefit of the trainer ability)

Just a note about the Trainer ability: unlike others, where only the highest ability level is taken into account, this ability final level is the sum of all the trainer abilities of your party.

So, if you have trainer 2 and have a couple of heroes with trainer 1, the trainer level of your party is 4.

[MarcusValerius]

One thing that is interesting about this game there is no right playstyle or character build. Anything works, especially since you can hire companions to fill in your weak spots.

So a few playstyles beyond the normal large leadership/medic skill or Leadership/combat skills that I find interesting are:

1) Bandit King. Train up a combat focused character with little leadership and high looting, and raid/pillage/attack any juicy targets in sight. You'll find recruiting troops late game very difficult, as if you are pillaging alot most villages will hate you. You could even make a side rule where you can only hire mercs or any prisoners who offer to throw in with you if you like a challenge.

2) Tournament Champion. Again, high combat, low leadership. A character that mostly just runs around competing in the tournaments with a few side adventures inbetween bouts. With only a small personal guard and higher difficulty setting this type of character can be quite the challenge to keep in the green.

3) Caravan Master. High Trade, High Pathfinding, High inventory Management. As the name suggests, a character that runs a small trading company going back and forth across Calradia. You can actually pile up a huge fortune this way, so long as you don't run afoul of bandits or irk any factions/lords by eliminating the competing caravans. Of course a sizable bribe usually has them happy with you again.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure plenty of other examples exist. Speaking of which, I might have to make a Robin Hood style character at some point....;)

[caddux]

So a few playstyles beyond the normal large leadership/medic skill or Leadership/combat skills that I find interesting are:
...

Very interesting playstyles, sir. Gave me some new ideas for my next character.

That's one of the reasons that I love this game so much: You create your own profession, and it goes way beyond Fighter/Thief/Cleric/Mage RPG's default!

[Jherad]

Just a note about the Trainer ability: unlike others, where only the highest ability level is taken into account, this ability final level is the sum of all the trainer abilities of your party.

So, if you have trainer 2 and have a couple of heroes with trainer 1, the trainer level of your party is 4.

AFAIK, each character's applies XP individually to recruits that are beneath their level, as a direct result of their own trainer level.

[kenoxite]

AFAIK, each character's applies XP individually to recruits that are beneath their level, as a direct result of their own trainer level.

Thanks for pointing that out. Reading the manual, I see that they changed the way it works in Warband.

TRAINER SKILL (intelligence) (personal skill): At midnight of each day, a hero with the Trainer skill adds experience to every other party member of a lower level than himself. Higher ranks in Training add more experience to each party member.

I stand corrected then.

[se05239]

The training skill stacks, training becomes only more effective the more characters who have it.

[Z_E_N]

2) Tournament Champion. Again, high combat, low leadership. A character that mostly just runs around competing in the tournaments with a few side adventures inbetween bouts. With only a small personal guard and higher difficulty setting this type of character can be quite the challenge to keep in the green.


This is actually one of my favorite builds. More for the "solo" type player that likes to kill enemies himself rather than watch his army do it.

The benefit of it is with a smaller group, exp that is split with the party (such as fighting bandits and winning) you get a greater share than you would with a large army.

After your character gets very buff with expensive items you can often solo armies on the field depending on your personal playing skill. This nets tons of exp.

As the build suggests, the best way to build up early on is through tournament jumping.

[protyx]

Well, i myself tend to invest in combat skills and surgery, letting my numerous companions provide all the party skills such as wound treatment, first aid, pathfinding, engineering, tactics and others. As a combat oriented character you can really make a difference in battles, especially sieges, your heroes will perform reasonably well even when theyre not specialized in combat.

[Scub]

My guy could best be described as a tank infantry type.
Ironflesh
Power Strike
Wound Treatment
Athletic

Hes a heavly armored high encumberance char two hand spec'd all the way at the moment.

I prefer fighting dismounted, I don't even own a horse, I find it much more flexible then trying it from hourseback. Its easy to switch between offensive out in front approch or duck back behind the lines when needed. Out front you can deliver a punishing battle winning damage.
With high athletics you can even flank around and lay waste to enemy ranged units in the back.

The downside against an army with many ranged units you may be spending alot of time behing a tree while your army thins them out.

Athletics is a must for this build to work though. When its high it provides enough manuverability to litterally move out of the way before a javilin hits you, even with high encumberance. A undervalued stat imo.

[KyrenCross]

IronFlesh 4
PowerStrike 4
Riding 4
Power Draw 6
Inventory Management 6
Leadership 7
Trade 7
What is the Max skill level? is it "7" ?

My Party Heroes Handles Engineer, Wound treatment, Surgery etc.

Heavily Armored with 2 hand Sword with 120 Reach and an Armored Horse
I like to plunder villages and Capturing Castles and Towns.
I have 120 Party and almost conquering all Factions. But they all seem to be at war with me now and I want to know if you can order some of your factions mates to defend a town or castle cause sometimes I can't reach a castle in time >_<

[Delphidelion]

Cool to see what other people do. I started a new chaacter just yesterday, gave him a 12 str, 6 agi, 9 int, and 9 cha. Did this for the armors, and power strike 4. Now my int is 26 and my trainer, pathfinding, spotting, wound treatment and persuasian are all up to 8... though one might be a seven. I only run with a band of about 10 - 15 guys right now. It was a lot more effective than I though. The pathfinding is amazing at the high levels with most of my troops on horse I'm moving upwards of 8.6 on the map. I can also see quite the distance, making finding those sometimes elusive encounters a breeze. I'm waiting until my main skills are at 10 before I start messing with the kings. This way I can be all like "you listen to me because I'm ♥♥♥♥ing your daughter!" XD

Edit: Also I find books simply AMAZING help.

[Asphe]

You can go 9+ if Pathfinding's 10 (maximum for all skills?), everyone is on a horse and you have a horse in inventory for every 3-4 items you have. Invest in Spotting too so you can see things further away at night.

I went the STR/AGI route for Power Strike/Draw, Athletics/Horse Archery. Then had two companions go for INT, one for Surgery/First Aid/Wound Treatment/Tactics and the other for Pathfinding/Spotting/Tracking/Engineering. You give up some bonuses by not having those yourself but with light armor, I can be first up the ladder/tower in a siege and usually break past the initial line of defenders. Then I sit back somewhere and use up my 2 bags of arrows then attack the last row of defenders with a 2-hander weapon. Fun on the highest difficulty settings :)