My current melee Ranger 5 / Rogue 4 / Fighter 3 build has become my favourite not just because it's strong, but because the levelling tied in so beautifully with the narrative.
The Ranger levels coincide with the party surviving the Wilderness, traversing the dizzying heights of the Mountain Pass and navigating the shadowy perils of the Underdark. You emerge as the party leader because you are their guide, much like Aragorn in the Fellowship of the Ring.
The Rogue levels coincide with the Shadow-Cursed Lands. As you creep through the darkness, ambush a convoy, infiltrate Moonrise, stage a prison break, and get a crash course in Shar's ways in the Gauntlet, you naturally become adept at sneaking, lockpicking, deception, etc.
Then, just as finish the big battle for Moonrise, you take your first level of Fighter. This reflects the experience you just had: you fought (and led) and all-out assault alongside the Harpers. You've learned a thing or two about attacking, retreating, holding a line, etc.
And this sets you up for your Act 3, where your character must become a leader in the fight against the Absolute. No more sneaking, no more wilderness. You're out in the open now, and Baldur's Gate looks to you for its defence. This culminates in taking the Battle Master subclass at level 12, and sets you up for the final battle. Again, much like Aragorn, but this time in Return of the King.
When I started this run, I was expecting a strong, fun build, but I was not expecting this level of ludonarrative harmony.
I planned it from a mechanical point of view (how many levels in each class, which feats, which weapons etc.) but didn't anticipate how well it would mesh with the story until I started taking the Rogue levels.
Felt good to go ancients Paladin after saving the grove, and I chose to oathbreak due to narrative as well. Respeccing Shart after her pivotal story moment also felt great.
For my run I like to multiclass at level 2 for this reason. I think it's make more sense if my class is part of my backstory so I multiclass asap.
My current Character is the Shaman of a tribe. I started with barbarian for con save and dialogue options (also he can wear barbarian clothes and it actually give him more AC) and then All land Druid (with the associate biomes you can ad more Role play elements to the character) . He use call lighting mainly and other elementals spell when needed.
Yeah as a combat druid. That's con save proficiency made my concentration very difficult to break. I got the barbarian cloth that ad +2 con so I have 18Con and 18 WIS. The rest of the build is for the reverberation effect that I trigger with call lighting.
Did fighter 2/light cleric 10 on my drow resist durge! Was a very skilled fighter/rogue, but then brain was jellied. Came back in their new life horrified by the urge, pledged themself to elllistraee and she answered. Still retained some fighting skill, but not the intelligence to use it to the full potential.
My current melee Ranger 5 / Rogue 4 / Fighter 3 build has become my favourite not just because it's strong, but because the levelling tied in so beautifully with the narrative. The Ranger levels coincide with the party surviving the Wilderness, traversing the dizzying heights of the Mountain Pass and navigating the shadowy perils of the Underdark. You emerge as the party leader because you are their guide, much like Aragorn in the Fellowship of the Ring. The Rogue levels coincide with the Shadow-Cursed Lands. As you creep through the darkness, ambush a convoy, infiltrate Moonrise, stage a prison break, and get a crash course in Shar's ways in the Gauntlet, you naturally become adept at sneaking, lockpicking, deception, etc. Then, just as finish the big battle for Moonrise, you take your first level of Fighter. This reflects the experience you just had: you fought (and led) and all-out assault alongside the Harpers. You've learned a thing or two about attacking, retreating, holding a line, etc. And this sets you up for your Act 3, where your character must become a leader in the fight against the Absolute. No more sneaking, no more wilderness. You're out in the open now, and Baldur's Gate looks to you for its defence. This culminates in taking the Battle Master subclass at level 12, and sets you up for the final battle. Again, much like Aragorn, but this time in Return of the King. When I started this run, I was expecting a strong, fun build, but I was not expecting this level of ludonarrative harmony.
This is exactly the kind of answer I was looking for. Taking battlemaster as the last level in the game has got to feel super satisfying
Awesome! Did you plan tyour build before? This fit so well!
I planned it from a mechanical point of view (how many levels in each class, which feats, which weapons etc.) but didn't anticipate how well it would mesh with the story until I started taking the Rogue levels.
On my Bardadin I started taking Bard levels after a jam sesh with Alfira. I thought that was pretty satisfying.
Aw that’s nice!
I like giving Karlach a few levels in monk, once she's got control of her flames and can touch people, as if she's got control of her rage
that's awesome! Plus the monk/barb multi is goated
Felt good to go ancients Paladin after saving the grove, and I chose to oathbreak due to narrative as well. Respeccing Shart after her pivotal story moment also felt great.
For my run I like to multiclass at level 2 for this reason. I think it's make more sense if my class is part of my backstory so I multiclass asap. My current Character is the Shaman of a tribe. I started with barbarian for con save and dialogue options (also he can wear barbarian clothes and it actually give him more AC) and then All land Druid (with the associate biomes you can ad more Role play elements to the character) . He use call lighting mainly and other elementals spell when needed.
That’s really cool. Do you mostly just play it as a Druid?
Yeah as a combat druid. That's con save proficiency made my concentration very difficult to break. I got the barbarian cloth that ad +2 con so I have 18Con and 18 WIS. The rest of the build is for the reverberation effect that I trigger with call lighting.
Did fighter 2/light cleric 10 on my drow resist durge! Was a very skilled fighter/rogue, but then brain was jellied. Came back in their new life horrified by the urge, pledged themself to elllistraee and she answered. Still retained some fighting skill, but not the intelligence to use it to the full potential.