Stories of a Reaper have always dwelt in the Underdark. Of a surface creature, with a Scythe of War, blood red in the darkness, that takes the souls of those still living. His body shrouded constantly in darkness, blows seem to fade through him and his eyes...His eyes are more soulless than those vacant eyed slaves of the Elder Brains. These are just stories though, for the true Reaper is but a man with a Magical Scythe, who's blade simply takes the lives of those in his way.
If anyone has discussed games with me before you probably know that I love messing around with Critical Hits in games, and no game has interested me more than Neverwinter Nights, every single weapon functions differently, some will roll a critical hit easier, some will do more damage when one is achieved, and then there is the godly Scythe. This weapon might only initially hit when the game rolls you a 20, but when it does, it'll hit for 4 times the amount of damage. And so, with a little toying around with a Scythe, the Reaper was born.
Race: Human - We're going to want the best use of our Skills and Feats, and no Race helps you out more than a Human. An extra feat at level one, and essentially a free skill to be trained throughout the game made this an easy choice.
Class: Fighter 10, Weapon Master 11, Barbarian 3
We're going to be running an Epic Weapon Master, going for the Class as soon as we can, and picking Fighter to gain the immense Feat Bonus that they show. Weapon Masters, have the unique Ki Critical ability, which will boost our Scythe to dealing five times the amount of damage per Critical Hit instead of four. Barbarian is chosen primarily because Barbarian Rage will give us a bit of a boost, but also because the Barbarian will give us a little bit of a Health and Speed boost.
Alignment: True Neutral - Even though the character pretty much looks like an Evil Warlord, I actually went with the middle of the scale, in my mind it definitely imitated Death which isn't exactly picky in terms of morality. This does lock you out of some interesting items later in the game which are alignment locked so you can choose whatever floats your boat really.
To be honest, I simply had a massive amount of Feats at my disposal, when really there were only a limited number that I needed. Weapon Proficiency - Exotic was needed to unlock the Scythe as a usable weapon so it went first, along with Dodge and Expertise which are not only requirements for the Weapon Master but also useful defensive feats. For the next 5 or so levels, I picked up Mobility, Spring Attack, Weapon Focus - Scythe and Whirlwind Attack to unlock the Weapon Master class as quickly as possible. Though Whirlwind Attack is worth noting because of it's offensive ability to attack all enemies near you, resulting in a potentially devastating attack when a couple of critical hits line up.
After that, it was a bit of pick and choose. I didn't really need any others, except Ki Critical (Boosts Scythe from 4x crit to 5x crit damage) and Improved Critical (which just makes it easier to achieve a Critical Hit). Improved Reflexes, Iron Will, Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave and Improved Expertise all are good choices, but none are truly needed for the full build.
This can pretty much be summed up into three parts. Equipment, Skills and Combat.
Equipment really is up to each player, but Medium Armour is definitely the best choice, it lets us run a moderately high Dexterity (once boosted) without suffering consequences and is still strong enough to increase our AR.
Armour: Armour of Command (+ 3 AR Bonus, +2 Charisma and +5 Persuade, dyed black)
Head: Merkil's Helmet (Immunity Critical Hits, Cast Mind Blank on enemy)
Gauntlets: Gauntlets of Dexterity + 4 (Dexterity + 4)
Boots: Boots of Speed (Haste)
Jewelry: Ring of Protection + 6(+6 AR), Ironskin Ring (Resist Damage) and Amulet of Natural Armour + 6 (+6 AR)
Belt: Belt of Fire Giant Strength (+5 Strength)
The Weapon is a bit of an odd discussion. Several times throughout Chapter 2 of HotU, you'll be able to upgrade your weapon at a single merchant's Forge, there you can add various modifiers to your weapon and upgrade it to your hearts content. There's also an alter in the Cult Temple that adds a Drain Strength enchantment, so in the end the actual Scythe you choose doesn't matter that much.
I chose to use Tebimar's Scythe because it grants a bonus to Critical Damage (Only 1d8 though) another option would be Death's Handmaiden.
Regardless this is the final list of upgrades it should have by the end of Chapter 2. With Keen and improved Critical, you'll be dishing out a Critical Hit anytime you roll a 16-20, so a quarter of the time.
Fire Damage 2d6
+ 7 Bonus (Damage and Attack)
Keen
Drain Strength (DC: 22)
Either Massive Crticials or Vampiric Drain 4 depending on what Scythe you choose.
Skills are quite simple. Grab Discipline to avoid Knockdown, Lore to identify items and Intimidate. After that my next recommendations is probably Heal. Combat is also simple, generally we won't be buffing ourselves up or doing anything particularly fancy, just running into combat and dishing out quick attacks. If your ever surrounded, Whirlwind Attack can get a hit off on everyone, either dealing around 30 damage per strike or the 150+ of a Critical Hit, either way it'll get weaker enemies off your back while still dealing with stronger ones.
Undead and Constructs are the biggest problem, as both are immune to Critical Hits. In that case you'll pretty much just be inflicting damage on them in any way you can, which generally means hitting hard for 30's while your companions deal roughly the same (you do eat away fairly quickly for most)
The true story of the Reaper is far more boring than anyone puts it out to be. He was, a mere man, a slayer of many but still just a man. His only success in life was reaching further into the Underdark than any free man, for his journey ended as he fought his enemy, the Valsharess and actually killed her. But by doing so, he unleashed the demon she partially bound to her service, the great Mephistopheles, which we can only assume brought about the death of the Reaper, for he was never heard of again. But still, the tales of the Reaper survive down here, until the end of our days...whenever that may be.
Stories of a Reaper have always dwelt in the Underdark. Of a surface creature, with a Scythe of War, blood red in the darkness, that takes the souls of those still living. His body shrouded constantly in darkness, blows seem to fade through him and his eyes...His eyes are more soulless than those vacant eyed slaves of the Elder Brains. These are just stories though, for the true Reaper is but a man with a Magical Scythe, who's blade simply takes the lives of those in his way.
If anyone has discussed games with me before you probably know that I love messing around with Critical Hits in games, and no game has interested me more than Neverwinter Nights, every single weapon functions differently, some will roll a critical hit easier, some will do more damage when one is achieved, and then there is the godly Scythe. This weapon might only initially hit when the game rolls you a 20, but when it does, it'll hit for 4 times the amount of damage. And so, with a little toying around with a Scythe, the Reaper was born.
Race: Human - We're going to want the best use of our Skills and Feats, and no Race helps you out more than a Human. An extra feat at level one, and essentially a free skill to be trained throughout the game made this an easy choice.
Class: Fighter 10, Weapon Master 11, Barbarian 3
We're going to be running an Epic Weapon Master, going for the Class as soon as we can, and picking Fighter to gain the immense Feat Bonus that they show. Weapon Masters, have the unique Ki Critical ability, which will boost our Scythe to dealing five times the amount of damage per Critical Hit instead of four. Barbarian is chosen primarily because Barbarian Rage will give us a bit of a boost, but also because the Barbarian will give us a little bit of a Health and Speed boost.
Alignment: True Neutral - Even though the character pretty much looks like an Evil Warlord, I actually went with the middle of the scale, in my mind it definitely imitated Death which isn't exactly picky in terms of morality. This does lock you out of some interesting items later in the game which are alignment locked so you can choose whatever floats your boat really.
To be honest, I simply had a massive amount of Feats at my disposal, when really there were only a limited number that I needed. Weapon Proficiency - Exotic was needed to unlock the Scythe as a usable weapon so it went first, along with Dodge and Expertise which are not only requirements for the Weapon Master but also useful defensive feats. For the next 5 or so levels, I picked up Mobility, Spring Attack, Weapon Focus - Scythe and Whirlwind Attack to unlock the Weapon Master class as quickly as possible. Though Whirlwind Attack is worth noting because of it's offensive ability to attack all enemies near you, resulting in a potentially devastating attack when a couple of critical hits line up.
After that, it was a bit of pick and choose. I didn't really need any others, except Ki Critical (Boosts Scythe from 4x crit to 5x crit damage) and Improved Critical (which just makes it easier to achieve a Critical Hit). Improved Reflexes, Iron Will, Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave and Improved Expertise all are good choices, but none are truly needed for the full build.
This can pretty much be summed up into three parts. Equipment, Skills and Combat.
Equipment really is up to each player, but Medium Armour is definitely the best choice, it lets us run a moderately high Dexterity (once boosted) without suffering consequences and is still strong enough to increase our AR.
Armour: Armour of Command (+ 3 AR Bonus, +2 Charisma and +5 Persuade, dyed black)
Head: Merkil's Helmet (Immunity Critical Hits, Cast Mind Blank on enemy)
Gauntlets: Gauntlets of Dexterity + 4 (Dexterity + 4)
Boots: Boots of Speed (Haste)
Jewelry: Ring of Protection + 6(+6 AR), Ironskin Ring (Resist Damage) and Amulet of Natural Armour + 6 (+6 AR)
Belt: Belt of Fire Giant Strength (+5 Strength)
The Weapon is a bit of an odd discussion. Several times throughout Chapter 2 of HotU, you'll be able to upgrade your weapon at a single merchant's Forge, there you can add various modifiers to your weapon and upgrade it to your hearts content. There's also an alter in the Cult Temple that adds a Drain Strength enchantment, so in the end the actual Scythe you choose doesn't matter that much.
I chose to use Tebimar's Scythe because it grants a bonus to Critical Damage (Only 1d8 though) another option would be Death's Handmaiden.
Regardless this is the final list of upgrades it should have by the end of Chapter 2. With Keen and improved Critical, you'll be dishing out a Critical Hit anytime you roll a 16-20, so a quarter of the time.
Fire Damage 2d6
+ 7 Bonus (Damage and Attack)
Keen
Drain Strength (DC: 22)
Either Massive Crticials or Vampiric Drain 4 depending on what Scythe you choose.
Skills are quite simple. Grab Discipline to avoid Knockdown, Lore to identify items and Intimidate. After that my next recommendations is probably Heal. Combat is also simple, generally we won't be buffing ourselves up or doing anything particularly fancy, just running into combat and dishing out quick attacks. If your ever surrounded, Whirlwind Attack can get a hit off on everyone, either dealing around 30 damage per strike or the 150+ of a Critical Hit, either way it'll get weaker enemies off your back while still dealing with stronger ones.
Undead and Constructs are the biggest problem, as both are immune to Critical Hits. In that case you'll pretty much just be inflicting damage on them in any way you can, which generally means hitting hard for 30's while your companions deal roughly the same (you do eat away fairly quickly for most)
The true story of the Reaper is far more boring than anyone puts it out to be. He was, a mere man, a slayer of many but still just a man. His only success in life was reaching further into the Underdark than any free man, for his journey ended as he fought his enemy, the Valsharess and actually killed her. But by doing so, he unleashed the demon she partially bound to her service, the great Mephistopheles, which we can only assume brought about the death of the Reaper, for he was never heard of again. But still, the tales of the Reaper survive down here, until the end of our days...whenever that may be.
