KOTOR: True Soldier Guide. Version 1.3 "You Underestimate The Power of The Dark Side" -Darth Vader How Right you are Vader. I Know Many of you proably have played as a Soldier or Guardian, but "You don't know the power of the Dark Side". The ultimate goal of this guide is for you to end up with a powerful, Lightsaber wielding, dark sided, Jedi Guardian, soldier. This is by no means a complete KOTOR guide. I am going to assume you have played through KOTOR before and are familiar enough with it that I can skip over many of the basics. Lastly, this document contains spoilers; do not read any further if the thought of accidentally reading a spoiler will cause you to become agitated and/or sad. Table of Contents 1. Character Stats 1.1 Strength 1.2 Dexterity 1.3 Constitution 1.4 Intelligence 1.5 Wisdom 1.6 Charisma 2. Starting Class 3. Skills 4. Feats 4.1 Armour Proficiency Heavy 4.2 Master Power Attack 4.3 Lightsaber Weapon Proficiency 4.4 Implants 5. Jedi Class 6. Force Alignment 7. Force Powers 7.1 Death Field 7.2 Kill 7.3 Force Storm 7.4 Force Wave 7.5 Plague 7.6 Dominate Mind 7.7 Adv. Lightsaber Throw 7.8 Force Imunity 7.9Destroy Droid 8. Allies 8.1 Jolee Bindo 8.2 Juhanni 8.3 Bastilla 8.4 Mission 8.5 Zalbaar 8.6 HK-47 8.7 Canderous 8.8 Others 9. Leveling 10. Equipment 10.1 Implants 10.2 Headgear 10.3 Left Arm 10.4 Left Hand 10.5 Body 10.6 Right Arm 10.7 Right Hand 10.8 Belt 11. Final Results/Thoughts 12. Authorized FAQ Holders. 13. Thanks 1. Character Stats As we all know, stats can make or break a character. Knowing what the various stats do, and where to place your stat points are of paramount importance. Please read the following carefully. 1.1 Strength. Strength adds to your to-hit and melee weapon damage. This is the 'money' stat, since we are usingsabers, we can not ignore this stat. Take it to 18. 1.2 Dexterity. Dexterity adds to your to-hit and ranged weapon damage, as well as adding to your defense rating. I recommend 10 points for starting. 1.3 Constitution. This stat determines how many hit points your character receives per level. I recommend 10 points as a base for this stat. There's no reason to incur a negative penalty in this stat by placing it at 8; by the same token any more than 10 can be considered overkill for normal difficulty. With all of the enhancements your character will receive from items and force powers, I find that your ending HP is quite sufficient with this amount of stat points. 1.4 Intelligence. Widely regarded as a waste of stat points. Intelligence raises the amount of skill points you receive. Since all skill points are relatively useless, we will leave this at a base of 10, as to not incur a negative penalty. 1.5 Wisdom. Wisdom raises the amount of force points you receive as well as determines how effective you are at using and resisting force powers. This is the other 'money' stat for this build. We need to be able to effectively use our force powers on the enemy without them being resisted as well have the ability to avoid the enemies force powers. Think of wisdom as force dexterity. I recommend putting 11 points into this stat. Combined with items, you should be able to resist most of the dark Jedis' attempts to strike you down with force powers, while dealing out a beating yourself. 1.6 Charisma. Charisma determines how amiable you are; how well you interact with others. The higher your charisma, the better you'll be at being able to persuade. There are plenty of persuade options in the game, none of which are truly critical. In addition to being correlated with your persuasion skills, charisma also adds to the amount of force points your character will have; and to a lesser extent, the power in which you use the force. Charisma does not have as profound an effect on your force abilities as wisdom, but the effects are evident, nonetheless. For example; the more points you put into charisma, the more force points you'll have available to you for casting force abilities. In addition, the power in which you use those abilities, will be greater than if your charisma was lower. I recommend putting 13 points into this stat initially, and boosting it with various equipment throughout the game. Note: if you plan on having your character only use the treat injury skill (described below in greater detail; section 3), you could drop your intelligence to 8; then using those skill points in charisma, boosting it to 12. If dexterity or wisdom is more of a concern to you, you could also use those two points to raise them a point, to 17. My starting stats looked like this: STR: 18 DEX: 10 CON: 10 INT: 10 WIS: 11 CHA: 13 Every subsequent stat point you receive should go into getting both your strength, dexterity and wisdom to 20. Because of all the +dexterity equipment you can getthroughout the game, I recommend getting your wisdom up to 20 before your dexterity. 2. Starting Class As you've read, we will be choosing the Soldieras our non-Jedi class. Why choose the Soldier class? More Vitality, good reader, more vitality . 3. Skills As a Soldier, we get more skills than the other classes. Fortunately, many of these skills are worth while. I recommend that you max Treat Injury at every level. The higher your proficiency in treat injury, the more health you'll gain from medical packs. With your leftover points, you should do one of two things. Add the points to Persuade, which if you get high enough, could allow you to put your charisma stat down to 8. With those two extra points you've saved, you could then move the points into something more useful, like wisdom, dexterity, or constitution. You could also, add the points into Repair. The main reason for doing so is that you may be able to unlock the functions of HK-47 when you purchase him. Make the choice after determining if you're going to use HK-47 as one of your main NPC allies or not. All other skills can be performed masterfully by your allies. 4. Feats As a Soldier, we get the Most feats of the bunch, but we have to make them count. I will list the feats you should consider getting, in order of importance, highest to lowest. 4.1 Armor Proficincy Heavy Maxing This skill will greatly benifit your charecter, it allows you to where Heavy Armor .A must have for this build. 4.2 Master Power Attack A truly powerfull attack hence it's name, this attack allow the soldier to jump in the air and land with a damage dealing attack on your enemies. 4.3 Lighsaber Weapon Proficincy You need level one to use Lighsaber, but when you 'Jedi' you automaticly reciev this feat. At the maximum level, this feat adds +1 to your to-hit and a +2 on top of your damage dealt. 4.4 Implants. Depending on the level invested, will allow you to use level 1, 2, or 3 implants; which in turn can grant bonuses such as mind-immunity and +dexterity. 5. Jedi Class The Jedi Guardian will be our class of choice for two reasons. The first reason is that we get more Level-up points as we progress, compared to the other Jedi classes. The second reason is that we obtain Force Jump. At master level, force jump gives us a +9 bonus in dealing powerfull Attacks. 6. Force Alignment I have only gone through this build as a master dark-sided Jedi, and I believe this is the best alignment for this build. I'm positive that it can be done as light-sided, but the force powers that accompany a dark-sided Jedi are much more aesthetically pleasing to this build. After all, we're supposed to be a Saber wielding Soldier that hacks his way out of a fight, not a light guardian who prefers to use the force to do his dirty work. I suppose one could remain neutral in alignment, but I don't honestly believe that there are any light-sided powers to use that warrant the penalty of being aligned as neutral. The choice is yours, but I will only out line light-side force powers in the next section. 7. Force Powers As a dark-sided force user, you will use these powers to enhance your killing and defending abilities . I will list the more optionalforce powers toward the bottom. As always, it is your preference as to which ones you'd like to get. 7.1 Death Field Truley Dark, this power tears life from surrounding enimies and heals the Jedi by the highest damage suffered. Does not effect droids. 7.2 Kill A vile use of the Force. The Target must succeed at a Fortitude save or simply choke and Die. Does not effect droids. 7.3 Force Storm. An electrical attack on all enemies near the target, inflicting level-based damage to both vitality and Force piont totals. Not useable with armor. 7.4 Force Wave The Force pulses from the Jedi . Nearby enemies are thrown back and knocked down, suffering damage modified by the Jedi's level. May also stun target *Any spell I list below here, you should consider optional in maxing, or getting altogether. 7.5 Plague. Horribly deibiltating, this power slows the target and inflicts attribute penalties that get worse over time. 7.6 Dominate Mind. Putting a point into this skill opens up a new dialog option; force persuade. Get this skill if your persuasion is low, be careful as many of the persuade options are inherently dark-sided in nature. Try to avoid using this on any of your allies, as they'll usually know when you're using the power on them. As a dark-side user, you should force peopleagainst their will. 7.7 Adv. Lightsaber Throw Using the Force, the Jedi guided the lightsaber to the target and back. Attacks all enemies within 5 meters of the first target. A successful attack confers level based damage. 7.8 Force Imunity. This power has it's downside and it's up side. The up is that this power Resits ALL enemy Force Powers. The down is that it only works for 1 minute. 7.9 Destroy Droid. Not only will this force power deal damage to a droid(s), it will stun them for a period of time as well. At master level, this power turns enemy droids into free experience. Normally, I allocate this power to one of my Jedi allies; Jolee can easily get this to master level. 8. Allies I won't explicitly tell you who to use in this section, but rather gloss over the party members, who I feel, benefit you the most during your journey. Remember that you are a ranged attacker that benefits from stunned or pre-occupied opponents. Jedi party members can fill both roles, but certain non-Jedi members bring some other, much welcomed, benefits to the party. 8.1 Jolee Bindo. Jolee is a neutrally-aligned Jedi counselor. He is helpful in many regards. If you fail to stun one or two opponents Jolee can chime in with a stasis field of his own. When you encounter mini-bosses, Jolee can use Force Kill on individual targets or Force Lightning on groups of targets; making your life much easier. If you're tied up in battle, or simply don't have the force reserves, he can cast force heal or force valor in a pinch. Let's not also forget that this game has many, hard-to-kill droids. Have Jolee get Destroy Droid, and you can cake-walk past their broken hulls. 8.2 Juhanni. Juhanni is a light-sided Jedi guardian. As a guardian, Juhanni should be used as a melee combatant, engaging opponents while you work your game. Give her force speed and force healing, and she can be force to be reckoned with. 8.3 Bastilla. As a light-sided Jedi, you will have to battle Bastilla on both the unnamed world, and the star forge. For these reasons, I recommend developing her as little as possible. It doesn't hurt to do her side-quest or romantic story, but the star forge battle may take longer than if you hadn't. Make sure you strip her of all equipment before you run into Malak on the Leviathan. 8.4 Mission. Mission is a non-Jedi scoundrel. At first glance, Mission doesn't seem like a very competent combatant. She is, however, quite the opposite. Mission shines for one reason and one reason only; sneak attack. Unlike your character, Mission's sneak attack ability can increase to level 9, which can deal massive damage on top of her attacks. You can equip her in a plethora of attack options such as a melee combatant, rifle user, or blaster pistol user. There are many good melee weapons in the game, and some can come close to being as powerful as finely crafted light-sabers. Have Mission use a double bladed weapon with flurry on stunned opponents, and she will probably kill faster than even you. The downside to Mission as a melee combatant is that she has a low hit point pool. Boost her constitution with equipment, implants, and force valor to keep her going. 8.5 Zalbaar. You can't assume that because someone is a Wookie that they should use a crossbow. One look at Zalbaar's stats and you should be able to tell that he is befitting a melee warrior. Equip him with some of the great double bladed weapons throughout the game and use him as a high hit point tank. Raise his already high strength to do some extra damage, or raise his constitution to help him live longer. Make sure you get him the level 3 implant feat since he cannot equip armor or headgear. Because of his high hit point pool, make sure you put all of his skill points into treat injury; otherwise you'll be using a lot of force heal and medical kits to get him back to full health. 8.6 HK-47. If you've taken the time, and invested the points to repair HK-47's latent abilities, he can become a very helpful ally. A good heavy blaster, and flame thrower will serve him well. He has a high hit point pool, but can only be healed by using repair parts. He is also very expensive to upgrade. If you wish to use HK, brush up on your Pazaak skills to get some easy money. 8.7 Carth, T3, Canderous Ordo. I will skip these teammates because I feel the other allies listed above do their job better. Mission wields pistols better than Carth. T3 is the weakest combat character. HK-47, Mission, and Zalbaar can all competently replace Canderous in battle, as well. 9. Leveling There are many viable options as to how you level up your character. Do you save a majority of your levels until you become a Jedi, or do you level up as a scoundrel before becoming a Jedi? There is no definitive right or wrong answer. If you save your levels until you become a Jedi, you will have more force powers to use, or you can level as much as possible as a Soldier. If you're into making your character streamlined toward one end of the spectrum or the other, by all means, go for one of the above strategies. For a more balanced approach, I reccomend getting to a level 5 or 7 Soldier The damage doesn't increase much between level 3 and 4 , but you can still get all of your core force powers, including extras, as a level 7 Soldier. 10. Equipment There are various FAQ's touching on the equipment throughout KOTOR. Feel free to use them in scouting out the equipment you'd like for you and your allies. I will list, briefly, in this section what my final character was wearing. The equipment you use can be open to so much debate, that to think that any one setup is the definitive, would be silly. I was under much duress as to which equipment I used; I hope you take as much consideration. 10.1 Implant. I mainly used +dexterity implants throughout the game. At endgame, my character was using the Advanced Alacrity, level 3 implant. Dexterity +5. 10.2 Headgear. I can't think of a better headpiece to wear than the Band of Naga Sadow . It grants a +5 to wisdom. If you use this headgear, you could leave your wisdom at 19; the +5 from the helmet will put your end statistic at 24, for the extra +2 bonus. 10.3 Left Arm. I used various shields throughout the game on both arms. Use them before engaging Sith, droids or Mandalorians to absorb the blaster damage. 10.4 Left Hand. My offhand. Believe it or not, I was still using a fully upgraded Vibro-Poison Bladeup to the last battle. This Blade deals amoderate 5-10 damage, but also sports a +3 to attack modifier. 10.5 Body. Before you become a Jedi, make use of the various light armors you find on Taris that don't give big penalties to dexterity. I recommend not investing in medium or heavy armors as you will be unable to cast various force powers later in the game when you are wearing them. I could not find a better robe than a simple Jedi Master Robe. My defense ended up at 33. You can, however, find better robes. Qel-Droma's Robe is a light-side only robe that is found on Korriban. The Star Forge/Darth Revan robe would also be a good choice if you can manage to get them. 10.6 Right Arm. Once again, I used mainly shields throughout the game. If you're knee deep in action, you may consider using Brejik's Arm Band and Belt to suppress melee damage. This is a good setup for dueling on Taris. 10.7 Right Hand. Take note that you should be using your highest damage Saber in your main hand. The best Crystal in the game is the Mantel of the Force. It does a huge 7-20 damage. You will, of course, pay dearly for a crystal this good, but to use anything less would be criminal. This item can be bought on Yavin. 10.8 Belt. I found a nifty little belt in my journeys, the Adrenaline Stimulator. This belt boosts your dexterity +2 and adds a +4 to all saves. 11. Final Analysis Let's quickly recap what you should have accomplished through reading this guide. You are Hard to Kill Soldier , who can use THE Powerfull Attack, you wear only a robe, yet your defense is very high; your saving throws are unparalleled. You're also a dark-sided Jedi Guardian who casts Force powers to kill his/her enemies. The only good compliment to a Saber by your side is a stunned opponent in front of you; Kill is the basis of all your attacks. 12. Authorized FAQ Holders. gamefaqs.com neoseeker.com 13. Thanks Above all else, I hope you have fun experimenting, and tinkering with this build. I also hope that some of you may be influenced to write some 'not-so-run-of-the-mill' build order guides in the future. All feedback and correction information can be sent to the following email address: greyfox259@yahoo.com Thanks for reading, -Age of Knights (10/19/05) This work is copyrighted. Any who copy it will be prosicuted o the full extent of the law All statistics and information were derived from the PC version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic; published by Lucas Arts, developed by BioWare. V 1.0. Everything's new. v 1.2. Fixed copyright info, and added list of authorized FAQ holders. v 1.3 Fixed starting stats