Other Nudists
by LemmingofGlory

Class: Anyone But Mages
Tag: N

Introduction

Naked Mages are quite well-known, but what about other nudists? Is a Naked Warrior viable? What about a Naked Rogue? Naked Barbarian? Naked Bard? Naked Monk??

Rule

Similar to the Naked Mage, you will use no items that you can equip. Well, not exactly. +To Hit% jewelry may be needed in higher difficulties, and reading glasses are the way to go for those interested in spellcraft.

Warrior Comments

Damage
Damage ramps up more-or-less comfortably. Critical hits are nice.
(STR x Clvl)/100 is your damage calculation.

Other Combat Factors
No blocking, no resistances. Pain will be all you know.

Spells
If you use reading glasses, you can get some decent spells. You'll still need to pump magic if you expect to get half-decent mana. Unfortunately, the opportunity cost is stun damage and/or your ability to hit.

To Hit
Maximum of 80%. Unless you use +To Hit jewelry, you won't be able to hit the broad side of a barn in later difficulties.

Viable?
In Normal, yes, though difficult. My Naked Warrior got his solo 1st dot at clvl 26. The dot run was about 4 hours, and that was with a highly favorable stair setup. He was also dual-classed as a Luminous Barbarian. So not only is Naked Warrior possible, but a No-Spells, +Light (from plain Ring of Radiance), Naked Warrior is quite viable as well.
For Nightmare and Hell, you will need +To Hit% jewelry in the deeper parts of the labyrinth.

Rogue Comments

Damage
It'll be a struggle. Dexterity is suggested over strength since you get the same increase from either stat, and Dex also helps your To Hit%.
( (STR+DEX) x Clvl)/200 is your damage calculation.

Other Combat Factors
No blocking, no resistance, low life.
Armor Class will be a tad better than a Warrior's in the early levels, especially if Dexterity is focused on. This is still negligible though.

Spells
Better potential than the Warrior, but reading glasses would still be required to get Teleport. Opportunity cost of damage and To Hit% for Magic is present, as with the warrior.

To Hit
The best of any Naked Character, and could potentially go without any +To Hit% jewelry.

Viable?
In Normal, yes, though it won't be easy. Her damage will stink. Emphasis on magic recommended.
For Nightmare and Hell, one-hit-kills are likely. Spells apt to play key role.

Monk Comments

Damage
Fantastic! His damage goes up smoothly, so he should have very little trouble except when starting off (1-1 starting damage). Like the Rogue, Dexterity is the recommended pump skill.
( (STR+DEX) x Clvl)/150 is his damage calculation. However, after finding this value you must modify it by adding Clvl/2 to the minimum and Clvl to the maximum. This gives you your total damage, and I think you will be quite pleased with it. (Note: If clvl is odd, you will end up with X.5 for the value, round up to get char screen value.)

Other Combat Factors
He can block, and *very* well! This is both a curse and a blessing. Blocking spells can be irritating when mobs are present, not to mention blocklock from physical combat.
No resistances and low life plague him.
Armor class will be excellent for early/mid normal difficulty.
His feet are HASTED! It's the fastest bare-handed attack IN THE GAME!

Spells
Slightly better spell-casting potential than the Rogue, and he might be able to get away with (i.e. suffer less from the opportunity cost of) neglecting his damage stats in order to pump magic a little. He'd still need reading glasses for Teleport, however.

To Hit
Good, but supplementing him with one or two +To Hit% jewels would help.

Viable?
In Normal, most definitely.
In NM and Hell, he'll be in for one-hit-kills. Like the Rogue, spells will be his greatest ally.

Barbarian Comments

Damage
Good damage, and he can do Critical Hits.
( (STR + VIT) x Clvl)/100 is his bare-handed & shieldless damage calculation. I'd recommend pumping Vitality over Strength since both give you the same amount of damage, but with Vit you get some hps in addition to damage.

Other Combat Factors
1% resistance per clvl will be helpful.
Higher than average maximum vitality (150) will be nice, especially since there's no opportunity cost for pumping it.
Rage skill will add some fun.

Spells
His ability here is almost nil. Max base magic is 0, and he doesn't get any mana for a clvl up. Even if he uses reading glasses he will be unable to cast any spells (save from Scrolls). Just be thankful a Town Portal scroll requires no magic to read. ;)

To Hit
Worst of any class. Maximum dex is 55, which translates 77% maximum To Hit%. Maxing Dex early and +To Hit% jewelry is highly recommended.

Viable?
In Normal, yes.
In Nightmare and Hell, you'll be a monster chew toy with hps better than the other nudists. You'll also have good damage, IF you can hit anything. Don't count on spells to save your ass, other than Town Portal scrolls.

Bard Comments

Damage
Terrible.
(STR x Clvl)/100 is her calculation. With a max str of only 120, that makes for really crappy damage.

Other Combat Factors
No resistances, no blocking, low life.

Spells
Best spell caster of this bunch (non-Naked Mage nudists). With a max magic of 120, she can learn any spell (except for Apocalypse) without the use of reading glasses. While her cast speed is slower than a Mage's, her spell power should be decent.

To Hit
Not bad. 120 dex gives her 110% max To Hit. She might not need +To Hit% jewelry if she uses Stone Curse.

Viable?
Rough start but doable. Spellcraft will be a major part of her life, else she becomes a monster chew toy that dreams of stunning something. Think of her as a neutered version of the Naked Mage. One major difference between the two would be her ability to be her own Golem. She, unlike the Naked Mage, can get semi-useful bare-handed damage.

Tips

Stun
Stun is very important. If you can't stun your enemy, the game will really sloth along - it becomes insanely slow-going. For this reason, Strength is very important to Warriors. (Barbarians can pump Vit for damage instead of Strength.) To Rogues and Monks, they can pump Dexterity and get not only a damage bonus but also a To Hit bonus, and the Monk gets better blocking. IMO, having stun damage is the most important thing to focus on.

I do not advise Bards or Sorcerers to take a direct melee route as nudists. Their damage ends up quite low, among other issues. Bard could use some melee, but I think she'd likely end up being mostly magic-based.

Rogues are capable of taking a melee path, but it will be very slow and painful. She really won't have much in the way of stun damage.

To Hit
As wise gamers have mentioned before, if you can't hit your enemy you're doing 0 damage to them. Rogues and Monks shouldn't have much trouble in this area, but Warriors and Barbarians may. Thus, for Warriors and Barbarians I'd recommend a very relaxed attitude toward dexterity until they can spare the points.

Melee To Hit Formula: 50 + (Dex/2) + Clvl + Bonus
(Bonus: Warrior's is 20. Everyone else's is 0.)

So a clvl 9 Warrior with maxed dex will have 50 + (60/2 = 30) + 9 + 20 = 109% To Hit. Nice To Hit!... right? Not when you see what kind of damage he's doing.

Recalling Warrior's damage formula, we see that he is only doing (30 x 9)/100 = 2.7 (rounded up) 3-3 damage!! That doesn't stun any monster in the game. At clvl 9 you're usually on at least dlvl 2 or 3, so let's see him vs a sample monster.

Devil Kin can appear on dlvl 2. Vs a Devil Kin, who can have up to 24 hps, that's 6 times he has to land a blow (ignoring regen). He doesn't stun the Devil Kin at all, even on a Critical Hit.

Next clvl he pumps Strength (35). Now he's doing - (35x10) / 100 = 3.5 (round up) - 4 damage. Well, now he can stun Fallens, Zombies, and Skeletons.

As you can see, going the extreme on To Hit isn't the answer. But what is?

Well, let's take a look at the nastiest enemies you'll meet in the different sections of the dungeon. In the late Church, you'll meet monsters (excluding bosses) with a maximum required stun damage of 11. (These are Goats, Bone Gnashers, and Horror Captains.) And their ACs range from 30 to 40.

The earliest a Warrior can achieve 11 damage (assuming he touches no shrines) is clvl 12, if he pumped Str only. That'd be (85x12)/100 = 10.2, which rounds up: 11. This would leave you with 50 + (20/2 = 10) + 12 (Clvl) + 20 (Bonus) = 92% To Hit. 92% - 40 = 52% To Hit vs Goats. Hmm, missing every other swing ain't great, but even if dexterity was maxed at this point you'd only have 112% To Hit. 112% - 40 = 72%. 20% difference, at the expense of stun damage.

A less extreme approach would be clvl 12, 65 Str (780/100 = 7.8, round up, 8 damage), and 40 Dex (82 + 40/2 = 102% To Hit - 40 = 62% Final To Hit vs Goat). You may find this a more appealing solution, despite the loss of stun damage. (I'd definitely recommend this route for Barbarians, since they don't get a +20 bonus to their to hit as Warriors do.)

By late Cats, your damage should get into the 19-24 range to be ready to stun Red Storms, Pit Beasts, and Toad Demons. In Hell, having 33 damage is ideal.

It's interesting to note that on an All-Str pump, a Warrior does 30 damage at clvl 22. So, possibly, you might rely on shrines to boost your dexterity, magic, and vitality and leave strength to level ups. At least until you can buy elixirs.

Magic
To the melee classes, only certain offensive spells will hold much interest. This is due to their low magic stat which determines whether or not their spells hit. Fire Wall and possibly Chain Lightning are good choices because they cause so many opportunities to do damage that some damage is bound to get through.

Holy Bolt is nice if your goal is to be able to kill Leoric early on, though your accuracy with HB will be less than ideal.

Vitality
This is a bit of an "iffy" statistic. It's useful mainly to Mages and Barbarians. To Barbarians because this statistic gives them damage in addition to hps. Mages because it allows them to avoid the MS bug. Monks and Rogues get 2 hps per level up, and only 1 hp per Vit point. Yuck. Bards might not need to pay as close attention to their life total as mages, since they get 2 hps per level up. (They more easily avoid the MS bug.)

Now, as for Warriors, I'd suggest leaving Vit for Quiet Shrines to pump. When you can buy elixirs, perhaps then you can invest in it more fully. But pumping it leads to lack of stun damage, and lack of To Hit. If you can spare the points, though... go for it. My Naked Warrior found the extra 50 hps from adding 25 points to Vit *very* helpful to him during his dot run.