Neeshka



Neeshka (female true neutral tiefling rogue) is a joinable NPC in Neverwinter Nights 2.

"'Tiny horns and spotted skin mark this woman as a tiefling, a half human with the blood of devils or demons. Lithe and liquid in her actions, Neeshka moves with a cat’s grace even when walking a brisk pace, her footsteps are nearly silent. Given to outburst of words and actions, her impulsive nature is as visible as her otherworldly heritage.'"

Gameplay
Neeshka's stats are acceptable (Str 12, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 12, at Level 3, Pointbuy 30), and her Tiefling ECL hardly matters at all.

Neeshka is the only Rogue available as a permanent party member, and therefore hardly avoidable for non-rogue PCs. While the Knock spell gets many chests open, you will still loose part of its content if the chest is trapped and therefore destroys itself when you access it.

Stats: You should definitely maximize her Dex, so Neeshka, using Weapon Finesse, gets the highest attack bonus possible, and can fully learn Two-Weapon Fighting. Her Int is more than high enough once you learn the importance of the different skills.

Feats: Neeshka already has Weapon Finesse, and is absolutely made for Two-Weapon Fighting, and later Improved Two-Weapon Fighting and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting. This will double her attacks, meaning also doubling the potential number of Sneak Attacks for very high damage output.

You might also give her Improved Critical and later maybe also Weapon Focus in a light weapon that you will exclusively use from then on.

Another obvious choice is Toughness to raise her low hitpoints a bit.

Her extra rogue feats should of course include Slippery Mind, to help a bit with Neeshka's low Will saves.

Other than that, a Skill Focus into Disable Device, or the Nimble Fingers feat, are considerable, as the DC for extracting traps is often very high. A Headband of Intellect and Grobnars Inspire Competence can be a huge help with that, especially if you teach Grobnar the Greater Heroism spell as well, or give it, or at least the lesser version Heroism, to your party wizard or sorcerer.

Skills: Rogues are about skills, so knowing them well will help you with Neeshka a lot. You will want to have her Disable Device maximized at all times. Many of the other skills can be kept at lower values. Avoid all social skills as they don't matter on anyone but your main character. It is no problem to give Neeshka Craft Alchemy or Lore as well, or even Craft Trap if you want that one, when you know enough about skills.

As Neeshka will usually move around the battle field very much, Tumble for avoiding attacks of opportunity is essential. The DC for Tumble is always 15, therefore values above 12 + 4 (Dex) - 2 (max light Armor penalty, for Chainshirt) = 14 are not neccessary; you can find a pair of Boots to help you with Tumble in the early game.

It is enough to raise only Listen and not also Spot because opponents will seldom stay put at one place. For her own sneaking, there will be enough items that you don't need to maximize her Move Silently and Hide skills.

Equipment: Very important for Neeshka is equipment that protects her against Enchantments, as she has very bad Will saves. The Armor of Loyalty you get in the earlier game works wonder on her for that. Alternatively, you can keep her under the effects of the cheap and longlasting Protection from Evil spell all the time.

Anything better than Leather Armor gives Neeshka an Armor Check Penalty that, as a specialized skill user, effects a lot of her abilities. You should try to craft her a Belt of Agility when you have the resources for it. Together with Bracers of Armor, Neeshka can reach AC 28 (Dex 30 = 22 natural, +8 from Belt, for AC 20, plus +8 AC from Bracers) without any Deflection or Natural Armor bonus yet. Sadly there seems to be no AC 0 armor in the game to make use of her armor slot.

Neeshka should get a rapier in the main hand and, once you have given her Two-Weapon Fighting, a light weapon (such as a short sword) in the offhand. If you have given her Improved Critical in some light weapon, she should of course wield one of those in both hands.

Battle: Like with any DnD Rogue, try to get her not attacked, because she is low on hitpoints. With high enough tumble skill, she can run away from attackers and cause AoO's from her allies when she runs close by to them, which very likely causes the attackers to let her be. Move her at the backside of opponents to turn her from a weakling to a deadly killer. The later can of course be skipped for undead and other opponents which are immune to Sneak Attacks anyway.

Official Campaign
The PC first encounters Neeshka on his/her way to Fort Locke where she is being harassed by soldiers because of her obvious demonic heritage. The PC decides to help her out and decides that it'll be safer for her to travel with PC given the prejudices many locals have towards tieflings, despite Khelgar's charging about letting a "no good backstabbing tiefling" travel with them. Despite Khelgar's initial distrust of Neeshka, they become rather close, often bickering like brother and sister. Neeshka was abandoned as a baby and was raised by the Priests of Helm who were trying to convert her. Even so, Neeshka always managed to get herself in to trouble and decided to leave the priests after a particularly moving sermon, but not before stealing all their silverware. She shows some dislike towards other female members of the party, especially Elanee and Shandra, whom she often competes with for the PC’s attention.

Upon arriving in Neverwinter, she is greeted by old friends who are out to collect the bounty on her head set by her former partner Leldon. Leldon still held a grudge towards Neeshka for robbing him blind, but only because she was betrayed by Leldon after their last heist together over a year ago (which is the reason why she left Neverwinter in the first place). After a few more ambushes by Leldon’s thugs, Neeshka convinces the PC to take the fight to Leldon. She suggested that they could get even by stealing his lucky coin, which later turns out to be Neeshka's lucky coin which was stolen from her when Leldon betrayed her. After beating Leldon, who escapes via smoke potions, he later issues a challenge to Neeshka for the title of Greatest Theif in Neverwinter. The challenge was to see who could rob a famous art collector, called simply as The Collector, first. Upon breaking into the vault, she is confronted by Leldon who is killed by Neeshka and the PC, and thus settling the issue on who is the Greatest Thief in Neverwinter.

At the end of the quest, Neeshka is forcibly taken by Black Garius and tortured, trying to turn her against the PC by using some sort of binding ritual that was effective because of her devil blood. Depending on the PC's influence with Neeshka, she either breaks free from the spell and rejoins the PC, or her will is broken and she sides with Garius. If she sides with Black Garius, she is killed by the PC along with Garius. If she breaks the spell and rejoins the PC, she goes missing with the PC and her companions upon defeating the King of Shadows.

Lineage
There is much debate and speculation when it comes to Neeshka's heritage. It is known that Neeshka is only one quarter fiend, and that it was her grandfather that was the pure blooded fiend that started her family. A lot of subtle hints have been dropped within the plot which indicates she may be descended from a very powerful lineage. One of the reasons why Garius' binding was effective on her, even if her blood was diluted, was because of the strong lineage she descended from. Upon entering Ammon Jerro's Haven, many of the demons and devils bound there remarks of her unique heritage. One of them points out that she has Baatezu (devils, lawful evil fiends) scent about her. One of them also points out that a relative of hers may also be trapped within the haven, "perhaps a long lost father". Of all the fiends the PC encounters throughout the quest only Mephasm, a pitfiend/devil in disguise, seems to show any special interest in her and refers to her as "little Neeshka". For some reason Neeshka seems to get an allergic reaction whenever Mephasm is near, much like the reaction she gets when she stands too close to Casavir (because of his holy aura). It has been confirmed that Mephasm does have a role in Neeshka's creation, but what that role is has not yet been revealed.

Deleted Content

 * Aside from Bennon and Tremmel, Neeshka was supposed to have a third encounter with another of Leldon's thugs named Raines, who is rather psychotic. He mentions wanting to cut Neeshka's tail off and strangling her with it.  This was removed from the final release of the game however.
 * Neeshka was originally suppose to be a romance option for male NPCs but was removed due to time constraints.

Tidbits

 * Although her character sheet shows her as true neutral, Neeshka behaves like the very archetype of a chaotic neutral character.
 * During the Rite of Tyr, if the PC is male and has higher influence with her than Elanee, Neeshka will offer to sabotage Lorne’s equipments with potions she swiped from Sand’s shop.