Suppose I were to play the game and want to make my character extremely powerful in combat. What build would you suggest?

Goals:
* Be as powerful as possible in the long run.
* Reach that level of power as fast as possible.

Non-goals:
* Seeing the dialogue the game has to offer.
* Actually completing the game. (Of course, this character should be able to kill the final boss in combat, but that's not the point of this topic.)
* Doing every quest in the game.

So, what build would you suggest for this sort of play style? (I know this isn't how most people will likely play this game, but I am curious about what would work if I were to do so?)

(Note that, even if there is an exploit that trivializes all combat past a certain point, assume that I still want more power on top of that.)

I never tried to be a "Battering Ram". Especially in PST.

Planescape is a book. A *Very* large book.

To earn more exp from dialogues and other interactions. Pick wisdom.
http://torment.wikia.com/wiki/Wisdom

https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/187975-planescape-torment/59772326?page=1

Hope this helps
gogwitcher300

I wouldn't call it a 'build', because it's just a way that I prefer to play as TNO, but I noticed that he got quite powerful and could handle e.g. the greater shadows all by himself. It's not very detailed, because it's been some time since I last played the game. Anyway, here are the stats that I like to begin with:
STR - 15
INT - 16
WIS - 17
the rest - 9

This may look a bit odd, but I pretty much always have TNO mainly as a fighter, but have the other 2 classes unlocked, for the sake of completion (also having mage class enables to use a nice trick, when having Dak'kon in the party - switch the class to mage -> cast friends -> switch to fighter -> now you have a fighter with high charisma, if needed. That's why I can postpone spending the points on levelup on charisma).

TNO will not be very strong at first, because even though he has nice STR, he can die very easily, so you need to rely on Morte tanking at first. High WIS and INT are obviously for unlocking the conversation and memories options and I will try to raise these as quickly as possible to 21 each then followed by charisma.

There are exceptions to be aware of related to the bonuses that TNO gets for getting level 7 and 12 for fighter class - they will give +1 STR (max weapon proficiency up to 4) and +1 STR, +1 CON, +3 HP (max weapon proficiency up to 5) respectively. It is crucial for this 'build' to have 18 STR before getting one of these bonuses, because raising STR on level up (and character creation) will cost 5 points total to get to STR 19 (18 -> 18/25 -> 18/50 and so on), whereas the bonus on level 7/12 will get STR straight from 18 to 19, which is huge. Such strength makes TNO really good in fights.

After getting high WIS, INT and CHA I will then continue to raise STR followed by CON and DEX as last, because high strength is enough to let TNO to become a killing machine. It is important to spend weapon proficiency points and these require a teacher (Porphiron in the Hive and Korur in the Lower Ward) and getting some nifty bonuses from other characters.

The rest is pretty much choosing the type of weapon and having in mind that being Lawful Good enables to wield Celestial Fire.

Obviously level 7 and 12 have to be reached as fighter first for the extra attack power you get with grandmastery.

Maxing wisdom is the obvious choice because of the XP bonus which lets you level up faster, con is the second stat to max since regeneration speed and hitpoints will let you feel invincible in combat.

I just replayed the game so it's still fresh, anyway >

Starting stats Wis18, Con18, Int 12

By doing everything in the mortuary you level up to level 4, pick +1 Int.

Dismantle the 4 guarding skeletons in the main hall on the first floor, (important, you get the shield spell from this, -7AC for TNO, best buff in the game).

After exiting the mortuary, go to the Smoldering Corpse Bar, get Wis +1 by talking to O, get Dakkon, have Dakkon learn the shield spell.

Go to Alley of Dangerous Angles, join the temple of Aoskar, get mazed by Lady of Pain, get the hammer from the maze.

Do quests for Mebbeth, become mage, sell useless stuff including the hammer (you'll get 4k+ gold from this overall).

Buy friends spell, learn friends spell, go to Fells tattoo Parlor, cast friends for Char 25, buy these tattoos> 2x Int+1, 1x Wis+2, 1x Con+2, 1x Con+1

The idea is, that you'll be running Wis+2 the whole time, and you fill up the other two slots with Int tattoos during peace times and Con tattoos during war times

All of this if you know what your doing will take you about 30 minutes. You'll have 16 Int on level 6, which is enough for 95% of Sigil, high Wis, high Charisma with Friends.

You need 18 Int for Dakkon's circle of Zerthimon and 17 Int for Xachariah, 18 for games with Dolora in the brothel, so you have to use cranium rat charms there.
You need 16 Char for Stale Mary's Silent King route and 17 Char for Ravel so you have to use friends spell there.

After you join the dustmen, you want to buy the Greater embalming scrolls, and learn them, Dakkon definitely, maybe even Ignus.

Point Allocation on level ups> 5(+1 Con), 6(+1 Int), 7(+1Con), 8,9,10,11,12,13 (+6 Str)

At level 12, before Ravel (you have to grind a little bit, but you want to have 12 before Ravel for tattoos) you should have 25 Con (18 start, +2 from level ups, +2 Tears of Salieri Deu, +1 for fighter double specialization. +2 for Con tattoo)
16 Str unbuffed (9 start, +2 from fighter specialization, +5 from level ups) and 23 Str buffed (you use Dakkon's Power of One to buff to 20 Str, and +3 from tattoo of supreme warrior - technically, you can +1 more from the Dread bond, but you probably want to keep that slot vacant for the intestines you get from Ravel)

AC (10 start, -7 shield, -2 cursed ring, -2 Displacement ring, -2 Stinger Earing, -2 punch daggers, -2 greater embalming spell, -3 supreme warrrior tat, potentially -2 from greater warding tat) - total AC -10 (or -12 with greater warding)

Overall a monster on level 12 with 3 attacks per round, 3 and 1/2 on level 13, can do 95% dialog options and 100% important dialog options (the ones that you do not do are the useless flavor things such as twisting necks of dusties, or getting better charisma rewards from berks).

Later on, increase Strength to 18, bump over to 19 with Vhailor's upgrade, equip the intestines from Ravel, the ring from Moridor's box Monster etc...

One final note, you can have Str 19 quite early on, for example with Str 12, cast Power of One to get Str 18, and then equip the Dread Bond to bump over to 19. Also when you get to Str 16 and you want to get to 20 with Power of One, it's more effective to do that as a thief or mage, than a fighter. The rationale for that is - Power of One disregards the partial points between 18 and 19 (if you're thief of mage). Fighter with 16 Str needs to roll 9 on Power of one to get to 20 Str, Mage with 16 Str needs to roll just 4 to get to 20 Str (mage needs 3 or 4 on 1d4, fighter needs 8 on 1d8).