Question about Lucky Day prodigy and Duck and Dodge

[berenbelagund]

So I'm a halfling rogue focusing on stealth, poison, and throwing knives, according to this build:
http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=50716

I've hit level 25 and I'd like to choose Lucky Day, despite the fact that it is generally seen as weak. First because it does up my critical hit chance +12%, which is good for the build.

But second because the +40 Luck helps with the halfling's Duck and Dodge ability. If I get +5 Luck as a halfling, and +9 Luck with an amulet, then with Lucky Day my Luck is at least 54. So that adds 54*0.5 or 27 to my Defense through Duck and Dodge. Defense is already at 57, so now it's 84, which is a pretty good percentage.

Am I correct here? And, do characters start with 0 Luck to begin with, or with 50 Luck?

(I'd like to pick Mystical Cunning for this character, but there's no way I'm getting Magic to 50.)

Thanks!

[Just a dood]

The crit chance will not help you. The whole point of permastealth is that all of your hits automatically crit. You will need mystical cunning for your poisons to be effective on everything, so that should be your first choice. After that, armor of shadows would probably be preferable to lucky day for your second choice.
Edit: I guess for mystical cunning, it can be hard to find enough magic gear at first depending on difficulty, but you don't have to pick at 25. You can wait till you find enough magic on gear to pick your prodigy.

[berenbelagund]

Yeah, you’re right. I’m basically critting on everything with this build. But I don’t know how quickly I can get Magic equipment to qualify for Mystical Cunning.

Any thoughts (from you or anyone else) on how +40 Luck affects Duck and Dodge for a halfling? Am I right that it’s pretty significant, particularly if it can get my defense up to 100%?

[Just a dood]

I don't think it would be very significant. If you want to go with the defense stacking route, ethereal form would be preferable (another magic prodigy i know, but you still have plenty of game left to collect magic gear). The small synergy lucky day has with halfling is just not worth a prodigy point when armor of shadows and ethereal form would be much better choices. If you have access to the fortress and enough con gear, maybe take armor of shadows first if you really can't find enough magic gear. And about reaching 100% defense, that's not how that works. defense, accuracy, phys/mental/spell power and saves are about having a higher value than your opponent, and they all have diminishing returns the more you stack them.

[berenbelagund]

OK, I've read up on game mechanics, attack vs. defense, and rescaling stats, and everything you say makes sense. I was misled by something someone said on the Steam forums in defense of Lucky Day for halflings.

I'll try to persevere in getting Magic equipment to qualify for Mystical Cunning, though it will be hard. Currently I could raise it to 28 through equipment, but I do have a few thousand gold pieces, so I suppose I could wastefully spend that in shops on equipment I'd only wear once, thus making for a pretty expensive prodigy!

Eye of the Tiger is also attractive to me because I crit all the time and a lot of low-cooldown techniques and cunning talents could be refreshed by that, but yes, Mystical Cunning is better for this character.