Smaller parties

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I've just finished my second tour through IWD2 (funny that...when I first started playing IWD2 I wasn't all that keen - the rules and interface were strange after playing BG series and IWD 1 - yet as soon as I finished IWD2 I immediately started again. I guess it grows on you!)

Anyway, one thing that I found was with the 3rd ed rules, levelling is really fun, what with being able to pick feats and skills. The bummer is that you can only get up to level 16 with a party of six (at least, that's a far as I got in two games). Now in BG2 and IWD, I often go through with smaller parties and get to higher levels as a result, but of couse, there's the silly monster experience thing here where if you get too high level, you don't get experience for some critters.

So, is there any point (other than challenge) in trying to go through with, say, a party of 4, or even solo? And do I have to do this stupid level squatting thing?

 

You can try to play on HoF from a certain point to get more XP. There are cap extensions mods (at least, up to level 40) available here at Sorcerer's place. A solo character on HoF arrives quickly at level 20 but you should adapt your gamestyle in order to play efficiently at this difficulty setting.

Take care,
Yigor

 

There's also a mod which keeps on halving the XP gain you get for fighting monsters every 2 levels instead of setting it 0 once you are 8 levels higher than the CR.

 

A party of 4 would let you reach higher lvl in normal mode (maybe 2 lvls higher than with a party of 6).
The use of races with ECL-penalty lowers your party average lvl, which gets you more XP, so it's good to have one or two in your party that are of a ECL-penalty-race.
A party of 4 won't be much weaker than a party of 6 (some say even stronger because of the slightly higher lvl they have but I disagree).
Going solo is just for people that want a different (and more difficult) challenge. Some likes it but I think the party development is one of the more important things that makes IWD2 such a great game (and that too many other good games lack).

 

Has anyone ever tried this (without squatting/muling)? I suspect you'd only be a fraction of a level higher than the party of 6.

 

Yes, that's what I wanted to know.
I like having a party of 6 for the actual character variations, so just wanted to know if it was really worth it. I've done IWD with 4 and that worked well, but this is a rather different kettle of fish.