Evaluate my party 2017 (normal mode only)

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I've just bought the EE and plan to play it through normal mode only. I got partway through the original version a few years ago, but don't know much about the game. I've decided to play on Hard mode (+50% more monster damage), but without the bonus xp for Hard mode.

Here's the party I have so far; I believe it's well-rounded enough to beat the game, but I'd like comments on how it could be improved. Especially which weapon proficiencies are not likely to work out well, or which ones I am missing out on.

I'd also like to know if I am going to miss out on any quests and dialogue based on my mental stats and alignments chosen.

1. LG Human Paladin (Cavalier). Stats 18/(92)/18/18/3/13/18. Two-handed sword++, Two-handed weapon style++
2. NG Human Berserker. Stats 18/(97)/18/18/10/18/3. Flail/Morning Star++, Two-weapon style++. I plan to Grandmaster my weapon then dual to cleric at XL 9
3. CN Half-Orc Fighter/Cleric. Stats 19/18/19/11/18/3. Mace++, Two-weapon style++
4. CG Half-Elf Ranger (Archer). Stats 18(63)/18/18/10/14/10. Favored enemy Cadaverous Undead. Halberd+, Two-handed weapon style+, Longbow++. I plan to grandmaster Longbows.
5. LN Half-Elf Sorcerer(DD). Stats 18/18/18/10/5/16. Sling+. Spells known: Chromatic Orb and Spook.
6. TN Half-Elf Fighter/Mage/Thief. Stats 18(98)/18/18/18/11/5. Dagger++, Crossbow++. Thinking that throwing two daggers per round with high strength could be good.

Thanks!

 

After completing the Vale, I modified the party with EE keeper:
Paladin: swapped skills to support dual long swords.
Sorc --> Half-Elf C/F/M (gave her the spells known from the F/M/T). Using slings
F/M/T --> Half-Orc F/T. Using thrown daggers for now, eventually crossbows.

Yeah, I'm sure in the long run the single class Sorcerer would have been awesome, but in the long run the game is over. I want a character who can contribute before the long run. Now every character has warrior THAC0, warrior bonus attack rate, and at least two dots of proficiency. And every character will have something useful to do in addition to weapon combat:
1. paladin abilities, paladin spells, and eventually holy avenger abilities. Possibly the weakest character
2. cleric casting
3. cleric casting
4. ranger casting. Besides which, archer looks like it will be pouring out devastating amounts of damage without even having to move into melee range
5. cleric AND mage casting
6. thief abilities

 

Personally I am not a huge fan of archery in IWD. It is very ammo intensive what with the many enemies in the game. The damage on archery on the whole just does not give it enough punch in the late game for me though with the class bonuses an archer ranger might be ok but I have not used it yet.

Personally i use all multiclassed characters in my game but what you have will work.

Two handed sword is not that great in IWD and I would recommend longsword for a paladin. Also I would give the paladin axe prof starting at one point to allow throwing axes.

Throwing daggers do not apply str bonus as I recall (at least they did not in BG). If you want to apply high str then you need to use axes. Also magic throwing daggers are very rare so keep that in mind.

While I do like cleric spells and will never say no to more I do think you have a lot of cleric and are missing out on other spells. I would say that if you can you may want to look at druid. Druid spells rock in IWD and a fighter druid is awesome and potentially the best tank in the game with the right items and water elemental form (or iron skins since this is EE).


What you have will work though so if you like what you have you can keep it. I am just giving you some answers to your questions you listed.

 

Thanks. I've played as far as Dragon's Eye and messed around with cheats and EE Keeper, so I can address some of your points:

- They sell bottomless quivers for bow, sling, and crossbow in the first village. In the first HOW village you can buy a +1 copy of each of those.
- Multiclassing is clearly powerful, but you miss out on all kits and on certain classes, specifically sorcerer and paladin.
- Yeah, I ended up editing his proficiency to long sword. I have found a nice +2 throwing axe so I may give it to him.
- In the EE, throwing daggers give STR bonus to damage. They attack twice a round, like bows, but with exceptional strength, like your basic 19 str half-orc, you do far more damage than bows. On paper they should be amazing, and they are nice so far.
- Unfortunately, there are a couple problems with throwing daggers: No dagger quivers, so you have to fill up inventory constantly. There is only one magic throwing dagger, near the end of the game, and although it is +4, it somehow only has one attack per round.
- Fighter --> druid dual class sounds nice. The stat requirements are tough. I might edit a character over to that.

 

You can also get a lot of power out of a ranger/cleric muticlass. You get druid spells with your cleric ones though you gain druid spells at the same rate as you gain spell levels from the ranger class.

 

Revisiting this to note that IWD:EE does not seem to include the bottomless quivers/etc. I must have been playing a mod before. Shame.

 

While bottomless quivers are not a thing, the enhanced edition did add the Ammo belt, so you can at least toss all your ammo in there.
IIRC, there's one for sale at Conlan in the base game, as well as one at Emmerich in HoW.

 

The true problem with ranged in IWD1 is that magical launchers don't count for the purpose of hitting the many monsters which require magical weapons to hit. It only cares about ammo enchantment, and there is a severe shortage of magical ammo.