New Party Suggestions for my first HOF/ToTLM game

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OK, I got HoW and ToTLM, but I don'T have a party to play the expansions. I have finished the game once with a cleric14/mage 19 and fighter 20+ BUT I guess they are far too powerful. So I decided to start from scratch, this time with a more crowded party as I have expansions XP will be no problem and I can even play on insane or HoF for additional XP!

Now, party members:

1-Bard. The charismatic leader, I know HoW adds new spiffy abilities to bards so I really really want to play as one. Will be neutral good. What weapon proficiencies you suggest? Bows for ranged, what about melee?

2-F/M/T: I love these guys, they are so versatile and useful. Will specialise in Large/Shortswords and Bows also. BUT he has only one quick weapon slot in IWD, is this fixed in expansions? It is annoying! Regardless, with evasion and sneak attacks, plus the ability to cast spells he will be awesome! Will be Chaotic Good.

3-Paladin: Now thay have hefty abilities with HoF, and with Pale Justice, Paladin is a very tempting tank I guess. What say you?

4-I want a druid too as they have new abilities, but no pure druid, I want a F/D. Multi or Dual? Dual seems more tempting. Fighter2 dualled into a druid will be cool I guess; specialised in Large Swords and slings. Or do you reccomend clubs? Which one for melee? Or should I follow multi class route? Is it more beneficial? If I go dual route I can get GM in one weapon I guess, is it worth it?

5-An EVIL cleric. Now that I romanced Viccy in BG2, I started to fancy evil clerics, they are just so cool. And I know they have very dangerous spells in IWDİ such as Slay Living, Harm and :gasp: the ultimate 'Destruction' spell! Hmm, I want to add some fighter levels for 18/xx STR and weapon specialisation. Again, dualling sounds fair. Though I think he should specialise in more weapons, so dualling at the level when he gets two further proficiencies sounds good. Specialise in hammers, maces and slings. Or are flails better? Then again should I get GM in one weapon at the cost of specialisation in another?Alignment should be Neutral Evil I guess.

I think 5 people are enough, with two arcane casters, two divine casters, one thief and (nearly) four tanks? What say you? Do you see any serious gaps in my party? What do you say for my questions above?

Thank you.

 

About difficulty:

I would decide the difficulty at the beginning and keep it, it's no challenge any more if you decide to decrease the difficulty at hard battles.
If you decide to enable HoF mode temporary at some easy battles for more XP you could as well play the game with imported high XP characters, do some (load - reimport - get quest XP - export) circles for XP gain or use the "setcurrentXP" cheat.
The effect stays the same.

I would choose either normal (for the originally intended game feeling) or insane (for double XP gain).
The easier levels are too easy for an experienced player like you.
If you enable HoF mode, gameplay gets totally different, you'll probably want to play the expansions at least once in a normal way before enabling it.

If you play normal mode you can exspect to gain about 3,000,000 XP for each of your 5 characters.
On Insane mode you get excactly the double amount.


About your characters:

1) Your bard's melee weapon doesn't really matter, he'll hardly use it. I'd choose a two-handed long range weapon like halberd since he can't use a shield.

3) A pure level 13 fighter with longsword of action +4 has 4.5 attacks/round while a paladin gets only 2.5 with Pale Justice.
The paladin is a more defensive choice since his PfE gives nearly permanent +2 AC.
Both are playable.

4)It is very difficult to roll a fighter for dualing to druid with 18 in all important stats. It's far easier to roll the multiclass version.
If you play at normal difficulty you won't gain enough XP to cast level7 spells or shapechange to water elemental with the multiclassed version.
The extra half attacks fighters get for level 7 and 13 also effect the number of attacks while shapechanged.
I would consider to get 3 fighter levels for mastery, 7 or 9 would be better but you'll need a healer earlier.
Scimitar and sling are the best weapons for a druid.

If you play normal difficulty than choose a fighter3>druid, if you play insane without another healer or HoF mode than try the multiclass version.


5)I'd dual at level7 instead of level6 for the extra half attack fighters get. I'd get mastery in maces and slings, but war hammers (for spiritual hammer as magical missile weapon) or flails are also not bad.
I don't know if evil clerics can raise dead party members with HoW installed.

You can also consider to dual your cleric early and your druid late.


2) Your F/M/T is your only mage. He'll level pretty slow.
If you play normal he'll only reach level12 as mage.
If you play insane he still won't gain enough XP to cast level8 or level9 spells.

You don't need a high level mage, your party can be fun and successful without.

But I would consider adding a good aligned human cleric9>mage (or illusionist) as 6th party member.

- You get someone to raise your fallen party members.
- You can take 7 fighter levels for both your druid and evil cleric.
- You have a fast levelling mage.

 

Aww so evil clerics can not raise dead? Can they use raise dead scrolls then? This could be better.

I am thinking about making my cleric/fighter a cleric/thief. Will 9 thief levels be enough? Then dual into an evil cleric. An evil, renegade cleric/thief, who can backstab for x4 damage is neat I guess. I should max Stealt? What say you?

I will try the multiclass F/D.

Paladins are great I guess, with their neat abilities.

Meh I just love F/M/Ts, I don'T care if he can'T cast 8th level spells, there are not that great level 8 and 9 spells in IWD like those in BG2 anyway. ABDHW hurts party members too right? There is no time stop neither.

 

Druids can use all cleric scrolls.
I don't know what evil clerics can do, I never played an evil character in IWD. I only know the manual, but you know how full of bugs the manuals of infinity engine games are.
You can try it out for yourself by using SetCurrentXP in the cheat console.

Thieves get 6 HP for level 10, clerics only 2, so you might consider dualing at level 10 instead of level9 for the extra 4 HP.
Your F/M/T can handle all thieving skills alone, so your T>C won't need any skills except stealth.
Your T>C can only backstab with quarterstaffs and clubs, in the first fighting area in HoW you can find a club +5, there are no quarterstaffs better than +3 in the game.
I don't think that sneaking,backstabbing with this weapons and evasion are as useful as the bonusses for fighter7 (42 extra HP, twice as many attacks, 18/00 strength and specialization)
This T>C is a roleplaying choice.

The only paladin ability which was really useful in my game is Protection from Evil, I still think a fighter would have been stronger in my game, especially one wearing the helm of the trusted defender for +3 AC.

The best level8 spell is power word blind. Blinded enemies only attack characters standing in melee range and there is no save.
Power word kill is useless, monster summoning VII can summon boneguard skeletons. They look and fight great but you might also get Umber Hulks who can confuse your party members.
The other level8-9 spells except Horrid Wilting were useless for me.

But I'm glad that they didn't implement the BG2 mage cheese into IWD, the game is more balanced that way although mage is still the most powerful class at higher levels.

 

I think that T/C can backstab and cast sanctuary, to escape retaliation, go and hide in shadows and repeat.

 

Yes the more I think about my evil T-C the more I like the idea! It sounds cool and unique! I will definitely try it! The evil cleric spells are all terrifying as well:Slay Living, Harm and DESTRUCTION! Plus back-smacking for nice kills, start with 18 STR, then Draw Upon (Un)Holy Might, then bang, backstab and blasted chunks of enemies! Evasion sounds nice enough too!

Umm, when will I get a level 9 thief/bard if I play on insane with 5 people doing ALL quests available, PLUS bard-spesific experience rewards?

MC F/D will still be durable I guess.

Bard is a bard. He will also be a neat mage too, can he cast 8th level? Are there any armors that bards can wear and cast spells except Elven Chain which for some reason I never managed to get and I have tried 3-4 times!

Paladin's Pfrom Evil is neat, and also his new skills with HoF sound powerful too! And then there is always Pale Justice. I was totally awed when I first had the chance to see the weapon!

F/M/T I love these, they are really powerhouses, buffed with Spirit Armor, Stoneskin, Haste, MImage, then a nasty backstab, then very good attacks, even ghoul/vampiric touch spells are VERY useful with this guy as he is constantly meleeing. Ghoul touch was my favourite tactic against that annoyingly tough Verbeegs early in the game!

 

18 strength +4 strength = 18/91 strength. So you'll need at least 15 cleric cleric levels for getting 18/00 strength with casting DUHM.
It will only rise to 23 for a level 30 cleric, but since DUHM is cumulative with the gauntlets of ogre power level 21 is enough for 25 strength while wearing them.

Your thief and bard will probably reach level9 in the first dragon's eye level or maybe even before.
Level 11 will be reached even before facing the boss there.

Your bard can cast only 1 level8 spell per day at level30.
The elvin chains are the only armor for bards, my bard also didn't get one. Bracers AC6 and the shield spell had to suffice.
The elven chains are not extra marked as elven chain, they're just chainmail AC2. You might have gotten one without ever realizing.
You can force to get elven chain by reloading in the Severed Hand.
Kaylessa has one (but her gloves might me more useful).
The other one is in another tower where you have to fight priests. If you find a potion or a ring which trades strength for dexterity you have bad luck (if I'm not mistaken). Just reload a save prior to entering that area (autosave should usually work).

Have fun with your party !
Any party who can beat the original game is good enough for the expansions. Don't bother too much about creating an ultra-powerful party, just create one for fun !

 

Oh so DUHM works like that in IWD? I thought, 18 STR plus DUHM will grant 19+ STR immediately. Oh well...

Thanks for the item tips as well, I will definitely look for elven chainmail of the hand!

Yes I hope I will have much fun, and forego powergaming this time, I hope...

Thank You!

 

Just FYI Thief dualed to cleric will also only have a single weapon slot instead of two - I find this too annoying to use to play either T/M or T/C myself YMMV.

I also never recall how annoying (and outrageously expensive) it is to deal with a dead elf in the party until the first time it arises and always swear I will never take a pure elf in IWD again and always forget my vow when creating my next party until the first time the elf dies and then I always swear I will never use a pure elf again and I always forget my vow when creating my next party until the first time the elf dies and then I swear....