dialog box answers (bad)

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hi, im starting a solo on id2, i had only played the 1st opus (with HoW which was a real shame) but that was years ago

at the start of the game i was given some terrible choice of answers in the dialog box like "ho poor thing, goblins overrun your peopple" "what happened to your arm its in a bad shape"

dont they at least offer you some nasty replies if your chara is of evil alignment? you know just like in bg2 "what do i care" "whats in it for me" or "how about i run the tip of my blade through your innards"

so tell me will i have to endure those terrible goody 2 shoes type of answers during the whole game or is it just at the start?

 

Well, it's not that good but still it doesn't get worse than that. The game itself is very linear. It depends on your class(es) and race. I like evil clerics, they get some nice dialogue options.

Try to be as nasty as you can, you will be rewarded (sometimes). But bear in mind that the story is devised for good aligned characters or money grabbing mercs.

 

you mean some badass lines are exclusively for evil clerics and wont display for, say, a chaotic evil fighter? whyd they do that for, it's absurd!

oh yeah one more thing, are there some npcs i shouldnt kill or else itd screw up the entire game?

 

In aspects of killing the game is fairer than previous IE games. If you kill a game-critical character you immediately get your game over screen, so no realizing that you screwed your game 6 hours ago.
But be also careful about making game critical characters hostile, if you kill someone inside the trade depot in Targos for example, Oswald will also get hostile and attack you when you get out into his range, making it impossible to proceed to the next chapter.

Dialogue choices are actually better than in BG2, but also more stat-dependent.
Wise answers require wis, smart answers int, diplomatic answers require diplomacy, intimidating options require intimidating skill, bluffing options bluffing skill,...

 

alright thanx

[ August 09, 2007, 15:06: Message edited by: sarevok66 ]

 

It's not so absurd if you consider that evil clerics are devoted to the service of an evil supernatural entity which grants its servants powers. For starters calling upon the name of an evil deity is a lot of fun. You may consider taking advantage of the flexibility of the multiclassing system to start as a rogue (for plenty of skillpoints so you'll have enough points to waste on dialogue skills if you care about them) and add at least one cleric level (evil deity preferably) before proceeding with fighter levels (humans, half elves get any class as their favourite, otherwise play a dwarf since the favourite class is fighter).

I've noticed that dark elves get some specific lines I don't recall if they are particularly "evil" though.

 

alright but soloing with a priest just for the sake of getting some better lines i tell you i dont see it happening; in fact im currently pondering if a solo fighter is the way to go since theres no berserker kit, seems like a lot of reloads ahead...

 

for soloing purposes I do believe that you would do better by doing it with a mage or cleric or a monk...

(altough pure monk at the begining should prove difficult =\ )

 

Soloing a pure fighter will be very difficult. The easiest classes for soloing are cleric or sorcerer.

 

well ive been browsing around some of the walkthroughs out there and from waht i understand soloing with a pure fighter should be doable, providing i complete the 1st opus and gather throughout most of hte powerful random items granting protection from magic and improving saves agaisnt spells, stun etc.. (thus for that purpose i shouldn't install HoW since it removes most of these enhanced equipment)

 

HoW....Heart of Winter...huh, sure this is the right place? Also take note that IWD and IWDII are more geared towards Multiplayer play then BG and BGII were. Which is why there is so much more for dialog, back stories and such.

 

Any race/class combination is soloable in IWD2, but be prepared that it won't be as easy as in IWD1, BG or BG2.
Enemy hordes are much bigger and smarter, you can't just roll until you get a character with near perfect stats, you won't find equipment or potions which set a dumped stat to a certain high value, because of the dynamic XP calculation you won't get 6 times the XP you'd get in a party.
The strongest solo fighter you can create is imho a deep gnome with stats 16-20-18-3-16-1.

 

The first time I played this game I soloed with a half elf rogue based on a PnP character (Rogue/Cleric of Tempus/Barbarian). I eventually got stuck in the Citadel (the thralls were a pain eventhough he was level 24 by that point). I wasn't powergaming and I must say a Drow or a Deep Gnome would have fared better. Still I missed that first solo (made a few mistakes like taking Improved Initiative).

My second solo ended before that, I played a character with just one level of ranger and the rest as sorcerer... Way too powerful and I was bored when I completed the Wandering Village quest.

I soloed a Druid to the Ice Temple but it just couldn't compare to the sorcerer although there is something to be said about a druid with one monk level.

I tried two other solos Drow mage and a Paladin/Monk/Cleric but didn't even complete the Horde Fortress with them.

My last attempt was with a Drow pure class Bard. I thought it would be harder, but keeping a spellcaster class pure actually makes it more powerful (especially a class which doesn't rely on scrolls for spellcasting).

IWD2 allows you to multiclass rather freely so for a solo adding one level of cleric is not such a waste (especially if you're playing a specialist mage and want to be able to write every spells).

If what you're looking for is dialogue options then I'd suggest taking at least one level of cleric (or paladin if you're not evil but that doesn't seem to be the point here) and one level of bard (since bard gives all the dialogue skills with a regular intelligence stat it should be fine or starting as a rogue as I said earlier).

Some dialogue options can only be triggered with characters with diplomacy or intimidate of at least 10 (if you are playing a Sorcerer just a few ranks will be enough since you're going to boost your CHA anyway).

Personally I'd rather solo a Barbarian instead of a Fighter. You don't lose that much and when soloing Barbarian Rage, hitpoints and abilities are going to mean a lot.

 

16 in strenght thats awful stats it ll give you terrible thac0, poor damage and open lock etc, i started bg1 (solo fighter kitted to berserker in bg2) with 18/00 i use to chop down and slice my foes in one blow with a simple 2_handed sword, once you ve tasted that kind of raw power you cant start any lower; and towards the end of TOB i had like 24 but by the time i had lost interest

dex isnt so important, it just gives a slight AC decrease and saves vs projectiles, so theres no real point in having 20 i think

and 3 in INT? you meant wisdom i guess

does barbarian rage confer the same kind of protections as the berserk ability in BG2? because thats exactly what im looking for

anyway i dont enjoy the non-human races available, its a real pity you cant play ogres (upgradable to a soul-eater now that would be something)

i dont like priest either, blunt weaponry is no fun, and when i had them in a multi-character party they had very limited purpose like healing and removing ailments, ressurection etc.. boring..

 

Speaking about the cleric....

I think that only happens when you're on the earlier levels!

after a while you get access to really nice spells, like flame strike,death touch (don't recall the exact name), fire storm,destruction,sol's searing orb,animate dead,etc!

I'm actually having fun with clerics!
and the spell Heal simply rocks! having a character instantly healed is really something!

 

You're thinking in 2e terms. IWD2 uses 3e rules, which are totally different from the 2e rules used in BG2 and the other IE games. I recommend reading the manual before starting the game.
The difference between 16 and 18 strength in 3e is only +1 to hit and damage, not enough to outweight the deep gnome racial bonusses.
AC increase (in 3e higher is always better unlike in 2e) is important, dex also effects ranged attack bonus, reflex saves and there are also useful feats you can only take with at least 13 dexterity.
I'm serious with 3 int, int only affects the skill points you get and with 3 you get as many as with 11. Wis affects will saves, the saves you have to make in order to avoid being held/confused/charmed which you can't afford in a solo game.

I once again recommend reading the manual. Barbarian rage only grants a bonus strength, con and to will saves.
Priests can use any kind of weapon they want in IWD2, battleguards of Tempus even start with axe focus. Unlike in BG2 they gain extra attacks per round nearly as fast as fighters, at level 22 the maximum number of base attacks per round (4) is reached. And since they get lots of buff spells like champion's strength and holy power they do actually more damage than fighters.

 

IWD2 has very little in common with BG. The Barbarian Rage won't grant you uber immunities but if you're dead set against a cleric try a pure class Drow or Deep Gnome Barbarian. Both races get spell resistance (which is what you may be looking for). The Deep Gnome starts with a lower STR but with a +4 bonus to AC (which is really not shabby). A female Drow Cleric/Barbarian could be nice too.

I concur with Kmonster. Read the manual or check the ingame information about classes (and the info in SP's IWD2 section). You'll benefit a lot from reading this stuff.

For instance you get a +1 bonus for every 2 points above 10 (or -1 for points below 10). STR will improve or lower your hit to hit attacks and your damage (2 handed weapons multiply the STR modifier by 1.5 instead of 1). Dex improves your ranged attacks and your AC (contrary to BG heavy armours limit the maximum bonus you can get from your DEX which makes a lot of sense so either you pick a very high DEX and wear light or no armour or you wear a very heavy armour and don't put many points in DEX). It works the same with CON, every 2 points above 10 gives you 1 extra hitpoint.

The thing you have to remember is that while adding some levels from other classes may look like a good idea, in the end most classes are way more powerful when they are kept pure (just one level from another class can be an extreme boost depending on the classes but keeping both classes even is a very bad idea since it will lower the efficiency of both classes).

Forget what you know about 2E. IWD2 is quite different: clerics can wield swords and rogues are not utterly useless in a fight.

 

all right well i guess i got confused regarding the core rules

maybe ill try out the evil clerics, but hey ive never been a big fan of the FR pantheon i rather even have my character be a thrall of demogorgon or something

anyway thanx for your time

 

Check this for info on clerics: http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/IWD2/clerics.php
If you really don't care for them try a Sorcerer. I never liked sorcerers in BG2 but I have to say that they are much more useful than regular mages in IWD2, they don't need scrolls (so you don't end up with a character who can't cast a certain spell because you haven't found the scroll you need yet) and they can spam offensive spells (due to the hack and slash nature of IWD2 it has its uses).

Just try different classes and don't be afraid to start over several games while you're still in Targos. It's better to take your time and find the right soloing character design you want to play rather than being stuck with a less effective character build after completing half the game.

 

yeah well it seems like theres been alot of changes in 3e but one thing seems to be the same is that fighters are always the ones left behind

in bg when going over level 20 it just came down to getting 3 more hitpoints and a greater whirlwind attack while hte other classes were granted nice improvments;
and now clerics may weild slicing weapons and get as many hits per round as fighters, not to mention the latter cannot be kitted anymore, honestly when i consider all these drawbacks i dont even feel like starting a new game