Suggestions on party creation

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I have just got iwdII and I haven't started yet.
Any help on what characters to make, plz?

[ February 20, 2003, 00:00: Message edited by: Extremist ]

 

Isn't part of the fun of playing a new game choosing your own characters? If you take advice from everyone about the best party to start with you're missing out on half the fun.

 

Maybe. I might try the same party from iwd1 that worked ok... but also i aint too sure about feats and skills it's all very confusing. I mean i don't want to waist points on stuff that aint gunna comein useful l8r on... oh yeah and thanx for replying

[ February 19, 2003, 21:50: Message edited by: Omihsoy ]

 

Bradford

Hmm...if you're wondering about Stats and stuff, IWD2 remains a very combat-oriented game. So you'd do well by going high with STR, DEX and CON. Seriously, you can get by on 3 INT.

However, I prefer to roleplay what little there is.

 

The only suggestion I would offer is to make sure you crank up the right attributes for your characters: ie. for a sorcerer int is not the most important one as you might think; charisma is. Go figure. But you want to give him/her plenty or you will find out the hard way when they cant cast spells.

Just pick some classes, etc that sound cool to you, then make sure you give them the best chance of being good by reading what attributes you need to focus on for them.

Super low intelligence in frontline tanks is not a good option: they will get put to sleep, or be charmed, or get dominated in almost every battle.

Happy misadventuring!

[ February 20, 2003, 03:25: Message edited by: Thermopyle ]

 

Party suggestion, character suggestion will end up in no where, really. People have their own style of playing and preference. At the end of the day, you will end up more confusing then you started.

 

Thanx i'll just use my orginal IWD party or somert instead. now, Gopher why did you put the big smily guy next to Bradford???

 

actually, low Int is not a problem, unless you want a ton of skill pts per level

low Wis for any character could give them poor Will Saves, which could lead to them being dominated or affected in some other way by spells that target the mind...

 

try the hack and slash format..

for 6 characters
2 singleclass tank(i recommend barbarian or monk)
1 healer (druid or cleric)i recommend female drow battleguard of tempus/fighter
1 leader (paladin) i recommend paladin of mystra/wizard
1 rouge (multiclass) i recommend gray dwarf fighter rouge
1 sorcerer/bard

 

Or the 'blast your pants off' setup

1 Aasimar Fighter1/Paladin#
1 ShieldDwarf Battleguard of Tempus.
1 Ranger1/Druid#
2 Aasimar Sorcerers.
1 Tiefling Wizard.

Only one tank yes. Believe me, you've got 5 spellcasters who can summon to his aid, the sole tank will be fine. You'll have 4 characters who can beat your foes down with spells all the time, and you still have three characters who can heal and tank.

What race you want for the druid is pretty much open, though as always Aasimar seems a good choice

[ February 20, 2003, 21:48: Message edited by: Faragon ]

 

I would suggest a deep gnome for the Wis bonus...

an odd roleplaying combo, yes, but it could be quite effective...

does mirror image work when shapeshifted?

spell resistance when shapechanged could be very nice as well...

but the Wis bonus will help with the spells outdoors, and indoors the innate spellcasting might help shapeshifted melee...

 

You will want 1 character to do your talking. They will need good cha and maximum skill points in diplomacy, bluff, and intimidate. Don't use a monk or paladin for this as they will often force you to refuse rewards for quests.

Never give non wizards more int than is needed to maximize all skills you want to take.

For fighter and barbarians minimize int and cha as they have no use for either.

Spell casters need thier primary casting requisite (int for wizards, cha for bards and sorcerers, wis for clerics, druids, rangers and paladins) equal to 10 + the level of the spell being cast to be able to cast spells. Higher values for this will make the saving throws against your spells more difficult.

Paladins get special benefits for charisma such as turning undead bonuses and increased saving throws, need 16 wisdom to cast the best spells they will eventually get, and high str and con. Keep dex at 12 as more will not benefit you if you wear full plate armor (which you probably will). Minimize int as you don't need it.

Rangers also need 16 wisdom for thier best spells. They also need good str, con, and dex. Remember if they wear heavy or medium armor they lose thier 2 weapon fighting feats. Minimize int and cha.

Monks need all stats high except for int and cha (remember monks get a wis bonus to AC)

Clerics should maximize wisdom for spells and should not minimize cha unless you have someone else to turn undead. Minimize int, keep dex at 12 (wear heavy armor) and put leftover points in str and con.

Druids should be similar to clerics, but need more dex as they aren't proficient in heavy armor and they don't need cha.

Bards should maximize cha, put however many points in int they need for skills, leave wis alone, get high dex and con and only put extra points in str if you really want them to go into melee combat (probably not a good idea).

Wizards should maximize int, minimize cha, leave wis alone, leave str alone or lower it a bit (not too low or you will have problems with carrying capacity) and get high dex and con.

Sorcerers should maximize cha, put points in int only as needed for skills, and otherwise similar to wizards.

Resist the temptation to lower wis or you will be more vulnerable to the many sleep/charm/dominate/fear/ etc. spells enemies use.

 

oops, I forgot rouges:
by putting points in cross class skills you should be able to handle traps and locks with a multiclass rouge (make the first level rouge though because of all the skill points rouges get (all classes get 4x skillpoints at first level) a pure rouge can still be usefull though due to sneak attacks. Also, they are a good choice to speak to your party as they are the only ones who get all 3 talking skills as class skills. Give them int as needed for their skills (will probably be a lot), high dex, average or better cha if they will be talking for your party, otherwise minimize it, high dex, and any remaining points in con and str (more in con)

One last thing: humans will always get at least 2 skill points per level no matter how low their int is.

[ February 21, 2003, 00:33: Message edited by: wckowalski ]

 

I have recently used this party.

Drow Paladin Helm / Fighter
Deep Gnome Fighter (much later multiclass to illusionist)
Deep Gnome Monk
Drow Cleric of Ilmater
Human Monk (1) / Druid
Aasimar Sorceror

Despite the ECL penalties, I used my Deep Gnome fighter as the main 'tank' in much of the early game. Despite having low HP it is ridiculously easy to get his armour class in the 30s or more. I had a dwarf once before as a tank and he really needed all those extra HP in the early game because he was getting hit so often. Later on, I just switch on the mirror images and have my sorceror chuck skull traps and fireballs all around me while I draw in the enemy.

But the main benefit of using deep gnomes and drow is permanent magic resistance. Spell casters find it much harder to beat your tanks down if they have this, and mind affecting spells will sometimes fail without needing a will save roll. And then the Drow has a +2 save against enchantments and Deep Gnome has +2 all saves on top of that. Also, I like using druid mass area spells (even if party unfriendly): spell resistance can protect against those as well.

My paladin and fighter have 13 and 14 intelligence: I choose to obtain the feat Expertise which increases your armour class up to 5.

The monk druid thing was for armour class reasons and tactics. I wanted to be able to tear down the passages as a stealth dire panther and strike at the enemy and be able to evade fireballs chucked in by my sorceror.

 

Well..., I'm too just before the beginning, but played all BG & IWD1+HOW. Say what you will, but I believe roleplaying is the most important thing. My party leading pally has 14 for STR, INT, WIS & CHA. For skills Diplomacy & Intimidating. Oh, and of course lore. Another character will be sort of his aide de camp . Maybe a ranger with some good sneaking, but rangers are screwed compared to previous games. Definitely one rogue for that plenty of skills. The healer will be ranger/druid, fighter/cleric or (interesting option) paladin/Ilmaterian cleric. For arcane spellcasting either a fighter (or rogue)/wizard (not sorc but wizard to get the int high and yet more skills) or Mistra pally/wizard. Or both. That's for a good party with a good roleplaying (compared to my IWD1 paladin+ranger+cleric+fighter+thief+mage).

But, for an even greater roleplaying opportunity let's get something special that other people won't get Aasimar barbarian/sorceress maybe? Drow rogue/bard... Classy wood elf ranger/druid... I haven't thought about wizard/sorcerer... but well, why not? Because that's odd? It's jusy about as good a reason to take it Bonuses? Who cares... An unconventional and very special character will always pay. In some unexpected way

 

You need: one Cleric, one Fighter, one Rogue and one Sorcerer or Wizard it's your choice... Last two slots are only on your decision to have characters on them or not... Preferably I play with fewer characters, so I suspend the Cleric and make some mix with a Fighter and Barbarian making one tough fighter with lots of Health Points and Cleric Spells...

[ February 21, 2003, 18:39: Message edited by: Elan Morin Tedronai ]