Noob questions...

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I couldn't find any definitive answers in the rest of the forum, so please bear with me.

I started this game way back when and recently found the cd's again. Lots fun, but I have some questions for the ubers here on the boards. I am playing normal mode with all non-multiclass chars. Tempus cleric, orc-ian tank, humie rogue, wiz and sorc to start off with.

At what minimum str should my char be to wield two handed weapons? From what I read, the str multiplier is at 1.5 for two handed weapons, right? Is someone who has a 12 str good enough to try to swing the big stuff around? My cleric has a Str of 14 or so most of the time, is this good enough to bring the heavy hardware?

Is it just me, or does the creatures hate clerics? My Cleric O' Tempus who gets beat up on a lot. He has comparable AC with the other "tanks", but he seems to bear the brunt of the onslaught. Is this a game mechanic, or did someone put a "kick me" sign on the back of his armor? Is there a "cleanse sign" spell he can cast?

Is dual wielding wasted on a single class rogue? Should I use talent points in other places or is having two weapons a good choice for him?

What is the best summoner class? The Battleguard has the summon undead which seems to be doign very good for now. Reading the forum, he should get lotsa summon spells in the future, but is there better?

Thanks in advance for your feedback...

 

Welcome to the Boards

1. I do not believe there is a minimum strength for using 2 handed weapons though I could be wrong. A strength of 14 should be enough to do a decent amount of damage with a 2 handed weapon.

2. Not too sure about the AI for IWD2 so your cleric is either unlucky, or the AI targets spell casters (I think it is the latter as in my current game, most enemies target my sorcerer)

3. I do not think that dual wielding is wasted on a rogue. Just add a single ranger level if you do not have the feats required and you will have a character who is very efficient with small weapons.

4. I blelieve that all spell caster have a good selection of summoning spells, with a slight exception for the druid as I think he misses out on the Animate dead spell.

Hope that helps a bit

 

1.) 2-handed weapons do more damage (greataxe 1-12, battleaxe 1-8), no matter how high or low your character's strength is. The only disadvantadge is that you can't wear a shield. (Bull's strength is a fantastic spell btw.)

2.) Some monster types attack special classes, the undead in Fell Wood go for clerics for example. But most just attack the character they see first, so maybe a change of party formation might help.
Monsters also tend to face the party member nearest to them each combat round, so a character in dagger range will be attacked more than a character in quarterstaff range, so a greataxe cleric will be attacked less often than a handaxe cleric. (also important to know for sneak attacks)
The best way to protect your cleric is using a throwing axe unless monsters get to near. With "rapid shot" he might even do more damage than in melee.

3.) You can do it if you want to do it for roleplaying reasons, but a 2-handed weapon will do more damage and long weapon range is important for sneak attacks during combat. I recommend using a feat for "polearm","axe" or "greatsword" profiency instead. (depending on the other party members)
You can take a barbarian level to get those feats for free or even 4 fighter levels for specialisation, but there's no need to destroy the single class party theme or slow the sneak attack damage progression.

4) "animate dead" gets better until level 9, can be cast by cleric, wiz and sorc and is the best summoning spell for most situations. The high level druidic summoning spells are superior in some situations, but usually "animate dead" is all you need.

 

1. Actually, most weapons have a minimum STR. Most generic greatswords have a min STR of 13 or 14. Greataxes have a min STR of around 10. Halberds are in the 11 to 13 range. This said, there are some exceptions that have much higher STR requirements.

If you're thinking of using a 2handed weapon for a lowish STR, sneak attacking rogue, I'd suggest spear or a halberd.


2. I agree with the previous replies. Some monsters will target clerics or any spellcasters.


3. Dual wielding isn't wasted on a rogue. However, it probably is a bit of a waste to spend two Feat points to get full blown dual wielding, when simply taking 1 level of ranger would be a lot more efficient. (And you'd get a bunch of other weapon feats at the same time.)

4. Animate Dead is certainly one of the best summoning spells. One of its advantages is its duration. That said, there are other very useful summoning spells.

However, you need to decide for yourself what you want out of your summons. Do you want them to merely be damage absorbing cannon fodder that evens the odds and keeps the enemy off your party? Or do you want them to actually cause damage?

If all you really need are cannon fodder summons, many of the summoning spells will be effective in this role, although you will want to try to use spells that will summon a serious enough monster for your current position in the game. (I.e. summoning a level 2 summons late in the game would merely summon something that might die in 1 or 2 hits, whereas a high level summons might be able to stand toe to toe, claw to claw with that same enemy.)

Also be aware that there are some high level summons like elementals and demons that cannot be controlled after summoned and will turn on you unless you have your party buffed with a Magic Circle of Protection from Evil spell. Oh, if you summon such a monster well behind enemy lines, far from your party, it will only see the enemy and will attack them first. But if they survive and you end up being the closest people to the elemental or demon, it'll turn on you. The safest route is to just buff your party with the MC/PfE spell.

Also, don't dismiss the elemental and demon summoning spells just because you cannot control it. Oh, it's annoying for some players, particularly if you like controlling your entire party. But elemental and demon summons can really kick butt, if used properly. And my experience is that the best use of an elemental or demon summons is to summon it at the start of a tough battle and aim its arrival point to be behind enemy lines, closest to the enemy's toughest mages. A demon or elemental summoned behind enemy lines will create incredible havoc and has the potential of taking down quite a few enemies.

 

Wow..thanks for all the informative, and quick, replies!

With the chars un-buffed, I can't seem to get my AC above 19, but once again I have just started out. At the Goblin Fortress with my umpteenth party now. Does this continue on? I have half-plate on my cleric with a 10 dex, and his AC is lower than my rogue with an 18 dex and light armor. Is my cleric going to suffer the whole game or is there armor that will help him out?

If this is the best the AC is going to get, will the extra 2 AC be good enough to use one handed weapons, or is it worth it to try to get creatures dead with 2 handed weapons. I do like the big damage and some of the crit numbers are rather impressive. Little chunks or creatures flying everywhere!

 

Armors and AC will improve some, but the game is not exactly packed with great armors and shields that are on the same level as the various weapons.

 

Woohoo! All my melee toons are packing two handed weapons now! I will take the loss of AC, at least in normal, to see the big numbers flash every now and then in the dialogue box. Even my rogue packs a greatsword now!

My cleric, with a 10 dex, can't get the dodge or dodge arrow "?" feat, what feats should he take? I got lightning reflex and luck of heroes for saves and vs evil clerics or spell casters so far I think. Is spell penetration worth it?

For summons I am looking for survivability and something to cast behind the front ranks of creatures. It sounds like Animate Undead will do well enough until I can get the demons. I take it I won't get XP for killing the demons if I have to? It doesn't seem that Summon Creature "x" doesn't bring bigger creatures with levels, what other summoning spells work decent?

Sorry for all the noob questions...bear with me...

 

Sorry, I never noticed there was a STR requirement for weapons in IWD2. In BG games, sure there is, for example you need 14 STR to be able to equip a two hander sword, otherwise, it's painted red and you can not even equip it. I never noticed such a thing in IWD2, even a 8 STR guy can swing a two hander sword. (to little effect, though)

You need more DEX for dodge and deflect missiles feats. IIRC 13 would suffice, for most DEX based feats, including Rapid Shot.

As for which feats to pick, Spell Focuses are important. Spell focuses are way more important than spell penetration IMHO. If you are single-classed, your spell-resistance check would already be higher, (remember, you get +1 bonus to roll per caster lvl, so a lvl 30 cleric will get 1d20+30 roll, able to affect creatures with 30+ SR easily) and spell-resistant foes are rather rare.

Enchantment focus is nice for Hold Person, and Greater Command. Evocation buffs up Flame Strike, add the Spirit of Fire Feat later and your Flame Strike spell will cause serious havoc in enemy lines. Can you smell the charred flesh already?

Note that anti-healing type cleric spells such as Slay Living, Harm and Destruction does NOT benefit from Spell focus:Necromancy, nor they do gain bonus to their DC from high WIS scores. They are buggy and badly implemented, and thus are rather useless and weak in all situations. Avoid them at all costs!

Higher lvl monster summonings conjure up nice beasties. But elementals are really kwell as well. Creating illusional shadow monsters is useful too, those type of spells are great as it has the shortest casting time, summons up very powerful monsters at highest lvls, drawback is those monsters have less HP than original but they do full damage! Mages/bards can cast these spells!

A good AC is always good in normal mod, and not very difficult to attain. Considered adding up one level of monk to your cleric? Provided that he has great WIS, it will add massive AC bonus when unarmored and not using shields, plus +2 to all saving throws! Ofcourse, if your cleric is chaotic in alignment you can not get a monk lvl, and even then, you may suffer XP penalties if he is not human.

Heavy armors and shields tend to suck in this game for some reason. Wait for a new mod! (coming soon! )

 

Tanks with 10 dex are quite common since more than 10 dex doesn't improve AC if you are wearing half-plate, for the full plates you'll find later 12 dex, which you'll be able to reach easily with the "cat's grace" spell, is already pefect.
The main disadvantadge is that you can't take the fantastic "rapid shot" feat.
Unlike Silverstar I recommend not taking monk levels, they will slow the important spell progression.

For feats I recommend taking "spirit of flame" at level 9 (you need 10 spellcraft including int modifier for the elemental feats) and "improved critical" at level 12. Afterwards I'd take other elemental feats.
If you get a feat before level 9 take "dash" or maybe a spell focus, it doesn't matter that much.

 

Well, they show up on the ITM file screens in DLTCEP. And greatswords, greataxes, and halberds have min STRs as I described in my previous post.

Are min stat requirements implemented in IWD2? I don't know. However, I do recall that there are some specific weapons, like the Massive Halberd of Hate, that has a min STR requirement of 18, so I imagine that it is implemented. I'll have to check this out next time I start up IWD2. I have a number of new items that have various stat requirements and I'd like to know if that IE functionality actually works.

Yes, 13 DEX is sufficient for all but one of the feats with a DEX pre-requisite. IIRC, Ambidexterity has a pre-req of 15 DEX.

Both of those feats are nice, but I'd suggest taking enchantment focuses first, assuming that you use enchantment types of spells. My reasoning? Enchantment type spells are very much pass/fail, whereas evocation spells are full damage vs half damage. I can live with doing half damage, but you cast Hold Person, Greater Command, or Symbol of Hopelessness, it's all or nothing for each enemy who's potentially affected. I like increasing the chances that those enemies will be "enchanted".

 

Spell focusses aren't very useful for battleguards since casting an offensive spell in combat is usually less useful than using this spell slot for buffing before and just doing physical damage during combat. Offensive level 2 spells like "hold person" are outclassed by "bull's strength", level 5 spells like "greater command" and "flamestrike" by "champion's strength" or "raise dead", ...
"Symbol of Hopelessness" is a great spell but it doesn't benefit from spell focusses.

But there might be a few moments where you benefit from spell focusses, the other feats you can take early on for your battleguard aren't better.
+3 HP is pathetic, +2 in a saving throw only helps at most at 10 percent of the time exactly this character is required to make exactly this kind of saving throw, ...

 

I can see some of what you say, KM, but not about Greater Command. Greater Command is a totally grade A, kick-butt spell. With a casting speed of 1, it is great to use in ambush situations to knockout a lot of the enemies that might be right on top of you. And because it's a Will-save spell, it works excellently in HOF as well. IMHO, Greater Command is one of the very best cleric spells at any level.

As nice as Champ's STR is, it still only affects one character per casting. I'll take Greater Command over that, since GC can knock out a LOT of enemies. Oh, sure, there are times when Champ's STR would be more valuable, particularly when you're facing a single very, very tough boss-level enemy. But against mobs of enemies, GC is the ticket for quickly disabling a big chunk of any mob of attackers.

Many are the battles where I've used Greater Command to knock out a mob of enemies and then proceded to slay them one at a time, while the rest snoozed away, waiting for their turn to become monster suishi.