HoF Mode

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Has anyone completed the game in HoF mode yet? I find it very hard... in fact i get slaughtered in the ice fortress and the new items don't help much. Also i got a "beetle" item in my inventory and i can't remove it...

 

I try out HoF atm too - hoping for faster level up of my chars and a few cooler items - up to now I'm not enjoying it. Just like insane difficulty HoF is not really worth the hassle. IWD-2 is hard enough on core rules. However, I'll see how far I can get.

For an aasimar pally the xp penalty really hurts hp-wise, same applies for any xp-penalty. I shudder when thinking about playing a deep gnome ... illusionist in HoF ... with 1d6 hit dice, having 18 to 24hp when a human mage would be three levels higher and some 8 to 24 hp ahead, not to mention advantage in spells and skills .... In HoF you have to face it that a puny goblin can splatter any char him with a single crit, that forces you to play very tactical.

All in all that's not really fun, especially not when considering how costly a resurrection is until your cleric can cast these spells, not to mention that you need to carry all his equipment for the walk to the next cleric.

 

I have not yet finished it, but I plan to. I tried to play it with my party from the first run through and I was getting around 300xp for a single goblin, so I thought I would try it with first level characters

Oh my God! I decided that I would "take" all the items off my 16th level first party and give them to first level characters to have a go. Man it is so hard, but it "is so worth it" when you complete a fight. Admittedly there is no way in hell that they could have done it without the items, but I don't feel bad about it, because they could not have done it anyway.

I got 3600xp for a single goblin! I have just entered chapter 1 and moved over to the Shaengarne Ford. The party is level 11, except the Grey Dwarf and Drow. Still, I get 3000xp for an orc. At this rate I wonder how many level I will get by completing Chapter 1.

I did the same thing with IWD, however I did not "take" items, because you could always run around and shoot like mad. I was level 7 by entering Kuldahar.

But this time in IWD2 I reckon that I will be around level 16 at the end of Chapter 1. I did this insane experiment to see how much xp is awarded for creatures. It certainly requires heaps of tactics and plenty of summoning.

Where are my magic items...

 

I am in my first run through on HoF mode and I am in the goblin fortress. I must say that I am kind of disappointed with the lack of items as of yet. All the items I have found are either +1 or masterwork items (there have been plenty of these). The game is a lot harder as well. I have started using new tactics that seem to work rather well so far.

I have switched from having 4 archers and 2 tanks to a 3 tank 3 archer system. I use my paladin and a fighter to fight with melee weapons and I back them up with my other fighter using a spear. Then my cleric, sorceress, and rogue all mainly use their bows (although my battleguard and rogue also fight quite a bit of melee). Fighting with range weapons is almost not even worth considering in HoF mode. It takes so many hits to take down a simple goblin or orc that if I went with my normal tactics using 4 or 5 archers then they would all have melee attacker attacking them with swords before they even killed the first one.

HoF mode is definitely challenging, but it is helping me to refine my game, now if I could just find some of those kickin items...

 

Gah i completed the darn ice temple finally and im lvl 25 ! AND STILL i get my arse kicked by some bees. Anyways i can't seem to find any totally new items, they're all just upgraded versions of magical items. Oh and clerics seem to lose their role as undead masters/banishers because their turn undead doesn't do anything to undead. And hey, most of otherwise useful spells are useless in HoF. You should be able to advance to lvl 50 or so to kick goblin's arses

 

When fighting the goblins, that goblin slayer knife really works well. My one fighter with that knife slaughters gobs with flying colors... Too bad that is the only really kicking weapon so far. The spear in the Targos shop, 12 paces in HoF, is pretty good as well since you can attack from extended melee range.

It is pretty sad when a group of 4 orc shamans about wipe out your whole party with snowballs and unholy blight. Had this happen twice in the goblin warrens, and had to reload twice. I would drop 2 DB fireballs on them for like 100 points of damage in some casts and they were only badly wounded... What is up with that!!! Oh, well, my sorceress is earning her pay as is the rest of my crew. I don't even what to think about fighting the dragon or Xvim in HoF mode.

 

Hello!

I am currently in Black Raven monastery, playing in HoF mode. When I started HoF, my party was at level 19, now it is 25(except aasimar pal who is 24 . I will discuss some HoF things you might find useful yourself. Any questions will be answered as soon as possible

Here is my party for your reference(there could be a mistake here and there, I am not at home right now):

Aasimar Paladin of Helm/Fighter Lvl. 20/4 // 22STR/12DEX/20 CON/3INT/13W/16CHA
- Large sword / Hammer

Human Barbarian/Fighter 21/4 22STR/12DEX/20CON/3INT/15WIS/10CHA
- Great sword / Spear / Polearm

Human Monk 25 // 20STR/20DEX/20CON/3INT/16WIS/3CHA
- umm... fist?

Human Cleric 25 // 16STR/12DEX/18CON/3INT/23WIS/10CHA
- throwing dagger

Human Wizard 25 // 13STR/14DEX/18CON/22INT/10WIS/3CHA
- x-bow

Human Sorcerer 25 // 8STR/12DEX/18CON/12INT/10WIS/20CHA
- x-bow

COMBAT TACTICS:

1) DISABLING SPELLS
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In HoF, it is very important to make good use of disabling spells, to stop enemies from attacking you all the time. Great spells for this are spells Holy word, Symbol of Hopelessness and Tremor.

Holy word is probably by far the best since there is no saving throw (and is rarely resisted at all-mostly by *some* bosses and undead), but it only lasts for one round - enough time to set off a batch of other spells. The only setback is that area of effect is centered on the cleric so you have to send him into the fray..., and also, your party has to be of good alignment, otherwise it will stun your party member(s) as well. Neutral/Evil versions of this spell(Blasphemy) are less useful, since all monsters are either neutral or evil.

Symbol of Hopelessness isn't as good as symbol of stunning(will save and doesn't work against undead...) but has no hit point limitation and also has stun effect among other. It worked great so far.

Tremor (with xtra points into Spell focus: transmutation for DC) also works pretty well, but has long casting time which makes it a bit more difficult to use, I usuall cast it when there're many monsters on the screen and other spells can't reach them.

2) DEATH SPELLS
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Finger of Death, Wail of the Banshee, Flesh to stone, Banishment(for summoned creatures)
I found these spells absolutely VITAL. Monsters often have so many HP that even best damage spells do very little damage.
Cast Malison(-2 saving throws), and after that Wail of the Banshee, and you will have 50%+ monsters less to fight. I easily killed Sherincal and her party with this trick. Of course, extra DC from spell focus and items with bonus to CHA for sorc/INT for wiz are essential for this spell to work well, as is front line of fighters(wail has long casting time...) and cleric with holy word.

Banishment is also useful, since it instantly kills summoned creatures - no more summoned apocalyptic boneguards and so on... a must have, for later battles.

3) PROTECTION SPELLS
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Of course, running around without protections isn't a very good idea. Stoneskin should be up all the time, and in most cases Improved invisibility and Prot. from evil as well --> these spells have long enough duration so recasting isn't needed(unless a spell like stoneskin fails of course .

Imp. invis is especially useful since most monsters will ignore your party(except some mages), so they will be easy prey. There was no other way to beat combat room in Ice temple without this spell, since monsters have so many HP my monk couldn't even kill them in 60 seconds or worse he was dead in 10 seconds

For more important battles or difficult areas I would also cast Emotion Hope, Holy Aura, Executioner's eyes and Aura of Vitality(my lathander cleric has it).

4) DIRECT DAMAGE SPELLS
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Well there isn't a whole bunch of spells that actually HURT monsters by much, but I found Meteor Swarm, Fire storm and Horrid Wilting to be useful, mostly as battle opening spells, to weaken monsters somewhat. Most other damage spells are useless even in early stages of the game(FBall, Sunfire, Ice storm, ...), with the notable exception of Melf's Meteors and spells that kill trolls such as Fire Arrow and Acid arrow.

5) WEAPONS
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You will soon find out that normal mode weapons arent even half as good as HoF mode weapons, and some unique armors and items are better than normal counterparts as well.

Kegsplitter of Shaengarne(buy in Targos) is absolutely VITAL weapon for later stages since it kills ALL golems with one hit. As you all remember golems have 50/+3 damage resistance and are tough nuts plus they to about 60 crushing damageU(120 with critical /hit in HoF - even enraged barb with Sskin and 470HP can't take so much beating.

There are some other items like bracers you get from avarine decanter djinn if you let him free(10/+2 damage resist and +5 ac) which you will find useful, as is Monk's 20/+1 damage resistance since most animal monsters(except elementals) and many humanoid opponents have normal attacks.

Well that's all for now(no more time ), any questions will be answered as soon as possible.

Bye!
-- Leo

[ October 15, 2002, 13:25: Message edited by: Leonidas ]

 

Thanks for your advice Leo, I guess that has stopped me from experimenting too much. It reminds me of IWD1 HOF mode. I used Otiluke's Resilient Sphere on 1 of my own summons and when all the monsters would swarm around it to kill it I would literally bomb the poop out of them.

I like your observations about the magic items and improved invisibility. Please let us know more about the magic Items. I have decided that I will definitely buy the Kegsplitter, and now thinking about it, I may even get Goblin Slayer.

Thanks for your advice and keep it coming.