Character choice burn out!

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Please help someone!

In the last two weeks i have spent about five hours playing Icewind Dale II and ten hours thinking about the right party choice. I have restarted the game four times now and have only ever got to up to chapter four.

Does anyone else have the same problem? I am talking about quandries like:

How do you fit a high intelligence character character or a bluffing diplomat into a four man party?

How can you fit a multi class Drow into a six man party and expect a return on your investment?

How do you justify dual wielding your second fighter if your tank only uses swords?

Is anyone else stuck on character choice?

 

Hi there
I know exactly what you're talking about...
I also tried to make the perfect party, and here's what I found:

There is no perfect party, there are sooo much really good party's...you just need to fit it to your own needs...
The best way is to make a list on what kind of chars you really want, like tank, 2nd tank, healer etc.
Now if you are playing 4 character party for example, look wich classes you can combine the best...like healer and tank in 1 char...etc.
And also you also see some flaws, but once you start you will be seeing that it isn't that bad...Just keep in mind that there is no perfect party, just real good ones

Good luck!

 

Yup, Roekemoes you're right, I think that Icewind Dale II's best feature is that you can't do every quest in just one run (unlike BGII) and can't use every tactic either.

Still, it's frustating to hear of all the fun you can have with say, a rogue when you don't have a stealthy character in your line up.

Just for the record, my latest "wunderparty" is likely to be:

Half Orc Paladin(helm)/fighter*4 (demon exterminator)
Drow Barbarian/Ranger(50%/50%) (mage killer)
Human Tempus Cleric
Human bard(3)/Sorcerer

I lie awake at night thinking of my inability to make crossbows in slave camps!

 

Let me tell you a secret! I rebuilt 3 of my 6 characters a couple of times during the game without restarting the game...
Yep, you can do that if you know you won't be able to play the game more that once.

 

ARRH I totally know what you're going through. I think it's also due in part of finding portraits that are *JUST* right, you know?

Gabriel

 

I couldn't agree more. I've made at least 20 different parties, and the furthest I've ever gotten is chapter 3...

I guess I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and stick with something.

 

Am I writing with an invisible font...? Or are you really ignoring me to express your masochistic quest for suffering...

Why start over the whole game?

 

I am with you Quint, I dont't think I have finished the game with more than one of the same characters that I started it with yet! I am working on my second game, and have been through about eight characters since leaving Targos.

 

i think i posted about this in "how about this for a party...

deep gnome monk
aasimar paladin of helm/ fighter
half orc fighter
half orc or shield dwarf cleric/ level 4 fighter
human transmuter/ rogue
human soceress

masochistic quest= priest of ilmater

[ December 18, 2002, 10:01: Message edited by: powerofone ]

 

Here's a diplomat who should work (I use him) in a 4-person party:

Aasimar Sorcerer
Str 6, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 20

HP's will likely be the lowest in the party, but by always using Mirror Image and Stoneskin he's safe enough.

[ December 18, 2002, 10:15: Message edited by: Earl Grey ]

 

humans are better.. more skill points to distribute

 

With a four person party I make my dipolmat/bluff character either a sorcerer or a rogue since both get decent skill points. Typically I also make my speaker human-for the extra skills points.

In a six person party I play with a little more variation for the speaker-diplomat since you have more options as far as characters.

As far as starting over goes, well I used to do that a lot. Now I just switch out characters that I am tired of or those that don't work out as well as I thought they would. Play through so that you can get to Chapters 5 and 6-they are the best (excluding the time loop piece in 5) in the game and they have some wicked battles...

 

@Falstaff: I'm glad that someone understands me..

I see character creation/evolution as part of the game, just like fighting or using the spells. You learn it by trial and error too. When you fail a battle, you reload and try a different tactic until you master a few. Same thing here, if you made a mistake with a character, just create a new one and correct your mistake -- without having to replay the whole game (unless you really enjoy it).

 

stupid ugly kickass monk wrote:

What are you going to do with the extra skill point?
The Aasimar Sorcerer gets 4 skill points/level and this allows him to keep Diplomacy, Bluff and Concentration at max.
The remaining skill point is shared between Intimidate and Spellcraft.

If he had been Human he would have had four less stat points. Clearly the four stat points are of greater worth than the extra skill point.

 

Quint, I know what you mean about rebuilding characters for the best situation. Are you using Dalekeeper or importing characters from old games though? I think I'd feel a bit disloyal to the characters if I chopped and changed too much!

For a party Diplomat I think the best is a Bard/Sorcerer combo as you can add the bluff skill for "Uber" diplomacy.

 

I haven't gone back and chopped up my characters yet, but I may have to with my first two parties. Right now I've got a four person party and it does pretty good on it's own.

-Human Rogue lvl 12, about to mc to a bard for songs
-half-orc 8lvl barb/ 4lvl fighter
-Aasimar Sorceress lvl 12(pure)
-Human Monk of the Broken Order lvl 11/1 lvl Painbearer of Ilmater (for clerical spells)

This group works pretty well. My Rogue has great dex, and (I think) 16 charisma. She does a good bit of talking, but I also get my sorceress in there a good deal too because she has higher charisma for obvious reasons. I've just started Chapter 3 with this group

 

No I never used Dalekeeper, except to check out enemy stats and resistances
And don't get me wrong, I don't rebuild them "for the best situation" as you say, like every battle. I was talking about reloading battles to say that you *do* learn from your mistakes. I rebuilt 3 of the 6 because I had made some bad decisions (due to not really understanding the rules).

In the game itself, with a game loaded you can change your party on the fly. I just throw away the character and build a new-born one instead. Then I level him up via the console to the xp he used to have, and correct my mistakes doing so. Mistakes were eg. for my first monk, I gave him 2 levels of rogue before I discovered the disaster. I also gave my first sorceress 1 level of fighter before I discovered that Aasimar Paladin was better for her (and fixed some bad spell choices too )

[ December 19, 2002, 14:27: Message edited by: Quint ]

 

Although I finished the game, my first party was a disaster. Here is my second party :

1. ANAKHA the ALMIGHTY-Aasimar-Paladin of Helm x/Fighter 4
2. ULATH DOOMBRINGER-Shield Dwarf-Barbarian x/Fighter 4
3. BEVIER EVILSTORM-Aasimar-Stormlord of Talos x
4. TALEN SILENTDEATH-Tiefling-Wizard x/Rogue y (x=17 at lvl 30)
5. SEPHRENIA FARSIGHT-Drow-Diviner x
6. TYNIAN CLAWFIST-Human-Monk x(Maybe MC with Druid after level 20)

I reached Black Raven monastery and beat second chamber last night. I stopped adjusting levels after reaching level 10, to get exp for killing monsters.