Solos.

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Some of you guys have obviously played the game more than once. And you have probably gone solo too.

So who was your charecter? Why that one? Details of how you developed him, progressed him.
How did having a higher level charecter affect the game vis-a-vis when having a full party? How did your tactics change? And how often did you curse Black Isle and its XP calculating tables?

Finally, what would you differently the next time? What would you do the same?

 

I just took my sorcerer build from a 6 member game and started a solo. It wasn't bad, but the number of times I had to hit the rest button until she reached L10 was ridiculous. It was only with magic missiles that I managed to get anywhere in the prologue and chapter 1.

aasimar sorcer
str 8, dex, 8, con 18, int 18, wis 8, cha 20

Yeah, this was a mistake.

 

I also recently tried a solo character , I too went for the Sorcerer,

Ssi Ruuk
Drow Paladin 1/Sorcerer 10
str 10
dex 14
con 12
int 16 (added 1 at 4th&8th level)
wis 10
cha 20

She has 2 attacks and these feats : simple weapon , crossbow 2 ; armored arcana 1 ; spell penetration ; combat casting.

These are her spells (remember Not to cut on the defensive one's , you ARE alone)

first level : magic missile , chromatic orb , burning hands , ice dagger , shield
second level : Gedlee's electric loop , mirror image , web , Agganazzar's scorcher
third level : fire ball , haste , electric bolt
fourth level : stoneskin , fire shield (red)
fifth level : sunfire

My tactic consists of buffing up (shield , mirror image , stoneskin , fire shield (red) and sometimes haste and protection from evil), get into the thick of battle (preferably try to stand near archers and spellcasters or drag them together as much as you can , launch a crossbowbolt at them) and as soon as you have teamed them up launch away! those sunfires and fire balls. Then finish them off (If they aren't pannicking) with Gedlee's electric loop and the other stuff at your leisure.!

As far as I am now I didn't use the web alot and I got the electric bolt just to kill those hardened fire trolls , altough they are good if your enemy's are lined up. Sunfire works magic and you don't have to use your spell resistance or reflex saves and you save some mirror images!

Hack way! Killed lots of goblins and the like at the fortress but only got some xp from the spellcasters. But till now it's working out just fine.Enjoy!

 

this has been discussed in many previous threads, but I guess it's interesting enough that people still want to talk about soloing. so... I've finished the game with a solo aasimar sorcerer. it's very tough at first, but as the game progresses it get much easier. you buff yourself up if need be, send in your high level summons, and finish off any unlucky survivors with fireballs,electricity bolts etc. as for xp,you don't get much for monsters as your average party level is high-as high as your solo char, but you still get quest points so you should have no problem getting your sorcerer to cast multiple 8 and 9 level spells, at which point you almost feel like you're cheating since the battles get very easy. as always with sorcerers,I try to pick spells that are vastly improved when you are at higher levels.
I also started soloing with a deep gnome monk,who was very strong on defense (high AC and resistances from race and class bonuses), but not as good on offense--> esp. when you have to kill something with bludgeoning-damage resistance.at which point you must equip your monk with a weapon, which for me takes the fun out of playing as a monk. but anyway, the solo monk was interesting enough to play, but the game itself got too boring after having finished it twice.
you can always throw in one level of whatever class to your character's main class, just to get immidiate bonuses from that class.

 

Dualclassing can be a beauty.
I made a necromancer the other day and after a while I found alot of nice conjuration spells that I couldn´t write... So, next level up he got a sorcerer level and wiho, conjuration spells writable =)

I haven´t solo´d yet though, this was in a party with only one mage. Although, doing it with a mage/sorcerer seems almost to easy. Especially if you have modded in Ribald and go buy Jans ammo to the hell bolter you helped create. I took out all the Efreetis in the Dragons Eye with my mage alone without taking any damage using that only. Although 300000+ gc might be alittle steep for some xbow ammo...

 

To Duke Eltan.

Specializes wiz cannot cast spell from one/more school/s.

It is a bug in IWDII that enables all schools to a specialized wiz after multiclassing him to another cast enabled class (sorc works, palladin works ... maybe all of them).

A multiclassed caster specialized wiz / another caster class could cast prohibited spells allowed for 'another caster class'. But some DM's would not aprove this. But IWDII allows to write spells from prohibited schoold into specialized wizs book.

Do not count on this in other cRPGs, or PnP RPGs.


P.S. I know this, because I multiclassed my evoker to palladin. After this all spells from prohibited schools where available. But I didn't used them - because of the rules.

P.P.S. Please, do not understand this as a offense. Just for info.

 

It's house rules. Don't impose yours on those of others, especially when the game itself allows it.

Any class that allows spellcasting will allow you to access the restricted schools for specialized wizards. Speaking of restricted classes, necromancers can cast conjuration spells without anything special. It's illusion and enchantment spells that they can't cast.

 

Quicho. Since I dont play PnP I dont have a DM. And the fact that IWD2 allows it makes it okay to do so since it´s by those rules I play.
And in the other RPG´s I play, which are BG1&2 mainly, I always use an Illusionist since they can cast all the spells I want in those games.
PS. None taken, take none.

Hojo Jojo. That´s correct, I mixed him up with my Diviner from a MP game I´m running with a friend.

 

I soloed IWD 2 trough today.
i have been playing D&D for 10+ years so the game hasen't much a chalenge.

one thing i haven't figured out in these CoputerRPG games that most players make characters that have maximum Constitution.
i played it trough with a drow that got attribs like this:
Str 16, Dex 20, Con 1
Int 20, wis 3, Cha 20
Rog/Ran/Pal/Sor/Ftr

the Int 20 was mistake. should have been only 18 so i could have full 18 at Str and i still would have enough of skill points for my needs.
well the mistake is fixed after i made new character for HoF.

Who needs HP's if the enemy can't even hit you? with AC 42 they got hard time hiting specialy under Impr.Invisibility.
My Girlfriend is playing a druid who has AC 27 naked so lots of HP's is not a requirement...
More important is to eliminate the treath ASAP so no more damage can be taken thus high damage output is more important than lots of Hp's.

Last thing is that dont undestand why people are playing with Int scores near zero. maybe it is nice to have only one high skill but what about when the only character with good search gets hit by spell that does not give a chance for resurection. I like to have character that can do something else also than just concentrate damn hard.

should i make a alternative Character creation guide?

 

I too am thinking about soloing. Would a ranger/druid or a bard/sorcerer be better?

As an aside, I only just got IWD2, and am still coming to terms with 3rd ed rules. Anyway, I noticed there are no spells like breach or pierce magic. Is dispel magic the best it gets for removal of enemy combat/spell protections?

 

I went for a Moon elf Sorcerer called Arkant, but I got to the Ice Fortress and realised I couldn't beat the golems so I gave up oops.

Sorcerers are cool cos you can make them nigh on immune to every trick in the book, just keep them out of combat and kill archery things first! As I found out the hard way...enough said .

Its really up to you though, choose a class you'd want to be and play as yourself through the game. Then you'll be able to tell your grand chilren that you killed an orc or slayed a dragon!

 

Arrochir o Nelvarad

Aasimar paladin of Mystra 12 / diviner 12

Max HP 185

Resistances: acid 10, cold 5, electricity 5, fire 5

STR 16 (15 at start)
DEX 10
CON 10
INT 20 (16 at start)
WIS 17 (14 at start)
CHA 16

With items:

STR 16 (bull's strength most of the time)
DEX 12 (cat's grace now most of the time, too)
CON 10
INT 21
WIS 22
CHA 16 (I plan to employ eagle's splendour)

My record stats were something like STR 21, DEX 20, CON 12-13 (don't remember), INT 21, WIS 22, CHA 16. If I remembered to use eagle's splendour, CHA would also be in the region of 20. HP was above 220.

Skills (rank only):

Alchemy 15
Concentration 24
Diplomacy 23 (I know, I know)
Disable device 4
Knowledge (arcana) 18
Search 9
Spellcraft 25

Feats: armoured arcana 3, expertise, fiendslayer, improved critical, large sword 2, evocation 2, penetration 2, spirit of flame

Buffs:

Shield
Protection from evil
Mirror Image
Draw upon holy might
Bull's strength
Cat's grace
Blur
Luck
Haste (or improved haste)
Blink
Improved invisibility
Stoneskin
Fire shield
Prayer
Tenser's shift

Items:

Robe of enfusing
Snow leopard charm
Large shield +2
Cloak of displacement
Holy avenger +5
Heavy crossbow, +6 to hit/dmg
Sofia's half-again-the-normal-range longbow
Every god ring
Gauntlets of weapon skill
Periapt of wound closure (for resting)
Wyrm's skull helmet
Girdle of beatification
Boots of speed

Expertise feat set to 5 => +5 dodge AC

Antimagic field awaits caster-heavy battles.

Fiendslayer comes handy since there are loads of half-dragons, dragons and daemons.

Offensive repertoire:

Fireball
Sunfire
Chromatic orb
Feeblemind
Sun scorch
Smite evil

With my choice of spells and items, I have amassed a max AC of 41, a max AB of 42, a max HP of 251, max throws of F28/R21/W28.

Screens showing off his uberness can be found here.

[ December 07, 2003, 01:34: Message edited by: chevalier ]

 

That´s one awfully buffed and nice character you got there friend. How long does it take you to get all those up and running ey?


(Btw, darn you for puttin up the link to your site, I got caught in the quizthingey... grr )

 

Casting all those buffs takes a real lot of time. Some of those last like 10 rounds or something, so they should be cast right before battle. Also, there's not much use casting for example short-lasting damage increase spells if your attack bonus isn't skyhigh enough. Therefore he doesn't walk around with all his buffs on. The Traveller's Suite includes bull's strength, cat's grace, eagle's splendour (if I manage to remember), shield, mirror image, stoneskin. Those allow me to survive most of that, anyway, and practically always buy the time to cast the shorter lasting ones.

As for the link, screeens speak louder than words

 

chevalier, just wondering why not go with paladin/sorcerer? seems a waste of INT points,plus I hate having to rest after every battle as a wizard. and scrolls will only take you so far. is there any downside to playing pladin/sorcerer?

 

1. You are one guy. Sorcerers may not have the versatility to cover all the bases.
2. You can't advance paladin levels anymore after you take a sorcerer level.

 

About as many times I would have used more spell slots or greater bonus to saves from Divine Grace, I have been lucky having lots of different spells to memorise. On higher levels, I would have enough variability even as a sorcerer, but not until then. For usual battlefield situations - yes, sorcerer would be better. But on some rare occasions having some odd spell somewhere in your spellbook truly pays off.

As for INT, that's not really a waste. It provides a nice bonus to INT-based skills, such as alchemy, knowledge (arcana), spellcraft and the two most important rogue skills: search and disable device. In the last case, just a single rank point decides in your favour - it's trained only. I wouldn't say all those skills are truly crucial, but they surely ease the pain of soloing quite a bit.

Another problem with paladin/sorcerer would be that you can't level up those two classes interchangeably. You would have to go straight pally for some time and then switch to sorcerer.

I don't know why they didn't allow paladins of Mystra to go sorcerer. In pen and paper Forgotten Realms they can. Perhaps I would have taken a paladin/sorcerer if that had been possible.

Anyway, if you don't mind being unable to advance further as paladin, and if you don't mind losing paladin spells and would rather put the points elsewhere than wisdom, you could take a small number of paladin levels at the very beginning of the game and go sorcerer for the rest. You would be much more dependant on buffs in your melee capacity, but the buffs would be in many cases more powerful. Also, you would be able to have elementals fight by your side. Let's say, six fire elementals in your battle. Or one from each element if that's not a waste of known spell slots for you.

Rather than taking, for example, seven paladin levels, you could take three paladin and four fighter levels. Weapon specialisation is quite handy and so are the additional feats. As unarmed character, you could consider ranger, monk or rogue levels, with due caution to avoid the odd multiclassing 20% XP penalty.

Ranger: free dual-wielding from level 1 on, so long as you're not heavily armoured
Rogue: free evasion from level 2 on so long as you're not heavily armoured, lots of skill points
Monk: free evasion from level 1 on, and a must-have if you for some reason still have a good wisdom score

In practice, Aasimar isn't that lucky. His favoured class is paladin, so all other classes need to be on equal level.

Human or half elf has an easier life. In this particular case also wild elf has. Sorcerer being the favoured class (for half elf or human by virtue of highest level), paladin and all other class levels need to be within the range of one level difference. For example, ranger2/rogue2/paladin3/sorcerer(x).

Other races are totally unlucky, so far as multiclassing paladin with sorcerer goes. XP penalty of 20% is unavoidable as neither paladin nor sorcerer is the favoured class and levelling them up interchangeably is impossible.

With paladin/wizards, it's quite easier for moon elves and male drow, for whom wizard is the favoured class.

 

what I meant about INT points - in a game such as IWDII, INT above 10-12 does not seem to make such a difference, even when soloing,even when considering the bonuses to skill points. if you are playing as an aasimar, it seems very useful to benefit from the charisma bonus for both your paladin and sorcerer classes. plus,I think I'd rather have a paladin/sorcerer with higher CON than a paladin/wizard with higher INT.
I agree that not being able to level up both your pal/sor classes is not very appealing, but a little pre-planning and that should be of no real concern.as for pen and paper, then I would rather take a paladin/wizard. I find roleplaying wizards much more interesting than sorcerers. but in pc rpgs, I think the sorcerer is just too useful a class not to use. I can't see how a high level wizard can hope to survive challenging a similar level sorcerer. again, this is unfortunately true for pc rpgs.

 

It depends. A wizard can have something special, from which a sorcerer wouldn't be able to defend himself. Also, feat choice tends to matter as it affects DCs. There are some spells you only really need to cast once.

And most of all, it depends on the player. I could surely think of something special for a sorcerer (just how many protection spells will a sorcerer learn?). I could also make use of preknowledge of his spells via spellcraft. Casting something high-level and nasty? So I throw a delay 1-3 high damage spell in. A fireball, a sunfire, a lightning bolt, whatever. Casting fireball or sunfire? Run for cover! Casting something I'm protected from? Nice, so I can focus on my high-level suprise. And so on. Also, a free feat every five levels can change much. The wizard is more likely to have more nasty focuses and probably has greater penetration and the +20% damage extensions.

As a sorcerer, I would use my summoning edge (from more casts per day) and make best possible use of the flexibility given from being able to cast whatever spell known so many a time as I desire. For example, that would mean an exact number of lower resistance casts needed. Or various kinds of damage until I find out what gets through the guy's protections. I would also have more mirror images, stoneskins and the like, if the battle turned into summonfest. Don't forget that I could raise my CHA further with eagle's splendour while the poor wizard doesn't have such a bonus. Chances are that the wizard hasn't found several important scrolls from which I'd be completely independent.

 

Solo Monk Svirfneblin
16
20
14
3
20
3

Can't be stopped... You can duallclass to fighter at level 24. A friend told me that with hammers he's is more powerful...