IWD II first timer questions

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I'll be getting IWD II at some point this week, and from reading about it, and the 3.5 D&D rules it uses, it is definitely a departure from IWD/BG. With that in mind, and because it'll be my first attempt, what's the best party in terms of number/classes, etc, that will make for the best game ? I read one thread that would suggest a 3 or 4 character party works very well, but I'm looking to play with a 6 character party. With it being my first play, at this point I'm looking at the best party for completing the game in the most efficient manner, so I'd probably lean towards a party that can get pretty powerful with the least amount of risk before taking on the major bad guys.

Is there a race/class combination I should avoid ?

I'd like to try and have a mix of races if possible, so are there any race mixes I should avoid, or doesn't it really matter ? I would assume that alignment more than anything else would cause party friction.

Any other suggestions that anyone can give, without spoilers, would be appreciate as well.

Thanks.

 

Just roll up 6 random yahoos and go for it.

Rangers are probably the weakest. Rogues aren't as important as they were in the first one, although there's still plenty of traps to be found.

Don't worry about alchemy at first. Put a point into it every couple of levels. It comes in handy starting at the halfway point of the game, but not before.

Don't bother with tracking. It's utterly worthless, and points best spent elsewhere.

There's not a tremendous amount of powerful undead until one specific part near the end of the game, and then there's quite a few. There's some undead at the halfway point, but there's mostly weak.

Paladins can get the holy avenger, but it involves a fedex quest kind of thing. It's an excellent sword.

The most important thing to remember is buy every single Protection from Magic scroll you can find. Not Anti-Magic; that one is focused on the caster. You want the version of the spell you can cast on someone else, which is very limited in number. There's only about three scrolls, but you really only need two. Two will come in very handy, right at the very end of the game. Protection from Magic; remember that one.

Uh. Let's see...that's about all that comes to mind right now.

 

Alignment is more just for your entertainment; it doesn't impact the game in too many places. You might like to have everyone be a similar alignment, or you might not. My last party had a Chaotic Good woodsman type as a fighter with a Dreadmaster of Bane (that's a major-league evil cleric, if you haven't played the game yet), a Chaotic Neutral sorceress, and a psycho barbarian dude, but that was because I was following a story I made up for my own entertainment.

 

I Played several times with a very mixed group. I made my thief a fighter/thief.

 

Druids. always use druids

 

Well... I think you can play the game succesfully with a huge variety of different partys, so any suggestions are just that. If you want a really powerful party, there's a guide about building one somewhere around sorcerer's place. Check it out.

My own advice would be to :
1. Make good use of multiclassing. Taking characters up to fourth level of fighter and then changing to barbarian/paladin/cleric/druid is certainly a good idea.

2. Forget about rangers and monks. The only ranger that was ever worth something was the archer subclass (or kit?), and that one's not availiable in IWD. Monks can be real killing machines, but only on really high levels, and you won't reach them while playing for the first time.

3. It sounds like a contradiction to my first point, but with some classes being mono-classed is much better, especially sorcerers. Imho a pure-classed sorcerer is a must. They rock.

4. I'd be careful about those more exotic races like Deep Gnomes and Duergars. They're extremely specialised, and imho their advantages aren't worth the disadvatages. It's no accident that humans are the dominant race of Faerûn...

5. There's no intra-party friction whatsoever. Throw in evil clerics with saintly paladins, races that are mortal enemies like duergar and drow or drow and elves (is there any race that's not a mortal enemy of the drow?) - it doesn't matter. "Do as thou wilt shall be the law of the land."

6. But there are lots of race/class combos that don't work well, much more than I can list here. Read the race descriptions carefully!

[ February 27, 2005, 14:36: Message edited by: Ironside ]

 

*Here comes the solo advertiser again*

IMO at some point, try the game solo, it is fun.

As for alignment, if you want to be safe trhoughout the game, go with evil. One particular nasty spell cuts a good aligned party down in later levels. Neutrals are somewhat influenced, and evils none at all. One of the end bosses uses the spell too (Blasphemy).

Trap disarming and the search skill come in handy a bit later, some traps are just plain annoying (dispell traps, traps that won't vanish after triggering). Rogue as a class is still not really needed.

Arcane casters. Either someone with heavy summoning or offensive of defensive buffs (or as solo, them all). Arcane casters are a must.

If you want either a paladin or a pureclass something, aasimar is a good race pick. +4 ability points, some resistances to elements and the only disadvantage (apart from favored class being paladin) is 1+ ECF.
Drow and svirfneblin get spell resistance, it's quite handy.

 

Actually, I agree with Taluntain. For a first effort, maybe have a play with one of the premade parties. That reminds me that that was actually what I did, first time around. I just substituted one of the characters for one I really wanted to have.

 

A group of arcane casters (especially Drow, for magic resistance) druids and a Barbarian mixed together can do anything.

 

Thanks for the advice. I kept some of it mind while choosing my party, and in the end I went with:

Human Aasimar Paladin - Lawful Neutral
Half-Elf Fighter - Chaotic Good
Human Cleric - Chaotic Neutral
Halfling Rogue - Chaotic Good
Wild Elf Sorcerer - Neutral Evil
Human Tiefling Mage - Chaotic Neutral

I went with a Paladin as my leader because of wanting a strong fighter up front, and because the high Charisma and skills/feats I've given him make him the best spokesman for the party. The Half-Elf fighter was for wanting another asskicker, but without the restrictions of being Lawful Good, and with different skills/feats. The Cleric was for healing and for someone who could at least capably make up the numbers when the need for fighting came. The Rogue is for scouting ahead, and, even though some have played down this part, I like having a thief in the fold. The Sorcerer and Mage are in for their spells obviously, with the Sorcerer being chosen for being a more potent, if somewhat limited spellcaster, and the Mage for being an all-rounder in the magic department.

 

Aasimar is always nice, because they get the stat boosts without any penalties. Most of the other races might get a +2 here, but a -2 in some other stat.

A level or two of a rogue is helpful. A Paladin as leader isn't. You seriously hurt for gold at the start of the game, and then you'll go through long stretches without a shop. Just the matter of surviving will make you rich by end-game.

Hope you completely cranked up the charisma on the sorcerer. Anything less than 18 makes him/her completely worthless, and as soon as you can hit 21-24, so much the better.

 

I'd try making your sorcerer the spokesman. He'll have high charisma (I hope) and you won't miss out on the rewards that the paladin refuse to accept.

Are you sure you want a single class Rogue? Rogues are far less useful in IWDII than in some other games so they often work better as a multiclass.

 

Listen to Harbourboy. Make your Rogue a Fighter/Rogue or some other combination. Don't worry about a lot of points in strength. You'll be suprised how good this can be. I used my Halfling for scouting and getting into places the 'big' people couldn't. Also a lure to draw out enemies one or two at a time.

 

Two Fighters (Paladin, Fighter, or Ranger), A Cleric, A Rogue, A Bard, and a Mage.

 

Charisma on the Sorcerer is at 18. As for multi-classing the Rogue, what other class would you recommend they have ? I've just started the game, but I'm only up to the point where I'm about to enter the Salty Dog Tavern, so I'm assuming it wouldn't be too much hassle to remove the Rogue I have now and replace them with a Rogue/Other Class character ?

 

bards are always useful. very good at getting what they want

 

Indeed, best to choose a Bard as the 'Face' of the party, talking his way out of hopeless situations is his region....

 

You could give your Tiefling a couple of Rouge levels and then go back to being a mage. Assuming you maxed out Int you will always have a skill point or two left over after investing in the spell skills. Dump the halfling.
Remember to give him [10 - Int modifier] points in Spellcraft. Gives you access to some nifty feats.

LN Paladin? How? If he follows Helm he can freely multiclass to Fighter, leaving your HalfElf to take Barbarian levels. Personally I prefer Human or HalfOrcs for that build. So maybe you will try something else.

Be prepared to spend money on scrolls. Unlike BG there aren't a lot of mage scrolls you find on corpses. **** load of priest spell scrolls lying around tho.

Bards are good. My Bard[11]/Druid[x] rocked. Get all the mental stats and talking skills and shapeshift when you want something extra on the frontlines. Human works best here.

 

Drop the Halfling Rogue and Tiefling Mage. Then create a Tiefling Rogue w/ the stats of your mage. Build him/her as Rogue 3/Mage X. If you are going to multiclass w/ Rogue on a character, it's better to start as Rogue due to the increased skill points at creation.