PC strongholds, coolest to lamest

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Here is a subjective listing of the relative merits and demerits of the different PC strongholds.

Paladins: Order of the Radiant Heart
Not the best idea for a stronghold, but definitely the one with the best quests. You go around dispensing justice. If you do the right thing (simply follow your conscience) they all end in a great big punch-up. One of the quests is very unusual in that you have to protect a girl for the night and you have no idea whether to trust the person who comes to collect her. Finally, if you don't kill Firkraag when you first meet him, you are ordered to do so: truly the stuff of legend.

Bards: Five Flagons Playhouse
I don't yet have direct experience of playing this stronghold, but it looks to be the most carefully thought out and is beautifully in role with a bardic PC. Go through all the trials and tribulations of rehearsing and staging a play (with a good punch-up along the way). Do it right and it generates a decent income.

Rangers: Cabin in the Umar Hills
Not exactly conveniently located, this again is nicely in role with a ranger PC: become the protector of a village. The cabin is stocked with useful stuff. There are two fairly easy quests associated with the stronghold and a medium-hard one. The last one gives you a most excellent magic item, the Moon Dog figurine. You are summoned when the village needs your help. There's a bug that can cause you to lose your stronghold through no fault of your own, but I believe that this has been fixed by Baldurdash.

Mages: The Planar Sphere
The coolest place of the lot. It comes with a couple of decent fights and the idea of apprentices is a nice one, although they can be hard to keep alive. If you're very lucky, your apprentices can craft some very good magic items. If you're not lucky, they die in industrial accidents.

Druids: The Druid Grove
Comes with a couple of half-decent quests, both of which reward you with minor magic items (a club and a lion figurine). When eventually you reach 14th level, you can challenge for the title of Great Druid. You won't be going there much, however, because it's both out of the way and an absolute sod to reach.

Fighters: the de'Arnise Keep
This should be very good: your own castle and fiefdom to rule as wisely or as foolishly as you see fit. Unfortunately, it's kinda lame. Can be expensive, too. The problem is: nothing happens for weeks on end. Eventually, you'll get to defend your castle from the rapacious Roenals, but I don't think that you could reach this point in a reasonable amount of game time. It's not conveniently located, either, and you have walk around the castle a lot to get to where the things happen. Does generate an income, but it's a pain to pick your money up.

Thieves: Guildhall formerly known as Mae'var's Guild
Again, a cool idea but a slightly lame reality. Comes with one fight, one find-the-bad-apple-mystery and then that's it: you set your orders and collect a small weekly income.

Clerics: Temple
The best thing you can say about your stronghold is that it's conveniently situated. You're not even a very senior cleric in your temple. It might be more enjoyable for evil clerics, since you get to kill people instead of giving them advice. Even the final punch-up is a little disappointing (or at least it was for my priest of Helm - I had to stop the Lathander Temple wiping out the Temple of Talos). There is a three day gap between each "quest" (although advising somebody about matters of faith barely counts as a quest in my book) which can really mount up in game time.

 

I've only played a bard once, but I can say that the playhouse is probably the most well thought-out stronghold of any of them. It comes with decent amounts of XP's too.

 

yeah, the Playhouse stronghold rules... although i didnt think that the Planar Sphere was that cool.. i kept on losing apprentices... and the de'Arnise Keep was cool... but only for the reason that i had my own castle...

 

I found teaching the apprentices in the Planar Sphere to be the most rewarding "quest" in the game, if only because of the great variety of outcomes (i.e., 0, 1, 2, or 3 die, and you have a variety of items to choose from). No matter what sort of alignment you are, you can choose a suitable teaching method. As a good character, I had my students make moderately challenging items (wand of apprenti, mislead), and had them graduate without making a third item, so that all three survived. The graduation ceremony (if all three make it) is affecting: 50000 xp, great speeches, etc., and later one of your students returns to make decent potions for you every week. Plus, the place itself is the best-looking stronghold in the game.

 

I know the pally stronghold and fighters strongholds send help when you fight bhodi for the last time, which is cool, im not sure about the others tho

 

How does the fighter's stronghold help you with the fight against Bodhi? There are only 3 factions that will assist you with that fight...

*spoiler*
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Drizzt & Company
Order of the Radiant Heart
Shadow Thieves

 

Coolest :
1. de'Arnise Hold - your own castle!
2. Planar Sphere - you're now one of the most powerful mages in town (actually you're the most powerful one, but we already knew that)
3. Druid Grove - You are the leader of an entire group and you're really important for nature
4. Ranger's cabin - well, you have your own cabin and you get to protect a village
5. <CHARNAME>'s guild, it's nice to have your own guild, but I don't like thieves
6. Playhouse, it's nice, but I don't really see the significance of it in an adventuring game
7. The order of Radiant Heart - you only get a room
8. Cleric stronghold - same as the Order, but they are cooler

Best quests:
1. Playhouse - great story
2. de'Arnise Keep - good missions, but too far apart
3. Order of Radiant Heart - good missions (especially Firkraag), but they're very unclear. One time, you need to talk to some peasants before heading for your target, another time you have to cast know alignment and you will fail the last mission if Firkraag is already dead
4. Planar sphere - apprentices are nice, but can get tedious
5. Ranger cabin - a little too easy, but still nice
6. Druid grove - lame quests
7. Thief stronghold - you barely have to do anything
8. Cleric stronghold - yay, I can give people advice about their fates...

 

Hey guys I was just wondering what's the outcome regarding strongholds with multi-classed PCs?

[ November 12, 2003, 19:02: Message edited by: Razal'dar ]

 

@Razal
First come first served. If you're a figher/thief and you do the thief quest first you get the thief stronghold, however if you save Nalia's lands first you get the Keep. You can not have both unless you get the 'multiple-stronghold mod' that I think is provided in the ease-of-use mod.

Edit: however I found that the multiple-stronghold mod made strongholds difficult, when I had 'every' stronghold running at the same time I couldn't get past chapter 3 till I had done all the stronghold quests. I was running back and forth between bloody druid/keep/ranger problems back to thief-weekly-payments/playhouse/sphere issues.
It was funny watching my sorcerer act the part of a sorcerer... "Besides you look the role"