Deep Gnome Party

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Wife is going to see realtives overnight with the kids. AFter some morning chores, I will have a free gaming day tomorrow!

SO, I will jump into a IWD2 run, make it a all-nighter if i'm lucky.

I was thinking about running an all Deep Gnome party with some odd builds. I will use Mindchild's little addition that he left for us a while back, changing the starting ability points for new characters to 20, instead of 16. Here's the party....

- Cleric(Ilmater), LG - 14 14 16 8 18 8 - Melee and Divine Magic
- Rogue(5)/Monk(x), LN - 14 18 14 8 18 6 - Decoy and Trapmaster
- Paladin(1)/Cleric(x)(Ilmater), LG - 14 12 12 8 18 14 - Main Tank
- Sorcerer, LN - 10 14 14 16 10 14 - Blaster and Speaker
- Transmuter, NG - 10 14 18 18 12 6 - All around Arcane Caster
- Druid, NG - 14 16 14 10 18 6 - Shapeshifting and Damage casting.

Questions

- Will the Dep Gnome +4 AC bonus carry-over when shapeshifting?
- With having all chararacters with initial MR, does it become a headache when casting buffing magic on the party?
- I will summon lots of creatures with 5 spellcasters, will summons be able to handle most of the melee in late game battles?

 

About the summons. You're Druid will probably be killing most of them with his AOEs later in game anyways right? I've never been a big fan of summon, tho Blood Rage on a Bear summons is hilarious and pretty devistating to anything it comes in contact with, my newest party has a Tansmuter and I'm always blood raging everything, only bad part is that you got to kill your summons after the fight is over =/

 

This Druid will be about summoning then shapechanging. (Maybe summoning some bears and then changing in to one to lead them? King of the Ursas!)

 

Ooh, nice! All DG party.

No. Nothing except for Monk Wisdom AC bonus does, but your druid doesn't have that.

No. Buffs do not suffer MR checks. Only offensive magic does.

Handle, yes, but very slowly. Your own guys will do most of the killing despite your summons. Ranged weapons are recommended if you're to use your summons as your tanks.

Since you have MR on everyone, be sure to utilize AoE nukes liberally. Watch out for Horrid Wilting, though, it ignores MR.

 

Your transmuter would be a better trapmaster than your rogue/monk, the 5 rogue levels only allow to put rogue skills 4 points higher while the 10 extra int from the transmuter grants +5 both in search and disarm (the difference will even increase when int increases) and you have more skill points to spend.
You might even consider putting 4 stat points from the useless wis stat to dex and do the lockpicking too with this character (although you can simply bash everything with a shapeshifted druid) and keep the monk pure.

 

Only got as far as the horde fortress. Too many other things to interupt a nice gaming day. Not too bad so far though slow starting out. Since max base strength is only 16 and I handicapped this run even further with muy top starting strength of only 14,, melee fights take a bit longer, though I don't seem to be taking much damage. The +4 AC bonus on all characters is really nice! the few mages I have encountered so far, I have mostly ignored because of my MR and just wading through the enemies is fun. I placed Ned's Knucky on my Pal/Cle. The rabbit foot on the Rogue/Monk. Teh Pally wields LS and Shield with WF - LS and Dodge. He currently has an AC of 29, pre-buffed. Nothing is hitting him. Buffing him up and letting him go in just a step ahead of the others in the party is nice. Boneguard and Gnome Pally fighting side by side. It's very comical.

The Sorcerer is the frustrating of the characters, though I am guessing that with the dynamic system, XP gathering will start to gain momentum. All of my characters are currently level 4. I will have to wait a while until I get the lovely level 3 spells for the Sorcy. We will lob fireball after fireball into melee. I am debating on what other spells to take for him at 3rd level after Fireball. Melf's MM looks good, as does Flame Arrow and Icelance. I will leave the support and buff spells and Dispel Magic for my wizard. Damage and Disabling spells for the Sorcerer only.

---------- Added 3 hours, 18 minutes and 36 seconds later... ----------

I want the Transmuter to be a single-classed wizard-type. As a DG, she is already starting behind in XP, i don't want to handi-cap her Magic by adding in levels of other classes. Also, I have been wanting to tryout a DG Rogue/Monk for a longtime. Evasion, Stealth, Sneak AT, Trap and Lock man and UFC Champion all-in-one. Nice!

 

Your transmuter doesn't need rogue levels to use rogue skills.

 

Level 4 at the Horde Fortress? Blades, you are a very patient player.

 

Level 4 at the fortress sounds just about right by my recollection from my own 6xDG party. It's slow going in the beginning but they pick up on speed once the high-CR monsters come into play, ie. once in Ice Temple.

 

You got to take into account the +3 ECL for Deep Gnomes. It is really slow going leveling-wise. But it does make it more challenging as well. I am lakcing in both HP and Melee- Damage dealing capability. Makes you become more inventive in your ways of dealing with the baddies. I have been using Web, Entangle and Sleep alot. Even Color Spray a few times. And Summons and Missle Weapons. Though I like to have the Pal/Cle lead the charge of Summons. I have been utilizing alot of saved-game files. I Leveld up with Keeper to Level 5, 6 and 7 to try can cast Animate Dead with my Cleric and see what I will be summoning at those levels, but went back to an older save to continue the main game. Bonegaurds are very handy for this party-type. Hopefully I will get some more game time in tonight.

 

I like playing solo or smaller parties. In my last games I usually started with one character and added extra characters during the course of the game.

Going for a DG party is the opposite but I understand that it can be fun and challenging at the same time.

Of course, playing a DG at lower levels is not that bad because of all the abilities DG get, it's the extra XP for levelling that makes it kinda slow early on. I trust Sir Rechet's statement that they do pick up some speed in the next chapter.

Anyway it looks like an interesting game, that's for sure.

 

Yep, I was thinking Sherincal, the Remorhaz, the Giants flinging the boulders and a few others in the Ice Temple like the Golems and Demons are going to cause some headaches for me. With low-damage dealing melee combatants, those are going to be some VERY long fights coming up. I will be without Stoneskin, so Mirror Image, Blur and the Deep Gnome +4 AC modifier will have to carry me thru.

 

Sherincal is not fun with this party. For kicks, I tried to best her in Melee, w/out summons. Not such a good idea. She whooped my ass to be honest.

Summons and missle Weapons and magic missles and Chromatic Orbs did her in quite easily though. The Remorhaz Queen went down 1st try, but I cheesed it a bit and never had any of my Pcs near her except for my invisible Rogue/Monk. Lots of Summons and Icelances/Melf's Acid Arrows from my Sorc and she went down. Next up will be the Temple itself. Debating on using the front door or the back door. I am thinking the back door is the better option for this rather "small" group

 

The back door is only for information gathering; you'll need to go through the front door anyway. Remember that the moment you enter the ice temple map, a timer starts that will kill one prisoner every hour. To get the most XP, make your way to the jails ASAP, and rescue them.

 

The back door takes you into the Abishai lair. Is that not right above the jail?

 

yeah, but you can't get through the ice doors from that side.

 

Yes you can. IT's been a while, but I think it goes something like this, otherwise what would be the point of entering the room from outside the temple? As long as none of your characters are injured, the Abishai won't attack you, as they don't smell your blood and go into a feeding frenzy. Just wait and eventually the door will open as the Ice priestess are doing their rituals. Though, I think some prisoners die as you say from the timing. But hey, how would my pcs know this???

 

Ok, Ice Temple is done. Moved on to the next chapter and the Dragons are destroyed as well. I took both of them on at once, by running into the cave. My party is currently at level 7 or 8 with most of the pcs ready to hit level 8.

Cleric(8)
Rogue(5)/Monk(3)
Paladin(1)/Cleric(6)
Sorcerer(8)
Transmuter(7)
Druid(7)

The Dragons were a challenge for "Team Shorty", as I decided to take them head on with no Summons. My Buffed Pal/Cle ruled the day with some serious but stomping, landing several critical hits. Flame Arrows from the Sorcerer was the finisher for both Dragons. Next up, the hated Duergar! Those bastards have been enslaving the people of my Team Shorty for far too long. No dealing with their ilk, jus barrel in and let em have it!

 

So, effective character level 11? How difficult does it feel?

 

Actually, it's very difficult. But lots of fun. You can't just rip through the enemies with powerful melee characters with this "small" party. I have to Buff just to get a 20 strength. Though I don't take a lot of damage, I do take more than I originally thought I would in melee. Normally, with Humans and Half-Orcs as my warriors, I kill everything quick enough to where they don't deal much damage back. Dead Umber Hulks can't hurt you! But since melee takes a bit longer, your enemies get several chances to land hits on your characters.