My approach to this must be way off

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I'm still in the beginning town.

I'm being sent out on a mission to escort an incoming caravan (before the expedition) but I'm not even strong enough to take down the run-a-muck wolf in that one villager's house.

There are only three probable allies that I see in town that I could take with me but two of them won't open the conversation to join my party and the third, the chic in the church, is pissed off at me.

I'm playing a half-elf thief/mage experienced with short and long swords - any suggestions?

 

Icewind Dale isn't like Baldurs' Gate. You make all the characters yourself. There are no party members who will join you.

 

Yup. What 8people said. Playing this game solo is suicide. Believe me, I tried

 

Ha! Lol! THAT's what I was doing wrong!

I didn't realize that I was supposed to make my entire party! I probably should've read the manual first.

How many party members would you suggest? As many as possible?

 

A lot of people play with 4 characters, but personally, I prefer a full party of 6.

Since you're playing it for the first time, might be a good idea to start with 6 for this run through. You can always reform your party along the way and try different combinations later.

 

You can also download the IWD NPC Project mod from here . I had played it earlier, and have to say that it is a really good one. You do not get to create your own party, but you also do not have to go through the whole game without one single party banter that way. Worth the trade, I would say.

 

Icewind Dale is not one of the popular "1 character is the center of the world and uses other characters as tools to help him" rpgs, it's a party rpg. You create and play a team of characters with different strengths and weaknesses who complement each other and act together as team.

You can install the NPC project to try to change this great game into a fake of some mainstream selfish games, but for me making plans about creating your own team is more fun then playing someone else's party.

 

Thanks for the advice.

And yeah, I like the party idea as opposed to self promotion of one main protagonist - it sticks more to orginal P'n'P design. =)

Going to have to restart because I exhausted my initial gold reserve on healing potions when I took on that entire orc squad by myself at the beginning.

 

It's funny that this came up just as I am nearing the end of a solo game with a Cleric/Mage. It has taken a long time with lots of reloads, but that is because I deliberately make it really hard for myself by restricting my abilities.

But for the first time around, make a balanced party and go kick some butts - enjoy.

 

If you want to keep your mage/thief you can export and reimport him when you create your characters for the new game.

 

That's a good idea, Kmonster......and he'll actually have some experience under his belt to boot!

 

Starting trick

Often when I start a new party for IWD I use the Half Party Trick. As I'm sure your mage/theif learned having some armored thuglies with sharp sticks on your side is kind of neccessary if your mage/theif is going to do his thing. SO...Set the game difficulty to Fury! This makes the beasties much more difficult but gives you vast exp. for beatles AND completing the miniquests in Easthaven. First create what people here call a tank, Dwarf fighter 18/91+ strength, 17 dex, 19 con, 10 wisdom (never put wisdom below 10), Two proficiency point in Axe, and two in mace, hammer, or flail. Give him the best armor the shop has, a helmet, a sheild (large if they have it, I don't recall), and an axe (and mace if you can afford it). Next, make youself a Ranger or Paladin, stats and proficiencies to your tastes. Armor and weapons as character and money indicates. Last guy should be Multiclass Elf fighter/theif Proficiencies in Large sword and bow. Run these three through the Miniquests in Easthaven. Save the little goblin horde till last. When you're done helping everyone with their little problems the party should be third level! Set the difficulty back to your confort level (Heart of Fury mode all the way through is for masochists). Note if you play on insane mode your party will gain experience TOO FAST!? Fifth level mage with no third level spells! Add your three remaining characters and your off to find the lost caravan. Obviously you could arrange your party as you see fit. I'm of the opinion that every party needs at least one pure, dedicated, melee fighter (the dwarf above). However the deadliest early character is the dedicated archer with a composit Longbow. The only solo I've compleeted was with the archer/theif
above (sacrificed longbow mastery for theifing skills). Other party hints, replace the Paladin/Ranger with a Dual class Fighter/Cleric. Give EVERYONE a projectile weapon profiency (note the dwarf above DOES have a projectile proficiency, axe). Give complementary proficiencies, dwarf gets axe and mace, Paladin gets Longsword, crossbow, and warhammer, elf fighter/theif get Longbow and longsword, cleric gets sling and flail. Note, the pure fighter gets really good (mastery) at one or two weapons, Paladins and Rangers gain proficiency in many different weapons but never gain mastery.

 

Unless you are using the patch that lets you have grand mastery in multiclass characters, a Ranger/Cleric is better than a fighter/cleric. I don't recall anything a fighter/cleric can do that a ranger/cleric can't aside from there being fewer race and alignment restrictions for the f/c. Dual class fighter->cleric does allow for grand mastery in a weapon, but there isn't much advantage if any to a multiclass fighter/cleric that a ranger/cleric can't do, plus you get a few extra low-level spells at level 9 and access to both cleric and druid spells to choose from.

Also, someone should get a shortbow proficiency as you usually get several good magical shortbows. I usually go for the thief as pureclass thieves get shortbows but not longbows, but that's just me.

 

Bah. Play it solo in HoF.

 

The Ranger/Cleric also gets an extra attack per round when using a one-handed weapon and no shield. The extra hit with Three White Doves is a wonderful thing.

 

Rangers and Ranger/Clerics get an extra attack with 2-handed weapons too. As long as they don't have a shield or anything in their off-hand, they get the extra attack.

 

Ummm ... doesn't a two-handed weapon automatically mean something is in the off-hand....

 

I read somewhere that the extra attack that rangers enjoy is there to compensate the fact that they didn't get to implement two-weapon fighting skill in time of the games release.

 

Just made my first Ranger/Cleric in my new file.

How exactly do I play this character? Priest? Apparently it's not an Archer type, which I found odd. I don't often multi-class

 

They do well with slings. Put either a mace or hammer in their hands and watch them go. Only use a shield if you really need the extra AC -- one handed weapon with no shield gives an extra attack per round.

You basically have a warrior priest with access to all divine spells (clerical and druid). This is probably the best fighting character I ever played.