HoF Runthrough

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Even though Heart of Fury mode isn't technically my cup of tea, after wrapping up my "roleplaying run-through" I decided to start a HoF game… as my IWD2 fix had not been fully sated. My party is based off the Ultimate Powergaming Party with a few changes.

I decided to import 2 characters directly from my previous run-through:
• Renespr the Shield Dwarf, pure Battleguard of Tempus is back for a new adventure, still wielding his +4 battle axe and shield from the normal play-through. This character is already in the UPP, so this was an obvious choice.
• Maraph’en the Wild Elf, pure Sorceress is also back, wielding crossbows as her primary weapon (and her spells of course). She takes the place of the human Sorcerer in the UPP. I plan to splash in a level or two of Paladin eventually.
• Triumphantine the Half-Orc barbarian1/bardX from my previous run-through is also back, but his life has taken a different path. He is now Triug (his true Orcish name) the fighter4/barbarian. Obviously, he replaces the Shield Dwarf, Fighter4/BarbarianX. The logic in UPP for a dwarf was compelling, but I don’t like to bring a lot of shorties, and I wanted to salvage as many characters from the previous run-through as possible. He uses Greatswords.

Also with the party are:
• Izraat the Redeemed, Drow Rogue1/ConjurerX. Straight from UPP. Uses bows. Focuses on summoning, some crowd control and lots of non-evocation based damage spells.
• Son of Truth, Human Paladin of Helm 2/Cleric of Lathander X. One of the options presented in UPP, but I think I have one extra level of Paladin. Uses longswords and shields.
• Marceror – Aasimar Bard – This character has nothing to do with UPP, and replaces the Aasimar Sorcerer. I toyed with going Bard 11, Sorcerer X, but in the end I decided to keep it simple and just go pure bard. He dual wields a longsword and a shortsword. With the Golden Heart of Marceror, he is quite potent in melee (so far at least). His spells are primarily buffs/debuffs, with some summoning spells thrown in for good measure. While it would be tempting to splash in some paladin levels later, this will prevent me from getting some rewards I believe, so I will likely stick to my guns and remain a pure bard.

So far so good with this party. I obviously had to use the console commands to get make the new characters comparable to Renespr and Maraph'en level-wise. I also loaded those original characters up with the best equipment from my previous runthrough so that my new characters could start with some decent gear.

We just finished liberating the Shaengarne Bridge and will be taking on the Goblin Fortress next. The key with this party seems to be buffing up well before the fight (bards can become amazing tanks using their own buffs by the way), getting some good debuffs in against large groups of enemies, and using the sorceress/wizard to support the fighters with plenty of direct damage. In this game I have combat paused more than not, and every combat is carefully planned out. I’m sure it will get a lot more challenging as I go.

Roleplaying is much lighter this time, but my idea is that Triug, Renespr and Maraph`en adventured together for many years, since they were all together in my previous game. Marceror, Son of Truth and Izraat have also adventured together for many years, mostly in the Underdark. These two groups have more recently joined forces, and felt compelled to offer their veteran skills to aid Targos and the Ten Towns against its current threat. Divinations performed by Son of Truth tell him that their is most to this current threat than meets the eye. He feels the group must travel to Targos to prevent great evil from taking hold of the area. This is very much a good aligned party. Those in Targos believe them to be average sellswords, none realizing the legendary qualities each of these heroes possess. This isn't about gaining riches, for riches they have in abundance already. This is about taking a stand for the cause of righteousness, and fighting a worthy cause!

 

Those are great names! I normally call my characters Fred, Jeff, Rita, Edith, Bob and Betty !

 

My dearest Silvery, you pay me a great kindness with your words. But know this, I only use names such as those presented previously because I had not before encountered such... such genius names as you have offered here! Those are the roleplaying games I've been searching out for the whole of my life. Until now, they had eluded me, like... like the Holy Grail once eluded Arthur the Knights of Camelot.

You would honor me mistress, if you would but grant permission to one so unworthy as I, to allow me, in my next roleplaying experience, to use such grand and heroic monikers as Fred, Jeff, Rita, Edith, Sir Bob, and of course, the Blessed and Wondrous Betty!

Oh, what tidings of great joy this day have come!!

 

My favourite names so far have been Joe Blow (DG tank, what else?) and Ashlee Bane (DG Banite tank or decoy, with that burnt-to-crisp sulphurous twist in the name).

Good luck with that HOF run of yours. It's quite a different beast compared to Normal mode and WILL force you to rethink some tactics just to survive. But I consider that a welcome change after Normal mode's overkill.

 

I love you matey!

 

HoF run has been slow... mostly because work has been so demanding lately, among other demands, but also because I'm finding HoF rather tedious. This is what I remember from my first HoF runthrough many years ago. I spend so much time buffing before a fight... and then I go up against the word's most uber Orcs. Orcs just aren't supposed to be that powerful.

It's not particularly hard (or at least, I'm certainly not finding it overly difficult). Tedious is really the best word for it. We'll see if I can maintain the will to keep going. I have been prompted into spending some of limited gaming time to do another run of PS:T, you know, to break the tedium.

 

Tedius is a great word for HOF. You can't go into battle without buffs or summons in my opinion, and all the spellcasting before hand and during makes it insanely slow. Yah, you get to see characters advance to really high levels, but it just gets boring.

Also, trying to take your fighter, barbarian, ranger, or paladin single class character that did well into HOF is very humbling. Seeing them get tore apart by goglins at the start is just sad, and then you realize that you are in a whole new game requiring a much different party. Deep Gnomes even need decent buffing to avoid getting hit hard.