Advice needed for chronic restarter

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After playing BG, BG II, IWD and PsT i thought it would be a good idea to finally play IWD II. Boy was I wrong... This has turned out to be one of the most frustrating experiences in my gaming life. Getting owned by goblins and orcs? And to make matters even worse - all this freedom when it comes to creata your characters. For someone like me - that's a recipe for disaster. I've probably started this game about 20 times now - getting as far as the Ice Castle before I gave up. Now it is personal - I WILL finish this game - I HAVE to. I've tried to stay away from spoilers and has not read any walkthroughs since I want to complete the game without resorting to such "drastic" measures. However, I feel that I'm in need of advice since the game is very hard for me.

So after a lot a planing, restarting and other things, this is the group that (hopefully) will finish this game. What I'm looking for is advise on how to develop them so that they will be effective. Be as "powergamy (is that a new word?) as you like. Just remember that I don't wish to start all over again so plese stay away from advise like "you should had started as a rogue or whatever".

Anyway, I'm at Shaengarne and is about to enter the troll cave to pick up the sword. The bridge has never been a problem for me - the pain starts when I enter the Horde fortress. So here is my party (I totally ignored realistic stats for this run since I want to finish the game):

Isabel Amador (Human) - Paladin of Helm 3/Fighter 1
19 - 16 - 18 - 4 - 4 - 16
Feats: Large swords 2, Extra smiting, Heretic's bane, Heroic inspiration.

Ugrukh Redclaw (Half-orc) - Fighter 4
21 - 18 - 18 - 4 - 10 - 4
Feats: Power attack, Forester, Improved initiative, Iron will, Great sword 2.

Gregory Durant (Human) - Fighter 3/Morninglord of Lathander 1
19 - 14 - 18 - 4 - 18 - 4
Feats: Discipline, Improved initiative, Lightning reflexes, Luck of heroes, Hammer 2.

Theorin Hammerhand (Shield dwarf) - Battleguard of Tempus 4
18 - 14 - 21 - 3 - 18 - 3
Feats: Combat casting, Discipline.

Cassius Coyle (Human) - Rogue 1/Diviner 3
14 - 18 - 18 - 19 - 4 - 4
Feats: Bow 2, Rapid shot, Discipline.

Selina Silverstaff (Human) - Sorcerer 4
15 - 18 - 18 - 4 - 3 - 19
Feats: Combat casting, Courteous Magocracy, Luck of Heroes.
Spells: Grease, Chromatic Orb and Magic Missile (all level 1), Web (level 2).

I'm not really sure which feats are considered "good" so any advice on future picks will be much welcome. I disregarded toughness since it only looked good for level one characters. Also, I've seen many people promoting the Paladin 1/Sorcerer X build - is that a recomendation for this party and if such is the case, when should I take the paladin level? For the clerics it would seem like a good idea to put in a lot of summons/buffs but then there is no room for healing spells, which - since I suck at this game - probably is needed.

The Half-orc Fighter will take all his remaining levels as a barbarian (at least that was the plan) but I'm not sure about cleric #2. I thought about taking 4 levels of fighter before taking any cleric levels but weapon specialization doesn't look that good. As for the paladin the plan was to go P3/Fx but is that good? I just thought that there wasn't that much benefit in taking furter paladin levels but I could be wrong.

 

For your Pally, normally I would say tke take 4 fighter levels and then the rest Pally. Fig(4)/Pal(x). But your Wisdom is miserably low causing you to not get spells, so reverse it and take Pal(1)/Fig(x)

Half-Orc - Fig(4)/Barb(x)

Why take fighter levels for your Clerics? Keep them straight Clerics, they still kick ass with buffs.

Rog(1)/Wiz or Sor(x) is always a winner.

Plain Sorccerer is nice as well. Adding one Pal level slows down your spell progression in exchange for better weapon options. If you already have one Pally, why go two? There is only one Holy Avenger. Unless you are planning to go HoF.

 

Ahemm... I can't really change what I've already got so the paladin is at least paladin 3. As for putting fighter levels to my cleric - well I tried before with two "plain" clerics and it didn't really work out. So I'm going with this one instead - it might just work out for me. I'm more a "meleeplayer" than a spellcaster. While I realise the power and potential of the cleric I'm just trying to stick with what I know best.

 

3 paladin levels is enough, not much benefits after that. Pal(3)/Fighter(x) is a solid frontliner.

In IWD2 clerics are actually pretty good at melee - with high level buffs they are great fighters. But as you already have fighter levels, go for Fig(4)/Morninglord(x).

I'm with BoV; I'd keep the sorcerer pure, since you already have the paladin perks.

 

Isabel: For normal mode, stick with paladin levels. If you ever get to HoF, you might want to consider 4 levels fighter, but first aquire all your spell levels.
Ugrukh: Good plan to switch to Barbarian from then on, if only you had done so sooner, like after 1 level. Still, no great loss; you have weapon specialization now
Gregory: A dilemma. You are already 3 caster levels behind on your caster class, so 1 more level for weapon specialization is a good idea, I think. The cleric will be behind anyway.. but that 1 fighter level will improve combat
Theorin: Single class. Your best cleric = your best character!
Cassius: Very nicely done; as if I'd created him myself.
Stick with caster levels. If you improve INT on level-up, you could take a 2nd rogue level at level 8 or later (20 INT will give an extra skillpoint)
Selina: The single level paladin is only possible if she is lawful good. I hope she is. Take it when you think she'll need saving throw bonuses, and other combat feats...

Good luck!

 

Thanks Coin - nice to see it wasn't a total disaster. Yes my sorcerer is lawful good since I considered the possibility to take a paladin level. My poor Gregory is sort of a confused middleaged man who suddenly realises that he wants to become something completely different. Actually the idea was to have a guy that could double as a second cleric while stil be a good fighter. I was thinking about go F (1)/then cleric for a while but I decided against it. Just a sudden decision I guess. And of course I never ever considered the paladin to be anything but a warrior with some nice extra abilities (no spells for her).

Just cleared out the bridge and it is level up time again. I still think that the hardest part is figuring out which feats to pick and when.

 

at a glance your party looks very solid- 2 dedicated melee, 2 dedicated clerics, and 2 arcane casters most of which have been stat optimized perfectly. you also have a lot of humans so that opens a lot of class mix ins.

i had a lot of trouble in the horde fortress as well- for me the hardest parts of the game were chapters 1 and 2 because you dont have access to high level spells and your melee fighters have not really progressed much with their BAB. once you have fireball- then heal and sunfire- then wail and mass heal the game becomes much less stressfull.

just as a note: improved initiate does not work and does absolutely nothing unless you install a mod to correct it. with that said it is absolutely one of the best feats you can take for anyone that casts spell.

iwd2 has been the most enjoyable single player experience ive ever had even more so than dragon age origins. sadly i suffered the same syndrome you do but with bg 1 and bg2 primarly because going back to 2E after playing 3E felt crude.

 

It doesn't work? Well that explains a lot - I always felt like nothing really changed. Oh well, just something to accept then. Have just taken out 2 of the 3 war drums and it's been A LOT easier than the last four times I did it. Also realised that faster kills = less need for healing spells. Now my cleric really starts to shine. Actually, this is the first game that I've ever used grease but I noticed something quiet early on. A lot of monsters don't get stuck by web and if they do, it's just for a round. So web + grease is actually a lifesaver when hordes of monsters come rushing. Missile weapons isn't all that it used to be either but still solid.

 

grease+web+entangle or similar followed up by fireballs or similar aoe followed by ranged attacks follow by a melee cleanup crew will clear out even the toughest mobs early on. there are many places where there are very narrow chokepoints or corridor to make this strategy even more effective. the final fight of chapter one is one example.

 

Without going into spoilers, you pretty much have the perfect blend of classes with good stats all around.

What you're experiencing is the lack of a decent tank (or two). Sure fighters and barbarians get good HP but they're stripped of much of their lasting power when the best armor you can get for them early on is a stinkin' chain mail. Once you get someone's AC to the upper 20's you will feel the difference big time. And no, full plate isn't the easiest (or even best) way to reach there.

 

You do know you don't need to memorise healing spells (unless your cleric is evil)? If you hold shift when selecting a spell it'll automatically convert it into the equivalent healing spell for its level, up to spell level 4 I think it is.

 

Yes I know about that. Problem before was that I didn't have any spells to convert - they had already been used. But now it is going a lot better. Just cleared out the first level of the goblin warrens. Right now my party is:

Isabel - Paladin of Helm 3/Fighter 3 - Longsword
Ugrukh - Fighter 4/Barbarian 2 - Great sword (WS)
Gregory - Fighter 4/Morninglord of Lathander 2 Hammer (WS)
Cassius - Rogue 1/Diviner 5 - Longbow
Theorin - Battleguard of Tempus 6 - Greataxe
Selina - Sorcerer 6 - Heavy crossbow

Interesting enough there seems to be a very even killpercentage - highest score is 22% and lowest is 14% (Ugrukh is in the lead, followed by selina). Worst part so far is the ice and fire trolls - they always hurt my partymembers and I can't seem to kill them from afar. Animate Dead is great but the zombies are so slow.... I (of course) did a small mistake when it came to spell selections. My sorcerer picked ice daggers (or so I thought) but it turned out to be chill touch. Great - I wonder how often I will use that particular spell. Oh well - grease, magic missile and chromatic orb are still very useful so it shouldn't be a problem.

 

Download Dalekeper and edit it. There is no cheating in doing so, it was an honest mistake in the first place.

 

Take the "rapid shot" feat for everyone except your crossbow user, you get a free extra attack per round.
I'd also take "dash" for everyone (maybe except the barbarian), faster movement yields faster gameplay and a tactical advantage in combat.
The "dodge" feat is also very useful for everyone, so is "improved critical".

 

Did you by chance take fireball for your level 6 sorc? it makes the game so much more pleasant. I would aim to take GSF:evocation and spirit of flame as soon as possible if you havent already.

 

@kmonster: Does Rapid Shot work if you are using a sling (two people have slings as missile weapons)?

@lendial: Yes I picked fireball for my sorcerer. And since I found a scroll for my wizard there are two casters with fireball. I've also started to take points in GSF:evocation.

Just cleared out the horde fortress. It went very well - at least until the last fight. A very nice bugbear (under the influence of dire charm but still) was very helpful and proved to be a great ally. Everything went well - Gutma and his army went down to fireballs, arrows, zombies, swords and axes. Except one particular nasty goblin sorcerer who refused to die! So my mighty half-orc charged and was caught by hold person, followed by a nasty scorcher. I just then realized that there were no healing spells left and wondered if he was gonna make it. He survived with 1(!!) hit point left (when the goblin finally died). And since I wanted to keep my healing potions he had to take up archer duty for a while.

 

Yes it does.

 

congrats so far! the next chapter- in my opinion is the most fun and coincidentically packed with experience and suprises.

for some reason it seems that when ever you are hit with a fatal attack your PC may sometime survive with 1 hp due to the game nullifying all but one point of damage.

 

I finally finished the Ice castle - it took me some time to figure out how to reach the last room. I had to leave the battlesquares after completing level four - the damn monsters ripped my guys to pieces at level 5. Oh well - reached a strange village with an old friend. "Hey - aren't you that shady merchant from IWD"?

And then there was Fell Wood... An endless supply of fun so far. After wandering around for 45 minutes or so (fighting trolls and undead), I finally found a nice dryad who told me to go back and speak to the lady in the tent (with the ogre). So I did just that. Now, I usually lets my sorcerer do all the talking since the damn paladin never accepts any rewards. For some reason I let the paladin talk this time and she could sense the evil from the witch. Are you telling me that I could have solved this quest from the start if she had been the one talking? Great - and on top of that - more trolls! I'm guessing that the stock prices on oil just went up - at least in this village. Not much of a challenge though. I also managed to find a horn for the wight, so now it looks like I just have to solve one last quest. Great - more fun in the forest. Good thing that I'm keeping notes because that forest isn't exactly a straight line...

Party right now:

Isabel - Paladin of Helm 3/Fighter 8
Ugrukh - Fighter 4/Barbarian 7
Theorin - Battleguard of Tempus 11
Gregory - Fighter 4/Morninglord of Lathander 7
Selina - Sorcerer 11
Cassius - Rogue 2/Diviner 9

By the way - why are monsters ALWAYS hunting my poor sorcerer and rogue/diviner? They are doing A LOT of running...

EDIT: Just cleared out the woods and was attacked at the village. The damn drow merchant sold me out - big surprise there...

 

chapter 3 is horrendously tedious at certain points. it looks like your dedicated casters are nearing level 6 spells. this is when the game changes drastically in your favor if you have a lot of PCs that benefit from physical attacks .

certain monsters such are scripted to ONLY attack your sorc no matter what you do, you can break their aggro by casting invisbility or tank them using mirror image(perhaps the most powerful defensive tool in the game).