Comparison of ECL races

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You can have a sorc with 14 or 16 INT just by skimping on his STR and DEX.

Also, I would not call skills (beyond Conc)in this game necessary. They are fun and nice and I get them too, but not important to actually winning.

 

The utility of instant identification is not to be denied. I know lots of you powergamers out there like to deny it, but without that, you are just metagaming. As for using ID spell, Hah~ Too bloody inconvenient is what it is.

bonus 20% damage of either Melf arrow and Acid Fog, or Ice Storm(?), or Chain Lightning/Lightningbolt is quite a good return for 10SP. The bonus to Fire is prolly of dubious value, but Fire Arrow/Ball is quite useful. I dont remember if those traits affect damage caused by weapons, because if yes then arcane casters need it even more. They are too fragile to stand at frontline with melee weapons, so they use ranged ones at the rear. And acid/fire/frost arrow is pretty popular drop in my game so they are even more useful.

Winning? I will leave you your win full of frustrated moment with sorcerers while I enjoy my easy win full of laugh with wizards. Wizard is too versatile to allow any class of enemies to inconvenient them.

EDIT: as for skimping on STR or DEX to invest in INT just to get a few skill is not what I call a good move. Why frustrate myself when you can just play wizard normally and let they get a respectable DEX.

 

My sorcerer is usually drow unless he's the only caster. I like having both a wizard and sorcerer. The wizard can focus on improving spell DCs and is a buffer/debuffer, while the sorcerer focuses on improving spell damage and is a nuker/summoner.

When I bring along bards my main caster is usually a wizard. When I bring along druids my main caster is usually a human or assimar sorcerer.

 

Of which you should NOT do either, unless you want to make this character your dedicated diplomat/utility type. Which isn't all that bad of a concession, given how many (cross-)bows the game throws at you - they'd be kinda counterproductive on anyone having both good STR and DEX, where thrown weapons and slings rule the day.

Remember that you need to be tossing rather intense spells to match what you can do with a (cross-)bow, even more so if you add some buff spells into it.

 

Bards make for good backup buffers or backstoppers. Lot of the times enemies teleported behind the battle lines, only the bard can cover the wizards long enough for the fighter's return.

Sorcerer makes a good nuker, but otherwise they are uninteresting, unlike NWN2's version. They are too focused on offensive spells.

 

Sorcerers aren't just nukers! Due to the way their spell limit per day is counted, it's actually more suitable to pick only the best nuke(s) for each level and widen the coverage on other spells. Especially suitable are all of those spells you know you'd want to use at one point or another but always seem to forget to memorize in large enough quantities in advance with your wizard, such as Identify, Knock, Mirror Image, (Mass) Invisibility or most types of summons you only intend to use as diversions.

Also, on some levels there's arguably very limited selection of nukes, such as fifth circle for sorcerers. You have Cone of Cold and Sunfire, both of which can be a bit tricky to use, while Chaos solves the problem of a massive incoming attack headed your way nicely AND is party friendly to boot.

 

7 STR 16 DEX 18 CON
14 INT 3 WIS 18 CHA
If he's non-human, 14 DEX and 16 INT.

Try to find a little STR booster so he can carry stuff. (at higher levels, keep Bull's Strength on him all day with just one casting)

For sure. This is why Sorcs are more versatile than wizards in IWD2. Sure, a wizard can LEARN every arcane spell, but in terms of what is AVAILABLE to cast at any given time, Sorcs have them beat hands down.

If someone wants to make a mod to fix this, I suggest:
- nerf sorc spells known by 1 or 2 per level.
- and improve a bunch of the useless spells so they become worth knowing.

 

Except there is a thing such as redundancy. If I decided to bring two bards, for example, then my sorcerer wouldn't need to memorize buffing/debuffing/summoning spells. Why would I need a sorcerer then? What if my party focused on crowd control/insta-death or summoning? What if I already have a sorcerer? Shouldn't I instead bring along a character who would complement my sorcerer, not compete with him?

It's like saying "sorcerers are more powerful because they can cast two fireballs" in a game where you only need 1 fireball for anything. This redundancy is the main reason why I sometimes do not have a sorcerer as my main caster. Wizards level faster, and you can give him a rogue level so you won't have to worry about thieving. They are flexible - you can tailor his spell selection according to the needs of the party, and every few levels that need will change (spells get phased out, other classes gain the same spells you have, etc - this is especially true for parties with lots of casters, and this is why I usually bring both a wizard/x character and a sorcerer).

You don't always need more spells. I usually don't care if I run out of nukes. When I rest, it's usually because of one of three things - A) ran out of summoning spells, B) ran out of buffs, and C) ran out of healing spells.

 

I am think a special case : Wizards. To be more specific, Intelligence stat.

Intelligence is about the stat with least enhancement. You get no spell to enhance it, like Wisdom, but you dont get the awesome +5WIS ring. Half of the game before you get the first +1INT equipment.

And the early game restriction on spell placement mean if you advance too fast, your wizards dont have high level spell to cast. Human dont get to use its full arcane potential in Hardest difficulty outside of Heart of Fury.

Which is where Tiefling come into.

You get +2 INT, at the con of level adj +1. There's other subtleties, of course, but for wizard that's two important points. With this, a Tiefling mage got bigger arsenal than human wizard. Although human wizard got better high level spells, due to placement, they dont always get to use it before certain points. So in this case, which is before you get to buy or loot level 5 spells, a Tiefling mage may be better.

Why not Drow, you ask? Well, the level adjustment +2 is abit too big in my book. You could do it, but why bother when Tiefling is enough for the purpose.

 

Agree, even though that doesn't solve the problem, only reduces it.

I had a Tiefling Diviner in my 6-member party for my first run through IWD2, and she would usually reach a new spell level quite some time before finding any scrolls of that level.