Party question

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Could you share you thoughts on these parties for IWD2?
Half-orc barbarian
Half-elf cleric
Halfling rogue (X)/wizard(X)
tiefling monk
drow bard
Grey Dwarf druid

OR
Half-orc barbarian
half-elf cleric
tiefling rogue (X)/wizard (X)
human monk
drow bard
grey dwarf druid

 

A deep gnome monk is actually an excellent tank with the extra 4 ac. Not so great on damage dealing, but good enough. It might be a better choice for the monk.

You might want to consider swapping the half-orc barbarian and the grey dwarf druid. Make the dwarf the barbarian and the half-orc the druid. The barbarian gets enough BAB and HP that being a level or two behind the rest of the party won't make much difference at all, while the extra druid levels will have a significant impact as you get higher level spells earlier. Having Call Lightning available at the Shangarn Bridge battle instead of having to wait until the Horde Fortress can make your life a LOT easier. Not to say you shouldn't memorize and use Rainstorm for that battle as well...

 

Thanks for an advice about druid and monk. I'm not fan of deep gnome, but I could try grey dwarf barbarian and half orc druid. But wouldn't I need 20 strength for damage dealer at beginning? What about halfling rogue/wizard or tiefling rogue/wizard?

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So,
grey dwarf barbarian/fighter maybe
half-orc druid (or maybe human druid or halfling druid?)
half-elf cleric
halfling rogue/wizard (mostly wizard, right?)
deep gnome monk
drow bard?

 

The tiefling will have the same ECL penalty issue for the wizard, but it is only one level. In exchange you get an extra +2 to INT that can yield an extra spell, a +2 to bluff making him a good option to be the diplomat if you did not have a bard in the party, although this is balanced by the charisma penalty which gives -1 to bluff, diplomacy, and intimidate. You also get an extra casting of blindness that can be really useful up until you get inside the ice fortress to disable archers and to a lessor extent spellcasters, and some elemental resistances.

With the lightfoot halfling you don't suffer the ECL penalty, get a minor bonus to saving throws equal to the normal mode's esteemed "lucky knucky" item, and have a bonus to hit with ranged attacks that I'm unsure if it is limited to slings and darts or also works with shortbows or crossbows that rogues and mages favor.

With the Strongheart you do not suffer any ECL penalty meaning you get spells and sneak attacks sooner, get an extra feat, and the same minor bonus to missile weapons.

All three give +2 dex and a minor bonus to stealth.

In the end, it is pretty close and difficult to call. The only one I would discount is the Ghostwise halfling as you would be forced to level up rogue and wizard equally, and after you pass level rogue 10 and pick up a rogue-only feat or two you'd probably want to stop leveling rogue entirely once you get your next sneak attack bonus (ideally at rogue level 11 or 13. If you set things up so you get a feat when you take rogue 10, then take two levels of wizard before taking rogue 11, you can get two of the 3 10th level rogue feats in a row, which is usually sufficient as I don't find crippling strike to be that useful compared to the wizard feats you're giving up). You might not even want to take that many rogue levels at all. It's your call if you want improved evasion or not, but if you are playing normal mode, you might want to stop with only 3 or 5 levels of rogue and concentrate on wizard levels.

 

Party?!?!

Jack Daniel's -- cleric/fighter
Jim Beam Fire -- sorcerer
Captain Morgan -- rogue/fighter
Chopin -- Bard
Lucid -- Druid
Don Julio -- Wizard

Together they are a serious party.

 

Suggested shifting around:
- Grey Dwarf Barbarian (or Barbarian X / Fighter 4)
- Half-Orc Cleric (Tempus)
- Halfling Druid
- Tiefling Rogue 1 / Wizard X (first level Rogue)
- Human Bard X / Fighter 4 (Rapid Shot + Weapon Spec: Bow)

You don't really need a 6th character, but you can put basically anything into a party like this and it'll work. Female Drow Paladin of Ilmater 3 / Cleric of Ilmater X is one option. Deep Gnome Monk is another fun option: starts out terrible, ends up great. Finally, you could take a Sorceress: guaranteed spell access is strong in this game, and you won't find unlimited scrolls, so only have one Wizard if possible.

The Human Bard X / Fighter 4 is a really good addition to any party. The Bard has high enough BAB to reliably hit, unlike a Wizard Archer, and your spells aren't that great so plinking away with your bow and then hitting your song every 3 turns is a solid way to contribute. For levels, what I do is:
1 - Bard 1 (Lingering Song, Mercantile Background) - Use a crossbow; let the Rogue / Wizard use the best bow.
2 - Bard 2 (Cure Light Wounds, Identify or Chromatic Orb)
3 - Fighter 1 (Rapid Shot, Dirty Fighting) - Take the best bow from the Rogue / Wizard, who inherits your crossbow and bolts.

... then take Bard levels up to Bard 11 (at character level 12), which grants your best song. Then, +3 levels of Fighter to get Weapon Spec: Bows, and you're basically done. Put more levels in Bard after that if you want more spells; otherwise, put the levels anywhere you want. If you want a character to level-squat for XP shenanigans, the Bard archer is a fine candidate. Get him up to character level 6 (Bard 5 / Fighter 1) and he's going to contribute in and out of combat for a good long while.

 

After some playing, I have new party in mind...

Half-orc barbarian
human druid
hafling rogue/wizard
human cleric
deep gnome monk
and human bard

wdyt?

 

You are a bit light on the higher level arcane unless it's a first level dip for the halfling, but otherwise a solid team.

 

I'd also pick a Lathander cleric or some similar nuker variant for that team. Since you're going for some kind of tank/combat/nuke setup (I assume the Deep Gnome monk is for soaking aggro, otherwise he sticks out as a very poor choice) then you'll want just a bit more nukes.

Looks good overall.

 

The Deep Gnome sucks in the prologue and chapter 1, but becomes a very good decoy/tank by the time you finish the Horde Fortress and are ready to leave Targos.

I agree on taking a cleric with some good offensive spells, you'll need them if your wizard takes more than one level of rogue. IF you go Rogue(1)/Wizard(X), it shouldn't be an issue, as the wizard would level up like an ECL character.

 

I choose moon elf wizard, grey dwarf barbarian 3/fighter, drow bard, aasimar cleric of lathander, halfling rogue3/wizard and human druid. I'm doing good job, I prevented destruction of the Shaengane Bridge.

 

You should be doing fine with your party, your dorf barbarian/fighter and cleric should be able to man the front lines just fine while your casters lay waste to the enemy from behind.
Even for being squishy in comparison to melee characters, the game seems to favor casters in terms of power.

Personally i would have probably switched out the wizard with a sorcerer, so you don't run into the problem of scroll scarcity - they also get access to the high level spells sooner then you can find the scrolls for them, but all in all it just comes down to personal preference - sorcerers are more raw power oriented while wizards are more versatile.

 

With only a single wizard that uses scrolls in a six character the party, and one that multiclasses with rogue to boot (assuming more than a 1 level dip), you shouldn't have issues with scroll scarcity or the wizard gaining spell levels he can't use.

 

yeah, i was assuming he went for a 3 level dip in rogue and wizard all the way for the rest with his halfling.
Still, a sorcerer will get to pick the higher level spells right as they level, instead of having to find the scroll first, giving you access to some of them a lot earlier.
For example, having a spell like haste as soon as you hit shaengarne bridge really helps, while the scroll for it can't be found until you're actually inside the horde fortress. (which is the soonest i think you can find it, aside from randomized loot.) Like i said though, it mainly comes down to preference.

 

I once had a deep gnome druid as part of a six-character party (it was a horribly bad party from a power-gaming perspective and I did not finish with it as the difficulty was just too high. Though in hindsight I might have been able to use the drums to level up), and he didn't get level 3 spells until after entering the horde fortress. Given the leveling system in IWD2, a rogue(3)/Wizard(x) should have the same progression.
It was too bad, since Call Lightning would have helped greatly with the Shangarn battle as well as outside the fortress. It did help with the battle on the roof.

 

I'm still playing this game and I was wondering what is best rogue build?
Rogue1/wizardX
or
pure rogue with two handed daggers/short sword and dagger?

 

A pure rogue just is not that powerful, and compared to baldur's gate, backstabbing has pretty limited use.
Overall, they are skillmonkeys but not a lot of skills are really that useful to have, so unless you are going to make your rogue the party face as well it's not really worth it putting a lot of levels in rogue.

Personally i'd go for rogue 1/wizard x. If you take your characters to multiple playthroughs/HoF mode and reach high enough levels, go for rogue 1/wizard 20/fighter x.

 

I'm trying to remember. There were some nifty rogue-only feats, but did you have to have ten levels of rogue, or could you go Ranger(10)/Rogue(2) (so you have one level of rogue before trying to get the rogue-only feat) to take one of those feats like "crippling strike" or "slippery mind", then take a rogue level every time you gain a feat thereafter to get them?

Multiclassing is definitely the way to go with rogues in IWD2, and IMHO monks, rangers, fighters and wizards are the best for multiclassing. Monks get hide and move silently as class feats, so the sneak attack synergises with the monk level. Although honestly, I mostly go Monk(20)->Rogue(x) in HOF mode, although it's a tossup if I multiclass the monk to rogue or cleric. Rangers use light armor like Rogues, and get hide and move silently, hence why they are also good choices for multiclassing rogues. You get the most out of sneak attack bonuses this way.

 

you have to have 10 levels of rogue for these feats.

 

Too bad. I'm going to have to try playing again. I don't think I've taken a Rogue/Ranger since my first run-through. I'm pretty sure I took a pure Rogue back then, then added Ranger levels when I felt I didn't need more skill points in traps/locks, hoping to get some spells and a better hit rate while keeping the hide and move silently skills up.

In any case, a Rogue/Wizard is a good combo, but if you want to use two handed fighting with daggers or short swords, try a Rogue/Ranger combo. You get the ambidexterity and two-weapon fighting for free from the Ranger. Take a level of Rogue, a level or two of Ranger, then keep taking Rogue levels until you can get Crippling Strike. Also consider Slippery Mind. I thought Improved Evasion was automatic, but the guide seems to imply you have to take it, consider getting that first. Once you get 10 levels of Rogue, only take Rogue levels when you will gain a feat, and concentrate on Ranger levels instead.
I'm still not sure if you can take Slippery Mind and Crippling Strike with your 10th Rogue level or not. If you can, then only take 9 Rogue levels, and take your 10th at character level 12 to get the feat of your choice, and your 11th at character level 15, investing the other levels into Ranger (the same advice goes if you go the Wizard route, or any other class but you are better off making Wizard the primary class. Fighter and Barbarian classes work for when Rogue is the primary)
Sorry, it's been quite a few years since I played with Rogues as a primary class and not just a mix-in to a monk or other class.

Another feat to consider is Envenom Weapon along the way. IIRC it was quite powerful, unless I'm confusing it with the BG2 assassin.

BTW a Bard seems an INTERESTING multicast possibility I haven't tried yet. If you plan to take the party through Heart of Fury mode, it could work well since a lot of people like to multiclass the bard after obtaining War Chant of the Sith.