Does spell resistance stack? (Drow/DG and Monk)

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Hey guys, my main question is as the title suggests. I'm thinking about going with a pure Monk, probably a Drow, but only if the spell resistance from his lvl 13 will stack with the racial bonus.

I looked around on the googles but couldn't find an answer to this and there doesn't seem to be a search feature on this board.

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Anyway that's my main question. Here's the party I'm considering, the monk would be the last addition (I'm using the ease of use mod that improves monk fists and druid spells):

Deep Gnome decoy tank, one each of paladin, ranger, rogue and monk mix-in levels with illusionist as the main class.

A pure Morninglord cleric, maybe drow, probably human.

Melee/Tank shield dwarf fighter 4/Barb x

A pure human sorceror, maybe a level of paladin much later for the saves.

A pure human druid (maybe 5 levels of bard mixed in later after I get the good spell levels).

Basically I'm trying to get a good mix of classes, spell types and roles so I don't miss out on many quests or can't use too many items. I doubt I'm going to be able to play through this more than once due to this pesky real life I have. Also I'm not sure if I'll go through heart of fury. I might use the tactics mod instead if normal mode isn't challenging enough.

Some other considerations for the last member besides the drow monk:

a wild elf bard/sorceror mix, maybe just 5 levels of Bard, although I have the mod that makes the Sith chant regenerate out of combat so maybe 11 in bard.

a drow Dreadmaster cleric, for the quests, and the disables to supplement the evocation nuking of the Morninglord and Sorceror.

The other thing I might do is replace the dwarf melee fighter with the Monk and still use one of the above. That way I can drop AoE spells on my decoy and secondary monk tank without worrying too much. I think that would be more powerful and user-friendly overall but I kinda want a melee tank who actually uses weapons and armor.

Btw, wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all the people who made mods for this and put up guides here and on Gamefaqs.

 

As far as the drow monk goes, the bonuses should stack - it works the same way for deep gnome monks (who also get bonus magic resist as a racial.)
The search function can be found at the top-right of the page, though idk if there's a minimum amount of posts you need to use it.

I can't really comment too much on your party composition, it has been some time since i last played IWD2, but i would reccomend taking a look at " Jukka's Ultimate Powergaming Party" whicch can be found here : http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/IWD2/index_tips.php (listed 5th from the top)

 

From comments here, I thought that the JUPP2 guide was a bit outdated in some respects, but with some patience, I'm sure one of the more knowledgable fellows will see this thread.

 

Thanks guys I found the search feature. Either it doesn't show up until after you register or I'm going blind in my old age. Or both lol.

I've been looking over all the guides on gamefaqs including that one. I tried to cherry pick some of the more interesting builds from here and there. I'm going to ramp up the difficulty but I probably won't go through heart of fury so I have some room to experiment with some non optimal builds just for fun and variety (I hope).

 

Spell resistance stacks but is capped at 50.

A pure unmodded monk has to use weapons or will fall behind in power. The modded monk fists I found online were either buggy (only first level was modded and as soon as you get the next fist level it reverted to the unmodded vanilla monk fist) or not really helping. Since I like the Idea of the pure monk I modded him to be interesting (to me) and competitive. Feel free to try him out (link in signature) but be aware that other monks get the modded fists as well (e.g. one of the Lost Followers ).

 

Do you know if that bugged mod for Monk fists is the one included in the ease of use mod?

I went ahead with the Dwarf fighter/barbarian for now. I might switch him out for a pure deep gnome monk if I go through heart of fury.

Actually looking at the link in your sig I think I might have that mod installed. My decoy has a single level in monk/rogue/illusionist right now and she has the feat for axes, which unmodded she shouldn't have unless I'm missing something, so I think I might be good to go.

Looks like an awesome mod btw, if I don't have it I'm going to get it before I roll one.

 

I cannot remember if the monk fists in ease of use mod were bugged. From the documentation of ease of use: "Improved Monk Fists: This makes monk fists count as "small blades" so that you can use Weapon Finesse (feat that allows you to use DEX for to-hit bonuses instead of STR) with them."
This is a trivial change that does not really help. I think it might have been the buggy version that only worked for the first version of the fist.

All monks get the feat for axes, so this is no indication of a mod.

If you want to try my mod you can do so even in the middle of a game. Just put the files (the 9 different monk fist levels) in your override folder to activate (all monks will automatically become modded if you load a save) and remove them again to deactivate.

enjoy your play through!

 

This is kinda making topic drift, but I found that the following two changes made the monks competitive:
1. Change the 2da for the BAB for monk fists so that the progression is the same as a fighter at +1 per level.
2. Change it so a monk rolls a 12-sided die for hit points, (same as a barbarian).

Also making a similar change for hit points to rangers helped as well since they too seem underpowered compared to paladins, barbarians, and fighters. Doubling the spells & spell-like abilities and/or increasing the spell progression (though still capped at level 4) also helped with both paladins and rangers. It may have actually made it slightly unbalanced, but A LOT more fun.

All simple changes to the 2da files.

 

The ranger needs a buff definitely. There are some edits to the class in the Light of Selune mod, but I haven't tried them.

I wanted a ranged powerhouse like the Archer kit in BG2 but it's not really an option. A fighter specced to range combat would be strong but still not in the same league and much weaker than some other builds.

Despite some weird imbalances between the classes, and some underwhelming feat selections, I'm having a lot of fun with this. Thought it was going to be just a nostalgia trip but the gameplay is addictive and fun.

 

It is interesting how the same rules are implemented differently in the various D&D games.
Different spells work better in BG1, BG2, and IWD1.
Same for comparing IWD2, Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2, Pool of Radiance 2, and Temple of Elemental Evil. What works in one doesn't work as well in the other, even when fighting what in theory should be the same enemy like orcs or skeletons, and they are supposed to be using the same rules.
Well, maybe NWN1 is using 3.0 rules while NWN2 is using 3.5.

In any case, in IWD2, just giving the Ranger a D12 and doubling the spells and spell-like abilities (the CLAB stuff) makes it more competitive. Alternately use the cleric's spell table as a guide to increase the number of spells and just expand it (while limiting it to spell level 4) until you have 5 spells per day at levels 1-4.
Maybe you could mod it to grant archery feats for free instead of messing with spell?
Just give weapon focus (bows) at level 1, and weapon specialization (bows) at level 4. Maybe give the improved critical (bows) feats at the minimum level for other classes to qualify for them (I don't have the game with the stats in front of me and don't want to get it wrong)?
I'd suggest giving the ranger an additional +1 to hit and damage for bows, but I have no idea how to set that up. +1 BAB sure, +1 for bows only no.