HoF

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how do you actually get HOF, i cant figure out where to go to get this,game options ect.

 

Remember the config program you get in the start menu? It's on the difficulty bar. Reason it is there is because it fixes difficulty in game and cannot be changed during play.

 

Also, if my experience is any guide--and it may not be--you may have to start a new game for it to kick in.

 

thanks 4 the help,

 

The game advises that your party be at least level 15 before begonning a HoF game, if you start a HoF run through at level 1, expect to reload often.

 

Yeah but it means that it's more interesting!

 

Agreed, nothing better than six burly fighters running from a lone goblin

 

And the speedy goblin catches up with your barbarian: Splatter!!! [chunky death]
hahahaha

 

the party i have paladin-fighter 11/4, barbarian-fighter 12/4, sorceress 15, conjurer-thief 13/1, cleric of tempus 16 & cleric of lathander 16. i'm more of a melee type person but i have heard that HOF mode is better suited for spellcasters. is this party ok for HOF.

 

Sure it is. This party will do very nicely, you seem to have thought out your party well.
A few minor comments:
-Paladins are inferior to clerics, this character is not optimal; another cleric or barbarian would've given the team more buffing/melee strength, respectively.
-Your barbarian would have worked best in normal mode by keeping him pure, only taking the fighter levels later in HoF mode. That way you would've gained high level barbarian abilities sooner. But it's hindsight now, and doesn't matter, since you're entering HoF.
-Conjurers can't cast Divination, meaning they're unable to cast Executionaer's Eyes. Make sure your sorcerer picks it, it will really help against the most difficult encounters.
-Bards and druids add interesting dimensions to your spellcasting, you may want to consider replacing your paladin with one of these, and cheat it up to the level of the paladin.
-Some of your characters could use some mix-in levels to really improve them. Some mix-ins also give quest-related bonuses which you missed out on in normal mode. I won't spoil them, but just so you know.

 

Your party is fine. Taking mix-ins isn't necessary and won't make the game more fun either.

 

actually have played normal mode with just about every type of characters and builds you can think of except the barb-fighter,i just didnt like it but have read to many good things about this build so i giving it a try.for some reason i always take a paladin of some sort oh ya the holy avenger! i almost always dual wield therefor leaving this sword one-handed. is it better 2-handed?

 

Opinions are divided about that, but if you've maximized strength, then it probably is better, because of the 1.5x modifier for 2-handed weapons. Personally I like paladin mix-ins, for either cleric or sorcerer, and use the Cera Sumat as a Spell Resistance boost in the off hand. There are better weapons IMO. Dual-wielding the normal and HoF versions will give an awesome SR, well above what casters can throw at you.
I also take along paladins, but only as mix-in, and there's almost nothing a full paladin can do that a mix-in can't.
Barbarians get powerful bonuses, and these all apply in melee. Paladin's bonuses, like saving throws, are mostly useful when fighting spellcasters. No one can beat the staying power of a barbarian in melee, especially when buffed by clerics.

 

Paladins are not worse than barbarians in melee, they don't get as many hitpoints and damage reduction, but they get spells like "holy power" and with "smite evil" they can do extra damage depending on their paladin level (a good reason for not taking many other class levels) , if you take "extra smite" feats even more than once per day.

 

must admit barbarian is rocking, but because i am more into melee than arcane magic i think i will stick with both in future parties,and i really like my clerics they are just as good if not better for melee. i really wish there were more mods for IWD2 like there is for BG2.

 

Clerics also get Holy Power spell, and there's lots of abilities of a cleric that easily outcompete Smite Evil. Damage Resistance, however, is like a weak but undispellable Ironskins, which will save you tons on healing in the course of the game. Weapon Specialization and Heavy Armour proficiency is *just* worth the 4 level mix-in, IMO.

What I had heard, was that the coding of the game made it difficult to add new maps to the whole, so the mods have been limited to the maps available in the game. But the mods so far have been adaptations to the game rules, upgraded opponents and merchant mods.
And there's Icewind Gate 2, a beta programme that alows you to play BG2:Shadows of Amn in the IWD2 engine. If you're interested, you can have a look at the details here.
Character development is the greatest part of the game, and the mods complement this. My BGTrilogy megamod has so many mods with overpowered items, that it becomes easy. When you're doing 5-10 attacks with an overpowered weapon, and have most of your stats at 25, then you're just following the story really.
A couple of absurdities from my BGTrilogy party:
My main character wears a robe that makes him continuously immune to +3 weapons. He dual-wields two 4d10+4 flails, and wears a ring and a robe that both give -10 to AC
Minsc has a 4d12+4 +4 kinds of elemental damage 2-handed sword, and wears a ring that gives 100% immunity to fire, cold and electricity.
My warriors wear armours that are basically a -20 boost to AC, and give +6 to DEX and CON.
Imoen uses a bastard sword in the off hand which confers 'lesser whirlwind attack' while equipped, this sets attacks/round to 10.
Through some transformation, probably from the scroll of Kaza or Eye of Vecna, Edwin can now cast hundreds of level 1 and 2 spells.
There are regular drops of high level scrolls and potions of permanent boost.

Any challenge in the game is now totally gone, so i'm following the story out of interest mainly. I keep telling myself not to use overpowered items, but it doesn't work.

 

IMO, Druids are good to take in because of the shape shifting ability. It's a good fall back at higher levels when they have the elemental shapes

 

"Often" is an understatement here i think.

 

well i can say with out a doubt that HOF is different. but i like it, also which is better tactics or HOF. I mean is tactics set up the same way as it is for BG2 where enemies are better and stronger if so what is the difference between HOF and tactics.

 

The newest Tactics can be applied in HoF as well, so you can play them both. It makes summons in HoF start at near death (10-20% hitpoints), and increases the difficulty of certain encounters. I've had enemies pop up at the most inopportune and unexpected times (which was great fun, and quite a challenge), and I heard that potions of permanent bonus are dropped in HoF too. Unfortunately I only installed Tactics in chapter 6 of my last HoF run through, so I haven't completed it yet. But even in normal mode, I can tell you that the mod adds great challenges to the game.
Tactics + HoF + Insane difficulty is as hard as it can get. Although some think that normal mode can be worse, partly because you don't have all spells available yet.