New multiclassing party

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I just finished the game. And I'm already thinking about my new party to play it through once again. I really need some help to create a good party of 4 people. However, there are some conditions due to my personal preferences. Here are my thoughts:

1. The party should consist of 4 people, with two primarily for melee, and the other two spellcasters.

2. At least one of the spellcaster shall NOT multiclass; I want it to become really powerful and gain access to lvl 8 and 9 spells.

3. I do wish to have a monk in this party as well, seeing that the monk helper at the end of the game was virtually immortal. This could be a multiclassed, but it should have most levels as monk. Perhaps 3 or 4 levels of something else?

4. The spellcaster should be of evil alignment and be focused on necromantic magic primarily. (This one shall not multiclass)

5. Another adept at spellcasting should be able to cast buffing/healing spells. Is cleric the only viable alternative? Would be fun for the variation to try something else (druid maybe), but those raise dead spells are hard to be without.

6. I don't want a barbarian or paladin in this party (just had those), but naturally I need a good thief/backstabber and a fighter. What would you propose for a combined thief/melee person?

To sum it up, it seems I need the monk type and the thief type as my melee units. I need some kind of wizard/sorcerer adept at black magick, and I need that cleric type (buffing/healing). I'd be happy to get some advice here, both regarding how to multiclass, and what races they should be.

 

First of all, don't multiclass your monk. He will suck at the start and rule at high levels. Don't postpone getting there.

For your wizard-type, I'd recommend a sorcerer because I think they're much more powerful and cool than wizards. If you don't want that, take a necromancer (because you obviously want him to be) or a Diviner, because that way you'll only lose Conjuration.

My third character would be a rogue(x)/wizard(y). You really don't need a full time rogue and you can keep his abilities up to scratch with the wizard's high INT.

The fourth would be a cleric. This is your main tank and buffer. You could take 4 levels of fighter to make him a better tank, but consider taking a full-time cleric, because it means higher spell-levels and thus better buffs.

 

For good Sneak Attack damage you need many rogue levels. Ranger levels would help your melee ability better than that. You can start as rogue, get two levels and switch on to ranger. Perhaps even rogue(3)/fighter(4)/ranger(x) to be a better combatant. In fact, being 7 levels behind a pure class ranger, you won't really make a caster, so you don't have to be all so high in ranger level. You could throw in some 3 barbarian levels.

As for the monk, multiclassing is a bad idea. It's monk levels what makes your unarmed attacks.

If you want a pure class arcane caster, do yourself a favour and take a Sorcerer. No scroll shortage, no Spellcraft checks. You only need to know what you want to have and focus on it.

If you don't want a (fighter)/(barbarian)/ranger/rogue like I described in the first paragraph, you can take a rogue/wizard. Start as a rogue for lots of skill points and switch on to wizard. As your INT rises, you'll have a greater bonus and more skill points. Get a high dexterity for some thieving skills.

Note: mages make good combatants with proper spells. It only takes ages to cast and lots of micromanagement to make it all click in place. Four levels of Fighter with Weapon Specialisation and Improved Criticals for Mordenkainen's Sword could do a great job. Rogue levels give Evasion and skill points.

A cleric is best single-classed, unless you really want a battlepriest figure. Focus on personal melee buffs in addition to your four fighter levels (for instance) and you'll make it.

I somehow prefer priests more focused on actual casting. I once had a morninglord with not a single martial feat. Just casting feats - Spell Focus: Evocation (2), Spell Penetration (2), Spirit of Flame, this sort of stuff.

Perhaps fighter(4)/barbarian(x), fighter(4)/cleric(x), fighter(4)/sorcerer(x), rogue(2)/wizard(x)? If you made it right, you could have lots of firepower and still great melee capacity.

 

Ok I've decided at least on a pure class monk. Would a cleric benefit a lot from getting 4 fighter levels first? More melee damage or anything? More attacks/round? As I understand, they can equip the same types of armor, and a cleric can be trained to use just about any weapon?

Maybe also a pure sorcerer then? I never really understood the difference between sorcerer and wizard. They seem to have almost identical spells. Except that a sorcerer don't have to learn new spells, and that they need different stats to get good.

And another thing: A rogue usually gets to choose from a lot of skills when leveling up. Does that mean if I make all my characters rogue(1)/something else(x), they will continue to get these benefits?

[ September 13, 2004, 21:07: Message edited by: Tadidas ]

 

1) I love monks although they can be frustratingly lame at the lower levels. Monks get their best abilities in the first couple of levels or as they approach level 20. Therefore, either go for a few levels of monk then fully into something else, or go full on monk to get to level 20 as quickly as you can.

2) I always think your main spellcaster should be pure class to get the high level spells more quickly. The main difference between Wizards and Sorcerers are that Wizards can change the spells they memorise whereas Sorcerers are stuck with them forever. So a Wizard can learn spells that are useful at low levels then ditch them when they become superseded. On the other hand, the main problem with a pure class wizard in a 4 person party is that they will level up faster than the available scrolls in the game so you won't be able to get the high level spells any earlier.

3) Your rogue will only get his rogue quantity of skills when he levels up in rogue.

 

Don't take 4 levels fighter to your cleric. It won't help he's fighting-abilities much and he might not be able to get the higher level-spells like mass-heal until very late in the game. If you want fighting-abilities make him a shield-dwarf or halforc battleguard of tempus and max out str and con. you could try a lawful-neutral monk 1/druid x with perhaps one ranger-level if you prefer dual-wielding. Fun to play but maybe not as good as the cleric.
I had a lot of fun with a deep gnome pure monk. At the end of the game it had a spell-resistance of around 50 and good AC and saves. this build works well as your primary tank. if you like backstabbing the popular fighter4/rogue x is quite useful with a barbarian/rogue as an equally good choice. put in a human, aasimar or drow full time sorcerer and you'll have good team.

 

If you are feeling for a unique character, may I suggest my version of the "Swiss Army Knife"?

Rogue(3)/Fighter(4)/Monk(3~4)/Ranger(x)

Rogue(3): Included for the rogue only skills, extra skill points, 2d6 sneak attack, evasion and a certain rogue only item.

Fighter(4): Included for weapon specialization and +3 feats.

Monk(3~4): Included for one reason, monk only items. The 'Thunder Clap' adds an extra attack per a round (it works with all melee weapons). Three lvs are taken because of multiclassing reason; a fourth lv can be taken for better saves.

Ranger(x): The ranger provides 2 free feats and a base class to lv up after lv 15. The ranger has the same BAB as a fighter but with more skills.

Yup, definatly unique.

Edit: For more uniqueness, change the ranger(x) into ranger(3) (or drop it) and add an Paladin(x). This would allow you to use Aasimir instead of basic human and would let you use the 'Cera Sumat'

 

Hehe I think I have to disappoint most of you. Your suggestions are almost too advanced for me, although I've read through this thread lots of times. As usual though I don't run out of questions.

Some items are only available to some professions. Would that mean if I gain say one rogue level, and the rest fighter levels, that character will be able to use all rogue AND fighter items?

Anyways, my party now consists of

* Pure monk (monk of the old order)

* fighter (human), going to switch to rogue at lvl 4

* pure cleric (battleguard of tempus)

* pure sorcerer (drow) - named Mordenkainen

I got impressed with the monk, boasting mirror image and some other impressive spells from scratch and an AC of 21. However, he got 5000 exp right from the start, and need another 5000 to level up. Weird.

Also, 2 of them are evil, one neutral and one good. Maybe not a good constellation considering that some spells affect evil creatures, and thus my own characters might get injured...

 

I assume that means your monk was a Deep Gnome.

 

Must be.

That reminds me, isnt deep gnome starting XP cracked?
It's ECL +3 and starts at 5000xp, needs 10000. That's definitely not right, it should've been 9000 starting XP.
Easy of use corrects it, but no use for Tadidas now that he's already started.

It is really pathetic though, how limited monks are in IWDII. I'm making a monk for PnP and the possibilites are just about endless. In IWD you can what... assign stats and skills that dont really matter. Equipment as well, but nothing more. Feats are so incredibly few that there truly isnt much choice to be had. You just cant specialise into a form of attacking you'd like your monk to do.
Shame really, it's such an open class, more so than just about any other. Well, in one word: CRPG

 

Yes. That's one reason why a lot of people will mix 1-3 Paladin levels so that they can use 'Cera Sumat'.

I believe this is a bug in the game that was never fixed/patched. However, Weidu's ease of use mod fixes it: http://www.weidu.org/iwd2.html#iwd2-ease

 

First impressions of this party:

I'm now at chapter one, just reached the map that eventually will lead to the goblin fortress (after the bridge fight).

The monks fighting ability disappoints me, but he'll become better according to you guys. But he's virtually indestructible, boasting mirror image and blur right off the bat.

The cleric has become the best fighter in the group. She's doing double duty as she also has to buff up the others and heal.

The fighter 4/rogue 2 is decent, packs a good punch but is easily wounded. I bet he too will improve with some more rogue levels.

And the sorcerer isn't really too versatile so far. Basically it's magic missile, enfeeble and sleep spells on his agenda. He's got a spell, fairy fire or something like that. Don't know what it's for.

I did try to do level squatting. I made my cleric jump two levels. But she only gained a single skill for both levels, so I don't think I'll do that again. Is it supposed to be that way?

 

Faerie fire is like what Drizz't does to his opponents. It lights them up making them easier to hit (reduces their AC or increases your hit roll depending on how you want to look at it).

Yes, the whole point of the Deep Gnome Monk is that he is so hard to hit (physically or magically). Thus he makes a great decoy to attract the enemies away from the rest of your party while your sorcerer casts area-effect damage spells like Fireball etc.

The main point of your sorcerer is to cast offensive spells (the bombardier role).

 

Faerie fire decreases your enemy's AC by 2 points. And they dont stack.
By the way, sleep?

Both the DG monk and the rouge work in the same way. So having them both is not that great. If your rouge has enough Int then change him over to wizard.
Oh, and give your monk some 2-handed weapon. that way he will hit sometimes atleast.

Level squatting can work for you if you keep at it. You already have the DG Monk as your decoy. If you can ensure that he draws most if not all the attention then you can keep squatting.
The benefits of level-squatting are evident if you keep at it for a long time. Then you can eventually get to L9 spells in Normal mode itself.
But that means you have to depend on melee instead of spells for a majority of the game.

 

Level squatting will increase the amount of xp you'll receive from kills. The amount of xp per kill is partially based on your party's average level, i.e. Total # of levels of all characters/Total # of characters.

 

You've got a point, Shrikanth. The monk and the rogue have similar tasks. Maybe I should take some rogue levels, then continue as fighter? He's got 14 intelligence, maybe too low for a wizard?

Fun that with Faerie fire. I've been casting it on my allies all the time :/

 

A 14 Intel isn't bad if he's going to be your backup spell-slinger.

What level is your sorcerer? At Lvl 4 he could take Agnazzar's Scorcher or Melf's Acid Arrow, and of course Fireball at Lvl 6.
Mmmm...Fireball...

 

@Tadidas

I hope you have reversed the targets of Faerie Fire by now.

Considering that your Rouge is Human you can give him just about any class.
You can always give his remaining level-up stat increases to Int. There arent many Int increasing Items tho. He should make a competent enough party buffer.

 

Wizard w/ 14 INT can only learn up to level 4 spells.

 

Yah, but if he's going to be the buffer that's not too shabby, considering Bull's Strength/Cat's Grace/Eagle's Splendor are Lvl 2 spells.
Plus you can give his level-up stat increases to INT, as Shrikanth said.