New to IWD, looking for advice

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Hey guys,
I am completely new to IWD and wanted to try it out. I recently purchased the IWD/IWD2 series.

Would you guys suggest I play through all of the games at least once in vanilla or would I be doing myself a disservice by not getting some essential mods/addons that would make my first play through much more enjoyable. Note that I am not looking to make the game any easier or remove challenges but I am sure that since the game was released there are some mods that fix some irritating thing or another. Is there a preferred order to play through these games?

Also, I am equally clueless when it comes to character creation. For my first time through I'll just play whatever I like but are there resources/tips that I can look at to get a better idea of what works and what doesn't?

Thanks a lot guys. I'm really looking forward to getting started. Any tips/suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

IWD1 and IWD2 is based on two different Dungeons and Dragons rulesets

IWD1 is based on the Advanced D&D 2nd edition ruleset, like BG1 and BG2

IWD2 is based on D&D 3.0 edition like NWN1.

It would a good idea if you mention what kind of experience you have with D&D based games, then we can offer better advice.

And while IWD2 does refer to things that happened in IWD1, you can play the series in the order you want.

As you probably know, the IWD series is not like the BG series, NWN1, or PS:T, in the sense that you only have to make one char.

While you can solo the IWD series, it is advicable that you make a whole party of 6 the first time through.

And the character creation process is different in the 2 games since they are based on 2 different rulesets.

I find that the battles are harder and more difficult that NWN1 and the BG series I.E. So if you are not used to somewhat micromanaging your party, now is the time to learn.

While you could go through BG1 without a arcane or divine caster, it is not advicable to do that in neither IWD1 or IWD2.

For a first time through, you really want a party that can cover all bases of tanking, casting offensive and defensive spells, buffing, sneaking around, open locks, disable traps and so on.

THere is some good guides on this site with tips:

http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/IWD/index_tips.php

 

In IWD I would advise to only load the game, the official add-ons (Heart of Winter and Trial of the Luremaster), and the appropriate patches. Mods are really not necessary for a good gameplay. If you like the game and want to replay, then perhaps try using mods (although the IWD NPC Project looks interesting). The game doesn't allow you to go into the official add-ons until you're high enough level to succeed.

As with other bioware games, the most powerful weapon can only be wielded by a paladin -- so if using uberweapons is your thing you'll want a paladin. Bards are incredible in this game, their not so powerful themselves but at the higher levels they make others (warriors especially) much more powerful. Rangers are nice -- if you use a one handed weapon and don't have a shield they get an extra attack (a pseudo dual wield), which makes the ranger/cleric multiclass quite nice.

A balanced party is good -- you should have a couple of fighters, a mage, a cleric (or druid) and a thief.

 

If you do install the official add-on Trials of the Luremaster, it includes the final official patch, so you don't need to worry about tracking down other patches.


As for bards, they supposedly aren't all that good in IWD1, UNLESS you have installed HOW ... after which they become excellent. (BTW, this may be somewhat true for druids as well.)


And yes, a balanced party works well in IWD1. A couple of "warriors" (i.e. fighter, paladin, or ranger). A cleric, a wizard, and a thief of some form. IMHO, a pure thief really isn't needed. A fighter/thief or wizard/thief multiclass will provide more than enough thieving skills. I prefer the ftr/thf MC combo myself, but either will work out just fine.

 

Read the manual, especially the stat tables are important. Usually there's no difference from 8 to 14, but a huge one from 17 to 18.
Physical are very important, mental stats are nearly useless and most can be dumped to the minimum safely.
Pure class thieves are very weak, so take a multiclass one.
It's important that every party member is good with a ranged weapon.

You can post the party you have in mind if you want to know if it is balanced for the game or want detailed advice.

 

Thanks for the tips guys. I am new to D&D based games in general so I will give it a shot and if I have any other questions I'll be back

 

IWD proved to be my favorite Infinity engine game by far (it has the least annoying elements in it) , so I'm installing it again to complete the Trials of the Luremaster and and will probably go HoF after that. My party proved quite successful and fun:
Human, Paladin, Pale Justice + Shield (Paladin only sword)
Dwarf, Fighter/Cleric, Warhammer + Shield
Elf, Fighter, 2-handed sword
Human, Wizard, Dagger
Halfling, Fighter/Thief, Bows

Perhaps you could add a bard or even cut out the elven blademaster OR take an elven fighter/mage instead, if you wish.

 

A ranger/cleric is a good alternative to the dwarf fighter/cleric. Dual classed druids are very good as well.

 

While probably not 100% essential I would definitely recommend adding the ease of use mods for both of them. They're both on this site. Strictly speaking they make the game a tiny bit easier but they get rid of little annoyances. Mostly the inventory management, without it you have to carry a heap of arrows around if you don't want to run out.

The IWD2 version has a long list of amendments and you can choose which ones you want. Some of them do change the game a lot so I'd go with these ones for minimal changes:

Bugfixes
Infinite Stacking
Collector's Edition Bonus Items
Include Forgotten Armor and Shields
Additional Druid Spells (Druids are rather weak normally so I would include this. I hear the improved shapeshifting for them goes too far though so I've left that out.)
Skip Battle Square (The battle square is an extremely tedious side quest that involves fighting something like 250 battles or so.)

Once you have a balanced party it's hard to go too wrong in IWD1. I would recommend taking the time to reroll until they all have great stats. R/C multiclass is a terrific character as mentioned.

IWD2's ruleset makes it an awful lot easier to make a weak character, even if you're used to IWD1 and have some idea what you're doing. It would be no harm to post up your party when you do go to play it (no point doing it now obviously).

 

I've never played a fighter/cleric (or ranger/cleric) MC. I've always wanted my clerics to max out their spellcasting and undead turning ability. Perhaps next time I play IWD1, I should give a fighter/cleric a shot.

OTOH, I particularly like playing a fighter/druid MC combo. (Maybe it's the good memories of how effective Jahiera can be in BG2 that causes me to like ftr/druids.)

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That party's not all that different from the party I used in IWD1 a week or so ago. Pally, Dwarven axe-wielding Fighter, Human Cleric, Elven fighter (though leaning more towards bows and longswords)*, human wizzy, and halfling ftr/thief.

* After the fact, I sort of wished that I'd made this character a ranger instead of a Fighter, largely because I have a fondness for stealthy tactics, and not having a second stealthy character to support my ftr/thief was a bit of a pain at times.



One thing that's different in IWD1 vs IWD2 is sort of subtle, but worthy of note. In IWD1, the Holy Word spell affects only evil creatures, whereas in IWD2 it affects non-good creatures. This subtle difference allows you to have neutral aligned characters in an IWD1 party without fear of your cleric stunning them with his own Holy Word spell. It's also useful because there are a few nice items that cannot be wielded by good-aligned characters.

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I agree that the Ease of Use mods can feel almost essential, if only for the "infinite stacking" component. You can go thru ammo in a real hurry when your characters start gaining more attacks per round and you get ranged weapons with higher number of attacks/round. It makes life a LOT easier to be able to buy something like 500 plain ol' arrows (or bullets or xbow bolts) and have them in a single inventory stack.

I generally agree with the above sentiments. In a lot of ways, I actually begin to think that the simpler 2e ruleset that IWD1 uses is actually more fun than the IWD2's 3e ruleset. Oh, it may allow for less variety and may allow for less replayability... OTOH, its simplicity makes creating a party less of an exercise. You don't have to worry about skills and feats, aside from weapon profs. (I'll admit that I'll probably never like the racial class limitations in 2e though, or the weapon/class limitations... Obviously, I tend to think that there are good and bad things to be said about both IWD1 and IWD2's character creation rules.)