Party help...

Remove all ads!

Hey everyone,

It's been a long time since I played IWD II and I still haven't finished it. I managed to exit the Ice Temple, which isn't very far I think.

However, I've been itching to finish it, so I decided to ask you guys for help.

I like to make themed parties and one idea I've had involved using only nature dwellers (druids, rangers, barbarians). Another one is an evil mercenary band using only adventuring types (bards, rogues, fighters).
The second one seems to close to a standard party though, so I'll go for the first one.

My idea so far:
A pure class druid, main healer and supporting offensive. What race would fit this character best? I dispise Elves, but they do fit the nature dwelling story best. A plain old human sounds best though.

Second character, a ranger with a few lvls rogue to act as detrapper and dual wield support. I'd rather not have a rogue, but I think I'd be helpless without one.

Third, the tank. I remember vaguely that one of the halfling subraces has barbarian as it's favored class. And I want that stunty up front! Maybe mix in a few lvls of fighter? I'm not sure if IWD has size diffences like NWN, where a halfling can't wield greataxes, is this the case?

Last character I'm not sure of yet. I probably need some arcane support and a sorcerer fits the woodland theme the best, I think. Maybe add a few lvls of druid, ranger of barbarian? Which'd be best? Also, which race? This guy would probably be my diplomat as well.

I've been reading Harbourboy's thread about his SP IWD adventure. What suprised me was the ingenious use of adding characters mid-game.

I'm thinking of using this method as well, it should make the game more interesting. Should I add the characters at specific points, so they don't fall too far behind, or is xp not a problem?
Oh and what character would be best to begin with?


Thanks if you can help .

 

So many questions. I've almost forgotten them all already, so I'll answer some random ones that I can remember.

The halfling race that has Barbarian as its favoured class is Ghostwise Halfling. This is a little used, but interesting character so I say go for it!

What race would be best for a pure druid? Any race, really. Aasimar has boost to Wisdom so that may be of of some help, but really, it doesn't matter if you don't intend to multi-class because you won't have to worry about penalties.

What character to start with? Two opposing schools of thought: One, melee characters solo better at the start of the game so are better equipped to deal with goblins in Targos. But two, you want your spellcasters to be as high level as possible so it's good to get them up and running as soon as possible. A druid covers both those criteria so that might be the best option, and can summon animals to help with the tricky Palisade battle.

Have fun!

 

Well, casting druids need wisdom so any race with a wisdom bonus would be good (like an Aasimar) but honestly any race will do the job nicely.

I find rangers quite useless in Icewind Dale II, there is nothing they do that another class cannot do as well or even better, their only use in my opinion is to get the free Dual Wield skills. If you want a detrapper just get a character with enough Intelligence to get extra skill points to put in Search & Disable Devices, any class will do.

And if you plan to start your adventure solo at level 1 in normal mode you really should consider making a character with some melee fighting abilities.

[ August 15, 2006, 03:46: Message edited by: Bronze ]

 

Well, it's been fun so far.

I've started with Safa, a LN Aasimar druid.

Doing the docks with one character was a lot more fun than with a full party. I was suprised by the killing power of cats and rats...
The only hard point Safa had to face was the last section of the tunnels, luckily for her, the goblins had captured a halfling barbarian. He seemed unable to speak though and kept saying Gurk. Together they smashed the rest of the goblins and saved the day for Targos.
By the way, I can't remember seeing 20+ goblins in the final tunnel fight, maybe because I usually play with a full party. It was a tough battle though...

Currently I'm busy with the Targos Fed-ex quests, choosing rewards and converation options I hadn't explored so far (taking the dagger instead of the gold for example).

I'm suprised at how powerful a druid is, Sunscortch, Summon monsters, a whole range of magic weapons. So far, I'm happy .

I'm still not sure what character to add later, but not having anything set is part of the fun as well.
I've been able to bash open any lock up until now, so a rogue isn't really top priority.

The characters
Safa LN Aasimaar Druid
STR: 10
DEX: 14
CON: 14
INT: 10
WIS: 20
CHA: 12

Gurk NE Ghostwise Halfling Barbarian
STR: 16
DEX: 14
CON: 18
INT: 10
WIS: 10
CHA: 8

Not really roleplaying builds, but not very cheesy either.

Bronze, I don't understand why rangers suck. Okay, there's better classes out there, but a ranger isn't that bad, it it? He can fight well, has favored enemies, has support spells. Only downside in IWD is that they don't get animal companions, which sucks indeed...


One final question, the sword you can buy called Heart of (protonagist). Is there any point to it? I always buy it, but I haven't seen a quest yet which uncovered some mystery about it. I'm not asking for spoilers, only for confirmation if the sword does anything else besides having my characters name on it...

 

the heart of ... isn't any good in normal mode. The HOF-mode version OTOH is great.
Rangers aren't totally worthless in IWD2. Surely they are a bit weaker than most other classes but not by much. They are almost as good as fighters and barbarians in melee fights and they have a few spells. Play one if you like! You probably won't be sorry you did so. After all, RP-ing is the most important part in making a party.

 

Hey if you want a ranger go for it, I'd just rather get a fighter/druid than a ranger in my party but I've been really disapointed with rangers in IWD 2 because I used to play them in the BG series and they felt way more powerful in theses games (the insane random stats they were getting was alone a good reason to make one).

 

Rangers are not very effective in IWD2 because the class HAS been implemented poorly...in the sense, the game gives you little reason to play a Ranger over say a Fighter or Barbarian...

I'd say play what you want, its easy enough to finish with any class you like...