Party Topic #31785

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Hi all,
My Considerations for my Party I want to start IWD1 with (HOW Installed) come down to the following:

1. Paladin
2. R/C
3. Bard
4. Fighter(1)/Druid

and either
5. Elf Fighter
6. Gnome Thief/Illusionist

or
5. Fighter/Thief (Elf)
6. Fighter/Illusionist (gnome)

or
5. Fighter/Thief (Halfling)
6. Fighter/Mage (Elf)

This great Helm for halfling or gnomes is used in the last 2 Settings.

I LOVE the Idea of a Fighter/Illusionist!

At the Moment the 2nd Idea is my favorite. But I end up without a single class fighter. Maybe dump the Paladin and take a Dwarf Fighter? (Hello Korgan )

Knowing this Topic is nearly identical with some allready started I still hope some of you have ideas that apply my decision process...

TIA

Tillix

 

Give your Druid 3 Fighter levels. That way he can put *** in slings and has better HP & THAC0.

R/C is a multiclass I hope. That would be better since IWD does not have the allspells bug from BG II.

I thing the Fighter/Thief will benefit more from that helm. Hide, stab, run, hide, return.

And don't worry. An R/C and a Paladin are enough tank untill your Druid and F/T get stronger.

 

You don't need a single-class fighter in this game. Multi-class fighters (and yes, even a Fighter/Mage without any armor or robe) can handle things very well, at least early on (and later on you find robes that give a better AC than plate mail!). And the Paladin is almost as good as a fighter for most of the game, then can probably exceed any fighter once you get Pale Justice (most powerful weapon in the game, by a long shot).

Either the 2nd or 3rd option are good. If you like Fighter/Illusionists, then by all means go with that. I think a multiclass Fighter/Druid works better than a dual-class, but if you'd rather go for a dual-class the best time to dual would be at fighter level 9, from my experience.

 

Thanks guys!!
Yes the R/C is multiclass.
I thought 1lev for druid just to be able to wear heavy armour and then make haste for the high level druid spells that supposed to be real good... I spend some time thinking if I should go for spears with the Fighter/Druid or for Scimitars (there are some cool spears out there) as melee waepon, I think I`ll go for Scimis cause of shield protection.

As for Pale justice, I think there is this +4 sword that gives you +1 attacks/round that sounds even better... but hey, that sounds like my backstab weapon!

btw, a fighter/mages can wear helmets, right??

It`s going to be interesting at what point a shield becomes more valuable than the +1 attack with a free off hand for the R/C.

Guys, 10 days till I can start playing, CAN... NOT....WAIT!!!

 

Yes, F/M can wear helmets (and shields).

 

Pale Justice is a long sword that can only be used by Paladins. Also it is found way too late in the game. Forget backstabbing with it Tillix.

As far as sheilds are concerned once you find a sheild giving +3 to AC, you will have to take a decision whether the AC is worth more than the extra attack of a single-handed weapon of a Ranger.

 

@Tillix:
I want to encourage you to try a "no reload" game.

Icewind Dale isn't like Baldur's Gate, you don't have to be able to "look into the future" and prepare spells and tactics in order to beat your enemies.

If your party is strong enough the game should be doable this way without using help from walkthroughs or other sources.
You don't have to find every magical item and to get every XP bonus from every dialogue option.
You can activate "max HP at level up" and allow a reload exception when scribing scrolls.

Another thing you might want to consider is the difficulty setting.
Your party members will end up with about 2,000,000 XP each in normal mode, so you'll not be able to cast all available spells in the game.
If you use the easiest or the hardest difficulty setting you get twice as much XP for everything.
Insane mode is about as easy as normal mode, since thac0, damage, attacks, HP and spells improve faster and you can impress yourself and the unknowing ones.
So if you want to play the game like intended choose normal, if you want your characters to level up faster choose insane or very easy.

If you want to spend more time for your first run through the game and don't mind interrupting the game flow by reloading, even a party with low stats and without dualclassed characters will suffice.
You only need a powerful party if you play "no reload".


About your druid:

Specialize in scimitar and sling. Scimitars can be worn with shield.
Scimitar profiency affects thac0 and damage while in polar bear form and shield bonusses apply while shapeshifted.

You cannot dualclass before you reach level2 in your first class.

Good levels for dualclassing from fighter to druid:
level3 (4,000 XP): you can get *** in a weapon.
level7 (64,000 XP): extra half attack (even while shapeshifted), *** both in scimitar and sling
level9 (250,000 XP): ** in sling, ***** in scimitar means 3 attacks/round with scimitars.


About your paladin:

One could think it is advantageous to have someone in the party who can dismantle evil guys in disguise, but it isn't.
You can't barter with someone your paladin attacks (no second flame arrow scroll unless you get it random).

Since his protection from evil special ability stacks with the spells, he has a near permanent +2 AC and +4 saving throw bonus.
But once the fighter gets ***** in his melee weapon, he's far superior.
He gains an extra full attack per round (not only 1/2 like stated in the manual) which is doubled while hasted. (Unlike stated in the manual you can in fact have more than 5 attcks per round while hasted.)

About "pale justice": I didn't find it in my game and there are better weapons.

I would take a dwarf fighter instead.


I disagee with shrikant about a multiclass cleric/ranger being superior to the dualclassed version for your party (dual at level 2,3 or 7).
Longer lasting recitation and other spells benefit the whole party more than slightly better fighting abilities for one character.
But you should have a healer at the beginning.


About your mage:

A multiclass mage will never be able to cast high level spells or to cast level dependent spells as devastating as a single or dualclassed mage.
I'd use a fighter and dual him to illusionist at level 3,7 or 9 or dual a cleric at level9 instead.

I wouldn't use an elf.
Raise dead doesn't work for them, they don't get magic resistance bonusses like dwarves, gnomes or halflings, their dexterity bonus is nearly useless because of cat's grace and their lacking con hurts if they are (multiclass-) fighters.

But you can manage a "no reload" game with each of your suggested parties, idea2 sounds best for me (although I would use a dwarf instead of the elf).

One advice: have your bard do the talking.

 

Wow, thanks for all the ideas guys!!

I will go for no reloads and INSANE!
@shrikant: I meant backstabbing with that +4 sword

no reload/raise dead doesn`t work on elf is an issue. I thought of my elf as an archer, a dual-classed mage could do the job.

I`ll let you know how I start, the options kmonster mentioned could lead to

1. Dwarf - insane Axe-person (Fighter)
2. R/C (still multi for healing at the start.)
3. Halfling Fighter/Thief (to cool my obsession to this helm... and I have to check out that crippling strike!)
4. Fighter(3)/Druid (***Slings and **Scimis)
5. Fighter(3)/Illusionist (Longbows)
6. Bard (Crossbows and Halberds, does the talking)

That really sounds good. Maybe 5. gets 7 Fighter level and the great great-swords that can be found.

And who needs this holy evil smiting persons anyway

 

Looks nice your party, I'm curious if you will succeed..

I can't remember finding a crossbow bards can use.
Better give a composite long bow to your bard.

Your illusionist will level up fast, so that you might not find high level scrolls fast enough for quite some time, so it doesn't hurt waiting longer, your bard can handle the important spells (identify,strength,haste) at the beginning quite well.

I would consider trading the halfling for a gnome.
18/00 strength is 6 levels above 17.
You won't find an item which sets your strength high before chapter6.
The halfling will be superior after that, but it takes a long time.

You won't get a crippling strike unless hidden if you use a short range weapon, since enemies tend to attack the nearest party member and dagger wielders have to get closer than long sword wielders.

 

If you want to multiclass a mage, it's a good idea to make it a gnome illusionist, taking advantage of the fact that it's the only case where multiclassed mages get to have a specialisation (unless it's preserved when you are human and dual-class from mage, which is a bad idea, anyway).

Perhaps take a gnome fighter/illusionist and a fighter/thief. Except there was that sword (IIRC) for fighter/mages -- not sure if it was further restricted to just one race or not. Paladins aren't bad in this game and as for that reanger/cleric, make it multiclass rather than dual-class.

 

Multi-class cleric/rangers are awesome, they get 2+1/2 attacks with a flail or whatever if you are specialized and wield one weapon!

5 goblins blasted in 2 rounds!

 

Why didn`t I think of a Gnome Fighter/Thief earlier??

Looks really good now!
1. Dwarf Fighter (axe, sling)
2. HE R/C (mace, sling)
3. Gnome Fighter/Thief (long sword, Crossbow)
4. Human Fighter(3)/Druid (Scimis, sling)
5. Human Fighter(7)/Illusionist (Long Bow, great sword)
6. HE Bard (Halberd, Longbow)

Have to start to look for the stats I need to dual... as well as if Illusion is a good school to chose. shuld be IIRC.

BTW, the item description of this helm sais it can only be worn be halflings. (Helm of trusted defender) Some guys here mentioned gnomes can wear it as well, is that true?

Again, Thanks for all the tips, This Party looks cool!

 

As for the stats you need:

It shouldn't be very difficult to get 18/00 str and maxed out dex and con for characters 1,2,3 and 5 since you can ignore cha and int or wis.

Your bard should have the minimum stats 18-18-16-18-3-15.
15 cha allows all charisma-based dialogue options and can be raised to 20 using the friends spell. Shop prices won't get cheaper after 20 cha.
You get a lore penalty for low wis, but since bards get +10 lore/level she will be able to identify everything soon.
Very late in the add-on a harp which requires 13 wis can be found, but it's not worth it. My 13 wis bard never used it.
There is a small chance your bard might benefit from having 17 instead of 16 con.
You might meet a merchant females get better prices from.

Your fighter>druid will be the hardest to roll, since he needs 15 str, 17 wis, 17 cha and must be true neutral for dualclassing.
Int is the only stat it doesn't matter being below 18. (besides cha maybe)
Go for 18/..-18-16-3-17-17 minimum (my f9>d had 18/78-18-18-4-18-18), you can use the strength spell later to raise your /.. strength by 10-80.
If you are desperate, set dex to 9-10 and the other important stats to 18.

As for the helm of trusted defender, I'm pretty sure that the description allows it to be worn by gnomes.
Before you buy it however you should buy the clasp of Bron's cloak from Orrick's Tower, since his inventory changes when you begin chapter2 (starts when you leave for Dragon's Eye) and 4.

Depending on your playing style, you might want to swap the races of character 1&3.
I would choose cadaverous undead as the Ranger's favored enemy, wights are very annoying.

My party consisted of a Paladin, HE R/C, Dw F/T, Hu F9>Druid, Hu F9>Mage and a HE Bard.
I played normal mode and there was only one situation I messed up totally (priests casting hold person with trollish help, was too proud to run away) and a few other reloads after won battles because I was too lazy to walk to a temple for resurection.
So you really have a chance to succeed in your "no reload" game. But there are many oppertunities to die during the game, a few unlucky rolls and everything is over.
Did you play similar games before ?

Illusion is the best school for specializing.