Please evaluate my new party:

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Hi everybody. I've decided to give another go at IWD1, HoW, TotLM after a few years away from it. I've discovered that I really enjoy 4 person parties the best, as they level up a bit faster than full ones while not taking away from the challenge of the game, but most importantly, it's just easier for me to keep track of these guys!

Character 1: CG Gnome Fighter/Thief
He'll be wearing heavy armor most of the time (and will remove it to disarm traps). I'm using this guy as a tank.

Character 2: LN Half-Elf Fighter/Mage/Cleric
He'll be wearing heavy armor for the early stages of the game, at least until I feel like he has some good arcane spells to contribute to the party. After that, I'm hoping for some Elven Chain so that he'll still be decent as a tank.

Character 3: NE Half-Elf Bard
I am in love with their songs! He will act as an archer before level 11, and also as my mage for the early stages of the game. I'm hoping for another suit of Elven Chain for this guy, so I know I'm kinda pushing my luck there (I don't like reloading random treasures).

Character 4: N Fighter/Druid type. I'm not sure if I should multiclass or dualclass this one. I can see advantages to both:

F/D multiclass:

All abilities the whole game
30/30 maximum level
Better THAC0
No "weak" period of development

F9>D dualclass

***** in Scimitar
More HP
***** in Scimitar

Seriously though, which is a better character? Please keep in mind that I'll be playing with a 4 character party, so my levels will jump up a bit faster than a 6 man party.


Any suggestions on weapon proficiencies is greatly appreciated, as are comments about the party.

TIA!

 

For gnome F/T I'd take axes and short swords. +2 Defender combined with helm of trusted defender gives low AC quite early. I don't remember if you can backstab with an axe in IWD, so short swords could come in handy.

For F/M/C flails (better than maces in IMO), maybe war hammers?. Bard will get one point in nearly everything, I'd take swords after bow(s).

As for the druid, scimitars don't seem so great to me. I can't remember ever getting a single great or really good scimitar (maybe I have just missed it/them). Especially if you're going to dual class, grand mastery seems like a waste. I'd prefer almost any other druid weapon before scimitars: spears, staffs, even daggers?

Your party seems interesting, maybe a bit short on the priest side (only 1/3 cleric and a 1/2 druid, but on the other hand they'll level up fast). I haven't ever tried a F/M/C, but now my fingers started to itch.. I shouldn't read these posts .

 

Your triple class character will still level very, very slow. Leveling will be faster with fewer pc's or fewer classes.

The IWD Tweak Pack (here on SP) has a component to permit grandmastery for multiclassed fighters. The tweak pack also contains a component to allow thieving skills while in armor (with a penalty), and one that allows archane spellcasting (again, with a penalty). I didn't install those components, but they're available.

Have you considered a ranger/cleric instead of a fighter/druid? The additional spell selection is great and I haven't noticed a real disadvantage in weapon selection (or level progress), there are very powerful blunt weapons in this game. Of course, if you install multiclass grandmastery the multiclassed fighters have a distinct edge in combat ability.

Won't you need a mod to get to 30/30 level? I thought HoW only allowed 30 levels total -- I could be wrong (I hope I am since I'm playing through again). The level 40 mods are overpowering due to a modification of the 2nd edition rules (you need to modify the thac0 and spell progression tables to be consistent with 2nd Ed).

My current party:
Dwarf Fighter -- high hit points, fast leveling, very powerful.
Half-Elf Ranger/Cleric -- good tank, access to all divine spells.
Elf Mage/Thief -- ranged threat, best AC of the group thus far (with no armor).

I only have problems when I get gang tackled (bombardier beetles can ruin you whole day).

 

I'd make character 2 good aligned so he can wear the blessed helm of Lathander. And don't worry about Elven Chain, robes are just as good if not better.

I disagree with Kullervo about druid weapons, I prefer scimitars. There are some useful ones and you can even wear a shield (which can affect the shapeshifts too). Scimitar proficiency also effects polar bear thac0 and damage too.
I guess you'll be happier with the multiclass version according to your playing style.

 

My last run through was with a four man party - paladin, fighter, ranger and a cleric/mage. This worked very well but I did realise it wasn't ideal having your mage tied up with healing people all the time so you might want to do something like fighter, cleric, ranger, mage.

 

According to some item lists, there is only two great scimitars in IWD - both are in the later chapters. Interestingly, the dual-classed F/D would probably get those fighter abilities (GM in scimitar ?) back roughly at the same time..

Yesterday (while creating a F/M/C +3 other characters) I realized, that getting good attributes for F/M/C without cheating/DK is really hard. How did you solve this? I went with 18 in INT, WIS & DEX, 16 STR and 10's in CHA & CON (several rerolls).

 

I was actually very lucky:

18/00 STR (holy crap!!!!)
18 DEX
18 CON
15 INT
15 WIS
3 CHA


I figure gulping a potion of genius will allow me to memorize the spells I need, and a high WIS grants bonus spells, but I needed to sacrifice someplace. Still, 15 grants 2 bonus 1st level spells, which will help a bunch. IWD isn't like AD&D 2nd edition in the way that you can still cast the highest level spells, even if you only had a 9 in INT & WIS. I figured these are still very good scores though.

 

Word of advice. Never use neutral or evil clerics in IWD. You won't be able to cast several good aligned spells like Resurrection.
Dual classing a fighter to a druid is a real pain. Very difficult to build one.

 

I was actually surprised how easy this was in my current game (4 characters). My fighter(-to-become-druid) reached level 9 roughly in the middle of Severed Hand and got his fighter abilities back in early stages of Dorn's Deep. The transition period was relatively easy, only some minor tactical changes were needed.

Rolling decent attributes in the beginning was more painful