Squatting

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My party is at lvl 15, and I just hit Dragon Eye. I've got about 2 more levels saved up for each character, but I'm not sure if I should go ahead and take those levels or save them for when I hit the Fields of Slaughter and the Severed Hand.

What do you guys think?

Take now, save till Field of Slaughter or till Severed Hand?

This party is going to go through Heart of Fury mode as well.

 

I would save squats until late as possible, see how you do, if it gets too tough for you, then level up. Remember, once you level up, all levels go to the same class, so you may need to plan ahead if you are splitting classes. Also, you may not need to level all characters up. Maybe just the socerer or cleric to get some better spells to handle new threats. I f only one character levels up, your average character level will still be lower.

 

Hm...I overshot my levels! Effective character level was 15, actual level was about 13.5...2 Drow, 1 Aasimar and 1 Deep Gnome!

Well...I've got 4 levels saved up now, and I'm still only on Dragon's Eye level 3! Plus, I'm really breezing through this with my current party, on Insane that too...so I think I'll be saving up my level ups.

I'd like to recommend the JUPP guide to anyone who is reading this. I'm following that guide right now, and IWD2 has never been so much fun!

 

What exactly is this squatting stuff? Not leveling up when you have enough XP? What's the point of that?

 

Because you get more XP if the average character level of your party is lower. By not levelling all of your characters straight away, you end up getting more XP for each fight and more XP overall.

Sometimes, this can mean just not levelling one character, or it can be mean just delaying levelling until after the next big fight. You don't lose anything by not levelling because your XP still goes into the bank.

All this means you can get to a higher level by the end of the game.

 

Yes, not leveling up when you can. You get more XP for kills at lower levels.

 

To avoid the XP penalties that IWD imposes for being high level and ruthlessly slaughtering defenceless goblins. At very high levels, you can actually get no XP at all! Thus, you acquire more XP overall than you would otherwise have done. Is particularly effective if you're between levels where you gain extra abilities (e.g. extra attack or spell level), as you will barely notice the difference.

EDIT: crap! Where did those other posts come from?!?!!

 

Better to have 3 answers than no answers. Mine was very basic. Yours and Harbourboy's are much better.

 

Thanks

How high up can you get in the standard game, anyhow? From what I read, I understand level 17-18; however, I am still in Chap II (the Ice Temple) and most of my party is level 10 (5 characters). This seems to imply that leveling up will be much slower in the future.

 

The rate of levelling doesn't slow as quickly (if you see what I mean...) as in 2E. It's basically just +1000 XPs / level to level-up, which isn't too drastic. (i.e. level 1 -> 2 requires +1000 XP, level 2 -> 3 +2000, etc... of course, everyone knows that already, really, it's just my way of thinking about it). It's the penalty for going after cannon fodder that hurts. I think level 16 is pretty standard for endgame, but level 17-18 is certainly possible, especially with strategic squatting.

 

Right, I know you don't need as many XP as in 2nd edition rules. What I meant it will presumably take more time (game play) before gaining new levels because you will not get so much XP from a particular kill.

Anyhow, I thought they are supposed to give you harder enemies at higher levels, too. So, I would not expect to have to fight goblins at lev 15, as that would be pointless. In my opinion, of order 100 XP per kill is a reasonable amount. If it gets to be less it will seem... unrewarding.

 

The frost dragons you meet at the river caves; they were worth only 500XP for my party. Be prepared to get less than 100XP quite often.
While the XP required to get a new level in IWD II may not be too much, the fact that the CR (challenge ratings) reduce the amount of XP you get per kill definately makes up for it. There are a few places where you will get loads of XP and then the fount dies up. For example The IceWall & IceTemple areas were filled with Ice Golems worth well over 2000XP each but now I have reached the monastry and have hardly gained any levels.

If you have no problem dealing with any enemies at the current level, it is advisable to keep off leveling till a fight becomes too much to handle. Even then it is not required that you level up everybody.

 

If you're going to play HOF-mode you should be careful with squatting too much.
One of my parties of 5 (one of them added later on) reached actual lvl 24 at the time-loop in ch5. Don't remember which lvl they had at end of normal mode. I had them at a mean-lvl of under 10, with more than 10 squatted lvls, just to get loads of XP and lvld up only one to beat the Xvim-knights and endbosses. I had plans of playing HOF-mode but I think I would reach the lvl-cap after just a couple of fights. Not too much fun running around without getting something for it. I used ECL-races (2 DG, 2 Drow, 1 Aasimar) but it didn't help much.
With my new 6-p-party I won't squatt much until HOF-mode and try to reach the lvl-cap at end of HOF.

 

Well, seeing the new posts here I feel an update is in order.

My Blast-Happy party has just reached the Severed Hand, which as you know is the last chapter of the game. As such, I didn't feel that there was any point to squatting anymore and that I might as well enjoy the power of my characters to the fullest extent through all the big fights that are coming up.

As of now, I'm glad to say that they are all lvl 20! It's only a four character party of course, and all of them are ECL races, (2 Drow,1 DG, 1 Aasimar to be precise), which could explain the high character level, but thats alright, because I'm going to take them through HoF and 10 more levels sounds just about right for HOF.

 

What classes do you use for a four party group?

 

You mix them up, AzathothXy (don't I know you from another message board)?

Every team needs a tank, a healer, and arcane artillery (if you're going for a balanced team). Personally, I like for my tank to be a Paladin 2/Priest of Ilmater X (usually an Aasimar). I prefer wizards for the arcane artillery. The priest also fills the healer slot, so I'll also stick in a druid (usually dipping one level from elsewhere; monk, barbarian, and ranger are all good choices), and a rogue/bard.

 

Yeah, I also post on the Palladium Boards. Good to see you again.
I was thinking a Duergar Figther 4/Barb X, a Duergar Battleguard, a Asimar Sorcerer and a Drow something. But I don't know if that would work.

 

That would actually work really well. Your Drow can either be a cleric or wizard mix-in, depending on their gender. Perhaps a rogue, since that will give you some nice skills to work with.

 

Well, I'm playing the Arcane Party from Jukka Mikkonen's UPP Guide.

So...as you wanted, the classes I'm using are:

Deep Gnome --> Decoy

Rogue - 1
Ranger - 1
Monk - 1
Paladin - 1
Wizard - 16

Drow - Buffer/Healer

Morninglord of Lathander - 13 (for Resurrection)
Druid - 6 ( as of now, going to go 12, then get 2 of cleric, then 2 of druid again)

Aasimar - Heavy Artillery

Paladin 1 - for the saves
Sorcerer - 19

Drow - Debuffer, Nuker

Rogue - 2 (for evasion)
Wizard - 16 (going to go all the way to 28)

This guy is more for casting stuff like Chaos, Dominate Person, Slow, Malison, Power Word Blind, Symbol Hopelessness, Wail of the Banshee, etc.

I have the decoy, with an AC of 60 right now from various buffs. I have him run ahead and attract all the enemy fire, then just cast all my spells on top of him. He's got a Reflex save of about 30 right now, so he makes it all the time. The enemies however...dont!

 

That is one talented Deep Gnome!