Suggest me a powergaming party for normal + HoF please...

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Hi!
I want to beat the game once in normal and later in HoF mode.
Can you suggest me an ultimate party for this task?
Can be anywhere from 3 to 6 members...
Should be strong from the beginning right through to the end.
Can you also suggest me which mods make sense for your party-lineup?

 

Depends really what you're after, but most bases are covered here.

UPP is for getting through the game with minimal delving into advanced metagame stuff, JUPP (my own guide) is for really pushing the limits of it and IWD2 4 dummies is as much a modder's guide as it is a guide to powerful parties.

 

So which of these guides is the best for my needs?
Is the AC really as important? I mean there are summons and Stoneskin, mirror image, blur etc.

Which of the 2 JUPP parties is better?

I want a Party with not that many classes per character.
Would you suggest 3,4,5 or 6 members? The smaller the party (but must be effective), the better.

Also, what do you think about the downloadable NPC mod for iwd2?
Is it any good and suited for powergaming? I could adjust their stats with dk2 if they really suck but I would love to see some NPC interaction in the game...
Which of the characters in the NPC mod would you form a party of?

 

Define "best"? Numerically superior, easiest to get through the game, has most redundancy of roles, something else? After a certain point, there's no single best party that fills all of the requirements at once.

My opinion may be biased but JUPP is just as powerful as it gets, without exploits, cheating and/or overpowered mods. Any NPC mod is therefore either redundant or overpowered - either you can create just as good characters yourself or they're allowed stuff normally not available in the game. Of the parties presented in JUPP, the party #2 is arguably the stronger one as it's not constrained by the "melee only" requirement imposed on party #1.

If you read the JUPP guide, I'm not actually advocating for any specific party size but rather ALL of them. As long as you can get through the Prologue with a smaller party, you really should start small and add new members along the way in terms of power. Considering the vulnerability of characters with bad AC and bad hit points early on, this is actually surprisingly easy if you start with nothing but high defense characters.

 

In terms of which mod characters to take, the most interesting ones are IMO Rizdaer, Prachi, Sir Nord, Salomeya, Jaemal, and the evil druid elf guy. If you are a half orc male, take Hildury.

Definitely not suited for power-gaming, though some start out with some rather useful magical items that will remain so throughout most or all of the game. Multi-classing has sometimes glitched on me (mostly with Prachi) but it is doable.

 

Sir Rechet, do your JUPP parties only really unfold their power at high levels during HOF, or are they also powerful for non-HOF games?

 

To be fair, some of the early iterations of JUPP (think 2004-2005) were rather late bloomers.. but the current ones in the guide are meant to be just as powerful as you can reasonably get during the most difficult early chapters as well. You can't underestimate the power of having 30+ AC available to you pretty much right from the start.

Edit: Of course, you wouldn't pick most, if any, mix-in classes for most characters during Normal mode, so the actual character layout will lack several parts until HOF mode.

 

Would you suggest me a 4 character party( then which 4 builds), or a full party of 6 like in JUPP2 ?

I want some serious blasting but also some good melee and of course some bardsongs.A Druid would be fun too.Also some talker and someone who does the thieving needs..

 

Neither four nor six, but BOTH of them. Start with four and and add the last two a while later, for example right after you've completed the Monastery. Just add in the characters from JUPP party #2 in order.

Edit: For the specific list of requirements you listed, you could also try a bard/druid diplomat. Just check the class advice section of the guide as to why.

 

So can you suggest me a strong 4 man party?
Six are just too many for my taste...

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How would you do:

1. Some Paladin and cleric mix who is a strong melee fighter

2. Some druid who is also good in melee

3.Some mage who is the strongest in melee thanks to self buffs but also a good blaster and using all the scrolls I find

4.A Sorcerer who is the strongest bombardier

How would you exactly skill them?

They should all be capable to survive in HoF mode

Should really be only 4 or better only 3 characters...

Also are dual weapons or 2handed weapons stronger?

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Someone please????

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Which are the most essential mods you would suggest me to install?
And which ones ruin the gaming experience?

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Anyone please???

 

That view depends on whether or not you are a first-time player or not.
Some years ago I put out a similar request for Baldur's Gate II after I found a bunch of soundsets and portraits for a Buffy the Vampire Slayer themed party right after reading "Tabula Avatar". I also asked for a spoiler on the location on a few key items because I couldn't recall where to get them.
I did ask for suggestions on matching weapons to the characters.

 

As far as a mage goes, the drow thief 1/conjurer X from this guide might be a good match, you might also take a look at the human or aasimar sorcerer in the guide. also offers some thoughts on a paladin 1 or 2/ sorcerer X.
Lastly, you'll find a druid alternative under the morninglord of lathander heading. : http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/dl.php?s=IWD2&f=IWD2/icewind_dale_ii_upp.zip

 

Do you think 1 divine caster is enough in a party of four?

Else I have an idea of a party of 4:

1.A battle cleric

2.Some spellsword who is good in melee but also has many mage levels

3. Sorcerer

4. Sorcerer

What do you think about that idea?
And who of them would be the best high armorclass character?

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I think te UPP is very interesting. But if I wanted to take only 4 chars from it which ones would you suggest?

 

1 divine caster can work if you make him into a healing battery, sure.
one problem i do see with your party is that you don't have any thief in there at all. even though you can get by without a rogue, having some character who can use Open Locks and Disarm Traps is still useful.

As far as UPP goes and taking only 4 of them, i would take :

1 : Aasimar sorcerer : gets a high int score, unlike the human one - allowing you to put points in the conversation skills like diplomacy, bluff and intimidate. probably your best bet for a party leader with his high cha score as well.
2 : human morninglord of lathander - for a healing battery and buffs, as well as some offensive cleric spell casting. At lvl 18 you can also have him take 1 level of paladin, so you can use the holy avenger - just be sure to make him lawful good as you create the character.
3 : Shield dwarf battleguard of tempus as a tank and secondary cleric. He'll be a bit weaker in the beginning of the game compared to the fighter4/barbarian, but get much better as you progress and makes up for it with his divine spell casting.
4 : drow thief1/conjurer x - 1 thief level for the thief skills that are actually usable, as well as an arcane caster that has some use for all those scrolls you find.

This way you end up with 2 arcane casters and 2 divine casters - 1 of which is also your tank. not having a dedicated tank might hurt a bit early on, but you'll be able to load up on animated undead later on, and Shades after that as well.

 

Thanks! That sounds good.

Would you give them exactly the stats,skills and feats as in the guide?

Is there a good alternative race for the thief/conjurer?

Is the Lathander priest really better than the druid (also described in the upp guide)?

Is the paladin sword onehanded? If so would it be good to give the lathander priest dualwield?

Which of them would be a good high ac character?

 

I designed you a strong 3 man party with many divine and arcane levels, thieving and talking skills. Worked out the complete skill plan and item/weapon/potion usage, exact battle orders for all fights (normal and hof).

voilà - you won!

you are welcome

 

you are kidding me thats not fair!

 

1. probably yeah, they're statted to be quite strong in the guide and there's not a lot of changes you can make to them to make up for the 2 missing characters anyway.
2. male drow is the best option, but you could also go with a tiefling here, though he'll be less powerful. - read the guide, there's actually a paragraph in there on going tiefling instead of drow.
3. if you go druid over morninglord of lathander, you only get 1/3rd the amount of healing spells.
it can be done, but it would mean you would have to memorize a lot more healing spells on your battleguard of tempus - and since he is your tank, he's not going to be in much of a position to cast healing spells without disengaging, or until the battle is over.
4. there's other, more useful feats to get on your morninglord - get weapon focus long sword once you hit the paladin level, just stick to the guide otherwise.
while pale justice is a onehanded sword, and you can still dual wield even without taking feats in it, you might be better off using it with a shield.
5. The 2 priests will probably be your best AC characters for a while, the battleguard of tempus being the better one of the two. the rogue/conjurer can get a decent AC once you get the "Chain of Drakkus"(4th level of the severed hand) since he'll have a high AC bonus from his dex score on top of the bonus the armor gives.
Ironically, the aasimar sorcerer(your party leader) is the one you'll want to keep in the back the most, since he won't be able to take much punishment.