The power of solo?

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Hi everybody. Long time reader, first time poster. *insert wild cheering* I'm thinking about starting a solo game for fun but I've got a few questions for you veterans. First and foremost, what level do they usually get up to by the end of the game or at key fights? Can you reach 30 by the end? What battles really gave you difficulty?

And one last thing to Juppa (I think) who created the JUPP guide. Props to you cause that was an impressive piece of work. I try to balance roleplay and power gaming but I've got to respect that much effort.

Go Cubs!

 

The only way I have ever reached level 30 was to level squat a HOF game, and that is not fun. As for Solo level 30 I've not tried it, but I can imagine that it would be frustrating to kill hordes of demons and get none or 3xp per demon at such a high level. Perhaps others who have bothered with this could tell you.

 

Level squatting is the only way to go mate. I had to squat at lvl 20 in my normal game with my Pal/Sorc and squat all the way through Dragon's Eye, Field's of Slaughter and a few quests in Severed Hand before I got 500000 XP which got me upto level 30 total!

It is VERY painful...but when you are frying stuff at level 20 itself...what's the point?

 

My name's Jukka (not Juppa), by the way.

Normal games tend to end at level 16 to 18 with a full party. Solo could probably make it to about level 25 - one wouldn't get any EXP from killed monsters after those Golems in Ice Temple, but there's a bit over 300,000 quest EXP awaiting for those that do all the quests. Add a "bit" level-squatting (like all the way through Ice Temple and up to Chapter 5 or so) and one could, theoretically, reach level 30 as solo.

 

Doing all quests in accordance with my party's LG and NG alignments, I ended up with level 16 for five of them and 15 for the Aasimar one.

When playing solo, I had a great variety of dialogue options with paladin and wizard classes plus INT 16 WIS 14 CHA 16 from the very start. Still, I ended up 13/13 plus one ECL for being Aasimar. If I were, let's say, a plain fighter with poor to average mental stats, I think it would be a level or two behind.

A cheesy way of getting more XP without HoF is adding a level 1 character to your magnificent soloer. The newbie's only purpose is to cut the party's average level in half and this way get experience from kills

I would also have a question: what do you all mean by squatting?

 

You could always install the ease-of-use mod that will enable you to always get XP when killing monsters.

 

@chev: Level squating essentially means that when you get enough XP to level up... don't. Stay at your current level. The reason for doing this is that the amount og XP you get for killing monsters and stuff depends on your level. So, if you stay at a lower level for as long as possible, then you'll be getting more XP for the monsters you kill than if you'd have leveled up as soon as you got your XP. In the long run, you end up with a higher TOTAL XP number, and consequently a higher level when you finally do level up.

 

I was disappointed in the lame xp table so Baezlebub and I made up a modified xp table so that we could get more xp. The intent was that if you play on "Hard" difficulty you get more xp like in the old IWD1.

If you want the modified xp chart that you simply chuck into the Override folder and is easy to delete if you no longer want it...I could email it.

 

Argh, why didn't I think about that With a six person party, it shouldn't be of any trouble to squat a few levels. Pure caster or pure melee or pure ranged soloers also could. Although, with soloers, one stops getting XP very early. I last got some ridiculous amount for crystal golems. Before them, Sherincal (was 3000 pure kill XP or quest-like XP for killing her?). Early in the game, if conveniently distributed, stats matter much more than levels. A minmaxed fighter should be able to make it through the most of Targos before levelling up.

Am I right in guessing squatting to be of the greatest benefit in early adventures?

 

I have never tried soloing in IWD2. Soloing with a Sorcerer/some warrior class could be fun! Just make sure you won't fight in melee without proper protection(s). Good luck, whoever will your character be!