XP cap, number of PCs question

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So I just finished Heart of Winter for the first time and now I'm going for my first run ever of IWD2. I'm preety excited 'cause as much as I love AD&D an IE game with 3rd edition rules seems a lot of fun, too (yeah, I like 3E as well. Some things about it I don't like, but a lot of improvements, too, IMHO).

Only I'm stuck on character creation. I'm thinking about doing a 4-piece party for the first time (I never played IWD with less than 6, would do if going through it again). I like the classic, functional groups (a priest, a tank, a rogue, an arcane spellcaster).

So what's the XP cap for regular IWD2? I know characters get up to 30th level (that's about 450.000 XP if I'm not wrong), but that's only reachable if you take your party through the game again on HoF mode, right? Thing is, I don't really intend to do that (not a big fan of HoF, and as much as I liked IWD, I don't really intend to play it again. Unlike BG2, there's not a lot of "real" roleplaying or interesting NPC interaction to make me go back to it, but that's just me).

Finally, my question: which level can my party achieve playing only IWD (no Hof)? An answer that suits a 6 character party will do.

Thanks in advance

 

About 16 ~ 18 levels, depend on how you play (complete every quest and killing every monster or something).

 

Your average party level will be between 16 and 16.9 at the end, it doesn't matter if you have 3,4,5 or 6 characters in your party because of the dynamic fighting XP calculation.

 

in short, its usually best to take full 6, since if you run less characters, they will level slightly faster in start, and then get no xp becose they are to "high level" to get xp from such "lowly" monsters (and then they get autoupgraded to thougher monsters that you stil get no xp for).

basically, you wil end up at same level with 1 or 6 in the end, so what is the point of not taking 6 ?

 

Actually there are also quest reward, which give you the exact same amount of exp regardless of your party level. Also, playing with a smaller party will allow you to gain level faster, and requires less micro management, so it's quite advantageous.

I usually play with 6 characters though, it's more interesting and gives you a more "adventuring" mood (probably just me).

 

To Hethan the Skald:

You should take advantage of multi-classing in IWD2 (except your spellcasters) - otherwise you may as well just play the Baldur's Gate series instead.

Also note that my 2 character party (both Drow) are both at level 17, and they haven't met the Guardian yet. Of course, I'm not getting XP for kills anymore...

 

If you level squat twice (all the way through the Ice Temple and again all the way through Dragon's Eye) you could theoretically build up your XP to about lvl 20 playing through normal mode with a party of 4-6. I've done it myself.

Ideally, 17 is about right for a party of 6...

 

I usually end up with one character at about level 21 or 22 by the end of normal mode, but that is because I start off with one character and add others as I go along, rather than starting off with the whole party in place.

 

@ DaRock: you're right. This time I guess my Rogue (who's not just by chance the main ranged fighter) could use a few Fighter levels for better Base Attack Bonus and more feats.

Is the "give your dual wielder at least 1 Ranger level" tactic a popular one anyway? I heard WotC came up with a workaround for it in D&D 3E, but that's off topic, I guess.

 

Hethan, with a rogue, you can go multiclassed or pure. If you're gonna stick with him/her as only a ranged combatant, you won't lose much by MC'ing in some fighter levels. But if you like to do some nasty sneak attacking, a pure rogue can be a serious kick-arse backstabber, if used properly.

Near the end of normal mode, a pure rogue can be doing around 8d6 sneak attack damage, regardless of what weapon you're using (as long as you can sneak attack with it). So that measly little dagger can do some awesome damage when the sneak attack dice are added in.

Just something to consider.

 

I´ve finished the game trough the HoF mode and at least two of my PCs reached level 30(divinity).
The way of making this out is a bit cheesy, tricky and annoying, but I´ve discovered by a fluke.I´m not sure about the D&D rules but from what I see, the game calculates the amount of Xp given by killing a certain monster in a dinamic way, if you are at low level, gives you more, and so.... until the point that you get none for killing a big and nasty Motherfxxxx( like a Xvim knigth).
If you NEVER raise up a level( for example at level 20) and you can keep up with the rest of the game just at level 20, the game still thinks that you are at the ACTUAL LEVEL and not from the amount of Xps that you accumulates.
Of course, what´s the point of doing this?
You never get the chance of actually using those great new spells, base attack and HPs, but, and thats a big BUT, you can raise your level just a few moment before the end of the game( the big battle with the twins), and you can get INSTANTANEOUSLY 10 LEVELS!!!!....A hell of a lot amount of HPs, spells, and base attack for THE moment of the game!!!!
Anyway, is just a small discover, and I like to share it

 

That practice is called level squatting and is often combined with the 'mule' process to enable characters to reach higher levels than otherwise would be possible. But you are right that it does have the disadvantage that you miss out on actually playing some of your character levels, so in that sense, reduces some of the point of playing the game.

 

Level squatting is only really useful for multi-classing. This way, you can avoid that multi-classing penalty.

Also (less important), I don't like my non-human tank to waste a skill point in "Intimidate" when I pick a fighter level, so I squat to increase a cross-class skill that I actually want!
Maybe next time I will create a spellcasting tank with a decent INT so that doesn't matter...