**item spoilers DEAD ahead**
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I thought I'd drop in my final defensive item goals I want to equip my party with that are available legally (albeit, some randomly *) throughout the game [IWD + HoW + TotL.] Note that stats have been adjusted to account for potions, books, or items {brackets}.

Current party:
1. Human Paladin 18/00 18 18 4 13 17
Bathed-In-Blood
Mystery of the Dead $
Wailing of Virgins
Blessed Helm of Lathander
Shimmering Sash $
Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise
Boots of the North
Black Wolf Talisman
Ring of Free Action
Ring of the Warrior *

Cold 60%
-1 Save (-2 Breath)
Crushing -19 Piercing -19 Slashing -20 Missile -20
Notes: Prefer a fighter here, but came up with a solution to make a paladin really hard to hit and hit hard (GWE & RotW gives -2 THAC0 / +2 Damage.) "Virgins" is fear redundant, but I want its AC reducing power most. Hadn't much choice to make her an idiot to get that 18/00...

2. Gnome Fighter 18/00 18 18 9 8 {8}
Winter King's Plate $
OR
Studded Leather of Resistance +3
Sundered Shield of Tiernon
Cloak of Scintillating Colors
Helm of the Trusted Defender
Bone Marrow Belt *
Gauntlets of Weapon Skill
Boots of the North $
Clasp of Bron's Cloak $
Ring of Free Action
Ring of Greater Resistance (remove when donning leather armor)

Cold 75%
Fire 25%
-3 Spell
Crushing -13 20% Piercing -13 15% Slashing -16 65% Missile -13 15%
Notes: Wield leather armor and equip Morning Star +4: Defender to get 100% Slashing when fighting certain castle guards {they'll rip you a new one in HoF - be warned.} I purchase throwing axes until I get the magical one.

3. Dwarf Fighter/Cleric 19 {18} {20} 9 18 8
Vexed Armor
Waukeen's Defender $
Cloak of Invisibility *
Patriot Helm *
Golden Girdle
Kaylessa's Gloves *
Boots of Avoidance
Symbol of Corellon Larethian *
Ring of Free Action
Ring of Holiness

Cold 100%
Magic 10%
-2 Save
Regeneration
Crushing -9 Piercing -9 Slashing -15 Missile -13
Notes: Nearly impossible to hurt with magic - even before buffing!

4. Half-Elf Fighter/Druid {18/00} 18 18 7 20 {13}
Umber Hulk Plate $
The Argent Shield
Cloak of Displacement
Dead Man's Face
Girdle of Bluntness
Gauntlets of Ogre Power
Boots of Grounding
Scarab of Defense *
Ring of Free Action
Ring of Greater Resistance

Elec 50%
Magic 25%
-2 Save (-3 Spell)
Crushing -12 Piercing -8 Slashing -12 Missile -12
Notes: Careful choice of items to get overall saves.

5. Elf Mage/Thief 18 19 17 18 10 10
Robe of the Watcher
Cloak of Protection +2
Rogue's Cowl $
Girdle of Ogre Blood $
Bracers of Blasting $
Boots of Speed
Kossuth's Blood
Edion's Ring of Wizardry $
Kontik's Ring of Wizardry

Magic 10%
-2 Save (-4 Spell)
Regeneration
Crushing -5 Piercing -5 Slashing -5 Missile -5
Notes: Obviously relies on spells for defense -- and running!

6. Half-Elf Bard 14 18 16 18 13 {20}
Lyre of Progression $
Mithran's Cloak *
Sune's Laurel of Favor
Golden Girdle
Bracers of Defense A.C. 6
Boots of the Fox *
Amulet of Metaspell Influence
Ring of Fire Resistance
Ring of Lesser Resistance *

40% Fire
-2 Save (-4 Spell)
Crushing -3 Piercing -3 Slashing -6 Missile -3
Notes: Obviously relies on spells for defense -- and running [and singing!]

Final note: These are base protections without further improvements with either weapons in hand (except my mention of the MS +4: Defender), spells, or bard singing.

Fun stats: What does it take for my team to reach level 30 [multiplying level 30 times six for single class and times twelve for multiclass?]
Bard 26,400,000
Fighter 33,000,000
Paladin 39,600,000
Fighter/Cleric 66,000,000 / 59,400,000
Fighter/Druid 66,000,000 / 62,100,000
Mage/Thief 90,000,000 / 52,800,000

-nearly a tenth of a billion experience points to finally get my Mage/Thief to reach Godhood ; )

As an aside you can get higher than Level 30 with Aurils bane installed I went thru Twice with the same party just to see and everyone bar my dual classes got to level 40, so my question would be what comes after Godhood? ;) , but good luck on your task, ps how long does it take to get 100% on your strength, I usually give up and go with it in the 90s.

Oh and I missed out on a lot of experience by not killing livestock;)

18/00 rollin' time:

The two front tanks should always have 18/00:

1. Paladin should take about an hour. So long as you have an alternate leader with INT of 10 plus (you'll actually need INT higher even for some chats) and CHA of 15 plus combined [Bard's perfect for this roll], then the paladin will be most valuable as a tank and minor spell caster -- and dumb.

2. Fighter only takes 30 minutes or less, so long as your goal is to keep INT/WIS/CHA 8 or more [I wanted my fighter's CHA a 10 so that the Belt brings it down to 8 - no NPC penalties above 7.]

3. Fighter/Cleric - LUCK!
I'll swallow a potion that kills a point of CON, but gives my F/C a STR of 19. She'll never take that armor off...

4. Fighter/Druid - Item
This one is even harder then a F/C to roll a 18/00 on for some reason - mine is 18/81 which will drop to 18/51 with a two potions to bring that WIS from 18 to 20 ; )

I hardly ever worry about pure strength rolls. There are tons of strength-increasing items around in the mid-late game. Before that, rely on spells or potions for Str.

If you decide to fight the group from Luskan that's come to kill the Whistling Gallows tavernkeeper, they have tons of items including (iirc) 2 sets of Gauntlets of Ogre Power. You can buy more right at the start of TotL. Add in the Girdle of Stromnos, and you don't really need to roll huge Str, especially for characters that need lots of points. You require 90 stat points just to get a dualclass F/D with minimum Int and Cha and 18 Str. I can't imagine rolling until getting 18/00 Str on top of that.

I must agree with Aerich on this one,my fighters have always ended up with strength of 19, and if memory serves sometimes better( it has been a while). The pure tedium of trying to achieve 100% is , I think, what puts me off.

.....or it could be my extreme lack of patience.

15 STR is all you need for warriors, even frontliners. [img]smile.gif[/img] I just do not see the point in rolling for more than an hour for ONE character. You might as well Dalekeep the stats already.

Excuse my naivety, but what is Dalekeep, and where do I find it presuming it is some sort of mod, I keep meaning to ask as I hear it getting banded around.

Dalekeeper, as it is called, is a save game editor. Basically, you can edit almost every aspect of your characters using dalekeep, from Items, to stats, to resistances.