Hello everyone - it's nice to be back in the 'Dale and nice to see some
familiar names hanging out here.

So let me explain the story so far.............

Some of those pocket sized super-heroes that are team "Midget Gems", heard
that IWD was a nice ski resort, so they brought along their wives and
girlfriends. But instead of a restful holiday they have been drawn into a
new and dangerous adventure. This is ok for the guys who are veteran
adventurers, but the girls only came for the shopping and the nightlife and
they are hopeless at fighting. So here's the team:

.....Guys...........................Dolls
Dwarf Fighter...................Dwarf Cleric
Gnome Fighter/Illusionist....Gnome Cleric/Illusionist
Hafling Fighter/Thief..........Half/Elf Bard **

**Why can't small people be Bards - it's not fair !

So now I need some advice. Since the girls can't/won't fight they usually
stand at the back and shout encouragement. I was wondering what interesting
tactics you can recommend for the girls, apart from collecting jewellery and
cooking the dinner. I allow them to do anything that doesn't damage the
enemy, even to the point of standing out in front to block the monsters
while the guys use ranged attacks - how sad is that ! Yet this is the same
tactic I used in BG1 for Snow White v Sarevok, so it ought to work here as
well.
So what unusual strategies can you suggest for me to try?

Ps. If I select Battle-Song, Chant and Turn-Undead is that almost as good
as a gospel choir ?

The answer to your problem is quite simple. Females can do well in any position, but given the conditions you set, here's what I propose:

Of the current batch of wives/girlfriends, pick the strongest one and designate her the mule. If you have any heavy equipment to carry, she's your man (so to speak). Also, give her the best armor, because at the type of places you hang out, you need a woman who can take a punch. If she knows how to cook, all the better.

As for the other two, treat them as connon fodder. Send them into the front lines to distract the enemy and have your guys attack as you see fit. The girls should have high charisma and dexterity- you want them to attract the enemy, but be quick enough to dodge their advances. Intelligence and wisdom aren't a priority. What's that you say? You're afraid they'll get killed off? Not a problem. When that happens, the guys can meet someone else. The bonus to morale will surely offset any annoyance at having inexprienced bimbos around all the time.

Well most females I know when they get upset like to get in a rage and throw things. So slings and darts would be good for the offensive as they tend to get better aim with practice so why you are not having them throw small projectiles for offense is beyond me even for role playing and at least one might be PMSing. :eek:

Girls can be very good in mellee.
My bard halfelf girl was bril.
Plus, girls don't always have to cook dinner, some guys can as well.
One of yours must be able to, but must be hiding it.

Hey Midget - that's an innovative group you have there! Hope they gel for you!

I don't know if its just bad habits gained from playing ol' second ed AD&D stuff which used to punish female characters (particularly in the strength department) but I've never actually had female frontline fighters that often...
not that it really matters much!

But yes, I'm not sure if its the whole maternal thing, but they're often assigned the proverbial clerical duties or the shifty recconaisance missions. Having said that...my present Druid, Mist-Vale is proving to be a very nasty piece of works, despite her ever problematic nature trip of showing too much flesh and being too easy to hit on.

I'd reccomend using all of your protection clerical spells often, particularly in the bigger battles (prayer, bless and recitation together work well) and get as many magical slings as you can. There's a sling+1 you get early in the game, as well as Giant Killer which is relatively cheap by the time you've done The Severed Hand. If you want to send em into combat, make sure their weapon is the one they are the most proficient in and ensure they're protected by decent armour etc. ;) Fairly logical stuff really.
Let us know how your ladies progress!

CerebroDragon
---+UDIC=---

Don't get me wrong, this is a bit of tongue in cheek fun to have the girls as none fighters. I have in the past solo'd through BG1 with a Female character, so I usually treat them equally. It's just that this time the guys have the brawn and the girls have the brains (and the money and jewelery as it turns out). Also I did say I intended to roleplay the girls as non-fighting, so no weapons of any kind and no spells that cause damage.

To start with the girls were in 'Cheer-leader' mode as we breezed down to Kuldahar. Then they switched to 'Gospel Choir' mode in the Vale. As we Eye up our next target things are getting harder. With the XP split six ways but only 3 doing the hard work it's tougher than with a small party. Next stratagy is to try Charm, Sleep, Hold and Horror, then maybe some summoning. My girls do like to mess about with peoples minds. They like nothing better than to have the bad guys at their beck and call, or fighting amongst themselves. It's just a case of working out which spell works for which type of monster.

I'm also sure there has to be some useful ideas based on Sanctuary. Everything from finding traps to standing in a doorway to block the approaching enemy. I need to work out which skills and abilities work with Sanctuary. For example can a Cleric/Mage cast Mage spells from Sanctuary - I can't remember at the moment but I shall try it.

I always played straight female parties. Men were such useless tossers we left the three in the party in Easthaven :rolleyes:

Using a female dwarf, shouldnt be much different from the male ---- they grow beards

What are your thoughts about transvestites? I had to kill off a weak party member when I went to HOW and the only canned import character that had what I needed was male. The only option was to take a walk on the wild side and make he a she. Because of the sexy voice (HOW female #3)and the pretty face, you usually can't tell. But when you open that character screen, man, it's a shocker- like my own personal Crying Game.

Lymond

if any of your girls are magic users they could practice a few useful summoning spells... surely they could do that?

I think they should be able to since they are not directly hitting the enemy, they are telling something else to attack the enemy.

Thanks for taking an interest in my roleplaying. As you suggested Summoning is a perfectly acceptable tactic for my girls and I am reaching a level where it is now worthwhile. I play a lot of BG1 where Summoning can become unrealistic, IWD has a much more balanced approach and (I think) a sensible summoning limit.

One small problem is the lack of magic scrolls. With 2 Mages and a Bard in the party there are not enough scrolls to go around. If I have spare scrolls I like to fire them off from the quick-slot of my Fighter/Mage (Burning Hands is a favourite) but alas there are very few to be found.

The girls are also complaining about the lack of good loot for them to collect. They have some jewelry, a few gems, but no nice cloaks, shoes or hats. That 'Mantle of Coming Storm' does nothing for a fashionable gal and thase 'Boots of the Fox' are just too shabby for words. Still I saw a twinkle in their eyes at the mention of the Heartstone Gem - that ought to be worth a pretty penny.

My girls had a couple of interesting things happen to them as a result of using the spell Silence. On the first occation one of the girls got too excited and cast the spell on a High Priest (or something) before he could give his dialog and trigger the fight. When we approached the program went to give his threats only to find he was silenced so nothing happened - stalemate - no dialog, no control of the party, nothing. I guess if I'd waited long enough the spell would have worn off but I gave up and re-loaded. Not seen anything like it before though.

Then in another fight the bad guys cast Silence on my Bard and to my suprise the Battle Song was silenced. I thought the music would carry on but apparently not, I can't remember having that happen before but I guess that's what is suppose to happen. You live and you learn.

Ya, the music from the insrument still plays but the bard can no longer can sing the words to the song. [img]graemlins/dance2.gif[/img] I wish I had a silence spell for every poor bard I met that can't carry a tune. I would make a fortune in the scroll business.

[ 03-24-2003, 04:55 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

I'd have my females run around without clothes on and have my males pick off the attackers who are chasing my girls around with ranged weapons!

(I'm sure they'd get a bonus to their to hit and damage on the basis that if the miss theyre girlfriends are in trouble!)

Nice one Sparhawk, though I'm not sure the monsters are as keen on the sight of naked Dwarfs and Gnomes as you are.

During the course of the adventure I have used the girls as decoys on a few occations. The Bard can stand out in front protected by Mirror Image and the Clerics have blocked up doorways while in Sanctuary. But when all is said and done the three Male fighters are so powerful that I am not having any difficulty with the fights, I had hoped it would be more difficult than it is. I collected the Badges in Lower Dorns Deep while taking hardly any damage at all, though my tactics weren't so good against the Tarnished Senries and the Watchtower is always a problem. Maybe I'll reload from an old save and try to make it more difficult.

Best wishes, from team Mr & Mrs Midget Gems.