What is the experience cap for vanilla 'Icewind Dale 1' with no expansions installed?

I'm pretty sure it's either 1 600 000 or 1 800 000 XP (I hit it once with a 4-character party on Hard). However, a 6-character party playing on normal difficulty will top out at just over a million XP.

[ 01-26-2005, 01:25 AM: Message edited by: Aerich ]

I was intending to solo a fighter for my first run through ;)

Possibly thinking of dualling the character to a mage, so I need to know exactly what the XP cap is.

Any recommendations for weapon proficiencies?

Is is possible to increase any attributes whilst playing the game?

<font color = lightgreen>I want to say that the normal, original xp cap would let a mage rise to 17th level, so switch the fighter's class at level 16.

For a solo fighter, specialize in long sword, mace/flail, and bow so you can switch attack forms.

There is a possibility of finding stat-increasing books as random items, as well as some items that set a particular stat (Gauntlets of Dexterity, Girdle of Stromnos, etc). Other than that, keep potions of agility, fortitude, etc.</font>

I just checked, and the cap is 1 800 001 XP. That's enough for a level 15 fighter.

I think that 1 800 001 is the maximum you can earn per character, not per class. Be wary of dualing when you get that high - you may find yourself stuck.

Azred, are you sure that you can obtain stat-increasing books as random items in plain IWD? TotL, yes, but I don't recall ever seeing books to increase stats in plain IWD. There's a few potions, though.

I second Azred's weapon recommendations.

Dace, I would caution you against going solo for your first time through. I'm not saying that it isn't possible, but this game is set up to be moderately difficult for an entire party. Additionally, the cap means that you will "waste" quite a bit of XP after you hit it. I'd recommend adding at least two characters to your DC fighter/mage. However, it's your choice, of course. [img]smile.gif[/img]

lol, I'll see how the solo game goes.

I like a bit of a challenge. The dual will probably make the character a L9 Fighter/?? Mage which will make him moderately powerful.

Does this game permit fighters to achieve grand mastery in weapons? I've only ever been able to put 2* into a single weapon proficiency in my experience.

Hmm, also, how in the world do I dual wield in this game?

ALSO (!!! lol) why is the squirrel invulnerable?

Im pretty sure that only pure classed fighters (which you'll have till lvl 9) can put more than 2 *'s in a wep prof.

this was before the time of duel-wielding, so you cant unless there is some mod that lets you.

About the squirrel (this MAY accurate), back in BG1 there was rumored to be a powerful item on one of random squirrels, so people roamed around killing random squirrels, but it turned out tthere wasnt any such item. So I guess this has some connection to that, but im really not sure.

<font color = lightgreen>Unfortunately, you cannot dual-wield in IWD.

The squirrel being invulnerable....well, we'd have to review your security clearance before releasing that information. [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img] </font>

The "dual-wield" in this game solely consists of ranger characters getting an extra attack per round when using a one-handed weapon and no shield.

And you can achieve grandmastery in a melee weapon in this game - in fact, that's the secret to killing the "invulnerable" squirrel. :D

Good luck with a solo on your first run through. I've solod a ranger/cleric before, and Jerry once had a fighter/mage, but I've never dared to try a dual class with a solo. Be sure to have some talking quests to work your xp up! (In case you were counting on it, there is no xp gain for scribing scrolls).

@ Aerich
Really? I thought you needed disintegrate or something along those lines. Of course, I don't bother with it.

@ Jerry
Yea, I read an old post while rummaging around that an official strategy guide said there was an "amulet of luck" on a random squirrel in BG1. This sparked a widespread of hopeful hunters, but none ever found it. I think that this squirrel is a joke on that incident.

Just pulling your chain. :D Grandmastery in a weapon has absolutely nothing to do with killing the squirrel. Note that I only did it once, to see that it could be done; You don't actually gain anything for killing it, and non-evil parties shouldn't be killing harmless wildlife anyway.

<font color = lightgreen>That gives me an idea.... Alter the squirrel's script so that if it is killed the party's reputation drops to 1 and all party alignments become evil (33% chance of lawful, neutral, or chaotic). [img]graemlins/firedevil.gif[/img]


Or give the squirrel a vorpal attack. [img]graemlins/firedevil.gif[/img] </font>

[ 01-28-2005, 12:04 AM: Message edited by: Azred ]

Err, and what would you call it? The vorpal nip?

Why not create a 9th level spell, while you're at it? "Mighty Azred's Vorpal Squirrel" has a nice ring to it. I picture it as a Chain Lightning-like spell; a squirrelish blur shoots out from the caster's hand at head height, nipping 1d4 enemies +1 /2 levels, forcing them to save at -2 or be beheaded by some fiendishly sharp incisors.

[ 01-28-2005, 12:28 AM: Message edited by: Aerich ]

I picture it as more of a summoning spell. "Azred's Reckless Wildlife", summoning a huge group of thaco 1 squirrels with insta-kill attacks and invincibility... Though that may be a TAD overpowered. Heh, make it in a huge radius and make them attack everything (hmmm... kuldahar. lots of vilagers, loving nature. Summon Squirrels! Run away! [img]graemlins/evilhaha.gif[/img] )

<font color = lightgreen>There is something about the phrase "vorpal nip" that is really, really funny. [img]graemlins/laugh3.gif[/img]

Always remember that mages love alliteration, so the spell would need to be something like "Azred's Abombinable Attacker", or something along those lines. This also explains why mages always have an unabridged thesaurus in their library. [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img] </font>