Ironworks Gaming Forum - View Single Post - My Party -- FINALLY

NobleNick · 09-30-2004, 04:10 PM

...Thief, Druid, and Illusionist can all wait for a while - the bard can cover mage spells AND thief skills. You get pick pockets naturally, and you can use an Invisibility potion or spell to scout and Knock to open locks that you can't smash. The only glaring lack is some non-damaging way to detect traps - not so bad in the beginning, but the poison, confusion, paralyzation, and petrifying traps can really get you down (lvl 5 of Dragon's Eye and beyond).

Aerich,

Ah, yes, tis a great day for a wee bit of friendly DISAGREEMENT! ~grin~

First off, even with the Bard covering rogue and Mage duties (I *DO* agree with that), the character that is going to cause you the most pain, by virtue of not being there, is the Thief, not the Cleric. Now you can work around that, as you and pritchke have pointed out (nice one about the wand, pritchke!); but it won't be fun (see your own comments, above, about petrification, et. al.).

In my advice to Cary, I was trying to balance the early game pain of not having a Thief against the late game frustration of having a Fighter(9)/Thief(30-something) when you stopped collecting Thief benefits at somewhere around level 18. I dualed F(9)-->Thief and think I did the right thing; even so, I am "wasting" expo on this character, since she stopped improving as a Thief long ago and I still have a lots of game play left (nearing end of TotLM).

Next, the Fighter/Cleric: This gal should definitely not DC before F(9), for two reasons. First off, low level Clerics are almost useless as healers. They are much more valuable for buffing, bashing and curing arcane ailments, for which the good spells come later, and are really not essential to early and mid-game play. Having an extra Fighter (instead of a low level Cleric) will save you almost as much damage as the Cleric would heal. So you don't save much by DCing early. (you do, however, want to DC in time to have a good Cleric before you hit HoW, where a good Cleric *IS* essential.)

Second (and more importantly) staying on as Fighter and getting the extra HP and stacking PP in the right weapons will give you a kick-assassin Fighter/Cleric. Make no mistake, when you get to HoW your Cleric WILL be engaged in melee... a lot. Might as well be good at it; and 9 Fighter levels is a pittance of expo to pay to have the expertise and HP!

The Fighter/Illusionist: I have to agree with you, again, Aerich: a Fighter(13)/Illusionist would be an *AWESOME* character! I call this character a "Battle Mage," and I have several similar characters in a party I am not playing at the moment. Think of someone who can cast Mirror Image, Blur, and Stoneskin on herself, summon help, then don armor and and wade in with 5 PP in two-handed axe and something like 4 or 5 attacks per Round. YIKES!! Watch out for the flying chunks of Neo-Orog!!

But, given that we were only striving for a tough Mage who won't wilt when confronted by the occasional Troll who seeps through the front ranks, and who doubles as an EXCELLENT ranged warrior (if you stack your points right, Cary); DCing at Fighter(7) is acceptable. (Clvl 9 would be better.) Yes, the Bard will cover Mage duties O.K., so Cary can go for the Battle Mage if she wants (neat character!); but it is certainly not necessary in her Fighter-heavy party, and having the extra Mage-power earlier would probably be more fun.

That's my 2 cents worth.

--------------------
What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party On!!

[ 09-30-2004, 04:42 PM: Message edited by: NobleNick ]

09-30-2004, 04:10 PM	#13
NobleNick Quintesson Join Date: February 5, 2002 Location: Huntsville, AL, USA Age: 65 Posts: 1,045	...Thief, Druid, and Illusionist can all wait for a while - the bard can cover mage spells AND thief skills. You get pick pockets naturally, and you can use an Invisibility potion or spell to scout and Knock to open locks that you can't smash. The only glaring lack is some non-damaging way to detect traps - not so bad in the beginning, but the poison, confusion, paralyzation, and petrifying traps can really get you down (lvl 5 of Dragon's Eye and beyond). Aerich, Ah, yes, tis a great day for a wee bit of friendly DISAGREEMENT! ~grin~ First off, even with the Bard covering rogue and Mage duties (I DO agree with that), the character that is going to cause you the most pain, by virtue of not being there, is the Thief, not the Cleric. Now you can work around that, as you and pritchke have pointed out (nice one about the wand, pritchke!); but it won't be fun (see your own comments, above, about petrification, et. al.). In my advice to Cary, I was trying to balance the early game pain of not having a Thief against the late game frustration of having a Fighter(9)/Thief(30-something) when you stopped collecting Thief benefits at somewhere around level 18. I dualed F(9)-->Thief and think I did the right thing; even so, I am "wasting" expo on this character, since she stopped improving as a Thief long ago and I still have a lots of game play left (nearing end of TotLM). Next, the Fighter/Cleric: This gal should definitely not DC before F(9), for two reasons. First off, low level Clerics are almost useless as healers. They are much more valuable for buffing, bashing and curing arcane ailments, for which the good spells come later, and are really not essential to early and mid-game play. Having an extra Fighter (instead of a low level Cleric) will save you almost as much damage as the Cleric would heal. So you don't save much by DCing early. (you do, however, want to DC in time to have a good Cleric before you hit HoW, where a good Cleric IS essential.) Second (and more importantly) staying on as Fighter and getting the extra HP and stacking PP in the right weapons will give you a kick-assassin Fighter/Cleric. Make no mistake, when you get to HoW your Cleric WILL be engaged in melee... a lot. Might as well be good at it; and 9 Fighter levels is a pittance of expo to pay to have the expertise and HP! The Fighter/Illusionist: I have to agree with you, again, Aerich: a Fighter(13)/Illusionist would be an AWESOME character! I call this character a "Battle Mage," and I have several similar characters in a party I am not playing at the moment. Think of someone who can cast Mirror Image, Blur, and Stoneskin on herself, summon help, then don armor and and wade in with 5 PP in two-handed axe and something like 4 or 5 attacks per Round. YIKES!! Watch out for the flying chunks of Neo-Orog!! But, given that we were only striving for a tough Mage who won't wilt when confronted by the occasional Troll who seeps through the front ranks, and who doubles as an EXCELLENT ranged warrior (if you stack your points right, Cary); DCing at Fighter(7) is acceptable. (Clvl 9 would be better.) Yes, the Bard will cover Mage duties O.K., so Cary can go for the Battle Mage if she wants (neat character!); but it is certainly not necessary in her Fighter-heavy party, and having the extra Mage-power earlier would probably be more fun. That's my 2 cents worth. -------------------- What's a party, without a song? Bards ROCK! Party On!! [ 09-30-2004, 04:42 PM: Message edited by: NobleNick ]