[NobleNick]

Raffin,

I like your party, tell you why in a minute...

@Aerich --> I think he thinks it is popular because it is popular... at least in my parties! Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck, nyuck, nyuck!

O.K., Raffin, back to you: Aerich is right that the MC Cleric/Ranger is much more popular than the DC. And he is also mostly correct that a DC Cleric/Ranger is --how can I put this delicately-- not an optimum build. So, why use it? Well it facilitates a good party build for the narrow set of circumstances where you are: A.) Playing an IWD game -AND- the expansions (HoW or HoW/TotLM); and B.) You are playing on Normal difficulty (no HoF mode); and C.) You are optimizing your party to kick major monster tush. Here is the story from my knot hole...

IWD/HoW is designed such that muscular parties do well; but Cleric power and Arcane power are also important. The design challenge is to cram as much WALLOP!! into the **END GAME** party as possible, and still have it be fun to play in the early to mid game. (The whole idea is to have fun. For me, fun is having the most kick-assassin party in the late game, with enough of the game left over for me to thoroughly enjoy my creations.)

The IWD + HoW/TotLM game offers just the right amount of XP to allow you to build and thoroughly enjoy an X(17 to 21) or a DC X(13)/Y(14+) or MC X(14+)/Y(14+) --> where "X" and "Y" are whatever legal combination of classes you want. This is sweet, because it just so happens that about 90% of the wholesome grain goodness of a straight class Fighter(17) can be packed into a DC F(13)/Y(14+)

I have done the proofs in many earlier posts, so will simply state the conclusion here: The Fighter with stacked PP is far and away the most effective melee character you can have. A group of Fighters, each with *EXACTLY* TWO (2) **WELL THOUGHT OUT** specializations is the best melee machine you can build. You want as many Fighters as you can get. Cleric, Mage and Thief skills are also important. So the obvious solution is to DC or MC the Fighter with the other skills you need. But when picking MC or DC, you must remember that the only characters that can stack past 2 PP are the Straight Class Fighter and the DC Fighter. (The Ranger, Paladin, MC Fighter and MC/DC Ranger are limited to 2 PP.)

So what does all this have to do with a DC/MC R/C or C/R? Hold on just a bit longer...

Cleric power is in high demand throughout the game, and in VERY high demand in HoW/TotLM, to keep those Fighters fighting, instead of just drooling on the cave floor. And there comes a point where a moderate dose of Mage and Druid power adds more offensive punch then another Fighter. A first attempt a novice might make at a "power party" might look something like this:

F(13)/C
F(13)/C
F(13)/D
F(13)/T
F(13)/M
F(13)/M

The first two characters reflect lost prophet's advice; and this is an EXTREMELY GOOD late game combo. But there are two very big problems with this party: The first problem is that for virtually all of IWD, this party *IS* simply a group of 6 Fighters, and they are going to have lots problems with no cleric, mage, or thief power. The second problem is that after the DC, this part has *NO* Fighters for a very long time: more problems. This is not fun, so we need to make adjustments.

Let's ignore the Mage and Thief problems this party has, and focus on the first two characters. To get some cleric power into the early to mid game, and Fighter power immediately after the DC, we could change the 2nd character to get this:

F(13)/C
C(13)/F

This ensures very little time is spent without a Cleric and a Fighter; although the C/F will have fewer HP than the F/C. Something that can be done to pump a little more power into the character, and at the same time add some variety into the party, is to make the C/F into a C/R. That way the Ranger can leverage the many priest spell slots to use for Druid spells. The penalty is that this character can only go to 2 PP in a weapon instead of 5 PP. This is a big penalty; but is partially offset by the racial enemy bonus and stealth abilities; and is, in my opinion, worth it to get mass late game access to low-level Druid spells.

The C/R could be a MC C/R with no further penalties; and this is a very viable choice. But, since this is the party's only Cleric in the early game, I prefer to DC to get as much early Cleric power as possible. Another advantage is that after the DC, all XP goes into the Ranger.

So, although the MC R/C is a mainstay, I think your DC F/C and DC C/R combo are an excellent choice; and now you know why.

For reasons that, again, have been delineated elsewhere: A Bard singing to 4 Fighters is more potent than 5 Fighters and no Bard. Also, the Bard gives the needed early game access to magic. Making this substitution, and you... SHAZAAAAAMM!! have the party I am currently playing:

DC F(13)/C
DC C(13)/R
DC F(13)/D
DC F(13)/T
DC F(13)/M
H-Elf Bard

This is a Thief-less party in the early game. I have had to "hire" in a Thief (seventh character, replaces the F/M) for certain parts of the game. But I have not needed one as often as I thought I was going to.

I hope you found this interesting.

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