Party help

[Gimli]

Hey - I finally got some time last night to roll them up, I just uploaded some screenshots of them here:

http://www.laszlo.com/~matingly/party/

Check them out and let me know how you think they came out, I think I am about ready to start playing! The Paladin is going to be the party leader so I kept his Int more respectable than with some of the others - overall though I thought I got some pretty good rolls, and none of them took more than about 10-15 minutes for me to roll up. If anyone sees anything wrong I would not be above dalekeeper, but only to shift points around, I won't cheat and add to the rolls they already got.

So if I find that shield I can give it to the N Fighter I have who is destined to become a Druid. And I take it back, in addition to letting me make a 1/2 elf a cleric/mage it does also let a gnome be a cleric/illusionist - although it won't let an elf be a cleric/mage.

I also need to look for a thread on using custom voice packs, I got portraits working and think I installed some voices too but they didn't make any sounds when I was trying them in the character creation process so I may have installed them wrong. Thanks again!

[Aerich]

Hmm, I don't think I can help much with the voice packs, but this might solve the problem. I think there is a specific folder for voices - if your custom ones aren't in that folder, chances are they won't work.

I think your party came out well. One thing you may wish to change is to max the paladin's Dex and Con (for Int? It isn't that important for non-mage characters, even party leaders). He's an adequate tank right now, but that extra little bit can push him over the top. As it is now, the dwarven fighter is a superior tank. Maxing out the Dex and/or Con will bring them close to even. It's not that big a deal though; it only is one if you are intent on having a super-power party, which I believe you are not.

But with that minor niggle, it all looks good. Two excellent ranged units (F/T and R), a spellcaster specialist, a tank extraordinaire, and two that can serve equally well as tank or ranged (P and F-->D).

As a general piece of advice, considering the intensive reliance on weaponry, I would concentrate on spells that weaken or hinder the enemy (Curse, Grease) or buff the party (Bless), rather than direct damage spells (Magic Missile). That is, use the cleric/mage to enhance the skills of the party, rather than to directly attack the enemy. This advice holds up until you get Fireball.

[ 09-11-2004, 03:54 PM: Message edited by: Aerich ]

[Roboghost]

Party Leader & INT:

They need a 10 or higher.

Example: Talking to the Halfling runt in Upper Dorn will get you nowhere unless you have a 10+ INT [and answer the questions correctly.]

Otherwise, you fight...

I use my Gnome Cleric as the leader with an INT of 12. By the end of IWD, she can pump a 25 Charisma--great for re-charging items [sell to store keeper and buy back] or buying lots of juicy ammo.
25 CHA formula for a Cleric (in order of acquiring):
18 CHA + Scarab + Laurel + Armor
You can get your CHA another notch after visiting that Castle in the desert (that way you won't need the Laurel or the Armor to get a 25 CHA.)

[Gimli]

Interesting - so now I am wondering which stat to sacrifice a point from, my Paladin's INT is now a 9. Definitely won't be STR, can't be CHA; so it's either DEX/CON (both are 17s) or WIS (currently 14).

I am strongly leaning towards WIS (looks like at 13 WIS there is still a 0% chance of spell failure). Any gotchas with going that way? Thanks!

[Aerich]

IMO, 10 Int for a leader isn't that necessary, at least in the main game. You end up killing 98% of the NPCs you meet anyway. The halfling isn't a big deal to fight. If you really need a higher Int to deal with an NPC (Joril comes to mind), use a Genius potion for +4 Int; they are numerous and relatively cheap.

I think you can take off a point of Wis with no problems. Higher Wis gives bonuses to saves against spells that attack the mind, but 14 doesn't do anything.

But don't sweat it either way. A 17 Cha is plenty high enough to buy at cheap prices. You can also buy the Friends spell (from Orrick, I believe), which gives +5 Cha temporarily.

Your physical skills are much more important. I'd drain Int to maximize Dex and Con - I know I'm repeating myself, but that will pay bigger dividends that a higher Int, Cha, or Wis. Consider the proportions of encounters in the game. You only talk to maybe a tenth (conservative estimate) of the creatures, and many (most?) attack you on sight.

[Gimli]

Well I ended up taking one point from Wis and added it to Int, kept the rest of his stats the same. Just feels better RP wise to me to have a fairly intelligent leader (would be hard for me to believe someone with a 7 Int could even form some of the sentences the game gives as dialogue choices). So I will live with the 17 Dex/Con, they're still pretty darned good stats. I got about an hour to start playing finally and just went through the first screen, think I did everything there and have to go off and rescue some caravan later - already the party has a great feel to it (altho I am already antsy to get the F->D to be a Druid, heh). Thanks for all the help, I hope I will stick with these guys now for a full run through the game!

[Aerich]

No prob, Gimli. If you run into any difficulties, let us know.

If you find you are impatient to go up levels, bumping up the difficulty is a good way to get there quicker. You aren't set at Core difficulty for the entire game, you can bump it up (or down) in gameplay. An extra-cheesy (marginally cheating) way to get more experience is to bump up the difficulty before getting an experience reward, then taking it back down to fight things.

One thing I would definitely recommend, is that you do a "trial dual" when you hit second level. That is, save and attempt to dual your fighter to druid. If it works, fine, go back to your save and continue, undualed. Nothing worse than investing some 300 000 XP into a character then finding out that you can't dual because you overlooked something in character composition - although I suppose that would be legitimate grounds to use Dalekeeper.