Newbie to Icewind Dale

[Lucre]

I am a newbie to Icewind Dale and wanted to know what is the best combination of classes to have!

Thanks for any replies!

[Worm]

Well, first don't try the game on insane with a party of 5 ... it is VERY hard. I suggest you put together the regular cliche party a priest, warrior, theif, and mage. Now you have those last two slots usually I'll throw a druid or a fighter in those two slots. Halflings and Elves make great warrior due to the speciality in ranged weapons. Though dwarves have the advantage of having a melee weapon and a close weapon under one skill. As for a druid or a mage I suggest elves the 19 dexerity is great so they start off with good AC. Now gnome enchanters rock because they get the extra slots get great intelligence;BUT, They have the disadvantage of not being able to use necromancry. Yet the ones in heart of winter cannot use necromancry and abjuration ... that really blows it alone makes gnomish mages not worth it.

[Irongrinder]

a ranger and paladin as a good tankteam,
a cleric for the spells and turning undead
a thief to open doors and traps.
a druid for great summon abilities
a mage for the spells.

In my opinion this is the best to start with.

[Worm]

quote:

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Originally posted by Irongrinder:
a ranger and paladin as a good tankteam,
a cleric for the spells and turning undead
a thief to open doors and traps.
a druid for great summon abilities
a mage for the spells.

In my opinion this is the best to start with.

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The ranger and palidan have the downside of crappy weapon skills have at least one dwarven warrior.

[Lucre]

OK, but i want an evil party: no rangers or paladins, what would i do then? Heheh [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Micah Foehammer]

It IS possible to get through the game on insane or even Heart of Fury mode with less than the full party. I've gotten through all of IWD with 2 (!) characters on HOF mode starting from level 1. It isn't easy but it CAN be done.

In general though, try to get a balance of skills in your party. Clerics for healing, Thieves for traps and pickpocketing. Finish off the party with a couple of heavy duty fighters and a mage.

You might consider using multi- or dual class characters to double up on spell abilities. Popular combinations are:

Ranger/Cleric
Fighter/Druid
Fighter/Mage
Fighter/Mage/Thief
Illusionist/Thief
Fighter/Thief


I used this group in HOF mode -

Fighter/Druid
Ranger/Cleric
Fighter/Mage/Thief
Fighter/Mage

all of them were multiclassed.

[Garnet FalconDance]

quote:

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Originally posted by Micah Foehammer:
of

In general though, try to get a balance of skills in your party. Clerics for healing, Thieves for traps and pickpocketing. Finish off the party with a couple of heavy duty fighters and a mage.

.

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I'm nearly at the end of my first game with the above mentioned party--two heavy duty fighters (a dwarf and a half-elf), a thief for traps-invaluable!, a cleric (to resurrect the mage's ass) and a mage-- plus a ranger. I've found that having two ranged guys has saved everybody's bacon several times! Both fighters are grand master in swords and I swear some of the baddies look at them and simply lay down and die (I never saw a hit or even a swing!).

Of course, they're all levels 9-11 now, but if you can get through the initial 'next to no hp' stage, it's relatively smooth sailing.

As for the evil bit, I had an evil paladin once--well, a *fallen* one who was quite a bit of fun to play. He was still plagued by brief moments of his inate goodness and of course could not use the usual paladin skills, but he was still great to play! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Warboss]

The Runner-Up for the Most Boring Party in Existence:

4 fighters (each with different weapon proficiencies)
1 fighter/cleric
1 fighter/thief

The Rules: Everybody Fights. No One Quits...Except the Cleric, who needs to live to heal and stuff.