Black Raven Monks

[Nightowl2]

Yeah, the Duergar get upset if you start poking into locked places. As for the exp, it wouldn't help you all that much. You'd get some now, but you pay for it later when tougher critters give less or nothing. The way things are set up, you can't avoid the 15-17 spread. The only person who's gotten past that was a player who got to Dragon's Eye (chapter 5), then started over by importing that same party (some sort of bad crash, he said).

Hmm, y'know, your "evil" party may have an advantage. Blasphemy won't affect them, and I bet Unholy Blight doesn't, either.

Nightowl2

[Gimli]

"As for the exp, it wouldn't help you all that much. You'd get some now, but you pay for it later when tougher critters give less or nothing. The way things are set up, you can't avoid the 15-17 spread. The only person who's gotten past that was a player who got to Dragon's Eye (chapter 5), then started over by importing that same party (some sort of bad crash, he said)."

Hmm, there are other ways to be above the 15-17 level point when you finish - a smaller party is one. I am going to see how high I finish with a group of 5 I started. When they reached level 11, they added a 6th member (newbie Sorcerer). That brings down the average party level and gives them more experience per encounter. Plus I am going to keep the newbie parked at 4th level once she hits it - she'll learn invisibility and will try to stay out of harm's way for the most part, and pitch in with some magic missiles and wands when it's safe. Then before the end of the game, I'll have her level up as high as she can to be more useful in the final part. I'm hoping for at least 6th level - she's a Drow for the magic resistance, taking
Subvocal Casting and SF/GSF in Evocation.

Also I have seen people who level "squat" with their whole parties. They just don't take level ups for long periods of time to keep their parties' average level low, and therefore get alot more exp - have seen people say they get as high as 23rd level or so with enough squatting, and that is in normal, not HOF.

[Nightowl2]

Squatting does have its dangers if you aren't careful. I had a quartet in HOF: a Duergar, a Drow, and 2 Deep Gnomes. They started at level 1 (this was a specially boosted cheat team that was created for experimental purposes).

When they hit level 7, I stopped leveling and let the experience accumulate. After they saved the bridge, I checked the experience. They were over 500k. That's well past 30th level.

That's not likely to happen in normal mode, though. I recall my experimental solo Dwarf who reached, as I remember, something like level 27 or 28.

Nightowl2

[Lord Corwin]

Well yea they do have alot of resistance.. from evil allignment,and the fact that there all Tiefling. Well except for my Pal he is Aasimar.

Didn`t know anything about Level squatting before reading about it in here. Kinda late for it now. Already up to level 10 about to hit 11. Might try it some though.... there stong enough right now,that I don`t swet most battles.

[Nightowl2]

Interesting. Any reason in particular you went with almost-all Tieflings? That's an unusual choice.

You can level-squat any time. You may want to start doing that soon, since 16 is the usual stopping point, and you aren't far from that now, even with the penalty.

Nightowl2

[Lord Corwin]

Pretty much had to do with the characters I wanted to base them on.

Elric from the Eternal Champion books (my main fighter) had the blood of chaos in his veins. So Tiefling was an obvious choice.

Gray Mouser (my Rogue) from Fritz Liebers books,had some dark sorcery in his past,before he became a master thief..

Brand from Roger Zelazny`s Amber Chronicles(my Sorcerer),was rather warped in the head,and also had blood from the courts of chaos...

Kane my other main fighter,from Karl Edward Wagners books,Was cursed by the gods to live forever,until he dies of a violent death,because he was the first to murder in the history of his world.

Dilvish the Damned,my wizard.From Roger Zelazny`s books,was sent to hell by a sorcerer.And returned with dark knowledge gained from his time there.

So all of them made good choices for the Human/Tiefling class.
Some of my all time favorite characters,from my favorite books.

Only exception was my Pal. Couldn`t think of a good name.. so I went with,Sturm Brightblade from the Dragon Lance books. He is my only good character,and is Aasimer.

So Nightowl2 Thats why I went with all dark characters,and made them Tiefling.

I like my hero`s to have a bit of darkness to there soul......

I think I will take your advice. I`ll squat untill right before the last battle... see just how high I jump up. Thanks for the advice!

[Nightowl2]

That's a rather creative approach to party-making. Pity that the only race applicable is Tiefling, though you might have managed to get a Drow in there.

Anyway, good luck with your squatting.

Nightowl2

[Zoltan]

they give you any xp or item for killing the monks? I have a paladin so I'll wont kill the monks but slay duergars

[Nightowl2]

Never killed the monks myself, but I suspect that if the level difference between them and your party isn't too great, you would get experience for the slaughter. Don't think you'd get many items, since monks don't usually carry much.

Nightowl2

[Eg0[)e@th]

Squatting . . . what a wonderful idea! Wish I'd thought of it/read this post before everyone in my party hit 15th level. Oh well.

Oh yeah. Someone mentioned somewhere that creating a smaller party will let you get to higher levels before you stop gaining XP for killing monsters. I created a 4 character party and stopped receiving XP for most of my kills before the Monastery. Very irritating.

~He dug up her body and built a cage with her bones. Excitable boy they all said.