A paean to bards and a wee update on the power party

[Aerich]

I've been splitting my time between IWD/HoW, IWD2, and my social life, job, etc, so I'm not particularly far along.

**Minor spoilers for those who haven't been through Dragon's Eye already**
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However, I am in Dragon's Eye, and the only thing left to do is take out the Big Y. I walked all the way back to Kuldahar to reload on non-magical ammo and pick up a few things from Orrick. I had to sell all my gems, non-essential potions, and more artifacts than I wanted to (Erevain's Broadsword, Presio's Dagger), but I managed to buy up Pemby's Wand and the Ring of Shocking Grasp. My bard is a walking death machine of magical items.

So these guys and gals have been on autopilot since the very start of DE lvl 5, which was when my bard got... War Chant of the Sith. [img]graemlins/bonghit.gif[/img] I'm not making full use of the spell capabilities of the R/C and the F/D, because all I need to do in "tough" fights is cast a summoning spell for fodder, send them in ahead to take the hits, and go to full-out missile with the whole party (excepting the bard, who hasn't shot a bow since the Vale of Shadows - I've even sold all his weapons).

I do use the occasional spell, but not very many. I'm expecting the fight against Big Y to be quite easy. My characters are probably the least vulnerable group of any I've had so far; only two have less than 100 HP, the R/C (97 and close to the next level) and the bard (80, but stays out the way to sing and cast spells).

Here's how they set up, on DE lvl 5 playing on insane, without "camping" on DE lvl 3:

Fighter 9 (to mage at fighter lvl 13) - 5 PP in axes and a modified Thac0 of 5 with the throwing axe. [img]graemlins/evillaughter1.gif[/img]

Pally 8 - this tank has a "natural" (items, of course) AC of -10, which goes down to -18 with buffs.

Fighter/Thief 8/8 - archer supreme, good AC with the Helm of the Trusted Defender, flaming short sword to kill trolls/sneak attack.

Ranger/Cleric 7/8 - undead mulcher and valuable buffer; levelling slowly

Fighter/Druid 8/9 - the weak sister so far, mostly because of the lack of compatible magical weapons. Strictly ranged/spell right now.

Bard 11 - hasn't used a weapon since DE lvl 3 when I was swamped by cold wights at the entrance, so I sold them. Sings 80% of the time, acts as mage (my only arcane caster at the moment) the other 20%. Web, Stinking Cloud, Chromatic Orb, and Skull Trap are the spells of choice.

Things are going well so far; probably the easiest time of it yet, with the least amount of micromanagement. The bard helps with that - using a bard with this party feels like cheating.

Edit: ok, so DE lvl 2 was tough, mostly because I didn't use fireball on trolls and spiders and also got stunned by the beetles a couple times.

[ 02-08-2005, 03:50 AM: Message edited by: Aerich ]

[Dundee Slaytern]

Consider leaving a melee weapon in your Bard's hand, or the enemy will get combat bonuses against him.

[Serak Moonblade]

i think that sticking to to your produce fodder and kill at a distance stratagem is making the game a tad boring for you and at the same time making you soft.

when i played i got addicted to the fireball spell. a couple of well placed well timed fireballs would brink nearly everyone to the brink of death. meanwhile my tanks( 1 fighter and 1 pally) would block the enemy's front ranks from getting to my spellcasters. so by the time my tanks had finished with their chores the whole gang would use their ranged weapons for kill at a distance.

next time around i'm going to use this as a last resort.

so try a few tricks to spice up your game!!

[Aerich]

Soft, me? I doubt it. This party IS all about reducing the micromanagement. My previous one, currently not finished but awaiting my renewed interest in Lower Dorns, was made up of 5 priests (some multi/dual classes) and a fighter/mage. This counts as a change of tactics for me.

The fodder production is a short-term tactic with this party, and a tried and true method to avoid horrendous damage on insane. I really only cast 4 summons, including the berserker horn. Don't forget, those elite yuan-ti archers really cut you up with double damage; 20-30 per hit is steep. I did reload once on the level, in the high archer's room. After mulching the yuan-ti grunts at the door I cast a couple AoE spells in and charged, but my 120 HP paladin was shredded and killed by the archers. Summons are by far the best way to take this room.

I won't be using much fodder in the close confines of the Severed Hand. There's nothing worse than a bunch of bears blocking the way.

Anyway, my options are fairly limited right now - the d/c f/m has not dualed over and has no spells, and the bard doesn't have many spell slots. Once the F/M duals, I will be using a wider variety of touch spells and melee enhancers.

What would you suggest to spice up my game? I've cast less than 5 fireballs all game.

[Aerich]

Just to clarify my intentions re: this party, I wanted to see how quickly and bluntly I could fly through the game - this party has enough versatility to do just about anything. However, the "theme" of the party is brute power. The bard is the only non-warrior, and the party will end up with 4 strong casters. I haven't pulled much out of my bag of tricks because I haven't needed to yet.

I've been planning this party for a little while as my "best party ever" in terms of durability and strength. So far it's lived up to expectations. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[NobleNick]

Originally posted by Aerich: ...excepting the bard, who hasn't shot a bow since the Vale of Shadows - ... - hasn't used a weapon since DE lvl 3 when I was swamped by cold wights at the entrance, so I sold them. Sings 80% of the time, acts as mage (my only arcane caster at the moment) the other 20%. Web, Stinking Cloud, Chromatic Orb, and Skull Trap are the spells of choice... - using a bard with this party feels like cheating.

Aerich,

I was going to commend you on your willingness to go "all the way" in using the Bard for what the character is best designed to do... then I saw Dundee's post, and have to admit that carrying around a melee weapon is a small price to pay for the protection. Now I know why my Bard has been carrying that sword!

I had the same feelings about my DC Fighter[9]/Druid that you are for your MC. Oh, he is very adequate; but I feel that he might not be the SUPER build I had envisioned, unless one is willing to go to Fighter[13]. You might be seeing the same effects in your mid-level MC F/D. But patience should better your condition, whereas for me, the quest for the perfect uber-character continues...

Hey, Nice party.

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

[Dundee Slaytern]

Oh hohoho... look down not on the MCed Fighter/Druid, for verily can the class be stinky of cheese.

[Aerich]

Did you have anything special in mind re: the cheese? Water elemental + static charge? Any others I should know about? I've made excellent use of the various resistances of the druid shapechanges.

New update, after playing much of the weekend.

This is without a doubt the "uber-est" party I've ever played. I set a new personal record for level-ups after dual-classing without resting: ten. After two days in Lower Dorn's, my d/c F/M is fighter 13/mage 12.

I've added two more spells to my Sentry-killing list - Skull Trap and Mordenkainen's Force Missiles. They are AoE, so one has to be careful, but they do a great job. My bard is racking up some pretty powerful kills.

*Lower Dorn's Spoilers*
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The Kraken Society Mages in Marketh's Palace gave me intense grief. I was near the end of my spell repertoire, so I mostly had to go at them in melee. My F/T and F/D took out two by themselves early in the fight with no trouble, but the remaining two blitzed my party. I ended up with two party members killed, but luckily had one Raise Dead scroll and one memorized with the R/C (who was killed). It's kind of strange that death doesn't wipe your spells, but I'm not complaining.

Malevon was easy by comparison; the golems and hulks went down quick, the stalkers got fried by Static Charge, and Malevon, apprentice, and simulacrum went down to acid arrows and some paladin justice. However, I must have hurt some svirfnebli somewhere along the way, because the ones in the open area of LDD have turned hostile. Fengla still gave me the key, though.

Edit: I took Dundee's advice re: the bard's weapon. I bought the Sword of Myrloch Vale to help my lore even further. I think 130 is enough for most things; I haven't "wasted" a spell on Identify all game.

And the F/D is no longer the weakling. I attribute that solely to the lack of magical weapons and slingstones in the early game. She's a pretty versatile character now with shapechanges, massive spell capability, and the weapon choice of Frostbrand or Valiant (and soon Slayer). Her kills are still lower than the rest (save the bard), but are improving.

[ 02-14-2005, 08:50 PM: Message edited by: Aerich ]

[Dundee Slaytern]

Originally posted by Aerich: Did you have anything special in mind re: the cheese? Water elemental + static charge? Any others I should know about? I've made excellent use of the various resistances of the druid shapechanges. ~~ And the F/D is no longer the weakling. I attribute that solely to the lack of magical weapons and slingstones in the early game. She's a pretty versatile character now with shapechanges, massive spell capability, and the weapon choice of Frostbrand or Valiant (and soon Slayer). Her kills are still lower than the rest (save the bard), but are improving.

One of the great things about Druids are their summons, especially their Elementals. A few Elementals and a Haste spell can literally pound the crud out of the enemy( especially the Fire Elemental versus Trolls).

The Shambling Mound is level 7, so it will take some time to get it, but once you do... hoo boy, does the game difficulty drop down a notch. Combine them with the War Chant of Sith to get immunity to Crushing Damage. They also have a natural immunity to Fire, so they are excellent to tank while your Mages toss fire spells into the fray.

Druids also get a major upgrade with HoW, and now have access to a lot of excellent damage/disabling spells.

[Dundee Slaytern]

PS: Druids can attack with their 'normal' weapons( i.e. Frostbrand) while in shapeshift form. No need to torment yourself with 1 ApR.