The Ultimate Party

[NobleNick]

zakharak,

Slip of the tongue: Max Hitpoints per level should be checked **ON**

Yeah, even the most powerful party is helpless against the "hardware monster." I wish you well in your adventures; and hope most of them are not in the real world, with the cover of your PC off!

[Lack-O-Matic]

Bahh! Setting the hit pints limit to maximum, importing characters around every corner and waiting hours for a single extra point of useless wisdom for your fighter! The truth is, you dont need it! IWD is actually quite easy with the right choise of ladz and some proper stat selection. I just reached Poquelin (King Cuba) and havent met any serious resistance throughout the game. Even the infamous Malevon was nothing but a crispy porkchop, when my mages were done incinerating him. It just takes the right party, and here they are:

Dwarf fighter, ST 18, DX 17, CON 19, It 5, Wis 4, Cha 16. Axes and large swords.
Dwarf Cleric, ST 18, DX 17, CON 19, IT 6, WIS 18, CHA 5. Hammers and maces.
Halfling thief, ST 17, DX 19, CON 18, IT 8, WIS 8, CHA 9. Short bows and large swords.
Three gnome mages with the following stats: ST 16, DX 18, CON 18, IT 19, WIS 5, CHA 5. Slings and butterknifes.

With this party I've skated over the game with remarkable ease. Because, as that other guy mentioned, missile fire is deadly, and magic missile fire is even deadlier! I usually hammer the critters from afar with a couple of fireballs, suplied with a web and a cloudkill. Anything that should manage to survive this magical onslaught is then torn apart by my dwarfs and halfling. Lesser creatures are just peppered full of sling bullets and short bow arrows. The only monster that really proved a challenge were the olympic, axe-throwing golem-things in Dorns deep 2, cause they seem to be just about everywhere, and are constantly throwing their heat-seeking axes at my, admitably, vulnerable mages. This much being said, you can actually win IWD with any combination of party members, cause it's not that hard a game!

[NobleNick]

Lack-O-Matic,

I noticed that every one of your characters had high (though not necessarily maxed out) STR/DEX/CON *AND* a "19" in the prime requisite ability pertaining to his/her class. You did all this at the expense of the less needed abilities. My hat's off to you! Looks like you took "a road less traveled" and your strategy was rewarded. I learned something by inpecting your party.

What I like about this game is that there are so many ways that it rewards forethought.

[Jonni Voodoo]

quote:

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Originally posted by Lack-O-Matic:


Dwarf fighter, ST 18, DX 17, CON 19, It 5, Wis 4, Cha 16. Axes and

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Why would you give a fighter 16 chrisma and such a low wis? I can understand the low int, but wis helps defend against mind-based magic attacks while charisma does, well, nothing.

quote:

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This much being said, you can actually win IWD with any combination of party members, cause it's not that hard a game!

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Have you played through the game and all the expansions on HoF mode? I bet you wouldn't be saying it was easy then, despite whatever party combonation you can come up with, because it's supposed to be challenging.

[ 02-19-2002: Message edited by: Jonni Voodoo ]

[Legolas]

The ultimate party would be one with the lowest possible stats which can still waltz over the enemy with ease, only then pumped up. Everyone can finish the game with 18/../18 characters, but can you with a 3/6/3/9/3/3, just to name one?
If you can, you'll know three things:
* 18/18 characters are too easy for you
* You know how to get the best out of terrible characters
* You are an excellent roleplayer as well as a capable strategist

After that, you can really test yourself by setting the game to the highest difficulty level.


Aah, whatever happened to the days when a 15 for any score was considered high and rare and any character with at least two of them immensely overpowered?

[Zoltan]

This game is a hack and slash game I mean your party should be a powerplay based party. It's not Bg2 unfortunately I think 6 character party is the best because if you are 4 people xp is being shared %25 each. If 5 it's 20, and if 6 it's 17 or 18. What's the difference between 5 people and 6? Only 2% or 3%! But if you build a 6 people party AVOID multi-class. You'll lose %50 if you multi-class. So in my opinion, it's much better to lose %2 xp rather than losing %50.

My party was,
Human Fighter (GM in Swords)
Dwarven Fighter (GM in Axes)

-No Paladins or rangers because they cannot be GM in any weapon and they dont have nice special abilities (in IWD of course!)

Human Cleric
Elven Mage (Conjurer if you have a bard)

The rest is optional and it's welcomes all discussions.

I got a bard, just for fun and identifying. It was funny.
The other one was of course a thief. But the thief is essential for only lockpick etc and it can be good even if you multi-class it. I multiclass it fighter/thief to use good bows and to be specialized. what about yours?

[Zoltan]

Too bad I didnt do the dual-class trick it's a good to have. I could dual class my mage and cleric but it's a long long ago now. Now- I'm waiting for IWD2..