Newbie Party and Experience Question

[seefree22]

Going to make my first try through the game and wanted some reactions to my party after reading through a lot of the online material:

Human Paladin
Dwarven Fighter/Thief
Elven Druid
Half-Elf Bard

Do I have all my bases covered? I'm not a power-gamer, so not into dual classing, just want to have a fun and diverse gaming experience. I went with 4 members to speed up leveling, but was wondering if anyone knew around what the final levels/exp are for 3,4,5,6 member parties at the end of the game.
Thanks!

[Klorox]

A Cleric has some overlap with the Druid spells, but will have some very different ones as well. I suggest picking one up, or even a multiclassed Cleric/Mage (I'd choose a Gnome Cleric/Illusionist, cuz they're close to Dwarves) so you'll have more arcane spells.

Nice base there though! You would definitely be able to beat the game with that party!

[Aerich]

Hi seefree, welcome to the forum [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]

I would recommend adding a fighter class to the druid to make it a multiclass F/D. Even if the fighter side of the character does nothing more than sling rocks, it will provide you with a lot more weapon-based punch in terms of number of attacks per round, chance to hit (acronym is "Thaco"), and exceptional strength (over 18, shown in-game as "18/**").

As a second recommendation, I might take a gnome fighter/thief instead of a dwarf - a multiclass dwarf has its constitution bonus (+5 hitpoints if Con is 19) rounded down, so it would gain nothing over a character with a max Con of 18 (+2 HP Con bonus per level up compared to +2.5 HP rounded down, also 2). A dwarf may have trouble getting 18 Dexterity - there's a ceiling of 17 for dwarven Dexterity although it can be circumvented. A gnome also has the opportunity to wear a very nice helm that is racially restricted to gnomes and halflings.

I realize that you may not want to max out the physical stats of your characters as a proclaimed non-power-gamer, in which case you can ignore the stat-based analysis of the gnomish vs. dwarven F/T. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Do you have the expansion Heart of Winter (and the free downloadable expansion Trials of the Luremaster)? If not, I might go with a multiclass Ranger/Cleric instead of a F/D, because druids get a real lift (increased spell access and shapechanges) with HoW. They are decent without HoW, but fantastic with it. Same with a bard - if you don't have HoW, I would go with something else (mage? fighter/mage?) because HoW adds five great combat songs without which the bard is mediocre.

If playing without HoW and TotL, you can expect a little over 7 million xp total for the entire game - that works out to about lvl 12 in a 6 character party or about lvl 15 in a 4 character party.

If playing with HoW and TotL, expect about 13 million total xp. With 6, average level will be in the mid-to-high teens, with 4, average level will be about 20.

These average levels are based on "average" single-class characters, not bards and single-classed thieves which gain levels at a faster rate than other classes. Multiclasses and medium-to-high level dual classes will be approximately 2-3 levels below the ones listed.

Overall, I like your 4 character party. It should be just fine, especially if you use either or both tweaks I suggested.

If you decide you want more power and more variety, take the party up to 6 characters. I'd add a cleric or druid (depending on what you have in the party to start, add the other class so you have one of each) and a mage - they could be single classed or multiclassed with fighter, depending on when in the game you'd add them.

[ 01-15-2006, 01:29 AM: Message edited by: Aerich ]

[Ultra Marine]

It will be more fun playing a class of each, ie, have a mage, cleric, druid, bard, thief and fighter variant. At least you get to try all the spells and songs.

Its a good idea to get a dc or mc f/druid. Get to wear all armour. Pure druids wear only leather.

[Kyrvias]

well... In the game, there are some really good pieces of leather armor...

A special set that boosts resistances comes to mind.

[Klorox]

I think a single classed Druid can wear Ankheg Plate, but that's not around for a long time. I much prefer MC F/D and F/T over having one without the "Fighter".

BTW, I think a 19 CON grants +2 HP on Thief level-ups and +3 on Fighter.

[Aerich]

The Con bonus works in the following way:

15 Con: 1 HP bonus, all characters
16 Con: 2 HP bonus, all characters
17 Con: 3 HP bonus for warrior classes only, including warrior multiclasses - non-warrior classes cannot get a bonus of more than 2, so a Con over 16 with a non-warrior is a waste of stat points
18 Con: 4 HP bonus, warriors only - this is max Con for all races except dwarves; the only way to get above 18 Con with a non-dwarf is with a stat-increasing potion (permanent) or with spells (temporary).
19-20 Con: 5 HP bonus, warriors
21-23 Con: 6 HP bonus, warriors
24-25 Con: 7 HP bonus, warriors

[Ultra Marine]

I still prefer to grant a level or two of fighter abilities to the DC druid. I can start wearing plate armor early in the game and also use the large shields.

I am not a fan of DC myself and i only use it for adding abilities. But shapeshifting in a plate armor is a bit dumb i guess.

[Klorox]

I understand how the CON bonus works, Aerich. I also understand that a 19 CON should grant +2 HP on Thief level-ups, and +3 on Fighter level-up for a multiclassed Fighter/Thief. I say "should" because that's how it works in P&P D&D.

[seefree22]

Thanks for all the feedback! It may seem strange but after your input and some more searching I think I may actually try a three person party! (Ranger/Cleric, Fighter/Mage, Fighter/Thief).
To comment on the hit point at leveling up. Maybe it it one of the mods that I have installed, but when I level up my multi-classed fighters, both classes are getting the fighter CON bonus! So my first level dward fighter/thief had 13 hit points! And when the thief level goes up, the HP goes up by 6 with the +5 Con bonus and then it being rounded up! I think I installed a max HP at level up mod that my have messed with the in-game option. Anyone else experience this?