New Party (lots of dual classers, influenced heavily by Lost Prophet)

[krunchyfrogg]

Fighter 13-> Illusionist ***** Greatsword *** Longbow
Thief 8-> Fighter *** Longbow *** Crossbow eventually mastering a melee weapon (not sure which one yet)
Fighter 13-> Cleric ***** Mace *** Sling (if I can go higher that 3 in sling, I will at the cost of the Mace or I'll wait longer to dualclass)
Fighter/Druid multiclass Half-Elf (Druid level 14 takes waaaaaay too long to get, or I'd dual-class this one too)
Paladin ** in Axes for ranged combat and can still use a shield.
Bard proficiencies really don't matter much, do they?

I plan on playing HOF mode as much as I can handle, because these classes will be tough with the dualling.

The Paladin and the F/D will have to handle the tanking during the "downtime" of the F/Ill, T/F and F/Cleric duallers. The F/D will be my only healer for a long time in this game.

Is this do-able? Is it a good party? I'm on the edge with the F/T dualclassed guy. I kind of want to make him an elf (sword and bow bonuses) but I don't know if the better saves of a gnome and the +3 to AC helmet outweigh this. I'm suggesting the dualclass right now because, in the end, he will probably be the most powerful of all.

BTW, how many proficiency points can a Fighter put into a sling? This will determine how high a level my Fighter > Cleric dual class goes as a Fighter.

My philosophy with IWD is that ranged attackers are by far the most important. If you can kill a bad guy before they get close to you, you don't even need a healer. If I leave that 2nd character (The Thief 8 > Fighter) he will undoubtedly be my most powerful archer character, and his suffering (hit points wise) hopefully won't matter much to me.

[ 10-29-2005, 01:09 AM: Message edited by: krunchyfrogg ]

[Raffin]

Looks good to me...though I'm a fellow disciple of the Dual Class School (right now [img]smile.gif[/img] .

One thing to consider-even if you can't use them later on, putting one pip into bows on your dual f->cleric and/or a f->druid allows you to use up to composite longbows (if you have the strength) which are the best early game ranged weapons.

I agree on ranged combat in HoF-not only do you get the kills before they come into range, but those that do reach you can only attack one character at a time, who can run, while the other 5 pound on the attacker from a safe distance. I often use a C-shaped arc, where the final character (usually the weakest at ranged combat) comes into the center of the C, bringing the monster(s) with them. Very devastating on monsters without ranged attacks.

-Raffin

[lost prophet]

Wow, i was suprised when i saw my name in your title Krunchyfrogg never thought anyone would take notice of my etempts when theres people like NobleNick and Aerich running around.

I can garantee you'll have fun with this party, though if i was you i would:

1.change your current T[8]/F to a F[13]/Thief, trust me when he regains his fighter class (for me it was in Lower Dorns Deep) you'll be glad you waited! give him long swords and the Restored Sword of Aihonen and later on the Singing Sword of Aihonen and watch the mediocore character turn into and absolute beast.

2.Dual the Druid!! to get to lvl 14 with the druid it is only 150k more than your cleric and the same amount as you F[13]/Illusionist. even though you wont have any preist spells during the start of the game by dragons eye your characters (cleric and druid) will gain there second class and then can begin to buff and heal your party, and for the druid cause some massive damage (static charge anyone?). However if you multi him he will gain levels slower and by then end of the game will have slightly less druid spells ( unless you keep leveling him till he gets to MC-F_30/D_30 but you'll never get that in the game. also its probably a good idea to go with large swords for your druid.
Spoiler!
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later on in HOW there is a dwarf with an imparement who can forge the best scimitar that you will have found yet. there is also a useful scimmy for every stage of the game you are in!.

end of spoilers

Its probably a good idea to dual them at level 13 in dragons eye lvl 3, then you can camp at the enterance to that level and get those crucial first few levels. It's also a good idea to stagger the dualing a bit so you can level up one charatcer a it before going on to the next one, this just makes it a tad easier (about 40k exp on the dualed guy before going onto the next one).

When i dualed my characters i had no back up what so ever because all my fighters were dualed and only the bard was left. while the bards ability to cast fireball and skull trap is a gift from heaven at this stage (as well asd WCotS) its still a bit tricky to do as your characters have a THAC0 of like 18 lol. But you wont have to worry about this as much because of your paladin will be able to help them. just make sure the CW see him first!.

I would give your bard a pip in axes for a certain axe gained quite early in the game which increases your AC. Theres plenty of hella good axes for your fighter to use so theres no need to worry about that.

The Paladin and the F/D will have to handle the tanking during the "downtime" of the F/Ill, T/F and F/Cleric duallers. The F/D will be my only healer for a long time in this game.

trust me you wont need a healer with your party until you get to HOW and by then you'll have your cleric as well.

Is this do-able? Is it a good party? I'm on the edge with the F/T dualclassed guy. I kind of want to make him an elf (sword and bow bonuses) but I don't know if the better saves of a gnome and the +3 to AC helmet outweigh this. I'm suggesting the dualclass right now because, in the end, he will probably be the most powerful of all.

Go with the DC, there are plenty of awesome sets of armour (not to mention other items) that will give you an AC under -7 and still let you use you thief skills, or if your not to fussed about stealth grap him a set of full plate and just take it off when you need his skills.

I know you didnt ask for my opinions about some of the above but i am really enjoying the game (right now ive completed the game and currently going through it again in HOF) and have learned a hell of alot and couldnt help but try and preach it...blame NobleNick.

keep us posted on how your going.

HAVE FUN & GOOD LUCK

[krunchyfrogg]

I know that if I were to dual-class my druid that I would probably be a bit more powerful in the end, but I'd like to have a bit more protection when my recently-dualled cleric and illusionists are trying to regain their fighter levels.

A thought I had after signing off last night:

Would I be better off (mixing up the downtimes and adding a few bonuses in the process) replacing the Fighter > Cleric with a Ranger > Cleric?

The R/C definitely won't be as powerful combat wise (with only ** per weapon), but would have access to both Cleric and Druid spells (of a few levels anyway), get that neat bonus attack when not using a shield, would have the charm animal ability, be able to scout when needed, and also would have a different time to dual class, reducing the overall "downtime" of the first classes of those duallers.

Just an idea, please LMK what you think.

[Aerich]

If you're playing HoF, I would go with multiclasses instead of dual. I know your melee capabilities won't be as good, but you don't want to be in melee.

The T/F in particular should be a multiclass - it doesn't/won't have the AC or defensive spell capability to spend much time at all in melee. One thing that gets missed in the mc vs dc F/T debate is that a high level, primarily ranged F/T going into melee will do enough damage on a single sneak attack/backstab hit that grandmastery is superfluous. Dundee will back me up that a dual class T/F with relatively low HP and no spell boosts for melee durability is AKA Mr Reload.

Otherwise, it looks fine. If you start off in HoF, you might want a mc F/C for the game-saving Hold Person spell and quicker access to summons (Animate Dead at lvl 5 compared to Summon Insect and Animal Summoning I at lvl 7 for the druid).

[ister]

You can put 5 stars in missile weapons for slings or darts. But if you you have 5 stars slings are much better...