Party Help

[DarkStar]

I have been playing IWD and I'm at the first level of Kresselack’s Tomb. Most the of the characters are lvl 3-6.

I was reading the forum here and after looking at other answers about party questions I'm afraid that my party isn't going to be able to cut IWD and the expansions.

Can someone please check them out for me? I would hate to spend many hours playing to find out I can't finish the game because of bad party choices.

My current party is:

Human Lawful Good Paladin
Human Lawful Evil Fighter
Dwarf Chaotic Good Fighter
Elf Chaotic Evil Mage/Thief
Elf True Neutral Cleric/Ranger => Was A Druid (not sure which is better)
Human Neutral Good Conjurer (Mage)

If I end up having to replace this party what is a good way to do it since I'm already into the game? Is the Cleric/Ranger better then the Druid? He good is a Bard? Any other party advice would be great!

Thanks in advance. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 12-28-2004, 08:58 PM: Message edited by: DarkStar ]

[Aerich]

Hi there, Darkstar. I haven't seen you around the boards until now, so welcome [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]

I wouldn't give up on your party just because of the endless discussions about what the "best" party is. The truth is, any reasonably balanced party can finish the game. It isn't necessary to have dual-classed characters coming out of the woodwork. I've finished the game five times (twice with the expansions), and none of my parties have been "perfect". It's just a matter of playing to the strengths of your party and using good strategy.

If I was going to change your party, I'd just start over from scratch. Kresselack's Tomb isn't really very far into the game at all. OTOH, if you just wanted to replace a couple of characters at the stage you're at, that is a decent option as well. By the time you get into the middle stages of the game, you won't even notice the 20 000 XP difference between characters.

Your party above is certainly capable of finishing with relative ease. It's a little low on clerical/druidic spells for my taste, but you can manage. Many people finish the game with only one priest. If you're going to have only one, I would go with the cleric (or Cleric/Ranger) over a druid, because clerics are better at preventing damage than druids. Druids have great attacking and summoning magic, but clerics have superior protective spells; they can also cast Raise Dead and Resurrection. I play a druid sort of how I'd play a fighter/mage - an offensive spell machine that can summon and fight. A clerical caster is better suited to your party.

Bards are good if you have the expansion Heart of Winter, but they are by no means a "must-have" character (for some people). They are an excellent and versatile support class that can perform some of the duties of thief, fighter, mage, and eventually, cleric.

I would continue on the way you are going. You have three good fighter-types and one "secondary" fighter (the C/R), two mages, a sneak, and a healer. No problem. You will find it easier going once your mage/thief levels up a bit. In the meantime, buy the Girdle of Gond from Orrick in Kuldahar, and cast Cat's Grace and Luck if you're having trouble with your thieving skills.

I like your party that you posted above. Just be aware of its strengths and weaknesses.

The strengths:

1) three good fighters - can use lots of different weapons and have good hitpoints. Make sure they have high Str, Dex, and Con. Make sure that one of the fighters specializes in Axe, and that all of them have at least two proficiency points in a ranged weapon, with at least one with crossbow and one with bow. The other is up to you.
Slight spoiler
*
*
The Axe specialist may not even need a separate ranged weapon after he/she finds a special axe.

2) two wizardly spellcasters - plenty of range for experimentation and versatility. Make sure that both of them have Mirror Image; it's a lifesaving spell for mages.

3) multiclass thief - it's a waste to have a pureclass thief. Your mage/thief will be able to do all sorts of nasty things once you get access to more spells. Mirror Image will protect you while you cast killing spells like Fireball, Sunfire, and Malevon's Rage into the middle of packs of enemies, and you can sneak into range before casting spells.

The weaknesses:

1) One priestly spellcaster, multiclassed - I prefer more priestly casters; however, the relative lack can be mitigated by resting more frequently and using most of the spell slots on protective and healing spells.

2) Lack of access to evocation spells - conjurors cannot cast them, and your mage/thief isn't really the ideal character to "spell-bomb" the enemy. Some creativity and patience will make up for this - the conjuror can cast different spells (Melf's Acid Arrow and Skull Trap instead of Magic Missile and Fireball), and you can set up the mage/thief to be a stealthy offensive specialist later in the game.

Anyway, I've dissected this enough for one night. Hope this helps. Cheers. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[DarkStar]

Thanks for the warm welcome and the help Aerich. [img]smile.gif[/img]

That was quite a detailed and informative post - just the type of thing I was looking for - thanks!

I have been on these forums before (Wizards+Warriors) for some reason I thought that IronWorks was inactive because the front page doesn't seem to change to often.

When I loaded my old IWD party to play for a bit I decided to search for IWD info and this link popped up. I was surprised (and happy) to see that that the forums here are quite active.

If I wanted to swap out the Mage to get access to the evocation spell line what do you think would be a good character to make?

Wow you finished the game 5 times. I think I would get bored knowing where everything is and what is going to happen. I guess it would be fun to try different characters and see how they fare.

Have played IWD 2 - how is it compared to IWD?

Anyways thanks again for the info and the welcome! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Aerich]

I assume you were considering swapping out the conjuror to get access to the evocation school with your main caster.

You have a few choices. The safest choice would be just to replace the conjuror with a mage. You'd have access to all schools of magic, but would lose the extra spell slot per level that specialist wizards get. You could also replace the conjuror with another specialist. The opposition schools are as follows:

Abjurer ---> Alteration & Illusion
Conjurer --> Invocation
Diviner ----> Conjuration/Summoning
Enchanter -> Invocation
Illusionist --> Necromancy & Abjuration
Invoker ---> Divination & Conjuration/Summoning
Necromancer> Illusion & Enchantment/Charm
Transmuter > Necromancy & Abjuration

The key schools are conjuration/summoning and invocation/evocation; you probably should also retain access to illusion for the all-important Mirror Image. Transmuter might be a decent choice, but you would lose access to necromancy with your main caster.

It's not a problem missing a spell school with a character just as long as at least one character in your party can cast each school. Plenty of people take specialists from opposition schools (often illusionist and necromancer), or take a specialist and a bard. You can work around it.

5 times through the game isn't that much, really. Each of the parties I've taken have been substantially different in terms of the race, class, and/or number of characters. I like to create detailed "histories" for my characters as well, so they seem very different to me. I've also played around with the difficulty level - higher difficulty levels add monsters in unexpected places and increase the damage that monsters do.

I've only been playing IWD2 for a month or so, but it is fairly similar to IWD/HoW. IWD1 is more linear, seems to have less "messenger" quests, and of course the character creation is different. I prefer IWD 1 so far, but the new classes, feats and skills of IWD 2 are very cool.