A Few Questions on Character Development

[Albromor]

Well I went ahead and purchased the game a week ahead of time and now it is installed and patched. Now I am pondering the make-up of my party and have just a few questions.

1. My main tank will be a dwarven fighter. I have read several posts that like to use dwarf fighters with a battle axe. Should I concentrate on this weapon or something else?

2. Anybody play an elven fighter/mage? If so, how did it work out? He will by no means be front line but I figured an extra bow would come in handy rather than a sling.

3. My other close fight tank will be a half-elf ranger. Can one get through the game with only two hand to hand tanks?

Thanks ahead of time.

[NIcademis]

currently i have a Human Fighter,Elven Ranger (gotta love the 19 dex),Half-elf Cleric,Half-elf Fighter/Cleric,Half-elf Fighter/Mage and a Half-elven Fighter/Thief

havent had any problems with any encounter but 1 so far and im almost done Dragon Reach

until i found these boards i thought this game was like Baldurs Gate where you meet party members and i played 3/4ths the game with just a fighter before restrting lol so im sure you'll do fine



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~Nicademis Wyrmslayer~

[Leafy]

1: The dwarf fighter with a battle axe is good to master. Consider that there are one handed, throwing, and two handed axes. the most powerfull axes are two handed and that means no shield (there are some really nice one handed ones as well). consider if you want to use a shield with this guy.(i'd say YES!) i'd advise another weapon such as MACE (at least 2 profs to specialize). now you can do slashing and blunt damage with this tank. don't waste too many slots on your two-handed type weapons like Great Swords (but by all means, pick up 2 slots if you want. bastard swords are one handed great swords, and there are a few cool ones later in the game). It's also wise to pick up a missle weapon. But if you can endure to the bottom of dragon's eye, you might get a very excellent throwing axe that will solve your missle dilema. besides, he's the front man; melee weapons are just fine. (but who knows. maybe one prof in "missle weapon" (one handed)or "bow" (two handed).. depends on how hard the game is for you)

2. An Elvin fighter/mage specialized in bow is also excellent. Now you only really need to put two slots into Bow for this guy. mastering the bow won;t give you extra attacks, it juts lowers your thaco. going up levels, spells and items can also lower thaco, so don;t waste points mastering the bow. Fighter mages are actually formittable in battle as well (once you get "mirror immage). Since he's a fighter mage, he can also wield a shield, though you'd have to unequp the bow to do it, i'd say it'd be worth it to defend against incomming missles and hits while you attempt to cast (so spells don't get disrupted as easily). so for other weapons? Long Swords! they're fast, easy, there's even one long sword somewhere made specificly for the fighter/mage class. However, you may also want to subscribe to the theory that if bow is two-handed, then maybe another two-handed prof like Great swords would be wise. you could still wield a shiled and a bastard sword if you wanted, or just one big 2-haned Conan sword.

3. Half-elf ranger? hmm, human or half-elf is fine. i'm not sure if the human ranger could become a cleric (but human clerics can become rangers). of course, that involves totally different weapon choices. As for the straight ranger, you don;t want this guy to have to use a shield too much. Here's why; if he's equipped with a one handed weapon and no shield, he gets an extra attack per round. with a specialized weapon and no shield, this guy gets 2 1/2 attacks per round at 1st level! i'd pick up long swords again, maybe great swords as well(some bastard swords, and since he has no shield, the two handed swords will work when needed), another mace or flail couldn't hurt for blunt damage(consider the amount of skeletons in the beginning). perhaps another bow or missle weapons?

Two tanks is all i've ever needed. and like i'd mentioned, your fighter mage will eventually be able to step up to melee and releve one of the injured tanks if needed (just make sure to memorize a lot of "mirror image" spells)

i'd strongly suggest a cleric for your 4th party member. The clerical services are essential to lasting tough battles. Besides, who are you going to fall an injured tank back to if you send in the fighter/mage for an assist? Now you get good heals and ok fighting/offensive magic with a Druid; but no "turn undead". Personally, i'd stick with the standard Neutral good cleric (not Lawful and not evil cuz evil clerics miss out on some heals and lawfull clerics can never cast "blood rage" which can be fun/dangerous)

4 guys might be all you need. it's all i've ever needed. however, you're still missing a thief. you don't NEED a thief, but they have their advantages (clerics can detect traps, but not disarm them). Personally i'd choose a Dwarven fighter/cleric instead of the straight fighter. (sure, his weapons get restricted, so no axe. but he can draw upon holy might to raise Str, Dex and Con. eventually up to a max of 25 each). That or make the Half-elf a cleric/ranger (a ranger who gets clericial spells and druidic spells; rangers get druidic spells anyways at like level 8 or 9, but ranger clerics get much more, more quickly. of course there is that weapon restriction)this way you'd get the cleric class and could make your 4th guy a fighter/thief or cleric/thief or mage/thief (i'd pick the first one). thiefs are kind of useless on their own. but if you wnt to try a straight thief, make him human and give him at least a 15 dex and 17 in str or wisdoem or intelligence so he has the option to dual class when you get bored of him.

of course, that's just my advice. i like mult-classed parties of 4. much more than that, and the exp gets split too slowly for my taste. 4 people and your fighter mage will be finding spells right about the time he's able to cast them (just as if he were single classed in a 6 player party).

[This message has been edited by Leafy (edited 07-17-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Leafy (edited 07-18-2001).]

[Axterix]

Originally posted by Albromor: Well I went ahead and purchased the game a week ahead of time and now it is installed and patched. Now I am pondering the make-up of my party and have just a few questions. 1. My main tank will be a dwarven fighter. I have read several posts that like to use dwarf fighters with a battle axe. Should I concentrate on this weapon or something else?

Personally, I like Axes. Tons of one handed axes that rock (and they are much better than the two handed ones). Gotta agree with Leafy on blunt weapons, definately learn how to use at least one of those, great for smashing undead. I recommend flails or maces. Maces gets you maces and morningstars. Flails gets you, well, flails. But my favorite weapon in the game is the Flail of Mae.

Originally posted by Albromor: 2. Anybody play an elven fighter/mage? If so, how did it work out? He will by no means be front line but I figured an extra bow would come in handy rather than a sling.

The sling has a few advantages over the bow... it gets strength bonuses and you can use it with a shield. Of course, the bow has a higher rate of fire (a plus and a minus, you kill faster, but also run out of ammo faster). As for not being front-line... just imagine tenser's transformation (doubles hp), stoneskin, and mirror images, all on a guy with fighter AC. Once he gets up there, from time to time, he'll definately be able to cause some carnage. You might want to make this guy use axes instead of the dwarf and hook the dwarf up with bastard swords (if you have HoW) or long swords (if you don't).

Originally posted by Albromor: 3. My other close fight tank will be a half-elf ranger. Can one get through the game with only two hand to hand tanks?

Yup. People solo the game, so it should be possible However, if you want a bit more tanking support, I notice you don't have a thief listed... a dwarven fighter/thief is an excellent combo and you'll most likely want a thief for disarming traps.