Is This Game Inordinately Hard or What!?!

[NobleNick]

Heh, heh, Party On!

Sounds like a nice party to me. Though I am sure many (including myself) would tweak this or that (like a druid [if you have HoW], bard [if you have HoW] or paladin in place of your secondary fighter); I would definitely not call your party imbalanced.

Your strategy of picking ONE tank and giving all the best to him is a valid one that I have heard others espouse. Seems like a good tactic to me, to make one character as invincible as possible and let him laugh as the enemy whales on him while the rest of the party pick off the poor critters.

[CursedShadow]

I do have HOW but I have never played as a Bard. Can I dual class one of my existing characters or is that not a good idea at this point? Most of my party is at level 9 and we are in the Severed Hand.

[pritchke]

I could be wrong but I am pretty sure Bards can not be duel classed, or multi classed.

[Lord Brass]

'Fraid so. You can't dual to, or multi-class a paladin or a bard. If you want one, you'll have to start them at level 1.

[NobleNick]

pritchke, you're right: bard can only be straight class. (I found this out after trying to dual class one!)

Dual classing a fighter to mage is a wonderful idea: The extra hitpoints keeps these guys from being a defensive liability. And, if the situation calls for it, your mage can ditch the wand, pull out the blade and armor, and "Viola'! A fighter!" See several recent threads on this. Ditto for when to dual over.

Level 9 is one of the "sweet spots" for dualing a fighter over. (Sweet spots [really sweet = bolded] are at levels 3, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, and 15.) If you've thought ahead, your level 9 fighter has either bows/missiles at +++ and a melee weap at ++++, or bows/missiles at ++ and melee weap at +++++. I would wait until level 13, if playing HOW or thinking of HoF mode; but most people don't have that kind of patience and would dual over at level 3 or level 7. You are sitting right in the middle: hard to make a mistake at this point.

Dual classing a fighter to a druid would make a real kick-assassin character; but to make it work well you need at least 89 ability points (and 90 is better), which can take a while to roll. (Expect to spend at least 30 minutes re-rolling.) Having just done this, I've been educated by several studious and experienced gamers (see recent thread in this forum). For an 89 point roll, your points should be distributed as follows:

STR = 15
DEX = 18
CON = 18
INT = 3
WIS = 18
CHA = 17

You need STR=15 to wear best armor, and (IIRC) need STR=14 or more to dual out of fighter). DEX=18 gives best AC mods (-4) for ability. CON=18 gives max bonus hitpoints gained per level. WIS=18 gives max spells and better saving throws; and you need WIS=14 or more to dual class to druid. CHA=17 or more is needed to dual class to druid.

Your strategy with the above build would be to use potions and spells to get extra STR when you need it. (If you get extra points (roll a 90 or better) put them in STR.) An alternate strategy is to max STR (STR = 18/xx) and use potions and spells to get DEX when you need it. DEX dramatically affects your armor class, and STR dramatically affects the amount of damage you dish out (and what armor you can wear, if STR is less than 15.) So the choice is yours. I chose to max out STR during character roll, and then augment DEX in the game as needed; but folks whose opinion I respect chose to max DEX, and augment STR as needed. There are plenty of potions, spells and magical items around to augment either.

Party On!

[Lord Brass]

Dualling to a druid is one of the tough choices. The reason behind this is that you'll need a minimum of 15 in strength, and 17 in wisdom and charisma. The 15/17 mix is the ruleset for changing over to a different class: 15 in the prime requisites for the first class, and 17 in the prime requisites for the second class. It can be done, but it does take some time - unless you're really lucky!

[NobleNick]

Lord Brass,

Here are the results of a recent experiment I ran in IWD:HoW. The stats are the minimums allow by the game. F/D = "Fighter/Druid composite" (simply the minimum for a character who could barely qualify to start life as a fighter OR a druid. It is NOT "Fighter dualing over to Druid."

So the first two lines in the table below are based on solid experimental evidence. The third is based on math; and now comes the hand waving for line 4: IIRC the rule for dualing over in IWD is:

1.) MIN ability = prime req of class dualing TO +2
2.) MIN ability = prime req of class dualing FROM +1

*IF* this is true, then the last line (Class = Dual) would be the min requirement for dualing over from fighter to druid. (Wouldn't want to play this character, though!!)

Class . STR . DEX . CON . INT . WIS . CHA . TOTAL
. .F . . . 9. . . . 3. . . 3. . . 3 . . . 3 . . . 3. . . 24
. .D . . . 3. . . . 3. . . 3. . . 3 . . .12. . .15. . . 39
.F/D . . . 9 . . . 3. . . 3. . . 3 . . .12. . .15. . . 45
Dual . . .10 . . . 3. . . 3. . . 3 . . .14. . .17. . . 50

And I see, now, that even going by what I believe to be the rules, I gave the wrong numbers in my previous post: Min STR=10 to dual over, not 14.

I should run an experiment to verify this; but, for now, what do you think?


[ 10-25-2002, 07:50 PM: Message edited by: NobleNick ]

[Dundee Slaytern]

Refer to page 26-27 of the IWD .pdf manual. A Fighter needs 15 STR and 17 WIS/CHA to dual to a Druid.

[Merlin Al'Thor]

whats this about Druids and Bard? i played with them and they kinda sucka in Baldur I and II. Do they have special abilities or something in IWD?? oh yeah does anyone have tips for a good party, i have three mages in TOB and i can cut through the game easily, but since i'm starting on good ol lv 1 again i'll have to change my outlook won't i/?

[Dundee Slaytern]

To put it shortly... ...

Priests, Bards, Rangers and Paladins roxxors in IWD, while Mages are mediorce. The opposite holds true in the BG series.

War Chant of Sith! War Chant of Sith!
Static Charge! Static Charge!