Quest questions

[Irie word of Jah]

Ive decided to make 6 character party consiting of 4 monks a battle guard of tempus and a sorcerer. i was just curious if anyone thinks this party will be able to go all the way. Also its nice not to have to worry about buying armor or weapons. i figure at higher levels the monks will be whoopin some booty.

[motub]

Well, yeah, but there's a looooong way to go before the monks reach those higher levels (especially with a full 6 character party), so I wouldn't think that you're going to be saving so much money for quite some time. I'm only running a 4-character party, and having just started Chapter 3, my monk is only now hitting the sweet spot. That means we've been through some really tough battles without her quite pulling her weight in the tank/melee department, which is.... interesting.... in such a small party. But then again, she's dualled at rogue(3)/monk(8), plus she's a Tiefling, with the ECL penalty. Everything I hear says that monks don't start earning their keep until level 9 and beyond. Seems to be true, from my experience, though she's been a heck of a scout/decoy/backstabber up to now.

What I see as your main problem is that you only have one tank to place in harm's way to protect 5 characters with low HP. And that tank is also your main healer, unless you are going to spend all the money you save on armor and weapons (which you won't) on healing potions (which you will probably have to, since you can't take your tank away from killing the very strong enemies to do a cleric's job).

Not to say that it can't be done, especially if the monks are of different orders and take advantage of the free dual-class for the different orders. It will probably be challenging, though.... but that's the fun of IWD 2 anyway.

So go for it, and let us know how it plays! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-23-2003, 03:32 PM: Message edited by: motub ]

[Irie word of Jah]

ya mainly i keep the battleguard and the sorcerer in the back and let the monk pund away i was never to keen on having the clerics on iwd or iwd2 as my tanks for some reason. my monks are different orders 2 being broken bonesbut my plan is to have alot of summoning spells to go along and have alot of the monsters do some damage also
as of right now i just pssed the bride and am heading in to fight guthma (i think thats his name?)

[motub]

Yep, Guthma is his name, all right.

Well, if you managed to get your party through the Palisades and Shengarne Bridge (did you save the bridge ?), I'm not going to say anything more. My impression of the next two major areas is that you can definitely get through the Horde Fortress area as long as you proceed carefully (goes for everyone, not just a little party like mine, or a strange [img]smile.gif[/img] one like yours), and the major area of chapter 2 can be overcome as long as you're adequately protected. The Palisades and Shengarne Bridge I find to be much more of an "acid test" for any party since they're "no rest" timed battles where you're significantly outnumbered. If your battle strategy worked there, then you should be able to manage OK up to the point that I've played to (start of chap 3).

Are you actually having these level -- what level are your monks, anyway?-- these level whatever monks pounding away with their fists on these large groups of orcs, boars, and werebadgers-- not to mention ogres and bugbears and the occasional harpy? What do you do about all the shamans? I can't imagine how that works... at least my monk wouldn't have survived it. I'd really love to hear how you succeeded.

[Irie word of Jah]

Well i just finished the ice temple and am going in to fight the two white dragons tonite the monks are doing great and the battle gaurd adds that little bit of extra incentive with her mighty blade in times call for it.

[motub]

Sounds like fun. I just got past the dragons and am in the caves beyond, which is a very, very unpleasant place. So unpleasant, in fact, that I'm taking a break from the game. I really don't like the river caves.

I'd love to hear how your monks, bg and sorceror find it.

[Magness]

Oh, motub, the River Caves is fun! It's a great challenge to have to deal with getting attacked from all sides! It's a great change of pace from always having the enemies attack your formation from the front. The ambushes force you to develop new tactics.

[motub]

Yeah, it was fun once. Kinda. Once I got the strategy to actually work correctly, after an uncounted number of reloads. I don't relish setting that up another 6 times.

And anyway, the enemies do attack from a different direction sometimes-- from the side in the courtyard of the Horde Fortress (as well as from above and from the stairs), and from behind at the Barbarian's Gate.

So don't tell me about how innovative this is . Bah.

[Magness]

It's really not that difficult. Heck, I got thru it the first time in HOF mode.


A primary tank and a backup tank up front, spellcasters in the middle, and the other primary tank and other backup tank in the rear. Use a good array of summons. Use plenty of web and grease to limit the mobility fo the enemy. Drop fireballs, etc. on top of the baddies. Use ranged weapons to finish off the wounded enemies. Have the tanks only melee with those enemies that break thru the kill zones. Summon replacement summons as needed.

Rinse and repeat as needed.


Admittedly, it gets a bit dicey in the "egg room", but the same strategy listed above works, you just have to be careful about using area effrct attacks spells in the close quarters.

[motub]

Originally posted by Magness: A primary tank and a backup tank up front, spellcasters in the middle, and the other primary tank and other backup tank in the rear.

Hello, lovely setup for a six-person party. Unfortunately, I only have 4: a pally/barbarian (whose illegal nature we have discussed in another thread [img]smile.gif[/img] ), a druid/cleric, a wizard/ranger and the monk/rogue.
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So this is what I had to do to get through the initial battle using essentially the same strategy with fewer party members (once I had tried just walking once and discovered the second group which attacks from behind):

1. Place my tank at the spot where we came down the rope
2. Have the druid cast Selune's Freedom on herself (or drink a Potion of Freedom).
3. Have the wizard drink a Potion of Freedom

The rogue doesn't need this, having bought and equipped "Lolth's Cruel Sting" (Lolth's Blessing: Immunity to Web spells), nor does the Pally, having bought and equipped "Air Genesi Gail Armor" (Spellward: Immunity to Stinking Cloud, Cloudkill, Acid Fog, Suffocate, Cloud of Pestilence and Whirlwind) and using the "Vhogtan's Band" (Constant Effect: User is under effect of the spell Freedom of Movement while equipped) we won at the Palisades. Perhaps you remember me saying I was selling everything but my character's underwear to buy from Nym before he skipped town-- well, this is where it pays off, and yes, I am using the Weimer Ease-Of-Use HoF items in normal mode mod.

4. Have the Wizard cast invisibility on herself and the Druid.
5. Have the Monk hide.
6. Move the Wizard, Druid and Monk to a spot right between the visible group of Hook Horrors and the place the Pally is standing.
6. Move the Monk next to the Hook Horrors.
7. Unhide the Monk. She should get swarmed by the visible group, while the Pally should get swarmed by the second group. Pally and Monk wail away freely (Monk is dual-wielding the Webirific Short Blade with the Glowing Azure Rod, Pally has the Electric Greatsword we won at BattleSquares).
8. Ranger casts Web on one group, Druid casts Web on the second group.
9. Rinse and repeat-- Web is much weaker than Entangle, and does not cover as wide an area. This is why the Wizard and Druid have Freedom of Movement, as the Web areas are meant to overlap each other and may overlap where they're standing, since there isn't much room.
10. Just to be safe, have the Wizard cast Cloudkill on the Pally's group (since the Pally is immune).
11. Wizard and Druid are now free to cast Fireball, Produce Fire, Flamestrike, throw Flaming Oil, or whatever, hopefully killing many HH's before one or more of them gets loose from the Web and comes for them.

Like I said, it was fun once (except for reloading because I didn't realize my druid and wizard--who I hadn't moved from the original point of entry-- were getting attacked, or forgetting that casting a spell makes you visible, so my Druid invalidated her invisiblilty by casting Selune's Freedom after being rendered invisible, or just having the strategy not work like the well-oiled machine that it has to if it's going to work at all).

Now I have snuck my monk down to the end of the hall, and I know there's a bunch of HH's there, and I have a sinking suspicion that the several doors between where we are now and that cul-de-sac are the Monster Pens mentioned in the walkthrough. If I have to do this extremely complicated setup some 6 or more times-- and mostly in very cramped quarters-- it's going to be "not fun" very fast, which is why I'm taking a rest break from playing until I get my strength and enthusiasm back.

It's funny, because I really love some of the other hideous battles I've had. Working my way through all those Moldavians and whatnot protecting Shengarne Dam and then fighting my way across Shengarne Bridge access and saving the bridge was a total blast. The Goblin Warrens were fun, too-- even that section behind the passworded door, which was really hard, with the trolls and the drum and the Neo-Orogs from the other direction.

This, I just don't like.

[ 11-05-2003, 06:19 PM: Message edited by: motub ]