Starting IWD2 Q's

[JulesWinnfield]

I have read thru some of the forums about the parties being made and have a few Q's....It looks like alot of ppl are dual or multiclassing there characters, is there a great advantage to this? Is there also drawbacks to it? I would like my party to consist of:

Paladin(tank)
Ranger or Barbarian(tank)
Cleric(healer/back up tank)
Rogue(thief)
Wizard(caster)
Sorcerer/Cleric(caster/back up healer)

I'll look thru to see what races go well with the classes I have picked. And if theres better if they need to be dualed of multied. Thanx very much for you help

[Raffin]

Multiclassing often allows for more versatile characters. Ex. a tank with two levels of rogue gains evasion, which, in game terms, means that if you drop three fireballs on them to kill off the swarm of monsters attacking them, they have a decent chance of surviving.

Another good example is fighter-there is little benefit to doing more than four levels of fighter in a tank (this grants the third level of weapon specialization), and plenty of benefits in using ranger, barbarian, or paladin for the other levels.

As for spellcasters, you can gain a lot with one level of a tank (all weapon skills except for bastard swords, good hp, etc.), but more than one level starts to dilute the spells they can cast (each new level not spent on the main class is one level worth of spells they can't cast). Also, each spellcasting class has a stat that determines their spell's strength, number of slots, etc. Try to keep any dualclassing with casters in the same base stat (ex. sor/bard with Charisma, cleric/druid with Wisdom) as this makes it easier to max out one stat, instead of two.

For this reason, I tend to make tanks multiclass, and spellcasters single or mixin (ie. something like paladin 1/sorceror X).

Just my take. Your mileage, and others', will vary.

-Raffin

[JulesWinnfield]

So for like a wizard you would make your character a fighter to start out and have his stats aimed at wizards stuff and dual him at lvl 1 to wizard right as you begin the game?

[Aerich]

A "normal" party generally earns somewhere between 16-18 levels each during the game. The obvious disadvantage to lots of multiclassing is that it cuts down the levels that a character can earn in their "main" class. It's not a big deal if a character's main class is Fighter, but it can have a large effect on spellcasters.

With the exception of #6 (sorc/cleric) in your party, I believe it will do just fine. The problem with a sorc/cleric is that you will end up with a spellcaster that is underpowered, overall. I suspect you want both another offensive caster and another healer, which is why you picked that combination. I would suggest one of two options:

1) Take a cleric of Lathander instead of a sorc/cleric. It's a fire-specialist cleric, and is generally considered to be at least tied for the most "offensive" of the clerics (with a Stormlord of Talos).

2) Take a sorceror instead of a sorc/cleric. If you still want more healing (which I would endorse), take a paladin[2]/cleric[x] instead of a pure-class paladin. Clerics can tank surprisingly well because of their spells.

Edit: forgot to address a question...

Whether or not I take a level of fighter with a wizard class is something that has to be assessed in light of the party as a whole and with regard to other features of the character. That is a long-winded way of saying - if you have plenty of tanks, don't bother, and if the wizard is an ECL-race (e.g. drow), taking a level of fighter to begin with will mean that your character will be weaker (as that one level may be the difference in whether or not you can access another level of spells). A drow or an elf will get bow and longsword proficiency anyways. If you are still set on taking a level of fighter with your wizard or cleric or whatever, you can do it at any time. In fact, it would be better to start off your wizard as a wizard (because it gets one or more "free" spells at creation, and gets more skill points and better skill options; fighters have terrible options when it comes to getting useful skills).

Note that all of the above advice is for a party that is not going to continue on to HoF mode. If going on to HoF mode, mad multiclassing will increase the versatility of very high-level characters.

[ 01-30-2007, 01:49 AM: Message edited by: Aerich ]

[JulesWinnfield]

Originally posted by Aerich: 1) Take a cleric of Lathander instead of a sorc/cleric. It's a fire-specialist cleric, and is generally considered to be at least tied for the most "offensive" of the clerics (with a Stormlord of Talos). Note that all of the above advice is for a party that is not going to continue on to HoF mode. If going on to HoF mode, mad multiclassing will increase the versatility of very high-level characters.

Thanx very much for the advice, I think I will prob go with the Cleric of Lathander like you pointed out and no I wont be going on to the HoF mode. I am leaning towards taking the races that dont have the exp penalty also since I wont be doing the HoF mode.

Thanx again [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Aerich]

You're welcome. [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]

It isn't all bad using ECL races. They shine in HoF and are good even in a first go-round. One of the main differences between IWD 1 & 2 is the way experience is calculated. In IWD2, a "base" amount is offset against your level. The higher the average party level, the less XP a party gets for a battle (even down to nothing). An ECL race will be a lower level and brings down your average party level.

However, there's certainly nothing wrong and a lot to be gained from using races without an ECL penalty.