Various questions from a newbie

[Darkman]

I'm supposed to be getting IWD in a couple days. In the meantime I've been doing a little bit of homework trying to figure out my party make-up. Here's what I go so far:

Half-Elf Fighter, Neutral Good
Dwarf Fighter/Cleric, Lawful Good
Human Fighter dualed to Cleric, True Neutral
Halfling Fighter/Thief, Chaotic Good
Human Necromancer, Chaotic Evil
Human Bard, Lawful Neutral

I know having 6 characters is probably over-kill, but this is my first time playing the game and I want to be sure I have all the bases covered. If I had to ditch one of them I'd get rid of the second Cleric since I already have two solid front liners, one of which is half Cleric.

So here are some questions.

I) How many quick weapon slots do regular Clerics get? In BG they only had one quick slot which was a total pain. In order to switch from sling to mace you'd have to open up the inventory. This is my primary reason for starting my second Cleric off as a Fighter, so he can gain an extra quick weapon slot.

II) What importance does alignment have in this game? In BG1 you gained different natural abilities depending on if you were evil or good, and there was one item, a mage robe, that could only be worn by mages who matched that alignment. I read on this board that it is a good idea to have a variety of alignments in your IWD party. Is this true? Are the items that go with specific alignments also geared towards specific classes? Without giving away any spoilers, are there any problems with the alignment of my current proposed party?

III) How powerful are Cleric spells in this game? Is there any reason to take a straight Cleric class to access higher level Cleric spells? If not, then I think I might be inclined to make my second Cleric an Elf Fighter/Cleric.

IV) What weapons can Fighter/Thieves use to backstab?

V) What proficency should my pure Fighter concentrate on the most? Bastard sword? Two-handed sword? Long sword?

That's about the questions I can think of at the moment. Please tell me what you think of my party.

[Dimeris]

i have played for a long while, i just never posted here, alignment isnt a real issue in this game. iam doing fine and this is how my party is
3 paladins lawful good
1 thief true neutral
1 mage neutral good
1 cleric lawful good
these 6 dominated everything so far, i just creamed some frost giants
clerics have 2 slots
as for the swords, it is bastard anymore
its long swords
short swords and giant swords
my paladin (one of them) has 2 in each of those slots, another in spears and bows and hallys
and another in maces hammers and flails
its been working out very nicly, as for my mage hes just a pure mage, same with the cleric.

[shawnme]

Here is my party it works grat
palden
fiter/thefe
cleric/eltionest
fiter/ druid might add a bard later.I haven notes anthing spesial about aliments.I did find one item that could not be useby good alments.
as far as your party make up look at what you whant your party to do.how much you like magic.

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shawn harden

[Brett]

It Looks Like a good solid party. when i first started playing i picked a ranger. He made it all the way till The Severed hand part. Then i started adding more characters. I realized that a lot of the good items in the game are only proficiant to one ailingment or class. Once learning about a "certain Sword" i imediatly picked up the class that the sword could only be used for. It made the game soo much easier for me. this is my party
Ranger-Chaotic Good
Fighter- True Nuetral
Mage-Chaotic good
Cleric-Choatic good
Palidin-Lawfull good
i have one more slot which i am thinking about filling with either another fighter or a thief. The reason why the ailingments are so close is becouse i really like to "toy" with certian Fiends. In some cases youll get extra experience points. If i make another character i will make him evil, so he could use a some certian items that are only alawed by evil characters. They range from elf to half elf to human. my person prefrence since i fancy elves. however with elves they are very costly to raise from the dead and on some cases its a real pain.
clerics:
can use two weapon slots(i highly suggest you use a proficiency slot for missle weps). My cleric is not very good in meelee and he is at the 12level. however his magick is a great help at that level. there are many times where i couldnt have done with out him later in the game.
Fighters:
what can i say..there are so many great/useful items in this game(expecially swords of every type). i gave her all 5 slots in small swords, and now im working on her axes and long swords.
Mages:
Im not to sure about specialty classes however i do know that they have TWO(not one) opposing schools. Ive used every spell in every school to help me greatly through this game. MY only worry is that she wont progress to see her 8th and 9th level spells, before the game ends(im on the last Fiend and shes only capable of using two level 7 spells). I think if you choose necromancy youll be limiting your party greatly, but your character might progress to see its level 8th and 9th spells.
Tips:
Missles weapons of all kinds. like i said i made it through half the game with a ranger. Him and his trusty bow, but it wasnt enough.
High Constitution. im kicking my self now for not noticing my constituiton rolls for my cleric and mage(make shure there 18!!!)my mage is a level 13 and only has 34 hit points ...thank god for mirror image and invis.
Use a vairity of spells...some work great, expecially high cleric spells can be life savers...
Good luck and have a great time playing.

[Lord Brass]

Brett's made some good comments there, but one of the joys of the game that keeps you coming back for more is the ambivalence about certain magic items. Apart from spells (casting and being casted on) alignment has limited value in IWD really.

Some of the items are great, and make things easier for you, but unless you spoil if for yourself a bit and do some cribbing, you'll discover that for yourself. Of course, some items are race specific too.

Also, if you check out the characteristics lists in the back of the manual (when you get IWD Darkman) unless you're a fighter, don't bother assigning anymore points past sixteen for constitution. Check it out, even if your Con is 25 (max. poss.) you still only get +2 Hp/level! There's no system shock roll in this game so don't worry about that either.

As for another character, think about it first. You've made it past Dragon's Eye without a thief, why "dilute" the XP any further? Just something to consider. Hell, you made it that far with a ranger, so why worry about a thief now!

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Making running away an art form

[Brett]

Originally posted by Lord Brass: Check it out, even if your Con is 25 (max. poss.) you still only get +2 Hp/level! There's no system shock roll in this game so don't worry about that either. [/B]

Doh!!! i wished id realized that earlier. well i finished the game, Was sorta dissapointed about the ending. although it wasnt all that bad. After im done is there any way i can import my characters to start all over? or is all my hard work done and over with until i get heart of winter?(going to work on buldars gate2 Tonight)

[Darkman]

Thanks everyone for your input. I think I'm going to leave my party's alignments as they are since those alignments match the personalities of the custom portraits I selected for each character. That's very cool that Clerics have two quick weapon slots! Now I can let my second Cleric be a pure Cleric so she can level up faster.

Hopefully my copy of IWD will come in the mail today

[Lord Brass]

Hopefully you'll have IWD now Darkman, so good hunting. As for importing your characters and playing again...apparently its possible. Dimeris asked that very same question a few posts ago (see Help please" down the page).

BTW Nice polyhedrals Darkman; so long since I've seen any it makes me feel all nostalgic!

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Making running away an art form