Newbie to IWD - party composition suggestions

[Lord Brass]

Hayashi, if you listen to the veterans, those guys/gals, can't understand why you'd even take six charaters. For the rest of us, the choice of all six is a difficult one. At the moment, I'm running:

1. Dwarven Fighter
2. Dwarven Fighter
3. Half-Elf Fighter/Druid
4. Half-Elf Fighter/Thief
5. Gnome Cleric/Illusionist
6. Half-Elf Bard

Some people don't like straight forward fighters, but they level much quicker and can develop faster. With all said and done, it's these boys/girls that will take the brunt of the punishment so make 'em tough (you can't beat Dwarven 19 CON in IWD).
This party's been alright for me, but it does lack a cleric/ranger which is an awesome combination of spells/weapons. You have to have a Druid though (as I think I've said, check out Sir Moosington's 'Druids Shock' post to find out why). Well, that's my opinion anyway, and as any good IWD player will tell you, why bother with a single-class thief. Ever.

Well, I'll be a monkey's...my graphic's just changed with this post!

Bugger! My graphic changed two posts ago and I never noticed. Spot the observant boy!
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Making running away an art form

[This message has been edited by Lord Brass (edited 10-06-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Lord Brass (edited 10-06-2001).]

[Hayashi]

Originally posted by Leafy: As for the Thief, i prefer Dual classing a Human from a Thief to a Fighter. By about 9th level as a Thief, you max the thieving abilities you really want (pick pockets? find traps?) then change over to a Fighter and master the bow or dagger or something! as a fighter/thief, you can only ever specialize in a weapon and eventually that thief class will become a boring thorn in your side while you try to level up. (BTW,no exp awards to Thief abilities like BG2)

Won't you lose the theif's ability when you d/class him until he reaches one level better as a fighter? I'm concerned about traps and locked dors & chests.

[Sazerac]

Originally posted by Hayashi: Won't you lose the theif's ability when you d/class him until he reaches one level better as a fighter? I'm concerned about traps and locked dors & chests.

I've come across precious few locked doors and chests in this game. Most locked doors require keys to get through, and those that don't can easily be bashed by one of your "tank" characters. The traps thing is a bit sticky, but the only time it's really a problem is in Chapter 2 in the Dragon's Eye. If you dual your thief right after Dragon's Eye, s/he should be fine through the next couple of chapters (and the experience starts rolling in during Chapters 3 and 4, and very few traps there, except for one notable place in Upper Dorn's deep (and I won't spoil you further there). During that time, have your cleric memorize "Find Traps" and use it. By the time you need to find traps again, your dualled thief should be back up and running as a fighter/thief.

Of course, you could multi as a fighter-thief from the beginning, but a lot of people don't like multi characters because they take so long to level up...unless you're running the 4-character party.

Oh, and I would recommend dualing at 8th level Thief, max. If you have a bard and a ranger in your party, ignore "Pickpocket" (Bard gains in that automatically) and "Move Silently" (Ranger gains in that automatically) and concentrate on building up "Find Traps" and "Open Locks"...unless you want to use your thief for backstabbing (which I've found to be not really worth that much and it places a rather weak character AC and HP-wise in a vulnerable position if backstab fails). Pickpocket is also pretty lame in this game, as you can't steal from merchants and there's precious little good stuff that NPC's carry. That may change in HoW, but since I haven't gotten there yet, I don't know.

Cheers,


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[This message has been edited by Sazerac (edited 10-08-2001).]

[crazy_diamond]

Little Spoiler!

About party composition, I always have a paladin and two mages of some sort;usually one is multi-classed. The reason is simple: (SPOILER!!) the paladin is the only one who can use Pale Justice(an awesome weapon)effectively, and I find that the extra magic ability of the second mage really helps on the final fight in HoW.
And trust me on this I've beaten the game 4 times, you must have plenty of magic. By the by, while 4 characters advance faster, 6 gives you more options. Besides if you are worried about experience turn up the difficulty level on the game.

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You wore out your welcome with random precision.

[Lord Brass]

You crazy_diamond, you. I must confess that I've never taken a paladin - well, once as an experiment in BG, but it didn't last. Can't say that I've ever really enjoyed their skills. Now I'll have to go and look at the items lists to see what I'm missing!

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Making running away an art form

[Necromancer3000]

Actually rangers are quite good and can use stealth and at lvl 6,7,or 8 can use mage spells and they have good attack abilties and weapon catagories.

Chow
Necromancer3000

[Sazerac]

Originally posted by Necromancer3000: Actually rangers are quite good and can use stealth and at lvl 6,7,or 8 can use mage spells and they have good attack abilties and weapon catagories. Chow Necromancer3000

Actually, druid spells rather than mage spells, but yes, that's definitely a plus. Also, I've noticed that the ranger scores far more hits with missles than the others do, regardless of prof. levels.



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[Necromancer3000]

Ur one smart cookie Sazerac and u post replys all over ub\ve been really helpfull,thanx

Necromancer3000

[Davlar Wolfbeard]

Originally posted by Hayashi: I highly, strongly recommend BG2. If you can, get it, and the expansion Throne of Bhaal (ToB) as well. You create only one player character (the protagonist) but you can recruit up to 5 others during the course of the game. There are more than 5 NPCs of course, and part of the fun is getting the 'right' NPCs to suit your playing style and the party. Certain characters do not get along and may even come to blows (eventually). Did I say you can start a romance with some of the NPCs? Depends on you PC's race and gender of course. Story-wise, I dare say BG2 is better than IWD in the sense that the story that begun in BG continues in BG2, with a new 'bad guy'. And ToB gives a sense of closure and concludes the epic. Game wise I can't compare as I've not played BG. But while combat is a major element in the game, not everything boils down to hack n' slash. The characters can advance to really high levels - my PC in BG2 is a level 34 kensai! Great puzzles and side quests abound. High level monsters too - dragons, liches, a demi-lich or two, high level mages, trolls, umber hulks, plenty of drow, to name a few. In a sense IWD will take quite some getting used to. It'll take quite a bit of adjustment when you're accustomed to swatting away goblins with no effort, and here I am in IWD when goblins are a major threat!

If you want to play with a party entirly created by you, starrt a multi-player game, create 6 characters and export them under the pre-generate screen. Assign control of all characters to yourself and then begin the game. After you save just move the saved game file from the multisave file folder to the saved file folder and restart the game as a single player game. I haven't gotten as far as you seem to have but I can't see a difference between either of my single player games. Although I don't have to listen to Jaheira and Aeire squable all the time in the second game.

[Hayashi]

I am considering restarting the game & I have the following party composition in mind:

Paladin - leader of the band
Elf fighter - to utilise his bow and long sword bonuses
Fighter dualled to mage at level 3 - put more points into weapons whilst still a fighter, plus higher hps when starting out.
Bard - for pickpocket, lore ability and songs. Plus mage spells subsequently (must remember to roll 18 for INT next time, doh!!)
Cleric/Ranger - priest & druid spells
Dwarven fighter/thief - best possible starting stats for open locks and detect traps.

Any comments? Critiques?