My take on IWD and IWD:HOW(may contain spoilers)

[Lukivah]

Well I finally beat IWD and HoW and figured I'd post some of my thoughts on the game, some tips etc... etc... Dwarf fighter, the end all of end alls. I had a human fighter also but I could have deleted him from the beginning, only reason I didn't was because of the trollslayer greatsword, my dwarf was specialized in axe/longsword(I regret this because I found no axes that could even come close to longswords/greatswords.) In BG2 and ToB Mages had at least one use, getting rid of protections on enemy mages. In this game mages are absolutely useless. Every AE spell hits your party along with the enemies. The only time you would want your mage to do damage rather than your fighters is in HoF mode, on normal mode 2-3 fighters make mincemeat of enemies too quickly to warrant spells. In HoF mode your mage could fire off all his spells and be lucky to kill one monster. So don't bother with a mage, just make a bard, all he needs is slow/haste/web. Levelling characters in HoW on HoF mode is very fun. Drowned Dead are what you're looking for, 18k xp is great, just rest near some water till they appear. throw down 2-3 webs and have fun. If you want a real challenge try ranking against Remorhaz(save often because they have a 100-150 fire breath attack) You're gonna have to use summon spells to block them cause they will make mincemeat of your fighters. Ice Golem Sentries are easy to level on, they get stuck on each other so often that you can take them down one at a time easily. Just be prepared to reload everyonce and a while when they attack one of your non-fighters and freeze them in place. Anyway, its a great game!

I beat the game with dwarven/human fighter, human cleric, human invoker, halfing fighter/thief, halfelf bard. With hindsight I can say this, I could have beaten the game with just the dwarven fighter, human cleric, and halfelf bard. When I needed to scout all I would need was invisiblity on the dwarf.

Hope this helps you a little. and remember this is only my opinion, dont take it as fact.

[Lifetime]

I found that mages were frustratingly ineffective in HOW also. It bugged me to no end that my artillery was now used to flash some hard-earned party tricks into the enemy before my fighters did all the work. They simply forgot to alter spell damage to HoF mode and they gimped mages. I'd hate to try soloing a mage against Drowned Dead and Barrow Wights. All the new and expensive spells pretty much suck too. Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting doesnt show its blast radius and you tend to hit your own party more often than not. Plus it takes forever to cast and it doesnt even work on Drowned Dead (sucks water from the victim my ass..). I like force missles and lances of disruption but they tend to subject my poor grunts to friendly fire. Its frustrating because these spells that happen to be your bread-and-butter in the game suddenly become horribly undermatched with your powered-up foe. Healing spells become useless once you reach a certain level, and druiding spells are useful at lower levels and suck at higher levels, so you're stuck without a magical arsenal.

[Sir Moosington]

I agree on the mage spell front, they are useless in every respect in HOF mode, with the exception of identify. However I strongly disagree on the druid front. Not only do they have the elemental summoning spells and creeping doom, but static shock will cause 50+ points of damage every round and remains active when invisible.).

[Micah Foehammer]

I disagree about mages being useless in HOF mode, but you have to change your tactics in using them, at least at start. Spells like fireball and magic missile now become less important than spells like web, slow, monster summoning and chromatic orb - the focus in HOF mode is to slow down the bulk of your enemies using ANY means possible while you pick away at them, one monster at a time. In fact, I found Glyph of Warding and Skull trap to better choices for damage spells because they didn't have the damage cap that fireball did.

And the whole point of HoF is make the MONSTERS a lot tougher, not you or your party. If you beef up the spell damage to take into account the increased monster strength, Heart of Fury mode becomes meaningless!

[Yggdrasil]

Pure mages are almost useless in IWD. Start them out as fighters and then dual them around 6th level. I never got tired of sending fighter/mages through dimension door to take out the opposition. That game was MADE for dualclassing.

[Micah Foehammer]

I still disagree about pure mages being useless; BUT I DO agree that dual or multi-class is a MUCH better way to go; especially if you are playing in HoF mode! In HoF mode, there is so much xp and it is gained SO fast that characters with multiple classes have little to worry about in terms of cap problems.

In fact, my Elven F/M/T is probably the most powerful single character that I had come out of either BG2 or IWD/HOW (but my 40th level Monk that went solo through TOB is REALLY close).

[Yggdrasil]

My dualled fighter-cleric from IWD/HoW was invincible. A self-healing tank.

[Lord Teppenwolfe]

I find that in my current party, the mage is an integral part of my attack strategy. I'm currently running all half elf characters (except my thief). 2 Fighters, 1 Cleric, 1 Ranger, 1 Thief and 1 Mage.

I use the thief to bring the monsters back to the place where I've set up shop, and then use my mages Acid Arrow and Magic Missile to compliment the ranged attack. Also, I found a wand in one of the Vale crypts that casts Sleep (if i'm not mistaken) which is a free spell that can be cast repeatedly. I'm sure that I'll add other spells to the strategy at some point, but at this time using this type of plan, the monsters aren't standing past the third wave of arrows.

Just my 2 coppers.

Lord Teppenwolfe

[Rankor]

I just finished HOW and can I say that finally the end battle was a tough one. I found that overall, the battles in BG2 were much tougher and as such, much more fun, as you really had to think out your strategy (can you say feral halfling?). Maybe I'll play again on HOF.

I, personally, would never have a party without at least one mage, preferably a conjurer, and most probably a dual mage/cleric also. Why? Cause they are fun! If you want to hack and slash, then play Diablo. It's true that mages are not nearly as powerful in IWD/HOW than in BG2, but they are still fun. Here is a good strategy to use the much-aligned fireball:

Use your thief to scout out an enemy. Run back, have your conjurer summon one or two fire elementals, send them into the fray, then cover the battle with fireballs. The fire will not damage the elementals, and you can be riddling your enemies with your ranged weapons at the same time. Delicious, and good for you too! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Rankor

ps: fire elementals are not usually affected by web either...

[Lukivah]

Can you Imagine Elminster against a HoF drowned dead?

Elminster: Out of spells and its still only at almost dead? NP, I'm Mystra's chosen.
Elminster casts mystras silver fire @ drowned dead.
Elminster: Resisted... oh man. Time to call on Mystra for divine intervention. Mystra! AID me!.
Mystra: So be it.
Mystra casts her chosen spell of divine intervention.
Drowned dead sv spell for half, takes 70 damage.
Mystra: Still at almost dead status... well you're on your own Elminster.
Elminster: This is no good.. I think I better go to the next area, rest up and then come back and finish this.
Elminster is awakened during rest.
Elminster: 3 barrow wights... this is no good, knew I shoulda started my life as Elmuscleter the Swordsman Extraordinaire.
Thats my take on mages.

Bards > Mages.