Characters

[HiTman]

Hey everybody. This is the first time I've ever posted. I have a question, I've gone through the game with a 6 person party. I was wondering if people could share their experiences with a smaller party, like 1-4 characters. I'd like to know how you dual classed, etc. I really want a party of 1-3, but 4 would be alright. Any insight on how to dual class, or character types would be appreciated. All I'm asking is for your opinion. Thanks.

- HiT

[HiTman]

I was contemplating the traditional Ranger/Cleric (or Paladin/Cleric), a Mage, and a Bard. I've never played with a Bard, so I've always been intrigued. When do you suggest dual classing the ranger or paladin/cleric? Do you suggest the Ranger or the Paladin? Any advice on the mage or the Bard would be helpful. And then of course all the other questions in the first post would be nice too. Thanks.

- HiT

[Khanar]

Bards are fun. They save you having your mage do the demeaning task of memorizing the identify spell a million times over the course of the game or paying 100 gold per item to find what they do. Thing is though, is that Bards, although they can cast the same spells as a Mage, they get fewer slots and take longer to gain access to higher levels compared to Mages. The bonus to me though is that I can use a larger variety of physical weapons. Plus I wanted to go through the whole game and expansion without a full blown mage for the fun of it.

[Accord]

I don't think the game will allow a dual or multi class paladin, but ranger/cleric is a good character to have. You might want a fighter/mage and fighter/thief in your party too. Try to have at least two party memebers who can do range attacks like arrows and bolts. With the new exp cap, fighter/mage and fighter/thief can become pretty powerful characters.

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Long live H22A1!!!!!

[Zateel]

If you want a really cool mage, and don't mind taking a little time, you might try dual classing a fighter at level 7 (a fighter gets a second attack at level 7). This way, you could equip your mage with a helmet and shield(unless you want to use a two handed weapon), use elven chainmail(and still cast spells in armor), and use heavy crossbows or whatever you wanted. That doesn't include the incredible hit point advantage over traditional mages, plus you have a chance for exceptional strength, which is only available to fighters. If you plan to play Heart of Winter, you would do well to consider a Paladin for your pure fighter, since they have made tham immune to fear and disease now.

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and the flaming sword turning every way, guards the tree of life.

[HiTman]

Does he still get all the spells and stuff as a mage does? Is it better to wear huge armor rather than robes? Just a few questions. When do I dual class my Ranger into a Cleric?

- HiT

[Balgin]

For a really interesting character Start out with a Cleric (because of the hit dice), play until about eighth to twelfth level and then dual class as a Magic User. The final result can be quite pleasing (just make sure that you have a frontline fighter and a thief who knows about traps).

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Balgin, the Dwarf

[Zateel]

You can get all the spells with a dual class fighter mage ( or cleric/mage, like Balgin says- that's a really good one too), but you don't get your fighter abilities back until you have made one level higher than whatever level you dual classed. So if you were a fighter that dual classed at 3rd level, you would be bound by all the regular restrictions of your mage until you made fourth level mage (no armor, only staff/dagger/sling/darts). After that, IT'S ON!!! As far as wearing armor on a dual class mage, the only type that allows you to cast spells (besides the robes) are the various elven chainmails. There are some really good robes in icewind dale, if you find them (or use DaleKeeper to browse through them). Remember, only humans can dual class, unless you alter their race using a cheat. For a three character party, where most everyone will probably go hand-to-hand, a mage definately needs some brawn to back up those spells. By the way, you can wear full plate +1, or whatever, and still cast spells using wands, just not from memory.

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and the flaming sword turning every way, guards the tree of life.

[Leafy]

I'm playing thru with 4 characters in HoW from the beginning. I find that 4 is about right in that my magely characters (cleric/mage and bard) are finding spells about the same time they are reaching the spell level to cast them.

Bards are super cheesey at level 9 in HOW cuz they get a new bard song that "entrhrals" the enemy (hold person) for a turn and has an area of affect of about... 50 feet? it's pretty aweseome to see a horde of 9 yaun-ti slither towards you, then stop in their tracks so they can listen to pretty music. \
Make sure the bard is Good of some type, so he can get the benefit of some of the "good only" items like the 'shimmering sash' (HoW, at Orrick's)

Also, you want an evil cleric so you can take advantage of the cool new evil clerical spells (cloud of pestilance is neat). Make your tank a good guy too (half-elvin ranger/clerics are the best) so they can use the new maces too.
In the old IWD, there is a somewhat cheesy mace for non-good characters that gives life and a point of strength 10% of the time. How has an even cheesier mace that lowers enemy luck by 4. there's nothing finer that beating extra-planar 6 armed ladies who get a -8 to their hit (i hit her twice).

Fighter mages can be powerful, but there is that whole armor issue. make sure they have a high dex and con at least and you might get by with robes and morror immage/stone skin.

Dual-classing: remember to dual class BEFORE level 9(name level) if you want to make sure you get all the bonuses from the former class. Example: a theif becomes a fighter at level 8. when the fighter reaches level 9, he gets all the bonuses of a fighter of tha level includiung extra hit points for high Con up to and including 9th level then getting a hp bonus for high con for each level after that. HOWEVER, if the theif waits until 9th level to dual class (for the backstab modifyer?) then the 10th level fighter will NOT recieve the con bonuses and you character will be forever stuck at a +2 hp per level bonus, even though they may be a fighter with high con.... does that make sense?

though some may disagree, i assert that Icewind Dale IS a Cleric's game, and having two of them in your party (hopefully dual classed) is a big advantage. sometimes you NEED to send a healer up to your tank to throw hitpoints at him as they beat on the brats.
Though i'm not a huge fan, the fighter druid seems to be favored by IWD too in that there are some druid only items and spells (even ranger/clerics don;t get ALL druid spells in HoW)