HoF questions

[Aerich]

I crushed Big I and Big B no problem with my previous party. I've now moved on to HoF mode, with the intention of going beginning to end. I switched out the near-godhood bard for the evil dual-class cleric/necromancer from an earlier game, currently lvl 14/8. I'm not tough enough yet to do HoF from scratch.

I'm into Kuldahar Pass now, and not experiencing any problems. Do monsters on HoF do more damage than at Core difficulty? I've been hit a few times and didn't sustain the amount of damage I thought I would. It's definitely HoF mode, though, as I'm getting about 2K XP per goblin.

How does HoF mode deal with spells/effects that operate according to hit dice? (Meaning Death Spell, Turn Undead, etc) I tried a death spell against orcs and didn't get anywhere, so I assume it actually goes by HP...

Any general tips re: strategy and spells? I think I've picked much of it up already - debilitating spells, charm/confusion spells, spells that do damage over time, summons to take the pain, items giving resistances, and spells with no saving throw.

Party is as follows:

Paladin[25] - Pale Justice, Wind of Heaven, Messenger of Sseth, Shocking Flail
MC Ranger[19]/Cleric[19] - Three White Doves, sling
MC Fighter[19]/Druid[19] - Frostbrand, Slayer, sling
DC Fighter[13]/Mage[20] - Mage Dagger, Lonesome Road, Celebrant's Blade, throwing axe
DC Cleric[14]/Necromancer[8] - Hanged Man's Glee, sling (will have Giving Star)
MC Fighter[19]/Thief[22] - Cairn Blade, Short Sword of Shadows, Dagger of Venom, Trollslayer, Heavy Crossbow of Speed

Pally is "preferred Tank #1", but is also casting a fair amount of Prayer, Recitation, Curse, and Holy Smite - all second level slots given to DUHM. F/M is "preferred Tank #1A", but often stands in all his buffed glory on the front lines just casting spells - the Cloudkill/Cone of Cold with undead summons is money in the bank. R/C is main cleric and jack-of-all-trades. F/D is mostly protective and debilitating spells and ranged attacks with a bit of tanking. F/T is an absolute ranged assassin. C/N is developing, but holding his own. Strictly magical artillery right now, but will mix in minor healing duties and some necromantic touch spells on occasion.

[Azred]

Yes, you can forget any spell that works based on Hit Dice, except for Holy Word (because it will have some effect and has no saving throw). Don't bother with Death Spell or even Power Word: Stun; rely more on Greater Malison, Hold Person/Undead, and my favorites: Grease, Web, Sunfire, Death Fog, Acid Rain, and Abi-Dhalzim's Horrid Wilting...to name a few.

Even in HoF, never underestimate the power or usefulness of Chromatic Orb, especially when combined with Lower Resistance. My mage took out HoF Yxunomei with an Orb once. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img]

[Micah Foehammer]

Originally posted by Aerich: How does HoF mode deal with spells/effects that operate according to hit dice? (Meaning Death Spell, Turn Undead, etc) I tried a death spell against orcs and didn't get anywhere, so I assume it actually goes by HP... Any general tips re: strategy and spells? I think I've picked much of it up already - debilitating spells, charm/confusion spells, spells that do damage over time, summons to take the pain, items giving resistances, and spells with no saving throw.

Actually it does go by HD not HP - but it's tricky. IIRC, the game modifies HP first using the HOF modification THEN calculates the new HD. In general, as Azred points out, HD based spells are totally ineffective as the new HD are simply too high.

Your take on spells is right on - spells that affect multiple opponents over time and summoning spells are the best choices. I recall something about ONE of the expansions (perhaps it was IWD2) where the summoned monsters did NOT have the HoF modifiers applied to them; i.e. they were "morphed". That significantly reduces the value of summoned monsters - again though I can not remember whether that was in IWD2 or in IWD1 in the TOTLM expansion. *sigh*

[Azred]

I don't think it was in IWD/HoW/TotLM, because my summoned creatures used to beat the crap out of just about everything. I really enjoy HoF elementals and shambling mounds. [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img]