My Party -- FINALLY

[Dancing Virginia]

For your comment...particularly in regards to the stats when it comes time to DC! Thanks for all of your help. I'm ready to tackle IWD/HoW/ToTL (all installed!). All female party...yay!

FIGHTER/DRUID (DC)
S - 15
D - 18
C - 18
I - 3
W - 17
Cha - 17
Human
True Neutral
Hammer, Sling
Name - Ciarda

FIGHTER/ILLUSIONIST (DC)
S - 16
D - 16
C - 16
I - 18
W - 14
Cha - 3
Human
Chaotic Good
Dagger, Bow
Name - Rast'el

FIGHTER/THIEF (DC)
S - 18/99
D - 18
C - 18
I - 14
W - 6
Cha - 6
Human
True Neutral
Great Sword, Crossbow
Name - Verraten

PALADIN
S - 18/03
D - 17
C - 17
I - 8
W - 13
Cha - 18
Human
Lawful Good
Large Sword, Bow
Name - Andraste

FIGHTER CLERIC (DC)
S - 18/02
D - 18
C - 18
I - 3
W - 18
Cha - 10
Human
Lawful Neutral
Mace, Sling
Name - Braeden

BARD
S - 15
D - 16
C - 14
I - 17
W - 15
Cha - 15
Half-Elf
Flail, Bow
Name - Belcanta

[Roboghost]

All female?!

There's one dialogue that requires a male:
Thy barkeep in Kuldahar--
.
.
.
He says something to the fact that "Do you fancy her? But..."

It doesn't matter game-wise, but kind of strange [well...] if you're a female talking to him and All.

[Dancing Virginia]

Well...that will be interesting when I get there. But who said alternative lifestyles can't be a part of gaming?!?! Haha!

Cary

[Aerich]

The party looks solid - I would have bumped up the Dex on the F/I, though, and taken a couple points off the bard's Wis and put them on Con or Dex. Minor quibbles, though and 'tis not necessary.

You'll cut your way through the game at first, then start adding finesse and spells as you start to dual. Note - make sure you don't dual all those fighters at the same time - that would be difficult. You will also have to get used to walking over traps, as you have no way to detect or disarm them in the early game. Make sure you memorize where they are when you get to Dragon's Eye, as they don't all go away once triggered.

[NobleNick]

Cary,

DC Fighter/Druid --> Heh, heh, heh: Got re-rollers tendonitis? Looks like you got the bare minimum of points; but distributed them well!

DC Fighter/Illusionist --> Excellent choice of specialist Mage. I would let the Mage twiddle with the dagger; but load the Fighter's PPs in something that does a bit more damage: Axe or flail, perhaps? Good choice on the bow: Max it out.

Paladin --> It would be very nice to see a Dex of 18, since this gal will almost certainly see lots of front line duty. Excellent choice of weapon specialty (you won't be sorry)!

Your other characters look great. (Even with the Pally and Bard along, you will find that your Cleric is essential.) I personally would have shorted several of the characters elsewhere in order to pump DEX, but that is just my taste.

As far as I can see, you look to be in good shape for all your DCs. But here is a bit of advice: As soon as your characters level once, save the game and then DC all of them to the classes you have planned. Then quit without saving and revert back to your saved game. A successful test here assures you that you will have successful DCs at Fighter 9 (or whatever). If you discover a mistake, you can rectify it with very little lost investment.

In order to get all those DC characters packed in next to the Bard and Pally, you've left yourself without a party member with infravision. I think that is an acceptable trade: Just want you to realize that you are doing it.

I hope you intend to let your Fighters get to at least CLVL 7 before DCing to Thief and Illusionist. (Though this might mean tough going in the early game.) and I hope you intend to let the rest get to at least Fighter 9 before DCing. If you do all this, and have your Fighters and Pally stack PPs in exactly one ranged and one non-ranged weapon --> With a Bard and 5 "Fighters" your party -WILL- **ROCK** the house when the Bard hits CLVL 11 !! Enjoy!!!

--------------------
What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party On!!

[Dancing Virginia]

Nick...

Believe it or not, I rolled that Fighter/Druid stat on my FIRST TRY!!! I couldn't believe it! I stored it and rolled for another ten minutes and then said, "Whatever". I reverted back to the stored stuff.

I was thinking of redoing the fighter/illusionist since it wasn't difficult to roll. At the time I was considering the fact that there are so many good daggers out there.... However, it doesn't mean she can't use them after she DC's.

Paladin and Cleric weren't hard either. Beleive it or not, the most difficult roll was the BARD!

I'm psyched. I'll let you know how things go.

Cary

[ 09-29-2004, 07:39 AM: Message edited by: Dancing Virginia ]

[NobleNick]

I was thinking of redoing the fighter/illusionist since it wasn't difficult to roll. At the time I was considering the fact that there are so many good daggers out there.... However, it doesn't mean she can't use them after she DC's.

Paladin and Cleric weren't hard either. Beleive it or not, the most difficult roll was the BARD!

Cary,

An 88 on your first roll! That is surprising! (And I am also surprised that the Bard was hard to roll.)

Yeah, you can re-roll the Fighter/Illusionist to get rid of that nasty 16 DEX; but the one character I would most want to change is the Pally: Her high saving throws will make her a natural for your tank; and thus she really needs a DEX of 18.

I say all the above as a power gamer. From a role play perspective, your party may be overpowered as it is; and if developed well (DC at high Fighter levels, stack PPs, etc.), will certainly be more than viable in HoW and beyond.

--------------------
What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party On!!

[NobleNick]

...Note - make sure you don't dual all those fighters at the same time - that would be difficult.

Excellent point, Aerich. You made it on a post that slipped in while I was writing mine. I meant to second you on my subsequent post, but forgot.

Cary, if you do the following:

F(7)-->Illusionist
F(7)-->Thief
F(9)-->Cleric
F(9)-->Druid

you should have no problem, since you have plenty of Fighter power, and will regain Fighter skills in your first two DCs about the time you DC the second set.

A more "power gamer" DC strategy for a party doing IWD/HoW/TotLM might look like this:

F(7)-->Illusionist
F(9)-->Thief
F(10)-->Cleric (F[12]-->Cleric?)
F(13)-->Druid

It is a lo-o-ong haul to wait till F(9) to get your Thief, but you will ever after be glad you waited (and maybe even wish you'd gone to F[12] when your character hits Thief[22] in HoW and has nothing to show for it except an additional Hit Point or two per clvl).

F[10] is not a sweet spot for DCing out of Fighter. It would be much better to go to F[12] and get the extra PP, and this might be possible if you do all quests and bulk up on expo by sleeping in monster-infested areas. However, in the trade-off, remember that the F/C needs to DC in time to gain respectable Cleric skills before hitting HoW (Cleric[12] would be comfortable). Some areas of HoW seem to be created for the express purpose of severely spanking Cleric-less parties; and a striking example of this demented design greets your party fairly early on. (I have a DC R/C and a DC C/F, and they both do very well on the front line; so I think you will come to be very fond of your F/C.)

F(13) might seem like a long wait to get your Druid; but remember that you get to enjoy the benefits of a pure high-level Fighter after all your other characters have DCed. If you do IWD/HoW/TotLM, including all quests, then I estimate that your F/D will spend a little over 1/3 of her career as a Fighter, 1/6 as a Druid (with Fighter skills inactive) and a little under 1/2 the game as a full F/D. My DC F/D is (IIRC) Fighter[10]/Druid[18] with about 168 HP, nearing the end of TotLM. My only two "power gaming quibbles" about this awesome character: I wish I had pumped DEX to 18 and waited until F(13) to DC. I still have lots of play time left in the game with a fully developed (and very fun!) character.

--------------------
What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party On!!

[Dancing Virginia]

Thanks for the extra info.

I had not given much thought to strategy on when to dual over. Not quite sure what "power gamer" means...assuming it means creating the most bang for your buck with each character. However, I may as well go for the gusto.

Won't it be difficult if you dual over your Cleric and Thief at 12 and then your Druid at 13? Or will the Illusionist's fighter skills, the bard's singing, and the paladin tank hold everything together? I guess I can use the "sleep and fight" tactic (which I had already thought of!) to work my levels back up quickly before proceeding with three weak characters.

Yeah, I don't relish the idea of going without a cleric or a thief for that long. The healing/buff power from a cleric is useful and I hate getting my butt kicked unnecessarily by traps. I guess I can suck it up for a while, though. Again, I'll sleep and fight in someplace like Kresselack's tomb where those slow, easy to kill, relatively high expo undead hang out to boost my fighters levels in order to dual them over more quickly.

[Aerich]

Yeah, you got the definition of "power gamer" on the first try. [img]smile.gif[/img]

The character I would dual the earliest would be the cleric - forget about mage spells, forget about thief skills, you'll need healing and buff spells, as well as Turn Undead (well-mentioned by NobleNick). You could hold out to lvl 9, but I wouldn't hang on much longer than that, especially as it will be your first full time through the game.

9th level is, IMO, the optimum time to dual if you want a good tank and yet want the abilities of the other classes fairly quickly. Obviously, 13th or higher is the spot for power gamers. At 9th lvl you get: another weapon proficiency point, maxed out HP (only get 3/lvl after lvl 9), and a decent Thac0. With a couple buff spells, good Str, and good magical weapons, the Thac0 differential between lvls 9-13 isn't so terrible. You can also do wonders with weapon specialization and other tricks. My first time through the game I took a Ranger with racial enemy of spectral (incorporeal) undead, and shot my way through the Severed Hand (notable for undead). He maybe missed five shots in the entire (very large) area, each time on a critical miss - I was still hitting enemies on an attack roll of 2 with a level 8-9 ranger.

A cleric gets healing spells to smooth the way (it gets frustrating having to rest after every fight), and gets the spell Find Traps.

Thief, Druid, and Illusionist can all wait for a while - the bard can cover mage spells AND thief skills. You get pick pockets naturally, and you can use an Invisibility potion or spell to scout and Knock to open locks that you can't smash. The only glaring lack is some non-damaging way to detect traps - not so bad in the beginning, but the poison, confusion, paralyzation, and petrifying traps can really get you down (lvl 5 of Dragon's Eye and beyond).

I'd be patient with the F/D and F/I. They are two of the most formidable characters if you don't dual too early. The F/T isn't too shabby either. None of them have skills that you must have if you dual the cleric first - healing is covered by resting, the paladin and the cleric, and essential mage spells (Mirror Image to set off traps) and most thief skills are covered by the bard.

For easy and plentiful experience in the early(ish) part of the game, try the third level of Dragon's Eye. Even better, bump up the difficulty level (at least once you've cleared the level of static monsters) - the monsters on that level come in bunches, are worth 1500 XP apiece (3000 on Insane!), and don't do all that much damage. A couple well-placed spells, good melee troops, and lots of resting = great XP.