I F'ing HATE Goblins!

Oh, I am really peeved.. I started out in the town, went south before I equiped myself
and went over the bridge, thinking "We're badasses" (remembering Baldurs Gate).. we go
south, and there were some Either Goblins or Kobolds.. We ALL died in 7 seconds.. 1st level
characters suck as I remembered..

It REALLY sucks when your Elven Mage has like 4 hitpoints, hell he could sneeze and that'll kill
'em! hehe..

So what kind of party did everyone create? I did mine as close to the Characters IN Icewind Dale as possible.

Human/Fighter - Ziroc (Me)
Dwarf/Fighter - Bruenor Battlehammer
Elf/Mage - Drizzt (Should be a ranger, but he needs to cast spells)
Halfling/Thief - Regis (High CHR)
Female Human/Cleric - Catti-bre (I know, shes no Cleric, but I needed one)
Male Human/Ranger - Wulfgar (No Barbarians )

And so we're off.. Post your group!! and where are ya so far?
I bought both Diablo II and Icewind Dale.. Playing both now.. I'm broke out the ass now..

Ziroc

My Group consists of:
Human/Fighter:Volkor
Human/Magelumia
Half-Elf/Ranger:Kalexei
Human/Fighter:Jillsa
Halfling/Thief:
Human/Cleric:

And blast that freakin' wolf!!

Well, my party is based mostly on characters I've actually played in past D&D campaigns:

Hurok Stonecleaver -- dwarf fighter
Athernon -- half-elf fighter/mage (originally a mage on paper, but I had to give the guy a fighting chance!)
Jander Ryll -- human ranger
Brannon Highwater -- human paladin
Brynna Surehand -- halfling thief
Shalyssa -- human cleric

I'm trudging through the Vale of Shadows as we speak, this thing is GREAT.

Hrmmm, my party was a typical party that I have played here and there:

Jon Falkenberg, Human Paladin
Rachael Thorne, Half-Elven Ranger
Randolf Moore, Halfling Fighter/Thief
Deryk Blacke, Human Bard
Karyna D'Abo, Human Cleric
Ian Kincaid, Human Mage

Ian of course, has died more than all the others combined (I am heading into the Vale).
Course, it is mainly from him charging after everything (cannot get him to stand still, script or no).

I am looking forward to NWN, with a bit of hesitancy (VtM:R was such a let down).

I love talking about my party.. here's what I made. Note, all female names came from my girlfriend. :

Hannibal - Human Male Fighter - Is going to specialize in the greatsword, but also uses a crossbow. Has 18/00 STR

Wretched - 1/2 elf Male Ranger/Cleric - My secondary tank, and also good for healing Hannibal, since they are usually side by side.

Discord - 1/2 Elf Female Fighter/Mage - Usually acts as a tank, but also uses wands and occasionally some offensive magic (when armor is removed)

Kaz - 1/2 elf Male Bard - His lore saves me money in identifying magic items. In a fight, he generally uses a bow.

Cynergy - Elf Female Druid - Healing and missile support, she can now shapeshift into animals, which is pretty cool.

Danya - Elf Female Mage/Thief - Utility character. Missile support, detecting traps, and offensive magic all rolled into one! She dies easily, though.


Like I've posted in other threads, having 3 tank characters really helps to protect my softer backfield, especially the thief/mage. My bard and druid can both melee reasonably well if they have to, but they tend to stay away from this if at all possible, supporting the three front-liners with missile fire, offensive magic, and healing.

The other trick with this party is that everyone (and I mean everyone) is proficient in some long-range weapon. Thus, if the situation arises, my entire party can barrage enemies with arrows, bolts, and stones, without ever having to close in to finish the baddies off. This also allows any of my tanks, should they get too damaged to fight close-up, to fall back but still participate in battles with ranged weaponry, rather than just standing idly about until someone can heal them.

I'm having much success with this party, but I'd still like to make one even more warrior-oriented, with a single-class Ranger and a Paladin. Maybe next time through.

The best combo I've found, and this is what I use in all D&D gaming situations and havd had great success is
2 Fighter types, preferably one Paladin and one either fighter or Ranger
1 Cleric (only one is needed with a Paladin 'cause the Paladin can help with healing chores)
2 Mages, 1 specialized and one all purpose
1 Theif

The presence of a theif cannot be overrated. I didn't used to believe this, but having a theif hide in shadows and scout ahead to take out big uglies one at a time has saved my bacon countless times!!
Also, I think it works best to have them be all human, and to dual all non mages over to mage at some point. That way, you wond up with a bunch of truly bad assed spell casters who can whallop ya with a two handed sword. You get my drift?
Good luck!!

kdogrex2,

Have you played this combo in Icewind Dale? If so, how far have you gotten? The reason I ask, is because I'm in Dragon's Eye, and I can see myself getting mui damaged using your combination, because there's at least one part where you almost can't stop from being swarmed by enemies. The only reason I survived it, was that I recently made a change to my party, substituting a couple characters for others I had built-up.

Here's my new party make-up:

Human Fighter - (same as before)

Human Paladin - She replaced my Fighter/Mage, because frankly, one mage seems to be all I need.

Dwarf Fighter/Cleric - Replaced the Ranger/Cleric... Mainly cause dwarves are tougher!

1/2 Elf Bard - (same as before)

Elf Druid - (same as before)

Elf Thief/Mage - She's now my single mage, and the only reason she stays alive is because of her ability to hide in shadows. She skulks around until the monsters are focused on fighting my tanks, then lets loose with spells & arrows.

My party is very warrior-heavy, but also heal-heavy. I don't see how you could get by with only 1 Cleric, because those heal spells wear out very quickly, and a Paladin's healing ability is limited. I find that 2 clerics (or cleric and druid in this case) are far more efficient, and they also add more fighting ability to the team than does a mage.

This is my opinion, of course, and it may just be my play-style which makes mages not very useful to me. I consider them completely optional (I played BG without one), and the only reason I have one in my party is to make use of all the spell scrolls and other cool mage-only items that are to be found!

Unfortunately, I'm forced to have a life outside of Icewind Dale, so I haven't gotten all that far in it yet. I'm in the Forgotten (Lost, whatever it's called) Temple right now and this combo has served me very well so far. My two mages are progressing nicely so that they are able to both let loose with several magic missile spells on any pesky spell casters in the battle and my two fighter and my cleric can handle pretty much any fight that's come up so far. 'Course you do a fair amount of loading, but a 'Bless' before combat can really help out a battle. Here's the scenario for a combat sequence. It's time consuming, but it hasn't failed me yet:
Theif scouts ahead while shadowed. Pick out lone target, it's almost always possible to single out one pug-ugly (one visible, the rest hidden by fog of war) and tag it with an arrow to get it's attention, or if you can do it with out everyone in the room noticing you, go for a backastab. Pug ugly follows you back down the hall to where the rest of your party awaits, with all missile weapons ready. I find that it works best to have party AI turned off for the encounter. That's another thing. If everyone in the party doesn't have a missile weapon of some kind, fix that. Six missle weapons, even if only slings, can do serious damage before said pug-ugly can even get in clobbering range. Use whatever spells you want, but you can usually conserve spells for danger situations here and clobber to bits. As always, save before and after any combat. After is crucial because if you try and rest and suddenly are surrounded by baddies, that can suck! See if it works for you and I'll let you know when I get there!

Heh. I know what you mean about a life outside Icewind Dale. I nearly made myself late for work this morning trying to get through Dragon's Eye, and had to back out to save and run out the door.

Your tactic with the thief is the same one I use.. alot of people talk about stealthing with the thief, but I never do (except when she needs to get out've the battle). Instead, I have Detect Traps on, so she can disable traps and save my party some hit points. Then, when she comes upon some monsters, I have her try to lead them a few at a time back to my party, who mauls them fiercely.

Every member of my party does use missile weapons, I figured that one out long ago. However, they don't all use them all the time, because it seems more and more monsters require magic weapons to hit them, and a magic bow (or sling or x-bow) doesn't count as a magic weapon!

I do like the cool stuff mages can do, but fighters seem to be more my forte... however, I do have a Bard in my party, so he might become my backup mage real soon (another guy posted on Interplay's site that he swears by Bard mages).

Good journeys,

-Wretched

I always have the Thief front and center, and ALWAYS detect traps (Ever since Durlags Tower)

What I'll do is kinda what you said, detect traps, walk way ahead though, then when the areas are cleared of traps, I'd then lure monsters to my very PISSED off Barbarian (well, human, but he's wearing Ogre Power Bracers and has a 19 Strength, so I call him that, plus, his name is Wulfgar..heh!

I am shaping these guys out too, I have given Bruenor the Mithril Plate Armor (I can't BELIEVE they had that in here), thats like a RARE item..

Ziroc