7 replies to this topic

[Jarno Mikkola]

In my usual group, in IWDI, I have a Paladin, a dwarf fighter, a human 2nd level Ranger dualed into a cleric, Half-Elf Cleric/Mage multiclass, a human thief dualled into an Abjurer, and a human 2nd level fighter dualled into a Necromancer.

As, one can see, they have a enough hitpoints, and the dwarf even regenerates after a certain point. (thanks to 19 and then 20 in Con)
The Paladin uses the ultimate sword against the demon(+7), and other good longswords.
The Ranger-dualing gives druid skills to the cleric.
The Half-Elf has very large spell cabability.
The Thief brings trap disarm with magic spells.
And the Necromancer is able to shoot with a longbow.
Yes, the duals at the begining is a nightmare, but soon they are very much more cabable.

So, what's your's. Any big differences? And why?

Edited by Jarno Mikkola, 24 November 2007 - 12:51 PM.

[aVENGER]

Hmm, it's been a while time since I last played IWD1. IIRC, I always had a standard party of four characters:

1) Male Dwarven Fighter - good hit points and great saves. With a decent STR and CON score this guy was a powerhouse. He usually wielded axes and hammers.
2) Female Elven Mage - I liked having a dedicated single-class Mage in order to get the high level spell slots early. There was that nice robe too.
3) Female Half-Elf Cleric - a single-class Cleric was important to me due to the overwhelming amount of undead in IWD1. Higher levels = more powerful turning.
4) Male Halfling Fighter/Thief - loads of skill points, great saves and high dexterity. Could also wear a nice helmet which was only usable by the short folk.


The last two slots varied according to the party's alignment. When I was playing a good aligned party I went with:

5) Male Human Paladin - immunity to fear and disease was very handy, Smite Evil and Prot. from Evil had their uses as well and the Holy Avenger was very helpful indeed.
6) Female Half-Elven Ranger/Cleric - she had access to both Clerical spells, some minor Druid spells (only up to level 3) and could even fight decently. The favored enemy bonus vs. undead helped as well. Also, I loved how Tracking worked in IWD1. The detailed descriptions for the major areas added a lot to the RP value and simultaniously gave you a hint what creatures to look out for.


OTOH, when I played neutral, I went with:

5) Half-Elf Male Bard - the IWD1 battlesongs simply rock, and having another arcane caster is always good. Also, high Charisma + Friends = huge discount in stores.
6) Female Half-Elven Druid - I loved the Druid spell selection in IWD1 - Sunscorch, Moonblade and Static Charge were my all-time favorites. Also, being single-class provided access to high level spells early and once she got Conjure Fire Elemental, Stalker and Sunray she really started to shine.


And finally, the one time when I played with an evil party I took:

5) Male Elven Fighter/Mage - he made a great tank later in the game with Mirror Image and Stoneskin up, and he could even dish out some decent damage.
6) Female Half-Elven Fighter/Druid - She was True Neutral but I role-played her as a Shadow Druid type, because the Druid spells in IWD1 were simply too good to pass. Furthermore, contrary to BG2, Fighter/Druids are actually better than Ranger/Clerics in IWD1 since the later can merely get Druid spells up to level 3 and only if/when their Ranger level is high enough.

Edited by aVENGER, 24 November 2007 - 06:08 PM.

[Azazello]

http://www.shsforums...showtopic=20100

For my party, I used Blucher's BG2-to-IwD NPCs.
They all had their soundsets which added some little life to the usual lobotimized IwD NPCs.

- Viconia came with her Magic Resistance.
- Saverok came with his +2, +1HP/hit 2H-sword - yay!
- Cernd came with Firetooth +3 Dagger - don't know how he got it, but I wasn't about to complain. Never left home without it.
- Tashia came with her cat - you could summon it but when unsummoned it didn't reappear in the quick slot. Surprisingly, I stopped using it even before Shattered Hand.
- Imoen came with her charm
- I had a Paladin so that he could eventually use the special armor added by Auril's Bane. IMHO, the Smite Evil innate was the most useless spell in the whole game.

If playing on Insane difficulty:

...the benefit of two types of spells:
- Invisibility 10' R -- this allowed my party to set up in the best defensible location and then start the battling on my terms.

- monster (and undead?) summoning -- on Insane they also hit double-damage, have increased HPs, AC, blah-blah. They are then not just arrow fodder, they soften up and distract the enemy so that my party delivers up a liberal serving of missile damage and area spells.

Lastly, just like every BG-related games, EVERY party member has a missile/thrown weapon - and uses it. H2H occurs only when unavoidable.

Edited by Azazello, 05 December 2007 - 07:59 PM.

[Daulmakan]

In my usual group, in IWDI, I have a Paladin, a dwarf fighter, a human 2nd level Ranger dualed into a cleric, Half-Elf Cleric/Mage multiclass, a human thief dualled into an Abjurer, and a human 2nd level fighter dualled into a Necromancer.

Yxunomei must've been a real pain in the ass with all those duals.

[Klorox]

My style is to usually go with only 4 characters (it's easier to control only 4), and make sure everybody's got a good missile weapon. I dislike single-classed spellcasters (I always find myself leaving high level slots empty because I haven't found scrolls of that spell level yet), and I dislike dual-classed characters as well.

I have at least 2 multiclassed characters. I find multiclassers to be very powerful in cRPGs.

[Sammi Somara]

I play with all wizards. My early battles go somewhat like, 'Okay, everybody cast magic missile on that thing at once!'
Actually the 'six-magic-missile' strategy works really well. I got through half the game on that alone. Of course most of my wizards are multiclass.

[Cal Jones]

I play with all wizards. My early battles go somewhat like, 'Okay, everybody cast magic missile on that thing at once!'
Actually the 'six-magic-missile' strategy works really well. I got through half the game on that alone. Of course most of my wizards are multiclass.

Only played it through twice - first time when I had to review it for my old mag (used a party of six, can't remember the constitution).

Recently went through again as I'd never tried ToLM (plus was bored...)
Used human fighter, human paladin, half-elf fighter thief and elven cleric/mage. Was tough at the beginning but they levelled awesomely.
However, I'd not recommend a cleric/mage as it's a tough job keeping people healed whilst flinging spells at monsters. The fighter/thief is good though - he levels adequately fast to deal with traps and containers, but can also tank if necessary (I used him mainly as an archer and scout).

Order I went through IWD until lower Dorn's Deep, then returned to Kuldahar, did HoW right up until before leaving for the Sea of Moving Ice, popped into ToLM and finished that, returned to Lonelywood then polished off the dragon, then back to finish IWD proper. By that point Behlifet was so ridiculously easy I felt bad for him. I remember when I originally played, that last battle was a bitch. Not so this time. (I played on normal).

[Soulfire]

My latest playstyle will go something along the lines of one Thief (For ze traps and locks, yo) and five Druids. Have you ever tried to make saves against five Entangles at once? Yeah, doesn't happen. Even with my latest habit of playing HoF/Insane from level 1, nothing's going to stand in my way for long enough that it gets to hurt me.