I'm going to give it a try, and I'm brainstorming party ideas now. here's what I've got so far:
Gnome Fighter (GM in Axes for a great AC and using the boomerang axe)
Half-Elf Cleric/Ranger
Half-Elf Fighter/Druid
Elf Fighter/Mage/Thief (basically, I'm using him as an archer who can open locks and disarm traps. Since he'll always be in the back-row, I figured he doesn't really need armor so why not throw some spellcasting ability in there as well?)
Gnome Fighter/Illusionist
Half-Elf Bard
I'm not too sure on where to allocate weapon proficiencies (other than maxing out ranged weapons for all characters ASAP).
I also know that Paladins are usually pointed at as being great for HoF mode, but I think that's because of being able to cast "Prot. from Evil" on themselves so often. I figure a single classed Gnome fighter can wear that gnome/halfling helmet for a better AC bonus, and can also be a more offensive character since he can get GM in a few weapons.
This is still in it's planning stage, so I'd really welcome comments/ideas/criticisms. TIA
IWD1: HoF mode from the beginning
Started by Klorox, Jan 30 2008 05:22 AM
10 replies to this topic
#1
Klorox
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Posted 30 January 2008 - 05:22 AM
Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!
Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven.
? Stewie Griffin
Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven.
? Stewie Griffin
#2
Klorox
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Posted 31 January 2008 - 06:32 AM
I've decided to make one change so far. Instead of the Gnome Fighter, I'm plugging in a Gnome Fighter/Thief. I'll still use him as a tank(fully armored), but I think the slightly lower HP and lack of GM in any weapon is far outeweighed by the evasion ability he'll gain. I've come to realize that in HoF, you'll (need to) do a lot more damage with spells than weapons, so losing GM isn't that big of a deal. Besides, since this will allow him to gain specialization in more weapons, it opens up his versatility. I'll be using the Long Sword of Action +4 when I get it instead of an inferior Axe.
Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!
Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven.
? Stewie Griffin
Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven.
? Stewie Griffin
#3
Jarno Mikkola
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The Imp in his pink raincoat.
Posted 31 January 2008 - 08:23 AM
lack of GM in any weapon
Don't you use G3:IwD Tweak pack? It has the feature to enable them! You have a lot of multi-classes, is that wise? As you don't have a pure mage, you must have had a hell in making of those men, but now, it might not be anymore...
And I am still not convinced the warrior class adds anything to the Elf Fighter/Mage/Thief. And if you go with the Figter/Thief, make the forth char a Cleric/Mage.
Deactivated account. The user today is known as The Imp.
#4
Azazello
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Posted 31 January 2008 - 06:48 PM
This isn't ideas about party makeup, but some of these mods might make the classes more useful:
===> NON-WeiDU mods
Level 8 & 9 Mage Spells by TeamBG
===> WeiDU mods
Blucher's BG2 to IWD Characters
G3 Improved BAMs
Tioma's Mods
-- Ease-of-use pack v1.1
IceWind Dale: Heart Of Winter Improvements Pack
Auril's Bane
G3 Icewind Dale Tweak Pack
===> NON-WeiDU mods
Level 8 & 9 Mage Spells by TeamBG
===> WeiDU mods
Blucher's BG2 to IWD Characters
G3 Improved BAMs
Tioma's Mods
-- Ease-of-use pack v1.1
IceWind Dale: Heart Of Winter Improvements Pack
Auril's Bane
G3 Icewind Dale Tweak Pack
#5
Klorox
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Posted 01 February 2008 - 07:59 AM
Eh, I've decided to make a few changes, but first let me say that I don't want to mess with the GM rules, because I believe that single-classed Fighters really deserve a special benefit nobody else gets.
Jarno: I'm going with a F/M/T over a M/T for a few reasons:
1)I can use a Composite Long Bow (soooo much better than any other missile weapons)
2)I want everybody (except the Bard, of course) to be able to get ** in a missile weapon. 90% of my physical attacks are with missile weapons.
3)In my experience, it's hard to get the highest level scrolls for your spellcasters at any stage in this game (meaning that I usually have my highest level spell slots either empty or with spells I really don't like). On HoF mode (with all it's XP), I figure this problem will be compounded. I also have a F/Ill and a Bard, so scrolls will be scarce.
4)I've always hated the C/M, especially in IWD. I like splitting the classes up because I don't like having to choose which spell I need. Having a F/C and a F/M instead of a C/M means that I can cast more spells in a round (a C/M may have twice as many spells, but can only loose one of them every round).
I've decided to go with the following party:
1)Human Paladin. Great tank here, with DuHM, Prot. from Evil, great saves, and Laying on Hands ability should be a lifesaver with it's quick casting time when things get hairy in HoF melee.
2)Elf FMT. In addition to what I said above, I want to add a few things: I plan on using this character as an archer for most of the game(Elf is perfect). He's a Thief so that I can open locks and disarm traps (being triple classed won't hurt those abilities). The spellcasting is just thrown in there to have another person to cast low level spells like Charm Person and Chromatic Orb.
3)1/2 Elf C/R. I'll take the slightly slower Ranger level advancement over a F/C for the Charm Animal ability, some Druid spells (sunscorch is GREAT in HoF, and the more Entangles the better!), and the ability to be used as a Scout as the situation warrants.
4)1/2 Elf F/D. Druids are awesome in this game, and when she can shapeshift into a water elemental, she's nigh-invulnerable!
5)Gnome F/Ill. Great spellcaster, and can shoot that bow great as well. I had considered an elf F/M instead, but decided with 2 other spellcasters, having a specialist mage is more beneficial to the party. It's nice to have a short guy in there too!
6)1/2 Elf Bard. Singing, and throwing a spell out there every once in a while (buffing spells will be good with her too, since they can be cast outside of combat, and with her very high spellcaster level should last a looooong time). I don't expect her to have hardly any kills in this game, but that's not what she's there for.
Jarno: I'm going with a F/M/T over a M/T for a few reasons:
1)I can use a Composite Long Bow (soooo much better than any other missile weapons)
2)I want everybody (except the Bard, of course) to be able to get ** in a missile weapon. 90% of my physical attacks are with missile weapons.
3)In my experience, it's hard to get the highest level scrolls for your spellcasters at any stage in this game (meaning that I usually have my highest level spell slots either empty or with spells I really don't like). On HoF mode (with all it's XP), I figure this problem will be compounded. I also have a F/Ill and a Bard, so scrolls will be scarce.
4)I've always hated the C/M, especially in IWD. I like splitting the classes up because I don't like having to choose which spell I need. Having a F/C and a F/M instead of a C/M means that I can cast more spells in a round (a C/M may have twice as many spells, but can only loose one of them every round).
I've decided to go with the following party:
1)Human Paladin. Great tank here, with DuHM, Prot. from Evil, great saves, and Laying on Hands ability should be a lifesaver with it's quick casting time when things get hairy in HoF melee.
2)Elf FMT. In addition to what I said above, I want to add a few things: I plan on using this character as an archer for most of the game(Elf is perfect). He's a Thief so that I can open locks and disarm traps (being triple classed won't hurt those abilities). The spellcasting is just thrown in there to have another person to cast low level spells like Charm Person and Chromatic Orb.
3)1/2 Elf C/R. I'll take the slightly slower Ranger level advancement over a F/C for the Charm Animal ability, some Druid spells (sunscorch is GREAT in HoF, and the more Entangles the better!), and the ability to be used as a Scout as the situation warrants.
4)1/2 Elf F/D. Druids are awesome in this game, and when she can shapeshift into a water elemental, she's nigh-invulnerable!
5)Gnome F/Ill. Great spellcaster, and can shoot that bow great as well. I had considered an elf F/M instead, but decided with 2 other spellcasters, having a specialist mage is more beneficial to the party. It's nice to have a short guy in there too!
6)1/2 Elf Bard. Singing, and throwing a spell out there every once in a while (buffing spells will be good with her too, since they can be cast outside of combat, and with her very high spellcaster level should last a looooong time). I don't expect her to have hardly any kills in this game, but that's not what she's there for.
Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!
Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven.
? Stewie Griffin
Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven.
? Stewie Griffin
#6
Klorox
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Posted 04 February 2008 - 04:12 AM
Having never tried this, I can't believe how tough it has been! I just made it into Khuldahar, and boy was it difficult (and I skipped going north of the tower for that goblin fight... I'll revisit it after buying plate mail for all of my tanks)!
I tried a couple of tricks, like starting the game with only the multiclassed characters (for the bugs in the basement and drunk man quests), then added the paladin (with her 18 CHA) to kill the wolf in the shop. Then I finally added the Bard for the rest of the prologue. I figure the multiclassers need as much help with XP as possible, and I remember being bored with my Bard level-ups after he reached level 11 last time I played (which was a few years ago).
I'm getting so much use out of the spells charm person and entangle. For some reason, my "charm person or mammal" druid spell never works (weird, I wonder why that is). Once I got "Call Lightning" and "Animate Dead" the game started getting easier.
I tried a couple of tricks, like starting the game with only the multiclassed characters (for the bugs in the basement and drunk man quests), then added the paladin (with her 18 CHA) to kill the wolf in the shop. Then I finally added the Bard for the rest of the prologue. I figure the multiclassers need as much help with XP as possible, and I remember being bored with my Bard level-ups after he reached level 11 last time I played (which was a few years ago).
I'm getting so much use out of the spells charm person and entangle. For some reason, my "charm person or mammal" druid spell never works (weird, I wonder why that is). Once I got "Call Lightning" and "Animate Dead" the game started getting easier.
Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!
Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven.
? Stewie Griffin
Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven.
? Stewie Griffin
#7
grogerson
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Posted 06 February 2008 - 09:23 AM
This isn't ideas about party makeup, but some of these mods might make the classes more useful:
===> NON-WeiDU mods
Level 8 & 9 Mage Spells by TeamBG
===> WeiDU mods
Blucher's BG2 to IWD Characters
G3 Improved BAMs
Tioma's Mods
-- Ease-of-use pack v1.1
IceWind Dale: Heart Of Winter Improvements Pack
Auril's Bane
G3 Icewind Dale Tweak Pack
You really should consider the G3 IWD1 Tweak Pack. Currently it also has a rather extensive fix pack component which allows memorizing mage level 8 and 9 spells, and pretty much all of Tioma's Ease of Use (which uses a WeiDU installer but only to dump files into the override).
#8
Klorox
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Posted 06 February 2008 - 11:00 AM
I thought TotLM allowed mages those 8th and 9th level spells without a problem. I have the g3 tweaks installed though.
This is TOUGH!
This is TOUGH!
Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!
Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven.
? Stewie Griffin
Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven.
? Stewie Griffin
#9
Azazello
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The Anti-Spammer
Posted 06 February 2008 - 01:04 PM
Those damn goblins on HoF! They seem to hit 10 times to my party's one. After Khuldahar, things weren't so bad, except for some reason I could never make a lot of coinage.Having never tried this, I can't believe how tough it has been! I just made it into Khuldahar, and boy was it difficult (and I skipped going north of the tower for that goblin fight... I'll revisit it after buying plate mail for all of my tanks)!
I tried a couple of tricks, like starting the game with only the multiclassed characters (for the bugs in the basement and drunk man quests), then added the paladin (with her 18 CHA) to kill the wolf in the shop. Then I finally added the Bard for the rest of the prologue. I figure the multiclassers need as much help with XP as possible, and I remember being bored with my Bard level-ups after he reached level 11 last time I played (which was a few years ago).
I'm getting so much use out of the spells charm person and entangle. For some reason, my "charm person or mammal" druid spell never works (weird, I wonder why that is). Once I got "Call Lightning" and "Animate Dead" the game started getting easier.
Give every party memeber a thrown missile weapon, and don't skimp on the arrows/bullet. More is more is better, I says.
As for spells, Summons-Summons-Summons! They are your lifeline, as they hit just as hard as HoF enemies. I just wish there was a summoning limit removal on undead, man that would be sweet.
#10
Klorox
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Posted 07 February 2008 - 07:25 AM
Azazello, sounds like you've done this before!
What's your party makeup? I'd love to share some ideas.
What's your party makeup? I'd love to share some ideas.
Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!
Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven.
? Stewie Griffin
Oh, squiggly line in my eye fluid. I see you lurking there on the periphery of my vision. But when I try to look at you, you scurry away. Are you shy, squiggly line? Why only when I ignore you, do you return to the center of my eye? Oh, squiggly line, it's alright, you are forgiven.
? Stewie Griffin
#11
Azazello
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The Anti-Spammer
Posted 07 February 2008 - 07:40 AM
http://www.shsforums...showtopic=30461Azazello, sounds like you've done this before!
What's your party makeup? I'd love to share some ideas.
