What party composition did you do for Icewind Dale?
My favorite was a Dragon Disciple Sorcerer as the leader, a woman Illusionist as my concubine, two dark elves as a mage thief and bow specialized assassin that had insulting names like Ratmouth and Withertongue, and two half orcs that were a heavy armor tank and a medium armor damage dealer, also with insulting henchmen names
The point was to play a lawful evil sorcerer with a cabal of henchmen
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Werewolf, black Knight, kensai, mage/thief, thief. Needless to say the thief is useless.
What's your theme if the party?
Not much room for role play unfortunately, but it was thought as ex druid, ex paladin, ex Palace guard from kara tut and two thieves the now black guard got out of prison to try their luck in the north. Mostly melee.
>the thief is useless.
But you can pickpocket the blue NPCx, and sometimes you get double items.
In BG2 you get the item when you pick pocket, + a clone item when you provoke hostility with summoned skeletonswho can kill blue NPCs.
True, that means you get like a dozen great items for free.
would it be possible to solo the game?
and what kind of character is overpowered enough to do it?
if not one, then maybe two?
isnt the experience points split between characters anyway so if you have one or two characters only the amount of exp per character is larger than when you have like four
I've soloed it with a sorcerer before. It's a bit potion-heavy before you learn Trollish Fortitude but after that it's easy. Shapechange is gamebreakingly powerful, particularly werewolf form.
I've solo'd the game as a paladin before. Yes, xp is divided by the number of characters in the party.
Three is easy mode. Two is challenging at first, but a breeze later on. Solo needs a little tactic, but after the first big dungeon you are invincible.
The game is balanced for a party of six.
If you have a smaller party you will get more xp per character which can be especially lopsided with a party of 1-3. Of course soloing a pure thief will probably be harder than, say, a fighter/mage/cleric or a sorcerer, but all the IE games are soloable and it's not really even that challenging most of the time. In fact smaller parties are probably comparatively easier thanks to faster leveling.
EE further makes the game easier if you use the powerful character options unless you adjust the difficulty and/or mod it to match. There is even to option to limit the xp gain to make the game more challenging.
>kensai
Kensai in ee games are awesome. Katana saber for ultimate selfishness. It's just fun to cut everything to shreds in few seconds.
Last time I played it:
1x paladin.
If I played it again today?
Paladin
Cleric
Bard
Mage
When I played it back in the day? Dunno, probably
Paladin
Fighter or Barbarian or Ranger
Fighter or Barbarian or Ranger
Cleric, maybe a Fighter/Cleric
Fighter/Thief
Mage
I tried solo, impossible to beat shadow temple for me.
I made a bunch of crowd control mages and then it turns out most of the game is spent fighting undead creatures that aren't affected by spells like fear and shit.
A bard or multiclass mage and a full mage is already spreading the best scrolls kinda thin (meaning the full mage gets the majority). With 2 full mages its still okay. Three scroll-learning casters pushes the balance off (two lesser casters with one full is okay) and anything more becomes overkill in multiple ways.
I have ran a sorcerer a couple of times and they break the game the most out of all the EE classes due how you automatically and *early* get your best spells. Having difficulty tuned up + modded balances this out decently though.
Mostly true neutral mercenary band:
-Skald, face/support (female for the unique dialogues)
-Archer, ranged dps (with skald buff killed everything, worked well even against skellies and other DR monsters)
-Undead Hunter, main tank (the resistances are great, the extra damage vs undead is also very useful and pallies get that cool sword).
-Cleric/Thief, clericcing/thieffing (gnomes get those nice shorty saves too).
-Dragon Disciple, duh (the extra survivability is pretty nice on harder difficulty and in IWD the breath is especially useful for crowds+it goes through MR).
-The last one was a boring berserker->druid or kensai->mage, can't remember. Maybe fighter/mage?
oh yeah the last one was a elf F/M/T so I could focus him on stealth and the gnome took the utility skills
Sorcerer
Shaman, it's actually good in iwdee
Cleric/Illusionist
Assassin dualed to fighter
Kensai dualed to mage
Barbarian
Oh yeah thanks to iwd's sneak attack rule option dualing from assassin was not only viable but in fact very effective.
Not the same for bg.
Why, everything is undead anyway or dies in 1s.
Not with mods+difficulty ramped. After vale of shadows the sneak attack was useful the entire game. If I remember right it even worked with heavy armor.
Sneak attack is a gamechanger vs. the traditional backstab.
Right, sa is the one where it does crazy damage if the enemy is flanked. Guess my thief isn't useless anymore.
My first clear was
>Fighter
>Inquisitor
>Priest of Talos
>Druid
>Illusionist/Thief
>Dragon Disciple
but I've done a lot of parties after that.
My most recent run was on Insane with the damage modifications disabled and I rolled a random party with a BG2 hero generator website
>Paladin
>Fighter/Thief
>Fighter
>two Priests of Helm
>Wild Mage
Was pretty fun to see how the monster formations were changed compared to core rules. The expansions were a huge letdown in that regard. Only the occasional minor change with most maps being 100% the same.
Yeah I've ran Shaman and I was surprised at how good it actually is. Divine casters has so many situational spells that being able to cast them spontaneously is ridiculously strong. The slower exp scaling compared to Druid sucked for a while. I was playing on core rules and didn't have level 3 spells by Dragon's Eye which put a bit of a dent in my plans, but it picked up around Severed Hand and by Upper Dorn's Deep it was pretty much on par with where I'd expect a druid to be.
Ranger (M)
Paladin (F)
Bard (F)
Fighter/Mage (F)
Rogue/Mage (F)
Druid (F)
The druid was nearly useless. I should have chosen a cleric instead.
Druid's more of an offensive class than a healer in IWD I find. They have some really strong spells and the enemies are spooky enough that their shapeshift forms are actually valuable.
Female human Chevalier
Male elf Archer
Female dwarf cleric/fighter
Female elf mage/rogue
Male half-orc Barbarian
Male human Shaman
Yes, I played EE, fight me.
Why? Iwd ee is awesome. Shame beamdog skipped rpg.
IWD EE is not awesome, it breaks a bunch of shit from the original. IWD2EE is awesome, but IWDEE fricking sucks.
Just...play the original version?
Iwdee is fun, but is easy to break.
But so was the original, just not as much.
Best combo, as always is:
adjust difficulty + mods + refrain from using the most OP options every single playthrough.
No the EE is just bg2 mechanics which is complete shit
yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man
Both ee are awesome, tranime tendie..
Absolutely not, beamdog loving homosexual.
Beamdog is shit and only iwd ee is worth mentioning. All other games made by them suck. Iwd2 ee isn't even by beamdog.
All iwd1ee does is add bg2 shit to the game that doesn't belong
Then play the original version.
I've played both and while the original is maximal kino I appreciate the options and mods iwdee has. It's literally just more options and variety for the game.
Criticizing bgs is much more valid since they added their own fanfic-tier bullshit content too.
And the original iwd is available any time you want it.
>It's literally just more options and variety for the game.
It alters the game mechanically. It's not things that can be ignored.
Play the original version then: problem solved.
SCS (and other mods) works in that engine which is a huge plus for me at least. It's pretty much the biggest selling point for iwdee currently.
just to be clear:
"that engine" = iwdee
Fighter Fighter Fighter/Rogue Cleric Druid Wizard
Is a 4 party team too few members or it would be extremely painful to accomplish a full run?
how does it affect levels? do you reach level cap too early?
The less characters you have the more braindead and boring the game is. All IE games are like this.
>Is a 4 party team too few members or it would be extremely painful to accomplish a full run?
>how does it affect levels? do you reach level cap too early?
4 is a fun size, you have enough slots to fill every role of a complete party, and is controlling enough members that it still feels like a complete party, but still small enough to get more xp gain. I would pick your favorite variation on each of the classic "fighter, cleric, thief, mage" party and have at it. It's been many, many years since I played IWD1 last, but I don't recall there being a level cap, or BG2-style quest XP individual rewards, instead of party-wide xp gain. Each character will gain 1/4th of the xp, instead of 1/6th, so 50% faster xp gain than normal.
The level cap is 30 but it's hard to reach without going for NG+. On Insane (or Easy which has the same exp modifier) the fast-levelling classes like Cleric and Bard will be hitting 30 just before the final boss if you also do Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster. On Core you finish around level 18-20ish.
Finished the game incl exp with around 13 or 14. Anyway, end boss is too strong.
I probably modded out the XP cap, which would explain why I don’t remember one. Last time I played I did a solo paladin, and sometime in HoW or TotL, I hit the engines hard level cap of 50
1x Fighter/Mage/Cleric
No Thief? Gonna just face-tank all those traps and heal after?
>Paladin
>Paladin
>Paladin
>Cleric
>Cleric
>Cleric
This is a based composition. This was one of the many gimmick parties I tried and abandoned for PoE1. I would probably tweak this to 4 pal 2 cle. I remember once in iwd2 I tried 6 pal, but got too annoyed with the point buy and needing 16 WIS for 6th level spells on top of everything else.
>I remember once in iwd2 I tried 6 pal, but got too annoyed with the point buy and needing 16 WIS for 6th level spells on top of everything else.
Why is every paladin player a complete moron
>I am a midwit who projects my mental inferiority on to others
Paladins in 3rd ed only went up to 4th level spells, which only requires 14 WIS to cast, while IWD2 homebrews 5th and 6th level spells, adding to your already thinly-spread stats, as paladin is a notoriously MAD class, requiring good strength and charisma, decent constitution, decent wis, probably a little dex, and also a little int if you care about roleplaying and want any skills. It's true that IWD2 has a goofy point buy system with flat point costs, but it's also a very combat-heavy campaign that generally requires min-maxed stats to be successful, far more than would be needed in tabletop DnD. Gonna be real tight to buy that 16 WIS on top of the 18 STR and 18 CON you probably want, probably want at least 12 dex (if not 13 for dodge, or higher if planning on using the mithril plate), probably want 16-18 CHA, and then INT besides. Unless you're a based INT-dumping lawful stupid roleplayer, of course.
>Paladins in 3rd ed only went up to 4th level spells, which only requires 14 WIS to cast, while IWD2 homebrews 5th and 6th level spells, adding to your already thinly-spread stats, as paladin is a notoriously MAD class, requiring good strength and charisma, decent constitution
What the frick are you talking about? Paladins get insane gear, you just crank str and cha then cast duhm and defensive buffs and park them on the front line. It's always been the baby mode moron class in every edition.
>It's always been the baby mode moron class in every edition.
Tell me you didn’t play first edition without telling me you didn’t play first edition
Paladins get like one item specially made for them in IWD2.
They get a sword that is so good it's the equivalent of multi-ing 4 levels into fighter lmao
It's not that great. This is the game with luck as a mechanic and crit threat range and crit multiplier.
Draw Upon Holy Might is one hell of a drug.
Solo Werewolf Druid.
As per the rule of the genre, droods are (one of) the best classes.
My first playthrough was in the original IDW in 2001. I did an all elf and half-elf party because tween fantasy nerd.
Ranger
Fighter
Thief
Bard
Cleric
Enchanter
I think I used the "default" party and it was alright.
>Default
>Fighter
>Cleric
>Thief
>Mage
Based.
chaotic neutral human bard as a talker (pic related)
lawful neutral dwarf fighter
chaotic neutral half-orc barb (19 starting STR is a bit cheesy in 2ed for early game tbh)
neutral gnome cleric/thief
lawful good human female Fighter dualed to Cleric (I really wanted the portrait with the white-haired chick with a mace in my party because it looks cool)
human neutral necromancer
RP wise they were exactly what you'd expect - a ragtag group of misfits with shitty past and burned bridges which forced them to try their luck in the shithole north where nobody cares how much you fricked up in the past
the Bard had a shitload of additional dialogue, would recommend
played it on Insanity with XP bonus and damage modifiers turned off (so just more enemies), it was pretty great balance wise, picking subclasses like Berserker, Archer or Sorcerer would definietly make it too easy
too bad they don't make RPGs which make you feel like an adventurer anymore, nowadays you're always forced to be some influential figure from the very beggining
Human Berserker chaotic neutral
Half elf Fighter cleric chaotic good
Elf Wizard chaotic evil
Orc Shaman true neutral
Halfling rogue neutral evil
Dwarf bard(skald?) neutral good
I recreated my old adnd party, we tried advanced dnd for three sessions before reverting to dungeon world, got bored
Just as my real life party, i got bored with the game when i reached the lizard temple.
Lately thinking about restarting with a smaller, 3-4 members party, would you advise against it?
Thinking about doing a warrior, cleric, wizard run. Maybe a rogue for locks and traps, dunno how necessary it is for the latter parts of the game
>warrior, cleric, wizard run. Maybe a rogue for locks and traps
Classic. Would work well
First-timer panning on going through IWDEE soon. Is this team ok?
>human paladin
>human barbarian (or elf ranger for extra ranged attacker)
>dwarf fighter/cleric
>tiefling figher/thief (specced into slings)
>elf mage
>half-elf bard
The EE is easy, it doesn't matter
It looks fine except thieflings are cringe. Everything else is respectable except the EE
I'd use a gnome as a thief but I just beat BG2 with one as charname. I want something different.
No tieflings in the game. I'm guessing you meant halfling.
That party is fine. Just don't frick up your bard's stats like I did once. There are lore penalties for having low WIS and if you treat it as a dump stat he's not going to be identifying anything.
Yeah, I meant halfling.
What should be the bard's dump stat? INT?
Pretty sure they use INT for casting stat, you don’t want to do that
Skip the bard
Turn on sneak attack
Is this thread being botted or is it just morons talking about things they know nothing about?
As if iwd had 3+e races and game mechanics.
IWD2 uses 3E.
Lots of newbies are playing iwd1ee which adds many things that weren’t in the original game
No anon they were literally talking about other games than iwd/iwdee, i.e. off-topic spergposting
Paladin
Ranger
Fighter/Cleric
Fighter/Druid
Fighter/Thief
Mage
ezpz
It's fighting time
You're going to have a hell of a time identifying items
Who's gonna open the locks and disarm the traps?
NTA, but
>Who's gonna open the locks
The guy with 19 str
>and disarm the traps?
The guys with 17 hp at level 1
>What party composition did you do for Icewind Dale?
Six sorcerers.
Frick you.
In myblast run it was a Grimgar party of cleric, thief, blackguard, fighter, ranger and mage.
By the way, did anyone knew that cleric can turn paladin of oppostite alignment? It was fun as hell when my blackguard got turned by cleric and started running around in fear.
esl
Bow & arrow on each. One of them should use sling & stone for ammo economy. And one of them should use crossbow & bolt.
That is the strongest party. Has been that way since BG1.
for my own EE run, I'm going to run:
>Helf bard
>human cavalier
>human Berserker dualed to druid
>gnome cleric/illusionist
>orc fighter/thief with a katana (very important)
>vanilla elf ranger
all wizards
First completion was
Fighter/Thief (Multi Class)
Fighter/Mage (Dual Class)
Bard
Mage
Cleric
Fighter (Ranged)
It was fun but a bit of an uninteresting party. The high point was the low levels as it required decent party coordination to stay alive. The low point was when I dual classed the fighter/mage as it created a major drain on resources not having a fully functional bruiser Constantly needing to top up HP on the frontline (f/t, f/m, clr) and have them almost immediately get hit again and lose them got irritating.
I may go again as a pure classes quintet though:
Paladin
Fighter
Mage
Cleric
Thief
The problem is that traps sort of get forgotten about late game devaluing the thief long-term whilst everyone else pretty much becomes combat gods
If only IWD bards could handle traps and locks, they'd be perfect. Paladin/Cleric/Bard/Mage is exactly what I'd do.
Is there a mod for IWDEE which removes the spells that weren't in the original? Game's not balanced for them, and the enemies don't even use them
Solo evil cleric was a blast all through Vale of Shadows, using turn undead to command troops of undead, but I couldn't progress much further past that, especially with undead eventually becoming immune to normal weapons, and as such, immune to each others attacks.
Noob here,I have two cleric questions:
- Supposedly, how would I set up a gnome Cleric/Illusionist, spells wise?
- how is a swashbuckler thaco bonus calculated, if it were to dual class? If for example I were to be a dual swash 5/cleric 10, would the +1 be applied to the overall thac0, or I just use the swash 5 thac0 until the cleric one is better and thus supercede the boosted thief one?
- just b urself
- all features of your old class are disabled when you dual class until you get a higher level in your new class
no I meant, AFTER you get back your old class levels
you get your best thac0 out of the two until your level progression gives you something better
>spells
C/I is very versatile so pick what you need at specific points.
Overall you'll want spells that don't care about level scaling as much but often the level difference doesn't matter much. The "specialty" of C/I is getting necromancy spells from the cleric side. Animate dead is pretty nice. Also the illusionist gets a bonus for illusion spells so his Spook and Blind are harder to save against.
>swashbuckler
After dualing you will use the higher thac0 class only (cleric), but you will get the special +2 bonus from swash to thac0, damage and AC.
During dualing your first class is disabled.
>arty composition did you do f
3 paladins and 3 clerics
>early game boss requires you to have weapons with +2 or more enchantment in order to hurt her
>in a game with randomized loot
Why the frick did they do something this dumb?
You have a guaranteed stack of +2 arrows drop right before the boss. This is not a hard game.
The randomized loot is really dumb. I remember a mod back in the day that would give you a dialogue menu to choose from the options for each chest.
I don't think the randomization is a problem unless you metagamed to have some specific random drops. Plenty of great guaranteed gear available.
And if you really want to circumvent it there are multiple mod options like:
-Choose from all the options with a token you loot
-Get ALL the options
-Change your drop at a vendor
You're guaranteed to have +2 weapons by that point unless you've gone for some super limited profiencies.
If you have a mage the Summoner Staff is a free kill on her by spamming flame arrows. It hasn't got a cooldown for whatever reason. Also it's a bit of a trek but if you're in a martial-heavy party you can go back to town and buy +3s from the smith. No matter your RNG you'll have enough cash from the rest of the dungeon to pick up a couple of them.