Waiting for IWD to arrive

[Lews Therin]

I should be receiving IWD and HoW in the mail in the next couple of days. Does anybody have recommendations on party creation?

Should I go for some dual classes like F/M or R/C? If so, should I follow the same strategy for when to dual as in BG2?

Or is better to have pure classes with a well rounded party? Like a couple fighters, a thief/mage (I never use a pure thief), a mage, a cleric, and a druid.

Any thoughts on the pros and cons of either of the above are appreciated.

[Sojourner]

I've noticed that dual-classing in HoW doesn't net you the benefits that it does in BGI & BGII. For example, a ranger/cleric only gets the druid spells appropriate to his ranger level, irrespective of his cleric level. Also, if you dual from a fighter/ranger to one of the other classes, you're no longer allowed to put more than one * in a weapon proficiency when you regain your fighter/ranger skills. Potions and scrolls are scarce in this game!

That being said, I'd recommend having:

• Bard - Valuable for lore and his songs, esp. The Siren's Yearning (enthralls enemies) and War Chant of Sith (in addition to other bonuses causes party to regenerate)
  
• Single-/dual-/multi-classed Cleric - for dealing with all the Undead and healing party members
  
• Thief dualed to mage - get 100% in Trap-finding & Lock-picking
  
• At least 2 tanks

[mikeheitz]

I just started getting back into the HOW add-on... let me just say that the characters included that you can import and play with are some bad-mama-jamas!!! WOWZERS! All kinds of good items and loads of spells. If you don't already have it, I'd recommend getting the HOW expansion. Well worth the money.

[Lews Therin]

Sojourner, thanks for the advice. I've been meaning to try a bard since reading Two's thread on BGII (no deaths, no reloads) but haven't done so yet. I think I'll set up my party pretty much the way you recommend. Two tanks sounds like a must.

Mikeheitz, yes I've ordered both IWD and HoW. I've even downloaded the HoWTrials add on for HoW. If you didn't know about this one its a free download. 73 Megs of additional dungeons from what I've read.

[mikeheitz]

Yeah, I got the Trials download. Man, it took FOREVER to download!!! I was 219th in the queue waiting to get it, and once it started downloading, it came through at abou 11KB/sec!!! I just let it do it's thing!

[Fezek]

I've found that IWD is very archer/crossbow friendly. The only problem with this is that I found it difficult to get hold of "Magic" arrows. Also, and this is a bit hard to believe, but I made sure one of my tanks was a gnome.

[Lews Therin]

I've started IWD and have created a party with a fighter, a palladin, a fighter/druid multi, a thief/illusionist multi, a bard, and a cleric. Does it look like I'll have enough wizard ability with only a multi illusionist and a bard?

[Sojourner]

You'll have plenty of Spell-casting ability, esp. with HoW. Some of the better spells, IMO, are 6th level and lower. And don't forget to use your wands! Also, druids in this game get some awesome offensive spells.

[ 08-02-2001: Message edited by: Sojourner ]

[Nightmare]

Try this:

Ranger
Paladin
Thief
Cleric
2 Mages

[Lews Therin]

Originally posted by Gaxx_Firkraag:
<STRONG>Try this:

Ranger
Paladin
Thief
Cleric
2 Mages</STRONG>

Maybe on my next run through.

[Mo]

My party:

1 Paladin
1 Ranger, sweet scores and uses a bow (damn she has 60% of all my kills, ranged attacks rule in IWD!)
1 Fighter, brute dwarf with axe power
1 Thief, i usually use multi-thiefs, but because of all those traps in IWD i thought it would be better to make a character who only has to concentrate on improving as a thief
1 Cleric
1 Mage, omg 1st level mages are weak

IWD isnt my favorite game, P:T is, but i like hack and slash action too, i just have to finish this before bg2 and tob will arrive, i see it as my personal quest