Comments on a noobs party

[Recoba]

Hello All

I was wondering if i could get some advice on a party i am setting up for this game.
When I played neverwinter, my first character was a bit duff and I wasted a 1/3 of the game b4 i realised, so i was hoping to get some pointers to make sure i dont waste too much time

I wil call my characters A,B,C,D,E,F at the moment until i think of suitable names

A - Paladin equipped with heavy armour, warhammer, shield. This is my "damage soak" character so will have high AC. Warhammer for slash resisant monsters and good for undead. good saving throws as he is the leader and likely "target"

B - Dwarf Fighter - heavy armour, two handed axe. High STR and CONS. Another "damage soak" with good hitting power, and resistances to poisons etc

C - Unsure yet. Thought about a human fighter with Halberd, for reach, combination of piercing/slashing damge. High STR and CONS

D - Human Cleric. Flail/Morning Star/Shield or sling (ranged weapon). High WIS

E- Elven Bard. Longbow and Rapier. High DEX and CHA

F - Elven Sorceress. Longbow and Rapier. High DEX and CHA

When I say high i mean around 16. For B and C, though about DEX 12 to max the dex bonus for heavy armour as no shield. For A and D low dex and shield use.

Any comments would be appreciated

Regards.

Recoba

[Raven_Song]

Hi.

I suggest you read the character development guide over at http://www.gamefaqs.com as it provides useful advice for people new to the game.

However as you've taken the time to post I will give you a few points to consider.

* Could you be more specific with which races you are planning to use as Elven could mean moon elf, wild elf or drow and similary dwarf could be shield, gold or duergar. It will help with people giving you advice

* You do not seem to have a character to cover 'thief' based skills (opening locks, disarming traps etc.) While having a full-time thief is not a requirement a rogue mix in to a character with high intelligence and dexterity can provide coverage in this area

* A, B, C all appear to be warrior based tanks. Remember a carefully designed cleric or druid can be just as formidable and has the added advantage of being able to cast spells.

* For spell casters try to have the relevant casting attribute (wisdom for clerics/druids, intelligence for wizards, charisma for bards/sorcerers) as high as possible (18 or 20 as opposed to 16) as it influences what level of spell you can cast and the number of bonus spells you gain.

Hope this helps a little.

[Dedigan]

One of the most common misconceptions about ID2 is that a fighter with heavy armor will have a high armor class. Even at the end of normal mode, armor isn't enough to avoid most hits. I'm not saying that it's a bad idea to avoid those characters, but don't assume that they won't get hit. Liberal use of stoneskin will help a lot for these characters.

Properly used, a cleric or druid can be more effective than a fighter in the same function. The druid has the added advantage of casting many fire-based and electricity-based spells as well as bark-skin, the only spell which gives generic AC bonus. For a starting ID2 player, I would highly recommend a druid in your "C" slot.

My best melee character ever was a human fighter(4)/bard(x) with a specialty in axes (2 handed and throwing). With haste and liberal self-buffing, that character was untouchable and did loads of damage. Perhaps you could move the bard up to slot "B" and then you have room for a rogue/wizard. But if you did that, then your party would look almost exactly like my Heart of Fury party.

Oh yeah, and shields are overrated. Maybe your heavy armor paladin could use one, but overall, shields don't do you a lot of good. Use double weapons or two handed weapons on most of your characters for maximum melee damage potential.

[Raven_Song]

If you take Dedigan's advice about using a druid, (I would but I prefer druids to clerics) you might want to consder downloading the Weidu Ease of Use Mod as it grants you the option of extended the somewhat limited spell repetoire of druids and makes them vertiable juggernauts of destruction with the improved shape shifting feature.

[dragon wench]

[QUOTE=Raven_Song]If you take Dedigan's advice about using a druid, (I would but I prefer druids to clerics) you might want to consder downloading the Weidu Ease of Use Mod as it grants you the option of extended the somewhat limited spell repetoire of druids and makes them vertiable juggernauts of destruction with the improved shape shifting feature.[/QUOTE]

Though, druids in IWD2 are pretty poweful anyway, IMO.
@Recoba, I would definitely second the suggestion of putting a druid in your party. I once created a dwarven druid (can't recall the exact variety of dwarf), and he was amazingly powerful. For extra devastation, you can even give a character like that a couple of levels of fighter (though I prefer to stay single-classed with spell casters).

[Raven_Song]

Yeah dont get me wrong even without the mod Druids make great spellcasters, its just that spells offered by the mod such as stoneskin and magic circle against evil etc., make them that little bit more versatile.

Shapeshifting however, pre-Ease of use, was pretty poor. Although now I sometimes think its slightly over powered (especially the elemental dragon shapes) it at least makes shapeshifiting viable throughout the entire game.

Your dwarf's name wasn't Pikel by any chance?

@ Recoba Also a monk-mix in works really well for druids since the monks ability to add WIS to armour class will benefit you when shapeshifted. You'd have to play as a human or half-elf though.

[Recoba]

Thanks for your comments every1

I think on reflection, I could try a monk/druid for C, starting off with monk for a couple of levels then moving on to druid. I used this in NWN quite successfully, especially when I got greater stoneskin

[koz-ivan]

in regards to a,b,c

each of these could use some cleric / druid levels. even when i build a melee heavy party i limit myself to no more than 2 melee warriors. and then use multiclassing.

a. imho i'm a big fan of paladin / clerics of illmater, you'll still be able to multi freely.

b. dwarven cleric of tempus.

c. monk druid has a lot of upside. make sure you understand how multiclassing works w/ monks and paladins (it's less forgiving then it was in nwn)

minor point on d, iirc clerics don't get flails as a starting feat.

e & f there are no rapiers.

e. imho while there is nothing wrong w/ an elven bard, but it won't be easy to multi class, imho i'd prefer a race w/ a fav class of rogue, and pick up some rogue levels here.

- or go w/ a wiz / rogue mix instead here, and keep the elf.