A long time coming - party questions

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Well I bought this game during its commercial release and I attempted to play it about 3 times - I never got far - usually stopped when I reached the temple with the firbolgs due to getting humiliated by them.

I have decided to try it again. I instaled HoW and TotL. No other addons but if the experts here willing to suggest any - I'd be grateful.

The party that I think I will go with:

Dwarf Fighter - hammer, axe
Half Elf Fighter/Druid - scimitar, sling
Human Ranger dualed to Cleric at 7 - flail, sling
Human Fighter dualed to Mage at 7 - 2h sword, longbow
Gnome Fighter/Thief - longsword, longbow
Half Ef Bard - halberd (spear), shortbow

Is having the 2 multiclass characters going to be ok - experience wise?
Thoughts on Illusionist/Thief instead of Fighter/Thief for the 5th slot? Self invis, trap clearing is convenient - save money on invis potions maybe.

Now if I can just figure out how to pull fewer than 4-6 Firbolgs at a time with a priest throwing hold person on my party

 

I'm not an expert, but that's never stopped me from giving an opinion before...

Are planning on playing the game on normal mode? If so, I'm not sure you're dual-classes spellcasters will be very effective for you late in the game. The fighter/druid will take some of the burden off the cleric, but you suffer from the lack of a good mage. I don't think the bard will totally make up for that.

If you really want them to start out as fighters, you could try making them demi-humans and multiclassing, or dual classing them sooner. Maybe do the mage at 3rd - he'll have 30+ hit points and be passable with a bow and that should be all the fighter skills he needs.

 

hof mode

 

For your first time through you may want to reconsider the heart of fury mode -- unless you enjoy being humiliated by firbolg giants (the weakest of all giants).

 

So then exp will be less right? Will the 2 multiclass characters be viable for how and totl?

 

True, HOF gives bonus experience. It also greatly enhances the strength of the creatures -- if you are having problems getting through an area I would recommend you play it in normal difficulty first. Unless, of course, reloading is an enjoyable part of the game for you.

This game is viable with any reasonable combination of characters that are single classed, dual classed or multiclassed.

 

I'd go to level 9 as a Fighter before dualling to Mage. GM is a lot better than ****

 

Well, I'm going with weapon variety - getting maybe 3 weapons to *** first, and then picking grand mastery for the best weapon that I get (or expect to get).

The advantages of ***** (grandmaster) to *** (master) seem minimal to me, when compared to specialization ** (or mastery) vs. non-proficient (no stars)

***** vs. ***
- +2 damage (that's nothing for HoF)
- +1/2 attacks per round (probably helps the most)

Is it really worth spending ** points on GM when you may run across a different more useful weapon that you instead spent the points to become specialized in?

BTW, the extra 1/2 attack granted by GM helps the most (percentage most damage) at lower levels, than at higher levels, but not much.
- fighter levels 1-6 ( 3 vs. 2.5) -> 25% more damage on average
- fighter levels 7-12 (3.5 vs. 3) -> 17% more damage
- fighter levels 13+ (4 vs. 3.5) -> 14% more damage

The difference between having no stars and two stars in a weapon is much more significant, by comparison
- +3 to hit (biggest difference)
- +2 damage (again, not significant in HoF)
- +1/2 extra attack (similar benefit)

Getting one more star to become a master (***) gives you an extra +2 to hit (important), plus +1 damage which matters less in HoF.

So, in general I wouldn't overcommit on grandmastery too early, since many of the good weapon finds are random.

 

you understand we're talking about the mage right? I may even dual over sooner than 7 - just want some bow skill for when magic is best conserved.

 

If you are serious about playing in HoF, level 9 is going to give you maximum fighter HPs. Don't neglect those in HoF. Also, Bard shouldn't be using shortbows. There aren't any good magical shortbows in the game. Give him/her a crossbow, there are plenty of good ones. Halberds and spears are also bad for bards, they don't get enough THAC0. Those are better left for rangers.
And why would you use a dual class Ranger/Cleric? It really doesn't make any sense since you'll only be able to cast level 1 druidic spells at level 7. Use a half-elf Ranger/Cleric (pick giants as racial enemies if you have troubles with verbeegs). You might just as well ditch the Fighter/Druid and take a Paladin instead.

 

Well, per the manual, you don't get extra attacks per round for specializing in ranged attacking weapons (throwing axes excluded, perhaps?). So grandmastery in bows would be a huge waste in my eyes.

All you get is hit and damage adjustments. *** should be fine.

I'd also get *** in at least one melee weapon, if you get another point. Start at ** at character creation time, and go from there.

I can't seem to find a reference for the XP levels that give you extra proficiency points to spend....

There are some good mage only daggers, so I'd go *** in daggers if you have the extra point.

Any left over are up to you.

Either improve daggers, or I'd rather pick a blunt (staff or mace comes to mind).

 

Like the others before I strongly recommend not playing HoF mode.

For your dwarf I recommend starting with ++ in slings and axes and putting the profiency you get at level ups afterwards in axes until you have +++++.
You don't need 2 melee weapons, axes are better than hammers and a sling helps during the first two chapters when the non-magical throwing axes are just too heavy and expensive to use.

With Character 2 and 3 I fully agree. I'd only consider starting the the ranger with ++ in maces and slings and taking the flail specialisation at level 3 and 6 since morningstars are better at the beginning.

I'd dual character4 to illusionist specialist mage. So you've more spells per day, the bard can learn the spells of the opposite school. Dual at level 3,7 or 9. Dualing at level 3 with +++ in bow and ++ 2h swords (best weapon choice) already yields a very effective character, waiting longer doesn't add very much.

Make sure the gnome F/T is good aligned. I wouldn't make this character a thief/illusionist since 3 arcane casters mean trouble distributing the spell scrolls you find.

For the bard composite bow and halberd is optimal. Later in the game he's more efficient when singing or casting spells.


PS: Thrasher's ***** vs *** comparison is wrong since you get one full extra attack for having ***** instead of *** in a weapon. (manual error)
You also get extra attacks for specialisation in ranged weapons.

I disagree with Redrake, a ranger7/cleric makes perfect sense in combination with a fighter/druid multiclass. Your party compostion is one of the best for this game.

 

Well, the manual disagrees with you on both of these points. Are you saying the manual is wrong for both? What is the correct progression, then?

This website also agrees with what I said above.

http://www.planetbaldursgate.com/iwd/character/classes/tables/specialize.shtml

So both the website and manual are wrong on both points? Are you sure?

If it's true that you do get another extra 1/2 attack at 5 stars, then the average damage increase would be considerably more substantial and make it worth it as long as you didn't miss out on an excellant random drop!

- fighter levels 1-6 (3.5 vs. 2.5) -> 40% more damage on average
- fighter levels 7-12 (4 vs. 3) -> 33% more damage
- fighter levels 13+ (4.5 vs. 3.5) -> 29% more damage

 

Yes, exactly. (Why else should I write manual error ?)

 

It was unclear. Just making sure you know there's 2 sources that say something different on both counts...

So, then what is the correct progression on bonuses because of weapon specialization? Is this documented somewhere online? Or has someone done tests? Please fill in the ? marks

To hit, Damage, Extra attacks

* ?, ?, ?
** ?, ?, ?
*** ?, ?, ?
**** ?, ?, ?
***** ?, ?, ?

 

In this case, there's no correction for the weapon specialization table in the readme...

 

It doesn't really matter since you can't get past 3 proficiency points in ranged weapons with the exception of slings&darts&throwing axes and daggers.
And btw, there seems to be a lot of advices towards illusionists. Honestly, I don't understand that move. I for one go for Abjurers when it comes to favorite class, Illusion and Alteration spells can be cast just fine by a Bard. Not quite so with Abjuration and Necromancy. Globe of Invulnerability is good for mages not bards. And besides, when it comes to opposition schools, Illusionist and Transmuter are identical.

 

Besides the error I mentioned the specialisation table should be correct.

From the roleplaying point of view abjurer can make sense since the party balance can suffer if the mage is doesn't have the disadvantadge to be vulnerable. But in IWD mage spells aren't as overpowered as in BG2 and someone who duals from fighter doesn't want a vulnerable mage.
Globe of invulnerability isn't important in IWD and there's only one scroll, so if the mage gets it the bard doesn't. Mirror image on the other hand is extremely powerful and can be learned by more than one.
Abjurers also need high useless wis why illusionists need high very useful dex. That's also the reason why I prefer them over transmuters.

 

Transmuters use Dex as well, so your argument is not as good as you wanted.