How would you do a 3-4 characters party?

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This is why druids are sadboys, they misss out on a lot of the really useful divine spells. still, they get a few great druid-only spells in return, but a lot less then they miss out on.

lvl1 : Armor of Faith, reduces 5% of melee and magical damage you take, 5% more for each 5 lvls, 25% max at lvl 20, really useful for a lvl 1 spell, well untill into HoF.
Bless - +1 saving throw vs fear and +1 to attack rolls, minor buff but worth having and casting before battle.
Doom - -2 to all rolls, though can only be cast on a single creature. not a lot of useful spells at lvl 1 so worth memorizing 1 or 2 of.
Remove Fear - really useful, you don't want your characters fleeing right into the enemies arms. (can't be cast by druids)
Sanctuary - priests version of invisibility, cool because you can heal and open containers while still remaining invisible. (can't be cast by druids, clerics only.)

lvl2 : Barkskin - okay to cast on a squishy druid, or any other character that lacks AC, might be useful to cast on your kensai since he can't wear any armor. also gives +1 to most saves.
Chant - +1 to your attack & damage rolls and saving throws, -1 to your enemies.
Draw Upon Holy Might - raises str, dex,con by 1 point for every 3 caster levels for it's duration - really good on fighter/clerics (This one can't be cast by druids either.)
Hold Person - decent hold spell, not much else to fill your slots with at this level anyway. (can only be cast by clerics)
Slow Poison - good to have at least one of, will save you some antidote potions.

lvl3 : Animate Dead - great summons, load up on this one. (again, only for clerics)
Call Lightning - the first actually useful druid-only spell, does great damage but can only be cast outdoors.
Dispel Magic - has a lot of utility use, stripping enemies of defenses, stripping your party members of negative effects. might as well get a few on your druid, not much else is worth a slot at this lvl.
Holy Smite - 1-4 damage per level and blinds for 1 round vs evil creatures. keep in mind this also affects evil party members. great spell. (sadly, cleric only again)
Summon Insects - allright to use vs enemy spellcasters. (druids only.)
Zone of Sweet Air - can be useful to clear the area f cloudkills and the like after you finish a battle, if you can't spare the slots to memorize it, don't sweat it. (only for clerics.)

lvl4 : Call Woodland Being - great summon, has some very nice spells. (druid only )
Defensive Harmony - +2 ac for all party members in spell range, not bad though short duration.
Mental Domination - the best charm spell available to divine casters. (clerics only)
Protection from Evil 10' Radius - great spell all around. evil creatures suffer -2 penalty to attack rolls, and you geta +2 bonus to +2 bonus to saving throws (but only from attacks from evil creatures) (clerics only.. this is getting repetitive )
Chaotic Commands - good vs umber hulks and other situations where you might encounter sleep/confusion/charm/domination effects.

lvl 5 : Flame Strike - one of the few good damaging divine spells (clerics only)
Insect Plague - great spell, aoe, enemies cannot cast spells for as long as they are under it's effects and will flee if they fail a save vs breath. (druid only)
Iron Skins - the druid version of the mage spell stoneskin, gives you 1 skin for every 2 caster levels, protecting from all melee attacks and projectiles, though not from magic damage(druid only, suck it clerics! )
Mass Cure - area healing spell ? yes please!
Pixie Dust - basically the same effect as a mage's invisibility 10' radius. (druids only)
Righteous Magic - great spell, 1 hp per caster level, +1 to str for every 3 caster levels and all attacks do max damage (clerics only, sorry. )
True Seeing - THE anti illusion spell, need i say more ?

lvl6 Aerial Servant - good quality summon. (clerics only)
Animal Summoning III - not as much quality, but you get more then 1 for a single cast.
Conjure Fire Elemental - best summon for this level, though the hit dice it spawns with are up to chance. (druid only)
Harm - kind of interesting, save-or else spell that reduces the enemy to 1d4 hp if they fail it. use on the big and tough guys.
Heal - the best single target healing spell available, get it.
Wondrous Recall - some utility use, rememorise any of your cast spells lvls 1-5, though you can't pick which spells get restored.

lvl7 :
Creeping Doom - basically insect plague with more damage. (druid only)
Firestorm - good AoE damaging spell, ignores magic resistance, though enemies can save vs spell and only take half damage.
Nature's Beauty - superb spell. humanoid enemies must save (with +3 odifier) or die, all enemies get permanently blinded by this spell. very nice indeed.


never mind on the shadowwalk thing, i confused the assassin kit with the shadowdancer kit, my mistake

 

Cool thanks for your help!

Do you have a similar list for good mage spells?

 

yeah, i did one for another thread a while back :

L1 : Magic Missile - gets good as you get higher level, gains 1 extra missile for every 2 caster levels for a total of 5.
Chromatic Orb - has nice save-or else effects as you level up as well.
L2 : Mirror image & Blur are good buff spells.
Horror - a nice aoe save-or else spell, makes enemie flee(and not attack you)
Web - great for holding groups of enemies down while you pelt them with missiles and magic from a distance (get some source of free action if you want to engage in melee range)
Glitterdust - awesome spell, enemies need to save vs spell or suffer -4 to attack rolls, saving throws, and Armor Class. try to get this one off before throwing your other save-or-else spells at the enemy.
Melf's Acid Arrow - good vs casters, lasts 1 round longer for every 3 caster levels, does 2d4 damage each round good for interrupting spellcasting, also useful to take out trolls.
L3 : Fireball - staple spell, nice to throw at groups of enemies.
Skulltrap - great aoe, unlike fireball it keeps getting stronger as you level up. (+1d6 for each caster level) stays useful throughout an entire playthrough.
Melf's Minute Meteors - great damage, counts as +5, again great for taking out trolls.
Haste - pretty self explanatory, speed up your party anad summons, what's not to like.
L4 : Stoneskin - one of the greatest buffs, similar to a druids iron skins, you gain 1 layer of stoneskin for every 2 caster levels, protecting you from melee attacks and projectiles.
Improved Invisibility - great for positioning, even when you go out of invisibility you still get the +4 to saving throws, while enemies get a -4 penalty to attack rolls when trying to hit you.
Mordenkainen's Force Missiles - basically a stronger version of magic missile.
Greater Malison - great spell, all enemies in the area affected get -4 penalty to saving throws, but unlike glitterdust they don't get to save vs this spell. again, use this before throwing your other save-or-else spells at the enemy.
L5 : Animate Dead - great summons to have, especially in IWD, thhough you will want to memorize the most of these on your cleric, having 1 or 2 of this spell memorized on your mage as well won't hurt.
Chaos - Aoe, enemies must save or become confused, causing them to either flee or even attack their allies.
Cloudkill - good AoE damaging spell, nice combo with summoned skeletons, since they shouldn't take damage from it. send in your skeletons to pin down the enemy, then throw a cloudkill their way. if your skeletons are taking a beating, throw a web spell on top of that to keep the enemies inside your cloudkill.
L6 : Chain Lightning - umps from enemy to enemy, 1d6 damage for each caster lvl, maxing out at 12d6 (imagine rolling 12 6sided dice, 12x1 = 12 dmg minimum, 12x6 =72 damage maximum.)
Tenser's Transformation - turn your mage into a fighter at the expense of not being able to cast spells for it's duration, pretty nice if you've expended the rest of your spells.
Improved Haste - again, self explanatory, souped up version of haste.
Disintegrate - save or be destroyed spell, use it after you've gotten off a greater malison and/or glitterdust spell.
L7 : Mordenkainen's Sword - great summon, send it at the enemy with some hasted summoned skeletone and sit back to watch the party.
Delayed Blast Fireball - delayed fireball with souped up damage.
Mass Invisibility - good for positioning, sadly doesn't confer the bonuses improved invisibility does.
L8 : Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting - great area damage spell, keeps improving in damage as you level up.
Power Word: Blind - blind all enemies in area for 6 rounds, effectively disabling them unless they are standing right next to your characters.
Spell trigger - cheesy spell, store 3 skull traps into it and kill almost anything instantly.
L9 : Wail of the Banshee - enemies in range must save vs death or die.
Time Stop - time to cast your spells at your leisure
Chain Contingency - release 3 spells from 8th or lower level at once, allows for some fun combo's.

I've only checked that all these spells are available in IWD:EE with eekeeper, i'm not sure if the higher-level ones were all added as findable scrolls in-game

 

OMFG.

 

Thanks alot,thats very helpful!

Another question: at which time/level would you go to the expansion areas?

 

whut ?

i usually finish everything up to Dorn's deep - once i have all the badges needed to confront Poquelin, i go to Kuldahar and talk to Hjollder then to enter the Heart of Winter expansion, playing through it all untll the fight at the barbarian camp (just before hjollder offers to teleport you to iscariath's island) and start trials of the luremaster.
After beating TotLM, i go and beat iscariath, then return to kuldahar and finish off the main game

 

Thanks! Where are the four machine parts exactly?

and who should i bring them to exactly?

 

See the Dan Simpson walkthrough.

Or, simply explore the whole Severed Hand diligently. There's no trick to finding/delivering them really, just straight-forward dungeon exploration.

That's a good order to do things in IMO. Alternatively, you can also simply finish the base game, and then import your characters into a new HoW+TotL expansion game.

 

But I loose some items if I do that, particully containers, right?

 

yeah, as far as i remember you lose things like scroll cases, potion and gem bags.
same thing for bags of holding (which you can't find in the game, but can cheat in )

 

When do the shapechanges of the fighter/druid become worthwile or is she always better with dualwield of a scimitar and club?

I wonder if I should teach my F/M/T axes, so she can use some of the good 2handed axes and switch to bow easily.What do you think?

 

Some shapeshift forms have utility uses, sure. the polar bear form isn't bad early on, and i remember abusing the water elemental vs the spectral guards in trials of the luremaster. (water elemental has 75 percent physical resistance.)
With the water elemental's natural resistance and some items you can make him completely immune to slashing damage
there's a great shield and leather armor that both give +15% slashing resist each, giving you 105% total, or you can use the bone marrow belt (random drop in the hand iirc) which gives +50% slashing resist for a total of 125%, both enough to make it so slashing damage won't hit you at all. i just had my druid stand in the doorway soaking damage and the rest of my party pelting the spectral guards with spells and missiles.

Also, using a 2handed weapon with a bow on switch isn't a bad idea, at least you'll be able to switch over faster then when you're using sword & shield or dual weapons.
Just keep in mind that halberds have their own proficiency. the only axe in the base game i know of that is 2handed is joril's axe.

 

Thanks!
So which 2handed proficiency would you suggest me to take 2 pips in?
Halberd or axe or 2handed sword or something else?
Perhaps even some weapon class I can backstab with?

Also is a throwing axe stronger than the best longbow in the game?

What does mislead exactly do?
So should I take axe with the F/M/T or not (considering no one else in the party can use axes)?

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Where do I find the diary entries from the addon?

 

It's worth putting 2 pips into 2-handed weapon style if you are going to use them, since you get a better crit chance & damage from 1 pip, but also a speed factor of -2 with the second pip, which helps since 2handed weapons are generally quite slow.

A thief can only backstab with Club, Dagger, Long Sword, Short Sword, Scimitar, Wakizashi, Ninjato, Katana, and Staff.
The only 2handed weapon in that list is the staff, so you could spec those if you want to be able to backstab.
you can get a +3 staff fromone of the snake priests in the tample underneath dragon's eye (just before the area where yxunomei is)
Otherwise, focusing on a 2handed weapon that the rest of your characters cannot use is a good idea.

The only returning throwing axe i can remember finding on my last playthrough is a +2 one in a secret area during the lair of yxunomei.
There's definitely better bows then that in the game, like the
Messenger of Sseth, which you can also find in yxunomei's lair, gives you 3 attacks per round.
The best bow in the game is probably longbow+4:hammer, which gives +1 AC and 4 attacks per round,
Though you can only get that one in HoW and you'll have to kill emmerich for it.

Mislead creates a clone of the caster, as long as this clone is alive the caster will be invisible. It can't attack or cast spells, but you can park off your mislead clone in a safe corner somewhere, and the character that cast it will have permanent invisibility for as long as it lasts, allowing you to continually use backstab if the character is a mage/thief or fighter/mage/thief. it's really cheesy though .
obviously, if you want to use 2handed weapons and still be able to use this tactic, you'll need to go with staves, since you cannot backstab with the other 2handed weapons.

if with diary entries you mean the journal entries, they should be under the chapter you did the expansion content in - in my case they're in chapter 6 since that's when i did the HoW/Totlm expansions.

 

Thanks!

When/where does the trials of the luremaster quest start?

 

You will find a halfling in the inn of the starting town to Heart of winter, talk to him when you want to start trials of the luremaster

more specifically :

Spoiler

Talk to the npc called Hobart Stubbletoes in the Whistling Gallows Inn in Lonelywood, and he will teleport you to castle Maludarek. just remember that you cannot return to the HoW area until you've finished with the Luremaster expansion, and since it's quite a tough one i would really advice you to complete as much of HoW as you can before going there.

 

Would you suggest me to play hof?Is it fun?
How much more xp do I get there?

 

HoF is really challenging, i wouldn't suggest playing it before having finished the game at least once, and you might even want to do a 2nd playthrough on insane difficulty before enabling heart of fury mode.

on insane mode, monsters do 100% more damage and you gain 100% more exp (so double the normal amount).
I don't know if heart of fury increases the exp gained any higher, but the monsters will deal even more damage, and they will have a much higher HP pool as well.

 

How can I open the maingate of the castle in ToTLM?

 

the luremaster's original riddle and the book you can find in the little temple to helm will shed some light on the matter.
It seems that before the castle fell in ruin, Lord Maludarek went to fight a blue dragon with 4 of his knights and a bard, to compose a tale about the deed once the dragon was slain.
The dragon was slain and Lord Maludarek returned, but the four knights were dead, and at the order of the lord to be buried and sealed in the crypt, the bard being thrown in the dungeon.
Try and get into the crypt.

More in-depth :

Spoiler

First, you'll have to go through all 4 towers and solve the riddles there. reach them by going up the stairs at the east and west walls.

Each tower contains a lever that opens a trapdoor in one of the other towers, you'l find the trials at the lower levels of the towers, so you'll be running back and forth between towers a bit, along with the fact that most of the towers contain some tough battles.

for each trial you finish, you will get a piece of parchment describing the knight's tales, 4 in total. - hang on to them.
you'll also need the holy symbol of helm from the northwest tower.
once you have all 5 items, go back to the shrine of helm and put the symbol in the offering bowl, opening the way to the crypt.

The crypt is huge, and contains loads of traps and secret doors, so you'd better have taken a thief along
You'll need to find 6 keys here to open the final room - where the 4 knights the pieces of parchment referred to are buried.
You need to put the correct piece of paper in the right sarcophagus, the game gives you hints with the gear that's placed in them, read the notes again, and you'll notice that each knight and which weapon they were using is referred to.

once you've placed all the scrolls in the correct tombs, the knights will appear and thank you and give you a huge chunk of exp
Now you can enter the castle's main gate.