Suggest me a powergaming party for normal + HoF please...

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But wouldnt it be good to give one or both clerics some monk levels for a good ac?
Or is armor and/or a shield better?

Which sorcerer spelllist would ypo take?

 

even if you want to take a monk level, you're better off not doing so untill you're on your second playthrough and in HoF mode, to minimize XP penalty.
So yeah, sticking with good gear/shield for your AC is probably best.

as far as the spell list goes, the UPP guide provides a list both for the mage and the sorcerer, just stick with that one.
my last playthrough of IWD2 was with the UPP party (though i took all 6 of them) and i had nothing to complain about, keeping to the exact spell selections as were outlined.

you'll miss out on some spells since you are only bringing one sorcerer instead of 2, but the mage can make up for that with his more varied spellbook. the 2 sorcerers from the UPP have nearly the same spellbook anyway, and where there are differences, just decide for yourself which spell you'd like to have on your sorcerer.

 

Which alignments do you think are the best for those 4?

And the Lathander-cleric wouldnt get any xp penalty for taking a monk level...

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Would you suggest me to install and use the tactics mod or is it too hard for a newbie?

 

lawful good for the cleric of lathander if you want the paladin level.
for the rest, pick what you want, though it's probably best to stick to the good alignments - a cleric's Holy Smite spell will damage all evil creatures, even if they are party members, making them all good avoids this.

I never used tactics mod, so try it and see if you like it or not i guess.

 

I have a mod that can make the paladin sword a 2hander.
Is this better than a one handed one?

 

I think the greatest improvement through 1 monk level is evasion. The extra AC from Wis helps only in the beginning or if you get near the max. There is hardly i difference between ac 25 and 45. And you cannot wear armour to get the monk wis bonus to AC.
if you take the monk level early you delay the important spell levels.

I find the tactics mod quite difficult. It is more fun with a power gamed party but also so much harder. Invisible enemies, searching for the right spell combo to break trough the near invincible lich, self buffing enemies, ..
It is no longer a walk in the park and forced me to learn and use many spells I never used before ..
If you like a challenge it is much more fun (but can become frustrating and tedious ..)

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a 2h weapon deals much more damage in the hands of a strong character then 2 one handed ones.
if you dual wield the 2 paladin swords (from normal and hof) you get more SR.

 

How much more damage are we talking about with a 2hander?

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What about your JUPP 2?

Could the game be done with only 4 of them(then which ones)?

Or is the gaming experience so much better with a full party of six?

 

If going with JUPP, i'd personally go with the arcane party over the melee party.
2 of the characters are quite similar (aasimar paladin 1/sorcerer 29 and the drow rogue 1/diviner 29)
One drawback is that you'll end up running with 4 ECL races, but as the game progresses that doesn't eally matter, as long as you don't mind running a deep gnome, an aasimar and two drow.
This gets balanced with only using 4 characters, as you'll also be levelling up faster since there's less characters to share the exp you do gain.

JUPP isn't as flexible with it's characters as the UPP, and is also a lot more complex, with it's multiclass characters and specific gearing setup, but if you don't mind that, you can theoretically do alot more with it.

 

I thínk I would like to take the balanced party.
Which 4 of them would make a good team?


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Are we talking about the same version of JUPP(the one from 2009)?

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What would be good alternate cleric types for the 2 (3) clerics in the party?Is Lathander good?
Because I dont get it why Bane is so strong...

 

The reason Bane was considered so strong was a misconception over the perk "Tyrant's Dictum" in thinking that you got a bonus against any spell requiring a will save, but it was later disproven and that the bonus only applies to your domain spells.
To be fair, the text is very misleading and says nothing about it being restricted to domain spells. I really wish somebody would release a patch to make it work like the description. It was like an extra spell focus:Enchantment for free that also affected some spells from other schools.

Also only priests of Bane could get a +4 permanent boost to wisdom.

 

But wouldnt Lathander be equally good or even better?

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Do you know where i can pickpocket something good?

 

What do I need to do to actually start heart of fury mode?

 

You'll need to run the external configuration utility.
It's either linked in the start menu folder for the game if you installed the game from the original cd's . if you have the GOG install, you'll need to find and open Config.exe in the game's installation directory.
next, just check the "Heart of fury" box next to the difficulty slider.

 

And when thats done I need to start a new game and import my characters?

 

Yup. you could of course also start a game with new companions, if you have the tactics mod installed new characters get instantly leveled up to 11 starting a new game on HoF mode.

btw, if you do have the tactics mod installed, there are some changes to the HoF mode, depending on which components you have installed.
if you enabled them, one components makes you start with 300,000GP and some random lvl1-lvl9 wizard scrolls in HoF mode, there's also a component that gives your party members +2 in all six stat scores, +10 to their armor class and removes the interval between spell casting, to offset the increased difficulty from having both the tactics mod and HoF mode.

 

Is the tactics mod compatible with lvl 40 xpcapper?

Are all those features optional(for example if I only want stronger enemies and not all the enhancements to my party)?

 

As far as i can tell, the tactics mod does edit exp values, but not the actual exp cap or tables, so i'm assuming it shouldn't be a problem.
To be on the safe side, i'd install the tactics mode first, then the xp cap remover/extended tables.

 

Thanks!

I now play the first 4 chars from JUPP balanced party.
When is a good time to add the 2 remaining?
Or should I leave them out completely?
If I take them both, should I keep them low level for a while so the whole party gets more xp?

 

i wouldn't add the other 2 until you've reached the underdark (after black raven monastery) and only if you feel you want to/need them.
As far as level squatting goes (keeping some or all characters lower level so you have a lower party level average) will gain you more exp. might not be a bad idea to do this at least for a while when you add the new characters so you gain exp faster and conversely gain more levels when you finally do decide to level up.
you might even decide to keep your other party members' levels down strictly to what you need for them to stay alive/cast the abilities you want them to.
honestly, it's up to you if you want to do this or not - just keep in mind that if you do, you do make things a bit tougher on yourself and you'll need to micromanage a lot more to keep all party members alive.

 

Characters in both JUPP parties are listed in their order of essentiality to the party - anything listed in spots #5 and #6 is purely to add muscle for HOF mode, but you might just as well leave them out completely. In the balanced party, the spot #4 character is also (kinda) optional.

However, the weird thing about the dynamic exp system is that once you trudge through, say, the first four chapters of the game with any party with less than six characters, you get so much more exp for kills by adding new ones that your starting characters will end up with a higher level by the end of the game compared to just pushing through without adding new ones.