Bottomless Bag...

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I want to start with IWD2 and then immediately install the bottomless bag using DK2-Beta 5. When I open IWD2 afterwards, I don't see a Bottomless Bag character's inventory If I open DK2 again, the Botomless bag is in the inventory. That means DK2 does not save the Edited version of the file in the save directory where IWD2 looks in. What is the solution?

 

Check the config that it's pointing to the right place.
Goto "Settings" -> "Installation Directory".
However, it sounds like a virtual store issue.
I forgot, do you need to run IWD2 as an administrator on Vista or later?
If so, try running DK2 as an administrator as well.

If you don't have to run it as an admin, try putting DK2 in the IWD2 directory, then check the installation directory again.

 

@SlickRCBD:

I did put DK@ in the IWD2 directory, an voila: everything worked!

Thank You!

I made a party of 2 human fighters, 1 elven fighter plus 1 human Mage. All party members are wearing crossbows and different melee weapons.
Look what's going on when a enemy is nearing... A complete shower of bolts, he can't walk, can't think, just drop dead. That's my experience in IWD1EE...
I'm curious about this party in IWD2...

 

I'd have given at least half the fighters (the ones with the most STR) longbows to use all those magic arrows and the returning arrows. Plus you get a ton of normal arrows from enemy drops to the point that combined with the unlimited stacking part of IWD2Tweaks means I rarely have to buy arrows even if the majority of my party uses them. Less so with bolts and I don't recall any "unlimited ammo" bolts in IWD2.
This saves you cash and bows tend to be better than crossbows most of the time due to a higher RoF. The advantage of the crossbow is that in 3E just about anybody can use one, while bows are limited to fighters, rangers, paladins, barbarians (basically it's limited to warriors but I can't recall if that term from the 2E PHB applies to 3E), and elves. Rogues can use shortbows.
For that matter, I'd have mixed in some paladin, ranger, or barbarian levels to the fighters just for variety, but that's just personal preference as I like to have options and totally unnecessary.

 

@SlickRCBD:

OK I'l equip them with longbows.
I have never played IWD2 before so I'm curiuos..

In our answer you are talking about "higher ROF", what does that mean?

 

Yes, indeed, I have to look at the ROF !!
Short bows are the fastest of the bows...

 

I'm not sure only taking four party members is the best idea for a first-time player. Taking six as intended by the developers might be better as it lets you play around with more classes to get a better feel for their strengths and weaknesses.
Also lets you take both a cleric and a druid so you can experience both flavors of divine magic. Their spell lists are different, with the cleric focusing more on healing, buffing, and debuffing, and the druid having more offensive spells and summons.
That isn't to say that the cleric doesn't get any summoning spells, they do get "animate dead" as a 3rd level spell, and is one of the best summon spells once you can summon greater boneguards, which can compete with other classes' 6th level spell summons.

 

Short bows vs long bows. In my experience there isn't any advantage to a mundane short bow vs a long bow. If your character has STR over 15 and the proficiency in long bows you probably want them to use a long bow over a short bow. IIRC the only advantage is that rogues that aren't elves can use short bows.
Now magic short bows can be a different story, there are several good ones with additional properties, and a short bow+1 is probably better than a mundane long bow simply because on average you'll do an extra point of damage. Again, with magic bows a lot of time it comes down to the other properties more than making up for it. Also pay attention to if the bow gives a strength bonus to damage or not by paying attention to the damage rolls. A long bow that doesn't give a strength bonus is pretty much the same as a short bow, but quit a few long bows add strength modifiers to your damage like melee weapons even if it isn't spelled out in the description.

Also on RoF, the darts have a higher RoF than the bows, but only do potentially half the damage of an arrow or bolt. So you get 3 attacks per round (APR), but only doing 1d3 damage while bows give you 2 APR with 1d6 damage. The math says that it's balanced in that you do an average of 2 damage with 3 chances so with a high BAB (Base Attack Bonus, replaces 2nd Editions' THAC0) it would be 6 damage per round. Bows would do an average of 3 damage and also an average of 6 damage per round in theory, however it seems that I kill enemies quicker with bows than with darts. Plus bows have a longer range. Also a bow+1 using arrows+1 does 1d6+2 points of damage while a dart+1 only does 1d3+1 damage. Both launchers (bow, x-bow, sling) and the projectile (arrow, bolt, bullet) can add modifiers and they stack.
The darts might be useful for a pure mage to have who has a low BAB, so he gets 3 chances to hit and do some damage as opposed to a crossbow where he only gets one shot and will probably miss. The returning frost dart you get in chapter 3 (horde fortress) is useful here as well for this, but it has short range. I often equip both in different slots with the slow firing xbow for distant targets and the faster firing dart for closer targets.

BTW, I find that missile weapons, especially bows and crossbows are most useful in chapter 2 when dealing with Torgas and his orcs in the Shangarne area, the fight with the Remorhaz Queen (unless you lure a male to it) as well as the showdown with Sherical in the Ice Temple. In a lot of other areas the enemies will charge you so you only get a couple shots in before having to switch to melee, and of course the golems in the ice temple are immune. Of course you can use a summon or a dominated monster to draw aggro and shoot the enemies from afar as they kill the dominated monster.

 

@SlickRCBD:

Many thanks for interesting information! I will get experience in the digfferences of bows!

 

Hey, you've got three fighters, experiment to see for yourself. Give one a crossbow like you planned, one a shortbow, and the elf a longbow.
Try the sling, darts, and that returning throwing axe you get in chapter 2 out as well.
Let the mage play with the crossbow with the best bonus to BAB or a sling with the best bonus, or some darts. Consider giving the mage the returning frost dart as he has a low chance to hit in later chapters along with keeping the magic darts on hand.
I still think you really need a healer, either a cleric or druid. If this is your first play-through, take both.
Heck, for a first time party I'd have recommended a cleric, a druid, a bard, a wizard or sorcerer, a thief rogue that you then multiclass to ranger, monk, fighter, or wizard (if going wizard take a pure sorcerer instead of two wizards), and any of the warrior types for a tank: Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger, and Monk.
The idea is you get to experiment with all the spell casting types, have somebody that can open locks and disable traps, and have a meat shield with high AC to draw aggro.
Maybe not the best party, but lets you experiment with the game to get a feel for what you like.
There are subtle differences in implementation as well as what enemies you are going up against that make different spells better in Baldur's Gate I, Icewind Dale I, Baldur's Gate II, Icewind Dale II, and Planescape Torment.
Some of the differences are less subtle than others. For instance Charm Person was awesome in Baldur's Gate I and decent in Icewind Dale I, but far less useful in IWD2 because most of the time the charmed baddie just stands there doing nothing and gets ignored by the enemies. Dominate Person and to a lessor extent Dire Charm does what Charm Person did in the other IE game.
Another example is that Web and Grease have a smaller AoE for good or ill in IWD2.
Mirror Image also seems more powerful in IWD2 than in earlier games.

 

I am probably influenced by early games in the genre with time limits like Might and Magic II and Magic Candle.
As such I try not to rest after every single skirmish, but try to conserve my limited resources like spells to go at least one area/map without resting unless there is a big battle (and there are quite a few awesome boss fights in IWD2 like the palisade battle, the fight with Torgoth, the Shangarn Bridge, the guy who casts Call Lightning outside the horde fortress, the top of the Horde Fortress, etc. Sherical was interesting as you can turn it into a puzzle boss and keep her stuck at the top of that balcony by manipulating the switches and turn her into a pincushion with ranged weapons if you use enchanted ammunition instead of selling it).
Because of this, I have my mages spend their time firing missile weapons more than casting outside of major battles. I target enemy castors first, then archers, then helpless enemies. I only have mages melee helpless enemies, and only if it's a fighter that charged my lines and got hit with something like Hold Person. At that point I'll have the non-mages target active enemies and let the mages use their staff or dagger to finish off the helpless foe since it's an automatic hit.

My point is that I make my mages spend most of their time firing crossbows or other weapons to conserve spells. Probably a mental problem with me, but my first experiences with the genre did encourage conserving spells. My introduction to the genre, Curse of the Azure Bonds had lots of areas where you could not rest after every skirmish, but had to find a safe place. Starting with the first area you got random encounters in the Thief's Guild in Tilvertown when it's attacked by Fire Knives.
Again, probably my own hangups because I had games where you had to go multiple fights without rest.

 

Bards can cast Grease, which while not as good as Entangle (slow instead of stop and smaller AoE) can help keep enemies in the kill zone for spells like cloudkill and entangle.
I agree, the druids get some really nice outdoor-only spells that you hardly ever get to use.
I personally try to memorize before and fire off "Rainstorm" during the battle with Sherical in the Ice Temple, but after that it just isn't powerful enough to memorize. Then again, most of the level 2 druid spells drop off in usefulness aside from Barkskin and minor elemental barrior with "Charm Person or Animal" and "Entangle" actually being more useful than most 2nd level druid spells.
A couple times I've fired off Rainstorm in the Wandering Village map, but that's mostly because I forgot to change the spell load-out after the battle with Sherical. Why not use it while I'm outside on some canon fodder instead of just letting it go to waste?

 

Bows/X-bows don't care about strength since they aren't modifyied by it which helps if giving it to a weaker character.
- everlast and returning poison tipped arrows make bows the more convenient choice.
- slings get +1enchanted returning flame bullets which is the most interesting of reusable ammo
- Bows get x3 criticals so have more power in the late game with any amount of luck + executioner eyes support

Rapid firing crossbows (as many attacks per round as you can get)
Heavy Crossbow +1, Heavy Crossbow of Health +2, Heavy Crossbow of Defense +1, Spellward Heavy Crossbow, Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy +4, (Geloise, Hagnen's Folly, Mailripper,)--(plus heart of fury versions) Light Crossbow of Speed +1.

Eagle Eye Light Crossbow +3 also works but I believe it can only drop in heart of fury diffculty so i'm keeping it separate.



Heavy Crossbow +2-5 don't get more than 1 ATK per round so I think the +1 version is an unintended oversight

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Ennelia has some nice rewards for saving Braston. If you reload enough she can give you either an Everlast arrow or the returning Mage Killer Throwing Axe, these are pretty good choices early on.

 

Lots of erroneous information in this thread, so let me put the record straight.

- None of the ranged weapons in the game grant extra attacks, unless they specifically say so in the description. Specifically, darts and bows do not grant extra attacks, contrary to D&D rules.
- Most crossbows limit your attacks to 1/round, making them the worst ranged weapon type by far. James listed the only ones capable of rapid fire above.
- Only throwing hammers and axes, darts and slings grant strength damage bonus, making them ideal for high STR characters - rather than bows recommended above. The two-handed throwing axe from Kuldahar shop is the only ranged weapon granting the 1.5xSTR damage bonus, making it stand out despite its low enchantment level.
- The "ranged weapons in melee" accuracy penalty only applies when you're right beside an enemy - specifically, being diagonally adjacent counts as being at range.
- Rapid shot feat makes ranged weapons have damage advantage vs anything you can do in melee all through Normal mode, with the sole exception of needing two-handed weapons to break through damage resistances in a few spots, such as slimes in Vrek's cave at Shaengarne bridge and against Sherincal.

So if you want a character doing damage, ditch those puny Greataxes and Two-handed swords on your high STR dudes and equip them with Rapid shot together with slings or throwing weapons. Including in melee range, if you're willing to micromanage their targeting choices. The "Haft over head" throwing axe gets a honorary title of being the meanest dps weapon available for quite a while, and it's low range makes it the ideal weapon for your party's tank!

 

A lot of battles like to put archers in hard to reach places like up on ledges or towers, or across things like rivers or chasms. This makes it difficult to send your tanks to attack them as described.
On the other hand, in those cases hitting them with something that causes Blindness is almost as good as hitting them with paralysis.

BTW, was your mage wielding the bolter female? Is she part of the Sisters of Battle?