Is this idea crazy?

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I wonder if it might cause an issue if...say the Paladin or Bard tries to bluff (or something like that) and the npc sees that we have a Paladin WITH evil members in our group.....seems like I read something similar this somewhere once.....

possible?

 

I don't think the dialog checks work that way, it would make sense in P&P however.
I should make the caveat that I've never played 3rd edition of P&P D&D, I've only played 2nd edition AD&D. My group broke up in 1997, and attempted to reform in the summer of '98 but failed due to scheduling conflicts. 3rd edition didn't come out until a couple years later.

 

I guess I'm on the other side of things, I never played P&P until about 5 years ago,....so I've only played 5e.

 

I got started in 1990 in 5th grade after getting the Gold Box game Curse of the Azure Bonds for Christmas, and then my classmates were talking about what we got for Christmas in 89. I wasn't the only one who got that game, and several got curious about the game and lore it was based on. I also sought out Pool of Radiance, and was upset that they never released Secret of the Silver Blades or Pools of Darkness for the Apple II. I didn't get to play the latter two until a decade later, although I did get Champions of Krynn, I had the same issue with the other two in the Krynn series.
Somehow it led to the group forming and 7 years of fun (and four times that of friendship).

 

A Human Rog 1/Bard X is completely viable as Lock & Trap master and Speaker. You will have enough skill points. But he won’t be a combat beast, should be used as a bowman, party utility and ‘Johnny on the spot’ with the buffs type of character. You don't NEED all the thief skills. Just chose the skills that allow you to disarm traps, open locks and pick pocket. Or….. take more Rogue levels for sneak attack bonus and use him in melee. I prefer the ranged version myself.

Stop obsessing and just play the game!

 

That's awesome; love that story! For me, about 7 years ago my son talked me into going and trying TT D&D, and I found I loved it! We eventually linked up with a guy there who really took DM'ing seriously and we (and a couple others) stayed together until Covid struck. As a result of all that, not long ago I actually downloaded and attempted one of those games you mentioned...but I guess I'm so spoiled...I just couldn't navigate it, lol.

 

IWD2 is doable with a 6 fighter party (manlyway). It does require a lot of potions though...

 

Would you mind sharing approximately how you would allocate the skill points for this toon through the bard levels?

I'm not obsessing, just really enjoy planning these things before starting. (ok, maybe obsessing a little. )

 

Honestly, in this game the skills are almost completely irrelevant for combat.
The only ones that matters in combat are animal empathy, Concentration (only if you get hit), and to lessor extent spellcraft. Hide and move silently CAN have an influence at the start, but only if you actively use the hide command. Only rogues really benefit from hide & move silently via sneak attack, but mixing in a few rogue levels onto a monk or ranger that have those as class skills can be extremely effective, especially if you flank an enemy with another tank.
Animal empathy has debatable utility considering that most of the time in this game the charmed animal just stands there and does nothing. If it turned on its allies or better yet you could control it like in IWD1's "charm animal" it would be great, but it's only good for taking an animal out of the fight until your buffs expire. Still, it is usable throughout the first half of the game as an at-will "charm animal" even if far less powerful than in earlier games. There are lots of animals in chapters 1-4, but rarely powerful ones. Still a ranger or druid can effectively 1-hit-ko animals like this, let the rest of the party deal with the more powerful foes, then kill the animals. Useful when a wolf charges your mage.

That said the bard is more of a support character than a direct combat monster.

 

Start as Human Rogue. Max DD, OL, Search, Bluff, Intimidate, Diplomacy, PP.

Bard levels keep maxing DD, OL, Search. Fill in the rest evenly/as desired. You will have it all covered for both traps, locks and convo choices.

 

Thanks for sharing this. I just want to be sure and get every quest and XP opportunity that I can...so even if skills are not combat relevant, I want to try to plan my party stats and skills to cover them all. (And it's turning out to be quite a job! ...a fun one though.)

 

I don't recall any quests where animal empathy comes in handy, but Wilderness Lore does help at the start of chapter 3 after Oswell crashes his airship. It is also useful in chapter 4 after the Ice Temple. I don't think you need more than 5 points by the time you take off in the airship if you have a positive WIS modifier, and I don't think you need more than 6 to get through the woods. Certainly no more than 8. Sorry, it's been a while since I played and I often skip the skill and just use a guide.
There's a FAQ about this quest skills, but it seems incomplete as it misses some of the race or class checks and some of the numbers seem off.
https://sorcerers.net/Games/IWD2/index_tips2.php
https://sorcerers.net/Games/dl/eyJp...3MWE1OTIyZDM3Mjc2NTRiOTdkYmY5MjYxYjE2M2MyMCJ9

Might I suggest you click on the "home" button at the top of this page, then click on "games" and look at both the "walkthrough and guides" and "tips, tricks and hints" sections of the game? The site used to be easier to navigate, but since the switch to Xenforo that's been the only way to go from FAQ page to FAQ page.

 

Thanks for the tip! I've actually already done that and found tons of great info. I did skip Animal Empathy, but should have plenty of Wilderness Lore. I also decided (after things I read) to skip Search, Disable Device, and Open Locks, because evidently traps are not a big threat in this game, and locks can be either bashed or knocked. I'm pretty excited about the team I finally put together. Really appreciate the advice/guidance.

 

Search and spot is useful for finding hidden stuff, so I wouldn't skip that.
Some locks can't be bashed, so you'll need to memorize knock if you skip open locks.
Traps will be annoying and you'll have wounded characters all the time if you skip disable device, but if your party member has full HP when they set off the trap they will probably survive. Once you get the Periphet of Wound Healing and the Ring of Regeneration you should be able to compensate using one or the other to keep your HP up if you don't walk into combat too soon after setting off a trap.

 

I did NOT know there would be hidden items to look for. Guess I better start adding that skill in! Appreciate that!

Also, I figure that since I'll have a bard singing War Chant of the Sith by level 11 (in addition to those items you mentioned), I should be ok.

This is the party I'm running. I'm only level 2, so if you feel I made a big mistake somewhere, feel free to say so!
Aasmir Paladin(x), Fighter or Barbarian(x) 18-11-16-03-14-20 diplomacy
Half Orc Fighter(4), Barbarian(x) 20-18-18-01-16-01 wilderness lore
Dwarf Monk(1), Fighter(x) 18-18-20-03-16-01 intimidate
Dwarf Battle Cleric(x) 18-16-20-01-18-01 concentration
Human Paladin(1), Sorcerer(x) 10-14-16-14-10-18 spellcraft, concentration
Human Bard(?), MC? 10-10-10-18-10-18 knowledge arcana, alchemy, pickpocket, diplomacy, bluff (will add search)

Trying to have all the necessary skills covered.
I heard that there is a quest or two that requires a monk, also wanted to try it for the evasion.
Not sure yet what to MC my bard with yet.

 

Sorcerer with high dose of intelligence can be excellent diplomat as well.
Dwarf monk-fighter can benefit from one cleric of Bane level before visiting Kuldahar.
Bard goes pretty well with rogue if you need trap removal (but you may not need it at all and just disarm traps by walking into them with high CON character).

 

Yeah, I didn't want to spend big INT points on more than one character, so it was kind of a toss-up between the sorc and the bard.

Is that to make him elligible for a quest, or because of the +1 to INT, or both?

Yeah, figured I'd just absorb the traps...so gonna see if I can make it without the rogue.

 

https://sorcerers.net/community/threads/banite-quest-in-kuldahar-only-for-cleric-of-bane.85122/

 

Good to know, Mati, thanks!!

 

If you REALLY want to squeeze all the essential skills into one character, it is possible to do so. Even more so if you start with a small party or even solo, like I did when going for absolute maximum experience point totals (see the stickied thread).

You only have three skills that have actually relevant skill checks reaching 18: open locks, disable device and to lesser extent diplomacy. Bluff and Intimidate top out somewhat earlier. Concentration is useful without upper limit but only if you're a caster. For arcane casters, 10 in Spellcraft opens elemental feats you might be interested in.

That's at most 7 skills, which a human Bard with 18 INT almost covers straight away, given that they get 2 base skill points for class, +1 for being human and +4 for INT for a total of 7 skill points per level. Mixing in a level of Rogue gives 9 skill points and allows boosting the skills Bards don't get as class skills.

Now, a bard/rogue multiclass might not be the most awesome in other regards but it totally checks out for being a skill monkey deluxe.