Bad Feat Choices

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I haven't been consulting the JUPP when levelling up. Is Luck of Heroes good for a talker? Also, for a talker sorceror, do I have to keep concentration maxed or can I do some points into spellcraft intimidate or bluff? Thanks.

 

Concentration is more important than intimidate or bluff because you can finish the game without bluffing or intimidating anyone, but you can't finish the game when your healing spell gets interrupted just before a critical hit smashes you to pieces. And you really only need 10 in spellcraft so that you can access the elemental feats. Luck of Heroes is useful whether you are a talker or not.

 

Okay, just wasn't sure if it should supplant something like Subvocal Casting or not. It wasn't mentioned in the JUPP.

 

Luck of Heroes gives you +1 to saves, thats all.
Subvocal Casting allows your caster to cast spells even when deafened.
Concentration allows you to try to cast a spell while taking a hit from any source of damage.

Aren't Bluff and Diplomacy the class skills for a sorcerer? Are you also giving him Intimidate?

 

Does Luck of Heroes give a +1 *luck* bonus to saves, or just a +1 bonus? In the manual it says luck bonus, so just wondering whether this is true or not. Luck bonuses are definitely worth it.

 

Luck is an odd thing in IWD2. Some weird things sometimes happen with the Luck and Bad Luck effects. I once 'rolled' 14 '1's in a row after getting hit with Bad Luck in the Ice Temple.

 

Certainly the worst feat choice in IWD2 is those feats that give you a minor skill bonus. If you're character is really low INT, you might consider these feats, but still...

The coolest feats are those of extra elemental damage for mages. They give protection too and if you specialise in them, your mage can become even more powerful than before.

 

Oh crap all this time and I haven't put a single point into spellcraft!

 

@Memento Mori
Subvocal casting is useful in theory, but in practice you'll find that not many (I don't remember ever seeing it in fact) enemy mages cast silence. On the other hand I've only played normal mode, so I have no idea if this changes in HOF.

 

Having played the game through in both normal and HOF, I can confirm that I've never seen anyone try to silence me. Then again, those mages & clerics I've met never lived to tell.

So.. I'm leaning to suggest that Subvocal Casting is just a waste of a valuable feat.

 

Memento Mori:
AFAIK Luck of Heroes give +1 to all saving throws. If it does affect other abilities or rolls, then I'm not aware of.

As for what skill points to invest in characters, it would really depend on what your character's classes are.

 

That's strange. I definitely remember being silenced quite too often. Normal game, not HoF.
But IIRC, it's a WILL save and all spellcasters (except paladins&rangers, which need decent wisdom to cast anyway) have high WILL save, so it shouldnt pose too much of a problem.
Nevertheless, if your caster does get silenced you have one heck of a problem. It's only strenght is completely negated and all he can do is wait for help.

@Shrikanth
I belive being deafened brings along only 20% casting failure.

@Tassadar
According to 3ed rules it should be a plain Save bonus. Might've been changed for IWDII, but i doubt it, since they pretty much went by the book in other areas.

 

I have been silenced many times by the clerics in the Ice Temple. So much so that I adjusted my rendition of the JUPP to give the decoy Subvocal casting.

People probably have never been silenced by a Mage because Mages do not get Silence.

 

Sounds like luck of heroes is pretty worthless too, I mean I can cast luck on people if I need to.

 

Or sing it If you have a Bard[3].

I got silenced/deafened a lot of times during my Normal mode during the early chapters.
I guess the Will saves of the charecters are not good enough during the early stages but later-on you need not be worried.
Can anyone make a guess about the minimum roll a L20 spellcaster needs to make to avoid being deafened in Hof? Or an L10 guy in Dragons Eye in Normal and thereafter?

@ Mori
The Luck of Heroes feat ranks up there with the Snake Blood/Resist Poison feats in being practically useless.
I get Spellcraft to 10 before I bother about Concentration as you are not going to be casting many spells at the lower levels.

 

Oh well, time to start cramming spellcraft.

Should I use Dalekeeper to take away some diplomacy points and give myself some spellcraft or is that totally cheating. In the JUPP it says to have spirit of flame at level 9, well my sorc is level 9 but I don't know if the JUPP takes into account concentration and diplomacy etc.

[ August 23, 2004, 22:38: Message edited by: Memento Mori ]

 

If you have no problem with the Keeper I'd suggest you do that. Elemental feats are really cool for every spell caster to have!

 

True. That's why in Prima's guide book, it advises to take this pick only if using Humans as they get an extra feat at 1st level and you need a 2nd level to cast "Luck".

 

@Memento Mori

That's more of a personal decision. IMO, taking away points from one skill and adding the same value to another skill is not cheating. For example, I have a Rogue 2/ Wiz X. When creating him, I was able to throw skill points into Alchemy, SpellCraft, Knowledge & Concentration. However, when I took the second level of Rogue, I wasn't able to, so I put them in stuff I wouldn't need to keep track of them. I then went into Dale Keeper after getting my first level of Wizard and transferred the points to the skills I wanted but couldn't take as a 2nd level Rogue.

 

I never use Dalekeeper because I consider that cheating, but it's up to you.