Party Level Entering Chapter 4 - very minor spoiler?

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I'm not really sure if this discussion constitutes a spoiler, but wanted to alert potential readers just in case.

In a nutshell, this is my understanding of the progress of the game.

The Protagonist and the NPC's spend Chapters 2 and 3 of the game in Athkatla and surronding areas, chasing various quests, experience points, and treasure.

The game player essentially has the choice of when to trigger the events that will end Chapter 3 and move the game forward to Chapter 4. At that point, the game becomes more linear through Chapters 4 and 5. Once the player has moved on to Chapter 4, the aforementioned quests are no longer available until the Protagonist and NPC's return to Athkatla for Chapter 6.

Unless one has an incredible amount of free time on his hands, it probably isn't feasible to do every single quest that is available.

I would assume that it is possible to move on to Chapter 4 having completed too few of the quests. If one moves on to Chapter 4 with insufficient power to face the challenges presented there and in Chapter 5, the results could be deadly for the characters and frustrating for the player having to reload.

Bottom line - at what level should the Protagonist and NPC's be to be able to handle the challenges of Chapters 4 & 5?

 

I've done them immediately after assembling the party and retrieving the amount of gold needed to trigger Chapter 3. That made me around levels 10-12. It was a bit difficult, but absolutely possible.

 

I think the game is designed such that you can go to Ch. 4 as soon as you have enough gold and still be able to get through to Ch. 6

Of course, doing a few sidequests in Ch. 2 doesn't hurt either. After all, an adventurer wants to make sure (s)he's prepared, right?

 

You can be just about any level, but I'd say ~12 is what the game was designed for. But you can easily be 15th level or higher.

A slight spoiler:

Spoiler

Imoen is level 12 when you get her back. If you're extremely high level she is fairly useless thoughout the underdark.

 

I disagree. I tried to go to Chapter 4 ASAP my first time through, thinking that I really wanted to get my trusty sidekick Imoen back and couldn't bear the thought of leaving her in Spellhold. I got my butt kicked pretty badly and finally gave up and did some additional side quests before trying again.

Hmm, I'm going to have to try rushing through to save Imoen again now that I'm more experienced with the game. Something new to try.

 

I think I base it more on equipment than level.

That is to say...if I am happy with the way my guys are equipped, and we seem to be handling ourselves okay in scraps with critters, and worked out some strategies...then it is time to head off to find Imoen/kill Irenicus.

This I 'learned' from soloing. I basically had to rightly equip my mage with good bracers and a certain staff before I was ready to carry on. Levels were achieved very easily (all exp went to me ) and I made lots of money from all the (to me) useless 'stuff' I had found.