New player, some tips welcome

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Hi all,

After years of searching I finally found IWD 1 in a store somewhere near me.

Now before I start playing, I have a couple of questions. Note, I don't want any spoilers .

First off, are there any essential mods? Like baldurash for BG? Also, are there any gamebreaking bugs I should be aware of? Like in PS:T or ToEE.

What proficiences are best? I don't want to add points to spears only to find out Bioware screwed up again by not adding any spears in the game. Again, no spoilers, just tell me the proficiences you like to use .

My party will consist of 2 fighter/thiefs, 1 speccing in locks and traps, the other in stealth. I will also add a druid (adding some fighter lvls maybe?) and a mage (conjurer?).

You think this party will beat the game? Or are there certain classes a must have? Like a cleric instead of a druid?

I appreciate the help .

edit: Forgot to mention, the game I bought was in a boxset. Having IWD 1 on DVD, the expansion on cd and IWD2 on 2 cds.

Since IWD 1 is on DVD I assume it's already fully patched?

[ October 25, 2006, 12:46: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

No game breaking bugs that I'm aware of.

The wapon distribution is much better in IWD than BG. You'll likely find something good for every proficiency. Note that a lot of the loot is random, so you get one out of 3 or 4 possible items from a given battle. So depending how the random drops fall it's not obvious which will be the best proficiencies. That said, axes are very good, as are large swords. There are a lot of enemies with resitances to everythign but bludgeoning damage so try to be sure most people can use a blunt/spiked weapon, especially if their primary weapon is piercing or missile. There are lots of decent maces and flails. Clubs are more sparse. (Hope that's not too spoilerish - I believe that's what you're asking for.)

If you have Heart of Winter the druid is a spectacularly useful class. Clerics are nice too. Thieves don't have that much to do in this game and level very facst - one F/T can probably do open locks/find traps, and stealth for you. Obviously you'd have to wait longer to do that so if you want to be using stealth from the beginning your plan is fine.

Your party can definitely beat the game. I would be inclined to have a straight fighter (gnome or dwarf for the saving throws). Grand Mastery is very powerful in this game. Alternatively Paladins get very nice spells or you might use a F/C to get access to clerical buffs. But your group will definitely work.

And I would put some fighter levels on your druid. just being able to wear armor is a huge advantage.

The other class that you might find handy is the bard (if you have HOW). They get a selection of songs, and most are very powerful.

 

IWD1 and IWD2 have the same setting but different rules.

Install order for IWD1: IWD1 + HoW expansion + TotL expansion + latest official patch for TotL.

If you don't have TotL you can download it for free, if get it this way it will already have the latest version.
If you don't want to get TotL you'll probably need the latest HoW patch.

I don't recommend installing mods, the game works well as is.
If you are not common with 2e rules one advice,
look at the stat tables at the end of the manual and don't create horrible characters who have 14-15 in all stats.

Some manual errors or omitted things you should know:

- you gain full extra attack/round for switching from **** to ***** in a weapon, not only an half.
- You can have 5 unhasted attacks/round wich are doubled with haste.
- the druid's scimitar specialisation thaco and damage bonusses or penalties apply when shapeshifted to polar bear form
- A shapeshifted fighter/druid keeps the extra half attacks for fighter7 or 13 while shapeshifted
- shield and helm bonusses apply while shapeshifted, so do the bonusses from your armor except the AC bonus.
- You get the strength bonus for sling damage.
- Unlike in BG strength is handled properly, 18 str + 1 str = 18/01 str, and you won't find an item which sets strength to a high value before the last chapter.
- rangers get the extra melee attack even while wearing two-handed weapons and wearing heavy armor.
- raise dead really doesn't work on elves.

- You have to agree to do Kresselack's quest in chapter1 (not only "I'll consider it"), else the person you search for won't appear.
- Orrick's inventory changes when you start chapter 2 and 4. So buy important things before.
- you can plunder chests without anyone getting hostile
- enemies usually face the nearest character in melee, so if you want to get in a 3E sneak attack with your thief don't use dagger. You'll have to get very close making the victim turn around.

You party is playable, you can solo the game with any of them. But you'd have an easier time with 6 characters.

The cleric spells "protection from evil 10' radius" and "raise dead" are very powerful, but you can beat the game with a druid.

1 multiclass thief will get more than enough skillpoints to handle everything, even sneaking.
A second multiclass thief is wasted if you don't want to use two backstabbers.
Pick locks isn't really important, there are only very few locked chests or doors and all but one in the expansion can easily be bashed.

A pure druid is playable, but you won't be able to wear proper armor, helms or a shield before the last chapter or gain the extra fighter attacks.
Fighter levels will increase his power a lot, but multiclasses won't reach level7 spells and it's very hard to roll a fighter who can dualclass to druid with good stats (You can't drop charisma.) and you'll need a healer before the dualing period.
You'll also be tempted to (ab-)use your druid as fighter then.

With HoW the opposing school of conjuration is evocation, so no magic missile, chromatic orb, fireball or stoneskin for example. I'd rather take an illusionist or allrounder. Dualclassing from another class will make him stronger, but isn't neccessary and lead to a time without a mage..
When you play a normal 6 character party you won't find scroll faster than your mage levels for some time, so your mage might have an empty spell level. It's even worse with smaller parties, if you can't stand this then multiclass. But you'll loose the ability to cast higher level spells later.

Weapon and armor advice:
- the best helm in the game can only be worn by good-aligned gnomes or halflings
- You probably only find one crossbow better than a simple, nonmagical longbow in the last chapter (unless you're very lucky in chapter2). But this one is better than any bow you'll find. Long weakness in the game for more power in the expansions.
- everyone should be able to use a missile weapon
- many of the weapons and armor you find are random, so it's hard to give general advice.
Some weapon sorts are good early and some are good later. The difference between +1 and +3 is only 2 thac0 and damage anyway.
Clubs and quarterstaves are a little disappointing.

 

Ooh thanks for the replies.

I haven't downloaded TotL yet since it's a huge download, well in my case it is . But from what I've seen it doesn't change anything in the beginning, so I can add it later right? Or do I need to start a new game?

I just reached chapter 1 and it's been fun so far. I'm going to enjoy myself immensly with this game .

 

TotL doesn't change the gameplay. Since it was released long after HoW it was mainly designed for parties auto-exported at the HoW final.
What party did you choose for playing the game now ?

 

I've just finished the Vale of Shadows. I have to say this game is pretty damn hard. Even with 2 clerics running around turning undead I had a tough time getting through. Most of that must've been because I couldn't find a magic weapon for my fighter .
My characters are leveling like mad though... I feel the Vale is supposed to be like an intro to the dungeon crawling. But I'm already lvl 5! What lvl cap does this game have anyhow?

My party consists of:

Bolo - NE halfling F/T
Bolo is the leader of the party. He was kicked out of his halfling village for scamming and robbing people. They felt this was unhalflinglike behavior so bound him and threw him in the river.
Traumatised from this experience, Bolo hates all halflings with a passion.
In his travels he seeks nothing but riches and will gladly con anyone if it gets him ahead.

Current treasure
Black Wolf amulet
Ring of shadows - +15 stealth, non-detection (love this ring )
Leather armor +1
Gauntlets of Weapon Skill
+1 Longsword and +1 Sling
Tower shield

Gurl CE human Fighter
While Bolo was escaping from a band of brigands who pulled him out of the river, he came across a raging barbarian. Bolo manages to set him at ease by offering him food and shinies. Knowing that having a big meat shield in front of him would lengthen his life, he kept him around. Plus, Gurl being unable to speak anything coherent would help, should he get caught.

Current treasure:
The Black Wolf's old outfit (plate mail, helm and +1 Two Hander)
Finest light crossbow
Ring of protection +1

Sari - NE gnome cleric/illusionist

Bolo met up with Sari in a tavern, where she worked as one of the wenches. Why anyone with her powers would work in such a place you ask? Easy, there's a lot of money to be had there.
Sari, being one of the few short and plump humanoids around the Dale, was in the eyes of Bolo one thing: Hawt. They quickly combined their schemes robbing alot of people blind. Only to be cast out of yet another town when they were discovered.
Sari doesn't follow a specific deity, but rather has a strong belief towards acquiring as much gold as gnomingly possible. Obviously, some god likes the way she thinks

Current treasure:
Robe of Enfusing and Robe of cold resistance
+1 mace and sling
Bracers of AC 8
Small shield

Lora - LE human Fighter/cleric
Lora was hired as an afterthought. Bolo felt they needed a fourth member to their little family, so they stumbled upon Lora. Back in those days, she was just a warrior, holy in her belief towards Cyric. During their travels together Cyric took notice and granted her magical powers.

Current treasure:
Glimglam's cloak
Splint mail and medium shield
Warhammer +1 and sling +1

By the way, I noticed something strange when I tried to use Dalekeeper. I wasn't really happy with some of the choices I made. Namely having 3 chars with slings and 2 evil priests. So I wanted to change Bolo's points of bow and Sari to CN. But I can't get dalekeeper working. First of all, it doesn't come with all the extra files like shadowkeeper, only the .exe file.
I can start the program just fine, but when I load my savefile it gives and error and I can't select the first character on the list.
So I saved that file and opened it. Bolo didn't have a name anymore and all his stats were that of the second on the list, Gurl.

Has this happened to anyone else?
I have IWD + HoW and the latest patch installed, maybe it only works with TotL?

 

Your party (roleplaying instead of powergaming characters and only 4 of them) is weaker than average parties, so your game is harder than average games.

Never used Dalekeeper, but there might be an option to edit characters instead of savegames.
For making your evil cleric good without dalekeeper you could just create a good cleric with the same looks and stats for the last party spot, transfer the items from your evil cleric whom you can delete afterwards and use the cheatconsole to add the missed XP.
If you want to change your cleric/illusionist you can cheat in the spell scrolls she hadn't learned yet with the console. It's probably better to keep the fighter/cleric evil, the illusionist already has chromatic orb as "save or die" spell. But gaining "raise dead" faster is also useful on the other hand.

 

Yeah, I realised my party was too weak, so I started over again.

My new party:
Bard - Half Elf, CN, using bows, greatswords and long swords
Fighter/Druid - Half Elf, TN, using scimitars, daggers and slings
Fighter/Cleric - Dwarf, NG, 1 * in every weapon except for clubs (alright, cliché character, but she's female! I've never played with a dwarven female before... in bg1 they had beards...)
Fighter/Mage/Thief - Elf, CN, using bows and halberds.

This party is already a lot stronger than my previous one, mainly because I rolled great stats. Most of the important stats are maxed, without having to min/max. So I have 4 super heroes walking around now .

Just for the fun of it, I switched to insane mode, which appears te be a lot easier cause of the douple xp... So I've switched back to normal again.

I've just finished the orc caves at the start and my bard is already lvl 4! I had to fight 4 ogres at the end of the cave, instead of just the one... Piece of cake though, with 3 sleep spells .


About Dalekeeper. You can't load up single characters, you have to open the savefile. But as soon as I open it, I get the error. I recon it's because I don't have TotL, which is pretty much viewed as the latest patch.
No worries though, I never use trainers, only if I want to correct a mistake I made. Like when I wanted to create a dual class fighter/druid in BG2 with only a char of 15...

 

I have problems with Dalekeeper here as well, had problems both with 1.06 iwd1 without expantion, as well as with 1.42 with both expantions. same error. loading savegame in dalekeeper i get error message, and for some reason all my characters have 3 in all stats. needless to say i never even bothered to try to SAVE with it ...

I used NearInfinity instead, and it worked, and game works so no idea why. Seems like best idea might be to get another editor.

Also slightly offtopic, but the Insane difficulty feels different from 1.41 to 1.42, seems to get much more difficult on 1.42, anyone can confirm this ?

 

It seems I'm not alone in my struggle!

Oh well, no DK for me then

 

Do you guys have EoU component wich installs ammobelt (from BG2) on your inventory? I got same error as you and when I dropped the belt DK behaved as it should.

 

That fixed the problem indeed, thanks Anjo!

To be honest, I don't know how people can finish this game without EoU. The amount of arrows I shoot is insane. I installed EoU right after the Vale, running back to the village is just too much hastle...

By the way, druids are cool . I love the spells they have in this game, it's much better implemented than in BG, where a druid is just sub-par to a cleric.

Current (cheesy) tactic:
Bard casts Web
Druid casts Spike Growth
Cleric casts Holy Smite
Mage casts Fireball

Lots of dead Cold Wights