Newbie in HoF

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I just got this game a few days ago. I didn't think I'd have the patience to play it through twice, so I read a few FAQs and started off in HoF. Because the interface is a little annoying, I decided to only use 3 characters:

A drow sorcerer http://img173.echo.cx/img173/719/13uz.png
An asimaar sorcerer http://img295.echo.cx/img295/6681/22op.png
and a deep gnome cleric of Bane http://img295.echo.cx/img295/9655/39wl.png

Bonus points to anybody who can figure out all three character names from their icons.

So far I have beaten the docks and a little bit of the tunnels, using summons. I'm not going to "mule" for exp, because that is utterly lame. I will "squat" a little when convenient. I have some basic questions:

- What sorcerer spells don't suck in HoF? I've stopped leveling my sorcerers because it seems like all the spells except mirror image and skull trap will be useless soon.

- What opportunities will there be to gain stats? What other special rewards and items are there that I should be planning ahead for?

- If the cleric multiclasses to monk can I get his AC high enough to matter?

- I think I am going to take the sorcerers all the way to level 30 for increased skull trap damage. Is this a good plan?

What feats are good for the cleric?

Thanks.

[ June 26, 2005, 04:27: Message edited by: JT ]

 

Alright, here goes...

Do not bother adding a monk lvl to that cleric. In HoF, even goblins have a base attack bonus of +26 (meaning they only require a roll of 1 to hit AC 27). Thus, AC do not matter unless you are aiming for extreme levels, which is quite a hassle.

If you mean gaining ability scores (str, dex, etc), you get to increase any of your choosing by 1 pt every 4 levels.

Well, do you really want me to spoil the game?!

All spells grow less effective in HoF but these are the spells I find to be at least semi useful in it:

Lvl 1:
-Magic Missle
-Chromatic Orb (if your debuffing spells decrease the insane saving throws of enemies far enough, the stunning effect just might kick in)
-Sheild (to protect you from the amped up magic missles)
-Prot from Evil (At least it boosts your saving throws)
-Burning Hands (To finish off trolls)
-Grease (enemies will be slowed even if saving throw is made, but only briefly)

Lvl 2:
-Mirror Image
-Prot. from Arrows (lots of archers in the game)
-Blur
-Eagles Splendor
-Luck (be sure to pick pocket Ned at the Gallaway trade Depot, he has an item that compliments this spell)
-Death armor (cast this and both fire sheilds , then cast mirror image, or better yet: O's resilient sphere)

Lvl 3:
-Skull Trap
-Fireball
-Haste
-Slow

Lvl 4:
-Emotion Despair
-Malison
-Stoneskin
-Firesheilds Red, Blue
-Improved Invisibility (Althogh this spell is really not that useful if you have the patch installed)
-O's Resilient sphere (for a really cheap idea, cast death armor, both firesheilds, then march into middle of enemy group and cast resilient sphere on yourself. Not only will enemies take damage everytime they hit the encased character, your other characters can bomb the area with impunity, without fear of harming your bait).

Lvl 5:
-sunfire
-Cone of cold
-Chaos
-Dominate person
-Animate Dead (Although this spell kind of sucks if you have the patch installed)

Lvl 6:
-Mass haste
-Shades
-Acid Storm, fog
-Desintegrate

Lvl 7:
Mord's Sword
DB Fireball
Finger of Death

Lvl 8:
Horrid Death wilting
Symbol of hopelessness
Still mind

Lvl 9:
Wail of Banshee
Firestorm
Mass Dominate

I probably forgot a lot of spells since I made the list off the top of my head.
`

Sure... or you can take 1 lvl of pally to go along with the sorceror to boost saving throw. Lets face it, the only difference between a lvl 29 sorceror and a lvl 30 sorceror is a single extra casting of a lvl2 spell , which is very insignificant. Thus, it is more economical to boost your saving throws instead. Even that drow can take a lvl of pally if u add that paladin lvl at lvl 30. Erm I cannot gain access to your links so I dunno if you have the required lawful aighnment.

Well in normal mode, i would have recommended multiclassing the cleric to a fighter and get fighter feats. But since melee is rather insignificant in HoF, you might as well concentrate on your enchantment spells and get Spell focus Enchantment Feats. With the those feats, combined with Bane's tyrant's dictum, your cleric's Will-Save spells can be useful.

 

If wou've already maxed dex and wis with your cleric, kept adding points to one of them whel leveling up and taken all the neccesary spells with your sorc you might get an AC high enough to use your Cleric as a decoy. Check out jukkas jupp (his arcane party have a high-AC cleric)

*EDIT* jukkas jupp may be found here http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/IWD2/index_tips.php

 

Thanks for the reply!

Just a little bit, so I can plan ahead what spells and feats to take, and so I make sure not to miss out on any quests that give stat increases.

Thanks for the spell lists.

I read about it in one of the UPP documents. Problem is, none of my guys have pickpocketing skill. Can I just kill him and take it? My guys are good aligned, so I am not sure.

Oh yeah, I am planning to do that once I run into dangerous spellcasters, so I made them both Lawful Good. I am thinking of giving the drow one level of cleric if that will that let her use raise dead scrolls with no fail, even though her wisdom is only 10. If not, I won't bother.

 

SPOILERS....

Erm from what i can remember (which is vague at best), The Holy Avenger quest gives +1 Wis and +1 Str to your paladin(s), provided you have a lvl of paladin on your sorceror(s) before doing the quest. Mmm, your Dreadmaster will gain some hitpoints and +2 Wis when he kills a corrupt Banite priest in Kuldahar. Erm there is a potion in the Andora village that gives permanent +1 Wis at the expense of -2 Cons. At lvl 2 of the Battlesquares game, you can get a potion that grants permanant +2 Wis at the expense of -1 Dex. I do not recall anything else that permantenly increases stats, but I may have missed on something.

No, you cannnot kill him without everyone turning againist you. Im not sure if only the people inside become hostile or if the whole town becomes hostile, so you can try it if you want. Just remember that the shopkeeper there is a vital character and killing her will discontinue the game. Some people say they can kill Ned by summoning a demon (or maybe an elemental?) to do it for them, without anyone turning hostile. But I doubt you will have enough lvls for that tactic. Perhaps you should wait until your next level-up and then add some pick pocket skill.

[ June 27, 2005, 00:22: Message edited by: Hahkeal ]

 

Keep that cleric pure, if for nothing else than the powerful animate dead spell. If LG, the maybe late add in of Paladin for Holy Avenger.

Starting in HOF, best spell may be powerword: reload .

 

I ended up restarting because I was unhappy with some of my spell, feat, and skill choices. Now I am a little ways into chapter 1, and the party is at about 140 000 exp (I am squatting a little). Here are some things I've learned.

Improved invisibility sucks badly; if you take any actions, you stay invisible but the invisibility is useless. That makes normal invisibility much superior, since you can cast it, break it, cast it again, etc.

Animate dead is TOO GOOD. The undead have tons of HP (and skeletons resist a lot of combat damage), immune to most of my best spells, hit harder than the monsters, and last the whole board unless I decide to rest. Meanwhile Summon Monster guys die easily, don't do much damage, and disappear after a minute or so anyway. I wish there was a summon in-between "broken" and "crap" in terms of quality.

Otiluke's Resilent Sphere is pretty handy for saving one of my girls who is getting beaten up, but its dumb that the AI just keeps beating on her. Switch targets already!

Even though I sell everything I find, I still cannot afford the "Golden Heart of Hyori" which is for sale. Maybe by the end of chapter 1

The game would be a lot better with good AI and with the attack of opportunity rules.

I have been using powerword reload a lot, yes

 

Golden Heart of Charname is great, but you will probably drop it in Chap 3, so save your $ now for all the healing potions you can buy.

 

Why would I drop it in chapter 3? Is there something better than perma-haste? I do have three characters. Also I could dual-wield, I suppose.