Party of 4 with LOS mod

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I'm starting a new game with the LOS mod. I have 4 characters and I don't intend to add extra party members. I'm playing an evil party (I got tired of my pally leader in my last game).
The Light of Selune mod adds many items, armours and traps so a fulltime Rogue is not a bad idea.

1) The Dirgesinger: Shield Dwarf NE Bard X/Fighter (4) (song, arcane support mainly summoning and tactical spells).
12 14 20 10 6 14
CHA is a little low but i wanted to max CON. He won't be casting offensive spells a lot so I believe he should be ok.
Feats: armored arcana, lingering song then fighter feats.
Skills: diplomacy, pickpockets, concentration.
Spells: identify (so I can skip alchemy and identification) summon monsters, sleep (for low level foes). Buffs later on.
-What weapon should I focus on? I'm thinking about using a shield (arcane failure might be a problem) or dual wielding, which would be better?

2) Dash Deathblade: Human NE Barbarian 1/Bane 1/Rogue X (sneak attacker/traps handler/two hander wielder).
18 10 14 10 18 6
Feats: GSP Enchantment, power attack (for cleave), rogue feats later on.
Skills: disable device, open locks and search.
Spells: Command.
-I want a sneak attacker who can cast Command to sneak attack a foe (great fun!) I don't want a fulltime Cleric (although she would be quite good as a Cleric), the Barbarian level is for speed, Rage and weapon proficiencies. I'll max STR and use the best two hander available.

3) Whisper: Drow CE Sorcerer X (support ranged attacker, main arcane caster).
8 20 16 10 6 20
Feats: Rapid Shot, spell focus, (spirit of fire).
Skills: spellcraft, concentration.
Spells: offensive spells (evocation and transmutation mainly).
-Sorcerer because scrolls are hard to get by and cost a lot (plus scrolls can be hoarded for last resort use). This character will avoid close combat as much as possible.

4) Three Eyes: DG LN Monk 1/Druid X (decoy -AC 25 at level 1 without buffs or items-, shapeshifter and main divine spellcaster).
10 20 10 10 20 4
Feats: dodge, weapon finesse, spell focus.
Skills: concentration, spellcraft, wilderness lore (for the Fell Wood).
Spells: none so far (started as a Monk, levelling up takes ages).
-I'm facing XP penalty, I'm not sure this is such a great idea but I believe a 20% penalty won't cripple her too much.
Druid will allow her to shapechange which with Monk AC bonus and Evasion can be quite useful later on (for instance while facing the trials in the Monastery). I'm considering adding a Ranger level for free dual wielding but that would take me back as far as Druid levels are concerned. I'm not sure what would be the best option.

I believe arcane power should be ok with the Sorcerer and the Bard for support and utility spells. I might be a little low on divine spellcasting though. A Druid is not an alternative to a Cleric for healing and buffing (the Bard may help though).

I'm still in Targos and I can start over if I really messed things up. So if you have any ideas to make this party better, I'm interested.

 

Caradhras, have you played all the way thru LOS with any party yet? I'm more than a bit stunned and surprised that there've been no comments on LoS aside from the rabbit's foot query.

At this point, I'd almost be happy with a negative comment.

 

Well, I reached Kuldahar but I grew tired of my goody two shoes party. Plus I added several characters and i wished I hadn't so I decided to start over. I really like the new items (especially the heavy armours) and the traps (I was surprised by the traps on the bridges before getting to the Horde Fortress it was a really nice twist).

I enjoy your mod and I'd like to play through the game with it (especially since I haven't manage to salvage my BG2 save so far).

Some item descriptions were a bit formulaic (which isn't really a problem and I still laugh when I get the "Silent But Deadly" bow in Targos) but I like the variety introduced by the mod (and the scaling in power which to me seems very well balanced, the new merchants don't sell overpowered items for the different stages of the game).

I wouldn't start over with this mod if I didn't enjoy it the first time.

 

Cara, if some descriptions seem formulaic, it's because they *are*. I absolutely admit that there were times when my powers of creativity were running on empty when it came to writing item descriptions. The best ones usually happened when I had a little brainstorm prior to even creating the item file itself.

Regarding the traps, I have had a serious conceptual problem with Mirror Image being a way to avoid traps, particularly very physical ones. Think back to the very beginning of the first Indiana Jones movie where he steps on little stone trap triggers in the floor. Would a mirror image illusion trigger such a trap and/or would such a trap target a MI illusion? Heck no. It's going to be blindly aimed at the space above the trigger and no number or quality of illusions would stop all those darts from hitting something physical.

That's the concept behind those traps.

At some point, if/when I can get re-energized to start the next version of LoS, one of the ideas that I have is to create HOF versions of the updated traps. I already know how to do it, and have already coded a few of them. Let's face it. In HOF mode, except perhaps for the nasty crushing trap in the Yuan-Ti temple and the big spike trap in Dragon's Eye, you have soooooo many HP that you can just walk right over any of the strictly physical traps in the first half or so of IWD2 (assuming that you're using an imported party, not a level 1 starting party).


As far as the power levels of items at various points in the game, that was very much my intention. I suppose that it's the upside of a very linear game for the designer or modder. You have a solid idea of how powerful your new items should be and how powerful the PC's and baddies should be.

BTW, speaking of HOF mode, it should be noted that a large majority of the new items have HOF versions which are usually 2 enchantment levels above the NM versions... which is one reason that I was very, very leery of adding +5 items in NM. I wanted to have "room" for more powerful HOF versions.


Anyways, thanks for the nice words about LoS. Glad you've enjoyed it.

 

Thanks for making the mod. Hopefully you'll get the energy to come up with an update. If I can spare some time I might try and write some item descriptions (it's always easy to criticize).

Any thoughts about my party? I can't make my mind whether I should add a Ranger level or not for my DG (I'd like her to dual wield rapiers, I'm concerned that it will cripple her spell progression though).

 

It's hard for me to give a fair critique of your party, as my playing style tends toward very traditional, balanced parties and against somewhat more esoteric 3e-ish character builds.

Still, this party seems to be seriously lacking in any tanking power. Obviously, this is by design. I can only assume that between your decoy and any summons, you think that you'll be able to keep your arcane spellcasters fairly safe.

Also, in a party of 4 with a bard and a decoy, I'm not sure if the bard will have much opportunity to use his bard songs. I really do *not* know. He might be perfectly safe and free to sing away. OTOH, he might be called on to fight or spell cast much more. I'm not a big user of bards and my experience with them is somewhat limited. I've always seen them as more useful in larger parties, where the rest of the party has enough melee and spellcasting firepower to fight the fight and the bard was fairly free to sing away without too much danger to seriously impacting the party's firepower. OTOH, in a smaller party, it seems logical that every party member's contribution to the party's overall combat potential is more critical and standing around singing doesn't seem to add as much as a character who's fighting or spellcasting. Still, if you can make it work, more power to you.

As far as the DG monk/druid is concerned, a 20% XP penalty is already a pretty stiff price to pay for 1 monk level. Adding a level of ranger and increasing that XP penalty to 40% just to get free dual wielding doesn't seem like a particularly profitable tradeoff. OTOH, given the nature of XP rewards in smaller parties and faster leveling up, the 40% XP penalty may not be as painful as it might be in a full party of 6.


Regarding your MC'd rogue, those are some mighty odd stats for a rogue. 18 STR, ok, will be good for melee. 14 CON, acceptable for a rogue. 10 INT, a tad low, but not a big deal for a human rogue. 10 DEX??? Not going to be doing much stealthy sneaking about, are we? 18 WIS??? A character that wise would seem to be wise enough to know that he should be a cleric or a druid or maybe a monk.

Back to the bard. I'd think that even a bard X/ftr 4 should have enough to bardic knowledge to not need much in the way of ID'ing skill. Still, taking the Identify spell at level 1 is no big deal, since the L1 spells are all that potent for a bard and it will save any hassles. Shields will be a problem. IIRC, even bucklers have a small potential arcane spell failure chance, like 5%. What weapon should you "focus" on? I'm not sure that you should bother much with additional weapons feats. Your feats may be better spent supporting your bard's spellcasting (i.e. SF and GSF Enchantment are always good choices for bards) and his saving throws. Combat casting is a safe choice. I suppose that your feat choices will be dictated by how you intend to use this character.


Good luck with this party.

 

Thanks for your advice Crucis.

My Bard will be able to tank (in a way). Plenty of HP and spells like Mirror Image will allow him to stand his ground. The decoy will be able to take the heat from the spellcaster and the Rogue should dish some hefty damage with sneak attacks. All in all it should work fine.

Lingering Song is a great feat for bards, it means a bard can switch back to spellcasting or fighting once the song kicks in.

I've never played a character with XP penalties. I wasn't sure that Monk 1/Ranger 1/Druid X would result in 40% penalty. I will skip the Ranger level in that case. Too bad but it's certainly not worth it. The Monk level is really great for a shapeshifter since the WIS AC bonus works with animal forms.

The Bard is taking Armored Arcana so I figured I could use an armour without spellcastig failure (Bard Robes or Bracers) and use a shield with 15% OR have him wear an armour with 15% and use a large shield and simply drop the shield when casting a spell (a bit of a hassle but the AC bonus from shields will be needed, I considered dual wielding in order to use the parrying dagger, Leto's hook iirc i could even shift to Leto's hook while spellcasting and not worry with dual wielding at all). Since I intend to use him for buffing it could work out. He won't be a regular offensive caster but a buffer and summoner (the Sorcerer is going to nuke and disable foes).

As for my rogue, it is a highly controversial build but one I'm really keen to play. The point is to sneak attack as much as possible and two handed weapons are great for that. She won't hide at all and she will wear some heavy armour as well (hence no point in boosting DEX). High WIS, Banite bonus and GSP Enchantment should make the Command spell quite effective (three commands a day with one cleric level allowing as many free sneak attacks). With the Banite boost later on her spell will be more effective. The point is that if she is targeted and therefore can't sneak attack a foe she will be able to use her spell. Despite her low DEX reflex saves should be fine at higher levels. I might give her two cleric levels but she is better off with as many rogue levels as she can get to improve her sneak attacks.

I'm going to experiment and see how it works out. I can always add a fulltime healer or Barbarian if I'm stuck but I'd rather not. In my last game I added two characters and I realized their usefulness was rather limited. My only concern is that I'm a bit low on healing spells, I think the Bard can make up for this flaw. I'll give it a try.

 

Hello.
I am also playing with a party of 4 with LoS mod.
I would like to ask if it is necessary to have a rogue for many levels in order to deactivate those traps(very nasty indeed). Because I am trying to create a powergaming party which has only, almost, level 1 rogue.(Other lvls go to mage and Druid or so...but with extremely high Dex)
Thanks for any advice.

 

My party was doing fine (I wasn't happy about the XP penalty but the decoy DG was really good nevertheless).

I started over after getting to the Ice Temple and I'm currently playing a less powergaming party (I wanted to try the NPC mod still my main character is an Aasimar Rogue/Paladin ).

I haven't completed the game so far but the way I see it I'd advise you to max out Disable and Search. A high INT Wizard/Rogue could do that anyway (DEX only helps with locks, hide, move silently and pickpockets). If you want to take Rogue levels don't take them one after the other. Start with a Rogue level and take another Rogue at least four or five levels after that, this way you can max out those skills. You don't have to "waste" too many levels on the Rogue class. Besides 2 Rogue levels aren't such a waste for a spellcaster (evasion is a good perk for any character).

I don't know if this would be enough to disarm the nastier traps (you can always add a Rogue level later on if it isn't).

I wish the traps were even nastier...