Help jackjack fine tune The (EE)Keepers of The Dale!
jackjack
Member Posts: 3,251
So…. I have a rough idea for an initial run party in mind, but most of my ideas have been roleplay influenced. Having said that, my current setup actually limits certain RP opportunities, and additionally, may not be as practically effective as I'd like.
Now then, without further ado, I present the Keepers of The Dale (EEKeeper required):
Sid - The Bard. Face of the party and wandering Gypsy minstrel. She has seen much of Faerun, but not The Dale. She wields a Crossbow which she only fires when her voice gives out and she's fresh out of apple cider vinegar to restore it. Plays a mean lute. Also carries a Dagger and Long Sword.
Chaotic Good Human
Tess al'Gruz - The Barbarian. A wildfire trapped in a beautiful, hulking frame, she is the party's sole native to Icewind Dale. Primary damage dealer and a textbook risk taker. She brandishes a mighty two-handed sword and whirls into the fray with abandon whenever she sees or smells a foe.
Chaotic Neutral Half-Orc
Stonebeard - here my troubles begin. A surly, bearded (duh), metal-clad tank. He is on a quest he doesn't talk much about until he's 12 pints deep into the ale. Initially I conceived of him as a Fighter/Cleric, but am now leaning Dwarven Defender. I love the idea, but I don't know if I can afford to lose a Divine caster. Axes or Maces, also Flails.
Lawful Neutral Dwarf
Rinadrel - A lonely, aloof man of the wilderness, this dude is in total flux. First I thought he was Ranger/Cleric. Long story short, that's out. I would like a Druid, either single or multiclass, but if Stonebeard goes DD, I'm left without a Cleric. Is such a setup viable? This is where I need the most help.
Neutral Good or True Neutral Elf
Jerrol - the utility man and either charismatic former smuggler or reserved grim reaper who lets his blades do all the talking. He was either stranded in or exiled to The Frozen North. A powerful and vital ally, but quite unpredictable. He's a Fighter/Thief with a twist: he's either a kind-hearted, lovable Swashbuckler or a vile Assassin (EEKeeper will provide the kitted multiclass). Scimitars and Short Swords. Tell me your thoughts.
Chaotic Good or Lawful Evil Halfling
Anduina - the lunatic Wild Mage. Most of the party keeps a safe distance, but they all respect her power. A hungry vortex of chaos, destruction, and ill fortune, she's the primary source of danger for her own party. Wields a quarterstaff just for laughs.
Chaotic Evil Gnome.
Roleplay is my favorite part of Icewind Dale, but powergaming suggestions are welcome—as I said, I need some practical effectiveness advice. Character-specific, total party, anything that comes to mind, I'm interested. Except for spoilers, try to keep them to a minimum.
So anyhoo… fire away.
Edit: For the purposes of this thread, go ahead and disregard Heart of Fury (HoF) mode. I won't be touching it.
Now then, without further ado, I present the Keepers of The Dale (EEKeeper required):
Sid - The Bard. Face of the party and wandering Gypsy minstrel. She has seen much of Faerun, but not The Dale. She wields a Crossbow which she only fires when her voice gives out and she's fresh out of apple cider vinegar to restore it. Plays a mean lute. Also carries a Dagger and Long Sword.
Chaotic Good Human
Tess al'Gruz - The Barbarian. A wildfire trapped in a beautiful, hulking frame, she is the party's sole native to Icewind Dale. Primary damage dealer and a textbook risk taker. She brandishes a mighty two-handed sword and whirls into the fray with abandon whenever she sees or smells a foe.
Chaotic Neutral Half-Orc
Stonebeard - here my troubles begin. A surly, bearded (duh), metal-clad tank. He is on a quest he doesn't talk much about until he's 12 pints deep into the ale. Initially I conceived of him as a Fighter/Cleric, but am now leaning Dwarven Defender. I love the idea, but I don't know if I can afford to lose a Divine caster. Axes or Maces, also Flails.
Lawful Neutral Dwarf
Rinadrel - A lonely, aloof man of the wilderness, this dude is in total flux. First I thought he was Ranger/Cleric. Long story short, that's out. I would like a Druid, either single or multiclass, but if Stonebeard goes DD, I'm left without a Cleric. Is such a setup viable? This is where I need the most help.
Neutral Good or True Neutral Elf
Jerrol - the utility man and either charismatic former smuggler or reserved grim reaper who lets his blades do all the talking. He was either stranded in or exiled to The Frozen North. A powerful and vital ally, but quite unpredictable. He's a Fighter/Thief with a twist: he's either a kind-hearted, lovable Swashbuckler or a vile Assassin (EEKeeper will provide the kitted multiclass). Scimitars and Short Swords. Tell me your thoughts.
Chaotic Good or Lawful Evil Halfling
Anduina - the lunatic Wild Mage. Most of the party keeps a safe distance, but they all respect her power. A hungry vortex of chaos, destruction, and ill fortune, she's the primary source of danger for her own party. Wields a quarterstaff just for laughs.
Chaotic Evil Gnome.
Roleplay is my favorite part of Icewind Dale, but powergaming suggestions are welcome—as I said, I need some practical effectiveness advice. Character-specific, total party, anything that comes to mind, I'm interested. Except for spoilers, try to keep them to a minimum.
So anyhoo… fire away.
Edit: For the purposes of this thread, go ahead and disregard Heart of Fury (HoF) mode. I won't be touching it.
Post edited by jackjack on
6
Comments
Sid may want to drop the crossbow as it stops her holding a musical instrument. If she is singing most of the time it's not much of a loss and melee weapons usually have more beneficial side-effects (extra immunities and so on). She doesn't want to be in the front party slots as many enemies lock onto who they encounter first and you don't want your fighters running after enemies that are running after her.
Tess might take more damage than you expect as a frontliner, especially in HoF mode. If Stonebeard is a DD she should follow him in and use the 2HS reach to obliterate from a safer distance. IWD has always had great 2HS choices as well as 2 handed axes and halberds (few if any enemies require blunt damage).
Stonebeard. DD if main tank, F/C if support act. Clerics have some really good mid-combat buffs and some of those also affect enemies. If you are a heavy buffer you will lose out on these, otherwise the DD is a great choice thanks to damage resistance and shorty saving throws. I'd have him lead the party during combat, at least until Jerrol can stand alongside him.
Rinadrel. Could be fun, a nice mix of spells and so on. Might want to consider how to use in longer battles once spells are depleted (shapeshift and so on).
Jerrol. Yep, looks good even if illegal! At high levels a swashie element will help a great deal. I'd go swashie myself to maximise the levelling but what you suggest sounds interesting.
Anduina. Understand from RP perspective but I'd consider cleric / illusionist in that party setup and the Stonebeard dilemma can be resolved. As a side note, if you go wild mage you might have to pick a race other than gnome.
If they add Tempus kit for Clerics I would make Stonbeard one of those.
I also have some advice as to Tess' build. I'd recommend her starting proficiencies be ** Two-Handed Sword, * Axe, and * Two-Handed Weapon Style. This setup lends her some ranged ability with throwing axes, and also keeps her options open for when an inevitably awesome two-handed axe drops from the random loot table.
Rinadrel could go Ranger/Cleric if you don't mind missing out on poison immunity and shape changing. If the 'bug' continues to function as it does in BGEE, Rinadrel will have access to Druid spells. Although, for most of his career he won't level up as quickly as a Druid (both because of his multi-class and the slower Cleric XP table), reducing his number of spell slots and upper-tier spell access.
As for running without a cleric, I say go for it. I like clerics as much as the next guy, but I don't think they're as necessary as some folks around here will make them out to be. Yeah, there's a lot of undead in IWD, but there's also a lot of other stuff. If you can beat the other stuff, you can beat the undead without a cleric. If you can't, you're in for a bad time either way.
Interesting, to say the least, regarding Ranger/Cleric being a bit more evened out. And, yeah, I keep forgetting about Druid kits. Depending on how Overhaul reconciles HoW Druid features with the Druid kits, that could change a LOT of people's minds about Druid kits and Druids in general. HoW Druids already have improved shapeshifting over previous Infinity Engine games, so how will this affect the Avenger and Shapeshifter?
I feel like Keeper should be used to let shorties be Paladins, not let shorties be superhumans. Hell, I'd even accept Keepering a halfling into a Dwarven Defender to represent a halfling with specialized dwarf training or something.
Actually, one of the things that's so absurdly good about the fighter 7 dual is that it hits thief 8 by the BG1 level cap. Which means you get your fighter abilities back and can grandmaster in BG1. Which is kind of nuts.
I'm planning on Swashbucker(6) -> Cleric.
Jerrol/Jerron - the utility man and either charismatic former smuggler or reserved grim reaper who lets his blades do all the talking. He was exiled to The Frozen North due to his "insanity". A powerful and vital ally, he is unfortunately quite unpredictable due to his split personality, which causes him to at times be Jerrol, a jovial absconder of goods and ladies man, and at other times to be Jerron, a quiet but malicious hunter. While his skills are those of a fighter at all times, he forgets of his murderous talents while in the "form" of Jerrol. Those who try to explain to him what he turns into are met with uncontrollable spasms, as Jerrol/n seems incapable of contemplating his duality without going into the aforementioned horrible seizure. His companions have chosen to simply let sleeping dogs lie, and fortunately, both personalities are willing to work with the group. He's a Fighter/Assassin (EEKeeper will provide the kitted multiclass). Scimitars and Short Swords. Chaotic Neutral Halfling (In RP terms, Jerrol's chaotic good and Jerron's lawful evil)
I don't mean to say "Here's my idea, it's better than your's!", but as soon as I read the first sentence I IMMEDIATELY got the idea of a split personality character. Use it if you like, ignore it if you don't.
no seriously, do it. I think it rocks. I don't even care if it is powergaming.
Also, for the thief... why not try a fighter/bounty hunter? You can still role play him as a swashbuckler. Maybe he is a pirate hunter?
But Anduina sounds HOT! A sexy lunatic wild mage gnome? Gotta be part of the team!