no-reload runs in IWDEE
Ygramul
Member Posts: 1,060
Well, I ask myself why did I not play IWD more often than BG/BG2. A primary reason is that it is just too... easy.
A well-constructed party will wipe the floors in default difficulty. Even on no-reload.
(I only play core rules & never Heart of Fury -- D&D is somewhat well balanced for what it is, and those modifications break what balance there is.)
Without a challenge for no-reload runs IWD always felt gimped.
Perhaps, I'll modify my current BGEE/BG2EE house rules for a challenge:
- no-reloads
- no minmaxing (i.e. no-adjusting ability scores)
- imperfect party (not purposely borked, just... themed to be imperfect)
What say you?
Planning no-reload runs?
With what house rules?
A well-constructed party will wipe the floors in default difficulty. Even on no-reload.
(I only play core rules & never Heart of Fury -- D&D is somewhat well balanced for what it is, and those modifications break what balance there is.)
Without a challenge for no-reload runs IWD always felt gimped.
Perhaps, I'll modify my current BGEE/BG2EE house rules for a challenge:
- no-reloads
- no minmaxing (i.e. no-adjusting ability scores)
- imperfect party (not purposely borked, just... themed to be imperfect)
What say you?
Planning no-reload runs?
With what house rules?
1
Comments
Back to Basics (This party is often one of the first I use in most games)
Dwarf Fighter
Human Cleric
Elven (or Gnome for you short ppl out there) Mage
Halfling Thief
I see no reason not to kit them, but you will definitely have to think quite differently using the 4 basic classes.
Wild Thing (They make my heart sing):
Barbarian (Half-Orc.........especially because it'll bring some fun RP when compared to the rest of the group_
Ranger (I really like archer here, although I could see Beastmaster working well, Elf here)
Druid
Bard
Sorcerer
Thief (This is possibly the most "disciplined" out of all the characters here, I like swashbuckler here to give it more of a Wild vibe)
Patience, DISCIPLINE!:
Paladin
Monk
Fighter (Dwarven Defender or Kensai)
Cleric (Helm is my usual choice here since he's usually such a strict deity)
Wizard
Thief (I think Assassin and Shadow Dancer are definitely the most disciplined of the rogue kits)
Multi-Class, Multi-Race, Multi-Class!:
Similar to back to basics, with a couple of extras thrown in if you'd like for flavor:
Dwarf Fighter/Cleric
Elf (So Sue me) Fighter/Mage
Halfling Fighter/Thief
If you'd like you can end it there, I'd consider the following additions however:
Half-Elf Fighter/Druid
Half-Orc (fine or gnome) Cleric/Thief
Gnome (See I pick them sometimes) Cleric/Illusionist
Other fun things you can do, although you have fewer option, is race restrict yourself, maybe ONLY humans or half-elves, or anything similar to that.
Oh ya and the famous Dynamic Duo:
FMT
FMC
I think a 4 person party is actually easier due to faster leveling.
Maybe I'll put in some unpredictability in with Wild Mage and some late bloomers such as Kensai and Monk.
An optimized party is far too easy otherwise.
I feel back to basics is one of the harder parties honestly. Mage scrolls are few and far between. Also non fighters have pretty terrible thac0, so you'll be reliant on your fighters damage
Human Fighter dual classed to mage at lvl 9.
Human Fighter dual classed to cleric at lvl 9
Halfling Fighter/Thief
So the first nine I have to lug healing potions all the time and the second nine which is usually starts at the Severed Hand I don't really have any good tanks.
Makes a good challenge for me.
I like the idea of only single (or dual) classed characters. Multiclassed characters do make the game a bit easy.
The only real restriction I always give myself is to avoid crazy min/maxing. No 3 INT fighters, ect.
Honestly, I found BG much easier than IWD, but I noticed with he random loot, you could end up with some crummy gear instead of an uber weapon. If you want a REAL challenge, reload to not get as many of the best randoms, and take suboptimal proficiencies for your warriors; clubs, spears and staves were terrible for warriors. Daggers were often crud too. Generally, twohanded weapons werent too hot, especially twohanded swords.
Two-handed weapons are really great for rangers if you have HoW installed, since they get an extra attack per round as long as they aren't using a shield.
As for running multiple pure mages, I actually did an all-mage playthough once. As long as you divide the good spells among your mages, you'll be fine.
The extra attack thing was in vanilla IWD, and twohanders aren't bad early I agree, but other than Lonesome Road, its a bit of a slog. Iirc, Cairn Blade was the best twohanded sword, and it had no abilities. Its trumped by Daystar, available in Kuldahar.
I never tried this, but I found my highest level slots chronicly under-utilized even with 3 arcane casters, and not pure.
About Cairn Blade, there's this "Static Two-Handed Sword +4" which can deal extra electric damage and has a 25% stun chance per hit, I think. There's also another +4 two-handed sword called "Life Giver" or something.
As for the mage party, it's okay if not all of the mages have very high-level spells, since they probably won't be able to hit level 18 by the time they get to Belhifet anyway, and if you are also playing HoW, you can get some more level 9 scrolls from Edion. I definitely dislike how their are only two level 9 spells in IWD (I also dislike how both of those spells are from the same school), but they will probably fix that in the enhanced edition (plus they will most likely put more scrolls in the game).
I never found either of those, they could be random or 'not available' like some of the best IWD gear. Some gets removed by HoW, some was never available! Poor Benorg, nobody ever to find his truthy Axe of Truthiness +4!
Well, I more meant that lots of times my highest avsilable slot had either nothing or spells barely worth casting.
You don't need every mage knowing every spell. You can excel them for specific purposes with few spells per level.
If you permit multi-class combinations it becomes even more ridiculous.
One of the most satisfying IWD runs I remember had only a single mage, which made it very hard to balance spell use.
Better yet, perhaps one can have one, maybe two, bards and no mages.