New to IWD, making an all Dwarven party
GlorenBronzebeard
Member Posts: 45
I am new to IWD but not new to D&D... I have played various other games with everything from 2nd -4th set rules to play on so I kind of know what I am doing, however I do hear that IWD is a tough cookie. Being a Dwarf fan and having my main D&D character pretty much the same (Gloren Bronzebeard, Dwarven fighter, Dwarven defender if possible) but being an adventurer Gloren has never had a problem teaming up with humans, elves, gnomes, hell even a kobold once or twice giving the right circumstances... Yes I get "Bronzebeard" was not too creative or original, however I was very young when I came up with this character and I have not seen it fit to change him...
This game, having the ability to create your entire party, I want to try an all Dwarven party.... Made up of kin from Gloren's home...His brother Thorin will be with him along with his 4 cousins... I am thinking of setting it up as thus:
Bronzebeard Clan breif bio (role play): The clan's origins can be traced back to the deep shanatar or the original mithril hall. Once a noble clan the Bronzebeards became watered down with fueding and constant wars with drow and goblins... Gloren's direct family comes from a noble house born in Neverwinter which deals mainly in merchant business. Many of the Bronzebeards are delvers, looting old dungeons and mines rather than mining the loot themselves...
-Leader: Gloren Bronzebeard~ Dwarven Defender~ NG
Charismatic, strong, handsome.. adventurous for a Dwarf. He makes his living by organising parties of adventurers and finding dangerous lost caverns, dungeons or mines to loot...
-Right hand man and Brother: Thallin Bronzebeard ~ Fighter/Cleric ~ LG
Brave, cautious, sort of timid... Thallin is the counter weight of Gloren. Though he has stuck with Gloren through most of his early adventures he is often quick to warn Gloren of the many dangers that may await them.
-Advisor, Spiritual Guide: Belo Bronzebeard ~ Cleric ~LG
Old and strong in the ways of Moradin Belo is the wise advice that Gloren often seeks on not only magical devices but Ethical decisions... Gloren knows Belo has a strong Ethos and high charisma (even for a Dwarf) and is a very wise leader....
-Scout/Thief: Crimlin Bronzebeard~ Thief... or bounty hunter... some feedback? ~ NG
Never living underground Crimlin became a great tracker and archer, suffecient in the crossbow and shortbow Crimlin knows much about traps, tracking, lock picking, hunting, poison, herbal remedies and general wilderness knowledge. His strength is finding and navigating dark and deadly caves, he is a good one to bring when seeking a decent shelter in the wilderness... His ethics are not all there though, but for the right price, they can be bought.
-Beserker: Grok Bronzebeard~ Barbarian~ CG
Like most beserkers Grok is sort of over zealous, hot headed, high tempered, and quick to judge... Often with good intentions he will dismiss the law in what he thinks is the greater good.. Gloren knows his cousin Grok to be a highly able warrior...though sometimes he can be a loose cannon and get the party in trouble.
-Spy, Assasin : Bain Bronzebeard~ Assasin or shadow dancer~ TN bordering NE
Bain is the darkest of them all, one can almost be sure there is a duegar under that black hood he wears and not a Dwarf. The man is highly pessimistic thinking optimism as a weekness. Bain is morbid and infactuated with death. He welcomes it which sometimes allows him to seemingly be acting heroic, when he is simply testing his luck with fate. He takes his time and can be insanely meticulous when carrying out an assasination or when stalking an enemy and although dark, he is a good addition to any party.
So... here it is... my own Dwarven Adventure.... my fears are 1. No Wizard... hell even Thorin's group had a wizard... and 2. No bard... Both are very powerful additions to the group... I am hoping though, as Dwarves.. with 2 clerics.. I can protect myself from magic and not need to use it myself.
Anyways, any feedback is helpful.. I am buying the game tonight and hope to play it out tomorrow... I am pretty set on this party but some feedback would help.. Thanks!
This game, having the ability to create your entire party, I want to try an all Dwarven party.... Made up of kin from Gloren's home...His brother Thorin will be with him along with his 4 cousins... I am thinking of setting it up as thus:
Bronzebeard Clan breif bio (role play): The clan's origins can be traced back to the deep shanatar or the original mithril hall. Once a noble clan the Bronzebeards became watered down with fueding and constant wars with drow and goblins... Gloren's direct family comes from a noble house born in Neverwinter which deals mainly in merchant business. Many of the Bronzebeards are delvers, looting old dungeons and mines rather than mining the loot themselves...
-Leader: Gloren Bronzebeard~ Dwarven Defender~ NG
Charismatic, strong, handsome.. adventurous for a Dwarf. He makes his living by organising parties of adventurers and finding dangerous lost caverns, dungeons or mines to loot...
-Right hand man and Brother: Thallin Bronzebeard ~ Fighter/Cleric ~ LG
Brave, cautious, sort of timid... Thallin is the counter weight of Gloren. Though he has stuck with Gloren through most of his early adventures he is often quick to warn Gloren of the many dangers that may await them.
-Advisor, Spiritual Guide: Belo Bronzebeard ~ Cleric ~LG
Old and strong in the ways of Moradin Belo is the wise advice that Gloren often seeks on not only magical devices but Ethical decisions... Gloren knows Belo has a strong Ethos and high charisma (even for a Dwarf) and is a very wise leader....
-Scout/Thief: Crimlin Bronzebeard~ Thief... or bounty hunter... some feedback? ~ NG
Never living underground Crimlin became a great tracker and archer, suffecient in the crossbow and shortbow Crimlin knows much about traps, tracking, lock picking, hunting, poison, herbal remedies and general wilderness knowledge. His strength is finding and navigating dark and deadly caves, he is a good one to bring when seeking a decent shelter in the wilderness... His ethics are not all there though, but for the right price, they can be bought.
-Beserker: Grok Bronzebeard~ Barbarian~ CG
Like most beserkers Grok is sort of over zealous, hot headed, high tempered, and quick to judge... Often with good intentions he will dismiss the law in what he thinks is the greater good.. Gloren knows his cousin Grok to be a highly able warrior...though sometimes he can be a loose cannon and get the party in trouble.
-Spy, Assasin : Bain Bronzebeard~ Assasin or shadow dancer~ TN bordering NE
Bain is the darkest of them all, one can almost be sure there is a duegar under that black hood he wears and not a Dwarf. The man is highly pessimistic thinking optimism as a weekness. Bain is morbid and infactuated with death. He welcomes it which sometimes allows him to seemingly be acting heroic, when he is simply testing his luck with fate. He takes his time and can be insanely meticulous when carrying out an assasination or when stalking an enemy and although dark, he is a good addition to any party.
So... here it is... my own Dwarven Adventure.... my fears are 1. No Wizard... hell even Thorin's group had a wizard... and 2. No bard... Both are very powerful additions to the group... I am hoping though, as Dwarves.. with 2 clerics.. I can protect myself from magic and not need to use it myself.
Anyways, any feedback is helpful.. I am buying the game tonight and hope to play it out tomorrow... I am pretty set on this party but some feedback would help.. Thanks!
5
Comments
Which is Buff n Summon.
The divine magic in IWDEE is powerful and handy. You'll be fine
Oh, and what is an "achery based assassin?" Is it a murderer from the plane of Acheron?
Tho DUHM > sleep > FoI has been working fine. Really like the Favor of Ilmater spell. A real tide turner.
If I go with the wiz slayer I feel like I am bringing another combat based character... Gloren, Grok and Thallin are going to be mainly combat... while Belo will be mostly magic.. the other 2 ranged, stealth and traps...
I.e. you would get best results from a BH with hide, sneak and set traps, using a shortbow in combat, plus a duel wielding fighter/thief with find traps and pick locks, for sneak attacking.
So anyhow I'm unsure how to tread here. Sneak attack seems designed more for fighter/thieves as Fardragon eluded to.
Generally in a large party I'd suggest using sneak attack all the time, but when I was soloing I didn't have another party member to distract the enemies while the thief sneak attacked them, so in order to hit enemies in the back I had to turn invisible, so backstab was better. However, if you decide to solo as a mage/thief or a cleric/thief, you could still use sneak attack since you could summon monsters to distract the enemies while you sneak attack them.
Also, in my solo assassin game, I was doing septuple damage by the time I was about halfway through the Severed Hand (I was playing on insane).
As for my assassin, I havent had to use him in meele too often... I use poison weapon and combine that with a crossbow and he is pretty deadly... Usually the poison kills or weakens the enemy before they get a chance to touch the main party. I have been toying with sneak attack and backstab a bit since I found him a strong dagger but the poison weapon + crossbow just seems boss right now..
As for undead.. undead seem to stand no chance agaisnt my ragtag group of dwarves... my fighter/cleric and pure cleric have powerful turn abilities and undead seem to scatter so i can easily take them in small groups rather then all at once. I am sure I will get to some stronger undead who can resist my turn but as for now undead are welcomed over the living enemies...
Its hard not having a wizard though... I always rolled with atleast one necromancer (mainly Xzar) in BG... and the first thing I always did when I encountered a large mob was blast them with horror... I am waiting for some higher level cleric spells with some good AOE properties to compensate...
Yes, I know it's not a dwarf. I love dwarves! But I love wizards just as much. And gnomes are like midget dwarves. Without the awesome beards. Or deep seated pathological love of gold. Or crippling functional alcoholism.
Alternatively, you could snag the BG2 Tweak pack and use options that lets you remove class/race restrictions, and make yourself up a Dwarf Invoker and just be like "Thunder Blessing came early, yo."
Plus full clerics get pretty absurd in the higher levels anyways... their spells rival a good wizard and have no armor penalty...
I've also thought a human wizard would be a good choice too... sort of like a guide.. a gandalf sort of mythos.... but then I thought.. naaah axes, hammers, bolts and a bit of holy blessings will get this party to the end... I had my fun in BG with Xzar causing terror in my enemies with horror, then blowing them up with various fireballs...