2 man party, Insane + HOF

unhidemymenus

Is it possible? Will it actually be very easy once I get going and have crazy levels from the EXP boosts?

Party is:

Elf fighter thief, dual wielding axes
Half elf cleric mage, sling and warhammer

I've played for about an hour, things are going slowly. I levelled both characters in both classes once just by killing the beetles. I killed a goblin and levelled both again... but it took like 5 tries to get only one to come after me instead of the whole group, then 5 more tries to kill a single goblin.

I'm worried that once I hit the EXP cap and my guys can't get better things will get impossible soon after.

Thoughts anyone?

Lord_Tansheron

It's entirely possible. You can solo HoF, too.

However, it's incredibly tedious and slow as you need to plow through truckloads of enemy HP. I tried solo once and stopped after like two hours because I found myself standing up and going to the kitchen while my character was hacking away at things several times.

MrGoodkat

Lord_Tansheron said:

It's entirely possible. You can solo HoF, too.

However, it's incredibly tedious and slow as you need to plow through truckloads of enemy HP. I tried solo once and stopped after like two hours because I found myself standing up and going to the kitchen while my character was hacking away at things several times.

Now that explains why you are so adamant about clear speed when it comes to HoF parties ;D

kensai

I'm not so sure about HOF solo. Some parts are quite difficult even for high level party, for solo that could become a nightmare. I'm killed him myself solo but that was without hof.
About duo, that's golden combo of
elf fighter\mage focused on longswords (because of +1 racial bonus and huge variety of good weapons) with proper alignment for familiar with stealing ability
ranger cleric (with undead as racial enemy) and with checked option for full druid spellbook on multi.

Harpagornis

The most common HOF-Solo-Chars are maybe F/M, F/M/C and F/M/T. But you can do it with other classes as well. Once you survived the very beginning summons will be key for a smooth run. Personally i prefer a Solo-Druid for HOF but thats just a matter of taste. ;o)

FinneousPJ

I believe @Wowo is running FMC + FMT duo.

Balrog99

I'm currently doing a duo of Totemic Druid & Cleric/Mage (both half-elves). It's nice having all the summons to deal with the hordes. I'm at the final fight of the Vale of Shadows right now. It's been a blast but so far I haven't gotten anything out of the mage spells. Hopefully some of the high level mage summons will add to the fun later...

Abel

I think you should reconsider your choice of classes.
Cleric/Mage is not a good fighter. Are you fine with mostly casting spells?
Fighter/Thief is a waste of XP on the Thief. If you want one, you should either dual-class him or tri-class him into a F/M/T (see below why).
In the beginning you just take out enemies one by one using a combination of Animate Dead and Hold Person/Chromatic Orb.
There's no XP cap in IWD. It's a level cap of 30. So, if you get enough experience, multiclassed characers can get to level 30 in each class.
I don't think you should be worried about not being powerful enough for challenging encounters. At least if you're using spellcasters.

I'm doing a solo HoF run with a F/M/C just for the fun of having Cleric spells in sequencers.
You have to rely on summons in the beginning but yes, the level progression is insane.
I was able to go directly to Lonelywood where each quest rewards huge amount of experience. So the level of my character averages 20 and that's after rescuing Hjollder from the Burial Isle.
I'm having some problems with the equipment but that's because you mostly get it through IWD.
As @Lord_Tansheron said, it just takes longer to kill everything but in a way, it's easier to manage only one character.
The F/M/C can reach very high damage scores, though it's not as efficient as the F/M/T. The latter with Mislead can just backstab everything while being securely hidden.
I'm considering Shapechanging into an Iron Golem to increase my damage output. It has 24 Strength, a 4D10 attack and immunity to +2 or less weapons. The cool thing is that you can pre-buff and Shapechange.

Edit: I did some tests with the Iron Golem and he's quite cheesy. With Righteous Magic he deals about 60 damage per hit. The cool thing is that even if he can't cast spells he can still use sequencers. Also, I forgot to mention he has perfect elemental and magic resistances. Given that the spell lasts 1 hour, I think I can say with confidence it's one of the best and level 9 for a reason.

Wowo

FinneousPJ said:

I believe @Wowo is running FMC + FMT duo.

Yes, they're quite fun and compliment each other perfectly. I've had less tedium and more fun running these 2 than any other group in HoF and most of my other parties full stop.

Harpagornis

Prebuffing and shapechanging works great with a druid too. Ok, your damage as a Greater Werwolf is only 1d10+10 (3 apr) but with the resistances and an ac of around -20 you will nearly never get hit. Together with your summons this is a real powerhouse: Get a cup of tea while watching them hacking through the enemy hordes.