The Best Icewind Dale Solo Fighter/Mage/Thief [Build Idea and Discussion]
Elrandir
Member Posts: 1,664
So, I'm wanting to play through the game as a solo F/M/T. Not at any crazy difficulty or anything, but I still want to work on the build. Tweak it to excellence. There are several factors at play here when it comes to making the strongest F/M/T for IWD. This thread is a combination of putting my thoughts down in writing (typing) and also a way to gain input from others.
Race: Only two big choices here, and it's largely up to preference. Elf or half-elf. Even though it's mostly preferential, let's take a look at the pros and cons of both races.
Elves:
Pros: 90% resistance against charm and sleep magics
Infravision
+1 THAC0 bonus with bows, short swords, and long swords
+5% Pick Pockets, +5% Move Silently, +10% Hide in Shadows
+1 Dexterity
Cons: -5% Open Locks
-1 Constitution
Thoughts: While the elves lose out on a handful of hitpoints and are slightly less skilled at opening locks, I personally believe their bonuses far outweigh those negligible negatives. Longbows and Longswords are two weapon types that will undoubtedly be given proficiency points, so gaining the extra +1 THAC0 in those is quite a boon, especially in the early game. The added thief skills are a nice bonus, though hardly game changing, and the extra +1 possible DEX provides yet another nice increase to ranged THAC0 as well as a handful of thief skills. This is my personal race choice for a F/M/T, but I'm quite interested to see other's opinions.
Half-elves:
Pros: 30% resistance against charm and sleep magics
Infravision
+10% Pick Pockets, +5% Hide in Shadows
Cons: A lack of serious pros.
Thoughts: Unlike the elves, the half-elves are relatively simple. They really have no cons, but because of that they also lack some of the elves' large bonuses. The only things that really make them "superior" to elves is the fact that they can gain a full 18 CON, resulting in a handful of hitpoints. However this means they can't gain the added ranged bonus or extra thief skills from a 19 DEX. They also have the mild advantage of arguably better thieving skills, as they have no penalty to lock picking, as well as a larger bonus to pocket picking, a skill most don't want to waste their "valuable" thieving skill points on. For those who wish to reload infrequently at best, having a better chance to nick that shiny ring in Kuldahar can be a valuable bonus. But is it really worth the loss of the elves' bigger bonuses?
Alignment: Once again, this is largely based on personal opinion, though it is important to note that some weapons can only be wielded by those of certain alignments. One of the best weapons in the game against a large number of enemies is a mace wieldable only by those of Good alignment. With this said, the weapon is hardly a requisite, though in a solo game it's effects are substantial enough to warrant an alignment choice based on it's availability. Assuming one believes this mace is valuable enough to make their character an upright moral being, then there are two options, purely up to preference and role-play. I assume that, due to the thief part of the class, the alignment Lawful Good is unavailable, leaving two choices; Neutral Good and Chaotic Good. Is your character the "follow the laws unless breaking them provides the best outcome" sort of character, or is s/he the type to blindly charge in, yelling about good and evil, and the corrupting influence of government? Up to you to decide.
Abilities: This one is obvious. Max statistics in all attributes is ideal. However, unless you're new to the series or RPGs in general, you probably realize that that is highly unlikely. So how best do we lay out our abilities? This depends, are you willing to roll for hours for that perfect character, or do you want to jump in and play immediately, regardless of how good or bad your abilities are? I'll give three builds, based on mechanics only (no role-playing here) and three acceptable rolls, none of which could be considered excessive:
The 75 point build: Nickname: Impatient Imoen (Heya!)
STR: 18/?? (The game is heavily combat focused, and while you'll likely want to kite enemies frequently, a good strength score will be necessary eventually. a strength of at least 18/51 is recommended, but as this build is designed for those wishing to just jump into the game, it's alright to go lower if you don't get that.)
DEX: 18 or 19 (A dexterity score of 18 or 19 will ensure you gain the maximum defensive bonuses possible, as well as a large number of extra thief skills, likely making your low point build a little easier to manage.)
CON: 17 or 18 (For the same reason we want a maximum STR score, we also want a maximum constitution. Eventually we will have to engage in combat, and with there being only one of us, we need as many hit points as possible. It could be argued that a CON of 10 is actually superior, as a handful of hitpoints won't save your life, but when you gain at least 24, possibly 32, possibly even more than that (if my knowledge of multi-classing mechanics isn't up to snuff), that's at least a hit or two, even on the more challenging difficulties.)
INT: 10 (While a high intelligence will allow you to scribe more spells into your spell book, it won't directly affect your total number of daily spell casts. The minimal number of spells that can be scribed is also a minor challenge, as drinking a potion of intelligence (or more than one if necessary) will easily allow you to scribe as many scrolls as necessary.)
WIS: 3 (Now we get to the dump-stats. Wisdom, albeit useful for the wish spell, has little to no effect in the life of a F/M/T. Yes, your lore ability will be useless, but there are identify spells for that. Simply put, with such a low total roll, we need the extra points elsewhere. Sorry wisdom.) (Also of note: Impatient Imoen build is obviously CG.)
CHA: 8 (Once again we have a dump-stat. It's unfortunate, as I like to make likable characters, but with a total roll of 75, we just can't afford to have a high charisma. Now, it's important to note that I was using an elf when I was doing the rolling for these examples, so an 8 is as low as the CHA will go. A half-elf can likely drop it further to increase INT.)
The 85 point build: Nickname: Average Albert (Watch out for Rufie!)
STR: 18/51+ (The game is heavily combat focused, and while you'll likely want to kite enemies frequently, a good strength score will be necessary eventually. Unlike the 75 point build you usually need to roll a few times to get a perfect 85, but if you're willing to roll a few times, then you're willing to roll a little bit more for that 18/51+.)
DEX: 18 or 19 (A dexterity score of 18 or 19 will ensure you gain the maximum defensive bonuses possible, as well as a large number of extra thief skills, likely making your low point build a little easier to manage. Essentially, the same reasons as before.)
CON: 17 or 18 (Like with Dexterity, we want this for the same reasons we wanted it in the 75 point build. For the same reason we want a maximum STR score, we also want a maximum constitution. Eventually we will have to engage in combat, and with there being only one of us, we need as many hit points as possible. It could be argued that a CON of 10 is actually superior, as a handful of hitpoints won't save your life, but when you gain at least 24, possibly 32, possibly even more than that (if my knowledge of multi-classing mechanics isn't up to snuff), that's at least a hit or two, even on the more challenging difficulties.)
INT: 18 (Here's our first real departure from the 75 point build. While the points made for a 10 INT in the 75 build hold, that doesn't mean that having an 18 intelligence isn't handy. Intelligence potions aren't unlimited, or at least aren't free, so having less need for them will make life easier.)
WIS: 3 or 5 (After putting 8 points into INT, we only have two points left to spend in this build, and their use is really up to you. Do you want to decrease the lore penalty from having a low wisdom, or would you rather make yourself at least as likable as the average joe? It's up to you.)
CHA: 8 or 10 (Once again, do you want to be more charismatic or wise? Minimal effects either way, but it's up to you regardless.)
The 92 point build: Nickname: Superb Sarevok (I will be the last build, and they will be read first!)
STR: 18/91+ (The game is heavily combat focused, and while you'll likely want to kite enemies frequently, a good strength score will be necessary eventually. Unlike the previous two builds you need to invest some time to get a proper 92, but if you're willing to take the time, then you're willing to roll a little bit more for that 18/91+.)
DEX: 18 or 19 (A dexterity score of 18 or 19 will ensure you gain the maximum defensive bonuses possible, as well as a large number of extra thief skills, likely making your low point build a little easier to manage. Essentially, the same reasons as before.)
CON: 17 or 18 (Like with Dexterity, we want this for the same reasons we wanted it in the other builds. For the same reason we want a maximum STR score, we also want a maximum constitution. Eventually we will have to engage in combat, and with there being only one of us, we need as many hit points as possible. It could be argued that a CON of 10 is actually superior, as a handful of hitpoints won't save your life, but when you gain at least 24, possibly 32, possibly even more than that (if my knowledge of multi-classing mechanics isn't up to snuff), that's at least a hit or two, even on the more challenging difficulties.)
INT: 18 (Same reasons as in the 85 point build. While the points made for a 10 INT in the 75 build hold, that doesn't mean that having an 18 intelligence isn't handy. Intelligence potions aren't unlimited, or at least aren't free, so having less need for them will make life easier.)
WIS: 10 (The beautiful thing about a 92 point build is that you can be as wise as the average man. Obviously a higher wisdom is moderately handy, but it's negligible at best. Just be happy you're not charging blindly for no good reason anymore.)
CHA: 10 (As with WIS, you can now be a normal member of society. A higher charisma can make buying new items in shops less pricy, but with all the money you'll make and the few things you'll need to spend it on, considering you'll be alone, a 10 is more than enough.)
Thief Skills: Thief skills are pretty simple, as you'll end up with 765 skill points, with only seven skills to put them in. Put simply, get everything to 100, and then give a bit extra to Move Silently and Hide in Shadows. How should you put them in, though? Well, if you read nerdy threads about this game series on forums like this, then you probably already know, but I'll tell you anyway.
Pick Pockets: A practically useless skill, the highest you NEED is 35. Fun fact: the elves (who are not as skilled at this skill as half-elves) begin with a base of 35. Only put points in this when you either don't want to reload much, or have been having an especially hard time nicking something. Or when everything else is at 100, of course.
Open Locks: A very nice skill. Not necessary, but very nice. Get it to 100 quickly.
Find Traps: The most useful skill in a thief's repertoire. Raise it to 100 immediately, if not faster. Once it's at 100 you almost never have to think about it again.
Move Silently: Okay, so this skill is sort of up to personal preference. In the early game I'd rather have some sturdy splint mail between me and my foes' weapon, and by the time I have a good piece of light armour that allows me to use thief skills, I probably already have the invisibility spell, thereby making this skill useless. That's just me, however, and some people prefer to use this ability to avoid confrontations or to pick enemies off one by one. A fun fact: this skill and Hide in Shadows do approximately the same thing, so if you wanted to you could just raise one. I like the way a nice even spread of ability points looks, however, so I'll raise them both to 130-ish.
Hide in Shadows: See the above paragraph on Move Silently.
Detect Illusion: This skill begins at 0, but it's actually very handy. It essentially acts as a True Sight spell, dispelling enemy illusions, making mages easier to kill. Unfortunately, this is IWD, not Baldur's Gate, and mages aren't as dangerous. Still, a useful ability. Once Open Locks and Find Traps are both at 100, this is usually my next skill to raise. I often put five points into it at character creation as well, just so it's not at 0. Doesn't really help me much, though.
Set Traps: This skill could be very handy in a solo play-through, and it's a shame I don't think to use it much. Raising this skill increases your chance of successfully setting traps. For a solo character it's great, as it'll allow you to more easily bring down large groups of enemies. I completely forget about it though, and therefore don't raise the skill much. Don't be me. Use it and love it.
Weapon Proficiencies: Now this is where I'm really looking for assistance from others, as I don't know IWD's weapons terribly well. At max level a F/M/T will have 14 proficiencies, meaning 7 specializations. I personally refuse to use dual wielding due to it's impracticality and the annoyance of having to move weapons around whenever I want to use my bow, but that's just me. Dual wielding makes a stronger character, but I'm ignoring it. So, since I don't know the weapons that well, I'm going to run through all the types, and hope that others fill in the gaps in my knowledge.
Bastard Sword: Relatively unhelpful, as far as I'm aware. Not worth taking.
Long Sword: Definitely take, as there are many good ones. One of my two starting specializations.
Short Sword: As far as I'm aware, this is only for midgets and thieves. Real men use bigger swords.
Axe: Although an excellent weapon in the BG series, I don't know of any terribly useful versions in IWD.
Two-handed Sword: I don't know of any stand-out versions that make this weapon type worth taking.
Katana: This weren't any in the original game, and I don't think the EE added ones are worth the proficiency points.
Scimitar/Wakizashi/Ninjato: While there are some nice scimitars, I'm not sure they warrant one pip, let alone two.
Dagger: There are some very nice mage daggers, although I'm not sure they're worth the pips. Perhaps if you dual-wield, as I don't think sword and dagger is nearly as silly as most dual-wielded weapons.
War Hammer: I know there's a very nice war hammer that can be integral to killing a challenging boss, but I'm also not sure it's as helpful in a solo play-through, when you've likely found other nice weapons by that point.
Club: I imagine this is one to avoid, like it usually is.
Spear: I don't remember there being any spears even close to valuable enough to warrant pips.
Halberd: Same as spear.
Flail/Morning Star: Take this. Do it. Seriously. This is my third specialization.
Mace: As mentioned earlier in the post, there's an exceptional mace for good-aligned characters. Apart from that, I don't think it's worth it. But if you are good-aligned, then take pips in it.
Quarterstaff: I'm unsure if there are any of value in the game.
Crossbow: Not as good as the longbow, put simply.
Longbow: My second starting specialization. These things are exceptional.
Shortbow: Same as crossbow, they just can't compare to the longbow.
Dart: Once again, longbow wins.
Sling: You're not forced to use this like a cleric is, so why would you? Longbows yet again.
Two-handed Weapon Style: Are there any 2H weapons valuable enough to warrant pips in this? I sure don't know.
Sword and Shield Style: While there is an exceptional shield for elf-kin in the game, it's not really worth taking pips in this. By the time you get that shield the threat of ranged attacks is all too small.
Single Weapon Style: A valuable style, and something I definitely consider, though if you intend to use shields or dual wield it's useless.
Two Weapon Style: Do you want to dual wield? Yes? Use this.
Spells: There are a lot of choices here, but I tend to stick with Find Familiar and Identify. There's a damaging spell, a sleep scroll, and an illusion based defensive spell easily stolen in the first trader's house, and neither of these spells I'm choosing can be gained quickly or cheaply. Besides, a familiar will boost your health, a helpful bonus for a solo character. And after all, you won't be casting much in combat at the start anyway, due to your armour. These are the best beginning spells with great effects. If you feel the need to have combat magic early on then there's magic missile as a damage dealer, or spook as a crowd control spell. Sleep, which is critical in some fights, is found in the first town, so there's no reason to choose that. And if you choose to cast spells instead of wear armour, then you probably want the shield or armour spells to make up for your lack of protection. To each their own, though.
So, with all this character building done, it's time to jump into the game. My character of choice is Red, a ginger haired elf in all red who uses Male Thief 2 for his voice. His stats are (at least):
STR: 18/91+
DEX: 19
CON: 17
INT: 18
WIS: 10+
CHA: 10+
With his longsword and longbow, along with his trusty pseudo dragon named Pink, he's ready to take on all that the north has to offer. Or at least he hopes.
I hope someone gains at least a bit of knowledge from this post, and that you'll all be willing to share some of your's! I know Red's hardly perfect, but he can only go up from here!
Race: Only two big choices here, and it's largely up to preference. Elf or half-elf. Even though it's mostly preferential, let's take a look at the pros and cons of both races.
Elves:
Pros: 90% resistance against charm and sleep magics
Infravision
+1 THAC0 bonus with bows, short swords, and long swords
+5% Pick Pockets, +5% Move Silently, +10% Hide in Shadows
+1 Dexterity
Cons: -5% Open Locks
-1 Constitution
Thoughts: While the elves lose out on a handful of hitpoints and are slightly less skilled at opening locks, I personally believe their bonuses far outweigh those negligible negatives. Longbows and Longswords are two weapon types that will undoubtedly be given proficiency points, so gaining the extra +1 THAC0 in those is quite a boon, especially in the early game. The added thief skills are a nice bonus, though hardly game changing, and the extra +1 possible DEX provides yet another nice increase to ranged THAC0 as well as a handful of thief skills. This is my personal race choice for a F/M/T, but I'm quite interested to see other's opinions.
Half-elves:
Pros: 30% resistance against charm and sleep magics
Infravision
+10% Pick Pockets, +5% Hide in Shadows
Cons: A lack of serious pros.
Thoughts: Unlike the elves, the half-elves are relatively simple. They really have no cons, but because of that they also lack some of the elves' large bonuses. The only things that really make them "superior" to elves is the fact that they can gain a full 18 CON, resulting in a handful of hitpoints. However this means they can't gain the added ranged bonus or extra thief skills from a 19 DEX. They also have the mild advantage of arguably better thieving skills, as they have no penalty to lock picking, as well as a larger bonus to pocket picking, a skill most don't want to waste their "valuable" thieving skill points on. For those who wish to reload infrequently at best, having a better chance to nick that shiny ring in Kuldahar can be a valuable bonus. But is it really worth the loss of the elves' bigger bonuses?
Alignment: Once again, this is largely based on personal opinion, though it is important to note that some weapons can only be wielded by those of certain alignments. One of the best weapons in the game against a large number of enemies is a mace wieldable only by those of Good alignment. With this said, the weapon is hardly a requisite, though in a solo game it's effects are substantial enough to warrant an alignment choice based on it's availability. Assuming one believes this mace is valuable enough to make their character an upright moral being, then there are two options, purely up to preference and role-play. I assume that, due to the thief part of the class, the alignment Lawful Good is unavailable, leaving two choices; Neutral Good and Chaotic Good. Is your character the "follow the laws unless breaking them provides the best outcome" sort of character, or is s/he the type to blindly charge in, yelling about good and evil, and the corrupting influence of government? Up to you to decide.
Abilities: This one is obvious. Max statistics in all attributes is ideal. However, unless you're new to the series or RPGs in general, you probably realize that that is highly unlikely. So how best do we lay out our abilities? This depends, are you willing to roll for hours for that perfect character, or do you want to jump in and play immediately, regardless of how good or bad your abilities are? I'll give three builds, based on mechanics only (no role-playing here) and three acceptable rolls, none of which could be considered excessive:
The 75 point build: Nickname: Impatient Imoen (Heya!)
STR: 18/?? (The game is heavily combat focused, and while you'll likely want to kite enemies frequently, a good strength score will be necessary eventually. a strength of at least 18/51 is recommended, but as this build is designed for those wishing to just jump into the game, it's alright to go lower if you don't get that.)
DEX: 18 or 19 (A dexterity score of 18 or 19 will ensure you gain the maximum defensive bonuses possible, as well as a large number of extra thief skills, likely making your low point build a little easier to manage.)
CON: 17 or 18 (For the same reason we want a maximum STR score, we also want a maximum constitution. Eventually we will have to engage in combat, and with there being only one of us, we need as many hit points as possible. It could be argued that a CON of 10 is actually superior, as a handful of hitpoints won't save your life, but when you gain at least 24, possibly 32, possibly even more than that (if my knowledge of multi-classing mechanics isn't up to snuff), that's at least a hit or two, even on the more challenging difficulties.)
INT: 10 (While a high intelligence will allow you to scribe more spells into your spell book, it won't directly affect your total number of daily spell casts. The minimal number of spells that can be scribed is also a minor challenge, as drinking a potion of intelligence (or more than one if necessary) will easily allow you to scribe as many scrolls as necessary.)
WIS: 3 (Now we get to the dump-stats. Wisdom, albeit useful for the wish spell, has little to no effect in the life of a F/M/T. Yes, your lore ability will be useless, but there are identify spells for that. Simply put, with such a low total roll, we need the extra points elsewhere. Sorry wisdom.) (Also of note: Impatient Imoen build is obviously CG.)
CHA: 8 (Once again we have a dump-stat. It's unfortunate, as I like to make likable characters, but with a total roll of 75, we just can't afford to have a high charisma. Now, it's important to note that I was using an elf when I was doing the rolling for these examples, so an 8 is as low as the CHA will go. A half-elf can likely drop it further to increase INT.)
The 85 point build: Nickname: Average Albert (Watch out for Rufie!)
STR: 18/51+ (The game is heavily combat focused, and while you'll likely want to kite enemies frequently, a good strength score will be necessary eventually. Unlike the 75 point build you usually need to roll a few times to get a perfect 85, but if you're willing to roll a few times, then you're willing to roll a little bit more for that 18/51+.)
DEX: 18 or 19 (A dexterity score of 18 or 19 will ensure you gain the maximum defensive bonuses possible, as well as a large number of extra thief skills, likely making your low point build a little easier to manage. Essentially, the same reasons as before.)
CON: 17 or 18 (Like with Dexterity, we want this for the same reasons we wanted it in the 75 point build. For the same reason we want a maximum STR score, we also want a maximum constitution. Eventually we will have to engage in combat, and with there being only one of us, we need as many hit points as possible. It could be argued that a CON of 10 is actually superior, as a handful of hitpoints won't save your life, but when you gain at least 24, possibly 32, possibly even more than that (if my knowledge of multi-classing mechanics isn't up to snuff), that's at least a hit or two, even on the more challenging difficulties.)
INT: 18 (Here's our first real departure from the 75 point build. While the points made for a 10 INT in the 75 build hold, that doesn't mean that having an 18 intelligence isn't handy. Intelligence potions aren't unlimited, or at least aren't free, so having less need for them will make life easier.)
WIS: 3 or 5 (After putting 8 points into INT, we only have two points left to spend in this build, and their use is really up to you. Do you want to decrease the lore penalty from having a low wisdom, or would you rather make yourself at least as likable as the average joe? It's up to you.)
CHA: 8 or 10 (Once again, do you want to be more charismatic or wise? Minimal effects either way, but it's up to you regardless.)
The 92 point build: Nickname: Superb Sarevok (I will be the last build, and they will be read first!)
STR: 18/91+ (The game is heavily combat focused, and while you'll likely want to kite enemies frequently, a good strength score will be necessary eventually. Unlike the previous two builds you need to invest some time to get a proper 92, but if you're willing to take the time, then you're willing to roll a little bit more for that 18/91+.)
DEX: 18 or 19 (A dexterity score of 18 or 19 will ensure you gain the maximum defensive bonuses possible, as well as a large number of extra thief skills, likely making your low point build a little easier to manage. Essentially, the same reasons as before.)
CON: 17 or 18 (Like with Dexterity, we want this for the same reasons we wanted it in the other builds. For the same reason we want a maximum STR score, we also want a maximum constitution. Eventually we will have to engage in combat, and with there being only one of us, we need as many hit points as possible. It could be argued that a CON of 10 is actually superior, as a handful of hitpoints won't save your life, but when you gain at least 24, possibly 32, possibly even more than that (if my knowledge of multi-classing mechanics isn't up to snuff), that's at least a hit or two, even on the more challenging difficulties.)
INT: 18 (Same reasons as in the 85 point build. While the points made for a 10 INT in the 75 build hold, that doesn't mean that having an 18 intelligence isn't handy. Intelligence potions aren't unlimited, or at least aren't free, so having less need for them will make life easier.)
WIS: 10 (The beautiful thing about a 92 point build is that you can be as wise as the average man. Obviously a higher wisdom is moderately handy, but it's negligible at best. Just be happy you're not charging blindly for no good reason anymore.)
CHA: 10 (As with WIS, you can now be a normal member of society. A higher charisma can make buying new items in shops less pricy, but with all the money you'll make and the few things you'll need to spend it on, considering you'll be alone, a 10 is more than enough.)
Thief Skills: Thief skills are pretty simple, as you'll end up with 765 skill points, with only seven skills to put them in. Put simply, get everything to 100, and then give a bit extra to Move Silently and Hide in Shadows. How should you put them in, though? Well, if you read nerdy threads about this game series on forums like this, then you probably already know, but I'll tell you anyway.
Pick Pockets: A practically useless skill, the highest you NEED is 35. Fun fact: the elves (who are not as skilled at this skill as half-elves) begin with a base of 35. Only put points in this when you either don't want to reload much, or have been having an especially hard time nicking something. Or when everything else is at 100, of course.
Open Locks: A very nice skill. Not necessary, but very nice. Get it to 100 quickly.
Find Traps: The most useful skill in a thief's repertoire. Raise it to 100 immediately, if not faster. Once it's at 100 you almost never have to think about it again.
Move Silently: Okay, so this skill is sort of up to personal preference. In the early game I'd rather have some sturdy splint mail between me and my foes' weapon, and by the time I have a good piece of light armour that allows me to use thief skills, I probably already have the invisibility spell, thereby making this skill useless. That's just me, however, and some people prefer to use this ability to avoid confrontations or to pick enemies off one by one. A fun fact: this skill and Hide in Shadows do approximately the same thing, so if you wanted to you could just raise one. I like the way a nice even spread of ability points looks, however, so I'll raise them both to 130-ish.
Hide in Shadows: See the above paragraph on Move Silently.
Detect Illusion: This skill begins at 0, but it's actually very handy. It essentially acts as a True Sight spell, dispelling enemy illusions, making mages easier to kill. Unfortunately, this is IWD, not Baldur's Gate, and mages aren't as dangerous. Still, a useful ability. Once Open Locks and Find Traps are both at 100, this is usually my next skill to raise. I often put five points into it at character creation as well, just so it's not at 0. Doesn't really help me much, though.
Set Traps: This skill could be very handy in a solo play-through, and it's a shame I don't think to use it much. Raising this skill increases your chance of successfully setting traps. For a solo character it's great, as it'll allow you to more easily bring down large groups of enemies. I completely forget about it though, and therefore don't raise the skill much. Don't be me. Use it and love it.
Weapon Proficiencies: Now this is where I'm really looking for assistance from others, as I don't know IWD's weapons terribly well. At max level a F/M/T will have 14 proficiencies, meaning 7 specializations. I personally refuse to use dual wielding due to it's impracticality and the annoyance of having to move weapons around whenever I want to use my bow, but that's just me. Dual wielding makes a stronger character, but I'm ignoring it. So, since I don't know the weapons that well, I'm going to run through all the types, and hope that others fill in the gaps in my knowledge.
Bastard Sword: Relatively unhelpful, as far as I'm aware. Not worth taking.
Long Sword: Definitely take, as there are many good ones. One of my two starting specializations.
Short Sword: As far as I'm aware, this is only for midgets and thieves. Real men use bigger swords.
Axe: Although an excellent weapon in the BG series, I don't know of any terribly useful versions in IWD.
Two-handed Sword: I don't know of any stand-out versions that make this weapon type worth taking.
Katana: This weren't any in the original game, and I don't think the EE added ones are worth the proficiency points.
Scimitar/Wakizashi/Ninjato: While there are some nice scimitars, I'm not sure they warrant one pip, let alone two.
Dagger: There are some very nice mage daggers, although I'm not sure they're worth the pips. Perhaps if you dual-wield, as I don't think sword and dagger is nearly as silly as most dual-wielded weapons.
War Hammer: I know there's a very nice war hammer that can be integral to killing a challenging boss, but I'm also not sure it's as helpful in a solo play-through, when you've likely found other nice weapons by that point.
Club: I imagine this is one to avoid, like it usually is.
Spear: I don't remember there being any spears even close to valuable enough to warrant pips.
Halberd: Same as spear.
Flail/Morning Star: Take this. Do it. Seriously. This is my third specialization.
Mace: As mentioned earlier in the post, there's an exceptional mace for good-aligned characters. Apart from that, I don't think it's worth it. But if you are good-aligned, then take pips in it.
Quarterstaff: I'm unsure if there are any of value in the game.
Crossbow: Not as good as the longbow, put simply.
Longbow: My second starting specialization. These things are exceptional.
Shortbow: Same as crossbow, they just can't compare to the longbow.
Dart: Once again, longbow wins.
Sling: You're not forced to use this like a cleric is, so why would you? Longbows yet again.
Two-handed Weapon Style: Are there any 2H weapons valuable enough to warrant pips in this? I sure don't know.
Sword and Shield Style: While there is an exceptional shield for elf-kin in the game, it's not really worth taking pips in this. By the time you get that shield the threat of ranged attacks is all too small.
Single Weapon Style: A valuable style, and something I definitely consider, though if you intend to use shields or dual wield it's useless.
Two Weapon Style: Do you want to dual wield? Yes? Use this.
Spells: There are a lot of choices here, but I tend to stick with Find Familiar and Identify. There's a damaging spell, a sleep scroll, and an illusion based defensive spell easily stolen in the first trader's house, and neither of these spells I'm choosing can be gained quickly or cheaply. Besides, a familiar will boost your health, a helpful bonus for a solo character. And after all, you won't be casting much in combat at the start anyway, due to your armour. These are the best beginning spells with great effects. If you feel the need to have combat magic early on then there's magic missile as a damage dealer, or spook as a crowd control spell. Sleep, which is critical in some fights, is found in the first town, so there's no reason to choose that. And if you choose to cast spells instead of wear armour, then you probably want the shield or armour spells to make up for your lack of protection. To each their own, though.
So, with all this character building done, it's time to jump into the game. My character of choice is Red, a ginger haired elf in all red who uses Male Thief 2 for his voice. His stats are (at least):
STR: 18/91+
DEX: 19
CON: 17
INT: 18
WIS: 10+
CHA: 10+
With his longsword and longbow, along with his trusty pseudo dragon named Pink, he's ready to take on all that the north has to offer. Or at least he hopes.
I hope someone gains at least a bit of knowledge from this post, and that you'll all be willing to share some of your's! I know Red's hardly perfect, but he can only go up from here!
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Comments
Once you get to a decent level (say, 12 mage) you really won't need ranged weapons so I would suggest to take dual wielding as you won't be switching weapons anyway so might as well gain the benefits.
Longswords and Katanas are the backstabbing weapons of choice.
Mace and Flail are both strong blunt weapons. Flail for the stunners and mace for the undead killer.
Axe has the best weapon in the game (Axe of the Minotaur Lord +4) though by the time you can get it you'll be wanting to use backstabbing weapons.
Id maybe consider in order:
Longsword
Longbow
Mace
Two weapon style
Katana
Enjoy
On weapons, I agree with the starter specializations (LS, LB). Next is a blunt, and Flail is good. Beyond that, it's really a matter of choice, since you've got everything covered. I agree that Mace is probably a must for HoW. Dagger is theoretically good for a F/M type, and there are plenty available, but I've never been sold on it. I like bigger weapons that do more damage. I also like to have a weapon with a threat range of two, for attacking from behind summons in close quarters. A two-handed sword isn't bad, and there are axes and spears with major enchantments. There are many magical axes throughout the game, and they have more perks than just the usual thaco/damage bonuses. Also to consider - never mind weapon availability, a quarterstaff is the only two-handed weapon with which you can sneak attack, but if you are sneak attacking, practically by definition you're not being targeted anyway, so this minor benefit probably doesn't justify taking Quarterstaff pips.
I accept the annoyance factor of dual wielding with a solo FMT, so if that's not an option, I'd say at least one pip in single weapon style and one in two handed weapon style. AC, weapon speed reduction, and increased critical threat range are very valuable - you can only use one weapon (or two
Edit: ahem, also consider taking pips in weapons that can be thrown, as sometimes one gets tired of managing inventory for arrows - admittedly the ammo belt makes it much easier than before.
An alternate build is a dual-wield build without the two handed weapon style pips, and in this build I think you want a returning throwing weapon for ease of play (use LB up until that point). The pips could be (not necessarily in order) LS, LB, Flail, Axe, Mace, Two Weapon Style.
WIS and CHA are fairly pointless. Wish is too random unless you save reload for Double IA+TS at the start of battles, CHA is pointless as whatever XP or discounts you get from it are negligible given that there's only one character and 3 classes.
Or that extra points aren't all poured into either WIS (for Wish) or CHA (for Discounts) instead of split between the two?
@Wowo I don't remember reading anything about EE added katanas being that valuable? Did I just miss something? And isn't the Axe of the Minotaur Lord two-handed?
@Aerich What good spears are there? I don't remember hearing anything positive about them.
@Zyzzogeton For your first question, it's because I didn't choose to use those total rolls in my example builds. Nothing more. As for your second question, it's because I don't want a dumpstat. Sure, you could have an 18 WIS or CHA, but I prefer 10 in each.
Now, onto the builds:
Note: these proficiencies aren’t necessarily in order.
The No Dual Wielding Build: (Also known as the minimal hassle build) Designed so you never have to remove your longbow. (or whatever ranged weapon you're using)
Lsword ** (A good standby that can be used throughout the game)
Lbow ** (Will probably be phased out eventually, but is useful before then)
Flail ** (Solid blunt weapon choice throughout)
Mace ** (3 White Doves. ‘Nough said)
SWS ** (Without TWS, this will provide some nice defensive bonuses)
Axe ** (Several good axes, including the Axe of the Minotaur Lord as well as throwable ones)
THWS ** (Although the second pip isn’t that useful, what else are you going to put it in?)
Dual Wielding for Days Build: This is my personal dual wielding build, as I don’t like dual wielding with anything but a dagger in the off-hand. Others will likely have differing opinions.
Lsword ** (A good standby that can be used throughout the game)
Lbow ** (Will probably be phased out eventually, but is useful before then)
Flail ** (Solid blunt weapon choice throughout)
Mace ** (3 White Doves. ‘Nough said)
TWS *** (Self-explanatory)
Dagger * (Even if I use TWS, I won’t use more than a dagger in my off-hand)
Axe ** (Several good axes, including the Axe of the Minotaur Lord as well as throwable ones)
Who Needs Dual Wield When I’ve Got a Shield Build: This is a high-hassle non-TWS build for those of you planning to use shields. (or at least one specific one)
Lsword ** (A good standby that can be used throughout the game)
Lbow ** (Will probably be phased out eventually, but is useful before then)
Flail ** (Solid blunt weapon choice throughout)
Mace ** (3 White Doves. ‘Nough said)
Katana or Spear ** (Apparently there are good ones. Ask Wowo and Aerich. It’s news to me)
Axe ** (Several good axes, including the Axe of the Minotaur Lord as well as throwable ones)
THWS ** (Although the second pip isn’t that useful, what else are you going to put it in?)
There's two new katanas. Have a look at the new items thread for stats. The first one is nice with it's on hit AoE curse and increased threat range. Remember too that the higher base damage helps backstabs significantly.
No good spears as far as I remember. In fact there's no good two handed weapons at all compared to single handed options unless you insist on avoiding dual wielding in which case I can see an argument.
Maybe increase your off handed options to include shortswords for flavour?
Power wise the idea of off handing a weapon is to choose a speed weapon. Your options for offhand speed weapons include flail, longsword, bastard sword and scimitar. Otherwise you'll probably miss out on a few attacks each round depending on what else is going on.
To be honest, if I'm avoiding dual-wielding then there's still not much value in two-handed weapons. My no-shield build is designed for simplicity and minimal item swapping, while my build designed with shields in mind, well, has shields in mind. I only did the THWS because I thought Mino axe was two handed and because Aerich thinks there are good spears. With mino axe being one handed, I'd probably change my builds slightly.
The No Dual Wielding Build: (Also known as the minimal hassle build) Designed so you never have to remove your longbow. (or whatever ranged weapon you're using)
Lsword ** (A good standby that can be used throughout the game)
Lbow ** (Will probably be phased out eventually, but is useful before then)
Flail ** (Solid blunt weapon choice throughout)
Mace ** (3 White Doves. ‘Nough said)
SWS ** (Without TWS, this will provide some nice defensive bonuses)
Axe ** (Several good axes, including the Axe of the Minotaur Lord as well as throwable ones)
Katana ** (Apparently these are awesome for backstabbing.)
Dual Wielding for Days Build: This is my personal dual wielding build, as I don’t like dual wielding with anything but a dagger in the off-hand. Others will likely have differing opinions.
Lsword ** (A good standby that can be used throughout the game)
Lbow ** (Will probably be phased out eventually, but is useful before then)
Flail ** (Solid blunt weapon choice throughout)
Mace ** (3 White Doves. ‘Nough said)
TWS *** (Self-explanatory)
Dagger or Shortsword * (Even if I use TWS, I won’t use more than a dagger in my off-hand. Maybe a short sword)
Axe ** (Several good axes, including the Axe of the Minotaur Lord as well as throwable ones)
Who Needs Dual Wield When I’ve Got a Shield Build: This build is a bit of a hassle, but it's a non-TWS build for those of you planning to use shields. (or at least one specific one)
Lsword ** (A good standby that can be used throughout the game)
Lbow ** (Will probably be phased out eventually, but is useful before then)
Flail ** (Solid blunt weapon choice throughout)
Mace ** (3 White Doves. ‘Nough said)
Katana ** (Apparently these are awesome for backstabbing)
Axe ** (Several good axes, including the Axe of the Minotaur Lord as well as throwable ones)
Scimitar or S&SS ** (Scimitars are decent, but if you plan on using a shield the whole game then this'll help out with the ranged threat. Sort of.)
It's not really going to amount to much.
Might as well zoom to the Long Sword of Action (which is also within the general vicinity of the Hammer and the White Dove Mace) and just stick to those three weapons.
So not really sure why Spears, Katanas or whatever are somehow still a big factor.
The weapon in the second hand doesn't matter, if the APR weapons are out. Since all it'll be mostly good for is another attack with all the bonuses piled into it, which any weapon can do. It only attacks 1 or 2 times per round, that's not enough to rely on the secondary on hit effects of the weapon. Extra spells are pretty meaningless for when you actually get Mage Daggers.
Also is there a reason Long Sword is the initial pick? As opposed to Mace or even Flail? You run into skeletons fairly early in the game. Unless you're playing HoF or Insane, I doubt you can get the second proficiency in Mace or Flail before you start fighting skeletons.
And if the off-hand weapon doesn't matter much if I don't use APR weapons, then why would mage daggers not be the best choice? Are they good? Maybe not, but extra spells seem more useful than anything else if what you're saying is true.
Like I said if you're going to dual wield and take out the APR weapons, it doesn't really matter which you pick. Mage Daggers included since the extra spells won't really amount to much, if anything at all.
FMT has base 2 APR at 13th level, 2.5 with specialisation. 5 is the cap so you need another 2.5 from somewhere.
Sources:
+1 offhand weapon
+1 speed weapon
+1 black blade of disaster
+1 reckless ring
So, pick 2 or 3 and go with that.
So dual wielding and BBOD can't be combined. Especially since there won't be APR weapons in the offhand.