Shaman as my only divine caster: great idea, or the greatest idea?
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It’s been a while since I’ve played Icewind Dale (last time I did was before the 2.0 update), and have been getting that itch to get stuck in again. So, I’ve been contemplating what party I’ll be throwing together to brave the frozen North once more.
Now, I remember from my last play through that Druids have some very fun spells in IWD that they don’t get in the Baldur’s Gate Games. Spontaneously casting Wall of Moonlight or Unicorn Horn sounds good, so a Shaman sounds like a good time (likely a half-orc who prefers swinging an axe to dancing).
My main question is, would I be okay with just a shaman + potions as far as keeping my party from not dying? Or is a cleric absolutely essential to getting through IWD in one piece?
Now, I remember from my last play through that Druids have some very fun spells in IWD that they don’t get in the Baldur’s Gate Games. Spontaneously casting Wall of Moonlight or Unicorn Horn sounds good, so a Shaman sounds like a good time (likely a half-orc who prefers swinging an axe to dancing).
My main question is, would I be okay with just a shaman + potions as far as keeping my party from not dying? Or is a cleric absolutely essential to getting through IWD in one piece?
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I would never make an IWD run without a Cleric.
I totally agree with that.
I already made a totally barbarian-ish party, elvish party, a full Ilmaterite party, an I Hate Undead party, some (as subtledoctor called) God party where everyone was something-cleric using Deities of Faerûn, and I'm planning a dwarven party.
It increases the flavor and uniqueness of IWD a lot.
If you don’t like it, just kick him out for a new one or dual one of your fighters to a cleric (this requires some planning).
wut?
Beards have cure spells on their spell list. Also, certain bard songs heal.
I think you have mixed it up with IWD2 , where bards can cast healing spells. The song that heals is the war chant of Sith (which is available at both games,indeed) , but a 6 person party isn't likely to obtain it before chapter 5.
That said, parties without healing can make it through if you are willing to rest often and suspend disbelief at how long it takes in game time.
My advice is to play the party that you want without worrying about all the powergamey consequences of your choices. If you play through the game and find that you wish you could be doing other things with your shaman, then play the game again and make some adjustments on party makeup. It's exactly the kind of thing that let's you keep on playing a game like this 20 years after it's release.
I'm sorry, but I really must point out that this statement is quite untrue. Parties without magic don't even have to rest and mine never do outside of an inn or the designated safe spots later in the game. Resting even once in a dungeon to regain spells is the thing that breaks suspension for me.
I completely agree that just playing the party is the way to go.
As for the quoted part, I was trying to suggest that resting takes the place of healing, and without much healing, you'll be resting for long periods of time to regain health. If OP is playing on Core, I agree that resting for spells AND healing will be less. I haven't played on Core since the original (pre-HoW) release, and 90% of my parties are lvl 1 HoF parties, so my days of taking out multiple levels of DE in one waking period are over.