Some advice on reading scrolls

Ariakus

Hey, first time poster here

I'll try to be brief...

Just returning to these games after years and years. I've soloed through IWDEE a couple of times but used cheats and such. Now I've decided to go with a more legitimate game and play a full party, which I've never done. I also decided to play a purely random party.

My method was to go through the character creation process and just roll a die for every choice. The first choice is gender so 1d2, the next is race so 1d7, and so on for each subsequent choice.

I ended up with a fairly balanced party with absolutely awful stats (no rerolling, no adjusting, I just had to take whatever showed up). Also, it's a no reload campaign, so a party wipe ends the game.

I've made it to Dragon's Eye, but I'm wondering what to do with my two mages, who are...

Erston - Gnome Illusionist
Str - 8
Dex - 16
Con - 15
Int - 14
Wis - 10
Cha - 17

Jenphira - Half-elf Enchanter
Str -12
Dex - 15
Con - 13
Int - 11
Wis - 14
Cha - 16

Needless to say, neither is the brightest bulb in the word, or even in the party. That honor goes to a Half-orc Cleric with a 15 Int. I've never played a specialist mage before, so the rule about having a -15% chance to read a scroll into your spellbook of a non-specialized school is devastating. If I am reading things right, Jenphira has only a 25% chance to read a scroll outside of her school, and the scarcity of scrolls is widely known.

We've made it to Dragon's Eye mainly through Grease + Ranged Weapons + Turn Undead + Animate Dead (recently), but things are about to get much more serious, so it's going to be time to take the chance on reading scrolls soon (and possibly wasting a whole lot of gold watching them wasted).

Is there any particular strategy someone can recommend about how to decide when and which scrolls to go for and how to maximize the chance the scrolls are read successfully? I am guessing Potions of Genius and Insight are finite in the game. Do the Intelligence bonuses stack with those? Is there a Luck scroll, and if so, would that add to the chance of a successful scribing attempt?

Thanks!

sarevok57

the potions of mind focusing and genius do stack with one another, but you are right, they are finite, so it is up to you when you want to start scribing to be honest

also there are items in the game that can increase your INT ( although most if not all of them are random, so you may need some luck there )

if your INT is 25, you have a 150% base chance of scribing scrolls, so even with the 15% penalty you will be fine

not 100% sure anymore but if you lower the difficulty down i believe that will make it so you can't fail at scribing scrolls ( i knew this is what happens in bg2 not sure if it works in iwdee though )

also remember, based on your low INT scores you will only be able to know so many spells per level as well and only be able to scribe to a certain level

so for example, with 11 INT, you will only be able to scribe up to level 5 spells and be able to know only 7 spells per spell level ( although i guess it doesnt matter if you drink potions to raise that up, because then it will be based off of your new raised score )

if you used potions to increase your INT to know more spells, you will still be able to use those spells even when the potion affects wear off

leeux

I've used the "lower the difficulty trick" to scribe scrolls in my recent (and first time) IWD:EE playthrough, so yeah, it still works.

I found the fact that the game is so stingy with Potions of Genius aggravating, so that was my natural response

jsaving

If memory serves there are about 10 potions of genius in IWD so you'd have to ration them somewhat. Such a shame your die rolling didn't give you sorcerers rather than mages.

Balrog99

Erston - Gnome Illusionist
Cha - 17

Jenphira - Half-elf Enchanter
Cha - 16

At least they're both very likeable sorts...

Ariakus

Heh, I think Charisma is probably the highest attribute score on average for the party, even with 2 Half-orcs. Let's see...

Zotvas - Human Blackguard
Str - 15
Dex - 8
Con - 16
Int - 11
Wis - 11
Cha - 16

Joner - Halfling Fighter (no kit)
Str - 14
Dex - 10
Con - 16
Int - 13
Wis - 13
Cha - 13

Atagash - Half-orc Priest of Tyr
Str - 11
Dex - 13
Con - 11
Int - 15
Wis - 11
Cha - 14

Gramugash - Half-orc Cleric/Thief
Str - 14
Dex - 16
Con - 15
Int - 10
Wis - 12
Cha - 8

And then the two mages (for completeness' sake)

Erston - Gnome Illusionist
Str - 8
Dex - 16
Con - 15
Int - 14
Wis - 10
Cha - 17

Jenphira - Half-elf Enchanter
Str -12
Dex - 15
Con - 13
Int - 11
Wis - 14
Cha - 16

Totals
Str - 74 (12.33 Average)
Dex - 78 (13)
Con - 86 (14.33)
Int - 74 (12.33)
Wis - 71 (11.83)
Cha - 84 (14)

Looks like Con just snuck in there. The Dexterity average is deceptively high, since a lot of it is coming from the 2 mages who (ideally) shouldn't be getting attacked too often.

I've committed to Core rules for this campaign, so no lowered the difficulty to aid in reading scrolls (though it is very tempting). I'm just going to have to ration the potions and pick a few key spots to try to learn key spells. I'm hoping I can get to Yxonemei before the first crash study session.

Thanks for the advice, everyone! We'll see how it goes