Few tips for IWD's noob pliz :)

Lateralus29

Hello everyone,

I'm a BG player since years but i never play to IWD.
I love NPC and banters so i'm afraid of long silences. I haven't a lot of time but i want to give a try to IWD.
I love to plain my BG's parties from candelkeep to TOB with weapons of choice, NPC etc etc I,m afraid of IWD's random loots and i don't know what are the best proficencies ..

I read a bit here so i have few ideas for my team but i need advice (don't mind spoil for class, loots or proficencies)
I'll maybe try this:
-human Paladin UH long sword
-Fighter/druid multi scimtars? Qstaff?
-Bard long bow
-Figther/cleric gnome? with flail/morningstars?
then it become harder, do i need a sorceror or a bard + a illu/thief gnome is enough?
Maybe a fighter dual is better for GM?
The only thing pretty sure is that i want a paladin a bard and kind of a druid for rp and fun.

I need advices, a lot of
thanks

jsaving

The main thing to know about IWD is that there is vastly less in the way of strategy and role-playing compared to BG/BG2. Nearly no mage battles of any kind so you don't have to worry about breach et al and you can very nearly not worry about dispel magic either, making inquisitors nearly useless in contrast to the superstars they were in BG2. Very poor selection of scrolls in the game too so sorcerers are hugely advantaged compared to wizards and to some degree bards. Very skimpy selection of strength-boosting items in the game unlike BG2 where they are given out like candy, so the advantage of being a multi or dual classed fighter is higher here than in BG2. Finally, a very large percentage of foes in IWD are slash/pierce resistant undead so you can safely go fighter/cleric or ranger/cleric without overly lamenting the loss of edged weapons.

I'd personally go with three fighter/clerics (preferably dualed though multi is fine too), two sorcerers and a fighter/mage/thief. But since you say you want a paladin and a bard and a druid, I'd flesh out your party with a fighter/cleric, a sorcerer and a fighter/mage/thief.

DJKajuru

-Druids and bards have unique skills and spells in IWD, and a bard's high lore will benefit you throughout the whole game.

-In the long run you'll find potent magic versions of any weapon but in the first chapters the most reliable profs are morning star, mace , longsword and crossbow.

-Your druid will eventually come across a cool quartestaff , but I would start with scimitar/sling profs for shield defense.

-midgame you find a very good longbow , its wise to have someone proficient in it.

-from mid to endgame you'll come across very powerful axes , and in good quantity so you can have more than one party member proficient if you wish.

-Regarding a backup mage or bard, it is always wise to have two magic users , one for area spells and damage, and one for boosting such as haste and emotion spells (a bard fits like a glove in that role).

- Your paladin will do fine , remember to possess some skill in a blunt weapon such as morning star or mace .
- If its your first time playing IWD you're gonna need a (single, dual or multiclass) thief, as the game has some nasty traps here and there, and decent daggers and short swords.

Other than that , I would just say "go for it". I understand what @jsaving said about scarceness of scrolls but that is valid when you compare IWD to BG2 , in iwd I have had three (single and multi) mages in the party and they were all able to fill their spellbooks with decent spells . Even though the game does lack roleplaying value it is also highly immersive and it makes you think of different tactics that you may not have thought of in Baldur's Gate. Also, the game has a system that randomizes certain treasures , so you never know if what's in a chest will be a magical club or a magic dagger, and that's really cool as well. There are very powerful weapons for sale as well, but you can't really buy them all because they are very expensive (which is actually a good thing).

Souplesse

Thank you both, for those informations. I understand the game better now. Soceror seems clearly an advantage if there are few scrolls in the game ...

...
I have few more questions:
-Are there some HLA?
-is GM mandatory or not such a big deal? I don’t know if there are a lot of APR weapons. I don’t know if the goal is to reach 10apr like in BG series ...
And the last one, do you play with the extra-Xp in difficult or very difficult?

DJKajuru

No HLA, but you can find items that are quite powerful at higher levels , like items that increase your physical damage resistance and weapons that provide extra APR.

GM is not mandatory because you can also beat the game with paladins and rangers or multiclasses who can specialize but dont reach GM. Nevertheless, GM os always good and gives your fighters a clear advantage. If you have a sorcerer in the party you can learn Improved Haste and double your man at arms's attacks per round , but whether it os mandatory or not it depends on your playing style. For instance: At mid levels the spell Haste can help you a lot when fighting mobs, but so can a fireball or web spell, so that's what I mean by playing style. Speaking of mobs, you should prepare yourself for these kinds of fights in IWD and have reliable tanks , potions are also very , very useful.

I have played with extra XP at maximum difficulty in the original version and it's quite nice as you get to end the IWD at higher levels (below 3 million in a party of 6, though) and HoW+TotLM at around 3 million xp. I would keep the extra damage for the extra challenge, though.

Souplesse

Yeah, if there’s no GW fighter’s HLA but Improuv hast, dual fighter with Gm must be far far better !

Sorry for the double-nickname. I use an old one by mistake.

sarevok57

one thing to note in IWD which is different than the BG series; going from high master to grand master gives you a full extra attack per round as apposed to only 1/2 an extra attack per round

and when it comes to the "extra XP for higher difficulty setting" i would suggest turning that off, true you might only hit 3 million XP if you finish all of IWD, TotLM and HoW but it makes the game a bit more challenging and fun, i find the game to be to easy, even on insane difficulty if the "extra XP for higher difficulty setting" is turned on

Souplesse

Ok ok so dual it’ll be !
The problem now is to choose the good proficiency to GM

sarevok57

Souplesse wrote: »

Ok ok so dual it’ll be !
The problem now is to choose the good proficiency to GM

longsword
axe
morningstar/flail

are all good choices

Souplesse

Now I’m stuck in an infinity loop of questions ! What level for dual? Same as BG at 9 ? Thanks

sarevok57

for IWD i think the money mark is level 7, in dragon's eye alone, not only do you hit level 7, but you can even hit level 8 in that second class while still being in dragon's eye ( or at least damn near close )

level 9 is not bad... but you could be all the way until chapter 5 before your second class is going to hit level 10

up to you, but for me, never had issues with dualling at level 7

DJKajuru

sarevok57 wrote: »

for IWD i think the money mark is level 7, in dragon's eye alone, not only do you hit level 7, but you can even hit level 8 in that second class while still being in dragon's eye ( or at least damn near close )

level 9 is not bad... but you could be all the way until chapter 5 before your second class is going to hit level 10

up to you, but for me, never had issues with dualling at level 7

Totally agree, the IWD saga isn't as long as BG/BG2/ToB so if you dual after level 7 (with a party of six) you might miss your previous class usefulness for a good part of the game.

Souplesse

Ok thanks guy ! Time to practice now !

Souplesse

Jesus ! Do I have to install some mods? Like tweet antho or others ... grrrr