Hello - Newbie with IWD EE Party build questions

RaidenBoC

Hello everyone!

I've been browsing abandonware sites for a nostalgia trip, looking back at old Commodore 64, Atari ST and DOS games I used to play, showing my age I know, looking back at old sports management sims and RPGs that filled my spare time as a youth and I discovered the enhanced editions of Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale.

I played Baldurs Gate originally and then a little later in life, I was a player in Ultima Online's Europa server RP community. Having seen these enhanced editions, I've watched some playthroughs on Youtube and have caught the bug, so I'm toying with party builds in anticipation of pay day when I will probably treat myself to Icewind Dale EE.

I'm thinking of creating a party based on characters I interacted with in Ultima Online, so thoughts on the party build would be appreciated, I'll list my initial thoughts below and I'm intrigued by the idea of creating themed parties too. All Northmen for example, all dwarven, all druids, all elves, all evil etc. etc. and how they might play out and if it is viable. Not really looking for the best builds but more RP flavour orientated and whether a particular set up will work without making things too hard on a newbie like me.

Here's where I'm at in terms of the party I'd like to put together, thoughts and feedback welcome!

HUMAN - CHAOTIC GOOD - BESERKER
DWARF - LAWFUL NEUTRAL - DWARVEN DEFENDER
HALF ELF - LAWFUL GOOD - RANGER/CLERIC
HUMAN - LAWFUL NEUTRAL - BARD

This is where it gets a little tricky for me...

I'm toying with a stealth archer type. Not sure whether to dual class FIGHTER/THIEF as a human or multi class as a half elf? Or a MAGE/THIEF and just go with a pure ARCHER-FIGHTER?

And whether to actually dual or multi class.

Sorry for the ramble and hopefully it's not all too confusing.

ber5nie5

Welcome to the forum!

I've never played IWD all the way through so somebody else's input would be better. I started the game with lvl 1 char's so I'm thinking any classes you like will probably be okay. If it's like BG1, ranged weapons will rule the day and mages won't be all that powerful.

Thanks for taking me back on a trip down memory lane! A Commodore was my very first computer. I remember playing Pool of Radiance and some other RP games for the first time.

Hope you enjoy IWD and have fun!

sarevok57

the group you have should be perfectly fine, all its really missing is some sort of thief type, i would suggest on a first playthrough either full theif ( with a kit ) or a thief multi class

but other than that your races are good ( some items are exclusive to certain races in IWD ) and you have a nice collection of alignments ( some items again won't be usable by; chaotic, lawful, good, or evil )

one thing to really note is mage spell scrolls, unlike in the BG series spell scores are just EVERYWHERE and having 2 or 3 mages is not sweat to fill up them books, in the IWD series on the other hand, there are lots of spells per level, but 50% of the time you will only ever find 1 copy of that spell, so if you make a mage/thief its going to compete with your bard for spells, so if that is the scenario i would give your bard all the protections/buff spells ( because your bard will be a higher level for longer durations ) and perhaps give the offensive spells to your mage/thief? ( again depending on how you want to play that character ) so just keep that in mind

if you ever do a dual class, for IWD the magic number is 7, especially if that is fighter 7 dual over to X, the down time will be relatively short and it will really help make your 2nd class more functional

also, if you really want an archer type, you could just have an archer ( ranger class kit ) or have a fighter/thief elf be your "archer" ( 2 birds with one stone sort of deal )

for my party compositions the way one how i like to set them up is as follows;

3 "warrior types" in melee ( whether they are fighters/ranger/paladins or multiclasses of those types )

1 designated divine type for healing and divine buffs if possible ( and i usually go ranged with this character preferring slings )

1 designated thief type for all the traps and locks and trap setting ( and i usually go ranged with this character as well, either using; bows/crossbows or throwing axe )

1 designated arcane type for all the mage spells that can be found - either bard or wizard work - and i will go range with this character as well either using sling or throwing axe if said character can use it

* main reason why i go throwing axe for range is because in IWD and HoW they both have the throwing axe +2 which hits as a +2 weapon and makes it so i dont have to replenish stock on missile weapons


now with this all being said, you dont HAVE to build a party specifically like this, but i find this to be the ideal way the game was intended so with your party i would go;

HUMAN - CHAOTIC GOOD - BESERKER ; melee

DWARF - LAWFUL NEUTRAL - DWARVEN DEFENDER ; melee

HALF ELF - LAWFUL GOOD - RANGER/CLERIC ; melee

HUMAN - LAWFUL NEUTRAL - BARD ; ranged

and then for your other 2 mates?

ELF - TRUE NEUTRAL - FIGHTER/THIEF ; ranged

.... last one up to you.... ranged?

also a heads up with IWD in terms of weapons, the game had a randomizer with weapons and tends to favor others so you might want to keep that in mind;

longswords, axes, short swords and morning stars/flails are very popular and are all over the place/ most common

halberds/two handed swords are the most common for two handed weapons

crossbows are actually very strong in IWD, especially if you luck out on the repeater ones

also there are a couple of repeater bows in IWD if you can luck out on those as well

by the time you hit chapter 3 the severed hand, if you never tell the shop keep to go away he sells INFINITE +2 bullets, so if any of your CHARS use a sling, you can go here to keep their shots magical

there are other types for the other weapons, but they can be very far and few between and also depending on how your RNG item pick up goes, worse case scenario conlan the blacksmith in kuldahar at least will have 1 good weapon of each weapon type in his shop ( although a lot of them are really expensive, so keep that in mind )

RaidenBoC

ber5nie5 wrote: »

Welcome to the forum!

I've never played IWD all the way through so somebody else's input would be better. I started the game with lvl 1 char's so I'm thinking any classes you like will probably be okay. If it's like BG1, ranged weapons will rule the day and mages won't be all that powerful.

Thanks for taking me back on a trip down memory lane! A Commodore was my very first computer. I remember playing Pool of Radiance and some other RP games for the first time.

Hope you enjoy IWD and have fun!

Yeah, I have so many fond memories of my C64, tape deck, huge 5½" disk drive and squelching hour long loading sequences.

I 'tried' to play Valhalla and The Hobbit and lots of other text adventures on there.

RaidenBoC

sarevok57 wrote: »

the group you have should be perfectly fine, all its really missing is some sort of thief type, i would suggest on a first playthrough either full theif ( with a kit ) or a thief multi class

but other than that your races are good ( some items are exclusive to certain races in IWD ) and you have a nice collection of alignments ( some items again won't be usable by; chaotic, lawful, good, or evil )

one thing to really note is mage spell scrolls, unlike in the BG series spell scores are just EVERYWHERE and having 2 or 3 mages is not sweat to fill up them books, in the IWD series on the other hand, there are lots of spells per level, but 50% of the time you will only ever find 1 copy of that spell, so if you make a mage/thief its going to compete with your bard for spells, so if that is the scenario i would give your bard all the protections/buff spells ( because your bard will be a higher level for longer durations ) and perhaps give the offensive spells to your mage/thief? ( again depending on how you want to play that character ) so just keep that in mind

if you ever do a dual class, for IWD the magic number is 7, especially if that is fighter 7 dual over to X, the down time will be relatively short and it will really help make your 2nd class more functional

also, if you really want an archer type, you could just have an archer ( ranger class kit ) or have a fighter/thief elf be your "archer" ( 2 birds with one stone sort of deal )

for my party compositions the way one how i like to set them up is as follows;

3 "warrior types" in melee ( whether they are fighters/ranger/paladins or multiclasses of those types )

1 designated divine type for healing and divine buffs if possible ( and i usually go ranged with this character preferring slings )

1 designated thief type for all the traps and locks and trap setting ( and i usually go ranged with this character as well, either using; bows/crossbows or throwing axe )

1 designated arcane type for all the mage spells that can be found - either bard or wizard work - and i will go range with this character as well either using sling or throwing axe if said character can use it

* main reason why i go throwing axe for range is because in IWD and HoW they both have the throwing axe +2 which hits as a +2 weapon and makes it so i dont have to replenish stock on missile weapons


now with this all being said, you dont HAVE to build a party specifically like this, but i find this to be the ideal way the game was intended so with your party i would go;

HUMAN - CHAOTIC GOOD - BESERKER ; melee

DWARF - LAWFUL NEUTRAL - DWARVEN DEFENDER ; melee

HALF ELF - LAWFUL GOOD - RANGER/CLERIC ; melee

HUMAN - LAWFUL NEUTRAL - BARD ; ranged

and then for your other 2 mates?

ELF - TRUE NEUTRAL - FIGHTER/THIEF ; ranged

.... last one up to you.... ranged?

also a heads up with IWD in terms of weapons, the game had a randomizer with weapons and tends to favor others so you might want to keep that in mind;

longswords, axes, short swords and morning stars/flails are very popular and are all over the place/ most common

halberds/two handed swords are the most common for two handed weapons

crossbows are actually very strong in IWD, especially if you luck out on the repeater ones

also there are a couple of repeater bows in IWD if you can luck out on those as well

by the time you hit chapter 3 the severed hand, if you never tell the shop keep to go away he sells INFINITE +2 bullets, so if any of your CHARS use a sling, you can go here to keep their shots magical

there are other types for the other weapons, but they can be very far and few between and also depending on how your RNG item pick up goes, worse case scenario conlan the blacksmith in kuldahar at least will have 1 good weapon of each weapon type in his shop ( although a lot of them are really expensive, so keep that in mind )

Thanks sarevok57. Lots of food for thought here.

I'm torn between FIGHTER/THIEF (ranged) and MAGE/THIEF. I guess having both is a bit of a waste?

As I'm looking to RP a collection of friends from my time playing Ultima Online, the MAGE/THIEF is truer to that and I could maybe just go with a pure FIGHTER for my archer? Though I guess going FIGHTER/THIEF would be more practical...

Thank you so much for the advice!

sarevok57

in theory is possible to beat IWD with any team combo regardless on how gimped it may be, if it even is

so with that said, if you truly want the mage/thief i would go with mage thief, just remember to share your spell scrolls wisely with your bard and some spells there will not be doubles of

for "archery wise" the fighter/thief would definitely be a better archer than a mage/thief, but an actual archer ( ranger class kit ) is a better archer than a fighter would be, is there a reason why you want a fighter archer type character as apposed to the actual archer kit? the kit also has special abilities you can use with your ranged weapons and allows you to go grand mastery in bows ( and crossbows i believe but not 100% sure.... )

but, if you are only going to have a team of 5, then i would go with the fighter/thief, i think that fills your roles up much better

actually, if you are truly adamant about having some spell casting you could have a fighter/mage/thief;

still a decent archer type ( especially if elf with 19 DEX ) has thief abilities, and has spell casting ( to help fill that mage/thief role better? )

RaidenBoC

sarevok57 wrote: »

in theory is possible to beat IWD with any team combo regardless on how gimped it may be, if it even is

so with that said, if you truly want the mage/thief i would go with mage thief, just remember to share your spell scrolls wisely with your bard and some spells there will not be doubles of

for "archery wise" the fighter/thief would definitely be a better archer than a mage/thief, but an actual archer ( ranger class kit ) is a better archer than a fighter would be, is there a reason why you want a fighter archer type character as apposed to the actual archer kit? the kit also has special abilities you can use with your ranged weapons and allows you to go grand mastery in bows ( and crossbows i believe but not 100% sure.... )

but, if you are only going to have a team of 5, then i would go with the fighter/thief, i think that fills your roles up much better

actually, if you are truly adamant about having some spell casting you could have a fighter/mage/thief;

still a decent archer type ( especially if elf with 19 DEX ) has thief abilities, and has spell casting ( to help fill that mage/thief role better? )

Again thanks for the insight.

Lots to think about!