New beggining.. again:)

Hegemon

Hi! I have been playing this game on and off from some time now and when i start anew I try to mix stuff up so it will feel fresh. I like to play the whole saga(dragonspear included) and the most difficult decision for me is to choose between one character- so I can experience the party banter and enjoy mixing characters or a full 5 party -so i can enjoy a wild party setup!

So in my last play through I added:

-EE games with dragonspear
-New character on darts and knife(never used this)
-2 new npcs mods
-4-5 new mode adventures
-difficulty increased (SCS-mode with everything)
-most of the magic items randomly mixed in other locations (itemrandomizer mode- this is... incredible)
- Increased from 5000gp to 20,000 gp fee to practice magic in Atkatla.
- increased from 20,000- to 100,000gp Galen's fee to go to the asylum. These last options so that money mean something and I at least think before buying something:)

Basically another game! Hats off for mods

Intrested in hearing your opinion. Do you go with just 1 character or a party and what mods/changes to you do so it still feels fresh?

Maybee will borrow some ideas for my next play through...

Balrog99

Depends on how challenging you want your experience to be. None of the NPC's, even with their special abilities & items, are as powerful as your own builds (unless you gimp your ability scores, enforce no min-maxing, don't re-roll hit points, refuse certain kits, don't use multi or dual class characters or other house rules).

jsaving

Here are a couple of changes I would recommend:

No farming XP by any means whatsoever (including spamming random encounters)

No farming gold by any means whatsoever (including the steal-sell exploit)

No reloading when a merchant goes hostile for any reason whatsoever (including failed steal attempts)

All joinable NPCs enter the party with 89K XP (except Imoen)

No using HLAs in SoA for any reason whatsoever (including passives like UAI)

Enjoy!

Hegemon

Well it dosen't realy matter the challenge part. The most challenging thing I did I think was scs+ tactics with a friend each of us controling 3 characters. We had a party of 5 created because the first dungeon was impossible for us otherwise. I think the Irenecus battle we managed to win after 3 hours of trying:))). It was one of the most fun runs I had and I recomand to all to at least try once to see how it feels(but we also had a lot of time back then:).

I never use exploits gold or other stuff. So yeah using NPC is great that you can realy use all potions and stuff you find because not everyone has 18 strength:)))

Another thing that I liked was adding the icewind dale spells to the game I think the Scs does it. A nice option that greatly gives more options throughout the game.

Thnks for your recommendation!

gorgonzola

i don't play with scs, but often with tactics mod, even if lately i am quite lazy about the game and i prefer relaxed vanilla runs more based on RP then challenge.
But i have soloed the tactics chateau irenicus, but without scs, many times, both with the npcs and solo, once even with a low level sorcerer, that starting at 89k xp and without any special equipment is not the powerful one he becomes later.
it is perfectly possible to solo tactics irenicus dungeon, and actually if you know to use thieves and you have a thief in the party is even quite easy (and is possible to reach yoshimo before defeating the ilich's party with a little creativity).

to have someone invisible that uses the terrain features to have the cleric waste his true sight an then to run fast is the key, only he and a the demon can spot invisible characters

a custom party makes the things easier, but is not strictly needed.

any way i play everything, form solo to full party, and i find the solo challenging at the beginning but too easy later, even more if you play some dual/multi with mage inside or sorcerer, so i never brought a solo to the tob end, they at a certain point, when there is no more challenge, recruit a party, that they have to babysit for a while as is under leveled, only because they feel lonely.

but my sweet spot is a 2-4 people party, i find it the sweet spot for my style of playing, as it is being over leveled, but not too much as a solo is, and it brings versatility in tactics and makes micro managing easier, and i micro manage quite a lot.

and i love the concept of having a party where all the toons have some arcane capability, so the npcs i use more often are aerie, haer dalis or jan and the bulk of my charnames sorcerers or some dual or multi FM or FMT, i also make often nalia a kensage, giving her the same overall stats and changing them only to make the dual legittimate, as i think that for the daughter of a noble castel keeper it does not feel wrong to receive some martial training in a world where to be fighter is not a male only thing.

so my typical party can be something like FM, jan, haer dalis and aerie or FMT, aerie and a kensage nalia, maybe with neera joining later with her immense wild mage power.
those parties level up fast, are easy to micro manage, but mainly are versatile as you have all the functions with few characters and you can fight with very different approaches the same battle, from going all magic to using the stabs and traps of the tief up to buff every one for mlee and overwhelm the enemy with raw power and summons.
and let's take FM, jan, haer dalis and aerie, and add a planetar and a simulacrum (with BBoD main hand) from the FM and some elementals or if i am lucky and elemental prince from an aerie's CC and the boost from a haer dalis mislead clone singing they don't lack any raw power compared to a party filled of fighters even if they have a single multi fighter, their leader.

i don't know how this approach would work with scs, but with tactics it surely works and being all able to use the arcane protections is often possible to win even the hardest battles taking almost no damage.