Completionist Party idea

TheMikeFive

Hey!
I haven't been able to play through IWD EE yet. But I want to.
Idea I have is either:


Human Paladin
Half-Elf Fighter/Druid
Half-Elf Bard
Half-Orc or Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric
Halfling or Half-Elf Fighter/Thief
Elf or Half-Elf Sorcerer

Question 1: Does this make me able to use all the nice goodies in the game like weapons including the repeater and that halfling/gnome helmet?

Question 2: Should i go with a Fighter/Thief and a Sorcerer or a Fighter/Mage/Thief and an Archer? Because then I wouldn't have someone for the helmet?

I originally for RP purposes wanted to go with a older male Paladin having saved 5 half-elf females but then I can't use that apparently Op helmet?

I want to play through both IWD EE and HoW with this party.

Feel free to give any weapon proficiencies and whether I should use a character for Melee or Ranged.

Thanks in advance!

sarevok57

question 1; as long as you have a halfling or gnome in the party then yes, only they can use that helmet, so keep that race around if you wish to do it, although even without that helmet, i believe there still are a couple of helmets that provide a +2 AC bonus so they're ALMOST as good

question 2; i would just stick with fighter/thief and sorcerer, one thing i find kind of annoying about IWD is that you need so much ammo for the mounds of baddies you will be battling against, BUT if you think a bit about the future, i like giving one of my ranged characters the throwing axe +2 because A ) it's "infinite ammo", B ) it's magical, and C ) it doesn't take up inventory slots, there is one in IWD in chapter 2, and there is another one in HoW, so there's that to think about

you are correct, if you have a paladin with 5 half-elf females, you will definitely not be able to use the defender helmet ( halflings and gnomes only )

when it comes to weapon proficiencies and who should be going ranged and all that jazz, its really up to you, IWD is a bit random so there really is no "perfect" choice to use although the game does seem to favor;

longswords
morning stars/flails
axes
daggers

you will find lots of magical versions of those, and then sometimes the odd halberd, bastard sword or hammer, but they are more random then the above, and you will not doubt find magical versions of other weapons but they are just far and few inbetween if ya know what i mean

although worse case scenario conlan the blacksmith has a magical version of every weapon if im not mistaken, so if you aren't finding what you are looking for, he should have what you need

as for ranged, again if you can i would go with the throwing axe +2 if you can, if not, whatever the class allows you can go for, slings are good for mages and clerics, thieves are good with bows or crossbows, and warrior types are good with bows and crossbows as well ( its really a choice of just preference )

now when it comes to the repeater long bow, you are not even guaranteed to even get it ( i dont recall if its 50% or 33% chance of the enemy dropping it ) but worse case scenario, in chapter 2 there is a long bow that gives 3 APR so you can always use that in the meantime

also, some items are alignment restricted; where some can only be used by good characters and others cannot be used by chaotic or lawful or good characters, so usually what i like to do is have one guy lawful good and if i can make everyone else true neutral so then they don't miss out on items because of alignment

i think there are a couple race related items ( one being a shield and one being a ring ) but again its no guarantee that you will even find the ring ( which only dwarves can wear ) and the shield requires elf or half-elf which you have

other than that, whatever you wish to do should be good

TheMikeFive

sarevok57 wrote: »

question 1; as long as you have a halfling or gnome in the party then yes, only they can use that helmet, so keep that race around if you wish to do it, although even without that helmet, i believe there still are a couple of helmets that provide a +2 AC bonus so they're ALMOST as good

question 2; i would just stick with fighter/thief and sorcerer, one thing i find kind of annoying about IWD is that you need so much ammo for the mounds of baddies you will be battling against, BUT if you think a bit about the future, i like giving one of my ranged characters the throwing axe +2 because A ) it's "infinite ammo", B ) it's magical, and C ) it doesn't take up inventory slots, there is one in IWD in chapter 2, and there is another one in HoW, so there's that to think about

you are correct, if you have a paladin with 5 half-elf females, you will definitely not be able to use the defender helmet ( halflings and gnomes only )

when it comes to weapon proficiencies and who should be going ranged and all that jazz, its really up to you, IWD is a bit random so there really is no "perfect" choice to use although the game does seem to favor;

longswords
morning stars/flails
axes
daggers

you will find lots of magical versions of those, and then sometimes the odd halberd, bastard sword or hammer, but they are more random then the above, and you will not doubt find magical versions of other weapons but they are just far and few inbetween if ya know what i mean

although worse case scenario conlan the blacksmith has a magical version of every weapon if im not mistaken, so if you aren't finding what you are looking for, he should have what you need

as for ranged, again if you can i would go with the throwing axe +2 if you can, if not, whatever the class allows you can go for, slings are good for mages and clerics, thieves are good with bows or crossbows, and warrior types are good with bows and crossbows as well ( its really a choice of just preference )

now when it comes to the repeater long bow, you are not even guaranteed to even get it ( i dont recall if its 50% or 33% chance of the enemy dropping it ) but worse case scenario, in chapter 2 there is a long bow that gives 3 APR so you can always use that in the meantime

also, some items are alignment restricted; where some can only be used by good characters and others cannot be used by chaotic or lawful or good characters, so usually what i like to do is have one guy lawful good and if i can make everyone else true neutral so then they don't miss out on items because of alignment

i think there are a couple race related items ( one being a shield and one being a ring ) but again its no guarantee that you will even find the ring ( which only dwarves can wear ) and the shield requires elf or half-elf which you have

other than that, whatever you wish to do should be good

Wow thanks!

Is it better to have a Druid or Fighter/Druid?
Is it better to have a Cleric or Fighter/Cleric?
When having a Bard are there enough scrolls for a Mage instead of a Sorcerer?
Is there something better than Fighter to Multi Thief with? In this party i'm thinking to make this character a bow or crossbow who can go into melee with daggers maybe.

I never liked ranged clerics i always prefer Melee is Half-Orc better for that or should i stick to Dwarf as I usually do?

If you could advise any build that you can have 5 of while having 1 utility member which build would it be? I'd like to test one just for fun.

Sorry for asking too many questions!

sarevok57

druid question; depends

if you plan on going melee often with your druid i would go fighter druid, if you plan on keeping that character more of an offensive spell caster and then doing the odd heal, i would just stick with druid

cleric question; probably fighter/cleric

especially if you are going to be in melee often, a fighter cleric is probably better, for the little amount of spells you lose, you gain a huge benefit in combat bonuses thanks to your fighter levels

spell question; yes...?

for the most part there is almost x2 of every spell in the game, although they will be spread over IWD and HoW and TotLM, so if you want to have a mage instead of a sorcerer what i would do is focus defensive/party buff type magic more on the bard and offensive type magic on the mage ( although strong defensive magic like protection from magic weapons and such i would put on the mage as well )

thief question; probably not

out of all your thief multi class options, fighter is probably your best bet, your to hit/to damage/ attacks per round are going to get a huge benefit because of your fighter class, the only other classes that a thief can multi with is cleric and mage, which in the end will not be worth it because of the rest of your party composition

cleric race; dwarf is probably better

for your cleric type between dwarf and half orc, in the end dwarf is probably better, only because they get amazing saving throw bonuses, even though a half-orc can start with 19 STR which is a huge help, the time your cleric hits level 3 draw upon holy might can make a dwarf do the same thing as long as the dwarf has at least 18/xx, plus if you are lucky in the severed hand, there is a ring that only dwarves can use which gives +1 STR so there's always that ( there are a few items that only "human/half-orc" characters can use, but no doubt those will be going to your paladin anyway )

build question;

by build im assuming you mean team build? if i was going to make one in that way ( which i actually never do haha ) i would probably have x2 melee type characters ( whether they be; fighter/paladin/ranger/barbarian or any kit or multi class of that mix ) then i would have a ranged cleric type, a ranged thief type, and a ranged wizard type, with the utility member being some sort of bard no doubt

the best thing about IWD is that no matter the build you have ( regardless if it's optimized or not ) a party of six should be able to handle anything IWD can throw at it, even on insane difficulty with double damage on, and double XP off

based on the team composition that you have in your first post, you should be A okay, you have all the necessary classes to get the job done and RP wise it should be a good group for ya

TheMikeFive

sarevok57 wrote: »

druid question; depends

if you plan on going melee often with your druid i would go fighter druid, if you plan on keeping that character more of an offensive spell caster and then doing the odd heal, i would just stick with druid

cleric question; probably fighter/cleric

especially if you are going to be in melee often, a fighter cleric is probably better, for the little amount of spells you lose, you gain a huge benefit in combat bonuses thanks to your fighter levels

spell question; yes...?

for the most part there is almost x2 of every spell in the game, although they will be spread over IWD and HoW and TotLM, so if you want to have a mage instead of a sorcerer what i would do is focus defensive/party buff type magic more on the bard and offensive type magic on the mage ( although strong defensive magic like protection from magic weapons and such i would put on the mage as well )

thief question; probably not

out of all your thief multi class options, fighter is probably your best bet, your to hit/to damage/ attacks per round are going to get a huge benefit because of your fighter class, the only other classes that a thief can multi with is cleric and mage, which in the end will not be worth it because of the rest of your party composition

cleric race; dwarf is probably better

for your cleric type between dwarf and half orc, in the end dwarf is probably better, only because they get amazing saving throw bonuses, even though a half-orc can start with 19 STR which is a huge help, the time your cleric hits level 3 draw upon holy might can make a dwarf do the same thing as long as the dwarf has at least 18/xx, plus if you are lucky in the severed hand, there is a ring that only dwarves can use which gives +1 STR so there's always that ( there are a few items that only "human/half-orc" characters can use, but no doubt those will be going to your paladin anyway )

build question;

by build im assuming you mean team build? if i was going to make one in that way ( which i actually never do haha ) i would probably have x2 melee type characters ( whether they be; fighter/paladin/ranger/barbarian or any kit or multi class of that mix ) then i would have a ranged cleric type, a ranged thief type, and a ranged wizard type, with the utility member being some sort of bard no doubt

the best thing about IWD is that no matter the build you have ( regardless if it's optimized or not ) a party of six should be able to handle anything IWD can throw at it, even on insane difficulty with double damage on, and double XP off

based on the team composition that you have in your first post, you should be A okay, you have all the necessary classes to get the job done and RP wise it should be a good group for ya

Will my Druid still be able to help with healing if he's a Fighter/Druid front liner? Also Cleric will definitely be Melee as well. Then i'd have 1 tank 2 front liners 1 middle of the pack bard and 2 super ranged. I hope that's sollid. So there are no items exclusively for Half-orc then? Thanks a tons for your help. Also do i miss out on certain spells by multiclassing druid and cleric or is it just that I get less lvl 7 spell slots for them or something?

sarevok57

yup, your druid will still be able to help with healing, the draw back of doing fighter/druid ( or cleric ) is that as you said, a little less higher level spell slots, although i have never found that to be a problem

as for half orc items, its basically anything that is only usable by "human" also includes half-orcs as well

TheMikeFive

I've been going around with this for nearly half a year, thank you dear sir you spared me both time and frustration!

What should i max statwise on my Druid and Bard the rest I understand but not these two?

It's Char max on sorcerer right?

jsaving

Sorcerers skate by without having to worry about a casting stat in IWD.

TheMikeFive

jsaving wrote: »

Charisma does not affect sorcerer casting in this edition of D&D so you are in the clear on that.

So what do I max on Sorcerer and Druid for that matter?

sarevok57

for sorcerers;

i tend to max out DEX ( for AC and to hit with missile weapons, and my sorcerers are always elves, so i set it to 19 ) then next i would set CON to 16 for your max HP bonus ( really no point in going any higher ) and than after that it really is up to you, since sorcerers get crappy lore, there is no point in giving them INT, if you find limited wish i guess you could crank their WIS to 18, and then perhaps give them some good STR so then can carry items or even do a little extra damage with ranged weapons, so by importance ( depending on how high you roll )

DEX; 18+
CON: 16
WIS; 18
STR; 12+
INT/CHA: doesn't matter

for druid, it's almost going to be the same case scenario, but depending on how you are going to play one, if your druid is just going to be a back ground caster then i would go in this order;

WIS; 18
DEX: 18
CON: 16
STR: 12+
INT/CHA; doesn't matter

but if you are going to do a fighter/druid, then things are going to get a little tricky because of that unnecessary minimum 15 CHA, and then you have to decide about wis, because with 18 WIS you get;
+2 level 1 spells
+2 level 2 spells
+1 level 3 spell
+1 level 4 spell

but because a melee character needs STR to be useful in melee, i tend to sacrifice WIS a bit for higher STR, but then again, in chapter 6 there is a belt that sets your STR to 19, so its kind of up to you, so you basically have 2 options, option 1, for max spell casting;

WIS; 18
DEX; 18
CON; 18
STR; 12+ ( if you can hit 15 even better )
INT/CHA; doesn't matter

or you can go with option 2, which will give you a little less spells per level, but then you won't have to wait 6 chapters before you druid can actually hit the broad side of a barn;

STR; 18/91+
DEX; 18
CON; 18
WIS: 12+ ( you start getting bonus spells at 13 WIS )
INT/CHA; doesnt matter

*note that STR only matters if you are going to be using some sort of druid mixed with fighter, if not, then don't worry about it and go with the first one

*also note that with fighter/druids because of the stats required you might need a dump stat which is going to be INT, and you won't have to worry if your INT is complete mud, there are no mind flayers or INT draining items or attacks in IWD so you don't need to worry if your INT is 3, the only caveat is that it might be a bit hard to RP that if it bothers you

TheMikeFive

sarevok57 wrote: »

for sorcerers;

i tend to max out DEX ( for AC and to hit with missile weapons, and my sorcerers are always elves, so i set it to 19 ) then next i would set CON to 16 for your max HP bonus ( really no point in going any higher ) and than after that it really is up to you, since sorcerers get crappy lore, there is no point in giving them INT, if you find limited wish i guess you could crank their WIS to 18, and then perhaps give them some good STR so then can carry items or even do a little extra damage with ranged weapons, so by importance ( depending on how high you roll )

DEX; 18+
CON: 16
WIS; 18
STR; 12+
INT/CHA: doesn't matter

for druid, it's almost going to be the same case scenario, but depending on how you are going to play one, if your druid is just going to be a back ground caster then i would go in this order;

WIS; 18
DEX: 18
CON: 16
STR: 12+
INT/CHA; doesn't matter

but if you are going to do a fighter/druid, then things are going to get a little tricky because of that unnecessary minimum 15 CHA, and then you have to decide about wis, because with 18 WIS you get;
+2 level 1 spells
+2 level 2 spells
+1 level 3 spell
+1 level 4 spell

but because a melee character needs STR to be useful in melee, i tend to sacrifice WIS a bit for higher STR, but then again, in chapter 6 there is a belt that sets your STR to 19, so its kind of up to you, so you basically have 2 options, option 1, for max spell casting;

WIS; 18
DEX; 18
CON; 18
STR; 12+ ( if you can hit 15 even better )
INT/CHA; doesn't matter

or you can go with option 2, which will give you a little less spells per level, but then you won't have to wait 6 chapters before you druid can actually hit the broad side of a barn;

STR; 18/91+
DEX; 18
CON; 18
WIS: 12+ ( you start getting bonus spells at 13 WIS )
INT/CHA; doesnt matter

*note that STR only matters if you are going to be using some sort of druid mixed with fighter, if not, then don't worry about it and go with the first one

*also note that with fighter/druids because of the stats required you might need a dump stat which is going to be INT, and you won't have to worry if your INT is complete mud, there are no mind flayers or INT draining items or attacks in IWD so you don't need to worry if your INT is 3, the only caveat is that it might be a bit hard to RP that if it bothers you

Wow and i think i will go with option 2 for the fighter/druid dumping INT will actually fit my rp perfectly since the character's bio is something like this: After having used her druidic powers once too many times to protect herself and her sister (the bard since both are half-elves) it started to consume her. Each time she shapeshifted she became a little less woman and a little more beast, with only the sweet tune of her sister's harp/guitar to soothe the beast. They will be nicknamed The Beauty & The Beast. So since the druid will be kind of like dumb muscle low INT and high STR will be perfect.

How should i build a vanilla bard who is pretty much just going to sing and use some spells maybe go melee when absolutely forced to. Which statline high char, con and dex or do i need high int too?

sarevok57

the bard may be a bit tough, since again, they have a minimum requirement of 15 CHA, so what i would do;

INT: is very important and since there are lots of spells per level, it would be very helpful if this stat was 18

DEX: again, always good to be 18 if you can, it provides a nice +4 AC bonus

CON: realistically only needs to be 16 at the highest because any higher and you won't get any more of a HP bonus ( although, i believe there are a couple of items that lower CON and raise other ability scores aka; INT or STR, so if you want to raise it to 17 or 18 - if you can - then by all means do so, this also includes your mage if you are making one, but if not, its not too much to worry about )

STR: even if you do go into melee every once in a while, bards at best can only hit 18 STR and bards are still bards, and won't have amazing attack rolls, but your STR should be more focused for carrying items, 15 STR allows you to carry 120 lbs while 16 STR allows you to carry 150 lbs, so if you can 16 STR would be good

WIS: even though bards can hit level 8 spells eventually ( meaning that can get limited wish ) you need to dump something somewhere and this is the stat to do it, and luckily bards get great lore bonuses so it won't affect them to badly if your WIS is mud, plus worse case scenario for whatever reason if your bard does have limited wish and wants to use it, you can just use potions of insight in such a scenario, but with that said, if you can, try not going below 10 WIS so you don't get a lore penalty, but if need be, the next threshold is 7 WIS ( which gives you only a -10 penalty ) if you go any lower than that then you will get a -20 penalty, which in the long run is okay if you truly need to because with 18 INT ( that gives you a +10 bonus ) and that means by the time you hit level 11 ( which will happen in chapter 3 ) you will have enough lore to identify any item in the game anyway, so with WIS its perfectly up to you

ilduderino

If you use a dragon disciple, consider using 18 con and not bothering much with strength (possibly worth it for a normal sorceror( as you will end up with an insanely high con, due to upgrades and with the robe sold by Orrick (which also makes your strength irrelevant up to 18/99), which isn’t earth shatteringly good but is nice for the lullz

TheMikeFive

sarevok57 wrote: »

the bard may be a bit tough, since again, they have a minimum requirement of 15 CHA, so what i would do;

INT: is very important and since there are lots of spells per level, it would be very helpful if this stat was 18

DEX: again, always good to be 18 if you can, it provides a nice +4 AC bonus

CON: realistically only needs to be 16 at the highest because any higher and you won't get any more of a HP bonus ( although, i believe there are a couple of items that lower CON and raise other ability scores aka; INT or STR, so if you want to raise it to 17 or 18 - if you can - then by all means do so, this also includes your mage if you are making one, but if not, its not too much to worry about )

STR: even if you do go into melee every once in a while, bards at best can only hit 18 STR and bards are still bards, and won't have amazing attack rolls, but your STR should be more focused for carrying items, 15 STR allows you to carry 120 lbs while 16 STR allows you to carry 150 lbs, so if you can 16 STR would be good

WIS: even though bards can hit level 8 spells eventually ( meaning that can get limited wish ) you need to dump something somewhere and this is the stat to do it, and luckily bards get great lore bonuses so it won't affect them to badly if your WIS is mud, plus worse case scenario for whatever reason if your bard does have limited wish and wants to use it, you can just use potions of insight in such a scenario, but with that said, if you can, try not going below 10 WIS so you don't get a lore penalty, but if need be, the next threshold is 7 WIS ( which gives you only a -10 penalty ) if you go any lower than that then you will get a -20 penalty, which in the long run is okay if you truly need to because with 18 INT ( that gives you a +10 bonus ) and that means by the time you hit level 11 ( which will happen in chapter 3 ) you will have enough lore to identify any item in the game anyway, so with WIS its perfectly up to you

I was thinking to use my sorcerer to identify stuff do i need high int on the sorcerer for that? Or do you suggest using the bard to identify stuff considering the recommended builds?

TheMikeFive

ilduderino wrote: »

If you use a dragon disciple, consider using 18 con and not bothering much with strength (possibly worth it for a normal sorceror( as you will end up with an insanely high con, due to upgrades and with the robe sold by Orrick (which also makes your strength irrelevant up to 18/99), which isn’t earth shatteringly good but is nice for the lullz

Do you recommend Dragon disciple or sorcerer? I've already tried dragon disciple twice and i'm impartial towards it, but never tried the vanilla one.

sarevok57

TheMikeFive wrote: »

sarevok57 wrote: »

the bard may be a bit tough, since again, they have a minimum requirement of 15 CHA, so what i would do;

INT: is very important and since there are lots of spells per level, it would be very helpful if this stat was 18

DEX: again, always good to be 18 if you can, it provides a nice +4 AC bonus

CON: realistically only needs to be 16 at the highest because any higher and you won't get any more of a HP bonus ( although, i believe there are a couple of items that lower CON and raise other ability scores aka; INT or STR, so if you want to raise it to 17 or 18 - if you can - then by all means do so, this also includes your mage if you are making one, but if not, its not too much to worry about )

STR: even if you do go into melee every once in a while, bards at best can only hit 18 STR and bards are still bards, and won't have amazing attack rolls, but your STR should be more focused for carrying items, 15 STR allows you to carry 120 lbs while 16 STR allows you to carry 150 lbs, so if you can 16 STR would be good

WIS: even though bards can hit level 8 spells eventually ( meaning that can get limited wish ) you need to dump something somewhere and this is the stat to do it, and luckily bards get great lore bonuses so it won't affect them to badly if your WIS is mud, plus worse case scenario for whatever reason if your bard does have limited wish and wants to use it, you can just use potions of insight in such a scenario, but with that said, if you can, try not going below 10 WIS so you don't get a lore penalty, but if need be, the next threshold is 7 WIS ( which gives you only a -10 penalty ) if you go any lower than that then you will get a -20 penalty, which in the long run is okay if you truly need to because with 18 INT ( that gives you a +10 bonus ) and that means by the time you hit level 11 ( which will happen in chapter 3 ) you will have enough lore to identify any item in the game anyway, so with WIS its perfectly up to you

I was thinking to use my sorcerer to identify stuff do i need high int on the sorcerer for that? Or do you suggest using the bard to identify stuff considering the recommended builds?

i would go with no, even with 18 INT you only get a +10 bonus to lore and sorcerers gain 1 lore per level, if you are going to have a bard, there is no way any other class will ever be able to match or surpass a bard's ability to identify items, so there is no point in getting your sorcerer to identify items using stats when your bard will always be able to do it better

TheMikeFive wrote: »

ilduderino wrote: »

If you use a dragon disciple, consider using 18 con and not bothering much with strength (possibly worth it for a normal sorceror( as you will end up with an insanely high con, due to upgrades and with the robe sold by Orrick (which also makes your strength irrelevant up to 18/99), which isn’t earth shatteringly good but is nice for the lullz

Do you recommend Dragon disciple or sorcerer? I've already tried dragon disciple twice and i'm impartial towards it, but never tried the vanilla one.

in my opinion, i like sorcerers more, dragon disciples get 2 spells less per level ( even though the game description says 1, its actually 2 ) and for what you get for those 2 slots per level ( some AC, a little bit of CON and fire resistance ) in my opinion just isnt worth it

especially since with sorcerers you dont get any beneficial HP bonus pass 16, and you don't start regenerating until you hit 20, and even then, that regen is slow as balls

plus, the 100% fire resistance can easily be made up the the level 3 mage spell; protection from fire, which lasts a turn/level ( 1 turn = 10 rounds )

and then also, if your sorcerer is always in the back anyway, then it almost doesnt matter what your AC is, whether its +10 or -10, also if you have spells that make you immune to weapons, then what is AC for?

although i get the idea that a dragon disciple is a neat idea and could be used for some RP factor, but in my opinion, you can never go wrong with a normal sorcerer

TheMikeFive

sarevok57 wrote: »

TheMikeFive wrote: »

sarevok57 wrote: »

the bard may be a bit tough, since again, they have a minimum requirement of 15 CHA, so what i would do;

INT: is very important and since there are lots of spells per level, it would be very helpful if this stat was 18

DEX: again, always good to be 18 if you can, it provides a nice +4 AC bonus

CON: realistically only needs to be 16 at the highest because any higher and you won't get any more of a HP bonus ( although, i believe there are a couple of items that lower CON and raise other ability scores aka; INT or STR, so if you want to raise it to 17 or 18 - if you can - then by all means do so, this also includes your mage if you are making one, but if not, its not too much to worry about )

STR: even if you do go into melee every once in a while, bards at best can only hit 18 STR and bards are still bards, and won't have amazing attack rolls, but your STR should be more focused for carrying items, 15 STR allows you to carry 120 lbs while 16 STR allows you to carry 150 lbs, so if you can 16 STR would be good

WIS: even though bards can hit level 8 spells eventually ( meaning that can get limited wish ) you need to dump something somewhere and this is the stat to do it, and luckily bards get great lore bonuses so it won't affect them to badly if your WIS is mud, plus worse case scenario for whatever reason if your bard does have limited wish and wants to use it, you can just use potions of insight in such a scenario, but with that said, if you can, try not going below 10 WIS so you don't get a lore penalty, but if need be, the next threshold is 7 WIS ( which gives you only a -10 penalty ) if you go any lower than that then you will get a -20 penalty, which in the long run is okay if you truly need to because with 18 INT ( that gives you a +10 bonus ) and that means by the time you hit level 11 ( which will happen in chapter 3 ) you will have enough lore to identify any item in the game anyway, so with WIS its perfectly up to you

I was thinking to use my sorcerer to identify stuff do i need high int on the sorcerer for that? Or do you suggest using the bard to identify stuff considering the recommended builds?

i would go with no, even with 18 INT you only get a +10 bonus to lore and sorcerers gain 1 lore per level, if you are going to have a bard, there is no way any other class will ever be able to match or surpass a bard's ability to identify items, so there is no point in getting your sorcerer to identify items using stats when your bard will always be able to do it better

TheMikeFive wrote: »

ilduderino wrote: »

If you use a dragon disciple, consider using 18 con and not bothering much with strength (possibly worth it for a normal sorceror( as you will end up with an insanely high con, due to upgrades and with the robe sold by Orrick (which also makes your strength irrelevant up to 18/99), which isn’t earth shatteringly good but is nice for the lullz

Do you recommend Dragon disciple or sorcerer? I've already tried dragon disciple twice and i'm impartial towards it, but never tried the vanilla one.

in my opinion, i like sorcerers more, dragon disciples get 2 spells less per level ( even though the game description says 1, its actually 2 ) and for what you get for those 2 slots per level ( some AC, a little bit of CON and fire resistance ) in my opinion just isnt worth it

especially since with sorcerers you dont get any beneficial HP bonus pass 16, and you don't start regenerating until you hit 20, and even then, that regen is slow as balls

plus, the 100% fire resistance can easily be made up the the level 3 mage spell; protection from fire, which lasts a turn/level ( 1 turn = 10 rounds )

and then also, if your sorcerer is always in the back anyway, then it almost doesnt matter what your AC is, whether its +10 or -10, also if you have spells that make you immune to weapons, then what is AC for?

although i get the idea that a dragon disciple is a neat idea and could be used for some RP factor, but in my opinion, you can never go wrong with a normal sorcerer

Superhelpful! I really thought that identifying was a 100% thing so that it wouldn't matter whether a bard did it or not. I actually did have a bard do that my first try at icewind dale. But i had a bunch of stupid builds then so i quit. But apparently i did something right.

sarevok57

you can have a mage or sorcerer do identifying as well if need be using the identify spell, its just that eventually a bard will hit a level where their lore will be high enough that they can identify any item without using the identify spell

mages and thieves in theory can also hit such a level, but usually that level is 30+, but for a bard usually you will only need to reach around level 9 or so

Cerabelus

I was rolling up characters for a playthrough on Insane today nothing too fancy.

Elf F/M: Navarre
STR: 18/53
DEX: 19
CON: 16
INT: 18
WIS: 9
CHA: 9

Human Priest of Lathander: Alexia
STR: 18
DEX: 18
CON: 16
INT: 9
WIS: 18
CHA: 9

Dwarven Defender: Gander
STR: 18/98
DEX: 17
CON: 19
INT: 9
WIS: 10
CHA: 14

Elf F/T: Rei'Leena
STR: 18/62
DEX: 19
CON: 17
INT: 10
WIS: 10
CHA: 15

Those are tha main crew but just incase i rolled some extras and i made sure to use the best names.

Human Dragon Disciple: Sally
STR: 18
DEX: 18
CON: 18
INT: 9
WIS: 9
CHA: 15

Human Avenger: Jim Bob
STR: 16
DEX: 18
CON: 16
INT: 5
WIS: 18
CHA: 15

Than i got a fantastic roll for...

Wow! i rarley get 90+, some classes get all the goodies.
Human Cavelier: Ricky Bobby
STR: 18/97
DEX: 18
CON: 18
INT: 9
WIS: 16
CHA: 17

sarevok57

@Cerabelus wow, a 96 and 91+ on exceptional strength, that is awesome

Cerabelus

@sarevok57 Every now and then i get a fantastic roll.

Those other characters were stuck in the 70's for so long, once i got to 85+ i started settling for that.

I wasn't even planning to make a Pally but i remembered there is a quest later on where a Pally can save you a lot of time and sense evil.

TheMikeFive

Cerabelus wrote: »

@sarevok57 Every now and then i get a fantastic roll.

Those other characters were stuck in the 70's for so long, once i got to 85+ i started settling for that.

I wasn't even planning to make a Pally but i remembered there is a quest later on where a Pally can save you a lot of time and sense evil.

My first IWD I got a 18/00 on my barbarian fighter and a total 96 for my Paladin and then my save file got corrupted.

On my first ever Baldur's gate rolls my first 4 characters got a total stat roll of: 93, 92, 91, 92 and then i got a 87 and a 86 for my last 2 characters, mind you the 90+ rolls were withint 10 rerolls each. Like i always hear about people needing to download a program to get better rolls but most of the time i get very lucky rolls. Like at least 2-3 90+ rolls per full 6 character party rolls.

jsaving

Don't stress about high rolls, there is hardly any role-playing in IWD so your melee characters are fine with 3s in their mental stats. Just make sure you have one character with an 18 CHA and you are good to go.

ilduderino

I like dragon disciples for the flava and because you can have fun with the high stats and fire resistance but from a pure power perspective a normal sorceror is very probably better

ilduderino

jsaving wrote: »

Don't stress about high rolls, there is hardly any role-playing in IWD so your melee characters are fine with 3s in their mental stats. Just make sure you have one character with an 18 CHA and you are good to go.

Whilst I agree, I just can’t bring myself to do this - at least in IWD you can keep rolling, in IWD2 you have limited choices with a fixed point system and I can’t to play duffers

Cerabelus

@ilduderino Yeah more spells are better, I was only gonna have the DD for the extra spell power but I usually find the DD to survive better with the Fire Resistance.

But given the choice I would try White Dragon Disciple for IWD, in other games fire tends to be the primary element you encounter.

TheMikeFive

sarevok57 wrote: »

@Cerabelus wow, a 96 and 91+ on exceptional strength, that is awesome

Should i use Paladin Undead Hunter or Cavalier i usually go with Cavalier but never tried undead hunter before.

sarevok57

even though there are tons of undead in IWD i find the immunity to poison moreuseful of the cavalier, and despite the undead hunter is immune to hold, a ring of free action does the same thing

plus cavaliers still get all their abilities with virtually no penalty ( except they can't use missile weapons lol ) while undead hunters i believe lose their use of lay on hands

but its really up to you, for me, i use cavaliers ( even in IWD ) but if you want to try something new i say go for it

jsaving

Neither the cavalier nor the undead hunter give you much that's useful in IWD, although as @sarevok57 points out their disadvantages are so minor that you'd nearly always choose one of them rather than going with the base paladin class. I would personally replace your paladin with a fighter/illusionist but if you are wanting a singleclass warrior then I'd make the decision solely on whether you plan to use missile weapons. If not then you give up literally nothing by going cavalier, but if so then the +3 bonus against undead makes undead hunter the better choice.

Cerabelus

@TheMikeFive I like the idea of the RP around a Paladin dedicating themselves to taking down the most dangerous creatures around.

The Undead Hunter is the same for me but I can't recommend one or the other except if you think about it like this, what are the most dangerous enemies your likely to face?

Undead are usually in numbers on any game like this, a safe bet and sometimes against a very powerful one.

Demon's & Devil's are less common but similar, you'll mostly fight weaker ones than later the big boi's or Gal's.

Than the Dragon's, there few and far between but when you face them.... I'm gonna wish I had even a small bonus to attack and damage and being immune to that fear helps.

If your looking for RP than yeah they both work but if your looking for power the Fighter/Mage wins everytime.

TheMikeFive

jsaving wrote: »

Neither the cavalier nor the undead hunter give you much that's useful in IWD, although as @sarevok57 points out their disadvantages are so minor that you'd nearly always choose one of them rather than going with the base paladin class. I would personally replace your paladin with a fighter/illusionist but if you are wanting a singleclass warrior then I'd make the decision solely on whether you plan to use missile weapons. If not then you give up literally nothing by going cavalier, but if so then the +3 bonus against undead makes undead hunter the better choice.

Cerabelus wrote: »

@TheMikeFive I like the idea of the RP around a Paladin dedicating themselves to taking down the most dangerous creatures around.

The Undead Hunter is the same for me but I can't recommend one or the other except if you think about it like this, what are the most dangerous enemies your likely to face?

Undead are usually in numbers on any game like this, a safe bet and sometimes against a very powerful one.

Demon's & Devil's are less common but similar, you'll mostly fight weaker ones than later the big boi's or Gal's.

Than the Dragon's, there few and far between but when you face them.... I'm gonna wish I had even a small bonus to attack and damage and being immune to that fear helps.

If your looking for RP than yeah they both work but if your looking for power the Fighter/Mage wins everytime.

If not for my love of Paladins and the fact that I need someone to wield the Pale Justice, i'd definitely pick something else. Will definitely try Fighter/Illusionist one day.