Adventuring party is doomed.
Atocha
Member Posts: 9
Hello!
I played IceWind Dale many years ago. I did very poorly because I wasn't used to this type of gameplay. Despite this, I still really liked the game and it's artstyle and premise. After all this time, I looked it up on steam and saw it was available as a EE. I bought it and was determined to learn how to play it and finish the game.
Not knowing a lot of the terminology from D&D I was looking for suggestions a lot. I starting watching Magpie Randoms videos on YT of her advice and walkthrough. I followed that and just used the suggested six man party in the EE game. I was surprised by the use of pause, save, reload used to play the game. I was very surprised of seeing videos of seeing people solo this game with one character!!!
Well, I'm on the 4th level of Dragon's Eye (with the torture chamber) and I'm stuck. I don't know if I should scrap my goal of finishing the game. The snake guys are just ripping through my party like paper at this point. Most of my characters aren't geared fully, bard has no gear, mage has robe. So with my limited knowledge I'm just stuck.
Should I maybe start over? Pick a new party combo? Again, despite my slightly better performance this time, I still love the game. I really like the art style, especially of the portraits.
I played IceWind Dale many years ago. I did very poorly because I wasn't used to this type of gameplay. Despite this, I still really liked the game and it's artstyle and premise. After all this time, I looked it up on steam and saw it was available as a EE. I bought it and was determined to learn how to play it and finish the game.
Not knowing a lot of the terminology from D&D I was looking for suggestions a lot. I starting watching Magpie Randoms videos on YT of her advice and walkthrough. I followed that and just used the suggested six man party in the EE game. I was surprised by the use of pause, save, reload used to play the game. I was very surprised of seeing videos of seeing people solo this game with one character!!!
Well, I'm on the 4th level of Dragon's Eye (with the torture chamber) and I'm stuck. I don't know if I should scrap my goal of finishing the game. The snake guys are just ripping through my party like paper at this point. Most of my characters aren't geared fully, bard has no gear, mage has robe. So with my limited knowledge I'm just stuck.
Should I maybe start over? Pick a new party combo? Again, despite my slightly better performance this time, I still love the game. I really like the art style, especially of the portraits.
0
Comments
You might be doomed. You can try turning down the difficulty just for this level to see if that helps. You can go back up one level and rest if you need to at the healer lady if she is still there.
Generally, so slow and see if you can pull 1 or 2 monsters at a time to see if you can kill them one by one.
What is your party like?
Instead, we need to talk strategy and tactics. And that starts with knowing where you are in those areas.
Any particular characters that don't feel like they're pulling their weight? Any details on how you've built the party as they've grown, and what you're having them do in combat?
Lvl 7 human undead hunter paladin -- Front line tank Plate armor, Long sword and Large Shield. Has two points in bastard sword, long sword and sword and shield style. Also equipped with a short bow and used as range while animate dead tank.
Lvl 7 human beserker -- Front Line tank Chain mail, two handed sword. Has 4 points in two handed swords, and 2 points in two handed weapon style. Also has short bow for ranged when animate dead are tanking.
Lvl 6/6 Cleric/Ranger Half Elf -- Chain mail, has 2 points in two weapon spec, 2 points in morning star and warhammer, 1 point in sling, Used only as range, just tries to heal everyone. Highest heal I have is lvl 3 cure medium wounds, but all three slots for lvl 3 spells used for animate dead. This is how I've been tanking everything EACH fight using all three, so only using lvl 2 cure moderate wounds.
Lvl 6/7 Fighter/Thief Halfling -- studded leather armor, only used at range with shortbow, basically use thief pick lock, trap detection.
Lvl 8 Elf Mage -- Necromancer's Robe, used as range with dart, 1 point in dart and dagger, equipped with summoner's staff and dart. I have 4 lvl 1 spells, use mostly grease, 3 lvl 2 spells, all I have to choose from is stinking cloud which I never use, 3 lvl 3 spells, all I have to choose from is fireball which I use, 2 lvl 4 spells, I have nothing to choose from. If she's out of darts, I park her in the middle of cleared map as not to get killed every fight. I find grease doesn't do much for the snake guys
Lvl 8 Half Elf Bard -- No armor except for bracers of defense A.C. 6, and mantle of coming storm. She has 1 point each mace, dagger and sling, and one point in sword and shield style. She has a mace, buckler and sling. Only used as range. Has very few spells to choose from, lvl 1 armor and identify, lvl 2 invisibility, luck and protection from petrification, and level 3 I have no spells to choose, but I have two slots. She has no armor because I believe I couldn't cast spells with armor.
After EVERY fight I have to rest to reset all the spells (grease, animate dead, bless and all the heals)
I'm confused with mage spells as I only have a handful to choose from. My level one spells for my mage are armor, grease, color spray, burning hands, chill touch and sleep. I've stated above the only level two spell to choose is stinking cloud, and level three is only fireball. I had found an acid arrow spell scroll and know it would be useful to use for trolls. I clicked to write magic and it's nowhere in my spell book. I'm sure how this is supposed to work. I think I remembered color spray in the same way. *shrug*
Am I too low level? Not geared enough? Not using my characters to their potential? If I'm too low level, I don't know how to get more xp. There's nowhere to farm.
You aren't getting the most out of the R/C. He should be right up front with the Undead Hunter and using DW Morning Stars. Lead with both of those guys to draw all the aggro. The UH should also be dual wield, but oh well.
Then use the beserker to flank the enemies (or attack on his own) while all three of those melee guys all target the same enemy at once, then move to the next. Try to get plate mail in town for all that can use it.
Then make another element for your ranged shooters and have them soften up the targets or take out mages. Learn sling instead of darts.
Lastly, the Bard can just sing.
If you have the Summoner's Staff, then you must be on the 5th level. Its hard, but I found the level before it to be worse. The boss fight at the end of this level can be hard, but if approach it the right way, it can also be trivial.
Again, you might want to just decrease the difficulty to get past this level.
Is the R/C going to be able to cast heals if he's tanking??
Also, I didn't know I could turn down the difficulty. Haha
If you can, try to learn haste at level 3 and emotion hope and emotion courage at level 4.
Use your cleric to put protection from evil on your characters.
instead of animate dead, if all your characters are good or neutral, you could use holy blight, which can blind evil foes.
Another tactical tip: stealth. You have two characters capable of stealth (the fighter/thief and the ranger/cleric). Halflings get dexterity bonuses and good racial modifiers to stealth, so a halfling thief has a decent chance to hide even if you haven't invested in the hide/move silently skills at all yet. Rangers just get good bonuses to those skills automatically as they level, so they're always good at hiding.
So, what can you do with this skill? Hide, then send the invisible character ahead until they spot enemies. Get a look at what's there, and then fall back to the main group and make your plans for engaging with that encounter. They won;t react if they don't see you. Also, if you fail a hide check, fall back immediately; you have a grace period of about a round after failing a check before you become visible.
In the ranger/cleric's case, they're probably wearing heavy armor normally. You'd have to take it off when you're scouting, which is a good reason not to enter combat in that mode.
The fighter/thief, though, can end their stealth with a backstab. Hitting a squishy enemy hard is a great way to start a battle, and fighter/thieves can hold up in melee pretty well. The class has enormous tactical flexibility, able to transition between combat roles at the drop of a hat. Using them only in one role all the time is a waste.
Oh, and a slightly cheesy trick for that fighter/thief. If you're stealthed, putting heavy armor on blocks your ability to make further stealth checks but doesn't immediately reveal you. And you can swap armor as long as you're out of combat - any time before someone issues an attack order. So you can sneak up, put on heavy armor while still hidden, backstab someone, and continue combat as a melee tank. I used this quite a bit in my no-spellcasting run of the Baldur's Gate series with my fighter/thief protagonist.
But of course, my experience is with the Baldur's Gate series. Which rarely uses that sort of thing, and usually for stuff like "these monsters spawn in somewhere that's probably out of sight, and need to go attack the party". If widely used generic scripts are written that way in IWD... yeah, that's bad for stealth play.
With your party design I would likely:
Leave my party in a good defensible place where you won’t get swarmed.
Then have my F/T stealth till I see an enemy. Begin to pelt them with arrows until they close the distance.
When they get close retreat back to my party
Then when they follow have my undead hunter and Beserker prepare to engage them and distract them from weaker party members (this should be sufficient for most battles with or without web).
Then have my bard singing (close enough to give your team benefit but at your rear rank where he/she won’t get hit!)
I would have my mage and cleric (ranger) buff the party bless or something like it at this level, shoot an animate dead off after that or better yet, prior to the enemy arrival. Have the C/R sling after that and as a back up plan to engage any enemies that break your front line (shouldn’t happen often if done right)…if you have web and free action rings (your bard should be able to pickpocket 2 in Kuldehar (spelling?) drill enemies with web upon or just prior to engagement. Front line (UH & Bes) with free action kill held/webbed enemies.
Brief recap
F/T (I prefer an archer with this strategy or in combo with a FMT or FT) snipes enemy (often times killing them before the hoard is exposed. Then inch forward to the next one.
When pursued lead them back to your team.
On arrival front line engages, FT snipes from a distance (deadly)
Support team (C/R, mage) web (sleep/grease work at this level to a lesser degree, but web grease combo can save your life!!!! Bless, curse from the cleric ranger and then let them sling and be emergency melee for enemies who crack your front line.
Bard sings providing constant buff!
There are other strategies, but this was the first and easiest that I have used.
Good luck