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What is a strong party of six?

I know I asked in other threads for small parties so please dont be mad at me for opening this thread.
What do you think is a good full party for playing on insane?
I like it to be diverse and powerful and mostly fun.
Is the game harder with a full party than with a party of 3-4?
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Comments

  • DinoDinDinoDin Member Posts: 1,597
    Honestly, any party that's diverse will be strong. Just like with Baldur's Gate, having two fighter types, two divine casters and two arcane casters and one thief is likely the ideal. That's seven spots, meaning you'll need one multi or dual class to make it work.

    Certain classes have specific dialogue options which allow you more easily solve certain sidequests or get better rewards from them. These include Paladin, Barbarian, Druid and Bard. There might be some others too, but those four I know for a fact have multiple unique dialogue choices. So, worth considering integrating those specific classes into those more broad categories I listed above.

    I'd also add cleric, especially a single class one as an important addition. Especially for any first time player. If your definition of "good full party" means not having reload a bunch then a single class cleric is critical for early access to raise dead -- a major accomplishment that increases your margin of error, so to speak. On top of that, the turn undead spell and other anti-undead magic is very helpful in a game chock full of undead.

    Lastly, as I said Bard is a good option for one of your arcane casters. But Sorcerer is probably going to be a better choice than a single class mage for your second choice. The game is profoundly stingy on mage scrolls, it's sort of ridiculous. It's actually an example of some of the lack of playtesting and quality assurance for the game. A single class mage can frequently level up and unlock spell levels and have access to zero, literally zero scrolls at that level. A multi, mage-thief or something is a different case and can work a lot better, since you level more slowly and also arent so one-dimensional. So single class mages can often feel like they're not able to fully take advantage.

    But much of this is to taste. Frankly the game engine allows for enormous flexibility within the combat system. It's not at all hard to retreat from a battle if you feel outmatched, rest and then try it again. So what party composition is ideal will largely depend on what you as a player want to do. Just keep in mind that the game involves A LOT of combat. Alot of combat against large groups of enemies. Long, multi-level dungeons with waves and waves of this. So plan around that.
  • Marty_Marty_ Member Posts: 11
    My recommendation for your first party of six would be:

    Bard (make sure they have CHA 18 and make them leader)
    Sorcerer
    2X Fighter/Cleric multi-class (Fighter/Cleric is WAY easier to roll than Fighter/Druid)
    Fighter/Thief
    Fighter/Mage


    This is a very conventional party that will cover all bases and will be powerful from start to finish. Lack of scrolls in the game was mentioned as an issue and that is true so, if you want, replace the Fighter/Mage with a 3rd Fighter/Cleric or a Paladin kit or an Archer or whatever you like to play.
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,371
    edited October 2023
    Don't bother with a thief. Go with a neutral arcane caster who can cast find familiar. Make sure he's true neutral so he gets the rabbit. The rabbit can disarm most traps, especially if you have a bard that can use the luck song and cast the luck spell. The only bad spot is Dragon's Eye where you might have an issue with traps. Backstabbing is useless in IWD because of mobs. If you really must have a thief, I'd go with a Bounty Hunter since the traps can come in handy on occasion. The Lucky Scimitar is cheap and gives a free casting of Luck. Use Knock spell to open chests that can't be forced.
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    What do you think about:
    Dwarven Defender
    Archer
    Bard(Skald???)
    Sorcerer?
    Which two characters would you add?
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,371
    edited October 2023
    Out of those choices, I'd select Bard and Sorcerer. It really depends on who else is going along tbough. If you'll be relying on summons to carry most of the load (ie: cleric skeletons/aerial servants, Totemic Druid spirits, Druid beetles/elementals, etc...) I'd go with Skald instead of Bard. If you already have a wizard and want a tank that can hold the mobs at bay, go with the Dwarven Defender.
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    edited October 2023
    Which Divine characters would you add?
    About Bard: is vanilla better or skald?
    Which are the two best tanks/damage melee dealers?
    Which are roughly the best spells for a sorcerer?

    Should I give all characters a ranged weapon?
  • DinoDinDinoDin Member Posts: 1,597
    edited October 2023
    Sloty1984 wrote: »
    What do you think about:
    Dwarven Defender
    Archer
    Bard(Skald???)
    Sorcerer?
    Which two characters would you add?

    A solid start. I'd add a single class cleric, as I said about raise dead, not to mention other benefits. Cleric can also get tanky, helping on the frontline with the defender. One frontliner simply isnt enough given the large enemies groups you will face. They will swarm and surround your one frontliner. With the remaining enemies potentially breaking through and chasing your backliners.

    I disagree with advice about not needing a thief. Unless you know the game very well, you should absolutely be taking a thief. Relying on knock and a familiar for the thief skills is terrible advice for a first time player. Especially since you're already rolling with a party with limited arcane spell choices -- bard will have few spells per level, and sorcerer will have few spells to choose from. Thief will give you much more flexibility and ease-of-use. And a bow-wielding thief contributes perfectly fine to damage output. I think the assassin kit is solid here if you're doing single class. The kit negative is offset by fast leveling and the poison skill is outstanding. You might even consider replacing your archer with a thief instead. Bow wielding bard and bow wielding thief can both work pretty well on the backlines, making an archer somewhat overkill.

    If you do replace the archer with a thief, then I'd suggest to add a druid. Lots of elemental damage spells, a much stronger class in IWD than the BG series. Alternately you could do a cleric/thief instead of a single class cleric, to cover your thief needs.
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    edited October 2023
    Which Divine characters would you add?
    About Bard: is vanilla better or skald?
    Which are the two best tanks/damage melee dealers?
    Which are roughly the best spells for a sorcerer?

    Should I give all characters a ranged weapon?

    Want to know about cleric and druid (which is the best kit)?
    And which weapons would you give to a Cleric or Druid?

    I think two Tanks are enough which are good npcs for the rest four?
    Which is the best Druid class?

    What are the best sorcerer spell picks?
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    ???????
  • DinoDinDinoDin Member Posts: 1,597
    Meh, I don't think you need to obsess so much over what's the best, especially at such a granular level as kits. Like I said, cleric is good because of raise dead. Whatever kit you choose really won't make a huge difference. Druid is good for summoning spells and damage spells, whatever kit you choose won't matter much. Frankly, I think an unkitted druid is a fine choice for IWD.

    I realize the start of IWD is a bit overwhelming, having to make so many important choices before seeing any of the action, But I really suggest you don't sweat it too much. You're off to a good start with your list from above. I would suggest you just choose stuff that appears like it will be fun to you.

    As for weapon choices, I would say yes, start every character with at least one ranged weapon and one melee weapon. This will give you important tactical flexibility with each member of your party early on. But don't sweat weapon choices too much. You really can't go wrong and aside from your dwarven defender, nobody is going to be heavily committed to one weapon anyways. As you level up with the bard, cleric, druid, etc. you will get new weapon points and you will have to quickly spend those on new weapon types. So you'll have more pips than you even truly need.
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    edited October 2023
    Which is the best Druid build?
    Fighter/Druid or one of the kits?

    What about cleric?
    Is there a cleric kit that is good in damage?
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    What do you think about:
    2 tanks: dwarven defender and undeaed hunter
    Skald and Sorcerer as Arcane casters
    Archer
    2 Divine casters , cleric/something or druid(which kit) ????
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    What cleric would you suggest?
    Dual Ranger 3 / cleric?
    Which stats do I need to be elligible to dual?
    Which druid is the best? Any kit or multi Fighter/Druid or a Dual Druid?
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    Please someone?
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    What cleric would you suggest?
    Dual Ranger 3 / cleric?
    Which stats do I need to be elligible to dual?
    Which druid is the best? Any kit or multi Fighter/Druid or a Dual Druid?

    What do you think about:
    2 tanks: dwarven defender and undeaed hunter
    Skald and Sorcerer as Arcane casters
    Archer
    2 Divine casters , cleric/something or druid(which kit) ????

    Which is the best Druid build?
    Fighter/Druid or one of the kits?

    What about cleric?
    Is there a cleric kit that is good in damage?
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    Anyone????
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,881
    edited October 2023
    Your incessant flood of questions, with very little acknowledgement of previous responses, has exhausted the patience of everyone who might be inclined to answer those questions.
    (Also, the forum's denizens are heavily slanted to Americans, who likely aren't active in the wee hours of the morning)

    You don't need to sweat every detail. Discovering things through trial and error is perfectly valid - after all, these games all let you keep multiple saves. Just play something.
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    edited October 2023
    I want to apologize for posting so many questions, I am often very impacient.
    I am very often impatient, so please bear with me?

    please dont disbann me
    I am some times very impatient.
    Post edited by Sloty1984 on
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    Last question about a strong party then I will leave you alone:
    What do you think about:
    Dwarven Defender
    Fighter/druid multi
    Ranger 3 dual to cleric
    Archer
    Skald
    Sorcerer
    ?
  • Marty_Marty_ Member Posts: 11
    An unkitted bard would be more powerful than a Skald. Skald doesn't get a song upgrade until level 15 and never gets the variety of songs an unkitted bard gets. Fighter/druid multi is really hard to roll and isn't as good as a fighter/cleric anyway. Ranger/Cleric multi is better than the ranger/cleric dual if you are going to only take 3 levels of ranger.

    The rest seem fine to me.
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    Why is the Fighter/Druid bad(would be my second tank)?
    Ranger 3/ cleric I would play as a pureclass cleric, just with some better profs and hitpoints
  • Marty_Marty_ Member Posts: 11
    Sloty1984 wrote: »
    Why is the Fighter/Druid bad(would be my second tank)?


    I didn't say it was bad. I said it was hard to roll and a fighter/cleric multi would be better, in addition to being much easier to roll. By all means play what you want to play, but you did ask for opinions about how powerful that party would be so I gave you my opinion.

  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,881
    What "hard to roll" means here: druids have a high minimum charisma requirement (15), and fighter/druids want four stats (strength, dexterity, constitution, wisdom) to be high. Plus you want at least average intelligence, since there are wands and scrolls a priest can use. With no real dump stat, you either need an exceptionally high roll or you need to compromise on some of your stats.
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    edited October 2023
    I have the autoroller for EE, so I can wait till my F/D would get into the 90s.
    Is the 3 ranger/ cleric okay or should I do a multiclass Ranger/Cleric?

    I dont get it why the vannila Bard is better than the Skald. Please explain
    Post edited by Sloty1984 on
  • WoebegoneWoebegone Member Posts: 18
    edited October 2023
    Try this: go to Google and type 'icewind dale bard or skald'. You can do that with any question you have and there will be similar threads. Or you can just start scrolling back and looking for thread titles you find interesting. For instance: for the search example I found:

    https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/36218/vanilla-bard-or-skald

    Right on top.

    Edit: I shoulda gone to the link myself as its for Baldur's Gate. Still worth reading. There's also:

    https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/43036/bard-or-skald-or-sorcerer

    https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/44917/bards-whats-so-essential-about-them
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    What is your personal opinion on who is better:
    Fighter/cleric or Ranger/cleric? Dual or multi?
    Fighter/druid or any druid kit?
  • YigorYigor Member Posts: 805
    edited October 2023
    Sloty1984 wrote: »
    What is your personal opinion on who is better:
    Fighter/cleric or Ranger/cleric? Dual or multi?
    Fighter/druid or any druid kit?

    Dual-classed Berserker/Druid of level 29/30 if U would have enough patience to develop that! 👈

    N.B. I played with dual-classed Berserker/Cleric and Berserker/Thief, both up to level 29/30. 😎
  • Sloty1984Sloty1984 Member Posts: 147
    How do you ever get it going?
    Till level 29 without a healer?
    And keep in mind I dont want to start in HoF mode but will play on insane difficulty
  • YigorYigor Member Posts: 805
    Sloty1984 wrote: »
    Till level 29 without a healer?

    What's the problem? Just save and sleep to heal yourself. Well, without healing abilities, it takes many days of the in-game time, but who cares. 😹
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