Most fun party?
Swarmkeeper109
Member Posts: 78
Hello friends, I've always found Icewind Dale interesting, however I've never even left Easthaven before. What party is most fun in your opinion? Also what are the best weapons to put proficiencies in? Thanks in advance! I really hope I'll love this game.
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Two very different runs I’ve recently done can be seen as “Victoria and Second Chances” and “Aias and the Aliens”. In both cases, the big thing for me is getting to know the characters and the team.
As far as best weapons go, almost anything can be made to work. Just a few thoughts, Long Swords are the most common weapon type, which means you’ll find more good long swords than any other type. But not by a huge margin. It’s generally best to have your team use a mix of weapons so you can use the wide variety of weapons that will show up in the game. Also, you will fight a lot of skeletal undead. I mention this only because skeletal undead only take full damage from crushing weapons. So it is wise if one of your main damage dealers is using crushing weapons.
You're completely right. I'm sorry for asking such a broad question. Those were pretty interesting to read! I remember last time I started a new game I decided on like a sentence of lore for two of the characters and then nothing else. Sure...the barbarian is in the party because...he decided to be. What is the sorcerer's personality? He.....likes casting magic. I'm going to put a lot more effort in this time. Thanks for the weapon tips!
I understand the game system sufficiently but never get past middle of it before. This party is really fun. I play on hard mode without XP bonus. I don't have to resort to cheating tactics of finishing targets one by one because I have 3 capable fighters and I can easily get them invis if needed from spellbooks: 2 invis and sanctuary, without wasting potions or scrolls/items. I have tank, damager and thief. I can use most of the game spells.
I even think about going 3/4 multiclasses in BG2, that's how I liked this idea.
This isn't just class diversity, but racial diversity too. So it's helpful to have a wide variety of classes in the party, a wide variety of races. Druid, paladins, barbarians and bards are all classes that tend to get a little bit of extra.
I would caution against a single-class mage, especially a specialist mage. Because of the paucity of mage scrolls in the game, you are more likely to enjoy the game with a bard and a sorcerer. Or a multi or dual classed mage, instead of a single-class one. You simply won't take advantage of a mage that well unless you get very lucky on item drops. You may even have the situation where you have access to a new level of spells but literally zero access to scrolls for that level.
From a personal opinion, I also think the BG2 style class kits break some of the game's difficulty. This one truly depends on personal taste, and how much you want to be challenged by the game. It's important to note that game was designed with BG1-style simple classes in mind.
Another personal note on party composition, is that I find a single-class cleric is pretty useful. Not from a narrative standpoint, but from a gameplay/challenge. Temple healing, temple raising dead, buying potions, all these strategies from the BG series are not quite as effective in IWD, imo. So it's useful to have a full time party healer and also a character that can do very well against undead enemies.
A party of diverse abilities and classes is huge. I think the classic “balanced” party, with an emphasis on melee will be the easiest way to play through this game.
I do agree a single class mage will struggle, largely because they are fragile and this game is punishing. It will reward characters/parties with more staying power. This can make the mage challenging, especially in the early going. I think a multi or dual mage, or a bard is an excellent solution.
That said, I disagree strongly about the Sorcerer. I think this is a broken class that categorically does not belong in a 2E game, period. It completely cheats the designed spell economy, and to me breaks whatever immersion the magic system has. This matters even more in IWD than it did in BG, precisely because of the forced scarcity of many scrolls. The Sorcerer cheats its way into getting those scarce spells the game doesn’t intend for you to have before a certain point. Yeah, yeah, I’m officially an old fart…
Then I’ll flip that take for the newer kits. I love the extra role playing dimension many of these add. Just yeah, know if you’re taking an Undead Hunter it will be a very strong character in this game.
I agree very strongly about clerics! You will spend a lot of time in this game far away from town and a temple. And the combat WILL inflict a lot of damage and ill effects on your team. This means it’s seriously advantageous to be self reliant on healing. This means I often run with two priests of some sort. A single class cleric is particularly helpful because they will get major healing/curing spells into play that much faster. That is a big deal.
Anyway, thanks for a thoughtful comment!