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Party optimised for interactions - Paladin (Undead Hunter?), Druid (Avenger), Bard (vanilla)...

WerewombleWerewomble Member Posts: 2
Currently playing through BG1 with my brother watching can choosing the dialogue options.

Keen to do a run through Icewind Dale but it'll probably be the only run so am hoping to maximize conversations.

I have the sticky at the top favourite to make use of class-specific interactions.

Paladin (Undead Hunter) - what proficiency should he take to be ready for the Paladin-only sword?
Not married to Undead Hunter but I was fighting undead when I put IWD down over a decade ago.

Druid (Avenger) - I hear he throws real Lightning Bolts now. Worth dual or multi-classing?

Bard (vanilla) - Saw he gets the BG2 kit...could be convinced to do a Skald for fluff reasons.
Can he use the scrolls effectively if I don't go a Mage or Sorcerer?

Human Thief - plan to daul class to something like a Barbarian (is that allowed?) so I can chuck axes.
Big Question: At what level Lockpicking, Find Traps, etc. should I stop gaining Thief levels and switch over?

Half-Elf Cleric (Tempus)/Ranger - Druid can max out Divine spellcasting I guess?

Human Kensai (Longbow?)/dual to Mage - No idea, just seems like someone who can use caster gear and still put in some damage. If Kensai doesn't work is Barbarian the next best thing?

Reading threads on class advice as the game downloads - all advice is welcome!

Biggest question is what weapon proficiencies do I need?
Is the Paladin's best sword a Great or Large Sword?
What is the best weapon for a Bard? Or Druid?
What is the best weapon in the game? In this party the Cleric/Ranger may end up with it? What proficiency?

Comments

  • WerewombleWerewomble Member Posts: 2
    After some more Googling this is what I'm thinking...

    Paladin - Large Swords, Flail, Greatsword for late game?
    Druid (Avenger) - Scimitar then Clubs
    Bard (vanilla) - Axes? Large Swords?
    Thief dual to Barbarian? Is Fighter just better? Someone needs to wield Greatswords eventually?
    Ranger Cleric - Tempus, Flails , Hammer for late game

    +Longbow on everyone who can use them.
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    thing about IWD is that the weapons are random, so one run you might find 2 good axes and 10 good longswords, and another run you might find 5 good morning stars and only 3 good longswords

    for weapon choices these are the best; long sword, axe, flail/morning star;

    they are the most common and usually the best

    if you are going two handed, the only guarantee good two handed weapon is a +4 two handed sword, although there can bet lots of halberds and two handed axes as well, if you get lucky you may find some nice halberds, so if you are going the two handed route, i would go with axe/halberd or two handed sword and hope for the best ( also i suppose there is a +5 spear in chapter 6, but before then, you might not find any other spear that would be worth the while until then, so up to you )

    for paladin, i would stick with; long sword, flail/morning star, axe, and if you get some extra; sword and shield style never hurts

    for druid, if you plan on going into melee i would suggest dagger, there are crap tons of daggers in IWD and a lot of them deal poison of "phasing" damage ( which is basically poison excepts it hurts anything ) then once you max out dagger, the rest is up to you, realistically it won't be until around chapter 5 or so before you really start finding some other decent druid weapons

    bard, again, perhaps go with longsword, axe, flail, warhammer ( in case you find that super good one ) your bard is going to be more useful using it's bard song as apposed to going into combat, so try and make yourself proficient with melee weapons that give a bonus to AC and use single weapon style

    thief, first off, your thief cannot dual class into a barbarian, thieves can dual class into only; fighter, cleric or wizard, and remember, to be able to do so you need at least 15 DEX, and if you want to dual into fighter you need 17 STR, into a cleric you will need 17 WIS or into a wizard you will need 17 INT, and this is base stats, not boosted stats from items. Also, thieves cannot backstab with great swords, so that is just a reminder, although a perfect weapon for the thief/fighter is the throwing axe +2 that you can find in chapter 2, "infinite" ammo, and use STR bonus for damage, and with those fighter levels you can crank out the proficiency points in axe and deals some serious damage from the back row, absolutely solid. When it comes to dual classing your thief i usually for it at level 10, if you do that you fighter level will surpass your thief level the time you hit chapter 5 sometime, if you wait until level 11 to dual class ( just in case you wanted 1 extra trap per day ) you wont get your thief abilities back until chapter 6, although most of the "important" thief stuff is mostly used in chapter 1 & 2, so even without a thief for the majority of the game you should be okay

    ranger/cleric, can't go wrong here, just make sure that they fill out morningstar/flail first, and then either max out sword and shield style if you want them to be tanky or max out 2 weapon style if you want to maximize attacks. Once those are maxed out then hammer could probably go next then mace if you still have points left

    when it comes to a longbow, only the paladin, bard and thief ( once it hits some fighter classes ) can use it, druids and ranger/clerics can only use slings with the single other case of druids being able to use throwing daggers, but you will not find a magical returning one until the 2nd last room in HoW ( and thats even if you play the expansion )

    plus, for your bard, your bard shouldn't have to worry about a ranged weapon, as i said before, get that AC as low as possible with a melee weapon and single weapon style and sing away, especially the default bard has some really REALLY good bard songs

    also to note, in IWD there are a lot of strong crossbows, a lot of them will give extra attacks per round, and plus usually their to hit/to damage bonus will be higher than long bows

    also, as i said before with your thief/fighter you will really want to take advantage of the returning throwing axe +2, its an amazing ranged weapon, because you have "infinite" of it and it hits as a +2 weapon

    plus if you also play the HoW expansion there is actually another returning throwing axe +2 in the gloom frost from the dwarven black smith dude, great weapon to give to your paladin or bard if you truly really want your bard to have a range weapon
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