I would recommend to dual the kensai at 9 since you get extra thaco/dmg and re level druid is THAT easy
So far I like your set up a lot and If I'm not mistaken that looks like
Kensai9>Druid Spear 2h Swash7>Fighter Long Sword Dual F/C Multi Archer Longbow Sorcerer
Yeah, another ranged toon added to the mix would do quite well IMO. The problem is that if you got a sorcerer going for f>m doesn't give you any props since again is a support toon used mainly for buffing and that's NOT needed at all with a sorcerer.
With that set up I would maybe go for
3 Melee 2 Ranged 1 Support set up:
Kensai9>Druid Spear 2h Swash7>Fighter Long Sword Dual F/C Multi Archer Longbow Sorcerer +++ Archer Crossbow or shortbow
4 Melee 1 Ranged 1 Support:
Kensai9>Druid Spear 2h Swash7>Fighter Long Sword Dual F/C Multi Archer Longbow Sorcerer +++ Kensai9>Mage or Bers7>Cleric (any of this with war hammers)
3Melee 2 Ranged 1 Support:
Kensai 9>Druid Spear 2h Thief7>Fighter Crossbow or Shortbow (kit up to you, doesn't matter in the end F/C Multi Archer Longbow Sorcerer +++ Kensai9>Mage or kitted pally (any of this with long sword)
I would prob go for any 3 man melee set up, unless you are fair confident in HoF playstile and it's not your 1st run. If you don't want to miss melee swash then 2x archer seems optimal. Otherwise I would go for ranged thief and pally (no babysitting) or K>M (serious babysitting untill late).
Just my 2c
ps: You can dump some points of dex for the kensadudu since you have a wonderfull lvl2 buffs aka cat's grace (20dex for 1hour on the target) that last forever and you will want it for ranged human characters + thief skills buff no matter what. Just watch out for dispells so make it at least natural 16 and and go for 3 int imo
Uhm i think i'll switch the swash to ranged and add another melee like you suggested in the third option, at higher level the swash can have 5 pips on crossbow and 5 in longsword + 3 in two weapon style so i can switch him to ranged/melee
The party is done going to start playing Thankx to all
Yeah, I'm almost done for my 1st hof run but that set up, to me, seems optimal. I would just recommend dual ken dudu since you got amazing daggers at the beginning and there is a +1apr scimitar for off hand.
If I would restart a run, like 1st run, or a run with low babysitting I think I could see myself go with
Kensai9>Druid Dagger GM dual F/C> ++pips in all the blunt weapons and dual later on Cavalier or Blackguard> Long and Short sword dual Archer>Longbow Ass7>Fighter Crossbow Sorcerer
This set up require almost NO babysitting, it's 3melee+2ranged+1support, can use all the spell in the game and almost all the items in the game.
For min/max later on kensai>mage is better then a pally+sorcerer for sure but you will miss those sweet spells early on. I can see myself try a 5man run next with major babysitting for the early/mid game, like:
Kensai9>Druid Dagger GM dual Kensai9>Mage Long and Short sword dual F/C Archer Ass7>Fighter
Holy... they hit like a truck I'm playing like i'm in a raid in WoW pulling trash one at time Btqw in the orc cave i tryed to pull one Orc Elite and now 9 Orcs are following me :P
You have to go back to the city since they can't follow you and then kill 1 by 1. It's a bit cheese but orcs and goblins will be not tankable due to low lvl and no equipment once you get 5/6 lvls, haste spell and platemail (vale of shadow) things will be different!
edit: btw the whole run will be something like a damage/tank race you have to full buff all the time and sometimes use summons no matter :v but it's funny once you are used to it oh and remember mass invisibility is your best friend for pulling! No true vision in this game
Yeah for the orc cave i traveled a lot back and forth to eastheaven Btw when i discovered the map there were two ogre after i pulled them outside and returned from the city there were 4 :P
Enemies can't re-enter the cave once you lure them outside, there is no need to go all the way back to Easthaven. Just exit the cave, kill a few, enter the cave again to rest. Works every time for me.
@Vesimas It's usually recommended to be done at ~9 at the earliest, but you may find the rest of the game a bit too easy on your return if you go to HoW early. Some people recommend waiting until you've finished most of the main game to go to HoW, but in the end it's something you'll probably have to figure out on your own...
Had the game from day one, but have taken my time in getting my HOF party leveled up. Finally ready to go. I used export/import method of grinding which caused a weird glitch: My Sorceress steadily climbed from 18 to 25 constitution. Other than the glitch, these where natural rolls (no EE keeper).
The tool gives you a zipped file you can extract to portraits.
Hit crop button, select area and then click button again. Keep jpegs separate, easy to find place. Try until you like. Restart game and select custom portrait:).
Given that my 5 other characters dual wield with GM the Skald adds up to 200 damage/round if i can find an action weapon for everyone and cast improved haste.
Additionally, I hope that the AC, AB and immunities will provide benefits at some points in the game.
Finally, my 6 summons can hopefully hit 1/round giving ~24 extra damage/round and hopefully the AB and AC will provide some benefit to their damage and survivability.
Thoughts? Can the skald attack and sing like in BG?
Adding in a Skald in a full party will usually result with the Skald being one of the if not the biggest damage contributor. Especially considering they can still cast buff spells before battle.
Yes you can do the sing then attack thing. But it's pretty pointless, the damage they can do with that single attack or two or three is pretty negligible when everyone else is swinging their weapons 5-10 times per round.
I have been running the following party, and HoF isn't as hard as I thought it would be:
Dwarf Defender. I just equip any damage resistance stuff I can find on him. Berserker 3 > Druid. Throws daggers when not casting spells. Swashbuckler 5 > Cleric. I settled for 85/90 in locks and traps. Sorcerer. Damn. Skald. Really helps with all the summons I use. Bard. 'Nuff said.
Ok, so going with assumption that monster do not get better THACO on HoF (see this comment this could potentially work...
Fighter 7 -> Swashbuckler Sun Soul Monk Avenger Skald Archer
And for 6th slot I am quite undecided yet. Considering Sorcerer, M/C and F/M, though I am open to other options as well.
The idea is that with fast levelling on HoF Swash and Monk should get their AC bonuses pretty quickly and on top of that their AC would be augmented by Skald's song which would hopefully let them survive on frontline. More on Swashbuckler: Fighter levels so he can get GM in weapon of choice (most likely dual wield swords), which in addition his class bonuses should grant him really powerful melee strikes. Also, with HoF super-exp I hope I won't really need thief skills by time I get to level 7.
Fighter->Swash is a thoroughly silly combination :P It can get very high numbers late in the game, though the thieving skills are a bit wasted in IWD since you hardly need anything other than locks and traps
Fighter->Swash is a thoroughly silly combination :P It can get very high numbers late in the game, though the thieving skills are a bit wasted in IWD since you hardly need anything other than locks and traps
You haven't seen my silly ideas yet =P (but that would rather require separate thread) Well, at least I will be able to pickpocket everybody and set traps for fun =] I guess waste of extra thieving skills might be the price I have to pay for superior damage.
Fighter->Swash is my favorite thief for sure, but after playing it for a while (particularly in BG2) I very clearly understand why you aren't supposed to dual into kits... ¬_¬
I see a few people mention Dwarven Defender, and it's a character I'd like to try myself, however I've been wondering if there's much point in using an actual tank in a situation where 90% of my "tanking" is done by various summons. Wouldn't that slot be better off with a DW damage dealer instead?
@Manveru123: I personally like having a tank, largely because it causes less issues with collision and it frees up spell slots. Having 4+ monsters around with an already full party can really get on your nerves in those tight spaces, and severely impact your damage efficiency because your damage dealers can't get to the monsters...
That being said I prefer to tank with AC in IWD:EE, and not with damage reduction. Enemy THAC0s don't scale to the ridiculous levels they do in BG2/ToB, and you can reliably avoid a very large portion of hits in IWD:EE even at late game if your AC is low enough. For that, my favorite tank class so far has been Berserker 7->Cleric, as Entropy Shield is just soooo good (as are the other cleric buffs, too).
So, I thought Kencler was the king of DPS but I just got BBoD for my kensage and wow it puts some high numbers up.
I'm seeing 31-53 mainhand, -21 THAC0 with 10 APR and can offhand Axe of the Minotaur Lord as don't need fast weapon in offhand with tensers.
Can easily improve this with strength buffs to go over my stock 18/84. If 25 strength is possible on a kensage it would be 41-63 damage. Maxed with Kai puts it at 63*8+42*2=588 damage/round.
I think it might be the Kensages turn to shine ... Only issue will be losing equipment to disintegrates.
Comments
So far I like your set up a lot and If I'm not mistaken that looks like
Kensai9>Druid Spear 2h
Swash7>Fighter Long Sword Dual
F/C Multi
Archer Longbow
Sorcerer
Yeah, another ranged toon added to the mix would do quite well IMO. The problem is that if you got a sorcerer going for f>m doesn't give you any props since again is a support toon used mainly for buffing and that's NOT needed at all with a sorcerer.
With that set up I would maybe go for
3 Melee 2 Ranged 1 Support set up:
Kensai9>Druid Spear 2h
Swash7>Fighter Long Sword Dual
F/C Multi
Archer Longbow
Sorcerer
+++ Archer Crossbow or shortbow
4 Melee 1 Ranged 1 Support:
Kensai9>Druid Spear 2h
Swash7>Fighter Long Sword Dual
F/C Multi
Archer Longbow
Sorcerer
+++ Kensai9>Mage or Bers7>Cleric (any of this with war hammers)
3Melee 2 Ranged 1 Support:
Kensai 9>Druid Spear 2h
Thief7>Fighter Crossbow or Shortbow (kit up to you, doesn't matter in the end
F/C Multi
Archer Longbow
Sorcerer
+++ Kensai9>Mage or kitted pally (any of this with long sword)
I would prob go for any 3 man melee set up, unless you are fair confident in HoF playstile and it's not your 1st run. If you don't want to miss melee swash then 2x archer seems optimal. Otherwise I would go for ranged thief and pally (no babysitting) or K>M (serious babysitting untill late).
Just my 2c
ps: You can dump some points of dex for the kensadudu since you have a wonderfull lvl2 buffs aka cat's grace (20dex for 1hour on the target) that last forever and you will want it for ranged human characters + thief skills buff no matter what. Just watch out for dispells so make it at least natural 16 and and go for 3 int imo
The party is done going to start playing
Yeah, I'm almost done for my 1st hof run but that set up, to me, seems optimal. I would just recommend dual ken dudu since you got amazing daggers at the beginning and there is a +1apr scimitar for off hand.
If I would restart a run, like 1st run, or a run with low babysitting I think I could see myself go with
Kensai9>Druid Dagger GM dual
F/C> ++pips in all the blunt weapons and dual later on
Cavalier or Blackguard> Long and Short sword dual
Archer>Longbow
Ass7>Fighter Crossbow
Sorcerer
This set up require almost NO babysitting, it's 3melee+2ranged+1support, can use all the spell in the game and almost all the items in the game.
For min/max later on kensai>mage is better then a pally+sorcerer for sure but you will miss those sweet spells early on. I can see myself try a 5man run next with major babysitting for the early/mid game, like:
Kensai9>Druid Dagger GM dual
Kensai9>Mage Long and Short sword dual
F/C
Archer
Ass7>Fighter
I'll tell you how this goes when I'll start it
Oh, and good luck with HoF ^^
edit: btw the whole run will be something like a damage/tank race
I still really like the idea of summons, and buffing those summons. But I know I need one pure tank.
Dwarf defender (tank/decoy)
Avenger (or is totemic druid better?)
Cleric/thief
Sorcerer
Skald
Bard
Edit: is it worth dropping that sorcerer for a Jester? Unlimited confusion spells is downright nasty when you think about the mobs in HoF mode.
Finally ready to go. I used export/import method of grinding which caused a weird glitch: My Sorceress steadily climbed from 18 to 25 constitution. Other than the glitch, these where natural rolls (no EE keeper).
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/36630/drifias-legacy-a-character-biography#latest
Love the pics.
Saved!
Edit: Oh dang, those aren't full-sized ones, but screenies...
Hey, if it's not too much trouble, would you mind uploading the portraits?
Photo conversion tool courtesy of NoTra who says "Don't forget to select the IWD button".
http://www.notra.fr/portrait.php
The tool gives you a zipped file you can extract to portraits.
Hit crop button, select area and then click button again. Keep jpegs separate, easy to find place. Try until you like. Restart game and select custom portrait:).
Paladin vanilla - longsword, crossbow
Dwarven Defender- axe, warhammer
Ranger/Cleric multi - mace,sling
Mage/cleric Multi- warhammer,sling
Fighter/Thief halfling multi - Katana,longbow
Bard vanilla half elf - Longbow,flail
Doing well, atm I just finished Dragon eye lvl 3 (UD+Presio), about 575.000 XP for each character.
BTW, awesome pics.
Given that my 5 other characters dual wield with GM the Skald adds up to 200 damage/round if i can find an action weapon for everyone and cast improved haste.
Additionally, I hope that the AC, AB and immunities will provide benefits at some points in the game.
Finally, my 6 summons can hopefully hit 1/round giving ~24 extra damage/round and hopefully the AB and AC will provide some benefit to their damage and survivability.
Thoughts? Can the skald attack and sing like in BG?
Yes you can do the sing then attack thing. But it's pretty pointless, the damage they can do with that single attack or two or three is pretty negligible when everyone else is swinging their weapons 5-10 times per round.
Dwarf Defender. I just equip any damage resistance stuff I can find on him.
Berserker 3 > Druid. Throws daggers when not casting spells.
Swashbuckler 5 > Cleric. I settled for 85/90 in locks and traps.
Sorcerer. Damn.
Skald. Really helps with all the summons I use.
Bard. 'Nuff said.
Fighter 7 -> Swashbuckler
Sun Soul Monk
Avenger
Skald
Archer
And for 6th slot I am quite undecided yet. Considering Sorcerer, M/C and F/M, though I am open to other options as well.
The idea is that with fast levelling on HoF Swash and Monk should get their AC bonuses pretty quickly and on top of that their AC would be augmented by Skald's song which would hopefully let them survive on frontline.
More on Swashbuckler: Fighter levels so he can get GM in weapon of choice (most likely dual wield swords), which in addition his class bonuses should grant him really powerful melee strikes. Also, with HoF super-exp I hope I won't really need thief skills by time I get to level 7.
Comments, opinions, suggestions?
That being said I prefer to tank with AC in IWD:EE, and not with damage reduction. Enemy THAC0s don't scale to the ridiculous levels they do in BG2/ToB, and you can reliably avoid a very large portion of hits in IWD:EE even at late game if your AC is low enough. For that, my favorite tank class so far has been Berserker 7->Cleric, as Entropy Shield is just soooo good (as are the other cleric buffs, too).
I'm seeing 31-53 mainhand, -21 THAC0 with 10 APR and can offhand Axe of the Minotaur Lord as don't need fast weapon in offhand with tensers.
Can easily improve this with strength buffs to go over my stock 18/84. If 25 strength is possible on a kensage it would be 41-63 damage. Maxed with Kai puts it at 63*8+42*2=588 damage/round.
I think it might be the Kensages turn to shine ... Only issue will be losing equipment to disintegrates.