Solo Run in IWD:EE
Darigaaz87
Member Posts: 135
Is it viable to do a single character run in IWD:EE? Or even dare an HoW solo run? What kind of PC would you play for such adventure?
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Boost your strength/dex/const and it's very easy
I've been posting about the character in a thread here on the forums, but it's written as an actual story, so it's probably not the easiest place to find "pro strategies." That said, I've found that plenty of range and frequent rests are integral.
Still, it's a lot of HP to wade through even when you are hitting 10 APR. Hmm, Divine Righteousness with BBoD would be pretty obscene ...
I'm guessing anything with Cleric or Druid spells can be solo'd in HoF too because of summons. The Orc Cave is pretty much the end of the road for classes without summons unless you reload a billion times hoping you get to kill one enemy before the horde of enemies don't kill you, since the Rest in Town-Reset Enemy position thing also resets the HP of enemies that are alive.
I guess high levels Fighters can withstand all those hits and a high level Thief can probably Backstab one enemy and significantly damage it to kill it in a few hits. Maybe Jesters can confuse enemies? Eh. But yeah all of those involve a ridiculous amount of grinding. Use Mirror Image and Stoneskin and just walk through traps.
Stop number one was Pomab’s. I bought studded leather armor, the cheapest helmet, 240 arrows, a longsword, and a composite bow, along with the three bags and a bottle of wine. I also stole Pomab’s items from upstairs and sold them back to him, along with my quarterstaff. I probably should have done Jhonen and Old Jed’s quests first, but I took out Grisella’s beetles first. I used my bow and got it done with no damage and only 61 arrows used. After the second beetle I hit level 2 in both fighter and thief. After the third, level 3 in thief. The fourth beetle gave me level 3 in fighter, and I was on my way. A pip in single weapon style was my choice, as I’ll always be using a single weapon, and the extra AC will be invaluable. I refuse to use two-weapon style, partly because I’m lazy, and partly because I hate it. It’s stupid. From there I did Old Jed’s quest and then Jhonen’s, which got me to level 4/4. I decided to take on Apsel’s quest now, and killed the wolf by luring him outside the workshop, reentering (where he wouldn’t follow), hiding in shadows, and then coming out to backstab him before retreating inside again. Not the most honorable thing, but oh well. It worked, and I only took a couple of hits. Granted, one of those hits hurt a lot, but being knocked down to 43/57 wasn’t terrible. Of course, 57 was my new HP total after hitting level 5 as a thief, which occurred when the wolf went down. At this point, my thief skills are:
Open locks: 35
Find Traps: 35
Pick Pockets: 35
Move Silently: 65
Hide in Shadows: 65
Detect Illusion: 0
Set Traps: 5
I plan on investing more heavily in FT, OL, and ST once I have a more consistent sneaking ability. At this point I still have to try two or three times to get into shadows. Staying there isn’t MUCH of a concern, as I’ll mainly be using it for those kind of assassination attacks I’ve been doing. Apsel rewarded as per usual, and sadly no level was gained. At this point I decided to pickpocket the only man in town with valuable pockets. (that I know of) The priest. A few reloads later, I walked away with an extra two healing pots. I did raise my PP to 35 a few levels back, as I was uncertain if I could steal things with only 25. I know for a fact that 35 will allow me to steal everything I want. (at least for a large part of the game) Speaking of stealing, I stole the gem and 13 gp from the inn. I was tempted to take the rep hit and kill the elf for his +2 longsword, but I decided against it. More rep can’t be gained in any way, as far as I know, and while the repercussions of low rep may not be severe, I wasn’t even sure I could deal with the elf. After talking to Hrothgar, I went to take on my first big scary group. The goblins. I wasn’t sure how I should handle this battle at first, since you have to attract a few at a time, but I decided to sneak past them, create a trap, draw in as few of them as I could, shoot them down, and let the trap finish the job. Once I’d dealt with that group, I could see what to do next. After several failed attempts to make a trap, I decided perhaps I should wait till my skill level is above 5. So I tried drawing in just one goblin. I succeeded. Unfortunately, the ensuing battle left me with 9 HP. I decided perhaps more foes at once was alright, as long as I could kite them. The townspeople might freak out, but oh well. Among the enemy, I think they only have about 9 arrows total. Surely those won’t kill me. Right? So I reloaded and tried it. And, well, it sort of worked. When I was down to three goblins left I hit level 5 as a fighter, making me even better at hitting the bas****s, as well as giving me a little boost to my, now waning, HP. With this little boost, I was able to finish the remaining three off and survive the encounter, though with only 23 HP left. The amount of time spent kiting those sh**heads around the boats near Jhonen and that little rock outcropping… Let’s just say I never want to do it again. But I did it, and after handing the fish bones to Damien, I hit level 6 as a thief. 10 points more into HIS/MS and 5 into FT. Once HIS/MS hit 100 each, then I’ll probably start dumping points into FT like there’s no tomorrow. I expect to get enough experience in the orc caves and Kuldahar Pass to allow me to get at least 50 OL and FT before Kuldahar. At least that’s what I’m hoping. Plus I’ll get a bit of XP in Kuldahar itself before anymore ridiculous fighting occurs. I was terrified that I had missed a goblin or two, since it felt like I didn’t kill enough of them, but I couldn’t find anymore, so I guess I got them all. I sold all of the crap they had to make enough money to recompense me for all my spent arrows. I had 48 left at the end of it all.
Once I was restocked and ready, I left for the orc caves. Sleeping in town till my wounds were recovered would drain my gold severely, so I chose to sleep at the entrance to the second area. Once I was recovered (14 days later) I decided that there was NO way I could beat the three wolves coming up. So I snuck past them. It was just impossible with the amount of health and AC I had. Perhaps post-cave I could manage it, but not now. I let the orc go, as he just runs away and I have no chance of killing him before he disappears. Not with the amount of HP he has. (Doesn’t mean I didn’t try, though…) Once inside the caves I walked back towards the entrance till I could only see one orc. I was still hidden, so they didn’t strike at me. This was ideal. Even if I drew more than one in, I had a better chance of not doing so than I would otherwise. It’s important to note that I saved in the cave, meaning I had no chance of reloading to change the random item drop within. This was an oversight, but I had no way to fix this, nor was this a play-through in which I was likely to be able to load till I get what I want anyway. I honestly was sure I wouldn’t be able to progress past this cave without switching difficulty. Anyway, back to the fighting. It went sh**. All three came at me, I ran outside, the wolves noticed me, the orcs followed me, and I ran inside and cowered. Then I grabbed my sword, went outside, did as much damage as possible, came back inside, slept, and repeated. Or I would have, except FV{# THIS MOTHERFV{#ING PIECE OF S#!7 CHALLENGE! I couldn’t do more than a single hit before I had to run back inside, and that’s IF I could maneuver around the three wolves and four orcs who were kicking my face in. F it, I’m done. I call it a fail. I f-ing hate challenge runs anyway, so I don’t even know why I tried.
TL;DR: I didn't like it.
I can't really think of any strategies to get properly low AC that early.
I've just started a duo multiplayer HoF run with a FMC and FMT. Little bit tedious so far but I hope it'll be fun once Animate Dead is on the table.
So kiting until you get summons and buffing summons has nothing to do with a Sorcerer solo-ing HoF without summons.