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Another team-building help thread

I wonder if every new member makes one of these threads at some point in their time. :V

Anyway, this is pretty much exactly what the title says; I'm looking for some character- and team-building help. Specifically, I'm trying to create some particular setups for my team, as they're basically a "port" of a team I used in Wizardry 8 (gr8 game btw), which themselves were a port of a six-character band I use and write in other games. I'm not really looking for min-maxing advice or the like just yet (maybe after I've beaten the game once and I decide to experiment with more classes and a higher difficulty), but more just what sort of functions you'd recommend. I've got a bunch of mods of extra kits (Duskblade, that one... big kit mod that adds a lot of Monks and stuff) as well, but I'll just describe the team I'm aiming for in a more basic sense.

Here's the loop:
A Monk. Because I love me some fistfighters, and Monks not only fit the bill, but their extra bonuses are very tempting. The Monk in Wiz8 was fantastic after a few levels, serving as both a great damage dealer and a decent sort of dodge-tank as well, at least somewhat (a slight tank). This one I don't really have any issues with, though I probably won't be taking advantage of their hiding and sneaking stuff, so it's a toss-up maybe. He'll probably be a melee damage dealer.

A Mage of some sort. Generally I prefer my casters to be Red Mages (more mage than warrior), but Wiz8 doesn't have any of that, so just a bombardier is what I'm looking for. Probably fire-based for reasons (not just because vs Ice and all that). I'm used to the Sorcerer from my dabbling in IWD2, and that functions well, but again, that's more pure mage rather than battlemage, so maybe a Mage/Fighter? I've never tried non-human races, though. Caster, of course.

A Fighter. The main tank, plain and simple. In Wiz8 he was a samurai, with good armor, dual-wielding powerful weapons and nice speed, but in D&D's case, I'm willing to sacrifice his two-sword mojo for any benefits a shield may provide his tanking. If you've got any particular kits you recommend there or if just going for the base Fighter is best, I'm game for whatever. Tank plus melee damage.

A Cleric. This one's a weird one, as my healer character's less of a traditional spellcasting priest and more of a speedy, sling-wielding alchemist (which was her class in Wiz8, natch). She had healing spells ("first aid training"), but her primary function was mixing healing potions, wielding her trusty sling and stones, and also throwing whatever throwables we had at monsters, be it molotov potions, wonder orbs, holy water, etc etc. With the normal Cleric, though, I'd be avoiding using their armor and their extra tank potential, so... hmm. Healer plus ranged damage.

A Bard. This is the trickiest one, as my bard-thief, "treasure hunter but also a thief" character was practically personified perfectly in Wiz8. In that game, the Bard was a warrior/thief as expected: she played instruments, she used a pair of knives to defend herself, but most importantly, Bards in Wiz8 pick locks. In Icewind Dale... none of the Bard kits do. And yesterday, to my chagrin, I read in the manual that IWD Bards can't dual-class or whatnot. I don't want to give up on having a dedicated lockpicker around, since I know that that'll be handy, but I also don't want to give up on the Bard's loremaster-y-ness and songs. Granted, Bards might learn an unlocking spell (I think?), but it's not quite the same. So it's a toss-up between a Thief (Shadowdancer, probably) or a Bard (likely just the base kit). Either way, a loremaster.

Lastly, a Ranger. This is literally the one I have no problems with. The Archer kit is perfect, matching Wiz8's Ranger to a T. Absolutely no problems there. Ranged damage dealer, of course, and he'd likely be a scouter, too.

So... wow, that was a lot longer-winded than I thought. Whoops! But hopefully I was able to get across what I'm aiming for. A lot of the systems of D&D2 (2E?) are new to me, since I originally got my start with IWD2, but I'm managing as best I'm able. Even just making lots of characters has been entertaining, and, weird as it sounds, educational.

Comments

  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    You can make the mage a fighter/mage and the cleric a cleric/thief to fill more roles and keep the bard.
    SBF1
  • SBF1SBF1 Member Posts: 12
    edited July 2015
    Hmm... are fighter/mages Mages, or Sorcerers? Because Sorcerers are what I'm more used to, since they're easier on a greenhorn like me to play; more specialized, less scroll-hunting, etc etc. It's part of why I looked at the Duskblade kit mod, since they seemed to be fighter/sorcerers. A lightly-armored spellsword with a rapier or such in one hand and flinging fireballs from the other is kinda what I'm thinking of. Alternatively, a lightly-armored spellsword with a rapier or such in one hand, slinging spells from the other hand, and also breathing fire is what she does, but I get ahead of myself.

    As for cleric/thief, I hadn't actually thought about that. Seems like it could work well, though! My healer's basically a fast, dodgy sort that slips around scrapes and gets to everyone quick, so it makes sense. I'm just not sure how easily I'd be able to build her. Multi-classes and dual-classes I'm very in-the-dark about, since they sound more complicated to make than other ones. I know I said I'm playing on an easier difficulty to start off (not Story, but the one just above it), but I still tend to worry about this sort of thing, eheheh.
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    Fighter mages are mages, yes. I don't know anything about mod classes tbh.

    Don't worry about dual classes just yet but multis are simple enough.
    SBF1
  • SBF1SBF1 Member Posts: 12
    Ah... they are? Huh. Multis being simple, I mean. I guess I'm still getting the hang of 2E a bit, since all my time spent learning about IWD2 and D&D3 rules told me that multiclassing wasn't the best idea. Though I suppose that's quite different after all. Hah!

    I can't really blame you for not knowing much about mod classes (after all, I don't either :tongue: ), though I looked up some more kit mods and the Magus kit for Sorcerers sounds like the right track (battlemage, more mage than battle), but that's besides the point.

    For what it's worth, I'm definitely willing to hear out other team compositions or any suggestions in that regard as well. Monk/Mage/Samu/Alch/Bard/Rang worked in Wizardry 8, but that was a game where you controlled everyone always and you couldn't send one person out scouting or separate the team or stuff, so the raw power of the team was more obvious. With D&D, I can see a team like that (Monk, Figh/Mage, Figh, Cler/Thei, Bard, Arch) possibly not doing quite as well, depending on the circumstances.

    My team in IWD2, on that note, was Ranger (damage/tank), Fighter (tank), Cleric (heal/damage), Sorcerer (caster), Bard (buffer), and Rogue (thief/scout), and that worked really well. Then again... that was my IWD2 team, and it'd be weird bringing them back into the first game, EE or not.
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    I'd say that team is going to be good, if it's what you want. Most important thing is to have fun.
    SBF1
  • SBF1SBF1 Member Posts: 12
    edited August 2015
    Hrm... well, I've got a little trouble again.

    I decided to go with a different team (for the moment; we're in Prologue goblin territory right now, so I can go back and do something different if I feel the need without losing much progress), but it's... kind of weird.

    The team I've got right now is an Undead Hunter, Bard, Sorcerer, Shapeshifter, Assassin, and Barbarian. It's pretty similar to my IWD2 team, and it's... admittedly very much based on the recommendations people make for parts of the game (UH and Druid), but I've also never tried Barbarian, Paladin or Druid before so I figured it's a good excuse for me to branch out.

    The first big issue here is that the Undead Hunter is... not very good at his tanking job. I don't know whether it's the stat allocations I did, his gear, bad luck, or what, but he can't deal good damage and he can't take a lot of hits either. My Barbarian deals better damage (which was always the intention; he's got a warhammer, after all), but he's also got way more hitpoints and seems way tankier to boot, and of course the Shapeshifter can morph herself into a werewolf and tear stuff to shreds.

    I figure that it's mostly likely my stat allocation, as I didn't want to decrease anything too far since I know Paladins need a lot of particular stats. Granted, since UHs don't get Cure or Lay, maybe the magic stats aren't quite as important, but still. My UH has 14 in STR and INT, and 16 in DEX, CON, WIS and CHA. I'm guessing I should probably have lowered one of those and boosted DEX or STR instead?

    The second big issue is that my Sorcerer is... really, really underwhelming, especially compared to IWD2. He didn't get a lot of spell picks during his character creation, he's got the slowest leveling out of all six of the team, he can barely take a hit, and in general he's just... not good. It's not helped by the fact that he doesn't get a lot of casts-per-day and due to being on Easy it auto-picked a spell for me. I should probably have turned that off sooner.

    (And on a slightly-related note, the Magus modkit for Sorcs ( https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/31274/mod-beta-tome-and-blood-more-options-for-wizards-and-sorcerers/ ) are basically Red Mages like my original team, and they're supposed to be able to cast with armor on, but that didn't work for some reason. Blargh.)

    Sorry to leave another wall of text again, but, well, any more tips? Like I said, I'm not very far into the prologue, so I have plenty of opportunity to revamp the team and start over without losing much. I may consider going with my original party plan again, even though the portraits I have are... a little immersion-breaking, to say the least (I'm sure you can guess from my avatar what I mean :sweat_smile: )
  • FinneousPJFinneousPJ Member Posts: 6,455
    You need to progress further into the game in order to have the chars become really useful. Low level 2E really sucks, but don't give up just yet.
    SBF1
  • SBF1SBF1 Member Posts: 12
    edited August 2015
    Hmm... I suppose that is fair enough, eheh. I'll stick with it and see how well things go. I don't want to resort to Story Mode, since I tried it on the aforementioned test file with my original team and it's just... well, exactly what I expected, hah. I suppose I'll just have to see what happens! Maybe I'll stick with the team I started, maybe I'll double back and do my original plans instead (though maybe I'll switch the Monk out with a Ranger... I like rangers in general). Just gotta put in more time. Thanks! :3

    I guess it's just kind of weird going from IWD2 to IWDEE. For one thing, nobody at the start of IWD2 died to goblins and things, while I had a few unfortunate reloads from abrupt deaths of my Bard or Sorcerer in IWDEE. I'm still getting to grips with it.
    FinneousPJ
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    edited August 2015
    you also need to remember that 2nd edition stats and 3rd edition stats are different, in 2nd edition the ability modifiers work way differently than they do in 3rd edition, that is why your undead hunter is kinda smelling like doo-doo, that 14 str is doing him absolutely no justice and int and wis is not even remotely necessary for any warrior type character in icewind dale, if you really want to amp up your undead hunter, give him a strength score of 18/91+ ( if you can 18/00 is the best strength score you can get for 18) and 18 dex and 18 con, in 2nd edition armor has no affect on dex, so anyone that is going to go in melee crank their dex to 18, and for sorcerers, they are actually pretty awesome, for 2 reasons; #1 you can choose the spells they get, so you don't need to find spell scrolls, and #2 they can start casting them way more than any mage could and much faster ( a specialist mage needs to hit in the 30s to get their 6th level 9 spell - infact I don't think the xp can even let them go that high - and a sorcerer gets 6 spells per day all the way up to level 9 only at level 20, but on the flip side, sorcerers are usually for players who have experience with the game so then they know exactly what spells they need where, I would suggest on a first time play through just having a mage would be better because then you can use a wider spell libraby ( granted it wont be as many times per day as a sorcerer) but you will be able to experiment much easier with a mage

    so here is some advice for your 2 melee'ers;

    UNDEAD HUNTER crank his stats to 18 in str/dex/con ( and with the str, make sure it is 18/91 or higher, and as I said before if you can try and get 18/00, that will give him some serious hitting power) his int and wis are irrelevant in icewind dale, there are no mind flayer so int can be 3 for all power game/ usefulness purposes, his wis I believe is stuck at 13 min, so might as well keep that there, and cha min is 17, but if he is going to lead might as well crank it to 18

    BARBARIAN might as well make him a half-orc because then you can really give him some god mode stats, if you do make him a half-orc crank that str to 19 dex to 18 and con to 19 that will give him some huge hitting power and great HP

    for your other characters; as long as dex is cranked for your assassin and he has 16 con, you should be good, shapeshifter needs cranked wisdom and 16 con, bard should have cranked int and 16 con, and sorcerer I would suggest 18 wis ( for wish spells) and 16 con again and you should be good

    note CON: unless it is a warrior type class ( fighter, paladin, ranger, barbarian) having more than 16 con will not add any further HP benefit

    15 - +1 HP bonus/level
    16 - +2 HP bonus/level ( this is max for all classes that aren't fighters, rangers, paladins or barbarians)
    17 - +3 HP bonus/level
    18 - +4 HP bonus/level
    19 - +5 HP bonus/level
    20 - +5 HP bonus/level + regen 1 HP every 6 rounds
    21 - +6 HP bonus/level + regen 1 HP every 5 rounds

    note STR: strength scores of less than 15 add no benefit at all in terms of to hit/ to damage and even just plain 18 gives +1 to hit/ +2 to damage but warrior classes again can get 18/xx and it goes as follows;
    18/01-18/50 + 1 to hit/ +3 to damage
    18/51-18/75 +2 to hit/ +3 to damage
    18/76-18/90 +2 to hit/ +4 to damage
    18/91-18/99 +2 to hit/ +5 to damage
    18/00 +3 to hit/ +6 to damage
    19 +3 to hit/ +7 to damage

    note DEX: everyone benefits from dex bonus to ac but it doesn't start until you have 15 points and it goes as follow;
    15 - +1 ac bonus +1*
    16 - +2 ac bonus +1*
    17 - +3 ac bonus +2*
    18 - +4 ac bonus +2*
    19 - +4 ac bonus +3*
    20 - +4 ac bonus +3*
    21 - +5 ac bonus +4*
    that asterix bonus is your bonus to hit with missile weapons, so as you can see 19 dex has one more to hit with missile weapons than 18 does


    SBF1FinneousPJ
  • BillyYankBillyYank Member Posts: 2,768
    I just completed IWDEE with a sorceress as my main arcane, so I thought I'd comment on that part of your post.

    I like the sorcerer better than the mage overall. Given that this game emphasizes tactics, the tactical flexibility of the sorcerer really shines. That said, you do have to know which spells are going to work, since you can't just swap them out next time you sleep.

    For my sorceress' initial spells, I took magic missile and identify. MM is the best 1st level spell in the game, and a great way to interrupt enemy spellcasters, and ID saves you a lot of money which is pretty scarce in the early game. Put his one weapon proficiency in slings, this character shouldn't get in melee range until he gets stoneskin.

    My sorceress was dealing damage and buffing the party right up to the end.
    She was even useful in the final battle, which is weighted pretty heavily against casters
    lolien
  • HohnarigoHohnarigo Member Posts: 2
    If you want a good team over rp team, here some tips. So 1st sorry for my english it only my 2nd languages. So you will need to max out important stats for each different class you have and have most important ones at 18 and lower under 10 those less important. Try to reroll until you get over 85 at least, best it near 90, like 88 or 87.
    -1st you need a Ranger elf archer for sure. In prologue he will do almost all the killing by himself and after he will cripple ennemy before they engage melee.
    -For tank I think the best it a dwarf with axe and trowing axe, but I prefer paladin for myself, because lay of hand posibily to buff himself. Cleric can do good tank to.
    -For melee dps, you can do a monk, kansai or a barbarian. Paladin two-handed with a crossbow can do too. Ranger two-handed not so bad too. I think Kansai it the best, two-handed or with two weapon they are awesone.
    -You need a thief, multi-class is best I think or if you human you can choose a kit and multi-class near lvl 7 to a mage or fighter. Gnome illusionist are one I use often but fighter/thief can be good to with a crossbow or a bow.
    -For arcane support you can go for a bard, with shortbow and crossbow they nice, but if you want true power you need a sorcerer. Wizard if you want be more versatile.
    -For healing if you made a tank cleric, you can do a druid or fighter/druid. If not you can do a druid to, but cleric will make you 2 shields users characters.

    I think paladin are better than fighter for lot of reason for tank at least. Only better I think it the dwarf, but fighter are a good class for multi-class.

    So the ultimate team will be I think:
    1-Ranger archer elf composite longbow( Will got near 50% of the killing if you use him well)
    2-Dwarf defender with axe and throwing axe
    3-Thief/illusionist gnome crossbow( you will do more kill with a fighter/thief but illusionist get you access to some usefull wizard spell that your the sorcerer dont have.)
    4-Sorcerer elf ( I usuely go for offensive spells and some defense spell,1 or 2 summon, leaving the control and buff to illusionist)
    5-Kansai half-orc I really like two-handed sword but 2 weapons of 1d8 are real bad.
    6-Cleric dwarf or half-orc

    With that you cant lost. You use your ranged weapon 1st , dont forget throwing axe and when they close you engage with your dwarfs, with kansai on second line. Sorcerer cripple the thougest openent or can do mass damage.

    Personnaly I almost always bring a paladin as tank or as dps with 2 handed sword and crossbow, and a bard because sorcerer are begining to be fun near lvl 10. Before they need wand and scroll and in IWD it not have much at start but you can always use some throwing potion too. Druid are more fun to play than cleric I think but cleric are harder to kill.
    I often use babarian and if you doing evil party you need one for sure. As evil an assassin can be real nice too with invisibility potion and other invisibility items doing x7 backstab but in IWD lot of ennemy immune to backstab. In Bg2 assassin are a must for sure as evil party or as main in single are fun too.
    Well for monk Im not a big fan but at higher level with all there immunity and speed they one of the best, but for the time it last they not really fun at start. In hearth of fury mode maybe you could reconsider to bringing one.
  • HohnarigoHohnarigo Member Posts: 2
    Some seem to hesitate for the sorcerer spell I usuely go like this, the idea it to get at least one of each effect, like one sequencer, one invisibility, one pierce magic, one protect magic, one protect weapon, one charm, one summon,etc...than you can use it like 5 times...
    and after you choose the other from your liking.

    1st : Magic Missile, sleep, chromatic orb, shield, (one melee, I usuely get burning hand or shock)
    2nd: Melf acid arrows, mirror image, web, agannazars schorcher, (horror or blur for defense or invisibility)
    3rd: Fireball, flame arrow, lighning bolt, dispel magic, (slow or melf minute meteor)
    4ht: stone skin, spider spawn, spell sequencer, (improved invisibility(if you dont have invisibility) or fireshield for more defense, Mordenkein missile or ice strom for offense)
    5ht: Animated dead, Chaos, dominate, spell immunity (cloud kill or cone of cold)( minor turning or oracle)
    6th: Disintegrate(or flesh to stone),death spell, pierce magic, spell deflection, (contingency or almost any)
    7th: finger of death, spell turning, seven eyes,( acid storm and sequencer...that begin be high lvl)
    8th: Improved mantle, simulacrum,Horib wilting(spell trigger or maze...)
    9th: I really like Gate but Time stop or meteor strom for the 1st choice.

    I usualy leave the buff like a said to illusionist for haste and invisibility. And to the cleric true sight and mass protect from evil (...gate...)

    Maybe go for a mage if you think changing strategy often, but eeIWDkeeper can be a good idea if you made a bad choice.
    FinneousPJlolien
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