Since it's sort of pain without EE Keeper on my Android device where I'm going to play IWD:EE, I don't want to screw up making my first party so need some thoughts on the following, and what specializations to take?
Pally [ two hand? ] or Berserker [dual wield long swords?] Druid Avenger Kit? Specialization? Elf F/T - my archer/ thief [ longbow, long sword ] Dwarf Cleric - [ mace, sling ] Bard - skald? Elf Sorcerer [staff/ darts ]
I don't mind dualing or multi on the Druid if it's super beneficial but I want to play a pure Cleric and Sorcerer.
Pally would be main tank with the Cleric off tank if I go with Avenger for the Druid.
Cavalier (two handed sword) Dwarven Defender (axe and shield) Priest of Tyr (flail and shield) Bounty Hunter (short bow) Bard (sling, he just sings though) Diviner (darts) - maybe I should have picked a Sorcerer instead
I played this back in the day but never finished. I picked up the EE edition at X-mas.
I made it to chapter 5 so far. I am at the giants.
Here is my party, The Hobbit themed:
Thorin Oakenshield, Dwarf Beserker (solid front rank) Elrond Halfeven, Elf Cleric kit (very low AC front rank) Bard the Bowman, Human Archer (very OP) has the most kills Beorn, Human Shapeshifter (very powerful melee) Bilbo Baggins, straight Hobbit thief (underwhelming) Gandalf, human Wild Mage (Wild Mage is disappointing because of random effects)
I'm almost through the game, planning my second party now.
Just finished normal mode with this group: fwiw I used the tweaks mod to loosen some of the race / class restrictions
1. River Windsong - Half-Elven Bard, used 1 handed weapons + the Lyre of Progression, relatively standard Bard.
2. Gristle Flintstrike - Half-Orc Ranger / Cleric, Dual Morningstars / Flails, or Sling + Shield. Racial enemy = Skeletal Undead. This one surprised me, the idea going in was to to use gristle as a ranged support / healer toon, but very quickly turned into a melee powerhouse. (Note, a Fighter / Cleric is a legal alternative)
3. Katya Weavebane - Human Inquisitor Paladin, Bastard & Long Swords, Mace + Shield (initially) developed into dual long swords by mid -> late game. I thought I might miss not having the Undead Hunter package - I didn't. having quick casting Dispels & Truesight helped get the group through a lot of sticky situations.
4. Frytz Wyrmbynder - Halfling Dragon Disciple - this guy was fun, despite the Kit being very awkwardly situated in 2nd ed. The heavy melee focus of the group often left this guy with not much to do except hide in the back with the bard. In boss fights Frytz was more heavily managed and was very effective in that role despite the limited selection of spells known and the fewer casts vs a pure Sorcerer.
5. Halgred Duskthorne - Half Orc Blackguard - 2 handed weapons, Crossbow. I was a bit disappointed with this guy, the idea was he'd be chunking things left and right with massive damage a la Dorn or Saravok but that never really manifested. I'll chalk some of that up to 2 handed weapons seeming a bit underwhelming compared to Dual Wield or even Sword + Shield. There is a ton of non-good / evil restricted gear and from a RP perspective the guy was pretty neat, but for whatever reason this guy never found his niche.
6. Kat Duskthorne - Half Orc Fighter / Thief - Longbow, Dual wield Scimitars, Short swords. A perfectly acceptable fighter thief - primarily the main party archer but more than capable as backup melee.
In hindsight, this group (in particular Kat & Halgred) could have gotten a lot more mileage from using Axes and or Hammers as there were a lot of pretty good ones that just didn't get used.
This is a "powergamer" type of party, that takes advantage of the Human's Dual Classing.
Create a party of six (or how ever many people you want) fighters. While creating each of them, keep in mind what you would like them to dual class over to later. So, when you are creating your Fighter who will dual to Cleric, you need to get not only good Fighter stats, but also good Wisdom. The same would go for your Fighter who will be Thief, needing good Dexterity, Fighter who will be Mage needs good Intelligence, etc. Now when they reach level two, instantly dual class them over to their new class. What this accomplishes is creating better versions of Clerics/Thieves/Mages/etc., at a low cost of experience. (2000 exp for the Fighter level 2)
Fighter (stays a fighter) Fighter (stays a fighter) Ranger dualled to Cleric at level 2 Fighter dualled to Thief at level 2 Fighter dualled to Mage at level 2 +1 more character if desired (I'd take a Bard)
This way, once your Cleric / Thief /Mage hits level 3, then they can wear normal armors and weapons.
Taken from: Icewind Dale (PC) & Heart of Winter (PC) FAQ/Walkthrough Written by: Dan Simpson
Regarding that "guide", I'm happy to report that in unmodded IWD you can dual as late as 7 and not miss a lot - I dualed at the start of Dragon's Eye and had reclaimed five levels on my druid and four on my mage by the time I hit Yxunomei (my thief was backwards so that I could get assassin perks without kEEpering), and was back to using full equipment sets by the time we reached Larrel.
Its fun so far, though I haven't yet gotten to the point of dual classing which is when I expect it to rather tough going while waiting for the classes to reactivate and not having a thief to unlock/disarm traps until that point too, not to mention the lack of divine casting.
Might seem a bit overkill on the arcane magic with two sorcerers AND a F/M but it seems like it will be fun, might specialize the Sorcerers' spells so that one focuses more on offensive magic and the other on party buffs, debuffs and summons.
Should be pretty stupidly OPed after the first 3 characters get their main classes reactivated, though.
I hear good things about druids in IWD:EE. Will a single Druid do as the only divine spellcaster in my party, or should I get a cleric as well, or even two druids? I'm using the Faiths&Powers mod, so lots of different druids and clerics are available.
I hear good things about druids in IWD:EE. Will a single Druid do as the only divine spellcaster in my party, or should I get a cleric as well, or even two druids? I'm using the Faiths&Powers mod, so lots of different druids and clerics are available.
Druids are very good in Icewind Dale... You could likely get through the game easily enough with that being your only divine spellcaster but it wouldn't hurt at all to also bring a cleric as they have considerably different types of spells. edit: Also, only clerics get access to raise dead/resurrect spells (outside of wands/scrolls).
Also you may want to consider dual classing a fighter into a druid at level 3 or just playing a multi-class fighter/druid in order to increase your druid's fighting abilities... if you're rather new to the game, I'd recommend both a Fighter/Druid multiclass and a Fighter/Cleric multiclass as a couple of your front liners.
I hear good things about druids in IWD:EE. Will a single Druid do as the only divine spellcaster in my party, or should I get a cleric as well, or even two druids? I'm using the Faiths&Powers mod, so lots of different druids and clerics are available.
Each has their advantages and disadvantages, but you really only need one or the other. Druids get stronger offensive spells (and the Elemental summoning spells) in exchange for not being able to frontline in the endgame, while Clerics get better defensive spells (and Animate Dead for Divine 3 filler/cheap fodder). Either one is workable, just be mindful of the restrictions on Druids (and I wholly second the suggestion to dual into your divine class, if only to get all five ranks in sling).
I hear good things about druids in IWD:EE. Will a single Druid do as the only divine spellcaster in my party, or should I get a cleric as well, or even two druids? I'm using the Faiths&Powers mod, so lots of different druids and clerics are available.
If you're using F&P, you should definitely get a Cleric. If you feel like it's too much, a F/C is already enough if you have Druid.
I'm putting together party that is virtually identical to @Yulaw9460: 1.Undead Hunter (human) 2.Bard (half-elf) 3.Sorcerer (Elf) 4.Fighter/Druid (half-elf) 5.Thief/illusionist (gnome) OR fighter/thief OR F/M/T 6.Fighter/cleric (dwarf)
All my bases are covered, however I tither about 5th party member. Do I need more arcane power? Is another (half) fighter a benefit to the party? I could go with F/M/T but then I don't have a gnome in the party and this helmet is something I want. Any advice?
I'm putting together party that is virtually identical to @Yulaw9460: 1.Undead Hunter (human) 2.Bard (half-elf) 3.Sorcerer (Elf) 4.Fighter/Druid (half-elf) 5.Thief/illusionist (gnome) OR fighter/thief OR F/M/T 6.Fighter/cleric (dwarf)
All my bases are covered, however I tither about 5th party member. Do I need more arcane power? Is another (half) fighter a benefit to the party? I could go with F/M/T but then I don't have a gnome in the party and this helmet is something I want. Any advice?
IWD was kind of built on the basis that you were going to have 1 arcane caster, a lot of the scrolls in IWD only have 1 copy of themselves, so you might not need a (third) arcane caster, also dwarves can were that +3 AC bonus helmet as well, and if you want to do some sort of thief you could do a dwarven fighter/thief if need be
its dependant on how you play that bard, if you are essentially using your bard as a secondary arcane caster, then you could probably go for the dwarven fighter/thief, but if you are using your bard more for utility type stuff ( wands and bard song per say, with the odd spell here or there) then you could go for a gnome illuisionist/thief although, the illusionist/thief wouldn't be able to wear the helmet unfortunately
actually just double checking your set up, you could give the helmet to your dwarven fighter/cleric and just go with the gnome illusionist/thief, just for the lulz, and if you can make sure to give that gnome some illusion spells, since he is an illusionist and enemies will get a -2 penalty to their saves when spells are cast against them ( blindness being an awesome example is great for illusionists )
and then with that being said, any spells that have durations/protect party members, you can give to your bard, because your bard will be a higher level and hence make durations last longer ( things like haste )
Thanks for the reply. Now that I think of how rare certain scrolls are, using sorcerer would break the game easily. I'm gonna go with both fitghter/illusionist and figther/thief (half orc I guess), and drop sorcerer.
Necroing this thread again, but this is a party I've just decided to make after getting bored really fast and not even getting out of Easthaven with a solo Cleric/Mage. Not sure how well it will work out, kind of worried that my cleric will be too low a level being a multiclass, but my shapeshifter should be able to help make up for that.
Human Undead Hunter Dwarf Dwarven Defender Elf Shapeshifter Gnome Cleric/Thief Human Sorcerer Half-elf Bard
Haven't posted here in a while. Long standing IWD1 player here, with over 100 runs in the original game.
There are no best parties. Each party can be good as long as it is adapt to each player's playing style or if it goes in an RPG with a story or if it is built for specific purposes.
I would suggest that the bard should be part of any party. The bards in IWD1 are simply awesome and they even have some wonderful items designed for them, quests that only a bard can solve and their songs are simply top notch. I wouldn't even consider taking any kit for them. I saw some builts with Skalds or Blades. The songs from the original bard are way more powerful than anything Skalds or Jesters can sing. Let alone the fact that they don't lose any skill points.
A feature which unfortunately many people did not know in the original game was that rangers got an extra melee attack as long as they did not wear a shield. Plenty of players assumed this meant one-handed weapon, but in truth, a ranger was best built with a 2H weapon like a great sword or a halberd. One extra attack with such a weapon from level 1 was amazing. In EE, however this one was baldurized into dual-wielding.
What I would think is the best party from the original game?
Human Paladin Dwarf Fighter/Cleric Elf Ranger (with Giants as favored enemy) Half-Elf Fighter/Druid Half-Elf Bard Human Thief/Abjurer (dual-classed after entering the Aquarium, usually around level 12, as at that point there are no more traps in the original part of IWD)
This party should be powerful enough and get a player through all quests and allow the use of all weapons.
In EE, however, due to some overpowered kits and baldurization (I personally never bought the whole "feature not transported from the original IWD source code" idea, too many features are added from BG, like spells, kits and mechanics), the above party is no longer as viable.
I'd say the "best" as far as coming close to the above party would be:
Human Paladin (True class, as Undead Hunter, is nifty in BGs, but in IWD, there are no vampires, so the undead is down to just bash them) Paladins translated from IWD do have Smite Evil. That little spell can hurt enemies without save and is devastating at high levels. Half-Elf Ranger/Cleric (still one of the best tanks IMO, even though some would perhaps use the old BG2 overpowered build of Kensai/Cleric) and still Giants as favored enemy Dwarf Dwarven Defender Half-Elf Bard (no kits, for reasons explained above) Elf Fighter/Mage/Thief Human Abjurer (or Wild Mage)
As one can fathom, I am not a big fan of kits. And because it is no longer possible to dual-class to a specialist mage (apparently, this feature was not imported), unless you use the EEKeeper, single classes kits are somewhat either underpowered or overpowered.
In my first run through EE, I tried to see what the new kits and classes add to IWD. Sorcerer is overpoweringly broken, as IWD1 had an intelligent placement of spells balanced for a normal difficulty run through the game (this was back from HoW introduced the extra XP for Very Easy or Very Hard difficulties). A mage could reach to cast spells for level 3 only when finding them available as loot or to buy. A sorcerer gets them for free. In the original game you couldn't blast the Verbeergs in Temple of the Forgotten God with a well placed Fireball, because you could only find that in level 1 of Dragon's Eye. Now, a sorcerer rules the scene of battle.
Also, please note the above use of Abjurer. In IWD1 this is IMO the best specialist mage, as they get all the spells, without Illusions and Transmutations. This means no Mirror Image, Haste or Blindness, but for those the Bard with its highest casting levelel is perfect. Dual classing to one is very difficult to do however, as they need 15 Wisdom.
I'm figuring out my new party and I cpuld use some help.
1. Paladin Cavalier or UH
2. Vanilla Bard
3. Dwarven Defender
4. Sorcerer
5. Fighter/Druid
That means I would have to make my last character a thief/cleric, but I would rather make a thief dual cleric. What level should I dual at?
That means I would have to make my last character a thief/cleric, but I would rather make a thief dual cleric. What level should I dual at?
I'd say as soon as you hit 100 in both open locks and find traps. For a human with 18 DEX, I think level 5 should be enough. I've still not played IwD, but I believe you only need those two.
My submission for best party is based on one major factor:
Getting the most out of the game's unique race/class/gender/attribute based dialogue options.
You can get all the dialogue that gives you a reward, most of the dialogue that doesn't give a reward, and you'll be using what *I* believe to be the best kits for all of them. The only thing I might change for power-gaming would be to make the druid a fighter/druid instead, but I just like having kits. Not to mention the Avenger is such a perfect choice for IWD. Same thing applies to the Tempus cleric and assassin thief becoming a fighter/cleric and fighter/thief respectively, but you can get a lot of dialogue as a Tempus cleric that you can't otherwise, while the assassin thief can actually get a little extra cash as well as new dialogue.
Undead Hunter Paladin (Human)
Avenger Druid (Half-Elf)
Fighter/Illusionist (Gnome)
Assassin Thief (Halfling)
Cleric of Tempus (Dwarf)
Unkitted Bard (Half-Elf)
As the many different answer shows, there is no such thing as a “best IWD party setup”. It will depend on what you mean by “best”.
If you want to get the most of the game (quests, objects dialogues) then try a group including different classes and races, as it has been already described in this thread. Including a druid, cleric of Tempus or a bard are quite interesting choices in this game. Specially if you are new to the game, try to combine all possible classes. Include 2-3 fighters, (warrior, ranger or paladin) and then you need a cleric/druid, mage/sorcerer and a thief. You can make a multiclass by combining any of these classes to leave a free slot for a bard, for example. Try to combine different alignments too.
If you wan the most effective party for fighting enemies, there are different ways to go, depending on which combat tactics you like to use. On my experience, the two most effective are using ranged weapons (bows and crossbows, slings…) and summoning large quantities of monsters and undead. You can combine these two by sending ahead monsters as decoys and using ranged weapons and spells to bring down your enemies from distance.
For powergaming, a group with high dexterity and proficiencies in ranged weapons is the way to go. This is way more effective than a group of tanks with 2-handed axes and 19 strength. The game allows you to carry a large amount of ammo and you can also switch to melee weapons instantly if needed. Try to attract enemies in small numbers, or disable them by using web, grease, slow, etc… Attack always the spellcasters first, most of times you can kill them easily before they can cast a single spell. Very effective but it can make your game a bit too easy and boring.
Powergaming wise the strongest party should be:
Cavalier (human)
Fighter/cleric (dwarf) or dualled fighter7-cleric30 (human)
Fighter/druid (elf) or ranger/cleric (half-elf)
Illusionist/thief (gnome)
Archer (elf)
Bard (half-elf) or sorcerer (elf)
This setup is soo easy for everybody included beginners.
3 melee fighter, 1 super ranged, 2 arcane user, 2 divine user. If you dont like archer than use a dwarf Berserker or Dwarven Defender.
Comments
Pally [ two hand? ] or Berserker [dual wield long swords?]
Druid Avenger Kit? Specialization?
Elf F/T - my archer/ thief [ longbow, long sword ]
Dwarf Cleric - [ mace, sling ]
Bard - skald?
Elf Sorcerer [staff/ darts ]
I don't mind dualing or multi on the Druid if it's super beneficial but I want to play a pure Cleric and Sorcerer.
Pally would be main tank with the Cleric off tank if I go with Avenger for the Druid.
Party above seem pretty well-rounded?
What's the optimal four-person power team?
- Fighter/Thief
- Fighter/Mage
- Bard
- Druid
But I've never completed the game anyway.FMT
FMC
FMC
Skald
Cavalier (two handed sword)
Dwarven Defender (axe and shield)
Priest of Tyr (flail and shield)
Bounty Hunter (short bow)
Bard (sling, he just sings though)
Diviner (darts) - maybe I should have picked a Sorcerer instead
I made it to chapter 5 so far. I am at the giants.
Here is my party, The Hobbit themed:
Thorin Oakenshield, Dwarf Beserker (solid front rank)
Elrond Halfeven, Elf Cleric kit (very low AC front rank)
Bard the Bowman, Human Archer (very OP) has the most kills
Beorn, Human Shapeshifter (very powerful melee)
Bilbo Baggins, straight Hobbit thief (underwhelming)
Gandalf, human Wild Mage (Wild Mage is disappointing because of random effects)
I'm almost through the game, planning my second party now.
1. River Windsong - Half-Elven Bard, used 1 handed weapons + the Lyre of Progression, relatively standard Bard.
2. Gristle Flintstrike - Half-Orc Ranger / Cleric, Dual Morningstars / Flails, or Sling + Shield. Racial enemy = Skeletal Undead. This one surprised me, the idea going in was to to use gristle as a ranged support / healer toon, but very quickly turned into a melee powerhouse. (Note, a Fighter / Cleric is a legal alternative)
3. Katya Weavebane - Human Inquisitor Paladin, Bastard & Long Swords, Mace + Shield (initially) developed into dual long swords by mid -> late game. I thought I might miss not having the Undead Hunter package - I didn't. having quick casting Dispels & Truesight helped get the group through a lot of sticky situations.
4. Frytz Wyrmbynder - Halfling Dragon Disciple - this guy was fun, despite the Kit being very awkwardly situated in 2nd ed. The heavy melee focus of the group often left this guy with not much to do except hide in the back with the bard. In boss fights Frytz was more heavily managed and was very effective in that role despite the limited selection of spells known and the fewer casts vs a pure Sorcerer.
5. Halgred Duskthorne - Half Orc Blackguard - 2 handed weapons, Crossbow. I was a bit disappointed with this guy, the idea was he'd be chunking things left and right with massive damage a la Dorn or Saravok but that never really manifested. I'll chalk some of that up to 2 handed weapons seeming a bit underwhelming compared to Dual Wield or even Sword + Shield. There is a ton of non-good / evil restricted gear and from a RP perspective the guy was pretty neat, but for whatever reason this guy never found his niche.
6. Kat Duskthorne - Half Orc Fighter / Thief - Longbow, Dual wield Scimitars, Short swords. A perfectly acceptable fighter thief - primarily the main party archer but more than capable as backup melee.
In hindsight, this group (in particular Kat & Halgred) could have gotten a lot more mileage from using Axes and or Hammers as there were a lot of pretty good ones that just didn't get used.
------------------------
This is a "powergamer" type of party, that takes advantage of the Human's
Dual Classing.
Create a party of six (or how ever many people you want) fighters. While
creating each of them, keep in mind what you would like them to dual class
over to later. So, when you are creating your Fighter who will dual to
Cleric, you need to get not only good Fighter stats, but also good Wisdom.
The same would go for your Fighter who will be Thief, needing good
Dexterity, Fighter who will be Mage needs good Intelligence, etc. Now
when they reach level two, instantly dual class them over to their new
class. What this accomplishes is creating better versions of
Clerics/Thieves/Mages/etc., at a low cost of experience. (2000 exp for the
Fighter level 2)
Fighter (stays a fighter)
Fighter (stays a fighter)
Ranger dualled to Cleric at level 2
Fighter dualled to Thief at level 2
Fighter dualled to Mage at level 2
+1 more character if desired (I'd take a Bard)
This way, once your Cleric / Thief /Mage hits level 3,
then they can wear normal armors and weapons.
Taken from: Icewind Dale (PC) &
Heart of Winter (PC)
FAQ/Walkthrough
Written by: Dan Simpson
I just started up a run with the following party:
Berserker(7) --> Mage
Berserker(7) --> Cleric
Berserker(7) --> Thief
Sorcerer
Sorcerer
Archer
Its fun so far, though I haven't yet gotten to the point of dual classing which is when I expect it to rather tough going while waiting for the classes to reactivate and not having a thief to unlock/disarm traps until that point too, not to mention the lack of divine casting.
Might seem a bit overkill on the arcane magic with two sorcerers AND a F/M but it seems like it will be fun, might specialize the Sorcerers' spells so that one focuses more on offensive magic and the other on party buffs, debuffs and summons.
Should be pretty stupidly OPed after the first 3 characters get their main classes reactivated, though.
Also you may want to consider dual classing a fighter into a druid at level 3 or just playing a multi-class fighter/druid in order to increase your druid's fighting abilities... if you're rather new to the game, I'd recommend both a Fighter/Druid multiclass and a Fighter/Cleric multiclass as a couple of your front liners.
1.Undead Hunter (human)
2.Bard (half-elf)
3.Sorcerer (Elf)
4.Fighter/Druid (half-elf)
5.Thief/illusionist (gnome) OR fighter/thief OR F/M/T
6.Fighter/cleric (dwarf)
All my bases are covered, however I tither about 5th party member. Do I need more arcane power?
Is another (half) fighter a benefit to the party? I could go with F/M/T but then I don't have a gnome in the party and this helmet is something I want. Any advice?
its dependant on how you play that bard, if you are essentially using your bard as a secondary arcane caster, then you could probably go for the dwarven fighter/thief, but if you are using your bard more for utility type stuff ( wands and bard song per say, with the odd spell here or there) then you could go for a gnome illuisionist/thief although, the illusionist/thief wouldn't be able to wear the helmet unfortunately
actually just double checking your set up, you could give the helmet to your dwarven fighter/cleric and just go with the gnome illusionist/thief, just for the lulz, and if you can make sure to give that gnome some illusion spells, since he is an illusionist and enemies will get a -2 penalty to their saves when spells are cast against them ( blindness being an awesome example is great for illusionists )
and then with that being said, any spells that have durations/protect party members, you can give to your bard, because your bard will be a higher level and hence make durations last longer ( things like haste )
Human Undead Hunter
Dwarf Dwarven Defender
Elf Shapeshifter
Gnome Cleric/Thief
Human Sorcerer
Half-elf Bard
There are no best parties. Each party can be good as long as it is adapt to each player's playing style or if it goes in an RPG with a story or if it is built for specific purposes.
I would suggest that the bard should be part of any party. The bards in IWD1 are simply awesome and they even have some wonderful items designed for them, quests that only a bard can solve and their songs are simply top notch. I wouldn't even consider taking any kit for them. I saw some builts with Skalds or Blades. The songs from the original bard are way more powerful than anything Skalds or Jesters can sing. Let alone the fact that they don't lose any skill points.
A feature which unfortunately many people did not know in the original game was that rangers got an extra melee attack as long as they did not wear a shield. Plenty of players assumed this meant one-handed weapon, but in truth, a ranger was best built with a 2H weapon like a great sword or a halberd. One extra attack with such a weapon from level 1 was amazing. In EE, however this one was baldurized into dual-wielding.
What I would think is the best party from the original game?
Human Paladin
Dwarf Fighter/Cleric
Elf Ranger (with Giants as favored enemy)
Half-Elf Fighter/Druid
Half-Elf Bard
Human Thief/Abjurer (dual-classed after entering the Aquarium, usually around level 12, as at that point there are no more traps in the original part of IWD)
This party should be powerful enough and get a player through all quests and allow the use of all weapons.
In EE, however, due to some overpowered kits and baldurization (I personally never bought the whole "feature not transported from the original IWD source code" idea, too many features are added from BG, like spells, kits and mechanics), the above party is no longer as viable.
I'd say the "best" as far as coming close to the above party would be:
Human Paladin (True class, as Undead Hunter, is nifty in BGs, but in IWD, there are no vampires, so the undead is down to just bash them) Paladins translated from IWD do have Smite Evil. That little spell can hurt enemies without save and is devastating at high levels.
Half-Elf Ranger/Cleric (still one of the best tanks IMO, even though some would perhaps use the old BG2 overpowered build of Kensai/Cleric) and still Giants as favored enemy
Dwarf Dwarven Defender
Half-Elf Bard (no kits, for reasons explained above)
Elf Fighter/Mage/Thief
Human Abjurer (or Wild Mage)
As one can fathom, I am not a big fan of kits. And because it is no longer possible to dual-class to a specialist mage (apparently, this feature was not imported), unless you use the EEKeeper, single classes kits are somewhat either underpowered or overpowered.
In my first run through EE, I tried to see what the new kits and classes add to IWD. Sorcerer is overpoweringly broken, as IWD1 had an intelligent placement of spells balanced for a normal difficulty run through the game (this was back from HoW introduced the extra XP for Very Easy or Very Hard difficulties). A mage could reach to cast spells for level 3 only when finding them available as loot or to buy. A sorcerer gets them for free. In the original game you couldn't blast the Verbeergs in Temple of the Forgotten God with a well placed Fireball, because you could only find that in level 1 of Dragon's Eye. Now, a sorcerer rules the scene of battle.
Also, please note the above use of Abjurer. In IWD1 this is IMO the best specialist mage, as they get all the spells, without Illusions and Transmutations. This means no Mirror Image, Haste or Blindness, but for those the Bard with its highest casting levelel is perfect. Dual classing to one is very difficult to do however, as they need 15 Wisdom.
1. Paladin Cavalier or UH
2. Vanilla Bard
3. Dwarven Defender
4. Sorcerer
5. Fighter/Druid
That means I would have to make my last character a thief/cleric, but I would rather make a thief dual cleric. What level should I dual at?
Getting the most out of the game's unique race/class/gender/attribute based dialogue options.
You can get all the dialogue that gives you a reward, most of the dialogue that doesn't give a reward, and you'll be using what *I* believe to be the best kits for all of them. The only thing I might change for power-gaming would be to make the druid a fighter/druid instead, but I just like having kits. Not to mention the Avenger is such a perfect choice for IWD. Same thing applies to the Tempus cleric and assassin thief becoming a fighter/cleric and fighter/thief respectively, but you can get a lot of dialogue as a Tempus cleric that you can't otherwise, while the assassin thief can actually get a little extra cash as well as new dialogue.
Undead Hunter Paladin (Human)
Avenger Druid (Half-Elf)
Fighter/Illusionist (Gnome)
Assassin Thief (Halfling)
Cleric of Tempus (Dwarf)
Unkitted Bard (Half-Elf)
If you want to get the most of the game (quests, objects dialogues) then try a group including different classes and races, as it has been already described in this thread. Including a druid, cleric of Tempus or a bard are quite interesting choices in this game. Specially if you are new to the game, try to combine all possible classes. Include 2-3 fighters, (warrior, ranger or paladin) and then you need a cleric/druid, mage/sorcerer and a thief. You can make a multiclass by combining any of these classes to leave a free slot for a bard, for example. Try to combine different alignments too.
If you wan the most effective party for fighting enemies, there are different ways to go, depending on which combat tactics you like to use. On my experience, the two most effective are using ranged weapons (bows and crossbows, slings…) and summoning large quantities of monsters and undead. You can combine these two by sending ahead monsters as decoys and using ranged weapons and spells to bring down your enemies from distance.
For powergaming, a group with high dexterity and proficiencies in ranged weapons is the way to go. This is way more effective than a group of tanks with 2-handed axes and 19 strength. The game allows you to carry a large amount of ammo and you can also switch to melee weapons instantly if needed. Try to attract enemies in small numbers, or disable them by using web, grease, slow, etc… Attack always the spellcasters first, most of times you can kill them easily before they can cast a single spell. Very effective but it can make your game a bit too easy and boring.
Cavalier (human)
Fighter/cleric (dwarf) or dualled fighter7-cleric30 (human)
Fighter/druid (elf) or ranger/cleric (half-elf)
Illusionist/thief (gnome)
Archer (elf)
Bard (half-elf) or sorcerer (elf)
This setup is soo easy for everybody included beginners.
3 melee fighter, 1 super ranged, 2 arcane user, 2 divine user. If you dont like archer than use a dwarf Berserker or Dwarven Defender.