Jukka's Ultimate Power gaming Party (JUPP) ========================================== Created by Jukka Mikkonen rechet@hotmail.com For best viewing, use fixed-width font and 79 character rows. You should be able to view the row below in full length without it wrapping onto the next line. 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789 Game..........................Icewind Dale 2 Guide...........................In-depth FAQ Platform..................................PC Version.................................2.01 First Published................May 9th, 2003 Last Updated..................Apr 19th, 2009 =============================================================================== Table of Contents =============================================================================== 1. Introduction 1.1 - Glossary, terms and abbreviations 1.2 - About This FAQ 1.3 - Credits/Thanks 1.4 - Updates and Revisions 2. The Party's Development 2.1 - But where's the beef? 2.2 - Balancing things out 2.3 - Various party roles 2.4 - Armor Class: Useless or not? 2.5 - Spell Resistance: Useless or not? 2.6 - Less is.. more? 2.7 - cheesy tactics - why not? 2.8 - How lucky can you get? 2.9 - Thou shall be saved 2.10 - Notes on various spells 2.11 - Spell combinations 2.12 - Major differences to UPP 2.13 - Statistics and formulae - HOF mode - Ultimate AC - Ultimate Melee Damage - Ultimate Ranged Damage - Power Attack - Quest Experience - Dynamic Experience calculation - Monster Challenge Ratings table 3. Do-it-yourself UPP 3.1 - Set goals for the party 3.2 - Start with the protector 3.3 - Add Druid 3.4 - Check available buffs 3.5 - Fill the remaining character positions 3.6 - Assign party roles 3.7 - Stick to the plan 4. Example 1 : The Melee Party 4.1 - Tank & healer & buffer & debuffer 4.2 - Tank & thief & buffer 4.3 - Diplomat & utility & debuffer 4.4 - Berserker & buffer 4.5 - Berserker & buffer 4.6 - Berserker & buffer 5. Example 2 : The Balanced Party 5.1 - Tank & thief & buffer & bombardier 5.2 - Decoy & healer & buffer & debuffer 5.3 - Diplomat & healer & utility & buffer & debuffer & bombardier 5.4 - Bombardier & buffer & debuffer 5.5 - Bombardier & buffer & debuffer 5.6 - Berserker & buffer 6. Last Words 6.1 - Contact Info 6.2 - Copyright Info 6.3 - Coming Soon =============================================================================== 1. Introduction =============================================================================== Welcome to the world of powergaming! First, and foremost, thank you for downloading this guide. It is designed to take a deeper look into the game know as Icewind Dale II, and hopefully giving out some tips for everyone while we're at it. Second, a word of warning for role-players. The characters outlined in this guide will, for the most part, have very little to do in terms of being actually imaginable PnP characters, so please don't email me about it. However, as some of the tricks in this guide aren't universally accepted as "fair play" to at least some degree, I've added measures to describe the fairness factor. Dismiss the parts you don't feel comfortable with, as none of the questionable stuff will be used as a basis for the example parties. The wary readers are hereby warned about the stuff in chapters 2.6, 2.7 and a majority of 2.13. Third, a word about myself. I'm a fan of fantasy strategy games such as Heroes of Might and Magic series and role-playing games such as Might and Magic 6 & 7 and, of course, Icewind Dale II. Last four years I've been busy with World of Warcraft. I enjoy devising clever plans to be better at these games with a scientific approach and quite often succeed in such goals. This FAQ is one of such projects. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.1 - Glossary, terms and abbreviations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't worry, you don't have to memorize these in order to read this document. These are just for quick reference. 2E - Second Edition rule set of Dungeons & Dragons. Most of the previous Bioware/Black Isle games such as the Baldur's Gate series and Icewind Dale I use these rules. 3E - Third Edition rule set of Dungeons & Dragons. Icewind Dale II uses these rules. AC - Armor Class, a measure of how hard it is to land a solid, damaging blow on you. Aggro- The current target of an enemy. As long as the aggro is on the tank, the tank is doing its job - keeping the enemy away from your more fragile party members. You don't want to gain aggro when you're anyone else but the tank lest you risk your life. AoE - Area of Effect. Any effect that isn't limited to one target only, usually in the form of a circular blast of doom. BAB - Base Attack Bonus. The base prowess of your character in physical combat (both melee and ranged) before any modifiers from abilities, stats, feats, spells or items or anything else is taken into account. Ch - Cheese. A somewhat subjective measure of how legitimate something is. This guide acknowledges the fact that while something may be allowed by the game rules, either intentionally, unintentionally or due to a limitation and/or glitch in the game engine itself, it may well be seen as cheating by many players. If you, my dear reader, object to such things, steer clear from the parts of the guide where the smell of cheese becomes too much for you to bear. CR - Challenge Rating. A measure of how tough a monster is. This value is also used to calculate how much experience you get by killing it. CRPG - Computer Role-Playing Game. DBFB - Delayed Blast Fireball, an arcane 7th level spell. Especially useful spell to blast decoys with, as the spell is completely resistible by high enough spell resistance and it deals huge damage. DC - Difficulty Class for spells. A measure of how tough a spell is to counter with a saving throw. Note that many spells do not allow for a saving throw at all, essentially making their DC infinite. DG - Deep Gnome. One of the playable races. Also known as Svirfneblin. DM - Dungeon Master. The "narrator" of the game. DUHM - Draw Upon Holy Might, a divine 2nd level spell. Best used with a high level Cleric of any kind, this spell gives huge bonuses to all three physical stats, that is STR, DEX and CON for a whole 10 rounds. On top of the obvious benefits, this spell can give a theoretical +150 hit points for a 30th level Cleric due to increased CON! ECL - Effective Character Level. Some races in IWD2 have an ECL penalty, which means that in order to get to, say, 5th level would require as much experience points as a non-ECL race would require to reach level 5+ECL. For example, a Deep Gnome requires 28,000 EXP to reach 5th level (ECL=+3), whereas a human (no ECL) requires only 10,000! EXP - Experience points. HOF - Heart of Fury mode. An insanely difficult play mode, available via the configuration program. IWD2 - Icewind Dale II, the game this guide is for. JUPP - Jukka's Ultimate Powergaming Party, this document as a whole. NPC - Non-player character. A character controlled by the DM. PC - Player Character PnP - Pen and Paper. As opposed to CRPG, this means the ordinary, in real life version of Dungeons & Dragons, with a real life Dungeon Master, actual physical dice rolling, character sheets on a sheet of paper and a group of people gathered together to play. RTFM - Read The F****n Manual. A quite common derogatory comment on the the Internet about how it's not really other people's duty to answer trivial questions when the information is readily available in the game's manual. However, the official manual for IWD2 is notoriously inaccurate, so if you happen to see something that conflicts with the info in the manual, chances are good that the manual is wrong. SR - Spell Resistance. A measure of how hard it is to land a solid, successful spell on you. This is the Armor Class against spells, so to speak. Stat - Any of the six statistics describing player characters. These include STR - Strength DEX - Dexterity CON - Constitution INT - Intelligence WIS - Wisdom CHA - Charisma UPP - Original Ultimate Powergaming Party FAQ by Ken J. Egervari. Levels are notated either with an absolute value such as Fighter(4) or with the 'x' notation, which means "you keep on adding levels here unless specifically told otherwise". A half-and-a-half character such as the infamous Fighter/Mage from 2E rules with equal levels would be denoted as Fighter(x)/Mage(x). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2 - About This FAQ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The purpose of this FAQ is to give a very detailed guide on how to create the ultimately powerful, legitimate party for IWD2, from the very beginning of Prologue to the very last battle in HOF mode. No cheating involved. This guide ignores any and all of the available mods available for IWD2. The main reason is that quite a few mods add new items, some even spells and/or rule changes that are hilariously overpowered, bugged or questionable in keeping the spirit of the game intact - if not all of the above simultaneously! It's just plain easier to have some sort of common ground to start from, and the out-of-the-box game with its 2.01 patch installed is about as common a denominator between the different setups as there is. However, I'll mention some of the most common mod items as possible upgrades, most notably the ones introduced by the Ease of Use mod. It's very important to define what I mean with "ultimately powerful" because it is closely related to personal preferences. For example, many people would consider a rifle being the better weapon to take along when the purpose is to go hunting deer instead of a hunting crossbow. However, it's hard to value the feeling of using such a traditional weapon to hunt, as it is most certainly more of a feat to pull to kill a deer with a crossbow than it is to snipe one from half a kilometer away with a hunting rifle. It's a matter of taste, really, as both get the job done. But the rifle is still the most powerful of the two options, while the crossbow will give you the bragging rights. Similarly, someone might consider a full six-man party being better suited to tackle the hordes of monsters in IWD2, while another player prefers to go hiding, sneaking & backstabbing everyone with a solo character, acquiring level-ups faster. Just to see if it can be done, not because he can level a horde of monsters in two combat rounds flat. But the full party is the more powerful of the two alternatives, while doing the solo will undoubtedly earn you a few pats on the back on a job well done. Notice a trend there? In other words, just because something "works" doesn't mean it's the most effective way of accomplishing it. I *can* chop apart just about any piece of wood with nothing but that trusty hand axe of mine, but it doesn't mean I couldn't do it better by using a chainsaw. You *can* actually expect to make it through the game with the most horrible combinations of characters or even solo, so completing the game is nothing to be all that exited about. Or do you expect to get praised every time you breathe successfully nowadays? ;) However, the focus of this document is NOT to present any one-size-fits-all party as the ultimate answer to anything, but in *how* such party can be constructed. This document would be rather pointless if I didn't point where the true power of the various things in this guide lies. For the purposes of this document, most powerful relates to things like getting the job done with the least amount of time, minimizing the amount of micromanagement needed to play, doing highest damage, receiving lowest damage in return, working the numbers to our advantage, not needing any cheesy tactics to be able to survive, beating the enemies as mercilessly as possible and reducing the chances of losing the game as much as possible. Extra attention should be paid to the last one. If this is your first time through the game, please stop reading NOW and go play the game through once with whatever party you think should be workable. After reading this guide, you will be so spoiled that playing through the game seems rather redundant, as there won't be much of a chance of actually losing anymore, and how much fun is that? This guide drops things like aesthetics, suspension, realism and believability in the role-playing sense in favor of more efficient monster killing ability, as deep down inside IWD2 is just a hack'n'slash game disguised as a RPG. Don't call me a spoilsport for spoiling your fun. It's totally up to you if you do it. This guide isn't supposed to be about having fun in the game, this is serious number-crunching business. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. I won't warn you again. In fact, this whole guide is written with the assumption that you know your way through the game and know where you'll find the named characters, areas, events and such. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.3 - Credits/Thanks ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many thanks to Ken J. Egervari for creating the original Ultimate Powergaming Party FAQ (UPP). This work probably wouldn't have seen daylight if that FAQ didn't exist. In addition to the people mentioned there, I'd like to thank the following: Sorcerer's Place - For providing a safe haven for all the combined knowledge on a whole slew of games similar to Icewind Dale II. Bloggyelf - Ultimate Powergaming Party project wouldn't be complete without nay-sayers, and Bloggyelf is the best of the best. (from the Interplay forums era) coineineagh - Still (as of 2009) active member of Sorcerer's Place that finally convinced me that there's enough of an interest out there to do the final pass of polishing to my existing guide. Thanks for the inspiration, man. :) JT - Good advice and links to previous research on spells. Klorox - Another SP active member, especially well known for his questions that initially spur the RTFM reaction from veterans but more often than not lead to interesting revelations. kmonster - Good, skeptical feedback on some of the wilder ideas in the guide, letting me know which parts need more clarifying. Mudde - Further improvements on the Ultimate AC character. Nobody Important - Extended research on the statistics of HOF monsters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.4 - Updates and Revisions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.01 - Tweaked some of the advice based on feedback at Sorcerer's Place - Did an extra round of spell-checking - Fleshed out some advice-dry portions of the guide - Added instructions of use to the role descriptions - Corrected the info on HOF monsters - Extended the CR table of monsters dramatically 2.00 - Complete overhaul of pretty much the entire guide Changed the focus of the guide from the example parties to theory Updated both previously existing parties to today's standard - No longer assumes level-squatting or muling will be used - Acknowledges the normally reachable soft level cap of 26-27 or so - Assumes full party instead of only three or four characters Updated the chapter about saving throws with new information Major update to the chapter about spell resistance (new play testing) Offered more insight on the various party roles Added description for the add-members-as-you-go style with analysis Extended the spell notes section dramatically by popular request Added the calculations for dynamic experience 1.01 - Corrected a few misplaced/illegal feat selections Added four-person optimized version of Melee party (instead of duo) Added suggestions about using permanent mule characters Tweaked Arcane party a bit Added comments on some Druid spells Tweaked optional bombardiers to better muling capability Added notes on Improved Initiative "patch" 1.00 - First Release (non-draft) version Tweaked the Berserker in Melee party for better ranged capability Redesigned the Arcane party to avoid EXP penalties Added advanced level squatting info Added spell combinations section Added statistics section Added more character development examples Added guide for creating own UPPs for special needs (Chap. 5) Lots of miscellaneous bugs & spelling errors fixed 0.03 - Reduced line length to 79 chars instead of 80 Added clarifications for selection between the two parties Added role description for Decoy Added option to choose builds without min-maxing Replaced the second tank in Melee party with something more useful Redistributed roles in the Melee party Added option for Duo Melee party Tweaked the Arcane Party Added some notes for various spells Updated the contributors list 0.02 - Added a second party option for a spell-heavy party 0.01 - Initial draft =============================================================================== 2. The Party's Development =============================================================================== This section concentrates on many of the key issues that the reader needs to familiarize with before the deeper and more subtle points that will be tossed around describing the parties in JUPP can be understood correctly. Of course this guide could just list step-by-step instructions as to how to develop those characters, but that would be both boring and very uneducational. During the years, this section has grown from a quick tips section into a major compilation of all the reasonably relevant metadata discovered about the game. To my knowledge, most of the stuff herein isn't available in any other guide out there, at least not with such detail. The chapter three is a guide on creating own UPPs. The author of this document is well aware that improvements on the party's overall design become successively smaller and smaller at each new iteration, to the point that personal preferences start to take over number-crunching facts. Theoretically optimal party can be a total pain to play due to the massive micromanagement needs, and opting for less micromanagement can, in fact, speed up & lighten the total gaming experience. I can only endorse ideas that can be universally accepted as "the best" while still not being "cheesy", the rest of them you need to make up your mind on yourself. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 - But where's the beef? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Can't you tell me already, what is THE MOST powerful PARTY????" I betcha you're itchin'. But bear with me and you'll see why I don't just pour out the info on the spot - it would be both uneducational, and for a vast majority of my readers outright WRONG, too. Take a breather and repeat after me: There is no ultimate and perfect party that would be just as ultimate for everyone. There is, however, an ultimate and perfect party for YOU. But since I don't know you, the best I can possibly accomplish is some sort of an approximation on what you might want out of your personal precious - but that would be going backwards, don't you think? I'll let you choose what YOU want, and help you create that ultimate party for you, OK? To give some ideas, I've outlined two example parties at the end of the guide. Readers familiar with my previous versions of this guide should recognize the parties, but also notice that they're just that - examples. Please keep in mind that none of these parties is "better" than the other, they're just designed to cater for different playing styles, one with lots of melee combat and the other with lots of mass-destruction mayhem. Use the advice in chapter three if you want some other combination. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2 - Balancing things out ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At a first glance, it seems like the question as to what would be the most powerful party in IWD2 should be rather easy to answer, no? Just go through all the possible combinations of classes, races, feats and item configurations, put them on some sort of a grading scale for each conceivably important aspect of the game, count the total score and select the one that won? As has been noted in various IWD2 forums on the Internet, the question is actually much trickier than that. The standard party with a rogue, fighter, mage and a cleric is a tried and true standard answer, but alas, it only denotes a party that is NOT TOTALLY AWFUL instead of being REALLY GOOD. Mix'n'matching a whole group is an art form in itself, while as optimizing single characters is quite a bit easier. Here's some examples as how to make different base classes better via various multiclasses thrown in. It pays to note that due to the dynamic experience awards system, you can't really expect to reach level 30, not even at the very end of HOF mode nor with a smaller party. Be sure to leave at least a few levels of slack into your character builds or you might actually get disappointed when you didn't quite make it. Rogue: ------ First of all, it's Rogue, not Rouge. Anyone still ignorant enough to write Rouge is a disgrace to humanity and should seriously consider going for a Darwin Award. ;) (See www.darwinawards.com for this reference.) A rogue all by itself is rather weak in combat, although it gets a lot of skill points. Ironically enough, only a few of the skills help the rogue himself in any way - not even Concentration is used for anything even remotely meaningful for a rogue, compared to casters that pretty much always want to keep it maxed. It's Hide and Move Silently for the rogue, rest of it is just to help the group - some would go as long as to say that were it not for the group utility skills a rogue brings with him, they wouldn't be included in a party to begin with. Anything rogue-related has a maximum skill check of 17 after all the modifiers have been taken into account, meaning any reasonably intelligent and dexterous rogue (is there any other kind, really?) will get by with somewhere between 10 and 15 actual skill levels. Even as low as 6 to 8 is enough in case you're maximizing the corresponding stat and using buffs like Cat's Grace for DEX-based skills. Thus one of the main selling points of the Rogue class - the MASSIVE skill points count - isn't really one unless you're trying to become your party's thief AND diplomat with just one character. Backstabbing can bring many fond memories for the BG1 and BG2 veterans, but the experience doesn't really translate into IWD2. First of all, you hardly ever meet backstab-worthy enemies such as mages without a massive mob supporting them. As soon as you leave shadows, you need to be able to manage gaining aggro from a horde of monsters intent on squashing you. Second, you no longer score multiples of your damage per hit on a successfull backstab, just additional d6, 2d6, 3d6 and so forth. That doesn't really cut it much past the initial goblins and orcs - mobs your fellow party members don't have much problems in cleaving into two or burning into crisp anyhow. And third, doing the hide - backstab - run - rehide - re-backstab routine isn't really effective use of your time. It can be FUN, but that's another thing altogether. Doing flanking attacks in a large group of enemies is a pain to micromanage since you have to select them one by one and reposition yourself all the time. So, backstabbing isn't anything majorly important either in terms of power and/or causes a conflict with the "less micromanagement needed" policy I'm advocating. Adding a couple of levels of fighter gives a hefty boost in hit points, better attack bonuses and the possibility to specialize in the rogue's weapon of choice. Even better, adding many levels in wizard (or any of the specialist classes) makes the rogue a potent spell caster as well. Adding points to the INT stat enhances both Rogue and Wizard abilities, so its a win-win situation. Don't be worried about many of the crucial thieving skills being cross-class skills for the wizard class - with a very high INT score, there's plenty of points to spare. Besides, early locks can be bashed easily, and by the time the locks start to become harder, there will be plenty of Knock spells to spare even in the worst case. Also, with the exception of two traps (the one at the bridge to Black Raven Monastery and the one beside the Dragon's Eye level 3 entrance), the traps in IWD2 aren't much of a threat to anyone and can be just set off. By the time the party starts in HOF mode, there will be enough skill levels to do anything. Gaining all the benefits from being almost pure-class wizard certainly is an improvement over the spell count of ZERO for the pure Rogue, isn't it? By taking a look at the game manual, it is noted that spell casters stop gaining new spells right after level 20. Okay, they do get a few, but not nearly as much as between levels 1-20. Especially noteworthy is that wizards do not gain ANY new spells between levels 21-25, leaving a large dead zone in the middle. So in fact, why not stop leveling the Rogue(1)/Wizard(x) after 20 wizard levels has been taken, and continue taking Rogue levels again? Because, we just noted that we don't need any more rogue skills to be effective, so those extra levels would be wasted. Why not take levels as a Fighter instead? That'll give our rather fragile character a lot of hit points, lots of extra feats and increased chances of being at least some use in combat when all the spells have been depleted. (Please note that having a lower caster level reduces the damage of some spells but this may not be such a high obstacle in some cases, especially if we're concentrating on melee combat instead of blasting with spells.) Monk: ----- Quite frankly, monks suck. Big time. There's only two real reasons why I'd ever play a full-time monk, and those are the spell resistance ability at 13th level and to even lesser extent, the 20/+1 damage resistance at level 20. The extra AC from higher levels is a joke, as replacing those levels with 11+ levels in either Cleric or Wizard/Sorcerer allows for Divine Shell and Tenser's Transformation, respectively. Not to mention a whole bunch of more or less useful spells that far surpass the character's abilities as a pure monk. Unarmed damage has a lots of catching up to do with actual weapons, since fists can't carry magical damage enchantments plus they don't get the 1.5*STR bonus like two-handed weapons do. You can't even combine fists with a shield without taking away the WIS AC bonus. However, the monk's AC bonus from high WIS stat is a sweet one to combine with any divine caster's naturally high WIS. Just one level of monk is more than enough, as it also provides the best the monk class has to offer - the Evasion special ability and a solid +2 bonus to all saving throws. Added levels as a Cleric or Druid give this character lots more options in combat, being not limited to just beating enemies in melee. Alas, as Monk is not a favored class for any of the playable races, one has to be careful with multiclassing - any other non-favored class with more than 2 levels will result in EXP penalties. As a general rule of thumb, taking the monk level isn't worth it unless shooting for extreme AC values or you want to have Evasion on this character without wasting two levels as a Rogue. Your primary casters should *still* steer clear until they've reached level 20 in their primary class first. I'm sure you've heard of the infamous Deep Gnome monk by now. They're known for being just about completely unhittable, and rightfully so. However, if such character is to be used as an actual tank, you'd want to have at least decent STR and CON, while DEX needs to be maxed to preserve the AC. Going the high WIS route leaves nothing for INT or CHA, and you won't actually get that high WIS since you can't take a level of Dreadmaster unless you're willing to endure a 20% experience penalty from level 4 onwards and can't thus wield the Every God Ring either. You'd actually be better served by donning the Chain of Drakkas, using a decent shield and upping DEX - plus your party's main divine caster can use the WIS raising potions instead. Ironically enough, WIS isn't all that practical for the ultimate DG monk tank. Bard: ----- A sorcerer with really pathetic amount of spells from a rather inferior selection? A rogue with less skill points and fewer class skills? A fighter without extra feats, poor BAB development and very low hit points per level? A cleric with next to non-existent selection of spells and even worse, tying up the already limited number of castings from the arcane spell pool? A jack of all trades and a master of none. This character class CAN do a lot of stuff, but you can't replace any of the core classes with a bard since they leave a mile-long list of things that would still need to be covered by the classes the bard class tries to replace. Singing occupies character's all functions except for moving around. Sounds even worse than monks, eh? Except that singing is actually a pretty solid ability! Granted, it requires the liberal use of the Lingering Song feat, but getting instant bonuses to many different areas while still having all the time in the world to take part into actual fighting is nothing to sneeze at. Just the 5th level song (Tymora's Melody) alone corresponds to an unlimited pool of Luck spells with instant casting time and mass effect on the whole party at once. Finally, the last song at 11th level (War Chant of Sith) gives very good overall bonuses, of which the +2 AC is most important to both of the high-AC characters in the JUPP's Melee party. Refreshing the duration every 3 combat rounds is a certain nuisance, but can be lived with. In fact, one should make a habit of refreshing the various combat songs before selecting a next spell to cast or next enemy to beat on if you use a bard in your party. While you can't replace any of the core classes with a bard, the versatility allows you to have a nice combination of perks from various classes without having to split your precious experience levels. A mage doesn't really shine in physical combat without warrior mix-ins (the lack of attacks per round hurts), while a bard advances just as rapidly as any cleric or rogue would. A cleric doesn't have anything even remotely as powerful as Mirror Image in their defensive repertoire, which would require at least three or four mix-in levels AND points in either INT or CHA to achieve. Finally, pure warriors just generally suck at higher levels, compared to casters anyway. One nice aspect of bard's spell casting is the fact that it uses the CHA stat bonus for bonus spells, same as for Sorcerers. Combined with the fact that Sorcerers get only low-level spell castings beyond level 20 and a rather limited selection of extra spells, one can get more bang for the buck by taking levels as a bard. This way, the bonus spells from high CHA will be counted twice! However, due to the level cap of 30, it's not possible to get both 20 levels as a sorc and 11 levels as a bard, so one sorc level (and thus two castings at 9th level) needs to be sacrificed. Note also that the damage and duration of many spells is tied to the caster's level, so this kind of split build is NOT recommended if the goal is to get as much damage out of the spells as possible. Also, as reaching level 30 even for one character in your party requires rather.. extensive measures, you won't enjoy the benefits of such split until way, way later you'd like. Bard songs have a rather nice feature to take advantage of: A multiclassed bard/druid can sing even when shapeshifted! By keeping in mind that shape shifting actually OVERRIDES character's own STR, DEX and CON scores, those three stats can be minimized with little risk, creating a diplomat without the usual weakness, clumsiness and/or frailty associated with being one. Not reaching level 30 isn't such a huge problem either, since level 11 bard and level 12 druid already cover all of the stuff that is unique for just those two classes. One very cool character I used in one of my test teams was a Tiefling Rogue(2)/Druid(x)/Bard(x) with base stats of STR 6, DEX 6, CON 12, INT 20, WIS 18 and CHA 16. Plenty of thieving skills, the crucial druid and bard levels all in one character freeing the other chars to mix'n'match as they like, plenty of spells to toss around and an actually useful use for shape shifting. DEX 6 doesn't mix too well with the various thieving skills, whereas DEX 19+ after a shape shift into some nimble animal form does. As a matter of fact, this character ended up being the three-man party's diplomat as well. Now that's some versatility and utility for you! Upping INT at level-ups allows this character to reach the highest required skill levels on ALL skills in the game by the time he's at level 15 or so. No other member of the party would be needed to provide skills, but usually it's more convenient if they do. Fighter/Barbarian/Ranger/Paladin: --------------------------------- Four fighting classes, all with similar BAB development (ranger has slight edge with favored enemies), similar hit points (barb has slight edge) and an overabundance of feats to pick (especially the Fighter). IMHO these four are a bit too similar in the way they play, and as such rather redundant. While the 'as is' combat prowess of any of these classes is unquestioned, the situation becomes much more complicated with the inclusion of spells. Most notably, the Cleric class has several self-boost spells, not to mention the ones that affect the whole party. In a nutshell - while a fighter might get +2 damage with his chosen weapon via the weapon specialization feat, a decent level battle Cleric can cast Holy Power for +4 damage with ALL weapons, several times per day. A barbarian is supposed to be a hit point powerhouse with damage reduction on top of it, but the battlecleric counters with Iron Skins and DUHM. From level 24 onwards, the +8 CON bonus from DUHM bridges the natural hit point advantage of the barbarian (d8 vs. d12 per level) for the times it really counts. And neither the fighter nor the barbarian can do an instant self-heal or resurrect fallen comrades. Similarly, the warrior classes have nothing in comparison to stuff like Mirror Image, Blink and Fire shields that every mage and their cousins throw around. All this becomes available with a few points invested into INT (or CHA) and a few levels into the arcane classes, as long as this doesn't cause multiclassing exp penalties. Paladin and Ranger get some minor spells, but too little, too late for it to matter. There's pretty much nothing a pure class Paladin can do that a Cleric with a couple of Paladin levels as mix-in doesn't do better. Similarly, a Ranger just doesn't have what it takes compared to a Druid with just one level of Ranger. No, I don't consider two or three level earlier access to one more attack per round (at +1 base attack bonus) as a fair trade for losing the corresponding divine spells. Warriors used to have a real advantage with the amount of attacks per round they get at higher levels, but even that has been taken away. Even that glass jaw weakling Paladin(2)/Sorcerer(x) companion of yours will eventually reach the maximum four attacks per round the game allows without haste, dual-wielding or Rapid Shot, and the rest of them are right at your heels during most of the game. In terms of tanking ability, warrior classes have one extra drawback compared to a spellsword tank. Some of the enemies such as Restless Dead, Drow Assassins and Fallen Bladesingers are scripted to go after your mages and/or clerics as soon as they see one, and there's nothing a warrior class tank can do about that. Whether a cleric or a mage as a tank is better in other ways is to some extent debatable, but they most certainly don't have to worry about this dilemma. In a nutshell, any level beyond the first (which gives the various weapon, armor and shield feats as a freebie) for any non-warrior class is a level that was sacrificed from spell casting abilities. However, once the required amount of spell caster levels for buffing are reached, opting for warrior levels doesn't really hurt that much either, especially if the point is to go bashing enemies. You might even consider sniping the Weapon Specialization, negating the only real advantage of being a fighter, while still keeping all the benefits of being a caster. Cleric/Mage (Wizard/Sorcerer): ------------------------------ Three classes, of which two are basically the same thing. Ever since the beginning of the RPG history, a party without one strong divine caster plus one strong arcane caster has been a party that is severely limited in its abilities to tackle the various problems that arise during the journey. IWD2 is no exception to this rule. Leave either one of these home and prepare for considerably tougher adventure. In 2E rules, neither clerics nor mages weren't all that good in physical combat with their poor chance to hit and 1 attack per round that never improved. Not so in 3E. Clerics end up giving all the warrior classes a run for their money, ultimately becoming better in just about any imaginable way. Even mages end up becoming rather respectable physical combatants, provided they aren't hamstrung by their stats. You end up becoming something resembling the infamous Fighter/Mage multiclass in 2E even as pure class mage in 3E. By this very reason, these three classes also make for the most powerful choices for sinking new character levels in. Biggest woe with these three classes is that one needs a LOT of levels in them before they start to pay off in any major way. Therefore, if a character wishes to become a formidable spell slinger, there's not much room for sidestepping. Pick a class and stick to it, unless you have a VERY good reason for doing otherwise. Such reasons could include only wanting some low-level self-buffs such as Shield, Mirror Image, Sanctuary or Holy Power. Tenser's Transformation and/or Divine Shell are a bit on the high level side to be considered a side course any more. Druid: ------ The final remaining class is one that tries to be a Cleric and a Mage at the same time. Too bad it fails rather miserably at it. No Prayer, Recitation, Greater Command, Resurrection or Symbol: Hopelessness means that one needs to bring in a Cleric anyway, and missing Mirror Image, Mass Haste, Delayed Blast Fireball and Wail of the Banshee makes everyone wish they had picked a real mage class instead. A pity, really, as Druids have so many possibilities and they have a truly original set of spells to choose from. There's one redeeming thing to Druids, however. It's called the Barkskin spell, which neither the Cleric nor the mage classes have. In search for the ultimate Armor Class levels, this spell alone provides +5 generic AC at caster level 12. It's a bonus that is very hard to come by via any other means and would most likely necessitate the use of rather extreme methods for keeping the high-AC characters protected from harm. And, while we're at it, the Druid can certainly carry its own weight with stuff like Static charge, Aura of Vitality and especially Fire Storm, so it's not like one would take a Druid along and curse oneself for doing it. They really aren't THAT bad, just be sure that you take a real cleric and mage along for the good stuff they have. You don't really benefit that much from having several Druids the way you will from having several mages and clerics. Just as with clerics, adding one Monk level will allow the WIS bonus to AC. It even carries over to the animal forms, one of the precious few ways to increase their AC while shapeshifted. And if you're really into that kind of stuff, a Druid is actually just about as good, if not better than any fighter you can make yourself between levels 5 and 15 or so due to the way the shapeshifted forms are balanced - regardless of the druid's own physical stats. So in a way, a Druid can also make a decently good diplomat (mix in a level of rogue or perhaps bard) without it crippling his physical prowess in combat in the way other diplomats do. (See the note under Bard.) Take a look at the descriptions of other characters in the JUPP for similar ideas as to how one can make the base classes better. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3 - Various party roles ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In order to be successful in life, an adventuring party is well advised to have specialized characters that handle one role well instead of having everyone being relatively bad at everything. Here's a list of roles that a party might want to have in their ranks. Note that some roles can be combined, while some are mutually exclusive. TANK : This character protects other members of the party, working as a meat shield to allow other, more fragile characters to have the time they need in order to pull their trick. A tank has respectable melee capability as well. Warriors and Clerics make good tanks, but Monks and even Rogue/Wizard multiclass characters work too. Quite surprisingly, any arcane caster with lots of Mirror Images works as a tank as well, but only for a very limited time. High AC and magical protections are very useful for a tank. In HOF mode, a traditional warrior tank is nigh on useless - despite his awesome hit point totals - unless he can avoid a vast majority of the blows aimed his way. And that ain't happening without major magical support. Playing a tank is rather straightforward - just point and click. However, a good tank knows when to take a detour to the destination in order to always stay closer to the enemies than any other party member. BERSERKER : An optional role that concentrates more on the offense of the physical nature. A very high damage with hand-held weapons (melee or ranged) guarantees a steady damage output even after the spell casters have depleted their spell reserves. Most tanks are at least reasonably good berserkers, but since they seek to improve stuff like hit points and/or AC instead of damage, they'll start to fall behind soon enough. On the other hand, a berserker won't last long if under fire. Thus berserkers requires somewhat different approach to combat than tanks do - let the tanks gather aggro first and only THEN charge into combat. Consider casting some sort of short-term combat buff during the wait period if you have any, so that you don't waste time just sitting around idly. DECOY : In contrast to a tank, a decoy is a meat shield without much of melee capability, which means that it is a much more specialized build. However, instead of relying on melee, this character relies on other team members to deliver the actual damage. A decoy usually has strong offensive spells or other, more indirect methods of making the life of the enemies miserable. Opting to leave melee combat out of the equation makes it considerably easier to reach necessary levels of AC and other types of protection. Decoys live and die by the mantra of "My comrades are my weapons, and I am their shield." Thus, there is no such thing as a solo decoy. ASSASSIN : Even more optional role than the berserker, this is the fantasy realm's equivalent of a stealth bomber. Taking out key members of the enemy by surprise is the trademark of an assassin. High-level rogues with their sneak attack ability make excellent assassins, but Monks with their stunning attacks might be even better. Any character under Invisibility effect works as well. Note that there's no assassinating anyone in HOF mode as even lowly goblins have 150+ hit points. Unless you count a successful cast of Finger of Death followed by a critically failed saving throw by the monster as one. An assassin is still well advised to wait with the initial attack until the tank has gained the mob's attention. Casters and ranged monsters do not give chase, at least not initially, so feel free to park yourself next to such monsters before starting the show. HEALER : No matter what you do, you WILL get hit by the monsters in IWD2. Therefore, unless you intend to carry around hundreds and hundreds of healing potions and make regular visits to the town to raise party members that have met an untimely death, a healer is a must. Clerics make by far the best healers, but Bards, Druids, and even high-level Paladins have some utility here. However, only Cleric can bring back the dead. Ironically, the better your party becomes, the less you're going to need healing so don't go overboard even if it seems tough in the beginning. A healer that has gained aggro from some monster isn't *just* in danger but *also* unable to fullfill the role - any decently dangerous monster is bound to cause spell interruptions. Unless you have extremely high AC and/or Mirror Images to hide behind, that is. Therefore, your healer shouldn't be anywhere near the front lines. Or back, for that matter, in case you let yourself get flanked. DIPLOMAT : Anyone with high Charisma and corresponding skill levels can work just fine as a Diplomat. However, as they need both high CHA and INT, those kind of characters tend to be physically weaker. A party can surely play through IWD2 without one, but would miss out on a lot of quest EXP. Sorcerers and bards with their naturally high CHA make excellent diplomats, if they can spare the stat points to INT. Plus, they don't refuse quest rewards as Paladins and Monks do. As noted in the previous chapter, a druid has the unique possibility to combine diplomacy with sheer, brute power via its shapeshift ability, but it WILL lead to more micromanagement. UTILITY : Anyone with the required INT to have lots of skill points to spare on miscellaneous skills not covered by other team members. Rogues, Bards and Wizards make good utility since they have quite a few skills as class skills, but only wizards have the INT for it naturally. In my opinion, there's only two decent utility skills in IWD2, Knowledge: Arcana and Alchemy. Wilderness Lore is moot after you've played the game once, Animal Empathy is just plain worthless and Use Magic Device is both superceded and made obsolete with just one mix-in level as either cleric or wizard/sorcerer. BUFFER : Any character with lots of spells to buff up the party. Usually any spell caster can work as a buffer when needed, but sometimes a certain spell level just has too many good spells to choose from, and having two (or even three) casters with slots at this particular spell level eases up on the shortage. DEBUFFER : Just as a buffer, but instead of casting party-enhancing buffs, the role is to make the life of enemies miserable. One important difference between these two roles is that while buffing doesn't require saving throws, many debuffing spells have saving throws. Thus the debuffer needs to have much higher spell DC modifier from their casting stat to be effective. THIEF : Not just the ordinary pick-pocket stereotype, this role covers all the miscellaneous skills that make adventuring less dangerous or easier, such as picking locks and disarming traps. Rogues are the obvious choice number one, but Bards and Rogue/Wizard multiclasses aren't bad either. Notice the difference between the class (rogue) and the role it plays (the thief), they're not necessarily the same thing. BOMBARDIER : The heavy artillery. While tanks and decoys keep the enemies concentrated on other things and healers keep them standing, bombardiers toss around mass destruction spells. Arcane spell casters make by far the best bombardiers with their offensive spells, but high-level Clerics (especially of Lathander type) or druids are nothing to sneeze at. Just make sure that you don't kill your own. In terms of total damage done, berserker usually wins over a bombardier against single targets and small groups, while bombardiers rule against large groups. Just as healers, a bombardier that has gained aggro of monsters is not only in immediate danger of losing one's life, but not tossing out spells either as they're supposed to. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.4 - Armor Class: Useless or not? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Armor Class, amongst other things in IWD2 is a take it or leave it decision. Either you boost AC to insane levels or just neglect it pretty much completely, increasing AC only when you don't have to sacrifice anything for it, such as wearing the newly found armor if it is better than the one that you're wearing currently. Unlike hit points, where every single upgrade to your total will make you more durable, upgrading your AC *only* helps if you're in a reasonable AC range to begin with. Normal mode can be fairly safely played through without thinking about AC that much - just wear whatever happens to be the best armor available at the moment and use various buff spells such as Defensive Harmony in tight spots. Getting the combined effect from just a couple of the more mundane buff spells is more than enough to make it almost impossible for the enemy to hit. Should you feel foolhardy enough to try on the Insane difficulty level, it pays to note that monsters get +10 to hit. Anything below AC 30 isn't going to do much good at protecting your hide so plan accordingly. However, as the party is transferred to HOF, the term "high AC" has to be completely redefined. Whereas something like 30 would be a rather impressive AC in normal mode play, in HOF you might as well have AC of zero as even those lousy Targos goblins have a BAB of +26, meaning that they only need to roll a natural four (on a d20, which gives numbers between 1-20) to hit AC 30. In other words, they'd hit 85% of the time, and they do hit HARD. It only gets worse from there, and very fast. Soon after you'll need to reach an AC in the 40s for it to matter AT ALL. In order to be protected from damage, one could of course devise alternate plans such as using spells like Mirror Image, Blur and Blink to avoid being hit completely, but this is both cumbersome and very unreliable, as there is just too many monsters coming at you. Various damage resistance spells such as Stoneskin do help a bit, but later on monsters do such high damage per hit that even those take only mere fractions of the damage away - and they also would need to be recast all the time. Trapping the enemies in Entangle, Grease, Web and similar impediments to avoid their dangerous melee attacks is a pain to micromanage and not really that effective use of spells either. Finally, hiding behind your own summons just feel awkwardly non-heroic. It has been noted that apart from a mere few more or less unique monsters such as the Guardian and Chimeras, monster BABs in HOF mode seem to be capped at +52. In other words, we'll need at least AC of 72 (!!!) in order to get hit only when monsters roll natural 20's, which would hit even if we had an AC of 2,000. This seems to be hopelessly far away from those 30's you see normally. During the early chapters in HOF, somewhere in the low-mid 60's AC is enough. Note that there's one hugely important difference between an AC that forces your enemies to roll a natural 19 to hit you and one that forces 20. It's called critical hits. Going from 19 to 20 required drops their chance to hit from 10% to 5%, yes, but their chance to critically hit you goes from 1% (hit threat with 10% chance, confirm crit another 10% chance, chance for both 0.1 x 0.1 = 0.01 = 1%) to ZERO. You can't confirm a critical hit even by two consecutive 20's if 20 isn't enough to connect due to AC. And even if you could, your chance to be critically hit would drop from 1% to 0.25%. That's one swing in FOUR HUNDRED! When any Joe Schmoe the Average Enemy can deal 30, 40 or even 50 points of damage on a normal hit and double or triple that with a critical hit in HOF mode, it doesn't take much to realize why this is important. My all time favorite screenshot is the one where Kaerva's Death's Head (Holy Avenger battle in HOF) smacks one unlucky recipient with a 210 point critical hit with that unenchanted battleaxe he's wielding. You don't want to see that happen to you, do you? To reach AC 72, one has to rely a bit on the game mechanics and a few select key spells and items that are within IWD2. Most notably, as the only AC bonus that is stackable is 'generic', one needs to search for spells and items that give generic AC bonuses. For your convenience, here's a list of such spells and items. Almost all of them are used in JUPP parties. - Brazen Bands (normal)/Indomitable Bands (HOF) give +5 - Fire Dance Talisman (normal)/Sunfire Talisman (HOF) give +1/+3 - Swing From the Masts (normal)/Crow's Nest (HOF) give +1/+3 - Deep Gnome racial ability gives +4 - Dodge feat gives +1 - Expertise feat gives +5 max when activated - Every 5th Monk level gives +1 (starting from level 5) - Barkskin druid spell gives +3 to +5, max bonus at druid level 12 - Haste spell (or Mass Haste) gives +4 - Tenser's Transformation spell gives +4 (on top of higher DEX bonuses) - Bard song War Chant of Sith gives +2 - Cleric of Helm's "Helm's Shield" special ability gives +2 (once a day) While Monks add their WIS score into their AC, this ability only works when they don't wear ANY kind of armor or shield. This includes robes as well, not to be confused with cloaks that don't use the body armor slot. Those are OK to wear. However, no one denies a Monk from having someone cast a magical armor on him - best of such armors being the Spirit armor which gives +6 armor bonus on top of all the other bonuses for a monk. Similarly, Ghost armor (+5 deflection) works in tandem with armors & shields, adding up with other Monk bonuses as well. Additionally, if your character has both the monk level and levels as mage, the Shield spell is better than Spirit armor. What this means in practice is that if high AC is desired, it places severe limitations on what other things that character can and cannot do. Going the high-DEX route and using body armors and shields relieves the pressure on WIS, but the maximum attainable AC takes a hit plus might create problems with poor Will saving throws, and arcane casters need also take the Armored Arcana feats or suffer spell casting penalties. Going with high WIS & DEX and utilizing the monk's innate AC bonuses makes the character more dependant on various buff spells and creates a problem with multiclassing EXP penalties because Monk is not a favored class for any of the playable races. It also makes the stat point shortage dire with two maxed stats. For an example as to how to make these kinds of characters workable characters, take a look at the tanks and decoys on these parties. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.5 - Spell Resistance: Useless or not? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Two races in IWD2 have natural spell resistance - Drows and Deep Gnomes. This ability is one of the very best ones in the game - we can cast spells to hurt others but they can't cast spells on us, more or less. However, even if we have spell resistance, it's not at all certain that it is high enough to repel the spells thrown at us. The way it works, a d20 is rolled and enemy caster level added to the roll. If the figure is lower than your spell resistance, the spell is resisted, otherwise not. Noting that both DG and Drow start at SR 12, a first-level caster would have to roll at least eleven on a d20, giving us 55% chance to resist. Quite conveniently, enemy spell caster levels will be mostly similar to ours, meaning that during the course of the game, about 50% of the spells thrown at us will be resisted completely. Boss monsters that are also casters such as Caballus, Xuki and Trugnuk should be treated with greater care - they're usually much higher level than your characters with SR when you meet them so you can't count on it that much. But I sincerely hope your tactic against any of them doesn't contain "let's ignore the caster for now" in any part of it. ;) Due to the d20 roll involved in the SR check, adding one point to your SR will increase your chance to resist by 5% - but only if you have SR to begin with. (Notice the analogy with Armor Class? It's no coincidence.) While the Holy Avenger - every Paladin's weapon of wet daydreams - has a sizeable +15 SR bonus, it will NOT do any good unless your pally is one of the SR races or has at least 13 monk levels also. By the time you get this sword, you'd be hard-pressed to meet casters below level 14 for it to matter at all. However, your Deep Gnome or Drow with at least 1 Paladin level will jump from "resist half, suffer half" to "I can ignore your spells all day long and then some". You can also simulate this effect by using the level 8 Cleric spell Holy Aura. It grants +25 SR (amongst other things) to your whole party, but it has short duration AND shares the spell level with two of the Cleric's best spells, Firestorm and Symbol: Hopelessness. Dual-wielding both Holy Avengers, the normal one and the one from HOF mode, you could still get to 45 SR unbuffed on anyone if you REALLY wanted to but I wouldn't recommend it. You may want to use your weapon slots for something else, and you'd still be vulnerable to spells during most of the game. Noting that enemies have either no spell resistance at all (a vast majority of them) or they have a very high resistance (Chahopek, monks in the monk chambers, Slayer Knights of Xvim etc), the Spell Penetration feat is actually a minus rather than a bonus, as it'll only make our own party hurt more. For those rare occurrences where it becomes important to drop someone's spell resistance, it's just plain easier to use the Lower Resist spell repeatedly while keeping the own party better protected from own spells. Or just bombard the enemy with spells that don't allow for spell resistance, such as Horrid Wilting. "Wait, wait.. Did you just say some spells ignore Spell Resistance??" Well yes I did. Since this doesn't seem to follow any sorts of logic, here's a pretty exhaustive list on spells you might be interested in to try to resist. Party friendly spells are a pain to test so I can't offer insight on some of them. I'd have to have someone try to cast those spells at me first, and most of the high level casters are dead before they get a single spell off in most of my games anyway. Legend: SR - This spell can be stopped by a high enough Spell Resistance. Additionally, if it has a Reflex saving throw, you'll get a second chance if you also have Evasion should your SR fail you this time. Ev - SR will NOT save you but Evasion can, if you make the Saving Throw. You need either 1 level of Monk or 2 levels of Rogue to get Evasion plus you MUST NOT wear anything heavier than Studded Leather Armor. Chain of Drakkas and its HOF version count as robes, aka no problem. None - None of the above will help you in *any* way. Cross your fingers that you make the saving throw.. or else. Mage Spells =========== Level 1 Burning Hands SR Charm Person None (!) Chill Touch None Chromatic Orb SR Color Spray None (even if it says spell resistance) Grease SR (but still half speed, only Freedom of Movement negates this) Ice Dagger None Larloch's Minor Drain None (yes it says spell resistance) Ray of Enfeeblement None Shocking Grasp None Level 2 Aganazzar's Scorcher None (primary target, Ev for the rest of the beam) Blindness SR Deafness SR Death Armor None (for the retributive strike) Gedlee's Electric Loop Ev Ghoul Touch None Horror SR (party friendly) Melf's Acid Arrow SR Power Word: Sleep SR Snilloc's Snowball Swarm Ev Stinking Cloud SR Web None Level 3 Dire Charm None (!) Fireball SR Flame Arrow Ev Icelance SR Lance of Disruption Ev Lightning Bolt SR Skulltrap SR Slow SR (party friendly) Vampiric Touch None Level 4 Beltyn's Burning Blood None Confusion ? (party friendly) Emotion: Despair None (it shows Will save but everyone's affected anyway and it's not party friendly either) Fire Shield: Blue None (retributive strike) Fire Shield: Red None (retributive strike) Mordenkainen's Force Missiles Ev (good against one tough enemy with SR!) Shout None (says spell resist but you still take damage) Vitriolic Sphere SR Level 5 Ball Lightning None Chaos ? (party friendly) Cloudkill None Cone of Cold Ev Dominate Person None (!) Feeblemind None Lower Resistance None (would've been strange if it did but had to test) Shroud of Flame SR Sunfire SR Level 6 Acid Fog None (still says spell resisted) Acid Storm SR Chain Lightning Ev Dart of Bone None Disintegrate None (Yes it says spell resisted but you still die on failed save!!) Flesh to Stone None Lich Touch None Otiluke's Freezing Sphere Ev Power Word: Silence SR (Party friendly) Soul Eater SR Level 7 Delayed Blast Fireball SR Finger of Death None (Yes it says spell resisted but you still die on failed save!!) Malavon's Rage SR Mordenkainen's Sword None Power Word Stun SR Prismatic Spray None for Poison beam, SR for rest of it Suffocate SR Level 8 Fiery Cloud Ev Flaying None for the initial damage, SR for rest Horrid Wilting None Great Shout SR Power Word: Blind ? (party friendly) Symbol spells SR (party friendly) Level 9 Meteor Shower Ev Power Word: Kill SR (party friendly) Wail of Banshee None (Ouch!) Cleric Spells ============= Level 1 Bane SR Command None (says spell resistance) Doom SR (even if it shows saving throw) Inflict Light Wounds None Level 2 Chant SR Hold Person SR (party friendly) Inflict Moderate Wounds None Silence SR Spiritual Hammer None Level 3 Circle of Bones None Contagion None Glyph of Warding SR Inflict Serious Wounds None Miscast Magic SR Poison SR Prayer SR Rigid Thinking SR Level 4 Cloak of Fear SR Cloud of Pestilence None? (Debuff classified as Disease) Inflict Critical Wounds None Recitation SR Unholy Blight None Level 5 Flamestrike SR Greater Command SR (party friendly) Slay Living None Level 6 Circle of Blades Ev Dolorous Decay None? (shows fortitude save even when resisted) Sol's Searing Orb None Level 7 Blasphemy SR <-- VERY IMPORTANT!!! Destruction None Holy Word SR Level 8 Firestorm SR (strikes twice) Symbol spells SR (party friendly) Level 9 Druid Spells ============ Level 1 Entangle None Faerie Fire SR Frost Fingers SR Sunscorch Ev (None against blind effect) Level 2 Alicorn Lance SR Charm Person or Animal None Flame Blade None Rainstorm SR Level 3 Call Lightning SR Contagion None (Disease, paladins immune after 3rd level) Mold Touch None (Disease, paladins immune after 3rd level) Spike Growth SR Level 4 Spike Stones Ev Thorn Spray SR Wall of Moonlight None Level 5 Ice Storm SR Insect Plague None (The debuff is classified as Disease - at least 3rd level Paladins can actually cast spells in there since they're immune!) Smashing Wave SR Wall of Fire SR Level 6 Fire Seeds Ev Spiritual Wrath SR Level 7 Firestorm SR (strikes twice) Sunbeam Ev, None for the blind effect (strikes four times!) Level 8 Whirlwind Ev (still says spell resistance but you'll get damage and risk stun without evasion) Level 9 Tremor SR (Party friendly) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.6 - Less is.. more? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since IWD2 allows a maximum of six persons per party, surely six characters should be more powerful than having a smaller party? Well, it depends, but not necessarily in the most obvious of ways. Not only does the game become a bit tedious with the poor path finding AI with a group of six, but a smaller group actually becomes stronger faster. One thing that has to be kept in mind is that many of the abilities that make these parties shine aren't available until the characters have leveled up enough to achieve higher level spells in sufficiently large amounts. If we took six (or even five) characters, the little EXP rewards that we receive during the early chapters would be divided between just too many characters, making it impossible to reach high enough levels until "too late" into the game. I used quotes here because it is most certainly relative what too late means, but at least I'd like to see the real action starting as soon as possible and not right before the final battle. No, there's nothing inherently wrong with this since BIS balanced the game this way, but a six-person party will often notice that the newly acquired spell or ability would have been useful in the area they just recently struggled through. It is also worth noting that while six 1st level characters in fact are more powerful than any lesser number, the situation is soon turned totally upside down when the smaller party reaches level 5 at 10,000 EXP each. A duo will get there very soon after the Prologue, while a four person party will still reach it well before the notoriously tough Shaengarne Bridge battle. Compare a bunch of 4th level characters to even one 5th level character and you'll notice they can't make their whole party immune to charm (Magic Circle Against Evil), can't summon anything even remotely as powerful as the Animated Dead or one-shot tough monsters the way Call Lightning can. Even during the Prologue, level three (at 3,000 exp) will bring you goodies like Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace and Mirror Image for the final battle, far surpassing anything a sextet of level twos can throw at Caballus' gang. (You can only get about 17,000 exp during Prologue, including all the side quests, before the battle against Caballus.) Other *very* important early game-breakers are levels six (Fireball for your Sorcerer, a wizard can't find the scroll for it before Horde Warrens much, much later), eight (Stoneskin and/or Emotion: Hope!), nine (Champion's Strength and the totally awesome Greater Command) and finally eleven (Heal) and twelve (Mass Haste). Of course you get awesome spells after these also, but you can't really expect to be able to get to higher levels than this anytime soon. The level advantage of a smaller party starts to taper off after level eight as some monsters during the early chapters stop giving exp for killing them. By the time you're level twelve, your experience from kills comes to a screeching halt - only the toughest boss monsters (think Crystal and Ice golems in Chapter 2) will give any exp, and pitifully little at that. So unless you're dead set on completing the game with a smaller party, you'd be well advised to add more people. One especially good candidate spot for new party members is just after you've completed Yquog's delivery missions in Horde Warrens. The optimal path for most quest exp dictates that you should sneak past the camps in the Lower Warrens to obtain the password from Pondmuk and sneak into Upper Warrens, leaving most of the mobs in Lower Warrens alive for now. Likewise, you can reach Kruntur without killing anything but the first group if you're sneaky enough. In other words, you won't be getting any quest exp for a while, so why not bring the average party level down a bit and slaughter anything that moves with a decent exp bonus to back it up? You'll also carry this bonus over to the early parts of Chapter two - you can easily delay the completion of quite many quests until you've slain most of the monsters for the absolute best experience awards. Another similar spot for party additions is right after you've completed the Eight Chambers. Adding new members here will make you gain quite a bit more experience from each and every kill in the Monastery itself (quest for Duergars), the Duergar Outpost (you aren't going to let them live, are you?), two Underdark areas AND Zhinda Citadel with relatively very few quest exp to spoil the fun. A total of eight Iron Golems (okay, four Iron and four Mind, same thing) with lowish-level party = delicious amounts of kill experience, thank you! The later you add the extra characters, the more your average level drops at that point. This makes the problem of having useless low level characters vanish faster than you'd think, and the old characters will get a fast shot of experience points on top of the pile they already had. In other words, don't get carried away even if you're aiming for some target level with your first set of characters as soon as possible. Dragging along with a small party at high average level is only hurting your exp gain rate if you could get the same share of exp per character with the extras already included. For example, while an Ice Golem would be worth 1,125 exp per character for a duo at level 10, a trio with the two characters and a fresh level 1 newbie would get 1,200 (or more!) per character all the way until they're average level 8. Likewise, while keeping a trio at average level 12 intact against Iron Golems sounds tempting with its 900 exp per character, a quartet will get 1,125 exp (or more!) per character all the way until they're average level 10 and even full party would get 900 (or more!) exp per character as long as they're not higher than average level 9. The extra characters would need to reach levels 6, 7 or 7 in each respective case before you'd end up there - that's anything between 15k (zero ECL at level 6) to 40k (+3 ECL at level 7) gained experience per character. In summary: Just because you have less characters sharing the exp doesn't mean they'll get more each. It only works like that with quest experience. One nice thing about races with high ECL penalties is that when calculating party's average levels, the actual character level is used instead of ECL. This means that while a party without any ECL penalties would level up faster initially, they'd also reach the point where their level is "too high" as compared to the monsters they're fighting and they'd start receiving reduced EXP for monsters, and pretty soon no EXP at all! On the other hand, a party with higher ECL would keep receiving full EXP a couple of areas further, and quite possibly receiving extra EXP for some time, as they'll reach some areas like the Ice Temple as lower level characters. In the end, ECL doesn't in any way translate to permanent level penalty - sure you'll need more exp to level, but you'll gain quite a bit more exp through kills, too. If you're using Deep Gnome(s) as your tank(s), this meshes beautifully with them being a big helper during the time when the best armor you can get is something akin to Studded Leather - a Mage Armor (from the party's wizard) combined with high DEX and DG's racial AC modifier will get you a much more durable tank than any other option will. Yes, that includes the stereotypical min-maxed Human/Dwarf warrior, even after you take their level advantage into account. What is decently sized HP pool good for when you can't find any decent full plate to protect it until Chapter Two, and by then the DG tank is more than capable of standing on its own. Starting with a small party and adding new members later allows your initial crew to reach a few levels higher than they would in a standard 6-man party. This can be used to make character builds with heavy mix-in classes to "click" earlier, or allow your pure-class casters to finally reach their 9th level spells more comfortably before HOF mode. Take a look at the example parties to check what this advantage could be used for. Besides, quite many CRPGs make you start the game with a small party (BG2) or even solo (BG1, Dungeon Siege, Fallout) and some characters won't join you until a significant portion of the game has passed (Coran in BG1, Imoen in BG2 etc) so it's not like you'd go against the grain by doing this. You will NOT gain any more total levels for your party this way compared to the straight 6-man party, possibly even less. All this does is to allow you to shuffle experience levels between your party members. For example, your party's sorcerer will feel rather crippled if he can't reach level 9 spells before HOF mode. Bumping him to level 18 at the expense of your last two members being one, even two levels lower is going to make your party stronger even if your TOTAL level isn't as high. For the record, the Aasimar Sorcerer I had in my starting duo together with a Deep Gnome Cleric and adding two members at both points mentioned above resulted in my Sorcerer being at level 20 at the end of Normal mode. (See chapter 2.13 - dynamical exp calculation for more details.) My total average level was only 16, though, but it was way more than worth it anyway. Level squatting: ---------------- The story on fast leveling doesn't stop here, naturally. Be warned, though, that the rest of this subchapter is jam-packed with Cheese (see Glossary). Read on if spoiling the fun isn't a detriment to your game play, otherwise skip to the next subchapter. Oh well, some consider that even the idea of adding members to your party anywhere else but the very beginning is Cheese, but that's at least more debatable than outright level squatting or muling. A smaller party should realistically be rather intimidated by the idea of taking on the Horde Fortress' head honcho all by themselves - heading back to Targos to recruit a few henchmen shouldn't really be all that tough to roleplay. But just to keep it on the safe side, none of the JUPP parties are built on the assumption that you do *any* of it in *any* form. I'll introduce you the concept of level squatting. What it means is that even if you receive enough XP to reach the next level, you just don't use the level-up, but decide to stay at your current level. In contrast to PnP rules, it is possible to store multiple level-ups at the same time in IWD2, and this can be used to our advantage. Remember that the game gives more and more EXP the lower the party average level is when killing monsters? By not leveling up at all, the monsters will eventually become "too hard" so we start gaining extra EXP. Why reduce the EXP gains from monsters if one can beat them at their current level? As a suggestion, I would level up only to character level 7-8 with JUPP, as that gives access to 4th level spells, and squat all the way through the Ice Temple as there are a few of monsters that give humongous EXP, most notably the golems, and besides, things do not get any tougher for quite some time anyway. By the time things actually DO get too tough, we'll have acquired enough EXP to jump several levels at once! Please note that if you do squat, you can't divide the level-ups between classes, and in some cases this might lead to multiclassing EXP penalties. As a side note, I think it's stupid that the whole Chapter Two is packed with quests that give huge exp AND lots of high CR monsters to kill. It doesn't matter whether you have a small or a large party, you'll end up at a rather high level after it. Large party hasn't gone up in level that much yet so the golems become exp point vending machines, and small party will skyrocket in level through the quest exp. It wouldn't be that bad but for the fact that Chapter Three is only sparsely populated with lowish level monsters and rather bleak amounts of quest exp. The infamous Hook Horror cave - while certainly entertaining - becomes patently stupid if your party is of high enough level to receive a grand total of ZERO experience for the pain of trudging through all of it. Same deal with Kuldahar and those Yuan-Tis. An alternate and even more advanced squatting strategy would be to advance only one or two of the characters, gaining their high-level abilities while still keeping the party average level down. Most notably, the high-AC characters are mostly covered from greater harm already at very low levels, as their low hit points are counterbalanced by the fact that monsters hit them almost never. Since IWD2 calculates party average levels as an integer value, you can also find dead zones in level advancement. Say that you have levels 5, 5, 9 and 9, the average becomes 7. However, the average stays at seven even if you up the level of the third (or fourth) character to 12 due to round-down. Upping to level 13 might not be worth it immediately, as that would take the average level up one notch - it might be better to wait until a couple more levels can be taken. Other noteworthy breakpoint for melee-heavy chars is the acquisition of an extra attack, which is more important than getting a small bonus to BAB at levels in between. Stopping at 2 or 3 attacks per round to squat a couple of levels doesn't really change much, but gives good payback via increased total EXP gain. Muling: ------- Yet another trick to reach extremely high levels fast is to use "mule" characters. This works ONLY with parties with less than six characters. The idea is to add brand-new, 1st level characters before some encounter that is supposed to give good EXP. Examples of such encounters are the Ice Temple area with many golems & Sherincal, Cold Marsh, Black Raven Tomb (golems again) and Ice Temple revisit. By adding 1st level characters, the average level goes down a LOT. For example, a party with 4 12th level chars would become level 9 average - three whole average levels! This effect becomes even stronger when the main characters have reached higher levels - for example, a 4-person 22nd level party would end up at level 17 average after adding just one mule. With two, the average would drop to 15. Of course the mule character(s) will be very vulnerable to just about anything, and won't do much good as melee or ranged attackers either. But no worry, it's not their point either. Their purpose is just to EXIST in the same area as the main characters, safely tucked into some far-away corner, preferably under some sort of Invisibility effect. Do NOT advance their levels, and remember to ditch them from your party when you don't need them anymore to return to "normal" mode of play. Now, a party that has lower average level gets a quite significant boost into their EXP gain, right? As a matter of fact, the EXP difference can be huge. Totally absurd. Outright unbelievable. Or how does 28,800 EXP by killing just Sherincal sound? (In HOF mode, that is.) Even if one counts in the fact that the mule(s) take a share of the gained EXP, the net gain can easily reach +100% and above. For example, re-entering the Ice Temple with a high-level party in HOF spawns the area with at least a dozen Gelugons, and after killing the first one, adding two mules brings the average level down by zounds. After that, it's pure EXP fest - tens of thousands of EXP per one killed Gelugon isn't unheard of. One nice thing about muling is that it works best when the other characters are at high levels - which basically means that one can start with intense level-squatting and change to muling when all those level-ups have been actually taken. So.. don't worry about reaching those high levels that much, especially in HOF mode. If you're interested in how this is actually calculated, go take a look at the Statistics and Formulae chapter later on. Party with permanent mules: --------------------------- A four-person party can be ideal for normal play, while the extra firepower from two extra characters is very nice to have in HOF. Bringing extras makes the EXP spread out too thin, and adding them in HOF mode means that they'll never reach very high levels in relation to the rest of the party that has got a 120,000+ EXP head start. So what to do? Solution - add mules in Normal mode, most likely in the very beginning of Chapter 2 to get maximal benefit from killing those Golems, but do not toss them away for the whole game nor level them up until they've reached the EXP to reach level 30 or at least the upper 20's. The extra characters take their share of the EXP, but the lowered party average level brings a lot extra EXP from killed monsters, so the main party's advancement isn't compromised. Besides, they should have reached rather high levels by doing the first two chapters on their own - they wouldn't receive much EXP from the fights from here on anyway. There are, as expected, drawbacks as well. The most obvious one is that it's tough to keep low-level characters alive with only ~20 hit points. They can't contribute much with their one attack per round with inferior BAB either. Also, saving throws most likely aren't up to par with the requirements considering the multitude of enemy spell casters. Especially Cloudkill is a problem - low-level characters die directly without a saving throw. This makes Iron Golems especially dangerous opponents as they can breathe out Cloudkills at will. Ok, there's not much one can do to the low Hit Points, so the best safeguard would probably be to avoid melee combat at all costs, while at the same time having some sort of a defense mechanism against enemy spells. Sounds a lot like a Paladin with high CHA, considering that they have by far the best saving throws at level 1. But those area-effect spells, then? Simple - add one level of Monk for Evasion, not to mention that this will boost the saving throws even further! Also, be sure to utilize equipment that boosts hit points, should you find something that can be worn by these mules. And don't forget that Aid gives +8 hit points. That combat ability, then? Well, it's about time to start taking advantage of the various combat buffs to their fullest extent. Having a main party with reasonably high levels is a given at the start of chapter 2, so at least a majority of the various battle buffs should be available by now. Reaching attack bonus of +10 or more isn't that hard - +4 from maxed DEX, +1 or more from weapon enchantment (several such weapons become available in Chapter 1), +5 from Bless/Aid/Prayer/Recitation and yet another +2 from Emotion: Hope. The lack of attacks each combat round can be circumvented by using Rapid Shot and Haste in tandem, giving 3 attacks per round. Also, the Thunder Clap Monk item gives one extra attack, and it's unlikely that party's high AC character needs to use it since that item slot is devoted for Brazen Bands. Emotion: Hope and Rapid Shot cancel each others out in terms of attack bonus, so +10 is "normal" here. Well.. 3 attacks per round at +10 BAB, ranged.. not bad extra, considering that there's a lot of special arrows/bullets/bolts that just await someone to shoot them away. (Unless one sells them for cash, that is.) Finally, choosing Human as the race allows one to tank the INT stat for stat points. Considering that it's not critical to get one of these extras stunned/charmed either, the WIS stat can be tanked as well. The few extra points in Will saving throws are MUCH easier compensated by a Resurrection here and there should those extra mules meet an untimely death. With a bit of level-squatting and these permanent mules, the EXP gain for a party can easily be doubled. What this means in practice is that one can expect to reach levels in the low twenties by the end of Normal mode instead of the normal 16-18. This makes all sorts of spell casting builds with plenty of mix-in classes a lot more viable option, as the 9th level spells can still be reached. Combine with a modicum of level-squatting for the main characters as well and you'll reach level 30 by the time you're halfway through Chapter One in HOF. Not to mention you'll most likely lose interest in completing the campaign very soon after that - what's the point when you can't advance any more? But gratz on spoiling the game for yourself. You can't say I didn't warn you, can you? ;) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.7 - Cheesy tactics - why not? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Due to various bugs or anomalies, there are some strategies in IWD2 that make the game rather easy to play.. many would say way too easy. I've listed such strategies here. All of them should be considered way beyond cheese (see Glossary, again) in my humble opinion. Using the Animate Dead spell extensively: The 3rd level cleric (and 5th level wizard) spell Animate Dead summons various skeletons and zombies. Why would this be a problem, as there are many summoning spells that summon other types of monsters? The catch is that the "skeletons" and "zombies" just happen to be Apocalyptic Boneguards and Festering Drowned Dead at 17th caster level! If you've never seen those before, just believe me that they're quite easily amongst the strongest, most durable and most dangerous creatures in the whole game - and you get to control them as you please, and they won't even vanish before a whopping 8 HOURS have passed! A group of adventurers could just summon a group of these and stand back as these beasts brutally slaughter anything and anyone that comes too close, without even breaking a sweat themselves. However, after installing the 2.01 patch, this spell doesn't summon those anymore but caps at lesser monsters. Even then, the long duration of these summons makes the game rather easy.. and cheesy. Using Improved Invisibility: If you're using the patched (2.01) version of the game, this spell isn't quite as evil as it used to be, but it is still very good. It basically makes you totally invincible, as the monsters won't even TARGET you, no matter what you do. So, you could just walk beside the monsters, cast every spell from your inventory or just hack'n'slash them to death without fearing of getting ANY damage in return. Way cheesy. Utilizing Otiluke's Resilient Sphere to create invincible tanks: The spell Otiluke's Resilient Sphere (ORS) can also be cast on your own characters. So, if you take one of your characters, run in the middle of enemy camp so that everyone targets him, and you cast ORS, the monsters will just keep on pounding the ORS even if they're not doing any damage! This leaves your other characters free to toss massive destruction spells with area effects with impunity, as the character within the sphere is totally immune to everything. Way cheesy. Note that the Rogue/Wizard characters in JUPP parties are designed to do just this task, there's no actual need to utilize the bugged ORS to get there - they are a 'legit' way of using this trick. Going overboard with level squatting and/or muling: While it can be an entertaining thought experience to solo a character to level 18 in HOF, head for Shaengarne Ford, rescue Sabrina, add five level one mules and kill her immediately after for 115,200 experience, you WILL lose the interest in the game rather fast if you'd actually try it. Likewise, while playing the game normally in HOF mode until it's time to kill the lone Thorasskus, kicking EVERYONE but one character safely squatting at level 18 out, replacing them with level 1 noobs and delivering the coup-de-grace on him netting you 1,843,200 experience will effectively let you replace your whole party in one fell swoop, I'd have to ask: Why? Although it is fun to try these tactics just for laughs, using them exclusively is both monotonous and boring. Imagine how boring it would be to watch a Formula One race where only one driver had a Formula car, whereas the other drivers would have to walk around the track. Or a game of soccer between any of the world-class soccer teams and a team that consists of kindergarten kids. Therefore, the JUPP has been designed in a way that these tactics become either obsolete (ORS trick) or just plain strictly banned in favor of something that works just as well. This doesn't mean that you CAN'T use any of those tricks, I'm just pointing that you really don't HAVE to in order to be successful. Since level squatting isn't an either/or decision, it might be worthwhile to establish house rules for yourself that you feel comfortable with prior to starting the adventure. There's a difference between clever ways of (ab)using the game engine and totally spoiling the game. Here's some suggestions. 1) You can ignore it completely, aka play the game as it was designed to be played. You'll reach about level 16-17 in normal, 26-27 in HOF. 2) You use level-ups only after your current combat/quest objective/map area/ whole chapter (!) is taken to completion first. You'll eek out a few extra exp here and there, but nothing seriously major unless you squat whole chapters at once. Squatting through Prologue and/or Chapter One won't really affect the amount of experience you gain, so those can be treated as special cases in either way. 3) You use your level-ups only prior to resting. This creates an incentive for pushing on with only few spells remaining and enhances the game's otherwise total lack of urgency in completing your ultimate objective, defeating Isair and Madae. Depending how economical you are with your party's resources, you should expect to reach at least one, possibly two levels higher than you otherwise would have. 4) You use your level-ups only when your whole party can go up at least one level. This obviously doesn't have any meaningful effect unless you add new recruits along the way to create non-synched level-up scenarios. This lets you advance pretty exactly one level higher than you otherwise would since you're always squatting about one level behind on the average. 5) You use your level-ups only when you can reach the next spell level/ gain an extra attack/can select a new feat. Depending on the class and/or role you play, this could mean taking only every second/third/fifth level-up. This should net you one, maybe two extra levels. 6) Since normal mode is too easy and HOF too hard, why not balance it by setting a hard level cap on your characters during Normal mode and squat them from that point on, only to be taken to their rightful level upon importing them to HOF mode? You could even impose different level caps on your characters - a high AC tank should work adequately by level 10 or so, while your party's main sorcerer should probably be allowed to go all the way to 18 or even 20. The only real effect is that you'll start in Targos a couple of levels higher, but you'll fall back in line soon enough unless you carry on with some other level squatting scheme from there on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.8 - How lucky can you get? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You have basically three ways of obtaining Luck in IWD2: Using the spell Luck, wearing Tymora's Loop or Young Ned's Knucky or letting a bard sing its 5th level song that gives +1 luck bonus. Note that while the Luck potion gives a luck bonus, its bonus is of the non-stackable type and you won't be able to find such potions in anywhere near decent quantities. As the items are either random drops (TL) or found in the HOF mode (YNK), most parties shouldn't be too concerned about these in the normal mode of play. Several large scale battles in the Severed Hand or thereabouts (Saablic Tan, Tyrannar Brutai Mar and the monk congregation in the Officer's Tower to name a few) have a CHANCE of dropping the TL so if you want to cheese it, you can reload & redo the fights until you get what you want. Unless you reload, your chances of actually seeing one are slim at best, horrible at worst, so you'll have to decide for yourself how desperately you want to have one. NOTE: The loot is set when you enter the map, so you can't redo the monk congregation fight in Officer's Tower from a save game outside the doors - you'll have to have a save game prior to entering that exact level for the first time ever to make a difference. Similarly, while you always know where to get the YNK (Jemeliah in Deirdre's Shop, Targos), the actual act of pick pocketing her to get it is nowhere near of a sure thing - even if you have a character with maxed Pickpocket, maximized DEX and use up all the Potions of Master Thief you can find just for this. However, once these have been obtained, the results are nothing less than earth-shattering. A luck bonus is not just a simple bonus to hit or damage - it affects the dice rolls themselves! Most notably, attack rolls will be shifted towards 20, all damage rolls will be shifted towards the highest damage possible and so forth. Some have also reported that luck modifier reduces damage taken from spells by shifting the damage rolls towards 1, ultimately making a 10th level fireball do only 10 pts of fire damage instead of 10-60! Yet another, rather persistent rumor states that Luck benefits some buff spells such as Bull's Strength and Cat's Grace, but I haven't been able to reproduce this effect myself. So, if you have both Luck enhancing items plus the spell active, you'll have an effective luck of +6, and with the luck-enhancing Bard song thrown into the mix, your luck may reach +7. With two rings you're at +10, but that'd be either stellar luck with random drops (excuse the pun) or seldom encountered display of will power and cheese with reloading & redoing some key battles. With a luck of +7, any roll with a d8 (or smaller) will always give the maximum, and even a d12 (say, the damage of a great axe) will only give numbers between 8-12, with more than 50% chance of receiving 12. The effect on damage rolls is very close to having Maximized Attacks on all the time without the steep prerequisites for the feat or the lousy one-and-a-half round duration. Even better, as the luck affects to hit rolls, the relative amount of rolls that reach the critical threat range skyrockets, and it is possible to have long streaks of nothing but critical hits, doubling or tripling the damage of each hit. Throw in Improved Critical, a Keen weapon and have someone cast Executioner's Eyes, and it suddenly becomes almost impossible to NOT score a critical on every hit! You can't critically miss either, since any 1 you roll will be modified to something higher. The impact of damage rates can be summarized as "insane". In one of the tests, we managed to create a character that did a whopping 2,000 damage in just two and a half combat rounds!! However, as all tanks and decoys in the JUPP need their ultra-high ACs to be relatively safe from harm, some sacrifices on damage had to be done. Most notably, none of the tanks have godly STR scores, decoys even less, which does bring the damage down quite a bit. Neither can they use those lovely Gauntlets of Weapon Specialization, as they need this slot for Indomitable (or Brazen) Bands. Lower STR makes it also much less likely that the lovely Power Attack feat can be used on max setting until very late into the game. (Refer to section 2.13 for further details.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.9 - Thou shall be saved ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No, this chapter is not about religious pathos, but about saving throws. The way these work in 3E rules, and hence in IWD2, is that a d20 is rolled and your personal saving throw bonus is added to the roll or deducted from it in case it is negative. The resulting number is then compared with the DC of the spell or whatever we're saving against. But what is this DC? It's short for Difficulty Class. All spells have a DC of 10 (base) + spell's level (1-9) + caster's stat modifier (either WIS, INT or CHA bonus, depending on class). Since most casters that expect to shine as being spell casters max out their primary casting stat, we're looking at a flat bonus of between +4 (low-level without racial bonuses) and +8 (high-level with racial bonus). Let's use +6 as the mean. So, spell DC's vary between 17 and 25, depending on spell's level. Additionally, some spells have extra penalties or bonuses for the saving throw, but those are the exception. Spells that create a magical "weapon" to attack the enemy with such as Slay Living, Harm and Destruction seem to be bugged in a way that they completely ignore the caster's casting stat bonus, effectively making them right next to useless. Now, in order to succeed in a saving throw against a DC of over 20, the character MUST have a saving throw bonuses. As a general rule of thumb, base saving throw bonuses are either one third or half of character's level, so even a level 30 character is going to have difficulties at saving vs. a DC of 25 unless he happens to have this saving throw type as class special, i.e. Fortitude save for being a Fighter. Even then, a roll of 8 or greater is required to make the save. (8+17=25) So, in order to be even remotely sure that our saving throws will succeed, we need to have rather hefty bonuses from statistics that modify these and use all the help we can get by various buff spells & items. Alas, this also means that if we for a reason or another need to do sacrifices in any of the stats that modify saves (DEX for reflex, CON for fortitude and WIS for will), especially if we need to have a penalty due to those, we might as well ignore that specific saving throw type completely since we won't be making that kind of saves with any reliability no matter what. This can be at least partially remedied by spells that give bonuses to saving throws (Magic Circle Against Evil, Emotion: Hope and Prayer to name a few), but good saving throws is quite possibly the most important defensive mechanism ever and doesn't start to lose effectiveness in improving your life expectancy until you start getting saving throw bonuses into the 30's. This all might sound obvious, but this has certain ramifications we need to take into account when creating the JUPP. These are: - Don't bother trying to make your fortitude saves with pure spell casters, as the spells that check against fortitude are usually of high levels such as Finger of Death, Horrid Wilting and Wail of the Banshee. Surely, taking the Great Fortitude feat might boost your chances for saving vs. those spells from a mere 35% (DC 21-25, 15th level spell caster with +5 base save and +4 CON bonus has to roll between 12+ and 16+ to succeed, 14+ average) to 45%, but still, more than half of those spells kill you anyway. I'd use Heal or Resurrection instead of using the important feat on something that could be used to eliminate that enemy mage casting those spells just that bit sooner. In case of the Finger of Death, I'd suggest using the Power Word: Reload spell, as the character can't be Resurrected. You won't be making those saves reliably even when under the effects of the usual buff spells or even at higher levels. You'll be much better served by protecting your casters with Death Wards for the fights where this is an issue. Also, since all of the high level spells that have Fortitude check have longish cast times, you should be able to interrupt them with a fast, debilitating spell of your own. Chromatic Orb, Chaos, Greater Command or Symbol: Hopelessness should do the trick. - Don't bother trying to make your reflex saves with any character that doesn't have maxed DEX. Specifically, while the Rogue/Monk/Cleric in the Melee party does have the invaluable Evasion ability, she won't have it until HOF mode and the DEX isn't sky-high. Instead of wasting an early feat on Lightning reflexes that still wouldn't insure much of anything, use either Spell Resistance (via Holy Aura spell) or just bite the bullet with a prior casting of DUHM to have extra HPs to take the hit. Now, the Rogue/Wizard (tanks in both parties) has maxed DEX (and also gets nice base saves since they're part Rogue), and the added Lightning Reflexes does in fact help quite a bit in making the saves. 20% fail chance vs. 10% fail chance is what I'd call considerable difference. Alternatively, a single casting of Mirror Image gives you immunity to just about anything Reflex save related while there's images remaining. - Don't bother trying to make Will saves with any warrior character with low WIS. However, as losing a tank or just about any party member for a simple Charm is just unacceptable, you're well advised to have a casting of Magic Circle Against Evil, Chaotic Commands or Mind Blank on them at all times. Magic Circle Against Evil alone can make or break a party, so you're well advised to carry several copies of this spell until you can keep it on at all times. Spell Resistance is your best bet against Hold Person and Slow. I actually went through the game files and saw that there's actually just one mage that has the Chaos spell memorized (Imphraili in the Underdark) so whether or not that is actually resistible by your Spell Resistance doesn't really matter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.10 - Some notes on various spells ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Icewind Dale II has a whole 305 different spells to choose from, so it might be a good idea to point out the ones that seem to perform noticeably well. Most of the spells have at least some reasonable uses, but these are the ones that perform well above the mean. Arcane spells: -------------- Level 1: Defenses and one surprisingly good attack spell. Chromatic Orb - This spell might not do as much damage as, say, Burning Hands or even Magic Missile, but once the caster reaches 7th level, things start to get interesting. Namely, this spell stuns opponents for 13 rounds on a failed reflex save. A stunned opponent doesn't do ANYTHING during that time, just waits to be killed. Now, since most warrior types have poor reflex saves, this works quite well. And especially, since Clerics have very good Will saves due to their high WIS, they aren't nearly as easy to Charm or Dominate, but this spell does incapacitate them quite easily. Mage Armor - The *best* armor you can find for you high-AC tanks, decoys and just about anyone else with 20+ DEX unbuffed in the early going. Better than many high-quality light armors such as Leather Armor +2 or Bracers of Defense +4 in every way since you can replace them with something that gives bonuses other than just AC. Even beefy warrior types with mediocre DEX could consider this combined with Cat's Grace in the early going since you won't be able to find any full plate mail before Chapter Two. Minor Mirror Image - See Mirror Image. Just one image, but hey, it is a level ONE spell which you will have in abundance soon enough. If you know you only need one-shot protection, you don't need to waste the real thing on it. Shield - The *best* armor in the game. Only Chains of Drakka's Fury at the very end of HOF mode compares - and you wouldn't be able to use that if your AC hinges on preserving WIS bonus to AC from a Monk mix-in level. One of THE reasons why a spell sword tank owns the more traditional warrior stereo- type with full plate and all. Combines well with the bonuses of the various robes available unless you're a monk, thus beating the normal mode Chain of Drakkas handily. Sleep - While this spell will quickly become obsolete, it can and will carry a low level party through the early tough spots if everything else fails. Level 2: More defenses (including THE BEST of them), some general utility. Cat's Grace - While up to +3 bonus on ranged attacks, Reflex saves and AC might not be something EVERYONE in your party needs, that's exactly what the doctor ordered for your average-Joe Tank or Decoy character. Plus it lasts practically forever, so don't skimp on it. Invisibility - "Whoops, I probably attracted the attention of someone I shouldn't have. Let's go POOF and hope it forgets I even existed." Anyone who has played World of Warcraft or similar tactical combat game knows how much of a help it is for the tank if the persons that the tank tries to protect can drop their aggro on their own, even if only for the most direst of emergencies. This spell lets you do exactly that. Note that if you end up using this spell often for just this specific purpose, chances are good that you should revise your tactics. What are your casters doing in the frontlines anyway? Mirror Image - This spell creates 2-8 "copies" of the caster. Any attack that causes damage depletes only one image, and all images must be depleted before the character starts taking damage. This is just amazing, as the source of damage can be ANYTHING - including spells cast by your own party, and even those that couldn't be resisted by spell resistance. So, just blast away with Horrid Wiltings and Meteor Showers, it isn't going to hurt for as long as there are mirror images left! This, even more than Shield, is the final nail in the coffin in comparison between spell sword and warrior tanks. Even if you only get two images, that could result in negating two of those 50+ damage hits from any HOF monster per round in HOF mode. Your tank without Mirror Images will be at -100 hit points deficit per round compared to the spell sword, quite often much more than that - BEFORE even considering the spell sword’s much higher potential AC. Level 3: Offensive magic and extremely good tactical options. Dispel Magic - What? Are you serious? No, this spell doesn't do much good to YOU, I just list it here because it's your worst nightmare if you like to buff up your party. Losing all those nice buffs you've cast on your characters prior to combat - POOF - all gone. Nevermind that your enemy might lose one or two buffs they've put up themselves, this is a spell to avoid at all costs. Should you notice one of your enemies begin casting this spell, rather do a suicide kamikaze attack to disrupt the spell than allowing it to complete. It'll be the death wish of your party - or at least a major nuisance since you'll pretty much need to rest to regain & recast your buffs. Fireball - Basic tool of mass destruction during early chapters. While the damage isn't sky-high, it is applied to everyone in the area of effect - thus a single casting can easily do a total of 200+ damage on the enemies at once, evening the odds in your favor rapidly. Assuming, of course, you know how to aim the thing so that you don't end up barbequing your own party. A tank with Evasion and/or good Spell Resistance is pretty much completely immune to this so you can use such character to gather the enemies into a nice clump first. Ghost Armor - The best general-purpose deflection bonus available, stacking with every other armor type. Gives that final extra edge for your highest AC party members in tight spots, but rather useless for the rest due to it being single target and shortish duration. High-level clerics have Divine Shell for their personal use. Haste - Not very useful during early game as the duration is so short, but later on this is just golden. An extra attack per round would be quite a bit already, but adding a major AC bonus and pluses to Reflex saves makes it just too good to believe for anyone. Becomes obsolete with Mass Haste, naturally. Invisibility Sphere - If a monster (or several!) suddenly ignores your tank due to him getting charmed, killed or something disastrous like that, or a group of monsters flank your back ranks, you have but scant seconds to divert their attention to somewhere else - say, to your summons - before you'll start losing party members. This spell will let you retreat & regroup. Think about it as an extra insurance between a major hiccup in your battle plan and a casting of Power Word: Reload. In the ideal world, you should never need this - but better safe than sorry. Just because of this, your wizard might not want to keep a copy of this spell memorized, but a sorcerer might actually consider devoting a spell pick for this for this reason alone. Slow - Many people dismiss this gem of a spell just because the monsters in HOF mode are still more than deadly even when Slowed. But this spell alone allows your non-tank/decoy characters to keep their distance to monsters that decide to ignore your tank for whatever reason while still being able to contribute to the fight - instead of JUST running away like headless chicken. Even when the tank holds aggro completely fine, this spell is the equivalent of a +2 bonus to attack rolls against the affected creatures and +2 AC for your whole party. That's rather nice, especially comparing to the logistical nightmares of trying to use heavy-caliber AoE spells in cramped quarters. Finally, using this on the nearest monsters in a group headed your way makes the rest of the group bump into them, creating a traffic jam of sorts - in other words, a nice, fat group of monsters just begging for an air strike upon them - WITHOUT needing anyone from your party putting their life on the line for it. Skulltrap - Compared to the Fireball, this has two drawbacks - lower effect radius and the need to have someone trigger the trap at the receiving end. But - this spell has no damage cap, which means that a 30th level caster could do a whopping 30-180 damage with a single casting! It does slashing damage, which is rather rare for spells, and can thus usually damage the monsters that the fireball and its bigger cousins can't. Level 4: Excellent buffs. Emotion: Hope - Very solid bonuses to just about everything with a rather long duration. This spell is the equivalent of having Weapon Focus (twice actually), Weapon Specialization, Great Fortitude, Iron Will and Lightning Reflexes feats on ALL of your characters, for ALL weapons they're wielding. When your mage finally learns this, you can give yourself a pat in the back - you just effectively went up the equivalent of two to four whole levels with your whole party, without being penalized for it in the exp you gain from that point onwards. Malison - useful spell in HOF mode where enemies have ridiculously high saving throw bonuses. Emotion: Despair has a similar effect but affects your party members as well. A single casting of either of these has the net effect of adding ALL spell focus feats to ALL of your casters, stacking with the ones they already have. Use against extremely dangerous enemies and/or the biggest of hordes you can find, otherwise you'll usually be better served by just casting two ordinary spells on them. Shadow Conjuration, Greater Shadow Conjuration and Shades - Three spells on three consecutive levels that summon exactly the same monsters, just at varying levels of HP upon summoning. The early summons aren't mostly worth it, but after level 17 they suddenly become one of your strongest summons. It only gets better after that: Level 27 brings forth some very potent monsters - including Glabrezu - under your control. How does a Summon Fiend spell with shorter casting time, controllable demons and all this with a mid- level spell sound? In HOF mode, their hit point penalty is counted BEFORE they receive the HOF conversion, giving your summons nearly 100% HP compared to the corresponding non-shadow monsters. Here's the exact table of what monsters you'll get out of this. The notes in parentheses are examples of spells that could produce the same monster. Thanks for the table, JT! 7-11 : Salamander (SM 5), Yeti (SM 5) 12-16 : Cyclops (SM 8), Scrag (SM 7), Umber Hulk (SM 6) 17-21 : Frost Giant (SM 9), Greater Werewolf (SM 9), Red Abishai (SM 9) 22-26 : Greater Feyr (SM 9), Remorhaz (SM 9) 27+ : Cornugon (Cacofiend 7), Glabrezu (Summon Fiend 8) Spirit Armor - Just considering the AC bonus of this, +6 with unlimited DEX contribution, puts this heads and shoulders above anything short of Chains of Drakkas and its HOF version, besting even those for a monk with high WIS bonus. Characters with mediocre (or worse!) DEX should be better served by one of the available real armors, but ironically enough not due to their AC modifiers but other available bonuses they bestow. Alas, any "real" armor short of Chain of Drakkas with superhuman DEX ain't good enough in HOF AC-wise. Also, while Shield spell is better than this, it's caster-only. Stoneskin - By noting that most monsters in Normal mode don't do noticeably more than 10 points per hit, this spell effectively gives almost total protection for as long as the spell lasts. It doesn't have infinite "hit points", though - once it has protected a max of 150 damage, the spell wears off and needs to be recast. Will barely cushion damage intake in HOF mode so don't go crazy about it, and you'd still be well advised to fear Slayer Knights of Xvim more than life itself - their +5 swords will cut through your Stoneskin as if it didn't exist. Level 5: Debuffs and special-purpose damage spells. Chaos - The power of divide & conquer is just amazing. With a substantial penalty to saving throws, it will affect most enemies, turning them into a disorganized mess. Some will start to fight their earlier comrades, some will flee and some just stand still doing nothing. Especially great in HOF mode where outright killing enemies is considerably slower than in Normal mode, buying the party lots of extra time to handle tricky situations. Note that you don't get the exp for kills if the randomly wailing mobs start killing each other so you're well advised to avoid this spell unless you really need it. Cone of Cold - Does cold damage (well duh), very useful in situations where the enemies are resistant to fire. Please note that undead summons are immune to this spell, so feel free to blast away at enemies gathered around them. Your tank is well advised to have Evasion handy, as Spell Resistance won't help. The cone shape is ideal for clearing hallways, and it allows your characters to hide behind a corner to avoid it, if necessary. Greater Shadow Conjuration - See Shadow Conjuration above. Probably the best casting level for this family of spells, as nothing else on this level is really that excellent on everyday basis. Lower Resistance - While there's very, very few battles in IWD2 that include a single, ultra-tough baddie with huge spell resistance, this spell is pure gold in the ones that do. The spell description is wrong in the manual - its reduction in resistance is not half of your level, it's DOUBLE your level. Sunfire - So, you have a decoy that's surrounded by a horde of enemies? And he doesn't really shine in melee combat with that puny dagger he has? Well, time to pick up the ace from the sleeve and give 'em a really HOT surprise! WARNING: May incite spurious maniac evil laughter on the player. Keep it below two dozen simultaneously affected monsters to keep it at least somewhat fair if you're concerned about the difference in damage done between your souped up berserkers and your "puny" wizard-based decoy. >:-) Level 6: The one buff to rule them all. (And other assorted crap.) Acid Storm - Same deal as with Cone of Cold - while the damage isn't anything to write home about later on, it's acid damage. There's pretty much nothing that resists that. Pretty decent, actually - were it not for the fact that it shares the casting level with Mass Haste. Mass Haste - Haste that affects everyone (including summons!) simultaneously. If buff spells were put on a scale of 1-10, this would be 11. Despite its short duration, you'd be stupid to enter any at least half-difficult battle without it. Live it, love it and USE it. All of your arcane casters could conceivably fill their 6th level picks with these alone and it STILL wouldn't be overkill, especially if you're trying to keep going longer between rests. This has all the tactical advantages of Slow, but since it's a buff, you don't need to recast it on every new group of monsters. Even outside of combat, it allows your party to cover great distances in no time at all. Trust me, the point of time when you first acquire this to your party is the historical great divide between "having a party" and "having a freakin' slaughterhouse" at your disposal. Shades - See Shadow Conjuration above. The only real problem here is that it shares the level with Mass Haste. Notice a pattern forming here? Tenser's Transformation - A rather specialized spell, and really only useful to the spell sword types out there. But nothing short of miraculously good in such hands. In contrast to every other stat buff in the game, TT's STR and DEX bonus stacks with everything else, allowing for brief skirmishes of ultimate carnage. Remember to cast your Mirror Image first, though, as you won't be able to replenish it under TT's duration. Then again, your need for Mirror Image is severely lessened due to TT's sizeable bonus to AC and HP. Level 7: Offensive magic galore. Delayed Blast Fireball - A skulltrap on heavy steroids. Great for bombarding your tanks and decoys with as it can be both Evaded and resisted by a high enough spell resistance. Has a potential of doing 288 maximum damage (with the Spirit of Flame feat) to everyone in the area of effect, so even HOF monsters will crumble quite fast. Expect to be scoring several thousands of total damage against the huge hordes of enemies in HOF mode with just about every casting. Only minor nitpick comes from the fact that a select few enemies might actually evade and/or resist this, but that's rare indeed. Finger of Death - Just as Disintegrate, but utilizes the much more useful Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy feat for extra tough DC value. I'd be using the DBFB more than this, though, as DBFB almost always disrupts enemy spell casting even on a successful saving throw unless they're immune to fire. However, a Druid doesn't get access to DBFB and doesn't have any reasonable alternatives for their 8th level slots, so this is probably their best choice. Mordenkainen's Sword - Bestows upon a wizard the powers of a melee unit, without the need for STR or being in melee physically. Damage is also rather respectable. You have to remember that you're most likely to have several attacks per round by now, so the actual damage is usually 12d6+9, 16d6+12 or 20d6+15 each round. That's better than most other single target spells and the duration is excellent compared to any and all spells that do its thing in a single instant of time. Suffocate - Surprised to see this one? This isn't useful because of its damage - which is kind of poor - but the attack bonus you get against the monsters standing in it. -4 AC and -6 DEX can mean up to +7 bonus on your hit rolls. Your own characters with Spell Resistance aren't affected. Asphyxiation has never been *this* much fun. >:-) Level 8: More offensive goodness, plus one important buff. Great Shout - Surprised again? While ordinary mages could find better use for their 8th level slots, a Bard in your party might actually use this. Notice the "stuns for 1 round even on a failed save" thingy in the description? There's precious few spells that grant fail-safe spell interruption, much less ones that have almost instant cast time or work on several mobs at once. Your tanks with Spell Resistance can become immune to it, so it can even be used as a general "just hold it there for 1 round" showstopper without the alignment restrictions caused by Holy Word and/or Blasphemy. Horrid Wilting - Not as good maximum damage as with DBFB, but not resistible by enemy's possible spell resistance. Watch your own though, for the same reason. This is THE area damage spell vs. Monks and Assassins that would just Evade normal fireballs. In case you use undead summons, note that they don't receive any damage from this spell, making them perfect decoys for massive area bombardment. Mind Blank - While a simple Magic Circle Against Evil will take care of immunities to Charm, this will cover Feeblemind and Fear, too. Enemy casters love Feeblemind, and it's a major pain since spell resistance will not protect against it. The one day duration allows you to cast them on your party, rest and still have it active when you wake up. Especially handy for a sorcerer that still has 8th level spells remaining prior to a rest. Symbol of Hopelessness - This spell is equal to casting a Chromatic Orb at everyone in the area of effect excluding allies but with an additional -7 penalty for saving throws against it. This stuns pretty much everyone even in HOF mode. Too bad this spell doesn't benefit from the Spell Focus feats. Level 9: The final good stuff. Executioner's Eyes - While having a +4 to hits and an increased critical hit range sounds lame for a 9th level spell, especially since the duration is so short, the effect on a high-damage character with a weapon that does triple damage on critical hits is just amazing. With some luck enhancements plus Halberd of Hate +4 (from Kuldahar), it's quite possible to have a "plain" melee character do above 700 damage per round on the average and over 150 damage per hit. Even a 30th level mage would have a tough time at beating such a figure, and would most certainly require a large group of enemies to bombard to achieve it - divided amongst the whole group, mind you. Mass Dominate - Outnumbered in HOF? The more you meet, the more you'll get to your side with just a single casting. Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment and some saving throw reducers together not only even the odds, it lets you have your own army - of the enemies that just a moment ago were so eager to kill you. Note that this doesn't really combine well with any AoE damage spells or stuff like Chaos. You might also prefer to take them head on, even with their superior numbers - feels like giving them a fair chance, actually. Wail of the Banshee - A Finger of Death spell with an even tougher spell DC that is cast on everyone in the area of effect simultaneously, allies excluded, is just too good to be true. This is the ONLY spell that allows a party to get rid of a large group of enemies in any reasonable time in HOF mode. It doesn't even care if the enemies have Spell Resistance. Some monsters (most notably undead) are actually immune to this, though, so I wouldn't count my life on it alone, but many would-be long battle merely becomes as long as it takes to debuff them with Malison/Prayer/Recitation and casting this spell, a.k.a just over one combat round. Divine Spells: -------------- Level 1: Defenses and buffs. Bless - Think of it as having Weapon Focus feat on all of your characters, for all of the weapons they use and you'll quickly see the point of this spell. Soon enough you'll have enough castings on 1st level to keep it up permanently, and you really should. Entangle (Druid) - Your early access to Web. When your tank gets the Witherbranch Boots from Xuki, you can toss these around rather carelessly. The duration is usually just about perfect for holding the monsters without having to wait for it to dissipate after the skirmish is over. Sanctuary - Clerics can also drop accidental aggro back to the second nearest by activating this. Irony here being that the better you get at micromanaging your characters, the less you're going to need it. Level 2: Buffs and more buffs. Aid - Corresponds to +1 level for the recipient. As an added bonus, it also increases damage by one, even if the manual states it doesn't. Pour your level 2 slots on this once you've got your fill with whatever else you think you might need. The single target property prohibits this becoming one of your permanent buffs, but you should be able to have it for the toughest fights at least. Barkskin (Druid) - There are only three reasons to include a Druid into a party in terms of power gaming: Possibility to tank STR/DEX/CON in favor of INT/WIS/CHA and later replacing the poor physical abilities with shape shifting, and the two spells that are unique to the Druid class AND also very useful. This spell is the stronger of these two. A spell that is unique to the Druid class and gives extremely important generic AC boost. Bull's Strength - Gaining up to +3 to attack and damage for several hours is certainly a respectable boost for any melee characters, and ranged weapons that allow for STR bonus benefit too. It also allows weak characters to carry surprisingly large amounts of loot when needed. There's really no excuse NOT to have this one on all of your characters that EVER participate in physical combat 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Note that while mages get this as well, their level 2 slots are crowded enough as it is. Let them handle your party's Cat's Grace needs instead. Also, while Champion's Strength is obviously better, the 5th level is already crowded with other good spells, and it only nets you +1 or +2 bonus beyond what Bull's Strength does so there's no need to go overboard with that. Draw Upon Holy Might - Commonly abbreviated as DUHM, this spell is very weak at low levels, but becomes a major booster once the Cleric casting it hits level 18 or so. Mostly useful because it gives a hefty boost in hit points, although only temporarily. Remember to cast Heal before this wears out if you're below your normal hit point minimum - otherwise your character dies. No, it's not a downside - without those extra hit points you would have *already* been dead. Level 3: One excellent summon and more buffs. Animate Dead - While the JUPP is designed so that this spell should not be necessary to get through the game, having extra melee units most certainly has many benefits, especially since they also protect other, more fragile characters. Undead summons are also immune to Horrid Wilting, making them de facto decoys when that spell is used for massive bombardment. While the other summoning spells may produce tougher monsters, nothing beats the duration of Animate Dead. Call Lightning (Druid) - The damage is good enough to one-shot most monsters you meet during your early adventures, and it keeps on repeating for a good while unlike most other damaging spells. Sure, you can't aim it yourself, but the fire-and-forget property of this spell makes it an excellent choice. To maximize the effect of this, cast it repeatedly in rapid succession and try to find a new group of monsters to kill by the time those 10 rounds have passed to keep the zapper chuggin'. You'll be shocked how fast you can clear whole map areas. Yes, that was a pun. While I usually stay away from spells that do damage over time, this (and Static Charge later) aren't restricted to an area, not even a single group of monsters but keep on doing the damage as a background effect as long as you can keep on finding new ones. Extremely handy. Notice that you'll dispel this buff from everyone on the map if you save & reload. Could become handy in a few select places. Magic Circle Against Evil - This spell makes your whole party *immune* to any charm and domination effect headed your way. Don't ignore this buff, as nothing short of a successful saving throw will stop those. The saving throw bonus is excellent and the deflection effect beats anything short of Phaen's Robe well until the later chapters. Make sure you can keep this active on a permanent basis before even considering anything else on this level. Prayer - +1 or -1 to everything doesn't seem like much, but let me translate that to layman's terms. Your party gains the equivalent of Weapon Focus, Luck of Heroes, +1 AC, Armor of Faith and a half effect of Weapon Specialization and Spell Focus feats. If that ain't golden, I don't know what is. Plus it doesn't have the awkward self-Silence and self-Slow effect of Chant. They DO stack with each other and Recitation, though. Level 4: Yet more buffs (cleric) and offensive magic (druid). Death Ward - The only thing standing between an unnoticed casting of Finger of Death or any of its variants by your enemy and losing a party member, often permanently. While it is only single target, the excellent duration compensates, and you won't really need to be protected from these spells on a daily basis anyway. As noted before, you WILL NOT be making the fortitude saves against such spells with your casters reliably but it's up to you if you want to play the Russian Roulette and compensate with Power Word: Reload here and there. Flame Strike (Druid) - In contrast to Clerics, Druids do not have anything extremely useful sharing the casting level with this baby. Great addition to the already mighty Call Lightning, allowing for tactical nuking together with the party's mages. Holy Power - While having a rather short duration and the spell being a caster only type has certain limitations, the damage bonus is almost equal to having Power Attack feat on full, but without suffering the minuses to hitting things. You don't even need to use a melee weapon, actually. This is also THE reason why any warrior class (yes, including fighters) pales in comparison when seeking for extreme damage output rates. Plus if you're really into it, this stacks with Weapon Specialization and Gauntlets of Weapon Specialization for the Fighter(4)/Cleric(x) minded fans out there. Recitation - A Prayer with double effects, except for the damage bonus which is missing. These two spells alone would be reason enough to use two clerics on the front lines so that they can be cast in tandem. Level 5: Excellent offensive magic. Chaotic Commands - While Magic Circle Against Evil and Mind Blank take care of the most common woes associated with a Will save, this is needed against Confusion and Symbol spells. Extremely vital for the characters you use on the mage killer duty, taking care of the source of those spells. Not needed on a daily basis, though. Or at all, considering I know of exactly ONE enemy in the whole game that can possibly cast Chaos on you. I might have missed others, though. Greater Command - Power Word: Sleep on steroids and only a 5th level spell! Especially in HOF mode where Power Word: XYZ spells have very little effect due to monster's increased Hit Points, this still works like a charm. Dreadmasters with their tremendous WIS score and Spell Focus: Enchantment turn this one from kinda nice to godly... and beyond. Sure, clerics do not have many spells that test the enemies' saving throws, but this spell alone is reason enough to have at least one caster-oriented cleric in your party. This is better than Chaos - the enemies won't start running around like headless chicken, you don't risk losing experience to internal fights and the sleeping monsters block the way for the monsters behind. Insect Plague - The smaller your party, the more you'll appreciate this. Toss it way behind the front lines, removing any and all magical support from the front lines that block your way so you can deal with them first. Be careful not to step into the swarm yourself. It helps to aim it so that you can go around it after the monsters have been slain. A character with at least three Paladin levels becomes immune to the swarm's effects since it's classified as Disease, except for the inconsequential damage from biting. Static Charge (Druid) - When reaching for those ultimate Armor Class levels, one is pretty much forced to bring a Druid along. It's certainly nice that they too have some sort of actually useful attack spells at their disposal. This spell doesn't quite compare to premium stuff like DBFB or Wail of the Banshee, but it has one unique and extremely useful property of fire and forget. It stacks with itself (and with Call Lightning if the party is outdoors), allowing you to cast it as a pre-combat "buff" of sorts. While the rest of the party is busy casting their buffs, just cast ALL of your Static Charges (and Call Lightnings if applicable) in rapid succession and wade into battle. Lo and behold - just as long as there are enemies within sight, they'll go ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! without you having to do anything about it. For all you care, you might as well shapeshift into some animal and start shredding them into pieces, while they're constantly zapped. Sweet, huh? Level 6: Healing. Divine Shell - While this provides only +1 AC over Ghost Armor, has lower duration and is caster-only, it also provides rather tasty amounts of elemental resistances and the ability to outright ignore any and all missile attacks is way beyond useful in HOF mode, especially for a tank or decoy. Battles with lots of ranged enemies (such as Beastlord Harshom's group and the two at the entry to the Zhinda Citadel) turn from tricky to a cakewalk when any reasonably high level cleric in your party turns into an invincible tank against the ranged enemies. Heal - Once you get this, forget about all the other healing spells. With almost instant casting time this spell is a lifesaver for any tank.. not to mention other, more fragile characters! Remember, though, that it only has touch range, so you need to GET to the injured person first. Healing Circle (Druid) - Druids do not get Heal until level 7, leaving this level a bit empty-handed. While the amount healed by this spell could be higher, it's excellent for repairing eventual mishaps with AoE damage spells. The area of effect is large enough to heal party members behind a wall of monsters, adding utility to it. Level 7: Good mix of healing, offense and defenses. Aura of Vitality (Druid) - The third Druid spell that can be classified as both unique and actually useful. IWD2 has very few items that have bonus to CON and none of the other spells do it very well either. DUHM has a short duration, is single-target and caster-only. Animal Rage makes the character unable to use spells and has other, rather serious drawbacks as well. And finally, Emotion: Rage has a pathetic duration. Therefore, Aura of Vitality's +4 CON bonus is the way to go. Just note that it has quite limited duration, the other party members need to be VERY close to the caster due to the five foot effect radius and the spell shares the spell slots with Druid's primary attack spell, the Fire Storm. Keep in mind, though, that those extra +60 hit points at character level 30 might just be the thing that makes the difference between life and death for your party. And in case someone dispels your whole party or you don't have the time for pre-buffing, the STR and DEX bonus isn't too shabby either - otherwise you'll be better served using Cat's Grace/Bull's Strength combo due to their extremely long durations. Fire Storm (Druid) - Major league AoE damage, starting already from level 13 for your Druid. While DBFB and Horrid Wilting score bigger single hits, this spell compensates by actually firing twice. HOF monsters have the hit points to live through several high-caliber AoE spells, so the Fire Storm actually manages to deliver its whole payload more often than not. Clerics actually have trouble fitting this into their spell books since they have such high quality spells to choose from on the 8th level. Greater Shield of Lathander - Even with the pathetic duration and rather extreme casting time, this spell gives almost total immunity against most attacks. Just check the amount of hype around the "immunity bubble" that Paladins in World of Warcraft have and you'll realize the potential. For example, this could be used to protect a party member from accidental aggro without having to redirect it to the next closest party member - which could be your healer. You could protect your mage sticking his neck out for a Wail of the Banshee. Or why not pull a porcupine stunt on the enemy with double Fire Shields, Death Armor and Spiny Black Urchin (shield from HOF duergars) and actually live to tell the tale? Resurrection - This spell works as a complement to Heal. While Heal has faster cast time, it only works in touch range. This one allows healing from across the screen. Not only that, it actually has UNLIMITED range and doesn't require line of sight either. Oh, and it actually brings back the dead. Although letting someone die is nothing but a failed execution of your strategy and a cause of self-mockery, right? Level 8: Only few good spells, but those are really good ones. Finger of Death (Druid) - The only worthwhile spell on this level. Whirlwind might be entertaining, but far too unreliable to my taste. Holy Aura - While the other bonuses aren't too noticeable, the +25 spell resistance bonus for everyone is. After this spell has been cast, all the characters in your party with natural spell resistance become totally immune to all spells that can be resisted in the first place. (Take a reminder in the Spell Resistance section.) This makes it possible to bombard even own party members with area effect spells! Mass Heal - For the times when you need to heal more than one person at once, such as a nasty Horrid Wilting that caught your party with their pants down. Symbol of Hopelessness - Same as for arcane casters, but clerics have the advantage of being able to find excellent rings, potions and even quest bonuses (Dreadmasters only) that boost Wisdom (and thus spell DC), making this even more useful. Level 9: Mostly worthless and suicidal spells with just a few gems. Mass Heal (Druid) - Now druids can do real healing from range too. Tremor (Druid) - While this isn't something your Cleric should be picking, your Druid can certainly put this to use. A pack of casters might actually make their saves against Symbol of Hopelessness, and if your melee guys are on them (as they should) you can't really drop major league area effect spells in the fray either. So step up with your Druid and give them a shake they most likely won't forget - for the next three rounds, to be exact. There is no other spell in the whole game that can reach DC 35+ comfortably (9th level, maxed WIS, Spell Focus etc), thus making it the best disabling spell there is. It even works on undead, unlike Chaos and Symbol of Hopelessness and their ilk. I won't touch on the cleric's 9th level spells as they're both crappy. Yes, you read right. There's only TWO spells for Clerics to choose from in 9th level! If you really have to pick, the Summon Monsters IX does give weaker monsters, but the ability to control them makes them good, and you'll also get the EXP for monsters that they kill. I guess having one uncontested spell level for summoning alone isn't all that bad, it just kinda sucks that it had to be the 9th level. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.11 - Spell combinations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While it's useful to know what the various spells do on their own, some spells have certain undocumented aspects that make them work better in tandem with some other spell. Here are a few of such combinations. Grease & Web & Entangle: ------------------------ Three low-level spells with one thing in common - they hamper enemy movement. Tossing all three on top of each others creates a sticky mess of stuff that is pretty much impossible to wade through within any reasonable time - without the Freedom of Movement spell effect active, that is. Enemies do not seem to like to use this spell, whereas player characters can find Rings of Freedom of Movement in quite large numbers. Immobilizing enemy troops has humongous tactical advantages, of which getting the possibility of fighting them one at a time and utilizing area of effect spells without the need of having someone stand in the middle of it to attract enemies are two most obvious ones. Since the spells are of so low level, there's really not much to lose either - low level artillery spells aren't too flashy, IMHO. A rather severe drawback of this approach is that it doesn't really work too well in HOF mode, where enemies have so high saving throw bonuses. But don't worry, these can of course be augmented with.. Acid Fog & Spike Growth & Spike Stones: --------------------------------------- Exactly same idea as above, just utilizing higher level spells. However, now the affected area isn't exactly safe to walk in, even with the Freedom of Movement ring, as the spells cause (minor) damage every round. Combine with the first for even greater effect. Acid Fog & Grease: ------------------ Still the same idea as above two examples, but with much less spells to cast. The idea is that both Acid Fog and Grease halve enemy speed even on a successful save, bringing the actual movement speed to one quarter. Not quite a stand-still, but much less hassle as well. Insect Plague & Cloudkill & Acid Fog & Suffocate & Incendiary Cloud: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Setting all of these spells on top of each others into one area creates a quite dangerous kill zone, inflicting good damage each combat round. There is one problem, however - how to ensure that the enemies won't leave this hell hole? Well, you guessed right - utilizing the above mentioned combos to tie up the enemies in place once they enter the area. Getting enemies to ENTER the kill zone isn't really that hard as they walk directly towards their locked target. Or, one can utilize an expendable summon with enough hit points to stand the punishment while setting up. (Decoy character won't work as the decoy will also take damage when inside the kill zone.) It should be noted that setting up such a kill zone takes a LOT of time - one has to cast both the kill zone itself and the spells that make the unlucky victims to stick to the area once they enter it. Thus, it's not a good idea to try this tactic on an enemy group that has already spotted the player group and is charging in. However, it's possible to set up the kill zone and have one decoy character run forward, taunting the enemies into charging and running back to the party. The enemy AI isn't smart enough to note the goo pile on the way and they'll (try) to run right through it. A Hasted character with the Ring of Freedom of Movement and good spell resistance can expect to run right through this kill zone without taking any significant damage, luring enemies into the trap. As one can imagine, this approach is quite spell-intensive. Setting up the sticky area can take 5-10 castings alone, and the kill zone takes yet another 5-10. The kill zone should also have wider area than the sticky zone so that the enemies don't get stuck outside it. Considering the efficiency alone, casting a couple expendable summons (or placing a decoy with good Spell Resistance) followed with various area damage spells is much more effective and faster, too. However, it's nowhere near as satisfying as seeing the enemies roast themselves slowly and painfully. Monsters in HOF tend to have enough HPs so that the duration of the various cloud spells start to expire around the time the enemies are dead. One can, of course, hasten their demise with a couple area-damage spells if the damage rate of the cloud spells seems lacking. Using the kill zone tactic gives some use for the otherwise mostly unused low-level spell slots. Mirror Image & both Fire Shields & Death Armor: ----------------------------------------------- Fire shields are nice spells, but they have one rather severe drawback - arcane casters don't usually have the hit points to take continuous beating, and mixing in warrior classes to gain hit points makes the shields considerably weaker. However, arcane casters have the Mirror Image spell to protect them. One rather unknown feature of this spell is that even if the enemies hit just one of the images, it is still counted as a hit when the fire shields are concerned. Thus, when the fire shields (plus Death Armor that has similar effect) are active, the enemy that needs to pound through max 8 images will get max 8 times the damage from all of the shields. At caster level 30, this can net up to 24d6 + 520 points of damage. (Fire Shields are 1d6+caster level each and Death Armor is 1d6+5 max.) Even the toughest of the monsters in HOF mode will feel this sting - all at the cost of having to recast the expended Mirror Image spell if one wishes to continue dealing damage. The caster is also protected from harm during this process, as long as the monsters can't penetrate all the images before the caster can produce new ones. Getting swarmed in HOF mode is a sure-fire way of doing this, resulting in a dead character in a split second. So beware! Call Lightning & Static Charge & Invisibility: ---------------------------------------------- Also known as the "invisible bug zapper", this is a specialty of the Druids. Casting all the Call Lightning & Static Charge spells and following up with Invisibility from the party's mage (or just hiding) makes the character spew out strong lightning bolts with frightening frequency, while at the same time being undetectable by the monsters. This works because the lightning bolts aren't considered as attacks by the character, they're effects that just happen passively. After that, one just needs to take a stroll amidst the enemies and see them getting zapped. Maybe not the fastest way of killing enemies, especially in HOF mode, but surely a lot of fun. Once. After that it should be treated the same way as the unpatched Improved Invisibility, a.k.a Do not use. Any summon spell & Invisibility Sphere: --------------------------------------- The problem with using the summoning spells against a charging enemy is that the enemies lock on the party characters before the summons become ready, and they won't change targets just because a new summon appears beside them. So, making the party disappear from the enemy's sight forces them to concentrate their attacks on the fresh summons. In case a summoned creature happens to be within the area of effect, just attacking with it makes it visible again, so that the enemies may target it. This tactic is especially useful when there's a forced encounter right after an area change, especially if there's a long travel time associated, making pre-buffing impossible. Prayer & Recitation & Malison & Emotion: Despair: ------------------------------------------------- The monsters in HOF mode have ridiculously high saving throw bonuses, and thus scoring big effects with spells becomes a lot tougher. However, there's no need to just settle for having over half of the spell potential taken away. Casting these four spells prior to starting the actual bombardment imposes an impressive -7 penalty to all saving throws. (Note that the Emotion Despair spell displays that it has a Will save, but I've never seen anyone resist this spell.) In ideal case, having two Clerics and two mages allows one to toss all four spells at once, delaying the actual bombardment by only one combat round. In case a decoy character is used, this first round would usually be wasted anyway, waiting for the enemies to gather in a clump around the decoy, so there's no real effectivity drop - quite the opposite. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.12 - Major differences to UPP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since the JUPP tries to take a rather different approach to things than the original UPP by Ken J. Egervari, some things were left out or changed. Here's a summary of the major points. Usage of ECL heavy party instead of no ECL: As pointed out in "Less is... more?" chapter, the ECL will be an actual penalty only in the very first stages of the game, and the high-AC tanks that avoid being hit pretty much completely will most certainly carry the party over the tough initial stages of the game. This was a conscious choice between a bit easier time at the very beginning vs. much higher profits in the long run. Also, any non-ECL characters in an otherwise heavily ECL-laden party will actually reach a bit higher level than they otherwise would, even without any extra cheese such as level-squatting and/or muling applied. Dropping the pure melee Fighter(4)/Barbarian(x) build : As the whole point of JUPP is to have a party that does not need to worry about getting hit that often, either by insanely high AC or staying out of combat and tossing spells from a safe distance, there simply is no place for such a build. Besides, with the amount of various possible damage enhancing buffs, such a character would actually do LESS damage than someone else that utilizes various combat buffs to their fullest potential. Having other party members cast the buffs isn't an option either, since some of the better buffs are caster only. Multiclassing penalties: Even if some of the builds can't really avoid EXP penalties, those need not be suffered until very late into the game. The Rogue/Monk/Cleric tank in the Melee party won't need the Monk level until HOF mode, and doesn't need the level of Rogue until the Crow's Nest has been bought, which is chapter 4 in HOF. By then, she has most of the levels she needs as a Dreadmaster anyway. Complex multiclassing schemes: Original UPP tried to keep multiclassing to minimum just because it's "too hard" to have to resort to some scheme when adding level-ups. I'd call this saving in the wrong place, as the amount of time it takes to take a quick peek into pre-laid level-up scheme is somewhere between non-existent and very minimal in comparison to other things that take time when playing. Usage of non-humans: While humans get one extra skill point per level and an extra feat at start, it was noted that those aren't really needed either. In most cases the characters ran out of useful feats to take and skills are really unnecessary for the most part. For example, if a party has a high-STR character, lock picking is useless as those locks can be bashed open just as easily. The other features of the races, most notably the extra AC from being a Deep Gnome or spell resistances are worth much, much more. Just check the chapters on Armor Class and Spell Resistance if you really need to ask why. Improved Initiative Feat: As is well known by now, the feat doesn't work at all. However, there's a workaround fix for it on the Internet - a potion that you'll cheat in using the cheat console and drinking it when you take the feat for it. While this is nice, the "patch" for it is unofficial, and thus not so widely available. It may also happen that it becomes unavailable soon (or not), and assuming its availability on a Ultimate Powergaming Guide is a bit controversial. JUPP has chosen to base itself on stuff that can be found in a completely unmodded game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.13 - Statistics and formulae ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section contains various statistics and formulae plus other such miscellaneous tidbits of information. Most of the stuff is really not needed to play the game, but it's still nice to know. Some of the stuff might get a bit involved in mathematics, but I wanted to cater for the geek community as well. =) HOF mode: --------- For most people HOF mode is just "something beyond insanely difficult" and never bother to take a closer look what ACTUALLY happens when you put a checkmark on it in the configuration program. Here's what it actually does to your game. Thanks to Nobody Important, some earlier false assumptions could be corrected. Modifications to the enemies you meet: - 10 CR higher than their Normal mode versions, aka more exp for kill! - Triple BASE hit points before CON bonus, i.e. the amount they have "rolled" for their assigned levels. In essence, a single 1d10 hit point level in Fighter for a mob translates into a 3d10 hit point level in HOF. - +20 bonus on their to hit rolls. This does NOT translate into extra attacks per round, though. - +6 bonus to base stats which further gives them bonus +3 to hit and damage from STR, +3 bonus to AC from DEX (if their armor allows for it) and an extra +3 modifier for CON for hit points. Please note that the extra CON will make casters get percentually higher upgrade to their HP compared to beefy warrior types that already had high CON to begin with. - +10 bonus to saving throws, including the stat bonuses. - +200% damage with melee, ranged weapons and spells. Yes, that's triple damage with pretty much everything. Note also that the base enemy that gets converted to HOF mode depends on your level. Try importing a level 15+ character into normal mode Targos and you'll notice the goblins there are waaaaaay tougher than when you were there with level 1 weaklings. This is called autobalancing, the game's built-in system to keep the monsters you meet at least remotely challenging. So the early goblins and orcs you'll meet in HOF mode are souped up twice - first by the autobalancing, then again by the HOF mode. Other changes in HOF mode: - Stores sell better loot - most of the items with background story have an upgraded version available in HOF. Same deal with monster drops. - You'll fight MUCH larger groups of enemies, especially in the beginning. Things NOT changed by the HOF mode: - All skill checks, except the ones where you're directly competing with monster's HOF enhanced stats such as when trying to Pickpocket someone. Not quite sure if multiple Potions of Master Thief really stack or only show wrong info in the Character Info screen, but my thief with an effective skill of 68 still didn't manage to Pick Pocket anything in HOF mode short of on a critical success roll. Hide and Move Silently work as you'd expect, though. - Enemy caster levels. The early mobs will still try to take you down with Color Spray, Charm Person and Hold Person instead of Finger of Death. - Enemy attacks per round, unless the autobalancing switches their base type into something that naturally has +1 attack. - Enemy AC, except for the possible small adjustments for DEX. Ultimate AC: ------------ Actually, the whole idea for JUPP started from a couple of discussion threads where very creative people teamed up on finding the ultimate AC and some uses for such a freak character. The ultimate AC character was deemed quite unplayable (40+% EXP penalty, no thanks), but it was noted that the absolute top ACs wouldn't even be needed for the most part, making it possible to remove at least some of the hassle of obtaining it. Not so surprisingly, a Deep Gnome was a natural choice for the character, as this race has the unique +4 generic AC bonus. Here are the stats for this (rather freakish) character, with equipment & buffing details. Deep Gnome Monk(16)/Rogue(1)/Dreadmaster of Bane(1)/Illusionist(12) STR 5 DEX 20 (may reach 33 with Tenser's bonus active for +11 DEX AC bonus) CON 12 INT 16 (for Tenser's) WIS 20 (reaches 40 with all bonuses for +15 WIS AC bonus) CHA 1 Illusionist levels are needed for the Shield spell, and to enable this character to use Tenser's Transformation. (NOTE: While Illusionists can't cast Shield, the Dreadmaster level removes this limitation.) Dreadmaster level enables this character to benefit from the Banite Quest (+2 WIS) in Kuldahar Graveyard. A level in Rogue enables the Crow's Nest headband and remaining levels can be put into the Monk class for WIS AC bonus and a level/5 (round down) generic AC bonus. Note that while putting at least 11 levels into Dreadmaster would enable us to use Divine Shell, it's only +1 AC above Ghost Armor while the 10 lost Monk levels costs 2 AC. Ability increases upon level-up: +5 Wisdom, +2 Dexterity. Other team members: Bard with at least 11 levels, Druid with at least 12 levels and a Cleric of Helm (any level) for War Chant of Sith, Barkskin and Helm's Shield, respectively. These bonuses together give +9 generic AC. Equipment: Indomitable Bands (+5 generic AC) Crow's Nest (+3 generic AC) Sunfire Talisman (+3 generic AC) Every God's Ring (+5 WIS bonus) Chimandrae's Slippers (+5 DEX bonus, stacks with Tenser's) Potion of Holy Transference x 2 (+2 WIS, -1 DEX each) Potion of Clear Purpose x 2 (+1 WIS, -2 CON each) Feats & other bonuses: Dodge (+1 generic AC) Expertise (+5 generic AC) Deep Gnome racial bonus (+4 generic AC) Monk bonus (+3 generic AC at level 15) Spells: Shield (+7 armor, self-cast only) Ghost Armor (+5 deflection) Haste (+4 generic AC) Tenser's Transformation (+4 generic AC, +2d4 DEX, self-cast only) Total AC: 10 (base) +11 (DEX bonus) +15 (WIS bonus) +9 (Team member abilities bonus) +11 (Equipment bonus; stat bonuses from equipment already accounted for) +13 (Feats & other bonuses) +20 (Spell bonuses) === 89, 81 without the Tenser's Transformation spell. By playing the game through several times and thus acquiring several quest bonuses from being a Dreadmaster would make it possible to reach WIS 40 without level-up bonuses and potions of Holy Transference, making it possible to reach DEX 40 as well. This would bring the total AC up to 93. You could still go higher by using the unlimited stacking bug of the Lingering Song feat and/or having more Bards in your party, but that's neither practical nor really intended. Ultimate Melee Damage: ---------------------- No, the pure fighter class isn't the best choice when seeking a character that can deal maximal damage. In fact, the optimal character looks like this: Half-Orc Paladin(1)/Fighter(4)/Cleric(7)/Sorcerer(12)/Rogue(6) STR 20 (could reach 45 together with maxed buffs, but capped at 40) DEX 3 (doesn't matter when only considering melee dmg output) CON 18 INT 1 WIS 16 (Cleric spells plus Will saves) CHA 16 (for Sorc spells and Divine Grace) Paladin level enables the +1 STR/+1 WIS quest award by completing the Holy Avenger quest. Four fighter levels gives the Specialization feat. Seven levels as Cleric (any kind, really, but has to be Lawful Good) gives access to Holy Power. Twelve levels as Sorc gives access to Tenser's Transformation. And finally, remaining levels as Rogue provide some sneak attack damage. This character has an "impressive" 80% multiclassing penalty, so don't expect to see characters like this in many parties... but it's optimal in the sense of doing most damage. =) Notice that while STR is actually capped at 40 (engine limitation in the unmodded game), the extra five points make it easier to reach it without requiring perfect casts of Champion's Strength and Tenser's Transformation or totally maxed levels. While no sane person would actually use such a character, let's go through with the absolutely everything maxed version first. I'll provide examples for something more realistic later on, OK? Other team members: Bard with any number of levels (for the Ballad of Three Heroes), Stormlord of Talos with 9+ levels (for Champion's Strength spell and Talos's Destructive Blow special ability) and any arcane caster with up to 9th level spells (for Executioner's Eyes). A second bard for the Tymora's Melody as well. Adding up to 5 bards would enable stacking song bonuses, but I'd consider this a bit questionable method of boosting the numbers. Subtotal: +3 damage, +1 luck Feat bonuses: Power Attack (hitting stuff should not be a problem with this guy, +5 damage) Weapon Specialization (+2 damage) Improved Critical (+1 to critical area width) Subtotal: +7 damage, +1 critical area width Spells: Aid (+1 damage, undocumented feature) Chant (+1 damage) Prayer (+1 damage) Holy Power (+4 damage, self-cast) Champion's Strength (required for the STR boost) Luck (+1 luck boost) Emotion: Hope (+2 damage) Tenser's Transformation (required for the STR boost, self-cast) Executioner's Eyes (+4 bonus to critical area width) Subtotal: +9 damage, +1 luck, +4 critical area width Equipment: Massive Greataxe of Flame +5 (the mother of all weapons, but let's just leave it at 'good luck' on trying to actually find one, though...) Gauntlets of Weapon Specialization (+2 damage) Young Ned's Knucky (+2 luck amulet) Two Tymora's Loop rings (+3 luck each) Subtotal: Base damage from weapon, +2 damage, +8 luck Total: +21 damage, +10 luck, +5 critical area width Let's calculate that out in expanded form. Weapon: 2d12+5+1d6(fire)+1d10(fire,10% chance) = 7-29 (phys) + 1-16 (fire) With bonuses: +41 min damage (2d12 counts luck twice), +21 max damage Strength bonus: +22 damage (with good casting of Tenser's and Ch. Strength) Total without criticals = 70-72 (physical) + 1-16 (fire) Critical area width: 1 (Greataxe) + 1 (Improved Critical) + 4 (Executioner's Eyes) + 10 (effect of Luck) = 16 (80% of 1d20 range) Damage with criticals: (70-72) x [1 + 80% x (3-1)] = (70-72) x 260% = 182-187.2 (physical) + 4.05 (fire, average) per hit = 930 to 956 damage per combat round! Note that the damage value is a long-term average value, already counting in the fact that not all of the swings will be criticals. With a lucky streak of critical hits, a total damage of [(70-72)x3+(1-16)]x5 = 1,055 - 1,160 damage within just ONE combat round is possible - the chance for this happening is fairly good 33%. In case the character succeeds in scoring a sneak attack, an extra 4d6 damage will be added, but just once per enemy. Now, let's see what happens in more realistic scenarios. Let's start with the absolute minimum, nothing-taken-for-granted version. Assuming your party has neither a bard nor a Cleric of Talos, that removes the team member bonus. Feats are always present, so nothing to drop there. Limiting us to buffs that aren't a total pain to keep up in most battles removes Chant, Luck and Executioner's Eyes for a net -1 damage, -1 luck and -4 critical range. Also, a character with EXP penalties for the purpose of doing maximum damage is quite a contradiction, so let's simplify that to a Gold Dwarf Fighter(4)/ Sorcerer(13)/Cleric(13) instead, as that's still enough to reach STR 40 with a lucky casting of both Champion's Strength and Tenser's Transformation. The best weapon that doesn't require any luck whatsoever to obtain is the Massive Halberd of Hate +4 (evil characters only) with its 2d8+4 and triple damage crits. Finally, neither one of the luck items is all that readily available, see chapter "How lucky can you get?" for more details. With this setup, the total reads as +17 damage, +0 luck (!) and +1 critical area width. Thus your chance for a critical hit will plummet to 10%. You should still be able to hit with your swings due to STR and other factors. Damage in expanded form: Weapon: 2d8+4+1d4(HP drain) = 6-20 (physical) + 1-4 (HP drain) With bonuses: +17 damage Strength bonus: +22 damage Total without criticals: 45-59 (physical) + 1-4 (HP drain) Damage with criticals: (45-59) x [1 + 10% x (3-1)] = (45-59) x 120% = 54-70.8 (physical) + 2.5 (HP drain average) per hit = 283 to 367 damage per combat round! Quite a drop in effectiveness, eh? It just illustrates the difference between having all the buffs on you, and especially the HUGE difference having Luck bonus has on your damage. Finally, let's consider a reasonably reachable middle-of-the-road scenario. Starting from the limitations above, we now allow for a 5th level Bard and the spells Luck and Executioner's Eyes. (Chant is still a pain in the long run.) Also, we can expect you do the reload & refight trick on the named bosses until you get one Tymora's Loop and persist until you actually pick- pocket the Young Ned's Knucky from Jemeliah. Thus the total bonus list reads as +18 damage, +7 luck and +5 critical area width, thus 65% crit chance. Damage in expanded form: Weapon: 2d8+4+1d4(HP drain) = 6-20 (physical) + 1-4 (HP drain) With bonuses: +32 min damage (2d8 with +7 luck becomes 16-16), +18 max damage Strength bonus: +22 damage Total without criticals: 60-60 (physical) + 1-4 (HP drain) Damage with criticals: 60 x [1 + 65% x (3-1)] = 60 x 230% = 138 (physical) + 2.5 (HP drain average) per hit = 703 damage per combat round! To further illustrate the effect of buffing your characters, let's do the calculations with the middle-of-the-road buffs, but using the most worthless of worthless weapons - a simple, unenchanted Dagger. Weapon: 1d4 = 1-4 (physical) <--- *giggles* With bonuses: +21 min damage (1d4 with +7 luck becomes 4-4), +18 max damage Strength bonus: +15 damage (no 1.5 x STR here) Total without criticals: 37 (physical) Damage with criticals: 37 x [1 + 70% x (2-1)] = 37 x 170% = 62.9 (physical) per hit = 315 damage per combat round! Yes, that's about the same damage as the best of the best normally attainable weapons with somewhat leaner buffs. I suppose you can guess my take on keeping the buffs up by now, eh? ;) None of the JUPP parties actually use any of the above mentioned characters and/or item combinations, as melee just isn't all that compatible with the dangerousness of HOF monsters unless you have that magical 72+ AC to support you. Scoring a big critical hit on a monster is bound to make it turn around and slap you silly in absolutely no time at all. Not to mention that a dual class caster isn't really going to compare favorably to most other characters in your party until the finally start nearing level 30, and that ain't really all that much fun in my book. Dropping the arcane caster levels and thus the Tenser's Transformation spell will incur a hit to the maximum attainable STR score, but by the time you reach low 30's with Champion's Strength alone, you'll hardly notice the difference anymore. Ultimate Ranged Damage: ----------------------- You'd assume that ranged damage can't keep up with melee damage at all, especially after seeing your 18 STR tank cleave a goblin into two with a 18 point non-critical swing of his two-handed sword while your archer wannabe plucks away with his awesome 1d6 arrows. Well, if ranged damage is what you want, it's time for you to stash that longbow of yours and get a real weapon instead. It's called Big Death, and its HOF version is aptly named Big Black Flying-Death. You can use any sling or some other thrown weapon until that, since those grant STR damage bonus too. You can buy this two-handed throwing axe from Kuldahar. Many players ignore this weapon just because it's a lowly +1 weapon, and doesn't get better than +3 in HOF either. A big mistake. The weapon description doesn't tell you that it actually has +100% extended range, reaching almost as long as any bow or sling would. Neither does it mention that since this is a two-handed weapon, you'll also benefit from the 1.5 x STR damage bonus. For the rare times you actually need better than +1 (or +3) enchantment to hit your enemies, you can substitute with the Throwing Axe of Shocking Burst from Battle Squares to keep the Axes theme going as it's a +5 enchanted weapon. You'll need a character with excellent STR and DEX to really be able to use this weapon to its fullest. While Half-Orcs can get 20 STR from the start, a Drow sports 20 DEX, much better racials and more useful choices for the favored class. As noted in the Ultimate Melee Damage subchapter, while a cleric/mage dual class character can utilize both Tenser's Transformation and Holy Power, it also takes an eternity to fully develop, so let's go with a Female Drow Paladin(3)/Fighter(4)/Cleric(23) with STR18, DEX20, CON14, INT5, WIS18, CHA5. She reaches up to 35 STR with Champion's Strength for +12 STR modifier, i.e. +18 with Big Death. Going through the list off buffs from the melee subchapter, there's actually just one that doesn't apply to these weapons, the Power Attack feat. It'll cost us 5 damage per hit. Copying the nothing-taken-for-granted scenario, you'd see +12 damage, +0 luck and +1 critical area width with 10% chance for critical hit. I'll also use the +1 version of the weapon for now. Damage in expanded form: Weapon: 1d10+1+1d6(slashing) = 2-11 (physical) + 1-6 (slashing) With bonuses: +12 damage Strength bonus: +18 damage Total without criticals: 32-41 (physical) + 1-6 (slashing) Damage with criticals: (32-41) x [1 + 10% x (3-1)] = (32-41) x 120% = 38.4-49.2 (physical) + 3.5 (slashing average) per hit = 210 to 264 damage per combat round! Not bad at all, actually - you'll only do about a quarter less damage than the ultimate melee guy, without having to be anywhere near the enemies to do it. But what about the reasonably reachable middle-of-the-road variant with its +13 damage, +7 luck and +5 critical area width, thus 65% crit chance? I'll also switch to the better, +3 enchanted version of the Big Death. Damage in expanded form: Weapon: 1d10+3+1d10(slashing) = 4-13 (physical) + 1-10 (slashing) With bonuses: +20 min damage (1d10 with +7 luck becomes 8-10), +13 max damage Strength bonus: +18 damage Total without criticals: 42-44 (physical) + 1-10 (slashing) Damage with criticals: (42-44) x [1 + 65% x (3-1)] = (42-44) x 230% = 96.6-101.2 (physical) + 5.5 (slashing average) per hit = 511 to 534 damage per combat round! Yes, you are still only just about one quarter behind the ultimate melee guy, while STILL being nowhere near the dangerous HOF enemies. Now for the final kicker. Notice I've just assumed five attacks per round on all the calculations? Yeah, that's what you'll end up with, eventually. But what about on your way up there? Ranged weapons can replace the Power Attack feat with Rapid Shot instead! As haste effects, either from the spell or from items that grant extra attacks affect melee and ranged attacks in the same way, you'll always have one more attack per round using ranged weapons than you would with melee, all the way until you reach the 5 attacks per round hard cap. Even then, Rapid Shot makes your two first attacks with your maximal BAB bonus, so you're more likely to connect with your ranged attacks as well. Since you can expect to score about 75% of melee attack's worth with each ranged attack, the ranged attacks actually score at least the same or more damage per round all the way until melee attackers get 4 attacks per round compared to ranged's 5/rnd.. which is level 16 at the very earliest for a pure warrior. In other words, pretty much not before HOF mode at all! Power Attack feat: ------------------ One of the many feats in IWD2. It increases attack damage at the cost of accuracy. However, choosing the optimal level of Power Attack (PA) is not as simple as it sounds. Set it too high and the overall damage will take a hit when a large fraction of your attacks miss. Set it too low and miss out on the opportunity to cause more damage, not to mention having used a valuable feat point on something that doesn't even get used. Let's start with some definitions. D = Damage. Includes all effective damage bonuses from STR, spells, enchanted weapons etc. Just use the average value. In case of extra damage types, such as +1d6 fire damage, +2d6 against evil and so forth, you just add those at the very end after all other steps have been taken. Please note that the character information screen does NOT show extra damage from buffs (i.e. Holy Power) or STR dmg bonus for slings. DR = Damage Reduction. Some monsters have DR against some types of weapons or some level of enchantment. For the sake of simplicity, this refers to the specific weapon/enemy combination. BAB= Base Attack Bonus. Check tables in the manual for exact values. Note that this is usually a different value for every attack during the combat round. Rapid Shot adds an extra attack at your maximum BAB and reduces all attacks by 2 after that, while Haste effects (either through the spell or items that give extra attacks) append attacks to the end with +0 BAB bonus until you reach the 5 att/rnd hard cap. AB = Attack Bonus. Weapon enchantments, feats, STR/DEX modifiers (whichever applies), spells, Racial enemies and everything else EXCEPT for the Base Attack Bonus. Note that this is a constant value for the specific character/weapon/enemy configuration at hand. AC = Enemy's Armor Class. Mostly in the 15-25 range, golems have around 30 and Chahopek The Guardian (Crossroads dragon) has 35. PA = Power Attack level, between 0 and 5. P = Chance to hit. Calculated as (BAB + AB - AC - PA + 21) x 0.05. Note that in most of the calculations, this value is capped at 5% min and 95% max. One exception is when a luck bonus is present - critical misses can't no longer occur and chance to hit may reach 100%. CM = Critical damage multiplier of the weapon in use. Either 2 or 3 in IWD2. CA = Critical hit threat area width. For example, great axes = 1 (natural 20 only) and great swords = 2 (19-20). Modified by Improved critical feat, keen weaponry and the Executioner's Eyes spell. Luck has also an indirect effect, check chapter 2.8 for further details. PC = Chance for a critical hit. Calculated as CA x P x 0.05 (normal case) or P x P in case the chance to hit area is narrower than CA, i.e. you can just barely hit the monster at all. DT = Expected damage value with power attack and critical strikes. DT is calculated by the following formula: DT = Chance to hit x damage per hit + chance to crit x damage per crit We can't use P from above directly as chance to hit, as that includes also the chance for a possible critical hit. But since a critical is just double or triple damage, we can treat critical hits as normal hits at first, and then calculate the added damage due to criticals separately on top of it. With double damage criticals (CM = 2) a crit will add one normal hit's worth of damage, while triple damage crits (CM = 3) will add two normal hit's worth of damage, i.e. CM minus one. Yes, I'm aware that critical hits against high DR targets are actually more effective than this (DR is reduced only once), but why are you concerned on optimizing power attack when you should switch to a weapon that suffers less DR instead? Using notation from above, we have thus: DT = P x (D-DR+PA) + PC x (D-DR+PA) x (CM-1) Combining terms, we finally end up with: DT = P x (D-DR+PA) x (1+[CM-1]xPC) Due to the multiplicative nature of this equation, adding to any one of these terms separately doesn't affect the total very much, but one needs to boost all three terms for maximal effect. Conveniently, having a luck bonus adds to all three, upping the damage output very fast. More luck is always a good thing. Calculating the optimal level for Power Attack requires optimizing a sum of 1 to 5 damage terms, for each one of the attacks during a combat round. The only unknown term in the calculations above is the enemy AC, but it helps to note that since both AB and AC in the calculation for chance to hit are constants, the only thing that really matters is their difference, AB - AC. Therefore, you check your AB from the character screen (use the last value of the attack bonuses if you have several attacks per round since we don't want to have BAB contributing to this part) and compare that to some *estimated* target AC. Around 15 for casters, around 20 for the guys in armor, 25 for monks and such, 30 for golems and 35 for Guardian. If your AB is below that target value, you use negative diff values in the tables. Here's some tabled results from an Excel sheet I did to verify the maths above. You select the table that is closest to your needs, cross-reference your expected average damage per hit with the diff value described above, and get the optimal setting for your Power Attack feat for just this particular opponent. Nice, huh? CASE 1 : No Luck bonus Rookies : One attack/round, BAB=1 D (After damage reduction) diff 5 10 15 20 30 40 50 -20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -15 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 -10 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 -5 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 5 3 3 3 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 15 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 20 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Veterans : Three attacks/round, BAB=11 or 10 w/haste D (After damage reduction) diff 5 10 15 20 30 40 50 -20 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 -15 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 -10 5 3 3 2 0 0 0 -5 5 5 5 4 3 3 1 0 5 5 5 5 5 5 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 15 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 20 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Elites : Five attacks/round, BAB=16 w/haste D (After damage reduction) diff 5 10 15 20 30 40 50 -20 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 -15 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 -10 5 5 3 2 0 0 0 -5 5 5 5 5 3 1 0 0 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 15 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 20 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 HOF Elites : Five attacks/round, BAB=30 w/haste D (After damage reduction) diff 5 10 15 20 30 40 50 -20 5 5 5 5 3 2 2 -15 5 5 5 5 5 2 2 -10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 -5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 0 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 15 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 20 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 CASE 2 : With luck bonus (Luck = +7) Rookies : One attack/round, BAB=1 D (After damage reduction) diff 5 10 15 20 30 40 50 -20 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 -15 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 -10 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 -5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 0 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 15 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 20 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Veterans : Three attacks/round, BAB=11 or 10 w/haste D (After damage reduction) diff 5 10 15 20 30 40 50 -20 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 -15 5 4 4 0 0 0 0 -10 5 5 5 4 4 3 0 -5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 0 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 15 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 20 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Elites : Five attacks/round, BAB=16 w/haste D (After damage reduction) diff 5 10 15 20 30 40 50 -20 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 -15 5 4 4 2 0 0 0 -10 5 5 5 4 4 0 0 -5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 0 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 15 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 20 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 HOF Elites : Five attacks/round, BAB=30 w/haste D (After damage reduction) diff 5 10 15 20 30 40 50 -20 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 -15 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 -10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 -5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 0 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 15 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 20 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 As seen from the tables, Power Attack gives best benefits to characters with low damage, i.e. the tables suggest higher settings for such characters. Even high-damage character's damage may be brought down due to enemy damage resistance. As the damage per hit increases, the relatively minimal increase to overall damage from Power Attack may cause entire attacks to miss, which brings the damage output down drastically. The other important breakpoint is reached when attack bonuses from *other* sources than BAB reach the enemy's AC value (diff=0). This corresponds to hitting enemies even with an attack roll of 2 even with your last attack in the combat round. Increasing PA level has no effect on hitting enemies so it becomes free extra damage. Note also the effect of luck - with maxed luck (+7), even a roll of 1 becomes 8, increasing chances to hit drastically. As a summary, Power Attack should only be activated when the character's damage is very low OR when the non-BAB based attack bonus (STR bonus, weapon enchantment bonus, bonuses from spells & feats) reaches enemy's AC value. Luck bonus just shifts this requirement down, as seen in CASE 2 tables. Here's a list of non-BAB based attack bonuses for your convenience. STR bonus = variable, up to +15 in extreme cases, +7 easy to reach Weapon bonus = variable, up to +5 in melee weapons, Holy Avenger (HOF) = +10. Weapon Focus feat (2 stars) = +1 Gauntlets of weapon Expertise/Specialization = +1 Ring of the Warrior = +1 Bless = +1 Aid = +1 Chant = +1 (but renders caster unable to cast spells for duration) Prayer = +1 Recitation = +2 Slow = +2 (actually -2 enemy AC) Emotion: Hope = +2 Tenser's Transformation = +half of char's level, wizards/sorcs only Suffocate = +7 (actually -4 enemy AC and -6 enemy DEX) Executioner's Eyes = +4 1st level Bard song = +1 Ranger's favored enemy = variable, up to +6 Racial favored enemies = +1 in most cases Day blindness = -1/-2 (Drow/Duergar in daylight) Dual-wielding = -2 to -10 (see table in manual) Quest Experience: ----------------- While experience from battling monsters should be the major source of EXP for most parties, the exact amount of this combat EXP is tricky to calculate due to level adjustments and possible level squatting. However, Quest EXP isn't adjusted by character levels so it can be considered as a flat boost to total EXP gained regardless of the amount of combat done. As an extreme example, a two-person party could theoretically reach level 26 without killing a single monster! (This doesn't quite work in practice, as there are a few monsters that need to be killed in order to advance in the game, such as Sherincal, Remorhaz Queen and Beast lord Harshom's group.) However, a group of six would only reach level 15 at 109,016 EXP each after going through both normal and HOF modes, if counting quest experience alone. This table assumes that all the quests are completed, and in case of multiple solutions to a quest, the one with highest EXP gain is selected. A party without strong diplomacy skills and/or high intelligence scores will get less experience. Note that the party gets to complete the quests a second time in HOF mode, so double the EXP gain for end-game calculations. Prologue: 17450 Cumulative: 17450 Chapter One: 33350 Cumulative: 50800 Chapter Two: 77250 Cumulative: 128050 Chapter Three: 32375 Cumulative: 160425 Chapter Four: 47425 Cumulative: 207850 Chapter Five: 51950 Cumulative: 259800 Chapter Six: 67250 Cumulative: 327050 Based on this table and the knowledge that a six-person party should end the game at level 16 (120,000 EXP) or 17 (136,000 EXP), the combat EXP during the normal mode can be estimated to be between 65,500 and 81,500 per character. Extensive level-squatting can make this figure considerably larger, while smaller parties that get level-ups earlier will get considerably less. Similarly, six-person parties should ideally reach level 27 (351,000 EXP) by the end of the HOF mode, making the total combat EXP in HOF mode around 106,000 (assuming you imported a level 17 party) per character without squatting or muling. Dynamic Experience calculation: ------------------------------- The previous chapter outlined some boundaries on experience gain when using a standard 6-man party, but what actually happens if you were to level-squat, use mules and/or play at least parts of the game with less than six characters? Let's take a closer look. The dynamic exp calculation sets a throttle on your exp gain so that no matter what your level is, you'll always slowly gravitate towards the level you SHOULD be at during the various parts of the game. You could visualize this by imagining your party being a cart that gets drawn along a long uphill road (each one of the milestones corresponding to a gained level) by a really, really long rubber band of experience. When you start level- squatting, you pin down this rubber band right in front of the cart, effectively stopping the cart altogether. However, the rubber band starts stretching and gains tension, all the way until you finally release it, i.e. when you finally take those stored levels. The momentum of this yank is strong enough to take your cart to a higher level than it would have been if you had just waited it out. However, once the momentum dies, you'll only have this long rubber band with no or very little tension remaining in it to keep on pulling your cart further. After a while, your snail's pace will only get you to a level that you would have gotten anyway, had you just waited it out. Using mules corresponds to stretching the cart itself, having your "real" party in the front and the mules occupying the rear. This way the average party level - the middle point of your cart - goes down considerably and the rubber band will start pulling harder, until you reach the new equilibrium. When you release the extras, i.e. kicking the mules out of your party, you'll pull the cart back together again at the point where your "real" party is. Once again, you'll end up with a low-tension rubber band trying to pull your cart forwards at snail's pace. In the end, you'd still not gain anything except for having been at a higher level than you should be for a while. Altering the size of the party is akin to changing the weight of the cart. The rubber band can draw this new, lighter cart up a few notches higher than the heavier one. Soon enough the tension has dropped enough to reach a new equilibrium, meaning your cart will still move at the same pace, just a few notches higher than it would with full load. In other words, a smaller party will stay a constant, but small, amount of levels ahead the full party, as long as they can still keep getting exp for kills. Note: The level difference is in no way limited to whole levels. A partial level advantage means you'll get to the higher level a bit sooner instead of being there the whole time. Quest experience isn't affected by the dynamic calculation, but the dynamic calculation *is* affected by quest experience. In other words, any quest exp is the equal of shoving the cart forward with a certain amount of force. A lighter cart will move further, while a heavier cart is just nudged forward. It'll drop the tension of the rubber band, but not really enough to kill the advancement speed unless the cart is really light, i.e. solo or perhaps duo. However, quest exp will still keep the cart rolling even if the tension on the rubber band has dropped to nil. Finally, the gravitation of this dynamic exp system is asymptotical and asymmetric in its effect. While it will always nudge you towards the "should be" level, the pull is barely noticeable if you’re just one or two levels away from that. Level squatting won't really earn all that much extra exp until you're several levels below the assumed level, but it gets more and more noticeable the bigger the difference is. The asymmetry part is caused by the fact that even if you're way, way above the assumed level, you can't suddenly start earning negative exp for kills. Think of it as if that cart of yours had the Hill Hold brakes installed so it can't roll downhill. That's for the visualization lection. Now, how does this work in the mathematical meta-game level? To have some sort of a starting point, we need to know how much experience is gained during the various parts of the game. I'll then present how to calculate the corresponding exp amount for a party that is higher or lower level, with or without heavy ECL penalties and so forth. Here's how it went for one of my recent parties. You'll notice I added new members in two different locations. The reasons for doing so were explained in the "Less is.. more?" chapter. Prologue, from very start to just before the final battle: - 19,404 exp, of which 15,450 quest exp and 3,954 kill exp - Average party level at or below 3 (doesn't affect kill exp yet) - Started with one deep gnome and one Aasimar, levels 2 and 4 at this point (possible starting exp of the characters removed from calculations) Prologue final battle, Shaengarne Ford and Horde Warrens up to and including the completion of Yquog's delivery missions: - 87,225 exp, of which 24,275 quest exp and 62,950 kill exp - 106,629 cumulative exp, of which 39,725 quest exp and 66,904 kill exp - Average party level goes from 3 to 8 during this period, level-ups taken as soon as they pop up, even mid-battle - Party has level 9 (almost 10) Aasimar and level 8 (freshly dinged) DG Rest of Horde Warrens, excluding the left pathway between upper warrens entrance and Kruntur which was cleared in the previous stage, just prior to entering the Horde Fortress courtyard: - 28,899 exp, of which 0 quest exp and 28,899 kill exp - 135,528 cumulative exp, of which 39,725 quest exp and 95,803 kill exp - Average party level stays at 5 during almost the whole process, as I added two level 1 characters at the start of this part - it started at 4 but turned 5 as soon as my human dinged to level 10, after less than 500 exp - Party consists of an Aasimar at level 10, a DG at 8, a Drow at 3 and another DG at level 2 at this point Horde Fortress courtyard and the rest of Chapter One: - 22,875 exp, of which 4,200 quest exp and 18,675 kill exp - 158,403 cumulative exp, of which 43,925 quest exp and 114,478 kill exp - Average party level is 5 the first quarter of this part, then 6 - Party consists of an Aasimar at level 11, a DG at 9, a Drow at 4 and another DG at level 3 at this point The whole Chapter Two, including killing all the civilians after they no longer serve a purpose and the complete battle squares: - 177,214 exp, of which 81,675 quest exp and 95,539 kill exp - 335,617 cumulative exp, of which 125,600 quest exp and 210,017 kill exp - Average party level goes from 6 to 10 during this part - Party consists of an Aasimar at level 14, a DG at 12, a Drow at 9 and another DG at level 8 at this point The whole Chapter Three, excluding the last of duergar's quest as it can't be completed yet: - 84,445 exp, of which 31,800 quest exp and 52,645 kill exp - 420,062 cumulative exp, of which 157,400 quest exp and 252,662 kill exp - Average party level goes from 10 to 12 during this part - Party consists of an Aasimar at level 15, a DG at 13, a Drow at 11 and another DG at level 10 at this point Chapter Four from start up to and including the completion of Eight Chambers: - 43,676 exp, of which 32,050 quest exp, 10,000 exp from the How to be an Adventurer book and only 1,626 kill exp - 463,738 cumulative exp, of which 189,450 quest exp and 264,288 kill exp - Average party level stays at 12 almost during the whole time, turns 13 just at the end of it - Party consists of an Aasimar at level 16, a DG at 15 (with the book bonus), a Drow at 12 and another DG at level 11 at this point Rest of Chapter Four, including completion of the duergar's last quest and killing of all civilians after they've served their purpose: - 125,552 exp, of which 15,950 quest exp and 109,602 kill exp - 589,290 cumulative exp, of which 205,400 quest exp and 373,890 kill exp - Average party level went from 9 to 11 during this period, since I added yet two more 1st level characters. Level 9 only lasted for a short while, while level 11 lasted for about the last 30,000 exp worth of it. - Party consists of an Aasimar at level 17, a DG at 16, a Drow at 13, another DG at 12, a human at 6 and another Drow at level 5 at this point Chapter Five from start up to just prior to entering the Chult Jungle: - 45,974 exp, of which 14,400 quest exp and 31,574 kill exp - 635,264 cumulative exp, of which 219,800 quest exp and 405,464 kill exp - Average party level stays at 11 for most of this part, turning 12 only for the last 3,000 exp worth or so - Party levels 17, 16, 14, 13, 8 and 6 at this point (same order as above) The complete Yuan-Ti Temple area up to just prior to summoning the Guardian: - 19,255 exp, of which 4,000 quest exp and 15,255 kill exp - 654,519 cumulative exp, of which 223,800 quest exp and 420,719 kill exp - Average party level stays at 12 the whole time - Party levels 18, 16, 14, 13, 8 and 7 at this point The majority of Chapter Five, from summoning the Guardian up to and including the Holy Avenger battle, just prior to entering the Time Loop: - 137,526 exp, of which 22,650 quest exp and 114,876 kill exp - 792,045 cumulative exp, of which 246,450 quest exp and 535,595 kill exp - Average level goes from 12 to 14, staying at 13 the VAST majority of time - Party levels 19, 17, 15, 14, 10 and 9 at this point Rest of Chapter Five and Chapter Six from start up to just prior to entering Tyrannar Brutai Mar's chambers: - 159,654 exp, of which 69,375 quest exp and 90,279 kill exp - 951,699 cumulative exp, of which 315,825 quest exp and 625,874 kill exp - Average level goes from 14 to 16, staying at 14 for about half the time, at 15 another half and turning 16 right at the very end of this period - Party levels 20, 19, 17, 16, 13 and 11 at this point Rest of Chapter Six up to just prior the final battle with Isair and Madae: - 17,820 exp, of which 3,750 quest exp and 14,070 kill exp - 969,519 cumulative exp, of which 319,575 quest exp and 639,944 kill exp - Average party level stays at 16 during the whole time - Party levels 20, 19, 17, 16, 13 and 11 at this point Phew, that was a handful of data! Let's see.. The two characters that started as a duo reached levels 20 and 19, even if the latter of them is a Deep Gnome! However, adding the levels together (20+19+17+16+13+11 = 96) reveals that the total levels of my characters isn't any higher than any standard level 16 six-man party and even below the ones that reach level 17. So did I actually *gain* anything? Well, yes I did, thank you. The level 20 guy in my party happens to be a Sorcerer, and you should know by know that they don't reach 9th level spells until level 18, right? The two last characters could be level ONE for all I care. They could die to the very first Blasphemy casted by Madae, and the remaining four characters could still wipe the floor with the Terrible Twins just as easy as either one of the six-person parties, just because my sorcerer can cast several different 9th level spells. The two extras will become useful additions to the party during the early parts of HOF mode, which is exactly what I had in mind for them. But if you're NOT interested in HOF mode, you most definitely should add the extras earlier to balance the levels better. =) Notice I listed the party's average levels, not only where they started and ended, but what amount of time they stayed at each level? (Yes, two of the parts had too long gaps between the start and end data points, should have split those up further.) That's because it's the PARTY'S AVERAGE LEVEL that governs *everything* that has to do with gaining experience. Party's size or ECL penalties ONLY matter in how many levels you actually end up gaining by receiving a chunk of exp. A smaller party shoots up in levels fast, but only until they reach a level that no longer gives meaningful exp for killing stuff. On the other hand, characters with heavy ECL penalties can "swallow" a much bigger chunk of exp without going up all that many levels, thus ensuring that the party will keep on gaining exp a while longer. The higher your party's average level is, the more and harder monsters you'll meet. The really tough monsters such as trolls in the earliest chapters, golems and Slayer Knights of Xvim aren't altered, neither in their numbers or their abilities, but you'll see much more and tougher cannon fodder. Several bosses, such as Illium, Sherincal and Saablic Tan actually have tougher variants available for the really high level parties. Each area is populated with the types and amounts of monsters based on your party's average level at the moment of entering new area. You will NOT see more or better spawns if you level up during the area, neither will you lose any if you add new characters, thus taking your average level down. However, the amount of extra monsters you'll see by being at higher level is NOWHERE near as big of an effect to your experience as the reduction you'll see per every kill. The extra monsters will only softly cushion the colossal impact imposed by your higher level, to put it in perspective. To make matters worse, the extra tough variants of cannon fodder aren't given their proper Challenge Rating value boost - you're fighting tougher monsters for exactly the same amount of exp per kill to show for it. To make these charts apply to *every* party, not just the specific one I used, here's what to do. - Anything between party average levels 1 to 3 is *completely* unaffected by the dynamic calculation. - For every N levels you're above (below) the levels my example party was at during this phase, halve (double) the amount of kill exp. Furthermore, N depends on the absolute levels according to the following table: Avg level N per +1 level per -1 level 4-10 4 84% 119% 11-18 3 79% 126% 19+ 2 71% 141% For example, the part between summoning the Guardian and completing the Holy Avenger battle was worth 114,876 kill exp at average party level 13. If you did that part using a level 9 party (a.k.a squatting through all of it and most likely a few areas prior to it), you'd be four levels below my party, and thus get the 126% exp bonus twice - from level 13 to 12 and then again from 12 to 11. Additionally, you'd get 119% exp bonus twice, from level 11 to 10 and again from 10 to 9 according to the "per -1 level" column. Combining the multipliers, you'd thus get 224% of the experience I did, i.e. somewhere around 258,264. - Any time your party's average level changes, you'll need to calculate this passage in partitions according to the amount of time you spend at each level. Likewise, the passages in which my party's level changed somewhere in between need to be divided into similar partitions. For example, take the "Horde Fortress courtyard and the rest of Chapter One" part. Let's assume your party was level 7 during the first half of it and at 8 otherwise. This splits the area into three partitions. The first quarter you're two levels above me, thus 84% x 84% = 71% experience. The second quarter you're one level above me, thus 84% experience. The last half of it you're again two levels above with 71% experience. Thus you should receive: 1. part = 0.25 x 18,675 x 71% = 3315 2. part = 0.25 x 18,675 x 84% = 3922 3. part = 0.5 x 18,675 x 71% = 6630 Total = 13,867 experience - Whenever you're eight or more levels above the cannon fodder of this area, you stop gaining exp from them. Impose an extra 33% experience penalty on top of the normal penalties for being at higher level. - Whenever you're eight or more levels above the AVERAGE monster of this area, you stop gaining exp for most of them. Impose an extra 66% experience penalty on top of the normal penalties for being at higher level. - Whenever you're eight or more levels above the toughest monsters of this area, you completely stop gaining exp for kills. - There's no limit on how many levels you can be below the monsters, except for the fact that you can't be below average level 3, obviously. Monster Challenge Ratings table: -------------------------------- Still not satisfied with the accuracy of the method I described above? Or want to be able to calculate your exact exp value for a given group of monsters, or perhaps a given area map? First, I'd suggest you go get some fresh air, as you're clearly getting too deep into the mechanics of the game. ;) Still reading? Ok, so you have this huge table of cross-references between your party's average level and the Challenge Rating (CR) of the monsters you meet. If you have mods installed, you could even have it directly available in your Override folder. The file I'm talking about is called MONCRATE.2DA. Otherwise you can download the "Double EXP in Insane mode" table from Sorcerer's Place and use half of its values as a reference - the only difference is that it has extended exp awards all the way up to you being nine levels above the monsters you meet. The unmodified table only extends to seven level above, i.e. you stop gaining exp when you reach eight levels above the monsters you're fighting. This table lists the exact amount of exp that is awarded to you when you kill a CR x monster (the x-axis) with your level y party (the y-axis). For some unknown reason, the values in the table are halved in the actual game, thus the CR 0.25 goblins you meet in Targos get to their 37 exp for kill value. However, there's no reference to what CR the monsters you meet have. Well, not until now. Mobs marked with * are unique monsters. There's several types of monsters you'll meet at various CR levels, such as Orogs. The ones you meet later on in Chapters 5 and 6 aren't CR 0.5 anymore. CR Example monsters at this level -- ------------------------------ 0.25 Goblin, Goblin Archer, Fire Beetle 0.5 Orc, Orog, Goblin Hordling, Half-Goblin (type 1), Dekanter Goblin 1 Orc Shaman, Orc Warrior, Spider, Werewolf 2 *Caballus, Doppelganger, Orc Firestarter, Ochre Jelly, Olive Slime, Slime Zombie, Carrion Crawler, Highland Cat, Verbeeg, Wererat, Werebadger, Mad Cat, Malarite Priest, Half-Goblin (type 2), Orc Slave-Soldier (Duergar Fortress) 3 Highland Snake, *Gaernat Sharptooth, Harpy, *Spider Queen, *Kristian Deylore, Warrior of Virtue, Malarite High Priest, Worg Rider, Arctic Boar, Young Barghest Whelp, *Fire Beetle Queen, Boring Beetle, Aurilite Postulant, Dire Wolf, Monk (in Black Raven Monastery), Duergar Warrior, Duergar Cleric, Duergar Bolter 4 *Emma Moonblade, Troll, *Old Orc, Bugbear, Otyugh, Goblin Sorcerer, Frost Spider, Aurilite Stormsister, Aurilite Stormbrother, Doom Guard, Polar Bear, Ferocious Dire Wolf, Hook Horror (eh?), *Dragu Ironbreaker, Minotaur Thrall, Yuan-Ti (wtf??) 5 Winter Wolf, *Trugnuk, Aurilite Frosttouch, Barbarian Warrior, Snow Troll, Restless Dead, Dark Treant, Derro Savant Thrall, Blue Myconid, Red Myconid, Frost Salamander, Lava Mephit 6 *Dereth Springsong, Fomorian Giant, Soarsmen, Snow Troll Shaman, *Agog, Possessed Corpse, White Drake, *Dargab the Slavemaster, Drow Assassin, Drow Deathsinger, Enhanced Flesh Golem, Fomorian Thrall, Wight, Histachii, Demon Knight, Greater Boneguard 7 *Guthma, Remorhaz, *Lord Rengar, Will-o-Wisp, Elder Dark Treant, White Dragon (wtf, again), Umber Hulk, *Drow Priestess, Drider Priestess, Drider Warrior, Drider Wizard, Lizard Man, Elite Neo-Orog 8 *Sabrina Fairwynd, *Illium Ar'Ghrenoir, *Nym, Death's Candle, Shadow Drake, Earth Elemental, Sword Spider, Mind Flayer, Yuan-Ti Sorceress, Elite Lizard Man, *Mirabel, *Majrash, Guard (weak) 9 *Queen Remorhaz, *Beastlord Harshom, Efreeti, Guard (stronger) 10 *Rakshasa Majere, *Ancient Wyvern, Cornugon, Apocalyptic Boneguard 11 *Sherincal (lowest level), Ice Golem, Crystal Golem, *Elder Brain 12 Slayer Knight of Xvim, Ruinlord (weak) 13 Iron Golem, Mind Golem, *Chahopek the Guardian, *Zil-Tyor (beholder) 14 *Broken Khree, *Inhein-Who-Was-Taken, *Jaiger of the Fanged Season, *Veddion Kairne, *Kaerva's Death's Head, *Atalaclys the Lost 15 *Sherincal (highest level), Glabrezu, *M'Darfein (Lich), Ruinlord (strongest variant), *Morvyn (monk boss) 16 Gelugon 17 *Thorasskus, *Saablic Tan, *Iyachtu Xvim You should notice that there's quite a few monsters there that make no sense at all, considering where you meet them. Hook Horrors are only CR4, so no exp for level 12+ party. Even worse, the common Yuan-Ti in Kuldahar have also CR4. I would also assume that a White Dragon should, realistically, be much bigger threat than Guthma or any common Umber Hulk is. Neither would I have guessed that Thorasskus and Saablic Tan are considered the most dangerous enemies you'll meet, but there you have it. You can also use this table as a guide for checking the span of monster CR in a given area. Here's the rough guideline. Prologue : CR 0.25 - 2, 0.25 most common Shaengarne : CR 0.5 - 4, 1-2 most common Horde Fortress : CR 0.25 - 4, final boss 7 Chapter 2: CR 3-5, golems CR 11 Chapter 3: CR 3-5 (still!) Chapter 4: CR 3-7, golems CR 13 Chapter 5: CR 4-6 first (why so low???), CR 7-10 later, some CR13-17 bosses Chapter 6: CR 6-16 =============================================================================== 3. Do-it-yourself UPP =============================================================================== This chapter is a guideline to create a party of your own, should you find that you want something else that suits your personal needs better. As this document is about power gaming, this chapter won't go into details on stuff like aesthetics and doesn't even try to be an idiot's guide to power gaming either. This guide assumes that the reader is familiar with the various bonuses and penalties different races have, knows what makes good or bad spell casting, has at least somewhat decent grip on combat tactics and acknowledges the fact that the very reason this document exists is to make stuff in optimal way, not doing stuff that "just works". Of course, reading the previous chapters of JUPP is assumed, don't expect to find too much reasoning behind the various choices here. Having the ability to "see reality behind the numbers" is also a huge plus - it's not always so clear if it really pays off to boost feature A at the cost of B. For example, it really helps to notice that if one needs to drop INT to 11, one might as well drop it all the way to 3 as the amount of available skill points will be exactly the same. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1 - Set goals for the party ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first step is to consider what the party is all about. Is there a specific tactic that suits your play style? Do you want lots of magic for blasting & buffing (my personal preference) or carefree play without too much micromanaging via using melee characters? Do you want to avoid EXP penalties at all costs? Do you want to include a diplomat? Or someone to disable traps? Or do you want to go with a bare minimum of skills? Or with everything the game has to offer? Is there some specific race you just absolutely MUST or MUST NOT have in your party? Do you base your party's strategy around one character as in "The Leader and The Rest of the Group" or do your characters have more generalized abilities so that losing any single character doesn't cripple the whole group? List just goes on and on. In broad terms, the warrior classes have a slight advantage at the very early stages of the game, that will say before the spell casting classes get their breakthrough spells into play. However, as the monsters become tougher towards the end, they start requiring more and more assistance from the other members of the party, most noticeably the healers and buffers. Even the high hit points, good offensive abilities and other similar bonuses from being a warrior won't help much when the enemies outnumber you like three to one. Any plain-vanilla Cleric that has the Heal spell memorized has effectively a lot larger hit point pool to draw from, not to mention those divine spells can be used to make the odds favor the cleric by heaps and bounds. In other words, whereas warriors advance only about linearly in power (as a function of their character level, that is), the spell casting classes advance in squares, if not even faster. When done, jot down a list of skills, spells and other stuff that needs to be present for your group to work. Take a peek at WeiDu Item List if you're not familiar with what kind of equipment there is to be found, and refer to various walkthroughs to get a general idea what is really needed, what could be nice and what can just as easily be lived without. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2 - Start with the protector ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Through theory, practice via playing tests and experience, the one thing that a strong party needs the most is someone to take the heat off from others. Thus far the absolute best known method for protecting a character from harm is getting a very high AC value. This removes the largest source of incoming damage, namely beating from melee monsters and monsters with physical ranged attacks. Combine with spell resistance, good saving throws and preferably the Evasion special ability to make hurting this character even with spells a remote sigh for the enemy. Adding stuff like Mirror Image, Blur, Blink and Stone Skin into the mix makes it pretty much impossible to get such a character killed even if one plays poorly in the tactical sense, making the high-AC character stereotype at least reasonably easily playable to even the worst of the newbies out there. Not too surprisingly, the Deep Gnome race is rather invaluable choice here. Bonus to both DEX and WIS, a natural +4 generic racial AC bonus that also has spell resistance just screams for high-defense character builds. The next best choice, Drow, has to deal with -5 AC penalty compared to a Deep Gnome, making reaching those 70's in AC rating quite a bit more difficult, most likely requiring bringing in a Bard and taking the high-WIS route together with Dreadmaster level(s) to reach high ACs. Choosing any other race will also take the spell resistance away, which would have to be "rebuilt" via the Spell Resistance spell (cumbersome), via using the Holy Avenger and Holy Aura spell in tandem (also cumbersome) or utilizing the Monk's 13th level spell resistance bonus (making complex multiclassing schemes impossible and taking away from the character's spell casting potential). Most likely classes for a character with high DEX are Rogue and DEX-based archer warrior types. However, as noted in chapter 2.2, advancing as pure Rogue doesn't give any real benefits over being a Rogue/Wizard multiclass, so in a way this build is tailor-made for Wizards as well. Taking the high WIS route together with the level(s) as Monk makes the divine caster classes (Cleric, Druid and even Paladin to some extent) shine in their role, with between very good to outstanding spell DCs from high WIS score. However, taking the high WIS route to reach higher ACs brings one rather severe problem - neither Monk nor any of the divine classes is Deep Gnome's favored class, so unless the levels are kept equal, there's nothing that can be done to avoid the 20% EXP penalty. Together with the fact that Monk class doesn't allow for free multiclassing, going high WIS route means an almost automatic hit to EXP gain. Also, having to max both WIS and DEX doesn't allow for much stat points elsewhere, making at least melee builds with high STR and CON quite unlikely. (The tank in Melee party barely makes it to the critical AC of 72, but not without quite a bit of help from other team members.) Even further, as one of the items granting generic AC boosts requires level(s) as Rogue, the EXP penalty can worsen to 40% faster than one says "hey wait a minute!" There's two exceptions, however. One is to utilize (female) Drow's favored class as Cleric and boosting the missing AC via bringing in all the other bells and whistles. Playing such a character may prove to be quite tough, as many of those extreme AC buffing measures are either once per day (Cleric of Helm's bonus), require the presence of Bard (doesn't mix too well with any other caster class due to level cap of 30) or place tough limitations on stats (Expertise with INT requirement), freedom of class choice (Dreadmaster quest bonuses) or equipment (Every God's Ring might be needed elsewhere, just as Potions of Holy Transference). The other exception is to make sure that a vast majority of the level-ups is put into the Illusionist class, treating any other class as mix-in class. This allows for a very good AC, even without extensive party support, but one has to live with the fact that the high WIS score just sits there for no apparent good other than boosting AC. A matter of taste, really, but a veteran power gamer like me dislikes any stat that doesn't get at least some sort of synergy bonus. =) Should you feel inclined to use TWO protector characters, it pays to note that while the Rogue/Illusionist tank type doesn't get to the absolute highest AC without Tenser's Transformation, you don't really need to either until well into the latter parts of HOF mode. Therefore you're in no rush to get the Monk level for the Dreadmaster/Monk protector, so you can delay the multiclassing MC penalty all the way until the last half of HOF mode without really sacrificing much at all until then. So in a way, you're actually better off having them both rather than just either one. However, there's no one saying that one HAS to use a race with natural spell resistance for the protector character. As a matter of fact, there's a whole bunch of spells that don't care piddle squat about spell resistances. Take Horrid Wilting, Meteor Shower or Cone of Cold as example. So, in fact, if your play strategy doesn't include bombarding your own decoy character with mass destruction spells, it might be worth the while to concentrate on finding high-AC builds that do not get any EXP penalties. Here are some examples. Refer to chapters 2.4 and 2.13 for extended info on the various tricks & tips on the list. 1) The defensive, spell casting Paladin Aasimar Paladin(28)/Monk(1)/Rogue(1) Start statistics: STR9 DEX18 CON14 INT14 WIS20 CHA5 Stats with buffs: STR20 DEX25 CON21 INT14 WIS38 CHA8 AC: 10 (base) +7 (Shield ring) +6 (Divine shell) +7 (DEX bonus with DUHM active) +14 (WIS bonus) +11 (Equipment) +6 (Feats) +9 (Haste, Barkskin) === 70 Adding a Bard with 11+ levels into the party would bring AC up to 72. It's probably easiest to take the three mix-in classes first before committing to the path of the Paladin. Note: It's not possible to reach high enough AC if armor & shield is used. 2) The untouchable decoy Monk Human Monk(28)/Dreadmaster(1)/Rogue(1) Start statistics: STR7 DEX18 CON16 INT14 WIS18 CHA3 Stats with buffs: STR15 DEX21 CON16 INT14 WIS38 CHA6 AC: 10 (base) +6 (Spirit Armor) +5 (Ghost Armor) +5 (DEX bonus) +14 (WIS bonus) +11 (Equipment) +6 (Feats) +5 (Monk levels) +9 (Haste, Barkskin) === 71 Adding a Bard with 11+ levels into the party would bring AC up to 73, but it's unlikely that it'd be safe for the Bard to come close enough to this character. It's also possible to take Tiefling if one drops the Dreadmaster level. The racial DEX bonus compensates the lost quest bonuses for a net -1 AC loss. Note also that using a Deep Gnome as a pure Monk would sacrifice -3 AC for the headband and -2 AC for the quest bonuses, but would in turn gain +1 AC from both DEX and WIS, +1 from the final Monk level bonus and +4 from the racial bonus for a net +2 AC gain. (Note how much trouble it is to try to compensate for the deep gnome's racial bonuses...) 3) The unconventional Sorcerer Wild Elf Sorcerer(27)/Monk(1)/Rogue(1)/Dreadmaster of Bane(1) Start statistics: STR3 DEX20 CON11 INT13 WIS13 CHA16 Stats with buffs: STR11 DEX30 CON14 INT13 WIS26 CHA19 AC: 10 (base) +7 (Shield spell) +5 (Ghost armor) +10 (DEX bonus) +8 (WIS bonus) +11 (Equipment) +6 (Feats) +9 (Haste, Barkskin) === 66, 71-74 with Tenser's Transformation active Frankly, sorcerers don't make very good protector characters, just because the stat point shortage becomes unmanageable when CHA needs to be upped together with DEX & WIS. But yes, it's possible to get a party with nothing but sorcerers in it protected by at least one bodyguard. =) 4) The HOF-certified melee warrior Deep Gnome Rogue(4)/Fighter(4)/Paladin(3)/Ranger(4)/Monk(3)/Illusionist(12) Start statistics: STR16 DEX20 CON16 INT16 WIS5 CHA1 Stats with buffs: STR26/34 DEX32/40 CON16 INT16 WIS12 CHA1 AC: 10 (base) +8 (Chain of Drakka's Fury) +5 (Ghost Armor) +11 (DEX bonus without Tenser's) +4 (Shield bonus) +11 (Equipment) +10 (Feats & race) +9 (Haste, Barkskin) === 68, 73-76 with Tenser's Transformation active The idea here is to utilize the ultimate combat buff Tenser's Transformation on a unit that is already designed for melee instead of spell casting. As one of the items needs Rogue levels, it's easier to add multiple warrior classes to make the amount of levels that needs to be "wasted" as Rogue as little as possible. Starting as Illusionist (just one level), getting all Paladin and Fighter levels next, adding the remaining 11 Illusionist levels and finally adding the remaining classes via level-squatting 3 or 4 level-ups at once makes the advancement as trouble-free as possible. Note also that this character doesn't quite compare to a full-blown all-offensive berserker, but IMHO the ability to stay in combat without the need of constant healing and fear of death is more than worth the sacrifice. Even if there's some breathing room in the AC stat, upping STR instead of DEX is risky business - a melee unit needs all the protection there is. 5) All-in-one multi-use protector character (just add party) Deep Gnome Rogue(4)/Druid(4)/Bard(5)/Dreadmaster of Bane(5)/Illusionist(12) Start statistics: STR10 DEX20 CON18 INT18 WIS7 CHA1 (NOTE: No Bard spells.) Stats with buffs: STR18 DEX28 CON18 INT22 WIS16 CHA4 AC: 10 (base) +8 (Chain of Drakka's Fury) +5 (Ghost Armor) +9 (DEX bonus) +4 (Shield bonus) +11 (Equipment) +10 (Feats & race) +7 (Haste, Barkskin at 4th level) === 64, 69-72 with Tenser's Transformation active On the outset, this character seems quite worthless. However, this is a self-sufficient package that reaches the required AC levels, has plenty of hit points & evasion & spell resistance & excellent saving throws, provides pretty much all the skills that are needed during the game and finally, acts as an extra source of buffing with Chant spell and Tymora's Melody. This is especially handy since both of those buffs would otherwise just tie up an otherwise valuable character. Having this character cast Prayer would also free the party's other cleric (if present) to cast Recitation when preparing for a major battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.3 - Add Druid ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One unfortunate aspect of high AC builds is that one is pretty much forced to bring a Druid along, preferably with at least 12 levels to reap the maximal effect via the Barkskin spell. Even if the Druid has some pretty formidable spells to choose from, it lacks some very good abilities that mages and clerics have. A Druid can't do anything to bring dead comrades to life, even if they can make dying a whole lot more unlikely by using the Mass Heal spell in tight spots. (Of course it's possible to drag the party to a local NPC healer, but this is a gross violation of the rule of "minimize the amount of micromanagement needed".) They don't have any really useful combat buffs (except for Barkskin, of course) whereas every Cleric and their cousin have plenty. Neither can they Haste anyone nor do they have area damage spells in league with hallmark performers like Fireball, Skulltrap, DBFB, Horrid Wilting or Wail of the Banshee. And finally, most of the stuff that's borrowed from Cleric or Mage classes doesn't become available until one whole casting level higher, making Druid drag 2 levels behind in power. However, it can be noted that the 9th level Cleric spells are plain crap compared to Arcane counterparts, so reaching 9th level Clerical spells is not really a top priority for anyone. (Except for some domain spells, maybe.) This makes a half-and-a-half split Cleric(15)/Druid(15) fulfill the "at least 12 Druid levels" requirement without taking away from the most important aspects of being a Cleric. Also, it's a matter of taste whether 8th or even 7th level Clerical spells are something that absolutely MUST be obtained, as Resurrection is basically just Raise Dead + Heal combined and Holy Aura isn't really that great unless the whole party has natural spell resistance. However, reaching a high enough level as both a Cleric and a Druid takes a LOT of time - delaying the full potential to at least half-way into the HOF mode. Lots of level-squatting & muling is required to bring those level-ups into play as soon as possible, so purists beware. It's also possible to have the high-AC character carry the Druid levels. However, as Druid isn't favored class to any of the potential protector races (humans & half-elves miss out on the very important spell resistance and saving throw bonuses), the problems with EXP penalties becomes just worse. OK, technically one could trade the level(s) in Rogue for levels as Druid for a net +2 AC increase while keeping the EXP penalties unchanged, but this is hardly worth it. A Deep Gnome with 12+ druid levels, one Monk level and 11+ Illusionist levels would technically reach 72-75 AC with the Tenser's Transformation active without party support, but I personally try to stay away from the TT because it makes self-healing and self-buffing impossible under its duration. Most notably, one can't recast Mirror Images in case situation gets hairy. Such a character would also be quite weak physically. One interesting combo with Druid is to make the character a thief/diplomat that also carries one of the "troublesome" classes, the Bard, in one package. The shortage on stat points can be circumvented via utilizing the Druid's shape shift ability that REPLACES the character's own stats in STR, DEX and CON. Thus, a Tiefling Rogue(2)/Druid(14)/Bard(14) with maxed INT, WIS and CHA but low STR, DEX and CON works as a diplomat in human form, but after a shape change into, say, a winter wolf, the high DEX makes thieving skills much better. Animal form is also a great way of increasing hit points during combat, and one can choose between raking opponents with paws, claws or whatever the animal form uses for attacking and singing. Yes, a shape changed Druid/Bard can still sing! Shape changing takes away the ability to cast spells, but there's plenty of various buff spells that can be memorized and used via a quick appearance in human form. Also, adding level-up points into the INT stat will make sure there's always plenty of skill points available for diplomacy & thieving skills. It might be nice to make the party's Druid have a very respectable AC by making it a Human, and introducing both Monk and Dreadmaster levels as mix-in classes. (Choosing other races would bring EXP penalties, and half-elves are inferior to humans due to their missing skill/feat point extras.) Adding also Fighter, Rogue and even Ranger and Wizard into the mix-in list would greatly broaden the abilities of this character. Having starting statistics of STR7 DEX18 CON16 INT14 WIS18 CHA3 would allow for an AC of 66, but since the protector character most likely uses the better versions of the headband and the amulet, only 62 could be reached realistically. Adding the required levels to cast Tenser's Transformation and bringing in a Bard could still, in theory, be enough to bring the AC up to 73 (assuming Shield spell can be used now instead of Spirit Armor), but I think it's better to have one REALLY well protected character for tanking than two "almost good" as the trouble of keeping up all the buffs is also doubled. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.4 - Check available buffs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Depending on the protector and Druid characters, there might be a need for various buffing spells that are not covered by those two. For example, a melee unit profits very much from the Executioner's Eyes spell, but it's hardly a good idea to have the melee unit self have 17+ wizard (or 18+ sorc) levels just to get this spell. It's much easier to add one primary arcane caster that can cast the spell for the melee character instead. As most parties built around the idea of power gaming tend to have at least one pure or at least almost pure arcane caster and one Cleric, living up to the requirements of having all the necessary buff spells may actually be easier than it sounds. One note, though - if using specialist wizard in your party, make sure (s)he can cast Conjuration and Necromancy spells to access both Ghost Armor and Spirit Armor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.5 - Fill the remaining character positions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once you've outlined the protector character, the Druid and the buff-up characters, the remaining slots can be filled with just about anything you think works best with your strategy. Keep in mind, though, that melee in HOF is very risky business unless the character has those high ACs or other means of protecting themselves. Alas, as the whole high AC idea is based on several key equipment, of which there's no duplicates in most cases, it's not possible to have more than two high-AC characters in a party legitimately. Therefore, the role of the remaining characters should in most cases become either archer or nuker of some sort. Before filling the roster to full six persons, keep in mind that there's quite a bit of road to travel before those six persons have acquired the necessary EXP to really start shining in their roles, so you should consider adding at least one or two characters a bit longer down the road instead of in Targos. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.6 - Assign party roles ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once the party members have been selected, it's time to think about the stuff the party as a whole is supposed to be doing. Lots of buffing, lots of blasting, lots of skills - but who's going to do what? It helps to group the various skills into logical niches. One person should be the diplomat (if the party has one, that is), one person should do the rogue-like stuff, and one can take care of the other miscellaneous skills. Mixing these three groups together is bound to give more confusion than advantages - besides, some skills just plain work better with the corresponding maxed stats. As a general guideline, the protector character is probably the best candidate for the various dexterity-intensive skills, provided he has the INT for them. (Melee party's tank doesn't.) If the party includes a wizard, that person is a number one candidate to fill in the various misc skills. Finally, any sorc (or bard) makes a natural diplomat, since that character class isn't nearly as strapped for stat points as many others, making raising INT quite easy. Sometimes it may seem a bit counter-productive to let the party's wizard take alchemy, especially if the party has a deep gnome that gets bonuses to that skill. However, I for one hate to memorize what my characters can and can't do, so I try to go with the stereotypes as long as possible to avoid too much hassle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.7 - Stick to the plan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bravo! Now you have a brand new party to take into actual play. However, don't just lay back and play such party "against design", that will say forgetting to keep the AC buffs up on the protector character, attacking in melee with characters that are designed for spell casting and stuff like that. Doing stuff that you're not supposed to is about the easiest way to get that masterpiece design of yours to suck royally. If you REALLY think that keeping the design decisions you made during the party creation process in mind is just too much to bear, I would suggest you take a look at the original UPP instead. There's hardly any multiclasses, not much of tailor-made or counter-intuitive design decisions and the party plays pretty well together even when the guiding force behind it (that would be YOU, the player) suffers from severe case of insomnia. There's no need to know several dozens of buffs just to keep playing. It's a very good party that has very little trouble in getting through the game. Hey, it is called the Ultimate Powergaming Party for a reason. Except for one thing. There's not a single character in there that can make it to the very important AC of 72. (Close, but no cigar.) And, alas, this means that the party misses the opportunity to relax and take it easy behind one pretty much invulnerable meat shield. One has to live with the fact that death lurks behind every corner, especially in HOF mode. One has to get used to using the Resurrection spell at pretty regular intervals, very likely once or twice per combat towards the end. And finally - there are some spots where it becomes pretty much mandatory to summon a horde of monsters just to protect the party. The parties in JUPP do not have to do that. It just comes with a price tag, and it's called lots and lots of buffing. However, if you're a player that considers buffing to be one of the nice aspects of the game - "hey, let's go beat that horde of monsters and see if we can do it with nary a scratch on us" - you're going to feel like home. Also, it's not like the game has 305 different spells for nothing - a very large portion of them were added to serve some purpose. Having just the stereotypical evocation spells would strip the mages of their versatility and their true power. =============================================================================== 4. Example 1 : The Melee Party =============================================================================== The Melee party is the definite answer to a common misconception that the HOF mode would be unplayable with a melee party. No such worries here, folks. This party is designed for melee and physical combat, through and through. To keep the RPG part of IWD2 at least reasonably present, it still has all the usual functions, such as a rogue for picking locks and disarming and even a diplomat. However, there is not a single bombardier in this party and none of the spell casters put any emphasis worth of note on blasting stuff with spells. Disabling spells, various combat buffs and a summon here and there is where it's at for this group. In the sections below I'll cover the various aspects of these characters, including but by no means limited to the following: - Race - Alignment - Class or classes - Level-up strategy - Ability scores with explanations - Skills and feats with explanations - Weapon preferences - Spell selections - Play strategies concerning this particular character - Analysis on alternate character choices Here we go... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1 - Tank & healer & buffer & debuffer Deep Gnome Rogue(1)/ Monk of the Old Order(1)/ Dreadmaster of Bane(x) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This character must be Lawful Neutral or Lawful Evil in alignment. I'll leave the choice up to you - picking LN gives the very useful Spontaneous casting ability that transforms spells into healing spells, while LE makes the character immune to Blasphemy and Unholy Blight spells. This character is the party's main tank. With the extremely high armor classes available to this character it is unlikely that most monsters would even be able to hurt her. Even if the STR of 16 seems a bit low for a tank build, I can assure you that with the proper boosts (especially the Holy Power spell) this character becomes a killing machine. Please note, however, that the main emphasis of this character is and should be kept in the defense - if we neglect to use the very high AC available to this character, we'd be much better served by taking a character with higher damage output rate, such as an Half-Orc with maxed STR. The point with this character is NOT to deal damage as fast as possible, but to NOT receive damage in return. Keep that in mind before getting tempted to boost her STR stat, for example. Every bit of AC counts. Remember that even if you DO get hit at times, the almost instant-cast spell called Heal is your best friend, and by all means don't forget to use the Blur and Mirror Image abilities that the Deep Gnome has! That being said, this character is also a VERY potent spell caster, with such insane spell DCs that one wouldn't be able to get more even by cheating! So, in practice, spells that allow for a saving throw are more or less transformed into spells without a saving throw. The spell selections should reflect this, i.e. don't waste your spells in various buffs more than absolutely necessary, as the other cleric is there to do that. Spells like Hold Person, Greater Command and Symbol of Hopelessness, not to mention the various control spells from being a Dreadmaster, reduce enemy's ability to fight back so much that it just has to be seen to be believed. For level-ups, I would start this character as Dreadmaster, and keep on adding Dreadmaster levels at least through the Normal mode. Monsters in Normal mode do not have those extremely high BABs HOF monsters have, so just buff up with Mage Armor, Cat's Grace, Ghost Armor, Barkskin & Haste to keep the AC at acceptable levels. Use Whispering Staff from Caballus as your early main weapon and switch to a mace/shield combo if situation warrants it. You should switch to the Brilliant Short Sword +5 as soon as you can get it from the Battle squares and keep the Club of Disruption +3 as a backup for the times when you need bludgeoning damage. Read a walkthrough for how to deal with the later challenges in there, but just to reiterate, it's not hard at all with the right strategy, summons and/or other forms of cheese. Just stupidly boring. I'd install the Ease of Use mod just to skip that piece of crap as soon as you have figured out how to do it, and most definitely for your subsequent play-throughs. Use a sling as your ranged weapon. Once you take the Monk level, Staff of Greater Spell Resistance +5 from Kratuuk and similar two-handed weapons become your best choice for doing damage as you no longer can use a shield without it actually hurting your AC. When the HOF mode monsters reach a point where your AC doesn't cut it anymore, take the single level in Monk to gain an instant boost to your AC. Alas, this will cost us somewhat - as neither Monk or Dreadmaster is the favored class, we'll most definitely suffer a 20% multiclassing penalty and we really have no way of getting rid of it during the whole game. However, unless we dropped both CON and STR to raise the INT to 13 (minimum required to access the Expertise feat), having the monk level is the only possible way of reaching high enough armor class at the end of HOF mode, since we don't have Tenser's Transformation either. Besides, we really need to use Power Attack instead of Expertise (they can't be used simultaneously) to make the most out of the damage rate. The single level in Rogue should be taken no sooner than Chapter four in HOF mode, where you finally buy the Crow's Nest headband that this character uses. This character reaches the maximum potential at level 22 (all high level spells and mix-ins) or 24 (sixth stat increase point), depending when you decide to take the monk level. Levels after that only give small incremental benefits. Starting statistics: -------------------- STR 16 DEX 20 CON 14 INT 3 WIS 20 CHA 1 I think having maxed STR for a tank is self-explanatory, and maxed DEX and WIS because this is a high AC character, aimed to take a level as Monk to make best use of the insanely high WIS AC bonus later on. This doesn't leave many points to play with, so INT and CHA had to be minimized in order to raise CON to at least acceptable levels. Low INT does cost us the use of the valuable Expertise feat, but this has been taken into account in the character's planning, and it also allows the use of the Power Attack feat to boost damage instead. If you don't want to min-max, use 10/20/10/8/20/6 instead, and ignore the Power Attack and Cleave feats. With the amount of buffs you can have on this character, they're barely missed. As you level up, keep adding points to Wisdom, as this will make the monk's AC bonus better and also boost the spell DC's. However, you'll reach WIS 40 with just five or six points*, so the remaining ones can be used to boost DEX, further helping with the AC situation. During the course of your journey you should find two Potions of Holy Transference (one in normal and one in HOF) from the Battle Squares and two Potions of Clear Purpose in Andora, be sure to use them on this character. When you reach Nathaniel in Chapter 5, make sure you buy that Every God's Ring - it gives +5 WIS! Also, at the first parts of Chapter 5, you'll get to fight with a Banite Cleric and his minions. This quest gives you +2 WIS, and was the main reason why this character is a Dreadmaster. NOTE: The script that assigns the +2 WIS bonus seems horribly bugged, so having a save game just outside his lair is recommended in earnest so that you can do a quick refight if the script fails you. You should get the bonus as soon as Hiepherus dies. * = As the Potion of Clear Purpose imposes a penalty to CON, it should only be used after the Monk level has been taken to boost WIS to the next breakpoint, and if you actually make it to level 28 to receive the final level-up point, you won't need the second potion at all. Here are the skills and Feats you should take for this character: Skills : Concentration. Save up your level-up point when adding the Monk and Rogue levels and add them on the next level-up as Cleric to be able to avoid loss in this crucial skill. Feats : 1 - Power Attack (number denotes char level) 3 - Cleave 6 - Dodge 9 - Dirty Fighting 12 - Improved Critical 15 - Spell Focus : Enchantment 18 - Greater Spell Focus : Enchantment 21 - Combat Casting 24 - Discipline 27 - Lightning Reflexes 30 - Great Fortitude As this character is mainly a tank, it's best to start with the feats that make that role better, starting with Power Attack and Cleave. Dodge gives a bit more breathing room in Armor Class, helping with the upcoming tougher guys. Dirty Fighting and Improved Critical boost each other nicely, being staples for any melee character. As the upper level spells start approaching and 5th level castings finally can be used for some offensive work, the Spell Focus: Enchantment makes all of that much better. Combat Casting, usually the number one priority of all casters, could actually wait a bit since the Armor Class of this character keeps the incoming hits at bay well enough, the same with Discipline. The last two feats are a toss-up, I chose to improve the two relative weak saving throws of this character but they could be just about anything from blind-fight & dash to double spell penetration (only party-friendly spells here) or even weapon proficiency for some unexpected but extremely good weapon drop. Comments, strategies & notes: ----------------------------- The role of this character is to beat on the enemies, so don't be overly distracted by the fact that she has also a ton of spells. Use spells that incapacitate enemies such as Hold Person when needed, but don't get carried away - this character is needed to help to kill those stunned or sleeping enemies. Use lots of buff & healing spells outside of combat instead and only devote slots for offensive spells that are good enough, such as Greater Command and Symbol of Hopelessness. When you make it to HOF mode, do not forget to buy those lovely insta-kill weapons. Goblin Slayer dagger is a lousy weapon against anything but goblins, but with 3-4 attacks per round, that's a whole lot of dead goblins in no time. Also, Kegsplitter of Shaengarne Ford isn't of much use in normal combat, but it surely helps to down a golem in one swing and this character is by far the most suitable candidate to deliver the killing blows. You learn to use Axes when you take the Monk level, which should coincide pretty well with your first meeting of such beasts. This character needs five items for the ultimate AC boost - Brazen Bands (normal mode, from the Averine Decanter sold by Nym in the Wandering Village and setting the genie free at once, 5AC), Crow's Nest (HOF, bought from the Underdark merchants, 3AC), Every God's Ring (normal mode, bought from Nathaniel), Sunfire Talisman (HOF, bought from Kuldahar 3 AC) and Chimandrae's Warded Slippers (HOF mode, found in Severed Hand, use Cat's Grace until then + 5 DEX). Required buffs are Barkskin (Druid), Haste (Sorc), Spirit Armor (Sorc, use Mage Armor in the beginning and Chain of Drakkas until you take the Monk level) and Divine Shell (self). War Chant of Sith (bard song) and Draw Upon Holy Might (self) at extremely high levels. Here's the AC breakdowns in various parts of the game. Normal mode After Monk level Late HOF mode AC: 10 (base) AC: 10 (base) AC: 10 (base) +7 (Chain of Drakkas) +6 (Spirit Armor) +6 (Spirit Armor) +6 (Divine Shell) +6 (Divine Shell) +6 (Divine Shell) +7 (DEX bonus) +7 (DEX bonus) +9 (DEX bonus) +4 (Shield bonus) +12 (WIS bonus) +15 (WIS bonus) +5 (Equipment) +5 (Equipment) +11 (Equipment) +5 (Feats & race) +5 (Feats & race) +5 (Feats & race) +9 (Spells) +9 (Spells) +11 (Spells & Bard) === === === 53 (mostly OK in Chp.1) 60 (OK in Chp. 2-4) 73 (OK!) Since both Prayer and Recitation give penalties to hit for your enemies, on top of them both being highly desirable booster spells you really should use often, you'll effectively end up at 76 AC with all the best buffs. The extra four points of AC can be used to avoid casting DUHM (it has rather poor duration), relieving the Bard from the singing duty, allowing the War Chant to be replaced with, say, Tymora's Melody for better damage or even replacing the Divine Shell with Ghost Armor which lasts five times longer. In order to minimize the risk of being struck by a stray Fireball and getting extra insurance against those annoying critically failed saving throws, it's very important to boost this character's spell resistance. Deep Gnomes have natural spell resistance, but it caps at 42 at character level 30 - leaving a gap of only 8 to reach the maximum of 50. So, be sure to use those "Potions of Arcane Absorption" from Sherincal on this character. The Chimandrae's Warded Slippers boost your SR during the final Chapter in HOF. Even though this character is your main tank, it actually pays off to use her as your main healer when the situation warrants it. Her excellent AC provides much better chance of actually getting a heal spell off, compared to any of the other characters trying to do it - even less if they're trying to do it while under fire. Besides, this character doesn't quite compare to the berserkers in terms of damage per combat round, so you're better off keeping their damage output intact instead. Since none of the characters in this party have the Wilderness Lore skill, this character can still try using it due to the enormous WIS score. You'll notice it's usually enough, and the remaining parts should be easy to figure out anyway. Plus this cannot be your first time through the game so you'll know your way already, right? RIGHT? ;) Spell selection: ---------------- Number in parentheses denotes take only up to this many, otherwise you can mix'n'match as much as you like. 1: Sanctuary(1), Remove Fear(2), Bless 2: Draw Upon Holy Might, Hold Person (0-3), Bull's Strength(3), Aid(0-4), Remove Paralysis(1) 3: Magic Circle Against Evil(2-5), Prayer, Remove Disease (0-1) 4: Holy Power, Recitation(0-2), Neutralize Poison(0-1) 5: Champion's Strength(1-2), Greater Command 6: Divine Shell, Heal 7: Resurrection, Greater Shield of Lathander(1-2) 8: Mass Heal(1), Symbol of Hopelessness 9: Summon Monster IX Sanctuary and Remove Fear are good backup spells, but in contrast to the other clerics in the party, we usually don't WANT to drop aggro with Sanctuary since we're the tank. Remember to use Remove fear when fighting Sherincal or the Guardian. Aid is an OK damage booster. The amount of Hold Person spells depends on if you're fighting humanoids or not. DUHM becomes useful around caster level 18, ignore it until then. Magic Circle Against Evil is one of the best protective buffs around, so make sure you can keep it up on a permanent basis. Recitation is useful to cast in the middle of a large group of enemies as it reduces enemy saves amongst other things. Follow with other spells as needed. Holy Power is one of the most important damage boosters for this char, be sure to utilize it liberally. Your level five spell picks should mostly consist of Greater Command, especially after you pick the Spell Focus feats for it. Divine Shell is needed for the ultimate AC boost but otherwise it is not THAT great of a spell. Use it if you feel like you have more Heal spells than you need. Use the 7th level divine spell Greater Shield of Lathander in boss fights for extra protection and Resurrection for general healing, both in and out of combat. Symbol of Hopelessness will stun almost everyone in sight, so follow up with brute force & steel with your characters. Keep a Mass Heal ready for inadvertent mishaps, such as one of your other clerics getting interrupted during that nanosecond it takes to cast Heal on themselves. Finally, Summon Monster IX is the only non-suicidal choice at 9th level. Alternate Character Choices: ---------------------------- Not many, really. That is, unless we're ready to do sacrifices into this character's Armor Class, which would make the selection of a high-AC build as the main tank rather pointless and enemies would hit us easily in HOF mode. In that case I would scrap the AC completely and concentrate on maximizing damage output with a build that has maxed STR instead. That kind of a character just can't function as a tank. Okay, to be nitpicking, an AC of, say, 69 would still force those Slayer Knights to roll 17+ in order to hit, but since the emphasis on these characters is not to get hit in the first place, this would equal to being four times worse protected than before. A natural 20 happens only with 5% frequency, whereas a roll of 17-20 is already a whopping 20% chance to get hit. The AC could easily be made better by scraping the points for 13 INT somewhere and picking the Expertise feat, but that'd leave the character very weak, very frail or a bit of both - none of which get along with the role description for a tank. This is a MELEE party after all. - How about some other race? Since this character doesn't use the Expertise feat, it might also be possible to utilize a (female) Drow instead. This would remove the rather agonizing multiclass EXP penalty. However, the problem with needing the INT for the Expertise feat becomes a must. With the requirement for maxed DEX and WIS plus decent STR and CON doesn't leave much room for INT and CHA. A Drow would have starting stats like this: STR 10 DEX 19 (22 after buffs & two potions of Holy Transference) CON 12 INT 14 WIS 18 (38 after all items, level-ups, quests and potions) CHA 5 This doesn't look like much of a melee warrior to me, in my not so humble opinion. This character would also have to trade the Power Attack feat for Expertise, further decreasing damage output and reducing chances to hit. This character would pretty much have to take the role of a decoy, weakening the most important aspect of this party - having strong melee warriors that are also almost invulnerable. No thank you. Using humans or half-elves to utilize their flexible favored class would remove both DEX and WIS racial bonus, making it impossible to reach AC72, on top of the problems described above, so it won't help either. Once we note that we're already using the best possible equipment found in the game, it must be noted that a Deep Gnome is a must pick for this character position. Losing that +4 generic AC bonus is just too much to cover up with WIS bonus alone. Duo option: ----------- Starting with only this and the next character in your party will give you two nigh-untouchable characters to deal with the hordes in early parts. This will also effectively erase their level penalty compared to the rest of your party and lets you enjoy the various clerical buffs earlier. As both of them have natural Spell Resistance, their higher level will also greatly enhance their chances of resisting spells, both from enemies and the rest of your party. You should add the rest of the party no later than in the Horde Warrens after completing Yquog's delivery missions so that everyone can still reach reasonable levels. The two last characters could wait all the way to the Monastery, if you think you can live with them being mostly dead weight until HOF mode. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.2 - Tank & thief & buffer Deep Gnome Rogue(3)/ Paladin(3)/ Fighter(4)/ Illusionist(x) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This character must be lawful Good in order to be able to take the Paladin levels later on. This character is the team's second tank with high AC and should therefore be played as such, otherwise the whole point of this character is lost. The high AC allows this character to toss spells right in the middle of enemies without too much fear of being hit. So, don't be scared to charge into the battle with the other tank and buff yourself up while you're there. It's also this character's duty to protect the party from any flanking attempts by the enemy, while the first tank keeps the front lines occupied. Paladin works best with the Holy Avenger and shield on the frontlines. Toss a spell here and there as needed, and don't worry about hurting your mate - both tanks have excellent Spell Resistance. The Paladin class gets also that nice +1 to both STR and WIS quest bonus, nice for a tank, and Deep Gnome's natural spell resistance together with Holy Avenger's bonus means extremely high spell resistance! Also, don't underestimate the spell called Vampiric Touch in the hands of a melee character... =) On top of the functions above, this character is also the party's thief, taking care of all the thieving skills that would be cumbersome to take with the other characters. It's a huge bonus for a thief to have the staying power in the frontlines, it makes the whole de-trapping business function much better. Sneaking behind the lines for a backstab allows for better tactical options than just charging forward, as you can place this character near the caster(s) in the pack to get to them directly. The fighter levels are for Weapon Specialization, obviously. The three Paladin levels grant immunity to Insect Swarm, enables this character to use the best one-handed weapon in the game and grants more STR through the quest bonuses for completing the Holy Avenger quest in Kuldahar. Three levels in Rogue provide the necessary thieving skills (duh), minor backstab damage and the almighty Evasion ability. This character gets really strong by levels 21 to 24 when Tenser's Transformation becomes available, but will greatly increase in both variety and number of spells all the way to level 30. As for leveling strategy, it's best described with a list. 1 - Rogue(1) (for the HUGE boost in skill points) 2 - Fighter(1) (all weapon proficiencies, early extra feat) 3 - Illusionist(1) (another early extra feat, start learning spells, bonus to your weak Will saves. Save a skill point for next level.) 4 - Rogue(2) (Evasion, more skill levels in rogue stuff) 5 - Fighter(2) (Extra feat) 6 to 12 - Illusionist(2) to Illusionist(8) (up to 4th level spells for more castings of Emotion: Hope, longer lasting Mirror Image and Shield) 13 to 15 - Paladin(1) to Paladin(3) (for Disease immunity, hit points and the almighty +1 STR/+1 WIS quest bonus from the Holy Avenger battle) 16- Rogue(3) (upgrade your pickpocket skill for HOF mode) 17- Fighter(3) 18- Fighter(4) (Weapon Specialization for the Holy Avenger) 19 and up - Illusionist (to get more spells, naturally) Starting statistics: -------------------- STR 16 DEX 20 CON 14 INT 18 WIS 5 CHA 1 Maxed DEX is a given as this is going to be a high-AC character, and high INT is needed since this character is both a wizard and in need of skill points. Fairly high CON insures that a lucky strike by any enemy doesn't require a Resurrection spell right away. WIS and CHA are both unimportant, although the WIS score causes some early headaches with Will saves. If you don't want to min-max, use 10/20/10/18/10/6 instead and ignore Power Attack and Cleave. All level-up points should go to DEX to boost AC. Together with the Chimandrae's Slippers (or Cat's Grace) and a lucky draw from Tenser's Transformation, it's possible to reach DEX 40 with this character if you ever reach level 28. Here are the skills and Feats you should take for this character. As you don't have quite enough points to keep up with all of your skills, you have to alternate between the thieving skills. I'd suggest focusing a bit more on Search and Disable Device, as the ever-increasing DEX bonus makes Lock Picking and Pick Pocketing easier. Use Knock to replace Open Locks for the most stubborn chests, such as the ones in Dragon's Eye, if you haven't learned to open them yourself yet. They require 17 total (including buffs) in lock picking. Skills : Concentration (only when increasing Illusionist levels) Spellcraft (only when increasing Illusionist levels) Disable Device Open Lock Pick Pocket Search Hide & Move silently (initial points only!) Feats : 1 - Power Attack (number denotes char level) 2 - Cleave (Fighter extra feat) 3 - Dodge 3 - Iron Will (Illusionist extra feat) 5 - Discipline (Fighter extra feat) 6 - Armored Arcana 9 - Armored Arcana (2) 9 - Armored Arcana (3) (Illusionist extra feat) 12 - Expertise 15 - Improved Critical 18 - Weapon Focus: Long Sword 18 - Weapon Specialization: Long Sword (Fighter extra feat) 20 - Combat Casting (Illusionist extra feat) 21 - Spell Focus: Transmutation 24 - Greater Spell Focus: Transmutation 25 - Lightning Reflexes (Illusionist extra feat) 27 - Great Fortitude 30 - Blind-fight 30 - Subvocal Casting (Illusionist extra feat) As this character is mainly a tank, it's best to start with the feats that make that role better, starting with Power Attack and Cleave. Dodge gives a bit more breathing room in Armor Class, helping with the upcoming tougher guys. Iron Will and Discipline counterbalance the low WIS score nicely. Armored Arcana removes the spell casting penalties for wearing a shield up to Large Shields. Expertise for the times you need to hold really tough guys but can't use the main tank for that purpose. Improved Critical is a given for any melee character. Weapon Specialization further enhances the Holy Avenger against the HOF monster's enormous hit points. Spell Focus feats in Transmutation make the Slow and Suffocate spells better. Lightning Reflexes enhances the already excellent Evasion ability. From that point on, it's more or less filler feats. Comments, strategies & notes: ----------------------------- This guy is a rather straight-forward melee guy during combat. Most of the buffs this character uses have long durations, except for Tenser's Transformation, so you should mostly have them on already before heading into battle. Activate Vampiric Touch when you need a bit of self-healing or use it to bring your hit points above your normal maximum. Later on when you get more spells, you can toss Slow and Suffocate both left and right, enhanced by your Transmutation focus. That'll not only quicken their demise but make them seem sedated in their futile efforts of trying to hit you. Even if this character is your second tank, he'll actually have better AC until the first tank takes the Monk level. Depending on your short-term vs long term needs and desires, you could end up using this character as your main and only tank all the way through Normal mode and half-way through HOF as well. There's plenty of Mirror Images to carry you through the few early tough spots to be able to pull this off without any major sacrifices, while the first tank can counter the occasional hit with Heal. To reach the ultimate levels of AC, this character requires five items: Chain of Drakka's Fury (HOF mode, but Shield spell can be used until then for 1 less AC, and before that Mage Armor can be used), Chimandrae's Slippers (normal mode, until then we'll have to use Cat's Grace), Swing from the Masts (bought from Underdark Merchants in Normal mode), Fire Dance Talisman (bought from Kuldahar, normal mode) and a shield with a good AC value such as Large Shield +2 from Kuldahar. If you find that the AC on the main tank isn't quite enough to avoid being hit, borrow the Fire Dance Talisman for her use until later. Other needed boosts include Cat's Grace (Sorc), Barkskin (Druid), Haste (Sorc), Shield (self) or Mage Armor (Sorc) at lower levels, Ghost Armor (Sorc) and War Chant of Sith (bard song). For the final step, cast Tenser's Transformation - this will make you unable to cast spells, but will give substantial AC boost and make you a killing machine on top of it. Just note that you can't recast your Mirror Images in case situation gets hairy, except for the one all deep gnomes get as a racial bonus. So, do yourself a favor and spare that until you REALLY need it. You'll get your hands on Tenser's when you reach level 21, which is in early parts of HOF mode. Here's the AC breakdowns in various parts of the game. Normal mode Chp. 3+ HOF mode Late HOF mode AC: 10 (base) AC: 10 (base) AC: 10 (base) +7 (Shield) +7 (Shield) +8 (Chain of Drakka's Fury) +5 (Ghost Armor) +5 (Ghost Armor) +5 (Ghost Armor) +9 (DEX bonus) +13 (DEX /w TT) +15 (DEX /w Tenser's) +4 (Shield bonus) +4 (Shield bonus) +4 (Shield bonus) +2 (Equipment) +7 (Equipment) +7 (Equipment) +10 (Feats & race) +10 (Feats & race) +10 (Feats & race) +9 (Spells) +13 (Spells) +15 (Spells & Bard) === === === 56 (OK in normal) 69 (OK) 74 (OK!) The acquisition of the second pair of +5 generic AC bracers in Chapter 3, HOF mode turns this character from kinda good to excellent tank. You don't have all that impressive AC without Tenser's, though, but this character compensates by having loads of Mirror Images instead. Using the Holy Avenger as your main weapon maxes out your Spell Resistance which is a huge benefit. Use whatever strikes your fancy until then, you have the proficiencies for everything except for Bastard Swords. While AC 74 is over-doing it a bit, you can't always count on Tenser's giving you the maximal +8 DEX boost so there needs to be a bit of slack. You should use both of the How to Be an Adventurer books from Black Raven Monastery on this character, since this character gets good upgrades to abilities all the way to level 30, whereas the rest of them don't really gain all that much new, important stuff beyond level 22-24 or so. Should you feel up for a challenge, starting the game with this character alone will let him get a good headstart in exp compared to the rest of the party, easing up the massive task of reaching the upper 20s. You should add other characters no later than after reaching level 8, lest you start tossing perfectly good experience points away. To be able to cast the 9th level spells (if you EVER get there), you can use the Wizard's Ring from Underdark merchants. If you have Ease of Use mod installed, you should be able to use "Sad Giant's Cap" as your shield during Normal mode and "Apsel's Rolly-Polly Knuckleheaded Shield" (buy it from Jemeliah) in HOF mode. Apsel's has +1 AC compared to the normally available shields and both of them have only 5% casting penalty, so you'll free two feats from Armored Arcana as well. Spell selection: ---------------- Number in parentheses denotes take only up to this many, otherwise you can mix'n'match as much as you like. 1: Shield, Mage Armor(0-2), Sleep(0-5) 2: Cat's Grace(0-2), Mirror Image 3: Haste(0-2), Slow, Knock(0-1), Ghost Armor(0-3), Vampiric Touch(1-3) 4: Spirit Armor(0-4), Emotion: Hope, Malison(0-2) 5: Greater Shadow Conjuration, Lower Resistance(0-1), Chaos 6: Tenser's Transformation 7: Suffocate 8: Mind Blank 9: Executioner's Eyes This character is a spell sword tank, so the spell list will look wildly different than normal caster's would. Shield is your best armor all the way to the last chapter in HOF, so better use it too. Substitute with Mage Armor in the early going - Illusionists can't cast Shield until you take the Paladin level. By then the duration of Shield has become reasonable. Use Sleep in the early parts so that your sorcerer doesn't need to pick it. Cat's Grace will be needed for a while until your sorcerer can keep it up all by himself. Fill the remaining slots with Mirror Images, they're your best defensive spell bar none all through the game. Haste and Knock should be provided by you so your sorc doesn't have to. Castings of Ghost Armor can be used to help out, otherwise use Slow and Vampiric Touch. Emotion: Hope should fill your level 4 slots until you can keep it up at least semi- permanently. Malison and Spirit armor can be used as extra aid later on. Level five is good for summons (in HOF mode already) and helping out with Chaos in the tough spots. Lower Resistance is seldom needed but you should carry it for the occasion. Level six is devoted for your best combat buff, the sorcerer can take care of Mass Haste instead. Suffocate helps with hitting stuff just as Slow does, only better. Mind Blank and Executioner's Eyes become your final choices at the extremely high levels so that you can help the sorc out on these. Remember, you don't have the INT to make direct offensive spells work all that well. If you want to ease up on the very rigid "no blasting spells allowed" policy this party is created around, you could consider adding Fireball, Sunfire and Delayed Blast Fireball into the spell list. As a matter of fact, there's a few places in the game that would become at least extremely tedious if not impossible without fire or acid based damage, but there's various variants of Burning Oil and Necklace of Missiles to help if you want to stay true to that policy. Alternate Character Choices: ---------------------------- It's a matter of taste if the Weapon Specialization really is worth going for four levels in Fighter. Dropping the Fighter levels would allow to cut down the levels in Rogue and Paladin as well to make room for more levels as Illusionist. This would make the Tenser's Transformation available already in Normal mode, for example. However, it would take ages to reach three, much less four attacks per combat round and you'd have quite a bit less hit points on your tank. The party already has one high level caster to take care of the necessary buffs, so you'd just be doubling up for the most part. You can't change the race since you're already dangerously low in AC during some parts of the game. Taking away the Paladin levels is just asking for trouble since you'd no longer have maxed Spell Resistance. The other tank already uses up the other methods of boosting it. You need the Rogue levels for Swing from the Masts, plus you are the party's thief anyway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.3 - Diplomat & utility & debuffer Drow Dreadmaster of Bane(1)/ Bard(x) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This character needs to be Neutral Evil to be able to take both Bard and Dreadmaster levels. Additionally, she must be a female so that the mix-in level doesn't cause an EXP penalty. This disallows taking Paladin and/or Monk levels later on to boost saving throws, but since this is the party's diplomat, those would be incompatible anyway. With two tanks in the group already, one has to be the brains. Ergo, say hello to our diplomat! With lots of INT and CHA, every imaginable dialogue option should be at our disposal, and high INT makes sure that we have good skill levels across the board. However, having such mentally supreme character means that we're going to be physically weak. That's what you get by being a diplomat. Sure, a druid/bard can get around this limitation by shapeshifting, but the shapeshifts do not improve beyond a certain point and switching to a weak, clumsy and frail humanoid to cast spells goes against both of the main directives of this party - good physical damage and no blasting with spells. This weakness can be remedied by using a bow. While it doesn't provide any STR damage bonus, it doesn't carry a penalty for it either. The best bow available in the game is a rather peculiar one - you need to be a Bard, Fighter, Ranger or Rogue to use it. All the other classes besides the Bard could really use other, better types of weapons that are either melee or allow for a STR bonus. Rogue/Wizard multiclass would benefit, too, but this party doesn't have one, in the traditional archer/caster way at least. Also, since this character is still the weakest member in terms of damage per round, activating the various Bard songs or using debilitating spells doesn't have as big of an opportunity cost as it would for the other characters. While a bow suffers from all the limitations that ranged weapons share, i.e. many types of monsters are extra resistant against just that type of damage, you can buy an unlimited amount of +5 enchanted arrows from Riki in the Severed Hand. Due to a glitch in the game engine you can buy as many stacks of arrows as your total funds allow but still only get charged for just one stack. This trick won't really help you unless you have unlimited stacking of ammo from the Ease of Use mod installed, and even then it's still cheesy because you're using an engine glitch to your advantage. As a level-up strategy, I would take only Bard levels all the way until you reach the latter parts of Chapter Four. You need the single level in Dreadmaster before the early parts of Chapter Five, both to benefit from the +2 WIS quest bonus to improve your Will saves and to get access to the diplomacy skill boosts. You'll appreciate them in a while. Way down the road, at the latter stages of HOF mode, you can boost your WIS enough to access Sanctuary as well. This character reaches maximum potential already at level 21, but gets minor improvements to spell casting abilities all the way to level 30 if you ever get there. Starting statistics: -------------------- STR 6 DEX 15 CON 16 INT 20 WIS 3 CHA 20 STR doesn't really matter on this character as bows do not allow for STR bonus. A reasonable STR figure is still nice to have, however, so that we don't have to worry ourselves with stuff like what we're going to do with all the equipment. Decent DEX makes this character a good archer and allows for acceptable AC during normal mode as well. Maxed CON is an insurance policy against lucky strikes, but remember that this is not a tank. High INT gives maximal access to dialogue & other skills. WIS is unimportant for the most part but gets boosted by the mix-in level later on. Finally, maxed CHA is important both because we're the party's diplomat and Bards get a significant boost to their spell castings per day from it. If you don't want to min-max, use 8/14/12/18/8/20 instead. Level-up points is straightforward - put EVERYTHING you've got into CHA. This will both give a hefty amount of extra spells and higher spell DCs and increase your abilities as your party's public face. This doesn't even cause a conflict with your main method of doing damage as STR won't affect the damage of your bow. Here are the skills and Feats you should take for this character. Skills : Alchemy Concentration Spellcraft Knowledge: Arcana Bluff Diplomacy Intimidate Feats : 1 - Rapid Shot (number denotes character level) 3 - Lingering Song 6 - Combat Casting 9 - Spell Focus: Enchantment 12 - Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment 15 - Improved Critical 18 - Spell Focus: Evocation 21 - Greater Spell Focus: Evocation 24 - Discipline 27 - Iron Will 30 - Lightning Reflexes Rapid shot is the only really defining feat for an archer, so it comes first. Lingering Song allows the stacking of songs - you could keep them all running 24/7 if you wanted to by refreshing them every 2 combat rounds. Combat Casting is a staple for any caster. GSF: Enchantment helps with the various Charm spells available to Bards so it's a natural. Improved Critical is a must for everyone in this party since it's all about physical damage. GSF: Evocation is for Great Shout, allowing it to stick better against HOF monsters, same deal with Chromatic Orb. Rest is pretty much filler chaff. Comments, strategies & notes: ----------------------------- When your party sees enemies, start by refreshing your songs and pluck away with arrows. Once you see casters or archers in the back row come into view, target them so that you move forward, closer to your front lines. This places you so that your songs will reach your whole party when it's time to refresh them again. Once you have spell castings remaining after the daily quota of buffs has been taken care of, start charming enemy brutes to your side in the middle of plucking away and refreshing songs. At higher levels you can take a step forward and freeze the enemy in its tracks with Greater Shout, especially if you've softened them up a bit with Emotion: Despair first. If you like to take the stat point usage into extremes, there's really no need to have INT20 - the highest skill checks in the game require skill level 20 to be passed, which means rank of around 12-15 when the stat modifiers are taken into account. Since the hardest checks come very late in the game, you'll most likely have received 12+ levels by then, and you could get away with an INT score of 18 or even 16 and still have the required skill levels to pass the checks. You can boost DEX with the extra points. Spell selection: ---------------- As bards don't have to memorize spells, this list has all the spells this character picks, with commentary as to where that particular spell might be useful. Please note that the order is important here - you only get to pick a couple few new spells at every level-up, so don't miss an important buff or killer spell by choosing the spell that is going to be useful a while later, not right now. 1st level: Mage Armor (best armor for your characters for quite a while) Sleep (very useful in the beginning but becomes obsolete later) Charm Person (your daily bread attack once Sleep no longer helps) Chromatic Orb (not that useful before level 7) Minor Mirror Image (against one-shot nukes such as Horrid Wilting) 2nd level: Mirror Image (can't have too many nor too early) Eagle's Splendor (to keep CHA up for you and the sorcerer) Cat's Grace (to assist the sorcerer) Dire Charm (your other go-to attack spell once buffs are covered) Luck (more of these doesn't hurt) 3rd level: Emotion: Hope (one of the really important buffs so double up) Invisibility Sphere (to use the reset & regroup tactic when needed) Ghost armor (we might run out of these with other buffers) Emotion: Despair (your go-to attack spell once buffs are covered) Slow (to help the tanks, maybe) 4th level: Spirit Armor (so that Sorcerer doesn't have to early on) Dominate Person (your go-to attack spell once buffs are covered) Improved Invisibility (for any sneaky operations you might try) Hold Monster (when Dominate doesn't apply, i.e. not fighting humanoids) Summon Monster IV (out of good spell picks already) 5th level: Shadow Conjuration (only good one here) Power Word: Silence (might as well while it still works) Healing Circle (for the emergency support role) (out of good spells) (out of good spells) 6th level: Mass Haste (double up on the good stuff) Great Shout (your go-to attack spell once buffs are covered) Shades (the best of them) Summon Invisible Stalker (invisibility = good) 7th level: Mass Invisibility (same tactic as with sphere, just longer range) Prismatic Spray (random mayhem on the enemy) Summon Djinni (out of good picks) Summon Efreeti (out of good picks) 8th level: Mass Dominate (what else?) Wail of the Banshee (could be classified as a 'song') Power Word: Blind (only PW that still works in HOF) Alternate Character Choices: ---------------------------- A few, actually. The Dreadmaster level is somewhat superfluous as it'll only net you some Wisdom and low-level Sanctuary in late HOF mode. Still better than not getting a permanent stat boost at all, in my opinion. You could also pick Human or even Tiefling as character's race, as they get as much skill points. Or just about any race if you alternate a bit between assigning your skills. You need to remove the Dreadmaster level if you'd get exp penalties by taking it. You'll get to the highest level spells sooner without ECL penalties. However, as this party's success doesn't depend on any of the highest level spells being available - they can be picked by the first tank and/or the sorcerer instead - the spell resistance by being a Drow should be preferred. The high ECL penalty on this character is also beneficial to the others, as they can reach higher levels easier then. The previous versions of JUPP suggested a Bard(11)/Sorcerer(19) character in this spot instead. While it most certainly beats a straight Bard in theory, the limited maximum reachable level without level-squatting or other such cheese makes it unable to actually deliver. You'd lose either the final bard song (both tanks depend on it for their ultimate AC) or 9th and maybe even 8th level spells as a sorcerer. Since the party is no longer unnecessarily limited to four persons, it's just easier to have one of each and allow the sorcerer to pick that Paladin level for saving throws instead. Since the top level spells are both somewhat unnecessary and come extremely late anyway (7th level at bard level 21, 8th not before 26), one could pick four Fighter levels for Weapon Specialization. It actually enhances a bow pretty nicely since there's no major damage boosters such as STR damage bonus or Power Attack available for it. A fighter gets Intimidate as class skill so you could boost it to same level as your other talking skills as well. However, you can't do that combo with Drow without exp penalties so you'd lose the Spell Resistance and since Gray Dwarves have that crippling penalty to CHA, you'd have to take Human or some other Dwarf so you'd lose the benefit to rest of your party by keeping this character at a bit lower level. As a matter of fact, you might actually take the fighter levels for a Drow just BECAUSE it causes the EXP penalty. For every level you lose on this character's top end, the rest of the party has one more level to share between them due to the dynamic exp calculation. Kind of muling but without having to stare at that temptating plus sign at the corner of your character portrait, so to speak. But yes, that's cheesy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.4 - Berserker & buffer Human Paladin of Mystra(1)/ Monk of the Old Order(1)/ Sorcerer(x) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This character must be Lawful Good so that the level of Paladin may be taken. NOTE: In case you wish to make this character a permanent mule (WARNING: Extreme cheese), take a peek into the Alternate Character Choices section. So, we have two tanks and a diplomat, so what are we still missing? Easy, fill the rest with berserkers as doing physical damage is what this party is all about. Going through the buffs checklist reveals that we're still missing someone with early access to the better arcane buffs, a druid and preferably another cleric so that the first tank can actually use the most useful attack spells instead of having to carry the buffs in those levels. All the skills have been taken care of by now, too. This character is the first berserker of this group. Yes, he's a sorcerer, but VERY different from the usual pencil-necked klutz that can barely kill a fly on its own if it happens to be resistant to spells. No such limitation here - you'll notice you'll give even pure warriors a run for their money. Since you have all weapon proficiencies to play with, make sure you give weapons to the characters that are more limited in their selection first. This character is also partial to two-handed weapons, since using a shield would cause trouble with spell casting. Quite conveniently, one of the very best ranged weapons is also two-handed (the Big Death axe), so be sure to give it to this character. Use any ranged weapon that allows for STR damage bonus until then, i.e. anything but bows or crossbows. The Haft over Head returning throwing axe from Vrek's cave is a notable early weapon - its shorter range is actually a benefit since the character will place itself just behind the tanks but in front of the long-range support, i.e. in the middle of the group where he's mostly safe from harm with the lower hit points and all. For level-ups, start as a Paladin and keep on adding Sorcerer levels all the way until you feel like the extra saving throws and Evasion from the Monk level could be needed. At the latest, you should give early treatment to the problem with fewer attacks per round by taking the Monk level before heading for the Yuan-Ti temple in Chult, as the Thunder Clap bracers available there will give you +1 attack per round with all of your forms of attack. That bonus will help you all the way from there until level 22 (without haste from a spell) with your ranged attacks and all the way up to level 30 with your melee attacks - it's HUGELY useful item for this character and should be given priority over one extra caster level. Since you're a human in a party with heavy ECL penalties, you can actually expect to reach a bit higher level by the end of Normal mode as you normally would. This character reaches maximum potential at level 22, but will gain wider selection of spells all the way to 30. Starting statistics: -------------------- STR 18 DEX 16 CON 18 INT 3 WIS 3 CHA 18 Maxed STR and CON are a given since this character is a berserker and being a Sorcerer necessitates all the boosting to your hit points as you can get. Maxed CHA will allow you to cast your highest level spells with just a simple +1 CHA item such as a Winter Wolf Hat from Oswald in the beginning of Chapter Two, and you can boost it further with Eagle's Splendor. This still leaves room for almost maxed DEX, once INT and WIS have been sacked. You don't need either one of them. If you don't want to min-max, use 18/14/10/8/8/18 instead. All level-up points should go into STR. While adding to CHA would grant you more spells and even better saving throws, it causes a conflict with the role description. A berserker is all about doing damage, defenses come as a secondary consideration. By the virtue of being a Paladin, you'll also gain +1 STR and +1 WIS from completing the Holy Avenger quest, once in Normal and once in HOF mode. Together with Champion's Strength and Tenser's Transformation, you have the potential of reaching 43 STR, i.e. having whole three stat points worth of slack against less than perfect rolls for the stat boosts since 40 STR is the game's hard cap. Skills : Concentration Spellcraft Feats : 1 - Power Attack (number denotes char level) 1 - Cleave (Human extra feat) 3 - Rapid Shot 6 - Dirty Fighting 9 - Combat Casting 12 - Iron Will 15 - Discipline 18 - Improved Critical 21 - Great Fortitude 24 - Lightning Reflexes 27 - Blind-fight 30 - Subvocal Casting Since this character is a berserker, there's no need to pick the spell focus feats you'd normally see with a Sorcerer. Same goes for the elemental feats, since unless you're blasting stuff with spells, you'll only gain a mere few points of elemental resistance out of them. Since we're not boosting CHA either, the spell DCs would still be lowish. Spell Focus: Enchantment could be useful for Chaos and Mass Dominate, but the party is strong on enchantment magic already. Power Attack and Cleave combined with the STR score will ensure that monsters will drop with a good pace. Cleave against goblins and such very early monsters effectively gives you an extra attack per round. Once you no longer can one-shot stuff, switching to a ranged weapon together with Rapid Shot will combine excellent damage with reach. Dirty Fighting is a nice extra oomph during Normal mode. Combat Casting, Iron Will and Discipline make it harder for enemies to take you out. Improved Critical can't be picked earlier since your BAB advances so slowly, but it's a must when you do get there. Rest is mainly filler chaff - adding to the already enormous saving throws you get by being a part Paladin with strong CHA can actually make the difference between failing a save and making it, even against the strongest spells. Spells selections: ------------------ As sorcerers don't have to memorize spells, this list has all the spells this character picks, with commentary as to where that particular spell might be useful. Please note that the order is important here - you only get to pick a couple few new spells at every level-up, so don't miss an important buff or killer spell by choosing the spell that is going to be useful a while later, not right now. Additionally, I'll denote spells that should be useful if you're taking a bit more relaxed stance against the "no blasting allowed" policy enforced on this party. 1st level: Mage Armor (better than any armor found in the game for quite some time) Sleep (becomes useless fast, but helps the party through beginning) Burning Hands (to finish up trolls) Shield (the best armor all through the game for this character) Chromatic Orb (after level 7, stuns opponents for a long time) Minor Mirror Image (against one-shot nukes such as Horrid Wilting) Magic Missile (to remove Mirror Images fast, maybe) 2nd level: Cat's Grace (necessary buff for a *long* time to come) Mirror Image (old faithful - but you're doing it wrong if you need many) Protection from Arrows (significant help for your tanks) Invisibility (to be able to drop accidental aggro) Luck (go read chapter "How lucky can you get?" if you really need to ask) Gedlee's Electric Loop (for the stun effect, not for damage) Death Armor (for the porcupine tank trick in HOF) 3rd level: Ghost Armor (VERY much necessary buff for tanks all through the game) Haste (for extra early protection & offensive muscle for the tanks) Slow (a great help against any monster group) Invisibility Sphere (to use the reset & regroup tactic when needed) Vampiric Touch (to increase your max HP temporarily) Dire Charm (out of good picks already) (Also useful: Fireball, take as 1st pick) 4th level: Emotion: Hope (great bonuses for a long time) Stoneskin (almost total protection for everyone for a VERY long time) Spirit Armor (in times when Mage Armor just isn't enough) Malison (greatly enhances the debuffs cast by the party) Fire Shield: Blue (for the porcupine tank trick in HOF) Fire Shield: Red (for the porcupine tank trick in HOF) 5th level: Chaos (this spell is just SWEET with physical-heavy party) Dominate Person (work against your enemies by using your enemies) Protection from Electricity (for the Will-o-wisp fight) Greater Shadow Conjuration (for a decent summon) (out of good spells) (Also useful: Sunfire, take as 2nd pick) (Also useful: Cone of Cold, take as 3rd pick) 6th level: Mass Haste (probably the best buff spell in the whole game) Tenser's Transformation (for the ultimate STR boost) Shades (good summon, but Mass Haste is more important) (out of good spells) (out of good spells) (Also useful: Acid Storm, take as 2nd pick) 7th level: Mordenkainen's Sword (melee at sight range? Yes please!) Mass Invisibility (same tactic as with sphere, just longer range) Elemental Barrier (decent all-around defensive buff) Banishment (easier than just killing them if there's many, I suppose) (Also useful: Delayed Blast Fireball, take as 1st pick) (Also useful: Finger of Death, take as 2nd pick) 8th level: Mind Blank (forget about Will saves, keep it always up) Symbol of Hopelessness (hold it right there, folks) Great Shout (even better, failsafe hold but more difficult to use) Power Word: Blind (only PW that still works in HOF) (Also useful: Horrid Wilting, take as 2nd pick) 9th level: Executioner's Eyes (keep 'em criticals coming) Summon Monster IX (your best summon, but EE is more important) Mass Dominate (to help the tank with it, maybe?) (Also useful: Wail of the Banshee, take as 2nd pick) Comments, strategies & notes: ----------------------------- Even if this character is mainly a Sorcerer, use him as you would any berserker. In other words, let the tanks grab the aggro of the monsters, while softening them with spells and/or buffing yourself up. Any sign of danger should be immediately countered with a quick casting of Mirror Image, or even Invisibility if there's more than just one monster heading your way. Once the tanks have established the aggro on the monsters, open up with the carnage. Once you get the Big Death axe, just hang back and demonstrate what huge STR score, Rapid Shot, Haste and Thunder Clap working in unison are capable of. Don't be surprised if you manage to put your other berserkers in shame from time to time. The monk level allows this character to use the HOF version of the Monk only belt from Targos shop. As it has bonuses to hitting and saving throws, it's a natural choice. Consider the monk only sling as your alternate weapon for the times you need better than +1 or +3 weapons to hit your enemies. Alternate Character Choices: ---------------------------- None, maybe except for choosing not to take the single levels of Paladin and/or Monk. However, with the high CHA bonus to saving throws, life will most certainly be much more dangerous and much greater care would have to be put into keeping this party member alive. Paladin's quest bonus is a natural with any Berserker build since it boosts STR. Finally, while you most certainly shouldn't be in the effect range of most AoE spells to really need Evasion, the Thunder Clap bracers with its +1 attack per round effectively makes you function as ten levels higher as a physical combatant - well worth the one lost caster level. Choosing Aasimar or Drow as your race would allow for 20 CHA from the start but since we're not boosting it anyway, it doesn't really matter that much. Besides, both of them would lead to multiclassing exp penalties. Finally, since this character is responsible for bringing in the various combat buffs from the arcane school, it really helps to not have ECL penalty slowing it down. You'll get both the Paladin and the Monk level effectively free compared to a straight Drow sorcerer, and the various bonuses this brings easily surpasses the usefulness of Drow's Spell Resistance. Permanent mule: --------------- WARNING: Extremely cheesy advice follows. Read or skip as you please. In case you consider to play with permanent mules in the party, this character can pick the Paladin and Monk levels first to get access to all weapons, the extremely nice CHA bonus to saving throws and a nice amount of hit points as well. Choose Rapid Shot as your first feat and use ranged weapons exclusively, never entering melee. Level-squat all the way until you reach level 30 - that's about Chapter 1 or early 2 in HOF mode. The first three characters will easily carry you all the way there if you want to. Similar advice applies to all three of the berserkers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.5 - Berserker & buffer Drow Dreadmaster of Bane(1)/ Druid(x) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This character must be either Lawful Neutral or Neutral Evil. I'd suggest Neutral evil as it gives immunity against Unholy Blight and Blasphemy and one of the best weapons for this character requires Evil alignment. Seeing that we now have two tanks, a diplomat and a sorcerer, it's time to add the druid. Since this is a party aiming for physical prowess, let's make her a variant of the battlecleric with a twist. This character is the party's most fearsome meat grinder. While the other two berserkers can do more straight damage, this character more than compensates it by just being such a.. shocking personality. The Massive Halberd of Hate +4 (from Kuldahar) just seems perfectly tailor-made for this character. You'll get Ice Spear +4 from Battle Squares as you early substitute, and Dredging Claw from Targos equipment store can be used until that. The odd moments where you need slashing or bludgeoning damage can be handled with a sword/shield combo and a quarterstaff, respectively. Use a sling or one of the better throwing daggers for ranged combat, best of them being the Ysha's Sting. For level-ups, I'd start her as a Druid and keep on adding levels there, all the way until you're nearing the first parts of Chapter Five. She'll need the Dreadmaster level to be eligible for the +2 WIS boost and allows this character to drop aggro with Sanctuary. This character reaches maximum potential at level 23 (four attacks per combat round), levels after that provide only small incremental benefits. Starting statistics: -------------------- STR 18 DEX 20 CON 16 INT 5 WIS 16 CHA 5 Maxed STR, DEX and CON make this character an excellent berserker, and even an excellent third tank during the Normal mode. While WIS 16 doesn't let you use your highest level spells, you'll get WIS boosting items along the way and you'll end up at 18 unbuffed after the first go with Hiepherus, 20 once you do it again in HOF so you'll be able to free the slots for something else eventually anyway. INT and CHA are unimportant to this character. If you don't want to min-max, use 18/10/16/10/16/10 instead. Use your level-up points to boost STR. You don't need more spells after you've reached level 20 as a druid anyway, and STR is what makes or breaks physical combat. Boosting CON would give more hit points, but let me put it this way: If your two-three hundred and some hp won't save you from death before you can cast a Heal/Mass Heal/Resurrection, having another fifty to hundred hp most likely won't either. Why didn't you bail out with a casting of Sanctuary a while ago already - that's what the Dreadmaster level is there for, amongst other things. Here are the skills and Feats you should take for this character. Skills : Concentration Feats : 1 - Power Attack (number denotes char level) 3 - Cleave 6 - Rapid Shot 9 - Dirty Fighting 12 - Combat Casting 15 - Improved Critical 18 - Spell Focus: Transmutation 21 - Greater Spell Focus: Transmutation 24 - Weapon Focus: Polearms 27 - Great Fortitude 30 - Discipline Power Attack and Cleave combined with the STR score will ensure that monsters will drop with a good pace. Cleave against goblins and such very early monsters effectively gives you an extra attack per round. Once you no longer can one-shot stuff, switching to a ranged weapon together with Rapid Shot will combine excellent damage with reach. Dirty Fighting is a nice extra oomph during Normal mode. Combat Casting makes it easier to get your spells off, but could wait a while since you're only going to cast buffs and fast spells early on. Improved Critical is a must when you do get there. Finally, Greater Spell Focus: Transmutation will make that Tremor spell really shake things up in the enemy ranks. Weapon Focus could be picked earlier if you think you'll need it, but hitting stuff with maxed STR and buffs has never been an obstacle in my experience. Rest is just filler chaff. Comments, strategies & notes: ----------------------------- During normal mode, use this character as you would use any normal melee tank, just keep her protected with a Stoneskin when it comes available. Later on as the monsters start hitting the low AC no matter what you do, it's time to change tactics into a more cautious one. Have the tanks charge into combat while this character casts a spell or two in order to have the enemy concentrate on the others first. THEN charge into combat, filled to gills with various buffs. If you're holding two different fronts with your tanks, use this character to help the second tank to ease up on the crowdedness on the primary battle front. As the Massive Halberd of Hate +4 is the weapon with highest base damage, two damage dice AND scores triple damage on criticals, this character is the best candidate for wearing the various Luck enhancing items you may or may not find during your journey. You don't need her ring and amulet slots for anything majorly important anyway, contrary to the other characters in this party. Her Spell Resistance takes care of most of the nuisances of being in melee combat. In contrast to the first four characters, this character might actually consider using a real armor instead of one of the spell-made ones. With the excellent DEX score, there's no need to restrict oneself to just Heavy Armor either. Actually, the best armor of them all is Zuvembie, a Studded Leather armor +3 with permanent Death Ward. In other words, one less character to worry about when fighting against casters that use death magic against you. Remember that comment about her shocking personality? I suppose you guessed right, that refers to her being able to cast both Call Lightning and Static Charge. While they are attack spells, they work just the way as any buff does in that you can cast them prior to combat and still enjoy the benefits of it. You'd need a whole lot of hits with the +2 STR and Holy Power/Tenser's Transformation the other two berserkers have in order to tally up to one zap with one of these shockers. Soon enough you can actually expect to zap something once per combat round for those "let's clear the map first and collect the loot later" types of forays. The actual range of these spells is NOT your sight range, seems closer to 20 yards or some such, which combines nicely with being in melee combat to begin with. Spell selection: ---------------- Number in parentheses denotes take only up to this many, otherwise you can mix'n'match as much as you like. Spells in parentheses can be selected if you're relaxing up on the "no blasting allowed" policy of this party. 1: Sunscorch, Entangle(0-3), Cure Light Wounds 2: Barkskin 3: Call Lightning, Storm Shell(0-1), Cure Moderate Wounds, Neutralize Poison 4: Freedom of Movement(1-4), Spike Stones (Flame Strike) 5: Static Charge 6: Healing Circle, Sol's Searing Orb (Fire Seeds) 7: Heal(1-2), Aura of Vitality (Fire Storm) 8: Summon Nature's Ally VIII (Finger of Death) 9: Tremor, Mass Heal(1) Sunscorch will let you finish up trolls, plus it can be used as a better variant of Blindness as it also causes damage. Entangle is your party's version of Web, use if you're into that kind of stuff. Cure Light wounds can be used as a filler to patch up minor wounds that don't need a full Heal to recover from. Barkskin is your one and only unique buff spell so don't even consider other options on this level. Call Lightning marks the transformation of this character from just another melee guy to a shocking personality. Use Storm Shell in the Will-o-wisps battle and fill up with Cure Moderate Wounds when Call Lightning doesn't apply, aka indoors. Neutralize Poison becomes available before Clerics get it, might come handy in Shaengarne Ford. Freedom of Movement will let you de-paralyze and de-stun your team members while Spike Stones works as a better version of Entangle. Static Charge is THE spell for this character. Healing Circle is useful to take care of AoE damage and Sol's Searing Orb can be used as a stronger variant of Blind. Keep at least one Heal for emergencies, fill up the rest with Aura of Vitality. Level eight doesn't have any useful non-blasting spells available, you might go for the Finger of Death anyway. Keep one Mass Heal handy for emergencies. Finally, use Tremor as a large-scale disabler - it has HUGE area of effect and the save is extremely tough, especially with the Greater Spell Focus: Transmutation feat backing it up. Alternate Character Choices: ---------------------------- Since Druid spells do not become stronger after level 20, it might be worth your while to add more Dreadmaster levels. Going all the way to 7+ levels as a Dreadmaster would enable this character to use Holy Power as well. However, since this character is responsible for keeping Barkskin up on both of the tanks and it has good uses on the rest of the party all the way through the normal mode as well, the duration boost on it could be preferred. Besides, the party already has two other clerics for all the buffs, so it's not like we're in dire need of yet more low-level buffs. Six seconds of Sanctuary is all you really need to be able to drop aggro. You'd also need to reach level 27 total to enjoy the benefits of Holy Power, quite unlikely actually. Using a human instead would allow for a monk mix-in level for Evasion, but you won't be able to use the Massive Halberd of Hate +4 then. You could substitute with two Rogue levels, but that's quite a price to pay just for it, especially since you won't benefit from the skills boost either. A level of Ranger could be used to add the weapon proficiencies and dual-wield, but none of that is really is better than the Halberd you already can use. Going four levels into Fighter for Weapon Specialization would also cause an exp penalty. You could combine this character with the diplomat by using the shapeshifts to replace weak overall stats in STR, DEX and CON, but unless you're willing to use the 3 attacks/round Dire Panther in HOF mode, you'd end up with a caster that's no good in physical combat later on. That would be a violation of the Melee party idea. Since there's no urgent need to get to level 30 or even the upper 20's, the ECL penalty on this character further makes it easier for the other team members (especially the sorcerer) to reach higher levels than they otherwise could. Due to the dynamic calculation of exp, you'll always end up the game with about the same amount of total levels in your party, unless you do something extraordinary such as level squatting, muling or have extensive multiclassing exp penalties. You could consider adding an incompatible mix-in level just for this reason, actually. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.6 - Berserker & buffer Drow Paladin of Ilmater(1)/ Cleric of Ilmater(29) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This character must be Lawful Good so that the level of Paladin may be taken. Additionally, she needs to be a female in order to avoid penalties from multiclassing. So, we have two tanks, a diplomat Bard, Sorcerer AND Druid. There's nothing missing, so why not double up on the priestly duties the same way as the second tank and the sorcerer do? Being a melee party, nothing really fits better than a straight battlecleric. This character is the party's third berserker. Just as the first, she's not limited in her selection of weapons since she's a part Paladin. However, as Cleric levels don't conflict with using a shield, she becomes the number one choice for using the various one-handed weapons you find along your journey, in case you haven't found a similar two-handed weapon yet. This makes her a perfect candidate for putting your best sling into good use - both for the damage it provides and the range it has. The range makes sure this character stays last in the marching order, and can thus intercept eventual flanking attacks directly by just switching to a shield and a melee weapon, if you can't afford using your second tank for it. Once you get to Kuldahar in HOF mode, you might even consider inheriting the Big Death from the first berserker once he upgrades his. While Ilmater isn't one of the best cleric domains available, it has several good points too. It allows you to complete the Ilmater Sanctification ritual in Kuldahar graveyard (click on the statue at the north end of it after defeating Hiepherus) for a quest exp bonus and it has access to both Emotion: Hope and Stoneskin as domain spells easing up the dire shortage of 4th level spells between the second tank and the sorcerer. It has an extra casting of Holy Power and Holy Aura as domain spells, both being heavily congested spell casting levels for a Cleric. Finally, the Ilmater's Endurance special ability has the highest CON bonus of them all, short of DUHM at extremely high levels - which is caster-only. This can be used to boost the Sorcerer berserker's hit points significantly for those select few fights. For level-ups, I would start this character as a Paladin and add cleric levels from there on. This character reaches maximum potential at level 21, levels after that provide only small incremental benefits. Starting statistics: -------------------- STR 18 DEX 18 CON 16 INT 5 WIS 18 CHA 5 Maxed STR and CON make this character an excellent berserker, and even an excellent fourth (!) tank during the Normal mode. Maxed WIS together with the STR/WIS bonus from being a Paladin enable you to cast your highest level spells without resorting to items. DEX is also excellent, albeit not totally maxed out as that's all you have remaining after sacking both INT and CHA. Better CHA could be used to boost saving throws, but it would cause more trouble than it's worth since some other stat would suffer. If you don't want to min-max, use 18/10/14/10/18/10 instead. Use your level-up points to boost STR. You don't need more spells after you've reached level 20 as a Cleric anyway, and STR is what makes or breaks physical combat. Boosting CON won't really help you either, as noted with the second berserker. Here are the skills and Feats you should take for this character. Skills : Concentration Feats : 1 - Power Attack (number denotes char level) 3 - Cleave 6 - Rapid Shot 9 - Dirty Fighting 12 - Combat Casting 15 - Improved Critical 18 - Spell Focus: Transmutation 21 - Greater Spell Focus: Transmutation 24 - Weapon Focus: Axes 27 - Great Fortitude 30 - Discipline Power Attack and Cleave combined with the STR score will ensure that monsters will drop with a good pace. Cleave against goblins and such very early monsters effectively gives you an extra attack per round. Once you no longer can one-shot stuff, switching to a ranged weapon together with Rapid Shot will combine excellent damage with reach. Dirty Fighting is a nice extra oomph during Normal mode. Combat Casting makes it easier to get your spells off, but could wait a while since you're only going to cast buffs and fast spells early on. Improved Critical is a must when you do get there. Finally, Greater Spell Focus: Transmutation will make that Tremor spell really shake things up in the enemy ranks, just as with the druid. Weapon Focus could be picked earlier if you think you'll need it, but hitting stuff with maxed STR and buffs has never been an obstacle in my experience. However, considering you might switch to the Big Death, a hit bonus can't really hurt. Rest is just filler chaff but could be used to put Weapon Focus in some unexpected weapon drop in latter stages of HOF mode. Comments, strategies & notes: ----------------------------- Since both Prayer and Recitation give penalties to hit for your enemies, on top of them both being highly desirable booster spells you really should use often, you are well advised to pair up with the party's first tank to be able to cast them both simultaneously. Follow up with Holy Power to let the tanks gather solid aggro on the monsters and unleash the carnage after that. You could use this character as either melee or ranged, depending on your needs. She's about equally good as both. This character is the best candidate for wearing the second Zuvembie armor in HOF mode when you get there. Thus you can hand over the helmets granting Death Ward to other characters. Spell selection: ---------------- Number in parentheses denotes take only up to this many, otherwise you can mix'n'match as much as you like. 1: Sanctuary, Remove Fear(2) 2: Draw Upon Holy Might, Bull's Strength(3), Aid(0-4), Remove Paralysis(1) 3: Prayer, Magic Circle Against Evil (0-3) 4: Holy Power, Recitation(2-3) 5: Champion's Strength, Chaotic Commands(0-2) 6: Divine Shell(1), Heal 7: Resurrection, Greater Shield of Lathander(1-4) 8: Mass Heal(1), Tremor, Holy Aura(1-2) 9: Summon Monster IX Remove Fear is good backup spell. Use Sanctuary to drop aggro as necessary. Bull's Strength should be on all or your characters - if it expires, it's time to rest. Aid is an OK damage booster with any extra slots you might have. DUHM becomes useful around caster level 18, ignore it until then. Prayer is all you'll ever need from level 3, unless you need extra backup on the Magic Circle Against Evil. Recitation is useful to cast in the middle of a large group of enemies as it reduces enemy saves amongst other things. Holy Power is one of the most important damage boosters for this char, be sure to utilize it liberally. Your level five spell picks should mostly consist of Champion's Strength to boost your berserkers. Keep a Divine Shell ready for extra elemental damage resistances in the few spots where it can make a difference. Heal is mostly for yourself, allowing for a bit more reckless style of play. Use the 7th level divine spell Greater Shield of Lathander in boss fights for extra protection and Resurrection for general healing, both in and out of combat. While Symbol of Hopelessness is better than Tremor in the hands of the first tank, this character doesn't have the WIS to make it click so let's go with Tremor. Holy Aura is useful for a temporary Spell Resistance boost for all of your characters with natural Spell Resistance, especially before you get the Holy Avenger for your second tank. Keep a Mass Heal ready for inadvert mishaps. Finally, Summon Monster IX is the only non-suicidal choice at 9th level. Alternate Character Choices: ---------------------------- Just about anything works in this character slot, since all of the major functions are already covered. Doubling up on the clerical buffs and having a character with ECL penalty to further help the tanks and the Sorcerer just seems like a good fit. =============================================================================== 5. Example 2 : The Balanced Party =============================================================================== Phew, that was a doozy! While the Melee party definitely delivers a punch, there is parts in the game where the "no blasting" limitation seems a bit contrived. While it certainly proves a point - that it is *possible* to play through the game without dropping massive destruction spells left and right, hiding behind your summons and just generally non-playing the game, it's also ignoring all the stuff that is still enjoyable in using such strategies. There's that certain, unexplainable feeling of power when you finally manage to gather a bunch of enemies into a clump and blast them away with two perfectly placed Delayed Blast Fireballs. Plus, doing "just fine" isn't really a merit in a game that most veterans can play through with just about any party, left-handed and blindfolded. So, let's keep the options open and see where it leads us, OK? This is my version of the Ultimate Party. Yours could differ in a myriad of ways, not limited to just minor tweaks here and there either. That's why I have written that chapter three for you - so that you can design your own. My version of the Ultimate party satisfies the following conditions: 1) Two high AC characters, both of which with as minimal upkeep as possible. Additionally, the second high AC character doesn't need to just wait around doing nothing while protecting the back of your party. 2) All at least partially useful skills are present, including Wilderness Lore. All skills are developed to a point that they never need to be substituted with secondary means such as bashing/Knocking locks open or paying merchants for identification. 3) All of the most useful abilities from the different classes are present. In short, the only things missing are the higher level Bard songs and the various abilities of Monks, as they are simply worse than available alternatives and/or superfluous. 4) Optimized use of spells, not just on certain few important casting levels here and there, but all across the board. Having to rest when you're out of your best spells while you haven't even touched the others feels just so lame. There really isn't that many caster levels you can't find ANY reasonable use for. As the basic strategy at designing parties doesn't really change that much, I won't repeat the things that have already been said about the Melee party unless there's a significant difference. So, let me introduce: JUPP party choice number two. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.1 - Tank & thief & buffer & bombardier Deep Gnome Rogue(2)/ Paladin(1)/ Illusionist(x) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This character must be Lawful Good in alignment to be able to become Paladin later on. Very similar to the Melee party's second tank, this character works as this party's main tank. Since we're not limited to boosting melee capability alone, this character opts to drop the late acquisition of Weapon Specialization in favor of gaining all the goodies of being a high level Illusionist by the early HOF mode instead of at the very end of it, if even then. The removal of the "no blasting allowed" policy allows for much broader and better options for dealing damage during all stages of the game. Depending on your difficulty setting, you should start your career by using two-handed weapons until you get the Armored Arcana feats to be able to use a shield without spell casting penalties. Expertise is enough to carry you through the early tougher guys, even at Insane difficulty. Use the Brilliant Shortsword +5 as you main weapon until you can replace it with the Holy Avenger, and whack the golems with one of the available maces. The Flaming Star +1 from Vrassilus is arguably one of the best weapons for taking down the Ice Golems in the Ice Temple. For leveling up, I'd start this character as a Rogue to get the most benefit from the initial skill points. Next up is a level as a Paladin to broaden the weapon selection and to get some early hit points. A level as Illusionist next allows for the scribing of the scrolls found along the way. Saving a skill point for the next level-up as Rogue ensures more than good enough base amount of rogue skills to carry us through the game. After that it's Illusionist all the way. This character reaches the maximum potential at character level 23. Levels gained after that only provide smallish incremental benefits. Starting statistics: -------------------- STR 16 DEX 20 CON 14 INT 18 WIS 5 CHA 1 Maxed DEX is a given as this is going to be a high-AC character, and high INT is needed since this character is both a wizard and in need of skill points. Fairly high CON insures that a lucky strike by any enemy doesn't require a Resurrection spell right away. WIS and CHA are both unimportant, although the WIS score causes some early headaches with Will saves. If you don't want to min-max, use 10/20/10/18/10/6 instead and ignore Power Attack and Cleave. All level-up points should go to DEX to boost AC. Together with the Chimandrae's Slippers (or Cat's Grace) and a lucky draw from Tenser's Transformation, it's possible to reach DEX 40 with this character if you ever reach level 28. Here are the skills and Feats you should take for this character. As you don't have quite enough points to keep up with all of your skills, you have to alternate between the thieving skills. I'd suggest focusing a bit more on Search and Disable Device, as the ever-increasing DEX bonus makes Lock Picking and Pick Pocketing easier. Skills : Concentration (keep maxed) Spellcraft (only to rank 6 initially) Disable Device Open Lock Pick Pocket Search Hide & Move silently (initial points only!) Feats : 1 - Iron Will (number denotes char level) 3 - Dodge 3 - Expertise (Illusionist extra feat) 6 - Armored Arcana 8 - Armored Arcana (2) (Illusionist extra feat) 9 - Armored Arcana (3) 12 - Spirit of Flame 13 - Spell Focus: Evocation (Illusionist extra feat) 15 - Improved Critical 18 - Greater Spell Focus: Evocation 18 - Weapon Focus: Long Sword (Illusionist extra feat) 21 - Spell Focus: Transmutation 23 - Greater Spell Focus: Transmutation (Illusionist extra feat) 24 - Combat Casting 27 - Discipline 28 - Lightning Reflexes (Illusionist extra feat) 30 - Great Fortitude Iron Will counterbalances the low WIS score in the early going. Dodge helps out against the tougher guys from the start and Expertise becomes your adjustable AC padding to meet the AC needs of whatever you're going against. Getting Armored Arcana next makes you able to use up to Large shields without penalties, as you'll soon want to be able to cast spells while wearing a shield. Spirit of Flame enhances your fire spells, just about exactly at the moment you get your hands on that Sunfire spell. GSF: Evocation will enhance all of your bombardment spells, but don't forget to pick that Improved Critical as soon as it pops up. Since you'll be using the Holy Avenger most of the time anyway from now on, let's get the Focus for it next. GSF: Transmutation is up next to make Slow usable against the hordes in HOF mode so that none of the other casters need to cram it in. Rest is filler feats. Note that while Power Attack and especially Cleave would be useful in Normal mode, the usual problem in the beginning isn't damaging the monsters but making your hits connect. By the time you could start using Power Attack to any reasonable degree, you often stumble upon the need of having Expertise activated instead, especially in Insane difficulty. Your other party members handle the killing duties well enough. Comments, strategies & notes: ----------------------------- This character is a tank. With some serious arcane blasting power to show off in the middle of the enemy crowds. However, it takes a while before this character learns any of the good stuff useful for blasting - use any suitable weapon to bring the opposition down in the early going. Use this character as you main tank all the way to the Wandering Village in HOF mode, where you buy the second set of +5 generic AC bracers. The Decoy can then take over the main tank duties from this character for the really, really tough guys. For the ultimate AC boost, wear Chimandrae's Slippers (or cast Cat's Grace), Crow's Nest, Flame Dance Talisman (once the decoy gets the better one and can hand it over) and Brazen Bands. Cast Shield, Ghost Armor, Haste, Barkskin and finally Tenser's Transformation if needed. At the very end of HOF mode, you can wear Chain of Drakka's Fury as it's +1 AC compared to Shield. Use any of the +4 AC shields, such as Large Shield +2. If you have Ease of Use mod installed, you should be able to use "Sad Giant's Cap" as your shield during Normal mode and "Apsel's Rolly-Polly Knuckleheaded Shield" (buy it from Jemeliah) in HOF mode. Apsel's has +1 AC compared to the normally available shields and both of them have only 5% casting penalty, so you'll free two feats from Armored Arcana as well. Here's the AC breakdowns in various parts of the game. Normal mode Early HOF mode Late HOF mode AC: 10 (base) AC: 10 (base) AC: 10 (base) +7 (Shield) +7 (Shield) +8 (Chain of Drakka's Fury) +5 (Ghost Armor) +5 (Ghost Armor) +5 (Ghost Armor) +9 (DEX bonus) +13 (DEX /w TT) +15 (DEX /w Tenser's) +4 (Shield bonus) +4 (Shield bonus) +4 (Shield bonus) +6 (Equipment) +6 (Equipment) +9 (Equipment) +10 (Feats & race) +10 (Feats & race) +10 (Feats & race) +9 (Spells) +13 (Spells) +13 (Spells) === === === 60 (OK up to Chp2) 68 (OK) 74 (OK!) While AC 74 is over-doing it a bit, you can't always count on Tenser's giving you the maximal +8 DEX boost so there needs to be a bit of slack. You'll be at AC66 without Tenser's, not quite enough for the heaviest hitters but you'll have lots and lots of Mirror Images to compensate and a Decoy to hide behind by then. Let the decoy take care of the big boys while you gather the cannon fodder. All of the buffs have nice, long durations except for (Mass) Haste, which you want to rebuff for most of the fights anyway, not just because it gives AC bonus. Spell selection: ---------------- Number in parentheses denotes take only up to this many, otherwise you can mix'n'match as much as you like. 1: Mage Armor(1-2), Shield 2: Mirror Image, Cat's Grace(1-3) 3: Ghost Armor(0-3), Fireball/Skulltrap, Slow 4: Emotion: Hope, Malison, Stone Skin(1-4) 5: Sunfire, Cone of Cold 6: Mass Haste(0-3), Tenser's Transformation 7: Delayed Blast Fireball, Mordenkainen's Sword (for HOF Eight Chambers) 8: Mind Blank 9: Executioner's Eyes Most of the spells are various buffs because this character doesn't really have the INT to make the spell DCs up to par with enemies' saving throws. But on the other hand, having this character concentrate on the necessary buffs, the remaining characters in the party can concentrate on offensive magic. Once the desired level of buff spells has been acquired, the rest can be filled with offensive magic. During the HOF mode, this character can be made a dedicated Malison caster, helping the other characters to score big damage with their spells. Note that some of the spells belong to Abjuration or Necromancy schools, and thus are unavailable to this character until the level as Paladin has been taken. In contrast to the Melee party's Illusionist tank, this character is no longer nearly as dependant on getting to the absolute highest levels as fast as possible, so no need to use the How to be an Adventurer books on this character. There's actually one that benefits more from them, you'll soon see who. Alternate Character Choices: ---------------------------- The amount of levels as Paladin and Rogue aren't set in stone, and you could even take levels as a Fighter just as the Melee party's tank did. However, my considered opinion is that anything that delays the last daily casts on 9th level beyond character level 23 is just unnecessarily delaying the ultimate power of this character's buffing prowess. Once you're there, though - knock yourself out. I still consider a bit better duration on Tenser's better than anything else available. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.2 - Decoy & healer & buffer & debuffer Deep Gnome Monk of the Old Order(1)/ Dreadmaster of Bane(20)/ Illusionist(9) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: Lawful Evil alignment is recommended as that'll make this character immune to Blasphemy. Just as the first character had close resemblance to the Melee party's second tank, this character resembles the first. However, this time she's not a tank but a decoy. This alleviates the AC woes greatly and allows her to transfer some of the better AC boosting items to the Illusionist tank instead and skipping the Rogue level altogether. No worries, though - this removes the need to have a high-level Bard and allows this character to concentrate on what she does best - casting spells with frighteningly high DC to back them up. Start as a Dreadmaster and keep on adding Dreadmaster levels until you reach level 20. Continue with Illusionist levels until you finally buy the second pair of +5 generic AC bracers from the Wandering Village in HOF mode. Take the level in Monk to allow her to become your decoy and carry on with Illusionist levels from there on. This character can reach the maximum potential already at character level 24, if you take the Monk level after three Illusionist levels. Levels gained after that only provide smallish incremental benefits. Starting statistics: -------------------- STR 6 DEX 20 CON 14 INT 13 WIS 20 CHA 1 If you don't want to min-max, use 6/20/10/13/20/5 instead. Use the first five level-up points to boost WIS, and boost it further by quaffing two potions of Holy Transference, two potions of Clear Purpose and wear the Every God's Ring you buy from Kuldahar. You'll end up with WIS40, which is a LOT when you apply it to all of your divine attack spells. Use the last two points to boost your DEX. Here are the skills and Feats you should take for this character. Skills : Concentration Spellcraft Feats : 1 - Dodge 3 - Expertise 6 - Spell Focus: Enchantment (Hold Person, Greater Command...) 9 - Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment 12 - Spirit of Flame 15 - Strong Back 18 - Weapon Proficiency: Long Sword 21 - Two-Weapon Fighting 21 - Ambidexterity (Illusionist extra feat) 24 - Combat Casting 26 or 27 - Discipline (Illusionist extra feat) 27 - Lightning Reflexes 30 - Great Fortitude Dodge and Expertise are needed for the AC boost when holding off monsters in the back. GSF: Enchantment is just sweet with the control spell available for a Dreadmaster. Spirit of Flame allows this character to score big with the various fire spells available to clerics, for times when Enchantments won't work such as fighting against undead or slimes. Strong Back allows this character to carry more equipment and ultimately don the Chain of Drakkas at Severed Hand. As there's no more important feats for this character, the Dual-wield feats allow this character to use the best of the best defensive weapons by the time the Monk level is taken. Combat Casting and Discipline helps against spell interruptions, but since AC is so good they're pretty much last in the priority, and you can hide behind your Mirror Images for extended periods of time when needed. Rest is just filler. Comments, strategies & notes: ----------------------------- During normal mode and the early parts of HOF mode, use this character as an archer with a Crossbow. She needs to secure the back of your party. Should any monsters flank the party, switch to a melee weapon (Club of Disruption +3 is good, early pick) with a shield, activate Expertise and hold them off until the rest of the party can come to her rescue. The crossbow from Illium is the best one for her as it doesn't have that stupid 1 shot per round limitation as most other crossbows do. Depending on your level, you might consider switching to the Hell Bolter from Dragu temporarily until you reach 3 attacks per combat round normally. Cast spells from the back to soften up the enemies for the rest of your party. This character needs five items for the ultimate AC boost - Indomitable Bands (HOF mode, from the Averine Decanter sold by Nym in the Wandering Village and setting the genie free at once), Every God's Ring (normal mode, bought from Nathaniel), Sunfire Talisman (HOF, bought from Kuldahar, use Flame Dance Talisman until then) and Chimandrae's Warded Slippers (HOF mode, found in Severed Hand, use Cat's Grace until then). Required buffs are Barkskin (Druid), Haste (Sorc), Shield (self, use Mage Armor in the beginning and Chain of Drakkas until you take the Monk level) and Divine Shell (self). Normal mode After Monk level Late HOF mode AC: 10 (base) AC: 10 (base) AC: 10 (base) +7 (Chain of Drakkas) +7 (Shield) +7 (Shield) +6 (Divine Shell) +6 (Divine Shell) +6 (Divine Shell) +7 (DEX bonus) +7 (DEX bonus) +7 (DEX bonus) +4 (Shield bonus) +12 (WIS bonus) +15 (WIS bonus) +1 (Equipment) +6 (Equipment) +8 (Equipment) +10 (Feats & race) +10 (Feats & race) +10 (Feats & race) +9 (Spells) +9 (Spells) +9 (Spells) === === === 54 (mostly OK in Chp.1) 67 (OK in Chp. 2-4) 72 (OK!) Notice that most of the buffs have long durations, except for the Divine Shell which you can replace with Ghost Armor against everything else but the dreadful Slayer Knights of Xvim, and (Mass) Haste which you would want to rebuff for most of the fights anyway, not just because it gives a bit of AC. Keep a casting of Spirit armor on her to maintain one lower AC for much, much longer periods at a time and because it helps with saving throws. In order to minimize the risk of being struck by a stray Fireball and getting extra insurance against those annoying critically failed saving throws, it's very important to boost this character's spell resistance. Deep Gnomes have natural spell resistance, but it caps at 42 at character level 30 - leaving a gap of only 8 to reach the maximum of 50. So, be sure to use those "Potions of Arcane Absorption" from Sherincal on this character. The Chimandrae's Warded Slippers boost your SR during the final Chapter in HOF. Once you take the Monk level, you need to get rid of the shield you've been carrying. Strange enough, there is no two-handed weapons with worthy defensive properties, so you're better off with the Golden Heart of together with Xvimian Fang (of Despair), Dagger of Warding or "Baron" Sulo's Hook, depending on what you need from your off-hand. While the sword's +25 HP could be useful to just about anyone, switching from it to something else and back will always leave you at least 25 HP from the maximum which is rather aggravating. No switching back and forth needed here. Spell selection: ---------------- Number in parentheses denotes take only up to this many, otherwise you can mix'n'match as much as you like. Dreadmaster spells: 1: Remove Fear(2), Bless 2: Hold Person (0-3), Bull's Strength(3), Aid(0-4) 3: Magic Circle Against Evil(2-5), Prayer 4: Holy Power(1-2), Recitation 5: Champion's Strength(1-2), Greater Command 6: Divine Shell, Heal(1-2), Circle of Blades(0-2) 7: Resurrection, Greater Shield of Lathander(1-3) 8: Mass Heal(1), Symbol of Hopelessness 9: Summon Monster IX Remember to use Remove fear when fighting Sherincal or the Guardian. The amount of Hold Person spells depends on if you're fighting humanoids or not, Aid is an OK damage booster when you don't. Magic Circle Against Evil is one of the best protective buffs around, so make sure you can keep it up on a permanent basis. Fill up with Prayers when you get there. Recitation is useful to cast in the middle of a large group of enemies as it reduces enemy saves amongst other things. Follow with other spells as needed. Holy Power is a good boost with your crossbow for tougher fights, use it if you feel you have enough Recitations available. Your level five spell picks should mostly consist of Greater Command, especially since you pick the Spell Focus feats for it. Divine Shell is needed for the ultimate AC boost but otherwise it is not THAT great of a spell with its shortish duration. Keep a Heal or two at the ready. Circle of Blades can be fun extra for the massive hordes surrounding you in HOF mode. Use the 7th level divine spell Greater Shield of Lathander in boss fights for extra protection and Resurrection for general healing, both in and out of combat. Symbol of Hopelessness will stun almost everyone in sight, so follow up with brute force & steel with your characters. Keep a Mass Heal ready for inadvert mishaps, such as one of your other clerics getting interrupted during that nanosecond it takes to cast Heal on themselves. Finally, Summon Monster IX is the only non-suicidal choice at 9th level. Illusionist spells: 1: Shield 2: Mirror Image 3: Ghost Armor 4: Emotion: Hope, Malison Since the Illusionist spells come extremely late and are low level, there's no use in trying to use damaging spells. Just concentrate on the few buffs you actually take the Illusionist levels for, especially Shield and Mirror Image. You might not even get to use the level 3 and 4 spells before the game is over but no sweat - there's nothing important for you there anyway. Alternate Character Choices: ---------------------------- You could ignore the Illusionist levels altogether and just keep on adding levels as a Dreadmaster. However, as you'll only get some low level spell castings per day and you don't even need DUHM for your AC boost the way the Melee party's tank did, the Shield spell and especially extra castings of Mirror Image should be preferred. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.3 - Diplomat & healer & utility & buffer & debuffer & bombardier Human Bard(5)/ Dreadmaster of Bane(4)/ Druid(x) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This character needs to be Neutral Evil in alignment to be able to use the class combination above. This is actually a pure benefit - no worries about Unholy Blight and Blasphemy, and no lost advantage from the spontaneous casting of healing spells since we're not using them anyway. With the protector characters ready, it's time to add the druid. But instead of just cramming one in and feeling down for occupying a slot that could have been used for something more powerful, let's make this character the versatility extraordinaire supreme, Super-sized and with extra onion rings and a dairy sundae with a cherry on top. This character starts the game as a diplomat, but soon transforms into a a mighty warrior, offering the best of the best methods of early monster removal: beating them senseless. Once the spell casters start gaining momentum in their spell repertoire, this character gradually abandons the life of a warrior, only to transform into an extremely efficient caster. Start the game as a Bard to gain the boost to your starting skills, especially the diplomatic ones. Keep adding levels as a Druid until you start nearing chapter five. You need one level as a Dreadmaster to be able to benefit from the +2 WIS quest. Carry on with Druid levels all the way until you're level 20 Druid, and switch to alternating between Bard and Dreadmaster levels. You'll become very powerful by the time you're level 22, but you'll reach the ultimate maximum at level 29. Starting statistics: -------------------- STR 6 DEX 3 CON 13 INT 18 WIS 18 CHA 18 Maxed INT, WIS *and* CHA is the best thing a dedicated diplomat could hope for. Maxed WIS enhances the debuffer and bombardier roles. This doesn't leave much room for STR or DEX, both of which are taken to the absolute lowest reasonable minimums to boost CON at least a bit. None of these physical stats matter in the long run anyway since this character is a caster at heart. Use the Ring of Hearty Strength to boost your HP from Chapter 4 onwards and switch to Death Shroud of Bankao in late HOF mode when you find it. If you don't want to min-max, use 8/8/10/18/18/14 instead. Use your level-up points to boost WIS. This makes the various druidic offensive spells shine in what they do, and allows even for healing spells to be added here and there to help the rest of the healers out. You'll gain even more WIS because this character is a Dreadmaster (+4 by the late HOF mode) and the Every God's ring boosts it even further. Expect to be at WIS 34 at the end of the HOF mode. Here are the skills and Feats you should take for this character. You don't need more than 6 ranks in Spellcraft so you can use the points to boost something else once you get there. Skills : Alchemy Concentration Spellcraft Knowledge: Arcana Bluff Diplomacy Intimidate Wilderness Lore Feats : 1 - Lingering Song (number denotes character level) 1 - Combat Casting (Human extra feat) 3 - Spell Focus: Evocation 6 - Greater Spell Focus: Evocation 9 - Scion of Storms 12 - Spirit of Flame 15 - Spell Focus: Transmutation 18 - Greater Spell Focus: Transmutation 21 - Spell Focus: Necromancy 24 - Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy 27 - Discipline 30 - Great Fortitude Lingering Song is a must for any bard and Combat Casting is the de facto most important feat for spell casters without the AC to avoid being hit so they're taken first. GSF: Evocation together with Scion of Storms makes those Call Lightnings and Static Charges even more deadly during the wannabe- warrior period. Spirit of Flame enhances the various fire spells, just about right when the warrior-wannabe period nears its end. GSF: Transmutation, while not a first pick for most other types of casters, makes the Tremor spell your absolute best pick for heavy-duty disabling, surpassing even the Decoy's Symbol of Hopelessness against strong-willed enemies such as casters. GSF: Necromancy makes even that lonely 8th level Finger of Death as good as it can possibly become - quite convenient, actually, since the other choices on that level kinda suck. The last two feats are more or less filler. Comments, strategies & notes: ----------------------------- You're better off using this character as a dedicated singer during the early stages of the game. You can fire a crossbow in between and take your chances - you might even hit something sometimes, but the +1 to hit and damage for the rest of the party is an excellent aid in the early going when hitting stuff is nowhere near guaranteed. As soon as you can shapeshift into the Arctic Boar form, do so. You can and should still keep the song active, but now you can actually expect to rip a new one for the unlucky enemies crossing your path and your AC will become much, much better. Switch out of the form to cast off your stored healing spells to keep the party going for a short while longer before it's time to rest, and remember to buff your tank and decoy with Barkskins before switching back into an animal for the next day. This character's ability to cast both Call Lightning and Static Charge greatly extend the capabilities of the shapeshifted forms, as there's no need to switch back and forth to keep them going but somewhat close proximity to the enemies is a must anyway due to the range of them. You'll often put the other melee-capable characters in shame while the bug zapper has duration remaining. You should consider casting them on the enemies you meet as you go, before shapeshifting into an animal until you've run dry. Go into rampage mode after that. Later on, when the shapeshifted forms no longer jive with the enemies you meet and your caster side starts to feel it's just sitting there for no apparent reason, switch back to your human form and start spewing out spells. With the absurdly high WIS you'll end up with, it shouldn't be possible to run out of spells, at least not before the rest of your party has been dry for a while already. Remember that Druids don't have nearly as many spells for buffing, so it's offense, summons or not using them all, more or less. By the time you start considering this option, you can change your mind several times per day anyway. You should wear items that grant stat bonuses or resistances in your weapon slots as you're not going to use them for beating anything anyway. This way your shapeshift forms will be buffed upon transformation without you having to buff (or even re-buff) them with spells. Lyre of Progression is a good choice for your off-hand as the +3 STR will take your shapeshifts two modifier's worth higher in STR directly and you're not going to benefit much from a shield anyway. The main hand should be selected on the basis of the bonuses you get by wearing it, not how much damage it does. One such, often overlooked weapon is the Demon's Breath Flail - it grants a sizeable 10/- bonus to your fire resistance and it's for evil characters only. Or you could use something like Belib's Everlasting Torch to deal some different type of damage, such as when dealing with slimes. You can always put a crossbow or some other ranged weapon on your alternate slot to avoid having the AI walk you up to enemies to beat them but keep you in the back instead. Besides, once you get to the higher levels, the low DEX won't slow you down much at all as an archer, with all the buff spells flying around and all that jazz. Finally, since this character gets useful new abilities all the way to level 29, you should consider using the How to be an Adventurer books here. Being a human in a party with heavy ECL penalties and using these books should allow you to actually get that far, especially if you're thorough with the various side quests. Don't sweat it if you don't, none of it is in any way crucial, just nice. Note: While this character is your party's public face, you should use one of the sorcerers to negotiate prices with merchants. They'll increase their CHA beyond what it starts with and thus get better discounts in the long run. Talking skills won't make a difference, strange enough. However, there's two merchants you can coerce to give you better deals - Beodaewn in early Chapter Two and Heggr Splitsteel halfway through Chapter Four. You should do the coercion with this character, but switch to the sorcerers to do the actual trading. Spell selection: ---------------- Number in parentheses denotes take only up to this many, otherwise you can mix'n'match as much as you like. Druid spells: 1: Sunscorch, Entangle(0-3), Cure Light Wounds 2: Barkskin 3: Call Lightning, Storm Shell(0-1), Cure Moderate Wounds (Neutralize Poison) 4: Flame Strike, Freedom of Movement 5: Static Charge 6: Healing Circle, Sol's Searing Orb 7: Aura of Vitality(0-2), Fire Storm 8: Finger of Death 9: Tremor, Mass Heal(1) Sunscorch will let you finish up trolls, plus it can be used as a better variant of Blindness as it also causes damage. Entangle is your party's version of Web, use if you're into that kind of stuff. Cure Light wounds can be used as a filler to patch up minor wounds that don't need a full Heal to recover from. Barkskin is your one and only unique buff spell so don't even consider other options on this level. Call Lightning marks the transformation of this character from just another guy to a shocking personality. Use Storm Shell in the Will-o-wisps battle and fill up with Cure Moderate Wounds when Call Lightning doesn't apply, aka indoors. Neutralize Poison becomes available before Clerics get it, might come handy in Shaengarne Ford. Flame Strike is your first fireball-wannabe, but you might want to use Freedom of Movement if you're still using the shapeshift forms. Static Charge is THE spell for this character. Healing Circle is useful to take care of AoE damage and Sol's Searing Orb can be used as a stronger variant of Blind. Keep Aura of Vitality ready for the toughest battles, otherwise fill up with Fire Storm as it'll rock the socks off your enemies. Level eight is for the Finger of Death, but you might want to experiment with Whirlwind against huge hordes of weak monsters, such as Shaengarne Ford in HOF mode. Keep one Mass Heal handy for emergencies. Finally, use Tremor as a large-scale disabler - it has HUGE area of effect and the save is extremely tough, especially with the Greater Spell Focus: Transmutation feat backing it up. Bard spells: 1st level: Minor Mirror Image (against one-shot nukes such as Horrid Wilting) Mage Armor (for a possible mishap with Dispel, perhaps?) (out of good spells) (out of good spells) (out of good spells) 2nd level: Mirror Image (can't have too many characters with these) Eagle's Splendor (to keep CHA up for you and the sorcerer) Luck (more of these can't hurt) Just some low level defenses and lots of useless crap. However, Mirror Image is nothing short of pure gold, even at such low levels. Dreadmaster spells: 1: Sanctuary(1-3), Bane 2: Chant 3: Magic Circle Against Evil Nothing strange here, just some low-level stuff. Bane is the only non-useless spell at the 1st level after you've got your fill with Sanctuary, as Bless just has a pitiful duration. Chant is just as good with a 3rd level caster as it would with one with 20+ levels, so you might actually consider casting that with this character once you know you're not going to need this character for anything else for the next 10 rounds. It certainly adds oomph to the rest of your party and this character's skills with the crossbow. Alternate Character Choices: ---------------------------- None, really. You could be tempted to keep adding druid levels even after you've reached level 20, but the only thing you're gaining is a bit of extra duration for your Barkskin buff. With the WIS you have, you'll actually have yet another set of buffs available compared to the Melee party's druid. The extremely late acquisition of Tymora's Melody is a drag, but I can't think of any non-bard character that would be willing to set aside the advancement of their main class(es) for a whole 5 levels just to get that. And pure bards, even if necessary for the Melee party's success, do not really compare favorably to most other types of characters I can think of. You can't really drop the Dreadmaster levels either, as the +4 WIS from that applied to the full range of druid's offensive spells alone is worth more than a song you need to click every 2 rounds to take advantage of. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.4 - Bombardier & buffer & debuffer Human Paladin of Mystra(1)/ Monk of the Old Order(1)/ Sorcerer(x) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This character must be Lawful Good so that the level of Paladin may be taken. So, we have two protectors and a diplomat, so what are we still missing? Skills have been taken care of, adding a druid likewise. The tank is already more than well-suited for taking care of the various arcane buffs in the long run, but doesn't gain early access to them due to his multiclass status and ECL penalty. So, let's remedy this first. This character closely resembles the first berserker of the Melee party, with one important distinction. The focus is now on the spell casting side of things, while still retaining the goodness provided by being a berserker as much as possible. While adding to STR and taking the feats for physical combat makes the damage undeniably BETTER, the opportunity cost of not having the CHA for extra spells and lower spell DC to actually make them work to their full extent is rather steep. Going the other way round is just plain better in any imaginable way, especially since it also adds to the saving throws from the paladin mix-in later on. Also, as doing physical damage isn't the only consideration, it pays to delay the Paladin and Monk levels a bit. You'll still get them eventually, but only after you've received the best spells first. Use a sling, throwing dagger or even a dart to cause physical damage as you can use those without taking any special feats for them. This will also keep you out from the heat of the melee combat so that the missing Paladin level won't cause nearly as much trouble. You'll also be free to don the Bracers of Icelandic Pearl from Battle Squares for quite a while since your bracer slot isn't occupied by Thunder Clap shortly thereafter. For level-ups, start as a Sorcerer and keep on adding Sorcerer levels all the way until you reach level 20 in it. This way you'll get to use all the arcane goodies as fast as possible. Once there, feel free to help yourself to the extra saving throws from the Paladin mix-in. You should delay the Monk level all the way until you reach the Yuan-Ti temple again in HOF mode, so that you can wear the Force of Lightning to cap your physical attacks. This character reaches the maximum early potential already at character level 22, but levels gained after that provide improvements to the spell selection all the way to level 30. Nothing major, though. Starting statistics: -------------------- STR 18 DEX 16 CON 18 INT 3 WIS 3 CHA 18 Maxed STR and CON are a given since this character is a berserker and being a Sorcerer necessitates all the boosting to your hit points as you can get. Maxed CHA is a given for bombardier sorcerers and you should boost it further with Eagle's Splendor. This still leaves room for almost maxed DEX, once INT and WIS have been sacked. You don't need either one of them. If you don't want to min-max, use 18/14/10/8/8/18 instead. All level-up points should go into CHA. It'll give you more and better spells and even better saving throws. Here's the skills and feats you should take with this character. Skills : Concentration Spellcraft Feats : 1 - Rapid Shot (number denotes char level) 1 - Combat Casting (Human extra feat) 3 - Spell Focus: Evocation 6 - Greater Spell Focus: Evocation 9 - Spell Focus: Necromancy 12 - Spirit of Flame 15 - Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy 18 - Improved Critical 21 - Aegis of Rime 24 - Great Fortitude 27 - Luck of Heroes 30 - Discipline A fairly standard caster selection, except for Rapid Shot and Improved Critical. Those are the only two feats that will actually make a noticeable difference with the ranged weapons you should mostly be using. The low INT score means you can't take Spirit of Flame at 9th level, so SF: Necromancy is a good preparatory pick for the GSF: Necromancy a bit later on. Improved Critical comes available at level 18. After that it's just minor feat picks - Aegis of Rime will enhance those Cones of Cold and Great Fortitude and Luck of Heroes together with the saving throw bonuses of being a Paladin with high CHA actually push you into the range where you might actually expect to succeed in most of your Fortitude saves. Spells selections: ------------------ As sorcerers don't have to memorize spells, this list has all the spells this character picks, with commentary as to where that particular spell might be useful. Please note that the order is important here - you only get to pick a couple few new spells at every level-up, so don't miss an important buff or killer spell by choosing the spell that is going to be useful a while later, not right now. This character concentrates more on the early acquisition of buffs, up and until the better necromancy spells become available. 1st level: Mage Armor (better than any armor found in the game for quite some time) Sleep (becomes useless fast, but helps the party through beginning) Magic Missile (to take down enemy's Mirror Images fast) Chromatic Orb (after level 7, stuns opponents for a long time) Burning Hands (to finish up trolls) Minor Mirror Image (against one-shot nukes such as Horrid Wilting) Ray of Enfeeblement (not very useful but we have to pick 7th) 2nd level: Cat's Grace (necessary buff for a long time to come) Protection from Arrows (significant help for your protectors) Mirror Image (old faithful - but you're doing it wrong if you need many) Luck (go read chapter "How lucky can you get?" if you really need to ask) Invisibility (to be able to drop accidental aggro in HOF) Gedlee's Electric Loop (for the stun effect, not for damage) Death Armor (for the porcupine tank trick in HOF) 3rd level: Ghost Armor (VERY much necessary buff for protectors all through the game) Haste (for extra early protection & offensive muscle for the tank) Fireball (can you say ouch?) Skulltrap (unbelievable damage for a 3rd level spell and resistible) Invisibility Sphere (to use the reset & regroup tactic when needed in HOF) Flame Arrow (like skulltrap but without splash damage) 4th level: Emotion: Hope (great bonuses for a long time) Stoneskin (almost total protection for everyone for a VERY long time) Spirit Armor (in times when Mage Armor just isn't enough) Malison (greatly enhances the debuffs cast by the party) Fire Shield: Blue (for the porcupine tank trick in HOF) Fire Shield: Red (for the porcupine tank trick in HOF) 5th level: Protection from Electricity (for the Will-o-wisp fight) Cone of Cold (against those fire-immune monsters and clearing hallways) Lower Resistance (to beat the Guardian easier) Sunfire (our tank is mostly immune, so blast away) Greater Shadow Conjuration (for a decent summon in HOF) 6th level: Mass Haste (probably the best buff spell in the whole game) Acid Storm (sure as hell beats bugged Chain Lightning) Tenser's Transformation (for the ultimate STR boost, maybe) Shades (it finally starts giving good monsters by now) (out of good picks) 7th level: Delayed Blast Fireball (ultimate mass-bombardment spell) Mass Invisibility (same tactic as with sphere, just longer range) Finger of Death (mage? what mage? oh you mean that corpse?) Mordenkainen's Sword (melee at sight range? Yes please!) 8th level: Horrid Wilting (evasion you say? taste this!) Mind Blank (forget about Will saves, keep it always up) Symbol of Hopelessness (hold it right there, folks) Great Shout (I said HOLD IT, dammit!) 9th level: Wail of the Banshee (tactical nuke that doesn't kill own - sweet) Executioner's Eyes (keep 'em criticals coming) Meteor Shower (Blasting with lots of points for style) Aegis (quick emergency protection, maybe) Comments, strategies & notes: ----------------------------- Even if this character is a Sorcerer, you can also use him as you would any berserker. In other words, let the tanks grab the aggro of the monsters, while softening them with spells. Any sign of danger should be immediately countered with a quick casting of Mirror Image, or even Invisibility if there's more than just one monster heading your way. Once the tanks have established the aggro on the monsters, open up with the carnage. Alternate Character Choices: ---------------------------- While an Aasimar would get +1 DC with spells, it would cost you all of the following things: - 1 level later access to buffs. Contradictory with the role. - Minus 9 stat points in STR/DEX/CON since you need 12 INT now. Again, contradictory to the role. - Not possible to take the Monk level without exp penalties. Thus no Force of Lightning to cap the physical attacks per round. Secondary to spell casting of course, but still a minus and rather nasty one at that. The Melee party's berserker was scary already, here you get one that's almost as good in dealing physical damage plus the whole repertoire of arcane spells. So no, I can't see how you could top this feat. As a matter of fact, the three first characters already cover just about all the major points of a successful party. It has a tank (actually two!), a healer (actually two!), all three major schools of magic represented, all skills including a thief and a diplomat and even a bard and a shapeshifter for shits and giggles. So in a way, there's nothing after this point that could really destroy the party - you'd still have the holy triad and three useless corpses laying around them at the worst case. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.5 - Bombardier & buffer & debuffer Human Paladin of Mystra(1)/ Monk of the Old Order(1)/ Sorcerer(x) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This character must be Lawful Good so that the level of Paladin may be taken. So, now that even early access to arcane buffs has been taken care of, let's add another bombardier for the early access to maximal carnage. Instead of waiting with the Paladin and Monk mix-ins, those are taken early to get more varied access to all stuff during early game. Except for this fact and a somewhat different priority queue on the spell picks, these two characters are pretty much copies of each other. For level-ups, start as a Paladin and keep on adding Sorcerer levels all the way until you feel like the extra saving throws and Evasion from the Monk level could be needed. At the latest, you should give early treatment to the problem with fewer attacks per round by taking the Monk level before heading for the Yuan-Ti temple in Chult, as the Thunder Clap bracers available there will give you +1 attack per round with all of your physical forms of attack. Don't forget to buy the Sash of the Black Raven for this character even if you don't take the Monk level early on. This character reaches the maximum early potential already at character level 22, but levels gained after that provide improvements to the spell selection all the way to level 30. Nothing major, though. Starting statistics: -------------------- STR 18 DEX 16 CON 18 INT 3 WIS 3 CHA 18 Maxed STR and CON are a given since this character is a berserker and being a Sorcerer necessitates all the boosting to your hit points as you can get. Maxed CHA is a given for bombardier sorcerers and you should boost it further with Eagle's Splendor. This still leaves room for almost maxed DEX, once INT and WIS have been sacked. You don't need either one of them. If you don't want to min-max, use 18/14/10/8/8/18 instead. All level-up points should go into CHA. It'll give you more and better spells and even better saving throws. Here's the skills and feats you should take with this character. Skills : Concentration Spellcraft Feats : 1 - Rapid Shot (number denotes char level) 1 - Combat Casting (Human extra feat) 3 - Spell Focus: Evocation 6 - Greater Spell Focus: Evocation 9 - Spell Focus: Enchantment 12 - Spirit of Flame 15 - Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment 18 - Improved Critical 21 - Spell Focus: Necromancy 24 - Greater Spell Focus: Necromancy 27 - Great Fortitude 30 - Luck of Heroes The feat selection follows the other sorcerer's list fairly closely, but instead of heading for necromancy during the mid levels, this character takes the feats for enchantment instead. Necromancy is taken in HOF mode to utilize the full range of spells to max. Spells selections: ------------------ As sorcerers don't have to memorize spells, this list has all the spells this character picks, with commentary as to where that particular spell might be useful. Please note that the order is important here - you only get to pick a couple few new spells at every level-up, so don't miss an important buff or killer spell by choosing the spell that is going to be useful a while later, not right now. Instead of picking buffs, we now go for the damage spells in the first place up and until the last two major buffs. 1st level: Sleep (becomes useless fast, but helps the party through beginning) Magic Missile (to take down enemy's Mirror Images fast) Mage Armor (better than any armor found in the game for quite some time) Chromatic Orb (after level 7, stuns opponents for a long time) Burning Hands (to finish up trolls) Minor Mirror Image (against one-shot nukes such as Horrid Wilting) Grease (not very useful but we have to pick 7th) 2nd level: Aganazzar's Scorcher (for the early damage sweeps) Eagle's Splendor (since no one else has it) Mirror Image (old faithful - but you're doing it wrong if you need many) Luck (go read chapter "How lucky can you get?" if you really need to ask) Invisibility (to be able to drop accidental aggro in HOF) Gedlee's Electric Loop (for the stun effect, not for damage) Death Armor (for the porcupine tank trick in HOF) 3rd level: Fireball (can you say ouch?) Dire Charm (early converts, for when fireball would be unfeasible) Ghost Armor (VERY much necessary buff for protectors all through the game) Skulltrap (unbelievable damage for a 3rd level spell and resistible) Invisibility Sphere (to use the reset & regroup tactic when needed in HOF) 4th level: Stoneskin (we get this first to protect the protectors earlier) Spirit Armor (in times when Mage Armor just isn't enough) Emotion: Despair (greatly enhances the debuffs cast by the party) Emotion: Hope (great bonuses for a long time, double up) Fire Shield: Blue (for the porcupine tank trick in HOF) Fire Shield: Red (for the porcupine tank trick in HOF) 5th level: Chaos (hear that propaganda!) Hold Monster (since we have GSF: Enchantment soon enough) Sunfire (our tank is mostly immune, so blast away) Animate Dead (for a decent early summon) Cone of Cold (against those fire-immune monsters and clearing hallways) 6th level: Disintegrate (a big, bad monster says POOF - guess which one?) Mass Haste (probably the best buff spell in the whole game, double up!) Tenser's Transformation (for the ultimate STR boost) Shades (it finally starts giving good monsters by now) Acid Storm (sure as hell beats bugged Chain Lightning) 7th level: Delayed Blast Fireball (ultimate mass-bombardment spell) Mass Invisibility (same tactic as with sphere, just longer range) Finger of Death (mage? what mage? oh you mean that corpse?) Mordenkainen's Sword (melee at sight range? Yes please!) 8th level: Mind Blank (forget about Will saves, keep it always up) Great Shout (I said HOLD IT, dammit!) Horrid Wilting (evasion you say? taste this!) Power Word: Blind (no need for more Symbols, thank you) 9th level: Executioner's Eyes (keep 'em criticals coming) Mass Dominate (GSF: Enchantment, remember?) Wail of the Banshee (tactical nuke that doesn't kill own - sweet) Meteor Shower (Blasting with lots of points for style, redundant though) Comments, strategies & notes: ----------------------------- Instead of being mostly a caster, staying back cautiously like the first sorcerer, get more aggressive. Drop them with either spells or go with ranged attacks as you please. Once you get the Big Death axe and the Thunder Clap bracers, the ranged option becomes a good substitute for your spells if you're feeling stingy. Since the first sorcerer had to go with caster levels first, this character is free to gather up all the goodies available for a ranged monk/paladin wannabe during Normal mode without any problems. Alternate Character Choices: ---------------------------- None, for the same reasons there was no substitute to the first one. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.6 - Berserker & buffer Drow Paladin of Ilmater(1)/ Cleric of Ilmater(29) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: This character must be Lawful Good so that the level of Paladin may be taken. Additionally, she needs to be a female in order to avoid penalties from multiclassing. Checking the party composition so far, we already have three pure or almost pure arcane casters, while the divine side only has one cleric. As much as I enjoy those berserker/bombardier sorcerers, a third one would be overkill by now. So let's go with a berserker battlecleric instead. This character is nearly a carbon copy of the berserker from Melee party, so I won't go that much into details about her. Only major difference is that now you'll have all the best two-handed weapons for her use. No Massive Halberd of Hate +4, though, as that's not really the end-all, be all weapon for all situations anyway. For level-ups, I would start this character as a Paladin and add cleric levels from there on. This character reaches the maximum potential at character level 21. Levels gained after that only provide smallish incremental benefits. Starting statistics: -------------------- STR 18 DEX 18 CON 16 INT 5 WIS 18 CHA 5 Maxed STR and CON make this character an excellent berserker, and even an excellent second tank during the Normal mode. Maxed WIS together with the STR/WIS bonus from being a Paladin enable you to cast your highest level spells without resorting to items. DEX is also excellent, albeit not totally maxed out as that's all you have remaining after sacking both INT and CHA. Better CHA could be used to boost saving throws, but it would cause more trouble than it's worth since some other stat would suffer. If you don't want to min-max, use 18/10/14/10/18/10 instead. Use your level-up points to boost STR. You don't need more spells after you've reached level 20 as a Cleric anyway, and STR is what makes or breaks physical combat. Boosting CON won't really help you either, as noted with the berserker in Melee party. Here are the skills and Feats you should take for this character. Skills : Concentration Feats : 1 - Power Attack (number denotes char level) 3 - Cleave 6 - Rapid Shot 9 - Dirty Fighting 12 - Combat Casting 15 - Improved Critical 18 - Spell Focus: Transmutation 21 - Greater Spell Focus: Transmutation 24 - Heroic Inspiration 27 - Great Fortitude 30 - Discipline Same feats as the Melee party's berserker, except for Heroic Inspiration that replaces Weapon Focus: Axe. The sorcerers do fine enough job tossing those around so you can pick whatever is still remaining. Plus you're going to be at melee much more than either one of them, so it would be a bit wasted here. Comments, strategies & notes: ----------------------------- Since both Prayer and Recitation give penalties to hit for your enemies, on top of them both being highly desirable booster spells you really should use often, you are well advised to pair up with the party's first tank to be able to cast them both simultaneously. Follow up with Holy Power to let the tanks gather solid aggro on the monsters and unleash the carnage after that. You could use this character as either melee or ranged, depending on your needs. She's about equally good as both. This character is the only one in this party that can wear Zuvembie without it causing trouble somewhere else. Also, any and all Luck enhancing items should be used on this character, since she's the only one with maxed STR. Spell selection: ---------------- Number in parentheses denotes take only up to this many, otherwise you can mix'n'match as much as you like. 1: Sanctuary, Remove Fear(2) 2: Draw Upon Holy Might, Bull's Strength(3), Aid(0-4), Remove Paralysis(1) 3: Prayer, Magic Circle Against Evil (0-3) 4: Holy Power, Recitation(1-3) 5: Champion's Strength, Chaotic Commands(0-2) 6: Divine Shell(1), Heal 7: Resurrection, Greater Shield of Lathander(1-4) 8: Mass Heal(1), Tremor, Holy Aura(1-2) 9: Summon Monster IX Remove Fear is good backup spell. Use Sanctuary to drop aggro as necessary. Bull's Strength should be on all or your characters - if it expires, it's time to rest. Aid is an OK damage booster with any extra slots you might have. DUHM becomes useful around caster level 18, ignore it until then. Prayer is all you'll ever need from level 3, unless you need extra backup on the Magic Circle Against Evil. Recitation is useful to cast in the middle of a large group of enemies as it reduces enemy saves amongst other things. Holy Power is one of the most important damage boosters for this char, be sure to utilize it liberally. Your level five spell picks should mostly consist of Champion's Strength to boost your berserkers. Keep a Divine Shell ready for extra elemental damage resistances in the few spots where it can make a difference. Heal is mostly for yourself, allowing for a bit more reckless style of play. Use the 7th level divine spell Greater Shield of Lathander in boss fights for extra protection and Resurrection for general healing, both in and out of combat. While Symbol of Hopelessness is better than Tremor in the hands of the first tank, this character doesn't have the WIS to make it click so let's go with Tremor. Holy Aura is useful for a temporary Spell Resistance boost for all of your characters with natural Spell Resistance, especially before you get the Holy Avenger for your second tank. Keep a Mass Heal ready for inadvert mishaps. Finally, Summon Monster IX is the only non-suicidal choice at 9th level. Alternate Character Choices: ---------------------------- Mostly anything would work here, but the same advice could be said about anything beyond the third character in this setup as it already has all the major bases covered. In my considered opinion, characters that can combine excellent spell casting with excellent options for dealing physical damage cannot really be bested - not until some tactician comes up with something revolutionary in terms of combat in D&D 3rd Edition rules, at least. =============================================================================== 6. Last Words =============================================================================== I hope this FAQ has been of help to you. You might find something in this document that doesn't suit your own, personal playing style, so feel free to take the advice and words of wisdom with a grain of salt. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.1 - Contact info ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have any suggestions, comments or thoughts on how to make these parties more workable, better, more fun to play, less reliant on some key spells and stuff or in any way would like to thank (or flame =) please do so at the Sorcerer's Place sub forum "Icewind Dale 2" at address: http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=23 or email me at rechet@hotmail.com if you have lots of money you want to donate to me. =) However, if you feel like you need to disagree with some of the given advice, you'll need to come up with hard facts to counter the six-seven years of forum discussions, general knowledge and actual play testing by myself and several members of Sorcerer's Place. Not knowing stuff is one thing, ignorance is worse but going against hard facts with nothing but "it just doesn't feel right" to back it up is an open declaration of war and will be dealt accordingly. No, I'm not joking, ask the folks at SP. ;) Sorcerer's Place is THE site to search for any possible updates to this guide. I know of mirrors at GameFaqs and at dhl.net, but the only direct link I have is with SP. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.2 - Copyright ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (c) Jukka Mikkonen, also known as Sir Rechet, 2009. You may freely distribute and publish this FAQ as long as I am clearly stated as the author and you don't make any money out of it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.3 - Coming soon ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope this is the final version of this guide. Only if I discover some gaping holes in my reasoning shall I update this guide - small misoptimisations are just too numerous and also a matter of taste to an extent that I see no point in cluttering the Internet with several different versions of the same guide. Or so I thought in the year 2003, but 2009 it was time for it again. You'll NEVER know.