Recommended party for IWD?

[Shadenuat]

Generating party in these games by rolling 6 times 6x3d6 and then picking classes for these roll sets is a very fun way to get a challenging larpy playthrough.
I think Infinity has a maximum sum (70 to 80 points maybe) which it distributes between stats cutting lowest numbers. So you get very powerful characters compared to D&D.

 

[Excidium]

IE games just roll 3d6 for each stat. Though since you pick your class first the roll never goes below the min. requirement for your class choice(s).

 

[octavius]

i spent much more time on rolling stats for my party in pool of radiance (4 full hours)

You know you can Modify the stats, right? Instead of rolling several hours for 18(00) STR, 18 DEX and 18 CON, you can get the same stats in seconds with the Modify option.

That's a bit too far considering Goldbox games already have a p. cheating score generation. I don't know what they roll but it certainly isn't 3d6

According to Nol Drek of the FRUA community:

FRUA rolls 3d6 6 times for each ability and keeps the highest of the 6 rolls.

FRUA then adds one point to every score except Wisdom.

The odds of getting an 18 are 24/216 = 1/9 for all stats except Wisdom, which has a 6/216 = 1/36 chance to roll an 18.

Finally, FRUA adjusts your rolls to be within the Race/Class limits.

I assume the Gold Box games use the same system.

Personally I think it's rather lame the way both the GB and IE games do it by chosing class first and then roll the stats. I can swear Mages get 18 STR way more often than the Fighters and Paladins I roll in FRUA.

 

[Excidium]

Method III with free stat bonus? Grognards weep

Personally I think it's rather lame the way both the GB and IE games do it by chosing class first and then roll the stats. I can swear Mages get 18 STR way more often than the Fighters and Paladins I roll in FRUA.

Well they know you wanna play classes that are difficult to qualify for anyway so they save you the trouble of re-rolling over and over unless you want super scores.

 

[laclongquan]

There is level scaling in IWD2.

Basically, respawn rate based on effective level of the party. Say, add total level of all class on all char, say 56. It divide that with the total number of class in party, say 8 (4straight+2doubles) AVRG=56/8=7. The number of enemies and the level of them in the next map (need a reloading screen) will correspond to that.

Let's summon, say,4 lvel1 wolves, you got Avrg = 60/12= 5. The number and level of next map enemies will fall way down.
Let's summon, say,4 lvel8 apocalypse bone, you got Avrg = 88/12 =7.33. It goes way up.

If you party get ECL penalty characters, the avrg may fall even further.

Manipulating this is a good way to have fun at hardest difficulty.

IT's why you choose an ECL-penalty characters as Bards or Summoners, because level up late 1 or 2 level is not too bad on their spell selection and help Party ECL, but two pure humans, cause you want highest level wizards and clerics soonest. And thief is especially need ECL as they can sacrifice a few level to get bonus abilities.

 

[Minttunator]

Last I played, I had:

• Paladin
• Bard
• Ranger/Cleric dual-class
• Fighter/Druid duial-class
• Fighter/Thief multi-class
• Fighter/Mage dual-class

Duals at level 6 (7 is also a good point, wouldn't leave it any later). Like others have stated, ranged weapons are key - especially at the start.

 

[Wyrmlord]

• Ranger/Cleric dual-class
• Fighter/Druid duial-class

Redundant?

Don't ranger/clerics also get druid spells?

 

[Aeschylus]

• Ranger/Cleric dual-class
• Fighter/Druid duial-class

Redundant?

Don't ranger/clerics also get druid spells?

Not really redundant, unless you're very patient waiting to dual the Ranger (like lvl 13). The Ranger provides a few extra spells to a Cleric, but not the full Druid selection, and Cleric/Druid spellbooks are quite different. Having an extra healer also frees your Cleric up to get some actual useful spells.

 

[jagged-jimmy]

Optimal would be:

Elven Fighter
Elven Fighter
Cleric/Figher
Thief/Mage
Mage (Maybe multi-class too, not sure)

As for all Infinity games, range weapons are the way to go at start.

Why on earth would you make a straight Elven Fighter? Maybe one for archery purposes (fighter/thief is better for that), but two? They have a CON penalty which strips the fighter of one of its advantages, and straight Fighters are pointless once you've got 4 or 5 dots in the weapon of your choice as they can't dual class. Also Ranger->Cleric is much better than Fighter->Cleric as they get druid spells on top of the cleric spells.

I guess fir +1 to Long swords and Bows. But that's just me.

 

[Shadenuat]

I made this party for IWD1 today:
Paladin with 15 INT (let's say he has a very smart warhorse who does talking for him), 15 WIS and 18 CHA, because I am lazy and want all dialogue picks, still rolled enough to get combat stats high enough.
Fighter/Illusionist gnome, miniature fearless warrior with two handed sword. Already bought her Robe of Infusion and Helmet of Defender unique to small races. She runs around with -1 AC at level 5, mirror imaged&blurred, Shielded from magic missiles. Mazzy Fentan pfft beach please
Ranger 2 -> Cleric, one handed mace for bonus attack. Awesome.
Fighter/Thief elf with composite longbow. Awesome.
Druid. Well you know me I can't go without one
And also decided to try Bard. So far very mediocre, I finished Valley of Shadows but she can only cast a few level 1 spells and 2 level 2 spells. I am hoping the rumor that bard gets levels fast enough to rival specialist mages will come true, but for now it's mostly just support character. Still I am going to buy Horn of Valhallah soon, it will probably be useful in the beginning of the game. Songs eh, nice to have +10% to picklock I guess...

 

[CappenVarra]

IE games just roll 3d6 for each stat. Though since you pick your class first the roll never goes below the min. requirement for your class choice(s).

It was years ago, but I think it's impossible to get an attribute sum < 72 (i.e. 6x12) in BG1 (I think I tried and gave up after a lot of re-rolling). So that's not 6x3d6 by any measure, since it probably re-rolls everything that's not at least the upper edge of average (12 in the 9-12 range which is supposed to be the most common). And of course, class and racial minimums fuck up the distribution so it's not even remotely gaussian...

 

[Kukulkan]

You should copy Murrow's ninja team from his ironman of Icewind Dale.

 

[kmonster]

IE games just roll 3d6 for each stat ...

Bullshit. For each attribute the IE rolls 4 times a d6 and the best 3 of those 4 are added together. Characters with values too low for the selected classes and stat sums below 75 are discarded.

 

[Excidium]

Nice. I have worse luck than I thought

 

[octavius]

I made this party for IWD1 today:
And also decided to try Bard. So far very mediocre, I finished Valley of Shadows but she can only cast a few level 1 spells and 2 level 2 spells. I am hoping the rumor that bard gets levels fast enough to rival specialist mages will come true, but for now it's mostly just support character. Still I am going to buy Horn of Valhallah soon, it will probably be useful in the beginning of the game. Songs eh, nice to have +10% to picklock I guess...

Bards are weak in the beginning, but IIRC they are the only ones who can do a certain quest in the starting town.
But they get quite powerful once they get that song that regenerates HP.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Nice. I have worse luck than I thought

IE games just roll 3d6 for each stat ...

Bullshit. For each attribute the IE rolls 4 times a d6 and the best 3 of those 4 are added together. Characters with values too low for the selected classes and stat sums below 75 are discarded.

When I figured out that the re-roller will automatically discard rolls that fail to qualify for minimum values required by a class for a certain attribute and will simply re-roll again, I realized the quickest way to get high stats is to have a race and class combo with high minimum and high maximum stat requirements.

This way, if you make an Elf Ranger, you can easily roll a 18/19/17/9/15/18 on your party leader's stats. Good fighting, good charisma for shopping, enough intelligence to read scrolls, and a minor lore bonus. If you are ambitious, even a 18/19/17/15/15/18 Elf Ranger might be possible if you want someone with decent Lore who won't have to bother with identifying items.

OTOH, it's the hardest to get a high roll for a pure fighter, given that fighters don't have high minimum stat requirements that rangers and paladins do. It's quite the opposite of Wizardry 6, where a vanilla class like fighter will allow you to have high stats more easily, while elite classes such as Lord (aka paladin) will more likely have thinly spread stats.

 

[Excidium]

Yeah, it's one of the reasons Conjurers are cooler than regular wizards, they always roll at least 15 for con.

 

[Snufkin]

Three character party is best because they wont block eachother when crawling thru dungeons:
half-elf ranger/cleric
half-elf fighter/mage/thief
half-elf bard

This setup gives you all skills and spells.

 

[Aeschylus]

Yeah, it's one of the reasons Conjurers are cooler than regular wizards, they always roll at least 15 for con.

Except in HoW they were changed to no longer be able to cast Invocation spells, which is a pretty big penalty.

 

[Excidium]

Hah that sucks. It was divination before right? Hardly a penalty.

 

[Excidium]

Combat in NWN2 sucks too much for me to bear

 

[Excidium]

It feels very different to play. Moving around, attacking. IE is a lot tighter.

 

[Excidium]

Are you implying you liked the Trash mobs of IWD/2?

Better than trash mobs in NWN2, at least.

 

[Gregz]

If you read the manual there's no way you can fuck up your party without being brain damaged

That's just not true, learning the D&D universe for the first time is not easy. It's a pretty complicated system, this guy is asking for help and advice. Check your privilege.

 

[Excidium]

It's not complicated. Just read the manual.