Icewind Dale The Icewind Dale Series Thread

[hell bovine]

If you are going to keep low level, then going thief/something would allow you to skip a lot of unnecessary combat by sneaking. You could do a shorty squad of sneaking doom. :D

 

[Baron Dupek]

This sword was in IWD2? Ah ok then. Frankly, I don't remember anything from IWD2 beside first town and maybe caves with frost giants and some crawler-like crap in it. Now this will be 3rd thing. Quite achievement for p. forgettable game...

 

[Grunker]

Quite achievement for p. forgettable game...

 

[Tigranes]

If you are going to keep low level, then going thief/something would allow you to skip a lot of unnecessary combat by sneaking. You could do a shorty squad of sneaking doom. :D

6 thief/x gnomes pumping hide in shadows, tiptoeing past 90% of combat until some fucker fails the check!

Dex-based builds might actually be the way to survive the first few hours.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

IWD 1 also has super-duper paladin sword. Though in HoW you find one that is even better and not class-exclusive.

Shaman is not shitty, he's a druid version of sorcerer ffs. Yeah, his unique class ability sucks, but who cares.

EE has bard kits, if you take one then you don't get an access to sith chant.

And finally, class interactions are pretty much exclusive to bard and paladin (there are a few minor ones for druid too). So it's definitely recommended to take these guys into your party, especially since EE gives you kits that make them both viable. There are also some nice stats checks. Be warned though, quite a few class/stat checks in EE are bugged and don't trigger. Not sure if the new patch that's currently in beta fixes these. I wouldn't bet on it, that's for sure.

 

[Dorateen]

Both swords in Icewind Dale 2 and in Icewind Dale have excellent backstories, their item descriptions some of the best writing in the Infinity Engine.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Both swords in Icewind Dale 2 and in Icewind Dale have excellent backstories, their item descriptions some of the best writing in the Infinity Engine.

I believe they were both written by MCA, no?

 

[Dorateen]

Both swords in Icewind Dale 2 and in Icewind Dale have excellent backstories, their item descriptions some of the best writing in the Infinity Engine.

I believe they were both written by MCA, no?

If so, his best work yet.

 

[hell bovine]

If you are going to keep low level, then going thief/something would allow you to skip a lot of unnecessary combat by sneaking. You could do a shorty squad of sneaking doom. :D

6 thief/x gnomes pumping hide in shadows, tiptoeing past 90% of combat until some fucker fails the check!

Dex-based builds might actually be the way to survive the first few hours.

The Jansen family does Icewind Dale.

 

[Tigranes]

If you are going to keep low level, then going thief/something would allow you to skip a lot of unnecessary combat by sneaking. You could do a shorty squad of sneaking doom. :D

6 thief/x gnomes pumping hide in shadows, tiptoeing past 90% of combat until some fucker fails the check!

Dex-based builds might actually be the way to survive the first few hours.

The Jansen family does Icewind Dale.

I'm fooling around with this now:

With gnomes, actually, the class offerings are so limited that I end up with two each of Fighter/Thief, Cleric/Thief, and Illusionist/Thief. And of course, as level 1, they're all stuck at ~50 Hide in Shadows, which in my experience with IE games means 3 minutes of trying to hide in a corner before even trying to sneak past anybody. The fighters roll with 12hp, clerics 9, mages 7. I'll probably take this on a test drive just to get a feel for it, on Core Rules.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

With gnomes, actually, the class offerings are so limited that I end up with two each of Fighter/Thief, Cleric/Thief, and Illusionist/Thief

You could use Dalekeeper to give them any class you like. That's what I did to have a wizard in my dwarf party.

 

[Tigranes]

Alright, so the Metaphysical Jansens have stormed the Forbidden Vale.

I'm playing a less hardcore version of the challenge than the original - the key difference being Core Rules. I couldn't be bothered resintalling IWD so I think some components of Item Upgrades are in, too, which I'm sure makes life easier, but I've long forgotten which items it adds.

The Vale isn't really much different at Level 1, because it's just about having less 'padding' than losing entire levels of spells. (Actually, given that I usually play on Insane and 4 party members, it's sometimes ended up easier.) Most enemies are dispatched by good old arrow fire, and Magic Stone is the order of the day to disrupt spellcasters.

The only real troublemakers were the Imbued Wights, who cast magic missile upon sight, which is guaranteed to kill a Jansen unless I pause between each missile to guff a healing potion. They also require us to get up and close to attack with magic items.

At the conclusion of the Vale, the point man, Ludwig Jansen, now boasts -3 AC with the big money purchase of Plate Mail +1. The Wolf talisman from the lower floors takes his HP from 12 to a whopping 22; we'll see how long that makes a difference.

 

[pomenitul]

The only real troublemakers were the Imbued Wights, who cast magic missile upon sight, which is guaranteed to kill a Jansen unless I pause between each missile to guff a healing potion. They also require us to get up and close to attack with magic items.

Shield is your friend.

 

[Tigranes]

Heh. I took Armour instead at chargen for the mage Jansens, and then failed to trot back to Orrick to buy any spells at that stage! It's on my to-do list.

 

[Filthy Sauce]

I thought the game gives out a wand of shielding before you encounter the bulk of those guys(?)

Edit: its called 'Wand of Armory'

 

[Sigourn]

Did I fuck myself up with my party composition?

As you can notice, Geralt has easily the best stats of the party. However, only him and Zoltan have good Constitution: everyone else's is extremely mediocre (culminating with Jaskir's pathetic 9 which makes him a paperdoll (funny, consider Siegfried is almost as worthless as him despite having an extra 4 points in CON; not sure what the class modifiers are, though).

I find myself resting too often. Otherwise, some fights would become unwinnable: once Geralt and Zoltan drop, I'm basically done with. Geralt is also the only one allowed to use non-healing potions. Jaskir and Triss keep their distances with ranged weapons (I should get some for Siegfried and Shani as well). I'm at Dragon's Eye at the moment.

 

[IncendiaryDevice]

I wouldn't have a Ranger as my front-liner, especially as you have a Fighter and a Paladin in the party. By Dragon's Eye, both the Fighter and Paladin should have much lower AC. So I've no idea what you're doing really, there's more going on here than simply character choices.

 

[Average Manatee]

Did I fuck myself up with my party composition?

You're fine.

As you can notice, Geralt has easily the best stats of the party. However, only him and Zoltan have good Constitution: everyone else's is extremely mediocre (culminating with Jaskir's pathetic 9 which makes him a paperdoll (funny, consider Siegfried is almost as worthless as him despite having an extra 4 points in CON; not sure what the class modifiers are, though).

AD&D, as always, is weird as fuck. IIRC CON gives no bonuses or penalties between 6 and 14, 15 gives +1, 16 gives +2, and higher only gives more bonus to fighter-type classes. It's not too big of a deal though, just need a bit better mitigation. Raw HP doesn't mean much in IE games.

I find myself resting too often. Otherwise, some fights would become unwinnable: once Geralt and Zoltan drop, I'm basically done with. Geralt is also the only one allowed to use non-healing potions. Jaskir and Triss keep their distances with ranged weapons (I should get some for Siegfried and Shani as well). I'm at Dragon's Eye at the moment.

You could definitely use some better armor (anyone tanking hits should be zero AC or lower, ideally less than -5). Mixing up your spell selection will also probably help a lot. Don't feel bad about resting every few fights, it's normal. You're not supposed to clear areas like Dragon's Eye in one go, even clearing a level in one go is a pretty huge achievement.

 

[Tigranes]

Depends, if you mean maximise powergame, obviously not. If you gave me that party I'd run it just fine on Insane and the lack of optimisation will make sfor some nice challenges.

Siegfried up front will make life easier for using the 17 CHA on dialogues and for the annoyance of moving Geralt back every single fight.

Honestly the 3 fighters + Haste should make mincemeat of everything in Dragon's Eye, assisted by Druid's space control capabilities.

And yeah, everyone's AC seems pretty high for the gear available by then?

 

[Sigourn]

Thanks Average Manatee ! I'll see about distributing my AC boosting gear between Geralt and Zoltan, as opposed to simply buffing Geralt.

I wouldn't have a Ranger as my front-liner, especially as you have a Fighter and a Paladin in the party. By Dragon's Eye, both the Fighter and Paladin should have much lower AC. So I've no idea what you're doing really, there's more going on here than simply character choices.

I do admit my fuckup was assigning Geralt the "Ranger" class when in reality I don't plan to give him any bows (for RP purposes), which means I would have been much better off giving him the Fighter class.

 

[octavius]

I'd defintely have a Fighter/Thief instead of a pure Fighter, for scouting, backstabbing and trap disarming.
Lack of a Cleric is probably not a big deal since spells like Hold Person and Silence are pretty useless in IWD, and your Bard will eventually take care of most of the healing with War Chant of the Sith. Before that poor Dex all around will definitely hurt, since the more your characters get hit the more they will need to rest. With the hordes of enemies you face in IWD good tanks with low AC is important.

 

[octavius]

Lack of a Cleric is probably not a big deal since spells like Hold Person and Silence are pretty useless in IWD, and your Bard will eventually take care of most of the healing with War Chant of the Sith.

OTOH you'll miss Turn Undead and the Animate Dead spell. I found the latter quite useful for creating cheap cannon fodder.

 

[Cael]

I'd defintely have a Fighter/Thief instead of a pure Fighter, for scouting, backstabbing and trap disarming.
Lack of a Cleric is probably not a big deal since spells like Hold Person and Silence are pretty useless in IWD, and your Bard will eventually take care of most of the healing with War Chant of the Sith. Before that poor Dex all around will definitely hurt, since the more your characters get hit the more they will need to rest. With the hordes of enemies you face in IWD good tanks with low AC is important.

Umm... Cleric can be as good a fighter as a fighter. In fact, my standard party for IWD is:
Pal 4/Cle x (longsword)
Ftr 4/Cle x (axe)
Cle (mace)
Bard
Sorc
Wiz

Usually all Drow for LA reasons (I hate killing things and getting 0xp).

Chromatic Orb is all you need right at the beginning, and even at higher levels, that 13 round paralyse is far more efficient than Hold Person.

 

[octavius]

Drow?!?

 

[Cael]

Drow?!?

Yeah. For the 2 LA. I was considering Svirfneblin, but midgets...