Icewind Dale Input

[BruceVC]

Hi All

Sorry to make a specific thread just for this but I want the broadest range of advice

 

Anyway I am about to start playing IWD for the first time from GOG and I'm very excited

 

I want advice on my party, I'm not the type of person who wants to play a game right to the end only to find I made some incorrect class choices and I am denied some important quest or option. Also do attributes make a difference like Charisa and Wisdom did in Planescape around dialogue choices? Please don't give away any spoilers just what is the best party for this game

 

Anyway my conceptual party is

• 2 x Barbarians ( Tanks)
• 1 x Sorcerer\Wizard
• 1 x Cleric ( Healer)
• 1 x Thief ( for traps?)
• I x Druid ( Backup fighter and magic-user)

Thanks

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Paladin

 

Cleric/Mage

 

Fighter/Thief

 

Ranger or Fighter(just have them use ranged weapons)

 

Mage

 

Fighter/Cleric

 

I'll leave kit selection up to you(if you feel like being a dirty cheater, use a save editor to give multi-classes kits, IMO they should have that ability). You want at least 2 sources each for arcane and divine casting, as well as a large amount of combat specialists. Paladins are a better tan than Barbarians IMO, because they have that extra saving throw bonus.

 

Edit: missed a few keystrokes, it's pretty late here.

Edited August 8, 2013 by KaineParker

[Infinitron]

Icewind Dale doesn't have kits.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Icewind Dale doesn't have kits.

I meant specialist Mages.

[rjshae]

Barbarians? I guess you mean Icewind Dale 2 then?

[Serrano]

 

I want advice on my party, I'm not the type of person who wants to play a game right to the end only to find I made some incorrect class choices and I am denied some important quest or option. Also do attributes make a difference like Charisa and Wisdom did in Planescape around dialogue choices? Please don't give away any spoilers just what is the best party for this game

 

Icewind Dale isn't a story-driven RPG Bruce, there are maybe a handful of class specific dialogue options but those are just for flavour and don't really change anything. Any dialogue option that will lead to a different quest outcome like talking someone down will be available to everyone and will be few and far between. 

 

Icewind Dale focuses on the dungeon crawling aspect of D&D so think of it more as a tabletop game than pen & paper. Design a party that's going to be able to survive a variety of situations and forget about roleplaying or smooth talking NPCs.

 

- You will need a thief who is as good at finding and disarming traps as possible, lock picking is also quite important.

 

-  I'd suggest maybe not rolling any elves, the first raise dead spell in the cleric's spellbook doesn't work on them and it will be more expensive raising them at the temple.

 

- Turn dead is pretty useful in IWD.

 

- Don't scrimp on potions and scrolls, buy lots of them and use them often. 

 

- Archery and ranged combat is pretty useful in IWD, especially combined with bottlenecks and spells like web. I'd suggest giving most if not all of the party some points with ranged weapons.

 

- You'll be fighting hordes a lot.

 

- You'll be fighting powerful individuals a lot.  

 

- The enemies are varied and there are lots of elements, spells and status effects to watch out for.

 

- The dungeons can get really large and multi-levelled.

 

edit: If you are playing IWD2 then ignore this post.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Serrano

[BruceVC]

 

 

I want advice on my party, I'm not the type of person who wants to play a game right to the end only to find I made some incorrect class choices and I am denied some important quest or option. Also do attributes make a difference like Charisa and Wisdom did in Planescape around dialogue choices? Please don't give away any spoilers just what is the best party for this game

 

Icewind Dale isn't a story-driven RPG Bruce, there are maybe a handful of class specific dialogue options but those are just for flavour and don't really change anything. Any dialogue option that will lead to a different quest outcome like talking someone down will be available to everyone and will be few and far between. 

 

Icewind Dale focuses on the dungeon crawling aspect of D&D so think of it more as a tabletop game than pen & paper. Design a party that's going to be able to survive a variety of situations and forget about roleplaying or smooth talking NPCs.

 

- You will need a thief who is as good at finding and disarming traps as possible, lock picking is also quite important.

 

-  I'd suggest maybe not rolling any elves, the first raise dead spell in the cleric's spellbook doesn't work on them and it will be more expensive raising them at the temple.

 

- Turn dead is pretty useful in IWD.

 

- Don't scrimp on potions and scrolls, buy lots of them and use them often. 

 

- Archery and ranged combat is pretty useful in IWD, especially combined with bottlenecks and spells like web. I'd suggest giving most if not all of the party some points with ranged weapons.

 

- You'll be fighting hordes a lot.

 

- You'll be fighting powerful individuals a lot.  

 

- The enemies are varied and there are lots of elements, spells and status effects to watch out for.

 

- The dungeons can get really large and multi-levelled.

 

edit: If you are playing IWD2 then ignore this post.

 

 

Thanks Serrano

This was exactly the feedback I was looking for. I am playing IWD 1 so your advice is relevant

 

Oh thx Kaine as well for your post

Edited August 8, 2013 by BruceVC

[Azure79]

You'll have fun with that party. It looks like you have all your bases covered. Look around carefully in the starting town, you might get some nice help later! 

 

I've played through IWD a lot of times and I really like a 4 man party the best. 

 

Fighter, Paladin, Mage/Thief and something usually Cleric or Druid, maybe ranger/cleric.

 

Turn Undead is really useful! 

 

Be careful of traps!

 

Have fun!

[bonarbill]

Hi All

Sorry to make a specific thread just for this but I want the broadest range of advice

 

Anyway I am about to start playing IWD for the first time from GOG and I'm very excited

 

I want advice on my party, I'm not the type of person who wants to play a game right to the end only to find I made some incorrect class choices and I am denied some important quest or option. Also do attributes make a difference like Charisa and Wisdom did in Planescape around dialogue choices? Please don't give away any spoilers just what is the best party for this game

 

Anyway my conceptual party is

• 2 x Barbarians ( Tanks)
• 1 x Sorcerer\Wizard
• 1 x Cleric ( Healer)
• 1 x Thief ( for traps?)
• I x Druid ( Backup fighter and magic-user)

Thanks

 

I never seen the point in going single class cleric in IWD, when fighter/cleric or a wizard/cleric is better.

[Nonek]

Last time I played I went for a four person party like Azure: Paladin, dwarven fighter, gnome illusionist/thief and an elven druid, the druid especially had a lot of powers that I would consider essential, if not overpowered. The atrocious pathfinding of the infinity engine is a lot better with a smaller party, and the xp gain is a lot quicker.

[Nordicus]

You characters are super-squishy at the beginning when we take into account the many goblin archers that you encounter at that point. Also, the first "boss battle" is kind of a pain with his high melee damage and your low level party. The game will get easier after you enter your main town, but before that, prepare to save scum

 

Also, this advice is coming way too early, but if you're going to play Heart of Winter, prepare for the occasional heavy spell resistance.

 

-  I'd suggest maybe not rolling any elves, the first raise dead spell in the cleric's spellbook doesn't work on them and it will be more expensive raising them at the temple.

I think I made the cleric herself an elf to sort of bypass this. You can't cast Raise Dead if you're dead anyway, so not a lot of difference Edited August 8, 2013 by Nordicus

[Huinehtar]

I remember the last time I played Icewind Dale and I had only two characters: a warrior-thief and a ranger-cleric, half-elves both. It was quite fun, of course with turn dead, convocation spells, removing traps, and hide in shadows. And lots of XPs

 

 

Yxunomei wasn't so easy, I have to admit.

 

 

It wasn't very tactical, but fun, so I don't recommend to play this kind of templates on the first run. On the second run, it could be very enjoyable, especially considering the fact having only two characters limit inventory, stuff, and reach easily and early xp levels maxes. Playing these characters was challenging in Very Hard with Heart of Fury in some places (like Trials of Luremaster).

 

 

[Infinitron]

 

Icewind Dale isn't a story-driven RPG Bruce, there are maybe a handful of class specific dialogue options but those are just for flavour and don't really change anything. Any dialogue option that will lead to a different quest outcome like talking someone down will be available to everyone and will be few and far between. 

 

 

Depends how define "anything". I do think it's worth trying to talk to NPCs with various classes, because you never know what you may discover. Too bad you can't switch between speakers during the conversation like in Storm of Zehir.

[samm]

Well, there is class and race specific dialogue. Even from "townsfolk". Not much, but anyway. It adds a lot to the already great atmosphere

 

As far as the party goes: Make sure there is a (part time) rogue, (part time) cleric or full druid, and a full (specialist) mage as well as at least one heavily armoured fighter-class.

 

Oh, and make sure you use at least acceptable audio equipment, not laptop speakers, because the game sounds good, from narrator to music to characters to effects

Edited August 8, 2013 by samm

[Gorth]

I found that my ideal party would have at least:

 

1 bard (bard songs rocks)

1 druid (packs more of an offensive punch than clerics)

1 paladin (for the paladin specific equipment, a bit of a spoiler, I know)

1 rogue (for the traps and *scouting*, plenty of sneaking can help with crowd management and selective combat)

1 Sorcerer (mobile artillery platform)

1 Cleric (never leave home without turn undead in this game)

1 Figher and or Barbarian (because you need sheer physical force when the robe wearing brigade just doesn't cut it).

 

Actually, party selection is a bit of a (nice) headache in this game

 

I tend to sacrifice the fighter/barbarian for the Paladin (usually named Gorth, being the true hero that he is).

 

Since I rarely play non-humans (racist!), I'm not familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of the races.

[Sensuki]

I usually go Fighter, Ranger, Paladin, Cleric, Thief, Mage.

 

Oh how boring. But it works.

 

I think I started changing the Thief to a Fighter/Thief though.

 

Race isn't really that important but Elves cost more gold to resurrect.

Edited August 9, 2013 by Sensuki

[Monte Carlo]

I agree with Azure, you can make a pretty twinky four-person party and have a fun challenge in IWD (I did this with both IWD1 & 2).

 

In IWD1 I went for a Paladin, Fighter / Cleric, Fighter / Thief and a Mage.

 

In IWD2 I had an evil party with a Fighter, Thief, Fighter / Cleric and Sorcerer.

[Humanoid]

I think I started IWD2 with a party of two, which went okay until somewhere between halfway and two-thirds through the game before it became too finicky to get through encounters. Added a couple more characters from that point to finish up, as far as I remember.

[Majek]

I agree with Azure, you can make a pretty twinky four-person party and have a fun challenge in IWD (I did this with both IWD1 & 2).

 

In IWD1 I went for a Paladin, Fighter / Cleric, Fighter / Thief and a Mage.

 

In IWD2 I had an evil party with a Fighter, Thief, Fighter / Cleric and Sorcerer.

in HOF mode?

[Monte Carlo]

^ No way! I need six super munchkin min / maxed characters to even try.