Just wanted to share some of my impressions of the game so far. I've gotten to the part where the ogres destroy the bridge, and...it hasn't been easy getting there. I had to load many, many times especially when fighting the malamites and their beasts. Someone always died, and I had to restart. But, with patience I've managed to triumph, even if it took many retries occasionally. Can't wait for the resurrection spell to become available though.

My party is as follows:
Half Elf Cleric - healer, remover of nasty spells, crossbow shooter...though she hasn't had bolts for a while now.
Aasimar Paladin - melee slayer, plain and simple
Half Orc Barbarian - same as paladin basically
Human Monk - another fighter, although I'm a little disappointed with his fighting skill so far, even when his STR is 18, DEX too, plus he gains extra DEX from the lack of weapons and armor. He still gets his ass kicked often times.
Wild Elf Sorceress - user of destructive spells. Her I like, she can cast lots of damaging spells before having the need to rest. Although she has a very small amount of hitpoints, so if the enemy decides to attack her, she's screwed. She also uses a bow against enemies that aren't too dangerous.
And finally, Tiefling Rogue. Very good at some parts, when there aren't many enemies around and she can silently kill any orc. Although in larger battles, she's kinda meh. I usually make her use a bow too in larger battles. She's handy with the locks, though.

I guess in the future I should expand to spells that offer armor bonuses, since my fighters very often find themselves in a pickle against large groups of enemies, and oh man are the numbers badly against them. At times I'm wondering if there's too much enemies to handle, because six people against a dozen, sometimes even more, makes things a little difficult. But, it goes to show games were harder back then. And I like challenge; if the game was a total cakewalk, I'm not sure if it would be as fun.

Monks are delicate at low levels, but they are supposed to get a lot more powerful as you progress. You did max out his wisdom, didn't you?

No, I guess I made a noob error there. His DEX I maxed and Wisdom was about average. I'm starting to actually hate the guy. You'd think with all the DEX he has he would dodge blows more often (he even has the Dodge feat), but actually he's probably the guy who dies the most. Plus his fists aren't all that powerful. Well, I guess I'll see if he becomes better at later levels (he's only lvl5 at the moment), but if not, I'll just toss that sonofabitch a bow to hold and force him into another archer. And let the paladin and barbarian do the hard work. At least they don't become useless the minute you throw an armor on them.

I've never used a Monk in IWD2, but I've read they're pretty fragile and not really that good even at higher levels. But yeah, make sure you boost his WIS as much as possible. That adds to his AC as well and will help avoid getting hit a bit better.

If you decide to switch him out, I'd suggest some more arcane firepower. Either another Sorcerer or a Wizard. If you choose the Wizard, you can specialize him for an extra spell per day. Unless you've decided to go pure class with your characters, I'd also suggest tossing in some Fighter levels on your Rogue character. That will beef up his HPs, give him better BAB (depending on how many FTR levels you take), and extra feats, which should help a lot for combat situations.

Your party looks pretty good though, as you've got a nice mix of classes and abilities at your disposal. As I noted, I think the only thing you might want to consider is more arcane magic.

There's a couple of issues here, really. First is the bizarre scarcity of good armor and shields, even in the late game. Shields in particular are pretty pathetic, especially in HoF mode where you'd expect to find better loot but you're still hard-pressed to find a shield better than +3! 3e allows shields to get up to +7 just with basic enchanting, and I'm not sure why IWD2 didn't implement anything stronger. Armor faces some similar (though not as pronounced) issues, but at least you can get some good plate armor at the start of the Auril section.

Second is that the Malarites are really tough, and at that point in the story you don't have much in the way of gear. Just keep reloading and using spells appropriately, and try to fight only a couple of dudes at a time, if possible. Remember that you can always go back and rest to replenish your spells as necessary.

Third is that monks aren't very good. They're not terrible, but they're MAD (multi ability dependent) and with a point-buy system they will always be lacking something that they'd really want. They have a lot of really neat abilities, but most of those neat abilities don't work very well together. They're front-line fighters but they don't have full BAB, the Dex and Wis bonuses don't really counteract the loss of armor, and their unarmed damage never really compares to the weapons that are usually available at that level. One thing that they ARE really good at though, is messing up spellcasters because of their good saving throws and spell resistance.

I'd suggest switching your monk to something that can cast spells as Coelacanth suggested, or just remove him and replace him with a different character and use the console to give the new character the appropriate amount of experience. (Just remember to drop all his items on the ground first, or you'll lose them forever.) Sorcerers are awesome but their spell selection is limited so I'd suggest wizard just so you can have a little preview of which spells are useful and which aren't, so you don't accidentally waste a slot. Secondly, clerics are amazing front-line fighters. They've got the same BAB as your monk but can use weapons and armor, and they've got oodles of buffing spells that can be put to good use both for themselves and others. Putting them up close also means that they'll have an easier time with emergency healing spells, provided you've been maxing their Concentration (which you should be). Sticking them with ranged weapons is kind of a waste. In PnP, 3e clerics are actually better fighters than the Fighter class due to all of the spells and abilities available that aren't implemented in IWD2. I would also suggest giving your rogue some other levels, either fightery or magery depending on what you think your party needs. Ranger, Bard, and Wizard work particularly well with Rogue. You don't actually need a tremendous amount of skill points to pick locks or disarm traps. I often just use my Wizard for thieving duties, because they generally have more skill points than they can use and cross-class points work just fine. Just don't neglect the points entirely; there are some zones in the later game that have fairly high skill requirements, but not so high that you need to max them every level. Plus there's always Find Traps and Knock if you get stuck.

A couple of things that I didn't see mentioned yet. First off, be sure to make use of the buffing spells available to your cleric as they can make a huge difference. Defensive Harmony, Magic Circle Against Evil, Prayer/Recitation, Holy Aura, etc, can dramatically increase the fighting power of your party. Also, if your cleric is good or neutral aligned then make sure you're not wasting any spell slots on healing spells (except for Heal and Mass Heal), and instead just make use of spontaneous conversion whenever you need to heal someone. Also, for your sorceress, while AoE damage spells are always nice, don't neglect area support spells, as things like Grease, Web, and Color Spray can be a big help when dealing with large crowds of enemies to keep your fighters from getting overwhelmed (even more so at lower levels). For survivability be sure to make use of Mirror Image and Stoneskin, as these two spells will dramatically increase the length of time a spellcaster can survive if under attack.

Yes, I was actually considering the Web spell, because now I'm stuck in a cave that has lots of orc shamans and wolf riders who zerg rush my party like mad. I saw the enemy use the web against me earlier and it seemed to work for them quite nicely. So maybe I should use their tactics. Block their path with the web, and toss a fireball toward the shamans. I'm gonna try this right now.

Eeeexcept I didn't have the knowledge of a Web spell. But nevermind, I was able to progress from that battle by using Circle of Protection from Evil, and buffing everyone with Strength of One and Bless. Had to down a couple of healing potions too, but I managed to get through the pests. I began the battle by tossing that exploding skull magic (forgot the actual name) toward the shamans, then running like hell, luring the enemies toward my other characters. I hope I get the Web spell in the next level up.

Sounds like Skull Trap. That can be a really great spell if you can set it and then lure the enemies into it. Clerics have a similar spell called Glyph of Warding.

Anyway, keep us updated. I find that reading your progress reports is interesting.

*edit* Oh, and the Grease spell is also a nice one. It doesn't trap enemies, but it slows them down and can really be handy when used in conjunction with a lingering AoE spell like Stinking Cloud, Cloudkill, etc. If you can manage to toss a Web in there on top of it... it can be a thing of beauty.

Thanks, I think I must try Grease out. Sounds useful. I've already noticed that enemies often pursue a single character: most often the one they noticed first. So therefor one of my tactics have been making a line of archers, then using the monk as a decoy, and when the enemy/enemies come after him, the archers get many free shots and often manage to kill all the enemies too, while the monk runs in circles and the enemies followed them. I reckon this might be an even more safe tactic if the enemies are slowed down.

Anyway, I still haven't gotten a Web spell but I did pick up another, interesting offensive spell for the Sorcerer: Lance of Disruption, and it has made progressing a lot easier. It's basically a railgun shot that passes through all the enemies in a single line, and it does very good damage too. Oneshot kills most shamans, and leaves stronger opponents in a very bad state for the other teammates to finish. Nothing like watching three or four orcs fly to pieces simultaneously. This spell evens the odds dramatically!

My every character has now reached level 9. Things have been going really smoothly for a while now; my characters no longer feel like pushovers, but heroes. I can also survive many battles in a row, even huge ones, before needing to rest or otherwise heal. The web spell was pretty useful outside the glacier temple, and now that my sorcerer has Spirit of Flame, she's pretty powerful even by herself. One really good spell I've picked and used a lot was Wall of Flame, and it quickly became one of my favorite spells. Lure some enemies, then cast the spell right at a doorway = instant pwn. Managed to clear a room full of ice trolls with this tactic! Also took Stoneskin, and that's pretty great too. Really helps against the bigger guys.

I know I haven't updated my progress in a while, but anyway, just wanted to come here and say I just beat the game. I thought it was pretty darn good, but there were a couple of places/levels I didn't like so much: The road to Ice Temple, Fell Wood and especially Dragon's Eye. Also, I thought the game didn't feel very constant throughout; what I mean is that while Targos felt like a generic CRPG town with different quests (don't get me wrong, I really liked Targos), in some places the game went a very straightforward path and felt more like a hack 'n slash. I wish there would've been more towns like Targos. But like I said, I still thought the game was lots of fun and it definitely made me want to try out Icewind Dale 1 too. I also liked how you definitely could see your characters getting really powerful over time: In chapter 2 I was in trouble all the time, while in later chapters I didn't have to worry about battles that much and could pretty much just watch the carnage (after buffing everyone to their peak of course, and keeping spellcasters out of harm's way). One could argue if the difficulty level is unoptimized, with the game being the hardest at a very early stage but later becoming much easier, but I didn't mind.

Once again, here's a rundown of my final characters and what their role was if someone happens to be interested. All of them were around level 16 by the time I got through the final battle (did it on my first try btw!); a couple might have been only 15. All of them were good-aligned and pure class (since it was my first D&D game, I didn't want to confuse myself with multiclassing).

My lead character was a Half-Elf Cleric: her role was mostly casting healing spells outside of battles (as a cleric should); before battles, I used some spells to buff my characters; not resistances so much, but mostly Strength and Bless; later on Holy Aura and stunning enemies with Holy Word (or whatever it was called). For the worst of times I also made her have a few necromantic spells like Harm in case things got too difficult at certain points; I can't remember the name of the priest outside Severed Hand HQ but he was giving me tons of trouble...until I used Harm and he lost like 180 HPs straightaway. In battles she most often used a crossbow though.

Next was an Aasimar Paladin, a generic swordsman but also the team diplomat. I didn't use his spells that often; main reason being that I often forgot he even had spells, but since his wisdom was pretty low, he could've cast only the lowest level spells anyway. So I just made him fight. He wasn't my favorite fighter, because unlike the character I'm about to describe later, he got pretty hurt occasionally and also, his sword was useless against certain enemies. He was still pretty good though, I rank him 2nd of my three melee combatants. Wielded a longsword or a scimitar, depending which was better at the time, and a shield.

Third character was a Human Monk. In some situations he was gold after getting through the initial suckiness of his, (for instance he was the one who cleared all of the eight trials) but I made the mistake of giving him too low wisdom, so he didn't get the benefit or extra dex. He was able to smack some good damage sure, but out of the three fighters he was the one I had to heal and worry about most often. I wouldn't pick a monk again in games such as this one was. Naturally he was an unarmed combatant.

Fourth character was a Half-Orc Barbarian, and this one I really liked. He had the most hitpoints by far, and with a natural Strength of nearly 30 (can't even imagine what it was with buffs), the guy was a war machine. I bet with enough protection buffs he could've solo most of the maps. True powerhouse, and my favorite character of the bunch. He was also the guy who handled all the intimidating in the team. At an early stage he used a one-handed axe and a shield, but (approximately) since chapter 2 a two-handed battleaxe.

Then, a Wild Elf Sorceress. Definitely the weakest one (smallest amount of hp), but otherwise unbelievably powerful. I was sad to notice there weren't that many good offensive spells that target just one creature (Magic Missile was the best one out of the ones I had, if you don't count Disintegrate), so I picked all kinds of AoE spells. Fireball, Acid Storm, etc. She could deal MASSIVE damage and get rid of the hardest mobs, even by herself. I also used Firewall to keep the ones trying to get close at bay, and summoned Shadows and Cacofiends in the harder battles. She was also pretty quick so therefor I could run away from mobs, maybe toss web or grease, then obliterate them later. Outside of battles I used her to buff my party with spells like Stoneskin, Emotion: Hope, Mass Haste and Cat's Grace. When out of spells, she used a longbow.

Last was the Tiefling Rogue. In battles she was pretty forgettable (not much use) and was very vulnerable, but outside of battles she was okay. I used her to make bluffs, search, open locks, and pick pockets. She did all the scouting too, with some nice values in Hide and Move Silently. If I started a new game now, I'd probably replace her with a third spellcaster or a fourth fighter though, but also give that character enough INT to get access to enough skill points to be able to open locks. That was the most useful skill in the game. Depending on the battle at hand, she used either dual daggers (or rather, a short sword + a dagger) or a longbow.

So, there you have it. My thoughts about the game and a summary of my party. And like I said, I got interested in IWD1 too while playing this, so I'll give it a shot, definitely. I already have some ideas about my next party for that game: I was thinking three dwarven fighters, a cleric, a druid, and a mage. Call me silly, but I also thought about some meta-roleplaying elements too: The dwarfs are brothers naturally, each one specializing in a different weapon (kinda like the Ninja Turtles...minus one); also the cleric will be the father of the cleric I used in IWD2 ^_^ Helps with the immersion I guess.

Anyway, final score for IWD2: 7-7.5/10. With less impact on massive battles, which happened all the time, and more interesting sidequests to do (plus more towns), and better path detection(!) it could've been an 8-9. I consider a 7 quite good though.

Yeah, I've read that from somewhere. I've already done some research about the old edition rules, although I still definitely won't jump into a new game without reading the manual first! It helped quite a lot when getting into IWD2 too :)

While I'd appreciate extra XP, I think I'm going to have to pass on bards, solely for the reason that I find their existence and nature...a little bit silly. Basically, I never could take bards seriously. There's just something about a guy in spandex playing frantic flute and awesome war songs while in the heat of battle, that I don't find believable. I rather just imagine there even isn't such a class. I prefer to do my fighting with real weapons and spells :)

I was thinking of dividing some the most useful skills among the fighters: One can do the searching, another one can disarm traps, and third one open locks. My IWD2 rogue was mostly good for these things, but wasn't very helpful in battles. Besides, those three skills were the most essential anyway so maybe I can have the elements in my party, yet still maintaining full attack force, by having a rogue who's a poor combatant out of the picture entirely.


Yes, I've read about them and they seem like a very interesting class to try out!


While having a Paladin would be beneficial, I thought I'd mix things up a little for IWD1 by trying out these classes that I didn't experiment with in IWD2 so that I can see if they work any differently. I'd exclude the cleric too, if it didn't probably make the game intolerably hard :P

I don't think there was an unbearable amount of fighting in IWD2, maybe a little too much at the expense of traditional RPG elements for my tastes, but I still enjoyed it. It wasn't too hack 'n slash-ish for me (who doesn't like games like Diablo that much).
Yes, I was planning to do this. In IWD2 my cleric, rogue and sorcerer all had ranged weapons, and I intend to do so in IWD1 too. I like them being useful even when out of spells :)

Thanks! I don't have the game yet, but maybe I'll do next week already. Looking forward to another pack of well-spent hours in this series.

I love Bards in NWN, but they're not as useful for fighting in IWD. (I tend to think of my Bards more as fighting skalds that inspire their comrades through war stories and inspirational speeches rather than the traditional prancing tight-wearing singers. They make a great secondary arcane caster in IWD though, as well as a decent ranged combatant and the real icing on the cake is the healing song (Song of the Sith). Makes healing spells and potions obsolete outside of battle.

Bards also get the Pick Pocket skill and it's automatically increased with every level gain. While there aren't very many opportunities to use Pick Pocket, the places where you can will net you some extremely useful items.

You can't do this in IWD 1. The rule set doesn't have skills like in the 3e rules of IWD2. If you want to take care of traps and locks, you on;y have two options:

1) use a character that has Thief levels and build up their traps and locks skills.
2) use spells (Clerics get Find Traps and mages get Knock - there's also the possibility of finding a FInd Traps wand), but I don't like wasting spell slots for those spells when a Thief (or FTR/Thief, which is even better) can do it.

A FTR/Thief (Dwarves can take this as a multiclass option, so that could fit in with your party concept) can be a pretty decent secondary melee fighter.