I have a few questions about IWD1 (my past experience with D&D games is limited to the Gold Box series). I'm just getting started with IWD (have not done much yet in-game).

1) If I choose mean/sarcastic dialogue options, will this cut me off from being offered certain quests, or get me a smaller reward? Or is the dialogue just for fun?

2) My instinct is to turn off the party AI and not have any combat scripts (because I don't trust the computer to run my characters). Am I correct, or are they actually useful?

3) As I understand it, the only way for Mages to get new spells is from scrolls (they do not get to select a spell when they level up). So, if I have two Mages in my party will the second one be relegated to back-up spells, or are there enough spells around that can they both kick ass?

Thanks :).

1) Nope, at most you'll get a different line of dialog but afterwards, the character will continue speaking as if you took the "good" option. There is dialog where you can pointlessly kill characters but I never picked them because that's just stupid, not "evil". There are a few exceptions in IWD2 though. Still, IWD is about the combat, not roleplay or story (actually, don't look at any IE game if you want roleplay) so dialog takes a back seat here.

2) I never use them myself but some people have use scripts where mages will cast spells against enemies that they're least likely to resist. I say don't use them but it's really up to you.

3) Some scrolls have duplicates but for the most part, there is only 1 scroll for certain spells in the game. There are enough scrolls to split between two wizards though, however their spell books will be far from complete. Not that they will be able to complete them anyways because some spell scrolls like vocalize, know alignment, lower resistance, trollish fortitude and Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting and I think soul eater cannot be found anywhere in the game and I've never found them as random loot either in my many playthroughs.

Hope that answers your questions :)

Thank you very much for your answers.

1) Awesome. Beyond Awesome. This was the answer I was hoping for, but was not sure if I dared dream it would be true!

2) I'll stick with my instinct then, I think it'll be more fun without scripts too.

3) Hmmm... I was thinking of Pool of Radiance in the back of my mind, where I'd blast hoards of enemies with multiple Sleeps or Fireballs from my lineup of F/Ms :). Different strategy here then.

TBH I'll expand on the "Two Mages" question.


While no you can't find a bunch of the higher level attack spells in the random loot(Usually 1 per copy even if you search every shop), you can still use a second mage. Have one prepare one of those high attack spells, and the second cast sleep. Honestly, Two Mages still make sense, even with the lack of spells. I play IWD 1 and 2 with the same party, and both parties used Twin Mages, an Evoker and Conjurer.


It helps, also, to take them in different ways like I did above. One focused on Attack Magic, while the other was focused on Conjuring help for the party.

Thanks. Yeah, I'll definitely still want two mages, but I'll build them a little differently bearing this mind. I was going to have two F/M, but I think I'll make the 2nd a C/M instead as a support spellcaster for both my Druid and Mage.

A C/M isn't what I would do but it's your game and it will work. For you main mage, definately consider a specialist for the extra spell per level. A necromancer or a diviner would be my pick.

A necromancer only loses 1 good spell (mirror image) for an extra spell per level, an excellent trade off

A diviner will lose conjuring spells but there are still summons from different schools and the support spell caster can cast the summons from the conjuring school.

I usually give the fighter ranged attack script to everyone since I'm lazy. ;-)

I'd never let the AI handle spellcasters, but for fighters it can save on some annoying micro-managing to give them a simple "attack nearest enemy" script. That way, you can focus on your mage spells and thieves' backstabs and not worry that your fighter is standing around doing nothing because you forgot to give orders. Combat in Icewind Dale can be quite hectic, particularly with a full party of six. (In a smaller party, I wouldn't bother with scripts at all.)

My icewind dale parties had two mages too, and I never really felt a lack of high-level scrolls. Sure, you won't be able to give all the same spells to your mages, but you'll have so few high level spellslots anyway that you won't be short of useful things to cast.

I never tried a cleric/mage, always thought fighter/cleric made a lot more sense. (or the ever-popular ranger-cleric, with the bug that lets them cast all druid spells as well as cleric spells.) Fighter/mages aren't as strong here as they are in Baldur's Gate, but still fun. There are some neat items for them to find too, although since item drops are somewhat random that's not guaranteed.

Our disagreement is probably because of different playstyles. You said in your last post that your a heavy magical player, I much prefer using weapons because weapons are always available, you don't need to rest to replenish them and there are no saving throws to worry about. I tend to use magic that compliments melee so I don't usually hurl fireballs and skull traps in hordes of enemies distracted by summons, I simply use such spells to soften the enemy up.

The other problem is I am not a great fan of the cleric. Yes, they have some good buffs but they are crap at dealing damage and their offensive spells ain't that great either. They have some "save or else" disablers which are crap because A) IWD1 is loaded with undead immune to the effects and B) summons do a much better job at tying up the enemy. The other is flame strike which I don't like simply because the casting time is too long. I don't like having a character who can only buff as later in the game, buffs aren't always needed, even on insane difficulty. Such a character (assuming I don't need any of the situational spells) usually ends up filling his spells slots with healing spells, a function which can be duplicated by a bag of healing potions. To me, this is a waste of a character slot. Barring healing spells, the cleric spells I actually use is less than 10 and thats including the spells I use for certain situations. I am also not a fan of turn undead as more often than not, the turned undead run back to undead you havent turned yet. For these reasons, I swear by multiclass FC's or RC's, I wouldn't multi a cleric with any other class and I definately never keep them single class..

The thing with the FMT and FCM is that they level up a little too slowly but if you are playing on hard or insane diffculty, the extra experience makes them a lot more viable. As long as a FMT focuses on search and open locks, they can still perform well as a primary thief and you have extra weapon proficiencies and spells to boot :)

As a fellow spellcasting enthusiast, I will heartily endorse the Sorcerer in IWD2; he makes a great complement to hte wizard and doesn't step on his toes scroll-wise. However, if we're going to have an aside on IWD2 I feel there is one thing that absolutely must be mentioned: under no circumstances should you ever create a Cleric/Mage combination in Icewind Dale 2.

I actually beat IWD2 with a C/M, A Fighter, A Mage, and a Thief.

It's still a gimped class combo, objectively weaker than a single-class Cleric or a Bard given that party composition.

Are you sure you mean dual-class here? That is to say, a human who starts out as either cleric or mage and then switches to the other? Dual-class fighter/mage/thief is impossible. That's a multi-class only combo. And dual-class cleric/mages would be very, very weak. They'd be either way too low level in their first class to cast anything useful, or if you dual at a high level they'd have to wait until the very end of the game to get their first class abilities back.

A multi-class cleric/mage (that is to say, an elf or half-elf who gains levels as a cleric and a mage simultaneously) is a good character in BG2, and probably in IWD1 too. (Never tried one there.) But a dual-class cleric/mage isn't.

That would be half-elf only. An elf cannot be cleric/mage in 2nd Edition.