As already mentioned, the two games use very different rules, so the answers are going to be different for each character in each game. Fairly straightforward in Icewind Dale 1; shouldn't matter whether you're using sword and shield or a two-handed sword, as both are very effective approaches. In Icewind Dale 2, the two-handed sword is by far the most effective fighting style, and you also have the superb option of multi-classing barbarian. In any event, you can pump strength and rock house pretty easily. Who doesn't like a classic mage? Max out intelligence and go to town. The only major consideration is whether to specialize or not. I find that decision comes down to playstyle; if you like to rest frequently then being a generalist makes most sense as you can always sit down and refresh spell slots. If you like to push on without resting, those extra spell slots are invaluable and specializing is a no-brainer. This is not valid in IWD1, so you'll need to select a different race or class. Although it's legal in IWD2 it's a poor race/class combo. It'll work, but the bonuses for being a dwarf only serve to cancel out the penalties for being a dwarf so you basically are getting nothing out of your race. Remember that Paladins are very dependent on all-around high stats. Taking your intelligence down as low as it can go to boost everything else is highly recommended. It'll work fine just fine in IWD2, but in IWD1 the maximum wisdom of a gnome could be a problem. Should work fine in IWD1, but in IWD2 this is a terrible character design.

In Icewind Dale 2 there are two types of archers: Fighters who wield longbows, and those who aren't very good at it. If it's just a secondary weapon, like a crossbow in the hands of a mage, then you don't need to be very good. If it's a primary weapon that your party is relying on to take down powerful enemies, you'll want better. Do not use a crossbow, do not use the ranger class. You will be very disappointed. It'll work well in Icewind Dale 1. In Icewind Dale 2, I'd strongly recommend multi-classing Fighter. Seriously, two types of archers: fighters with longbows, and those who suck at it. In IWD1 the ranger is an effective ranged combatant. In IWD2, the class name is a total misnomer and it's the fighter who is the master of ranged weapons.

I can only speak for IWD1, but I pretty much stick to the basic warrior/mage/priest/thief paradigm. I keep a Paladin as my "face" character. Decent fighter with some divine magic for good measure. Pure human or dwarf fighters for uber-stats will suffice instead, or in addition.

A dwarf fighter/cleric or ranger/cleric who is the groups second front-liner and divine caster.

An elf fighter/mage. Give her a bow and watch her go to town with spells when she's not shooting arrows.

An elf mage/thief for additional spellpower and of course the necessary thief skills. Good with a bow as well.

And I throw a bard in for good measure. He just stands around buffing and identifying items which is more useful than it sounds early on at least. Later, when the mages pump their lore up the bard can be nixed. By that point, the bard's buffs don't amount to much either.

That's a party of 4/6 which means more experience to go around.

If you want the added manpower, an elf ranger is a solid addition. Always good to have more ranged support, especially if it can double as a fighter.

But there is something liberating about only managing a party of 4. It is surprisingly do-able too.

You can even drop the paladin/second front-liner if you want and just go with dwarf fighter/cleric - mage - and mage/thief. This is less do-able. Not recommended unless you're up for doing more with less :)

In IWD 1 specifically, Fighter/Druid is awesomesauce.

I was never a fan of multiclassing, but I have played the game with both 4 and 6 party members.
With 4 I usually go for Fighter, Cleric, Mage, Thief. This get's me more xp, which for pure classes mean a lot quicker leveling up. This is in essense a melee-melee-ranged-ranged type of thing.
With 6 party members, I tend to play around having either a Paladin or another fighter for extra melee, or a Ranger for nice long bow user, and always an extra mage for more a**-kicking power.

But, as someone already stated, you can make any number of parties. I for instance, happen to have an innate hate for the bard (don't ask why, not even I know, but there it is), and I never really use druids either.

I find multiclassing to be almost a necessity. It's the godaweful arbitrary weapons restrictions. Why mages or druids can't use bows is beyond me, so that's why I multiclass mage/fighter or mage/thief - especially since a pure thief is not as capable as a mage with a bow and thief skills. I multiclass figher/cleric just so my healer can handle himself on the front line.

Multiclassing is *totally* worth it, but only as a rather unfortunate necessity. This old iteration of DnD had a *lot* of irritating "thou shalt not" rules that multiclassing circumvents.

What I've never bothered to deal with is dual classing. That just seems like more hassle than it's worth. Especially if you have to eliminate a necessary role from your group entirely while that character trains in another class. Even still, it just takes too long for that character to catch up and you end up with a character who sucks at *both* classes - especially if you don't time it right.

It's not that much of a loss if you are dual classing from a Fighter to, say, a Thief; you temporarily lose your ability to hit things as hard, but in return gain various thief skills and the ability to backstab with the Long Sword you now have Grand Mastery in. Just imagine if something like that were possible with Paladins; as if the special abilities weren't enough, now you can also pursue GM in order to make your Holy Avenger sword even more deadly.

Solo characters are stronger if multiclass instead of single class but in a party single class casters is more powerful. It does matter if your party has access to more and higher level spells with better effects, definitely more than increasing the party's total number of attacks per round by a few percent. If you multiclass your cleric with fighter only he gets more attacks but all 6 suffer from the weaker, shorter lasting cleric buffs and missing healing capacity.

This, I rather have several very strong doing each their own, than lesser versions of 2 classes.

I would take kmonster's advice with a grain of salt as what he said only matters for your primary spell caster which will be a (preferably specialist) mage, it doesn't apply to clerics. SIngle class clerics might be good in PnP but in this game, they are garbage, only a step up from a single class thief which is the worst. A multi-class cleric sacrificing a spell from each level for better combat viability is an excellent trade off because later in the game, most of their spells are crap and you usually end up filling their spell slots with healing anyway which ptions can do in less time. Here's a breakdown by level of useful non healing cleric spells.

Level 1: The only other spell you MIGHT be using here is sanctuary. But because my cleric is swinging a mace with the rest of my party, I never use this. The rest of the spells are crap (though I do use bless early game).

Level 2: Draw Upon Holy Might is the clear winner here but this (bad duration) spell works best with fighter clerics, all the more reason to use a multi IMO and it's not like you have anything better at this level anyway.

Level 3: Animate dead and holy smite are the winners here but you won't always be using them. Dispel magic and exaltation are also good but they are highly situational, you don't need a lot of castings when you do need them. Exaltation doesn't need long duration eitherThe rest of the spells blow. Losing a single spell slot here is negligable.

Level 4: Defensive harmony is the best one here and I fill my slots with this spell but this spells duration doesn't increase with clerics levels, it is set at 6 rounds. A very quick casting spell too. The cleric can fire this one off right before contact with the enemy and then join in the fray himself. All other spells are useless.

Level 5: Chaotic commands is situational (don't need long duration either) and champions strength lasts too short to be relying on it. The rest of the spells blow......again

Level 6: Everything here sucks and the only spell you should be using here is Heal, you can never have too many of those but sacrificing fighting abilitly for an extra heal spell ain't worth it.

Level 7: Everything here sucks but unlike the level 6 spells, there is nothing good to pick here. Nothing lower level mage spells don't to better at least. You can skip this spell level entirely.

It's pretty obvious the extra spell per level is negligable.

Then single class clerics have a stronger but borderline useless turn undead ability which causes undead enemies to flee back behind enemy spell casters and regroup with the enemy there (Kresslacks tomb) or they flee further back into trap infested areas behind enemy spell casters regrouping with the enemy behind them too (Dorns Deep). I wouldn't bother with this either.

If healing is really that big of a problem, you're doing something wrong. You are usually swimming in healing potions late game anyway and an extra healing spell per level isn't going to do anything to change that. Better to have a few extra potions on hand if you need more healing.

In the case of clerics, druids, thieves and single class generalist mages, multi them. Even with their loss of an extra spell per level (or thieving abilities), they are still better than their single class counterparts.

This isn't entirely true. If you compare multi-class fighter/cleric to going pure or dual, then all three choices have their advantages. Up to level 20, a pure cleric will be progressing fast enough in level to keep up with what you would expect to be a big Thac0 advantage held by the fighter/cleric. Add to that the additional spells and the butt-kicking power of BANISHING undead that steadily improves with level (and the fact that IWD is crawling with undead), and imo the pure cleric is a justifiable choice. After level 20 the pure cleric loses this advantage since his Thac0 is frozen at 8 and the fighter/cleric slowly gains spells, banishing power and improves his Thac0 all the way down to 1. But in a big party, you might not see a level 20/20 fighter/cleric even by the time you meet the final boss.

The dual fighter-cleric adds some extra melee weapon proficiency (depending on when you switch over) but otherwise plays very similar to a pure cleric once you switch. Imo if you are looking at pure classes, the dual sort of qualifies as one and the extra combat power is worth the initial time investment and subsequent inconvenience of switching them over (playing as a low-level cleric with 126 hp isn't that difficult after all).

Comparison at 2.75M experience (assumes maxed character stats and melee weapon mastery):
Level........................Thac0....HP(Con=18).......Str=18/91(toHit/Dam)......Proficiency(ToHit/Dam/#Attack s)......Spells
Pure Cleric20............8............112................................+1/+2..................................... .........+0/+0/1............................9/9/9/8/7/5/2
Multi Ftr13/Clrc14.....8............116.................................+2/+5....................................... ......+3/+5/2............................6/6/6/5/3/2
Dual Ftr9/Clrc19.......8............136................................+2/+5....................................... .......+3/+4/1.5.........................9/9/9/7/6/4/2
Multi Rgr13/Clrc14...8............116.................................+2/+5......................................... .....+1/+2/1.5.........................6/6/6/5/3/2 and 3/2/1

Cleric Spells (per my playstyle, I always look to stack all buffs and debuffs):
level 1: Protection from Evil (debuff @3 rounds/level duration), Sanctuary (cast on self and then Turn Undead and corral the skellies against a wall while your party finishes them off w/ missile fire OR by lvl 20 just go stand next to any undead and they disintegrate ).

level 2: Draw Upon Holy Might (at high levels is an awesome self-buff most combat stats > 25), Resist Fire/Cold (stacks with Prot from Fire so that any fire attacks HEAL the pc).

level 3: Prayer (simultaneous buff/debuff stacks with everything else), Protection from Fire (see Resist Fire).

level 4: Defensive Harmony (+4 AC whole party for short duration), Prot from Evil 10' Radius (more stackable buffing sweetness), Recitation (Prayer on steroids... use it).

level 5: Flame Strike (Troll killer), Greater Command (clerical version of sleep), Righteous Wrath of the Faithful (you did remember to make all your party members the same alignment, right? Awesome buff).

level 6: Heal (needs no comment), Entropy Shield (best self-buff for clerics).

level 7: Symbol of Hopelessness (battle-winner, if they fail their save).

I disagree about the multclassing of primary cleric, druid and mage (thieves don't loose anything important by multiclassing).
Even the party cleric helps more pure classed than multiclassed during the game.

Extra healing spells do make a difference, reducing the need for searching a safe place to rest and you'll be happy that you don't have to wait another level when a party member died deep down in the dungeon.
When your fighter is in trouble healing over 100 HP during combat from the distance using the resurrection spell can be a lifesaver.

An extra level in chapter 1 helps turning the many undead there and even in TotL most of the undead are turnable, you won't note it with a slow leveling multiclass however.


Let's do a comparison between pure class cleric and multiclass cleric near the end of chapter 2 when it gets difficult.
It's only a level (7 vs 6) but this does make a difference.
The abilty to cast "Protection from Evil 10' radius" alone is enough to even out the fighter benefits, it grant +2 to AC and saving throws to all 6 party members for a long time. But you also get another level 4 slot to cast defensive harmony or recitation for further improvement. A casting of the Animate Dead spell will summon one extra undead level, a prayer will last longer, ...

Near the end you have level cleric level 17 vs level 12, you can prebuff with 5x magic resistance for 34 MR each instead of 2x24 MR (MR protects from dispel magic and other spells), only the pure class can heal from the distance with resurrection, ...

There are many useful cleric spells you didn't mention and most are more effective at higher casting level, resist fire/cold allows using special tactics, entropy shield offers great protection, ...
There are many other possible tactics than using brute force and a pure class high level casters encourage more flexibility.

It's also more fun having 6 characters with different strengths and weaknesses working together as team than having 6 fighters with little other abilities from second classes trying to steamroll everything.

A lot of what you mentioned above looks good in theory but in practice it isn't necassary but it depends on your party composition. My party front liners always have str dex and con all at 18, if this was not the case then maybe some of the buffs you mentioned above would be more useful. Later in the game, my characters usually had good weapons and armour that stacking buffs was just overkill. This was on normal, hard and insane difficulties too.

Protection from evil, prayer, recitation, the AOE prot from evil spell were not needed because my parties were just as effective without them and this is why I lumped them in with the trash spells but maybe I shouldn’t have done that. Some of them are useful but only for certain battles; you didn’t need to have them active all the time and you certainly didn't need several castings. Entropy shield might be a good buff but heal is the spell you should be using at that level. I also stick with what I said about all level 7 clerics spells being crap, symbol of hopelessness is such a crap spell for such a high level. Instead of casting a save or else spell, why not cast a few summons which are all but certain to distract the enemy? The summons don’t need to be a particularly high level either. Hell, if you want to halt the enemy, the 3rd level Animate Dead spell is a better option, and it works against undead too. Why leave to chance what you can control directly? Flame strike is also garbage, long casting time with high possibility of enemy moving out the way (or getting killed before the flame hits) makes flame strike one of the more useless direct damage spells in the game. Also flame strike as a troll killer is like killing an ant with a sledgehammer, just plain overkill. A wizard’s burning hands spell (or druid’s sunscorch) is much more efficient. There’s also more than enough weapons that do fire damage making troll killing spells a convenience at best.

The fire protection spells were something I hadn’t considered though but that’s because I tend to use fire elementals and bomb them with fireballs when the enemy closes in. Fire protection gear wasn’t exactly rare either but I never tried buffing it with spells. Next playthrough that is something I will try..

Really? Because my experience was exactly the opposite. I did use a single class cleric in my first 2-3 playthroughs but found using a multi was much more effective. Since that discovery, I never looked back

Mages on the other hand are different, they should be specialized as the extra spell per level is usually worth the loss of 2 spell schools (sacrificing necromancy, evocation and conjuring is a big no no though). Necromancers for example only lose one good spell, mirror image. If you want a single class generalist mage, the bard is a better choice.

No they do not, potions fill that role just fine without wasting spell slots on healing spells. Also, healing potions are in infinate supply, they are always available. If your fighter is taking 100 odd damage and needing resurrecting, then maybe he should be getting assistance from the other party members and you should be adjusting your tactics. If the resurrection spell is part of your tactics then you’re doing something wrong. Party members shouldn’t be dying, period.

Turning undead in chapter 1 causes them to run behind spell casters and regroup with forces behind them. I remember 5 spots where that can happen. It’s better to draw them out, bottleneck them then take them as that scenerio can be predicted and controlled. Turn undead leaves quite a bit to chance.

The undead in TOTL (the part where you have to put 4 scrolls in the 4 sarcophagus right?) die so fast anyway that turn undead isn’t even worth considering. When the crypt thing’s teleport your party members to a random area, meeting back up with them is still never a problem. By the time a cleric attempts a second turning, the front liners will have already cleared the enemy and started moving to the next area.

I am aware that at higher levels, turn undead can destroy them outright which might be good in HOF mode (I haven’t tried it yet so I can’t say if it’s the case) but in non HOF mode, characters aren’t high enough level so turned undead just end up running around, potentially putting them in areas you aren’t ready to go yet (like places with spell casters and traps). I still say it’s better to control their movements than leave everything to chance with turn undead.

In a combat oriented game, I fail to see the logic in sacrificing fighting ability for the entire game for earlier access to the paltry Protection from evil 10’ radius spell. I suppose it might be good if are getting hit more than you should but instead of dragging out the battle with Yxonemei with a level 4 defense buff, using a useless offensive character and still take a whacking, you can use the level 3 animate dead summons to distract her and use attack buffs to end the battle quicker, taking fewer hits in the process thus making the 4th level buff unnecessary. The best offense is not a good defense. Ever consider that maybe your emphasis on buff duration has more to do with poor damage output rather than the importance of a single class cleric? Without seeing your party, I can only speculate this might be the problem.

The extra undead summon is unnecessary when the enemy is dying faster and it isn’t until the end of chapter 4 where defensive harmony becomes important. Lower Dorn’s Deep can be pranced through until you get to the lich but once again, he mostly summons and those mummies can stun your party so attack buffs to take them out fast are still the order of the day (turn undead is a still crap shoot here). The bronze sentries are rather nasty though (especially on insane difficulty) but the multi class cleric still has the buffs required AND the attack power to help pull the party through.

That magic resistance spell is useful where exactly? The only place I could think of was the fight with the Kraken Society mages but there were potions available for that. The area in Lower Dorns Deep with the idol is also a contender but you have a lot of room to move there, summons were still better.

I mentioned already using entropy shield over heal is a waste, especially on a character that can’t hit anything on the front lines in the first place. If you want tankage, summons are the way to go and save that slot to heal an unlucky frontliner.

That is entirely preference, which is fine, but that doesn’t make it more effective. I have cleared with game with a 5 fighter 1 ftr/thf before which obviously, is not the most effective party. The easy areas were very easy, but the hard areas could get really hard. Summons were not a tactical option and damage potions and buff potions had to be used sparingly as there are only a limited amount in the game. I almost ran out of potions of clarity fighting the harpies in TOTLM for instance. Regardless of how you play, the one thing that is constant is to win a war, you have to defeat your opponent and you can’t do that by dragging the war out with unneeded defense and yes, those buffs were talked about earlier are mostly not needed. You should only have enough defense to maintain attack momentum, anything more is wasted energy that could have gone into attacking.

Only thing I can care to mention among this great party-making advice is that pure class thieves are a little redundant unless you want to invest heavily in backstabbing (which is always fun and surprisingly powerful, albeit a bit of a pain to set up). That being said, for IWD1 you almost need a dude who can disarm traps for the entire game, so dual-classing might be a little dangerous during the interim when you don't have access to your thief abilities.

Copy my party!

1) Human Paladin (17 str, 18 dex, 18 con, 4 int, 18 wis, 18 cha)
2) Elf Druid (9 str, 19 dex, 16 con, 9 int, 18 wis, 18 cha)
3) Half Elf Bard (18 str, 18 dex, 16 con, 18 int, 3 wis, 18 cha)
4) Half Elf Ranger/Cleric, chaotic good (chaotic to get an alignment exclusive divine spell) (18/00 str, 18 dex, 18 con, 9 int, 18 wis, 3 cha)
5) Half Elf Cleric/Mage, chaotic evil (chaotic to get an alignment exclusive divine spell, and evil to get the "evil" divine spells that Ranger/Cleric above never gets) (18 str, 18 dex, 16 con, 18 int, 18 wis, 3 cha)
6) Halfling Fighter/Thief (17 str, 19 dex, 18 con, 10 int, 10 wis, 10 cha)

With this party, you get ALL divine spells, cleric good ones, cleric evil ones, plus the chaotic-bound berserk one. You get all druid spells. You get all arcane spells (provided you locate the scolls first). You get ALL classes available. You get all races, minus dwarf and gnome. You get an overpowered, imbalanced, and balanced, powergaming party. And if you do the heart of fury trick after "dressing" them with import+export+premade characters, to build them a bunch of levels, they make short work on anything.