I've owned Temple of Elemental Evil since GoG released it. I've even participated on this forum quite a bit. Despite that, I've never made it far into the game. Specifically, the battle with Lareth and his fifty million gazillion followers was always a major roadblock. I never knew enough to really figure out a good strategy.

Three days ago I started a new game, and with some careful consideration and blind luck I'm the furthest into the game yet. So I figure why not lay out my party so people can see what I've done, and offer some tips. A lot of what I've done was aimed in the "here in now" of actually making the first few levels bearable. I'm not exactly optimized for higher level.

#1: Lord Halidur (Human - 6th Level Paladin)
I'd tried Paladins before in TOEE, but I really tried to figure this out with Halidur. First off, I gave him weapon focus on Longswords, so that he would pack an extra punch in melee. At the time I didn't know that in Hommlett you could get the Holy Longsword, and if I really need it I have a plain old +2 Longsword he can switch to. Enemies like to swarm Halidur, so I gave him Cleave. This should allow him to kill things even more efficiently.

#2 Vandal (Human - 3rd Level Fighter/3rd Level Cleric)
Vandal is the "striker" of the group. I bucked my own trends and instead of a generic weapon I gave Vandal a Glaive with weapon focus. I also gave Vandal unlimited AoO attacks. Since Vandal can attack at ten feet he's usually put in a position to attack anyone who passes by. I turned Vandal into a Cleric to continue what I called “Heal Spam" that helped me through the early levels. But I've now diversified Vandal into more buffs then healing. When I actually remember to use his spells, anyway.

#3 Motaron Thunderfoot (Human - 6th Level Monk)
The Monk seemed like a great idea at first, but I'm starting to wonder about him. His AC is falling behind everyone else, he doesn't hit all that often, and he does less damage when he does hit. But he still has his uses. Motaron can run across the battlefield much quicker then anyone else, and I've given him several feats that make getting AoO's on him virtually impossible along with an exceptionally high tumble skill. Motaron can dart around the battlefield doing a variety of odd jobs. But I'm wondering about his long term viability. If his AC doesn't pick up, or his ATK doesn't pick up pretty soon he won't be able to kill anything or survive battles long.

#4 Tar'yel Shadowstalker (Elf - 4th Level Rogue/1st Level Druid)
Her XP has really fallen behind, and I'm not entirely sure why. I initially was only going to go 3rd level Rogue, but then I found she couldn't pick locks I needed forcing me to give her another level in Rogue. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue on Druid, which may make that a waste of a level. Her level in Druid comes in handy for two reasons (particularly a few levels ago): She can cast cure magic (continuing my "Heal Spam" trend), and she can summon an animal companion. As a Rogue, she has two weapon abilities for a crutch, but she's mostly ranged due to her lower AC. She can't hit the broadside of a barn with her bow due to me forgetting to pick up Precise Shot but every so often she'll pull out a headshot critical.

#5 Lesias Farseeker (Half Elf - 6th Level Sorcerer)
Lesias is split between offensive and defensive magic that I use when situation demands it. Spells like Mage Armor & Blur have really saved my butt when I needed it. I haven't decided on what 3rd level spell to give him. I like Fireball, but I also know how powerful a spell like Haste can be. Lesias also has Lareth's staff which makes him moderately useful in melee.

#6 Catherine (Human - 6th Level Druid)
My first healer, which made me quickly learn the power of healing spells. Due to party arrangement she's been able to diversify a little more with barkskin, call lightning, and other non-heal magics. As a fighter she was once on equal par but is starting to fall off. Her +6 to hit has nothing on Halidur's (+12) or Vandal's (+10) and she does measly damage when she does hit. But her job is to tank when needed, and provide support & healing.

#7 Meleny (Human - 5th Level Druid)
Picking up Meleny was a stupid decision for two reasons: She's not that good and it greatly dilutes my XP. I brought her into the party due to not thinking it was very "Paladin like" to agree to marry a girl and then abandon her just to get that sword. That being said, I would not be where I'm at in the game had I not picked her up. I immediately turned her skills into what I consider a "Combat Medic". She has very little offensive skills, and she has only one non-healing spell she casts (Call Lightning). Everything else she actually uses is healing. She sits far out of danger, and spams healing on anyone who might need it. This allows all my melee characters to tank without fear. Meleny's nearby with a Cure Light Wounds prepared. If she gets in danger and no one is available to assist, I simply have her run away. She is not built for combat, and to try would get her killed.

And on top of my seven, I have three animal companions. a Jackal, a Giant Lizard & a Panda. If nothing else, they keep the enemies busy.

I haven't gotten this far with much "strategy". It's mostly been healing spam & sheer bodies. But damnit, I killed Lareth in the middle of his monologue without even getting the option to spare him. That was so satisfying.

That battle with Lareth is a very tough one. Good job taking him out!

There are really tough battles ahead that are also quite satisfying.

I have a monk, too. You'll get more damage at lvl 8 and more AC at lvl 10. Remember that his AC is 10+DEX Bonus + WIS Bonus, so make sure he has those high. And if he's attacking with flurry of blows, he'll miss more often, but he'll get lots more attacks throughout fights. I still like fighters more, but the monk is cheap to maintain and isn't completely useless in a fight.

Have fun with the game!

That's good to know he'll get more AC. He's starting to become a liability in big fights. The only way I've found to counter his low AC (which only my Rogue/Druid, Sorc & 2nd Druid have worse) is by stacking Barkskin & Mage armor on him. With those two spells active, his AC shoots up to 27-28.

But even with that high of AC he's not a good tanking option. He just doesn't hit enough, or generates enough threat to keep enemies on him. They always split off and go after Halidur or a mage.

There is a concept known as "multiclass penalty" in 3.Xe. If your classes are more than one level apart, you take a percentage penalty to XP gained. Each race has a favored class that is ignored when multiclass penalty is determined. For humans and half-elves, it's simply their highest level class. For your elf, it is wizard. Since you have no wizard levels and your rogue and druid levels are three levels apart, you take a 20% penalty to XP for that character.

I found that using the spell Sleep at early levels is a really big boost. Grease is also very nice and unlike Sleep, Grease isn't affected by your opponents' levels.

I was very happy to include a Bard which gives you access to the spell Hideous Laughter at character level 2. That allowed me to take on the giant in the meadows with a level 2 party.

I'm not sure whether the original content has been expanded with the Co8 mod but Lareth has quite an interesting story arc if you choose to accept him into your party, i may try it next time i playthrough with an evil alignment.

Try the grease spell when you hit a close quarters road block, good for quickly putting multiple opponents out of commission for a few turns.

Good luck in the Temple. (You'll need it!)

I...really wish I had known this now. I'd have never given her that Druid level if I did. She's the only one so far where my choices are coming back to bite me.

I honestly have no idea what to do with her now. If I keep putting levels into Rogue, then the gap will get wider. But I don't need another level of Druid.

Would working into another class offset it, or at least make it less pronounced? Like say Ranger? If I could put a few levels into Ranger, making her archery better, that wouldn't be so bad. But if it's just going to make the XP gap worse then I'm forced to continue on Druid?

Adding another class would increase the penalty to 40%, unless you keep all three within one level of each other.

Your only solution appears to be to go for 5 rogue/5 druid.

You'll pretty much need to go with rogue/druid, but as it happens that's a doable combination. Druid spells will come handy, even without the higher level spells.

Monk... I'm not sure. I'd be inclined to say that's a pretty weak choice in toee. Pretty weak in AD&D overall. Good resistances against everything, but... weak attacks and pretty low AC. You will find Bracers later, that'll boost the AC somewhat. Monks are great at high levels in Neverwinter Nights, but even then they're way less accurate than fighters and such. One of those classes that does pretty well without any equipment, but when everybody else has great stuff and they dont, it's not pretty.

I put her point (when she finally dinged) into Druid. I have to fix that XP issue ASAP. She's taken a massive XP hit, falling I think around 2,000 XP behind everyone else. To "fix" this, I'm going to have to put the next two levels into Druid if I understand this. Not exactly something I want to do, but she was quickly going to become useless.

I go back and forth on the Monk. I think what he is (at least to 6th level) is a situational character. If you're dealing with one super strong melee enemy, you can apply buffs that won't stack on the other melee fighters and shoot his AC sky high so he can solo the main guy. Or when the casters are threatened, the Monk can back track faster and never take AoO attacks. But in your average run of the mill combat? He can't hold a candle to the Paladin or Fighter/Cleric.

I cleared out the rest of Hickory Branch (aside from the Minotaur that I could not kill no matter what tactic I used). The battle with the Orc/Ogre generals took two tries, but second time it went rather smooth. I've fallen in love with Fireball and how it just obliterates everything it comes across. I've actually entered the Temple, having never been there before. I ended up in the Earth Temple area and killed a few Medium Earth Elementals and guardians. I saved and quit before I talked to a priest and his buddy I found.

So are Humans immune to Multiclass penalty? I'm scurred to multiclass to one side or the other now.

The favoured class of any race doesn't count/get penalized when multiclassing, and for humans and half-elves the favoured class is whatever happens to be your highest class. So for Elf, a Druid 1/ Fighter 5 would get a massive penalty, but Fighter1/Wizard5 or Fighter5/Wizard1 would be just fine.

So for humans, whatever 2-class combo is just dandy, but just don't go adding a 1 level of ranger to your cleric5/fighter5. (But eg rogue6/Fighter1/Wizard2 would be just fine again.)

3.x is confusing to a low level 4E player. :(

I'll need to consider what direction to go with Vandal. Having Cleric buffs is useful, but I actually like him killing things.

I'm still playing which is surprising. Usually by now I'm burnt out on a game but I'm putting steady time into TOEE.

The party is level eight, and still donking around in the Temple. I had no idea I could actually do quests in the temple until well after I massacred anything remotely hostile in the Earth level. The only encounter at that level that gave the party any trouble was the Ogre Chief, mostly due to constantly underestimating him and his glee of eating my sorcerer's lunch. Second level hasn't exactly gone well. The Air Temple battle took multiple tries, mostly due to again their joy at destroying Lesias. Then I ran into the Water Temple and the Juggernaut. I had the thing beaten and the encounter all but won but I lost Lesias (again...) and Vandal the Fighter/Cleric in the process. Instead of taking the XP hit on them, I just reverted saves. I'll come back to that fight when I'm stronger.

Nothing's changed party arrangement wise, but for reference:

Lord Halidur - Level 8 Paladin
Vandal - Level 5 Fighter/Level 3 Cleric
Motaron Thunderfoot - Level 8 Monk
Catherine - Level 8 Druid
Lesias Farseeker - Level 8 Sorcerer
Tar'yel Shadowstalker - Level 4 Rogue/Level 4 Druid (FINALLY)
Meleny - Level 8 Druid

I spent some time researching crafting and making some wondrous items after reading Jaroo's thread on his game. I can't make weapons & armor yet and I made my sorcerer my crafter which means he has access to all of five items. It's amazing how far I've gotten with absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I did make two Bracers of Defense +3 and a Cloak of Resistance though. I kind of have a staggered XP deal going on with the crafting. My four fighters are at the same XP, then Lesias is about 800 or so XP behind them (crafting), then Meleny is 1,000 or so behind (Picked her up when I was level 2 already) and Tar'yel is about 1,600 XP behind. I plan on turning Catherine into a crafter (assuming I get more feats) so I can make more goodies with her wider selection of spells.

One thing I could do, and I just thought of this, is multiclass my Sorcerer into a Wizard. Since he's a Half-Elf, he takes no Multiclass Penalty (I think) and that'd open up more crafting abilities if not immediately then down the road. Kind of wish I'd thought of that sooner...

With the Bracers of Defense +3, my Monk now has the highest AC of the entire party at 24. Without moving the Monk can also attack four times a turn. With that many attacks & high AC he should be a wrecking ball. But he has a 30% hit chance, and when he does connect it inflicts 4-10 damage per hit. On average he probably inflicts 10-12 damage per turn if he hits at all. Halidur by contrast with two attacks a round and cleave can do somewhere around 60 damage on two targets. I'm still using the Holy Longsword due to the extra 2d6 against evil creatures. The extra +1 to attack rolls with my +2 Longsword wasn't/isn't enough to compensate for missing that damage.

The party is probably going to give the Temple a rest. I read up on CoE and there's extra content I've yet to see including an entire extra town. I think I'll do that before I delve any deeper then level two of the Temple.