Finished up IWD and imported my chars. I have quite a few nice items and weapons with my main tanks having around -10-13 unbuffed AC and +4/+3 weapons etc. I was going through HOF on a new playthrough and I am steam rolling through chapter one without even having to cast practically. I was wondering if HOF gets harder at all or maybe I should try a fresh group of 6 and try it from lvl 1 naked!

Thanks! Just FYI my party includes:

Dual Class:
F(9)-Mage+++++
F(9)-Mage+++++
F(9)-Druid+++++
F(9)-Cleric+++++

Multi Class:
F/Tf
F/M

Everyone is around lvl 17 worth of xp!

Really looking for a challenge but from what I have seen about lvl 1 gameplay in HOF doesnt seem fun to me.... kiting goblins around for +20 minutes hehe

I'm wondering the same thing as I heard in IWD2 to games gets exponentially harder but not sure about IWD1. I once read a guide where the auther recommended a full 6 man party of triple class characters with all levels maxed out but this just sounds like overkill to me. Not sure if HOF really is that hard or if the author was blinded by his own fears. I'm really wanting to know too cos my next run through will be a HOF run.

Might be best to wait for Coelocanth to reply, he knows everything about this game :)

To peak my curiosity, I decided to scrap my party of OPed adventurers and make a new party for HOF. I went with a 6 man party, nothing crazy, mostly dual/multi class chars and used an editor and gave them all 750k Xp because getting 1 shotted isn't my idea of fun :P

Having a blast, goblins at the beginning were weak and only hit me for max of 16 dmg, but because I had no gear except starting equipment they were able to hit me somewhat often. I would imagine a lvl 1 party would be able to do this as well but would be much more tedious and for what? You'll have 750k xp in HOF in no time anyways.

ALSO:

WOW, Icewind dale tweaks which I have used forever when I reinstalled my game I noticed the last option that allows you to change how random drops work in the game. The option where you can exchange your random drop for any other that drops from that spot from a merchant in kuldahar for 1000G is amazinggggggggggggggggg. Why does no one point this out? I feel this should have been inherent in the game to begin with! Just raising awareness :D

If you have Dan Simpson's FAQ for IWD, it'll tell you about Heart of Fury mode. Not for the feint of heart, nor first level cannon fodder. Enemy damage and hit points are dramatically increased, and many areas have additional enemies.

As for the Random Drops exchange component in DaleTweaks, that was new to the latest version...