Congrats. What was your triple-class character's level at the end of IWD?

Thank you. The levels were 16/15/19.

I just finished Trials of the Luremaster, my levels were 22/19/25 at the final battle. A hard expansion indeed, with a lot of combat, but it was excellent. The battle with the Luremaster was also difficult and took some reloads, ranged weapons and magic missiles was the key to success.

Now it is time for Icewind Dale 2. I have never played it before. Looking at the character creation, i get the impression that it is not as solo-friendly as IWD1, as i didn't find any options for multi-classing and such. Is soloing do-able? If so, what combination of race and class works best?

Alternatively i could play through it with a normal party, because it is my first time playing it, and try the solo-challenge later. What is recommended?

IWD2 uses the DnD3 rule system while IWD1 uses the DnD2 rule system.

In DnD2 you select a class or class combination at the beginning and the only way to change your class during the game is to dual class (If you are human and have some requirements, such as minimum stats)

DnD3 is completely different. You select a class when you create a char and every time you level up, you select what class you want to have. Your only restriction is alignment and some restrictions for monks and paladins. In theory you could have a char who has levels of every class that are allowed for his aligment. So the question is not what is possible (answer: almost everything) but what makes sense.
Think also about favoured classes and exp penalties.

general rule: If you fight with weapons, multi classing is often good. For example taking some levels of fighter to get feats and profiencies.
If you play a caster, do not multi class if you want your spells to be powerful.

Here http://www.gog.com/forum/icewind_dale/quick_guide_to_character_class_ability_rolls_and_party_creation/page1 are some discussions about this.

I do not know IWD2 good enough to advise a char for soloing, but I will use a party of 6 for my first playthrough.

IWD2 uses totally different rules than IWD1.

Essential are a sorcerer (or maybe mage or diviner instead) and a priest to gain access to high level spells as fast as possible. The rest is optional.

A singing bard helps a lot in physical combat, thanks to the "lingering song" feat their singing is now 3 times as powerful as in IWD. They don't require much micromanagement, just use the script and have them sing.

Druids offer additional options with useful spells.

Starting with one level of thief and the rest as specialist wizard (transmuter) is enough for handling locks and traps, with maxed int you'll have enough skillpoints.
You can also keep your thief pure or mix in a warrior class level (even paladin works) for doing big damage instead.

For your physical attacker you have many options.

The hordes in IWD2 are even bigger and have more HP than in IWD so make sure everyone you want to do physical has maxed strength to speed things up.
Keep your main casters pure class else you'll cripple them.


Use a party of 6 in your first playthrough, the game was designed for this.

Do you get more exp per char in IWD2 if you have a smaller party?

This is the case in most (I have not played all) DnD2 games such as balsurs gate1+2, IWD1 and PT.
In NWN2 you get always the same exp and having a party may give more exp if an ELC char drops your
average party level. In NWN1 having a henchman lowers your exp, but they are not halved. I have not played
another DnD3 game yet.

Yes, you do