Posted February 27, 2012
I have recently become enamored with the idea of playing through a bunch of my old RPGs, including the Infinity Engine games, with a single character instead of the traditional full party. It's required a significant change in the traditional party balance mindset, but has been a fun challenge. In general, the fact that (most) XP rewards are evenly distributed among the party members means that a party of one levels notably faster than a party of 4-6, which balances the encounters back out after a while. I have no problem with using cheezy powergamer tricks where needed, like rolling a fighter with 18/00 str and 3 charisma, since many encounters in many games (esp. early on) would be nigh-impossible with a non-optimized soloist.
Planescape Torment was, of course, the easiest to do this with; TNO has no need to drag along anyone else when most of the battles are verbal instead of physical, and gaining a strength and constitution of 19+ is not only possible, but easy to do by level 12 without sacrificing on social stats.
Icewind Dale 1 was similarly easy, given an appropriately munchkinly stat distribution. Minmax the unstoppable (fighter 9 /cleric X) swept through the Dale like a hot chainsaw through butter, since all of the XP and loot was concentrated in a single character instead of distributed evenly through the party, and I could get a +3 flail backed by grandmaster proficiency and enough AC to be effectively untouchable by the time I went to Dragon's Eye.
Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 were both games that would be POSSIBLE to solo, but a little too tedious for my tastes. In BG1, you start off squishy enough that a lucky roll by a kobold or bandit archer can nearly oneshot you, and in BG2, you start running into liches and other epic-level magics at a disturbing rate; I made it through most of Chapter 2 with a halfling bounty hunter to leverage the outrageously useful special traps, but there were many encounters where you zoned right into a nasty encounter with multiple save-or-die slinging mages, and neither backstabbing nor trap-laying were possibilities. I might go back and try soloing them again at some point, under a slightly modded BGTutu setup or something, but they're on hold for now.
Is soloing in IWD 2 anywhere near as doable as in IWD 1? I know it's using 3rd ed. rules instead of 2nd, which I am comfortable enough with, but I had heard that it uses some sort of scaling xp reward system. Would something like a combat-focused Svirfneblin fighter/cleric or cleric/illusionist be able to tackle the new and improved challenges plaguing the Ten Towns? My Svirfneblin cleric has managed to get through most of the prologue section without getting a scratch, thanks to a high enough AC that he only gets hit on a 20, but I don't know how long the gravy train will last. Am I setting myself up for grief down the line?
Planescape Torment was, of course, the easiest to do this with; TNO has no need to drag along anyone else when most of the battles are verbal instead of physical, and gaining a strength and constitution of 19+ is not only possible, but easy to do by level 12 without sacrificing on social stats.
Icewind Dale 1 was similarly easy, given an appropriately munchkinly stat distribution. Minmax the unstoppable (fighter 9 /cleric X) swept through the Dale like a hot chainsaw through butter, since all of the XP and loot was concentrated in a single character instead of distributed evenly through the party, and I could get a +3 flail backed by grandmaster proficiency and enough AC to be effectively untouchable by the time I went to Dragon's Eye.
Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 were both games that would be POSSIBLE to solo, but a little too tedious for my tastes. In BG1, you start off squishy enough that a lucky roll by a kobold or bandit archer can nearly oneshot you, and in BG2, you start running into liches and other epic-level magics at a disturbing rate; I made it through most of Chapter 2 with a halfling bounty hunter to leverage the outrageously useful special traps, but there were many encounters where you zoned right into a nasty encounter with multiple save-or-die slinging mages, and neither backstabbing nor trap-laying were possibilities. I might go back and try soloing them again at some point, under a slightly modded BGTutu setup or something, but they're on hold for now.
Is soloing in IWD 2 anywhere near as doable as in IWD 1? I know it's using 3rd ed. rules instead of 2nd, which I am comfortable enough with, but I had heard that it uses some sort of scaling xp reward system. Would something like a combat-focused Svirfneblin fighter/cleric or cleric/illusionist be able to tackle the new and improved challenges plaguing the Ten Towns? My Svirfneblin cleric has managed to get through most of the prologue section without getting a scratch, thanks to a high enough AC that he only gets hit on a 20, but I don't know how long the gravy train will last. Am I setting myself up for grief down the line?
Post edited February 27, 2012 by DoctorKumquat
No posts in this topic were marked as the solution yet. If you can help, add your reply
