Icewind Dale

[Tor the Fallen]

As I understand this game uses 2.0 D&D rules.

Negative armor? 105% on skill checks?
Real time battles in a turn based system? What a horrible system.


Anyway, what are the 'teh win' ways to go? My party consists of dwarf fighter, human paladin, human mage, halfling thief, and a human cleric, all around 5th level. Are levels/xp class or race or class and race dependent? How does armor and dex work together to give an armor class or rating or whatever the hell backwards system they used? Are high weapon speeds or low weapon speeds good? Does the mage get xp from casting spells? Is blasting better than it is in 3.x?

[Mr._Blinky]

Class effects level, not race.

Dex is not limited by armor.

Low speeds are best.

No XP from casting.

Fireballs are your best friend.

[Miklus]

Equip everybody with composite longbows and make pincusions out of everything. This is so effective, it is considered cheating by some. Only melee if a monster makes it through the rain of arrows. They rarely do. :smallamused:

Use web, grease and other holding/slowing spells too, all at one. I call this "The Swamp of Doom". Monsters get stuck in it and die by arrows. Never ever enter "The Swamp of Doom" yourself, wait for the spells to wear out.

[Ethdred]

Yes, it is a wierd system, but we liked it. For spells, forget everything you have read on this forum. Fireball, magic missile, that's about all you need. Fill your 2nd level slots with web to hold them in place for the aforementioned. Other spells are really for the 'what does this do' factor or the occasions when you meet something immune to the big two. However, you do actually need the other classes, though as mentioned above, if they get through your arrow storm then you are doing something wrong.

Who needs complicated and sophisticated tactics?

Shouldn't you have six people in your party? I haven't played it for a while, but I think you've got another slot. Which is best filled by another mage!

For the wonderful and not at all confusing AC system. You start at 10 for unarmoured, all types of armour have a lower number. Every plus you get (whether from magic armour or DEX or whatever) is subtracted from that base number. You then use that number on a look up table to find out which number you have to roll over on a D20. But the system handles that for you - just remember that for AC, low is good

[Shikton]

Missile weapons win the game as said. I'll also have to add that clerics pwn. I always play a cleric when I play online with friend/s. Animate Dead is THE summon spell in this game. Send some skellies to hold the bad guys and go *shootshoot* on the mobs. Awesome. And fun.

My party usually looks like:
Fighter
Cleric
Mage
Thief (maybe with some mage, lots of nasty traps out there)
Fighter
Ranger

[Pronounceable]

Not counting missiles, Web is "teh win" spell. There are at least 2 "teh win" rings of freedom of movement. Web+Polearm toting fighters+Rings of freedom of movement=Slaughter. Alternatives are Entangle and Grease. Cast all of them to get a true Swamp of Death.

On higher levels you can nuke hapless swarms with Storm of Vengeance. They get blinded and stand still to get slaughtered.

There are some pretty nice guides at gamefaqs.


However the game is an endless slugfest. It gets boring after a while. I stopped before CH6.

[Shikton]

I always keep going until the end. I love IWD. But I mostly play it online with a buddy. Me being a fighter/cleric, him being thief/mage. Fun.

[tape_measure]

aww...2nd edition...how cute!

I miss it so much...and...for some reason I can't remeber a damn thing about it. Only THAC0...sort of.

Sorry, I'm not much help with this any more. It's been a little too long for my short term memory to help...

[Matthew]

AB 0 = THAC0 20
AB 1 = THAC0 19
etc...

AC 10 = AC 10
AC 11 = AC 9
AC 20 = AC 0
AC 30 = AC -10
etc..

It's pretty simple stuff.

As said, Ranged Attacks are great, but you may run out of Arrows. The game is most 'fun' when played with Paladin + Ranger + Fighter + Cleric + Wizard + Thief. That's pretty much what it was designed for and should prove challenging.

[Lorthain]

Personally, I enjoyed IWD and the real time combat system.

One important thing not mentioned yet is that smaller parties can end up much more powerful in the end of the game. A four person party gets 50% more exp (per character) than a six person party. Early on this doesn't matter much, but later in the game it can easily mean three more levels for everybody (depending on class). Plus you get to concentrate all the best loot onto fewer bodies.

Duel classing is very powerful. Personally, I wouldn't start any characters as a cleric or mage, since you can level them as a fighter for a while and loose almost nothing. If you have a rogue, you might want to duel it into a fighter once you get his important skills to 100%, though it could leave you without those skills for a little while.

Bards are surprisingly useful, since one of their songs gives regeneration in addition to defense bonuses (largely replacing your cleric between battles) and they level faster than a mage, giving their spells more oomph (flame arrow in particular).

A party full of melee fighters (with minimized support classes) can walk through almost every fight without having to bother with the whole archery approach, and it's more fun than ranged weapons in my experience.

Protection from Evil 10' Radius was my favorite cleric spell, since it is basically a free +2 AC for everybody (the duration is very long).

If you have Heart of Winter, there is a free, official mini expansion called Trials of the Luremaster, though I'm not sure where you could download it.


I hope you enjoy the game and get used to the different rules.

[Mordokai]

Hm, I think I still have the save games somewhere on the disc, maybe it's time to finish this.

I found party of four to be able to clear just about anything. Two fighters, paladin and multiclassed elf fighter/thief will clean everything. DC fighters to mage and cleric at level 6 and you got everything you need. If you're really crazy take just two members: MC dwarf fighter/cleric and MC elf fighter/mage/thief. Friend of mine finished the game with this party, but it's too much for me.

The main problem of IWD is it gets boring after a while. Fight, advance ten paces, fight, advance ten paces, fight, advance ten paces... You get the picture. It gets so freaggin boring after time! I much prefer Baldur's gate.

System can be a little confusing to someone used of 3.5 edition rules, but you'll grow to love it. Or hate it's guts, one way or another is fine :smallbiggrin: