GameBanshee Forums

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Sat Nov 16, 2002 6:06 am

I think I'm doing something wrong. My party keeps getting into trouble because their AC is pretty low. I have to heal and/or rest heavily after almost every fight.
My lead guy is a studded leather wearing lvl 7 barbarian with an AC of 18. The only better armor I've come across so far is chainmail armor which doesn't help any because of the penalties.
I've put as many points as possible in dex, especially in my melee guys, and I've put some points in dash and the like. Am I missing something obvious? Or is my AC supposed to be this low? Or am I just spoiled because I'm so used to highlevel chars in Bg2 and ToB?

Gruntboy · Post by **Gruntboy** » Sat Nov 16, 2002 6:19 am

Patch the game? The best armours got left out by mistake. Though armour is pretty thin on the ground by all accounts.

EDIT - Scratch that, the Euro version should be patched.

Maybe you need to increase the Dex of your party, cast defensive spells and scrape for as much armour as you can find.

I'm still only at the Pallisade and I have Chain and Splint armours.

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Sat Nov 16, 2002 10:00 am

Only my cleric can wear decent armor... but she's not strong enough to do so

...
my melee fighters are a barbarian (dualwielding, so no shields as well) and a monk, so no heavy armor there as well.. Maybe I should've taken a fighter instead of one of those.

The dex in my party is actually pretty high: barb 19, monk 20, rogue 18, cleric 16, sorceror 17.

I downloaded the patch anyway, just to be sure

I did find the armors you mentioned, but apparently my party's main weakness is that they can't wear any heavy armor...

Ambiorix · Post by **Ambiorix** » Sat Nov 16, 2002 4:28 pm

Coot, after playing BG II I had the same experience as you when doing IWD II. I found out I had to change my style of playing. IWD II is a game of difficult battles and hard-hitting monsters. You just can't go in guns blazing. Whatever your AC, in most battles I had to use summoned monsters and other magic help and went back to my BGI tactic of using a lot of ranged weapons and the shoot-retreat-shoot-... tactic. If I don't my party always ends up with so many bruises that I had to rest after each fight.

Skooter327 · Post by **Skooter327** » Sat Nov 16, 2002 11:37 pm

If you don't spend feat points on armor proficiency, heavier armors are penalized to the point of uselessness. The reason your cleric can wear decent armor is because clerics get (all) three feat points in armor proficiency for free.

Originally posted by Coot
The dex in my party is actually pretty high: barb 19, monk 20, rogue 18, cleric 16, sorceror 17.

With dexterity scores like that, you're probably better off sticking to the lighter armor anyway. The max. dex. bonus on heavier armors will kill the benifits of such high dexterity. Your characters aren't Min/Maxed by chance, are they?

Coot · Post by **Coot** » Sun Nov 17, 2002 2:27 am

Originally posted by Skooter327
Your characters aren't Min/Maxed by chance, are they?

Uh... that depends... what's Min/Maxed? You mean, using Shadowkeeper or something to give everybody high stats? No, I didn't do that. I gave everybody high dex at the expense of other abilties. Besides, I have halflings and elves in my party and you just don't give halflings and elves low dex.

Ambiorix, you're probably right about changing tactics. Guess I AM used to overpowered Bhaalspawn who can kick the crap out of every Tom, Kangaxx and Harry they encounter.

Omar · Post by **Omar** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 5:13 pm

LOL! Those Goblin Worg Riders are good at teaching you some humility!

I'm still in Chapter 1 and already getting thrashed!

In battle I try to focus the attention of the monsters on just one or two characters and have them run around, while the rest of my party is using ranged weapons. I try to engage them near the area exit as often as possible: in case something goes wrong I can retreat immediately to Targos or another safe place, no kidding!

Skooter327 · Post by **Skooter327** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 7:33 pm

Originally posted by Omar
in case something goes wrong I can retreat immediately to Targos or another safe place, no kidding!

Sounds cheesy......but effective!

Aregorn · Post by **Aregorn** » Tue Nov 19, 2002 7:12 am

Originally posted by Ambiorix
[using a lot of ranged weapons and the shoot-retreat-shoot-... tactic. If I don't my party always ends up with so many bruises that I had to rest after each fight. [/b]

Actually this tactic worked quite well in the BG series (even though I dislike the continuous run like a rabbit and shoot when out of enemy range, it does not look very realistic) but it looks to me that the snipers in IWD2 are very very slow now, as if they shoot less per round (maybe this is true for the 3ed rules?) so they are good for support (specially in battles with limited battle space) and for getting rid of enemy archers, but the main battle develop within the melee area in the hand to hand combat. So you need to really choose well your initial targets, design good heavy tanks (with low AC though which makes it more interesting) with massive damage and good boosting support from magic, and finally now for a change the Bards look to be necessary, to really increase your odds in battle added to the great feat Lingering Song which allow them to do alternative actions while keeping the songs effect. Overall as this game is more combat than Role playing I think they made really good improvements (including the lower AC), which results in more challenging battles which require more careful designed tactics and characters, which at the end results in bigger satisfaction... obviously if you manage to succeed.