Am new to IWD2 and I have some starting question.

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » Mon Feb 17, 2003 7:07 am

1: Some races like the aasimar or drow get a level adjustment. What does this do? I don't understand completly.
2: Do I get a extra skill point every x levels like in NWN (couldn't find it in the manual)
3: Will you be needing diplomacy and bluff alot?
4: They changed backstabbing in the 3trd edition rules (IIRC) to sneak attack, this isn't completly clear to me, could someone explain this to me.

Thanks for the help.
So far the game looks great, much better than that annoying NWN engine, give me the good old BG perspective.

I will be posting alot more in this forum, so see you around.

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Mon Feb 17, 2003 10:03 am

1. Example: They're lvl 3 altough they have enough XP for lvl 4 as a human. The game adjusts XP between party members, a party with many ECL members will rise slower.
2. Yes, dependent on your class / int you'll get 1 or more.
3. I haven't noticed much of it, but maybe you do.
4. Damage isn't multiplied like in 2nd edition, you instead do additional damage depending on your level (1d6 at first level, you get additional d6 at higher levels). No more "let's see, str 25, critical, multiplyer=5, well, that's 180 dmg, Mr. enemy".

lonely wolf · Post by **lonely wolf** » Mon Feb 17, 2003 10:51 am

hope you will have a great time with iwd2!
tell us if you have more questions

Rahvin · Post by **Rahvin** » Mon Feb 17, 2003 11:14 am

Ok can someone actually explain to me how to backstab? It never works...I have a lvl 5 rogue

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Mon Feb 17, 2003 4:59 pm

Attack from "behind" while invisible / hidden counts as sneak attack.

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » Mon Feb 17, 2003 5:21 pm

Another question,
is loot randomized?
And if so is it worth reloading?

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 3:47 am

Not sure, but I think dropped loot has a random element. Reload certainly doesn't pay off like it does in NWN, magic item density and variability are quite low and you get incredibly rich late in the game anyway. I think I finished the game as a millionaire.

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 4:08 am

Originally posted by Phantom Lord
Not sure, but I think dropped loot has a random element. Reload certainly doesn't pay off like it does in NWN, magic item density and variability are quite low and you get incredibly rich late in the game anyway. I think I finished the game as a millionaire.

2bad.

I only have 1 mage in my party, cause I was depending on magic swords, axes, hammers etc.
Should I start over with an extra mage?

KidD01 · Post by **KidD01** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 4:11 am

Welcome to the game Stil !

1. The other members already explain it quite completely just keep in mind there're cons behind the Pro side of Drow, Aasimar & Thiefling. But the Aasimar make a great Paladin

2. In short, yes

3. Stuff the dipl pts on your Paladin while the bluff on your muscle man or Rogue. You can also try stuff those in your Rogue. Bluff can be useful most of the time, a handy feat - trust me

4. All class can do sneak attack now. Just go invicible, go toward those baddies and hit that attack button (mostly favorable when you do that from behind). Great stuff to wipe out some annoying spellcasters

lompo · Post by **lompo** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 9:44 am

[
4. All class can do sneak attack now. Just go invicible, go toward those baddies and hit that attack button (mostly favorable when you do that from behind). Great stuff to wipe out some annoying spellcasters [/b]

Are you sure that every class can sneak attak?

KidD01 · Post by **KidD01** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 10:40 am

Yeah but how good your char can go invicible depends on his/her skill

Rahvin · Post by **Rahvin** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 11:04 am

I just tried it, took out an ogre with one hit

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 1:02 pm

Originally posted by Stilgar
2bad.

I only have 1 mage in my party, cause I was depending on magic swords, axes, hammers etc.
Should I start over with an extra mage?

IMHO no, melee is the backbone of an IWD 2 party. There are enough weapons, but not such great weapons like in BG2.

lonely wolf · Post by **lonely wolf** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 1:13 pm

1. but i like the magic they have in ID2- it is so powrful against some foes- so i think you should have 2 or more spellcasters in your party.
2. how do you do the "originally posted by..." thing?

Krysalyn · Post by **Krysalyn** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 1:35 pm

Originally posted by Phantom Lord
IMHO no, melee is the backbone of an IWD 2 party. There are enough weapons, but not such great weapons like in BG2.

really? I thought that 2 tanks was more than enough...

and if you plan to take your party to HoF, one dedicated tank may be enough, considering how useless melee is said to be in HoF

it seems to me that a party is better off with 1-2 dedicated tanks and then 1-2 other charcters that can aid in melee/serve as backup tanks, like a strong cleric or druid.

Rahvin · Post by **Rahvin** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 2:00 pm

tanks are useless in HoF? ****...I really need to restart. I've experimented, now I know what my mistakes are

And @ lonely wolf, click the "quote" button

Phantom Lord · Post by **Phantom Lord** » Tue Feb 18, 2003 6:13 pm

Originally posted by Krysalyn
really? I thought that 2 tanks was more than enough...

and if you plan to take your party to HoF, one dedicated tank may be enough, considering how useless melee is said to be in HoF

it seems to me that a party is better off with 1-2 dedicated tanks and then 1-2 other charcters that can aid in melee/serve as backup tanks, like a strong cleric or druid.

Well, it was "IMHO".

Maybe I'm just more the melee player type, I get nervous if I have less than 50% tanks in my party, probably an old PnP paranoia. It's kinda a "melee damage is certain, magic damage is not" point of view, but I know that other player types can raise hell with spellcasters.

@lonely wolf: Simply ese the "quote" button to get the "originally written by ..." line.

lompo · Post by **lompo** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 4:40 am

Originally posted by KidD01
Yeah but how good your char can go invicible depends on his/her skill

Well being invisible you can get close to the enemy and hit him, but you don't do extra damage, only rogues get the extra damage for sneak attack, isn't right?

Regarding the last topics my opinion is that melee characters are not that useful in IWD2 as in other games (BG2 and specially in IWD). The fact is that in IWD2 you get to fight with too many enemies at a time and you get beaten a lot (don't count too much on AC), something more like ToB but your tanks don't have the strenght and power of ToB PC.
So at the end the best tank in IWD2 are summons, the more the better, and the best summons are undead (they are very strong and last forever). In my party I have a fighter4/barbX and a Pal.3/fighterX, plus a Fighter/ranger/rogue and a Cleric and finally a Sorcerer and a Rogue2/Wiz.X: at the beginning I was very happy to have two strong char. and two back-up fighters, summons are weak and don't last long, but once I hit lev. 5 with my cleric I got summons Undead and all was easy.
Now my party goes like this: two/three Undeads as tank/front fighters, the two fighters use slings (for the strenght bonus to damage) and eventually help in melee the undeads, the fig./rang./rogue scouts and use a Bow, the cleric heals and the other two throw spells to the enemy. My char. don't get hit anymore, apart from spells and ranged weapon, and my fighters are getting bored to throw stones to monsters.
If I have to restart a game I would take only one fighter and with a strong cleric and a fighter/rogue type it's more than enough to resist the beginning of the game (make good use of the charm spells, they are the best summons for the early stage), and I would add 3 spellcasters (Sorc,wiz,druid and maybe bard) for more fire power and mor summons.

lonely wolf · Post by **lonely wolf** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 10:17 am

can somebody PLEASE tell me how you do the "originally posted by..." thing?

Rahvin · Post by **Rahvin** » Wed Feb 19, 2003 10:25 am

like said three other times above, click the quote button