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as is my nature, im nearing the end of chapter 2 with my current party and im thinking about my next game.

if i solo with a dwarven F/C, how am i going to disarm ye olde mages?

tactics anyone?

Originally posted by Thrain
as is my nature

hehe, you're not the only one


As for tactics; I would find equipment, which are capable of disrupting spells from enemy mages, as soon as possible. Such as the FoA or CF. Also, Magic Resistance equipment would help alot.

For your own abilties and spells, I would advice using summons, especially Animate Dead. Skeltons are nice cleric summons, since they got such high Magic Resistance. I never soloed, so Im not sure how fast you will be at level 15 (thats when you get Skeleton Warriors)

Further more; are you using any Mod's??

clerics can use true sight very handy indeed
when the shield of the archons is like half a spell trap and works nice.
as a cleric u get great buffs, rightious magic is great, blade barrier, shield of the archons, chaotic commands (a must) maybe also free action use true seeing and a nice weapon flail of ages perhaps and hack away.
u can also summon some pets as a solo cleric so should have skeleton warriors in no time prot. from evil, fire, and a chant and most mages will fall quickly.
good luck

Summoning and buffing summons is very handy, since you dont have haste nor invunerabilities, but you can wear armor and use heavy weapons.

F/C are cool, I've played a nice non wizard party and they are veeery handy at high levels. Low level wizards are not so cool...

bear in mind that i'm going to be a F/C so skellies will take a bit longer than a normal cleric (twice as long in fact - approx 3 mill exp).

he'll probably end up wielding FoA and the Crom, or FoA and Runehammer (depending on how things go).

i'm getting great use of vhailor's helm in my current game so ill most definately use that for some extra tankage (thats the simulcrum helm for anyone who doesnt know).

correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't righteous magic only affect strength and HP, no THAC0 modifier? it wont bother my F/C but im struggling to find good buffs for Anomen in my current game for when he gets the Crom (holy power sets strength to 18/00)

Mods:- UB, DBG, Refinements, Ease, Item Upgrade


[EDIT] also, i have searched on the boards for this but i remember reading someones criteria for a successful solo (Firkraag, Twisted Rune, Kangaxx etc.) anyone wish to re-iterate it here so i can follow?

Unfortunately it does seem like all the high level cleric buff spells set Strength to a fixed value (18/75 or 18/00), and you can easily get items which do better than that ... but at least the low level spells do improve as you go up in xp levels.

Take a look at "Draw Upon Holy Might" (2nd level) and "Armor of Faith" (1st level). They're both good buffs that improve as you gain levels.

One interesting side effect - as a Dwarf you get a bonus to your saving throws vs magic and poison based on Con - and Draw Upon Holy Might increases your Con - so it should actually improve your saving throws as well!

A C/F could be a fun solo, a bit tough to get started, but once you get a few key spells and items you'll be good. Like Vailhors Helm, FoA, and Summon Skellies.

A F/C will be great, but have you considered a Ranger/Cleric?

Originally posted by Coot
A F/C will be great, but have you considered a Ranger/Cleric?

been there, done that (though not solo). R/C are indeed immensely powerful, but not available for dwarves (only for half-elves IIRC).

it's more a role-playing decision than anything: the lone dwarf, isolated from his kind, refusing help from the candlekeep kiddie (imoen) and with a contempt for half-elves like jaheira.

kapeesh?

Sounds like you know what you want. I actually did a Dwarven C/F in BGI, and it went quite well.

And about your "kapeesh" if you're addressing one person it's capisci and more than one person it's capite, and they're pronounced kapeeshee and kapeetay respectively. A little lesson for all the italian-americans out there who are forever butchering their own language, that includes thouse who pronounce their own last names wrong. It just makes me laugh sometimes. Sorry for the diversion.

Yeah, but where would a 'lone dwarf' have learned how to properly use Italian?
As for a c/r dwarf: well, there's always Shadow Keeper Of couse it's cheating, but some of the 2e rules never made much sense to me. For instance: a half-orc would make a lousy mage but at least he ought to have the choice.
That was the only thing I liked about IWDII, that those silly restrictions are gone.

true true coot, but having playing a ranger->cleric in a party, i fancy having the pure fighter stuff for a bit.

skuld, as an anglowelsh crossbreed, i truly apologise for the butchering of any language you have knowledge of. if you don't mind, the sheep are getting lonely and while i love bg2, you can't beat heritage

IMHO multiclassing a fighter cleric or ranger cleric sux

cuz with the same amount of XP a paladin has better turn undead then the fighter cleric. turn undead is the main reason i use clerics

Originally posted by Raumoheru
turn undead is the main reason i use clerics

There's far more to a f/c than mere turning dead. Buff him up with the right spells and he becomes a very powerful fighting machine.

coot's right. but i guess it's about gameplay. i can do with only one mage in my party, even if it's a multiclass mage. as long as they have breach and stoneskin and a bow. it's all good.

but priestly goodness is one thing i couldn't do without. all the buffing spells, the druid summons........priests rules man

dude just be pure cleric.

three spells make u unstopable....

Holy Power, Rightous Magic, and Champions strength (cast in that order) make a level 19 cleric with 15 strength and 0 THACO have 24 strength and -14 THACO. much better then a fighter with the same amount of experience.

Originally posted by Raumoheru
dude just be pure cleric.

three spells make u unstopable....

Holy Power, Rightous Magic, and Champions strength (cast in that order) make a level 19 cleric with 15 strength and 0 THACO have 24 strength and -14 THACO. much better then a fighter with the same amount of experience.

but i don't want just a pure cleric. or have you not been reading the thread at all?

and champion's strength sets everyone's str to 18/00

clerics can't get 0 THAC0 naturally either.

My 2 gp worth..

F/C is loads of fun - that was my only PC played all the way from BG1 to ToB (Inziladun was a Dwarf, too, fwiw).

I don't know a thing about soloing, alas, I've always played parties - but you should be OK - you could always SK in a couple of extra abilities and/or pick a priest kit if you like, maybe swap out a couple of the lamer Bhaalspawn abilites for something useful.

The simulacrum helm and Defender of Easthaven will obviously be VERY useful - and at least you can use the Dwarven Thrower

Holy Power: Through this spell, the caster imbues himself with the strength and skill of a fighter of the same level. The priests strength is set to 18/00, even if it is normally higher, his THACO becomes that of a fighter of the same level, and he gains 1 temporary hit point for every level he has attained. This will last for the duration of the spell or until successfully dispelled.

Champion's Strength: When this spell is cast, the priest effectively draws on the strength of his god and lends it to the target creature, in effect creating a champion. The target gains a bonus to his THAC0 at a rate of 1 for every 3 levels of the caster. So a 9th level priest would confer a THAC0 bonus of 3 to the target, and so on. Also, the target's strength is set to 18/00 for the duration of the spell, with all the bonuses to hit and damage that this strength confers. Note that if the targets strength is above 18/00, it will actually be reduced to this value.
The drawback to this is that the priest must concentrate on the connection between the target and his god for the duration of the spell, hence losing the ability to cast any spells during this time. The effect lasts for 3 rounds for every level of the caster or until dispelled.

Rightous Magic: This is a powerful combat spell that enhances the priest's physical prowess, transforming him into a juggernaut of destruction. The effect adds 1 temporary hit point for every level of the caster, adds 1 point of strength for every three levels of the caster (to a maximum of 25), and inflicts maximum damage with every hit. The effects last for the duration of the spell or until dispelled.

The Rightous Magic strength modifier stacks with the strength Set to 18/00. If you do a pure cleric then he will have better THACO then a Fighter/Cleric, he will level faster, and have better turn undead. Multi Fighter/Cleric is really a waste of both.

but i don't want just a pure cleric. or have you not been reading the thread at all?

well just to let u know a cleric with the flail of ages and crom faeyr and those spells will have better thaco then a fighter cleric with the same amount of XP

that's not the cast order you posted them in

anyway, i want a character who can survive smaller melee battles without the extensive use of buffs, thus not leading to resting all the damn time once i get ribalds ring.