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Okay, it's my first run on IWD2 and I'll need your help to create my first party. Here's what I've got for now

Name - Race - Class - Role - Notes

Kyarra - ? - Rogue ?/Bard XX - Talker/Rogue/2nd Spellcaster - Will use Bow and Dagger/Short Sword

Gabrelle - Aasimar - Paladin XX/Fighter XX - Main Tank - My tank. Will use Polearms, 2-handed swords and large swords/shield.

Oceana - ? - Fighter ?/Morninglord of Lathander XX - 2nd Tank/Priest - My anti-undead priest. Will use Maces/Flails/Hammers + Shield, maybe slings

Alhana - ? - ? - Main Spellcaster - My main spellcaster. She'll use Slings & Staves, maybe darts too.

Ok, now my question list.

1. How many rogue level do I need to open/disarm most of the locked/traped containers & doors ?
2. Wich race should I take for my Rogue/Bard ?
3. How many levels of fighter should I have for my Fighter/Cleric ?
4. Wich race should I take for my Fighter/Cleric? I've already think about human (for the extra feats/skills) but I'm not that sure.
5. Should I take a Specialist Mage, a Wizard or a Sorceror. I want to max out "Spell Focus : Enchantement" and perhaps "Spell Penetration".
6. Wich race should be Alhana (main spellcaster) ? I've think about Moon Elf.
7. Is my choice of weapon okay? Is there any strong weapons I forgot (Scimitars, Spears, Club, etc.) ?

EDIT : I forgot one thing : I may add a 5th character. Maybe a low-level rogue multiclassed with a wizard or a cleric.

Something like Rogue 3/Wizard XX or a Rogue 3/Demarch of Mask XX.

Okay, I made my party.

Talker/Thief/Caster
Chaotic Good Human Rogue lvl 1 (Will multiclass to Bard at lvl 3 or 5)
11 Str - 18 Dex - 10 Con - 16 Int - 3 Wis - 18 Cha
Skills : Talker (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate), Thief (Disable Devices, Open Lock, Search), Bard (Use Magical Devices, Knowledge Arcana)
Feats : Mercantile Background, Snake Blood

Main Tank
Lawful Good Aasimar Paladin of Helm lvl 1 (Will multiclass to fighter)
18 Str - 10 Dex - 18 Con - 3 Int - 11 Wis - 20 Cha
Skills : Wilderness Lore
Feats : Snake Blood

Priest, 2nd Tank
Neutral Good Aasimar Fightress lvl 1 (Will multiclass to Morninglord of Lathander at level 4)
18 Str - 10 Dex - 18 Con - 9 Int - 20 Wis - 5 Cha
Skills : Concentration
Feats : Snake Blood

Main Spellcaster
Lawful Neutral Moon Elf Evoker lvl 1
10 Str - 20 Dex - 12 Con - 18 Int - 10 Wis - 6 Cha
Skills : Mage (Alchemy, Concentration, Knowledge Arcana, Spell Craft), Other (Disable Device)
Feats : Dodge, Deflect Arrows

I'm planning on adding a 5th Char.

Scout, Backup Fighter, Backup Cleric
Neutral Strict Human Ranger lvl 1 (Will be a multiclassed Ranger XX/Demarch of Mask XX)
15 Str - 18 Dex - 16 Con - 10 Int - 14 Wis - 3 Cha
Skills : Scout (Hide, Move Silently), Other (Animal Empathy)
Feats : Snake Blood, Weapon Finesse
Racial Enemy : Ogres

Uh.. Let's start with the bard/rogue, that's one of my favourites I'd say lvl 10 is enough to get enough skill points for Search, Disarm and Open Lock. He will be able to improve these skills as a bard, too!

As for his race: I chose human for roleplaying reasons (I could never take a halfling seriously ), but halflings get some advantages for being a thief (like dex. bonus, I guess, not sure).

Fighter: that needs more thorough preparation. Are you useing Dalekeeper to create your characters? 'cause then don't be shy to give him 16 lvls for fighter, and approx. the same for cleric. Pick human for that one.

You'll definitely need a PURE MAGE. With high Int he'll get bonus spells, so don't go for specialization, b/c that limits the type of spells you can cast. I'd recommend Spell Penetration: Evocation, though (that's Fireball and such). A wild elf is a good race for a spellcaster.

Weapons:

Your tank can't use two-handed weapons with shields (for an obvious reason ). Consider giving him (her?) a double axe, that does the most damage! Or great sword, if you stick to the shield (those are on-handed). Polearm would fit a druid better, I say.

As for your cleric, you'd better decide between flails and morningstars (the latter is better, I'd say). He won't use two weapons at the same time anyway, you'll just end up with a full inventory and an encumbered priest carrying all those stuff around

Otherwise your choices are quite OK.

Hope that helps

A halfling's benefit to thieving comes in the way of +2 to Move Silently checks (race specific) and +4 to Hide (small size, Gnomes get this too). Stacked with their +2 Dexterity bonus, they are far and away the best scouts of the races, since their quicker progression for skill ranks offsets the Svirfneblin's innate bonuses.

To maximise your builds, don't take more than 4 fighter levels for each character. As well as that, try to have your fighter level 4 occur on level 6 or level 9 for the Paladin and Cleric. The reason for this is because you can specialise in two weapons on the same level up (assuming you've taken focus in 2 weapons earlier on, and are taking ranks in concentration with both tanks... you really want to do that). After that, the very next feat you take could be maximised attacks.

The weapons you choose to specialise in aren't a real problem. Stick with one handed weapons and a shield for the cleric...your Paladin ought to specialise in Greatswords and Longswords. They represent the best weapons available to the class.

Snake blood is relatively useless as a feat...extra saves are ok, but early on you'll want "bang for your buck", and for warriors that comes with focus, specialisation and maximised attacks. Taking along a dedicated wizard or sorceror is very much advisable, especially a sorceror. Wizards don't always find the scrolls they need at an appropriate level, so you end up rather underpowered playing them at times. Being a sorceror gaurantees you get what you need when you need it.

[QUOTE=SP101]Talker/Thief/Caster
Chaotic Good Human Rogue lvl 1 (Will multiclass to Bard at lvl 3 or 5)
11 Str - 18 Dex - 10 Con - 16 Int - 3 Wis - 18 Cha
Skills : Talker (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate), Thief (Disable Devices, Open Lock, Search), Bard (Use Magical Devices, Knowledge Arcana)
Feats : Mercantile Background, Snake Blood[/QUOTE]
Drop the feats and take Weapon Finesse and Two-Weapon Fighting, then take Amberdexterity and dual short swords. I wouldn't take more than 3 levels of Rogue.
[QUOTE=SP101]Main Tank
Lawful Good Aasimar Paladin of Helm lvl 1 (Will multiclass to fighter)
18 Str - 10 Dex - 18 Con - 3 Int - 11 Wis - 20 Cha
Skills : Wilderness Lore
Feats : Snake Blood[/QUOTE]
Drop snake blood and take power attack. Drop wilderness lore and take either a talking skill or concentration.
[QUOTE=SP101]Priest, 2nd Tank
Neutral Good Aasimar Fightress lvl 1 (Will multiclass to Morninglord of Lathander at level 4)
18 Str - 10 Dex - 18 Con - 9 Int - 20 Wis - 5 Cha
Skills : Concentration
Feats : Snake Blood[/QUOTE]
Drop snake blood and take a spell focus. If you are planning on turning undead, you'll need more CHA. Bottom out INT and add to DEX & CHA.
[QUOTE=SP101]Main Spellcaster
Lawful Neutral Moon Elf Evoker lvl 1
10 Str - 20 Dex - 12 Con - 18 Int - 10 Wis - 6 Cha
Skills : Mage (Alchemy, Concentration, Knowledge Arcana, Spell Craft), Other (Disable Device)
Feats : Dodge, Deflect Arrows[/QUOTE]
Change to a male drow.
[QUOTE=SP101]Scout, Backup Fighter, Backup Cleric
Neutral Strict Human Ranger lvl 1 (Will be a multiclassed Ranger XX/Demarch of Mask XX)
15 Str - 18 Dex - 16 Con - 10 Int - 14 Wis - 3 Cha
Skills : Scout (Hide, Move Silently), Other (Animal Empathy)
Feats : Snake Blood, Weapon Finesse
Racial Enemy : Ogres[/QUOTE]
Drop snake blood and take power attack or rapid fire if using a bow.

about your Paladin: Take only 4 fighter levels in Normal Mode and use all your Feats for Weapon Focus and Specialisation. This will allow you to take Maximised Attacks as soon as possible. There are 3 reasons for taking as many Paladin Levels as possible over Fighter ones. 1. Turning Undead, this is a handy skill but your Pal. will need plenty of levels to get the most out of it. 2. Lay on Hands or whatever it's called now. Heals 2 points per level. This is handy but again level dependant. 3rd and most importantly, you get to cast Draw on Holy Might. This is a great Buffing spell that can be cast very quickly and gets better as you go up levels. a 12th level Paladin gets +4 Str, Con and Dex, ideal before walking into Melee.

Bard/Rogue: Take Rapid Shot as your 1st Feat, the extra attack is brilliant early in the game, especially with a high Dex.

Priest: Take cleric primarily and keep leveling it all through normal mode. Take fighter levels in Hof. this is so you can get access to some of the great cleric spells as early as possible, Animate Dead, Greater Command, Raise dead, Heal and Symbol: Hoplessness. These are great spells and you need them fast. Let your Pal be the tank and use the cleric as a back up missile attacker with Rapid Shot feat and Sling. you'll also want to make this guy a Human as Asamiir has fav. class Paladin so you'll get XP penalties for Fighter/Cleric, plus the extra skill point per level helps get your concentration skill up.

[QUOTE=Vanion]Taking along a dedicated wizard or sorceror is very much advisable, especially a sorceror. Wizards don't always find the scrolls they need at an appropriate level, so you end up rather underpowered playing them at times. Being a sorceror gaurantees you get what you need when you need it.[/QUOTE]
Agreed, your wizard will be sitting around with level 5 spell slots for example with no spells. The spell distribution is behind for this game, your wizard always levels up before he gets scrolls for that level. Add to the fact you’re only taking 4 characters, so you are going to level up faster. This means the glaring omission of scrolls for your wizard will become even more of a problem. I took a wizard once, but once I had problems with finding spells (happens about half way through) I’ve never taken a wizard again. My party right now uses a sorcerer.

I also agree snake blood is not a very good feat. I would pass on those.

I also might recommend one other character to make it a party of 5. Take a Fighter 4/Barbarian X, as you could use another tank. IWD2 can be a very hard game with some really tough fights with many foes. You’ll sometimes have fights against 12 enemies or more at once, four characters might be a little tough for your first time through.

I agree about the difficulty against swarms. Getting attacked by multiple enemies means that some will get to your spell casters and kill them, particularly if you're attacked on two or more fronts. There are really only two ways around this. More beef, or use of disabling spells. You can still keep your 4 player party but I'd recomment changing focus a little. Your Bard and Sorceror can both cast Sleep and Horror at early levels, but I'd recommend only your bard taking it. He can also learn Hold Person and Horror in the level 2 slots. Your cleric can Hold Person as well. Between Sleep, Hold Person and Horror you should be able to disable a fair number of enemies. Don't underestimate Charm Person either, at low levels it's a Bards best friend, a good way to both take out an attacker and get an extra fighter. Not sure about Dire Charm, never used it.

Even so, 2 or 3 attackers on your tank will usually be enough to overwhelm him. An extra piece of beef would help you here. Another consideration: AC is not that important in IWD2, give four fighting characters more Con. and less Dex. Heavy and Med. armour both limit the benefit you can get from Dex. and while it's good for archers your tanks would be better with more HP than AC.

Okay, I'll consider adding another tank to my party and change my wizard into a sorcerer.

One question : What's "Hof" and the "normal mode" Heidrek is talking about?
(If it's some kind of spoiler, plz don't answer!)

Edit : Okay, I'll leave Snake Blood since everyone seems to hate this feat

Icewind Dale 2 has two 'modes'. Normal mode is just that, normal. This is the default setting for the game and how it should be played first time around. By the end of the game our characters should be around 15-18th level.

HoF (Heart of Fury) mode is an option that can be enabled from the config settings of the game. Theis escelates the difficulty of the game dramatically and is deigned to be played with the characters that sucessfully completed Normal mode. The game is the same, but many items are highly improved and all opponents are far more powerful (and give much more experience), you essentially play the game through again as higher level characters but facing much harder opponents. By the end of the HoF version of the game your characters can be upto 30th level.

I'm just heading into the final stretch of HoF mode and so many of the fights are extremely tough that even 6 24th level characters can easily be defeated if you're not careful.

A bit more about HoF here.

[QUOTE=SP101]Okay, I made my party.

Talker/Thief/Caster
Chaotic Good Human Rogue lvl 1 (Will multiclass to Bard at lvl 3 or 5)
11 Str - 18 Dex - 10 Con - 16 Int - 3 Wis - 18 Cha
Skills : Talker (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate), Thief (Disable Devices, Open Lock, Search), Bard (Use Magical Devices, Knowledge Arcana)
Feats : Mercantile Background, Snake Blood[/QUOTE]

let's start with this one:

rogue bard seems to me a little bit redundant, yes you get the bard spells (without synergies cause CHA based)

I would mix a rogue3or10 with a wizardX (btw. could get a very good melee fighter especially if you take the 3 rogue levels and mix 2 fighter, 2 barb and 1 ranger level in with w-finesse and dual wielding shortblades!)

or a bard9 with a druidX - cause if I choose an non-combat all purpose PC than go the full way...

for the rogue I would choose a drow(m) and use "rogue"-skills

for the bard a human with diplomatic skills

...give your feats a 2nd thought - cause from my point of view they are quite useless !


...and think about your stats a bard rogue with 3 WIS will get knocked out from more or less miss every will-based save !

.

[QUOTE=SP101]Okay, I made my party.

Main Tank
Lawful Good Aasimar Paladin of Helm lvl 1 (Will multiclass to fighter)
18 Str - 10 Dex - 18 Con - 3 Int - 11 Wis - 20 Cha
Skills : Wilderness Lore
Feats : Snake Blood

Priest, 2nd Tank
Neutral Good Aasimar Fightress lvl 1 (Will multiclass to Morninglord of Lathander at level 4)
18 Str - 10 Dex - 18 Con - 9 Int - 20 Wis - 5 Cha
Skills : Concentration
Feats : Snake Blood[/QUOTE]


...from my point of view every paladin levels after the 2nd is lost...
...the same for fighters with 2 or max 4 levels...

2nd point is, that you don't have a good "turner" with this combination...


there are a few good combinations reagrding these classes:

the 1st is a mix of monk(3) and cleric(X)
...and optional 2 paladin, 2 fighter and/or 3 rogue levels !

...for an ultimate non armoured melee-fighter with a very good divine casting potential ! (give him the shield amulet!)


the second one is the aasimar paladin2, sorceressX combination with incredible high saves !


btw. Wilderness Lore as a cross-class skill with a 3 INT aasimar cleric figher won't work well (you will only get 1 SP per level up but need 2 SP for the cross-class skill!)

.

[QUOTE=SP101]Okay, I made my party.

Main Spellcaster
Lawful Neutral Moon Elf Evoker lvl 1
10 Str - 20 Dex - 12 Con - 18 Int - 10 Wis - 6 Cha
Skills : Mage (Alchemy, Concentration, Knowledge Arcana, Spell Craft), Other (Disable Device)
Feats : Dodge, Deflect Arrows

I'm planning on adding a 5th Char.

Scout, Backup Fighter, Backup Cleric
Neutral Strict Human Ranger lvl 1 (Will be a multiclassed Ranger XX/Demarch of Mask XX)
15 Str - 18 Dex - 16 Con - 10 Int - 14 Wis - 3 Cha
Skills : Scout (Hide, Move Silently), Other (Animal Empathy)
Feats : Snake Blood, Weapon Finesse
Racial Enemy : Ogres[/QUOTE]


from my point of view a specialized wizard is a little weak as main spellcaster !

would take an aasimar pal1 sorcX for ultimate firepower...

and give him an assistant wizard...


...and the ranger is by far the most useless class in IWD2 !

.

Well Rangers have one good summon spell.. and that is summon giant vermin.. and only after level 15..

As for your spell caster.. personally i think that 20 levels Sorcerer/Wizard is enough.. so if you use paladin 1/sorcerer x you could spent 9 levels for something usefull.. personally i would recomend reading Kayless quide for dual classing.. there is much info there.. mostly all basic dual classing ideas..

and since you are New to IWD2 or so i have understood.. so you should see usefull links... there might be something for you..

personally i could say that normal can be finished with any party.. But HoF reguires some planning.. basicly there is 3 ways to beat HoF and these are heavy melee, heavy magic and mixture of those 2.. you can read more in HoF threads.. but i could say that mixture way is best so you will cope everything at this game.. but personally i just love my spellcasting party..

When I first played IWD2, I was unfamiliar with 3e rules, and I dreaded the task of figuring out how to create a party. As a result, I copped out and followed a guide by Ken J. Egervari, who is a member of Gamebanshee. It's kind of cheesy in some respects (for example, most of the party members are too dumb to hold an intelligible conversation, but the game doesn't penalize them for it), but even if you don't want to create a similar party, there's a lot of good advice about character creation strategy. Most of your choices will be made on the basis of tradeoffs, and Mr. Egervari discusses the alternatives in a balanced, informative way. My own party was a bit different from the "Ultimate Powergaming Party" because of my own personal preferences, but I still recommend the guide if you want powergaming tips.

Well when i started playing IWD2... Like you i had no idea what do do.. but using knowledge of previus Infinity engine games you can easily figure that out.. and reading helps..