default party; the winter rose

[ammama]

i normally try to get a balance between roleplaying and powergaming, but this can be tough. So then i saw those little default parties. i know they're for beginners but i decided 'lets give it a go'. I looked around for the party with the right 'flavour'.
Sisters of Blood: Nope. feminism sucks. besides, the whole 'tough gal' thing is a bit cliche
Anaals of Halgren: they just seem so vannilla
Lady's Lament: BORING
That-evil-party-whose-name-i-cant-remember : i've played with a lot of evil parties before. i might tr and stay away from the dark side this time
The Winter Rose: hmm....

Sirge's biography i thought was the best of the lot, and paladins i havnt really used before. same with monks. The druid is a classic and a must have. the last three, the bard, the theif, and the wizard, would need some reworking, but i was pretty sure i'd found something special.

so now im in the druegar fortress hunting some hooked horrors (pain in the ass). Sirge is now multiclassed to a pal 3/ morninglord x. he is a good tank/healer, and is pretty handy with most martial weapons and a shield. I may give him 4 fighter levels later. He can hold his own in a fight, sucking up a lot of damage, and provides quick healing with lay on hands and lathander's renewal. his cleric spells heal between skirmishes or during big battles.
Sadly he was usurped by the bard Llendril Coe. She has now left her poncy poems and singing behind and is a pretty nasty sorceror. She packs a punch as a bombardier, and many a battle has been won with a quick fireball (even if it does singe sirge's beard)

[ammama]

tianya the druid is now pretty nasty. I love her wildshapes. She casts a quick spell like smashing wave, maybe summons a few spiders, then morphs into a polar bear. Uses her rage ability, plus the strength of 28 and u have a very ugly beserker. If she gets injured she shifts into a wolf, healing some hit points, and scarpers. I barely ever use her human form except for the odd summons or emergency spells when things get nasty and i need a back up bombardier.
Naleen is my first ever monk. boy have i been missing out. she's so quick! she makes an amazing scout with her hide abilities, and even my sorceress can't hit her with a well aimed fireball. A backup tank, backup assasin, and decoy. Plus, i love just making her run in circles. SHES SO FAST!
Kebb Trapmaster's 19 dex was nice, but i didnt fancy him as a rogue. he is now a sniper. When fighting hordes of enemies he can bring down a few before they have even reached my front line, buying me precious time. He can also finish off badly injured foes harmed by fireball, and can interrupt enemy spells. He has a host of missile weapons, from the classic bow and arrows, to that nice returning throwing axe from the orc caves at shaengarne.
Dalwynd Meadsbreath. A wizard. no good as a bombardier, but i saw the mkings of a good rogue. So now he has 4 levels of fighter with specialisation in short swords, a level of ranger for dual weilding, is aiming for rogue 10, and will then spend the rest on wizardry. He makes a good sneak attack, but his strength is aweful and needs a few boosting spells/weapons to make him truly effective. I send in Naleen as a decoy, and place him just behind a wizard. Naleen then appears and everything goes pearshaped. He then strikes the wizard, while Naleen is doing her decoy thing, and is then gone. Everybody is too busy looking at the crazy monk to notice their shaman has just dropped dead and there is a rogue quietly taking out their weedier fighters.

[Raven_Song]

Hi...

The Winter Rose were my favourite default party as well.

May I ask have you actually altered the characters in terms of race? Otherwise you run the risk of experience penalty on certain characters. (If you have you can ignore much of what is posted below

Sadly he was usurped by the bard Llendril Coe. She has now left her poncy poems and singing behind and is a pretty nasty sorceror. She packs a punch as a bombardier, and many a battle has been won with a quick fireball (even if it does singe sirge's beard)

I believe Llendril was a moon elf, which would make her favoured class Wizard and not sorcerer, were she a Wilf Elf you'd be fine. (Don't dismiss bard songs some of them are incredibly useful if used correctly )

Kebb Trapmaster's 19 dex was nice, but i didnt fancy him as a rogue. he is now a sniper.

If you add fighter levels to him be wary as being a rock gnome like Llendril he will suffer an exp penalty his favoured class is Illusionist

Dalwynd Meadsbreath. A wizard. no good as a bombardier, but i saw the mkings of a good rogue. So now he has 4 levels of fighter with specialisation in short swords, a level of ranger for dual weilding, is aiming for rogue 10, and will then spend the rest on wizardry. He makes a good sneak attack, but his strength is aweful and needs a few boosting spells/weapons to make him truly effective.

He's a halfling so be aware that at Fighter 4 Ranger 1 Rogue 10 Wizard X he will suffer EXP penalties as his favoured class is Rogue. With the four levels you have in fighter the ranger level is quite redundant (with the bonus feats from the Fighter and wizard levels you could have easily purchased the ambidexterity/two-weapon fighting feats)

I might actually reinstall the game and give this party another try, and if you don't mind I could post on my progress?

*Edit* Never mind I've just played with the party up 'til End of Chapter 1 and although they were my favourite party they were actually quite rubbish, especially the paladin who couldn't seem to hit a thing.

[ammama]

thanks for the tips. i no exp penalties are a problem here, and i was thinking of tweaking the races, but it somehow feels like cheating. the party isnt being held back by exp. penalties, and powergaming isnt an issue with me here.

i've just gotten to the monastaries. Things didn't work out so well...i told Barud i wouldnt kill 4 him, so i ddnt kill the monks. i sided with aruma when one of the monks tried to overthrow her, but outside they attacked me and i had to kill them. i did the eight chambers and everything, and was all set to go of into the underdark. but i decided to have a last look around, and nick some items. i broke into a locked room and found Dolon's letters. and u'll never guess what they said! naturally my snobbish paladin played snitch and told aruma, but she was ok with it and got really pissed with me. It ended up in an ugly fight which i barely survived. cant say as much for the monks. I may as well claim Barud's award now. I'm considering letting my palladin confront him about the slavery, but im not too sure. the dwarves have been nice to me, and i've developed a soft spot for them, even after seeing the torture chamber. any ideas on what to do?

[Raven_Song]

I'm considering letting my palladin confront him about the slavery, but im not too sure. the dwarves have been nice to me, and i've developed a soft spot for them, even after seeing the torture chamber. any ideas on what to do?

You've developed a soft spot for a group of evil bloodthirsty dwarves who think nothing of slavery and murdering an entire monastery of monks and yet you're playing a paladin? :laugh:

More seriously you might want to reconsider about those "nice" dwarves ... Just try and enter the Underdark (after the Black raven's tomb) and you'll see what I mean

I'd let the outcome of this decide whether you allow your paladin to confront the slave master or not.

[Ravager]

One good way is to take advantage of the quests/items the duergar offer and then fight them afterwards (before you encounter them later). The only unfortunate problem is that the fight may be tougher as doors will be open allowing all the duergar to fight you, rather than a smaller groups.
The rewards are probably worth it though.
If you want to deal with them have someone other than the Paladin talking to them.

[ammama]

yes but they were enslaving ORCS. If they were enslaving beautiful scantily dressed women then i would get in there and starting pounding some skulls. but orcs?

hmmm.........then again one of the druegar doesn't speak common, only druegar. Keeps muttering sumthing about me and laughing. somehow i dont think he's complimenting my dress sense. THE SCOUNDREL MUST BE HANGED.

I'm wandering what extra levels to give Llendril Coe. sorceror is working well but is there anything that would compliment that? same goes for Dalwynd. And for Kebb i need some levels/ feats that improve his ranged fighting

[Raven_Song]

yes but they were enslaving ORCS. If they were enslaving beautiful scantily dressed women then i would get in there and starting pounding some skulls. but orcs?

Erm ... you're getting on to some dodgy ground there - it's probably best not to begin differentiating the acceptability of slavery on raical grounds.

I'm wandering what extra levels to give Llendril Coe. sorceror is working well but is there anything that would compliment that?

Bard... as they both use charisma as the casting statistic. Bear in mind that your current combination of bard/sorcerer is likely to occur an exp. penalty so adding yet another class to the mix might not be the best idea.

same goes for Dalwynd.

You'll have to remind me of his current class(es)

And for Kebb i need some levels/ feats that improve his ranged fighting

Again what is he currently? Feat wise Rapid Shot (unless he's using crossbows)

[ammama]

dalwynd is wizardX/fight4/ranger1/rogueY.
Kebb is fight4/roguex, with rapid shot, precise shot. he uses all sorts of ranged.

i took the advise and slaughtered the druegar. Barud was such a pretentious name anyway

[Raven_Song]

Kebb is fight4/roguex, with rapid shot, precise shot. he uses all sorts of ranged.

dalwynd is wizardX/fight4/ranger1/rogueY

Geez your guys are one big EXP penalty aren't they.
I'm guessing your wouldn't overly bothered if I made some suggestions that added some more.

For Kebb some wizard/sorcerer levels would give you some self-buffs like Cat's Grace and Bull's Strength (for whan Kebb's using a sling).

You could give Dalwynd a couple of rogue levels, for the evasion ability.