Tips to not be so rubbish at this game?

[DrPhilEvans]

Just looking for some general help as to why I'm so **** at this game, if anyone can provide any please? I seem to die more or less all of the time, every combat (OK, slight exaggeration, but not far off)

I've tried to scout ahead with one character, and come running back to draw out enemies one at a time, but this rarely works: multiple enemies usually follow. And if there's a mage who sees me they seem able to hit me, or cast area effects on me (e.g. stinking cloud) even if I escape out of their line of sight round a corner, which seems.... odd.

And I seem to get hit much more often than seems sensible to me. A simple example: I'm in Dragon's Eye at the moment, encountering some Yuan-Ti elite. My lead character has AC -1 and (according to the "Record" screen) modifiers make it -5 vs missile. Yet I seem to get hit nearly every shot by the Yuan-Ti Elite with their arrows +1. Mike's RPG Centre says these guys have THAC0 around 12, so even with +1 for the arrows, that's 11; vs AC -5 means they need a 16 to hit; so I'd expect to get hit pretty infrequently, not every round.

However, it's clear reading walkthroughs and stuff that most people don't die all the time, so it must just be me being crap rather than something wrong with the engine. So I'm very open to any tips / advice please to actually enable me to survive without enabling the CluaConsole and making liberal use of Ctrl-R.

FWIW, party make up is:

Paladin (cavalier; human): Specialist in long sword, 2 slots each in sword&shield and 2 weapon style)
Fighter (Wizard slayer, human): Specialist in Battle Axe (4 slots) and sword/shield [modified from Gorris]
Cleric: (Priest of helm, half-elf): Specialist in morning star, sling and sword/shield
Then 3 of the 'standard' characters:
Ilauna (mage, specialist with dart + dagger)
Kirka (fighter/thief multi-class), short bow + short sword (uses the bow mainly), and 2-handed weapon speciality.
Felicia (bard - modified slightly to up strength so she can use the composite LB), specilist in longbow and mace.

At the current time they're all around level 8. And yes, I have cheated a bit (ctrlR mainly) to get this far....

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Don't scout ahead with a single character. Unless it's a stealth/invisibility expert that can take a peek and withdraw unseen. Instead, set up a custom party formation, then move forward cautiously.

Archers are meant to be dangerous foes. If facing them, don't only try to survive, but eliminate them quickly. Offense is the better defense. As a last resort, retreat while giving them something to do - use summons, let those block doorways and other bottlenecks. Cast AoE spells from safer distance.

What are your hopes with regard to the Wizard Slayer? Their magical item usage restrictions can be a PITA. And IWD is combat-heavy, sending large groups of foes against your party, so another melee weapon'n'shield guy would not be as helpful as a druid, for example.

Bard - you say specialized in "longbow and mace", but a bard can't sing while performing other actions. That hurts their efficiency a lot and typically reduces their role to pre-combat casting, then standing still and singing OR contributing something else. Carefully review your playstyle with regard to bards, then ask yourself whether you see any benefit compared with other classes?

IWD contains a little bit of special content for bards and paladins, but that shouldn't take priority.


Biggest of your problems could be that it seems you're trying to breeze through the game (using cheats, for example) rather than adjusting your strategies and tactics - or, as a last resort, restarting with a different choice of companions.

[DrPhilEvans]

Thanks :) Will try those things.
Bard: I like the high Lore score, and one guide I read suggested a Bard was a good help. I keep forgetting the song though and using her for the range attacks (with the Mace for when she gets stuck in melee).

Wizard slayer: honestly of the fighter kits I thought this one looked the best, and figured that as magical armour and weapons are OK, it would work out. And I hate enemy magic-casters so anything that helps them miscast magic is good (I liked Insect Plague as Jahira in BG).

Re: cheating - yeah, just frustration after continually dying in early battles - but that's why I'm seeking help - I'm much rather improve than cheat my way through the game.... not exactly satisfying to go, "Hey, I won" when I mean "Hey, I pressed ctrl-R whenever I was in trouble."

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Wizard Slayer's miscast magic requires hitting a spell caster, so with a melee combatant wielding battle axes, all that is left to you is to make him use the returning Throwing Axe +2, or else you won't reach enemy casters. I take it you don't try to storm through hordes of enemies in order to attack enemy casters in melee combat, do you?

[DrPhilEvans]

@D'marr - honestly - yes I do. I tend to have 3 people (the bard, fighter/thief and mage) using ranged weapons (or spells) and 3 melee fighters, and make everyone target spellcasters first if I can (if they cast Hold Person on me, I tend to me dead before it wears off, so I want them out of the fight). But I'm thinking maybe this is a bad tactic....?
I use Magic Missile a lot where I can in these circumstances as well (mage and bard have both their level 1 slots filled with this) because it's fast to cast, so usually good to disrupt an enemy mage mid-cast. Unless my marge decides they have to walk right out into the middle of battle in order to cast it :/

[Toha]

Staple tactics for IWD: scout the area with invisibility, then spawn a ton of summons. Engage with summons first, move the party in second. I have played it on HoF only, though, so it might not be as effective.

[Labrys]

yes that area for ranged really hurts. they have a lot of +1 or +2 or high quality arrows which do so much dmg. make sure auto pause on spotted enemy is on. this usually means you can turn back without them noticing unless you stay there for a second. I can usually draw only one for two out. also position it so they can only get you in one or twos such as doorways - block them off with summoned monsters.

[Damn_Monkey]

If you're keen on restarting and not using cheats to win, I'd suggest a change of characters.

Cavalier is a good choice for Paladin, although I'd find a Blackguard to be more useful.

Wizard Slayers are not that useful in IWD, mainly because there are not a lot of casters that are huge threats. Maybe try out a Fighter/Druid MC? You said you enjoyed Jahira, so why not remake her? Druids have some RP bits in the game, as well as a lot of offensive skills.

Turning your Cleric into a Cleric/Ranger MC would add a bit more sturdiness and physical offensiveness to them.

That gives you 3 characters that can be front line, and all 3 also cast Divine spells to help buff and cure and heal as needed.

Turning your mage into a Mage/Thief MC will free up that 5th slot. Single class mages will level a good bit faster than the spells they can use will be available. Thieves are not super useful outside of the find/disarm traps and lock picks. Combining them into one is pretty useful. Give them combat spells first.

I actually like Bards. Skalds help a lot at lower levels with the bonus to attack roles, but a pure Bard's level 11 song is huge for party healing. Give them spells that are cast outside of combat. Summons, Haste, Strength of One. That sort of thing. Buff and summon, then stand in the middle of the group singing. Hands off support.

That gives you 2 Arcane casters, which is fine for IWD, and both can offer up extra help when not casting.

For your final slot, leaves a lot of options.

Archer will be a rapid fire killing machine. Easy to play. Just bring a lot of arrows.

Avenger Druids offer some fun new spells to the Druids offensive spell power if you prefer magic over physical.

Sun Soul Monk would make for an interesting option. They are difficult to play early on. Put a pip into Throwing Darts to keep them out of most melee till they are leveled up enough to get some of their higher level bonuses.

[mike_hanna211]

Originally posted by DrPhilEvans:

Just looking for some general help as to why I'm so **** at this game, if anyone can provide any please? I seem to die more or less all of the time, every combat (OK, slight exaggeration, but not far off)

I've tried to scout ahead with one character, and come running back to draw out enemies one at a time, but this rarely works: multiple enemies usually follow. And if there's a mage who sees me they seem able to hit me, or cast area effects on me (e.g. stinking cloud) even if I escape out of their line of sight round a corner, which seems.... odd.

And I seem to get hit much more often than seems sensible to me. A simple example: I'm in Dragon's Eye at the moment, encountering some Yuan-Ti elite. My lead character has AC -1 and (according to the "Record" screen) modifiers make it -5 vs missile. Yet I seem to get hit nearly every shot by the Yuan-Ti Elite with their arrows +1. Mike's RPG Centre says these guys have THAC0 around 12, so even with +1 for the arrows, that's 11; vs AC -5 means they need a 16 to hit; so I'd expect to get hit pretty infrequently, not every round.

However, it's clear reading walkthroughs and stuff that most people don't die all the time, so it must just be me being crap rather than something wrong with the engine. So I'm very open to any tips / advice please to actually enable me to survive without enabling the CluaConsole and making liberal use of Ctrl-R.

FWIW, party make up is:

Paladin (cavalier; human): Specialist in long sword, 2 slots each in sword&shield and 2 weapon style)
Fighter (Wizard slayer, human): Specialist in Battle Axe (4 slots) and sword/shield [modified from Gorris]
Cleric: (Priest of helm, half-elf): Specialist in morning star, sling and sword/shield
Then 3 of the 'standard' characters:
Ilauna (mage, specialist with dart + dagger)
Kirka (fighter/thief multi-class), short bow + short sword (uses the bow mainly), and 2-handed weapon speciality.
Felicia (bard - modified slightly to up strength so she can use the composite LB), specilist in longbow and mace.

At the current time they're all around level 8. And yes, I have cheated a bit (ctrlR mainly) to get this far....

As others have said or eluded to, it's about tactics really. You can make almost any party composition and win the game. Although some parties will make winning harder than others (try a party of just mages, ha!).

I beat the game and expansion on Core difficulty using the following party, all un-kitted:

Paladin (longsword, mace, sword and shield style)
Fighter (2-handed sword grandmaster, 2-handed weapon style)
Cleric (support/buff and healing spells; ranged or melee support, as needed)
Thief (ranged support)
2 - Mages (1 for crowd control/summons; 1 for direct damage/AoE)

That was hard; I don't min-max my characters, not really a fan of multi-classing or dual classing, and don't care for class kits. Just keep at it, adjust your tactics, and you'll prevail.

[Bibibobaba]

Maybe you just need a tweak in your option setting. You need for sure max hit-point on lvl up enaebled and you need need set some auto-pause. At found trap and at target gone-killed for sure.
The bard pure class it the most important class to have in IWd, because of the song war chant of the sith(it regenarate hp so you dont need lot of healing spell, so your cleric and druid can focus on summon or other spell.) It can also identify almost everything without scroll or spell. You need pause a lot with it alternate chanting and one action at time. Use chant wait for the song to activate than make an action. With a ranged weapon they are optimal, and with some buff spell or crowd control or summon they help alot to support. They can use wand and scroll so I think it really the only class you really need in a group. You can beat the game with any class. You need a thief too but it easy to multi-class it or dual class, and there kit are pretty strong.
With the thief and the bard specialized in ranged it the minimun you need, IwD it real more easy with party focused on ranged weapon because of the big monster mobs fight but it not needed. The best it have your paladin and fighter swicht weapon(cavalier cant use ranged weapon however), use ranged and wait for the monster to come at you, than engaed them in melee.
Best tactic it sending summon creature, than shoot spell like web and other crowd control. Cripple them in ranged then focus on killing mage, clerc and archer 1st. Entangled monster are real easy to hit it almost always a hit. Focus on entangled creature with your ranged units. Against undead you need just need a good cleric and it make the fight real more easy.

I usuely scout with ranger or thief. An archer ranger it the best for scouting it can kill lot of monster alone( Archer it surely the most powerfull class in his game). With boot of speed on your scout it the best option. Give them potion of invisbility and ring, so they can retreat easily. In my present game I like to scout with my shapeshifter druid with boot of speed, her Ac it like at -15 and hit point near 120 so it fun to use it. She can take alone 3 ennemies and often more at the same time ;-)
Remember it a Rpg game it normal that you will have weakness in your party. I think it a part of the fun to try to win challenging fight.For example I made an enchanter in my last game and she pretty useless in most of the fight, but I try to keep it in rpg line giving her spell like charm, confuse and dominate. Whan I fight human it pretty easy to win with her, but against undead she just sit there and wait or she use wands and items.