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Here are the updates from the Icewind Dale II forum:Josh SawyerMulticlassing
A forum member posted this multiclassing example:
L1 - Wizard 1
L2 - Wizard 2
L3 - Paladin of Ilmater 1
L4 - Paladin of Ilmater 2
L5 - Monk of Ilmater 1
L6 - Monk of Ilmater 2
L7 - Cleric of Ilmater 1
L8 - Paladin of Ilmater 3
The reply to this was:
Everything through level 7 is fine. You multi-classed to monk after paladin of Ilmater, thereby ending any leveling-up in the paladin class.
But, even if it were legal, that is one gigantically worthless character. A Wizard 2 / Paladin 3 / Monk 2 / Cleric 1? You have some very good saving throws (Reflex would be the worst), mediocre hit points, can't wear armor to "reap the benefits" of the monk class, and a bunch of very low level spells and abilities. You're also in the horrible situation where advancing will inevitably lead to XP penalties (you can't raise paladin anymore, and going back to wizard would negate advancement in monk). Suckity suck suck suck.
BTW, my experiments at wacky multiclassing in IWD2 have met with pretty limited success. Overall, my party of six single classed characters (except for that one dwarf fighter/rogue, which I regret), outshines the multi-s in almost every respect.
A svirfneblin monk
How is that any cheesier than any other 30th level character? The first time you play through the game, the character is three levels lower than everyone else. You start the game over, switch classes, suffer a 20% XP penalty for 13 levels, and finally end the game as a 15/15 monk/druid. Wowie! Remember, SR is checked against caster level. While a svirfneblin monk would have a very good SR, it is by no means proof against the more powerful mages in the game. Especially the ones with Spell Penetration.
Why does everyone use 30th level characters as the baseline of balance for the game? Anything above 20 gets into silly silly realm, no matter what character class or combo you're talking about. It's a fun kind of silly, but really, this is probably significantly after you've already won the game.
Will the monks old avatar and kicking animation still be in the game files?
Yes. The monks at the BRM use it, so it will still be in there.
More Icons
http://feedback.blackisle.com/images/icons5.jpg
A1: Globe of Invulnerability
A2: Greater Shadow Conjuration
A3: Unfailing Endurance
A4: Snake Bite
B1: Tremor (AKA Earthquake)
B2: Soul Eater
B3: Mold Touch
B4: Shambler/Stalker
C1: Invisible Stalker
C2: Otiluke's Freezing Sphere
C3: Seven Eyes
C4: Feeblemind
D1: Ball Lightning
D2: Death Armor
D3: Snilloc's Snowball Swarm
D4: Shroud of Flame
E1: Horrid Wilting
E2: Elemental Legion
E3: Spell Shield
E4: Vocalize (it's blue, not red)
Changing the ranger
BTW, I know that the mod community seems to be uninterested in making editors for IWD2, but it should be easier than ever to alter the majority of the things that make up a class. Starting feats, skill points, feat progression, and most of that other stuff is controlled through 2DAs.
With all these games with toolkits, who would bother with IWD2
* People who have no intention of making mods.
* People who want to control a whole party of characters.
* People who don't have high-end systems.
Is the game complete? and what is BIS doing now?
If the game isn't complete, how have I played the whole game straight through to the last chapter with only three critical bugs encountered along the way? Want a more-or-less complete breakdown of what types of bugs still remain?
* Text bugs -- These are typos or incorrect information that appear in item/class/race/spell descriptions. Most of these get forwarded to me. I edit the string, send it back for verification, and that's the end of it. Considering the massive conversion to 3E, there are a lot of these.
* Roolz bugs -- An error in implementation. For instance, Expertise applying AC bonuses when a missile weapon is equipped. Barbarian Rage's state icon outlasting the actual effects of the rage. Emotion: Hopelessness not being converted to Emotion: Despair and Emotion: Courage not being converted to Emotion: Rage. These are many and minor, but need to be addressed.
* Graphical bugs -- Graphics aren't displaying properly. This could be a flickering interface panel, an animation state that wasn't added to the resources properly, or a clipping error for a spell effect (like wall of fire not appearing when part of it is clipped behind a clipping plane).
* Quest bugs -- These are the most important bugs, because they are the ones that can wreck your game (like Orrick giving a big fat "NO VALID REPLIES OR LINKS" message in IWD1). Quests have their own big fat whiteboard for verification. Every quest in the game has three "x"s that can appear next to them. A blue x means that it cannot be completed. A green x means that it cannot be completed in all ways the designer intended. A red x means that it cannot be completed in multiplayer. There are still green and red "x"s floating around, and 10 blues.
* Scripting bugs -- These usually tie into quest bugs. Scripts that don't work at all/sometimes need to be reviewed and fixed.
* General application bugs -- Just general errors with the IWD2 application. Programming is always optimizing for speed and ironing things out.
* Balance bugs -- This is what I've been spending most of my days working on (since I only get about 4-8 "real" bugs a day). We are playing through the game monitoring the following in each area (using pre-made parties):
- Combat balance/variation
- Phat loot frequency and amounts
- Cheese tactics that we use to get by areas
- Overall fun factor vs. frustration or ease
So, yeah, that's what we've been doing, for reals.
Chris AvelloneChanging Alignment?
Nope. Unless one of the other designers is doing something sneaky.
Are there robes for non-mages?
Yup. There's at least a half-dozen or so, and that's only in the first half of the game.
Tex Yang (Bloodlust)Cure spells for bards?
Yup, bards get Cure Light Wounds, Cure Moderate Wounds, and Healing Circle.
A battle
Ok folks, here's one more battle to tide you over:
As the party made their way into the cave, little could be seen in the darkness in front of them, except for a myriad of orogs to the right side, and a handful of shadowy figures to the left. A tall figure behind the orogs spoke in a threatening tone as the party entered. The party leader, Hitori, barely had time to gather his wits, before having to answer the imposing figure. Normally, Hitori's views as a monk would have driven him to try the diplomatic approach, but after all the trouble that the party was subjected to just to get there, the only words out of his lips were, "Enough of this - prepare to die!".
The enemy seemed to have used the swarm-in approach in the past - they attacked as one, pinning the party back, while the lone figure cast a strength of one spell. Gronther and Grunthor, the twin duergar barbarian brothers, quickly covered the front with Hitori, yelling for Saralok, the drow wizard/druid, to use the usual "shoot the spells through us" tactic. Horlee, the bard, gets ready to cast her healing circle spells and help heal the melee fighters during the barbarian brothers' call of the wall o' duergar tactics. Sensing that the shadowy figures will take some kind of divine damage, the snifverblin rogue/cleric, Kirithin, fires off the wall of moonlight from her domain spell's list.
As the orogs start their attack, the tall figure casts the strength of one spell, and Hitori casts a snakebite spell and turns his arms into snakes - many an enemy have fallen from the poison of the snakebites, combined with the speed of his fists after the spell wears off. The twin duergar, no longer affected by day blindness, proceed to hack at the orogs with glee. Saralok, doing his part, casts a spike stone and then several thorn sprays through the first three fighters - the monk's high reflex saves allow them to take minimal damage from the spells, and the barbarian's damage reduction, along with their duergar race's extra constitution and number of hit points, allows them to shrug off a massive amount of damage. As the melee fighters hack away, Horlee gets her healing circle spells to mend whatever damage the melee characters take. Kirithin, noticing the shadowy figures passing through the wall of moonlight, conjures a moonblade and sets to work on the figures - her +4 bonus to AC really comes in handy during fights.
Having buffed its troops, the tall figure casts another spell, which Saralok recognizes as a slay living spell. Warning the melee fighters, he barely has enough time to finish his sentence, before it touches Gronther with it - as much armor as he was wearing, it offered no extra protection against touch spells, and of all the times for his save to fail, this was not the best time for it. Grunthor barely catches a glimpse of his brother going down, before he feels a sudden rage building inside. With a screeching yell, he resumes the orog hacking with a renewed purpose. Seeing one of the barbarians go down, Saralok casts a stoneskin spell and jumps in the fray, hoping that his magic resistance might be enough to save himself of whatever spells the tall figure might conjure next, but, instead, it decides to take out its flail and do some party mashing instead.
Kirithin, meanwhile, is almost finished with the shadowy figures, but not before she takes a few hits from them. Some are particularly odd, feeling extremely cold, then stealing her spirit and vitality - this definitely does not come at a good time. Horlee, meanwhile, casts the last of her healing circle spells, clears her throat, and begins to chant a song about heroes from the past, and bolstering the party's spirits, while Saralok unleashes all of his Electric Loop spells while in the middle of the orogs, getting the tall figure once in a while. During all this, he lets his stoneskin absorb the orogs punishing blows, and hoping his high concentration skill does not fail him during this time.
With his last snakebite strike, Hitori lands a blow on the tall figure which sets the poison running through its veins, but not before he himself gets hit with the flail, making venom course through the monk's body, and having the wounds magically spread themselves all over. The tall figure seemed to know how to use the flails abilities well, as every round seemed to increase the pain that was inflicted. Having finished with the last of the shadowy figures, Kirithin moved to the party, firing off some healing circles of her own, to pick up where Horlee stopped. Noticing that he would need more power, Saralok shapeshifts to a dire panther and starts raking away at the tall figure, at the same time that Grunthor drops the last orog - only one enemy to go.
Sensing its doom, the figure kept attacking the monk, who fortunately had a high enough wisdom to sense some of the blows and dodge them in time, but at the cost of feeling the pains which screamed at his body from the flail's previous hits. As Grunthor's rage subsided, he was able to control his body and subside the fatigue that he usually felt in the past - but not before taking another look at his brother and feeling another rage build deep inside. With an ear splitting howl, he drove his battleaxe into the tall figure's side, and as it fell to the ground, all that could be heard through the cavern was the silence that hung in the air, and the taint of evil that this particular cave held. The weapon hit the floor in a loud thud, followed closely by the figure's dead body.
Because of her vitality drain, Kirithin could no longer raise Gronther, and the party had to take his body to the person who had asked them to set things straight to begin with. The only thing in Grunthor's mind was the thought that this person had better know a way to raise his brother, or cure Kirithin, and allow her to do the raise herself. As the party gathers their gear and carry the barbarian's fallen body, the trek back to the provider of the quest starts...
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Icewind Dale II Forum Update
