Talking about the first time..., Some questions regarding compatibilities and such Options

[Arkain]

Greetings!

First of all: Hey there, I am new. And happy to have joined the BWL rather than limiting myself to just reading

...

Ok, now what was my thread about? Ah, right.
I was just thinking about starting a new game, as I finished my M/C. Fun . This time I am going to try a F/M/C and as Improved Anvil v4+ requires a new game anyway I could try it as well. Difficult battles and stuff.
Now the problem I have is to decide which things to uninstall from my mod-list, mostly concerning battles, as follows:

Saerileth: Now, do I have to uninstallt it to have no problems or do I have to not have her in my group at all? Though it might be a doubtable question why I should keep a NPC mod if I can't use the NPC . I rather like her though...

Tactics: Is there anything I can keep? Like "The Ritual" or the F/I in the docks? Or may one of the contents cause problems?

Ascension: Now I *can* leave Demogorgon and the core component (the final battle, that is) untouched but have to uninstall the tougher bhaalspawn, correct?

Kiara and Zaya: First of all it includes some battles in the mod (at least one which needs to be fought and one encounter which can be installed seperately) and more important there is a component for a harder Suldanessalar, consisting of tougher monsters (like mariliths and such instead of... whatever lurked around before). There is a tougher Irenicus at the tree of life component as well. Problems?

Ease of Use: Nothing about compatibility but rather about the readme: "- Wear Magical Armor AND Magic Rings (Recommended)" I always considered this some sort of cheat, or at least cheesy. Care to tell me why it's recommended?

Planar Sphere mod: Well, it's some expanded mage stronghold. IA seems to add some content to this stronghold as well... may there be problems? I guess if so it would be the best way to do the "normal" PS stuff first and do the PS mod content afterwards, correct? Are the new quests (or whatever) avaiable before the regular routine (the disciples, the fanatics... is there anything else?) is finished?

I guess the rest won't cause anything vicious... uh.. I hope
Now... on to the next questions. Talking about partyplay... I have no clue whom I should take with me, so I hope there are some tipps regarding this topic. I thought about:

F/M/C
Keldorn
Valygar
Cernd
Jan (*sigh*)
In ToB: Irenicus

As I wished for some extra muscle I decided to take Keldorn as he's useful everytime . Even more so with the new holy avenger. Or so I hope. Valygar ist one guy I just have to try with TLR installed. Hoping for some interesting banters with Jon. Cernd because I want to take him once... and intend to use the auramaster kit. Jan because Imoen is annoying. As is Nalia. Not because they are so whiny or weak or anything ^^ ... I just love to use traps from time to time or to dispel illusions via a thief. Jan seems to be the only option apart from a multiyplayer character. The problem with this party is that I have no full time mage. Jan is a half time mage and I am a "triple cripple" mage. So until ToB there will be no real mage in the party. Same with cleric btw, but I guess the F/M/C can do it anyway with some help from Cernd. I hope (yep, hoping for many things)
Next problem: no romance =/. Though the Valygar romance might do the trick. Gonna try it anyway when he's in the party, right?
Yet another "next problem" ^^: Weapon profiencies. How the heck should I distribute those? Any tipps? My guess for Keldorn would be to go the two handed weapon way, thus quarterstaffs, halberds, two handed swords and spears. As there are many good swords and halberds etc. around the choice about what to use as the main weapon may be tough, Carsomyr get's boring after a while...
Valygar would be the stealthy guy with katanas to backstab. Well... and then? Long swords? Daggers? Gaaah... *sob* so many choices, so few profiency points.
The F/M/C would go for the blunt weapons of course. So flails and hammers, I guess. Any other ideas? Maybe quarterstaffs because of the SoM? Two weapon style, shield, or two handed weapons (read: quarterstaffs *sigh*)? Somewhat hard to make a choice. For every fighter character... especially when there are sooo many nice upgrades to be done
Oh, and what about the usual Carsomyr +6 upgrade made by Cespenar? The eye of tyr seems to be something reserved for the old Carsomyr.

This post has been edited by Arkain: May 8 2007, 04:00 PM

[Arkain]

Well, the problem is that I don't really know which area is modified by IA and which isn't. Thus there may be problems if I have some components installed which alter some area IA alters as well. As there isn't any information regarding K&Z, or rather these special components (for example) my idea was to ask before there are any problems

The XP cap is removed and such
It's natural that the game gets easier each time you gain a specific thing, may it be the very item that will boost your power a whole lot (can you say "Robe of Vecna"?) or when you finally gain HLAs.
The fact is, that those characters you mentioned can be "strong" indeed but, aside from having tried them already (including Kelsey and Tashia), the basic party stays the same: Fighter (me, Keldorn, Valygar), Cleric (me, Cernd), Mage (me, Jan, later on Jon), Thief (Jan). So I could use a sorcerer, but who should be traded for him/her? Keldorn and Valygar are two guys I wish to use. And they are the fighters. Jan is the much needed thief. And nowadays I *really* dislike parties with more than one character created by the player. Missing the banter and stuff . Cernd is yet another bioware NPC which I haven't really tried. So in this case it's me being curious about him. Especially with the auramaster kit. More than five aren't a good idea in SoA as I would abandon one (like the sorcerer) in ToB anyway to get Jon. Oh, and he is (by the way) another reason for this party. I'm anxious to see his banters with these.
While the party seems somewhat fixed I'm of course open for tipps, regarding the difficulty of IA. Mostly about the question whether it will be *very* hard with it. By the way: Yet another example for an NPC I could take with me would be Solaufein. But as he is avaible only very late (after the Underdark is finished mostly) this seems to be a bad choice, though a F/M would help, I guess.

[rbeverjr]

Well, the problem is that I don't really know which area is modified by IA and which isn't.

That's in some of the readmes for the mod in this forum. I think it is the tactical readme, where you will see all the things that Sikret has improved.

I use Shadow Keeper to give me the classes I want with the banter I want. I don't consider it cheating as I have played with the stock NPCs, created characters without any banter, and these SK derivatives many times. But to each his own.

I gave you my recommendations concerning classes to have along, but you should certainly play whatever you desire.