Newbie questions about IA Options

[Dementia]

Hi everybody!

I'm new to Improved Anvil and have heard a lot of good about it.

I have a few questions before playing:

i) I see a lot of talk about playing mage or vagrant, but I really like playing some kind of cleric ie C/R or C/F or a pure cleric. Can I enjoy IA without playing vagrant or mage?

ii) I don't consider myself a very good tactician, can I enjoy IA without being too frustrated. I accept reloads. But I would hate to sit a whole day not getting further. I would skip very tough challenges like the slaver compund but otherwise follow the plot and most else.

iii) I do like the banters of NPC does IA change that?

iv) Will I have to make custom NPC's? I would prefer to use Bioware's NPC or a few other like Xan, Auren or Kivan.

v) I never played ToB before, well I remember years ago I tried the big dungeon (I don't remember the name) but I didn't come through. Will that matter if I intend to play IA?

ahh well I think I got most of my questions. Thanks for your help in advance

Dementia

[geh4th]

I'll leave most of the deeper details of your questions to our more seasoned people. Some generalized responses:

-My current party is Vagrant, Jaheira, Anomen, Nalia, Keldorn, and a Sorcerer that I plan to drop for Imoen. I don't think it's perfect but then again I'm trying to role-play the group and I have reasons for all of them to be here. More 'perfect' groups are as plentiful as the people on the board, I'm sure.

-Swanmays are quite good from what I know, but I haven't got high enough to really get to play with them much.

-I know Windspear outdoors and the first level is part of that suggested order. Windspear II is more challenging; some new monsters and the guardians of the mask pieces are tough. And don't mess with Samia's party until MUCH later. Way tough.

-Your mages need to be good at dispelling protections before taking on many of the more powerful creatures (read: dragons, among others.) It might be possible to do the dragons earlier but you tend to get bit, clawed and breathed on a lot (or worse) while waiting out the defenses.

-I find the sorcerer better because of flexibility. You can cast what you know how to cast more often than a mage, without having to prepare ahead of time. Most mages, in my experience, don't use more than 5 or so different spells per spell level anyhow. Imoen has an 18 wisdom in IA; one of her primary spells at high levels will be 'wish'. Don't underestimate it.

-EDE is near the end of the whole game. Don't sweat it now.

-I know baldurdash is required and other tweak/fix packs are not compatible. Don't do any tactics mods either. Follow the readme very very carefully to have a stable game. Sikret knows his stuff. As for the randomizer, I only know in general that some items you're used to seeing in stores or on weaker opponents aren't there any more, distributed randomly to tougher encounters or locations. An example would be that the Beastmaster in the Copper Coronet no longer has the Tuigan Bow; it's randomized elsewhere.

Sorry about not showing your quotes in my responses. I'm not too good at that type of management yet.

G

[Raven]

As for the randomizer, I only know in general that some items you're used to seeing in stores or on weaker opponents aren't there any more, distributed randomly to tougher encounters or locations. An example would be that the Beastmaster in the Copper Coronet no longer has the Tuigan Bow; it's randomized elsewhere.

The Tuigan Bow actually is not randomised; it appears with the same enemy each game, but that enemy isn't the Beastmaster any more. I appreciate you can't be expected to know whether an item found in a different place from vanilla has been just moved there or ended up there from the randomiser, I'm just making the point that IA does both these things.

Vagrant is a good class and Swanmays are a very powerful summon. They have good hp, decent resistances and offensive abilities and a nice special ability. They are also not affected by Death Spell.

Regarding the difficulty, I would also advise following the suggested quest order (but then, I did write it... ). It takes a while to get the hang of how to manage the harder battles, and to appreciate the fact that there are some battles you can attempt very early on in the game (like the Troll Mound) which are actually not possible until much later. I'm actually going to add a bit more information to the suggested quest order soon.