Recommended Spells, and miscellaneous standard questions Options

[nataben1314]

Hello everyone! So after all these years I'm finally getting a new computer which should be able to run BG2 and IA without difficulty (hoping there will be no problems with Vista 64!). So I think I'm going to play through IA now that I have a computer that can handle the extensive scripts (my current computer is so bad it can hardly run three firefox windows without overheating )

Anyways, while I wait for my new computer to be shipped to me I am wondering if I can get some help so that by the time I get it, I can start IA right away!

I know some basic things about IA because I played some of it in previous versions, but never finished a game due to my computer problems. So here are my questions:

1) It seems like the use of spellcasters is different in IA, and some of the spells have been tweaked. I was wondering if an IA veteran would be willing to make a "recommended spells" list. I don't want anything that will say "at level x pick spell y", but rather maybe a list like "these are the level 1 spells that are very useful in IA, these are the level 2 spells that are very useful in IA, etc." so that I can choose my spell progression myself, yet at the same time I won't be worried about picking worthless spells or missing powerful IA spells that aren't so good in standard BG. This is especially important for sorcerer, of course.

2) I saw that "no traps/locks" component is not recommended in IA's documentation. May I ask why? In normal BG games I like to install this component, because I think that traps and locks were more tedious than fun, and I don't care about the extra XP they give. If it causes serious problems for IA though I will of course not install it as per Sikret's recommendation.

3) Will it introduce problems into the game if i CLUA in a bag of holding? I just don't find inventory management to be a fun aspect of the game... running back to my stronghold all the time to stash stuff is not fun to me!

4) Will it introduce problems into the game if, at character creation screen, I use ctrl+8, then diminish the stats to reasonable levels, as opposed to just rolling stats forever until I get good rolls? The one problem for this is that it sets strength to 18/00 which is obviously cheesy, but if I used this I would not use it on warrior characters (I would roll normally for them), and on non-warrior characters I would not have their strength be up to 18.

5) Are there any balanced, well-regarded quest-adding mods which are not incompatible with IA? The only one I could think of was Tower of Deception, which I do plan to install. Note that I'm not interested in NPC mods.

6) Finally, the basic "party composition" questions:

Vagrant
R/C multi
Blade
Berserker
M/C multi
Sorcerer

Fighter/Tanks: Vagrant, Berserker, Ranger/Cleric, and Blade (when properly buffed)
Divine Magic: R/C and M/C
Arcane Magic: Sorcerer, M/C, Blade

Any glaring omissions here? The one obvious thing is the lack of a thief. Whether I need a thief will depend on what Sikret says about the "no traps/locks" component. If he says that there are major problems with the "no traps/locks" component, I guess I can replace the Blade with a Swashie. Speaking of the blade, it looks like stealing from stores is allowed now in v5 if I'm not mistaken. I wonder if it would be worth it to use a plainclass bard or jester instead of a blade for higher pickpocket value? Also, what about weapon proficiencies for my party? IA changes the weapons so much that its hard for me to decide, especially since I have no way of knowing how many new weapons I can expect to be able to forge. I know it is a good idea to have varying damage-types, but beyond that I have no idea.

So sorry for so many questions...

[Apsis]

Do you still need more content even with IA installed?!

The point is, even IA adds a lot of content to the game, having something brand new is always good, even if it's a tiney tiny quest. What IA does is mostly enhancing already existing characters and the new quests almost require a new game. Exploring new dungeons or meeting new characters(not monsters), new plots are always exciting. I *really* am gonna puke if i ever see the ground floor of De'Arnise keep again.