Back, after 14 years Options

[Shadan]

Hi there!

I haven't been here in last 14 years... I've just completed BG3 on tactical with vengeance paladin, and old NPCs in BG3 (like Jaheira, Minsc and Viconia (sadly I had to kill Viconia ) brought back my memories about BG2 and great IA times, so thanks to a sudden urge, I searched on internet and was suprised to see IA is still living and V7 came out, and compatible with EE.
I am thinking on relearning game again, and playing 1-2 IA runs... I have lot of time nowadays...
I've tried to remember what kind of parties did I have in old times.
I remember my start with IA V3.2, gnome F/I protagonist, blade bard (or Hear'Dalis) with his incredible spin, inquisitor with insane dispel (all 3 were nerfed later), usual B->Cleric etc.
I don't really remember to my other runs, just as a V6 playtester I played with necro protagonist and Cernd was my main healer instead of usual R or B -> Cleric.
My last V6 run was melee heavy party: vagrant protagonist, riskbreaker, berserker, swashie, usual R->Cleric, Necro.
As far as I remember, sorcerer, or double sorcerer were also great in the team.

Now, I see in V7 some other NPCs and suclasses are buffed, rebalanced. I am a little clueless about protagonist and party composition. As far as I see new rog NPC is good, also Mazzy is buffed to hell. So any recommendation is welcome on this topic (and on weapon proficiencies).

I am still playing my 2nd BG3 run (honor mode, but more than 1 save ) with a bard. When I finished this, maybe I start an IA run. Nowadays I have less patience, and I am getting bored in things easily, so I am not sure if I will have a strength and patience for IA, but I will see it.

Cheers,
Shadan

[critto]

Fast question: As I see EE newest edition is 2.6 on Steam. If I buy that, can I backroll to 2.5? As far as I saw, IA works only on 2.5, doesn't it? Or do u have any other place to download 2.5 from?

You can roll back to 2.5 in Steam version, I do that myself. Go to properties -> betas in the game's context menu to do that.

5. Again a choice: Neera as wild mage or wizard slayer. Both are buffed as far as I red from Sikret.

I'd say try wild mage out of the two. Wizard Slayer is a bit trickier to play, and wild mage is quite fun and powerful.

4. Hesitating between kensai 2hander and Mazzy. Kensai is incredible offensive power, but Mazzy has a new content, hasn't it? And maybe 2 AC tank (Sibel and Mazzy) aren't needed...

No new content, just some further rebalancing of her fighter kit to make it stronger.

I bought EE on Steam, installed all as DequNew wrote in installation guide:

Make sure the game is installed in a custom folder, not a Windows' default one (sometimes there are issues with folder permissions on certain versions of the operating system). Steam allows to choose a custom folder when installing a game.
I strongly suggest using the 2.5 version (see above on how to roll back).
Tweaks Anthology was never properly tested for compatibility although I see people playing with it. I would recommend just going with the latest available release of EoU (the installation readme lists the only components you really need, there are just a few).
The ranger thing was fixed in the very latest master of IA Tweaks on github. I did not make a proper release yet. But you can grab it with this link: https://github.com/critto-bg/ImprovedAnvilT...eads/master.zip The bug should no longer occur.

Are using NPCs with original stats, or using some kind of ShadowKeeper to change or max. stats?

All NPCs' stats are already adjusted, no need to mess about with the editor

What about custom party members? Do u roll until a decent sum and good 18/XX or just edit with SK, and max. all stat?

Same here. It's not hard to roll a good total dice sum (80-90, depending on the class and kit) and distribute properly.