Comparing Flails and War Hammers, if you mean the new items which can be forged, let's have a look at the items list:

1- For flails:



2- For war hammers:



As for the game's own items, you can have Flail of ages and Borok's Fist hammer as well as Ashideena somewhat early in the game (though none of them will be available without a challenge). I think you can give progiciency stars to both of these weapon types to your characters.


And thetruth is surely right about Halberds. There are very powerful halberds which you can forge during the game, though forging them is not easy at all.

Sorry to hijack this thread. Sikret, I'll be starting my game tmr. Would you prefer I send you feedback through pm, or start a new thread as a journal?

[edit] Has the long abscence from BG dulled me, or has IA disabled shoplifting?

Hehe no you are OK, it's that stealing has been disabled from all stores.
Now you have to think very carefully where you spend your money

And better IMO, since it makes sense that you can steal one or two items from a shop, but stealing and reselling whatever you want at the same shopkeeper was cheesy and unrealistic.

wait so stealing more than like one thing from a store is completley disabled? Well that was a waste of a bunch of skill points on my swashie.

Send your journal in public, but be careful not to spoil the fun of the game for readers with heavy and unnecessary spoilers. I'm sure you know how to write your journal to keep it interesting without containing bad spoilers. I have read your writings before.

@nataben

I'm sure you can still benefit from those thieving skill points by picking people's pockets. And tell us if you find something surprising in anyone's pocket.

Ah Sorry guys! I remember why I don't like to play mages... I'll have to go for a R/C instead using both flails and hammers I'll put in Kivan (Archer Ranger) instead of Anomen, otherwise I still use Nalia, Arie, Jaheira & Minsc. I noted that Sikret and thetruth recommend R/C multi and R/C is AFAIK also good for extra quests/materials.

Regards

It's still a good party, though I have to say that the F/M would make your life much easier, especially in the difficult battles of late game.

You could always make a multi-F/M or you could take HaerDalis (sort of F/M but with awful THACO if you don't exploit the singing-Mislead clones cheese).

I had HaerDalis in my IA party and he was very useful in the tough battles of the mod (I didn't have a F/M).
Timetraps and Improved Bard song were very useful later.

EDIT: But then there is little Aerie that can be really powerful with the right buffs, so you can even leave your party as it is now.

So you think I can use Aerie as a competent partymember? Hmm IMO it's better than creating a MP F/M, so I'll grab your advice...

Yes, Aerie with a combination of Cleric and Mage spells and SI: Abjuration can be surprisingly powerful

the truth, how is haer delis helpful? I'm thinking of taking him along, but as IA is item poor, and blades are item dependent, I'm not sure if he is worth the slot

You can use him as a F/M, if you don't have one.

Mage buffs + SI:Abjuration and he is very good in the front line distracting enemies.
His THACO is not so good, but I was using him mainly to distract the enemies.

Also with UAI and some Timetraps he helped a lot in some very difficult battles.
I kept him back (out of the enemies' visual range) and he set his Timetraps, then my characters retreated to trigger the traps.

Remember that while the time is stopped, ApR is only what matters. You will hit anytime even if you have an awful THACO.
So give him Belm and Kundane (or Scarlet after UAI), cast on him I.Haste and Offensive Spin for 10 ApR. Just try to give him high STR in order to get the bonus to dmg from high STR.

Finally there were battles where I used him only as a secondary Mage (for buffs and his powerful Remove Magic) and to sing his Improved Bard Song (-4 to AC, +4 to THACO/dmg and other useful immunities).

There are also many cheesy tactics that involve the Bards, like multiple Mislead-clones' song, Defensive Spin and Free Action, or multiple Offensive Spins, but I prefer not using them.

Update: I've started! Unfortunately, my progress is going to be excruciatingly slow until I can either figure out what's wrong with my computer, or reformat, because the game gets unplayably choppy after about 15 minutes (this has nothing to do with IA as it's been happening for a couple months now).

After playing for a bit with that six char party, I came to the realization that I absolutely despise micromanaging six characters (all my BG2 runs up until now have been solos, but I know solo is impossible on IA). So I've decided to try a four player party, and am having much more fun:

1. protagonist halfelf ranger/cleric, dual-wielding hammers/flails/maces
2. Cernd
3. Gnome Fighter/Illusionist, dual-wielding longswords and eventually maybe scimitars for belm, if I ever sum up the courage to visit its now guarded location.
4. Human Berserker dual-classed to mage at level 9, will get grand-mastery in axes and dual-wielding, and maybe pick up points in short-sword for kundane if I need extra ApR.

I'm still working on the untouched portion of the game, so we'll see how it goes once I get to the IA stuff, to see if I am tactically good enough to pull off a four player party. Hopefully the fact that the chars will be of a higher level, and there will be more gold available will help make up for the lack of two characters.

Sorry to hijack this thread!

@thetruth: Have you given any thoughts about a F/I instead of a F/M? There are some bonuses to the gnome that others don't get, but a gnome don't get the necromancer spells. Is it worth it to play F/I instead of F/M?

Regards

Oh yes you are right.
A Gnome F/I would be even more powerful with +1 spell/level and better s.throws.

You won't miss much the Necromancy spells (especially if you have another Mage in your party).

He! I guess I'll go for:

F/I
Minsc
Jaheira
Anomen
Aerie
Nalia

Yes, this is an even better party for IA.

I'm getting set for my first IA game and would like some advice about party composition using the usual suspects for party members. My PC is a R/C and I'm inclined to bring Keldorn (love that double-strength Dispell!), Kelsey, and Cernd as an Auramaster along. But what of the other two spots? One more mage is obviously necessary, but I'm undecided between Nalia and Aerie. I've never tried to play with Valgar, but I'm wondering if it would be a bit much to have two ranger types in the same party. Perhaps Minsc, as a Berserker, instead?

Comments, thoughts?

f/m is a must for IA, so may be try Xan? Berserker also will be very usefull (5* in halberds or two handed swords, rage, best THAC0), but you can forge very nice items for Valygar, so take whom you want.