Hello everyone.
I've finally managed to outsmart my evil email spamfilter, and thus completed my registration here. I'm very interested in IA, but I'm not sure I'm fit for it yet. I've never modded bg more than using tutu, so I don't have any experience of improved encounters. When I fight mages, I throw on some Breach and other similar spells, send fighters on and hope I kill them. From what I've read, IA mages will be just a tidbit harder to kill, using SI:abjuration and massive protections. I'm mostly wondering if there's any point in trying if I'm not sufficiently skilled in tactical bg fighting. Reloading a few times to polish a way to do a battle is of course ok, but really banging my head on a wall would drain the fun quite fast.

Due to that concern, I've also tried to get some ideas to help me out. I'd consider playing on a quite easy difficulty setting, and possibly using multiplayer, to get more powerful characters like kensai, ranger/cleric, swashbuckler, sorcerer and so on. I do view myself as a skilled gamer, but I'm just not fully attuned to bg. Hmm.. getting messy. Well, what I'm asking for is mostly tips for a newbie at IA, stuff like suggested group setup, anything similar to smart moves like having lots of Ruby Rays memorized. Maybe even a suggestion for good starting quests.

Big hugs and love goes out to everyone for helping me get into IA <3

Øystein

Edit: For what it's worth, I used Marvin^42 on SP, since that forum didn't allow for one or more of the characters in this name

Well personally, I played tactics before IA, and I think that helped ease me into the whole tactical improvement mod scene (all 2 mods of it; IA is much better by the way).

And ofc, before sikret berates me, IA is much more than just a difficulty enhancing mod now (although it is insanely tough in places).

Imo, you can either play an easier mod like tactics beforehand, or if you haven't got time to burn there are a few things I'd recommend:-

1. Bring a kensai and make your pc a fighter/mage or a vagrant (they get....ahem....some bonuses).
2 Take a full class cleric, either anomen or one you've made yourself (IA becomes exponentially tougher the lower level your cleric is).
3. You can stick yoshimo in charge of your party so you get anomen at level 11 straight from the start of the game.
4. Do the thieves guild quest first, then the fallen paladins, then the bridge district murders, harper's hold, then do the quests aran linvail gives you (don't go to spellhold though!)
5. Don't bother with a thief, take keldorn or another fighter and cast knock on everything. Keldorn's dispel magic is mighty beyond belief.
6. Make your party good-aligned.
7. Don't memorise any level 6 spells except imp haste. Or any level 5 cleric spell apart from chaotic commands.
8. Assign a key to "quick load".


Alright, don't want to give out all the tips myself That should get you started though.

OP (don't think I'm even capable of typing your username).

I'm currently playing Improved Anvil 4.2, and started under very similar pretenses to what you describe. I've been playing Baldur's Gate for years, and know the game well, but am hardly a tactical genius at it, and had never played any sort of tactical mod prior to going into IA. Sounds pretty close to your situation.

In terms of where I've made it to in the game, I just defeated Yaga Shura last night.

So, like me, I'm guessing you can do it. But expect some moments of frustration, and a learning curve. Once you get through that learning curve getting past a tough fight is pretty rewarding. It's hard to predict exactly where you'll have problems. For example, I got through what is supposedly one of the most difficult encounters in the game (the Judgement Day battle, something Sikret added to the game) without requesting assistance from anyone. It was a tough fight, but I could see a logical path to victory. However, the Yaga Shura battle which is supposedly a lot easier, had me totally stumped last night, and I failed at it over and over. It wasn't until one of the helpful game testers mentioned in a post to cast breach when Yaga Shura invokes hardiness that the light bulbs went off. I had no idea that breach removed hardiness, nor do I logically understand why it even would, but it was a fundamental game mechanic that I needed to understand to win that battle. Once I was armed with that knowledge, it took less than 30 minutes (and 3 very quick attempts) to bring home the victory.

In the SoA portion of the game, you just need to understand that many encounters are for "later." There are many things you have no hope of doing coming straight out of Irenicus' Dungeon. To avoid you some frustration, I'll recommend getting out of Athkatla almost immediately and doing the Trademeet Quests. The point is, don't expect to breeze through every part of the game, and there will be some moments of frustration. If you really get stumped, post your situation (I've done that many times on the sorcerers.net boards - finally registered on BWL just to respond to you). I find that the rewards are well worth it, and once you get a feel for Sikret's modding style, there's a lot more fun than frustration.

You can find a link to my IA experience here, and here:

http://www.sorcerers.net/ubb/ultimatebb.ph...ic/10/6175.html
http://www.sorcerers.net/ubb/ultimatebb.ph...ic/10/6213.html

They say, "no pain, no gain." There's some pain to be found in IA, but the gains are really, really nice, and rewarding. Hope this helps!

--PS - apologies in advance for typos. I typed this REALLY fast, and don't have time to proofread as I typically would.

Some other good early game quests are Mekrath's tower (be careful not to trigger the toll party people), Trademeet quests, druid grove quests, rescue Viconia and Jan, Sir Sarles quest, and the Unseeing Eye quest. The game spawns less beholders if you're at a low level so it's relatively easy. You'll probably have to skip two of the optional battles though. I'll let you discover which they are.

To add to Leonidas advice I would say make sure you have a pure class mage or sorc as this guy is essential for early access to ruby ray, imp. haste and PfMW.
I think the ideal IA party for a first run through probably runs something like this:

1- PC Fighter/Mage or better Fighter/Illusionist- the best class.
2- Keldorn- dispel magic rocks
3- Valygar- some good new gear plus having three hard hitters really helps
4- Haer dalis- Excellent decoy and back up mage and scroll user, useful for when you want to get off 5 ruby rays as quick as possible
5- Nalia/Imoen/Kelsey- All good choices but nalia probably the strongest due to her item upgrade.
6- Anomen- Greater Command and his combat potential make him useful in early game by the end he will be demoted to standing in the corner casting greater restoration but someones got to do it so it may as well be him.

As for quests the graveyards always good for early game as are everything but the main umar hills quest.

Main advice would be study the battle text, will help you win battles and better, teach you some effective ways to buff your characters. Sure mages in IA are tough but there is no reason you cant use the exact same spell combos.

Thanks for all the replies


"Standing in a corner casting greater restoration"
/sigh, I'm tired of vampires and level draining already

As in fully copying enemy mages spell protections? I know they use smart buffs, and it won't hurt to protect my casters, i've just never used that much, since they tend to be quite safe and out of reach in the back of my group. But of course, improved scripts and AI should make enemies target my softer characters.

Would it be advisable to use multiplayer to get 6 characters of specified classes, or do I lose out on too much exp/items from character-related quests? I'll gladly sacrifice the RP aspect of using bioware NPCs on my first try if it makes a big difference in difficulty.

Edit: I'm probably missing something obvious, but who's Kelsey? Not Keldorn, since you mentioned him at #2. Still, no Kelsey on http://www.planetbaldursgate.com/bg2/encounters/npcs/

Er... the Greater Restoration is for the instant healing, not because of level draining . Play IA and you will surely see it for yourself in the harder battles

Well... tipps:

1. Have at least one F/M type. Two or Three are even better. Solaufein (mod) would be an example. And of course the protagonist
2. One sort of priest. Clerics are better because of Greater Restoration etc.. You could take Anomen as he can pack a punch later on. Don't forget he got fighter levels.
3. Inquisitors (read: Keldorn) are still cool . Dispel Magic and the Holy Avenger are really useful.
4. Thieves aren't that powerful and needed in IA. Maybe a swashbuckler, but that's it mostly.
5. Pure mages are good for early access to higher spell levels... but later on aren't that useful as their power is somewhat decreased (most enemies have very high resistances, immunities and magic resistance). Mostly used for dispelling and buffing. If you reach really high levels your F/M type character *could* do it... maybe.
6. You should have one or two pure (good aligned) warriors (Valygar is quite good. As is Keldorn - I had both with me), as in the next IA version only they will be capable of using some of the most powerful IA items. The problem with those is that they are hard to protect, as they can't cast PfMW etc. to protect themselves from the hard hitting attacks
7. Forget the idea of using missile attacks. Don't play a archer.

Kelsey is an NPC mod.

Aha. That was my next guess. BTW, why is only Vagrant kit included in IA, and not Auramaster and Riskbreaker? I can't see Sikret making two powerful kits like that if not intended for the improved difficulty of IA, yet I don't understand why they are not suggested in the IA installation readme file. Not to be critizing, it just puzzled me.

ooh, one more thing. The F/M you're suggesting, that's a multiclass, right?

Sikret moves in mysterious ways

Yup. Multiclasses beat the usual dual class everyday. Especially if you have the xp cap removed. But even without this the multiclass will gain more (better) HLAs. In the F/M case you can gain Critical Strike after a level up instead of a 10th level spell you will never use, for example.

Welcome to BWL (Ø=M)^42 (heh though I would prefer Marvin )




Well the choice is up to you.
Improved Anvil is the most difficult of any other mod out there and as leonidas said, having played with Tactics,Ascension and other similar mods for sure can help.

But even then some of the difficult battles of IA can be still very frustrating .

As for your party I agree with Arkain.
F/Ms is the most powerful class in IA and you will have an easier time later in the game with a F/M (also recommended for the improved Mage stronghold).

From the original game Anomen is a good choice as Keldorn is.

You could use some multi-created characters as well:

- F/T (good fighter + Timetraps and UAI later) or a Swashbuckler (great AC)
- Sorcerer (or Kelsey mod) (but careful at the spell selection)
- a Half-Orc Berserker or a Barbarian (with 19 STR,CON)
- R/C

all of them are excellent choices.

I'm afraid of getting stuck due to not using optimal party setup the first time with such a difficult mod, so I think it'll be multiplayer to have more control over which classes to bring. Would there be any real problems (not enough high level spell slots, too low turn undead skill, not enough melee, arcane casters, not enough thieving skill, anything) with this setup?

F/M
F/T
Cleric (or even berserker-->cleric, if anyone thinks that'd be worth it)
Sorcerer
R/C
Inquisitor

That's a lot of powerful kits, but only two people who can cast ruby rays. Can an inquisitor's dispell remove any buff? Or rather, can any spell protection stop Dispell? (I know about the 50% +5% and -10% per level)

While that set-up is strong and will probably work fine I would sugget using an NPC based set up such as the one I suggested as the NPC quests can be some good early xp plus they have access to their own individual new powerful equipment. That would be my advice but play it how you want as I've said the party you suggested would be fine. Personally i'd have the cleric as a swashbuckler 10/cleric to cover the theiving skills plus the three free points of thac0 and ac are nice. Then switch out the fighter/thief for a blade and the ranger/cleric for a beserker or barbarian. These just represent personal choices based on how I play and are not neccesarily improvements

Another character you might want to try instead of the F/T is an assasin 24/fighter, with the grandfather of assasins, grand mastery in daggers and the new cutthroat the damage potential is sickening. 10 attacks around permamnent and 4 uses of assasination a day at *7. This takes some time to get its classes reactivated but with five other strong players shouldn't be a problem and should come into its own just in time for the really tough battles of TOB.

Also immunity abujuration now blocks dispel magic so you have to bring that down with ruby ray first. Dispel is most useful for taking down mages who use the invisibility and immunity divination combo.

My party exactly Marvin! (well when I dual my Beserker to a cleric, and if you do the same). Instead of using a multiplayer game you could alter the classes of existing npc's using a lvl 1 npc mod (this way you don't miss out on the banters/quests).

Like you and Marceror I have never previously played any difficulty enhancing mods (and the highest difficulty I've used has been core) - I did however go though SoA with just a sorcerer and a FMT, which kind of helped with magical strategies. It's a very tough game with IA and it completely changes the dynamics of just about everything - It's all hugely rewarding though and really reinvigorates the playing experience. Remember though - you can always lower the difficulty (it will still be way harder than the vinalla game ), skip battles (this is pretty much required for some encounters) and ask for help on the forums (we're here to help, or at least trying in my case)

Yes it is a very good party.

I would prefer another multi-classed Cleric than a pure one. A Half-Orc F/C with 19 STR,CON is very powerful, or even a Berserker dualled to Cleric at level 7 with G.Mastery in a weapon (install the True GM comp. of EoU).
Just try to give 18 WIS to your clerics (bonus spells).

Also as Clown suggested, a F/Illusionist would be even more powerful than the plain F/M (+1 spell/level) (but of course only if you don't have any problems with gnomes )

Inquisitor's Dispel Magic can dispel many buffs like Combat spell protections (stoneskin, PfMWs, A.Immunity etc) but only if the enemy doesn't have SI:Abjuration. But it cannot dispel Spell Protections like SI, Globes, Sp.Turning, Sp.Trap etc.

And if you want some party banters you could use SK to change the classes of existing NPCs (also for the reasons Clown mentioned).

I need to finish up my ongoing multiplayer game before I install IA, but I created my characters, ended up with
F/illusionist
F/T
F/C
Sorcerer
R/C
Inquisitor
Starting out with war hammer, mace, flail, long sword, short sword, dagger, two handed sword, and since noone can go above 2 stars in any weapon, everyone will have to pick more, so I should be proficient with most weapon types quite soon (I don't know what weapons are best in IA, but I can't be completely stumped with this setup )
Do I need to make one character into a tank? Who'd fit best? I guess RC or FC. But even as a tank, points in sword+shield isn't worth much, since it's only a small bonus vs. missile weapons, right?

I would go with Flails and Clubs for your R/C and Hammers and Maces for your F/C.
Long Swords and Scimitars (Belm) for your F/I and 2H Swords and Halberds for the Inquisitor.
Also Sh.Swords and Scimitars (Scarlet Ninja-To after UAI) for your F/T.

It would be also better to put eventually 3* in dual-wielding for the characters that use single handed weapons, since I.Haste can really make the difference in IA.

And single weapon style is useless.

As for tanks the F/I and the R/C are the best choices.

F/M is the best tank. Most fights you need either a summoned creature or someone with pomw to take hits for you (or someone with very high damage resistance). AC doesn't mean a lot.

The game becomes harder without a single or low dual-classed cleric btw. Really not worth the extra fighter levels to miss out on getting greater restoration and skeleton warriors in the early game.

Also, you have no pure class warrior. IA's enemies are defined by low ACs, it won't be a problem later on I guess, but early in the game it's tough going without a low thac0 character. I suggest a kensai instead of an R/C and a lvl 7 berserker dualled to cleric if you want the best possible group for IA.

Yup, AC is really irrelevant. I had Keldorn run around with -24 (cap ) and he was still frequently hit.

On the other hand I wouldn't suggest using a kensai. Kensais get insane bonuses to THAC0 and damage... but what for? You will still deal minimal damage, because enemies tend to have resistances (either naturally or via spells... or both ).
You don't really need two multiclassed clerics either. R/C and F/C have two classes both... but eventually the R/C will become more powerful, because he has more spells and the F/C doesn't get grand mastery (without mods, that is). So it would be somewhat pointless. You could go with another F/M for example.
The F/T isn't that useful either, imho. A thief isn't really necessary (I didn't have one in ToB anymore ) and the bonuses the F/T gets aren't too great. Think about it: many enemies are immune to backstab. All traps but time traps are quite useless. And even the mighty time trap isn't *that* useful later on. You could make this character a F/M/T, for example. This way you would still have thieving abilites, including UAI of course, and combine them with a F/M's tanking power. Well, you would level slower of course... but it might be worth it. Personally I've played with a F/M/C protagonist and she was one of my top killers and the most important healer (+ only cleric) even though it's a triple class (read: levels slower). Although one should keep in mind that the protagonist gets the most exp.

I know I'm just the new kid on the block, but several of these comments don't seem right to me. Are you sure?

First off, I think AC matters. I agree that AC is not enough. Very high physical damage resistance or spell granted immunity is better by far, but the fact that the enemy will occasionally miss because of your AC is beneficial. Sometimes, I have allowed my swashbuckler to use a shield instead of 2 weapons when I wanted the maximum AC early in the game.

Kensai are really nice in that they will hit. Your FM may run out of critical strikes in some of the long battles, but the kensai will still hit. And yeh, with the resistances, minimal damage is done, but the kensai genrally does a little more damage. Every HP counts. The kensai's AC will never be that of the other fighters, agreed. (I personally think they should be allowed to wear bracers.) However, you can boost up their DR. The FM does remain *much* more durable, but in general I found I had the hardest time when I was of relatively low level. You can't underestimate the value of being able to hit your opponent! I do understand that the spell casting melee guys can be more powerful in the end than the kensai, but the kensai does have value. He can also use the judgment day sword. While that may not make him equal to the FM and RC, it certainly helps bridge the gap.

I am kind of bummed that the thief's role is largely reduced to lock opener/trap disarmer, but as you pointed out he does have some advantages (UAI, time trap). The swashbuckler, in particular, can do very well in this game. He helped out in my game. I doubt that thetruth would try to solo one unless he felt there was some chance for him to succeed. I will try a FMT in my next run through instead of the swashbuckler. I expect him to suck eggs for a while, but he should be beneficial to the team after he garnishes some XP.

Yes, in SOA portion of the game good AC counts very much. I remember that when I was testing the battle against TorGal with an 11th level party, my berserker's good AC was the main factor for which I didn't lose the battle. Even in TOB, a very good AC means that some enemies will sometimes miss to hit you.

Well... yeah. In SoA AC is very useful at times. But imho the really hard battles are the ones where you would want AC to help but it doesn't really.
The question is whether it helps that you aren't hit by enemies that are a threat *sometimes* or not.
I get what you mean though (in terms of the kensai being useful) and agree with you. As a high level kensai easily has something like -20 as his THAC0 he can hit quite often even without Critical Strikes and the like. Useful indeed. If you want a pure fighter he might be the best choice. Didn't think about it. In combination with Judgement Day he gets quite formidable as those spells trigger more often than you would think.
On the other hand it's quite hard to run out of Critical Strikes o.O. I found out I can have 19 at most. Well, that's 19 rounds of hitting the bad guy. When you don't face a mob in which every one and his brother uses PfMW after he got hit (I DO remember one such very... special battle... ) you can do quite some damage. Let's say you have 7 attacks with I.H. -> 7*19 = 133 hits o.O. You can have one Smite -> 140. You can have several characters with those abilities... o.O. Quite a lot. I actually never ran out of Critical Strike. Weird... Oh and maybe I didn't notice it but imho there weren't that many enemies I missed like 90% of the time later on. No, I didn't use the Answerer 100% of the time after I got it and yes I did use Critical Strike on the harder enemies

I generally don't have too much of a problem once I'm well equipped and have some HLAs. Of course, the judgment day sword demon prince and the divine encounter took me too many reloads, at least to my limited patience. What about before you get many HLAs? What's the THAC0 of your fighter-mage at level 21 and how many critical strikes does he have? Compare that to the kensai now...

Please don't mistake me. The fighter-mage type is easily the most powerful character in IA. I'm just pointing out that the kensai's potent offense can be particularly beneficial at the early levels.

Critical Strike > GWW because crit = hit while you may miss with all those extra attacks anyway? Good to know

Being impatient regarding my ongoing multiplayer game, I started my group in Candlekeep to get to know them. F/illusionist, F/T, C, Kensai, Sorcerer, Inquisitor. It may not be the most optimal, but if I can't finish with this group, it doesn't matter much and I might as well go play some fps using godmode By the way, inquisitor makes me able to kill groups of 3 sirenes at level 1, due true sight and dispell once all charms are cast. Quite an exp boost nuking sirenes at level 1

@(Ø=M)^42

It's a good party though I would never change the R/C with a pure Cleric or a Kensai.
As it is now you have only the F/I who can have Stoneskins (and the Sorcerer but he is not a tank).

Anyway it is still doable though you will have a harder time against the toughest enemies of the mod.


@Arkain




Nope, good AC is not irrelevant at all.
It can make a big difference during the biggest part of the game.
Of course critical hits of enemies still get through but if you look at the THACO of most enemies modified by IA you will understand.





Kensais are a good choice for IA. Not only because they will not need much Cr.Strike like other fighters, but they can damage more than any other class.

Physical resistance means that a x% of your potential dmg will be resisted. The Kensai who has the biggest dmg bonus in many case will do much more damage/round than any other fighter.






Yes for the second F/M.
But 2 multiclassed clerics pointless?

The Cleric HLAs are almost useless in IA. But a F/C will have GWWs, Critical Strike and Hardiness that can make a difference in the toughest battles of the mod.

You know, before you get many HLA's you're generally somewhere between 10 and 20 (levels, that is). Especially then your kensai doesn't have a THAC0 that's much better than that of any other fighter. The bonuses are small early on and grow every here and then. When the kensai finally reaches really high levels then he has a big bonus. But early on? +3 or +4. A berserker's rage gets the berserker +2. That's almost the same bonus. Then you get to the higher levels (+5/+6) and finally enter the epic levels, where you likely double the bonuses you had before.
Oh and at level 21 (in terms of exp -> 3250000) I have one Critical Strike - as you do - and a base THAC0 of 7 while you have 0 and -7 with your kensai bonus. At level 21 in terms of F(21)/M(something around 18 or 19) I have a lot of Critical Strikes and a base THAC0 of 0, why?
But when you want to play that game: how many rounds can your kensai last in melee against really tough foes with high damage and THAC0 without healing at level 21? Or: how many rounds doesn't he have a scratch?
I like to actually survive battles even if it takes 5 rounds more to win.




I admitted that already. I didn't take a look at all the different THAC0s though.
When talking about tanking with AC I think about something in the -20 region. If you ask me that's hard to reach at the beginning as you need "some" money to forge items of protections (for example). The problem is that I've likely which AC you have in mind.
Considering what you said by now I think it's a problem with my own experience: I played the first part (until you leave the Underdark) with "low" AC. Then almost at the end of the game I got really high AC to find out it isn't that useful anyway. Dunno how I would think if I had that AC avaible when it could have been useful . Hey, something to test in my next run...




True. But that depends on the enemy you fight. But many of the golems you have fairly high resistances. A kensai at really high levels may have a bonus of +10 but it depends on the resistance of the enemy whether this is actually much or not. If you face one with 40% resistance to every sort of weapon you will still get 6 extra points of damage. Then you meet the mighty golem. Let's assume you use a weapon against which he (it? o.O) has "only" 75% resistance. Boom, 2.5 extra damage. Not that much. If you fight against a 90% resistance enemy it's only 1 extra damage.
A level 39 kensai would have... +13 to THAC0 and damage, right?. Let's say you use one of the most powerful (in terms of pure damage) weapons in the game like the Staff of the Ram +6. Let's furthermore assume you're a half orc with 23 strength gained by one of those funny belts. You would use the kai ability for maximum damage: 6 (W6 -> 6) + 12 (SotR) + 4 (SotR) + 11 (because of strength... I'm not sure whether it's correct or not) + 3 (grand mastery... again not sure) + 13 (kensai) = 49. Impressive.
Given that you will encounter enemies with somewhat "low" resistances this can be a difference. In the 40%/75%/90% case you deal 29.4/12.25/4.9 damage. But a normal fighter can deal the same amount of damage (minus 13). That's 21.6/9/3.6 damage. That's a bonus of
7.8/3.25/1.3 damage. Not so impressive anymore as the resistances to damage rise. And don't forget one of the most important facts: that's a high end kensai we're talking about. Add in that such weapons aren't that common in the beginning and it's even less of an advantage. Even if you meet that enemy with 40% early: you don't have a mega high bonus then. You might do 1 extra damage.
You are right - the kensai will in many cases do more damage per round than any other fighter - but not so much in the beginning where you would need it the most. And you're right again: X% will be resisted. The higher the X% the less the damage bonus the kensai has over the normal warrior. And don't forget that berserkers can gain +2 to THAC0 and damage (and various immunities) by raging. Early in the game that's almost as much as the kensai's bonuses. AND you can get that nice AC somehow. AND you can wear likely everything you want.
Hmm...




I didn't say that. Indeed - in my opinion it is somewhat pointless to have two F/C types with one being a R/C and the other being a F/C. But where did I say it's pointless to have two multiclassed clerics? It's about R/C and F/C. The R/C has more spells (most important: Iron Skins. He can actually fight more effective than the F/C because of that little protection). The fighter HLAs are the same. So the F/C got a clear disadvantage here. Don't forget that the cleric part levels at the same speed. A early advantage of the F/C would be the faster to level up the fighter part as he gains levels a bit faster. Later on this doesn't matter that much and is balanced by the R/C's druid spells anyway, imho. You could argue that two clerics make the whole buffing thing easier... but then when all you want tot do is buff why didn't you just take a pure cleric with you? On the other hand, does that really matter when you get to the HLAs? At this moment you usally have lots of slots to spend on several spells. You can even use Wondrous Recall if you don't have enough. Still: a huge advantage would be the high numbers of Greater Restorations avaible at the time.
To make a long story short... my intention was: F/C < R/C < F/M -> go for R/C + F/M

No, I haven't even considered the items of IA when I talked about AC and neither the "wear magic rings+armor" component of EoU (with that AC would be even more important).

Example: you go to fight some Spiders. Your fighter with a Full Plate Mail + a good shield + a ring of prot. +1 + the girdle of Piercing would be very effective.

2nd example: You fight some Coin golems. The same fighter and equipment but with the girdle of Bluntness and a potion of Absorption.

Cleric buffs, potions of Mind focusing are other options as well in early game.








Lol. Arkain in the second case the Kensai's bonus is not impressive because the numbers are lower?

The kensai in both cases will have exactly the same additional x% bonus to damage compared to the fighter. Maybe the impressive in the second case is the resistance of the mighty golem







Again no. The additional x% bonus to damage of the Kensai compared to the damage of the fighter is exactly the same








And when did I say that the Kensai is better than the Berserker?
I just said that they are a good choice for IA and mentioned their advantages.







Okay we agree here. R/C is better than the F/C. I had just suggested the F/C for the place of the pure Cleric.
The fighter HLAs would made the F/C a much better fighter later (but always compared to the pure Cleric).

But leonidas has a point here. With the F/C late game would be easier but the pure Cleric would be more useful in early game.


(2 R/Cs and 4 F/Ms would be an even better party - especially later - but we need some variety )

Th point to the first comment was early on, before HLAs or when you would normally have one or so, the kensai will still have a nice bonus to hit. Yes +7 to hit matters. Personally, I slightly prefer the kensai to the berserker and barbarian, but consider all 3 to be good fighters.

Having played through IA with a kensai protagonist, the answer to your second question is the kensai lasts very well, thank you. I ramp up his resistance or play off the AC of the swashbuckler, for instance. The only time he did not last very well is in the Divine Epic Encounter. I admit that the FM is far superior in lasting the battle. Mainly for that reason, the FM is THE mighty force of IA.

Thank you for seeing my point about the "gap". When I initially announced that JD sword will not be usable by multi-class warriors in the next version of the mod to bridge the gap between F/Ms and R/Cs on one side and pure warriors (single class fighters and rangers) on the other side (of the gap), some players complained and perhaps didn't agree that a gap even existed. The more I read the reports here the more I see that my changes to the usability flags of those few powerful items (i.e. JD sword, FoD&W) were good decisions. Not to mention that I have also nerfed the flail for the next version.

Welcome to the forum, (Ø=M)^42!



You can install those two kits with (before) Improved Anvil and they will work fine. Riskbreaker is an interesting fighter kit with new abilities. He can't wear armor but he has other abilities to compensate that disadvantage. Playing a riskbreaker requires more thinking than playing other fighters because you need to decide when and where to use each of his abilities. And Auramaster (as mentioned by others) is the best druid kit and can be very effective in IA's battles. If you install Auramaster kit, you can go to Trademeet to pick Cernd (who has changed to an Auramaster) early in the game. That's what I always do. Auramaster is always installed on my computer. By the way, a new version of Auramaster (version 7) will be released very soon.

EDIT: The new version of Auramaster Druid Kit is available now.