Well I have played 2 days with IA now. It seems very cool to me, just I feel it is a bit hard yet. My party still weak for most of the IA fights.
Here is my party: gnome fighter/illusionist lvl 9/10, Keldorn lvl 9, Haer'Dalis lvl 11, Anomen lvl 10 clr, Cernd lvl 12, Nalia lvl 11 mage.
My PC is very good now with +3axes and Hill Giant Str. belt.
Keldorn: True Seeing very usefull, but I haven't seen any success with Dispel Magic in IA battles... And he is very weak even with -5 AC in hard battles...
Haer'Dalis: When he is buffed, he is very good tank. He isn't very good damagedealer yet. I found his Offensive Spin + Melf's Minute Meteor bugged, since when he press O. Spin, his attack lowered to 2 with meteors. I haven't tried more time yet btw. Without buffs he is like a chicken in fights. I like him.
Anomen: Very good and strong char with his buffs, melee etc. DUHM overshine even Holy Power and Champion's Strength, and you have alot lvl 2 free slots...
Nalia: I dislike her low thieving skills, when I cannot disram a trap or open a lock. But he will do all what a mage should do in IA.
Cernd: He is very good in this early stage. He was at least 2 lvl higher than rest of the party, and it helped a lot.
His spells:
lvl 1: Doom very good spell. Burning Hands: Not the best, but good to kill trolls.
lvl 2: There are not really good spells here. Invis: good only for scouting. Mirror Image, Barskin: good defensive spells, but Cernd usually sit at back, so he don't need this too many times. Charm: sometimes good to get cannon fodder for a short time.
lvl 3: Flame Arrow shines here. Summon Insects: Not so usefull now with nerfed save. Stregnth of One: I used this often till I found a strength belt. Usually I mem FA all but 1 Dispel Magic.
lvl 4: Call Woodland being: not so good as was berfore. Defensive Harmony: good, but he lefts this for Anomen. Greater Malison and Emotion shine here. I like them. Fire Shild useless on him.
lvl 5: Sadly Chaotic Command demands lower usefullnes of other spells here. Iron Skin, Insect Plague good when don't need CC. Also Prot from Acid will be good in certain fights.
lvl 6: Unleash Enetgy is great. Conjure Animlas would be good but most of the enemies Death Spell all summoned ones immiditaely... Conjure Fire Elem would be good also. I use Heal also. Chain Lightning and Death Spell is unused atm.
All in all, Cernd is very good char yet, especially cause he can cast high lvl spells which aren't blocked by (Minor) Globe of Inv. and with a lot of FLame Arrows he can deal good damage also.

OK, now about quests and battles:
Improved Illych was not easy to manage, but I came out from dungeon alive. My first goal was to pick up my partymembers. I avoided to start Chapter 2. So I've got Nalia and Anomen. Then went for Keldron, and rescued Haer'Dalis. (Happily this quest was not part of IA ) Picked up quest from Potionds and Herbs mod. And I went to check Unseen Eye. I managed all fight till Beholder Lair, except new spiders at bridge when you open a treasure hole. That was impossible to do. And when I managed to beholder lair, I encountered Teshal (hope I spelled right his name). After 2 tries, I left him to rot there, and memmed to visit him later. In beholder lair, I found beholders too hard. Main problems was I had low cash, so my arcane spellusers didn't have a real spell selection, and I did'nt have magic axes, so my PC used unskilled weapons. So I reloaded my save before I started Unseen Eye, and I went to Trademeet. I was able to avoid Suna's party only when I went to Watcher's Keep map, and moved to Trademeet from there. Druids were not hard, I skipped troll mound, and after 5-6 tries I skipped ogre tower also. Those spiders a very hard. I tried Trademeet Crypt also, but was impossible to do it. So I went back to Arhkatla. Did some small quests (circus, tanner, Cernd, Keldorn and Anomen quests etc.). I tried Haer'Dalis quest also, but I was not able to kill that elite bounty hunter... He casted Spell Imm abjuration, so I was not able to dispel him. I managed to hold him by Hold Monster, I killed his goons, but when HM faded, and his defensive spells faded, I was not able to kill him still. He immidiatley Death Spell any summoned. So I left this quest with a reload...
And Nalia almost left my party at this time, I had to do couple reload, when I was able to go to her keep without her leaving. I killed Suna grp at this point without a real effort. Usual mobs in the keep were easy at this time. Killer spiders were good, but very doable. Whisper Spider demanded a 2-3 tries till I killed him. And man, then came the hell... That Greater Yuan-ti was impossible... Here I used a minor cheat... with my hasted party I run back to the keep, killed troll there, waited for 1 min or 2, and came out. Now most of the spells run out on Greater Yuan-ti, so I was able to kill him. I went back to the keep again, had no problem till weaponmaster. And I was not able to kill him... With hardiness and insane regen, I was not able to bring him down below injured. When I did 1 time, he drank a healing potion. He was not able to kill me also, but after 6-8 tries, I left the keep. Tried Trademeet crypt again, and realized tyhat Greater Commands still knock out my party except my PC who has 0 saving throw agaisnt spell. Btw I will try this again soon, since I have Spell Imm now, which helps against Greater Command.
So I went back to the city again, started minor quests, when I encountered with Tower of Deception, so I started it. I am planning to try Haer'Dalis quest, Unseen eye, Trademeet Crypt, party in the sewer, raksasa in the sewer, and go back to DeArnise Keep after I finished ToD.
Hope you enjoyed to read this as I enjoyed to write down. If you would like, I will keep to write my adventures here, if not, I will stop it.

Also I have a question: At what lvl should I start Watcher's Keep first 1-2 lvls?

Watcher's keep level 1 isn't improved except form one encouter.

Spoiler
*
*
*
*
If you kill Paina and get the spider figurine there's quite a battle
there with lots of spiders and you get the component to improve it.
The rest can be done with a 11/12 party.I'm not sure if you can get there
later and have the battle happen if you finish it.Maybe Sikret will answer.

The beginning can be quite tough.I ran around finishing and looting everything
I could find including opening every lock and disarming every trap.

Have you tried the battle with the party in the sewer and waukeen promenade?
They have some good equipment.

Hi shadan,

By all means keep writing your adventures down! It's interesting to read about how different people find IA.

In answer to your question about WK, the first level can be done right away, and will help a lot in terms of treasure and xp. If you go there at the stage you're at in the game, you won't find any difference from normal BG2 (although later, as Roy says, there is an encounter that occurs there). I must admit that in my games I tend to hit WK 1 very early on for the treasure.

I wouldn't recommend starting level 2 though (nasty monsters)...

I haven't tried sewers party. Will do after I finished ToD.
I killed Valeria and his goons in Bridge district. Skipped another party there cause of Limited Wish adventure.
I forgot the party in Waukeen Prom, so I will visit them also soon. Thx!
I rescued Renfild also, but due to reload, I lost that in my current game.

As Raven pointed out, please do not hesitate to send your journal here, shadan!

BTW, don't start the limited wish quest before clearing the tower in druid grove area of those spiders.

You can make Nalia a very decent thief by potions, gloves and rings. At least for disarming and locks.

Thx for info, Sikret. Those spiders made me crazy. Just 5 spiders, why I can't kill them. At least I thought this, but several tries convinced me to leave them...
What I really hate in BG2, I don't get detailed message in text window... It is not marked there what type of damage I had got, so I cannot prepare with protection. It is especially important when mobs use those kind of spells, ablities what is not normal in the game. No feedback about which spell resisted saved from several spells... Well, I won't list all, just all in all feedback is not too informative many times. It is not IA problem, it is BG2 problem.

Have your cleric memorize "Free Action" and "Chaotic Commands" spells and use them on party members before going for spiders. Green scrolls of protection from poison (available in temples) can also be helpful.

CC is ok, btw when I tried it, I had access only for 2 CC I think. But Free Action protect against whisper and/or Greater Command?

No, but it protects against Improved Web.

I had some hours to play again, so I went to Tower of Deception. As others wrote here, it was a mistake. Most of the enemies was a cake, but I didn't know that IA makes ToD enemies harder. My party is still lvl 10-11, and I spent a lot of reload with lich... I figured out that spells are ineffective agaisnt him, cause of Spell Imm. Abj. and lot of spell protection, so Nalia triggered his pierce magic and his sequencer with confusion, then 4 of my hasted melee went in and hit him as fast and as hard as they could. Sometimes he was able to cast PfMW or Stoneskin, so I was not able to beat him fast, but many times I was able to do it. Just when he was in near death state, 3 Abi Dalzim triggered... Since I hadn't access to lvl 6 arcane spells yet (Prot from Magic E.), it was killer. I tried Spell Imm. Necro, but then lich casted Ruby on my F/I. It was hard to interrupt Ruby cause spells were ineffective, and melee interrupt a bit of luck. With a couple of try I was able to do it, and to run away from other melees in precise time. Meanwhile my PC had to continue to damage him to trigger his spells. Well, was a lot of tries. Then Marileth came... And she was too much for me. Spell Imm. Div. and Impr. Inv. made him immune to targetting spells. I was able to bring down his 1st Impr. Inv., Breach him etc. then 2nd Impr. Inv. came, and my melees were not able to bring him down more than injured. PfMW, and she we in full HP again. And she made too much dmg on my melees...

Then I reloaded my save before I started ToD. I went to check Pebbelcrusher party. There was not success again. I killed all of his goon, but I was not able to kill him cause of his regen and hardiness. So I went to sleep. On next day, with some new infos from this forum, I killed them with my 2nd try. What were those infos? Breach brings down hardiness, Sunfire, Vampiric Touch ingores magis res., Slow cut regen rate to half. I didn't use Slow and VT in this fight btw, Breach and Sunfire was enough. So at least I had a small success after some very frustrating failure. I am ready to continue my adventures today evening.

Also just a short info about my game: I haven't used any potions, srolls, charged items yet. I am stockpiling them to sell later, and I want to use any consumable only in those fights which is undoable and I don't want to skip it for later try.

Mirror image is effective against ADHW (even 3 of them). And the short sword Ilbratha +1 (reward for completing the golem quest in Umar hills) allows fighters to cast it once a day too.



I agree with this strategy - I always stockpile everything too (cheers Ribald for 'lending' me that bookshelf in the back of the Adventurer's Mart ).

Hahaha. I think everyone does the same.

I always have way too many potions and scrolls ttucked away somewhere, as well as upgrade components and weapons that I do not have the proficiency points for yet.
A stash such as that never works well for me since I scarcely use 1% of it all in the end and sometimes I forget to forge things I could already have done half a chapter ago.

I do keep a gem and scroll stash around nowadays... you never know which ones to use for upgrading. I use the bags and cases for when I'm adventuring and when I get near my stash I clean out all my bags and cases and dump the contents into it before going further.

It's tougher to make cold hard cash that way, but at least you have everything at hand.

I found running away Sir Robin style to be effective here. After he launches the ADHW thing, just run away, heal up and then go in again. This type of thing usually doesn't work in IA, but then again ToD isn't IA.

As for the Marlith...I didn't find it too hard for some reason, I just launched a full frontal assault and she fell after a while. I think I did use a few healing potions and she was mainly targeting my stoneskinned PC. I may have also cast a few buffs like bless, haste etc., nothing too major.

[edit]oh and I had Keldorn in the team, so I probably unleashed an Inquisitor Dispel Magic as well

I started finally the Copper Coronet quessts. Seems these are not hards, maybe I should do it earlier. I really enjoyed beastmaster there, cause ha was a new after all arcene magic using enemies. That Creeping Doom was too much for my party, since most of my guy were at half HP at that time, and strangely I casted a Magic M. on beastmaster while he was casted that CD, each missile did 2 samage, and spell was not interrupted. Anyway, after a reload, I killed them.
I enjoyed slavers also. Was a good to handle those lot of assasins, guards, a cleric (I haven't seen too much cleric type enemies yet), and captain. Greater Malison and Emotion, Slow made a miracle. And my F/I is the best tank forever. He tanked captain at whole time, while others killed cleric and not sleeping assasins. I was afraid of yuan-tis, since I thought there will be a greater ones, but there were normal ones. So they and wizards was easy. Stonekin isnt too big problem on wizard without many goons and big melee resistance. 4 hasted melee eat stoneskin very fast without a Breach.
Harper quest was normal also.
I will do thief stronghold and unseen eye, and will try raksasa in sewer next.

You will
good call, all of these quests aren't too difficult. They can be challenging, but still very doable (no where near as tough as Torgal)

Hmm, I checked improved item list again and I have a question:
How many Scroll of Memory Boosting and how many Permanency scroll should I count in the whole game? Seems they are needed for many items, and I would like to know if I should spare for powerful and important items, or can I use them for medium, not so important items earlier?
I've found 1 Permanency Scroll so far.

Another question: Where can I find/buy Bag of Holding? I really hate inventory management. I know there is one at least on original game, and one put in by Sikret.

There are actually lots of Permanency Scrolls in the game. So don't worry about running out of them. The distribution of the scrolls is a little odd - there's just not that many available early on. I actually found more of the supposedly rarer Manuals of Elaboration early on. Maybe this was because I did quests in a weird order. But anyhow later there are plenty of Permanency Scrolls.

I know less about Scrolls of Memory Boosting. Because there are numerous items requiring these Scrolls which would be useful for your characters (Memory robe for F/I, Eternal Melody for Haer'dalis, Cirlet of Golden Flowers for Cernd and Improved Ring for Nalia) my advice would be to prioritise these items just in case it turns out you can't forge all of them.

Well, iirc I forged all the Cernd items and had just enough scrolls for Memory of the Apprenti. Maybe there were two left for Nalia's ring but I don't really remember at the moment. Better use it for really good items like MotA.

Edited by Sikret: Spoilers omitted. Sorry, Arkain.

I made some minor quests again:
Thief strongholds and Mae'var was easy. However I wasn't succesfull with pirates in Sea Bounty at lvl 10-11. Cowled Wizards were too easy also, which come when I cast mage spells on the street. I killed all grp without any effort, except last one with Time Stop. Soon he will come to under my axes. Imho, you should make these ones to be harder in 4.3, Sikret.
Unseen Eye was easy also. Main beholder died from a SINGLE hit made by my F/I. He went to tank him after I got rod, while others stood out of line of sight. Then all my chars started to run in, Cernd wanted to use rod on beholder, but my PC hit a crit, and did 48 dmg with a single hit. I didn't think, that main beholder has so low HP, but he died. I checked my feedbacks, was no dmg on him, and according to feedback, Cernd haven't used the rod yet. Or maybe rod using is not in feedback.
I was able to kill those spiders in a trap near to ruined temple in Unseen Eye quest, and those are exactly same spider group as in ogre tower at druid grove. However I put down 6 Skull Trap before fight, and that helped alot. But I think I can handle them in ogre tower now. This Prot from Fire + Sunfire combo seems more and more regular tactic at me, and it seems the one of the most succesful tactic.
I killed PaiNa also with Sunfires and a lot of melees.
Raksasa in sewers dead also, he was not so hard, just I waited to fade his absolute imm.
I was not succesful with party in the sewers. With some mountain bears, I kept them occupied, while I threw in some Dispel, Breach, and Greater Malison, Emotion, Greater Command, Confusion by Haer's harp. I was able to kick out almost all except that mage. I killed them also, but that mage still killed me. But I will go back soon.

I am planning to do Borinall next, Cowled Wizard with Time Stop, Korgan's quest, pirates in the Doscks, Haer's Planar Prison, and I will make some new tries with ToD, Trademeet Crypt King, spiders in the tower and sewer party, DeArnise Keep. Then I will check Umar and Windspear Hills. Ah and I want to check WK 1st and 2nd lvl. Well, alot to do...
I am just a bit tired with micromanagement. Before all IA improved battles, I have to rest, rememorize, and cast a lot of buffs which starts to be boring.

The Solaufein mod adds a auto buff script which gives 0 casting time and alaclarity... press a key and see your fightermage zoom up all his protections at once^^.

I just finished mage stronghold (was away on holyday for a while) and I have recieved solamnic knights quest. But when I went to speak with Ribald, tehre was no any option to solve knight`s problem. Any idea where should I look for solution? I am not sure if this is IA change or not, anyway I would like to get that belt...

Do you have G3s fixpack or Ding0s QuestPack installed?

No, they are not installed. I have:
1. TOB Official patch
2. Baldurdash TOB fixpack-1.12 (Non-weidu version)
3. Herbs and Potions
4. Ribald’s Genie
5. Tower of Deception
6. Banter Packs
7. Ease of USe
8. BG2 Tweak Pack
Higher HP on Level Up
Maximum HP Creatures (the bigg)
Easy Spell Learning
Bottomless Bags of Holding
Remove Fatigue from Restoration Spells
9. Victor's Improvements Pack
10. NPC Kitpack
11. Tactics:
12. Unfinished Business

I'm sure you probably know this already, but I think you have to have the first talk with the cowled wizard (Teos) before you get the option to ask Ribald for help (this is nothing to do with IA, BTW).

I made this mistake, just a few weeks ago. For some reason I thought you were able to go to Ribald straight after receiving the quest - instead you have to wait until Teos gives you your three apprentices. You can then question him about it and he will direct you to Ribald.

Thanks, this was the solution. I was afraid of IA or any other mob made some problems.

Seems I made a serious mistake. Somehow I lost Tabithas hide. Maybe I sold it, but I cant find any trader who is selling it. So my question is twofolded:
1. If I sell sthing which is not normal item but comes from IA item upgrade section, can I buy it back. I cannot try it now, since all of my IA components currently on me are not sellable.
2. If I cluaconsole it back, will it screw up anything in random item distribution?

Thanks in advance.

I would not clau it, but go with Shadow keeper instead...

I prefer CLUAing over SK

The problem is... that thing's not sellable, iirc. So it should lie around somewhere. If you didn't put it into a container it's probably gone. I don't know what happens if you CLUA it, but it shouldn't do anything to the randomizing program... it's no random item after all. Would be strange if it was, eh?

Thanks for answers. Surely I didnt put into any container. I think I will clua when I want to use up it.
Another problem is popped up. Few days ago I cleared 1st lvl of WK, but I was not able to kill Spider Queen. So I skipped her, and didnt even trigger her. Now I went back, triggered her, and I cannot damage with any weapon. I tried all type and I have one with +5 enchantment (Haerdalis imporved sword) also. I always got "immune" message. I tried Breach on her, Lower Resistance also, but nothing happened, not any single row in text window. I was able to damage her with Fire Shield, Sunfire, Vampiric Touch, but those damage was too little, so she regened up in 1 round. Tried several other spells, like Slow, Malison, but her MR stopped them. So I am clueless now.
Another interesting thing: I cleared all shelves, containers there. And after I triggered the Queen, I found many books in the empty chests, shelves etc. I searched in hope to find any clue in them, but was not successfull.
If I trigger her, I cannot leave this level neither to 2nd lvl nor to outside. Even if I give spider figurine to her, and she Dim Door out, I am not able to leave 1st lvl.
I would be happy if anyone could mail any clue to me.

She can be damaged by +4 or better weapons. Just tested and everything works fine.

Appearing new books in containers has nothing to do with IA.


In v4.2, you have to fight with her. Giving her what she wants doesn't work as a solution. This is changed in v4.3 and you can give her the figurine as a safe solution to skip the battle.

Hmmm, +5 weapons should hit with no problem. Of course she has high physical resistances but she should take at least a little damage. I believe even +4 weapons are effective. I can't think of any reason why Haer'dalis' improved sword shouldn't work.

Breach and Lower Resistance are probably ineffective because she is immune to spells of 5th level and lower. I don't know this for certain but it would explain why no message is shown (since sometimes 'spell ineffective' does not appear in the dialogue box each time).

I've beaten the Spider Queen twice and both times I did it just with melee, no spells. Of course this IS a very hard fight (much harder than the stuff in WK levels 2 and 3 IMO).


If you give her the figurine you should be able to leave. I can only assume this is maybe a bug. I don't know since I never gave her the figurine. Hopefully Sikret can help.


EDIT: Sorry Sikret looks like you beat me to it this time

Thank you for reply, I really appreciate it. Maybe I missed Haer right hit with left hit (there is Belm in his left hand). I have then 2 weapons which can harm her: Greater Enthorpy +5 and War Hammer vs. Giant kin which hits at +4. I have Usuno's Blade also, but only Haer can use it, and imho better to get a +1 attack with GE+5 (Belm in left hand) than to hit with Usuno's Balde from left hand. I will try her again, my plan to lower her MR with trigger 3 Pierce Magic, and cast 1 Pierce Shield. That is -72 % MR. then auracleansed Cernd can help in fast kill with Creeping Doom and some Unleshed Energy. Meanwhile Haer and Anomen hit her as hard and as fast as they can with help of 1-2 Mord. Swords. My F/I and Keldron kill lesser spiders, and Nalia help to finish them with some Sunfire.
Anyway it is strange if she is immune to lvl 5 and lower spells, how was able Sunfire and Vampiric Touch damage him, and why did I get MR text after Malison and Slow. Nvm, I will try this new tactic soon.

She is not immune to 5th level spells. She is immune to "Lower MR". Of course, her MR is not 100%; so your spells still have some small chance to affect her. Vampiric Touch and Sunfire are two spells which bypass MR all the time (even if the MR was 100%).

Hmm, just realized Nalia has only 9 wisdom score. Is any method to raise her wisdom to be able use Limited Wish and Wish at least a bit? I mean any item which raise her wisdom. At least wisdom 12 would be good, but wisdom 16 would be better.

Seems I am cursed. All of my apprentices were alive when they started to make Robe of Apprenti. I went to do some quests meanwhile, and now when I come back, Larz always die and my robe is not made. I reloaded sometimes from autosave and quicksave. No success... Well, how will I forge my Memory of the Apprenti?

Hasn't IA changed the option of reloading if they die making them die after each reload? Or is it first in 4,3?

I reloaded couple time my Quick save and Autosave. Result was same at all time. Then I tried one of my older save, I went directly to the sphere, rested there, ordered apprentices to do robe, rested couple of time, and I didn't get that robe also. So I am clueless. And I killed Firkraag and shadow dragon, and did 1-2 other quests since I ordered apprentices to do the robe. So now I am frustrated and clueless.

It's in v4.3.

Moreover, their chance of success will depend on the sort of mage your protagonist is, a pure mage will have much better chances than an F/M (or an M/T) to have the robe. A C/M or a sorcerer will have better chances than the F/M but still less chance than a pure mage. And as you mentioned, reloading the game will not change the result if they fail the first time.

I have a F/I, but I am still playing 4.2. Imho it would be better if Memory of Apprenty would be pure mage/sorcerer item then. So at least I wouldn't mind if my entire game is unlucky. Anyway, thanks for the info.
Do you plan in 4.3 similar with rangers and FoDaW? I am planning to do an 5 man run in 4.3 mazbe, with a ranger9 > cleric protagonist. I hope he cen do imporved ranger stronghold quests as well he can use FoDW.

FoD&W will be usable by single class rangers (not R/Cs).

All rangers (even R/Cs) can play the expanded ranger stronghold and the big quest (= The Mystery of the Shimmering Light); however, the other quest (= The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) is only for Vagrants (it's about helping a community of swanmays).

Thanks for answer! To tell the truth I planned to play with Vagrant in my 5 man IA, but after a couple of played day in IA4.2 I am dubious. I always cast all elemental resistance spell before important fights, so it is not crucial advantage, but clearly not useless. However I found summoned mobs not too useful in IA. They can be used only as very very short diversion till 1st Death Spell, or max. 2 rounds hit. They are not good damage dealers in IA improved fights, and when I need summoning there a plenty of them in mage and clerics repertoir. Vagrant not the best damage dealer and clearly not IA tank. Maybe those swanmays usefull, but I don't know yet. Anyway new quest and FoDW is nice and tainting.

If I play Vagrant, may planned party:

elf Vagrant - dual flails, clubs (Imho adding halflings as playable race for Vagrant would make him more interesting. I surely would play with him then. And to be a friend of swanmays is not too far from halflings.)
gnome F/I - halberds, staffs, maybe dual short swords
human swashbuckler 10 > cleric - dual maces, hammers (if it is possible to give 2nd kit by SK, then maybe priest of Lathander)
open spot (blade, riskbreaker, somekind of barbarian etc.) - dual long swords, bastard swords (I would like a 2nd tank here, since imho 2 tank is crucial in IA. And tank needs Stoneskin/Ironskin, PoMW, illusions or big melee mitigation, since AC is far from enough in IA. I don't know yet if JotD protective spell proc is enough for a pure fighters to be tank or no, but anyway this sword is available only after many many hard IA battles. And sadly SI: abjuration is important also for tanks, against nasty dispels, and you can use you dispels also.)

Swanmays are useful allies (they are immune to death spell too). The greater swanmays are even more helpful and the swanmay queen is very powerful indeed and can be of great help even in IA's most difficult battles (she is more powerful than a planetar).

BTW, why do you plan to play an "elf" vagrant? Don't you want him/her to have 19 constitution?

Hmm, I didnt realized this. Imho +1 THACO with swords is better than +1 Con (which means 9 HP overall), but I forgot he won't use swords. Anyway I would prefer halfling or gnome vagrant.
Also I have doubts about Riskbreaker also. While I understand why armors and bracers forbidden for him, but I don't like they cannot wear helmets and "non bracers gauntlets". I like to equip my chars, and when one of may char has 3 unused slots, well that makes me unhappy. Yes, they can wear Ioun stones, but stone can be used on my mage also who cannot wear any other helm also. So this is contra. My pro is the new kit, new ablities...
Another question: If I use SK to make my starting characters more perfect for me (not all 18ish, just skip strength rerolling forever, or make a 2nd kit etc.) will this cause some problems with IA and and item randomization?

I don't think Sk will cause such problems. BTW you can't creat the 2nd kit with SK, due to engine limitations

If you have an Elf Vagrant you can still have 18 constitution... There's not much difference between 18 and 19 is there?

Iroumen: Difference is exactly 9 HP, since warriors get +4 HP on first 9 lvl with 18 Con, and +5 with 19 Con. Anyway, I would like halfling vagrant protagonist. I am playing now with gnome protagonist, and the only shorter race is the halfling. It would be so much fun for me...

Sikret: I just cleared Bodhi's Lair and it was so crap easy, so it is not fun anymore. OK, maybe I was a bit high lvl to there cause of lot of IA fights what I made earlier. Why don't you make some improvements there? Not too hard encounters, just a bit more enjoyable Bodhi's Lair.

Also you are removing inbalanced spells from the game (Simulacrum, PI) or limits them (Skull Trap, Insect Plague, Miscast Magic, Summon Insect etc.). Why don't you make some really really crap spell a bit better. I don't mention spells like Chill Touch here, since low level spells don't count in ToB, but there are some really weak high level spell also. For example I maybe miss sthing, but don't understand how can be Storm of Vengeance lvl 10 spell? OK, it kills enemies below lvl 8, but those enemies is max. 1 round when I have HLAs... And that 3D6 damage with 3 rounds duration is nothing. Even Firestorm and Incendiary Cloud much better and they are lower lvl spell. And surely I can mention some other really weak spells.

Question: While I was very experienced AD&D 2nd edition players some years ago (now I am playing D&D 3 and 3.5 in PnP), I haven't understood what exactly mean those number at hit rolls in BG. Now seems I need to know to calculate probably AC and THACO at enemies. So when I see for example 10+6=16 Miss. 10 is a natural roll, but what is that +6? If I have -10 AC, this roll means, my enemy has THACO 7 or worth, right? Also similarly at my chars I see this roll+x number.

Progress report: I reached Marvella's last challenge in mage stronghold. Well all those Marvella's challange were great, but this ending is so fun and so good fight... I LIKE it. Anyway, I skipped the fight for a while. Elemental golem is not an enemy for me, I usually kill them very slowly to get out max. summoned coin and gem golems. But that rakshasa sthing summons horrid rakshasas also. And that greater Marileth and with her Abyssal Consorts not an easy enemies for me also, even I killed one trio of them in former Marvella's quest. My decision was to get 1-2 more lvl in a bit easier quests, fights, and I will come back later just before I want to go to Spellhold. Probably I will spare 1-2 hours try if I am a bit higher lvl. And I haven't decided which kill order is the best for them.

Plus, there are a couple of items in v4.3 which require 19 CON to be used.

Only humans, elves and half elves can be rangers and vagrant is a ranger kit after all.



Will do in IA v5.

SoV is good to interrupt enemy sepallcasters (specially when used against a bunch of them).



It's your "to hit" bonus.