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...

I am by no means an IA veteran but i can tell something about spells based on my not-so-much experience

1st lvl Essentials: Magic Missile, Identify(if you don't have a bard),

Chromatic orb: is not so good;you deal little amount of damage with some side effects but the ones you would want it to affect will most probably save or be immune to its effects. Plus magic missile makes MR check for every missile while chromatic orb is only does it once.
Larloch's minor drain: bypasses MR in IA; even though it does little damage it can disrupt spellcasting.
Shield: protects against magic missiles but will no longer in IAv6.
Find familiar: Apart from RP issues, its hp bonus is priceless if it makes your hp greater than 59

2nd lvl Essentials: as follows;

Blur&Mirror image; both are very good spells but afaik blur does not triggers enemy's true sight spells while mirror image does. Mirror image also (partially) protects against aoe spells such as ADHW, Cloudkill, Fireball etc.
Melf's acid arrow: can actually be pretty useful since it can be considered as a miscast magic spell if you do the timing right.
Resist Fear: Especially against dragons
Vocalize: There are different types of silence spells in IA which has huge penalties and sometimes bypassing silence immunity. You should keep vocalize scrolls on each of your spellcasters
Knock: also essential if you don't have a thief

3rd lvl Essentials: Remove(dispel) magic, Haste, Prot. from fire

Skull trap: is nerfed in IA as you probably know and will be replaced by another spell (don't know what) in v6
Vampiric touch: also bypasses MR, good against golems

4th lvl Essentials: Stoneskin

Emotion: this spell is incredible, just try it along with Greater Malison.
Enchanted weapon: You may need +3 weapons before you acquire any. It will be nerfed in IAv6 to be cast once a day
Spirit Armor: must have if you have party members who can't wear armor (excluding Riskbreaker who is immune to it)
Ray of fragmentation: does little damage but still..

5th lvl: Essentials: Animate Dead, Breach, Lower resistance, Spell Immunity

Sunfire bypasses MR in IA; very useful
Spell shield: I think there are some bugs about this spell, i don't use it much and its scrolls are *very* rare.

6th lvl: Essentials: Pfmw, Pfme,Improved haste, chain lightning

Death fog&spell: sometimes can be useful, keep some scrolls around
Mislead: will be no more in v6
True sight: let cleric or inquisitor cast it if you need..remove magic is much more efficient if you are high level and only way to get around SI:divination

7th lvl: as follows

Ruby ray of reversal: the only spell that can remove SI:Abjuration. Sometimes fails against Spell Shield, then you are pretty much stuck with an impenetrable enemy.
Mordenkainen's sword: very good summon even if it can now be damaged physically.
Spell Sequencer: sequencers are good
Spell Turning: To tell the truth, this spells' only function is to buy you some time before your SI:Abj is dispelled

8th lvl: Essential: Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting

Spell Trigger: sequencers are good
Hand of Undoing: a bit slow, and you need to touch the target: not so efficient

9th lvl: very very essential: Improved Alacrity

Chain contingency: will be nerfed in v6 to be cast once a day.
Pw:kill: is the spell you need to watch out for; once your hps are less than 60 and you have no death ward on, then you are dead
Spellstrike: is the only spell that consistenly brings down Spellshield
Time stop: now there are more creatures immune to it (but not that much)
Dragon's Breath: bypass MR+lightning speed casting time+huge damage+wing buffet=pricelesss..
Wish: the ultimate ultimate spell, will be nerfed in v6 but don't know how

You probably know all the things i have written, but i just wanted to highlight some IA issues with them. Maybe i shoud also do it for divine spells



I'm sure you meant compatible

I recently played with Dungeon Crawl mod and it was quite fun (better if you read the comics) albeit a little short. However it introduces some items that can ruin IA's atmosphere, notably:

Boots of speed: for sale in one of the mod's stores however in order to have one in IA you should first kill a mini-boss, and use one precious permanency scroll along with some obscene amount of gold
Robe of arcane might: +3 casting speed, even memory of the apprenti gives +2
Robe of fire resistance: a component for an IA item and it's well guarded ..Not sure if you can really forge something using it.

Assassinations is also another very good mod. There are no items, no excess xp or gold, just a good and intriguing storyline.

Tower of Deception also works with IA as i played recently. Improved guardian was a little tough for my party, i had to lower the difficulty and did not yet encounter Ustrain.

The Four is (of course) compatible with IA. Even if you don't want to use the items it's good to have a challenge, although most encounters require some sort of prerequisites.

As for NPC mods, even if you are not interested, i think Keto is compatible. Although i would have moral issues with bringing her into a world full of mad golems and brain-devouring spiders.

Sikret also suggested using a Swashbuckler->Mage instead of a Bard/Blade since bard class will be killed in v6.



I don't remember any store that allows stealing, are you sure it was v5?



Now, that is a question that deserves an extensive answer.

The reason it is not recommended is that it unlocks all doors in the game, even the ones that a key is needed to open and doors that are not openable by any normal means.

I also recommend R/C dual instead of multi.

1


Spell Shield, Spell Immunity, Imp. Haste, Prot form Energy, PFME, PFMW, ADHW..etc. etc. but don't take horror, take resist fear instead


2
Ugh...I hate this component with all my heart. Only helpless "powergamers" use this game breaking cheat (yes, in my opinion this is a game breaking CHEAT).


3
Don't do this. I done it once and regretted it. There is a pinned thread with the list of all useful stuff, keep selling junk immidiatly, don't store it in the bag, I tell you. Besides...this is a game breakin cheat!!

4
I don't know what are you talking about. ctrl+8? What's this??

5
Hmmm...no.

6
Vagrant
R/C dual or Anomen or Cernd
Blade (rules in IA 5) or Valygar
Barbarian
F/T multi or Nalia
Sorcerer ----> Imonen

When you press ctrl+8 in the stats screen with debug mode on you get 18 for each of them and 18/00 for STR. It's actually less trouble to edit stats via Shadowkeeper in my opinion.

Picking spells for sorcerers is more or less a matter of playing style and taste, but here are some helpful comments for spell selection in IA v5 (in v6, they will be different for sure):

1st level: just don't miss Larloch's Minor Drain, but don't go after Spook and such things.
2nd level: Pick anything you like. However, "Web" is too cheesy for my taste, but I don't label it as 'cheesy' for ordinary players and beginners, a veteran tactician should not pick web though IMO.
3rd level: Vampiric Touch is a must. Prot from Fire, Prot from Cold and Flame Arrow are good choices too. Don't go after Skull Trap
4th level: Emotion, Stoneskin and Ray of Fragmentation are the best choices. Don't go after Imp. Invisiblity, IMO.
5th level: Spell Immunity, Breach, Oracle, Lower Resistance and Sunfire are good choices (I don't recommend Sunfire to tactical gurus who are looking for the maximum challenge against the drows in underdark). Don't pick 'Spell Shield'.
6th level: Prot from magic energy, prot from magic weapons, Imp. Haste and Chain Lightining are good choices. Don't pick the cheesy Mislead (it no longer exists in v6).
7th level: Ruby Ray of Reversal, Hand of Undoing, Finger of Death, spell Turning and Morden kainen Sword are good choices (there will be better choices in v6).
8th level: ADHW, Tenser's Partial Transformation, prot from energy (there will be better choices in v6)
9th level (including HLAs): Imp. Alacrity, wish, summon planatar, Dragon's breath, Energy Blades and Absolute Immunity (there are enemies against whom PFMW won't be enough) are good choices. Don't go after Time Stop, Shape change and Spell Trap (the latter won't exist in v6). Needless to say that there will be more and better choices in v6.

It breaks the game as Nominar said.



Don't CLUA in anything, be it a bag or anything else.

Don't use ctrl-8.

Define a fixed number of times for yourself to re-roll for your characters' stats and then pick the best one. For example, roll 216 times and pick the best result.



Do you still need more content even with IA installed?! The addiitonal xp and items of other mods may break the game's general atmosphere and greater balance for very little gain. Tower of Deception is fine though.

A swashbuckler dualled to cleric or mage is a better choice than a bard, specially if you want to polish your tactical skills for IA v6.



You are mistaken. You can't steal from stores.

Thanks for the spell info, everyone... greatly appreciated!!!



I don't understand... is this different in IA? Because in vanilla BG, the way "No traps/locks" worked for me was that the locks that were normal locks would be completely unlocked, but the locks that were "key-required" would still be locked, but could be broken open by bashing with anyone of any amount of strength. This way you could cheesily open key-required doors if you wanted, but they would not be automatically open. It worked nicely for me and never caused problems with pre-mature opening of key-locked doors, but if there are still reasons why it wouldn't work in IA, then of course I will honor your recommendation.



Is this because it screws something up with the game, or just that its viewed as overpowered or cheesy? I don't see how having a bag will help so much, because all it really does is prevent you from the boring act of running to your stronghold constantly to horde stuff. If it screws up the game then of course I won't use it... I'm just curious. Also FYI I would only use one bag of holding to prevent the problem of CLUAing in one, then finding another that has duplicates of your items in it.



okay, thanks for the heads up



good point... I just like having lots of content and as you have said in your FAQ, IA is not intended to be a total conversion mod... maybe I'll just install ToD then.

Interesting... the problem is that I just don't like dual-classes! Maybe I'll just use the blade this time, that way using a swashie or something seems more "fresh" when IA 6 comes out... because I'm not the type of person who enjoys playing the same setup twice in a row. At least this way I can experience the mighty bard and eternal melody before they get killed!



Okay... I just thought store stealing might have been re-instated because I didn't see it on the readme. On the readme you have:

43- The following items' prices have been increased (and none of them will be stealable):

These make it seem as if stealing is still allowed in general from stores... because if stealing was not allowed at all it would be better to say that instead of saying "none of them will be stealable" in point 43, which implies that other things are stealable, you could just say generally "stealing from stores is completely disabled".

45- Stores are tweaked not to allow cheesy methods of earning easy money by stealing items and
selling them back.

This makes it seem as if just sell/stealing is blocked, and not stealing in general.

Maybe I am just reading an out of date readme though. Not sure!

Anyways, thanks so much for the info.... if anyone has general advice on weapon proficiencies I'd be grateful... one thing that would even help a lot is to just say which profs ARENT good in IA... I don't particularly need to know exactly what profs to get with which character... I jsut want to save myself the problem of choosing a proficiency without much good weapons.

Even in this form, it's game-breaking, because quest-related locked doors should not be breakable or pickable prematurely; otherwise, you may even unintentionally open such a door and create even more serious bugs by visiting a map you are not supposed to visit at that given stage of the game.



Creating an item in your inventory prematurely can potentially cause all sorts of problems depending on the item's nature; but in general, I don't approve cheating in any form; so, I don't really need to know which item you intend to cheat into your game in order to disapprove it with a prompt "no".



Yes, IA is not a total conversion. Many mods are compatible with IA, but it doesn't mean that adding lots of mods to the game is a good idea. The extra xp and extra items other mods add to the game may potentially ruin the game's fun. Just read what Apsis wrote about an easy-to-gain robe in a mod which grants even better bonuses than the fabulous "Memory of the Apprenti" to see my point. Such extra items of other mods can easily destroy the overall atmosphere of the game. The fact that such a mod is technically compatible with IA doesn't make a good argument for installing and playing it together with IA. You can, of course, say that you will leave those items on the ground (which is a good choice), but what do you want to do with the additional and unintended xp the other mod adds to your party? Nonetheless, if you know balanced and bugfree mods, you can add one or two to your game, but don't overdo this.

The v6 readme will be clearer and more explicit about the stores.



No prof is bad in IA. Pick any prof you want; all of them can prove useful. Have a look at the upgradable items document attached to the readme to see the class restrictions of each item to have a better idea about who will use what in the long term.

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.

So given my dislike of dual classing and the need for a thief if no traps/locks really breaks the game (though I still haven't received a good explanation of this... the mere ability of a door to be bashed open means nothing if the player chooses not to bash it open, which I will not), what would be a good replacement for the blade?

The problem is that I would NEED thieving powers, but I also need arcane power and fighting power for my party. This is why blade was perfect, since it offers both fighting and arcane power. If that is not an option, though, what do you think would better compliment my party:

mage/thief: good because it gives more arcane power. bad because it lacks fighting power, and because the thief levels are basically useless beyond the need for traps/lockpicking. What good do singleclass thief levels give in IA? Are there any difficult enemies in IA that are susceptible to backstabbing???

fighter/thief: good because it gives fighting power. Bad because again, singleclass thief levels aren't so useful in IA it seems (I could be wrong... please let me know!). Also bad because then I would only have two people in my party with arcane magic casting.

swashie: good because it gives both fighting and thieving power, bad because of lack of arcane ability.

something else???? Remember that I don't do dual-classing under any circumstances, and I would also like to avoid triple-class characters.


Remember, the rest of my party is:

vagrant
sorcerer
ranger/cleric multi (I dont do dual classing even if it is more powerful)
mage/cleric multi
berserker

2 nataben1314:
Well, with your restrictions you have no other choice but to take multi-class with "t" component in it, or take a single-classed thief. You can try assassin, since there are some good items for him in forge list, but it seems to me that this character requires good tactician skills to use him effectively. I was thinking of playing with that character myself, but since I am poor tactician in terms of IA, I decided to leave him for other runs.

I am playing an IA run now and I have a mage/thief multi-class. I can tell you, that I regret the decision to take this character a little bit. He has good thieving skills, but he progresses slower as a mage, and there is no good reason to progress as a thief anymore (he's got enough skill-points in traps disarming and lockpicking). So, to summarize, I think that this was my little mistake and that I should've made thief/mage dual-class instead. In fact, I don't understand, why you don't like dual-classes? In this certain case you can dual your thief to mage almost immediately, even before leaving the Irenicus dungeon (if I am not mistaken). After that you will raise your character's mage level to reasonable numbers fast enough to make use of him in serious encounters. Plus, you will already have enough arcane power to compensate for the temporary weakness of your dual-class character.

In IA you need access to high level spells (either arcane or divine) as quick as possible. That's why it's not recommended, imo, taking multi class arcane or divine characters.
In IA enemies are very strong, tough, hard-bitten and durable (and the list goes on and on) and that's why I'm not recomended you taking multi class characters which consist two of the physically weak class like mage-cleric, mage-thief, cleric-thief etc. Good multi-classes in IA: f/t but only after UAI, f/m and that's all imo. Not to mention that blade outshines f/m in IA 5 (we're talking about 6 person party here, blade is a wuss compared to f/m one on one) due to his/hers incredibly effective remove magic spell (extremely useful in IA).




Ahh, I see. I don't know this stuff and I don't wanna know, keep rolling stats for my chars to the end of time and one day longer. For my elven sorceress I have rolled (with clicks here and there of course) stats like this : STR 18, DEX 19, CON 16, INT 11, WIS 18, CHA 10. Not bad, eh?

So do you think I can just hang on to the blade and use knock for chests?? I can't remember if there are any super crazy traps in the game lol

I think what a single-class thief also requires is an understanding of which enemies can and can't be backstabbed (whereas a non-single class thief would not be so reliant on this). Since you can get that only through experience of playing the mod and it's hard enough just getting used to IA battles I wouldn't recommend a single class thief for a first run.

I would recommend either a multi- or dual-class thief or no thief at all (this is easily possible; IA doesn't add any new traps to the game and the lock/trap xp you miss out on is not that much).

Okay so I can use blade... and just use knock for chests. I was worried IA might have added crazy new traps but I guess not!

Vagrant: flail and lsword
blade: katana, scimitar, shortsword,
berserker: halberd, bastard sword, staff
sorcerer: doesn't matter
mage/cleric: doesn't really matter
ranger/cleric: club, hammer, mace

So is ranger/cleric really so much worse as multi than dual? I can't get high level druid spells if I dual, can I? I just hate dualclass in general because you end up with a useless character for the most fun part of the game (early to mid SoA).

are multiclass other than f/m and f/t really so underpowered in IA????

if multiclass are severely underpowered, then I would replace my ranger/cleric with ranger--->cleric (what level to dual???), but what on earth would I replace my mage/cleric with?

Yes, you can get all druid spells even if you dualled at level 2.

Dual-class early. I would dual-class from ranger to cleric at level 7 or 9.

No. C/M is a nice combination in my opinion. Your weapon proficiency choices look good.

So advantage of ranger (9) -----> cleric is faster level up, whereas ranger/cleric multiclass has slower level up but gets GWW, Crit strike, hardiness, contact with nature, greater deathblow, not to mention I guess better fighting ability because of more ranger levels....

Is advantage of faster level up really so huge as to negate all those HLAs? Or does dual-classes get both classes HLAs???

sorry for 4000 questions in this thread... I have no comp yet to play the game so while I wait I just try to perfect my party so that whne I get my comp I can start playing immediately

Yes, that's correct. Also add to it the fact that a multi-class character will start gaining HLA's at about 5'100'000 xp (which may be at some late stage of the SOA portion of the game) while a dual-class will start gaining HLA at about 3,400,000 xp (though he will gain HLA's only of his second class). Think and choose for yourself.

Some advices:

Take flail, axe, club at start, These are best weapons since you can get easily a very nice +3 weapons from these. Take long sword later, you will need it only at end of SoA.



Forget katana. Short sword good. Take club and flail also soon. You will need pierce+blunt or slash+blunt or pierce+slash+blunt for each melee type character asap. Take bastard sword later also.

Forget bastard sword. Concentrate on 2 handed weapons, so Two-handed sword instead of bastard.



Dual him at lvl 7, immidiately after start. You will get 3 attacks with 2 weapons, 6 attacks with Improved Haste, it is sufficient. It doesn't worth to wait till lvl 9, you don't get more apr, just a few HPs (4 HPs if you roll max.). But if you wait till lvl 9, it takes much longer to regain your ranger skills, and it delays your acces to high level cleric spells. So all in all, dual after start.