Solo IronMan...!!!

Yeah...so I have been dabbling with the idea of finishing this game in IronMan with only 1 main player character. I mentioned before that maybe a month or so later I would get the bug to play again...but then I started thinking...how can I really push myself?

@.@

I think solo IronMan is about as hard as it gets, right?

So I'm on my 6th group and my current solo choice is a Cleric. I tried a few different class' at first but I believe the healer is a really good one to make. As you get only 4 characters in your group (1 player & 3 NPC's)...I first ran my cleric with Elmo & Furnok up to the point of rescuing Wilfrick. The thing to know is that if you have 3 NPC's with your group you can not add Wilfrick or another NPC like him to your group. Sooo...in order to have a chance at Scather (the sword)...you have to be able to add & rescue Wilfrick.

I just got to Wilfrick and freed him. I now picked up Spugnoir as my Wizard. He's still level 2 but my Cleric is lv8, Elmo is Lv9 and Furnok is Lv8.

If you want to really push your skills...try to play this awesome game this way!

God Bless & I'll post a few updates as I progress into the really hard stuff.

 

You can change the amount of NPCs on the Front End settings, I would suggest 1 player and 7 NPCs max if you are running Solo.

I cannot discount a cleric for running solo Ironman, but I believe Druid would be the best choice. Healing, buffs, able to summon awesome shield creatures, and if all else fails, and you are about to die, turn into a Bear for more Con (and thereby Hit Points) and fighting ability.

Carry a lot of Healing Potions, if your main dies, your game is over, no Rezzing if you only have one PC in a group.

 

Good points about the Druid.

My intention is to run w/just 3 NPC's and to finish it w/out cheats...

God Bless.

 

Well good thing with a smaller group is you will level quicker. So you can have more HP and spells as you progress against the temple and its denizens. Depending on what God you worship and what Domains you may pick, clerics can have more to offer than druids. Plus you can spontaneously cast heals and not use up your memorizations on them. Also spiritual weapon is really great when you area effect spells hindering foes or when you can to have it to distracts foes and then drop fireballs into the melee.

I think it is a personal favorite and your money may vary with whatever class you may pick.

I may have to try a solo iron man game myself and see how things go.

Best of luck with your game and let us know how well it may play out.

 

Isn't Ironman still bugged/unstable? Might be a better idea to just self-impose Ironman rules instead. AFAIK, other than the starting gold and no-saves, Iron and Norm are pretty much the same.

I ran solo (no NPCs) once with a cleric/fighter, but the first few levels are HARD. Not sure if pure cleric would do better. After that and through most of the game it's a cakewalk, though. If Druid is nice for sth, it's the pets; then again, the cleric can just use summon monster spells.

 

Pretty much the whole idea of this style of playing is to beat the game on IronMan...doing it solo is about as hard as you can do it. First few levels are incredibly hard...especially depending on what class your trying to do it with and how many NPC's your running.

Yeah...I'm thinking do the dynamics of the game...Cleric is one of the stronger choices. Especially when you get two 4th level NPC's to add into your group right from the start of the game...the Fighter & Rogue (Elmo & Furnok).

God Bless.

 

Yes. A friend of mine was playing the game in Ironman mode. I kept advising him to play a normal game and never reload an old save if any of his characters die, but he insisted on playing in Ironman mode because the game was much more thrilling that way. He almost completed the entire game when his single game save became corrupt, which prevented him from finishing the game. Now he only plays the game in normal mode. Some people learn things the hard way.

 

Well...after completing the game so many times...IronMan becomes so much more satisfying. I also have finished it many, many times in IronMan so I'm now pushing for the extremes.

Going into it knowing that it may glitch is part of the hazard...and the Fun!

God Bless.

 

I have been thinking of making a solo playthrough for a while now (without any NPCs and without crafting). What would be the best build?

I am thinking of taking 10 levels of rogue for the skills (including speech skills). I don't know what to do with the other 10 levels. Druid or Invoker? I know that if I take an arcane spellcaster I will always have a risk of spell failure even with the best armor (blue elven chain mail 5%).

What do you think?

 

The whole Solo IronMan w/out any NPC's...I would guess to be the hardest way to play this game period.

Well...doing it normal mode vrs IronMan...gives you a whole different equation to play with when you go after it in Solo. In normal mode with a save path you can pretty much just experiment at will. Rogue would definitely give you the skills for Sense Motive/Diplomacy/Intimidate...not to mention the Search/Disable Device/Open Locks...etc. I also would favor 1 level of Barbarian (2 if your Rogue levels weren't going to get the improved uncanny dodge) for the movement & Rage ability if needed. For the last 10 levels you have many options with what you want that half of the character to be. A Wizard or Priest can be a good choice if your guy isn't a heavy combatant...otherwise Fighter is a good choice for all the feats.

Now IronMan Solo w/out any NPC's...that's a whole different can of wurms. The beginning would be extremely tough on a single character. The Rogue's low hp and terrible armor class is a very bad combination to start off with. In my humble opinion you will need something that can handle itself in combat. Perhaps Paladin would be a good choice as they can heal themselves & get to wear the heavy armor and use most all weapons. I can only imagine how hard this would be...perhaps one day after I beat it w/the 3 NPC's I'll also try it...but most likely not in IronMan mode...just Normal to get a good feel for it.

Isn't this game Amazing! There is so much you can do with it.

Oh & my update is...
Elmo is a lv9 wrecking machine with 7 levels of fighter & 2 barbarian. Gogo...great cleave!
Furnok is lv9 with 5 levels of Rogue, 2 levels of barbarian & 2 levels of Fighter. Invisible dual wielding sneak attacks! I plan to make him a dagger specialist as they are slashing/piercing weapons.
Spugnoir is now lv5 mage. Couldn't add my 3rd NPC until I first freed Wilfrick to have a chance to get the sword Scather for Elmo. He is slowly gaining the crafting feats and catching up using a crossbow most of the time.
My player character "Vic Tor" is lv9 Cleric of Pelor using a ring of invisibility to move & heal with. I intend to use him to craft Holy to my weapons...and we know what that does for us! His crafting & scribing scrolls feats are invaluable.

My group is currently clearing out the Orc section and will head down to the ToEE next & Verbobonc.

God Bless & I'll update again inna bit.

 

Thanks! It goes without saying I will be playing normal mode. Solo and ironman is suicide.
Now, I just want a versatile character: the sneak attacks and skills are for the rogue part and I need good spells for crowd control/incapacitating and mass damage. I believe arcane spells are more useful to that regard. But I may be wrong... Cleric is out of the question. it will be either druid or wizard, but I cannot decide which...

 

I had tremendous luck with a rogue/cleric in Neverwinter Nights, but the feats and domain powers work differently in TOEE, so I'm not sure how it would work here. I wish taking the trickery domain would allow cross class skills as class skills, as it really helped me keep up my rogue skills while taking cleric levels for spells. By maxing out Use Magic Device, I could use any mage scroll, so those fights with the dragons were easy with Summon Planar Ally and a Solar doing the fighting for you as you sit back and watch.

 

Status Update plus a few thoughts...

So I had a close call yesterday. I triggered the room w/all the bugbears and sent Elmo in to do the Heavy work. He quickly got surrounded as I wanted him to be due to his great cleave feat and his high AC w/combat expertise helped make many attacks misses. However, eventually even after raging for the extra HP he goes down but not before nearly killing all the powerful bugbears except 2. He ends up taking over 50 hp of damage over his life and just lays there waiting for a heal...but not dead.

Say hello to Periapt of Wound Closure.

I thought I should mention how very important this item is for melee combatants. It makes the character like a troll and since damage is non-lethal...any heal is DOUBLE. So eventually when my healer makes it to Elmo...a single Cure Critical triggered for 70+ life.

I survived the last 2 raging bugbears by having Furnok use his dust of dissapearance and raging. This combined with his 4 attacks while dual wielding, holy enchanted daggers makes short of the last few he & the priest were fighting. Spugnoir had one of the stronger bugbears earlier put in Otiluke's Resiliant Sphere and used single target ranged spells such as Magic Missle & Scortching Ray to kill one or two others during the fight. Fireball is virtually useless as many of the Bugbears have evasion. This is why I also have 2 levels of Rogue for Elmo while he uses the strongest elven chain as it's a light armor.

My cleric got down to under 35 life points (normally 84 or so)...and I was alittle worried until Furnok began cleaning up the mess & opened up a path for the healer to get to Elmo with that big heal. It helps to have a Ring of Inviso on the healer for movement purposes & a 50% miss chance on attacks as well.

I thought I would share the fun & help give a few ideas for the players of this great game.

Current status of my group...

Elmo is Lv11 NPC...Fighter7, Barbarian2, & Rogue2. Over 120 Hp's & I enchanted his battleaxe into +2 Holy. AC is around 28.

Furnok is Lv11 NPC...Rogue5, Barbarian2, & Fighter4. Dual wielding +2 Holy Daggers and soon will be specialized in them. Uses his Ring of Inviso very effectively.

Spugnoir is Lv9 NPC...Wizard9. Next level he'll be able to make Ioun Stones...I'm excited. He has the robe from the Minotaur Lair at the Orc Lands that allows invisobility...which helps keep him alive.

Vic Tor is my only player and is lv10...Cleric10. He is using the Mithral Plate which I enchanted to +3...along w/the shield you get from the Book of Heroes also enchanted to +3. I believe his AC is 30 with about 84 life. With his heals being double for Elmo & soon Furnok (when I can make another Periapt of Wound Closure for him also) and with the damage output from the other 3 characters...I'm basically wading through the enemies now but that last fight was a close one!

Take care everyone & God Bless!

 

I think a druid with a level of monk might be the best for solo -- the druid levels for other reasons mentioned (once you have the right feats and levels, just stay as a bear when in the dungeon.) The monk level (only one is needed) grant the animal form the wisdom bonuses to AC, which a druid should have plenty of, and the flurry of blows works with a bear's claws, creating a whirl-wind of claws and death. Combined with a full host of buffing spells ... npcs will often be able to just sit back and watch the carnage once the bear form is available.

 

Hrmmm...haven't tried to dig up this answer yet...thought I would post it here for a quick solution if it's available...

I have killed all the Trolls on the lowest level where Hedrak is...but they didn't give me the password to turn off the electricity trap.

Is there a console command to fix this & what is it?

I haven't tried to use protection from energy (electricity) scrolls yet to get through the trap or come up w/some other alternative yet...I'm hoping someone is already aware of how to deal with this.

I still have to kill the Slavers (saving that one), buy the castle & do the quests that go with that...but pretty much done with everything except past the electricity & the nodes.

Party update...

Elmo is Fighter11/Thief2/Barbarian2.

Furnok is Rogue5/Barbarian2/Fighter7.

Spugnoir is Wizard11/Rogue2.

My only player character is Vic Tor who is a Cleric13/Fighter1.

Elmo is a one man wrecking machine w/the Silver Bastard Sword enchanted with Holy & his Great Cleave feat (he's just waiting for the Scather sword to show up). Furnok often fights with improved inviso from Spugnoir scrolls and his dual wielding holy daggers. Spugnoir is the blaster arcane caster and utility provider...with all three of them having at least 2 levels in rogue for the Evasion ability. My healer often is also under the affects of an improved invisibility spell and since both melee NPC's are wearing the Periapt of Wound Closure...his heals are virtually double since all damage accept fire & acid is subdual on them.

If anyone has the knowledge to fix the glitched trap...that sure will help.

Ty in advance.

God Bless.