I'm wading into TOEE properly in a long time. Never finished it before and the furthest I ever played it was getting to the temple for the first time (and getting hopelessly lost and confused). But I want to rectify that. I've installed the latest Co8 (hopefully) properly. Patch and all. The only weird thing I've noticed so far is that the sheep in Black Jay's field are all double - basically the same model superimposed on the other with each eating grass at different intervals, making it look like some kind of wooly cerberus. What's up with that? Did I do something wrong? I actually uninstalled the whole game and reinstalled the whole thing and the same problem popped up again. Anyway, barring any weird glitches because of that odd bug (or that bug being an indication of other weird things to come) I continued with my group of 4 adventurers anyway. I've cleared the upper level of the moathouse and will tackle downstairs later today and so far nothing has stood out as weird or buggy so *fingers crossed*. 4 chars might seem little compared to the max party size of 8, but I've always preferred fewer interesting (and individually focused) characters than a bunch of guys I end up getting mixed up or lost in, with a whole bunch of overlapping (and in my eyes wasted) skills and abilities. I might end up roping Elmo in if my 4 guys have trouble, but I'd like your guys' input when it comes to that. Here's my party setup (right now), and I'm hoping you can all tell me if this is destined for failure or heartache because I'd rather start anew right now than notice 3 hours later that it's all pants. Lvl 3 Human Rogue/Ranger. Dual-wielding talker of the group. I'm thinking only 2 levels of ranger (which he already has) and the rest rogue. Thoughts? Would adding 2 levels of fighter be worth it in making him less of a front-line liability? Does ranger still get the improved two-weapon fighting feat down the line? Should I rather aim for that? Lvl 3 Half-Elf Cleric. I'm thinking either pure cleric or maybe 2 levels of fighter just to make her more useful in a fight as well. Lvl 3 Dwarven Monk. Pure monk? Fighter-monk? :shrug: Dwarven monk is almost a cliche at this point, but whatever, the stats I rolled for him are damn awesome. Lvl 3 Elf Sorcerer. Pure sorcerer, obviously. Gonna give him a few bow feats. Nothing to see here. I am not averse to multiclassing, in fact I revel in it, even though it can be difficult. Thing is, I don't know if having a Wizard in here is maybe a necessity. Crafting is not something I ever did before in TOEE so I have no idea what to expect. Am I gimping myself by not having a caster that can do something like that on the side? And will only 4 characters have major issues at some point? Obviously I can't go back to recruit some low level NPC later on but I just prefer smaller parties. Anyway, that's all I can think of off-the-bat. I'll probably have more questions as things go on, but if anybody has anything to add already I'd love to hear it.
Your cleric can also take the role of crafter. If you take the craft "magic arms & armour" feat, then it would be a good idea to go for the"Good" domain... When you encounter the big boys, you'll be happy to have some holy weapons. No need to add fighter to the mix, they're rather good combatants on their own, plus you'ld loose valuable spells. For your Dwarven monk, I can wholeheartedly advise you to do something strange. I am currently playing with a dwarven Fighterx/Monk2/Illusionist3 character, and most enemies have hard time trying to hit him Progressionwise, I started with 1 lvl of illusionist, then a lvl fighter, than 2 lvls monk, 2 more lvls illusionist & now it's all the way fighter.
I agree that adding levels of fighter to your cleric is a bit of a waste of time- you're effectively putting off the day when (s)he can cast things like Divine Power and Righteous Might that effectively boost your fighting prowess far beyond what a couple of extra feats and weapon proficiencies will. A couple of full BAB levels added to a Rogue can be useful early on if they are doing lots of melee fighting (likely given your other PCs). If you have a PC with lots of Rogue levels, I recommend Glitterdust and Improved Invisibility to maximise your sneak attack damage, plus either summoning or battlefield control spells (Web, Grease) to keep the enemy away from your small band of heroes.
I like your set up myself- my only suggestion would be to make your cleric a full elf rather than a half-elf- that way she still gets the elven weapon proficiencies. Spell suggestions for your sorcerer: Magic Missile, Glitterdust, Stinking Cloud, Enlarge Person, Cat's Grace, Fireball, Haste, Stoneskin, Cone of Cone and Dismissal. Good luck! :thumbsup:
TOEE is about the only game I've played with a decent crafting system. There are many items that you will never find randomly; you can only craft them. Crafting is limited by your level and spells, so having multiple crafters in your party is a good idea. Clerics, druids and mages have some overlap, and some items only they can make. IMO, a crafting party will be MUCH more powerful than a party that doesn't. Don't get bogged down in numbers though, or "is this good enough". It's a game, have fun, enjoy the ride.
Awesome, thanks for the suggestions. I've got a long weekend coming up (national holiday here tomorrow) so I will be sinking my teeth into this game properly.
