First Time Toee playthrough

Hi guys,

I've played games with RTWP and enjoyed them, pillars of eternity most recently; This is a little different however and i'm still getting used to initiative (Wasteland 2 had that, right? - I did ok in that)

Anyway, as a first time player and not really understanding how everything works I just want to make sure that dying is a common thing or if I just have a terrible party ( I don't think so but who knows) My first encounter was with the 2 giant spiders in Hommlet and even though I survived both my dwarven fighters ended up unconcious and so did my sorcerer

So without going too much into detail about my stats I have two dwarven fighters both with strength 17 or above, my sorcerer has good wisdom and my wizard has good charisma - probably somewhere just as high as my dwarves have strength, I have a halfling with very good dex, sneak etc and a bard ( i don't quite know what im doing with the bard yet)

Dwarves kitted out with a spiked chain and has spiked chain as a feat, other dwarf has an axe. Anyway, without rambling too much --- Am I expecting to die this much so early on, is this first encounter really supposed to be this hard? (I references K'aos Reynes walkthrough on gamefaqs which said this encounter was a cakewalk) So i just want to be encouraged that things will get better????

Also, is ther a hotkey to follow or track characters as they move???

Sorry for the rambling.

 

If you are a newbie to the ToEE and 3.5 Ed ruleset, then I'd say you're doing relatively well so far. A couple of observations on your party makeup, avoiding spoilers as much as possible:

Your dwarf fighters are good, but ToEE is somewhat broken in how it handles reach weapons - reach weapons are supposed to only be usable in a "donut" shape around the character where they can't be used against a target right adjacent to the player. This is what makes a spiked chain a good buy as an exotic weapon - the rules state it is able to function as a reach or a regular melee weapon. But in ToEE, all reach weapons also function in close melee, so the spiked chain loses some of it's appeal. Using a different reach weapon such as a glaive would save you a feat you could use for, say, power attack (which is very useful with two-handed weapons such as... glaives. )

Sorcerer's prime requisite stat is Charisma, and Wizard's prime stat is Intelligence, so those characters would probably be stronger with their highest stat points in the proper stat.

Overall, if you're having fun by all means keep going - we all died a lot when we first started playing and slowly got better as we mastered the rules of the game. That's one of the great things about this game engine, btw - it has some pretty massive flexibility allowing a greater degree of replay than many games. Good luck!

 

There's lots of advice, in the "Game Guide & Walkthrough For The Circle of Eight Modpack New Content Edition", which can be found in forums/discussion/temple of elemental evil/guides and help threads. Careful if you want to avoid spoilers.

 

Hi, I think I have never tried the spiders at level one. It is a pretty tough fight at the beginning. Definetly not a cake walk, probably the guy wanted to sound cool but really not a helpful remark. When you level up your possibilities of different powers and spells to use make your party much more powerful. At the beginning it's hardly possible to fight with a strategy, later on you will have a vast variety of ways to influence a battle.

 

Thanks for the advice everybody. When I mentioned my magic users I'm not sure if I had the skills the wrong way around, I didn't exactly check the stats in detail before I made the post; Mostly I just wanted to be re-assured that I would be likely to lose a lot of my team to unconsciousness so early in the game and that this is normal. If I had a dud party or just wasn't doing things correctly doesn't exactly encourage me to continue playing if I've completely crippled my party stats from the get go.

I'm sure i'll continue to ask questions as I progress.

Thanks.

 

I usually engage the giant Spiders early so can say having one or two going unconscious is common. just remember ranged weapons(slings add str bonus to damage) and ALL dwarfs have Dwarven waraxe(d10 damage single handed) exotic weapon proficiency

 

If you survived the spiders at first level, however badly knocked about you got, well done. As you will have noticed, they are tricky because their webs pin you down, and impose penalties to hit with ranged weapons. This is actually an unusually tricky encounter at low levels in this game. Easier (but less exciting) sources of XP for new parties are the so-called 'FedEx quests', which essentially entail running errands for the townsfolk, or the Welkwood bog new content. Going back to giant spiders, they are pretty weak to sleep spells, so if your Wizard or Sorcerer has this, use it.
If you don't have a cleric or druid on board, I recommend using your bard as a healer (cure spells) out of combat, and using his musical abilities to 'buff' the party in combat. Tasha's uncontrollable hideous laughter is a good first-level spell for bards; glitterdust is a good second-level spell for parties with a rogue, since blinded foes take sneak attack damage (can be done with ranged weapons if within 30 feet).
Regarding stats for your casters, if your wizard has a decent Int as well as Charisma, he'll probably be okay (maximum spell level castable is equal to Int level minus 10, so you need 15 Int to cast 5th level spells); ditto for your Sorcerer and Charisma. You get a point to add to one of your ability scores every 4th level, so it's not a disaster if you have a 14 in a casting ability score (you can raise it to 17 by level 12, and 18 by 16th), but if your Wizard has Cha of 17 and Int of 11, or your Sorcerer Wis of 17 and Cha of 12, they are better off as Sorcerer and Cleric (or Druid) respectively.
Going back to the question of whether it is common to die frequently at low levels, the answer is it depends how you play. In a CRPG you have the option of saving before going off on a quest, and reloading if you do get wiped out, so you don't *have* to die. On the other hand, first level characters are pretty weak, so if you keep going and going, eventually you will run out of spells, healing, and eventually hit points. If you've killed both spiders and made it home to Hommlet with everyone still alive, that's a major achievement at first level. Rest until everyone is healed, tell the woodcutter (quest XP usually given when you report successful completion to the quest giver), and move on to the next quest. Don't be afraid to retreat back to Hommlet after a single fight if you need to. It gets easier as you level up, as everyone has more resources (HP, spells, better chances to hit, and so on). Your party set up isn't completely optimal, but it doesn't need to be. Spiked chain is a bit of a wasted feat at first level, but a useful option later. Your biggest problem may be a lack of divine caster. If you have temple+ installed, multiclassing your Sorcerer as a Sorceror/Cleric, then entering the Mystic Theurge prestige class gives you progression in both divine and arcane casting; alternatively you could look to recruit a divine caster.

 

Actually, I do have a cleric in my party, I neglected to mention this (Whoops!) The biggest thing I'm noticing from the above comments though is that I'm doing very well to have not wiped out on my first encounter at the starting level, so that's very encouraging.

I'm not overly fussed about having an optimal party either, part of an RPG is to roleplay anyway so I don't see a problem with certain aspects of that as long as my party isn't complete shit.
I don't think I'm going to be a massive save scummer during my playthough either; I.E, I'm not going to reload if I fail a lockpick check or stealth or whatever but I have already reloaded to get the correct outcome during conversations.

I picked up the spiked chain simply because I thought it would make a change to the trope of sword and board but I am curious what makes this weapon a useful option later? what level would you recommend approaching the moathouse at?

 

1. The spiked chain is a reach weapon and you can get both a masterwork and a Holy version as loot later on.

2. The main reason to kill the spiders is to get access to purchasing masterwork wooden items from the cabinet maker.

3. Moathouse is best at level 2-3 finished at level 4-6 depending on how you do it

4. A fun multi-class for a sorcerer is sorc/favored soul

Have fun

 

*Fav0red Soul only available if you have Temple+ installed.

 

If you're still low level, look into buying the food and ale at the Inn of the Welcome Wench. It took me a while to figure that one out...

 

How do I do that? I've spoken to the inkeeper and it doesnt give me the option to buy anything like that...

Also, can anyone confirm if the quest Cupid's Arrow and Carpenters Dilemma is broken? I've spoken to Jaroo about converting Marek and he asks for terjons permission; I've spoken to terjon and it doesn't give me any dialogue options that would indicate that he gives permission and infact keeps talking about how great it is that the leatherworker converted to him instead, every time I speak to him!

 

Talk to the innkeeper's wife, just inside the front door. She sells the ale and food, but only refreshes once per day.

As for Terjon, you need to do a few more things to gain credibility with him first...

 

Ahhh, his item from emridy Meadows? It's late here so I haven't yet gone but that will be my next port of call then. Hopefully I can start to get into some more combat soon so that I can get used to it. A few nuances I need to play with more. Showing which charactee is active when a turn ends in combat mode could be more obvious