Icewind Dale Faq

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Icewind Dale: FAQ/Walkthrough by HaeravonVersion: 1.03 | Last Updated: 2013-03-26 | View/Download Original File Hosted byGameFAQsReturn to Icewind Dale (PC) FAQs & GuidesWould you recommend this FAQ? Yes NoThis guide is set at a width of 72 characters. For ease of use, makesure your browser is displaying all the numbers on the line below.

123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012o======================================================================o| || Icewind Dale || |o======================================================================o

"Beating Icewind Dale in 456 Easy Steps!"

Version 1.03Written by: Nathan GarvinEdited by: Lee Kadel

Email: Theendbringer (at) Hotmail (dot) com.If you're going to email me about this guide, make sure you put"ICEWIND DALE" in the title, or I'll end up deleting it as junk.

Guide InformationThis FAQ was made in Notepad, and is best viewed in a simple texteditor. The default text is Lucida Console at size 10 font, but anyfixed-width font will work... if not with the intended aestheticsintact.

Note that this is an incredibly large FAQ, and depending on yourcomputer, internet speed, and the restlessness of computer gremlins,

you may have to refresh this file several times to get the whole thingto load. Look for the ***END OF FILE*** line at the bottom to ensureyou've got the whole thing.

LegalI have no affiliation with Bioware, Black Isle, Interplay, Atari,Wizards of the Coast, Beamdog, Overhaul Games or any other partiesinvolved with this game. This is a not-for-profit fan-made guide. Ifyou wish to post, mirror, or quote this guide, feel free to do so.Credit would make me happy, an email would make me feel good. Letyour conscience be your guide, just like all good people.

Supporting HaeravonFAQsNow, I know this is a not-for-profit FAQ, but FAQ writing is timeconsuming work. If you wanted to show your appreciation for this FAQand/or support for future FAQs by donating to my PayPal account, thatwould be an above-and-beyond gesture. If every person who downloadedmy FAQs donated a penny... well, it would help out immensely (notreally, since it won't even cover PayPal's fees, and in fact, very, veryfew people out of my 2,000,000 hits donate anything-it's hyperbolicspeech, people). Now, without any more PBS-style solicitation...

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Table of Contentso======================================================================o>>>>>>>>>>>>>>GAMEPLAY INFORMATION


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3.2 Attribute Modifications {DND006} by Race4. Class {DND007}

4.1 Dual-Classing {DND008} 4.2 Multi-Classing {DND009} 4.3 Bard {DND010} 4.4 Cleric {DND011}

4.5 Cleric/Ranger {DND012} 4.6 Druid {DND013} 4.7 Fighter {DND014} 4.8 Fighter/Cleric {DND015} 4.9 Fighter/Druid {DND016} 4.10 Fighter/Mage {DND017} 4.11 Fighter/Mage/Thief {DND018} 4.12 Fighter/Thief {DND019} 4.13 Mage {DND020} 4.14 Mage/Cleric {DND021} 4.15 Mage/Thief {DND022} 4.16 Paladin {DND023}

4.17 Ranger {DND024} 4.18 Thief {DND025} 4.19 Thief/Cleric {DND026}5. Alignment {DND027}

6. Abilities {DND028} 6.1 Strength {DND029}

6.2 Dexterity {DND030} 6.3 Constitution {DND031} 6.4 Intelligence {DND032} 6.5 Wisdom {DND033} 6.6 Charisma {DND034} 6.7 Suggested Abilities {DND035}

by Class7. Hitpoints {DND036}

8. THAC0 and Armor Class {DND037}

8.1 THAC0 by Class/Level {DND038} 8.2 Armor Class Modifiers by {DND039}

Weapon Type9. Saving Throws {DND040}10. Weapon Proficiencies {DND041}

10.1 Weapon Proficiencies by {DND042} Class/Level 10.2 Weapon Proficiency Perks {DND043} by Rank 10.3 Proficiency Selection by {DND044} Class11. Lore {DND045} 11.1 Lore by Class/Level {DND046}12. Mage Spells (Scrolls) {DND047}13. Thief Abilities {DND048} 13.1 Pick Pockets {DND049} 13.2 Open Locks {DND050} 13.3 Find Traps {DND051} 13.4 Stealth {DND052}

III. Spell Tactics {SPT001}1. Cleric Spell Alignment {SPT002}


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Restrictrions {SPT003|2. Healing Spells {SPT004}3. Summoning Spells {SPT005}4. 1st-Level Cleric Spells {SPT006}5. 2nd-Level Cleric Spells {SPT007}6. 3rd-Level Cleric Spells {SPT008}7. 4th-Level Cleric Spells {SPT009}

8. 5th-Level Cleric Spells {SPT010}9. 6th-Level Cleric Spells {SPT011}10. 7th-Level Cleric Spells {SPT012}11. 1st-Level Druid Spells {SPT013}12. 2nd-Level Druid Spells {SPT014}13. 3rd-Level Druid Spells {SPT015}14. 4th-Level Druid Spells {SPT016}15. 5th-Level Druid Spells {SPT017}16. 6th-Level Druid Spells {SPT018}17. 7th-Level Druid Spells {SPT019}18. 1st-Level Mage Spells {SPT020}19. 2nd-Level Mage Spells {SPT021}

20. 3rd-Level Mage Spells {SPT022}21. 4th-Level Mage Spells {SPT023}22. 5th-Level Mage Spells {SPT024}23. 6th-Level Mage Spells {SPT025}24. 7th-Level Mage Spells {SPT026}25. 8th-Level Mage Spells {SPT027}26. 9th-Level Mage Spells {SPT028}27. Spell Buff Order {SPT029}28. Buff Combo: General Buffing {SPT030}29: Buff Combo: Spell Buff to {SPT031} the Max!30. Buff Combo: The Quick Buff {SPT032}

IV. My Party {PTY001}

1. Multi-Class Versus Dual-Class{PTY002}2. My (legit) Starting Stats {PTY003}3. Ilnathias 'Icefang' {PTY004}

4. Amirule Alteslay {PTY005}

5. Kaelinalia {PTY006}

6. Nauzhir the Red {PTY007}7. Eraithul {PTY008}

8. Syrenil 'Softstep' {PTY009}

10 Heart of Fury Max Stats {PTY010}9. Confessions {PTY011}

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>MAIN WALKTHROUGH


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(9 Steps)3. Sequence #3 {WLK021} Saving Swirfneblin from Shikata the Salamander

(11 Steps)4. Sequence #4 {WLK022} Maiden Ilmadia and Poquelin

(9 Steps)5. Sequence #5 {WLK023} The Power of Crenshinabon

(9 Steps) [PARTY STATS: CHAPTER 6]

XII. Heart of Winter1. Sequence #1 {WLK024} Lonelywood

(19 Steps)2. Sequence #2 {WLK025} The Burial Isle

(20 Steps)

3. Sequence #3 {WLK026} Gloomfrost(25 Steps)

4. Sequence #4 {WLK027} Sea of Moving Ice

(20 Steps) [PARTY STATS: HEART OF WINTER]

XIII. Trials of the Luremaster1. Sequence #1 {WLK027} Courtyard

(18 Steps)2. Sequence #2 {WLK028} Catacombs

(23 Steps)3. Sequence #3 {WLK029} Castle Maluradek

(23 Steps)4. Sequence #4 {WLK030} Caverns

(19 Steps)[PARTY STATS: TRIALS OF THE LUREMASTER]

Total Walkthrough: 456 Steps

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>MISCELLANEOUS


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XVI. Contact Other Plane {COP001}1. Prologue {COP002}2. Chapter 1 {COP003}3. Chapter 2 {COP004}4. Chapter 3 {COP005}5. Chapter 4 {COP006}6. Chapter 5 {COP007}

7. Chapter 6 {COP008}8. Heart of Winter {COP009}

XVII. Experience List {EXP001}XVIII. Updates/Thanks {UPD001}

o======================================================================o| || Introduction {INT001} || |o======================================================================o

Welcome to the HaeravonFAQs guide "Beating Icewind Dale in 456 Steps" of

varying length, complexity, and importance! Icewind Dale, residence ofDrizzt Do'Urden, and.. yeah, well, that's pretty much it. There's noother reason this crappy area was visited for a game than to exciteDrizzt fan-boys. It's shameless, Black Isle, shameless. Anyways, this isone of the Infinity Engine games made by Black Isle/Bioware at theirheight, and there were really two types of games made using this engine.Epic CRPGs that redefined the AD&D video game where you recruited aparty of lovable, timeless NPCs to thwart some great evil... and theIcewind Dale games. To make an analogy, if I may be so bold, thepreviously mentioned category (including games such as Baldur's Gate andPlanescape: Torment) were like Fallout... and the Icewind Dale gameswere like Fallout: Tactics. Like how I used Black Isle games to compareBlack Isle games? Anyways, the Icewind Dale games are more focused on

the combat, the gameplay, the essentials, if you will, whereas theothers... well, have more story, character development, and... choices.Not to put down Icewind Dale (too much), they're decent games, andIcewind Dale 2 tries much harder than the first game, but it's about theAD&D action more than the story, which... in an RPG makes it a littleshallow.

Anyways... Haeravon!-you say, you've gone through this game SIX timesalready just for this FAQ, you've defeated Heart of Fury mode... whatthe hell are you doing making a v1.03 update?! Well, this guide was myfirst guide ever, which means it looked a lot like most of the otherguides out there-it was horrible. Poorly organized, full of typos,nearly innavigable... so after writing a Mass Effect FAQ, I came back tothis guide and updated it, to make it more easy to follow. Huzzah!Everything is good forever! Unfortunately, no. I did more FAQs and cameup with new (arguably better) organizational schemes. Most importantly,my invaluable friend, Lee Kadel, who helped my superior Baldur's Gateguides by playing through the game using those guides and nit-pickingevery other sentence decided that he's going to keep it up and playthrough Icewind Dale. You suggest that a guy buy one AD&D Anthology,and all of a sudden he's playing every Black Isle/Bioware game, andusing your FAQs for them all! Anyways, despite the improvements made inv1.02, under the threat of further scrutinty from Lee, I decided toproof this guide-again-and determined that it did, indeed, need furtherimprovements. So... this new version is an update, anticpating an

update. Together with my reproof, and Lee's suggestions, this guidemight finally be up to the quality standards set by myFallout 3/Baldur's Gate guides.


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Finally, since I bought the same, wonderful, anthology that I havesuggested to several others, I found myself in possession of a versionof the game that had the 'Trials of the Luremaster' dungeon pack. SinceI have access to even more material, I figured I might as well includeit and make this truly the ultimate Icewind Dale FAQ.

Using this FAQ {INT002}o======================================================================oBelow I will list some of my quirks, organizational methods, and variousother tidbits that will help you navigate this guide. For starters,during the main FAQ I'll break up the various chapters andorganizational components of the guide with a large heading:

o======================================================================o| || Large Heading || |o======================================================================o

During the FAQ, I'll break up different areas with a thick line:

Thick lineo======================================================================o

Multiple parts of a mission in the same area will be broken up with athin line. This breaks up the missions into a series of steps, andlimits how much unbroken text you'll have to read at once. Nobody likeswordiness:

Thin line

Of course, I reserve the right to break my own rules during the FAQ..mostly due to being scatter-brained and working on the FAQ in shiftsover the course of time. Life and all. So cut me some slack. Besides,this organizational scheme is mostly for consistency and ease-of-use.

Version Information {INT003}o======================================================================oI have three copies of this game-the original two-disc version (withno Heart of Winter) the Icewind Dale collection that included IcewindDale I and Icewind Dale II (each on two discs, included Heart ofWinter), and finally the Dungeons and Dragons Anthology-a two DVDset released by Atari that includes Baldur's Gate (and Tales of theSword Coast), Baldur's Gate 2 (and Throne of Bhaal), Planescape:Torment, Icewind Dale (and Heart of Winter and Trials of theLuremaster), Icewind Dale 2, and Temple of Elemental Evil. This is,as far as I know, the most patched, most complete version of the gameout there. You can check your version by bringing up the optionsscreen in-game and looking at the bottom-left corner of the screen. Myversion is listed as follows:

v1.42 (062714)

Play-Throughs {INT004}o======================================================================o

I have now completed a total of twelve playthroughs of the normal game,the first seven were those around which the guide was written, whereasplaythroughs 8-12 were gear grinds so I could make the ultimate Heart of


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Fury party. The twelveth and final playthrough was done in Heart ofFury mode with my uber party.

On the first playthrough I only went to Yxunomei. For the second, Iplayed through the entire game (most of the guide is a compilation ofthe 1st and 2nd playthrough). The reason for this is simple, I didn'thave HoW until halfway through the first play through. I decided to

start over with the same party (and gear) after installing HoW to makesure I didn't miss anything. Up until Yxunomei on the 1st play through,I went through the game the same way every other player did. By the 2ndplaythrough, I had two chances at the same loot for the first half ofthe game. This gave me some specialized loot that I wouldn't haveobtained in one play-but most of this loot was inconsequential (seeingas how it's from the first half of the game.) In the end, nothing I hadby the end of the game the first time was any better than anybody elsecould get in one play through. I did a third, fourth, and fifthplaythroughs with my party to further fact-check and to provide moreexamples of what loot might be found. I wont pretend that loot I foundis from one play through, but I will denote when loot deviates from one

play to the next. Bottom line, at the end of the guide you can see whatitems I found and how far my characters got. I noted alternative dropsby noting (2nd Play), (3rd Play), (4th Play), or (5th Play) and theitems that were different.

The sixth playthrough was done eighteen months later during the firstreorganization of the guide. Since rewriting the guide was morecomplicated than simply breaking up each area into smaller Sequences ofEvents, I simply recreated my original party (having had the insight toexport them after originally creating them) and played through the gameyet again with a fresh party. This also ensured that I had a pure partywith only one games' worth of drops and experience to take on to Heartof Winter. On that note, however, I played the game on the hardest

difficulty to maximize experience gains (and to test the waters in caseof a Heart of Fury run), and spent a much longer time leveling up mycharacters in the third level of Dragon's Eye to make the slightly morepotent Fighter 12 dual-class on my Fighter/Thief and Fighter/Mageinstead of the traditional Fighter 9 dual-class.

The seventh playthrough for this guide saw me starting over with a new,ultra power-gamey party. It was around this playthrough that the guidewas fully revised for a second time, in an attempt to bring it up to thestandards set by my Baldur's Gate 1 and Baldur's Gate 2 guides. It'salso the first time I bothered to actively 'item fish'-or hunt for thebest of the random item drops. Since this involved some save/loading, Ifound multiple of instances of new gear that I had never found before.This is denoted during the guide with the (7th Play) notation in frontof the item found. If I found multiple new items, they were noted as(7-x Play), (7-xx Play), etc.

Party Roster and EXP {INT005}o======================================================================oKeep in mind, characters lower on the party roster will receive lessexperience than characters towards the top. When Icewind Dale has toround experience, it gives the left over to the first character(s). Thistends not to be an issue later in the game, as higher, even numbers tendto round easier. It's not much of a difference. At 200,000 experience,the difference between the first and last character's EXP was 603.

Experience Cap/Level Cap {INT006}o======================================================================o


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In the original Icewind Dale you could reach a total of 1,800,000experience points. Pretty standard stuff, nothing complicated. However,with Heart of Winter installed the experience caps have been..altered. The level caps (as restricted by the 1,800,000 experience cap)for the original Icewind Dale are listed below.

o==========o

| Icewind || Dale |o==========o

Bard | 18 |Cleric | 16 |Cleric/Mage | 12/12 |Cleric/Ranger | 12/11 |Cleric/Thief | 12/14 |Druid | 14 |Fighter | 15 |Fighter/Cleric | 11/12 |Fighter/Druid | 11/13 |

Fighter/Mage | 11/12 |Fighter/Mage/Cleric | 10/11/10 |Fighter/Mage/Thief | 10/11/12 |Fighter/Thief | 11/13 |Mage | 14 |Mage/Thief | 13/16 |Paladin | 14 |Ranger | 14 |Thief | 18 |

o==========o

The experience cap for all single-classed characters in Heart of Winteris 8,000,000. On top of that, however, the game has a hard level cap of

30. Once you reach level 30 your next level requirements will become'GODHOOD'. For dual-classed characters, the experience cap is 8,000,000for each class. Since dual-classing relies you surprassing your firstclass's level with your second class, the uber power-gamey thing to dohis hit level 29 in your first class and level 30 in your second class.

For all multi-classed characters, the experience caps can be muchhigher-but the same level cap of 30 is in place.. albeit for eachclass. For example, a Fighter/Thief can get a total of 11,000,000experience, but they will stop progressing as a Thief at level 30.The experience caps for each class are listed below:

o===============o|Heart of Winter||Experience Caps|o===============o

Mage | 8,000,000 |Fighter | 8,000,000 |Cleric | 8,000,000 |Thief | 8,000,000 |Bard | 8,000,000 |Paladin | 8,000,000 |Druid | 8,000,000 |Ranger | 8,000,000 |Fighter/Mage | 15,000,000 |

Fighter/Cleric | 11,000,000 |Fighter/Thief | 11,000,000 |Fighter/Mage/Thief | 22,500,000 |


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Mage/Thief | 15,000,000 |Cleric/Mage | 15,000,000 |Cleric/Thief | 9,900,000 |Fighter/Druid | 11,000,000 |Fighter/Mage/Cleric | 22,500,000 |Cleric/Ranger | 13,200,000 |

o===============o

Items {INT007}o======================================================================oI'll list items found in containers-bookshelves, chests, environmentalbodies, etc. in the ***ITEMS*** section, I'll also list the (x=, x=)coordinates the container is found at. The container could be quitelarge, but I try to find areas in the 100s or at least the 10s ifpossible. For example, I wont give you (x=1996, y=217) when I could givethe coordinates (x=2000, y=200). Some items in chests may be variable,between patches items certainly change, but also different play throughscan yield different results in the same container. Gold is alwaysvariable, so I'll just give the gold I found, this should give a general

idea of what amount of gold you'll find, if not the exact amount. Also,enemies drop different items in different play throughs. For example,in one game an orc named Uligar dropped The Merry Short Horn, in anotherhe dropped a shield called Stoutward. The armored skeleton Therikdropped a Ring of the Warrior first time through, and a Phase Dagger onthe second. I'll record what I found, but you shouldn't be surprised ifyou find something different. If you are not playing HoW you WILL finddifferent items.

Note: In HoW you can highlight interactable objects in the environmentby holding down the 'Alt' key.

Item Fishing {INT008}

It's like fishing-but for items! Also, beer, water, boats, and hooks areoptional (if somebody sends in a picture of them fishing for items onIcewind Dale while really fishing.. well, then I'll love them forever.)Anyways, if you read above you know that item drops in Icewind Dale arevery random. Sometimes, the difference between one random drop andanother can be rather outstanding-the difference between a weapon thatyou'll use for half the game, or a scroll you'll never care about, forexample, or a weapon that is a great improvement for one of yourcharacters, or one that you'll never use. If you could but just find away to get all the good loot when it really mattered.. Good news! Youcan! Items are random-but they're randomly generated when you enter anarea (AR####) where the container or creature carrying the item islocated. All you have to do is save before entering the area, go in,see if the item in question is the one you want, and if not, reload. Icall this process Item Fishing (call it Item Grinding if that suits youbetter). When there's a great disparity in item quality, I'll note itwithin the ***ITEM FISHING*** section. This will typically be notedBEFORE you enter the area where the item can be found (there's no pointin letting you know AFTER you enter the area, and hence lock the drop,is there?) Again, I won't do this for every random drop (there are fartoo many), but only the ones I find significant.

If you have the Infinity Explorer program, you can check what items arein containers without running to them. To do this, you'll need to enter

the said area, which will cause it to generate the loot. Save your game,then open Infinity Explorer. Expand the 'Multiplayer savegames' folder,then expand the saved game in question. Expand the 'Areas' folder,


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then pick the (AR####) of the area you're searching for. Expand the'Containers' option, then look for the container in question-the programdoesn't give any (x=, y=) coordinates, so you'll need to know what thecontainer looks like (or know what loot is in the container you'relooking for, and here my guide may actually help you.) Switch to the'Items' tab, and if the item is listed in the container's inventory,you're gold. Go get it. If not, you'll need to reload a save from before

you entered the area and try again. As far as I know, there's no way tocheck the random drops of NPCs.

Traps {INT009}o======================================================================oI list the location of traps in a section similar to the items section.Except it's wisely called ***TRAPS***. I didn't bother recording whatsort of trap it was, I intended to disarm traps I come across, andfrankly, it's just too much of a bother determining the sort of trap.If you think you can figure out how to use traps to cause collateraldamage, that's fine with me, I'll point as many out to you as I found.

Quests/Rewards {INT010}o======================================================================oWhen you get a quest reward, I'll note this under the ***REWARD***section. Some of these are story-line and therefore obligatory. Othersare optional. Either way, the experience gained from completing queststends to be well worth the bother. So long as you follow the Sequence ofEvents, you shouldn't miss any of the quest rewards. Whether you chooseto actually complete a quest in a rewarding fashion is another story.

HoW AI {INT011}o======================================================================oThe HoW expansion seems to make baddies more aggressive. Some hit-n-runtactics simply don't work well anymore, as the computer will manage to

hound you pretty effectively at times. Just keep in mind that you'reless likely to be chased far by non-expansion IWD monsters.

HoW Conjurer {INT012}o======================================================================oOriginally, it seemed like a good idea to specialize my Mages intoConjurers. They get extra make-em-go-boom spells, and they lose high-enddivination. Phhbt. Unfortunately, in HoW Black Isle decides to changea Conjurer's limitation from divination to Invocation. This takes awaya good number of the Conjurer's offensive spells, and really isn't worththe trade off. For HoW, stick to plain Mages.

HoF Mode {INT013}o======================================================================oHeart of Fury Mode is essentially the 'ultra hard' difficulty for thegame which gives monsters massive amounts of Hit Points and bettercombat stats (lower Armor Class, higher THAC0, etc). On the plus side,they give much more experience (you can expect 2060 experience fromGoblins in Easthaven at the beginning of the game.) When you activateHeart of Fury mode the game is also set to the hardest difficultysetting-Insane difficulty. By itself, Insane difficulty causes monstersto deal more damage, and it adds new monsters to the game, which youwon't see on normal difficulty. Since the two are activated together,I don't bother noting what's unique to Heart of Fury, and what comesfrom Insane difficulty-I only focus on Heart of Fury mode, which is the

hardest difficulty and encompasses Insane difficulty anyways. If youwant to get more out of Icewind Dale, play Heart of Fury mode, but beprepared for a struggle. You should at least have gone through the game


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once (including Heart of Winter) before starting Heart of Fury mode..and ideally, you should have performed several runs through the game toget the best loot drops possible, painstakingly ensuring that you getthe best gear in the game before tackling Heart of Fury.. includingseveral copies of normally unique loot. I will note changes to enemiesand tactics in Heart of Fury mode under the ***HoF*** heading.

Activate Heart of Fury mode via the configuration utility for the game,which can be found in the directory in which Icewind Dale was installed.For example, the anthology installs to:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Atari\DnDMC\Icewind Dale

The normal version of the game installs to:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Black Isle\Icewind Dale

HoF Tips {INT014}

Here is a list of (hopefully) helpful tips and tricks for making itthrough Heart of Fury Mode.

--> Don't bother trying until you've beaten the game at least once.This includes the Heart of Winter expansion, where you can scoreseveral Gauntlets of Ogre Power.

--> Play very strong characters. Each character should be able tostand up for themselves in combat, and really, this excludes theuse of my Thief/Mage (who has hence been replaced by aFighter/Mage/Thief). Also, make use of multi-or-dual classedcharacters. You should ideally be over 3,000,000 experience bythe time you start Heart of Fury mode, and playing a character

who is going to max out at level 30 any time soon is a waste.

--> Have very good gear, including multiple copies of otherwise'unique' gear. This makes multiple play-throughs necessary,unless you harvest the best gear from a play-through byexporting your Heart of Fury party individually equipped to themax from another playthrough.

--> Dispense with spells that have a Hit Dice or Hit Pointthreshold. Monsters have ridiculous hit points in Heart of Fury,and Spells like Power Word: Kill are useless.

--> Don't rely on damaging spells either. A 10d6 Fireball is muchless useful than a Chaos spell. Disabling enemies is far moreeffective than damaging them. Spells like Slow, Confusion,Chaos, Greater Command, and Symbol of Hopelessness are yourbest friends.

--> Buffs will save your life in Heart of Fury mode-the differencebetween an unbuffed party and a buffed one is rather radical,especially if you follow my advice and are set up to make themost of spells like Haste, Stoneskin, Righteous Wrath of theFaithful, and Draw Upon Holy Might.

--> Don't rely on archers as much in Heart of Fury. A hasted, high

level Fighter with grand mastery will take a while to put downweak enemies. In the realm of missiles, this translates to a lotof ammunition-honestly it's just a pain to bother running back


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to town to get more arrows, which you'll need to do almostconstantly.

--> Take it slow, when possible. Enemies won't go down quickly inHeart of Fury, and a few enemies can be a handful. This isespecially annoying when we start dealing with mages, Trolls,and enemies with damaging auras, like Salamanders.

--> Give Mages special attention. With our saves, the chances of aCleric blasting us with a spell are miniscule, but mostoffensive Mage spells will hurt regardless of whether you saveor not. The first time you get blasted by a 40-damage MagiCMissile or a 120 damage Cone of Cold, you'll get the point.

--> Play good characters. You'll be able to wear the ShimmeringSash, which will give you a three-point Armor Class boost. Itmatters. You'll also be able to use Three White Doves and theBlessed Helm of Lathander.

--> Play Humans, Elves, or Half-Elves. If you dual-class, you'llhave to play Humans, if you multi-class, choose Elves or Half-Elves. I don't care if you don't like Elves, or if you thinkit's retarded to play a fantasy game as Human-use Dalekeeper tochange your avatar and pretend you're the chosen race. All theseraces can wear the cloak Wailing of Virgins, and Elves andHalf-Elves can use the Argent Shield. Gnomes and Halfings canwear the Trusted Defender helm-but Blessed Helm of Lathander isa decent compromise, and with the other two items.. it's a muchbetter option.

--> Enemies with the Heart of Winter expansion installed like to goafter presumed 'weak links'. This typically means your

Fighter/Mage or Fighter/Thief/Mage. Punish them for theirpresumption by boosting said characters with Stoneskin. Atlevel 17, our Fighter/Thief/Mage can negate a dozen attacks witha fourth-level spell. Enemies hit harder, not more, in Heart ofFury, and making strong enemies (who think they're being sneakyby attacking the Mage) waste attacks is good fun.

--> To get ready for Heart of Fury mode, you will need to do sixruns through the main game to get all of the best Mage scrolls.Tenser's Transformation is not, unfortunately, anywhere nearthe beginning of the game. This also allows you to get multiplecopies of some of the best loot in the game, like the ShimmeringSash, the Blessed Helm of Lathender, The Argent Shield, theBlack Wolf Talisman, and so forth.

--> Undead are cheese in Heart of Fury mode-provided you have ahigh-level Cleric. The developer's boosted the Hit Points ofundead.. but unfortunately for them, the Cleric ability 'TurnUndead' doesn't check Hit Points-it checks Hit Dice. A high-level Cleric will be able to walk into a horde of undead anddestroy them all in a single round. This even works on some ofthe stronger types of undead, like Greater Mummies, and it willvastly improve your killing rate and make life easier for youthrough the whole game. In fact, about half the enemies in thegame are undead! If you've built a party like mine-with five

Fighter/Mage/Clerics, you can have them cast Invisbility onthemselves, and walk around undetected, smiting every foe inthe level. It's a mindless but devastatingly effective tactic.


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--> Again, praising my own party: Having five Fighter/Mage/Clericsmeans I can start out any fight against troublesome living foeswith massive spell-assaults. Not much can survive five Symbolsof Hopelessness.. flavor with Chaos or Slow, to taste. Also,the ability to cast spells like Stoneskin and Heal with almostevery party member really makes it difficult for foes to melee

me to death. It's as potent of a combination as you can get.

Gear Runs and Exporting {INT015}If you're playing through Icewind Dale casually, it's a pretty simplelittle game-if you make some dual-classed characters with highattributes, you should have no trouble cutting your way through thegame. In this case, multiple playthroughs are-like in Baldur's Gate-anathema. But unlike Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale has Heart of Fury mode,which doesn't just give us great incentive-but actually requires us-todo multiple playthroughs. Once we realize this barrier of cheese has nowbeen broken by neccessity, we should hold no reservations about playing

through the game multiple times. Get as far through the game as youwish (if you can score the Blessed Helm of Lathender from the end ofDorn's Deep, that's grand), go to the character record screen bypressing 'R', then click the 'export' button. Name the exportedcharacter something sensible, exit to the menu, click the button 'creategame' and once you're in the character generation screen click the'import' button and select your exported character. You'll keepeverything except containers (gem bags, scroll cases, and potion bags),your level, experience, Hit Points, equipment, and so forth. If you wantto be cheap, you can simply equip each of your characters fully withall the premium gear before you export, which will allow you to get afully-equipped Heart of Fury party in one playthrough, which is muchmore convenient time-wise (but you'll always have to live with being a

filthy cheater!)

o======================================================================o| || 2nd Edition Dungeons and Dragons Mechanics || (Character Creation) {DND001} |o======================================================================oBelow are some simple suggestions for creating characters in IcewindDale. Even if you're a veteran of 2nd Edition AD&D, you should probablyfamiliarize yourself with this section, as not everything made its wayfrom the books into this game.. and this section will tell you how tomake a super-awesome power-gamey party, which is entirely not the pointof the pen and paper game.

Composition {DND002}o======================================================================oYou need a Thief, you need a Cleric, and you need a Fighter. In the 2ndEdition system, dual-classing with human characters allowed you to getmulti-functional characters. You can be 'hardcore' and play with lessthan six characters (A Fighter/Mage, Fighter/Thief, and Fighter/Clericdual combo would be more than sufficient.) The game is easy on thenormal setting, it can be made even easier by using certain tactics(I.E. Fighter/Mage dual with Tensers, Stoneskin, Haste, Mirror Image,and Greater Invisibility and a Ring of Free Action can win any fight.)If you plan to play for Heart of Fury, however, composition becomes

much more strict-I'd suggest only dual-class (Fighter/Clerics,Fighter/Mages, and a Fighter/Thief) or multi-class (Fighter/Mage/Cleric,Fighter/Mage/Thief) characters, for maximum potency. You will be


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spending a long time leveling up dual-classers, however, and multi-classed characters are vulnerable early on. Since I am very power-gamey,I've made a six-character triple-class party, five Fighter/Mage/Clerics,and one Fighter/Mage/Thief. It's the strongest party in the game, Ithink, and you don't really have to spend any time grinding.

Gender {DND003}

o======================================================================oGender in no way affects the game.. except for Llew's reaction late inthe game. The biggest draw for having a mixed gender party-there areonly so many portraits to go around. Unless you import your own. Getyour hands on some Icewind Dale 2 portraits-some of them are rathernice. Also, they fit with the other generic portraits better.

Race {DND004}o======================================================================oHumans can dual class, nobody else can. The other races (particularlyHalf-Elves) get the best multi-class options, and Elves and Half-Elvescan equip the best shield in the game-the Argent Shield. Gnomes and

Halflings can wear a very good (but not the best) helmet. I makeevery character a Half-Elf, since everybody is going to be a triple-classed character.

Class Restrictions by Race {DND005}

|Human| |Elf| | |Half-Elf| | | |Gnome*| | | | |Halfling| | | | | |Dwarf| | | | | | |

o===o===o===o===o===o===oBard | x | | x | | | |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|Cleric | x | x | x | x | x | x |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|Cleric/Mage | d | | x | x | | |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|Cleric/Ranger | d | | x | | | |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|Cleric/Thief | d | | | x | | |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|Druid | x | | x | | | |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|Fighter | x | x | x | x | x | x |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|Fighter/Cleric | d | | x | x | | x |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|Fighter/Druid | d | | x | | | |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|Fighter/Mage | d | x | x | x | | |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|Fighter/Mage/Cleric | | | x | | | |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|Fighter/Mage/Thief | | x | x | | | |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|

Fighter/Thief | d | x | x | x | x | x ||---|---|---|---|---|---|

Mage | x | x | x | x | | |


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|---|---|---|---|---|---|Mage/Thief | d | x | x | x | | |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|Paladin | x | | | | | |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|Ranger | x | x | x | | | |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|

Thief | x | x | x | x | x | x |o===o===o===o===o===o===o

* = Instead of a Mage, they are always an Illusionist.x = Race/Class combo is allowed.d = Can dual class, not multi-class.

Attribute Modifications by Race {DND006}Dwarf: +1 Constitution, -1 Dexterity, -2 CharismaElf: +1 Dexterity, -1 ConstitutionGnome: +1 Intelligence, -1 Wisdom

Halfling: +1 Dexterity, -1 Strength, -1 Wisdom

Class {DND007}o======================================================================oNothing determines more about your character than their class, theirprofession, their job, their role. While I don't suggest too muchdiversity in the class department, I will at least cover all thepossible classes here.. albeit jokingly and mockingly. If you plan tomake a serious attempt at Heart of Fury mode, you just need to ignoremost of the classes in the game and stick with Fighter-based dual-or-multi-class combos.

Dual-Classing {DND008}

To dual-class you must be a human, and you must be at least 2nd level inthe class you started out as to dual-class. You must have a 15 in theprime requisites of your current class, and 17 in the prime requisitesof the class you want to change to. The prime requisities for each ofthe four base classes are as follows:

Cleric: WisdomFighter: StrengthMage: IntelligenceThief: Dexterity

Once you dual-class the experience of your previous class will be cappedat the minimum required to meet the last level you attained, and it willgo inactive. You can no longer gain levels in this class, or use any ofthe class abilities. The only thing you keep from that class are the hitpoints, you lose weapon and armor proficiencies, skills, spells, THAC0,and even saves.

You now begin advancing as your second class, following all its rules.For example, if you were a Fighter and dual-classed into a Mage, youwould be bound by the weapon and armor restrictions of the Mage. You'dhave the saves, THAC0, proficiencies, and spells of a 1st level Mage,but you'd have your Fighter Hit Points. Once your level in your newclass exceeds your level in your old class, your old class becomes

active again. You cannot gain experience in your old class, but you gainback any previously attained abilties, weapon and armor proficiencies,skills, spells, THAC0, and saves, if they are better than what you have


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now. A good tactic is to start out as a Thief and gain their Find Trapsskill, get it as high as you need, and then dual-class into somethingmore useful, like a Fighter or Mage. This gets you the essential Thiefskill without having to waste an entire character on a class that,frankly, isn't great on its own. Another option is to make a Fighter,get up to a high level and attain its high Hit Points, THAC0, and maybeeven Grandmastery, then dual-class into something else to retain those

excellent combat stats to make a more 'hardy' version of that class.The experience gained by the first class does count towards your totalexperience, and hence towards the experience cap. If you dual-class acharacter, be sure to dual class early enough so you have enoughexperience left to exceed your previous classes' level with your newclass. If you never exceed your first class with your second, it willnever become active, making the whole process a waste and stunting yourcharacter. That said, the best dual-class combo is the Fighter dual-class, as it stiffens up any other class prior to dual-classing. Forthis you only really need nine Fighter levels to get the best bonusesout of the combo, including nine levels of optimum THAC0, 9d10 HitPoints, and enough proficiency points to attain Grand Mastery in any

one weapon. Also, since you can get 8,000,000 experience with Heart ofWinter installed, there's no real danger of failing to overcome yourfirst class' level with your second class unless you just utterly lackcommon sense.

Speaking of not having any common sense, you should always start as asingle-class Fighter whenever you plan to involve a Fighter in a dual-class. I mean, you only get the Hit Points of the class you start outwith (up until level nine).. why pass up the Fighter's supreme d10?Besides, dropping a spell-casting class to pick up anything else istricky-the whole point of being a spell-caster is to cast spells,without which you're pretty much capable of nothing. A Fighter wholoses Fighter levels will at least be protected by Hit Points. Also,

you should always try to pick a spell-casting class second (the classyou dual-class into). Spell-progression is determined by your level,and to a much greater extent than almost anything any other class has(a Fighter is done with uber Hit Points by level nine, and THAC0 bylevel twenty, and a Thief will have all the Find/Remove Traps skillscore they need in a handful of levels). The best idea of all, ofcourse (which incorporates the other two notes above) is to find outhow much experience it takes to reach 30th level in your second class,then get to as high of a level in the previous class before dual-classing, for maximum power-gaminess.

Multi-Classing {DND009}Mutli-classing is a bit simpler than dual-classing. Most races besidesHuman can multi-class into something, but Half-Elves are by far themost versatile multi-classers. Whereas dual-classing means dropping oneclass in favor of another, only to gain the benefits of the previousclass back after you exceed its level with the second class, multi-classing means persuing both classes simultaneously. You get the betterchoice of THAC0 and saves between the classes, meaning a Fighter/Magewould use their better Fighter THAC0 instead of their worse Mage THAC0or some composite. Hit points, however, are a composite, essentiallyhalving the dice rolls of both classes and giving them to you. If aFighter/Thief levels up in both classes, they get a maximum of eighthitpoints (10 + 6 = 16/8 = 8.) Note, however, that if you are a Fighter

multi-class, you get the highest benefit of your Constitution, meaninga Fighter/Cleric with a Constitution score of 18 would get a +4 bonus totheir Hit Points per composite level, instead of only +2 as a single-


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classed character would.

Experience is split evenly between the two (or three) classes, which canlevel up independently. This results in a slower rate of leveling than asingle-classed character. Multi-classed characters typically make up forit with versatility, being able to effectively combine multiple classabilties to maximum effect. After all, a Thief who can hide in shadows

and backstab with a Fighter's THAC0 and higher weapon proficiencies isbetter than just a Thief, and a Fighter who can use Mage spells to spellbuff themselves with Mirror Image, Haste, and Improved Invisibility willbe MUCH more effective than just a Fighter. Since the experience cap isvastly expanded for multi-classed characters there is no real limit tohow far they can advance in each class save your willingness to levelthem up.

o==========================o|Bard | {DND010}o==========================oHit points per Level: d6

Bards are rogues with a flair for the dramatic. They sing, they dance,they cast spells.. they just aren't as good at the whole Thiefy thing.Still, they suck in Icewind Dale for a variety of reasons, all of whichI will expose by comparing them to a Fighter/Mage multi-class (comparingthem to a dual-class perhaps isn't fair..) A Fighter/Mage will have moreHit Points, better THAC0, better weapon proficiencies, more Hit Points,and can reach levels 24/20, as compared to a Bard's 30. Since a Bardcan't dual-or-multi-class, there's just no hope for this class. Notethat in Icewind Dale Bards-for some reason-surpass the normal 6th-levelMage spell progression. They can get up to 8th-level spells.. but thehigher-level Mage spells aren't anything to get excited about inIcewind Dale.

BardLevel EXP HP Spells Pick Pockets1 n/a 1d6 15%2 1,250 2d6 1 20%3 2,500 3d6 2 25%4 5,000 4d6 2/1 30%5 10,000 5d6 3/1 35%6 20,000 6d6 3/2 40%7 40,000 7d6 3/2/1 45%8 70,000 8d6 3/3/1 50%9 110,000 9d6 3/3/2 55%10 160,000 9d6+2 3/3/2/1 60%11 220,000 9d6+4 3/3/3/1 65%18* 1,760,000 9d6+18 4/4/4/3/3/2 99% (max at level 18)30 4,400,000 9d6+42 6/6/6/6/5/5/5/1 99%

o==========================o|Cleric | {DND011}o==========================oHit points per Level: d8The Cleric is a spell caster who is more melee-capable, with mostlydefensive, healing, and status-affecting spells. They might not have

the sheer versatility of a Mage, but they've got a number of greatspells. You'll need healing, disease and poison curing, and the extraspell-power is nice. In fact, in Heart of Fury mode, Heal and Symbol of


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Hopelessness are necessities. Clerics also gain the ability to 'TurnUndead'. Essentially this ability pits the Cleric's level against anundead creature's Hit Dice, and the better the Cleric compares, the morelikely they'll be able to turn-or even outright destroy-undead. This isa passive ability, so if you were.. say.. under the effects of anInvisibility spell, you could walk right into a horde of undead andobliterate them without anyone ever being any wiser. Despite all that,

however, I don't suggest making a single-classed Cleric-or any single-classed characters, for that matter, even if the Cleric is one of themore capable single-class options.

Note: Clerics may be restricted from certain spells, depending upontheir alignments. See [SPT002] for more information. Or.. just followmy advice-play a good-aligned Cleric.

ClericLevel EXP HP Spells Special

Turn Undead

1 n/a 1d8 1 Lv12 1,500 2d8 2 Lv23 3,000 3d8 2/1 Lv34 6,000 4d8 3/2 Lv45 13,000 5d8 3/3/1 Lv56 27,500 6d8 3/3/2 Lv67 55,000 7d8 3/3/2/1 Lv78 110,000 8d8 3/3/3/2 Lv89 225,000 9d8 4/4/3/2/1 LV916* 1,800,000 9d8+14 7/7/7/6/4/3/1 LV1630 4,950,000 9d8+42 9/9/9/9/9/9/8 LV30

o==========================o

|Cleric/Ranger | {DND012}o==========================oThanks to some wise advice I recieved from my readers, my eyes wereopened to the merits of this class.. as they are. A Cleric/Ranger willget both the Druid spell selection and the Cleric spell selection..which is not very impressive in Icewind Dale. To be fair, this classisn't bugged the way it is in Baldur's Gate (where you get unlimitedDruidic spell progression alongside your Clerical spells), in IcewindDale you only get access to whatever Druid spells your Ranger levelsallow (maximum of 4th level). This means the Cleric/Ranger will fail toget the awesome 5th level spell Insect Plague.. if the extra (andunimpressive) spell selection appeals to you, a Cleric/Ranger might makea decent substitute for a Fighter/Cleric. I, however, would rather havethe Grand Mastery of a dual-classed Fighter/Cleric or the sheerversatility of a Fighter/Mage/Cleric.


o==========================o|Druid | {DND013}o==========================oHit points per Level: d8

Druids are a lot like Clerics, but instead of worshiping gods they aretypically animists and get their power from nature itself. How does thatmatter? It doesn't really. Their spells are more nature-focused, and


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honestly.. well, in most respects they're worthy of contempt when itcomes to divine spells. They gain access to the mighty Heal spell, aswell as the potent 5th-level spell Insect Plague.. however, one mustkeep in mind that unlike the Baldur's Gate 2 Insect Plague, the IcewindDale version is not party friendly, and is a static, area-of-effectspell that only harms creatures within the swarm. All in all, a Druidis just not as good as a Cleric, as they don't get all the wonderful

buffs the Cleric does, nor can they employ the Invisosmite tactic, notto mention slower late-game level progression (especially that level13-14 hump) and limited armor selection.. Another downside is the factthat Druids cannot be good-aligned, which prevents them from using theShimmering Sash, and prevents them from benefiting from the 'RighteousWrath of the Faithful' uber-buff, which depends on alignment conformity.

DruidLevel EXP HP Spells1 n/a 1d8 12 2,000 2d8 2

3 4,000 3d8 2/14 7,500 4d8 3/25 12,500 5d8 3/3/16 20,000 6d8 3/3/27 35,000 7d8 3/3/2/18 60,000 8d8 3/3/3/29 90,000 9d8 4/4/3/2/110 125,000 9d8+2 4/4/3/3/211 200,000 9d8+4 5/4/4/3/2/112 300,000 9d8+6 6/5/5/3/2/213 750,000 9d8+8 6/6/6/4/2/214 1,500,000 9d8+10 6/6/6/5/3/2/115* 1,800,000 9d8+12 6/6/6/6/4/2/1

30 5,175,000 9d8+42 9/9/9/9/9/9/8

o==========================o|Fighter | {DND014}o==========================oHit points per Level: d10Making your own Fighter is the easy choice for the first game, andfrankly having a Fighter with 18(xx) Strength, 18 Dexterity, and 18Constitution will allow you to muscle through this game, especially ifyou grand master in a weapon. However, picking a Fighter is somethingof a waste, considering most of the benefits of a Fighter can beobtained by level nine. What the Fighter is, then, is the ultimatedual-or-multi-class option, and we'll leave it at that.

FighterLevel EXP HP1 n/a 1d102 2,000 2d103 4,000 3d104 8,000 4d105 16,000 5d106 32,000 6d107 64,000 7d10

8 125,000 8d109 250,000 9d1015* 1,750,000 9d10+18


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30 5,500,000 9d10+63

o==========================o|Fighter/Cleric | {DND015}o==========================oYou'll have a better Fighter than a straight Cleric, or a weaker Fighter

with Clerical spells, depending on how you view it. I always end upmaking at least one Fighter/Cleric, as the benefits of having asupremely melee-competent Cleric (and the necessity of having a Cleric)make this the best option. Just be sure to specialize in Maces, Flails,or Hammer if you're dual-classing, as Clerics can't use edged weapons.


o==========================o|Fighter/Druid | {DND016}

o==========================oThis combination works almost exactly like the Fighter/Cleric, exceptthat you will of course have Druid spells intead of Clerical ones, andyou will have the Druid weapon selection, which includes Scimitars, butdoesn't allow Hammers, Maces, and Flails. The difference, then, isobviously the spells. Clerics get all the good spell-buffs, but bothclasses get the ultimate healing spell, Heal. Symbol of Hopelessness isan awesome debuff for the Cleric (the best debuff in the game, in fact)and Creeping Doom is the best summoning spell. Having at least one ofeach isn't a bad idea. The biggest downside is that a Druid is morevulnerable than a Cleric-which makes regaining your Fighter levelssomewhat more difficult. Also, since a Fighter/Druid must be TrueNeutral, it'll prevent you from using any good-aligned gear like the

Shimmering Sash.

o==========================o|Fighter/Mage | {DND017}o==========================oMy favorite class, and one of the strongest in the game. You can'twear armor and cast spells at the same time, but that's hardly an issuein this game, where you have many ways to improve your Armor Classwithout having to wear armor. Bracers of Defense are one obvious way,while various robes are another. Your Armor Class in Icewind Dale canapproach Fighter-esque levels with a bit of pampering, and if youdual-class as a Fighter to beef up before switching to a Mage, you'llget an awesome hybrid character, able to tangle in melee, fire at arange, or cast all the Mage spells you need. Sounds pretty good, right?It should, but that's not all. In this game, the Mage spell Tenser'sTransformation is absolutely broken. Apparently the developers didn'ttake into account the fact that the only characters who might use thatspell aren't single-classed Mages. When a dual-or-multi-class Mageuses it, they gain all the same benefits-lowered THAC0, doubled HitPoints, and an extra attack per round. Take a Fighter/Mage dual whostarted with at least nine levels of Fighter, and you can end up witha 300 Hit Point monster capable of shredding everything the game canthrow at you, and if you spell-buff before casting Tenser's, you'llbe nearly invincible.

o==========================o|Fighter/Mage/Cleric | {DND018}


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o==========================oAh, the triple-classer. With an experience cap of 22,500,000, thischaracter can gain more experience than any other character save theFighter/Mage/Thief (with whom they tie), and built correctly, they willend up with 154 Hit Points, full spell progression as both a Mage and aCleric, and due to the very generous gear in Icewind Dale, fighteresque-

level Armor Class. If you thought the Fighter/Mage was good.. well,you were right, but this is just as good-a Tenser's abusing powerhousewho can also self-heal. The only downside? Dual-classing doesn't allowyou to attain Grand Mastery in a weapon proficiency. The ease-of-useover a power-gamey dual-class character, however, and the versatilitymakes up for it.


o==========================o

|Fighter/Mage/Thief | {DND019}o==========================oThe Fighter/Mage/Thief acts just like the super power-gameyFighter/Mage/Cleric.. except instead of being able to fling out Clericspells, you can use Thief skills. All in all, the Fighter/Mage/Clericis stronger, but you need at least one Fighter/Mage/Thief to find anddisarm traps.. the sneaking doesn't hurt either. Also, the Thief iscapable of using a much greater selection of weapons than the Cleric,allowing you to diversify your weapons and tactics much more. AFighter/Mage/Thief in essence works like a combination of theFighter/Mage and Fighter/Thief. Plus, you'll have the option to jump onother spell-casters with pre-emptive backstabs, whereas the Fighter/Mage

cannot.

o==========================o|Fighter/Thief | {DND029}o==========================oThis class easily matches a Ranger's skill with weapons while having thesame quirks. Some important differences remain, a Fighter/Thief candisable traps and backstab, while a Ranger cannot. This makes aFighter/Thief in my eyes a good bit more powerful than a Ranger. Sure,the Ranger will have higher Hit Points and some minor Druid spells, buta Fighter/Thief is just as good in combat, especially since they canbackstab. Start out as a single-classed Fighter, then switch to Thieffor all the Thieving skills you'll ever need on a phenomonal Fighter..plus Backstabs! Of course, the Fighter/Mage/Thief gets all those perks,plus the ability to buff/debuff with magic.

o==========================o|Mage | {DND021}o==========================oHit points per Level: d4Ah, the Mage.. a versatile spell caster, your proverbial glass cannon.They can't wear armor, and they have access to a poor selection ofweapons. On the other hand, they don't really need them. As long as you

can keep them from getting hurt, they can lay waste to your enemieswith their spells. Anything from damaging spells like Fireballs, tosupport spells like Haste, or simple fight-winners, like Confusion and


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Chaos, it's the Mages' domain. A single-classed Mage is somewhatvulnerable, but a combination Fighter/Mage is strong in melee and inmagic! And if you use the Mage levels to cast Tenser's Transformationwith Fighter levels boosting you.. well.. you break the game. Speakingof breaking the game, you can also choose to be a Specialist Mage.Essentially you get an additional spell per spell level, at the cost ofnot being able to cast spells of the opposition school. Originally,

the Conjurer was an excellent Specialist Mage, but in the patched(Heart of Winter) version of the game, they switched the Conjurer'sopposition school from Divination to Invocation, making this not worththe trouble.

Specialist School Opposition SchoolAbjurer Abjuration AlterationTransmuter Alteration Abjuration, NecromancyConjurer Conjuration/Summoning Invocation*Diviner Divination Conjuration/SummoningEnchanter Enchantment/Charm Invocation

Illusionist Illusion NecromancyInvoker Invocation Enchantment/Charm,Conjuration/Summoning

Necromancer Necromancy Illusion

*The manual states that the opposition school of the Conjurer isDivination, and indeed, the unpatched game works this way. However, tostop exploitive power-gamers from cashing in on the extra spells theConjurer gets at the laughable trade-off of a few crappy Divinationspells, the developers switched the opposition school of Conjurationfrom Divination to Invocation.

Mage

Level EXP HP Spells1 n/a 1d4 12 2,500 2d4 23 5,000 3d4 2/14 10,000 4d4 3/25 20,000 5d4 4/2/16 40,000 6d4 4/2/27 60,000 7d4 4/3/2/18 90,000 8d4 4/3/3/29 135,000 9d4 4/3/3/2/110 250,000 9d4+1 4/4/4/4/4/111 375,000 9d4+2 5/5/5/4/4/214* 1,500,000 9d4+5 5/5/5/4/4/2/130 7,500,000 9d4+21 7/7/7/7/7/7/7/6/6

o==========================o|Mage/Cleric | {DND021}o==========================oThis class is honestly a waste, compared to the Fighter/Mage/Cleric.Sure, they'll get the same Armor Class as a Fighter, but their THAC0,Hit Points, and weapon proficiencies will be worse. So why pick thiswhen you can be a Fighter/Mage/Cleric?



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in compensation they can use stealth, charm animals, and eventuallycast Druid spells. The stealth ability can only be used in light armor,Leather, Studded Leather, or Hide, but it makes them invaluable forscouting ahead of the party. Being strong enough to fight their way outof trouble helps too. The charm animal ability sucks, but once in awhile if you want to play with it and charm a bear or something.. eh..they'll still turn hostile on you when it's over, so why bother? The

Druid spells are a long time in coming, but it's somewhat nice to beable to cast Heal and Insect Plague.. if you reach obscene experiencelevels. Or you could just make a Fighter/Mage/Thief and cast betterspells.

RangerLevel EXP HP Spells Stealth1 n/a 1d10 15%2 2,000 2d10 20%3 4,000 3d10 27%4 8,000 4d10 33%

5 16,000 5d10 40%6 32,000 6d10 47%7 64,000 7d10 55%8 125,000 8d10 1 62%14* 1,800,000 9d10+15 3/2/2 99% (max at level 13)30 6,600,000 9d10+63 5/5/5/5/3/1 99%

o==========================o|Thief | {DND025}o==========================oHit points per Level: d6The Thief isn't as combat savvy as the Cleric, and they don't have

spells. What's the draw then? Their thieving abilities. These allow themto pick pockets, find and disarm traps, open locked objects, and hidefrom enemies. Of these skills, one is essential, so some character oranother with thieving abilities is required in any party. As for combat,they can only wear the lightest armors, but they do have access to avariety of weapons. Most importantly, as they gain levels they get theability to 'backstab'. If they are hidden and attack an enemy theymultiply the damage they deal by their 'Backstab Multiplier', which cando up to five times normal damage. They are a waste of a class on theirown, but it is a great dual-or-multi-class option, as it gives any classthe ability to be more lethal by backstabbing. You can find out moreabout Thief Abilities in [DND048].

ThiefLevel EXP HP Special Backstab

Ability Points Multiplier1 n/a 1d6 20 x22 1,250 2d6 20 x23 2,500 3d6 20 x24 5,000 4d6 20 x25 10,000 5d6 20 x36 20,000 6d6 20 x37 40,000 7d6 20 x38 70,000 8d6 20 x3

9 110,000 9d6 20 x410 160,000 9d6+2 20 x418* 1,760,000 9d6+18 20 x5 (max at level 13)


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30 4,400,000 9d6+42 20 x5

o==========================o|Thief/Cleric | {DND026}o==========================oWell, might as well mention it eh? The Thief/Cleric is an odd, and at

odds character. You won't be wearing any heavy armor if you want to keepyour Thief skills, but you can certainly wear light armor with noproblem. Of course, you're stuck with the Cleric's selection of weapons,but you'll be able to use all the Thief skills, including backstab.Honestly the Mage spells seem a better fit for a Thief, which is more ofa 'stay back out of the way' kind of class, as opposed to the Cleric,which is often a decently armored character who can stand up in combat.This might be an interesting dual-class, provided you don't care thatyour Cleric won't be as tough as if you had dual-classed with a Fighter.

Note: Clerics may be restricted from certain spells, depending upontheir alignments. See [SPT002] for more information. Or.. just follow

my advice-play a good-aligned Cleric.

Alignment {DND027}o======================================================================oSome equipment cannot be used by some alignments, and if you're aCleric, your alignment will determine what spells you can cast. Also,a few dialogue options differ depending on your alignment (which I tryto note as much as possible throughout the guide). There is, however,a clear consensus in terms of power-make a party full of good-alignedcharacters. One of the best Maces in the game cannot be used by evilcharacters, and the best belt in the game requires you to be good-aligned. Both of these are items that make it onto my characters inHeart of Fury mode, so they are not to be discarded lightly. Also, an

evil Cleric cannot cast Heal-a huge prohibition. Good Clerics lose outon Harm and Destruction, nice spells, but not essentials like Heal.Neutral Clerics cannot cast many of the higher level alignment-basedspells (but they can cast all the lower-level spells from eitheralignment. See [SPT002] for more information on restricted Clericspells. Another spell, 'Righteous Wrath of the Faithful' is one of thebest party-buffs in the entire game, and it gives massive bonuses ifyour entire party is of the same alignment. My suggestion? Make all yourcharacters Neutral Good. It'll pay off in the long run.

Abilities {DND028}o======================================================================oYou can reroll your attributes and modify them, so why wouldn't you? Myfriend and I are perhaps a little too anal with this process, but it'snot that difficult to make a killer party if you're not vain. Charismais a good dump stat, you don't need more than three points for anybodybut your party leader. If you have a Paladin, problem solved (they havea minimum Charisma of 17.) EVERYBODY should have 18 dexterity. If youdon't, you're wasting precious Armor Class (Dwarves can only naturallyget a 17, but with luck you might find a potion to raise it, Gloves ofDexterity, or Kaylessa's Gloves.) EVERYBODY should have at LEAST a16 Constitution. If you are a Fighter (single, dual, or multi classed)you should have an 18. That's extra Hit Points, and Hit Points are goodfor live-staying. Most characters should ideally have an 18 Strength.Unless you're making a straight Mage, or an archer, then who cares. This

affects how much loot (in weight) you can carry. A Fighter (single,dual, multi) or any fighting class (Paladin, Ranger) should haveexceptional Strength of at least 18(91). 18 Strength gives you +1 THAC0,


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and +2 damage. 18(91)-18(99) gives you +2 THAC0, +5 damage. That's notbig, it's huge. If you are lucky enough to get 18(00) Strength, that's+3 THAC0, +6 damage. Very desirable for a Fighter. Intelligence onlymatters for Mages. If you have a Mage, they need an 18 Intelligence.Period. If not, it's a great dump stat. Wisdom is most useful forClerics, Druids, and Paladins, the former should have an 18, the latterwill get by with the minimum of 14. Charisma is only important to Bards,

and even then, I have my doubts as to how crucial it is under IcewindDale's rules. One character should have good Charisma, and this shouldbe your party leader.

Note: These tables were all created based on information in the game's.2da files.

Strength {DND029}If you're a Fighter (single, multi, or dual class) or a fighter type,you can get exceptional strength, which is a percentile bonus inparentheses after the strength score. For example, 18(01-00) denotes a

strength of 18 with an exceptional range of 1% to 100%. A single-classFighter should try for as much Strength as possible. Ideally anythingfrom 18(91) and up is fantastic, as it provides a +2 THAC0 and a +5damage bonus. If you are a Cleric, you might as well try for an 18 soyou can melee well. Regardless, any fighting class needs an 18 inStrength. A Mage or a Thief that doesn't intend to melee can use this asa dump stat. If you're making a multi-class character, don't sweat theexceptional Strength. The higher, the better, but getting high scores inyour other abilities is more important. Weight is somewhat important..as it'll reduce your trips to town if you can just carry more. Also, ifyour Strength isn't high enough, you wont be able to wear some heavierarmor. Your bash % is your chance of forcing a door or chest; it's nothonest. Save/reload won't get you into a chest. Some chests/doors just

have a threshold you must reach, and your Strength will never be areplacement for the knock spell or good old-fashioned lock picking Justmake sure that you get an 18 at least if you ever intend to melee.

In the expansion, Heart of Winter, you can get your hands on (or rather,in) several sets of Gauntlets of Ogre Power, which will raise yourStrength to 18(00). There's also the Girdle of Stromnos in the maingame which raises your Strength to 19, but there's another belt whichwould be better to wear.. especially considering that the differencebetween 18(00) Strength and 19 Strength is one point of damage. Thatsaid, both such items are fairly far into the game. If you arefortunate enough to start out with 18(00) Strength, you can just goahead and wear the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, which give +1 THAC0and +2 Damage.

o========o=====o======o======o=====o| Score |THAC0|Damage|Weight|Bash%|o========o=====o======o======o=====o| 3 | -3 | -1 | 5 | 3 || 4 | -2 | -1 | 15 | 4 || 5 | -2 | -1 | 15 | 4 || 6 | -1 | 0 | 30 | 6 || 7 | -1 | 0 | 30 | 6 || 8 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 8 || 9 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 8 |

| 10 | 0 | 0 | 70 | 10 || 11 | 0 | 0 | 70 | 10 || 12 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 12 |


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| 13 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 12 || 14 | 0 | 0 | 120 | 14 || 15 | 0 | 0 | 120 | 14 || 16 | 0 | +1 | 150 | 16 || 17 | +1 | +1 | 170 | 18 || 18 | +1 | +2 | 200 | 20 ||18/01-50| +1 | +3 | 220 | 25 |

|18/51-75| +2 | +3 | 250 | 30 ||18/76-90| +2 | +4 | 280 | 35 ||18/91-99| +2 | +5 | 320 | 40 || 18/00 | +3 | +6 | 400 | 45 || 19 | +3 | +7 | 500 | 50 || 20 | +3 | +8 | 600 | 55 || 21 | +4 | +9 | 700 | 60 || 22 | +4 | +10 | 800 | 65 || 23 | +5 | +11 | 1000 | 70 || 24 | +6 | +12 | 1200 | 75 || 25 | +7 | +14 | 1600 | 80 |o========o=====o======o======o=====o

Dexterity {DND030}This affects your Armor Class, and your THAC0 adjustment for missileweapons. EVERY character should get an 18 Dexterity for the wonderful-4 armor class modifier. Period. There are a few items that increaseyour Dexterity, like Kaylessa's Gloves. These won't always drop in agame, and one point really isn't much. It's best to just have an 18Dexterity naturally.

o=======o=======o=======o| Score |Missile| Armor || |Adjust.| Class |

o=======o=======o=======o| 0 | -20 | +5 || 1 | -6 | +5 || 2 | -4 | +5 || 3 | -3 | +4 || 4 | -2 | +3 || 5 | -1 | +2 || 6 | 0 | +1 || 7 | 0 | 0 || 8 | 0 | 0 || 9 | 0 | 0 || 10 | 0 | 0 || 11 | 0 | 0 || 12 | 0 | 0 || 13 | 0 | 0 || 14 | 0 | 0 || 15 | 0 | -1 || 16 | +1 | -2 || 17 | +2 | -3 || 18 | +2 | -4 || 19 | +3 | -4 || 20 | +3 | -4 || 21 | +4 | -5 || 22 | +4 | -5 || 23 | +4 | -5 |

| 24 | +5 | -6 || 25 | +5 | -6 |o=======o=======o=======o


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Note: Your Dexterity will also affect your Thief abilities.. if youare a Thief, of course. See [DND048] for more information.

Constitution {DND031}This gives you Hit Points. Hit points are good. Note that in the

'Hit Points per Level' column there are two rows of numbers listed-the ones on the left-the lower numbers-are the Hit Points gained bynon-Fighters per level. The ones on the right are the Hit Points gainedby Fighters (single, multi, and dual-classed). Both only get thesebonuses from levels one-to-nine.

o=======o===============o=======o| Score |Hit Points per |Regen. || | Level | Rate |o=======o===============o=======o| 1 | -3 | 0 || 2 | -2 | 0 |

| 3 | -2 | 0 || 4 | -1 | 0 || 5 | -1 | 0 || 6 | -1 | 0 || 7 | 0 | 0 || 8 | 0 | 0 || 9 | 0 | 0 || 10 | 0 | 0 || 11 | 0 | 0 || 12 | 0 | 0 || 13 | 0 | 0 || 14 | 0 | 0 || 15 | 0 | 0 |

| 16 | +1 | 0 || 17 | +2/+3 | 0 || 18 | +2/+4 | 0 || 19 | +2/+5 | 0 || 20 | +2/+5 | 60 || 21 | +2/+6 | 50 || 22 | +2/+6 | 40 || 23 | +2/+6 | 30 || 24 | +2/+7 | 20 || 25 | +2/+7 | 10 |o=======o===============o=======o

Note: In the Regeneration Rate column, what the hell do those numbersmean? Well, they're a measure of the time it takes to regenerate a lostHit Point.. but not REAL time, no, that would be too simple-it's thenumber of game-time seconds it takes to regenerate a lost Hit Point.So for a Constitution score of 20, it takes 60 seconds-one minute-ofgame-time to recover one Hit Point. One minute of game-time is 2.5seconds of real time, so our rate of time-lapse difference is60/2.5 = 24:1. This makes sense, doesn't it? It means that one hourspent playing in real-time is one day of game-time. So divide all thosenumbers by 24, and that's how many seconds it takes to recover a lostHit Point.

Intelligence {DND032}

If you're a Mage, get an 18, if not, it's a dump stat. By 'dump stat',I mean lower it to 10 or so to put the excess points in other attributes


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you actually need. 'Max Spell Level' refers to the highest level of Magespell you'll be able to cast. 'Max Spells per Level' is the maximumnumber of different spells you can have in your spell book per spelllevel. These factors will never be a deciding factor as you can simplydrink a potion to temporarily allow you to scribe more spells than yourspells per level allowance. In fact, you can just use potions in atimely manner to scribe all the spells you wish, allowing you to have

as low of an Intelligence as you please regardless of your natural levelmaximum or spells per spell level. Still, it's just more convenient tohave the natural Intelligence instead of having to rely on potions allthe time and scribing spells all at once. If you fail at scribing ascroll, simply reload until you succeed. Lore is your ability toidentify magical items. You'll have plenty of Identify spells to makethis a non-issue.

o=======o=======o=======o===============o=======o| | Learn | Max |Max Spells per | || Score | Spell | Spell | Spell Level | Lore || |Chance | Level | | |

o=======o=======o=======o===============o=======o| 0 | 0% | - | - | -20 || 1 | 0% | - | - | -20 || 2 | 0% | - | - | -20 || 3 | 0% | - | - | -20 || 4 | 0% | - | - | -20 || 5 | 0% | - | - | -20 || 6 | 0% | - | - | -20 || 7 | 0% | - | - | -10 || 8 | 0% | - | - | -10 || 9 | 0% | 4th | 6 | -10 || 10 | 35% | 5th | 7 | 0 || 11 | 40% | 5th | 7 | 0 |

| 12 | 45% | 6th | 7 | 0 || 13 | 50% | 6th | 9 | 0 || 14 | 55% | 7th | 9 | 0 || 15 | 60% | 7th | 11 | +3 || 16 | 65% | 8th | 11 | +5 || 17 | 75% | 8th | 14 | +7 || 18 | 85% | 9th | 18 | +10 || 19 | 95% | 9th | All | +12 || 20 | 96% | 9th | All | +15 || 21 | 97% | 9th | All | +20 || 22 | 98% | 9th | All | +25 || 23 | 99% | 9th | All | +30 || 24 | 100% | 9th | All | +35 || 25 | 100% | 9th | All | +40 |o=======o=======o=======o===============o=======o

Wisdom {DND033}If you're a Cleric or a Druid, you want an 18. Otherwise, it's a dumpstat. For Clerics and Druids you don't have a spell level maximum for alow wisdom in 2nd edition, but higher Wisdom nets you bonus spells.Definitely a draw for single class characters, but if you simply cannotspread your points out enough to get a great Wisdom, it's not that bigof a deal. If you're a triple-classed Fighter/Mage/Cleric, you havetons of attributes you need to focus on, and of them, Wisdom is

probably the least important. A few extra 1st-4th level spells and someLore is not a big deal.


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o=======o===============o=======o| Score | Bonus Spells | Lore |o=======o===============o=======o| 3 |- | -20 || 4 |- | -20 || 5 |- | -20 || 6 |- | -20 |

| 7 |- | -10 || 8 |- | -10 || 9 |0 | -10 || 10 |0 | 0 || 11 |0 | 0 || 12 |0 | 0 || 13 |1 | 0 || 14 |2 | 0 || 15 |2/1 | +3 || 16 |2/2 | +5 || 17 |2/2/1 | +7 || 18 |2/2/1/1 | +10 |

| 19 |3/2/1/2 | +12 || 20 |3/3/1/3 | +15 || 21 |3/3/2/3/1 | +20 || 22 |3/3/2/4/2 | +25 || 23 |3/3/2/4/4 | +30 || 24 |3/3/2/4/4/2 | +35 || 25 |3/3/2/4/4/3/1 | +40 |o=======o===============o=======o

Charisma {DND034}Charisma affects NPC reactions to you and determines shop prices. Rarelyyou'll get a better reward for having a higher Charisma. It's a dump

stat for everybody except Bards, who should get an 18 in it. To get thebest discounts, make sure to have your character with the highestCharisma as party leader when interacting with the shopkeeper.

o========o========o| Score |Reaction|o========o========o| 3 | -5 || 4 | -4 || 5 | -3 || 6 | -2 || 7 | -1 || 8 | 0 || 9 | 0 || 10 | 0 || 11 | 0 || 12 | 0 || 13 | +1 || 14 | +2 || 15 | +3 || 16 | +4 || 17 | +4 || 18 | +5 || 19 | +8 || 20 | +9 |

| 21 | +10 || 22 | +11 || 23 | +12 |


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| 24 | +13 || 25 | +14 |o========o========o

Suggested Attributes by Class {DND035}

STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA

Bard 10~ 18 16 13~ 10~ 18Cleric 18 18 16 10~ 18 10~Cleric/Mage 18 18 16 18 10+ 10~Cleric/Ranger 18(xx) 18 18 10~ 18~ 10~Cleric/Thief 18 18 16 10~ 18 10~Druid 18 18 16 10~ 18 15~Fighter 18(91+) 18 18 10~ 10~ 10~Fighter/Cleric 18(xx) 18 18 10~ 18 10~Fighter/Druid 18(xx) 18 18 10~ 18 15~Fighter/Mage 18(xx) 18 18 18 10~ 10~Fighter/Mage/Cleric 18(xx) 18 18 18 10+ good luckFighter/Mage/Thief 18(xx) 18 18 18 10~ 10~

Fighter/Thief 18(91+) 18 18 10~ 10~ 10~Mage 10~ 18 16 18 10~ 10~Mage/Thief 10~ 18 16 18 10~ 10~Paladin 18(91+) 18 18 10~ 13~ 17~Ranger 18(91+) 18 18 10~ 14~ 10~Thief 10~ 18 16 10~ 10~ 10~

Hit Points {DND036}o======================================================================oYou run out of Hit Points, and you die. These are important.Multi-classing averages your Hit Points/level across your classes. AFighter/Mage multi would gain 7 Hit Points a level (10+4)/2 - 5 Fighter,2 Mage. A multi-classed character will still get bonus Hit Points for

having a Fighter class (up to 4), but a dual-class character can startout 9 levels of Fighter, get all 9d10+36 Hit Points and dual class intosomething else. This is in every way favorable. You should get max HitPoints each level, and really, since I'm so anal with my attributes,I'd just save/reload until I got it anyways (ala Baldur's Gate). Justsave yourself some time and click the button in the options menu.

THAC0 and Armor Class {DND037}o======================================================================oTHAC0 is an acronym for 'To Hit Armor Class 0'. This is the roll on ad20 (a 20 sided dice) that you'd need to hit somebody with an ArmorClass of 0. Statistically, each point is a 5% chance to hit Armor Class0, and a roll of 20 is ALWAYS a hit, and a roll of 1 is ALWAYS a miss,regardless of your THAC0/their Armor Class. Fighters get a lower THAC0quicker (hence a better chance to hit) than other classes, and Mageshave the worst THAC0 progression. A lower THAC0 and lower Armor Classare better-which seems counter intuitive, but that's 2nd Edition foryou. (Nostalgia for a moment here.) Having a negative Armor Classessentially raises the enemies' THAC0. For instance, my Paladin has abase THAC0 of 5 (-2 with all her proficiencies, Strength, the bonus onthe weapon, etc), and my Ranger/Cleric has an Armor Class of -13. MyPaladin would need an 11 on a d20 to hit her (-2 +13 = 11). That's a 55%chance to miss-a 45% chance to hit. So, for a general rule, lower THAC0and lower Armor Class are good. Unless the enemy has them. Then it's notso good.

THAC0 by Class/Level* {DND038}


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*This is taken straight from the 2nd Edition Dungeons and Dragon'sPlayers Handbook.

LEVEL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20Warrior 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1Wizard 20 20 20 19 19 19 18 18 18 17 17 17 16 16 16 15 15 15 14 14

Priest 20 20 20 18 18 18 16 16 16 14 14 14 12 12 12 10 10 10 8 8Rogue 20 20 19 19 18 18 17 17 16 16 15 15 14 14 13 13 12 12 11 11

--> Priest includes Druids.

--> Rogue includes Bards.

--> Warrior includes Paladins and Rangers.

Multi-class characters use the best THAC0 progression of either oftheir classes-Fighter/Mages use the Fighter's THAC0 progression, andCleric/Thieves use the Thieve's THAC0 progression.

Dual-class characters use the THAC0 of their active class if theyhaven't regained their bonuses from the previous (inactive class). Ifthey have, they use whichever gives them the best THAC0.

Armor Class Modifiers by Weapon Type {DND039}Different armor types are strong against different attack types. Itmight seem like information overload, but keep it in mind when pickingbetween various types of armor. A suit of Leather Armor +3 versus asuit of Studded Leather Armor +2 might both give the same armor class,but because of the modifiers the Studded Leather is by far the betterchoice. It comes up. Oh, and remember, in 2nd Edition AD&D, a negative

number reduces your Armor Class, hence making your more difficult tohit, and a positive number increases your Armor Class, which is a badthing.

o===============o===============o===============o===============o| Armor | Slashing | Piercing | Bludgeoning |o===============o===============o===============o===============o| Leather Armor | 0 | +2 | 0 ||---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------||Studded Leather| -2 | -1 | 0 ||---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|| Chain Mail | -2 | 0 | +2 ||---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|| Splint Mail | 0 | -1 | -2 ||---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|| Plate Mail | -3 | 0 | 0 ||---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|| Full Plate | -4 | -3 | 0 |o===============o===============o===============o===============o

Saving Throws {DND040}o======================================================================oThere are some things that speed and armor just can't protect against.This typically means magic, in some form or another, and really, aFireball doesn't care about your Plate Mail Armor. An enchantment can't

be blocked by a shield, and being fleet of foot won't stop a Lich fromusing vile necromancy to rip the soul from your body. Nope, for that,we resort to Saving Throws, needlessly sorted into five categories that


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aren't always as self-explanatory as they seem to be. When yourcharacter is forced to making a saving throw check against something,they 'roll' a d20 and must exceed their Saving Throw. So like ArmorClass, the lower the better.

Paralysis/Poison/Death|Rod/Staff/Wand

| |Petrification/Polymorph| | |Breath Weapon| | | |Spells

Warrior o=======o=======o=======o=======o=======o Level 1-2 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 17 | 17 | Level 3-4 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 16 | 16 | Level 5-6 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Level 7-8 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Level 9-10 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 11 | Level 11-12 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 10 | Level 13-14 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 8 | Level 15-16 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 7 |

Level 17+ | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 |Wizard |-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| Level 1-5 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 12 | Level 6-10 | 13 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 10 | Level 11-15 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 8 | Level 16-20 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 6 | Level 21+ | 8 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 4 |Priest |-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| Level 1-3 | 10 | 14 | 13 | 16 | 15 | Level 4-6 | 9 | 13 | 12 | 15 | 14 | Level 7-9 | 7 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 12 | Level 10-12 | 6 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 11 | Level 13-15 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 11 | 10 |

Level 16-18 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 9 | Level 19+ | 2 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 |Rogue |-------|-------|-------|-------|-------| Level 1-4 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 15 | Level 5-8 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 15 | 13 | Level 9-12 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 11 | Level 13-16 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 9 | Level 17-20 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 7 | Level 21 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 5 |

o=======o=======o=======o=======o=======o



--> Warrior includes Barbarians, Paladins, and Rangers.

Note: Multi-classed characters take the lowest Saving Throws offered byany of their classes. For example, a high level Fighter/Mage uses thebetter Fighter Saving Throws versus Paralysis/Poison/Death, and thebetter Mage Saving Throws versus Rod/Staff/Wand.

Weapon Proficiencies {DND041}o======================================================================oMost classes-the non fighting ones, can only become proficient in a

weapon (one rank). This only means they do not take a penalty to hitwith that weapon. Fighting classes (Rangers/Paladins/Multi-classedFighters) can get up to two ranks in a weapon. Single classed Fighters,


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however, can get up to five, granting them tremendous bonuses. Thistakes until level 9 (fortunately, this is as far as you want to go forhitpoints, too.) A character who becomes a grand master (rank 5) in aweapon is far superior in its use than others. We're talking +3 THAC0and three attacks a round-compared the +1 THAC0 of a two-rank character.If you make a straight Fighter (or better, a dual classed Fighter) takeadvantage of their proficiencies, and grand master. The game has many

good weapons, but Large Sword, Maces, and Great Swords are all very safechoices.

Weapon Proficiencies by Class/Level {DND042}

LEVEL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Warrior 4 - 1 - - 1 - - 1 - - 1 ..+1/3 levelsWizard 1 - - - - 1 - - - - - 1 ..+1/6 levelsPriest 2 - - 1 - - - 1 - - - 1 ..+1/4 levelsRogue 2 - - 1 - - - 1 - - - 1 ..+1/4 levels



--> Warrior includes Paladins and Rangers.

--> Single-or-dual-classed Fighters can spend five ranks in aproficiency.

--> Multi-classed Fighters and Rangers can spend two ranks in aproficiency.

--> Everybody else can only spend one point in a proficiency,

Weapon Proficiency Perks by Rank {DND043}These are the lovely bonuses you'll gain for building up ranks in aweapon. This is why dual-classing Fighters who grand master in one typeof weapon is such a good idea.

o===============o=======o=======o=======o===============o| Level | Ranks |To Hit |Damage | Attacks/Round |o===============o=======o=======o=======o===============o| Proficient | 1 | +0 | +0 | 1 ||---------------|-------|-------|-------|---------------|| Specialized | 2 | +1 | +2 | 3/2 ||---------------|-------|-------|-------|---------------|| Master | 3 | +3 | +3 | 3/2 ||---------------|-------|-------|-------|---------------|| High Master | 4 | +3 | +4 | 3/2 ||---------------|-------|-------|-------|---------------|| Grand Master | 5 | +3 | +5 | 2 |o===============o=======o=======o=======o===============o

--> Bards, Clerics, Druids, Mages, and Thieves can only reach therank of Proficient.

--> Paladins, Rangers, and multi-classed Fighters can only reach the

rank of Specialized.

--> The bonus attacks per round only applies to melee weapons.


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Proficiency Selection by Class {DND044}Below you'll find listed the different weapon types in Icewind Dale, andthe classes who can use them. Note that there is an important differencebetween Clerics/Druids and Mages/Thieves. Mages/Thieves are unskilledin the use of many weapons simply due to a lack of martial prowess

(presumably swinging a club takes special training that swinging a staffdoesn't take..? And please, tell me why a Thief can use bows, but notcrossbows? Factually speaking, weren't crossbows easier to use thanbows? And why can Bards use EVERYTHING? I mean, nobody really believessinging is really much of a career, but seriously?) Anyways, if you're afull-time Mage or Thief, apparently you just can't be bothered to learnhow to use most weapons. Clerics and Druids, however, suffer fromreligious prohibition, not lack

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Icewind Dale Faq