I'm using the NPC mod to put a little more depth into the game. However, the problem is that the party is built in such a way that it makes it difficult to know what to do with them. There is an option during the install to change their classes in some ways, but it could make the script wonky so I don't want to mess with it.

Here's who I have:

1) The main character. This is the only character you create yourself. It can be anything. The only caveat is that he has to stay in the top slot or the banter isn't going to work right. For ease of use (detailed below) the character should be a charismatic frontliner. You might be thinking paladin, but...

2) Paladin. You already have one. He has decent strength, mediocre con, and his dex is rubbish. I would be hesitant to put him in the front line being that he's going to take 20% more damage than a character with max dex. Speaking of...

3) Ranger. With a dex of 18, he would be the best guy for the front line. However, he is also my best archer. The ranger extra attack is pretty cool, but I'd need someone else to draw aggro so he can pop in and be dps guy.

4) Fighter. This character was built to dual over to a cleric or druid, which is what I would do at level 3 (druid). Rubbish dex, but that's fine for the mid ranks. All in all, a decent character for where she'll be.

5) Bard. Sure, why not? They're handy. He's also my only arcane spellcaster with this group. But that's fin, I'm sure I can make it work.

6) Fighter/Thief. The character presents as a swashbuckler, but I can put a bow in her hands well enough. She won't be as good as the ranger, but she will be able to hold her own. I'm seeing her as the typical trap-monkey working with the ranger as ranged support. Though, if I send the ranger into the fray, she'll be my only archer.

I started the game and created the main as a fighter that would dual over to a cleric at level 3 (like the druid). However, it is definitely a problem. You don't want your healbot charging into the fray first. They go down, you have no resurrects. However, fiddling with formations so that my guy in the number 1 spot isn't walking ahead of everyone is painstakingly tedious and I'm still in Easthaven.

My thoughts are:

1) Build a second paladin and make him a proper tank. Might be a bit overkill as only one can use the holy sword, but there's still plenty of other good weapons out there. I'd also be missing a proper cleric, and I kinda want one as well as a druid. Technically, I could dual the ranger over to a cleric, (which I would do asap, so no druid spells) but then I lose my best archer.

2) Make the main a squishy (mage?) and then reverse the order of the party. Then, when I'm moving in formation I just have to "flip" it backwards. Problem is that this leaves me with a rather weak front line. I can either armor up my ranger (and he loses his bonus attack not to mention role as archer support) or the paladin (who's going to get knocked around quite a bit.

3) Something else. I'm open to ideas. I just want the party to be balanced and able to protect each other.

Thanks.

How about a single class cleric? Clerics are probably the best class in Icewind Dale because of the amount of undead in the game and the fact that they don't need to find their spells.

Alternatively, you could use a multi-class cleric if you want to also have fighting or arcane spellcasting abilities.

You do not need a single class mage in this game. If you use one, you will find that you get access to new spell levels before you find any spells of the new level. Also, the selection of high level spells is rather lacking.

(I am assuming you are not playing the EE.)

I'm not playing EE.

My dualed fighter cleric is going to be cleric+ the way I see it. He'll be specialized in one weapon and master in another. However, like I said, having the healer on point is just bad.

I'm half tempted to dual over both the ranger and fighter to cleric and druid respectively, then make a paladin. I can make them both halfway decent second ranks, make the paly a bruiser (heavy weapons), then make the main a tanky paly. I'm kinda feeling like this is the best bet, but I'm apprehensive about having such weak archery support. I mean, a F/T that presents as a swashbuckler with a bow is a tad weak (and half-elf at that so she won't even get the racial bonus).

If the paladin could be converted just to a cleric, that would solve everything, but the mod dev advises against those kinds of edits.

Scrolls of "Raise Dead" can be used by anyone with a druid level and are quite cheap for purchase, you don't even have to wait until your cleric has 225,000 XP. If your cleric dies just have your druid resurrect him.

Wow, that does seem like a weird party. No mage whatsoever? Bards are awesome in IWD, but they are *not* primary spellcasters.

That said: This sounds like a really good bet if you don't want any mages. The druid can serve as the main damage-dealing spellcaster, and the ranger/cleric can serve as the main buffer; they'll both be good healers, and you'll have a third one when the bard reaches level 11.

Move the weaker paladin (the one that comes with the mod) to the second rank and give them a proficiency in two-handed sword (so they can hit from farther back and don't draw so much melee damage) as well as bow or crossbow. Since this character isn't on the front line, he can also be your main undead turner.

Keep the ranger in the front line along with your stronger paladin -- it might not be completely ideal, but it sounds like a necessity. I've always found a melee fighter with good stats to be more deadly than a ranged one in the Infinity Engine games anyway, though most people seem to disagree. I don't know the exact details of the stock characters, but you should be able to have the bard, secondary paladin, and fighter/thief all using ranged weapons regularly, so you should be able to do pretty decent ranged damage.

I wasn't paying attention. The ranger is actually an elf, so no dual classing. I can multiclass him if I reinstall the mod and adjust the settings, but I'm already into it and don't want to mess with things.

I ditched the cleric. I needed a stronger front line and fussing with formations was too tedious. Instead, I made a paladin. The fighter that could dual over to a druid or cleric has been dualed over to a druid. It kinda killed me to do so, but her storyline was screaming druid.

As a result, I have no cleric, which is odd. I also have no mage, which is odd. The bard is going to have to pick up the arcane slack with some help from the druid's repertoire. And the druid will have to cover healing as well. When the two paladins and rangers get their spells, they'll probably be doing healing as well.

This whole thing could have been avoided if the dev made the NPC paladin a cleric. Then I'd have everything covered (though stll no mage, but it's easy enough for the bard and druid to cover it with cleric backup). As a paladin, he's just ok. Because his dex, and subsequently AC, is rubbish I can't let him draw aggro. Instead, the main draws all the aggro and then my backup fighters (the other paladin and sometimes the ranger) move in. The bard is pretty much just singing. I have to be judicious with his spells, but if he's not casting, he's singing. The fighter/thief is one of my archers and the ranger splits his time between ranged and melee depending on the situation. He's interesting. With no shield and a one hander, he gets the extra attack, which is handy for holding the line.

Actually, your Druid will learn Heal at level 11 (and will reach that level faster than a Cleric will), which is the only healing spell (other than Resurrection) that is strong enough to use during combat, and your Bard can handle out of combat healing, so you likely won't need to have your Paladins and Ranger heal at all, and it won't be worth the effort to do so.

Also, don't forget that you can buy Resurrection scrolls in infinite quantities (if you have the money), so you can have your druid use them if Heal is not enough. Actually, I am pretty sure that Rangers get the extra attack with two handed weapons as well.

Well, I figured they wouldn't be combat casting so might as well have them help patch people up in the end. There's always DUHM for the paladins, but aside from that, what do you use their spells for? I don't remember swimming in money in this game. I'll probably buy a few for really tough fights were I have to expect some losses, but I wouldn't want to make it a regular thing. I tried it. It didn't work. I wouldn't do it if it did, though. I won't use cheese tactics. It's also why I generally have him in leather armor. I don't think armor switching (particularly in combat) is "fair" and I want to use him as a scout for outdoor maps. This will probably change in later levels when my thief has enough skill points to cover that as well.

Bards aren't the best choice for a primary caster but they can do just fine if they're thrust into the role. Sure, they get less spells per level but they do level up faster making certain spells stronger than a mage with similar XP. It's usually by about chapter 5 you start swimming in money. Still I've never tried the NPC mod but the characters can't be so gimped you have to think about resurrecting them. If you have to resurrect a character, you've done something wrong.

In most IE games, I would agree with you. However, in IWD, between how slowly you accumulate magic and how unimpressive the higher spell levels are anyway, I consider a bard a solid replacement. The song alone more than makes up for the loss of a few spells. I don't see it being a real problem aside from bigger battles. Frankly, I feel like most of this game is a gauntlet through trash mobs. I wish they had mixed it up a little more. Even still, i don't recall a time I've ever had to resurrect in this game.

In any event, I'm at Kresselack's Tomb now. I'm getting to the part with the imbued wights and their magic missiles. I don't have any summons, or a shield spell at my disposal. Is there any other way to diffuse their MMs. These rooms are swarming with trash mobs. While my paladin has an AC of -7 and pretty much is only hit on a crit, the swarm of trash mobs plus all those MMs could be problematic.

Out of combat healing magic is irrelevant once your Bard learns the song that lets the party regenerate.

First level has Armor of Faith, which at high levels (and especially if you stack it) can significantly reduce the damage you take. I believe there's also Doom, which inflects a penalty to saving throws; useful if you are trying to instantly kill an enemy. Second level has Flame Blade, which can be useful when fighting trolls. Third level has Dispel Magic, which always works in this game (there's no caster level check). Fourth level has Recitation (IIRC), which inflects another penalty to saving throws.

Depends on what you want from your party members but yes, I agree with this too, especially when I have a fighter heavy party.

This is just me but I think the bard is best left to cast summons and buffs. Spell casting happens outside of combat, singing happens during combat, no bard function goes to waste this way. Sure, bards can cast damage spells but I would prefer my main caster take that role. Time spent casting spells during combat is time that could be used for singing. It's good to know bards can mix it up if they need to.

There should be a wand of armoury close by. That wand can cast shield. It should be in the room in the north

That's a good point. I kinda do the same thing. My bard combat casts minimally, but I don't really summon. Does it really pack a punch outside of HoF mode? I figured my bard's spell selection would likely focus on Chromatic Orb and maybe Sleep for L1, Web for L2, Fireball and Haste for L3, Courage and Hope for L4, Cloudkill and Elementals for L5, and I'm not sure what for L6.

What do you focus on if your bard is primary caster?

I'm still working out my druid, too. I have entangle for L1 and Spiked Stones for L3, but there's not much of anything that seems super useful for L2. Right now, she's focusing more on healing spells. However, once my bard hits level 11, I'd like to scale back on that and see what the druid is really made of. I ended up just tanking through it. By the time I found the wand, there was only one wight left. And I still needed to identify it.

Obviously not buffing spells, for the most part -- I'd go for a combination of summons and high-damage aoe spells like Fireball. Haste will be important to have ready, though. Maybe debuffs too? I haven't found them as useful in IWD as they are in BG.

Summons don't tend to "pack a punch," but they can be really helpful for reducing the number of enemies you have to fight at once, or for drawing enemy spellfire. One cool thing about IWD is that it has really high-level monster summons, but I haven't been able to get my bard to a high enough level to use them, and my mage can't cast summons, so I don't know how good they are.

I like the L2 equivalent of Spiked Stones -- Spike Growth, maybe? Other than that and the healing spell, I've found every level 2 priest spell practically useless. I had the same problem with the BG series.

Make sure to hang onto it in someone's quick item slot (I have it on my bard). I've found it to be quite useful -- this isn't the last time you'll face imbued wights, and it's good to have against certain spellcasters as well.

My main use for summons is to break up mobs. Summons can pack a punch but never to the extend my party can. In my last game where the bard was my primary caster, he was the only arcane caster, the rest of my characters were fighter types or classes multi classed with fighter. Here were my spell picks:

Level 1: Mostly Chromatic orb, however I used armour at the start of the game and magic missle against mirror imaged enemies. Burning hands is a contender for troll infested areas but mostly, I didn't need it

Level 2: MIrror Image, with the rest of my party being fighter types, enemies tended to go for the squishiest character. I didn't use web too much because 1) the duration can be a pain and 2) a fighter/druid could cast entangle. My bard was always under the effects of Cats Grace too

Level 3: Always 1 or 2 castings of haste. Fireball works but because of my fighter heavy party, I prefered to use Slow, especially before getting Conjure FIre Elemental

Level 4: Emotion: hope and Stoneskin

Level 5: Conjure FIre Elemental, nothing else. Chaos is a contender but I don't like it when enemies run all over the place. Also, undead aren't affected by it

Level 6-7: Monster Summoning. Mass invisibility did help me out once though

Level 8: Usually Mind Blank, but if my character is still under the effects of mind blank before resting, I'll switch this out for another Monster Summoning. Horrid wilting is a also a contender

Unfortunately, IWD1 druids aren't as good as they are in IWD2. Level 2 is defiantely a weak spell level :(

Oh well, at least that wand will sell for a good amount of cash to pick up the lucky scimitar for your druid :P

The bard doesn't get many spell castings per level. If you rely on aoe spells, your bards spell reserves are going to dry up pretty quick. Still, this is probably just boils down to play choice.

Spike growth is a good spell, mostly for the slowing effect but that's a level 3 spell. Level 3 divine spells are a bit lacking to be sure.

Except the next time you face imbued wights will be in Dragon's Eye, the OPs characters will have developed somewhat by then. Shield will be available. The OP is dualing to cleric but not sure if animate dead will be available yet.