Hi,

first of all please excuse my bad English. I have almost no experience in D&D Games (only played IWD1) and want to start with ToeE (Co8 is installed). I already have a Party in my Mind but I have some Questions about it.

*Human Fighter - Tank
-Is Sword&Shield a good way to go or should i wield some exotic Weapons?
-What are his key Feats/Skills?
-Should I Dual-Class him?

*Half-Orc Monk - Second Tank/Mage Killer/DD
-Is Quarter Staff till lvl5 and then unarmed Combat a good Idea(read something like this in a Guide)?
-What Feats are the ones to go?

*Human Cleric - Heal and Face of the Party
-Should go for Craft Weapons, right?

*Human Wizzard - Nuke
-Should then go for Craft Armor/Rings?

*Gnome Rogue/Sorc - Melee Nuke
- I want him to be a Rogue with magic Touches and other 'melee' Spells. How would you build this?
- What Weapons should he use?

Does that sound like a vaild Party? What do you think?

Sword and board is always a safe way to go if you want to make sure that your tank has a high AC (so is difficult to hit). Alternatively, if you want your tank to have better offensive capabilities at the expense of a little defense then you may wish to go with a two-handed weapon with a long range (like a Glaive). Longer range weapons are quite useful in TOEE, and if you have your fighter also pick up Whirlwind Attack and Great Cleave then it almost feels unfair at times (I've had a fighter with this setup routinely wipe out a large portion of late-game mobs in a single action using this setup). Quarter staff (or other monk weapons) until you gain a few levels is a good idea as unarmed damage is a bit weapon to start with until you gain a few monk levels which pump it up significantly. For feats if you're planning to use this character to take out mages quickly then I'd recommend picking up Mobility (to help you run right for the mages while getting a big AC bonus against attacks of opportunity), along with Improved Trip (so that you can quickly put mages on their ass then finish them off). If your monk has a high dex (which he should) then Combat Reflexes is also a good one to pick up, as it will give you additional attacks of opportunity each round equal to your dex bonus. Definitely. Also be sure to choose the Good domain on character creation, as this is the only way you'll be able to craft Holy weapons (which are very useful, as almost every enemy you face is evil). Yep, between a cleric and a wizard/sorc you'll be able to craft just about anything you want, plus having two crafters allows you to spread the lost experience out a bit so one character doesn't end up gimped by it. However, I'd actually recommend a sorcerer over a wizard as they have much better versatility on the fly (since wizards need to re-memorize their spells and rest if you want to change up their tactics). Pick up some AOE damage spells, but also pick up a few AOE disabling spells (Stinking Cloud is great against anything that breaths). Just a few sorc levels with give you mirror image, which is absolutely great for protecting against melee attacks. I'd recommend using a Spiked Chain for a weapon, as this is the only long-ranged melee weapon that can be used with Weapon Finesse (since your Dex should be much higher than your Str). In combat throw up a mirror imagine, then try to position him in a flanking location to take advantage of sneak attack damage.

Fighter

Yeah, Glaive is great in ToEE. Other reach weapons as well.
Combat reflexes work real fine with this, if you can manage the feat (and have a decent dex score).
I'd take a lower CON if necessary, a fighter with a reach weapon really benefits from high DEX (and obviously high STR).
Cleave and great cleave are the main killers. I'd actually grab these first, weapon focus and specialisation later.

Dualing in 2 levels of Rogue would give you "evasion", allowing you to potentially avoid all damage from spells like fireball. But you'd lose a bit on hit points and attack bonus.


Unlike other D&D games, ToEE is real hardcore with the combat system. Attack of opportunity is something you really, really have to pay attention to.

Cleric

If you pick Law domain, you can craft Order weapons, giving bonus damage against chaotic.
If you pick Good domain, you can craft Holy weapons, giving bonus damage against evil.
Pick both and you can craft both into the same weapon (with normal damage enchants).
Makings for absurdly effective killing instruments right there.

Wizard and Sorcerer

Spell penetration is very useful, lots of opponents have magic resistance and this lets you overcome it.
Empower or Maximize are very effective as well. especially when combined with spell penetration.
Might be suprised in how effective lowly "Magic Missile" can be against high level opponents,
unavoidable attacks with max damage are... nice.

Rogue/Sorc

Sounds interesting. I'd only go for a few levels of one or the other. Should make a fine thief with some buffing ability, or a good sorcerer with thieving skills and some melee capability. But going 50-50 all the way would probably make a rather ineffective character in either role.

Good party. I think the advice given is sound. A couple of points to I can add are

- Reach weapons are very powerful in this game as they can be used for close combat as well. In essence you get a lot of attacks of opportunity for free. Especially if you have combat reflexes as well.

- I would consider dualing the wizard in stead. The point of a rogue is skills and the amount of skills are closely tied to intelligence -which is the primary stat for a wizard.

This... is a very good advice. Sorcerer makes IMO a better bombardier anyway.


Oh, one more piece of advice.
Web is a real game changer super effective spell here.
Sleep is awesome at lower levels, but web keeps on giving all the way through.

Makes a huge difference in whether you're swarmed by 12 bugbears, or faced by 12 bugbears struggling under a mess of goo and pierced by arrows, getting loose one by one and promptly slaughtered by the waiting fighters.

Overall, what works here isn't necessarily the same as what works in some other D&D game. I remember one particularly nasty and fearsomely overpowering opponent, who was suddenly a walk in the park after being hit with ray of enfeeblement and web (so he's no longer strong enough to easily tear free). All it took was a few rounds of bow fire after that.

Thank you all!
I will try to make good use of your Tips&Tricks.