by Khoram » Thu Aug 20, 2009 1:54 pm
Couple of thoughts I hope you find helpful. I'm no encyclopedia or guru either, but I have been playing D&D and turn based crpgs for a while and I love them.
- your mage runs out of spells so quickly because he's only 1st level, it will get better as he levels up. Also, make sure you've got as high an ability score in his Intelligence (Int) as possible, as this may also give you bonus spells (at least it does in some versions of D&D, I haven't read the OGL rules KotC is based on to verify). And while it may not help in that very first couple of battles, give your mage a crossbow and buy some bolts, and later wands and scrolls (which if you take certain feats, he can make himself) so that he can do something when he has no spells to cast. You may want to consider making sure your mage's Dexterity (Dex) score is also fairly high, as any bonuses will help not only with ranged combat attack, but also his armor class, making him slightly harder to hit than a slab of meat with a burlap sack on it.
- your fighters will get tougher as they level up, they should be getting 8-12 hp per level. Make sure they have fairly high Constitution scores (Con), like 16+. Again, won't help for the first battle, but you will soon get better armor for them. As for that first battle, as others have said, let the guards go first. Also, don't rush outside the gate, try to set up a sort of defensive position on your side of the gate, and make the enemy come to you. Keep your mage well away from the gate or he'll get peppered by arrows and taken down quickly.
- in general, try to flank whenever possible. this means getting 2 of your characters on opposite sides of an enemy (you'll notice the enemy does it to you *all the time* - also try not to let them do it to you!) for attack bonuses. Using the 5 foot step prior to attacking is useful here - don't just click to move, as this may provoke an Attack of Opportunity. You need to use the actual Move 5 Foot Step command or whatever the action is called.
- try to use the 5 foot step with your cleric and mage whenever you need to cast in battle if there is an enemy next to them, as casting may provoke an attack of opportunity, and if they fail concentration check, they will lose the spell. Taking the Superior Concentration feat and having high Constitution will help with casting in battle (it will happen, no matter how careful you are in your positioning).
- This game is probably the first I've played of its type that makes all of the "secondary" or tactical feats and spells actually useful. I say "secondary" because in most other computer versions of D&D, either the feats and spells aren't included or are half-baked implementations, or else they are usually a waste because the game lacks tactical complexity and it only really matters how high your AC is and how high your attack bonus and strength modifier is. Not so here. Positioning, saving throws (plus enhancements like Iron Will), and tactical abilities like Combat Reflexes, Prayer, Silence, darkness, blindfighting, etc all are very useful here.
- Oh if you're not using it already, make good use of the Ready on Approach/Ready on Spellcast actions to set up your positions. Don't just rush all your characters off to various enemies, try to think of the battlefield as a chessboard where you need to think about where you are, where you want to be, and if you can't get there in one turn, move part way and then ready your character. That way you get to exert some control over how the battle progresses instead of just being reactive.
Hope that helps!
Last edited by
Khoram on Thu Aug 20, 2009 2:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
