...of SCIENCE! fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Oct 6, 2010

• The game is all about party configuration. You can tear through the game with the right set-up. I prefer taking 3-5 characters instead of 6 so that my characters level-up faster (as experience is divided among the party, and unevenly at that). Ideally , you'd want to at least have a tank, a thief, a mage and a cleric in your party. Everything else is pretty optional. You may want a bard because there are some quests that can only be completed by a bard, and because they have an insanely high lore skill at upper levels. Druids are useless unless you're playing with a full six party-members and you have an extra spot, but some people swear by them so go figure.
  
• Don't be afraid to min/max your characters during the creation process. For instance, only one character needs a high charisma. Only clerics and mages need a high wisdom, and mostly just clerics. Don't be afraid to set some attributes as low as possible so you can increase others.
  
• Make sure you equip every character with a ranged weapon.
  
• Area-of-effect spells, like Grease, Sleep, Horror, Fireball, etc. are worth their weight in gold. Remember that some of them, like Fireball, will affect party-members. Learn to use your cleric's buffing spells to augment resistances so that your tank can stand in the middle of a firestorm without getting too badly injured.
  
• Along those same lines, learn as many buffs (Bless, Chant, Prayer, etc.) as possible with your cleric. Avoid any buff that negatively affects your cleric's speed, as certain buffs will drastically reduce their movement rate or immobilize them entirely after casting. Always keep a decent number of Cure Light/Moderate/Major Wounds spells memorized. Sanctuary is another good one to take.
  
• Exploit the terrible enemy pathfinding and AI. Most of the battles in Icewind Dale can be effectively managed by luring enemies away from the group. More often than not you'll walk along a narrow corridor into a large room full of enemies. Position your party at the start of the corridor, then have them all stay there while your tank walks down the hallway, into the room, and then as soon as the enemies spot him pull him back down the hallway. Some, but not all, of the enemies will follow, allowing you to pick them off at ease.
  
• Whenever you are in a dungeon and you are not in combat mode, make sure your thief is detecting traps. Traps start out pretty harmless, but they increase exponentially in damage, and can completely gently caress your party over very quickly. Also, remember that because this is D&D, just because your thief can SPOT the trap doesn't mean he can also DISARM it.
  
• To be perfectly honest, if you're playing on the PC, you may want to start the debug mode (it's very easy, there should be a million instructions online about how to do it), so that you can use the Ctrl+J cheat. Basically, with the debug mode active, if you point your cursor somewhere at the map and press Ctrl+J, then your party will immediately teleport to that point. You can't teleport into the fog of war, so it has zero combat use, but it's super-handy when you've cleared out a dungeon and you don't feel like walking back through a dozen maps (Vale of Shadows, Dragon's Eye).
  
• Also, if this is your first time playing a classic D&D RPG then you should probably read up on the mechanics of the game (AC, THACO, Saving Throws, Rounds/Turns, etc.). None of it is really essential but it will help you understand why the game behaves the way that it does.
  

• Keep the Bronze Sphere when you find it. Hang on to it until the end of the game.
  
• Keep a hammer and prybar with you at all times.
  
• Keep a single piece of junk with you. Once you figure out what it's for, you should be able to figure out when it's safe to throw it away.
  
• Keep the Decanter of Endless Water, and be sure to get the keyword.
  
• Make sure you retrieve both your abilities (Raise Dead and Stories-Bones-Tell), by speaking to Deionarra in the Mortuary and Stale Mary in the Dead Nation, respectively.
  
• Morte's teeth can be upgraded, or swapped out for different sets of teeth. You just need to find the right people who have teeth to give away.
  
• In Sigil, you may be approached by a man called Mar who wants you to deliver a box for him. Do it without opening the box. Then, much later in the game when you return to Curst, explore the whole map before gating to Carceri. There will be a large, high-level demon called Mar's Fiend or something and if you manage to kill it (it's a very difficult fight) it will drop some of the best items in the game. The demon will only be present in that map, however, if you delivered the box to Mar without opening it.
  
• Keep Soego's head. You'll be able to trade it for something valuable.
  
• The bartender at the Smoldering Corpse has something that belongs to you.
  
• When you're in the sewers/catacombs below The Hive in Sigil, explore all the small rooms and crypts thoroughly. In one of them, you'll find a severed arm. It's hard to explain why this is so important without spoilers, but it really is. Be sure to take the arm to Fell (the tattooist), and when you do be sure to get Dak'kon to translate (even if you're capable of translating yourself).
  
• Check out ALL the globes in the Sensorium. Most are just flavour text, but some are integral to the story.
  
• This is a Bioware game so most of your companions (Dak'kon, Morte, Nordrom, Vhailor) can get their stats upgraded through conversation. It pays to talk to them a lot, and to save before you do.
  
• Be sure to unlock ALL the Circles of Zerthimon if Dak'kon is traveling with you. And as a word of advice, there are most likely more than there appear to be.
  
• Finally, speak to everyone with a name. PST is a game of conversation and dialogue, not combat. Many people in Sigil will have information about your previous incarnations, whether they realize it or not, and the only way you can access that information is through dialogue, more often than not. Especially once you hit the Foundry and Cleric wards. You won't spend the whole game in Sigil, so make sure you finish everything you possibly can before leaving. Not only will you get more experience and items, but the more you know about YOURSELF the more dialogue options you have for the rest of the game.
  

Barudak fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Oct 8, 2010