ICEWIND DALE II

                                faq  and
                               walkthrough
                            =================

                             by kaichern tee
                             teekc@mail.com			

                            starts Oct 7  2002
                          finished Oct 19 2002
                       last update Nov 2  2002

                              version 1.2
                       actual version 1.109/33.00-09374.039Zp75.2573


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If you have any question about this game, i suggest you go first to 
one of the following forums because i beleive people there will be
more informative while answering your question.
GameFAQs     at 
       http://s1.cgi.gamefaqs.com/boards/gentopic.asp?board=15119
Black Isle   at 
       http://feedback.blackisle.com/forums/
Socerers net at 
       http://www.sorcerers.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=14
Neoseeker    at
       http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/index.php?fn=browse_forum&d=9039

If you want to email me teekc@mail.com, you would need to specify 
"icewind dale 2" at your title since i receive a lot of junk mails.
Be inform that my PC operating system can decode chinese (traditonal 
and simplified). So if you want to, you can email me in Chinese.

Feel free to correct my mistake. Any help from anyone regarding this 
faq will be credited and none of the email address will be post unless 
requested. Note that your emails might be quoted in this faq. In the 
process, i might modify incorrect words. If you feel that i quoted 
wrongly please inform me. Also, if more then a person telling me the 
same thing, i will credit everyone but use the expression of my own. 
Please inform me if i said something wrong. 
	
This faq may be posted on any site so long as nothing is changed and 
you have my permission for doing so. You may not charge for, nor in 
any way profit from this faq. 

You will find the most updated version in,
http://www.cheatcc.com
http://www.gamefaqs.com
http://www.sorcerers.net
http://www.neoseeker.com

This faq is also posted in the following websites,
http://www.gamesover.com
http://DLH.Net
http://www.ggmania.com

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          This Document is Copyright 2002 by kaichern tee

          ICEWIND DALE II copyright 2002 by Interplay Entertainment 
          Corp. All Rights Reserved. 

          The BioWare Infinity Engine copyright by 1998-2002 BioWare 
          Corp. All Rights Reserved. 

          Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale II, Baldur's Gate, FORGOTTEN 
          REALMS, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, Wizards of the Coast are 
          trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary 
          of Hasbro, Inc., and are used by Interplay under license 
          from Infogrames Interactive, Inc. 

          Black Isle Studios are trademarks of Interplay 
          Entertainment Corp. 

          The BioWare Infinity Engine trademarks of BioWare Corp. 

          All other copyrights are property of their respective 
          owners. 


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                            Table of Contents                    ppgtop
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I    Introduction   ----------------------   ppgint              
        **Please, read this first, it wouldn't be long**

II   Character Creation   ----------------   ppgcre
          II.1 Race                          ppgcr1
          II.2 Class                         ppgcr2
             II.2.1 Front-line Tanker        ppgcr3
             II.2.2 Back-row Caster          ppgcr4
          II.3 Alignment                     ppgcr5
          II.4 Constructing a Band           ppgcr6

III  Skills   ---------------------------   ppgskl
IV   Feats   ----------------------------   ppgfet    
             III.1 Weapon and Armor Feats   ppgfe1
             III.2 Self-improving Feats     ppgfe2
             III.3 Weapon Fighting Feats    ppgfe3
             III.4 Spell casting Feats      ppgfe4
             III.5 Class Feats              ppgfe4

V    Useful Spells   --------------------   ppgspe
             IV.1 Arcane Spells             ppgsp1
             IV.2 Cleric Spells             ppgsp2
             IV.3 Druid spells              ppgsp3
             IV.4 Spells that Overlap       ppgsp4

VI   General Strategies   --------------   ppgstg
VII  Known Bugs That Will Hurt You -----   ppgbug

VIII Walkthrough   ---------------------   ppgwlk
       Prologue   ---------------------   ppg01
          1.1  Targos Dock                ppg02
          1.2  Targos Town                ppg03
          1.3  Targos Palisade            ppg04
       Chapter 1   -----------------------------   ppg05
          2.1  Shaegarne Fort   ----------------   ppg06
             2.1.1  Somewhere Before Village       ppg07
             2.1.2  Torak Base                     ppg08
             2.1.3  Somewhere Before Dam           ppg09
             2.1.4  Dam                            ppg10
             2.1.5  Shaegarne Bridge               ppg11
          2.2  Horde Fortress-------------------   ppg12
             2.2.1  Outside Fortress               ppg13
             2.2.2  Cave to Fortress 1             ppg14
             2.2.3  Cave to Fortress 2             ppg15
             2.2.4  Fortress                       ppg16
             2.2.5  Inside Fortress                ppg17
       Chapter 2   --------------------   ppg18
          3.1  Foothills                  ppg19
          3.2  Glacier Crevice            ppg20
          3.3  Ice Temple Upper Level     ppg21
          3.4  Ice Temple Lower Level     ppg22
             3.4.1 Battle Square          ppg23
          3.5 Chapter Ends                ppg24
       Chapter 3   --------------------------------   ppg25
          4.1  Wandering Village   ----------------   ppg26
             4.1.1  The Missing Children              ppg27
             4.1.2  The Returning Dead, or Undead     ppg28
             4.1.3  The Silent Ghost                  ppg29
          4.2 Cold Marshes                            ppg30
          4.3 River Caves   -----------------------   ppg31
             4.3.1 River Caves Entrance               ppg32
             4.3.2 River Caves                        ppg33
             4.3.3 River Caves Exit                   ppg34
       Chapter 4   --------------------------   ppg35
          5.1 Black Raven Monastery   -------   ppg36
             5.1.1 Monastery Entrance           ppg37
             5.1.2 Monastery                    ppg38
             5.1.3 Eight Chambers               ppg39
             5.1.4 Black Raven's Tomb           ppg40
          5.2 The Underdark   ---------------   ppg41
             5.2.1 Driders Cave                 ppg42
             5.2.2 Leaving the Underdark        ppg43
             5.2.3 Z'hinda Citadel              ppg44
       Chapter 5   -------------------------------   ppg45
          6.1 Kuldahar   -------------------------   ppg46
             6.1.1 Kuldahar Pass                     ppg47
             6.1.2 Kuldahar                          ppg48
             6.1.3 Chult and Yuan-Ti Temple          ppg49
             6.1.4 Slaying the Guardian 
                   and Protecting Kuldahar           ppg50
          6.2 Dragon's Eye   ---------------------   ppg51
             6.2.1 Dragon's Eye Entrance 
                   and Level 1                       ppg52
             6.2.2 Dragon's Eye Level 2              ppg53
             6.2.3 Dragon's Eye Level 3              ppg54
             6.2.4 Finishing Dragon's Eye            ppg55
          6.3 Holy Avenger   ---------------------   ppg56
          6.4 Dragon's Eye Exit                      ppg57
          6.5 Ice temple Revist                      ppg58
          6.6 Fields of Slaughter                    ppg59
          6.7 Saablic Tan   ----------------------   ppg60
       chapter 6   --------------------   ppg61
          7.1 The Plam                    ppg62
          7.2 The Fingers                 ppg63
          7.3 Finishing the Game   ----   ppg64

IX   Frequently Asked Questions   -----------   ppgque
X    Version History   ----------------------   ppgver
XI   Credits and Acknowlegment   ------------   ppgthk



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I introduction                                                    ppgint
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Well, This is the first faq i write. i am a bit old now, and most of the
time, i'll wait for an faq to release to buy the game and play according
to the faq. However this time, i amazingly played iwd2 without any faq.
Sure, i do stuck in somewhere along the course, but i have help from the
good and friendly people who visited www.gamefaqs.com IWD2 forum. As time
went on, the itch of writting this faq enlarged and i cannot resist it.
so there you have it.

For your information, i am more a pc gamer then a pnp-er (pen and paper).
So,  my knowledge about 3ed is very limited. Basic stuff only i know,
technical knowledge limited i am. 

You will notice that for important title in the table of contents, it will
be follow by ppgXXX. i did this for the purpose of simple navigation. You
can now just look at the table, using "find" function in your wordpad 
to find ppgXXX and jump to the correspond content. For example, search for
"ppgthk' will bring you to the  section. In 
case, ppg means 'Powerpuff Girls'. Don't you just adore them?

As you go through the walkthrough, you'll notice that my style and basis
of writting change. There are two main reasons behind this. 1st, the game
has developed into such a state that i cannot continue with my previous
style. 2nd, my mood changed. 

Since you can use 'alt' key to highlight interact-able containers, i guess
there is no need for me to indicate each containers in the game. Just press
the key often to highlight containers and on ground items so you wouldn't
miss a thing. Also, traps are expected everywhere. De-trap wouldn't yield
xp like in BG. Plus, i haven't enounter a deadly trap that cost my life, 
so i wouldn't mention every trap in the game.

As the faq goes, i'll use more and more short form. I suppose it would be
easy to understand but just in case,
     STR = strength                DEX = dexterity
     CON = constitution            INT = intelligence
     WIS = wisdom                  CHA = charisma
     BGx = Baldur's Gate 1 or 2    IWDX = icewind dale 1 or 2
     3ed = 3rd edition rules       pnp = pen and paper
     BIS = Black Isle Studios      hp = hit points

Enjoy the game, enjoy the faq.

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II. character creation                                            ppgcre
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There are a lot of discussion going on in several iwd2 related forums, so i
would not and could not cover them all. You can always pay a visit to these 
forums and post your suggestion there for analysis and criticism. What i 
will cover is very general. 

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      II.1 race                                                   ppgcr1
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Race gives you an advantage at start and influence you far into the game.
The more important aspect the a race would influence is the quests 
available in the game. Some quests will result in better rewards if you 
have a specific race to do the job. There will this never ending discussion 
about which race is best for which class going in every IWD2 forums. 

Don't be discourage by the level adjusment, it will not limit your level 
cap, which is 30. Level adjusment simply means that a character needs more 
experience to level into next. If a character has level adjusment of +x, 
that means at level 1, that character needs xp needed for level 1+x to 
level into level 2. As for the 'favored class', it doesn't nessasary means 
that the race excel in that class. It means that the culture of that race 
has influenced its people in such way that they will not receive an xp 
penalty while multiclass into the class. 

Before i go into it, one thing you have to remember, 
     It is role-playing that counts.

1 >>> Human
      Humans are all around people. They don't have heredity 
      bonuses but they have the finnest educational system to make
      them as competitive as other races. So they might not have 
      + on any abilities, but they can be train into any class and
      do a good job on it.

   a. Human
      human is very flexable and general. You get an extra feat at start
      and extra skill points per level. The best part of a human is the
      'favored class: any' bonus that it offers. Thus, the higest class
      in multiclasses will the the favored class. 
      If you have no idea which race you want to choose, human can't be
      wrong.
  
   b. Aasimar
      Aasimar has a +2 on WIS and CHA. cleric, paladin and druid will 
      benefit from this stats.

   c. Tiefling
      Tiefling has +2 on INT and DEX. Rogue, wizard or even fighter+
      wizard combination will benefit from the class bonus.

2 >>> Dwarf
      Dwarves are very hardcore people. They will slash rather then
      talk and think. Dwarves give an impression of very hard to 
      damage and kill

      Generally dwarf makes good fighter for the +2 CON bonus. +2 
      saving throw against poison is not that crucial. However, +2 
      against spells is is a big plus. In addition, +2 search will 
      also makes them a good rogue. 
  
   a. Shield Dwarf
      Just like human (subrace) to human (race), shield dwarf is the 
      general version of dwarf. The advantages are not to heavy and so
      is the disadvantage.

   b. Gold Dwarf
      It wouldn't be a good idea to make a rogue out of gold dwarf because
      of the -2 dex disadvantage. gold dwarf is more fighter then other
      dwarves. They have an +1 attack roll againist underdark creatures.
      But then, the underdark is just a part of the whole story.

   c. Gray Dwarf
      Gray dwarf is more rogue then other dwarves. They have +4 bonus on
      move silent to go with the default +2 search. So gray dwarf would
      serve best for a figher+rogue dwarf.

3 >>> Elf
      Elves are very magical and agile. They are easy to kill, 
      physically, but they are hard to hit. Elves can be great 
      spellcasters, especially using arcane magic (they are very 
      arcane anyway). Elves can be excellent archers as well. you 
      only heard the term 'elven archer' right? have you ever heard 
      of 'orcish archer' or 'dwarven archer'? But, the game does not 
      really promote you to be an archer. so, elves can only show 
      their magical side but not the agile side.

      All elves will have a +2 DEX bonus. All elves are immune to 
      sleep. All elves have +2 saving throw against enchantment 
      magic (spells that screw up your mind like charm, confusion,
      hold person, etc). All elves have +2 search check. In 
      addition, elves are proficient with large swords and bows 
      (crossbows are not bows, they are simple missile weapons). 
      Since elves are magical, their favored class will be towards
      spellcasters.

   a. Moon Elf 
      general version of elves. receives -2 con.

   b. Drow
      +2 DEX, +2 INT and +2 CHA, you want more? how about 11+lvl spell
      resistance? Drow does a great job in a lot of classes and 
      multiclasses. To make the game interesting, mixing a rogue and wizard 
      would certainly be fun. the downside is -2 CON so they can't be 
      fighters that take a lot of damage. Also, whenever under bright light, 
      a drow receives -1 on everything. 

   c. Wild Elf
      just like moon elf, but the penalty is -2 int. 

4 >>> Gnome
      Gnomes are suppose to be very scientific and rational people
      (rational doesn't mean serious). Ironically, their favored 
      class is illusionist. Generally gnomes are weak at physical 
      fighting.

   a. Rock Gnome
      Seriously, i don't know what to do with rock gnome. Because their
      bonus +2 CON conflicted with their penalty -2 STR. if -2 STR makes 
      you no good at melee, then what's the +2 CON for?

   b. Deep Gnome
      +2 DEX and WIS with 11+lvl spell resistance. It doesn't not end here.
      +2 to all saving throw, +2 to search and hide. Now this is much 
      better then the rock gnome. Combination of fighter+illusionist or
      rogue+illusionist will work fine. Don't worry about the -2 str 
      penalty. Or if you want, For the fun of it, deep gnome can be good
      druid and cleric. Not many race has +2 WIS.

5 >>> Half-elf
      i wish i have better things to say about half-elf but there 
      isn't much. Personally, i like half-elf for the sake of role
      playing. In 2e rules, half-elf offers the widest range of
      multiclassing. Now in 3e rules, since everyone can multiclass,
      half-elf loses its most important advantage. Furthermore, 
      'favored class: any' might seem useful, but human also offer 
      this with 1 bonus feats and more bonus skill points. so which 
      would you rather choose?
      
      Ok, the limited advantages of a half-elf. Half-elves are
      immune to sleep and have a +2 save aganist enchantment magic.
      This bonus is best apply to a fighter since saving throw
      against enchantment magic is a fighter weakness. So, to some
      extend, half-elf fighter is better than a human fighter.

6 >>> Half-orc
      Most people don't accept half-orc and treat them as babaric
      half-breed. Most half-orc are either abandoned children or
      raise by their human single mother without acceptance of
      the society. (Come to think of it, have you ever come across
      a half-orc of orcish mother and human father?)
      
      Half-orc makes the best hardcore fighter with their +2 STR,
      the only race with + STR. Who cares about int and cha when
      being a fighter?

7 >>> Halfling
      Halfling are, in simple term, sneaky. They just like to play
      around. The thought of heroic deeds will never come across
      their minds. Generally, halfling people are almost equal
      to rogues. 
      
      Because of their sneakiness nature, they have +2 DEX, +2
      move silently and +1 to hit with thrown weapon. Because
      they are all small, they receive -2 str penalty. One special
      note is that these people are fearless, +2 morale saving
      throw against fear. They are not that easy to suffer a 
      morale failure to fear.

    a. Lightfoot Halfling
       The key of lightfoot halfling is the +1 to all saving throws.

    b. Strongheart Halfling
       The key of strongheart halfling is the extra feat available at 
       start.
       
 *p.s. So it's really up to you for choosing between a lightfoot or 
       strongheart. You want +1 saving throws or +1 feat? Personally,
       i prefer +1 saving throws because its benefit is more long
       term.

    c. Ghostwise Halfling
       Favored class is barbarian. Gains extra ability of setting natural
       snares. Natural snares work just like entangle, nothing fancy.


==CONCLUSION==  
Remember what i mention earlier? It is role-playing that counts. Of course,
half-orc makes the best fighter. But for the sake of role-playing, pure fun 
and not following prototypes, why not try half-orc paladin, halfling druid,
dwarf cleric? If you have a band of six, the 'not so wise choice' of race
and class would not give you much trouble. In fact you can later tell 
everyone that you finished the game with some most freakish combination.

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      II.2 class                                                  ppgcr2
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Because of the freedom that 3rd edition rule gives, most of the time, 
people would not stay in one class and become a fulltimer. So, as i discuss
about each class, i will include a little conclusion at the end of each 
type of class.

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      II.2.1 front-line tanker                                    ppgcr3
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   As the name suggest, these people are there to take damage and 
   protect your spellcaster. 

1  >>>  Fighter
   Fighter is all about feats. 

   You'll get a lot of extra feats so you can pretty much learn every 
   skill that is available to you. The crucial thing is in the early 
   of the game. You only have a few feats, so you'll need to plan well 
   on what to learn first, and what's next. While deciding what should 
   a fighter's abilities be, generally speaking, minimize charisma, and 
   wisdom. STR and CON are equally important. Of course, if you want 
   to pull down DEX to push INT, you are welcome. Because most likely 
   a fighter will wear the heaviest armor in the game which might 
   negates the benefits of having a high DEX. But beware, some feats 
   require high dex, like 'Dirty Fighting', so don't let your DEX drop 
   below 13. 

   You have feats, so use them well. At early of the game, you might 
   want to choose 'Snakeblood' if you have a choice, Since this only 
   available in first level. 'Dirty Fighting'is a must have feat later 
   on. Distribute your weapon feats so that you can attack effectively 
   with slashing damage as well as bludgeoning damage. Some monsters 
   have high resistance to a damage type. However, those are open to 
   piercing damage usually cannot resist slashing as well. 
   
   p.s. Holy Avenger is a long sword. There is an axe that slay 
        construct in HoF mode. 'Club of Disruption' is a club 
        that destroy undead. 

2  >>>  Paladin
   In the name of law, you smite evil. 

   First, paladin will have divine spellcasting ability starting from 
   4th lvl, which are based on wisdom. so if you want to cast a x level 
   spell, you'll need 10+x wisdom. 

   Second, paladin has 'lay on hand' in 1st lvl. it's a healing spell 
   which determine by charisma. Also, by default, you are immune to 
   disease. At 2nd lvl, you gain 'smite evil' which is also charisma 
   based. It gives you extra damage to evil foes. Also in 2nd lvl, 
   you gain 'aura of courage'. It makes you immune to fear and gives 
   allies +4 saving throws aganist fear. In 3rd lvl, you'll get 'turn 
   undead' which is charisma and lvl based. Also in 3rd lvl is 'remove 
   disease' which can be useful. So basically, you are immune to disease 
   and fear at lvl 3.

   Third, you have restriction on multiclassing. if you don't 
   multiclass to your order's favored class, you cannot lvl up in 
   your paladin class ever. 

   So, if you want to play a full time paladin, you'll need to 
   distribute your abilities wisely. Well, since i never play a full 
   time paladin before, so i wouldn't give me unwise suggestion here. 

3   >>>   Barbarian
   Barbarian is strong but unpolished fighter. 

   By default, a barbarian walks faster then others. Barbarian gains 
   most hit points per level. 

   A barbarian has 'Rage' ability at start. Once cast, it grants you 
   some useful bonuses for fighting. As it wears off, it makes you 
   fatigue and lower your abilities. As you lvl up, your 'Rage' 
   becomes better and at lvl 20, it will become 'Tireless Rage'.

   At 2nd and 5th lvl, you'll gain 'uncanny dodge'. Respectively, 
   while attacked by invisible foe you apply your dex bonous to 
   armor class, you cannot be sneak attack by rogues unless the 
   rouges is 4 lvl highier than you.

   At 11th lvl, you'll gain damage reduction and resistance to all 
   sorts physical damage. 

   STR, DEX, CON max them out. WIS, CHA minimize, whatever left is 
   in INT.

4   >>>   Rogue
   Rogue is about sneak attack. 

   A rogue damage may not be as high as others, but as soon as they 
   are sneak attacking, They deal out extra damage according to 1d6 
   per 2 lvl. 

   Rogue gains 'uncanny dodge' just like barbarian but in lvl 3, 6. 
   in lvl 2, rogue has 'Evasion' to evade area effetive spells. 
   sucessful reflex save to evade all damage and uncessful reflex 
   save to take half damage. 

   The show starts at 10th lvl. Now the rogue will have access to 
   some rogue-only skills. Since these are strictly availavle to 
   rouge, you might want to pick them as soon as possible, because 
   these skills are very useful, like 'Crippling Strike', 
   'Improved Evasion', 'Slippery Mind'.

   Simply put, DEX max. CON, STR, INT are up to you. WIS and CHA, 
   min. Your DEX is going to be highier than you STR, so it would 
   be useful if you pick up 'Weapon Finesse'. Most people will dual 
   wield a rogue so you might want to pick up 'Two-weapon Fighting' 
   and 'Ambidexerity' as well. but there is a better solution to 
   this. please see the conslusion of this part. 
   
   p.s. 'Hamstring' is also a must pick feat.

5   >>>   Ranger
   Ranger sucks.

   i know i'll get flamed about this comment. But sadly, it's true. 
   i like ranger also, i started my D&D adventure as an half-elf 
   ranger. and now it turned out that half-elf is the most useless 
   race and ranger is the most useless class. Note that 'most useless' 
   doesn't not mean 'absolutely useless', just 'relatively useless',
   in this game. Bottom line is, rangers just cannot show their 
   usefulness in the game people called Icewind Dale 2. 

   Though it sucks, ranger has one minor advantage, automatically 
   gain 'two-weapon fighting' and 'ambidexerity' while wearing light 
   or no armor. Now keep this in mind.

     >>according to [Adam Frederick] who built a solo ranger.

             str- 16     dex- 18
             con- 16     int- 8
             wis- 10     cha- 8
     Every level I put my point into either hide or move silently and 
     because of that I can scout out most maps without getting in a 
     single fight. As for proficient points. I put 2 into martial 
     weapon bow and if you want to get 4 lvls of fighter put 3 in 
     (I did this it helps). After that I just put in Improved critical 
     and improved initiative and after that I just put it into whatever 
     is appealing. And once you get to around lvl 8 I find I can fell 
     most opponents in 2-3 hits and I lure them to my tank so that by 
     the time they get to him 3-4 of the enemies are dead. And this is 
     the build I use for party and solo games.

6   >>>   Monk
   They might be useful

   If you want to be a monk, be a full time monk. Multiclass a monk 
   will utterly spoil their unarmed damage ability. In simple words, 
   a 20lvl monks will have much much higher base attack then a 
   20monk/2fighter.Monk has a long list of bonuses while leveling, 
   so i wouldn't list them here. 
   
   The reason that they 'might be useful' is that, IWD2 don't count 
   unarmed attack as a weapon which they should. Furthermore, in IWD2 
   unarmed attack will evoke 'Attack of Opportunity' which further 
   de-grade the real power of a monk. 

   Monk abilities are just as complicated as paladin. It would be a 
   good idea if you seek wisdom from IWD2 forums rather from here 
   as i never touched monk before.

==CONCLUSION==
   Except for monk, you might want to multiclass your tanker into at 
   least one other class, simply because you don't really need a 
   fulltimer in any of the above classes. By multiclassing, you'll 
   have bonuses that other class provide which would be really useful. 
   for example,

   A rogue are bounded to wear light armor. in addition, they are not 
   proficient in shield. So what the hack, multiclass to a lvl 1 ranger 
   to gain 'Two-weapon Fighting' and 'Ambidexerity' by default. In 
   addition, you can further multiclass rogue into fighter for some 
   extra feats.

   A fulltime paladin would not bring you far also. what people 
   usually do is set a low WIS and CHA paladin and stop leveling 
   up after 3rd level, after gaining all the bonuses. Continue to 
   level up in fighter, rogue or barbarian. Doing so, the character 
   not only has some nice bonuses but also the luxury to use 
   'Holy Avenger' one of the best weapon in the game, well almost 
   every other game. Or you can go the other way around, by building 
   a 4 lvl fighter and every lvl to paladin. Doing so, you'll get 
   the much needed 'weapon specialization' and not letting go the
   spell casting ability of a paladin. Either way, it works. 

   Further multiclassing rogue into fighter would benefit much also. 
   A lvl 20rogue/10fighter is just slightly worse than a lvl 30 fighter 
   in face-to-face fighting. By multiclassing into fighter, a rogue 
   gain more feats to fully acquire all the needed abilities. 

   Another popular multiclassing pattern is go into 4lvl fighter with
   any other tanker class. By do so, the character will have access 
   to the ever useful 'weapon specialization'.

   All these are just multiclassing a tanker class to another tanker 
   class. Because i see that unless you are not playing a band of 6, 
   there is not need to multiclass a tanker into a spellcaster simply 
   because their abilities don't overlaps. If however, you are doing 
   trio, duet or solo, you might need to do so and this would be above 
   my limited knowledge. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------  
      II.2.2 back-row caster                                      ppgcr4
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
   They provide support to frontline as well as main fire power to 
   damage monsters. In general, you would want to pick up 'Combat 
   Casting', 'Sbuvocal casting, and max 'Spell Penetration' as soon 
   as possible. Although i would not mention, but 'Dispel' is equally 
   useful and important for all spellcaster and should pick up as 
   soon as possible. Throughout the discussion, arcane refers to 
   wizard, sorcerer, bard and it's spells; divine refers to druid, 
   cleric and it's spells.

1   >>>   Bard
   Jack of all, master of none.

   Bards do have something they are specialize in. A bard provides bard 
   song that will boost everyone's ability, as they gain level, they 
   gain new songs which have different uses according to different 
   occassion. Note that a bard casting ability is based on CHA, so 
   to cast lvl x arcane spell, you need 10+x CHA. my information on 
   bard is very limited since i never touched this class as well as monk.

2   >>>   Cleric
   Heal 

   Yes heal. Of all the spells that a cleric has, heal is the single 
   most important spell you have. It provides instant and full hit 
   point to any character and its casting duration is very short.

   Other seriously important cleric spell are 'Animated Undead' and 
   'Tremor'. 'Animated Undead' is the best and the only useful 
   summoning spell. It upgrades as you lvl up. 'Tremor' will 
   instantly damage all enemies and might knock them unconscious. 

   Different domain affects cleric's domain spell. each lvl of domain 
   spell has 1 additional spell over a choice of two. What god you 
   want to worship is totally up to you. I like Demarch of Mask just 
   because of its invisibility spells and 'Executioner's Eyes'.

   Max WIS for cleric. Max CHA if you want but it is not that crucial. 
   CHA controls your undead turning ability. Have some points in INT
   and that's it.

   Simply put, cleric strength allies, weaken enemies.

3   >>>   Druid
   Nature's servant awaits - Jaheira from Baldur's Gate

   A druid do not support that much as cleric, but heal is still 
   available to druid at a highier level. Generally speaking, druid 
   has druid spells which deals some amount of damage and cannot be 
   learn by cleric nor arcane spellcasters. 

   Some might use druid as a support to main tanker(s) but i just 
   use druid as pure spellcaster. Shapeshifting might work but sadly, 
   it looses its usefulness because enemies get stronger faster. 

   Some might trade a cleric for a


4   >>>   Sorcerer
   Keep'em coming

   The thing about socerer is that they have more ammo to dispose 
   for a particular spell. Therefore, a sorcerer can cast a chain 
   lightning, another chain lightning, another chain lightning and 
   again and again. The hard part is, what spell should they learn, 
   in what order? Different with Neverwinter Nights version, you 
   cannot unlearn learnt spells. so you really need to consider 
   which spells will benefit in a long run and which cannot. 
   
   As you adventuring under HoF mode, you'll notice that it is your
   sorcerer and wizard who do the most damage. Your tankers will be
   shouting for medic every few hits by enemies. But sorcerer and 
   wizard, they never need to heal. If they die, you can bring them
   back to life and they can jump into fight without pick back their
   stuff.

   Considering a sorcerer abilities is an easy task. First of all, 
   max CHA. then, max INT. adjust other abilities as you like, it
   is not that crucial. The reason you want a high INT is that it 
   gives you extra skill points to upgrade your skills. 

5   >>>   Wizard
   Level 1 summon? Yes i can do that.

   Different to sorcerer, a wizard offers you versatility and 
   flexibility. You can almost learn any spell under the sun 
   (specialized wizard has restrictions), and you are not afraid of 
   doing so. You wouldn't give a sorcerer to learn 'Summon Creature 
   lvl 1', but you can do that for a wizard. Summon Creature lvl x 
   is always useful until you have animate undead. 

   Furthermore, there are these i called 'one time spell', like 'Mass 
   Haste'. You only need it once (twice at most), before or during a 
   fight. there is no need for you to keep casting mass haste right? 
   so why let a sorcerer to learn 'Mass Haste' which she/he will only 
   use it once before the next rest. 
   
   For me there is no need to take specialization because my sorcerer
   is already specialized enough. i'll need a person who can cast
   every spells rather a person who can cast a kind of spell more 
   times.

   Distributing a wizard abilities is even simpler. max INT, which 
   is the prime abilities and gives you tons of extra skill points. 
   Then you can distribute other abilities points to anywhere you want. 
   Generally, high CON and DEX.

     >>[Yorien Dragonard] has another view on sorcerer and wizard. 
       "I usually play with rather specialised casters. Have a main 
        wizard (pure), a main healer (usually pure) and then some 
        support casters (for example a male Drow rogue-wiz with a 
        lot of protection and enhancers learnt) and commonly some 
        other chara with support spells . That's why I use more 
        disablers than direct damage."    
       "Well, the main idea here is to have a rather specialised 
        spellcaster, whose main role is to cast some party enhacers 
        pre-combat and make a quick first move just before combat by 
        casting one or two area disables before party rushes. As 
        caster is specialised, he'd have skills/feats conveniently 
        arranged so his spell's DC is sufficiently high to connect 
        on many creatures. So, caster's job is to disable lower 
        menaces while party can focus in the big foes (and commonly, 
        you'll find that some big foes also fall to the disabler). 
        Since it uses only a little variety of spells, sorcerers are 
        pretty capable of being disablers."


==CONCLUSION==
   Keeping a fulltime spellcaster might just be a good idea simply 
   because the highier the level, the more spell slots available. 
   But remember, the game sets the level cap at 30 (which is a lot). 
   By the time a spellcaster reaches level 20 ~ 25, there will be 
   enough spell ammo for any fight. So, starting from level 20 ~ 25, 
   a spellcaster can multiclass to another class for example fighter 
   (for feats), barbarian (for hp), rogue (for evasion). 

   a special case is, monk benefits their armor class from their WIS. 
   You can start your cleric/druid as a monk, then multiclass to 
   cleric/druid after level 1 monk. 
   
   A druid and a cleric will have similiar ablilities. As i played the
   game, i found out that during many fights, my cleric was just 
   standing and waiting for anyone who call for medic. By multiclassing
   and druid to a cleric or vice versa according to 20major/10minor,
   you'll have a druid that can bring back your fallen members
   into life and a cleric that can call down lightning to strike 
   enemies.
   
   Of course there is this ever popular fighter and wizard 
   combination. Fighter+wizard don't have to worry about armor
   since a lot of spell will balance off the disadvantage.
   Useful spells for a fighter+wizard would be 'Mirror Image', 
   'Blink', 'Fire Shield', 'Tenser's Transformation', 'Antimagic 
   Field', 'Trollish Fortitude', 'Seven Eyes', 'Aegis' and 'Black 
   Blade of Disaster'. Abilities for this multiclass would be max 
   STR or DEx and INT, min WIS and CHA, what is left distribute to 
   CON and DEX or STR. 

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      II.3 alignment                                              ppgcr5
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Surprise to see alignment in here? Usually alignment isn't that important 
because ultimately, alignment is a role-playing thing. But alignment in
this game has a very significant effect in a matter of life and death.

  Spoilers--
   At the end of the game when you finally meet the bosses, one of them
   is able to cast 'Blasphemy', this area effective spell will instantly
   stuns anyone that is non-evil alignment for 1 turn, which is very 
   long. 

So, you must have some members as evil alignment, if not all. i would 
suggest that at least your spellcasters be evil alignment. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
      II.4 constructing a band                                   ppgcr6
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solo would be challenging but i think IWD2 was initially designed as an
adventure for a band. You can have maximum six people in a team, so you
can really specialize them. Ultimately, it all falls down to 2 things, 

a) Playing style
   Some would find that a certain combination is very strong and they can 
   just 'walk' through the game. But when that combination falls into 
   others hand, it will not work at all. That is why whenever my friends 
   ask me about what is the best character in Diablo, what is the best 
   combination in Final Fantasy N, i would always give them the same answer
   'there is no best sword in the world, only best swordman'. Any 
   combination would work. How would the combination works is totally 
   dependent on how you control its members.

b) Role playing
   Some classes are not that usefull in the game. It does not really matter
   if you have them in your band or not, like bard, druid and ranger. 
   However, there are people out there, insist certain class be included in 
   the band. For me, it is druid. Partly because i am an environmentalist 
   and partly i just don't know how a band without a druid can adventure
   into the wild. Yes, sure, a durid isn't that useful. There wasn't a time
   that i am thankful for having to bring a druid along, but there was time
   when i curse myself for not bringing an extra cleric. But then, i still
   like druid. 

If you are not a newbie in the game, you don't have the need to look at the
uninspire team suggestion below. 

A simple combination for newbie,
   1 - fighter with paladin    2 - rogue with fighter  
   3 - wizard                  4 - sorcerer                 
   5 - cleric                  6 - cleric               

With a combination like this, you'll have two person for each category of 
class. 
   Fighter/paladin will be the main tanker and rogue/fighter will be 
   the support tanker. It seems that 2 tankers is rather weak but 
   don't forget that you have 4 summoners which means 4 summons in a 
   time. So most of the time the two tankers would carry the task of 
   protecting the spellcasters rather then dealing damage and take 
   the pain. Rogue is a must because you need someone to detrap, and 
   only rogue can do that. There are traps in the game that will not
   go away even you triggered it. Paladin is an 'almost must' because 
   the Holy Avenger you get under HoF mode offers +10 enchantment, you 
   don't want to miss that, do you? On top of that, how about the idea
   of dual-wielding Holy Avengers? A +5 and +10.

   Sorcerer is the main arcane spellcaster. Sorcerer learns all the 
   main damage spells, all spells that is going to be used again and 
   again. Wizard on the other hand provides the 'clean out' job. 
   Whatever usefull spells that the sorcerer don't or haven't learn, 
   the wizard can help out. 

   Two cleric can carry out two different kinds of job, to make the 
   band looks pretty and to make the enemies look ugly. Above all, you 
   have two people that cast provide quick 'Heal' and crucial 
   'Resurrection'. Accident happens, if one cleric dies, another can 
   bring her/him back. 

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III skills                                                       ppgskl
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This section is about skills. If feats give you the extra edge fighting
enemies, then skills give you an upper hand interact with the NPCs and 
surrounding. As you level up, you'll gain skill points, how many skill 
points you gain is dependent on your class and INT. Class provides you the
basic skill points each level, INT modifier gives you the bonus skill 
points. That's why in 3ed rules, INT is generally important. If you really
don't want to invest heavily on INT, at least don't let your INT modifier
becomes negative value. It will hurts. Beside class and INT, human also 
gains extra skill point per level. 

Rule number one in distributing skill points, give them to class skills 
first. When you distributing your skill points you will notice that some
skills require 2 points to move up a level but some only need 1 point. 
Those that need 1 point would be the class skill for the class that you 
level up now. 

Rule number two, give some points to talking skills (bluff, diplomacy and
intiminate). You cannot always select who to initiate a conversation. So,
you would want all of your members to have some points in major talking 
skills just in case. 

And lastly, every skill has association with your abilities. The Ability
modifier will affect if you make a successful skill check aganist a 
situation. The ability followed every skill title incidates that the 
ability modifier will be applied while throwing a check. Related ability
will be indicated after each skill title. 

1 >>> Alchemy (INT)
You'll encounter a lot of unidentified potions in the game. Alchemy is the
skill used to identify these potions. Beside that, Alchemy has a very 
important role in progressing the story. Whenever the story requires you
to perform potion mixing or creation, an alchemist will be required.

2 >>> Animal Empathy (CHA)
This skill has potential, but not in this game. You don't need any aid from
animals to finish any quest. Also, there will not be a time when you curse
yourself for not charming an enemy animal to help you. Animals fighting is
very very rare in IWD2.

3 >>> Bluff  (CHA) 
One of the 3 talking skills. Bluff is the cunning way of conversation. 

4 >>> Concentration (CON)
This one of the best part about 3ed rules. Once upon a time, whenever a
spellcaster (especially arcane spellcaster) is being hit, she/he will lose
the spell currently casting. Concentration gives you a chance to continue
with the spell casting progress when being hit.

5 >>> Diplomacy (CHA)
One of the 3 talking skills. Diplomacy is the polite way of conversation. 

6 >>> Disable Device  (INT)
This skill is used whenever a character is required to disable, mostly, 
trap. Of course whenever you encouter any mechanical device that need to
disable, this will be the skill applied.
  
7 >>> Hide (DEX) 
This is the skill that makes your character 'poof' into thin air. Hiding in
day time is harder then hiding in night. Of course, wearing heavier armor
will affect your hiding skill. 

8 >>> Intiminate (CHA) 
One of the 3 talking skills. Intiminate is the violence way of conversation.

9 >>> Knowledge (Arcana) (INT) 
This stat determines if your character can successfully identify a magical
item or scroll. 

10 >>> Move Silently  (DEX)  
This skill determines if you can move while maintaining hidden. Heavier
armors and some noisy weapons (like fails) will penalize this sill.

11 >>> Open Lock (DEX) 
As of the name suggest, it determines how good you are at lock picking. 

12 >>> Pick Pocket (DEX) 
Determines if you can steal something from an NPC. While being pick 
pocketed, the NPC's level and INT modifier act as the saving throw against. 
So you can see that adventuring under HoF mode, pick pocket is a totally
useless skill. There is no way that you can beat the 'saving throw' against
pick pocket of an NPC.

13 >>> Search (INT)  
Determines if your character can spot hidden traps. 

14 >>> Spellcraft (INT)  
When someone not from your band casts a spell, this skill kicks in to see 
if you can identify that spell. It will show in the conversation box as
'Someone casting -spell-'. It makes life easier if you can identify the
spell can counter it. 

15 >>> Use Magic Device (CHA) 
It allows your chatacter to use wands and such that usually can only be 
used by wizard and sorcerer. 

16 >>> Wilderness Lore (WIS) 
When using this skill (select under 'skills' menu), it will tell you the
general information about an area. Information like what kind of monsters
are likely to linger around or is there a friendly settlement nearby is 
always useful if you are adventuring into an unfamiliar area. Ultimately,
this skill helps you to get through the Fell Wood maze. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV feats                                                         ppgfet
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feat is what makes your character different from my character. Ultimately, 
especially for spellcasters, feat is all about preference. Some might think
this combination will work but some don't. This part of the faq will 
provide with a general reference on what is good and what is not so good. 
As you play the game, you'll discover your style, and know what feat you 
want to choose next. 

Note that some feats will automatically put in use once you have taken the 
feat. However some feats don't. This kind of feats give you an extra skill 
that you have to select it under 'Special abilities' menu to use it. An 
'auto' or 'select' will indicates the difference.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
      IV.1 Weapons and Armors Feats                              ppgfe1
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some classes automatically gain proficiency in certain feats fall under 
this category. Classes noted after every feats indicate that these classes
automatically gain this feat. One exception is that elves gain longsword 
and bow feats regardless of classes.

1 >>> Armor Proficiency (auto)
     Depend on how many rank you choose/have, you can wear certain kind of
     armor without suffering heavy penalties. 
     Effect: When you wear a type of armor with which you are proficient at, 
             the armor check penalty applies only to 'Hide', 'Move Silently' 
             and Pick Pocket. 
             If a character who is wearing armor with which she/he is not 
             proficient at, she/he suffers its armor check penalty on 
             attack rolls and on all skill checks that involve moving.
     Proficiency Types:
     1 rank  - Light  - leather armor, studded leather 
                        (babarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, paladin, 
                         ranger, rogue)
     2 ranks - Medium - chainmail, splint mail 
                        (babarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, paladin, 
                         ranger)
     3 ranks - Heavy  - half-plate, full plate 
                        (cleric, fighter, paladin)

2 >>> Shield Proficiency (auto)
     Effect: You can use a shield and suffer only the standard penalties.
            (babarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, paladin, ranger)

3 >>> Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization (auto)
     You are proficient with using all the weapons from the listed 
     category.
     Effect: One ranks in this feat, you make attack rolls with the weapon
             normally. 
             Two ranks in this feat is Weapon Focus, which grants +1 to 
             hit. 
             Three ranks in the feat is Weapon Specialization, which grants
             +2 to damage. Only characters with four or more levels of 
             fighter may take Weapon Specialization.
             A character who uses a weapon without being proficient with it
             suffers a -4 penalty on attack rolls.

     Simple Weapons:
     Simple Weapon: Crossbow     - light crossbow, heavy crossbow 
                    (babarian, bard, cleric, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, 
                     rogue, sorcerer, wizard)
     Simple Weapon: Mace         - heavy mace, morningstar 
                    (babarian, bard, cleric, fighter, paladin, ranger, 
                     rogue, sorcerer)
     Simple Weapon: Missile      - dart, sling 
                    (babarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, monk, paladin,
                     ranger, rogue, sorcerer)
     Simple Weapon: Quarterstaff - quarterstaff
                    (babarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, monk, paladin, 
                     ranger, rogue, sorcerer, wizard
     Simple Weapon: Small Blade  - dagger, short sword 
                    (babarian, bard, cleric, druid, figher, monk, paladin, 
                     ranger, rogue, sorcerer, wizard)


     Martial weapons:
     Martial Weapon: Axe         - hand axe, battleaxe, greataxe, throwing
                                   axe 
                    (babarian, fighter, paladin, ranger)
     Martial Weapon: Bow         - shortbow, composite shortbow, longbow,
                                   composite longbow
                    (babarian, fighter, paladin, ranger, rogue, ELF)
     Martial Weapon: Flail       - flail 
                    (babarian, fighter, paladin, ranger)
     Martial Weapon: Greatsword  - greatsword 
                    (babarian, fighter, paladin, ranger
     Martial Weapon: Hammer      - warhammer, throwing hammer 
                    (babarian, figher, paladin, ranger)
     Martial Weapon: Large Sword - longsword, scimitar 
                    (babarian, figher, paladin, ranger, ELF)
     Martial Weapon: Polearm     - spear, halberd 
                    (babarian, figher, paladin, ranger)

     Exotic weapon:
     Exotic Weapon: Bastard Sword
                    (Bastard)
                    (Actually, no one automatically gains this feat. Keep 
                     in mind also that, some bastard swords are two-handed 
                     and some are one-handed)


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
      IV.2 self-improving feats                                  ppgfe2
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Self-improving feats are mostly feats that increase your various saving 
throws. These +bonus to saving throws are not that crucial and big deal.
Because later into the game, you have all kinds of spells that can counter
all the bad effects if fail a saving throw. Pick only when there is extra 
feat and you don't know where to put it. DEX affect reflex saving, CON 
affect fortitude saving and WIS affect affect will saving. There are also 
feats that enchance your skill checks and overall performance. 

1 >>> Bullheaded (auto)
      Effect: +1 bonus on Will saves and a +2 bonus on Intimidate checks.
      Prerequisite: Human or dwarf

2 >>> Courteous Magocracy (auto)
      Effect: +2 on all Diplomacy and Spellcraft checks.

3 >>> Dash (auto)
      Effect: Character moves about 15% faster than normal.

4 >>> Discipline (auto)
      Effect: +1 bonus on Will saves and a +2 bonus on Concentration 
              checks.

5 >>> Forester (auto)
      Effect: You receive a +2 bonus on all Wilderness Lore checks.

6 >>> Great Fortitude (auto) 
      Effect: +2 bonus to all Fortitude saving throws.

7 >>> Iron Will (auto)
      Effect: +2 bonus to all Will saving throws.

8 >>> Improved Initiative (auto)
      Effect: The weapon speed and casting time for all spells is reduced 
              by 1 to a minimum of 1.
      Note: All of the feats listed under this category, this feat is 
            equally important and useful to everyone. 

9 >>> Lightning Reflexes (auto)
      Effect: +2 bonus to all Reflex saving throws.

10>>> Luck of Heroes (auto)
      Effect: a +1 luck bonus on all saving throws.
      Prerequisite: Human
      Note: If you cannot decide which saving throw you want to enchance,
            pick this one. Luck will provide an minor extra edge to all 
            your saving throw. 

11>>> Mercantile Background (auto)
      Effect: 5% discount on buying items and a 5% mark up on selling 
              items at stores.
      Prerequisite: Human, deep gnome, or gray dwarf
      Note: To maximize the benefit, give this feat to the person with
            higest CHA. But then, money isn't any real problem in the game.

12>>> Resist Poison (auto)
      Effect: +4 bonus on Fortitude saving throws against poison.
      Prerequisite: Gray dwarf, half-orc
      Note: You may only take this feat as a 1st level character.

13>>> Snake Blood (auto)
      Effect: +2 bonus on Fortitude saving throws against poison and a +1 
              bonus on all Reflex saving throws.
      Prerequisite: Human
      Note: You may only take this feat as a 1st level character. 

14>>> Strong Back (auto)
      Effect: Carry weight increased by 50%.
      Note: If your cleric has problem wearing heavy armor, you might want
            to sacrifice a feat for this. 

15>>> Toughness (auto)
      Effect: You gain +3 hp each time you pick this feat. 
      Note: A total of +15 hp at the end isn't that big deal. 


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
      IV.3 weapon fighting feats                                 ppgfe3
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you want to fight like the people in