Icewind Dale Solo Attempt

I decided give a try to Icewind Dale (and Heart of Winter/Trials of the Luremaster) solo run (i.e. one character only). So far everything has gone quite well with my elven fighter/mage/thief. I'm currently in Wyrm's Tooth, just about to take out the frost giants.

I picked two-handed swords as my main melee weapon skill in the beginning for the highest damage output. Magical greatswords are also quite common. However, because of the auto-hit-with-a-natural-20 rule, you get easily overwhelmed in melee, even by mobs that couldn't otherwise hit you. Add your own low level to-hit bonus to that and you're doubting the fairness of the RNG soon - those 20's pop out suspiciously often!

Thus, I started to use bow whenever possible. I was lucky and found Boots of the Fox (+1 to AC and increase movement speed by 40%), which made shooting on the run easier (after Dragon's Eye level 1). Melee still has its place when running is not possible and/or buffs (Mirror Image, Stoneskin, etc.) are available. One found-working tactic is to cast Web or two and whack mobs down while wearing a Ring of Free Action (pick-pocketable from Oswald).

Also, finding an elven chain from the Severed Hand makes life easier - switching your plate armor on and off to cast a spell/use thief abilities really starts to be a chore after a while. Now if only f/m/t had more than one weapon slot...

One thing that bugs me more than anything is the lag before the character makes the stealth attempt after you have clicked the button. It takes sometimes over 15 seconds! In Baldur's Gates it's always instant. I don't understand why it's different in IWDs (it's in IWD2 too, iirc).

I'll make a post if/when I finish the game and the expansion. I'm looking forward for the challenges in TotLM; I think there were some rather hard fights.