With the recent release of IWD2: Special Edition – which differs from the mod IWD2: Enhanced Edition by staying closer to the original rules and focusing on quality and bug-fix changes – I’ve been inspired to try to complete an IWD2 run. For this expedition I have chosen “Winter’s Warriors“, a party made up of some of the oldest characters in my roster. Some of these folks date back the D&D Red Box. There will be no mods for this run beyond the IWD2 “special edition” (plus voice-packs and the like).
Katrina and her crew will be out to prove themselves, with Targos being their first destination after coming together as an adventuring company.
Edit: After a first run through Targos, I realized a few things:
- I needed to tweak the character rander descriptions so that they wouldn’t be impossible to render in combos.
- I was still thinking in 2E terms when I laid out the classes instead of 3E, so I needed to tweak a few things to get the best experience out of the run
Lady Katarina de Winter
Build: Human Paladin 2/Fighter X
Combat: Sword and Shield
Skills: Diplomacy
“czech warrior woman,5’10”,age 35,strong,leader,loose brown hair,brown eyes,leather over chainmail,simple blue cloak,one hand on her belt and the other holding a wooden shield with winter motif,confident smile“
Katrina is a woman out to forge her own destiny. Born to a minor noble family, she chaffed at being pushed into the role of a proper noblewoman – preferring instead to practice with the guard and listen to the tales of her black-sheep grandfather (a retired paladin adventurer).
In IWD2 Katarina will be primarily a Fighter, but with a small bit of Paladin training. She learned a lot from her grandfather, but she’s not the holy warrior he was.
(Edit: Basically just enough Paladin to get some leadership / inspiration flavor without progressing to spells. She has the attitude, but not the religious devotion. She’s also the leader and primary negotiator for the team, and a bit of Paladin helps with Charisma and a focus on diplomacy.)
Percival Took,”Percy” :
Build: Halfling Fighter X/Rogue 4
Combat: Small Blades, Dual Wield, Throwing
Skills: Bluff, Stealth
“halfling male,hobbit,age 45,brown hair,lopsided grin,strong jawline,clean shaven,confident,black leather vest,white shirt,black pants,high black leather boots,tossing a knife in the air,smiling at the viewer”
Percy is a cool, confident action hero in halfling form. He is absolutely incredible with throwing knives, and has been Katarina’s friend and confidant since she was a teenager. He is fearless, skilled, and a master at inducing larger folk to dismiss him as a harmless braggart to their peril.
(Edit: Mostly Fighter, but with some rogue to help with stealth, conversational skill, etc. He’s a commando type. Fortunately as a 3E halfling I can toss in a bit of Rogue here-or-there at will at no penalty. Also mixed in “hobbit” instead of “midget” for his tags. Helps a lot with getting his height right in combo scenes, and that look is reasonably stable when I start trimming tags for complex renders)
Garin TrapSpringer
Build: Dwarf Ranger X
Combat: Axe and shield, Crossbows
Skills: Animal Empathy, Search, Traps, Wild Lore
“dwarf explorer,male,swiss,short,stout,age 35,slight smile,brown hair,short beard,helmet,leather over chainmail shirt,small tools on his belt,backpack”
Garin is a dwarf raised in a clan specializing in trapsmithing. But he realized from an early age that he did not at all care for trapping, hunting, or any of its other related industries. So he took to sneaking out at night and disabling the traps his own clan had built and sold and releasing the animals. Eventually he was forced to confess and leave his home. He met Elara on one of his trap-sabatoge night-runs, and the two became fast friends. He has been training with her as a ranger ever since.
(Edit: If I were being optimal in 3E he would be Fighter/Rogue. Better feats, and as a Dwarf he could freely mix-n-match them to taste. But Ranger is really what he is, and animal empathy is non-negotiable. So he’ll have to be either an even mix of rogue/ranger or suffer an XP penalty. If IWD2 implemented more of the PnP feats I could scrape together something using pure ranger + skill focus feats in traps. Still hoping in IWD2 I can squeeze enough traps ability out of pure Ranger to make him work. Sneak attack would *not* be his thing.)
Elara of Mielikki
Build: Elf Druid of Mielikki
Combat: Bow, Staff
Skills: Concentration, Wild Lore
“cherokee wood-elf woman,middle-aged,dark pony tail,green eyes,leather scale armor,green hooded cloak,cherokee jewelry,green face tattoos,longbow,suspicious“
Elara grew up in an isolated Wood Elf clan. Strictly vegetarian, quite isolationist, and devoted to their own interpretation of Silvanus. But Elara was drawn to Mielikki instead, and she yearned to see more of the outside world. Eventually Elara left her home to see the world and explore Mielikki’s teachings among the other races. She found much she did not like and did not understand in the outside world, but eventually she made a fast friend in Garin, and has been teaching him the ways of Mielikki ever since.
(Edit: In another system she would be a nature cleric, but both in terms of RP tags, skills, spells, and role she is much more like a Druid in IWD2. Also switched ethnicity to “Cherokee”. It still makes her look a bit more “copper skin, sharp features”, but works together better with the wild-wood-elf theme in AI terms and that and the tattoos help her visually stand out from Katrina and Solstice better.
Kordaal Vanagas:
Build: Human Barbarian X/Rogue 4
Combat: Polearm Specialist
Skills: Intimidate,Locks,Pickpocket
“Romani male, tall, athletic, mid 30s, smirk, long black hair, goatee, blue bandanna, leather armor over loose shirt, holding a spear“
Kordaal was raised in a Gur clan, and is a flamboyant, showy spear fighter who loves nothing more than acrobatic finishing moves and fancy spins and dodges. He is perfectly capable of fighting “seriously” when the moment calls for it, and he often uses an initial showy/spinning style to get a feel for his opponent and lure them into misjudging him as more showman than fighter. He is extremely good at reading people, extraordinarily devoted to his sister Solstice, and not nearly as open and trusting as he allows you to believe.
(Edit: Barbarian isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when looking at him, but if you ignore the flavor and look at the crunch – he’s a fast adrenaline junky who favors lighter armor with a wild, energetic fighting style that can leave him worn out in long engagements. Sound familiar?? If IWD2 implemented the 3.5E “whirlwind frenzy” alternative Barbarian rage it’d be perfect, but this should still work well for him. 3E Human Barbarian provides enough skills that with a dash of Rogue I can get him to cover locks. And all aspects of Rogue – including Sneak Attack – fit perfectly well with his concept.
Solstice Vanagas:
Build: Half-Elf Bard 1 / Sorceress X
Skills: Concentration, Spellcraft, Knowledge (Arcane)
“Romani bard woman,half-elf,mid 30s,tanned,long black hair,red bandanna,romani jewelry,loose white shirt,loose pants,cloak“
Solstice is Kordaal’s half-sister. They share a mother who died in childbirth, but while Kordaal’s father was a known and respected member of the clan Solstice’s father was a mystery. She learned magic from her grandmother, but rather than sticking to subtle tricks and minor divination as was the Gur way she rapidly developed an aptitude for more powerful magics. Without anyone to properly train her this resulted in a number of unfortunate accidents until she was driven out of the clan – her brother, as always, following behind her.
(Edit: I keep considering full Bard for her, and there’s a lot about her that would suggest that. But a 3E bard just isn’t good enough as a caster to support the character concept. Both 2E and 5E bards can fill in as a poor-man’s wizard. 3E bard just… can’t. So going Bard/Sorcerer. That fits her background as “started out learning a subtle form of magic, then grew into something more powerful”. Also gives her a leg up on skills at the expense of delayed spell growth. And using Bard instruments and such would be right up her alley. Non-optimal, I know. But it just suits the character concept well. Also tweaked the AI image tags, as “bard” works better with that than “sorceress” for the look I want her to have.)
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