Ironman
by King of Pain
a special THANKS to the Forge gang for their valuable inputs and the shaping of the D2 Ironman rule set

Class: Any
Team play optional.
Tag: Iron, IM, Fe, or other Iron-like tag is fine.

Welcome to the Forge!

In Diablo, a core of dedicated gamers seeking extra challenge played a variation called "Ironman". A team of typically 3 players, one of each class, would enter the dungeon and never return to town (or at least use its services) until they or Diablo were dead. Restart in town was not allowed, only resurrection. One game, done with each level in order, start to finish. Despite thousands of such game attempts, scant few, known as Ironman Champions, have succeeded...

Much of the information you will find here will no doubt be collaborative works ranging from forum discussions to coop play testing to contributions.

Rules

A party (or solo character) of all new characters, no gifts/trading/playing with outsiders in any way. (i.e. Closed Team)

Party is on its own, no use of town NPC's except where required by quests. Players may speak to NPC only while it has an "!" over its head, and then only do the business relating to the quest.

When a character dies, it is eliminated. Period. Effectively Hardcore whether the game is played HC or Soft.

Ironmen fight what they face, and must clear a clean "path" from town to the Act boss, killing all bosses seen on the way or known to be in an area along the path.

All quests must be done. All waypoints must be visited.

Once an Act is finished, you may not come back to it.

No repeating areas to gain experience

Game may be halted and continued when any WP is found or Act finished

All players must be present in game continuations. It's a party game.

Key Implications

So what do all these rules add up to?

No repairs, no buying/selling, no gambling whatsoever.

No town healing except incidental when NPC has '!'. Cain ID is a one time Act I bonus.

Resource management, weapon durability, and deciding what to ID, become key issues.

"Optional" areas, not on path and not involved in a quest, remain optional. It's a trade off between some extra experience, additional chances to die, and taking longer to finish an already long and grueling game.

Free mercenaries will be received in Acts 1 and 3. They may be used, and will likely die due to lack of town-NPC-heal. New mercs may NOT be hired.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What Scrolls can I use?
When you have many scrolls taking up inventory space you are allowed to purchase tome(s) to store them. Just make sure you discard the same amount of scrolls that come with the tome. (Note: If the NPC who sells Tomes will also heal you, you may not buy the tome unless you are at full life or if you're visiting them for a quest reward.)

Q: Is it cheesy to level up a certain character by letting him/her solo an area?
No, the soloist takes on extra risk and uses up more resources, and at the same time taking exp from the group. This strategy is often practiced in CD Ironman - a mage would let the warrior get ahead for 2 to 4 clvls.

Q: Should I play my Ironman in Hardcore?
All variants play by the honor system, Hardcore receives no special recognition. A realm HC character shows you have completed a certain act/diff, but it still doesn't prove you played by the rules. Its simple - if you cheat, you suck! In the CD days, we have seen a few claims of Ironman victories but the experienced players can tell the difference from fakes.

Q: Is NPC healing allowed by receiving and finishing quests okay?
Yes, only when the NPC has a "!" over his/her head. Do not interact with any NPC without the "!"

Q: What if I lag out?
You may rejoin the game and proceed as normal. If you lag out and return dead (Death can occur even from a lag spike at the wrong time) you (and your partners in multi) would have to decide if lag was the cause. If you honestly think the lag spike was the cause then count yourself as alive.

Q: What if I lag out and cannot rejoin game?
In multi-player, it is up to your partners to decide if they would carry on without you, or stop the game at the next WP. In either case, you can rejoin the next game without penalty except any quest reward you might have missed - Redoing quest or area is not allowed, and you may not solo to catch up. This also means if your partners go ahead and finish an act boss, they don't want you in the team anymore. ;p

If the game crashed all items you have left on the ground are considered lost. It is recommended you keep in inventory or stash any desirable item when playing on bnet.

Q: Do the WPs from areas like Sewers in Act 2 and Halls of the Dead need to be found?
Yes, all waypoints must be found and paths cleared.

Q: Should the Cube quest be repeated in higher difficulties?
Since all WPs must be found, the extra level would be optional.

Q: Can I save imbue/socketing quest for later?
The "Once an Act is finished, you may not come back to it." rule means you have to do it before you leave the Act.

Since personalization has no effect on actual gameplay, it's up to you when to do that.