I don't really like to use my clerics as fighters, but I will use them as tanks. The difference being I don't expect them to deal much damage but they can get really good AC and keep guys off your squishies.
An interesting notion... but the traditional "tank" is usually a character with both good armor and lots of hit points. The Cleric lags behind the Warrior classes in terms of hit points, so they wouldn't be my first choice to fill this role. But, with magical aid, I can see where this becomes an effective strategy.
But they are better than fighters because of buffs they can only give themselves. I would say a Mage/Cleric with a high level is the best tank. Not for general tanking but for tanking strong enemies after he is buffed. Another great tank is a high level Swashbuckler. I got one to -30AC (it doesn't get lower than that) in Throne of Bhaal but you have to know which enemies still will hit him often enough because of whirlwind attacks and such.
and thieves ARE necessary - you pretty much *can't* get through Durlag's Tower without one. (or nonstop raising, but that's just ridiculous)
No in almost every run through the tower I either didn't have a real thief or didn't have one with enough points in disarm traps. You just have to reload a bit and send a high HP character with some fire resistance to the heavily trapped areas where you must go.
In BG2 I almost never have a thief and its really no problem at all because there aren't many nasty traps in BG2 and the ones that are are usually "bad status if you don't save against it" traps so it isn't that bad and for the few containers with good stuff knock does the job. For a beginner I would say a thief should really be in the party though.
And about pure Clerics, I often read that Viconia 'kicks' ass...oddly I never experienced it in my games, might be the limitation to only 1 ApR. It's also a waste to give her warhammers like crom feayr.
@valky, The benefit to wielding Crom Faeyr is that it combines a decently-powered magical hammer (effectively a +8 magic weapon that deals double base dice damage of a normal hammer) with a Strength girdle, which theoretically allows you to wield it while wearing one of the game's other girdles for some other bonus. Giving Viconia Crom Faeyr can provide some benefit, actually. Even if you're not putting Viconia on the front lines, if you're stuck with Crom Faeyr and don't want to have one of your warriors use it (for various reasons; let's say they're all using weapons that you like much better on them), you can give it to Viconia and allow her to benefit from the bump in Strength -- a stat that Viconia (in BG2) sorely lacks in. This allows her to carry more, something which is really crucially important in some parts of the game (like the Underdark, where you are trapped and unable to visit other map locations for an extended period of time)
However, combat is really not the area where Viconia "kicks ass." Of the NPCs available to you in BG2, Viconia is actually the best cleric you can find (something that is not necessarily true of her in BG1). She's a pure cleric (unlike Anomen and Aerie, who are dual/multi-classed), and she has Wis 18, which means she will give you the most priestly bang for your buck. Anomen and Aerie each give you something different: Anomen's got some levels in Fighter, making him a decent combat character, and Aerie is a priest-mage, but if you're looking for pure, unfiltered clerical power in your party (at least in BG2), always pick Viconia.
Yeah~ I don't use them for main tanks. But sometimes there are too many guys for your fighter-types to stop them all. And the next guy up to the plate is going to be the cleric with platmail and a giant shield, not the rogue or squishy wizard.
Yeah absolutely. Clerics are excellent as emergency tanks, but not generally acceptable as main battle tanks! (more like Tank Destroyers or even Armored Cars as opposed to true Main Battle Tanks)
@sixheadeddog Hmm, I do agree and I do not the highest enchantment a weapon in 'vanilla' can have is Firetooth. I don't wanna talk about cheating weapons from the anvil mod, but I'd consider items from weimar's itemmod 'fair'. That aside, Firetooth is upgraded a 'real' +7 enchanted weapon in counting in what-it-can-hit (maybe I misunderstood you)..that's the highest possible regularly weapon enchantment you can get in BG2/ToB.
Further 2d4 of Crom Faeyr is the least I can expect from a weapon I spent on a shitload of superb magical items at. Other 'basic' weapons have that by default... What am not quite agree with, is the fact, that it does only damage...even the not-mentioned +5 electricity. The procc is *sorry* utter garbage, as it does affect enemies you 'd kill nearly naked at the stage you are able to forge that hammer. All that's left is the 25 STR it offers and a free gauntlet/girdle slot. The only item that would go well are the specialization gaunts...but I'd give them rather a character, who does less damage but attacks for more than 1 ApR.
But that's the point of a RPG game it gives me the options, to how I can handle the things my way. ie I love to have 2 frontliner with biiiiiig friggin' shields (cleric included), maybe 1 2-handed-weapon wielding nasty guy or a dual-wield-stabber. So we do see things different, and I respect your opinion. But in 'my world' with my heavy frontliners, emergency heals or similar stuff is barely needed, so I expect my cleric doing business on yer own. And cause he/she is having such a nifty damn big shield, he/she gots interrupted less often and is able to cast more stuff successfully.
And for the agreement part: "Viccy" is for sure the best non-PC cleric/buff-bot/healer/supporter ever, that load of additional low-lvl spells sure is very handy. Yet, anomens' upgrade makes him also a decent candidate for the 2nd place. Cernd is way too weak and Jaheira with her newly founded 17 DEX an awesome frontline-druid.
I currently play with Spell-Revisions..so it's really hard for me to decide to kick Jaheira..but I will [lol] That's kind of the most weird/odd mod I have ever been played with...it actually set barkskin to the dnd edition rules (stacks with any armor) and gives her one hell of summoning spells.
*uhm* I drifted away....
That aside :P It's a game..am supposed to play it my way..I love to discuss things, don't shell at persons, whose opinion differs from mine, might even learn a thing or 2 and so on :>
Yeah~ I don't use them for main tanks. But sometimes there are too many guys for your fighter-types to stop them all. And the next guy up to the plate is going to be the cleric with platmail and a giant shield, not the rogue or squishy wizard.
Yeah absolutely. Clerics are excellent as emergency tanks, but not generally acceptable as main battle tanks! (more like Tank Destroyers or even Armored Cars as opposed to true Main Battle Tanks)
It's not unusual for my clerics to have AC on par with, or surpassing, those of the fighters, because my clerics tend to focus 100% on defense where the fighters go for damage. With equivalent armor and stats, the cleric with the big shield is gonna have better AC than the fighter with two swords or the halberd.
Again, the 25 Strength is *nothing* to sneeze at. CF is a +3 magic weapon. IIRC, there aren't a lot of (if any) enemies in BG2 that require +4 or better weapons to hit, so in terms of weapon immunities you're mostly covered. But add to this the +7 bonus to hit for 25 Strength and you've got a total of +10 to hit *before* weapon specialization bonuses are factored in. This is an almost guaranteed hit each and every time for even the most basic of BG2 starting warriors, meaning that if you equip this weapon on a dual-wielding Fighter, with maxed out weapon masteries and two-weapon style spec, at least one of your hands is always hitting for at minimum 28 points of damage -- max 35. Consider, though, that the 25 Strength also gives a +14 damage bump to the weapon in this character's other hand, which means that for each set of attacks from the character's two weapons, Crom Faeyr is actually responsible for a minimum of 42 points of damage.
Consider also that this minimum damage is the best that a Cleric can hope to do: another really good clerical weapon is the Flail of Ages +5, with a base minimum damage of 17 and a +5 bonus to hit -- compare again with Crom Faeyr's base damage 24 and +10 to hit. Now, this comparison only considers the two weapons on their own, without potential to improve the Flail of Ages' bonuses with a Strength Girdle or gauntlets. But that's actually part of the beauty of Crom Faeyr: this benefit is built into the weapon itself.
Of course, I'm heavily biased in this. Crom Faeyr is, after all, a superiorly crafted dwarvish weapon. This makes comparisons with all other weapons incredibly unfair: after all, it's not the Flail of Ages' fault that it had the misfortune of not being crafted on a dwarven master's forge.
It's not unusual for my clerics to have AC on par with, or surpassing, those of the fighters, because my clerics tend to focus 100% on defense where the fighters go for damage. With equivalent armor and stats, the cleric with the big shield is gonna have better AC than the fighter with two swords or the halberd.
Oh yeah no doubt. And they can can have decent, if not outstanding hit points. It's in hitting power where they don't quite measure up.
So I guess that makes my TD/MBT analogy backwards; TDs generally have similar firepower, but are deficient in armor compared to true tanks. Dang, just when I thought I was on to something. So let me start thinking about ships...
@Sixheadeddog: Viconia has a few shortcomings to run for best cleric... first, she's pureclass, which compared to fighter/clerics and cleric/mages makes a pretty gigantic dent in her offensive power, and second, she's evil - that normally wouldn't be a problem, but in case of clerics, it pretty much translates to "no holy smite". that's bad. very, very bad. losing a buttload of party friendly (sorta), AoE attack spells, with 20d4 damage that only magic resistance can protect against... yeah.
on the other hand, 18 wis, magic resistance, and most importantly, having a personality that you don't immediately want to stab about 247 times while cackling like a madman kinda do place her above other clerics.
but if you're taking a run at best cleric, chances are that would be Aerie... having access to both arcane and divine spells make her extreme kickass, as only Edwin can throw about more damage spells, she has access to holy smite, and all the clerical goodies, a ridiculously powerful combination indeed.
too bad having her around feels like babysitting an emotionally damaged 12 year old...
*uhm* I play currently with SCSII and stupid (awesome) Beyond the Law, so there are a shitload of enemies, who are immune to everything, thanks to scs. If am about to measure those additional enemies by my experience, they were a mere run-over in vanilla, so in that case your fav hammer 'd win. There are still 4 girdles ranging from 19-22 STR + gauntlets....difference in damage is only +4-6...
hmm, nay anyway I just don't like that hammer to be hyped as the ultimate weapon, cause there other (or 1) +3 weapons, which are/is vastly superior, in terms of CC.
I, for my part, don't care if I do 10-15 or 20-25 damage, but I do care if I got hit or if I don't get hit---further I do care if my party is safe and I can prevent damage from whoever might harm them or I'd just brainlessly ..*uhm* i lost the thread
maybe you got my point, maybe you aren't...all I know is that am running low on beer, and that's what I need to take care of.
@DinsdalePiranha: Eh. I had a very mixed party, alignment-wise, when I ran BG2 back in the day. In my favorite groups I had varying mixtures of Viconia, Anomen, Keldorn, Minsc, Korgan and Edwin. I found it to be rather rare that my NPCs would come to blows, and even when they did I had little trouble reloading from my last save.
But even if you take alignment into consideration, this means that taking Viconia has you taking along Edwin (the game's best wizard) as well. Thus your party suffers only a little for not having Holy Smite: Viconia can still do everything else a cleric can do, and she does it really really well. And having Edwin along means you don't suffer from a lack of magical damage.
Losing holy smites isn't great, no, but evil turning = control undead is way better- lots of situations where it is useful.
Yeah, in SCSII hitting is much more important than the amount of damage which really hurts Crom, but its just not that great anyway to be honest- strength is the easiest stat to upgrade through spells, potions, items ect, and the difference between 25 and 21/22 isn't that great. For offhand, extra attacks, the defender of easthaven and similar buffs are all better, and clerics will do better with the Flail of Ages amongst many other things.
An interesting notion... but the traditional "tank" is usually a character with both good armor and lots of hit points. The Cleric lags behind the Warrior classes in terms of hit points, so they wouldn't be my first choice to fill this role. But, with magical aid, I can see where this becomes an effective strategy.
Let's assume two guys of the same race. This gets a little more out of hand for dwarves and half-orcs, but we'll just assume human for sake of ease of argument.
Warrior gets 9d10+5 HP/level (assuming you give him the tome of constitution), Cleric gets 9d8 + 2 HP/lvl regardless of how high your constitution gets.
But wait. Clerics get: Armor of Faith for a flat damage reduction against all sources and as only a 1st level spell. Draw Upon Holy Might for gobs of Dexterity Righteous Magic for 1 HP a level + gobs of strength Physical Mirror to reflect all ranged attacks Shield of the Archons to just absorb spells.
Physical Mirror and Shield of the Archon are really high level spells, but you get Righteous Magic just an hour or two into BG2 tops.
What I'm saying is they are just as durable as warriors. Note I didn't include any spell you couldn't also just cast on the warrior. For D&D, avoidance is on par if not superior to raw HP.
My point being they are effective front-line fighters. Fighter/clerics on the other hand are total godmode and nigh untouchable in melee combat.
@sandmanCCL: and then there are ranger/clerics, who can have (on top of that) more iron skins stored than... I'm at loss for a proper metaphor, but it's somewhere around 30 at max level, which equals 300 absorbed hits.
...and then fighter/mages and FMTs can even beat them, defense-wise.
@sandmanCCL: you are correct, they get 1 skin/2 lvls, maxing out at lvl 20 (like all spells), so 10 skins. I meant separate casting: a maxed out ranger/cleric multi (24 WIS) can have 12 5th lvl spells and 9 6th lvl ones, spending 'em all on iron skins and wondrous recall nets you a nice 30 doses of iron skins.
though I still prefer fighter/mages (more specifically: FMTs) as my tanks, ranger/clerics are most definitely the best physical tanks, but mage multis can swallow dispels, imprisonments and pretty much any other ill effect without missing a beat, thanks to spell immunity. (and cackle manically while doing so, at least that's what I prefer to do)
The thing about that, @DinsdalePiranha, is that you can use those spells ON your fighter or cleric or ranger or whatever.
Outside of Stoneskin and various spell absorbtion spells, most of the biggest protection spells wizards have to offer are targeted spells better off on another member of the party. This most definitely IS just my opinion! One of the great things about AD&D is you can do pretty much whatever you want and get by with it.
I for one, love having a cleric-type npc join me in the thick of things and an additional one for heals.
Anomen in BG2 for example, is the one melee I never want to go without. His fighter levels combined with cleric makes him a divine force to be reckoned with. After all, he is a warrior priest of Helm.. according to himself xD
In Bg1 i guess the best npc to fill this kind of role is Yeslik or Jaheira.. though I'm not too impressed with low lvl Druid spells.. of course, summon insects is a cruel, cruel spell to cast on enemy casters but that's the only thing Jaheira got going for her tbh.
For "ease of use" I'd go with Branwen and Yeslik. Branny has good enough physical stats to take some hurt and with the right buffs, she can actually swing a mean mace when she's out of/dont need spells. (Also Branny is the 2nd best healer in the game, marginally beaten by Viconia.. but Viccy is fragile and low strength, crap in melee.. sling/spells is all she can do effectively)
Buffing up Yeslik and giving him the Stupefier is just.. heh, let's just say that the dirty lil dwarf's got some serious ass kicking to dispense.
I'm personally not a fan of pure class clerics at all, the 1 apr just kills it for me. Boon and Seeking Sword remedy this somewhat but both have their drawbacks. They are ok at tanking, more or less the same as a warrior in BG1.
On the subject of not needing a thief, you don't. But you don't *need* any particular class or kit.
Anomen in BG2 for example, is the one melee I never want to go without. His fighter levels combined with cleric makes him a divine force to be reckoned with. After all, he is a warrior priest of Helm.. according to himself xD
It's just sad, that the druid progression becomes obsolete with a decent cleric (or in this case Anomen) after 13/14 their advancement is ridiculous slow. (un-modded) I think BG2 made the player just use Jaheira, cause no one ever takes Cernd anyway; so she won't reach the cap neither. Only advantage: insect swarm - lemme check further..aye that's it, that's the only advantage to ever take a druid in your party. Everything else can be handled by both clerics for whatever alignment you might prefer. And Anomen kicks butt after his upgrade...need some minor items though to adjust the weaknesses, but not as bad as Vic.
Looks a bit different with Spell-revisions-mod though ^^ Damn druids get quite some powerhouse-spells but re-used my BGEE fighter dualed to cleric, so I have no use for her.
Guess my next run will end up the same: use Jaheira as much as I can..kick her for a proper replacement, sadly it will be Anomen
Why does BG2 have such a stupid limitation on NPCs anyway...am 'forced' to use NPC mods if am about to play a specific class or some NPCs just make me puke and would never ever take them and even kill their whole family instead. *oops* already did that...thank you Jan, for having a lot of relatives.
I would've played my current game with Jaheira and Branwen, but there's just one nuicanse that comes Jaheira: Khalid (sorry ) so she had to go. I still have two healers if a Paladin counts as one.
(Also Branny is the 2nd best healer in the game, marginally beaten by Viconia.. but Viccy is fragile and low strength, crap in melee.. sling/spells is all she can do effectively)
Faldorn kicks both of their asses in the healing department.
(Also Branny is the 2nd best healer in the game, marginally beaten by Viconia.. but Viccy is fragile and low strength, crap in melee.. sling/spells is all she can do effectively)
Faldorn kicks both of their asses in the healing department.
Faldorn is a mutant though.. I'm sure of it. Druid mutant.. so there, she doesn't count.
Comments
In BG2 I almost never have a thief and its really no problem at all because there aren't many nasty traps in BG2 and the ones that are are usually "bad status if you don't save against it" traps so it isn't that bad and for the few containers with good stuff knock does the job. For a beginner I would say a thief should really be in the party though.
Giving Viconia Crom Faeyr can provide some benefit, actually. Even if you're not putting Viconia on the front lines, if you're stuck with Crom Faeyr and don't want to have one of your warriors use it (for various reasons; let's say they're all using weapons that you like much better on them), you can give it to Viconia and allow her to benefit from the bump in Strength -- a stat that Viconia (in BG2) sorely lacks in. This allows her to carry more, something which is really crucially important in some parts of the game (like the Underdark, where you are trapped and unable to visit other map locations for an extended period of time)
However, combat is really not the area where Viconia "kicks ass." Of the NPCs available to you in BG2, Viconia is actually the best cleric you can find (something that is not necessarily true of her in BG1). She's a pure cleric (unlike Anomen and Aerie, who are dual/multi-classed), and she has Wis 18, which means she will give you the most priestly bang for your buck. Anomen and Aerie each give you something different: Anomen's got some levels in Fighter, making him a decent combat character, and Aerie is a priest-mage, but if you're looking for pure, unfiltered clerical power in your party (at least in BG2), always pick Viconia.
Hmm, I do agree and I do not
the highest enchantment a weapon in 'vanilla' can have is Firetooth. I don't wanna talk about cheating weapons from the anvil mod, but I'd consider items from weimar's itemmod 'fair'.
That aside, Firetooth is upgraded a 'real' +7 enchanted weapon in counting in what-it-can-hit (maybe I misunderstood you)..that's the highest possible regularly weapon enchantment you can get in BG2/ToB.
Further 2d4 of Crom Faeyr is the least I can expect from a weapon I spent on a shitload of superb magical items at. Other 'basic' weapons have that by default...
What am not quite agree with, is the fact, that it does only damage...even the not-mentioned +5 electricity. The procc is *sorry* utter garbage, as it does affect enemies you 'd kill nearly naked at the stage you are able to forge that hammer.
All that's left is the 25 STR it offers and a free gauntlet/girdle slot. The only item that would go well are the specialization gaunts...but I'd give them rather a character, who does less damage but attacks for more than 1 ApR.
But that's the point of a RPG game
But in 'my world' with my heavy frontliners, emergency heals or similar stuff is barely needed, so I expect my cleric doing business on yer own. And cause he/she is having such a nifty damn big shield, he/she gots interrupted less often and is able to cast more stuff successfully.
And for the agreement part:
"Viccy" is for sure the best non-PC cleric/buff-bot/healer/supporter ever, that load of additional low-lvl spells sure is very handy. Yet, anomens' upgrade makes him also a decent candidate for the 2nd place.
Cernd is way too weak and Jaheira with her newly founded 17 DEX an awesome frontline-druid.
I currently play with Spell-Revisions..so it's really hard for me to decide to kick Jaheira..but I will
That's kind of the most weird/odd mod I have ever been played with...it actually set barkskin to the dnd edition rules (stacks with any armor) and gives her one hell of summoning spells.
*uhm* I drifted away....
That aside :P It's a game..am supposed to play it my way..I love to discuss things, don't shell at persons, whose opinion differs from mine, might even learn a thing or 2 and so on :>
0.02€
Again, the 25 Strength is *nothing* to sneeze at. CF is a +3 magic weapon. IIRC, there aren't a lot of (if any) enemies in BG2 that require +4 or better weapons to hit, so in terms of weapon immunities you're mostly covered. But add to this the +7 bonus to hit for 25 Strength and you've got a total of +10 to hit *before* weapon specialization bonuses are factored in. This is an almost guaranteed hit each and every time for even the most basic of BG2 starting warriors, meaning that if you equip this weapon on a dual-wielding Fighter, with maxed out weapon masteries and two-weapon style spec, at least one of your hands is always hitting for at minimum 28 points of damage -- max 35. Consider, though, that the 25 Strength also gives a +14 damage bump to the weapon in this character's other hand, which means that for each set of attacks from the character's two weapons, Crom Faeyr is actually responsible for a minimum of 42 points of damage.
Consider also that this minimum damage is the best that a Cleric can hope to do: another really good clerical weapon is the Flail of Ages +5, with a base minimum damage of 17 and a +5 bonus to hit -- compare again with Crom Faeyr's base damage 24 and +10 to hit. Now, this comparison only considers the two weapons on their own, without potential to improve the Flail of Ages' bonuses with a Strength Girdle or gauntlets. But that's actually part of the beauty of Crom Faeyr: this benefit is built into the weapon itself.
Of course, I'm heavily biased in this. Crom Faeyr is, after all, a superiorly crafted dwarvish weapon.
So I guess that makes my TD/MBT analogy backwards; TDs generally have similar firepower, but are deficient in armor compared to true tanks. Dang, just when I thought I was on to something. So let me start thinking about ships...
on the other hand, 18 wis, magic resistance, and most importantly, having a personality that you don't immediately want to stab about 247 times while cackling like a madman kinda do place her above other clerics.
but if you're taking a run at best cleric, chances are that would be Aerie... having access to both arcane and divine spells make her extreme kickass, as only Edwin can throw about more damage spells, she has access to holy smite, and all the clerical goodies, a ridiculously powerful combination indeed.
too bad having her around feels like babysitting an emotionally damaged 12 year old...
There are still 4 girdles ranging from 19-22 STR + gauntlets....difference in damage is only +4-6...
hmm, nay anyway I just don't like that hammer to be hyped as the ultimate weapon, cause there other (or 1) +3 weapons, which are/is vastly superior, in terms of CC.
I, for my part, don't care if I do 10-15 or 20-25 damage, but I do care if I got hit or if I don't get hit---further I do care if my party is safe and I can prevent damage from whoever might harm them or I'd just brainlessly ..*uhm* i lost the thread
maybe you got my point, maybe you aren't...all I know is that am running low on beer, and that's what I need to take care of.
But even if you take alignment into consideration, this means that taking Viconia has you taking along Edwin (the game's best wizard) as well. Thus your party suffers only a little for not having Holy Smite: Viconia can still do everything else a cleric can do, and she does it really really well. And having Edwin along means you don't suffer from a lack of magical damage.
Yeah, in SCSII hitting is much more important than the amount of damage which really hurts Crom, but its just not that great anyway to be honest- strength is the easiest stat to upgrade through spells, potions, items ect, and the difference between 25 and 21/22 isn't that great. For offhand, extra attacks, the defender of easthaven and similar buffs are all better, and clerics will do better with the Flail of Ages amongst many other things.
Let's assume two guys of the same race. This gets a little more out of hand for dwarves and half-orcs, but we'll just assume human for sake of ease of argument.
Warrior gets 9d10+5 HP/level (assuming you give him the tome of constitution), Cleric gets 9d8 + 2 HP/lvl regardless of how high your constitution gets.
But wait. Clerics get:
Armor of Faith for a flat damage reduction against all sources and as only a 1st level spell.
Draw Upon Holy Might for gobs of Dexterity
Righteous Magic for 1 HP a level + gobs of strength
Physical Mirror to reflect all ranged attacks
Shield of the Archons to just absorb spells.
Physical Mirror and Shield of the Archon are really high level spells, but you get Righteous Magic just an hour or two into BG2 tops.
What I'm saying is they are just as durable as warriors. Note I didn't include any spell you couldn't also just cast on the warrior. For D&D, avoidance is on par if not superior to raw HP.
My point being they are effective front-line fighters. Fighter/clerics on the other hand are total godmode and nigh untouchable in melee combat.
...and then fighter/mages and FMTs can even beat them, defense-wise.
Still, your point remains totally valid. I believe ranger/clerics are the best tanks in the game.
I meant separate casting: a maxed out ranger/cleric multi (24 WIS) can have 12 5th lvl spells and 9 6th lvl ones, spending 'em all on iron skins and wondrous recall nets you a nice 30 doses of iron skins.
though I still prefer fighter/mages (more specifically: FMTs) as my tanks, ranger/clerics are most definitely the best physical tanks, but mage multis can swallow dispels, imprisonments and pretty much any other ill effect without missing a beat, thanks to spell immunity. (and cackle manically while doing so, at least that's what I prefer to do)
Outside of Stoneskin and various spell absorbtion spells, most of the biggest protection spells wizards have to offer are targeted spells better off on another member of the party. This most definitely IS just my opinion! One of the great things about AD&D is you can do pretty much whatever you want and get by with it.
mages have a buttload of great protection spells, but the best of them are sadly caster only.
Anomen in BG2 for example, is the one melee I never want to go without. His fighter levels combined with cleric makes him a divine force to be reckoned with. After all, he is a warrior priest of Helm.. according to himself xD
In Bg1 i guess the best npc to fill this kind of role is Yeslik or Jaheira.. though I'm not too impressed with low lvl Druid spells.. of course, summon insects is a cruel, cruel spell to cast on enemy casters but that's the only thing Jaheira got going for her tbh.
For "ease of use" I'd go with Branwen and Yeslik. Branny has good enough physical stats to take some hurt and with the right buffs, she can actually swing a mean mace when she's out of/dont need spells.
(Also Branny is the 2nd best healer in the game, marginally beaten by Viconia.. but Viccy is fragile and low strength, crap in melee.. sling/spells is all she can do effectively)
Buffing up Yeslik and giving him the Stupefier is just.. heh, let's just say that the dirty lil dwarf's got some serious ass kicking to dispense.
On the subject of not needing a thief, you don't. But you don't *need* any particular class or kit.
I think BG2 made the player just use Jaheira, cause no one ever takes Cernd anyway; so she won't reach the cap neither. Only advantage: insect swarm - lemme check further..aye that's it, that's the only advantage to ever take a druid in your party.
Everything else can be handled by both clerics for whatever alignment you might prefer. And Anomen kicks butt after his upgrade...need some minor items though to adjust the weaknesses, but not as bad as Vic.
Looks a bit different with Spell-revisions-mod though ^^ Damn druids get quite some powerhouse-spells but re-used my BGEE fighter dualed to cleric, so I have no use for her.
Guess my next run will end up the same: use Jaheira as much as I can..kick her for a proper replacement, sadly it will be Anomen
Why does BG2 have such a stupid limitation on NPCs anyway...am 'forced' to use NPC mods if am about to play a specific class or some NPCs just make me puke and would never ever take them and even kill their whole family instead. *oops* already did that...thank you Jan, for having a lot of relatives.