Party setup choices

Rahlik

Hey guys, Currently I'm considering the following Party Setup;

Main Character - Two Handed, Paladin, Cavalier
Tank - Ajantis
Cleric\Mage - Quayle possibly Branwen.
Thief/Mage - Imoen (will dual prob about level 6 i think)
Ranger - Kivan
??????

The last spot I have considered taking Minsc however I am unsure, I've also cosidered Edwin for this spot. The other spot I'm not sure about at present would be the spot I have reserved for Quayle i'm also considering Branwen. I've chosen to avoid Khalid/Jaheira for this run through even though I have picked them up in the friendly arms in already. My main aim is to pick up the party while still being level 1 (max level 2) now.

The major concern i will have is ensuring i can pick all the party up without levelling up to far and with taking Minsc I will of course need to go get Dynaheir quite quickly (then leave her in a house I wont visit again). This party setup seem viable to be picked up and used from level 1-2, but what do you guys think?

KidCarnival

With your PC and Ajantis and Kivan, what exactly would you need Minsc for? I'd take Edwin because it takes a while longer until you have Imoen dualed to mage. As a third option, you could get Viconia at level 1 or 2.

Rahlik

Ok cool, my thoughts on taking Minsc were to use him as a two hand dps alongside my paladin and have ajantis as the main tank. With both minsc and my pala 2 hand weilding in the front row with Ajantis. Kivan and Imoen would be at the back with bows (imoen later magic) and Quayle or Branwen acting as heal/dps in the backrow also.

But my other thought was as is your point to have an extra backrow dpser in the form of Edwin possibly. Taking Edwin would add an evil member to the party however and with my main char being paladin it seemed a bit iffy from an rp point of view. Also Ajantis will attack anyone evil. Allthough you can call him off iirc.

KidCarnival

Hm, as paladin, you should have high char, so you could maybe hold Ajantis and Edwin back long enough until you can grab Xan and switch Edwin out. Or are you trying to get your final party together at low levels? In that case, you don't have too many options that aren't evil and won't rush into a quest. But I don't think 3 melees is the best idea, you won't find enough good gear for all of them, so Minsc is out, too. No evil also takes out Edwin and Viconia, and I'd say - grab Garrick. He can fill in as ranged fighter and support caster until Imoen is ready. If you really need a third front row... Branwen has decent strength and constitution. It's the whole reason I take her as cleric in evil parties instead of Viconia, especially if I run with 2 mages.

On second thought, have you considered Rasaad or Neera? Both aren't evil and won't rush into quests. XP wise, Neera's encounter and fighting Silke to get Garrick are about the same. Neera doesn't have Edwin's spellpower, but she does bring a decent weapon and isn't all that squishy once she runs out of spells.

Rahlik

Yep I would like to get my party together at level 1 to 2 or at least most of it. I am certainly a fan of taking Branwen as she can fill that third melee slot if i need it or stand back and heal which is very useful. So I think i will go with her instead of Quayle for the duration of the playthrough now. Regarding that final slot I think taking Edwin would be an idea; I don't remember but i have the feeling that Ajantis can be stopped from killing him as he is still selectable when he attacks...

Neera is a definite other option too I might actually take her as It offers a new story line too. I just need to take a peek at where to pick her up from!

KidCarnival

Neera is in Beregost, one (or two?) roads from where Silke stands. You get her long before you meet Minsc or Edwin (or Rasaad) in Nashkell. For having a party complete at level 1 or 2, she's probably the best option for your party.
If you get to her with Edwin in your party, he'll threaten to leave if she joins. I don't know what happens if you approach him with Neera already in the party, but I guess if you take her along, you have no use for Edwin anyway.

Rahlik

Cheers;

I've gone with:

me - two handed Paladin - Cavalier
Ajantis - Tank
Kivan - ranged
Imoen - ranged
Neera - ranged
Branwen - utility/healer

All i need to figure out now is whether to level up branwen for sling use or warhammer as her main weapon, I'm inclined in this setup to level up sling and then just throw her into melee only when desperately needed.

KidCarnival

That's what I do when she babysits my mages; she stays back row unless an enemy gets close enough to disturb the casters. So I'm biased, but I think you have a good plan there.
Branwen with sling can still wear a shield, so if she has to go into melee, she may not do the most damage, but she also walks out with little damage. It's a waste to give a sling to a mage who couldn't wear it with a shield anyway, so I usually give the +3 sling to the cleric.

Rahlik

Good idea, i didn't think of giving Branwen a shield with the sling. I'll definitley do that now though.

I've got the party together now and on my way to Nashkel mines, so far it feels quite a nice balance. I'll need to have a bit of a think about the exact roles each character will fulfill along with inefficiencies etc. but I think that will become more apparent as I play through, I have the basic idea of what i want from each and I am definitley enjoying this playthrough allready; Neera seems like a very good addition to the roster in terms of fulfilling the role edwin does for evil parties too, I'm quite looking forward to the wild mage aspect now too; Should be a lot of fun

KidCarnival

I went to find out if Edwin still wants to join if Neera is already in my party. Yup, that works... Now I'm tempted to go with just these two and spam spells.

Branwen with shield and a decent hammer is almost a tank, if she has enough potions or can withdraw to heal herself. (No match for Kagain, but still.) It's nice to have someone who is that versatile.

Rahlik

Cool. An evil/neutral party with dorn, branwen, edwin,neera and kaigan with main char as a thief may be an option then for another play through. :-)

KidCarnival

Almost my current party, except I have Eldoth as second caster. Not that he's casting much, it's more being too lazy to use temples to identify and giving him the spells Edwin can't learn. Very entertaining party.

Rahlik

Ahh cool. I will have to take a closer look at the evil setups. I must admit having met dorn on the current run im doing i wanted to pick him up and use him. He looks a great character!

KidCarnival

I seriously wonder who I had instead of Dorn back in BG1. He's a perfect addition to Kagain.

Rahlik

I think the lack of decent synergy on the evil/neutral side always put me off making an evil team back in the day. Even where there was synergy there seemed to be a case where you picked people as 'filler' members and It just made me want to take better options (or what i thought at the time were better options at least).