Party order

24jel

Is there any other function besides formation to party order? When I put, for example, Khalid up front he says he's not an inspiring leader - but does this actually matter?

Phyrax

The leading-character is the one with whom you usually (if you have your entire party selected) initiate dialogue. This should therefore be someone with a high charisma.

1) Charisma influences how people see you, and therefore dialogue options and store prices.
2) It also influences how some NPCs react to each others presence in the party...

Khalid has 9, so is not the best choice for 1), and for 2), it depends on what you like to see...

SirK8

It matters for shop prices, you want the highest CHA in front for shopping. I think it also counts for NPC reaction adjustments to your party. It may count for morale when party members take dmg, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

reedmilfam

Yes. When you talk to merchants or NPC's, the party leader charisma attribute is used (like high CHA gives discounts in stores, or bonus to reaction with NPC's). Other than that, it marks who is in the silver dot position of the formation. I almost always use for this position, but you don't have to.

24jel

Hmm, okay. Well, I guess I can always manually adjust battle positions,

Erg

The recommendation about choosing a party leader with high charisma is indeed a good one, but feel free to do otherwise if you like.

For the remaining positions, it depends on which formation do you choose, but the idea is to have the more vulnerable party member (e.g. squishy casters) in the middle. Also, try to put at least one resilient party member in the back, because sometimes foes may attack you from behind, especially in dungeons.

KidCarnival

Related: Can it be that none of that applies to Black Pits? The order of the party members doesn't seem to matter. I created a mage first and then changed a paladin to leader, but the party still loads exactly in the same formation and order.

reedmilfam

Interesting. I use the T formation with 3 heavy armor charactes on the top, Imoen and 2 mages on the tail. It might make sense to put Im at the back, as she stands up to attacks a little better.

Erg

reedmilfam said:

Interesting. I use the T formation with 3 heavy armor charactes on the top, Imoen and 2 mages on the tail. It might make sense to put Im at the back, as she stands up to attacks a little better.

One place where it is highly recommended to put someone with heavy armour in the back is

Firewine Ruins, because of those blasted Kobolds Commando.

baaddare

Erg said:

reedmilfam said:

Interesting. I use the T formation with 3 heavy armor charactes on the top, Imoen and 2 mages on the tail. It might make sense to put Im at the back, as she stands up to attacks a little better.

One place where it is highly recommended to put someone with heavy armour in the back is

Firewine Ruins, because of those blasted Kobolds Commando.

been there died to that learned the hardway about formations

Kampri

It's generally smart to keep your soft squishy characters in the middle of a party (Mages/Thieves etc.) with tougher people in front and behind.

Lemernis

The Charisma really only matters when you're doing business with a merchant. Then you want your highest Cha character in the top slot on the right and doing the talking. That character will get the best prices. But other than that, at least when wandering the wilderness you want characters in the front of the formation who can take the most damage when you encounter an attack.

Erg

@Lemernis

I almost agree with you. Almost because

1) I'm too lazy to keep changing the party order before shopping
2) I would most likely forgot to put back the party leader on top before shopping most of times
3) The are formations in which the party leader (silver dot) is in the middle
4) If you have a paladin/blackguard in your party or if you got a very good stat roll for charname you will most likely have a charismatic tank in you party

I played most of my current playtrough with Imoen as party leader, using the following formation:

..x
x..
..x
X..
..x
x..

Oxford_Guy

I think, but am not certain, that having a leader (i.e. the person at the top) with high Charisma helps vs. morale failure

Oxford_Guy

Erg said:

@Lemernis

I almost agree with you. Almost because

1) I'm too lazy to keep changing the party order before shopping

But it makes a huge difference if you have, say, a Bard who's cast Friends doing the shopping...

Erg

Oxford_Guy said:

But it makes a huge difference if you have, say, a Bard who's cast Friends doing the shopping...

In that case, the Bard would be my party leader, even in combat. I would just use a different formation to avoid having him where a tank should be.

Lemernis

Oxford_Guy said:

But it makes a huge difference if you have, say, a Bard who's cast Friends doing the shopping...

Definitely, and also if said Bard is wearing a particular item.

I mean, you're soon going to be up to your ears in gold in this game anyway (unless you're playing an evil/despised run). So it's not that big a deal. But why not get the best prices to buy the best for your stalwart, hard working party as soon as you can? They've earned it.

Erg

Lemernis said:

Oxford_Guy said:

But it makes a huge difference if you have, say, a Bard who's cast Friends doing the shopping...

Definitely, and also if said Bard is wearing a particular item.

I mean, you're soon going to be up to your ears in gold in this game anyway (unless you're playing an evil/despised run). So it's not that big a deal. But why not get the best prices to buy the best for your stalwart, hard working party as soon as you can? They've earned it.

Maybe it is not necessary, but just to be sure I will try to explain better what I mean.

My party leader is always the one with the highest charisma by natural of artificial means (items, spells, etc). I don't change the order of the party (as in order of the portraits) in combat.

If the party leader is a tank I use a formation like

..X
x..
..x
x..
..x
x..

If he isn't something like

..x
x..
..x
X..
..x
x..

instead.

I find that much more efficient than just rearranging the portraits, because you can easily switch formations with a single click. But that is just me.

Erg

Lemernis said:

The Charisma really only matters when you're doing business with a merchant. Then you want your highest Cha character in the top slot on the right and doing the talking. That character will get the best prices. But other than that, at least when wandering the wilderness you want characters in the front of the formation who can take the most damage when you encounter an attack.

@Lemernis

After reading again your post, it occurred to me that maybe we are saying the same thing just with different words. /facepalm!

If this is the case, I must apologise with you and of course I totally agree.

Oxford_Guy

Erg said:

Oxford_Guy said:

But it makes a huge difference if you have, say, a Bard who's cast Friends doing the shopping...

In that case, the Bard would be my party leader, even in combat. I would just use a different formation to avoid having him where a tank should be.

Good point

Oxford_Guy

Lemernis said:

Oxford_Guy said:

But it makes a huge difference if you have, say, a Bard who's cast Friends doing the shopping...

Definitely, and also if said Bard is wearing a particular item.

I mean, you're soon going to be up to your ears in gold in this game anyway (unless you're playing an evil/despised run).

You mean not everyone plays evil?!? ;-)