1st time beat the game d'grey - fighter/mage - half elf Imoen Jahiera Branwen Garrick Ajantis
Then for the next next next next , I mix it up, after finishing BG 2 , I went back to BG1 with jahiera , khalid , minsc , daynehair and imoen
In BG2 I always have jahiera , viconia and minsc , the rest always mix - think I will ditch them all and try different combo next time (maybe in February)
- Florian (Yeah, it's my real name, sounds a little girly in english. But it's in german a normal boy name. :-) ) (Cleric Human male) - Kagain - Montaron - Xzar - Skie - Shar-Teel (or Viconia)
BG 2
- Florian (Mage Human male) - Viconia - Korgan - Jan Jansen - Keldorn - Valygar (later Sarevok)
Just me. I love soloing Baldur's Gate. Yes, I know: I miss many dialogues and stuff. But I've played it in party before. But all my other playthroughs are solo only
I'm rolling mostly something like Cleric/Mage, Mage/Thief, Cleric/Ranger and stuff like that. Really love Hybrids. (Well, in BG2 I also enjoy playing the Sorcerer)
For BG:EE I plan to take all of the new characters in my party at least to see their quests. However, I avoid lawful good characters and a low level monk sounds weak so poor Rasaard will probably get booted quick. So my party will probably end up looking like this:
a little surprised nobody posted a multiplayer team, bg1 was kinda quiet on the banter scene once i finished it for the 20th time, so i made my own "perfect team" once i first heard "ee" announced, anyway, with custom portraits and soundsets
Rogue - Big Ern McCracken (kingpin) Fighter - Biff Tannen (back to the future) Paladin - Skeletor (He-man) Ranger - Sky Captain (future cop L.A.P.D) Cleric - Shooter McGavin (happy Gilmore) Mage - White Goodman (Dodgeball)
I usually play a paladin myself and take Imoen, Jaheira and Minsc along, only varying the latter two characters. Those 3 just feel too core, further reinforced by their reappearance in BG2, as do Edwin and Viconia, whom are my NPCs of choice in an evil party.
For BGEE I'm probably going to take 2 of the new NPCs.
Well, it depends on my character. I had a lot of fun with Me - Imoen - Jahiera - Minsc - Viconia - Edwin (I was TN) since it meant I could have the same party throughout the entire series. Khalid and Dynaheir had...unfortuate accidents.
Me (Undead Hunter Paladin) Aerie (Easy Romance/Whines too much... but powerful at the end) Yoshimo (or Nalia... both replaced by Imoen) Cernd Valygar (replaced by the Exile...The Longer Road) Minsc (Replaced by Sarevok)
In both games I try to play with all NPCs, maybe do their "character missions" (like Edwina Quest or D'Arnise Keep's been invaded) but at the end I stick with these guys
My favourite party really depends on whether or not I am taking them through BG1 or the whole series. If I'm doing the whole series my character will be suited to BG2, since the majority of the game is played that side of the fence. There's some very fundamental differences in party makeup which heavily influence my party and charname choices.
For example: BG1 has severeal good thieves available, a decent assortment of melee fighters, some great archers 1 cleric of note (Viconia of course) and absolutely no good mages for a non-evil party. There's Dynahier who's... ehhhhh. Or there's Xan, who is funny as hell and his custom weapon is interesting but he's ultimately kind of rubbish.
BG2 however has an absolutely monstrous arsenal of high powered mages available, every single thief iirc is dualled into a mage and there's plenty of pure spell flingers out there to handle all situations. There isn't a single dedicated thief (except a certain turncoat) and there's a few melee combatants of note, but not many that are good and the same alignment, and there's no helm of opposite alignment cheese this time (I think?).
I also think on the whole playing an evil party is just not particularly good in any of the games. It's certainly possible but you're still playing the good guy and just throwing in random murder here and there for the sake of it... it doesn't feel like you're playing your alignment at all. So evil buddies are mostly out, save for a certain someone.
With that in mind I usually go for:
BG1: Me - Sorceror with tutu, otherwise a non specialist Wizard - I use spells from all schools Thief/Swashbuckler if porting into BG2 Ajantis Minsc Imoen/Dynahier - For BG1/BG1+2 respectively Kivan - dedicated archers are great, especially with arrows of detonation. Viconia - (opposite alignment helm hello)
BG2+: Me Minsc - replaced by Sarevok later Viconia Aerie - she's not amazing but she has great banter with Viconia and generally useful Keldorn - I recommend Keldorn and Viconia in the same party for everyone Imoen - replaced with w/e for questing when unavailable.
Or sometimes I just play the canon parties
Yes, yes I know Kensai/Thief +use any item is mechanically better than Swash but it's got too much cheese for my liking and feels like a total exploit. Backstab is also a pain in the arse so w/e don't need it.
... absolutely no good mages for a non-evil party. There's Dynahier who's... ehhhhh. Or there's Xan, who is funny as hell and his custom weapon is interesting but he's ultimately kind of rubbish. ...
I never did it yet, but you can dual class Imoen to a mage or specialist mage in BG1. Ideally at level 4 or 5 so she has decent enough thieving skills. You can keep Montaron until you find some better thief or just pick up Safana. Coran will come somewhere in cloakwood forest. The remaining thiefs you will get in Baldur's gate (pretty late, namely Alora, Skie, Tiax). Alternatively you can pick up Shar-Teel and dual her to thief (Fighter/Thief).
Yeah the problem with dualling her is that she will have mediocre mage spells and medicore thieving skills.. and not really be useful in either regard. The level cap is not really high enough for dual classing to be too powerful, plus you need to grind exp to no end since you are unlikely to get near the cap through normal play as it is. The really good alternative thieves are indeed in BG, but I don't really want to wait until chapter 5 (was it 5 to enter?) to get my party members with their poorly assigned weapon profs.
I used to play with the traditional party; Khalid, Imoen, Dynaheir, Minsc & Jaheira. But now I make it a personal mission to try and play with new combinations each time through the game - it's a lot of fun, and keeps it fresh! I even once used Alora! ^^
Yeah the problem with dualling her is that she will have mediocre mage spells and medicore thieving skills.. and not really be useful in either regard. The level cap is not really high enough for dual classing to be too powerful, plus you need to grind exp to no end since you are unlikely to get near the cap through normal play as it is. The really good alternative thieves are indeed in BG, but I don't really want to wait until chapter 5 (was it 5 to enter?) to get my party members with their poorly assigned weapon profs.
Not true.
Unlike 3rd, if you dualclass in 2nd, the first few levels for the 2nd class are as cheap as they would be if it were your first class. A Thief requires 1250 XP to reach level 2, after which you can dualclass. That means you are a total of 1250 XP behind for the rest of the game. That is half of what your Wizard requires to advance from level 1 to level 2, making it insignificant. In addition, your Wizard is allowed to wear slightly better armor, and wield better weapons.
IIRC, the level cap was at 89000 XP or 161000 XP depending on the expansion. Since the expansion is included, it's most likely 161000 XP.
A Wizard requires 135000 XP to reach level 9. From there, the XP requirement turns linear, requiring 250000 XP for level 10, and +125000 XP for +1 level. That means that there's 26000 XP you can't spend anyhow. A Thief could reach level 6 for 20000 XP, then Dual-Class, and still reach the same level in Wizard as a single-class Wizard would.
(And here I thought I never needed my AD&D 2nd edition manual anymore :P)
IMO, the best party to no-reload through a modded (scsii/ascension) game would be this
Edwin (best mage in the game, 27 more spell slots more than a standard mage, no divination... bearable) Keldorn (dispel/truesight/carsomyr). Korgan (best tank, best saves, best hp, Berserker rage. monster in soa, monster in tob) Anomen (secondary tank/fighter... good cleric) Jan (only thief that can level up, good multiclass) pc-archer (range fighter with tons of hp, never ever under any circumstance in danger of dying)
My favorite party to run with, disregarding power play and just enjoying the game, characters, and setting would be something like
pc-sorcerer (who doesnt love magic) korgan edwin jan mazzy anomen
Comments
Samiel - (PC Paladin)
Imoen
Khalid
Jaheira
Minsc
Dynaheir
Then for BG2 it became:
Imoen/Yoshimo
Minsc
Jaheira
Nalia
Aerie
d'grey - fighter/mage - half elf
Imoen
Jahiera
Branwen
Garrick
Ajantis
Then for the next next next next , I mix it up, after finishing BG 2 , I went back to BG1 with jahiera , khalid , minsc , daynehair and imoen
In BG2 I always have jahiera , viconia and minsc , the rest always mix - think I will ditch them all and try different combo next time (maybe in February)
- Florian (Yeah, it's my real name, sounds a little girly in english. But it's in german a normal boy name. :-) ) (Cleric Human male)
- Kagain
- Montaron
- Xzar
- Skie
- Shar-Teel (or Viconia)
BG 2
- Florian (Mage Human male)
- Viconia
- Korgan
- Jan Jansen
- Keldorn
- Valygar (later Sarevok)
I'm rolling mostly something like Cleric/Mage, Mage/Thief, Cleric/Ranger and stuff like that. Really love Hybrids. (Well, in BG2 I also enjoy playing the Sorcerer)
Lorenzo - Stalker
Dorn
Neera
Viconia
Coran
Safana
Not exactly a part of Saints.... lol
Rogue - Big Ern McCracken (kingpin)
Fighter - Biff Tannen (back to the future)
Paladin - Skeletor (He-man)
Ranger - Sky Captain (future cop L.A.P.D)
Cleric - Shooter McGavin (happy Gilmore)
Mage - White Goodman (Dodgeball)
...dont worry, il show myself out
I usually play a paladin myself and take Imoen, Jaheira and Minsc along, only varying the latter two characters. Those 3 just feel too core, further reinforced by their reappearance in BG2, as do Edwin and Viconia, whom are my NPCs of choice in an evil party.
For BGEE I'm probably going to take 2 of the new NPCs.
As Evil: Me(Warrior), Xzar( MONTARON I...I...I NEVER LOVED YOU BWHAHAH!), Kagan, Viconia, Skie(sorry Eldoth), Edwin( Yes, two Evil Mage sounds better than one!)
Cordin Brighthammer Dwarven Cleric Chaotic Good
Ajantis
Imoen (dual to mage at seven as usual
Kivan
Minsc
Dynaheir
And we will all dance in front of Edwin "naked" just to make him mad. ^_^
Edit: Maybe i would get new monk and wild mage to replace Minsc&Dynaheir
Me (Paladin)
Imoen (Dual Class to Mage after picking up Coran)
Kivan
Ajantis
Yeslick
Coran
Me (Mage)
Viconia
Shar Teel
Tiax
Kagain
Montaron
Yes, I let Xzar die at the hands of the Bassilisks
Yes, no Edwin, cuz Edwin sucked at BG 1... or at least I always thought so
Imoen (Dualclassed to mage at lvl 8 or whatever it was)
Edwin
Dynaheir
Minsc (Replace with Xzar or Quayle)
Neera
*Nods* FIREBAAALL!
Me (Undead Hunter Paladin)
Aerie (Easy Romance/Whines too much... but powerful at the end)
Yoshimo (or Nalia... both replaced by Imoen)
Cernd
Valygar (replaced by the Exile...The Longer Road)
Minsc (Replaced by Sarevok)
In both games I try to play with all NPCs, maybe do their "character missions" (like Edwina Quest or D'Arnise Keep's been invaded) but at the end I stick with these guys
Me (Half-Elf Fighter/Cleric/Mage)
Khalid
Jaheira
Imoen
Garrick
Xan
Sometimes I don't take Khalid & Jaheira along. Then Yeslick and Kagain/Ajantis are good alternatives.
Coran
Kivan
Kagain
Dynaheir
Viconia
3 archers (godly in BG), the best tank, miss fireballs and the best healer
- Thief, Chaotic Neutral
- Viconia
- Edwin
- Kagain
- Xzar
- Montaron
I take all these Evil guns and make them shoot in the right direction. ^^
For example:
BG1 has severeal good thieves available, a decent assortment of melee fighters, some great archers 1 cleric of note (Viconia of course) and absolutely no good mages for a non-evil party. There's Dynahier who's... ehhhhh. Or there's Xan, who is funny as hell and his custom weapon is interesting but he's ultimately kind of rubbish.
BG2 however has an absolutely monstrous arsenal of high powered mages available, every single thief iirc is dualled into a mage and there's plenty of pure spell flingers out there to handle all situations. There isn't a single dedicated thief (except a certain turncoat) and there's a few melee combatants of note, but not many that are good and the same alignment, and there's no helm of opposite alignment cheese this time (I think?).
I also think on the whole playing an evil party is just not particularly good in any of the games. It's certainly possible but you're still playing the good guy and just throwing in random murder here and there for the sake of it... it doesn't feel like you're playing your alignment at all. So evil buddies are mostly out, save for a certain someone.
With that in mind I usually go for:
BG1:
Me - Sorceror with tutu, otherwise a non specialist Wizard - I use spells from all schools
Ajantis
Minsc
Imoen/Dynahier - For BG1/BG1+2 respectively
Kivan - dedicated archers are great, especially with arrows of detonation.
Viconia - (opposite alignment helm hello)
BG2+:
Me
Minsc - replaced by Sarevok later
Viconia
Aerie - she's not amazing but she has great banter with Viconia and generally useful
Keldorn - I recommend Keldorn and Viconia in the same party for everyone
Imoen - replaced with w/e for questing when unavailable.
Or sometimes I just play the canon parties
Yes, yes I know Kensai/Thief +use any item is mechanically better than Swash but it's got too much cheese for my liking and feels like a total exploit. Backstab is also a pain in the arse so w/e don't need it.
My elven fighter/mage
Aerie
Dynaheir
Viconia
Jaheira
One of my mod NPCs
Good show in every fight (at least in the first minute). The thing with the party getting wiped out every time is a challenge, though.
But now I make it a personal mission to try and play with new combinations each time through the game - it's a lot of fun, and keeps it fresh!
I even once used Alora! ^^
Unlike 3rd, if you dualclass in 2nd, the first few levels for the 2nd class are as cheap as they would be if it were your first class. A Thief requires 1250 XP to reach level 2, after which you can dualclass. That means you are a total of 1250 XP behind for the rest of the game. That is half of what your Wizard requires to advance from level 1 to level 2, making it insignificant. In addition, your Wizard is allowed to wear slightly better armor, and wield better weapons.
IIRC, the level cap was at 89000 XP or 161000 XP depending on the expansion. Since the expansion is included, it's most likely 161000 XP.
A Wizard requires 135000 XP to reach level 9. From there, the XP requirement turns linear, requiring 250000 XP for level 10, and +125000 XP for +1 level. That means that there's 26000 XP you can't spend anyhow. A Thief could reach level 6 for 20000 XP, then Dual-Class, and still reach the same level in Wizard as a single-class Wizard would.
(And here I thought I never needed my AD&D 2nd edition manual anymore :P)
Jaheira
Khalid
Imoen
Minsc
Dynaheir
then:
Rann
Jaheira
Aerie
Minsc
Yoshimo (then Imoen)
Mazzy or Keldorn
Ajantis
Kivan
Imoen
Yeslick
Coran
Luinatarion-Fighter
Minsc
Coran
Imoen
Viconia
Edwin
-BG2-
Luinatarion-Berserk
Korgan
Minsc or Valygar/Sarevok
Viconia
Jan Jansen/Imoen
Edwin
Edwin (best mage in the game, 27 more spell slots more than a standard mage, no divination... bearable)
Keldorn (dispel/truesight/carsomyr).
Korgan (best tank, best saves, best hp, Berserker rage. monster in soa, monster in tob)
Anomen (secondary tank/fighter... good cleric)
Jan (only thief that can level up, good multiclass)
pc-archer (range fighter with tons of hp, never ever under any circumstance in danger of dying)
My favorite party to run with, disregarding power play and just enjoying the game, characters, and setting would be something like
pc-sorcerer (who doesnt love magic)
korgan
edwin
jan
mazzy
anomen