Minsc, Dynaheir, Coran, Kivan, Branwen, (I am a Ranger).
Yes, three Rangers. Kivan is great with the bow and Misnc is not bad at tanking with a good 2-Handed sword. Coran is often overlooked in my opinion. With 20 Dex. and +3 proficiency with bows, he almost never misses with a bow. He must roll 1-3 (I think) to miss and 4-20 to hit. Pretty good in my opinion. Plus, he doubles as a Thief.
The first time I played the game I went (without knowing it) with the canon party: PC (Paladin) Minsc Imoen Dynaheir Khalid Jaheira
Now I'm replaying the game with Tutu (warming up for the EE) and I'm planning to use: PC (Fighter) Yeslick Imoen (dual class to mage) Coran Kivan Jaheira
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In BG2 I tend to mix the party a lot everytime I need to do a NPC-specific sidequest. But I usually use the following: PC Minsc (Sarevok in ToB) Imoen Aerie Jaheira Keldorn
Mine: Maran Delrin (me), Elven Mage (General, no Special for me, unless it was Evocation ...boomstick!) Imoen (Oddly a GOOD thief if you augment her with good items) Sarevok (Man is a BEAST) Aerie (Weak, but that multi cleric/mage is dead useful) Keldorn (I play Good parties, so I need a Paladin, and Inquisitors rock) Either: Edwin (if I am not a Wizard) Either: Valygar (A lot of people underestimated him. Plus it was easy to exploit a bug about the White Dragon Scale Armor)
For a perfect party for both BG1 + 2, I have to make a full custom group in Multiplayer:
1) Human TN Berzerker / Druid - needs 15 Str, 15 dex, 18 con, 3 int, 17 Wis, 17 Cha min stats plus bracers of dexterity and a strength girdle. Dual to Druid after 9 Berzerker levels. Specialized in TWF Scimitars + Clubs. (Jaheira takes too long to level up, multiclass druids are too slow).
2) Human Kensai / Mage - 18 str, 18 dex, 18 con, 17 int min stats, dual to mage at 13 Kensai - TWF Bastard Swords + Katanas
4) Human Swashbuckler / Mage - 18 str, 18 dex, 16 con, 17 int needed, dual to mage at level 10. Katanas would be nice, but theres never enough for both the Kensai and Swashbuckler, so I pick Longswords and Shortswords.
5) Gnome Cleric / Illusionist - 18 dex, 16 con, 19 int, 17 wis needed - Awesome healer + caster all in one while everyone else is getting their dual classes done. Backline slinger.
6) Elf Assassin - 18 str, 19 dex, 16 con. Longswords, Quarterstaffs, Shortbow, Single Weapon Style, 2H Weapon style - Staff of Striking, Staff of the Ram, and any decent Longsword for the rest of the game (there should be plenty of longswords for both the Assassin + Swashbuckler). This guy is here for UAI + Assassination HLAs .... oh my, any weapon with a 7x backstab multiplier!
But for BG1 alone ... hmmm, I'll have to think about that.
The Kensai and Swashbuckler own everything with melfs meteors / energy blades / tensers trasnformation / sword spider polymorph.
Damn people understimate Xzar,Coran and Sharteel. Xzar can be dualed to cleric (give him 1 tome of wisdom and he is exellent healer from experience). Sharteel is the best fighter in the game if you give her some decent items- her TAC0 is much better then Kagains for example). Coran is ingame Cheater NPC as he has 20 dex and +3 in bows- natural born archer. I remember i read somewhere Edwin is the best mage in the game(better then your own CHARNAME)- dont remember why something with item or stats. Monty is plain awesome thief if you keep him to the last - also awesome dialoge with all the backstabbing talk. And well Kagain-20 cons. auto regeneration he is the "main tank" that takes all the damage why Shar-teel kickes everybody ass'es around her with haste and two handed sword+3.
All other combinations seem boring to me like:Jaheira,Khalid,Minsc Dynaheir. << everybody chooses them and the game "WANTS" you to choose them. Skie is a bitch, Eldoth SUCKS, Garrick low consitution(only bonus is his lore),Alora Bad thiefing skills,Kivan is wack compared to Coran. That leaves only Viconia,Tiax(which is lame but his NPC talk style is cool),Yeslick(good cleric for good aligned party), or Brawnen(Neutral aligned). I personally saw great fun with playing Xzar as mage and then changing him to Cleric using the tome of wisdom.
Baldurs gate 2 Me (thief, half elf) Minsc Aerie Anomen Viconia(until Imoen comes back) Keldorn (until he goes back to his wife then Valygar, then Sarevok)
I always go with the characters i like instead of trying to balance out my party
This is my usual party, and I think it is fairly common, but there is a problem I need help with- without playing pc thief, how do you fill a thief here when you dual imoen? Also, how would you integrate it with the new characters?
BG1 Ibn-Al Zafir - Fighter/Thief or Fighter/Thief/Mage(misses out top end stuff in ToB) - Longbow/THSword Imoen - dualed to mage on lvl6 - SBow, SSword Khalid - Longsword/Warhammer Jaheira - Staff Minsc - Flail/Axe Dynaheir - Sling
BG2 Ibn-Al Zafir - Fighter/Thief or Fighter/Thief/Mage(misses out top end stuff in ToB) - Longbow/Halberd/THSword Imoen - SBow, SSword Jaheira - Staff/Scimitar Minsc - Flail/Axe Keldorn - swap with whatever and then Sarevok in ToB(he needs to get back to his wife anyway) - whatever is best suited for swaped in NPC or ... Carsomyr after (i forget the name) super water sucking halberd is found for PC Anomen - Warhammer/Mace
Went canon for BG1, never modded the game or got ToSC. In BG2, female me (sorcerer or bard, usually), Minsc, Anomen, Yoshimo/Imoen, Jaheira, sixth person depends on quest being pursued, but I only take 5 into battle with Irenicus because I'll be adding Sarevok in ToB. ps. It is fantastic fun to take Haer'Dalis through BG2 and ToB and stock him up on epic rogue spike traps. They make killing liches and Melisande laughably easy.
ps. It is fantastic fun to take Haer'Dalis through BG2 and ToB and stock him up on epic rogue spike traps. They make killing liches and Melisande laughably easy.
Imoen as early game thief, dualled to illusionist or conjurer at level 2-6, depending on party Kivan as archer and possible temporary tank Sharteel as temporary tank, later dualled to thief at level 6, after getting ** in bows Edwin as mage Coran as late addition archer and thief Yeslick as late addition tank and priest
I'm aware that the party has 6 NPC's! If the PC plays Fighter/Cleric then replace Yeslick; if the PC plays Fighter/Thief then replace Sharteel; if the PC plays Fighter/Illusionist then replace Edwin. I think those three party combos are the best for vanilla BG1. I've never played Tutu so I dunno about that.
Alternative options: Ajantis, replacing one of the mages (Edwin, or Sharteel while cancelling Imoen's dualclass) Xzar & Montaron, replacing mages and thieves (Sharteel & Edwin or Imoen & Sharteel or Imoen & Edwin) Kagain & Quayle, strange combination, replacing Yeslick and a mage (Edwin, or Sharteel while cancelling Imoen's dualclass)
As for Jaheira & Khalid and Minsc & Dynaheir, I don't like splitting up pairs. And as couples, they're inferior in a few ways.
Garrick isn't good enough at any one thing Safana isn't as good as Imoen, or Sharteel dualclassed Xan isn't as good as Edwin, or Imoen dualclassed Branwen, Viconia, and Faldorn are pure priests, which I think is a waste Eldoth & Skie as a duo are probably the worst NPC choice you can make Alora is redundant if you take Coran Tiax's thief skills are redundant if you take Coran; otherwise see Branwen/Viconia/Faldorn
I'm not sure I have one yet, (I play the game solo in multiplayer mode most of the time so that I can create my own party) but here is one that I prefer:
1. Paladin (2h or 1h + shield) 2. Fighter (2h in BG1, dual wield in BG2) 3. Fighter/Cleric 4. Cleric 5. Mage 6. Fighter/Thief (Longbow)
Well, conventional wisdom tends to prefer balanced parties, so I had Jaheira and Shar-Teel as my front-line fighters, Imoen for thieving/ranged attacks, Viconia as the party healer and Edwin and my Bhaalspawn as my magic-users. As a bonus, most of those characters were available again in BG2, though I had to use Yoshimo instead of Imoen for a while, and had Korgan replace Shar-Teel as Fighter #2 (at least until Sarevok was available).
Me (Fighter) Minsc (Ranger/2HS) Viconia (Cleric/Sling) Dynaheir (Wizard) Imoen (Thief/Archer) Kivan of Shilmista (Archer)
I give my archers Boots and potions of speed and Dynaheir's favorite spell has always been haste... surprisingly most battles leave 1/2 the opposition dead before they've met my PC and Minsc heh.
These were my final groups for BG1: PC - half-elf Conjurer Kivan Coran Garrick Safana Yeslick or PC - half-elf Druid Kaigan Coran Imoen, dual-classed to Conjurer Kivan Garrick
For BG2: PC - half-elf Conjurer Viconia Anomen Jan-Jansen -> Imoen Valygar -> Sarevok Jaheira or PC - half-elf Druid Anomen Haer-Dalis Korgan Edwin Jan-Jansen
-BG1- Usually went with the Canon Party: Me (Usually a Fighter or Ranger kit) Imoen Minsc Dynaheir Jaheira Khalid
Same here. After BG2 was released I had a hard time deviating from this, since it wouldn't make much sense for you to end up in prison with anyone else. I also always play non-evil chars, so this composition works well.
Comments
Usually went with the Canon Party:
Me (Usually a Fighter or Ranger kit)
Imoen
Minsc
Dynaheir
Jaheira
Khalid
Lineup sometimes get swapped for Edwin, Kivan, Xan, or Coran because I love them too =D
-BG2-
Good:
Me (Kensai/Mage)
Imoen
Minsc
Aerie
Jaheira (Romanced)
Keldorn
Evil or Neutral:
Me (Ranger/Cleric)
Viconia (Romanced)
Jaheira
Imoen
Edwin
Mazzy
Yes, three Rangers. Kivan is great with the bow and Misnc is not bad at tanking with a good 2-Handed sword. Coran is often overlooked in my opinion. With 20 Dex. and +3 proficiency with bows, he almost never misses with a bow. He must roll 1-3 (I think) to miss and 4-20 to hit. Pretty good in my opinion. Plus, he doubles as a Thief.
BG1:
PC Fighter/Thief
Xan
Yeslick
Skie
Kivan
Quayle
BG2:
PC Fighter7->Assassin
Korgan
Viconia
Haer'Dalis
Nalia
BG2 modded:
PC Shapeshifter
Xan
Korgan
Viconia
Faren/Yoshimo
Yeslick
PC (Paladin)
Minsc
Imoen
Dynaheir
Khalid
Jaheira
Now I'm replaying the game with Tutu (warming up for the EE) and I'm planning to use:
PC (Fighter)
Yeslick
Imoen (dual class to mage)
Coran
Kivan
Jaheira
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In BG2 I tend to mix the party a lot everytime I need to do a NPC-specific sidequest. But I usually use the following:
PC
Minsc (Sarevok in ToB)
Imoen
Aerie
Jaheira
Keldorn
Toc (Half-Orc Barbarian)
GooGoo (Half-Orc Barbarian)
Mr Clean (Half-Orc Barbarian)
Bogart (Half-Orc Barbarian)
Imoen (dead but still in party)
Me
Imoen
Jaheira
Khalid
Xzar
Montaron
BG2 Shadow of Ahm
Me
Imoen
Jaheira
Yoshimo
Minsc
Edwin
BG 2 Throne of Bhaal
Me
Imoen
Jaheira
Sarevok
Minsc
Edwin
Maran Delrin (me), Elven Mage (General, no Special for me, unless it was Evocation
Imoen (Oddly a GOOD thief if you augment her with good items)
Sarevok (Man is a BEAST)
Aerie (Weak, but that multi cleric/mage is dead useful)
Keldorn (I play Good parties, so I need a Paladin, and Inquisitors rock)
Either: Edwin (if I am not a Wizard)
Either: Valygar (A lot of people underestimated him. Plus it was easy to exploit a bug about the White Dragon Scale Armor)
1. Paladin
2. Fighter--> dualed to Mage
3. Fighter--> dualed to Cleric
4. Fighter--> dualed to Thief
5. Ranger/Cleric Multiclass
6. Sorcerer or Bard or Edwin
For class kits, take whatever you like
Had something similar in Icewind Dale, what a walk in the park
Although Ranger/Cleric glitch didn't work there.
1) Human TN Berzerker / Druid - needs 15 Str, 15 dex, 18 con, 3 int, 17 Wis, 17 Cha min stats plus bracers of dexterity and a strength girdle. Dual to Druid after 9 Berzerker levels. Specialized in TWF Scimitars + Clubs. (Jaheira takes too long to level up, multiclass druids are too slow).
2) Human Kensai / Mage - 18 str, 18 dex, 18 con, 17 int min stats, dual to mage at 13 Kensai - TWF Bastard Swords + Katanas
3) Elf Archer - 18 str, 19 dex, 17 Con needed - Longbows ofc.
4) Human Swashbuckler / Mage - 18 str, 18 dex, 16 con, 17 int needed, dual to mage at level 10. Katanas would be nice, but theres never enough for both the Kensai and Swashbuckler, so I pick Longswords and Shortswords.
5) Gnome Cleric / Illusionist - 18 dex, 16 con, 19 int, 17 wis needed - Awesome healer + caster all in one while everyone else is getting their dual classes done. Backline slinger.
6) Elf Assassin - 18 str, 19 dex, 16 con. Longswords, Quarterstaffs, Shortbow, Single Weapon Style, 2H Weapon style - Staff of Striking, Staff of the Ram, and any decent Longsword for the rest of the game (there should be plenty of longswords for both the Assassin + Swashbuckler). This guy is here for UAI + Assassination HLAs .... oh my, any weapon with a 7x backstab multiplier!
But for BG1 alone ... hmmm, I'll have to think about that.
The Kensai and Swashbuckler own everything with melfs meteors / energy blades / tensers trasnformation / sword spider polymorph.
Keldorn
Minsc
Mazzy
Aerie
Imoen
Used this party whenever possible.
2 melee / 2 range / 2 mages
And from Bg1
Me(thief/fighter)
Minsc
Jaheira
Imoen
Dynaheir
Khalid
Pretty much, i don't like changing the party members, only did that if i had too (game forced me)
Xzar can be dualed to cleric (give him 1 tome of wisdom and he is exellent healer from experience).
Sharteel is the best fighter in the game if you give her some decent items- her TAC0 is much better then Kagains for example).
Coran is ingame Cheater NPC as he has 20 dex and +3 in bows- natural born archer.
I remember i read somewhere Edwin is the best mage in the game(better then your own CHARNAME)- dont remember why something with item or stats.
Monty is plain awesome thief if you keep him to the last - also awesome dialoge with all the backstabbing talk.
And well Kagain-20 cons. auto regeneration he is the "main tank" that takes all the damage why Shar-teel kickes everybody ass'es around her with haste and two handed sword+3.
All other combinations seem boring to me like:Jaheira,Khalid,Minsc Dynaheir. << everybody chooses them and the game "WANTS" you to choose them.
Skie is a bitch, Eldoth SUCKS, Garrick low consitution(only bonus is his lore),Alora Bad thiefing skills,Kivan is wack compared to Coran.
That leaves only Viconia,Tiax(which is lame but his NPC talk style is cool),Yeslick(good cleric for good aligned party), or Brawnen(Neutral aligned).
I personally saw great fun with playing Xzar as mage and then changing him to Cleric using the tome of wisdom.
Also, how would you integrate it with the new characters?
Ibn-Al Zafir - Fighter/Thief or Fighter/Thief/Mage(misses out top end stuff in ToB) - Longbow/THSword
Imoen - dualed to mage on lvl6 - SBow, SSword
Khalid - Longsword/Warhammer
Jaheira - Staff
Minsc - Flail/Axe
Dynaheir - Sling
BG2
Ibn-Al Zafir - Fighter/Thief or Fighter/Thief/Mage(misses out top end stuff in ToB) - Longbow/Halberd/THSword
Imoen - SBow, SSword
Jaheira - Staff/Scimitar
Minsc - Flail/Axe
Keldorn - swap with whatever and then Sarevok in ToB(he needs to get back to his wife anyway) - whatever is best suited for swaped in NPC or ... Carsomyr after (i forget the name) super water sucking halberd is found for PC
Anomen - Warhammer/Mace
Kagain
Shar-Teel
Edwin
Imoen
Viconia
T formation
-donno if it s perfect but I liked it pretty much (altho I finished BG just 3 times so didn t try all the characters)
Kivan as archer and possible temporary tank
Sharteel as temporary tank, later dualled to thief at level 6, after getting ** in bows
Edwin as mage
Coran as late addition archer and thief
Yeslick as late addition tank and priest
I'm aware that the party has 6 NPC's! If the PC plays Fighter/Cleric then replace Yeslick; if the PC plays Fighter/Thief then replace Sharteel; if the PC plays Fighter/Illusionist then replace Edwin. I think those three party combos are the best for vanilla BG1. I've never played Tutu so I dunno about that.
Alternative options:
Ajantis, replacing one of the mages (Edwin, or Sharteel while cancelling Imoen's dualclass)
Xzar & Montaron, replacing mages and thieves (Sharteel & Edwin or Imoen & Sharteel or Imoen & Edwin)
Kagain & Quayle, strange combination, replacing Yeslick and a mage (Edwin, or Sharteel while cancelling Imoen's dualclass)
As for Jaheira & Khalid and Minsc & Dynaheir, I don't like splitting up pairs. And as couples, they're inferior in a few ways.
Garrick isn't good enough at any one thing
Safana isn't as good as Imoen, or Sharteel dualclassed
Xan isn't as good as Edwin, or Imoen dualclassed
Branwen, Viconia, and Faldorn are pure priests, which I think is a waste
Eldoth & Skie as a duo are probably the worst NPC choice you can make
Alora is redundant if you take Coran
Tiax's thief skills are redundant if you take Coran; otherwise see Branwen/Viconia/Faldorn
1. Paladin (2h or 1h + shield)
2. Fighter (2h in BG1, dual wield in BG2)
3. Fighter/Cleric
4. Cleric
5. Mage
6. Fighter/Thief (Longbow)
Minsc (Ranger/2HS)
Viconia (Cleric/Sling)
Dynaheir (Wizard)
Imoen (Thief/Archer)
Kivan of Shilmista (Archer)
I give my archers Boots and potions of speed and Dynaheir's favorite spell has always been haste... surprisingly most battles leave 1/2 the opposition dead before they've met my PC and Minsc heh.
Me
Minsc
Xan
Tiax
Branwen
Ajantis
Imoen
Minsc
Dynaheir
BG2: Protagonist, Minsc, Imoen, Jaheira, Aerie, Valygar
PC - half-elf Conjurer
Kivan
Coran
Garrick
Safana
Yeslick
or
PC - half-elf Druid
Kaigan
Coran
Imoen, dual-classed to Conjurer
Kivan
Garrick
For BG2:
PC - half-elf Conjurer
Viconia
Anomen
Jan-Jansen -> Imoen
Valygar -> Sarevok
Jaheira
or
PC - half-elf Druid
Anomen
Haer-Dalis
Korgan
Edwin
Jan-Jansen
Aerie ( cleric/mage)
imoen (thief/mage)