Help me pick members for an Evil party

Valrog

These are the members I want in my party:

1. Edwin - Fastest-leveling mage, with the most spells and best spell selection (Conjurer).
2. Kagain - The Incredible Hulk w/ gauntlets of ogre power. His godly constitution, regeneration, grand mastery and the ability to use bladed weapons and any armor makes him able to carry a party by himself. He can even rest anywhere and would still be at full health when "ambushed".
3. Eldoth - Deadly archer/wizard slayer with gauntlets of dexterity (poison arrows & spells)
4. Tiax - Full fledged thief (for BG1 standards). He can find traps with "Find Traps" spell and scout with "Sanctuary". So, all his thieving skills can be put into Open Locks. And after that, he still has other Cleric spells and can turn undead. And his "Summon Ghast" ability is awesome - a Ghast with 18/00 strength ("Strength" spell) can massacre almost anybody and is immune to effects like petrification.

That, unfortunately, leaves me with only one more companion!:

Xar (great RP, decent mage)
Montaron (great RP, decent fighter/thief)
Viconia (nice cleric + 50% magic resistance, but only a single-classed cleric who can't fight)
Shar-Teel (fighter with girly constitution, but can be dual-classed to thief)

Out of these four, I would really love to pick Xar and Montaron who are great for RP. But I can't pick both! At the same time, I can't bear to part with Edwin, Kagain, Eldoth or Tiax

That leaves me with only 3 choices:

1. Sacrifice either Edwin, Kagain, Eldoth or Tiax.
2. Kill either Xar or Montaron (which would be less satisfying).
3. Take either Viconia or Shar-Teel (giving up both Xar and Montaron).

None of which truly appeals to me. I would love some suggestions from you guys to help make up my damned mind.

KidCarnival

Well, first, Edwin doesn't "level faster". He levels as fast as any other mage.

Then, you won't get Eldoth and Tiax from the start. You'll be running with Kagain, Edwin and whoever you pick from the ones on your list. You can take 3 of them until Cloakwood. It would also help to know what charname's class is.

Either way, you get Tiax late, so you need a thief and likely a healer. Before getting Eldoth for identifying stuff, a second mage would help, too. So get Xzar, Montaron and Viconia. Once Eldoth is in reach, let Xzar die or lock him in FAI. Once you get Tiax, you ditch either Monty or Viconia and keep the other. It's a no win situation to me; at the time you get to Tiax, his thief skills will probably not be as good as Monty's, and Viconia is a far better cleric. I'd keep them and leave Tiax where he is.

Oh, and the Summon Ghast is less useful than it sounds. It's immune to petrification, sure, but there aren't that many basilisks in the game. So it comes in handy in exactly 3 situations; and a skeleton works fine for all.
Viconia can fight due to her high dex and natural armor class. You will never get Tiax' AC this low without sacrificing his thief side to heavy armor. Viconia in ankheg plate is already lower than Tiax will ever get. Besides, Montaron makes a better thief and has a fighter side, so if you need someone to frontline, it's him.

zur312

all i want to say is
montaron is great he can be your archer/backstaber and even decent fighter with good armor and shield

viconia in bg:ee has more power than in bg1 because of new spells so she is powerfull too

KidCarnival

I'd have Monty use slings for ranged. He gets the racial bonus on slings, it's a waste to give him bows (especially because Eldoth will likely use Dead Shot +2 and can't possibly keep up making his own arrows, so all the good arrows go to him anyway.)
With Rashad's Talon +2, shield and sling (Dragonbane +3), Monty can easily fill 3 roles - ranged, melee/backstabs and thief stuff. Can't find a reason to get Tiax. I'd probably just keep Viconia and get Skie in BG as second thief. Eldoth will leave if you don't kidnap her; if you do, they'll be paired and Skie is a very decent thief and good archer (Short Bow prof and you get the Dryad bow for her in the city.)

CaptRory

I love Viconia. I even find room for her in a lot of my Good parties. There are ways of boosting her strength both temporary and otherwise if you need her to smack guys around. And she's death with a sling.

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franco

I think most gamers love Viconia. She gives you that mysterious underdark feeling, and her portrait is a knockout. What I love most about her though is her "magic resistance". Good to have that on a cleric who can cast Dispel Magic.

CaptRory

@franco Throw some Magic Resistance gear on her and she's practically immune which is handy as heck.

Awong124

If you want another caster, I'd take Baeloth over Xzar. Then take Shar-Teel and dual her to a thief and skip Tiax. Viconia is nice to have just because she's cool, but I don't find clerics at all necessary in this game, there are more than enough potions.

dstoltzfus

Skie for your thief, Tiax (if you really want him) for a cleric. The ghast ability is useful, but I disagree with your opinions on the Find Traps spell and scouting with Sanctuary. Find Traps does not disarm them. If you're in a dungeon and can't pass an area because of a trap, the spell isn't very useful. Not to mention that it only works in a small area for a full spell slot. Sanctuary does not last long enough to scout much. If you would insist on not using stealth for scouting, the Invisibility spell would be much more useful.

But, I'm going to use Tiax in my next evil playthrough, so I can't bad mouth him too much. His cleric spells will be useful enough, and his thieving abilities will be enough with potions. He's more there for RP sake than his abilities (besides his single summon).

Skie is probably necessary if you are intent on keeping Eldoth and she would fulfill any shortcomings from Tiax (Tiax with staff of striking and strength might make a good backstabber).

You ought to think about what party members that you plan on having before the late game ones. Obviously, Eldoth, Skie, and Tiax aren't for a long while, so you could easily use Dorn, Edwin, and Viconia until then (or any number of characters, depending on what you want to do).

I agree though, I plan on having Kagain, Xzar, Monteron, Eldoth, and Tiax on my next evil run. It should be fun.

Also, include what charname is so people know what to balance off of. Good luck .

mjs

my evil run through

PC - Gnome Wizard Slayer
Kagain
Dorn
Viconia
shar-teel (dual to thief)
Edwin

I really felt the lack of arcane power with this team in the final battle only PC and edwin were left standing (not that I care because I'm EEEEEEEEVIL) and i think a better team would've been

PC
monty
xzar
viconia
edwin
kagain

KidCarnival

mjs said:

I really felt the lack of arcane power with this team in the final battle only PC and edwin were left standing (not that I care because I'm EEEEEEEEVIL) and i think a better team would've been

PC
monty
xzar
viconia
edwin
kagain

Dual Xzar to cleric at 6, take Dorn instead of Viconia and you have a mage 6/cleric 8 AND a frontline monster with poison weapon. That's the ideal evil party for me, best of all worlds. Charname would be neutral evil jester for extra spells and crowd control; or a thief kit (usually assassin, but bounty hunter and shadowdancer work the same - Monty handles traps and locks from the start, you can fully focus on setting traps or stealth).