Putting together a party for a first timer, any advice?
Bipolar_Bear
Member Posts: 3
I have a rough idea on the party I want to play, but I'm not too sure if it'll work out or if I'll have a hard time or not. Main character will be either a Blade, Shadowdancer, or Swashbuckler. Probably Blade, since I like having many options open. Chaotic Neutral, rest of the party will lean on Good/Neutral except Dorn. The party I'm thinking of:
Imoen (Dual class to Mage)
Minsc (Killing off Dynaheir)
Dorn
Jaheira (Main healing)
Neera (No matter what, she's staying in the party).
Will this party work out? Any other characters I should consider? I don't care for being the most powerful, I just want a balanced party that will work with interesting characters.
Imoen (Dual class to Mage)
Minsc (Killing off Dynaheir)
Dorn
Jaheira (Main healing)
Neera (No matter what, she's staying in the party).
Will this party work out? Any other characters I should consider? I don't care for being the most powerful, I just want a balanced party that will work with interesting characters.
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At level four, Imoen can have 100 in Find Traps and Open Locks and can be dualed to a mage and still get her thief levels back. You might want to grab another thief to do thiefy stuff til Imoen gets her skills back.
So right now you have a mage and a half (Neera and Imoen), three tanks (Jaheira, Minsc, and Dorn) and a divine caster (Jaheira). You could drop Dorn for either Viconia or Branwen. Personally I love having lots of spellcasting in my parties, hehehe. Viconia is evil too though, so reputation issues.
And if you're gonna play a blade you have magic, fighting, and a little thievery already. So either Dorn or Minsc becomes very redundant.
i think your party has medium powergaming level not the best not the worst
the powergaming npc team
dwarf/orc fighter/cleric tank
power mage like edwin neera
coran bow
kivan bow
shar-teel bow
montaron bow
this is just too easy
Yeslick is a great contribution to any party, he can fight very well because he is a Fighter/Cleric, has cleric spellcasting (great for buffing himself up to be even more deadly in melee), is a dwarf with a respectable Con so he will have great saves, and his innate dispel magic ability ranks amongst the very best innate abilities in the game. Being a Fighter/Cleric means he will have more attacks per round than any of the other clerics and his proficiency in maces will make him amazing if/when you run across a certain special Mace the EE added to the game. His only downside is that he comes into the game around the halfway point so you'll have to get to him with a 5 person party (not that difficult especially with your chosen lineup) or bring someone along only til you reach him.
Viconia is also a good cleric. Unlike Yeslick she isn't a fighter multiclass so her combat prowess is fairly limited (only 1 attack per round). That said, you can use items and spells to increase her strength and she can make for a decent frontliner compared to the thieves and bards in the game. Her best qualities are that, like Yeslick, she can give you access to those cleric only divine spells you're currently lacking, she has an innate 50% spell resistance (nothing to sneeze at) and she has 19 dexterity which makes her fairly competant with a sling but more importantly gives her a high AC (especially with strength increasing items to let her equip the heavier armors in the game).
Branwen is the lesser of the three Clerics. With not so great stats and being a single class cleric she is outshone in the melee department by Yeslcik and in the ranged combat department by Viconia. Her spiritual hammer innate ability is alright, but unless you give her strength items or spells it's really not as usful as some of the other innate abilities. Her greatest points are that she will fill the cleric spellcasting role, you can aquire her very early in the game and being neutral she can fit in well with evil and good parties.
You can get by without a cleric in the group, Mages can take remove fear as a second level spell but the mage 2nd level spells hold better options than the cleric 1st and you will not have access to them until later on, also you will have fewer slots to prepare this fairly essential spell.
If you're not really looking for any more divine spellcasting I'd suggest Edwin (he is the best mage in the series, he can cast more spells than any other mage barring Captain Spoiler) he can be recruited early but he does not mesh well with Minsc at all. Kivan or Coran could also be great additions adding some more ranged support which you are currently light on. Kivan is recruitable early has great stats, can melee aswell as fight at range and his favored enemy Ogres stays relevent throughout the entire game. Coran is a true ranged character having the lowest strength of all the "Warrior" classes means he should sit in the back and fire his bow which he does quite well. You don't come across Coran until later in the game but that should be right around the time you dual Imoen so he could be an asset to take over thieving duties until her mage levels surpass her rogue levels.
power mage like edwin neera
coran bow
kivan bow
shar-teel bow
montaron bow
or something like this for powergaming
bard bow/crossbow or fighter/ilusionist gnome bow
jaheira darts
coran bow
kivan bow
shar-teel bow
montaron bow
6 ranged
Go with no-nonsense characters for easy play. These can be picked up early so you have a good team straight away.
You, Don't stress too much, pick something you like!
Imoen, your thief. Put all in find traps. Potions of master thievery are common and will boost open locks early on if you need it.
Khalid, simple fighter, with not bad stats.
Jaheria, your druid who can fill the healer role.
Ajantis, another fighter (with paladin abilities) Picked up by going north of the Friendly Arm
Kivan, archer. You have to go to high hedge next door to Beregost.
A full fledged party that you can take all the way to the end, gathered before going south of Beregost.
Done and done.
Magic is lacking, but I assure you it will not put you at a great disadvantage. You can swap members out when you come across better NPCs in the game. I suggest dropping Ajantis for Branwen or Xan for instance when in Nashkell.
That's exactly what I plan on doing
And I like using Jaheira as a tank so having another divine caster means I have access to those spells even if she's engaged in battle.
Well, its really easy to overthink things you know? I think you should replace Dorn as a matter of smootihng out playing your first game. Just pick guys that all work well together you know?
PC Blade
Imoen (Dual class to Mage)
Minsc (Killing off Dynaheir)
Dorn
Jaheira (Main healing)
Neera (No matter what, she's staying in the party).
becomes
PC Blade (Switch Fighter/Spell Caster/Primary Buffing Mage)
Minsc (Tank)
Jaheira (Backup Divine/Backup Tank)
Imoen (Dual class to Mage after maxing out Find Traps @100 Skill.)
Neera (Primary Offensive Mage).
Safana (Second Thief. Replaced with Cleric once Imoen gets her thief skills back and party has Knock Spell. Actually, this would be a good game for you to recruit Yeslick, a Dwarf Fighter/Cleric since he comes later on and most people ignore him 'cause their roster is set at that point.)
If you get lucky you might randomly find a Scroll of Knock before it appears in the chest normally.
Ajantis is a great choice though. If you didn't want to kill off Dynaheir you could grab Ajantis instead of Minsc. But I tihnk both Ajantis and Jaheira need the Dex Gloves hehehe.
Imoen (dual to mage)
Safana (backup until Imoen has levels back - replace with Yeslick later)
Ajantis
Jaheira
Neera
Though, I'm not sure if Coran is really too late. Imoen would need 4 levels as mage; you'd likely only have to do Bandit Camp without thief before you can get Coran for the Cloakwood traps.