Party size
Fysh
Member Posts: 25
Should I go for a party of 6 or stick with 4? Currently have Khalid, Jaheira, Imoen, and I'm a conjurer. I've just met Kagain and Garrick.
I kind of like just having 4, but another fighter could be useful, and I guess the bard would give me some support...
By the way, how can I tell how many charges are left on a wand?
I kind of like just having 4, but another fighter could be useful, and I guess the bard would give me some support...
By the way, how can I tell how many charges are left on a wand?
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Comments
But fill your slots! When you've beaten the game once, it can be fun to go back and experiment with smaller or just different parties. But first time around, use all six slots. As long as you explore and do all the side quests there is plenty of experience to get everyone up to the cap.
As for Kaigan in your mostly good aligned party (Jaheira is True Neutral, not good) you wont have any real problems. They might bicker back and forth a bit but that's all that will happen. Evil party members though wont stick around if your reputation score climbs above 18. I'd personally keep Kaigan around since he can be the best tank NPC in the game with the correct equipment. Garrick on the other hand is easily one of the worst NPC's in the game and isn't really worth keeping around for too long.
i would suggest bringing more fighters because you need buffer for conjurer and imoen 4 fighting characters + thief + mage is good combination they hack in melee while you plow with bows slings darts or spells
bards can be hard to play for new players but bow+some spells is still very good and easy solution
Minsc looks good, so then I also get Dynaheir, another specialist mage. That would mean I don't have a cleric only a fighter/druid - will that work ok?
The downside is that they have low health and offense. Magic can help with that. But still, not front line material all time.
For me, I throw my cleric into combat when something is going to get through to my really squishy characters.
4 is enough to cover all the important bases, and if you're having trouble managing 6, you can do alright. Though it does mean less spell resources or bodies between you and death. But as above it can work out, if it's too overwhelming for more.
My first time beating the game was solo, just because I kept getting frustrated over managing so many people at once (hadn't learned to love the space bar yet and was still new to DnD style magic, coming from a plethora of JRPGs and action RPGs where you could spam spells easily as a prime attack).
So..the flexibility is there to do whatever you're comfortable with...unlike BG2, BG1 has much less party interaction, except for a few minor us vs them moments or slight party drama, but no where near to the degree BG2 does, so you don't really miss too much not taking a full group (which you may or may not prefer over...... MY WINGS?!?!?!?!).
If you want to gain more characters then I'd recommend a ranged character, of whom you can place in the back row for damage support. A good candidate for ranged gameplay is Kivan. Coran is another good option but since he is a multi-classed Fighter/Thief, he drains double the experience. Jaheira is also a multi-class, so if you were to add Coran you would have experience split 7 ways in a party of 5. That would be a drain on leveling, not to mention Coran isn't avaliable til halfway in the game.
So if you pick Kivan, then the other would probably be something like Branwen who is a neutral Cleric. Jaheira is decent at healing but Clerics are better than Druids when it comes to defense. You can pick Branwen and Kivan very early on.
I do use the pause facility a LOT, but even so I think it could be quite daunting having 6 party members, especially spell casters when they are higher level with a huge number of spells to choose from.
I did briefly have 6 characters in my party, but it suddenly seemed less intimate, like I was controlling a whole army! If the game is winnable with the team I have, then I will probably stick as I am...
Get rid of Jaheira when you meet Yeslick later. He is a very good Fighter/Cleric.
He can have more Cleric spells than Jaheira, which is far than enough to meet your clerical needs.
If you don't want to loose Khalid, just disgroup Jaheira in a bulding you're not planning to return in (make her go alone in the building, then kick her out of your party).
It won't take you long to encounter the bandits in question. Funnily enough Branwen has the same motive of revenge agains the bandits but neither she or Kivan says anything upon fighting them. To my knowledge both NPCs have no further dialogue or quest after recruitment. Both NPCs are victims of rushed production as their planned quests never came to fruition.
@Aasimar069 I might get rid of Khalid too later - not good to be so cowardly.
Remember Khalid can have the same advantages with more HP. Just give hive the gauntlet/belt of strength and he's good to go.
A well managed party and proper healing will never put Khalid in morale failure. Protection from fear or cleric spell is also very handy for him if you are really afraid of him fleeing.
If you have a Cavalier, just cast remove fear on him, it also protects him.