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My first party!

PuebloPueblo Member Posts: 21
in New Players (NO SPOILERS!)
Taking advice for my first party, I tried to read a lot about a balance party, but I want to have your opinion.

Dwarf Defender
Human Blackguard
Elven archer
Human priest of helm
Human sorcerer (dragon breath)
Gnome thief/mage

Thx in advance :)

Comments

  • SionIVSionIV Member Posts: 2,689
    edited July 2013
    The priest of helm isn't a very good kit, pick lathander instead. And pure clerics can get quite boring, a dwarf Cleric/fighter would give you more if you're into multi classing.
  • PuebloPueblo Member Posts: 21
    you mean the Lathander is the best healer I can get?
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    For BG EE? If this is your first ever playthrough of BG, I'd recommend you just use the NPCs as provided. There are more than enough of them to fulfil every role you'd need in the party. The plot would make more sense, and if you intend to play BG 2, it would make even more sense cos some of the BG 1 characters return in BG 2.

    Otherwise, if you insist on using an entirely custom party... it seems pretty well balanced, although from a roleplay perspective, it might be a bit odd to have a Priest of Helm and Blackguard working together.
  • SionIVSionIV Member Posts: 2,689
    Baldur's gate isn't so much about healing. There is no cleric that heals better than the others. The difference between the clerics are the spesific kit bonuses they get, and the lathander priest get a much better bonus.
  • PuebloPueblo Member Posts: 21
    I miss the time when I was playing games like Dark Knights of Krynn, where you could create 6 characters. I guess it's why I am "cheating" trough the multiplayer possibility. Good point tho about the priest of helm and the backguard.... mhmm. Need to think about that, but the Blackguard seems really badass
  • SionIVSionIV Member Posts: 2,689
    It's not cheating to create your own party and it's something alot of us including myself do. You're just going to miss out n some great dialogues and story by not taking the NPC's. You won't notice this in BG1 but in BG2 the NPC's are a big part of your story.
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    Pueblo said:

    I miss the time when I was playing games like Dark Knights of Krynn, where you could create 6 characters. I guess it's why I am "cheating" trough the multiplayer possibility. Good point tho about the priest of helm and the backguard.... mhmm. Need to think about that, but the Blackguard seems really badass

    I understand what you mean. I came into BG 2 through the Avernum series, where you can also create 4 custom party members... However, as I said, a real strength of the BG series is actually the storyline and the NPCs. This is even more true for BG 2, where your companions really do come alive. Now I wouldn't swap out Minsc and Boo even I could!

    By all means create a custom party for a second run-through. But for the first time, you really should just use the standard NPCs. Otherwise parts of the story will not make sense.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited July 2013
    SionIV said:

    Baldur's gate isn't so much about healing. There is no cleric that heals better than the others. The difference between the clerics are the specific kit bonuses they get, and the lathander priest get a much better bonus.

    Damn those soft c's messing with people! (chances are if its a word with an s sound in it...like choice, specific, etc it probably uses a c instead of an s. The English language is somewhat ridiculous in this way I suppose.
    SionIV said:

    The priest of helm isn't a very good kit, pick lathander instead. And pure clerics can get quite boring, a dwarf Cleric/fighter would give you more if you're into multi classing.

    There is nothing wrong with the Priest of Helm. It's bonus just isn't as useful as the other two priests. Also I think they corrected it so that the cleric now gets proper proficiency with the spawned weapon so at least you are now hitting as you should be. It gives you 3 attacks per round (2d4 damage)! The downside is you can't cast any more spells but in BGEE that is always a possibility that clerics can face. It gives them a lot more usability.

    True sight is a useful spell to have (not so much in BGEE but in BG2) and seeking sword
  • SionIVSionIV Member Posts: 2,689
    edited July 2013
    elminster said:

    SionIV said:

    Baldur's gate isn't so much about healing. There is no cleric that heals better than the others. The difference between the clerics are the specific kit bonuses they get, and the lathander priest get a much better bonus.

    Damn those soft c's messing with people! (chances are if its a word with an s sound in it...like choice, specific, etc it probably uses a c instead of an s. The English language is somewhat ridiculous in this way I suppose.
    SionIV said:

    The priest of helm isn't a very good kit, pick lathander instead. And pure clerics can get quite boring, a dwarf Cleric/fighter would give you more if you're into multi classing.

    There is nothing wrong with the Priest of Helm. It's bonus just isn't as useful as the other two priests. Also I think they corrected it so that the cleric now gets proper proficiency with the spawned weapon so at least you are now hitting as you should be. It gives you 3 attacks per round (2d4 damage)! The downside is you can't cast any more spells but in BGEE that is always a possibility that clerics can face. It gives them a lot more usability.

    True sight is a useful spell to have (not so much in BGEE but in BG2) and seeking sword
    Specific, Specific, Specific, Specific.

    The cleric of lathander get 1 extra APR and the cleric of helm get a bad sword that removes spell casting, so i really don't find it worth it.

    [Edited] :

    The cleric of helm is stuck with that sword for his 3 APR, the lathander priest can use a weapon like FoA +5 and still get the +1 APR bonus.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    SionIV said:

    elminster said:

    SionIV said:

    Baldur's gate isn't so much about healing. There is no cleric that heals better than the others. The difference between the clerics are the specific kit bonuses they get, and the lathander priest get a much better bonus.

    Damn those soft c's messing with people! (chances are if its a word with an s sound in it...like choice, specific, etc it probably uses a c instead of an s. The English language is somewhat ridiculous in this way I suppose.
    SionIV said:

    The priest of helm isn't a very good kit, pick lathander instead. And pure clerics can get quite boring, a dwarf Cleric/fighter would give you more if you're into multi classing.

    There is nothing wrong with the Priest of Helm. It's bonus just isn't as useful as the other two priests. Also I think they corrected it so that the cleric now gets proper proficiency with the spawned weapon so at least you are now hitting as you should be. It gives you 3 attacks per round (2d4 damage)! The downside is you can't cast any more spells but in BGEE that is always a possibility that clerics can face. It gives them a lot more usability.

    True sight is a useful spell to have (not so much in BGEE but in BG2) and seeking sword
    Specific, Specific, Specific, Specific.

    The cleric of lathander get 1 extra APR and the cleric of helm get a bad sword that removes spell casting, so i really don't find it worth it.
    A capable sword (that you can get from level 1) that apparently lasts for an entire turn even though the description says it should only last for 1 round/level (which would make it a lot less useful).
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    Boon of Lathander only lasts for 6 rounds/level (I checked in Near Infinity). Win for bugs and Seeking Sword :D
  • SionIVSionIV Member Posts: 2,689
    Also remember it's +1 Thac0 , damage and saving throws too.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited July 2013
    I'm not really disputing the value of Boon of Lathander. Long term (late BGEE/BG2) its the better choice. But as of right now Seeking Sword is better in BGEE (until/if they fix the bug that I just reported about its duration). Particularly given that casting healing spells during combat (unless its for poison) isn't generally worth it for the time involved. Clerics only have so many spells that they can be casting in game at the beginning.
  • PuebloPueblo Member Posts: 21
    I also read that druids can become better healer than priest (that reminds me of WoW), your opinion on this?
  • SionIVSionIV Member Posts: 2,689
    edited July 2013
    Better healers? Yes. More useful? No.

    Baldur's gate isn't about healing damage, it's about preventing it.
  • PuebloPueblo Member Posts: 21
    and if I understand correctly, you guys recommand me to do BGEE alone at least once to start?
  • SionIVSionIV Member Posts: 2,689
    We (I) recommend you to play it normal with NPC's for the first time.
  • PuebloPueblo Member Posts: 21
    not a bad idea, I guess I'll try a cavalier than? Or any recommandation?
  • SionIVSionIV Member Posts: 2,689
    edited July 2013
    Cavalier is a great class and easy to start with. Try to get 18 STR, CON and DEX and you'll have a character that should take you through the game without much trouble.

    [Edited] : I would also like to mention Icewind Dale (IWD) as it might be more to your taste. It's almost identical to Baldur's gate (BG) but you have to create a 6 man party yourself, and it's more combat oriented.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited July 2013
    Pueblo said:

    I also read that druids can become better healer than priest (that reminds me of WoW), your opinion on this?

    Better healers? Sort of. In BGEE they are better healers but healing isn't really worth it in battle (the ability to rest and with it heal all health minimizes the usefulness outside of battle too). In BG2 they don't get any resurrection spells until very late in the game. In BG2 (or in BGEE without the level cap) Clerics can get raise dead as a level 5 spell (with the exception of Jaheira druids don't get anything until their higher level abilities). Also druids can cast a spell called summon woodland beings and those nymphs can cast "Mass Cure" which is a spell you normally can't get until you can get level 6 spells.

    In any case I wouldn't be looking for which of the two is the better healer when considering which type to play as.
  • PuebloPueblo Member Posts: 21
    Question @SionIV ; if I play solo the first time, can I mix that character with a group later on? Can I even restart the whole game again in multiplyaer?
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