What party are you going to play?

Sliceofhell

Less than a week left to BG2EE release. It is time to make some hard decisions. Who are you going to take in your journey and who you will leave behind *until the next playthrough*. Wiki link to ease selection: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Baldur's_Gate_characters#Party_members_2.

Initial list of characters who I really want to take this time: Keldorn, Anomen, Aerie, Jan, Nalia, Edwin, Minsc, Jaheira.

And the final list:

Keldorn
Anomen
Aerie
Nalia
Minsc

So I came up with a pure good *and very annoying* party. Think I'm just trying to compensate the crappy gray weather outside with some bright and warm BG experience.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Sceptenar

I'm importing my first complete game of BG:EE to do it.

That means an Inquisitor paladin, and I want to see the new characters, that means the team will be:

Me, Inquisitor
Dorn
Rasaad
Neera
Hexxat
Anomen (just because I need a cleric and I've never really used him much before)

Keeping Dorn from throwing a tantrum and leaving will be a bit annoying, but I want to see them all on the first go so I'll live with it.

FinneousPJ

Rashaad, Neera, Dorn and Hexxat obviously.

marceror

1. PC NE DC Brsrkr 9/Clr X Fl +++++/Shld S&S ++ (FoA)
2. Dorn NE Blkgrd GrSwd ++ THW ++ (QtrStf bckp)
3. Hexxat ?? Thf (Kit?) ?? ??
4. Edwin LE Conj Slng + /Stf + N/A
5. Neera CN Wild Mage Slng + /Stf + N/A

6? Korgan CE Brsrkr WrHmr +++++/Ax +++++ TWF +++ Crom Faeyr
6? Viconia NE MC Fighter/Cleric WrHmr ++/Shield S&S ++ Crom Faeyr

Still undecided on whther I go with Viccy or Korgan, but leaning toward the better looking of the two.

jackjack

Viconia, Dorn, Hexxat, Edwin, and I'll rotate the 5th NPC as I see fit.

zerckan

1.Charname (Necromancer)
2.Minsc
3.Keldorn
4.Jaheira
5.Hexxat

I generally play party of 4-5 members.
So no 6th.

meagloth

Gotta do all the new quests and Edwin.

Madhax

PC Dragon Disciple
Neera
Rasaad
Anomen
Yoshi->Imoen

6th slot... not sure yet. I might take Cernd, I've never had a party with him before.

[Deleted User]

I'm taking a Kensai->Druid, the four new NPCs, and Jan; it should be a fun time.

Sliceofhell

zerckan said:

I generally play party of 4-5 members.
So no 6th.

Never understood that. It's already hard to pick 5 for me. I wish there was some kind of mod, that could initiate NPC interactions even if they are not present.

FinneousPJ

@Kaigen Why kensai? RP?

[Deleted User]

FinneousPJ said:

Why kensai? RP?

More or less. I like the flavor of it, it's more interesting to me than a Berserker->Druid, and it gives me something to do with all of my level 2 spell slots (i.e. Barkskin).

FinneousPJ

Cool. Quarterstaff as weapon of choice would be awesome.

Eudaemonium

I'm planning to run the following:

Charname, LE Fighter(7)>Assassin (By the power of NearInfinity, yadayadayada)
Dorn, NE Blackguard
Viconia, NE Cleric
Edwin, LE Conjurer
Hexxat, ?? Thief

Sixth Rotating slot, finishing with a certain ToB NPC. Before that I will cycle some NPCs for quests, and either settle on Korgan, or go with Yoshimo>Imoen>ToB NPC. Whoever gets the 6th slot will be rigged to make the sacrifice in Hell. XD

Corvino

I'm probably going to start with a fairly standard, easy-to-obtain party for my first run and test out the new changes to BG2:EE.

CHARNAME Cavalier
Minsc
Jaheira
Aerie
Jan Jansen
Rotating NPC slot for personal quests -> Yoshimo -> Imoen

Once I get an idea of what new stuff has been added to the game I'll mix the new NPCs into my next playthroughs.

Fistandantilus

Just finished BGEE with my evil dual fighter mage 7/8 so ill be taking:
Dorn
Hexxat
Viconia
Edwin
Korgain

Got a Cavalier run through on the go jsut now that i'll try and finish, he will take:
Minsc
Rasaad
Neera
Anomen (because ive never taken him)
Imoen

Sev

I'll be running a party based on some of the principles outlined in this thread:

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/23275/balanced-npc-party-ahead-of-bg2ee#latest

Balance will be the name of the game for me, as I like as many of my characters as possible to be able to spellcast AND fight, plus have access to a good mix of ranged/dual-wielding/2h-weapons. I also generally prefer multi-classes to duals, as I want to be able to kick ass right the way through, rather than having to wait around for characters to regain their de-activated classes (also, fighter HLAs rule). I always take Imoen unless I'm playing as evil, as leaving her behind is hard to justify from a role-playing perspective.

My party structure is pretty much always based around the same formula. I favour one shorty tanking up front (generally Mazzy or Korgan), two flank attackers who can dual-wield, one specialist spellcaster tucked between the ranks in the centre (I prefer this person to be able to use a decent ranged weapon competently, so Edwin types are generally a no-go for me), and two backline characters who can switch between 2h weapons (to hit over the first rank), ranged weapons and spellcasting (at minimum they should be able to do 2/3 of these things well, so Jan and Aerie get passes).

I also like to be able to use the following pieces of equipment:

Carsomyr (alas, sometimes this gets overlooked)
FoA/Crom Faeyer (dual)
Axe of Unyielding (the optimal weapon for tanking)

At the moment I'm looking at one of these:

Good:

Tank:
Mazzy
Flanks:
Jaheira
Me (F/M/T)
Spellcaster:
Imoen
Backline:
Aerie
Keldorn

Neutral-ish:

Tank:
Korgan
Flanks:
Haer'Dalis
Anomen
Spellcaster:
Imoen
Backline:
Me (F/M multi)
Jaheira (using spears)

This is lineup is tempting too, though Jaheira would be missed:

Tank:
Korgan
Flanks:
Haer'Dalis
Me (R/C multi)
Spellcaster:
Imoen
Backline:
Dorn/ToB NPC?
Jan

Will also consider taking Hexxat, especially if she can be dual-classed. If she can operate as a mage I might run with the following evil party:

Tank:
Korgan
Flanks:
Haer'Dalis
Anomen (as chaotic neutral - he's just so much better than Viconia)
Spellcaster:
Hexxat ( as mage)
Backline:
Me (Fighter/Druid - will pull a Faldorn via the hell-trials, something I've always wanted to do)
Jan


I've also been wanting to power-game things with a player created party, something I've never been able to do (I'm a Mac user, and haven't been able to get multiplayer going). They'll probably line-up like this, though there are quite a few different permutations that could work well:

Tank:
Dwarven Barbarian (dual-wielding w/ Defender of Easthaven for massive damage reduction)
Flanks:
R/C (multi)
F/M (multi)
Spellcaster:
Fighter > Mage (grandmastery in shortbows makes them an uber Imoen)
Backline:
F/M/T (Carsomyr + thieving + backstabs w/ staff of ram + xbow)
F/M/C OR Gnomish F/Illusionist (staff of magi/sling) - can't decide between these!

deltago

First play through:

PC Shadow dancer/Cleric (CN)
Neera
Dorn
Imoen/Yoshimo
Hexxat
Rotating party member for quests (always do this)

recklessheart

PC Human Sorcerer (Chaotic Neutral)
Jaheira
Dorn Il-Khan
Valygar
Hexxat or Viconia
Nalia or Edwin

Although that has taken me a long time to rest upon, and I might easily change it again. Blast! 4 days until BG2EE and so much to consider. AGAIN! lol
Also I do the same as @deltago alternating NPCs so that I can help complete all their quests. Thankfully, this tactic never requires that I take Aerie with me. Considering I missed Neera in BGEE, this means that I'll be playing with her for the first time in BG2EE, so she is as new to me as Hexxat is going to be. I just don't need another Chaotic Neutral arcane magic user in the party.

Sliceofhell

I see most people are doing the NPC rotation for personal quests. Despite being quite a munchkin I've never thought of doing that. What are the conditions to trigger the personal quests? Do I have to wait certain amount of days?

Lord_Tansheron

@Sliceofhell: We don't know yet. It could be that, it could be certain events, it could be a combination of the two. Maybe you need to rest outside at a certain time, or whatever. Either way, it's usually not hard to figure out, and you can always fast-forward the time to trigger events if you so choose.

[Deleted User]

Sliceofhell said:

I see most people are doing the NPC rotation for personal quests. Despite being quite a munchkin I've never thought of doing that. What are the conditions to trigger the personal quests? Do I have to wait certain amount of days?

The old Bioware NPCs are a mix between real time quest timers (i.e. how long you are playing the game) and in-game timers (i.e. how much the day counter moves). This means some of them can be triggered by chain resting, but many of them do not.

The new NPCs in BGEE all seem to work off of in-game timers or area triggers, so you can rest or travel to get their dialogs and quests to trigger. If they hold to that pattern with BG2EE, you might well be able to rotate the new people through that last slot to get to their content without much trouble.

shawne

First run (Elf Sorcerer): Dorn, Korgan, Hexxat, Viconia and Edwin. (Unless it turns out you can turn Rasaad evil, in which case I'll take him instead of Korgan - a quick peek at DIALOG.TLK should confirm whether that's even possible.)

Second run (Human Cavalier): Jaheira, Mazzy, Nalia/Imoen, Aerie and Neera.

Eudaemonium

Sliceofhell said:

I see most people are doing the NPC rotation for personal quests. Despite being quite a munchkin I've never thought of doing that. What are the conditions to trigger the personal quests? Do I have to wait certain amount of days?

I have to confess that I haven't ever done this before. I 'm mainly doing it to see all the content I've missed over the years.

Sliceofhell

That's what I thought. I think I've tried it once long ago. But the quest didn't trigger after a couple of resting day, so I gave up. Usually I prefer to minimize the number of rests to increase the challenge a little.

Sliceofhell

shawne said:

Unless it turns out you can turn Rasaad evil

I remember Viconia saying something like "I will make sure that he (Rasaad) finds the right (evil) side".

shawne

Sliceofhell said:

I remember Viconia saying something like "I will make sure that he (Rasaad) finds the right (evil) side".

We'll find out soon enough...

Elendar

Fighter/Mage
Keldorn
Anomen
Neera
Rasaad
Imoen/Yoshimo

Thrasymachus

I'm planning on running two groups through BG2EE eventually, one 'neutral/good', the other 'neutral/evil'.

The 'virtuous' group:

Avenger (PC)
Neera
Rasaad
Imoen
Keldorn

(I'm currently running this PC through BGEE -- with Neera, Rasaad, Imoen, and Ajantis in the party -- so probably will not start BG2EE until December.)

The 'vicious' group:

Mage (not sure exactly what kind yet) (PC)
Dorn
Hexxat
Viconia/Anomen (CN version)
Korgan/Haer'Dalis