Starting a full BG1EE>BG2EE run with three other people. Any tips?

SoylenT

Hey guys

First time here but I'm a long time lurker. After much work, I finally found a group that can play through the full campaign with me. Two guys are new to the game, I'm at BG1 Chapter 4 while the fourth has beat BG1 once.

I'd like to hear some tips about distributing distinct roles between four people so we can hopefully cover all the bases, specially concerning classes. All I know is that I'm playing a dwarf, first for the sake of diversity, and second because they are bloody awesome. Any tips regarding playing through this game with other people instead of single player would also be very welcome.

Madhax

I've never done this, but it seems that you want each individual in the party to be both competent and interesting to play, since it sounds like you only want to be playing one character each.

If you want to be a dwarf, a fighter/cleric seems like a good idea. That way, you can be one of the main divine casters in the party, as well as potentially the main tank. I'm intentionally shying away from something like Dwarven Defender, because while that's a powerful kit, restricting yourself to simple auto-attacking for the whole saga seems like a really boring idea.

So, between the three others, we need arcane magic and thievery...

A multiclass thief/mage would fit nicely. Infinite thief levels plus BG2 strength belts allows for backstabbing even without good starting strength, and this can be your backup caster.

One person could be a pure caster, possibly a sorcerer. I also got some great mileage in BGEE out of a melee-oriented Dragon Disciple with starting 18 strength going to 19, but you probably don't want to give a strength book to an arcane caster in a multiplayer game. Alternatively, a pure mage or fighter->mage dual class would work nicely here.

Last slot... a paladin/blackguard depending on your party's alignments could work, if they're cool with mostly being a fighter for BG1. A Ranger/Cleric is also a powerful melee/divine character.

Hope that helps.

Tenrecc

1 - Be survivable (no matter what class). I'm not sure how the system works in EE, but loading in the original multi-player was a bit of a pain and you want to have to do that as little as possible.

2 - STR and INT/WIS is a lot more useful when controlling only one character due to lifting capabilities and lore. If you're too low on this you'll be needing to shift a lot of items around due to weight limits and idenfication, and this can be a bit of a pain when you're only controlling one guy. I'm not saying your thief should have str, int and wis maxed out, but it's good to know about beforehand.

3 - Make sure classes, speccs and prios are set somewhat in advance and make them distinct. You don't want to have to fight over items/scrolls etc when they drop. Also some policy about spending gold maybe, since it's shared between you all (especially if you dont know these guys too well, huehue). Also DEFINITELY make sure you know who gets the Tomes/Lums (There is tomes in BG1 (3 for wis) and a machine in BG2 that gives +1 to stats, so a solo character would end up with +2str +2dex +2con +2int +4wis +2cha), cause everyone frikkin loves stats.

Now, for classes, casters and theives are obviously more fun than warriors when you only have one character to play. For fun purposes, no class should be a pure str class, but fighters multied with anything can be quite fun and strong.

Something like

Fighter/Mage
Fighter/Thief
Druid
Sorceress

Should be both potent and viable. A bit challenging if it is your first time around, and a bit boring for the casters early on, but you do NOT want to be a full-fledged Paladin in ToB where you only right-click things and decide once per day who to put that LoH on.

[Deleted User]

First off, I'll second @Tenrecc's recommendation to try to have everyone be survivable, as having to reload because of deaths will grate on everyone pretty quick. @Madhax's suggestion of a Dwarven Fighter/Cleric is spot on, as that's one of the most survivable characters you can make, and should be fairly interesting with the spellcasting to boot. You'll likely want to pause as little as possible as well, so make sure to use your spell quick slots and even set up hotkeys for your spells as you level up, and communicate well with your party if you're going to use something that's not party-friendly.

I'm going to assume for the sake of this post that each player is only controlling one character and you won't be taking any NPCs with you. If that's not the case, then anyone who is controlling more than one character should probably have one character who is point and click and another who has some interesting options to manage. I'd lean towards multi/dual classes on the party in general, because with a smaller party the experience splitting should be less of an issue and it's a great way to add extra durability onto otherwise squishy classes. A dual-classed Fighter or Thief -> Mage adds durability and (potentially) some better weapon options without having much of an impact on your ability to boost your caster level and get high level spells. Whoever is filling the role of the Thief is probably going to want to be multi or dual classed as well, although playing a single class Shadowdancer could be very interesting if you only have to focus on one character. If someone likes the Shadowdancer option, maybe see if you can also run a Thief->Mage dual to split thieving duties. The latter can focus on getting sufficient find traps and open locks skills before dualing, which frees up the former to focus heavily on stealth.

For looking at the party overall, one cleric should cover your divine spellcasting needs (and a multiclass works fine here), and you can likewise do fine with one thief (even dual or multiclassed). You'll want some kind of mage, and two with slightly varying focuses will likely do well at covering your bases. Ideally, each character should be capable of fighting on the front lines if necessary, but you can work around that; for example, summoning spells are very nice for multiplayer because they create extra meat shields (less likely to lose a player and have to reload) and can be cast on the fly without pausing the game.

ChildofBhaal599

I am with everyone when it comes to trying to avoid being a pure fighter in multiplayer with only one character. I may enjoy many fighter runs, but if my only character is a fighter I doubt that would be fun. My recomendation would have to be this:

cleric or fighter/cleric or mage/cleric
fighter/druid
thief or thief/mage or fighter/thief
caster/sorcerer

i think it would be good to have two capable fighters, mage + backup mage, cleric and druid, as well as thief. fighter/druid i find very capable and love jaheira for that, so I recommend that as one of the tanks and your druid. depending on what you do for cleric, it will be your other tank or an all around spellcaster. if they are a mage/cleric, I recommend a fighter/thief for DPS and decent tanking with high dexterity in shadow armor. they should focus on open locks and detect traps as the only thief, but quickly get some stealth as well to make some fighter thaco backstabs. if your cleric is pure or a fighter/cleric then put mage on the thief and keep them in the back with a bow and still use utility thief abilities. could be worthwhile to be a dual class instead. the last would be a mage of some kind. i recommend a specialist of some kind for the extra spells while your backup mage can carry the spells that there specialty doesn't allow. this should cover all rules and make each of the characters interesting to play.

SoylenT

Thanks for the answers, guys. These tips are very helpful.

Yes, the party is composed of only our charcters are we aren't taking any NPCs. We might bring them along for quests, but they are not staying permanently. That's why I asked which class combination are good for the whole thing.

I know that playing a plan Fighter might be somewhat boring, but to be honest I'm easily satisfied, as long as the others are also having fun and we have all bases covered. I even considered playing a Dwarven Defender, as long as they filled the rogue, wizard and priest roles.

We couldn't sit toguether to discuss due to schedule issues, so the other guys rolled their characters anyway: a human Fighter, an elven Illusionist and a half-elven Mage/Cleric. No one picked a rogue, so I'm playing a dwarven Fighter/Thief. Lucky, we have a good combination, not as diverse as I wished, but it's cool.

Thing is, I was expecting to play with an axe and hammer wielding Dwarven, using the Dwarven Thrower for ranged attacks, but apparently I can't backstab with these weapons? Can I spec in Hammer and Axe and still have points for backstabbing weapons? I think I'll be doing more meleeing then bs, but I still want to be good at both.

Emptiness

Dwarven Fighter/Thief is an excellent choice for main tank. There's an excellent synergy in being able to be in front and also being able to check for traps and unlock doors. If your main tank isn't a */Thief then the thief has to lead the way until enemies appear and then try to fall back behind the main tank, which is a pain.

I think F/T is limited to 2 proficiency points in any one weapon, so you'll have enough to spread around eventually. If you want to be able to use axe and hammer and a backstabbing weapon then you'll probably end up just putting one point into various weapons and then picking up a second point in them later as you level. The second point is nice to have, but you'll still be a functional main tank without it. Speaking of proficiencies, I'd suggest using a shield and putting points into Sword & Shield style, because if you are up front you'll be the primary target for ranged attacks by the enemies.

I'd suggest the human Fighter should make sure to be strong with a ranged weapon. Many fights will only need one frontliner, and being able to throw out ranged damage is very helpful. Of course, this Fighter will also need to be able to step up and cover the other two when needed, so good defenses and some melee ability will also be important.

The Mage/Cleric is your only healer, so make sure to focus on healing and other restorative spells for the Cleric picks. Mage side, go for offense or abjuration choices, depending on what you expect to be fighting.

[Deleted User]

Using a shield is a good idea if you are on the front lines in BG1, though I wouldn't go so far as to put points in Sword and Shield style. On the other hand, not using a shield makes it easier to switch between melee and ranged, which is a plus in multiplayer where you don't want to be pausing all the time to swap weapons. Over the course of BG1 you'll end up with 6 weapon proficiency pips to spread around, which is enough to specialize in hammers/axes, a suitable backstabbing weapon, and either a weapon style or a ranged option. Personally, I'd drop the hammer/axe idea, go for a flexible backstabbing proficiency like long swords or scimitars (depending on what the other fighter is doing) and pick up a ranged proficiency out of the gate. Single weapon style might be a good pick just for convenience's sake (two-handed with quarterstaff is nice too, but it's nice to have the option of using a shield with your chosen weapon in a small party).