Themed all-PC party builds
abacus
Member Posts: 1,307
Ok, a confession... I probably spend more time on RPG's creating character concepts than I do actually playing the game. This leaves me with lots of low-mid level saves and very few complete runs.
In that vein, and just for fun, here are a few themed parties from non-D&D media translated into BG:
The classic:
Aragorn - Paladin
Gandalf - Sorcerer
Legolas - Archer
Gimli - Dw.Defender
Frodo - Shadow Dancer
Boromir - Fighter
Discworld all-stars:
Vetinari - Assassin
Vimes - Berserker
Cohen the Barbarian
Lu-Tze - Monk
Rincewind - Wild Mage
Carrot - Paladin
Firefly:
Mal - Thief>Fighter
Jayne - Barbarian
River - Sorceress
Simon - Priest
Book - Monk
Inara - Blade
Batman Villains:
Joker - Jester
Bane - Berserker
Ra's al Ghul - Blackguard
Ivy - Avenger
Catwoman - Thief
Scarecrow - Enchanter
Skyrim:
Dragonborn - Dragon Disciple
Karliah - Thief
Cicero - Jester
Farkas - Fighter
Faralda - Invoker
Delphine - Cavalier
Anyone else play around with these sorts of builds?
In that vein, and just for fun, here are a few themed parties from non-D&D media translated into BG:
The classic:
Aragorn - Paladin
Gandalf - Sorcerer
Legolas - Archer
Gimli - Dw.Defender
Frodo - Shadow Dancer
Boromir - Fighter
Discworld all-stars:
Vetinari - Assassin
Vimes - Berserker
Cohen the Barbarian
Lu-Tze - Monk
Rincewind - Wild Mage
Carrot - Paladin
Firefly:
Mal - Thief>Fighter
Jayne - Barbarian
River - Sorceress
Simon - Priest
Book - Monk
Inara - Blade
Batman Villains:
Joker - Jester
Bane - Berserker
Ra's al Ghul - Blackguard
Ivy - Avenger
Catwoman - Thief
Scarecrow - Enchanter
Skyrim:
Dragonborn - Dragon Disciple
Karliah - Thief
Cicero - Jester
Farkas - Fighter
Faralda - Invoker
Delphine - Cavalier
Anyone else play around with these sorts of builds?
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Comments
Other than that, this seems pretty fun. A lot of fun rp potential!
Marvolo - Male, NE, Human, Necromancer - Party leader and Bhaalspawn.
Bella - Female, CE, Half-elf, Fighter/Mage
Lucius - Male, LE, Elf, Fighter/Cleric
"The Rat" - Male, NE, Gnome, Thief/Illusionist
Dolores - Female, LE, Human, Enchanter
Barty Jr. - Male, CE, Half-elf, Wild mage
Also Frodo as Shadowdancer: lol. Invisibility didn't come to him naturally...
Anyway. Anyone ever do an all-stealth party? Only thieves and rangers? I'd be interested in hearing about the experience.
What about A Song of Ice and Fire? They'd be much more magical in BG than they are in the series (Even if he was never officially named to their exclusive club in the series, Jon Snow is spot-on for a Ranger in every other department except the spellcasting) but you can imagine that in this particular fantasy setting, they'd pick up those skills easily if they came with a class that otherwise made sense. They'd all be human.
Jon Snow - Ranger
Tyrion Lannister - Bard?
Daenerys Targaeryen - Dragon Disciple!
Arya Stark - Assassin or Fighter/Thief
Bran Stark - Druid (maybe a better character would be Bran Stark on Hodor's Back - Fighter/Druid!)
Jaime Lannister - Paladin (not sure the alignment is there)? Pure-class Fighter?
Abdel - Male TN Human Fighter
Xzar - CE Human Necromancer
Montaron - NE Halfling Fighter/Thief
Imoen - NG Human Thief (planning to dual to Mage in SoA)
Kivan - CG Elf Ranger
Ajantis - LG Paladin
Am I doing it right?
(Bonus points to anyone who can guess why these particular characters were picked).
Spartacus Blood & Sand:
Spartacus - LG Paladin (it's a stretch, but his wife saw his path as chosen by her gods, it's more class diversity than a perfect match)
Gannicus - NG Barbarian
Sura - CG Diviner
Lucius - CG Ranger/Archer kit
Ashur - NE Assassin
Lucretia - NE Cleric (again a stretch, but I rather play her as false prophet than the medicus as actual healer)
Roy Greenhilt - LG Human Fighter
Durkon Thundershield - LG Dwarf Cleric
Vaarsuvius - LN Elf Evoker
Haley Starshine - CG/CN Human Thief
Elan - CG Human Bard
Belkar Bitterleaf - CE Halfling Ranger, dual to Barbarian (Keepered if necessary)
I played this team once in Icewind Dale, and it's one of the most powerful parties I ever used. Roy and Belkar together can chunk just about anything, and if they can't, V blows 'em to smithereens.
Belkar is surprisingly effective even with just the Ranger class. To be true to the character, you have to give him the lowest possible wisdom, and no spells. And he still will manage to be your "sexy, shoeless god of war." I think it's the dual-wielding.
Order of the Stick (combined Team Evil and Team Tarquin):
Xykon - CE Human Necromancer, seeking lichdom - will probably settle for god of murder
Redcloak - NE Goblin Cleric (maybe green-skinned gnome for the character sprite)
Tsukiko - CE Human Necromancer
Tarquin - LE Human Fighter
Miron - LE Half-Elf Mage-Thief (Thief just because the team needs one - he's a mage in the comic)
Laurin - LE Human Enchanter (closest I can think to a psionics substitute in BG)
This extremely magic-heavy party might be an interesting challenge to play. Tarquin and Redcloak together can probably handle the front-line duties well enough for all the mages to blast everything.
Star Wars (Team Good):
Luke Skywalker - LG Human Fighter-Mage
Obi-Wan Kenobi - LG Human Fighter-Cleric
Han Solo - CN/CG Human Swashbuckler
Chewbacca - CG Half-Orc Berserker
Leia Organa - LG Human Fighter>Diviner
Yoda - LG Gnome Cleric-Illusionist
Star Wars (Team Evil):
Anakin Skywalker - LE Human Fighter-Mage
Palpatine - LE Human Cleric-Mage
Bobba Fett - NE Human Bounty Hunter
Jabba the Hutt - CE Half-Orc Fighter-Thief (Maybe replace the sprite with a carrion crawler?)
Governor Tarquin - LE Human Fighter
Darth Maul - NE Half-Orc Fighter-Cleric
Either Star Wars team would dominate the game. One of the problems with custom six-member parties is that it's hard not to min-max every character to the point where the game gets boringly easy. IWD is designed and balanced for this sort of thing, though, and I love to take these kinds of theme parties through IWD. I even have portraits collected and cropped for both OotS and Star Wars characters. I did a Buffy-themed party once, as well.
Speaking of which:
Buffy - LG Human Undead Slayer
Willow - CG Human Thief>Mage
Xander - NG Human Fighter
Giles - LG Human Mage
Angel - CG Human Berserker (Closest to vampire abilities? "Vamping out" would be the berserk state.)
Spike - CN/CE Human Berserker
The Aragorn thing is just a personal interp. I'm aware that the Strider aspect of him is one of the inspirations for the Ranger class, but I prefer the later iteration of him as the proclaimed heir to Elendil. Leadership, nobility and righteous wrath. (Edit: also he only really dual wields at one point, Anduril is supposed to be a bastard sword, but certainly in the movies is about 5' long and comes across as more of a two hander.)
Also, with Leggy along, another Ranger seems superfluous.
Tsukiko should be a cleric/mage, since she's a mystic theurge.
@dux89 - Melisandre as Cleric>Mage? Religious leader with arcane
Fighter - Fighter (Duuuh)
Black Mage - Invoker (or Necromancer)
Thief - Thief
Red Mage - Fighter/Mage/Cleric
White Mage - Fighter/Cleric
Black Belt - Monk
Sgt Harper - Berserker
Hagman - Archer
Harris - Bard (he can actually read)
Teresa - Kensai (fierce, but squishy)
Mjr Hogan - Bounty Hunter (creeps about behind enemy lines, blows up bridges etc)
Things I would change:
NOTHING.
Unless you decided to change Sarevok into Obadiah Hakeswill. They sort of have the same thing going on too, the nemesis that never dies. Well.... he did die after multiple things that should have killed him.
http://sharpe.wikia.com/wiki/Obadiah_Hakeswill
It went fairly well, I got all the way through Suldanesselar. Lost interest shortly before fight with end boss due to not having the expansion. I took out a lot of bosses in a somewhat cheap way though by plastering traps all around them before the fights started. The black dragon in elftown died over the course of like 5 seconds of the game lagging from all the arrows firing off from traps before turning it into a smoking corpse.
You picked Abdel to send half the forums into incoherent, impotent rage spirals. The other five picks are just red herrings.
I believe I had an Assassin + Montaron + Imoen + Shar-Teel. Maybe Kivan or Safana. Not sure now, but I had 4 or tops 5 ppl in the group.
Most fights ended in the second round.
Haven't got around to play more than to Bandit Camp though.
1. Rick – Paladin (a defender of law, and clearly a force for good)
2. Michonne – Fighter/Necromancer (Necro because early on she traveled around with a pair of undead in chains, and her mysterious ways seems to have a hint of magic to them)
3. Daryl – Ranger (obvious – tracker, archer)
4. Glenn – Thief (he’s quick, and adept at getting in and out of places)
5. Herschel – Cleric (I considered Carol, but Herschel is the better healer)
There are a lot of choices for the 6th slot that I’m considering, but I’m going to go with Merle, who ultimately did show himself to be a friend, and was one of the stronger “soldiers” in the group. So...
6. Merle – Barbarian (about as brute force as it gets)
EDIT - Corrected Rick's named. I had originally written Jim (I must have been thinking of Jim Halpert from The Office -- eek!). Thanks to booinyoureyes for catching this!
(Captain) Jack Sparrow - Swashbuckler
Ash (Bruce "Don't Call Me Ash" Campbell) - Fighter
Snake Plissken - Fighter/Thief
Q - Sorcerer
Conan - Barbarian
Peter Venkman - (Undead Hunter without alignment restriction
:-)
I can't resist your challenge - ROFLMAO. Hmmm....
Monica - LG Human Inquisitor (she wants everything *just so*, and goes ballistic when it's not)
Ross - CN Human Swashbuckler (he's an archaeologist, crafty, sneaky, and an Indiana Jones wannabe - probably minimum Dexterity, Strength, and Constitution for the class.)
Rachel - CN Human Bard (or maybe Enchantress - she relies on her Charisma and charm spells)
Joey - CN Human Fighter with maxed out Charisma - "Hey, how you doin'?"
Phoebe - CN Wild Mage (come on - what else could Phoebe possibly be?)
Chandler - LN Cleric of Waukeen (this guy cares about nothing but money and hedonism, but prefers order and planning over impulse, and an unlikely match for Monica, plus, this group desperately needs a cleric. I think that Chandler would have Wisdom far below getting any bonus spells, however, probably minimum Wisdom for a cleric.)
LOL - I think the "Friends" would get their arses handed to them by BG and IWD - but, they might make an interesting "challenge" party.
Big Bang Theory:
Sheldon: LN Elf Mage-Thief (theoretical physics and godlike hacking ability)
Leonard: NG Half-Elf Invoker (practical/experimental physics)
Howard: CN Gnome Illusionist (all flash and no substance)
Penny: CN Human Bard (she's an actress wannabe)
Bernadette: LN Dwarf Cleric of Oghma (she's a micro-biologist, closest to "healer" this group is going to get)
Amy: LN Human Necromancer (a neurologist, she experiments on animals and then dissects their brains for a living)
EDIT: I can't believe I forgot Raj! He's my favorite character from the show. Maybe:
Rajeesh: TN Druid (he nurtures the rest of the cast, and he has an animal companion lap dog named "Cinnamon".)
How I Met Your Mother:
Ted: LN Fighter (architect's mind, the "hero" of the group)
Marshall: LN Cleric of Helm (just because they need a cleric, and Helm fits a lawyer the best)
Barney: CN Thief (great hacking skills, the consummate rogue, high Charisma, could be Bard, especially considering Neal Patrick Harris' resume, but they need a thief, and he's the best candidate.)
Lily: CN Sorceress (just because, you know, she was Willow - what else would she be?)
Robin: LN Bard (newscaster = storyteller, plus, she clearly has high Charisma)
Take your pick for a sixth - this is really a five-member party, very high on Charisma and Intelligence, but very low on Wisdom and all three athletic stats - could be a very interesting challenge.
In the final season of the series, Giles is able to go toe to toe with Willow in arcane battle, even temporarily cutting off her magic and immobilizing her.
I suppose one could interpret the spells that Giles casts on Willow as a Silence and a Hold Person, though, so, maybe Cleric of Oghma works.
Hmm, yeah, the more I think about it, Cleric of Oghma incorporates both his librarianship and his known casting of Silence (temporarily disables Willow's casting), and Hold Person.