Shar-Teel fits well personality-wise, but she might kill Eldoth. With such a fragile party, I wouldn't take the risk. Garrick and Skie can't frontline at all, Eldoth can, but only after various investments. Neither Dorn nor Shar-Teel is very tanky, and charname won't be either (compared to the usual tanks). A healer with at least some ability to absorb damage or prevent it helps more than an additional caster. The bards together can make up for the lack of one pure mage.
Eldoth needs Elven Chain, dex gauntlets, con tome - possibly give him the buckler instead; he won't use the Long Bow much and does best with Rashad's Talon, then help out Garrick with the tome so he won't want to rest every 2 steps. Eldoth is also midgame and Skie late game, so you can bring Xan along for a while and help out with Sleep and Identify until Garrick gets some levels/spell slots/wands.
As a Pastafarian, I support this thread of creating a party comprised of holy beings.
If your charname has high charisma, it is possible to keep Eldoth and Shar-Teel from each others throats. I've had a playthrough where they never fought, but that character had maxed charisma.
I've also gone through with Dorn and a dual classed Shar-Teel as my only warriors, and been fine. It requires a bit more management in fights than some of the tougher characters, but is completely viable.
For a cleric, I'd probably pick Vicky, since she would fit with the take what you want attitude.
Swashbuckler pc Safana Eldoth Garrick Shar-Tael Viconia or Xan or Dorn for some tankiness?
If your PC is a swashbuckler, plus you intend to take along Safana later, that will satisfy your thieving needs. That means you can put some heavy armor on Montaron and use him as a tank instead of a multi-thief.
I think the womanizing, adventurous Coran may also fit in with a pirate-themed party, despite the fact that he's good-aligned (plus he has some notoriously witty banter with Safana).
Kagain is also worth considering for your party, given his obsession with gold.
The biggest problem you'll probably run into is finding a suitable cleric/healer. I wouldn't totally rule out Branwen though - remember that she's neutral-aligned, and her bio says that she's traveled a long way, joining up with adventuring groups here and there. Just as long as you don't prey on helpless innocents, she'll probably fit right in. ;-)
Just slightly worried about no arcane. Maybe dual Safana into a mage I guess.
That's a good idea in theory (especially since you probably won't need two pure thieves in your party), but you'd need a tome to increase Safana's int., and there isn't one available until at least two-thirds of the game is over IIRC.
Maybe you'd want to consider making room for Edwin?
@broonofmidori: If I could give you a tip (and surely many users here will disagree on what I'll say) don't worry too much on dual npcs by using tomes, and don't worry too much if you're without a caster: npc stats will not be exported in BGII and some of them doesn't appear at all in the sequel. mages are not that important in BGI but they'll become almost essential in BGII so you should go through all BGI well even without mages, so don't bother on dualing npcs and use tomes on your CHARNAME instead, as your PC is the only one you can import in BGII with his enhanced stats.
I slightly disagree with "Branwen will be happy unless you prey on the helpless". She doesn't stand out in an evil party (unlike neutral Jaheira, or even Garrick). With her backstory and deities, it could be argued that she promotes strength through conflict and would therefore not object to certain "prey". She would probably not want to slaughter children or something, but pirates don't do that anyway unless it's very rich children.
Edwin is the second-least pirate-y NPC after Xan. In BG2, Mae'Var says he likes luxury, but hates the road. If he is already not too fond of adventuring on land where he sees a decent Inn once in a while, I doubt he'd be happy on a ship full of pirates.
Dualing or just EEkeepering Safana into the needed arcane caster seems the best solution. With a swashie PC, you'll cover the thief skills alone anyway (with Shadowdancer/Assassin/Bounty Hunter PC, I'd take a second utility thief), but she has the personality you want. It's not gamebreaking to console her a tome or EEkeep +1 INT and use her as mage right away.
@broonofmidori: If I could give you a tip (and surely many users here will disagree on what I'll say) don't worry too much on dual npcs by using tomes, and don't worry too much if you're without a caster: npc stats will not be exported in BGII and some of them doesn't appear at all in the sequel. mages are not that important in BGI but they'll become almost essential in BGII so you should go through all BGI well even without mages, so don't bother on dualing npcs and use tomes on your CHARNAME instead, as your PC is the only one you can import in BGII with his enhanced stats.
Well, I never gave a single Tome to another NPC. EDIT: oh, yes I did, i gave Yeslick some Tomes of Understanding because my PC was a M/T and I did not know about Wish. And in that run I only found the DEX, CON, CHA and 2 WIS Tomes :P!!!
Does Safana actually need a tome first, before she can dual? I though her int was already high enough, maybe I'm thinking about Imoen instead.
I was just more concerned about only having dispel magic from Viconia for enemy mages, with no mages. I suppose I could always grab Baeloth too, even though he's fairly cheesey lol.
Safana needs a tome. Imoen can dual without tome to mage and Shar-Teel to thief. Branwen can dual to thief with the dex tome. Xzar can dual to cleric with one wisdom tome, or to thief with the dex tome. Dynaheir can dual to cleric with two wisdom tomes.
I slightly disagree with "Branwen will be happy unless you prey on the helpless". She doesn't stand out in an evil party (unlike neutral Jaheira, or even Garrick). With her backstory and deities, it could be argued that she promotes strength through conflict and would therefore not object to certain "prey". She would probably not want to slaughter children or something, but pirates don't do that anyway unless it's very rich children.
Branwen's bio says she unknowingly and regrettably joined a party of bandits, and then rebelled against them specifically because they tried to attack a caravan of innocent merchants - that's how she was turned to stone (by Tranzig, who was also in the bandit party). Her bio also says, "To attack those that are unarmed is the basest of villainy."
Branwen always seemed more like a neutral good char to me, rather than true neutral.
Korgan also dislikes harming children, he's still chaotic evil. Edwin dislikes violence in general, lawful evil. I'd say for Branwen it's more a problem of the opponent being unarmed, and the resulting fight not being honorable and fair. Gets a pass as neutral from me.
Comments
Shar "Har Har Shiver me timbers" Teel IS a pirate.
My pirate party would be...
First Mate Monty
Cabin Boy Dorn
Admiral Shar Teel
Master Minsc
Captian CHARNAME
And Xzar as cook.
Eldoth needs Elven Chain, dex gauntlets, con tome - possibly give him the buckler instead; he won't use the Long Bow much and does best with Rashad's Talon, then help out Garrick with the tome so he won't want to rest every 2 steps.
Eldoth is also midgame and Skie late game, so you can bring Xan along for a while and help out with Sleep and Identify until Garrick gets some levels/spell slots/wands.
*drops poison into the soup*
*everyone dies*
I said we were doomed!
If your charname has high charisma, it is possible to keep Eldoth and Shar-Teel from each others throats. I've had a playthrough where they never fought, but that character had maxed charisma.
I've also gone through with Dorn and a dual classed Shar-Teel as my only warriors, and been fine. It requires a bit more management in fights than some of the tougher characters, but is completely viable.
For a cleric, I'd probably pick Vicky, since she would fit with the take what you want attitude.
I think the womanizing, adventurous Coran may also fit in with a pirate-themed party, despite the fact that he's good-aligned (plus he has some notoriously witty banter with Safana).
Kagain is also worth considering for your party, given his obsession with gold.
The biggest problem you'll probably run into is finding a suitable cleric/healer. I wouldn't totally rule out Branwen though - remember that she's neutral-aligned, and her bio says that she's traveled a long way, joining up with adventuring groups here and there. Just as long as you don't prey on helpless innocents, she'll probably fit right in. ;-)
PC Swashy
Kagain
Coran
Shar-Tael
Safana
Viconia
Just slightly worried about no arcane. Maybe dual Safana into a mage I guess.
Maybe you'd want to consider making room for Edwin?
mages are not that important in BGI but they'll become almost essential in BGII so you should go through all BGI well even without mages, so don't bother on dualing npcs and use tomes on your CHARNAME instead, as your PC is the only one you can import in BGII with his enhanced stats.
Edwin is the second-least pirate-y NPC after Xan. In BG2, Mae'Var says he likes luxury, but hates the road. If he is already not too fond of adventuring on land where he sees a decent Inn once in a while, I doubt he'd be happy on a ship full of pirates.
Dualing or just EEkeepering Safana into the needed arcane caster seems the best solution. With a swashie PC, you'll cover the thief skills alone anyway (with Shadowdancer/Assassin/Bounty Hunter PC, I'd take a second utility thief), but she has the personality you want. It's not gamebreaking to console her a tome or EEkeep +1 INT and use her as mage right away.
To hell with fighter tanks. Let the ghast die for you instead.
Oh, and do keep the bards. It'll be a boring party otherwise. With no music. Or Horror.
EDIT: oh, yes I did, i gave Yeslick some Tomes of Understanding because my PC was a M/T and I did not know about Wish. And in that run I only found the DEX, CON, CHA and 2 WIS Tomes :P!!!
I was just more concerned about only having dispel magic from Viconia for enemy mages, with no mages. I suppose I could always grab Baeloth too, even though he's fairly cheesey lol.
Branwen always seemed more like a neutral good char to me, rather than true neutral.
And soon Tyrion will rule!!