starting a new game, need advice

starsky

Friend and I starting a 4 person party run.

He's F/C dual
Im Sorc

so we have chosen Jan for a thief.

Who should be our 4th??

WebShaman

Jaheira, F/D. Then you have good healing, good offensive spells, and good tanking, as well as thieving skills.

Mitchfork

You've got Mage, Cleric, and Thief active classes, so you won't be getting any Fighter HLA's. I'd go for someone that can bring that to the table.

JLee

Keldorn would certainly be someone to consider. If you're playing evil, Korgan would be a good choice.

jackjack

+1 for Korgan.

knight1337

JLee said:

Keldorn would certainly be someone to consider.

His "epic dispel" does more harm than good most of the time (dispel your own buffs)

And you should prepare your party to not get confused/paralysed/etc anyway

Stasis_Sword

knight1337 said:

JLee said:

Keldorn would certainly be someone to consider.

His "epic dispel" does more harm than good most of the time (dispel your own buffs)

And you should prepare your party to not get confused/paralysed/etc anyway

The main use for Keldorn's dispel is enemy mages. Especially ones with contingency/instant cast buffs (stoneskin, pfmw, ...ect). The ability to dispel a higher levels caster's protections is incredibly useful and makes several mage fights trivial.

Starsky your current party has two weaknesses:
1). Only one tank/melee capable character
2). Really limited weapon use. Jan is your go to for longswords/katanas and no one can wield 2H weapons.

Highly Recommended:
Korgan - Dwarven saving throws, good strength, solid tank and most importantly berserk.
Keldorn - Good saving throws, descent tank and inquisitor abilities (true sight, dispel).
Dorn - Good saving throws, crazy strength, solid tank, useful blackguard abilities. Only downside might be alignment/quests if you have a good party.

Honorable Mention:
Mazzy - She's still a very good choice, but I feel her special abilities aren't as useful as the others.
Jaheira - She would give you druid spells, a great tank and another melee character. The one problem is she wouldn't fix you're weapon selection problem.

JLee

knight1337 said:

JLee said:

Keldorn would certainly be someone to consider.

His "epic dispel" does more harm than good most of the time (dispel your own buffs)

And you should prepare your party to not get confused/paralysed/etc anyway

His dispel ability is not what makes him great. Rather it is his dispel on hit from Carsomyr and his True Sight that I find most valuable.

elminster

You've got 3 characters that can dispel, so dispelling things shouldn't be a problem. I'd go with Valygar. He gets good backstabbing damage, he's got an awesome blade, and if you are the protagonist (and want to do your stronghold quest) you'll need him anyways.

starsky

aw man too many options!!

thanks for the advice. Id say Keldorn is out (sadly) because my friend's F/C needs the guants of dex. Think he is gonna try dual wielding with CF in offhand too with option DoE.

Correct that leaves Jan for most 1h swords, me with staff/dag combo, F/C with blunts.
This leaves 2h to be desired

While I love mazzy and think Valygar is OK, this doesnt solve my problem. Way I see it, I have 3 options.

Option 1: Jaheria (2h staves and dual belm)

Option 2: Korgan dual axes or axe/shield combo

Option: Dorn 2h sword/halberd


Currently we are leaning to dorn but his lower CON means he cant tank well at the start (our F/C is just a F right now). Alignment is a non issue as we are both neutral. Jaheria is g a good choice until our cleric gets up to snuff

Stasis_Sword

Everyone plays differently so feel free to ignore this, but I like being able to use situational weapons: daystar, stone fire and the like. While Korgan/Dorn might not be proficient with a given weapon they can use it with a -1 to hit. If it isn't druid approved Jaheira can't.

Skaffen

@Stasis_Sword You're right but the main problem with unproficient weapons is not THACO but number of attacks which is set to 1. So e.g. if you don't have a blunt proficiency vs. skeletons it's still better to attack at 2 or more attacks with your preferred weapon and specialization boni than 1 without boni and full damage.

The notable exception would be clay golems of course. Otherwise I see no situational weapons that can't be compensated by other weapon class (e.g. stonefire, blackblood, flaming swords, fire arrows, sunfire bullets, ...).

I wouldn't put this as an argument on Dork vs. Jaheira - any flexibility disadvantage she might have on the weapon side she easily compensates with her spells.

Stasis_Sword

Skaffen said:

@Stasis_Sword You're right but the main problem with unproficient weapons is not THACO but number of attacks which is set to 1. So e.g. if you don't have a blunt proficiency vs. skeletons it's still better to attack at 2 or more attacks with your preferred weapon and specialization boni than 1 without boni and full damage.

The notable exception would be clay golems of course. Otherwise I see no situational weapons that can't be compensated by other weapon class (e.g. stonefire, blackblood, flaming swords, fire arrows, sunfire bullets, ...).

I wouldn't put this as an argument on Dork vs. Jaheira - any flexibility disadvantage she might have on the weapon side she easily compensates with her spells.

@Skaffen I agree that it's usually not worth switching off specialization, but instant-kill effects and some others might be better than 1/2-1 attacks a round.

It's also a playstyle thing. You're correct that almost any equipment can be made up with other equipment and magic. I just like to make use of all the shiny equipment I find, and not being able to use things drives me nuts.