Charname's Angels
the_spyder
Member Posts: 5,018
So, I’m thinking about indulging my Restartitis again. I was reading a post about Safana and thought “What about playing Charname’s Angels”. So here’s what I came up with. This would not necessarily be a ‘goodie goodie’ party for reasons that will become obvious later.
Charname – Male Half-elf Bard (subjective and only because I think it fits the character)
Shar-Teel – Front line Tank
Viconia – Primarily healer
Neera – Arcane caster / I could alternately go Imoen, but why?
Safana – Resident Thief of the party
Here’s where I need advice.
For me, it isn’t a party till I have a full boat (6 characters) and I don’t like having tag-alongs “just for a while”. I’d throw in Jaheira because the party really is lacking tankiness, but she comes shackled with ‘The wife’ who I really don’t want along. And I also don’t believe in cheesy “Dumping someone in a house and never going back” style dealing with paired members. I know it can be done and is quite easy, but I just don’t enjoy doing it.
I’d also considered Faldorn as I’ve never played using her, but I’ve already got a healer and what I really need is a tank. Plus, she would come later in the game anyway. And Viccy is WAY hotter.
I suppose I could make Charname some form of fighter and that would solve everything, but I really want to make him a Flashy and charming jack of all trades, but master of none type character. I’m also kind of going for an Archer type vibe wherein the main character ends up “Romancing” all of the party.
And then there’s the question of BG2.
Suggestions?
Charname – Male Half-elf Bard (subjective and only because I think it fits the character)
Shar-Teel – Front line Tank
Viconia – Primarily healer
Neera – Arcane caster / I could alternately go Imoen, but why?
Safana – Resident Thief of the party
Here’s where I need advice.
For me, it isn’t a party till I have a full boat (6 characters) and I don’t like having tag-alongs “just for a while”. I’d throw in Jaheira because the party really is lacking tankiness, but she comes shackled with ‘The wife’ who I really don’t want along. And I also don’t believe in cheesy “Dumping someone in a house and never going back” style dealing with paired members. I know it can be done and is quite easy, but I just don’t enjoy doing it.
I’d also considered Faldorn as I’ve never played using her, but I’ve already got a healer and what I really need is a tank. Plus, she would come later in the game anyway. And Viccy is WAY hotter.
I suppose I could make Charname some form of fighter and that would solve everything, but I really want to make him a Flashy and charming jack of all trades, but master of none type character. I’m also kind of going for an Archer type vibe wherein the main character ends up “Romancing” all of the party.
And then there’s the question of BG2.
Suggestions?
0
Comments
I think that BG2 is going to be the more difficult animal in any event.
Charname - Bard
Viconia - Cleric
Jaheira - Fighter/Cleric
Nalia/Imoen - Wizard/thief
Neera - Wizard
Hexxat - thief
I guess that pushes things more towards the dark side, but it might work.
thanks everyone for chiming in.
Or you could take Aerie along for all the fun jalousie dialogs between Jaheira, Viccy and Aerie ;-) though party-wise it would be a waste of a slot.
And Aerie just annoys me. Or let's say she would annoy this Charname no end. I've had her in other parties with no problems. But I very much role play the individual characters. Quite what that says about my sanity, I am not guessing.
Viconia actually does fairly well on the front line because her Dex is so high that in ankheg armor you can get her AC down to about -6, IIRC (it's been over a year for me, so others who have played with her recently please advise if this is wrong). I recall that properly equipped she really doesn't get hit often. Much of the time she can even cast successfully without a hit interrupting her.
The way BGEE redefined Shar-Teel, no question in my mind she is set up to be dualed to Thief. But if she remains a pure Fighter then, myself, I'm honestly not crazy about her dual-wielding long sword and dagger. Next time I use her I may EEKeeper her back to her original BG's profs of Large Swords ++, Small Swords ++, and Missile Weapons ++ i.e., their equivalents in BGEE. Because with Shar-Teel's tremendous Strength, as a pure Fighter I like her best when swinging a two-handed great sword. Put the Gauntlets of Dexterity on Shar-Teel and her AC should get low enough (again, put her in ankheg plate) that both she and Viconia should be able to handle the front line duties well enough. Or, alternatively, if you don't mind Shar-Teel getting a little more bloodied up because you'd rather maximize the damage she doles out, give her the Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise.
Your PC and Neera can also cast summoned creatures to help out on the front line, of course.
Getting the most out of your Bard PC should be fun. I did a little experimental run once where I tried having Garrick use the Light Crossbow of Speed with Bolts of Biting, Hasted, and I think he was getting 3 attacks per round (? something on that order, or maybe it was 2 1/2); and the poison damage from those bolts was just brutal. The crossbow felt like a Tommy gun to begin with. Anyway, combine that with wands, and by filling up the bard's quickslots with all the loot drop scrolls that litter the game, and you actually have a very formidable character. Plus the other main benefits of being a Bard, of course, i.e., identifying items and restoring the party's wits from mind confusion spells. If I ever have a Bard along I always make it a point to use their pickpocketing skill as well.
Safana backstabbing and then retreating to hurl darts of wounding or stunning will definitely make a strong impact of her own.
For your sixth slot if you do take Branwen, and want to spice up the game a little you might want to consider dualing her to Thief (although you'll have to wait until Chapter 5 for the Dex tome to become available). The one time I tried it for her, I really enjoyed it. In fact she was the star of the all dual-classed team.
Too bad you can't take Dynaheir because of the forced-pairing...
If you want to increase the tactical challenge some more, try having Neera use her Wild Mage specialization spells to regularly attempt to shape higher level spells! And then live with the consequences of whatever surges may come by playing "minimal" reload, e.g., only in the event of the PC's death so that you can actually enjoy the game to the end.
Anyway, sounds like a great run! Let us know how it goes!
I like the concept a lot. Hope your ladies man will have a great time. I can already see him inspire his entourage to great deeds with his battlesong
I am definitely gonna try this out and will let you all know how I am doing. Thanks for the advice.