Your thoughts on what classes to take on a 6 man player-created party.

squalltheonly

I am going to start a MP game where I control all 6 characters and I would like to get ideas on what classes to pick. This party would go all the way to Baal.

I was thinking something like:
Paladin - Cavalier
Fighter - Kensai/thief
Cleric - Priest of talos
Thief - Assassin
Ranger - Archer
Mage - Conjurer

The cavalier is pretty much the tank, using a 2 handed sword. Both kensai and archer act as DPS, in BG1 the kensai would use a staff and then switch to katanas in BG2.. The cleric would use a mace/shield combo and the Mage cast debuffs mostly. I wouldn't want to have 4 Melee all the time, so the assassin would use short bows mostly and then switch to single dagger for backstabbing bosses/elites, I believe that going single is better cuz backstabbing uses the main hand only to calculate damage.

What do you guys think?

MonoCanalla

Is normaly more fun to have three spell casters: 2 arcanes and 1 divine. Try a sorcerer instead of the assassin or the archer (i would keep the archer, but is me).

Blackraven

You've got everything covered there, though in BG1 your Assassin wouldn't have enough skillpoints for traps and locks if you invest in stealth for backstabbing purposes.
In BG2 you're a bit light on arcane magic imo, but that's probably a matter of taste. In a party of six I'd try to go for one 1.5 arcane magic (one pure wizard and one dual or multi). Maybe instead of your Archer you could pick a Fighter/Mage multi who specializes in bows and longswords in BG1 and later in BG2 can start dualwielding. Or change the Archer for a generic Fighter that specializes/grandmasters in bows, and dual him into mage at level 7 for example.

MonoCanalla

If you are creating 6 characters and avoiding companions, I'd recommend having fun with EEKeeper. For example, I tweaked one of my character in Black Pits to be a female drow Kensai/Mage, roleplayed as a follower of Eillistrae. I also made a svirnefli and in the future have plans with goblins, orogs, trolls, and raksshasas. Since there is a lack of texture in a 6 created characters, I'd recommend to have fun with this.

elminster

Personally I'd go with a priest of lathander instead of a priest of talos. Mostly because I really like holy smite and lightning bolt can get kind of annoying. Also he's going to be better at melee because of his boon of lathander.

jackjack

Seems a little divine heavy to me. I'd replace either the Paladin or the Ranger with a Bard, Sorcerer, or multiclass mage.

squalltheonly

You guys are right, my arcane power is lacking. Are dualed or multi mages actually good? I have read that a fighter/Mage is good cuz he can buff himself, but do they get high enough to unlock all level spells eventually? Or they will be short?

I don't mind replacing the archer with a pure Mage, the thing about the sorcerer is that I have to either pick all damage spells or all debuffs, and I can't go back to choose from the other. So a Mage is kind of better IMO. Even though dragon disciple's breath is really nice for dealing AoE damage.

Well the assassin will mostly focus on shadow/silent/traps, I have read here and there that 90% of chests don't need to be opened. I don't need those 3 skills to go over 100, do I?

Rhaella

Any reason why it's a priest of Talos in particular? Evil cleric is a strange combination with a paladin, and one that'll cost you holy smite until the cavalier finally has access to it.

Also, yeah. You're going to probably want more mages come BG2. You could easily dual that kensai at level 9 or so.

squalltheonly

The reason why I picked both cavalier and priest of talos is for their resistances. I am aiming to be very neutral, in the sense that I will do things based on what I need. I will do quests that give good rewards, kill people that carry good items, and so forth. I will control my reputation, if I have to, but would these made characters leave too if rep is too high? I though that would only apply to NPCs.

SapphireIce101

Personally, instead of dualing the Kensai into a thief, you could probably dual it to Mage, and get a nice spell caster Katana in BG2.

As for the Cleric. I say go either Priest of Lathander or Priest of Helm.

abacus

A sorcerer doesn't need to be loaded.. In fact in general play they tend to be more versatile... Whether you want 6 x Improved Haste or 6 x Death Spell, the sorcerer can have it covered. You just have to be smart when levelling up and avoid having duplication of spells that do the same thing (so pick invisibility OR improved invisibility, not both).

With the above party, you are going to be light on thieving skills early on as your Kensai won't have dualled yet, and your assassin will still be dumping into stealth. Whilst open locks can be overcome with the knock spell (sorcerer could cast 6/day btw), traps will decimate you in certain places.
(For find traps & open locks, don't go above 100, but stealth skills require more to be totally reliable.)

The Archer might be superfluous... It'll be very strong in bg1, but will fade dramatically in the late game.

Also... Are you role playing at all? Because Cavalier & Archer with P.o.Talos & Assassin seems an odd mix?

meagloth

Kill one of the fighter types for a bard kit. And I would recommend slipping a sorcerer in there somewhere, and

squalltheonly said:

The thing about the sorcerer is that I have to either pick all damage spells or all debuffs, and I can't go back to choose from the other

No. See
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/30971/sorcerer-spell-picks-again-no-reload-scs

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/22516/sorcerer-spells-what-to-pick

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/17378/custom-sorcerer-spell-lists

http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/4735/sorcerer-spell-repertoire

squalltheonly

Checking the stats of the assassin, I believe that at max level 10 in BG1, he will end up with 78/78/79 in traps/shadow/silent as a halfling. So with some items I could get shadow/silent to 100, I don't know about traps though.

Another thing, can the assassin stealth while in combat to chain backstabs or that is only the shadow dancer?

abacus

squalltheonly said:

Checking the stats of the assassin, I believe that at max level 10 in BG1, he will end up with 78/78/79 in traps/shadow/silent as a halfling. So with some items I could get shadow/silent to 100, I don't know about traps though.

Another thing, can the assassin stealth while in combat to chain backstabs or that is only the shadow dancer?

The simple answer is no. Normally they'll have to scurry off out of sight, or use invisibility items like rings or potions.

Stealth skills have big modifiers depending on whether you're inside or outside and whether it's daytime, so you'll want 150+ on both move silently & hide in shadows.
Find traps needs to be 100.

Consider changing your Conjurer to a gnome illusionist/thief, archer to sorcerer, and just let the Kensai focus on killing things!

simples

2xarcane
1xdivine
2xfighter
1xthief

and you're set.. mix and match as you see fit

edit: personally i'd also always pick a druid over a cleric as i find clerics so so dull and boring and can't really justify them rp-wise (this is probably just me), also i think druids' spells are a lot more interesting.

karnor00

My normal powergaming party is:

Inquisitor - ultimate in enemy mage destruction

Figher/thief - UAI, trap removal and fighting skills in one package

Ranger/cleric - great front line fighter and all the divine magic you need. Go for fighter/cleric if you prefer less cheese.

3 mages of varying flavours - typically either sorcerors or kensai>mages. Possibly even a cleric/mage.

Corvino

Much as I enjoy thief multiclasses and kits, it's definitely suboptimal to have more than 1 thief. You can get away with 1/2 a thief as part of a multi or dual class nicely. You've got a Kensai/thief and Assassin who are both very backstab-centric. I'd take one or the other, not both. I have a soft spot for fighter/thieves, but something like thief (or swashbuckler)->mage dual is very effective.

Lemernis

I kind of like the party you originally designed there. The fact that you have only one arcane caster adds a bit a challenge; although how much fun that adds depends in part on how experienced a player you are.

As @Corvino points out you've got two backstabbers, so you could consider making one of them a Thief/Mage (possibly using a kit for one of the two classes if you go dual-class).

I don't ordinarily use Thief/Mages. But last year I dualed Safana to Mage and I found myself feeling that those two classes are a bit awkward to integrate for a backstabber. I had Safana backstab (along with Branwen who I had dualed to Thief) and then cast spells, so she was living kind of dangerously in that way. At least for me it didn't quite come together the way I had hoped. If you use touch spells, a character like this is pretty vulnerable to melee attacks due to relatively low HP and leather armor (though buffs will obviously help). So I had her using the disabling spells I normally do for mages, but just doing so vulnerably in the midst of the melee fighting rather than from the back row.

Tresset

I would definitely bring a pure class druid. The level 5 spells they get in BG1 make them definitely worth it. Avengers are good.

squalltheonly

Thanks all for your inputs. I decided to go with the following:

Fighter
Cavalier
Shadow dancer
Priest of lathander
2x Conjurer

Is still early so I don't know into what to dual class my fighter, if I do, maybe towards the end of BG1 I will do it depending on what I seem to need or what would be the best approach. I would still like to get 5 proficiencies on a weapon before I dual him. The only other Humans are the cavalier and the 2 conjurers, so I don't know if I can dual those kits.

After reading around I decided to drop the assassin cuz it seems it is harder for him to stealth in daylight or during combat, than it is for a shadow dancer. I will lose 3x backstab multiplier, but that is not a big deal, after all I am not playing solo and there are 5 other classes dealing damage as well.

I picked the cavalier cuz he is supposedly very good in BG2 for dragons, I have never fought one so I don't know what to expect.

Corvino

Cavaliers are a generally very competent class. Not overpowered in any given situation but solid frontline tanks that can take pretty much anything that gets thrown at them with the right gear and buffs.

For the Fighter you could consider dualling to a Druid at level 7. It'd give you a second divine caster and the full spectrum of spells. Level 7 is a solid point to dual - you get the extra 1/2 attack, plenty of proficiency points and complete the dual-class downtime fast. This way you still get your fighter levels back before the end of BG1 and reach level 9 as a druid under the XP cap. You do however need very good stats - minimum 15 Str, 17 Wis and 17 Cha. Fighter->anything is a good dual though.

Wowo

The ideal party composition really changes over the games. I'd definitely consider only having 4 or 5 so you can take he new NPCs temporarily to get the good gear.

Ideally in BG1 I like:
2 divines (not enough spell slots for 1 divine to keep the party healed and take advantage of the debuffs that divines that are awesome in bg1)
2 thieves (backstabbing is awesome and not enough points for 1 thief to do everything)
1 Mage
3 front liners

Bg2:
1.5 divines (more spell slots makes healing easier, offensive spells becoming less effective)
1 thief (enough points to do everything)
2 mages (arcane power coming into it's own)
3 front liners

ToB
1 divine
1 thief
2+ mages (lots of spell protections to be stripped and brutal metamagics available)
4 front liners

I'd consider a 5 man party of something like:
Fighter/Mage/Cleric (mace, warhammer, flail)
Fighter/Mage/Thief (quarterstaff, two handed sword, halberd)
Fighter/Mage (short sword, katana, axe)
Fighter/Druid (scimitar, dagger, club)
Sunsoul Monk

Add a thief in BG1, Edwin or Neera in BG2. Multi's really shine in bg1 (where they're only a level or two lower) and ToB (where you have access to all the HLA's) but struggle a little in Bg2 (lower thac0, level difference more pronounced). Overall I think it's worth it to have whirlwind attack and hardiness on everyone compared to duals that miss out.

Ideally you want to cover as many of the great weapons as possible (carsomyr, +1 attack weapons for dual wielders, flail of ages etc) which I've done - carsomyr is great on a thief with whirlwind attack.

I'd generally not bother with ranged weapon proficiences. I think on fighters it's only -1 thac0 and with 18 or 19 dex on everyone they'll still hit often enough.

Freche

I find 3 classed characters level too slow in a full party.

F/M (best tank in the game)
Swashie (I think backstabs are overrated)
Lathander
Sorc
Mage
Anything really, Monk/Paladin/Druid/Berserker or whatever you want.

FinneousPJ

A bit late to the party, but I like

Inquisitor or cavalier for less cheese
Barbarian
Fighter/Thief or Swashie for flavour
Archer
Ranger/Cleric
Sorcerer

Corvino

If I was making a party for a full trilogy run it'd be something like:

Cavalier (Tank/Face)
Fighter/Thief multi (Dual-wielding melee, scout/backstabber, UAI & Trapper later)
Fighter/Illusionist multi (obviously)
Fighter/Cleric multi (solid, hard to kill, heal/buff/tanking machine)
Swashbuckler 10->Mage dual (Double duty as trap/lock/detect illusion monkey and full caster)
Last spot flexible, likely a Fighter 7 or 9->Druid or Cleric dual to get decent level turn undead and faster divine progression in BG2.

With the right buffs a melee-heavy party can wreck up the place, but you want at least 1.5 arcane casters by BG2 hence the duals. With this party you've always got some arcane and divine casting power plus a thief and by pretty early BG2 you have both duals on-line.