With the usual caveat of individual setups, I actually prefer not to take Sorcerer along for powergaming parties. The reason is simply that you don't need the amount of flexibility it offers (unlike say, solo, where that very flexibility is what makes it so OP), and your overall damage output suffers from it being unable to use a weapon properly.
Outside of AoE scenarios, spells just tend to be less efficient than weapons for damage output. While spells do have an important role, and are undeniably powerful in BG2EE, I very strongly prefer to bring them on hybrid characters that can swing and dish out, too.
I enjoy fighter heavy parties, with a good 4 or 5 dedicated brawlers. A cleric is usually enough to provide suitable protections, although Jan is often necessary if I don't want to be a thief.
With the usual caveat of individual setups, I actually prefer not to take Sorcerer along for powergaming parties. The reason is simply that you don't need the amount of flexibility it offers (unlike say, solo, where that very flexibility is what makes it so OP), and your overall damage output suffers from it being unable to use a weapon properly.
Outside of AoE scenarios, spells just tend to be less efficient than weapons for damage output. While spells do have an important role, and are undeniably powerful in BG2EE, I very strongly prefer to bring them on hybrid characters that can swing and dish out, too.
It's true that because of the lack of a proper use of weapon, single class mage aren't so cool to play in a party (aside of wild mage). Then a more balanced and efficient party would be :
cleric/mage berseker or kensai dual thief (archer and cm could easily manage the time you gain back kensai abilities) archer
Actually now that we talked about it, this is gonna be my next scs run hehe
Not a fan of cleric/mage. Rather have some fighter/cleric hybrid plus a fighter/mage hybrid instead.
An interesting question is party size. Since enemies don't scale with more party members, you directly increase your overall damage output by taking more people along; but you do lose on the XP. However, XP scaling is far from linear due to many classes peaking fairly early, making this a somewhat complicated thing to balance.
From my experience so far, 4-5 seems to be a good balance. With the new Hard as Bhaals mode, though, I'm pretty sure full 6 is the way to go.
I've generally found full parties of 6 to be much easier than smaller groups. Having double the XP for half the characters doesn't make a stronger party; double the XP doesn't mean double the power. The only time a smaller party has a clear advantage is when it has just hit 3 million XP (or 6 million XP for multi-classes) apiece, when mages, clerics, and druids get Summon Planetar, Summon Deva, and Elemental Summoning. Up until then, and shortly thereafter, the larger party has a lot more options.
My parties are often either Evil all out for money.
Unmoded.
Viconia Krogan Edwin Me as a thief Now with Hexxat as thief and Dorn as shield I go back to blowing stuff up as a sorcerer
Or knightly lawful
Keldorn Anomen Mazzy *Insert whoever here* Honestly its usually a modded NPC, if not i'd probably pick Jaheira. Me as a sorcerer Nalia usually with her thief stats either hacked or buffed by an item.
Though it is rare I don't go with one or two modded NPCs. Right now i've got:
Keldorn Saerileth Auren Aseph Me as a Sorcerer as always! Anomen Nalia
Many more of my playthroughs have been with evil guys, mod for the wicked before EE, Callisto , vampire tales, Kindrek etc. I haven't even really tried Keto or kelsy yet, I full intend to one day! I even have 3 or 4 of my own in a pack I never released.
As a rule what usually stops me trying an NPC is a lack of ToB content, as I like to play all the way when possible and hate changing them around at the end.
What usually attracts me is a heavy amount of dialogue, I love them talking as much as poss
The day someone figures out a way to have temporary companions follow you as allies, and still banter rather than leaving will be a good day! That and we need an EE banter pack, focusing on these new guys exclusively, imho. Sorely tempted to make one!
For a no reload play through it helps to think about the most challenging battles. There are some Golem fights where it helps to have the Bounty hunter, either as charname or Yoshi. BG2ee is a magic heavy game the way BGEE is a thief heavy game. Stout fighters and lots of magic, in particular aberration, takes down the hardest foes in the game. A standard 5 member party is Tank, DPS fighter, Divine caster/ second tank, Magic user, and thief. This means that party member 6 defines the direction of your party. Having more magic users is better. Single class magic users are neccissary to get key spells early on. A good party has Neera as a straight wizard but she is dicy for a no reload play. Playing the magic user yourself is a strong move. I usually play the gnome illusionist as charname. There are significant advantages to the gnome illusionist including saving throws. The sorcerer as charname, however, is probably the single strongest move for party strength. Especially with sequencers. The sorcerer is a gunship that is surprisingly versatile given the number of scrolls and magic items available. A bard keeps a neutral flavor while making all elements stronger, playing the Bard is a much more nuanced move and likely not as powerful.
You can get away with a single split class thief / mu in BG2. And, if you do not have yoshimo, should do so. Anoman is annoying but unbelievably powerful early on, espeacially against undead. Mazzy is awesome and Keldorn gets a great weapon. I ususally play Jaheira all the way through. Insect swarm is a massively useful spell in SoA.
I have a go-to party that I almost always end up with in ToB. xD 1. Max level mage 2. Minsc 3. Sarevok 4. Keldorn 5. Valygar 6. Anomen Gonna try out a different setup soon, but it'll probably just revery to the usual because I can't stand other parties.
Comments
Outside of AoE scenarios, spells just tend to be less efficient than weapons for damage output. While spells do have an important role, and are undeniably powerful in BG2EE, I very strongly prefer to bring them on hybrid characters that can swing and dish out, too.
cleric/mage
berseker or kensai dual thief (archer and cm could easily manage the time you gain back kensai abilities)
archer
Actually now that we talked about it, this is gonna be my next scs run
An interesting question is party size. Since enemies don't scale with more party members, you directly increase your overall damage output by taking more people along; but you do lose on the XP. However, XP scaling is far from linear due to many classes peaking fairly early, making this a somewhat complicated thing to balance.
From my experience so far, 4-5 seems to be a good balance. With the new Hard as Bhaals mode, though, I'm pretty sure full 6 is the way to go.
Unmoded.
Viconia
Krogan
Edwin
Me as a thief
Now with Hexxat as thief and Dorn as shield I go back to blowing stuff up as a sorcerer
Or knightly lawful
Keldorn
Anomen
Mazzy
*Insert whoever here* Honestly its usually a modded NPC, if not i'd probably pick Jaheira.
Me as a sorcerer
Nalia usually with her thief stats either hacked or buffed by an item.
Though it is rare I don't go with one or two modded NPCs. Right now i've got:
Keldorn
Saerileth
Auren Aseph
Me as a Sorcerer as always!
Anomen
Nalia
Many more of my playthroughs have been with evil guys, mod for the wicked before EE, Callisto
As a rule what usually stops me trying an NPC is a lack of ToB content, as I like to play all the way when possible and hate changing them around at the end.
What usually attracts me is a heavy amount of dialogue, I love them talking as much as poss
The day someone figures out a way to have temporary companions follow you as allies, and still banter rather than leaving will be a good day! That and we need an EE banter pack, focusing on these new guys exclusively, imho. Sorely tempted to make one!
You can get away with a single split class thief / mu in BG2. And, if you do not have yoshimo, should do so. Anoman is annoying but unbelievably powerful early on, espeacially against undead. Mazzy is awesome and Keldorn gets a great weapon. I ususally play Jaheira all the way through. Insect swarm is a massively useful spell in SoA.
1. Max level mage
2. Minsc
3. Sarevok
4. Keldorn
5. Valygar
6. Anomen
Gonna try out a different setup soon, but it'll probably just revery to the usual because I can't stand other parties.