Which of these groups of adventurers is best suited in your opinion?

Shyn

As you can see I am set on the Barbarian, Druid and Bard for IWD flavor reasons... The rest is (slightly) debatable.

I'd Rather not ditch the Wild Mage, I find those hilarious, but may be changing my mind depending on your opinions and advices.

So please, feel free to vote, and voice your opinion.

Blackraven

Icewind Dale involves lots of fighting against hordes of enemies. From a melee point of view the party with Barbarian, Undead Hunter and Fighter/Thief will be the strongest. Stalker and Fighter/Thief (option 4) seems a bit superfluous while Undead Hunter makes sense given the relatively large number of undead in the game.

Your Avenger, Cleric/Mage and Bard should still offer all the divine and arcane magic you need.

Edit: My view is based on power considerations, and less so on roleplay considerations. When it comes to roleplaying, the most 'suitable' party would depend on characters backstories and how you want to roleplay them.

meagloth

Because clerics of lathander have an innate hold undead, which will save you countless times in the beginning.

Frogman

Chose this one bc it contained two tanks. Feel like a strong front-line is key in IWD

JuliusBorisov

An Undead Hunter is very helpful because of the huge (have I said huge yet), huge amount of Undead in IWD. Maybe IWDEE is the best place to finally give an Undead Hunter a go, better than BG1 and BG2.

A Cleric/Mage is a very versatile character. He will just have every possible spell you need to support an Avenger and a Bard in your party. You can use this character as a buffer, as a debuffer, for damaging spells, and even as a tank.

A Fighter/Thief is one of the best characters in every party, one of my favourite multiclass combinations and characters overall. The "fighter" part impoves a thief in probably the best way: with a solid THACO you will hit from the shadows and hit hard. In this party a partial thief will be enough.

Fardragon

I keep flagging this up, but there is still some uncertainty about the implementation of the Avenger kit, given the changes to shapeshifting and druid spell lists in IWD. Vanilla Druid might be significantly better.

Shyn

Fardragon said:

I keep flagging this up, but there is still some uncertainty about the implementation of the Avenger kit, given the changes to shapeshifting and druid spell lists in IWD. Vanilla Druid might be significantly better.

That is actually something I didn't know yet. But I will be bringing some sort of Druid either way.

My main concerns are;
-I love a single class arcane caster, but is it overkill in IWD? I always have 2-2,5 arcane casters in any BG party I make. But I understand IWD is different... But so is IWD:EE, so im not sure which advice to follow.
-Is a multiclassed cleric enough? I won't be able to turn undead efficiently enough I think?
-Could the Undead Hunter destroy undead by turning them?

Fardragon

I'm planning on taking a Sorcerer and a Bard. I don't think that is overkill. The Bard will be too busy singing to cast many spells anyway.

Of course, one of the reasons for not going overboard on arcane casters in IWD is the shortage of scrolls, which sorcerers bypass anyway. But you bard doesn't actually need to learn a great many spells to be useful.

elminster

Wow looks like I'm all by myself here

Shyn

elminster said:

Wow looks like I'm all by myself here

No you are not, this is my preferred party. I'm quite intrested in your reasons for picking that option. Can I ask you to elaborate?

Jarrakul

I feel your pain, @elminster.

elminster

Shyn said:

elminster said:

Wow looks like I'm all by myself here

No you are not, this is my preferred party. I'm quite intrested in your reasons for picking that option. Can I ask you to elaborate?

Until the game is released I'm going to withhold my reasons why.

Shyn

elminster said:

Shyn said:

elminster said:

Wow looks like I'm all by myself here

No you are not, this is my preferred party. I'm quite intrested in your reasons for picking that option. Can I ask you to elaborate?

Until the game is released I'm going to withhold my reasons why.

Now im super curious..... Damn.

The_Reverend

elminster said:

Shyn said:

elminster said:

Wow looks like I'm all by myself here

No you are not, this is my preferred party. I'm quite intrested in your reasons for picking that option. Can I ask you to elaborate?

Until the game is released I'm going to withhold my reasons why.

By process of deduction, the classes Elminster are highlighting as the reasons for his choice are likely the Wild Mage and Cleric/Thief. Unless they did some massive overhaul to the Stalker class (possible), it rests on one of those two.

My guess? Either Clerics just got awesome or Wild Mages just got weird in the best way possible. Or they're especially suited to IWD:EE. Either way, my party would definitely include a Stalker. Let's see how things roll out.

Shyn

@The_Reverend If clerics got awesome kits or something. It still wouldn't make sense because a Cleric/Thief won't have a kit. And I doubt they changed Wild Mages (much). Cetainly the clerics get the BG spells, which makes them more awesome, but nothing comes to mind that makes them flat out destructive right off the bat. But Wild Mages also get shiny (old) new spell additions, and for all we know maybe they added a sh*tload of spell scrolls? Remains to be seen.

Im very intrested in keeping the Stalker in there, because I am not that big a fan of Paladins. As far as I am concerned a Stalker with racial enemy: Cadaverous Undead could almost make up for what the Undead Hunter brings to the fight. Plus I am a big fan of scouting out my fights, and starting them out on my own terms. Usually by backstabbing with one or two characters and killing a high threat target instantly. Which is something the Stalker and the Cleric/Thief can work together on. So I am very curious what elminster is hiding, and wether thats got something to do with the Stalker.

Obviously the introduction of absolutely shiny and intresting new kits can always change my opinion. But for now I am very intrested in what people vote, and especially the reasoning behind it.

ifupauline

cleric/mage are really fun in bg2 because of robe of vecna and instant group healing but I believe in icewind dale it would be better to couple a cleric with a fighter and thief with a mage. I would suggest

Barbarian,Undead Hunter, Avenger, Bard, Fighter/Cleric, Thief/Mage

elminster

@Shadowhunter yaa I'm not alone now

The_Reverend

I'm throwing my hat in with this option as well. The fighter/thief can be made a gnome, which leaves the option of 18/xx for strength and that stellar helm you can buy in Kuldahar. Undead Hunters are invaluable in IWD considering the enemies you're up against. Bards are great too, no doubt. However - having two arcane casters could be a bit of a gamble depending on whether or not IWD:EE increases the number of available scrolls above the conservative amount found in the original version of the game.

This could be total heresy, but depending on your playstyle I'm sure you could have a bard and eschew a mage altogether (or vice-versa). Either way, tough brawler-style classes do well, which is why I think having a melee spread of thief/fighter, barbarian, and UD hunter is a great bet.

MERLANCE

I am a fan of the single class cleric... Cleric/thief just doesnt have the same oomph for weapon choice, club, staff, and sling. I mean yeah you can buff your backstab damage by increasing strength, but you lose a front line combatant in the process. Also, he will have SO MUCH HEALZ, so your avenger can load up on insect plagues and static charges.

OzzyBotkins

All Dwarf Group
Dwarf Defender
Dwarf Kensai or Berserker
Dwarf Barbarian
Dwarf Cleric
Dwarf Fighter/Cleric
Dwarf Fighter/Thief
We're Dwarfs we don't need no stinking mages

RAM021

MERLANCE said:

I am a fan of the single class cleric... Cleric/thief just doesnt have the same oomph for weapon choice, club, staff, and sling. I mean yeah you can buff your backstab damage by increasing strength, but you lose a front line combatant in the process. Also, he will have SO MUCH HEALZ, so your avenger can load up on insect plagues and static charges.

Cleric & Cleric/Thief have the exact same weapon proficiencies... That is, they both "have the same oomph for weapon choice." The C/T is equally a front line combatant that can backstab as well; exactly like a Fighter/Thief. Indeed, in IWD the Thief's access to Evasion makes the C/T MORE survivable!

You can only backstab with Club or Staff though.

Ancalagon44

And you have only one pip in each weapon proficiency and extremely slow THAC0 progression. Plus no extra attacks at the 7th and 13th warrior levels.

If you want to backstab, take a single class thief or a fighter/thief.

Fardragon

Given that you don't need to be hidden in order to backstab in IWD, take a fighter/thief or a fighter/thief.

Ancalagon44

Well you get the choice between sneak attack and backstab. Personally I prefer backstab. Backstab often does enough damage to outright kill a weaker character, such as a mage, in one hit. Sneak attack requires more investment to be able to do that. I routinely chunk mages in BG2 with a fighter thief - I think you would need a lot of sneak attack die for that to be possible.

Come to think of it, the sneak attack choice will affect BG2 thief kits, such as the shadow dancer and assassin. And the stalker will also be affected.

elminster

As requested my reasons for saying Stalker over Undead Hunter (to be honest though both are excellent)

Roleplay reasons

- Access to tracking is sort of neat from a roleplay standpoint.

Gameplay

- You can go into the game options (and by that i mean the ini file not in-game options) and switch "Cleric Ranger Spells" value to "0". If you dual class your stalker into a cleric (once you get to the needed level as a cleric) this should grant you access to all divine spells in the game. If you dual class your stalker early and that basically means you have a cleric/thief, druid, and a minor backstabbing cleric/druid. Bit gamey but hey, its now an option for people regardless of what their position is on the matter.

- Otherwise I think the two kits are pretty even. Undead hunter gets bonuses against undead and the ability to cast cleric spells (like DUHM). Stalker gets to choose the enemy he is good against, gets backstabbing, and gets more more proficiency points available (earlier anyways) if you are looking at dual wielding.

Shyn

Haha @elminster that cleric thing is a bit cheesy!

Im going the Stalker route for RP reasons. Paladin fancypants isnt my cup of tea. Ruffian who's badass while still doing the right thing is much more my thing.

My Stalker will scout ahead and start fights on my terms. When all hell breaks lose, the half orc barbarian rushes in to wreck ****.

Thanks for the answer!