Character Advice?

Eboweth

Hi Guys,

(Sorry if I'm posting this to the wrong area) I'm a new member to the forum, and old time fan of BG (Remember playing it when it first came out with fond memories). With the enhanced edition being released and soon to be coming into some spare time I was planning on starting a MP game with a close friend of mine with 3 characters each. We're also aiming at doing a whole trilogy run so from BG1 through to ToB.

We aren't power-gamer's in the slightest and my friend has his heart on rolling 2 x Wild mages and a cleric but I can't settle on which 3 characters I should play to compliment his characters.

We're aiming for a role-play through so as mentioned not-power gaming at all.

I thought at one point running a:

Cavalier
Avenger
Swashbuckler

As I've never created a druid or kitted thief before, I thought it would be interesting to give this a go. But my mind keeps changing with different possibilities of characters. (Have considered: Fighter/Mage, Blade, Ken/Mage, Ken/Thief)

I've also got the roles of 'Tanking' and thieving at least so need to ensure that what I make is good enough to last the whole trilogy!

Can anybody out there offer any advice at all to try and make my mind up?

JLee

I think you should go with your first instinct. That sounds like a good party with some nice roleplaying potential.

Mechanically speaking, I would suggest that your friend play a fighter/cleric multi instead of pure cleric. This would provide a little more melee capability that might come in handy. 1.5 divine casters should be plenty and 2 is a little more than is required for my tastes. That is of course unless your friend has a concept for that character already.

Edit: Even better for roleplay purposes than the Cavalier might be a wizard slayer main. I could just imagine the frustration that character would feel being stuck in a party with 2 wild mages

Eboweth

Haha I can see it now stuck in the service of a mad Wizard-Slayer Bhallspawn :P

Now if only I know what weapons to give him...

I'd assume flail's for FoA ultimately and possibly Warhammer's? for the improved Strength of Cromfaeyr later...

Could be interesting...

I've heard that this dueled to Thief at 15 can be quite interesting as well for UaI and Casomyr (Spelling?) could be great at disabling casters late game

DreadKhan

I think 13 is when you'd dual out of WS for pretty good bang. You arent overpowered, but fairly solid after UAI. Thieves get good HLA, so thats a plus.

For BG1, your WS wont regret using darts. Very good apr, and there are very good magic darts available. Imho, you likely dont want to be primarily melee with a WS, so maybe a bow or crossbow. Your spell disruption, aka the key ability of your kit, works for ranged now, right? I think. Axe isnt a bad choice either. Lower apr, but you can throw, or dw with this proficiency. If you won't be dualing to thief, going for Crom is not a bad choice, as you cant boost your str as easily as other classes.

An Inquisitor makes sense to accompany two Wild Mages, assume he's there to make sure things don't get out of hand.

Eboweth

Thanks for the advice guys it's pretty helpful in making my mind up. A few questions though:

1, With a WS would it be worth dualling to thief if there is already a dedicated thief in the party? Would 2 thieves be to many?
2, I like the idea of an inquisitor but what weapons would they use? I know casomyr is powerful but can it be used in a 'tanking' sense? Or would that be a better job for say DoE and the purifier?

In my head I imaged the weapon set up for the above characters as:

Paladin: FoA / DoE main-hand & Purifier offhand (Depending on fighting caster's or melee)
Druid: Staff of Arundel for the extra spell slots
Thief: Belm & Scarlet Ninja-to for extra attacks per round

Would there be a better way of utilizing the 'Tank' for protecting the party?

but again the mind wonders and comes up with so many possibilities...

JLee

The WS definitely has synergy with thief HLAs, making it a powerful dual class. However, bypassing such a character trait from the WS seems unsporting, imho. But then again I don't really use duals too much...

2 thieves are unnecessary. Also there are far more powerful characters than a WS>T dual. I just mentioned it for RP flavor.

If you went the paladin route, it is hard to argue with your proposed setup.

I will say that Carsomyr is welded to Keldorn's hands when I use him.

Also, you still have a bonus attack weapon available (kundane) and you will accumulate lots of pips to make any combination of weapons possible. Crom Faeyr + Kundane would be a great combo for the Inquisitor. Sometimes a good defense is a good offense.

Eboweth

Thanks for the advice guys. My final question (I think). If going down the Paladin route as a 'Tank-type' fighter, will he be susceptible to enemy mages e.g. Maze / Imprisonment.

In those instances would it be better to run a fighter/mage Multi with Spell Immunity, or could even a blade fill this role well?

DreadKhan

If you want to have a no worries tank, Berserker is your best bet.

Eboweth

A pure Berseker could be interesting... What weapons would you recommend for that though? Sticking with Flails & Hammers? for FoA and Crom Faeyr? or something else?

Wowo

Why not just a party of multis like Fighter/Mage, Fighter/Cleric and Fighter/Thief.

This way you have all your bases covered, you can all mix it up in melee, and you'll all be very strong for the whole trilogy.

Wowo

Wowo said:

Why not just a party of multis like Fighter/Mage, Fighter/Cleric and Fighter/Thief.

This way you have all your bases covered, you can all mix it up in melee, and you'll all be very strong for the whole trilogy.

Though an even better party would be:
Fighter/Mage
Fighter/Mage/Cleric
Fighter/Mage/Thief

Basically the same party but with Mage defenses for everyone ...

Edit:
/Face palm
Nevermind ...

I can suggest picking up Neera instead of rolling 2 wild mages as she has some nice dialogue.

Overall I'd recommend playing with less characters to minimise the amount of pausing that you have to do which I find breaks the multiplayer immersion

Eboweth

Hmmm...

I don't know about the large number of multi classes. While practical, I imagine the armour distribution and slower exp gain would be a pain further down the line.

After some consideration I'm thinking of having the PC either being a Berserker or a Blade. Though if playing as a berserker is it worth dual/classing them to mage further down the line and using the Elven chain you get in ToB or keeping him as a pure berserker...

So many thoughts