Your favourite party combinations

AvengerLynx

I haven't seen a thread about this on here, but I can't believe there isn't a discussion going on about it, so I decided to take it upon myself to create one!
So yes, as the title suggests - what's your favourite party combination? Has anyone found the 'best' combination yet? What about the one with the best banter? Do you agree with the 'canon' party? Discuss it here!

Talvrae

Personally
1 Tank (Fighter, Paladin)
1 Healer (Druid, Clerc)
1 Rogue
1 Bard
2 casters (Wizard, Sorceror)

after that it depends what i want from my party

CCarluNN

I'm going to try not to play with a 'canon' party this time around.

If Imoen is considered 'canon', then I will try to find someone to replace her. I always found her thieving skills quite good and she has thief/mage dual class potential, so finding an equally good replacement is going to be hard.

If Minsc is considered 'canon', then so be it. I will choose Minsc (and therefore also Dynaheir) over Edwin any day. Minsc has always been one of the most interesting NPCs to listen/talk to, and has good warrior skills as well.

I've also given thought about party size. Ideally, I want to have a party of five instead of the normal six. Maybe even cut down to four so I can level up faster.

Almost forgot, here's what my party composition would look like:

The core of four: Paladin, thief, ranger, mage
Fifth: Cleric/Druid for healing and support
Sixth: Prefer a warrior, but any will do if needed

AvengerLynx

@Talvrae
That's quite interesting, actually. I've always assembled parties like so:
2 fighters
1 cleric
1 theif
1 mage
+ a bonus multi-classed fighter, or an extra healer.

One of my favourite things to do is to have a fiddle with dual and multi-classed characters, which always proves quite interesting. An interesting playthrough I had went something like this:
PC - LG Elven Fighter/Mage
Minsc
Jaheira/Yeslick/Branwen
Jaheira/Yeslick/Branwen
Imoen - T(5)>M
Kivan (Until Imoen duals) > Coran

Once Imoen had got her thieving skills back, the party was very strong in both melee and magic departments, as well as having 2 thieves in the mix (albeit Imoen was quite weak).
Alternatively, I sometimes decided to use some of the more powerful evil characters in the party too, in which case another strong party was something like:

PC (LG Elven Fighter/Mage)
Edwin
Imoen (not dualed this time)
Branwen
Kagain
Coran

raywind

PC chaotic evil elf assassin
Edvin
Viconia
Xzar/Neera
Montaron/Dorn
Eldoth/Kagain/Rasaad

Something like that depending on situation, one of the best "features" in bg is that you dont need a any spesific classes like "tank" "blaster" "healer" i can tank with edvin or viconia or with anyone with right gear.

even Xzar could be the "tank" with right spells.

shawne

I tend to go with the old-fashioned "balanced" party: two fighters, two mages, one cleric, one thief.

First time through the series: PC (Mage 1), Jaheira (Fighter 1), Shar-Teel/Korgan/Sarevok (Fighter 2), Imoen/Yoshimo/Imoen (Thief), Viconia (Cleric) and Edwin (Mage 2).

Second time: PC (Fighter 1), Ajantis/Keldorn (Fighter 2), Minsc/Sarevok (Fighter 3), Safana/Jan (Thief), Branwen/Anomen (Cleric), Dynaheir/Nalia (Mage 1).

Of the two parties, I have to say I definitely enjoyed the first more. In fact, I'm using it as a basis for my EE playthrough: PC (Mage 1), Jaheira (Fighter 1), Dorn (Fighter 2), Imoen (Thief), Viconia (Cleric), Neera (Mage 2).

The_New_Romance

I like to incorporate as many NPCs as possible (for example keeping Kagain for a while in a good-neutral party), but I really liked my most recent BG1 playthrough where I ended up with my Bard PC, Imoen (dual-classed), Minsc, Dynaheir, Coran and Branwen. Everything set, even though my PC was a little weak (I played vanilla BG).

Now in BG2 as a Blade, it's a whole different story I'm just sad I can't take seven NPCs, because I really can't decide on whether to have Imoen or Jan (or Imoen and Nalia or Nalia and Jan) with my party of Blade PC, Jaheira, Minsc and Anomen (Vicona was just too rough with my PC, and I want to keep the other evil guys out - would love to have Aerie, though, but yeah).

Scofield

My favorite party:
PC - Paladin
Minsc (melee)
Jaheira (healer)
Edwin (mage)
Imoen (thief)
Kivan (ranged)

This time, I'm thinking about the following:

PC - Paladin (I always play as a paladin)
Dorn
Rasaad
Jaheira / Viconia
Neera
Imoen

I'd love to try all the new NPCs so I'll probably go with a mixed party.

CrazedSlayer

Fav:
Me: Paladin
Imoen
Jaheria
Khalid
Dyhanier
Minsc

Now:
Me: Bard or Kensai (probably Bard)
Imoen
Jaheria
Khalid
Neera
Viconia

rodneyandsteptoe

Not sure about best but the ones I ended each game with were:

BG/TOSC

PC (female Paladin)
Minsc
Dynaheir
Imoen
Branwen
Kivan

SOA/TOB

PC (female Paladin)
Minsc
Aerie
Imoen
Jaheira
Anomen

Lemernis

The beautiful thing about this game is you really can complete it with any combination of NPCs, so there is tremendous variation available.

That said, I do tend to assemble a reasonably well balanced party class-wise. Having a healer or two greatly reduces the hassle factor of going to temples for healing. A thief is more or less essential for me, as I want traps detected and removed and locks picked. At least one tank (preferably two) is something I want as well, as it makes combat a lot simpler. An arcane spellcaster is also a must-have for me.

I think my top tier favorite NPCs over the years have become:

Imoen
Minsc
Khalid
Kivan
Montaron
Edwin
Yeslick

But it usually depends on how the mood strikes me who I will add to the party.

Sachery

1 time in bg: fighter/mage/cleric and companions was: Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid, Branwen, Coran.
2 time: Dual class fighter/cleric and companions was: Imoen, Viconia, Yeslick. (This char I importet to bg2 and come half way, but some bugs and a new game come in its way.)
3 time was only half way, it was with a evil party. I like more to play good than evil, maybe that is the reason why I did not complete that round.

1 time in bg2: fighter and companions was Imoen. Minsc, Jaheira (I think i kick her later, Anomen, Nalia, Yoshimo (but had to kill him), Aerie (I kick her, because she become crazy after Anomen beat her, take Mazzy with me, because of that, but Mazzy was only lvl 14 or 15 when I comeplete bg2). I use end people in TOB also.
2 time in bg2: Sorcere and companions was Imoen, Viconia, Edwin. But in TOB only me and Sarevok.


This time in bg ee, my char will be halforc swashbuckler or a human dual class swashbuckler(lvl6)/druid (it give 100 in pick locks and find/remove traps). What I take all depends how good I roll, it take high roll with dual class and lower roll on pure class.

My companions will be Imoen (dual class), Kivan, Neera, Safana (dual class with int tomes), Ajantis. (I think I wait to invite Safana and Ajantis to later on, because I will do the quests Rasaad and Dorn (if Dorn sound too evil, I might not help him) have to offer.

Mortianna

In party-order:
Human Female Necromancer, Lawful evil
Kagain
Viconia
Montaron
Eldoth
Edwin

I can always count on this group to get things done without party infighting (although hurling insults is just fine). I couldn't care less about the canon party.

Dragonspear

@CCarluNN

The BG1 Canon Party is PC, Imoen, Khalid, Jaheria, Minsc, Dynaheir

Honestly I feel this is a really balanced party. I think the PC is best prolly as a fighter/cleric (since Jaheria is a dang doodad *nods to Pikel*) or single cleric. In the books which grossly differ from the game, the PC is a plain human fighter.

Anduine

1. Paladin (Cavalier in BG2)
2. Fighter (Berserker in BG2)
3. Fighter/Cleric
4. Cleric
5. Mage
6. Fighter/Thief

Paladin is of course LG, all others are NG.

Kenji

Note: My PC is Fighter dual Thief, in BG1 starting out as a fighter til level3 before dual-classing thief.

Singleplayer:
BG1: PC, Montaron (Or Skie), Xzar (Or Edwin), Tiax (Or Viconia), Shar-Teel, Eldoth
BG2 SoA: PC, Edwin, Viconia, Korgan, Jaheira, Jan
BG2 ToB: PC, Sarevok, Edwin, Viconia, Korgan, Jaheira (Or Jan)

Multiplayer:
BG1: PC1, PC2, Imoen, Minsc, Dynaheir, Branwen
BG2 SoA: PC1, PC2, PC3, Edwin, Viconia (Or Aerie/Jaheira), Jan (Or Imoen)
BG2 ToB: PC1, PC2, PC3, Edwin, Viconia, Sarevok

As for Icewind Dale... That's for another time.

Dragonspear

@Kenji Why do you dual at 3 instead of 6 (or even 7 for the extra attack). You're missing out on an extra specialization point. Honestly I always feel wrong if I dual a fighter before I have grand mastery in the weapon I prefer. Of course I also prefer fixing grand mastery back to its BG1/IWD state and letting multiclass characters reach GM.

TheMadViking

The last game i played my team consisted of protagonist aka me (kensai 24/thief 28), Imoen (lvl 7thief, 32 wizard), Jaheira( fighter/druid), Minsc( ranger), Saravok (fighter (20)/ mage(21)) and Aerie (mage/cleric). That team was so overpowered.

It's the first time where i didn't have any problem with the ascension mod. Time trap/ use all items / greater whirlwind with my kensai/thief mobbed the floor with the otherwise "gamebreaking" features(cheese). Yeah im looking at you, abazigal. No way a contingecy can fire in a timestop.... but with carsomyr it didn't matter.

Quartz

I don't always explore all party combinations, but when I do, I still keep Kivan.

Kenji

@Dragonspear Yea, I know I lose out on a specialization point and extra base HP (12 hp), but it's all part of the RP, I don't want my thief to be too powerful, even limiting myself to max 2 points per weapon specialization.