How perfect is this 6-person party?
vladpen
Member Posts: 88
Inquisitor (Paladin kit). Our Charismatic leader. A Mage-smasher who is very handy in some tough spots, and is generally a competent front-line fighter.
Mage. The Inquisitor's sister; he was appalled as a child at the way she was being treated by people close to them, which helped motivate him to become an Inquisitor, to bring justice to his society's treatment of Mages.
Dwarven Defender (Fighter kit). For when someone needs to stand toe-to-toe against the toughest of foes.
Archer (Ranger kit). Logistically easy damage. Him and the Dwarf are a pair of mercenaries who were once hired by the Inquisitor and eventually became his friends. They have worked together many times in the past, they all know and trust each other, and their relationship tends to be professional and congenial. They have similar views of how the world should work, and they are happy to work on it together.
Barbarian. The most recent member to join the party, his job is to get behind enemy lines and quickly take out VIPs. He seems fascinated by the Mage, as if she were some unfamiliar phenomenon from another world. She is puzzled by his fascination.
Cleric/Thief. This reclusive and reticent Half-Orc is a scout and trap-handler, and a long-time friend of the Inquisitor. He has been in love with the Mage for years (which she knows), but he understands that nothing can be done about it. She admires his Wisdom and trusts him as a friend, but is physiologically incapable of being attracted to a Half-Orc. A thief tends to get himself in trouble, and the Cleric's Sanctuary spell makes his job safer, and the self-buffs can add to his effectiveness as a Thief. Cleric and Thief are both fast-growing classes.
This makes the Dwarven Defender, Inquisitor, Barbarian, and the Cleric/Thief as viable front-line fighters, with the Archer dishing out damage from the back, and the Mage.
Mage. The Inquisitor's sister; he was appalled as a child at the way she was being treated by people close to them, which helped motivate him to become an Inquisitor, to bring justice to his society's treatment of Mages.
Dwarven Defender (Fighter kit). For when someone needs to stand toe-to-toe against the toughest of foes.
Archer (Ranger kit). Logistically easy damage. Him and the Dwarf are a pair of mercenaries who were once hired by the Inquisitor and eventually became his friends. They have worked together many times in the past, they all know and trust each other, and their relationship tends to be professional and congenial. They have similar views of how the world should work, and they are happy to work on it together.
Barbarian. The most recent member to join the party, his job is to get behind enemy lines and quickly take out VIPs. He seems fascinated by the Mage, as if she were some unfamiliar phenomenon from another world. She is puzzled by his fascination.
Cleric/Thief. This reclusive and reticent Half-Orc is a scout and trap-handler, and a long-time friend of the Inquisitor. He has been in love with the Mage for years (which she knows), but he understands that nothing can be done about it. She admires his Wisdom and trusts him as a friend, but is physiologically incapable of being attracted to a Half-Orc. A thief tends to get himself in trouble, and the Cleric's Sanctuary spell makes his job safer, and the self-buffs can add to his effectiveness as a Thief. Cleric and Thief are both fast-growing classes.
This makes the Dwarven Defender, Inquisitor, Barbarian, and the Cleric/Thief as viable front-line fighters, with the Archer dishing out damage from the back, and the Mage.
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Comments
Having said that, I do like your party lore, and the party doesn't look weak. If you like what you've got, go for it.
Given that you are posting in the "New Players (NO SPOILERS)" part of the forum, Am I correct to assume that 1) you haven't completed BG1 yet and 2) you care about the story in the game?
I'd say you were missing out a bit on a druid in IWD, since they are incredibly fun to play, but if this party fits your preferred style (and the characters are great!) then go for it, you'll be just fine!
Anyways I love how you have already developed the back-story for your party, and I'd say "go with it" for IWD:EE.
However, for BG:EE and BG2:EE... those two games revolves around a single protagonist with a somewhat pre-determined backstory, there is a lot of room for interpretation and you can choose to ignore it, but if you cared about plot continuity and experiencing the Baldur's Gate experience to its fullest, you really ought to just create one Charname for your first playthrough and fill up your party with the NPC companions. The interactions between your protagonist and his/her companions, and between the companions themselves, are a big part of the enduring appeal of the BG games. BG2 companions also come with associated quests that you might miss out on with an entirely custom party.
Cleric/thief is a fun character that fills needed roles but honestly each class synergises so much better in any other combination.
Barbarian and DD have very similar functions in a party so there is redundancy in having both.
A perfect party in IWD for me will have a Druid and a Bard in the team. A perfect party in BG1/2 will have at least 3 characters that can cast arcane spells (multi, dual or single class).
1) One of the major benefits of a Thief is using their stealth to launch backstabbing attacks. If you use some variety of Fighter/Thief, this significantly boosts the potency of the backstab, thanks to better fighter THAC0 and damage bonuses, scaling with Thief backstab multipliers. Also a Fighter's improved survivability will help the thief to survive the retribution following the opening attack.
2) A pure thief lacks a punch in battle, especially in high level combat in BG2. A mage is pretty much the most powerful class in the game once you reach BG2. A dual-classed Thief/Mage can do important things a Thief needs to do (open locks and disable traps), but also become a powerhouse in battle. There's also various invisibility and evasion spells to help a Thief/Mage with stealth beyond just his innate Thief skills.
3) Clerics have various self-buffs that can significantly improve their fighting capability. A Fighter/Cleric can become quite the melee powerhouse, marrying good Fighter proficiencies, THAC0 and Health with Cleric buffs.
As an example of "ultimate synergy", consider a Kensai=>Mage dual-class. The weakness of a Kensai is an inability to use any armour or ranged weapons, in return for slightly improved base THAC0 and AC. Once he becomes a mage, the downside becomes nearly irrelevant, since he can use ranged spells and mage protections to mitigate the weaknesses of a Kensai, whilst retaining all the benefits of a hard hitting warrior.
Oh another problem, a Cleric/Thief cannot wear heavy armour if he wants to use any thief skills, if he does not wear heavy armour, he cannot go toe to toe in melee combat against half-decent enemies. You need neither heavy armour or mage protections to be a survivable melee combatant. (Except the Monk, they get crazy AC at high levels).
http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php/Baldur's_Gate
Dual or multi versions of Mage/Thief, Mage/Cleric, Fighter/Thief and Fighter/Cleric all have vastly more synergy.
In IWD it isn't so bad as there are Fast Flails but they are so much better utilised on a fighter/cleric dual or multi.
Barbarians and DD's are similar in practical terms. There ability to tank is similar and their ability to deal damage is also similar.
Both Thief and Cleric are important to a party, but neither is worth single-classing. Which means to have both of them, without having a Cleric/Thief, you need to have two multi-classed characters. That means one less character that can have a kit.
Illusionist/Thief - multi class with a kit, ability to backstab 8-10 times/round and a very strong Mage in it's own right.
Kensei/Thief - dual class with use any item to bypass kensei restrictions and 10 APR with an offhand speed weapon
Swashbuckler/Mage - important thief skills covered and some back up melee in a Mage with almost full levels.
Berserker/Cleric - strong kit ability on a high level cleric
Fighter/Mage/Thief - backup magic (great for buffs), good archer and melee character, thief skills covered
Fighter/Mage/Cleric - like a fighter/cleric but with wizard spells instead of a kit
Illusionist/Cleric - combine cleric spells into your metamagics for devastation
All of these combinations have some amazing and fun synergies which the cleric/thief just doesn't compare to (IMO).
1. Inquisitor
2. Priestess of Tyr (very briefly) -> Mage
3. Dwarven Defender
4. Archer
5. Swashbuckler or Fighter/Thief or Assassin (decide how much you want backstab)
6. Cleric/Illusionist
I think I like that better.
How perfect is this party?
A Dwarven Barbarian would be more fun and useful unless you need a DD due to difficulty enhancing mods.
The thief slot is very open. A truly optimal party might skip a thief entirely and let the barbarian smash the locks and tank the traps. Otherwise I'd lean towards a FMT.
Mind you, the important thing is to have fun and play what you want, perfect or not.
Lower levels of cleric just doesn't seem to offer anything substantial compared to the benefits of Sorcerer, Wild Mage or Elf.
It's certainly worthwhile to have 2 characters that can cast heal and the archers Druid spells count for very little (except in IWD but as mentioned you'd want an actual Druid in IWD as they are super fun).