Imoen - Rogue skills covered + backup archer Minsc - Tank with massive strength Dynaheir - Fireball delivery or control magic Khalid - one of the top 3 Archers in the game Jaheira - Healing + Tank, once you have the right items
In the end your PC can be everything you desire, cause all things are covered already in the canon party.
I like to play other combinations for variety, but the canon party works splendidly.
@hansolo The only control magic Dynaheir really has is web, horror and slow
That said, I always felt that Dynaheir was fine as an Invoker. Because I dual Imoen to mage at level 6 and she makes up for the control that Dynaheir lacks.
That said I do feel that the 'canon' party is best served with a Cleric or Fighter/Cleric. Especially in the first game. Unfortunately in BG2 you almost have to take one of the clerics with you since there really aren't a lot of NPCs in comparison.
The optimal player character for the cano party is probably a cleric/mage, giving you the cleric spells you lack from Jaheira and the charm/summon stuff you miss from Dynaheir in one tidy package.
Going fighter/ranger/paladin or thief in the canon party does seem a bit redundant. Bg1's engine did tend to favor melee/archer heavy groups over lots of casters though iirc.
I never had much use for summons. I didn't like the playstyle and I think its one reason I've avoided Edwin so long. Since he says Conjurer it would only make sense that he conjurers fodder, but fodder really ain't my playstyle. I've tried it a few times (like on the last boss of durlags tower), but in general I dislike the strategy.
Fun fact: When I played BG1 for the first time, it was before even TotSC was released, let alone BG2. After re-rolling many many many many times and trying to grasp the rules (I was like 13 or 14 and had never even heard of DnD), I settled with a Cleric. And by pure chance the party I got was exactly this "canon" party!
Yes, there are better NPCs out there. But if a 14 year old who has no clue what he is even doing can finish the game with them, it can't be all that bad, can it?
Anyway, for me, this was always the one true canon party and always will be!
Weirdly , i had almost the exact same experience , not about grasping the rules but before even knowing anything about baldur's gate 2 ( the game was out then ) i had the exact canon party , mostly due to being a boring goody two-shoes and following Gorion's story advice . Gorion says get Jaheira and Khalid , Minsc is awesome , Minsc leads to Dynaheir , Imoen is your half-sister ! . The game kinda guides the newbie toward it i think but yeah probably not a good party statwise.
But imagine my awesome delight at the start of BG 2 .
They're only the "canon" party because of a shitty novel and because the intro to BG2 was lazy and poorly implemented.
I never even knew there was a "canon party" until BGII. Besides the obligatory Imoen, I would have much more preferred to have someone other than Jaheira and Minsc as NPC options in Irenicus' dungeon. Thankfully, there was always the option to not rescue them.
You're right I did forget it. I actually never use most of the cloud skills since I run heavy melee based parties. Frankly I rarely cast horror either. I like my web, right at the edge of where I plan on fighting. Then letting Dynaheir go full 1812 Overture on the poor folk stuck in the web.
People think Dynaheir sucks because they can't play the game without summoning monsters to fight their battles for them. Plus the abundance of invoker in a stick (wands of fireball, lightning bolt, magic missile) mean there is no need to worry about losing those spells.
I think Dynaheir sucks because she loses out on Enchantment more than losing out on Conjuration. Losing out on BOTH is a damn crime.
Invokers are terrible.
Also the abundance of invoker in a stick is why I'd argue it's least important spell school.
It may not be optimal or your personal choice, but it doesn't suck by a long shot (Garrick, Eldoth, Skie, Tiax and Quale as a party would suck).
...I need to try this party.
...I think I'm with you. Eldoth with gauntlets of dex, Tiax with gauntlets of Ogre Power, Garrick singing the whole time, drop all 3 tomes of Wisdom on Quayle so he doesn't fail casting cleric spells any more... Yeah I could work with it.
I'm also surprised @Drugar listed Tiax. Tiax is the best NPC in the game. He rules all.
To be perfectly honest, I actually passed the game with the canon party first time around... sort of.
I myself was Dynaheir spec mage (evoker) and so I had her get killed and removed her from party so I can keep Minsc. I took Bramwell as my 6th. So, if you look at it, I passed with canon party playing a cleric. I must say, it was awesome experience for me and I rather liked the canon party. When I had killed Dynaheir, I was sorry I wasn't a cleric so I would really pass the game with canon party.
Now when enhanced edition comes, my first playthrough will surely be as a cleric with canon party.
I played with the full canon group only once. And it was not on the first play through. Most often I start off with Imoen, Khalid & Jaheira. On my very first play through I even had to kill Minsc in Nashkell because he turned hostile after I didn't want to help him immediately.
On another play through I happened to have Dynaheir, Minsc & Edwin in my party. All the resulting bickering made this setup very unstable.
I think Dynaheir sucks because she loses out on Enchantment more than losing out on Conjuration. Losing out on BOTH is a damn crime.
Invokers are terrible.
Also the abundance of invoker in a stick is why I'd argue it's least important spell school. ...
Invokers will still have access to necromancy spells (e.g. animate dead). But due to the experience cap in BG1 she won't have enough 5th level spell slots available. IWD introduced even some summoning spells for illusionary monsters (illusion school of magic). But again those spells are also too high level for BG1.
It's funny because whenever I try and play with the canon party, Khalid and Dynaheir go stark raving mad, strip down the the buff and run head long into a throng of bandits. Happens all the time, so bizarre!
It may not be optimal or your personal choice, but it doesn't suck by a long shot (Garrick, Eldoth, Skie, Tiax and Quale as a party would suck).
...I need to try this party.
I once had Eldoth, Skie, Garrick and Shar-Teel together ... that ... that was fun. Garrick died in battle then before I could reload Shar-Teel chunked Eldoth. Poor Skie, if this were Call of Cthulhu she would have definitely gone insane.
Comments
Minsc - Tank with massive strength
Dynaheir - Fireball delivery or control magic
Khalid - one of the top 3 Archers in the game
Jaheira - Healing + Tank, once you have the right items
In the end your PC can be everything you desire, cause all things are covered already in the canon party.
I like to play other combinations for variety, but the canon party works splendidly.
That said, I always felt that Dynaheir was fine as an Invoker. Because I dual Imoen to mage at level 6 and she makes up for the control that Dynaheir lacks.
That said I do feel that the 'canon' party is best served with a Cleric or Fighter/Cleric. Especially in the first game. Unfortunately in BG2 you almost have to take one of the clerics with you since there really aren't a lot of NPCs in comparison.
Going fighter/ranger/paladin or thief in the canon party does seem a bit redundant. Bg1's engine did tend to favor melee/archer heavy groups over lots of casters though iirc.
Minsc is awesome , Minsc leads to Dynaheir , Imoen is your half-sister ! . The game kinda guides the newbie toward it i think but yeah probably not a good party statwise.
But imagine my awesome delight at the start of BG 2
You're right I did forget it. I actually never use most of the cloud skills since I run heavy melee based parties. Frankly I rarely cast horror either. I like my web, right at the edge of where I plan on fighting. Then letting Dynaheir go full 1812 Overture on the poor folk stuck in the web.
Invokers are terrible.
Also the abundance of invoker in a stick is why I'd argue it's least important spell school.
...I think I'm with you. Eldoth with gauntlets of dex, Tiax with gauntlets of Ogre Power, Garrick singing the whole time, drop all 3 tomes of Wisdom on Quayle so he doesn't fail casting cleric spells any more... Yeah I could work with it.
I'm also surprised @Drugar listed Tiax. Tiax is the best NPC in the game. He rules all.
I myself was Dynaheir spec mage (evoker) and so I had her get killed and removed her from party so I can keep Minsc. I took Bramwell as my 6th. So, if you look at it, I passed with canon party playing a cleric. I must say, it was awesome experience for me and I rather liked the canon party. When I had killed Dynaheir, I was sorry I wasn't a cleric so I would really pass the game with canon party.
Now when enhanced edition comes, my first playthrough will surely be as a cleric with canon party.
On another play through I happened to have Dynaheir, Minsc & Edwin in my party. All the resulting bickering made this setup very unstable.
Garrick died in battle then before I could reload Shar-Teel chunked Eldoth. Poor Skie, if this were Call of Cthulhu she would have definitely gone insane.