What do you think about my party?
Sloty
Member Posts: 113
Main: Cleric/Mage with Staff,Sling and hammer.Which profs should I take next?
Mazzy: dual, flails, shortswords, longswords.Should I give her some other proficiencies or level up flails?
Ajantis(Mod NPC): Which weapons should I give him?
Jan Jansen(Imoen later): guess he or Imoen are best used with a bow(gesen comes to mind).
(fifth and sixth member): would you suggest me to take one or two more or is my little group strong enough?
(or should I keep Jan and add Imoen perhaps)?
Mazzy: dual, flails, shortswords, longswords.Should I give her some other proficiencies or level up flails?
Ajantis(Mod NPC): Which weapons should I give him?
Jan Jansen(Imoen later): guess he or Imoen are best used with a bow(gesen comes to mind).
(fifth and sixth member): would you suggest me to take one or two more or is my little group strong enough?
(or should I keep Jan and add Imoen perhaps)?
1
Comments
I personally prefer a full party. For the banters but a smaller one is definitely an option when you bring muscle, thieving arcane and divine magic.
I would say Minsc or Valygar and Jaheira for that group. But again the four of you should be able to do it just fine if you prefer it that way.
Just as sidenote, if you start to think about what fits your party, you're mostly guaranteed to end up with same party over and over again. After the basic needs are covered, just pick up characters you haven't played, or haven't used in a long time. Maybe you could outright pick up an NPC that DOESN'T fit your group, and see how that plays out.
Can you give me suggestions as to which NPCs are not used very often but still good fun?
Which weapons should I really have in my group/are essential?
I am considering taking another tank.Which one would you suggest and which weapons should he use?
What do you think about adding Haer Dalis?(or replacing Mazzy with him)?
I also read my main needs to be level 15 to recruit him.Is that true?
And my C/M: should I dw later, even if I can only get one point in 2weapon fighting?
And play him as any bard. In this case blade. Any character played as their class will shine. And there's plenty of guides to NPC's online if needed.
Your character depends on stats. If you have low HP I would not dual wield and generally not be a frontliner. You have fighters to do that job.
Focus on spells. Who will be the healer? Defensive spells and offensive spells. Use the autopause to gain control of the casters.
C/M is a pure caster, so dual-wielding isn't a good option. You'll have major Thac0-penalties on both weapons, and caster-Thac0 is not that good to begin with. Not that you will be using melee weapons much. A C/M can use a shield without losing mage-spellcasting, so I suggest going with Sword and Shield style. You can use a sling with shield, and that will be your primary weapon after your spells. If you absolutely must melee, and it's a last option, use that hammer you have proficiencies with. It's a good choice, even if flails might be a better one.
There are specific ways to make a C/M melee worthy, namely Improved Haste, Draw Upon Holy Might and Tenser's Transformation stuffed into a Spell Trigger + some other protections, but you may be better off using your PC as a spellcaster since it's far more efficient against most enemies.
So which weapon(s) would you give Haer Dalis then?
Is there a way to give him more HPs?
Do you think I should keep Imoen AND Jan or disband one of them from the party?
so for your main party if you are going to have: charname, anjantis, mazzy, haer'dalis, jan (imoen), anomen here is how I would play them:
1st- I would put anjantis up top probably make him use two handed swords in SoA ( for the holy avenger) and then in ToB make him use bastard swords ( for the purifier), and once you get to that point where you have the purifier and the holy avenger, you can only upgrade one of them, so then its completely based on preference on which one you upgrade (usually I do the purifier because its almost as good as the holy avenger put when you are using the purifier you can use a shield as well, having a +4 shield gives you a +5 AC bonus, and that is pretty huge) luckily there are gauntlets of dexterity and girdles of giant str, so that will make up for his crap dex, and mediocre str
2nd- next I would have mazzy, and I would actually start cranking the axe proficiency, there is a couple of +3 axes in bg2 and you can get them pretty early on, but the best part is ToB where you can get the axe of the unyielding+5 which is one of the best single handed melee weapons in the game ( regeneration, AC bonus, con bonus, decapitation chance), so that's what I would go with for mazzy
3rd- I would have anomen in melee, going with flails, them main weapon I would give him is the defender of east heaven ( 20% damage resistance to slashing, crushing, piercing, and +1 ac bonus is pretty killer, plus its a +3 weapon) and for back up I would use flail of the ages, now one problem is that anjantis and anomen both have awful dex, but anomen can use draw upon holy might, to bump it up a bit, and with ToB if you give him the fullplate+3 that gives the dex bonus and give him +1 dex from the machine of lum the mad, I believe DuHM will crank it up to 18, plus anomen can use righteous magic in conjunction with DuHM which will give him a huge str bonus and he will deal max damage, plus a pretty good HP bonus as well, and if you mix armor of faith with defender of east heaven, you can get some pretty good damage resistance as well, and then of coarse once you hit level 22 you can learn aura of flaming death, which is great for a cleric you goes into melee ( huge fire resistance, AC bonus, immune to normal missiles, damages enemies when they hit you)
4th- would be haer'dalis, now to be honest, not really a fan of this guy, in theory blades can be awesome, but the problem is, haer'dalis is squishy like whip cream, even with all the good jazz of stoneskin, mirror image, blur, fireshield red, fireshield blue, protection from magic weapons, tensers transformation, and all that good stuff I found that sometimes enemies find there way of getting through and turning him into paste, now with that being said, if you want to use him in melee, I would go with dual wielding of coarse and there are a couple of weapons that give some extra attacks per round ( belm, kudane, scarlet ninto jo -once you get use any item at level 24+-) so you will want to give him those weapons, and of coarse you will have to cast all those fancy protection spell if you send him into melee, because his HP are quite low and he is going to need all the protection in the world to stay alive, but if he has a belt of giant str, tensers transformation and uses offensive spin, he can deal some decent damage in melee, and once you get the use any item high level ability, he can start using some class restrictive items to bump up the AC and use weapons like scarlet ninto-jo to make him a bit better in melee,
But how I would play him as; I would skill him in dagger, and give him the boomerang dagger, keep him in the back, and give him spells that help the party out ( protection from fire, protection from magical energy and the like) and when you need it, have him play his bard song, then once he hit level 24 I would give him that wonderful high level ability enhanced bard song, and have him play it 24/7 ( I would use the bard controlled script and just have him play that and never attack ever) now if I remember correctly enhanced bard song had an infinite radius, so hair my dallas could be chillin in the corner of the map while everyone else was getting the benefits of the song, if that is still the scenario, all the better, keep haer'dalis away from the baddies and just play away, now if they fixed that he will need to be around 20 feet away from your front liners, which is okay, just have stonesking, protection from fire, and protection from magical energy on him and he should be fine
5th- jan (imoen) if you are going to have jan and then replace him with imoen I would suggest not giving jan usefull spells because once he leaves, he takes those spells with him, so any cool spells that you find that your char already has I would save in a scroll case and wait for imoen to learn them later, now luckily there is a ring of lock picks ( inside the basement of the shadow thief guild) and a right of disarm traps ( in the planar sphere) that you can give imoen to bump up the lock picking and trap disarming pass 100%, and luckily #2 the devs increase her default lock picking and trap disarming so in theory you don't really need those items, but if you are going to be wearing some elven chain mail she will get a penalty to those stats, plus you will want to give her the blade singer chain mail ( because it's +4 and she can still cast spells with it, that is of coarse you are going to give it to haer'dalis instead then I would just give imoen the robe of the good arch magi which can be found at the blacksmith in trademeet) and then of coarse you can give here the bow of gesen and la de da and all that good jazz
6th- your charname, I would keep your charname at the back because your charname isn't really going to have the HP to do melee, and in the early stages you might be getting gibbed a bit, but your strong point of your character is the spell casting, your character has the ability to virtually know any spell in the game, and with that advantage I would give your charname the robe of vecna ( found in the adventurers mart) and the amulet of power ( from aran linvail) with those 2 items your casting time for basically any spell of 5 level and lower will be instant and even level 9 spells will be shot off as fast as it takes to cast level 4 spells, especially if you use mass cure with those 2 items it will cast a crap load faster and that's a nice nefty spell to heal the whole group up, and even heal will only take half a round to cast instead of a whole round with those items, now weapon wise, I would definitely go with sling, and save up to get the sling of everad and with DuHM and righteous magic if you can up to 19+ str you can actually deal some pretty decent damage with that, and then for a melee weapon, staff of the magi of coarse, now the best part of the staff of the magi is the invisibility it grants when you use it, so it can kind of be a weapon that gives you the first strike, and best of all, once you lose the invisibility ( from doing an offensive action) just select your sling and then select the staff again and voila, invisible again, it kind of goes like this; use staff to go invisible - cast defensive spells, then cast your offensive spell, once spell is done, reselect your staff again to go invisible run away, build up defenses and repeat sort of thing
last but not least, for haer'dalis if you want to get him, just go to the 5 flagons inn ( in the bridge district) go to the basement and talk to raelis shai and accept her quest and then run off an grab good ol' harry once you see him ( you can do this right away if you wish if you want to get mr dalis faster)
To answer your question, not really. There is a way you can give him 1 more Constitution but that won't make a huge difference. Here's the kicker though: If you are using the right spells, HP is meaningless. Stoneskin+PfMW basically means he is untouchable for at least 4 rounds, and after that he is still immune to physical damage, even if poisons and elemental damage will punch through. With Defensive Spin active as well, he is incredibly hard to hit. If you bring in Haer'Dalis, then it's one or the other, but in case you don't, you can use both of them. Jan is good with spell support, and he gets thief-HLA's so the characters are very different.
But I would rather have a 4 to 5 members party...
I am a Cleric/Mage.
So which other 3 to 4 would you reccomend to take with me?
Do you think the Cavalier or Inquisitor is better?
I would still and as others have suggested as well keep your c/m in the background. They tend to be weak and die a lot otherwise.
You need thieving skills and a tank. You can bring whomever meets your requirements.
I like both paladin kits. But hey anything beats undead hunter.
I suggest giving Crom to Ajantis. Couple that with Purifier, and you have an epicly powerful combination. Purifier is a bastard sword, btw. Carsomyr really doesn't need the +5-to-+6 upgrade.
If properly outfitted and buffed that guy is a versatile wrecking machine, blade is an awesome kit.
Crom Faeyr is best on a character that can't buff strength. Not on a cleric who can get 25 strength at level 12 or a paladin who gets DUHM as well.
Best weapons for Haer'Dalis would, I imagine, be Angurvadal and offhand Scarlet Ninja-to. Though there's so many choices that can work on a blade and there are many good short swords and long swords to take advantage of the extra damage and thac0 that is unique to Haer.
Hmmm....
I still dont know who I should give the flail of ages to.
But in any case, there are so many op weapons in ToB that many of them by the end of the game you just hoard for no other reason than to put them in the Bag of Holding for later. So I wouldn't worry about finding a use for the Flail of Ages, it may as well just gather dust if you find a better combination of weapons for your party.
PC with shield, flail and sling. Darksteel Shield/Shield of Harmony/Fortress Shield paired either DoE or FoA. Sling of Everard is your go-to missile weapon here. DoE is the more defensive flail, and will work better here, IMO.
Mazzy with Short Swords and Shortbows. Short Sword of Mask is a great weapon that can be gained really early, even if it's costly. You get bows all the time, so you can keep upgrading your weapon. Since she is a fighter, you may want to GM Short Swords before moving onto any other weapons.
Ajantis with bastard swords, warhammers and axes. Purifier +5, Crom and AotU +5 is your end-game here. Buff up with DUHM and AoF. Crom is your off-hand, and you can switch between Purifier and AotU in the mainhand depending on your situation.
Jan/Imoen both can work a crossbow, which is the best option since they won't be good in melee either. Give Imoen a staff. Preferrably one of the elemental staves such as Staff of Fire early on. Staff of Power is also great, as is Staff of the Magi. Especially Staff of the Magi. It's a bit hard to get, though.
Haer'Dalis with Angurvadal and SNT. You get the +APR from SNT, and Angurvadal buffs Haer's Str, which he can't do otherwise. With Offensive Spin, you'll get sky high on raw damage.
I now have this party:
1.Isra,LG Cavalier, not bad stats except dexterity.
Which weapons should I teach her except two handed swords?
2. Haer Dalis.He is surely a lot of fun, my maintank.
3.Jan Jansen.I still dont know which weapon would make him actually hit something. Any thoughts?
4.Me, C/M . I am becoming stronger and get some better spells.Which is the best sling in the game for me?
Thats all for now.Will replace Jan with Imoen in the future. Which will be the best ranged weapon for her?
What do you think about my little party?
You should probably get Tansheron's Bow from Trademeet for Imoen until you can complete the Gesen Bow. It has infinite +3 ammo so it'll serve her fine - plus it's relatively cheap.
As for Jan, if you're not planning on keeping him I wouldn't recommend this, but you can go to Watcher's Keep (not enter it) and buy the Firetooth+4, a great weapon.
Also I would like to know which are some good spells especially for a cleric/mage...
However, if you really want to melee, here's how it's done:
1. Tenser's Transformation - basically turns you into an unbuffed fighter
2. Improved Haste - this will double your movement rate and APR
3. Stoneskin/Spirit Armor - you're AC is still bad after Tenser and this will give you fighting chance to avoid hits
4. Draw Upon Holy Might - will improve your Str, Dex and Con. If you're not wearing a str-belt, you NEED this. Will also improve HP and AC. Holy Power may be a viable alternative or addition to this one.
There's other spells that can be combined here but these 4 are the bare minimum. Even after these, you'll probably lose to a Fighter or a Paladin of the same level, if you just keep it melee.
Out of these spells, Stoneskin and and DUHM can be prebuffed, although you should only prebuff DUHM after the point you're expecting action.
You should only melee with your pure class casters if you enjoy reloading a lot. You will have both low HP and AC. Also bad thaco and numbers of attacks. And on top you will lack bonuses from con (you will have to spend points on both int and wis as well) and wearing armor is out of the question.
Let the fighters do the melee - they are more able to take the beating.