Need Charname +1 suggestions / Theme

Dradeel

So I'm wanting to romance Jaheria and try a different party (After 15 years I find that I get a little bored with the standard approach to things, and yet have never romanced Jaheria!) with the following underused (by me) characters:

Valygar
Mazzy
Jahera (romance) - will edit to NG
Neera (if she drives me crazy then I'll Nalia instead)

And I'm thinking Cernd because he's also underused (I may shadowkeeper him to Avenger since werewolf is bugged) This obviously leaves me thief-less, tankless, cleric-less.

For the sake of the party I'm wanting to be good, for romance need to be male human or half-elf and it needs to be something fluffy.

Fighter-cleric of Lathander?

Make my own NG Avenger (since most of the party is nature themed in some form) and add/keep Minsc ?

abacus

Mazzy and Jaheira make a perfectly serviceable front line... Heavily armoured, Mazzy gets shorty saves and Jaheira gets Ironskins; just give them a strength boosting item each. Personally I'd want a touch more arcane power and a thief... Jan would fill both roles perfectly leaving Charname to be whatever seems fun. Depending on how closely you want to micro-manage Valygar (to make the most out of his backstabs), you might want to look at getting a bit more DPS... maybe an Archer or Kensai?

joluv

Yeah, I don't know about this "tankless" business with Mazzy and Jaheira in the party. Mazzy doesn't even need a strength item, since she can self-buff.

abacus

joluv said:

Yeah, I don't know about this "tankless" business with Mazzy and Jaheira in the party. Mazzy doesn't even need a strength item, since she can self-buff.

True... I always forget about her pseudo-pally tricks.

Durenas

Jahiera doesn't need to be edited to NG, she's basically good anyway.

recklessheart

If you choose to keep Mazzy in the back with a shortbow, she'll kill almost as many enemies as Valygar. If you give Valygar a set of Boots of Speed, he will kill more enemies than even Korgan could. I'd keep them doing their respective thing.

Jaheira has high HP, low AC, Ironskins, and lots of other valuable spells, so she can do the majority of your tanking.

Neera and Imoen/Jan will manage all of your thieving and arcane needs. I agree with @abacus about adding one of these two to your roster. If you swap out Neera for Nalia, however, you could take Edwin as your primary arcane caster and give Nalia thief-buffing items and a crossbow (the crossbow meaning that she won't overlap in item requirements with Mazzy), and she will become a very potent second mage.

Your PC can be any number of things to make up for the gap, which is probably a hole in your frontline. They mightn't do a lot of damage as a Cleric, but because you will have a host of other damage dealing characters, a high DEX, high CON Cleric would be able to keep things solid alongside Jaheira at the front. However, you could make your PC a Thief and change up your arcane line up, giving you any number of other possibilities. My recommendation based on the characters you have chose to join you is:

Mazzy (shortbow)
Valygar (dual-wield)
Jaheira (club & shield, scimitar & shield)
Neera (arcane)
Jan Jansen (thief, secondary arcane)
PC

Personally, I might be inclined to swap it around a little to go for this:

Mazzy (shortbow)
Valygar (dual-wield)
Jaheira (club & shield, scimitar & shield)
Edwin* (arcane)
Nalia (thief, secondary arcane)
PC

*Some people say that Valygar and Edwin will eventually start cutting each other up, but I've never seen it. If they do, I would try to let Edwin win and take Haer'Dalis to replace Valygar. Haer'Dalis is also very talented. If Valygar wins, I guess you would be back to Neera, if you feel like taking Imoen would be redundant.

[Deleted User]

Since you're locked in to playing a race Jaheira would romance, my inclination would be to go either Cavalier or Fighter 7->Cleric. Cavaliers eventually get up to 4th level Cleric spells, which can fill in a few of the useful spells that Jaheira doesn't get as a Druid, and also lets you use Carsomyr. The Fighter->Cleric gives you solid Turn Undead capabilities (not to mention a caster with a consistently high caster level for Dispels), plus the option to pick up the Berserker kit for those tasty immunities. Either option will shore up your frontline and give you the option of using Mazzy as ranged support if you want (she's good in either role).

I agree with the other posters that Jan would round out this party nicely, but you say you're trying to use characters you don't normally use often, so go with whichever of the Mage/Thief combos you use least often. All of them are calibrated to give you enough Open Locks and Find Traps (though Nalia will need a little item help) to get through the game.

Phototoxin

I do love Jan. I might just pop him in, though I'm not sure I want to play another paladin - I've done that before with Aerie<3 and the goody goody party of easy-mode. I want to try and do the 'slightly zany' misfit crew- so I guess Everyone's Favourite Turnip Salesman fits that. Which leaves me:

Jaheira
Valygar
Mazzy
Jan Jansen
Neera

Still stuck on what to be. An elven cleric/mage could work, maybe I need someone more 'rugged' for the 'misfit' party of outdoor shenanigans. Hmm a half-elf bard/blade (or Jester for added insanity?) might fit the group -

PS I am dradeel, it was made since I forgot my password and then reset it for this account!

Skatan

I wouldn't go with bard/blade with your party since alot of the good gear for bards other in your team will want to use; Mazzy and/or Jan may use Kundane and Jaheira Belm. You need at least one +APR weapon to make the blade great, so either you use one/both yourself and let Jaheira use staff mace/clubs and Jan stick with xbows or pick another class for CHARNAME.

An easier route would be to make a F/C or Zerker->C since noone else in your selected party above is using single-handed blunt weapons.

An alternative, since you've used Jan so much before, would be to create some kind of thief, ie a F/T, and use the last slot for either swapping members for their quests or go with a permanent party mate like you said above. Cernd would be an option there. You don't really have to bother with shapeshifting and just use him as a caster. Druids have alot of good offensive spells to supplement arcane casting.

So either:

F/C, B->C
Jaheira
Valygar
Mazzy
Jan Jansen
Neera

or

F/T, Thief->F or M, Assassin, Bounty hunter (would fit the theme kinda)
Jaheira
Valygar
Mazzy
Cernd
Neera

Cheers,
//Skat.