party sugestions

madgamer

I have always liked to us characters I have created. WHile I am struggling with the combat system in IWDEE how about some ideas about a party created from scratch. I know you going to tell me to just create one and find the other 5 but I would rather not do that so any help woulf be well received.

BillyYank

If you're struggling with the combat system, then don't get fancy with the party. Keep it simple until you're more comfortable.

2 fighters or 1 fighter, 1 paladin: To serve as your front line.
1 mage or sorcerer, whichever you find easier to use.
1 cleric
1 thief
For the last slot either a cleric/mage multiclass, or another full arcane caster. Personally, I'd go with the c/m for the extra healing, but this is BG2, where arcane casters rule, so a party with a sorcerer and a mage would probably kick ass.

DJKajuru

I agree with @BillyYank .
A balanced party has 2 frontline fighters (or paladin) , a thief, a cleric and a mage. The sixth slot can be given to whatever class you may find interesting, but here are a few suggestions:

-A bard provides magical backup , as well as good lore and ranged attacks.
-A druid or another cleric , or multiclass , will provide with extra healing and summons.
-An extra mage or sorcerer , or multiclass, will become VERY useful in the longer road. With two spellcasters you can have one of them memorize offensive spells while the other memorizes summonings or area spells.

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madgamer

Thanks a lot I will consider all your sugestions. I think perhaps my characters in my IWDEE are part od the combat difficulty.
will post the party in the next post

madgamer

my party for IWDEE has:
Fighter/thief Dwarf Male level 9 Fig level 11 thief Male 121 HP
Fighter/Mage Elf Female Lev. 9 Fig. Lev. 10 mage 75 HP
Dragon Disciple Female Lev. 11 78 HP
Cleric/Illusionist Female Gnome Lev.9 Cleric Lev.11Illusionist 78HP
Fighter male HALF ORC 72HP
Ranger male Human 72HP
Comments welcome. I am wondering if I should create a new party for BG2EE

Gallowglass

@madgamer - slightly contrary to advice given by others above, you don't really need a full-time Thief for a balanced party. You do need someone with Thief skills, but a half-Thief half-something-else is quite sufficient.

Your IWDee party doesn't look too bad. Plenty of fighting power, tons of arcane-casting power, sufficient thieving-power ... but if you're struggling a little, then I'd suspect that it may be because you're a little light on divine casting - with only a half-Cleric for all your healing and clerical-buffing needs, you might not be able to buff up for combat as thoroughly as you could if you had a full Cleric or a second part-Cleric. Being well-buffed for combat does make a substantial difference in the tougher battles. If your Fighter/Mage were instead a Fighter/Cleric, or if your Cleric/Illusionist were instead a full Cleric, then you'd probably be a little stronger overall.

Gallowglass

thespace said:

An (elf) archer will likely eclipse all others in kill % (will certainly in BG1 and likely 2 as well)

In BG1, yes. In BG2, I doubt it.

Skatan

madgamer said:

my party for IWDEE has:
Fighter/thief Dwarf Male level 9 Fig level 11 thief Male 121 HP
Fighter/Mage Elf Female Lev. 9 Fig. Lev. 10 mage 75 HP
Dragon Disciple Female Lev. 11 78 HP
Cleric/Illusionist Female Gnome Lev.9 Cleric Lev.11Illusionist 78HP
Fighter male HALF ORC 72HP
Ranger male Human 72HP
Comments welcome. I am wondering if I should create a new party for BG2EE

The party will work fine, but can be fine-tuned. Personally, I've never found the need for a fulltime cleric in BG2. It's good to have one of course, but it's quite rarely _needed_.

If I were to create a full party for BG2 I'd prolly go with something like this.

Fighter Berzerker - Dwarf most likely. Immunities from 'zerking are great, shorty saves are great.
Paladin Undead hunter- Human, obviously. Paladin +2 to saves are golden and the damage vs undead is benefical in many, many encounters. Blackguard if going with evil party.
Fighter/cleric - Dwarf most likely. Or fighter (7-9ish) -> Cleric, human.
Druid avenger or fighter/kit (7-9ish) -> Druid dual class (high stat rolls needed).
Thief/mage or thief/illuisonist - so race depends on choice. It's basically Jan Jensen, hehe.. Love the class combo and gnome kit, so I would chose gnome.
Mage whatever. Prolly generalist mage or sorcerer. Can be ie elf. Or fighter to mage and GM in ranged combat, like xbows or bows (the thief/mage can choose the other one)

So, you have 2-4 frontliners, 2+½ divine casters, 2 arcane casters, 1 thief, immunities, shorty saves, melee and ranged options, can use most items etc. You can get by with alot less hassle if you skip all dualclassing. It's not really needed, but gives an edge in martial prowess of course. There are better parties of course, the above suggestion is just one of many possibilites. It will let you use any item you encounter though (just spread out proficiences in diff. weapon categories), which is fun.

jackjack

I second recommending against a single class thief, particularly in BG2. I would suggest a Mage/Thief instead, for a bit of extra arcane punch.

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dunbar

Keep it simple. If, as your opening post suggests, your aim is to learn how to use your characters effectively then filling your party with multi/dual classes will limit their growth and you won't be able to use them to their full potential. This could also come back to hurt you in ToB where HLAs and the ability to summon Planetars/Devas are arguably essential.

YupImMadBro

Gallowglass said:

thespace said:

An (elf) archer will likely eclipse all others in kill % (will certainly in BG1 and likely 2 as well)

In BG1, yes. In BG2, I doubt it.

My archers often take at least 50% of the kills in my play throughs of BG2 as well.

Gallowglass

@thespace, @YupImMadBro - in my own experience, the efficacy of ranged attack falls off rather noticeably from mid-SoA, when I'm doing significantly more damage with spells and melee attack ... but I guess this is a case of "Your Mileage May Vary" and is considerably affected by playing-style and choice of companions.

semiticgoddess

Damage is not the advantage of the Archer. The Archer's advantage is APR and Called Shot. Its superior APR, and its ability to hit mages without provoking a Fire Shield backlash, lets it break down Stoneskin quickly and safely, and therefore gives it a distinct advantage against the toughest enemies in BG2: mages.

Called Shot has many uses. Take a dragon, for example. Your Archer uses Called Shot on the dragon. The dragon suffers a huge THAC0 penalty, and your frontline fighters are safe from its physical attacks for a good three rounds.

Or, try it at level 8. Your Called Shot now penalizes the dragon's save vs. spell as well as its THAC0. With enough APR, you can guarantee a failed save against Quivering Palm or Feeblemind.

Or try it at level 12. Your Called Shot now drains the dragon's STR, on top of the previous effects. If you're using darts or the Tuigan Bow and follow up with Ray of Enfeeblement, you're looking at an instant kill effect on a failed save vs. spell at -10. With Improved Haste, the penalty is -20. In EE, only plot-protected enemies can survive STR drain. In vanilla, you can kill anything with Called Shot, even the instant kill version of Arkanis Gath.

That said, Archers still have phenomenal damage output. Darts, the Tuigan Bow, and Firetooth are all excellent choices. In fact, Archers can exceed a Kensai's damage output, since they can use Vhailor's Helm to cast Simulacrum.