One more run (class/party discussion)
Kneller
Member Posts: 438
I've played this game a million times, but never finished. I eventually hit a wall (about the time I get to Spellhold), where I get so bogged down with the HLAs and metamagic (breach, ruby ray, etc.) that the actual narrative gets a little lost.
But this time, I'm determined to finish. I'm planning to play canon party. So, Imoen, Minsc, Dynaheir, Khalid, Jah for BG1, and Yoshi->Imoen, Minsc, Jah for BG2 with others for quests and as needed. I had a couple of ideas for charname.
Side note, I'm not playing EE, but the original game (as in, off CD). However, this is the only active forum for BG.
Cleric/Wild Mage - I would SK this obviously. I'm tossed between the gnome for the Con bonus and Half-elf for story reasons (the gnome aging thing). I like gnomes, don't really like elves, and I like that my gnome won't be able to have a (tacky) romance (I'm not keeping Aerie, obviously). Story-wise, I would see it as being a kid that studied the faith of Oghma growing up, but learning a bit of magery from Gorion. I think this is more in line with the little you see of his character. Side note, every 1st level mage spell will be NRD. It's just too much fun to pass up.
Cleric/Wild Mage (dual) - Human obviously. I'm not sure when I would dual, but I won't have to worry about multi-class lag. However, I don't see the level lag as that big of a deal. I'm just kinda throwing this out there.
*My concern with taking the mage classes is the reduncancy I'll have when Imoen comes back. She'll be a single mage, which is more than enough for this game, IMO. I mean, eventually everything is so well protected against magic, the only use for it will be to debuff pretty much, while the physical fighters dish out the real damage.
Paladin (Cav or UH) - I like the idea of being a front-line fighter with some specials. Plus, I'd like to get some mileage out of the holy avenger and probably don't want to keep Keldorn on. Like I said before, it's the physical fighters that shine later game here. The problem, though, is that I remember trying this a couple years ago. This guy plowed through everything like it was butter. I didn't even need the party. While that might be good from a powergamer perspective, I'm really trying to optimize for team synergy. I'd like everyone to be valuable (though perhaps the MC a bit over the others).
Fighter(or Kensai)/Mage - I actually really hate this idea. It's super-munchkin and doesn't really go with the party, imo. I just figured I'd kaibosh right off the bat.
Something else? - If it works with the party I intend, and it gets some real interactivity with the world (unlike a vanilla fighter that just GWWs until everything is dead), I'm open to other suggestions.
<<<+++>>>
Part 2
As I'm leaning towards the Cleric/Wild Mage, I'm looking for tips on spell combos you'd use with this class. I suppose you would play it the same as Aerie, but I've never played with her so I don't know much about the synergies here.
Thanks.
But this time, I'm determined to finish. I'm planning to play canon party. So, Imoen, Minsc, Dynaheir, Khalid, Jah for BG1, and Yoshi->Imoen, Minsc, Jah for BG2 with others for quests and as needed. I had a couple of ideas for charname.
Side note, I'm not playing EE, but the original game (as in, off CD). However, this is the only active forum for BG.
Cleric/Wild Mage - I would SK this obviously. I'm tossed between the gnome for the Con bonus and Half-elf for story reasons (the gnome aging thing). I like gnomes, don't really like elves, and I like that my gnome won't be able to have a (tacky) romance (I'm not keeping Aerie, obviously). Story-wise, I would see it as being a kid that studied the faith of Oghma growing up, but learning a bit of magery from Gorion. I think this is more in line with the little you see of his character. Side note, every 1st level mage spell will be NRD. It's just too much fun to pass up.
Cleric/Wild Mage (dual) - Human obviously. I'm not sure when I would dual, but I won't have to worry about multi-class lag. However, I don't see the level lag as that big of a deal. I'm just kinda throwing this out there.
*My concern with taking the mage classes is the reduncancy I'll have when Imoen comes back. She'll be a single mage, which is more than enough for this game, IMO. I mean, eventually everything is so well protected against magic, the only use for it will be to debuff pretty much, while the physical fighters dish out the real damage.
Paladin (Cav or UH) - I like the idea of being a front-line fighter with some specials. Plus, I'd like to get some mileage out of the holy avenger and probably don't want to keep Keldorn on. Like I said before, it's the physical fighters that shine later game here. The problem, though, is that I remember trying this a couple years ago. This guy plowed through everything like it was butter. I didn't even need the party. While that might be good from a powergamer perspective, I'm really trying to optimize for team synergy. I'd like everyone to be valuable (though perhaps the MC a bit over the others).
Fighter(or Kensai)/Mage - I actually really hate this idea. It's super-munchkin and doesn't really go with the party, imo. I just figured I'd kaibosh right off the bat.
Something else? - If it works with the party I intend, and it gets some real interactivity with the world (unlike a vanilla fighter that just GWWs until everything is dead), I'm open to other suggestions.
<<<+++>>>
Part 2
As I'm leaning towards the Cleric/Wild Mage, I'm looking for tips on spell combos you'd use with this class. I suppose you would play it the same as Aerie, but I've never played with her so I don't know much about the synergies here.
Thanks.
0
Comments
A multi-class C/WM sounds like a decent choice to me. I've completed the game with a Gnome Cleric/Illusionist (who was excellent), but I've never 'keepered a C/M into a C/WM, so I haven't actually tried this combination.
With a C/M (whatever flavour), the unique advantage is being able to mix Cleric spells into sequencers and contingencies. There's a recent thread somewhere on this forum ... ah, here you are: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/44698/best-spell-combos-for-the-mage-and-priest ... which is specifically about that and has extensive discussion and tips, I recommend reading that rather than asking everyone to repeat it here.
The only thing left, I think, is to decide between the gnome and the half-elf. I like gnomes better than anything elven and the Con bonus will be more valuable than the pretty much nothing half-elves get. However, the gnome would technically be about 40-50 at the start of this game, which doesn't sync well with my human adopted father and human sister/best friend.
Truth be told, I had the most fun with the Cav, but he really outshined everyone else.
Any Gnome Mage is hard-coded to be an Illusionist. If you create a Gnome C/M, it'll automatically be created as a Cleric/Illusionist, and I'm not sure whether 'keepering it to Wild Mage will work correctly. Perhaps you might end up with some sort of "Wild Illusionist"?! I haven't tried testing this.
If you go half-Elf, it ought to work normally.
That said, if power's your goal, be a gnome, shorty-saves are awesome, and Gorion is by canon ancient, you can have a fairly young gnome with Imoen showing up later in the scene, or simply ascending to maturity early because of the divine blood within (which would actually explain a lot of the bhaalspawn in the game).
I'm not sure what I'll do with him at high levels, though. I figure any spell that has a save is probably not going to be worth the casting time. Between low saving throws and MR, the only option would be to throw out GM, Doom, LR to have a chance of a spell working.
When I get to this point of the game, this is usually where I get bored of a caster. When you have to cast spells so you can cast the spells you want...
However, there's no save vs. sword in the face. :P