Create a character for a completionist run

Moonheart

I would like to run 'completionist' run on BG2 (Android), i.e, doing the most quests/romances possible with a single main character and during a single game ---without using any cheats/mods of sorts---.

I've set my mind on a male half-elf, since this is the choice giving access to most romances while giving access to 3 stronghold questlines with the character (either by being Fighter/Mage/Cleric or Fighter/Mage/Thief).



Now I come to the part that give me the most trouble: The party.

Among the 5 members I can take with me, 2 are going to be quite unreliable because I'll be switching them often: the currently romanced character, and the character I'm currently recruiting.
I could reduce it to one slot for both quest and romance, but I'm afraid that due to the length of some romances, I won't finish them all by the end of ToB if I don't make quests and romances in the same time.

The 3 other permanent members must be neutral, due to the fact I'll be switching reputation for the sake of recruiting every NPC, which let me... Amoen, Cernd, Hear'dalis and Jan...
Jaheira and Neera can't be among the permanent members because I'll need to set them aside to romance others
Yoshimo can't be among the permanent members because... well spoilers.

This is not precisely a marvelous set of characters I have for choice. Amoen and Hear'dalis are ok... Cerned and Jan are not in my eyes.

The alternative would be make a 3-character party only (Main char, romance, recruit) in order to give the most xp I could to the main char and make him able to take care of most of the problems alone.




So, basicaly, I'm seeking advices for two things:
1- Is it better to be a F/M/T or an F/M/C to do such a completionist run?
2- Is it easier to go for a 3 character party or seek help with Amoen, Cernd, Hear'dalis and Jan?

abacus

If you aren't running mods, then you won't be able to keep more than one stronghold... you can still do the base quest for each, but you can only accept one stronghold.

I'm don't think you can have more than one romance either... although it may be possible if you're willing to mess round with eekeeper variables.

If I were running a completionist run, I'd go Chaotic Neutral FMC, and take along Yoshimo/Imoen (because plot) plus whatever romance I had chosen (I think Jaheira probably offers the most ongoing activity) as permanent members and then rotate the 4th member for their various quests.

I'd also side with Bodhi after Chapter 2, as that lets you take down both guilds! This means avoiding accepting the Thief stronghold (a good idea anyway, as the thief guild is very annoying to run).

Moonheart

abacus said:

If you aren't running mods, then you won't be able to keep more than one stronghold... you can still do the base quest for each, but you can only accept one stronghold.

Well if I can only keep one, I'll only keep one. The goal is to make the most the unmoded game allows in a single game, I'll be fine just doing the quests

abacus said:

I'm don't think you can have more than one romance either... although it may be possible if you're willing to mess round with eekeeper variables.

I've read somewhere that you can romance several characters if you take care to complete your current romance and remove the lover from the party even before recruiting the next romancable characteur.

True or false, it shouldn't interfere with the character creation nor any of the steps I'm planning before sorting this matter in-game:
I'm going to start with Jaheira because she's the first encounter and should not be removed from the party before the end of romance if you want to complete it.
If it happens I can't romance another character, I will not have lost anything important because Jaheira has the longest romance, is a good party member and her neutral alignment makes that she won't interferer with recruitment of good/evil NPC.

abacus said:

If I were running a completionist run, I'd go Chaotic Neutral FMC, and take along Yoshimo/Imoen (because plot) plus whatever romance I had chosen (I think Jaheira probably offers the most ongoing activity) as permanent members and then rotate the 4th member for their various quests.

Is it preferable to a full party with only 2 slots for temporary members in your eyes?
Care to explain why you prefer this option?

abacus said:

I'd also side with Bodhi after Chapter 2, as that lets you take down both guilds! This means avoiding accepting the Thief stronghold (a good idea anyway, as the thief guild is very annoying to run).

Nice tip. I'll consider that.
Is it possible to have the Amulet of Power even if you side with Bodhi ?

GrimLefourbe

I think you can grab it from aran's dead body.

I haven't done an unmodded run in so long that I'm not sure if it's possible in vanilla but I thought you could still destroy the thief guild in chapter 6.

Moonheart

Checked on a walkthrough, yes you can grab it from Aran's body.

abacus

@Moonheart
I don't know whether what I said above would be "preferable", it's just how I'd go about it.

Remember that Jaheira's romance takes a *long* time to complete... so if you plan on booting her after, then you can expect to spend a lot of time spam-resting.

Moonheart

It's possible yes, but I don't really mind. Could be a bit borish, but completionist runs often needs some little efforts.

Arunsun

Not that I want to discourage you, but in all my playthroughs no matter how completionist (questwise) I hardly ever finish one romance. If you want to do all romances or even a couple of them you will have to be VERY slow in doing the quests. Well, I'm rather fast now due to the number of playthrough I have made, but even taking that into account I can't see how you can do all the romances without waiting still for half an hour between dialogue talks.

Moonheart

That's not an issure for me.
I play to BG2 on my Android Tablet, so I can let it open on my desk while doing anything else besides gaming, waiting for the dialogues to pop-up, it's not an hindrance at all to me.