Share Your Custom Parties (Contains Spoilers!)
Over the years I've really enjoyed playing a number of different custom parties, just to add variety.
Don't get me wrong--my preference is still definitely to play with NPCs. I do so probably 98% of the time. But playing out a 'concept' for a game such as BG sometimes requires the creation of characters that aren't available in the game. And I have to say, surprisingly, some of the most memorable and funnest games I've played were indeed with custom made parties.
Inventing a concept for the game calls for creativity. It also helps you employ some of your extensive knowledge of the game. These things can add deeper immersion into the roleplaying aspect of the game. And the emotional investment can actually be greater by virtue of dreaming up the concept and characters, and planning it out, etc.
All of the custom party games I happen to have played were just in BG1, by the way. I never got around to taking those parties into BG2. Not sure why, that's just the way it shook out.
Anyway, now with the Black Pits stand-alone adventure, we will have the option to make parties of our own. And I'm very interested to see what other players come up with in designing custom parties. So please share what you come up with, if you're game.
Plus what the hey. This'll keep us occupied until the game's release Nov. 30th.
Don't get me wrong--my preference is still definitely to play with NPCs. I do so probably 98% of the time. But playing out a 'concept' for a game such as BG sometimes requires the creation of characters that aren't available in the game. And I have to say, surprisingly, some of the most memorable and funnest games I've played were indeed with custom made parties.
Inventing a concept for the game calls for creativity. It also helps you employ some of your extensive knowledge of the game. These things can add deeper immersion into the roleplaying aspect of the game. And the emotional investment can actually be greater by virtue of dreaming up the concept and characters, and planning it out, etc.
All of the custom party games I happen to have played were just in BG1, by the way. I never got around to taking those parties into BG2. Not sure why, that's just the way it shook out.
Anyway, now with the Black Pits stand-alone adventure, we will have the option to make parties of our own. And I'm very interested to see what other players come up with in designing custom parties. So please share what you come up with, if you're game.
Plus what the hey. This'll keep us occupied until the game's release Nov. 30th.
Post edited by Lemernis on
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This was one of the funnest games I ever played.
I was tempted to make all six party members specialist mages. But I feared the complete lack of healing and thief skills would become too tedious. And because there are four robes of the arch-magi in the game, I ultimately decided on four specialist mages instead of six.
Rounding out the party were a cleric and a mage-thief.
human conjurer - TN
elven enchanter - LN
human necromancer - LE
gnome illusionist - LG
elven cleric - NG
half-elven mage-thief - CG
The goal was to rely on magic every bit as much as possible. Magic! not swords! (sorry Minsc)
The specialists all cast their own school's spells first and foremost. So right out of Candlekeep the Conjurer was casting Grease, the Enchanter was casting Sleep, etc. The mages resorted to using a weapon if-and-only-if they were facing immanent death.
I used the same approach for the cleric and the mage-thief. The only exception I made to this rule was to have the mage-thief backstab liberally with a poison dagger. After completing a backstab she'd start spellcasting, though. She'd cast Invisibility on herself after backstabs as needed.
It was hairy in the beginning but that is exactly what made it so much fun. I remember I actually felt scared for them at level 1. I was relieved when they could sideskirt an encounter when most of their spell slots were spent, even though they would only be facing off against gibberlings and such. I marched them down to Nashkel by actually staying off the main road, as it was clear to this high IQ bunch that's where bandits and monsters were hanging out to prey upon vulnerable travelers.
Anyway, by the time they reached Cloakwood this band of wizards was actually very powerful.
So far I've got Axe as a half-orc barbarian specializing in axes and Halbreds, and then Enchantress as a totemic druid with ranks in spears and darts.
I can't decide which other voice sets to extract and turn into workable BG sound files. Honestly that's more important to me than the characters themselves or making a balanced party. Probably going to have a halfling assassin based off Rikimaru because I like the voice work for him.
A lot of characters I'd like to use their voices are just overmodulated. It works for that unit in Dota obviously, but not so much in a less fantastical world such as Forgotten Realms. As badass as Enigma is, it just doesn't work for any humanoid type guy I could create you know?
I had an absolute blast playing the following 'Arthurian knights' style party: four paladins, a cleric (NG), and mage (LG). Arthur was CHARNAME.
Arthur - paladin - large sword, bow
Lancelot - paladin - axe, large sword
Bors - paladin - spiked, spear
Gawain - paladin - blunt, missile (crossbow)
Percival - human - cleric - NG
Other options:
- dual class a human thief to cleric
- roll up a gnome cleric-thief and convert to half-elf via Gatekeeper (or Shadowkeeper if it's a TuTu or BGT game)
Merlin - human - (generalist) mage - LG
This was at the other end of the spectrum from the mage party in that, except for Merlin, they all waded in with melee weapons. They never used missile weapons--ever. The pallies were equipped with large sword, flail, axe, and war hammer, respectively.
I played this game with Dark Side of the Sword Coast mod installed. This paladin party concept turned out to be superb choice for DSotSC because some fantastic armor and weapons are available for paladins and clerics at the temples right from the start.
I tried to roleplay this to the hilt. It was surprisingly fun to play a game everso strictly as Lawful Good. I had never tried that before. In my game I made a half-elf cleric-thief via Shadowkeeper who, for example, only stole from chests when in a hostile, evildoer environment (eg, bandit camp) after the party has defended itself. And, naturally, the party was always as helpful as it possibly could be to others, except perhaps when evil was detected.
I limited the subquests to reputation raising ones and those needed to acquire the various items I wanted this party to have. Once the rep was heroic, and with the loot from the early plotline quests, I could afford to equip the party with all the great stuff at the temples. In fact I had the entire party extremely well appointed with all the paladin armor and weapons and (ditto for the cleric; even got the mage his Cloak of the Good Archmagi) before heading into the Cloakwood mines.
How satisfying an experience a game like this will be depends on one's affinity for Arthurian legend (knights engaged in noble quests, etc.). The right portraits and soundsets can truly make this grand time if something like this is your cup of tea to begin with.
Actually, half-orc can be cleric-thief as well.
It's been so long now I forgot that I had rolled him up as a gnome and used Shadowkeeper to convert him to half-elf. I think I made his sprite human as well. (It was a TuTu game.)
Hmm, yeah, I'll have to adjust that in some way for here...
I'd also argue making Lancelot a regular fighter. I'd say he's Neutral/Chaotic good. Lawful Good knights don't make a cuckold of their own king, you know? Someone doesn't have to be a paladin to be a noble knight.
I hadn't much played either a druid or a bard, so I decided I'd try those both classes together in a Dark Side of the Sword Coast game (DSotSC makes some great items available to those two classes).
I made them a married couple, a la Khalid and Jaheira. In this case a male druid and his wife, a bard. From a RP perspective I regarded them as a team.* I distributed the protagonist's special abilities between them by alternating them in the lead spot for when the dreams came.
I used Cern's soundset from BG2 for the druid and a Scottish accented custom soundset called "Anna" for his bard wife. With the portraits I found for them they both happen to be redheads, and both were wearing dark red, actually. Sounds cutesy, but they actually did look and sound pretty cool together.
To continue in the offbeat mode I went with a Neutral party composition.
druid - human - male - TN
bard - human - female - NG
and in my game, rounding out the party were:
Imoen to start (NG); replaced her with Safana, (CN)
Xan (LN); replaced with Kagain (LE)
Quayle (CN)
Yeslick (LG)
I enjoyed this game a lot. It very satisfying to be doing something different according to this concept.
Since the premise of this game is rather different than the garden variety one, I exchanged Imoen for Safana almost immediately and left Immy at the house I use in Beregost.
The battles early on were nailbiters, even just the fights with hobgoblins in the woods and such. In a game like this the magical item spoils of battle really matter--they're truly boons.
The bard and Safana both used bows (Safana earned a weapon prof on her first level up and I put it into the bow). The druid dual-wielded a scimitar and Flame Blade. Yeslick of course wielded Ashadeena.
I also chose to have Xan to melee with that confounded Moonblade of his. I used a combination of Haste, Chant, Defensive Harmony, Strength, Mirror Image or Army of One, (eventually Tenser's Transformation), and the Claw of Kazgaroth. However I ended up replacing Xan, since having use his Moonblade didn't turn out to be as much fun as I had hoped. I broke with the Neutral-only theme and replaced him with Kagain in order to hear the banters between the two dwarves.
* I was rather into some online PnP at the time, so I wrote up a little backstory for them to deepen the immersion:
Gondorel, the druid, is the protagonist, i.e., foster child of Gorion. As part of Gondorel's extensive education Gorion introduced him to a druid of Sylvanus whose philosophy struck a deep chord with him. Since about the age of twenty Gondorel began been spending many months a year in the wilderness under the tutelage of a very ancient order of Sylvanic druids. From this experience he has become well acquainted with the map areas to the south of Cloakwood. Although Gondorel is friendly with the many various sects of druids of Mielikki who tend toward greater activism in bringing about increased balance between Nature and civilization, as a follower of Sylvanus, Gondorel views the near obsession of some druidic orders to 'protect Nature' from mankind as inherently imbalanced and misguided. Man is simply part of Nature, he has concluded. He adheres to no dogma of any kind. Nature is his sole teacher, and he is guided by Nature alone. Human animalistic impulses are naturally balanced by intellect and reflection. So he is not at all a semi-wild creature of spontaneous impulses as some druids are.
Gondorel met his lovely wife, Elissyra (El' is ' ra) in the wilderness when her performing toupe was rescued from wolves attacking their camp by Gondorel. She is the daughter of a tavern owner in Berdusk who grew up listening to travelers tales and thirsted for the adventuring life from as early as she could remember. Possessing a singing voice of rare beauty she left home at the age of sixteen with a traveling band a troubadors, and became a performer with them for two years prior to meeting Gondorel. She learned the bard's profession from them and had only just begun her training in the magic arts when she met Gondorel and they fell in love at first sight. They were wed within days.
Gondorel and Elisssyra are true soulmates, instantly realizing each provides strength in the weaker areas of the other. Gondorel understands that to live in the wild only would actually be unbalanced for man. They both agree that a life on the road suits them well, and they often take off and roam the wild countryside without a destination or plan for many weeks at a time. As such Gonderel then remains in contact with Nature and Elissyra keeps steady contact with civilization and constantly finds new adventure. Elissyra is immensely fond of Gorion, and Candlekeep is their home base. They stay there when they need to rest up from adventures. They have been married nearly a year when the story begins.
Because of their deep soulmate connection Elissyra shares some of the dreams in the story and Gondorel's 'better half' acquires a few of his Bhaalspawn special powers.
I look forward to seeing what other people come up with, although I hardly expect the whole nine yards like I did here. (Great if they are of course!)
The second playthrough, which has become my own "canon" game, starred the Bhaalspawn paladin Hope (played by me, pictured in my avatar) and Myrthe, the angry, half-elven biological daughter of Gorion (played by my other half.) It was very much a "plays by the rules/never read the rulebook" dynamic with Imoen sliding a balance a little to the latter, and it was so much fun. We're greatly looking forward to reprising it come November, accompanied by our mutual friend Matt who's basically going to be playing Gotrek from WH40K.
Edit: Ah well, looks to be lost to the shifting sands of the internet. I had posted about it on the old PBG boards, but they went poof. After much nerdy discussion and debate had come up with stats for Gandalf, Frodo, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Arwen (cleric). Oh well.
Paladin (Undead Hunter) Uses Mace/Shield through BG 1, probably use Flail of Ages come BG 2
Paladin (Cerebral Knight) Two-Hander, setting up for the Holy Avenger in BG 2
Cleric/Thief (Half-Orc) Quarterstaff, set up as off healer, makes use of Backstabs
Cleric (Priest of Selune 5 (Dual) Mage ) My main spellcaster
Bard (Buccaneer (Half-Elf) Long Sword/Single Weapon, weakish in BG 1, becomes amazing in BG 2 with so many defensive spells and buffs.
Thief (Sniper (Halfling) Main Ranged Guy, also main thief.
Just made the team seems good so far, sitting at ~lvl 5 going into Cloakwood soon....
EDIT:: I'm also RP'ing this as heavy LG group, only one chaotic in group (Priest of Selune is CG only), Bard is TN, and Sniper is NG If Memory serves.
Hafling gets in lots of trouble though, she can't keep her hands off Locked Chests, she always comments on how it's for the greater good :P
That's a fascinating party! What is the halfling thief sniper using for ranged weapon?
I really wanted to have a Priest of Lathander in there but ran out of room
Next group I want to make is a all Rogue/Bard group, no single class that isn't a Rogue or Bard, TDD has so many neat Kits for both, sounds like so much fun.
Also OMFG does the Cleric/Thief hit hard, non-crited someone with a basic Quaterstaf for 21 dmg
Don't forget to use Draw Upon Holy Might, and other buffs. IIRC (?) you can also backstab with Spiritual Hammer.
Can't wait to get some Sanctuary Backstabs in!!!
Also need to start working on my all Thief/Bard group, that one will suck so bad first few levels, but should get so powerful around lvl 6-7 or so....
New group I'm working on
ALL Dwarves
Fighter (Frost Dweller) Uses Axe (Great Axe), Two-Handed Proficiency (Basic Tank)
Barbarian Uses Axes, Two-Weapon Style (Main Tank or Off-Tank)
Rogue (Thug) Uses Light Crossbow early on, switches to Daggers/Duel-Wield late BG 1 through BG 2, Groups Lockpick/Trap Finder/Backstabber
Working on last 3 roles, probably 2 clerics (As group will lack any Arcane caster) and a dedicated ranged character, probably using a Heavy Crossbow.
Also need to find some new Portraits BG 1/2 are so limited, only one total Half-Orc, two dwarf, etc....
Got any links to some good ones? Maybe a IWD 1/2 compile?
If you search "neverwinter vault portrait packs" there's a ton of material at NWN Vault. You'll have to resize portraits and IIRC they are .TGA files (?). If needed, CNET has various freeware available for viewing and editing those files. (Eg, Faststone Image Viewer, PAINT.net.)
A related concept that I've found fun is using the ctrl q cheat to get weak characters throughout the game to join the party and then leveling them up normally. It can be an interesting role-playing experience. For example, I used ctrl q to bring Priss from the Copper Coronet into my party. She only had 7 health when she joined, but by the end of Throne of Bhaal she had leveled up into a level 33 thief. It can make for an interesting gaming experience for those who have become bored with the traditional NPC choices.
Also, if you discard a ctrl q NPC from your party they will normally leave the game permanently after asking if you really want them to go. However, this can be prevented by using the MoveToArea cheat to send the NPC to a different level by themselves and then removing them from the party over there. They will have no party member to talk to there to ask if they should stay. This means that they will be removed from the party, but remain in the game, so you can get them back later if you change your mind. I experimented with many different characters one game and had 20 or so discards all in the Saradush tavern together at one time in this manner. I used the ctrl q cheat on anyone I either thought would be fun to play as an NPC or who canonically died and I wanted to 'rescue' by temporarily having in my party.