Dragon's Comprehensive Party To-Do List (Advice, Suggestions, Tips, Comments and Additions)
Dragonspear
Member Posts: 1,838
I. Introduction
As I stated in my basic party thread and judging by the responses I've gotten from my evil party thread, I'm going to go ahead and make a comprehensive thread that I can update with what characters I have beaten the game with, what characters I've used and in what combinations as well as other parties I'd like to explore. I fully expect this to be a long introductory post and thread in general, as such I will do my best to update the main post frequently so that everyone doesn't have to dig around trying to find my post. Furthermore, I'll feature useful pieces of advice and tips from other players with their names that I find helpful and I think people might benefit from in their own playthroughs.
Also if people would like I will keep a running blog for each party that I will try to provide links for in the main post in case people decide they find a character that they want to follow the progress of.
II. Personal Characters
These are lists of characters I want to beat the game with, or at least give a significant amount of time to trying. Please note, unless stated most characters will be female (although I haven't actually finished any of the male romances) and some characters may have notes for specific party/npc ideas with them. Any blogs/topics made for these characters will be linked to next to the character itself. For the purposes of everyone's safety, I will be primarily using these forums for links rather than trying to keep up my own independent blog.
A. Fighters
Dwarven Wizard Slayer: Tank; primarily uses Axes and Hammers
Elven Wizard Slayer: Damage; Bow, Longswords, Shield
Elven Kensai: Damage; Longswords, Katanas
Dwarven Berserker: Tank; Axes and Hammers (Allows for a good WS v Berserker comparison)
Half-Orc Berserker: Grunt; Greatsword, Halberd/Spear, Quarterstaff. Orc Smash
B. Rangers
Elven Archer
Elven Stalker
C. Paladins
Human Cavalier: (Only character to have fully beaten both games, would like to run her again with no usage of Shadowkeeper to restrict her to sword and board).
Human Inquisitor: Greatsword, just wanna out Keldorn at his own game
Human Undead Hunter: Dual Wield Mace and Longsword with Daystar and Mace of Disruption just for fun
D. Monk
Human Monk: Class completionist
E. Thief
Elven Assassin: Longsword, Shortbow
Halfling Assassin: Shortsword, Dagger, Crossbow (Saved for first EE run)
Elven Swashbuckler: Longswords etc
F. Bard
Half-Elven Blade: Might Shadowkeeper to Elf for funsies. Considering running this as a "Redemption" Party trying to change Viconia and Sarevok both to CG and bring Imoen in for more family fun.
Human Skald: 2h Weapon funsies
G. Cleric
Human Cleric of Helm: Might be my deep love for paladins but Helm has always ranked as one of the deities I prefer.
Human Cleric of Lathander: Just cause I've run a few in IWD2 and is another diety I don't mind
H. Druid
Half-Elven Avenger: Ain't decided if I should run an evil shadow druid type one for my current evil party playthrough
Half-Elven Shapeshifter: Would really like to try the kit if it gets fixed.
Half-Elven Totemic Druid: Honestly I could see this guy being really fun when paired with Edwin (the only mage I really conjure things with cause I'm usually not a fan).
G. Mages
Human Invoker: I like blasting things
Elven Enchanter: Just to force myself to NOT blast things or use different blasting spells for a run through
H. Sorcerer
Elven Sorcerer: Well I can't blast things with my Elven Enchanter can I?
I. The Multis:
Dwarven Fighter/Cleric: Probably won't run this class until I install a mod allowing me to gain grand mastery with multi classes.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/5447/tale-of-taldrea-dwarven-fightercleric-will-contain-spoilers
Half-Elven Ranger/Cleric: Just to see what all the fuss is about. For additional fun I'm going to try to run it at the same time as the Undead Hunter for comparison.
Elven Fighter/Mage/Thief: I'll prolly solo the game with this character just for fun and to see how it goes. Might keep the party small if I do have one (Imoen+Romance+Sarevok)
Half-Elven Fighter/Mage/Cleric: Like the FMT this will likely be a soloing for fun class.
Gnome Cleric/Illusionist: Honestly I'll prolly make this a half-elf instead, but I figure anything Quayle and Aerie can do I can do better.
Elven Fighter/Mage: Like the Dwarven Fighter/Cleric I'll likely wait for a mod that will allow me to gain grand mastery. Always liked the concept of Spellswords.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/5446/the-tales-of-rilthea-the-elven-fightermage-will-contain-spoilers
J. Blackguard
Human just because I have to be and primarily just to have tried one of every class.
III. Characters I've previously used in parties:
A. BG1
Ajantis
Dynaheir
Minsc
Imoen
B. BG2/ToB
Anomen (Romanced, painfully)
Keldorn
Valygar
Mazzy
Imoen/Nalia
IV. Characters left to include in parties
A. BG1
Khalid
Jaheria
Safana
Coran
Kivan (Used him a lot, never made it past chapter 4 though with him I think)
Yeslick (I think I've run him some in a party before but I don't think I finished that run)
Alora
Xan
Branwen
Skie
Garrick
Quayle
Edwin
Kagain
Eldoth
Montaron
Viconia
Tiaz
Xzar
B. BG2/ToB
Jaheria
Minsc
Jan
Haer'dalis
Edwin
Viconia
Kagain
Aerie
Sarevok
V. Thematic Parties to try
A. Fantastic Four (Fighter, Mage, Cleric, Thief all single classed)
B. Canon (Shame on me)
C. Evil
D. Xzar/Montaron (I hear they're hilarious so I'll give em a go)
E. OMG Elves (BG1 with Xan, Viconia, Kivan, Coran and Neera(?))
F. Lawful Party Members only (Should be interesting)
G. NON-lawful party members only
VI. Tips, Tricks, Advice, Suggestions
Sorry it's so long, I'll try to keep on top of this. Currently still trying to figure out what to do for my evil party (Which I hope will be PC, Edwin, Viconia, Korgan/Kagain, Xzar, Montaron, and Sarevok. Ain't decided on whether I want to include non-evil party members in the party although I've heard a lot of calls for Haer'dalis).
Thank you for reading and for your comments, suggestions, advice, tips, tricks and other random additions
Editted with the addition of the link for my Fighter/Mage. The Fighter/Cleric will likely be coming soon (tm).
As I stated in my basic party thread and judging by the responses I've gotten from my evil party thread, I'm going to go ahead and make a comprehensive thread that I can update with what characters I have beaten the game with, what characters I've used and in what combinations as well as other parties I'd like to explore. I fully expect this to be a long introductory post and thread in general, as such I will do my best to update the main post frequently so that everyone doesn't have to dig around trying to find my post. Furthermore, I'll feature useful pieces of advice and tips from other players with their names that I find helpful and I think people might benefit from in their own playthroughs.
Also if people would like I will keep a running blog for each party that I will try to provide links for in the main post in case people decide they find a character that they want to follow the progress of.
II. Personal Characters
These are lists of characters I want to beat the game with, or at least give a significant amount of time to trying. Please note, unless stated most characters will be female (although I haven't actually finished any of the male romances) and some characters may have notes for specific party/npc ideas with them. Any blogs/topics made for these characters will be linked to next to the character itself. For the purposes of everyone's safety, I will be primarily using these forums for links rather than trying to keep up my own independent blog.
A. Fighters
Dwarven Wizard Slayer: Tank; primarily uses Axes and Hammers
Elven Wizard Slayer: Damage; Bow, Longswords, Shield
Elven Kensai: Damage; Longswords, Katanas
Dwarven Berserker: Tank; Axes and Hammers (Allows for a good WS v Berserker comparison)
Half-Orc Berserker: Grunt; Greatsword, Halberd/Spear, Quarterstaff. Orc Smash
B. Rangers
Elven Archer
Elven Stalker
C. Paladins
Human Cavalier: (Only character to have fully beaten both games, would like to run her again with no usage of Shadowkeeper to restrict her to sword and board).
Human Inquisitor: Greatsword, just wanna out Keldorn at his own game
Human Undead Hunter: Dual Wield Mace and Longsword with Daystar and Mace of Disruption just for fun
D. Monk
Human Monk: Class completionist
E. Thief
Elven Assassin: Longsword, Shortbow
Halfling Assassin: Shortsword, Dagger, Crossbow (Saved for first EE run)
Elven Swashbuckler: Longswords etc
F. Bard
Half-Elven Blade: Might Shadowkeeper to Elf for funsies. Considering running this as a "Redemption" Party trying to change Viconia and Sarevok both to CG and bring Imoen in for more family fun.
Human Skald: 2h Weapon funsies
G. Cleric
Human Cleric of Helm: Might be my deep love for paladins but Helm has always ranked as one of the deities I prefer.
Human Cleric of Lathander: Just cause I've run a few in IWD2 and is another diety I don't mind
H. Druid
Half-Elven Avenger: Ain't decided if I should run an evil shadow druid type one for my current evil party playthrough
Half-Elven Shapeshifter: Would really like to try the kit if it gets fixed.
Half-Elven Totemic Druid: Honestly I could see this guy being really fun when paired with Edwin (the only mage I really conjure things with cause I'm usually not a fan).
G. Mages
Human Invoker: I like blasting things
Elven Enchanter: Just to force myself to NOT blast things or use different blasting spells for a run through
H. Sorcerer
Elven Sorcerer: Well I can't blast things with my Elven Enchanter can I?
I. The Multis:
Dwarven Fighter/Cleric: Probably won't run this class until I install a mod allowing me to gain grand mastery with multi classes.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/5447/tale-of-taldrea-dwarven-fightercleric-will-contain-spoilers
Half-Elven Ranger/Cleric: Just to see what all the fuss is about. For additional fun I'm going to try to run it at the same time as the Undead Hunter for comparison.
Elven Fighter/Mage/Thief: I'll prolly solo the game with this character just for fun and to see how it goes. Might keep the party small if I do have one (Imoen+Romance+Sarevok)
Half-Elven Fighter/Mage/Cleric: Like the FMT this will likely be a soloing for fun class.
Gnome Cleric/Illusionist: Honestly I'll prolly make this a half-elf instead, but I figure anything Quayle and Aerie can do I can do better.
Elven Fighter/Mage: Like the Dwarven Fighter/Cleric I'll likely wait for a mod that will allow me to gain grand mastery. Always liked the concept of Spellswords.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/5446/the-tales-of-rilthea-the-elven-fightermage-will-contain-spoilers
J. Blackguard
Human just because I have to be and primarily just to have tried one of every class.
III. Characters I've previously used in parties:
A. BG1
Ajantis
Dynaheir
Minsc
Imoen
B. BG2/ToB
Anomen (Romanced, painfully)
Keldorn
Valygar
Mazzy
Imoen/Nalia
IV. Characters left to include in parties
A. BG1
Khalid
Jaheria
Safana
Coran
Kivan (Used him a lot, never made it past chapter 4 though with him I think)
Yeslick (I think I've run him some in a party before but I don't think I finished that run)
Alora
Xan
Branwen
Skie
Garrick
Quayle
Edwin
Kagain
Eldoth
Montaron
Viconia
Tiaz
Xzar
B. BG2/ToB
Jaheria
Minsc
Jan
Haer'dalis
Edwin
Viconia
Kagain
Aerie
Sarevok
V. Thematic Parties to try
A. Fantastic Four (Fighter, Mage, Cleric, Thief all single classed)
B. Canon (Shame on me)
C. Evil
D. Xzar/Montaron (I hear they're hilarious so I'll give em a go)
E. OMG Elves (BG1 with Xan, Viconia, Kivan, Coran and Neera(?))
F. Lawful Party Members only (Should be interesting)
G. NON-lawful party members only
VI. Tips, Tricks, Advice, Suggestions
Sorry it's so long, I'll try to keep on top of this. Currently still trying to figure out what to do for my evil party (Which I hope will be PC, Edwin, Viconia, Korgan/Kagain, Xzar, Montaron, and Sarevok. Ain't decided on whether I want to include non-evil party members in the party although I've heard a lot of calls for Haer'dalis).
Thank you for reading and for your comments, suggestions, advice, tips, tricks and other random additions
Editted with the addition of the link for my Fighter/Mage. The Fighter/Cleric will likely be coming soon (tm).
Post edited by Dragonspear on
5
Comments
You absolutely must run one game with the Xzar/Montaron team. I never did back in the day, but recently tried them out. Standing around, managing my inventory, all is quiet when ... Xzar suddenly busts out with a completely bizarre non-sequitur. I just lost it.
Really like your thematic party ideas.
I don't know how you play with Anomen in your party. I heard some good (?) things about him ten years ago, so decided to give him a test run ... and I booted him in less than ten minutes.
I think I may have been an illusionist ... I believe I had Kagain, Yeslick, Alora, Quayle and Tiax. It was fun, until I realised I don't like midgets. Elves, give me elves!
Edit: combo's worth trying:
Garrick + Skie + Eldoth + Shar-Teel
- Garrick defends Skie, Skie swoons over Garrick, Eldoth tells Skie to shut the fuck up, Shar-Teel despises Eldoth and how he treats Skie, Eldoth argues back, Shar-Teel chunks Eldoth
Xzar + Montaron + Jaheira + Khalid
- You may already be aware but these two pairings are from opposing groups, they eventually come to blows late game I believe
Edwin + Minsc + Dynaheir
- Pretty much a star waiting to supernova
I really remember enjoying playing a team of female humans, was great fun:
Shar-Teel as a berserker, Safana as a bard, Faldorn as an avenger, Branwen as a cleric, Skie as a swashbuckler and my PC was a mage. That was a crazy tight party!
The full female party did look fun though.
@Dragonspear no Elven fighter/thief in the mix? As it stands multis are quite powerful, even without grandmastery so I wouldn't worry too much. Cleric/Rangers are well worth the fuss & one of my favorites. Aside from both druid & cleric spells you advance faster as a cleric, so if you were a fighter/druid of the same XP your druid spells would be weaker than druid spells cast by a cleric/ranger of the same level. More iron skins. Elven fighter/mage is also great, regarding Gnome cleric/illusionists I'd stick with Gnome - high saves & extra mage spells.
I would sugest you try Khalid, Yeslick, Coran, Kagain & Quayle (I never have Kagain & Yeslick in the same party since they both need the gauntlets of dex) . I've made good use out of them. I couldn't see Shar-Teel in either list but she makes a fantastic fighter/thief, I've used her like that alot.
BG2
Jaheria - Great in BG2 (now has higher dex & there's alot of str items & good weapons for her - sword & shield is how I've used her)
Minsc - I've never used him in BG2, Pales compared to Sarevok & with all the str items... meh
Jan - Fantastic, lots of Jan haters out there. He's a great thief & an extra mage. Epic abilities such as traps & use any item are very useful with UAI he can use the bard gloves, pulse ammo with any crossbow & use any spell!
Haer'dalis - Also fantastic, I never have him in evil partys since I like him to use the Crom Faeyr in his off-hand (Purifier in his main) & in evil have Korgan use it in his off-hand. I also never have him in the same party as Jan since they'd then be fighting for items. You can counter-act his Con with the girdle of fort. Epic traps, UAI (Montolio's cloak, helmet, the Purifier).
Edwin - Enough said.
Viconia - With the girdle of fort she has 18 Con for 8 hours (long enough) & she can reach 100% magic resistance. Casting Holy power with give her the THAC0 of a fighter & Righteous Magic makes each hit inflict max damage.
Korgan - Tank. Increase his pips in axe, hammer & TWF. Axe of the unyeilding in his main-hand the Crom Faeyr in his off-hand.
Aerie - Great extra caster, I don't use her in a party with Jan, Haer'dalis or Viconia in it though (fighting for items). As a cleric/mage she can use cleric spells in sequencers (contingency Heal, Chain Contingency - Epic Cleric spells etc because of this she makes a great buffer - which is really what you want out of an extra caster).
Sarevok - Great stats, Deathbringer Assault.
High magic resistance, decent DEX, huge CON. Load them up with plate, Shield +1, Girdle of Piercing, and the Boots of Speed or the Boots of Avoidance. They'll never get hit and they'll shrug off most spells cast at them.
For spell choices, I always go for short range offense spells or buff spells (Let someone else handle heals). At early levels, that means Command or Armor of Faith.
Playing with SCS, better AI, and tougher mages installed. Bounty hunters that target your guy with CC (like Nalia) won't have any effect. At the end of the Nashkel minds I was able to repeatedly keep Mulhahey out of the fight by using Command alone while my group took out the adds he summons.
I think I might do a Dwarven Fighter/Cleric with the Canon Party. Although Honestly I can see my Elven Fighter/Mage fitting in with them as well. I think the Fighter/Mage would prolly get along well with Haer'dalis and Aerie.
Lawful Party:
You may ONLY use lawful party members (LG, LN, LE) throughout the ENTIRE series.
BG1 Options:
Ajantis
Dynaheir
Yeslick
Xan
Edwin
Kagain
Rasaad (Likely)
BG2 Options:
Aerie
Keldorn
Anomen
Mazzy
Edwin
Rasaad (likely)
With both parties it looks like you're missing a Thief, so that's going to be the likely filler for me. That said you're also rather low on clerical goodies in BG1. The problem you run into is that Kagain and Yeslick apparently want to chunk each other, and then in order to get Edwin you have to kill Dynaheir (or pick her up first then go meet him but then they end up picking a fight). Oh and the having to kill Minsc thing to keep her around.
And because I'm feeling exceptionally cruel while making this party, (even though my PC for this group would prolly be LN), this means you have to solo Chateau Irenicus and the Circus (if you want to gun for Aerie before picking up Anomen).
Also the second version is the exact opposite. You have to use nothing but non-lawful characters. I'm thinking a mage will prolly be the PC of choice here.
It's a little redundant to be a straight cleric with Viconia, but it's still not a terrible idea having two good clerics in the party. Utilize your PC in the tank role, let her be the heal-bot. She's pretty deadly with a sling anyway, so it's not like she won't be useful. Not like you'd even need her in BG1.
Honestly I'm just not much of a fan of caster based clerics. I don't even know if I'll get to the Lathander one. I prefer being a cleric of Helm or Tempus (IWD2) than a more caster oriented cleric. I just think Lathander could be interesting.
Of course it might also be that I don't particularly like playing evil characters either.
Also interested on your thoughts of the only lawful party. It seems particularly dangerous, especially in BG2.
I know Mazzy gets along super well with all the evil NPCs despite being a "paladin." The dialogues between Korgan and Mazzy is probably my favorite in the game.
As for the Cleric of Talos, I wasn't saying use her as a caster. I'm saying you use her as a tank. Storm Shield grants immunity to fire, cold, electricity and normal missiles. Trigger that and walk into a huge group while your OTHER casters lob big-ass spells. Hamsters and rangers everywhere, rejoice!
Here are the main characters I'm interested in trying:
Ranger/Cleric - currently the most likely choice for my good playthrough. Sounds fun, good fighter and lots of magic.
Blade - I've never done any kind of bard and the versatility sounds fun, plus the great melee skills in the late game.
Elf Fighter/Thief - Probably my most likely pick for my evil playthrough. Elf for the +1 swords and bows, and because I think -1 Con is probably less bad for a F/T than -1 Str (if I picked a halfling).
Gnome Cleric/Illusionist - Tons and tons of spells, especially with 20 wisdom. If I ever get around to doing a solo playthrough it might be one of these.
Elf Archer - Bows are so good in BG1, although this build seems like it would be a lot worse later in BG2. Partly because there are lots of melee weapons with great passive abilities that you can't get when you're using a bow.
Assassin - Backstabbing a lot could be fun.
The longbow in Watcher's Keep is REALLY nice and has some really nice benefits too. For me the biggest problem is just carrying around ammunition.
As far as all the run-through's go, I don't mind. I've been playing these games for over a decade and playing more of them means less money wasted on new games that I won't play anywhere near as much. I try to limit myself to only 3 or so new games a year, including MMOs and Single player games. I think this year I hit 5 and honestly its weird. At least 1 (Kingdom's of Amalur) I played for a total of about a week. That one I truly feel was wasted money.
I like this series a lot but I don't want to spend ALL my time playing it. And even one run through of the whole thing takes me an insane amount of time. I probably play slower than a lot of people since I try to explore everything and I reload a lot... I'm only on my second time right now so maybe I'll be faster once I know where everything is.
First is a little boring, but still potentially fun:
Non-Canon Good
CHARNAME
Kivan
Ajantis
Coran
Yeslick
Alora
Probably wanna make CHARNAME a Mage for this one LOL. Not terribly exciting, but takes advantage of the fact that BG1 had so many Good NPCs that you can make an entire party without canon characters.
Second is one I tried recently that's totally awesome:
Sword Coast Crime Syndicate
CHARNAME
Imoen
Montaron
Xzar
Tiax
Safana
The idea is a group of people coming together to rob the Sword Coast blind, starting off with minor operations down in Beregost and Nashkel, and eventually working their way up to the Gate itself.
I played mine like this:
CHARNAME was a Halfling Thief who focused on Opening Locks (he was our burglar)
Imoen was our trap specialist, putting all her points into Setting and Disarming Traps
Montaron focused on Stealth, and was a scout. He'd stay out on the street and keep watch during a burglary, and would keep the party informed of dangers when in the wilderness
Xzar has no thief abilities, but rounds out the magic wing of our operation. He gives us a little versatility
when we need it (if only he could cast Invisibility...), and some fireworks for when things get ugly
Tiax was our pickpocket and cutpurse, but he also brought some divine power when needed
Safana I didn't actually use (I kept my party with five), but she could be used as a jack-of-all-trades to round out the party. Also, from an RP sense, both her high CHA and personality lend her to being a sort of Femme Fatale who could serve as a distraction for any impressionable men hanging around. Not terribly useful in game, though.
Two other options here:
1. Replace Safana with Kagain, who you bring along as an enforcer. Sooner or later, you're gonna need some serious muscle to soften up victims or even guardsmen, and Kagain fits that nicely.
2. Still have Kagain, but have Safana replace Imoen. I don't believe it's necessary, as IIRC Imoen will stick with you even if your rep plummets, but for this kind of operation, some might prefer Safana's personality.
Then, go out into the world, and terrorize its inhabitants. Divvy people off into their roles and steal as much as you can. You can even RP the story like this. Delve into the Nashkel Mines to try and nick some iron ore (to be sold at exorbitant prices, of course). Rub out a group of bandits who are encroaching on your territory. Etc. It's great fun
(N.B. I did this with NPC Project which placed Tiax at a low level in Beregost. Makes things a bit trickier without that)
Also, if you want to get really tricky, you can dual-class either Branwen or Xzar into thief if you drop the tome of dex on them. Not really worth it for Xzar, but a level 7 cleric Branwen can still get to level 9 in thief. The way multi-class splits XP, Tiax never quite makes it to level 9 for that x4 backstabs.
I really wish Branwen default had 17 dexterity so I could do this with her every time, because damn.
edit: Also noticable missing NPC from your table there. Shar-Teel. She can legal dual-class to thief and fulfills the beef tank roll pretty good. If not her, you can actually comfortably do it with Montaron. He's actually one of the best tanks in the game and you don't even need to give him stat boosters to do it.
I was thinking LN Bounty Hunter or Assassin. BG2's code is weird and lets Assassins be LN. That said I'm trying to think how either one could exactly be lawful. But prolly the BH more. Accepts a contract from anyone (sorry minsc/dynahier) and keeps his word. Also tends towards a very methodical approach, knowing people will want to get him back for some of the Bounty's he's collected. While he has a preference towards traps and ranged combat, he's not afraid to sneak up on someone to kill them if he feels its the smarter thing to do.
Honestly I think LE would be easier for either BH or Assassin to play than LN or LG.