Full Playthrough From Lev.1 To ToB
fishhead202
Member Posts: 25
Hi All! I'm a longtime fan of this series, and am planning a full playthrough. My questions are:
1. What party would you suggest? Mostly from a story point. I'm thinking Jaheira, Minsc, Aerie? I'd like as much character plot development as possible.
2. Of those NPCs, I'm planning on modding them from level 1. How would you suggest builds? I'd approaching this as if I were with my D&D group, where the other PCs would be more efficient than the pre-created NPCs. Note: I'll change stats if needed for a class.
3. What PC class/build would best compliment #1 & 2?
I'm hoping for a fun, plot filled, run through the entire series where each character is built to their potential.
I appreciate any and all help and advice in advance.
1. What party would you suggest? Mostly from a story point. I'm thinking Jaheira, Minsc, Aerie? I'd like as much character plot development as possible.
2. Of those NPCs, I'm planning on modding them from level 1. How would you suggest builds? I'd approaching this as if I were with my D&D group, where the other PCs would be more efficient than the pre-created NPCs. Note: I'll change stats if needed for a class.
3. What PC class/build would best compliment #1 & 2?
I'm hoping for a fun, plot filled, run through the entire series where each character is built to their potential.
I appreciate any and all help and advice in advance.
2
Comments
If you're looking for a banter/story-rich experience, I would highly suggest you install the following mods, if you haven't already: BG1NPC Project (for BG1) and Banter Packs, IEP Extended Banters and Unfinished Business (for BG2). With these mods, almost every party configuration is going to seem lively and fun. If you are feeling adventurous, I might even suggest trying out Imoen Romance for BG2. I'm in the middle of playing it for the first time and loving every second of it. It is a great mod and totally undeserving of its poor reputation.
In my current playthrough, I'm running Minsc, Jaheira, Aerie, Keldorn and Imoen and it's been a riot. There's just so much going on between my party members: Keldorn is trying to mentor Minsc, Minsc is trying to protect Aerie, Aerie is making friends with everyone except Jaheira who keeps nagging at everyone. Under Imoen Romance, Imoen gets a lot of banter with the above party members and a special friendship path with Aerie.
Also, Jaheira, Minsc, Keldorn and Imoen (obviously) have special side-plots of their own.
As for your second question, I would suggest against modding NPCs lest it make the game too easy. Even with SCS and Insane difficulty, it is very much possible to complete the whole saga with pre-existing party members. Throughout the games, there are many stat-enhancing items that can be used to make up for their less than stellar ability scores. But this is just my opinion, you go ahead and do as you wish.
I'm going through mods now, and appreciate the recommendations. I've installed tutu, and apparently widescreen needs to be applied prior to that, so looks like I'm going back and starting over
Regarding the overpowering, that's not really my intent. I've found that I really enjoy making my own characters. For example, I love having an archer, but there really isn't an NPC that fits the bill. I really just wanted to have the fun of building some unique builds without losing the NPC interactions.
1. Note that Aerie is not in BG1
2. If you want to make them more powerful while retaining the flavour, you could make Minsc into a berserker, Jaheira into a dual class F->D or multiclass R/C, and possibly Aerie into a dual class C->M
3. You would be missing a thief. Any thief class would probably be best. My personal favourite is FMT.
Yea, the end party will likely be different than the starting party, and that's fine. I actually like having the emotional ties to the folks that don't make it to BG2.