NEW RUN after 5 years
drumcooler
Member Posts: 239
Hi, I haven't played BGEE for 5 years and two days ago I decided to start a new run. I forgot almost everything about the game and, whilst is a good thing for the experience, it's very hard tooptimize the party.
My main character is a sorceress dragon disciple (Chaotic good), and i was thinking to build my party with:
Jaheira
Minsc
Yeslick/Branwen
Dynaheir
Coran
Which gearset and weapons do you think is better for every single PC in the list?
PS Sorry for my bad english
My main character is a sorceress dragon disciple (Chaotic good), and i was thinking to build my party with:
Jaheira
Minsc
Yeslick/Branwen
Dynaheir
Coran
Which gearset and weapons do you think is better for every single PC in the list?
PS Sorry for my bad english
5
Comments
If you're taking Jaheira, then Khalid is a compulsory companion too. Of course there are ways to split the pair (such as deliberately letting Khalid get killed), but (since you're playing a Good protagonist) that's probably not something your character would want to do.
Thus if you don't want to drop anyone else to make room for Khalid, then you'll probably have to drop Jaheira. If you want to keep druidic magic, you could then include Faldorn instead, or otherwise the simplest change would be to have both Yeslick and Branwen instead of choosing between them.
Clarify what you want to do about party composition, and then I'll comment on weapons and armour etc.
So, weapons and armour ...
Jaheira - ignore the people who are likely to pile in here telling you to give Jaheira proficiencies in Scimitars, they're wrong (in BG1, although correct for BG2). Instead, give her a second proficiency point in Slings and then a second point in Quarterstaff. Arm her for melee with a Club, then the Club +1, then the Mighty Oak (Club +2), then eventually with the Staff Mace +2 (which is the reason for Quarterstaff proficiency and is a better one-handed weapon than any Scimitar in BG1ee), and for range give her a Sling, then a Sling +1, then a Sling of Unerring Accuracy +2. Armour her with Splint Mail, then Plate Mail, then Ankheg Plate. When you eventually find the Gauntlets of Ogre Power, give them to her, and up her armour to Full Plate. Wear a heavy Shield, Boots of Speed, a Ring/Amulet/Cloak of Protection +1, a Destroyer of the Hills (Girdle of Bluntness), and other appropriate items as you find them.
Minsc - ignore the people who are likely to pile in here telling you to set up Minsc for dual-wielding, that's (again) better left until BG2. Instead, give him a proficiency point in Two-Handed Style and a second point in Longbow. Arm him for melee with a Two-Handed Sword, then a Two-Handed Sword +1, then the Spiders' Bane (Two-Handed Sword +2), and for range give him a Composite Longbow, then the Composite Longbow +1. Armour him with Plate Mail, then Full Plate. When you find the Gauntlets of Dexterity, give them to him (for now). Wear Boots of Speed (when you eventually find a second pair), Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise (after passing the Gauntlets of Dexterity to Yeslick), a Ring/Amulet/Cloak of Protection +1, a Destroyer of the Hills (Girdle of Bluntness), and other appropriate items as you find them; no Shield is relevant, since he's two-handing for both melee and range.
Branwen - arm her for melee with a Warhammer, then Ashideena (Warhammer +2), and for range with a Sling, then a Sling +1. Armour her with Splint Mail, then Plate Mail. Wear a heavy Shield, suitable rings/amulets/etc. (I assume you'll then swap her for Yeslick before developing her further.)
Yeslick - invest his proficiency points in Maces. Arm him for melee with Ashideena at first, then the Stupefier +1 (when he's got the second proficiency point in Maces), and for range with a Sling, then a Sling +1, then a Sling of Unerring Accuracy +2. Armour him with Plate Mail, then Full Plate. When you eventually find the Big-Fisted Belt, give it to him, swap the Gauntlets of Dexterity to him (from Minsc), also the second Boots of Speed (also from Minsc), then have Jaheira and Yeslick in the front row and drop Minsc back to second row (where he switches situationally between using his Composite Longbow +1 from range and running into melee with Spiders' Bane +2). Wear a heavy Shield, the Ring of Holiness and other suitable rings/amulets/etc.
Coran - arm him for melee with Varscona (Longsword +2) and (situationally swapping) the Burning Earth (Longsword +1/+2/+3/+4), and for range with the Dead Shot (Longbow of Marksmanship +2). Armour him with Ankheg Plate, situationally swapping (for Thief actions) with the Shadowmaster's Armor +3. Wear a heavy Shield, Boots of Stealth, Bracers of Archery, suitable rings/amulets/etc.
Dynaheir - arm her for melee with a Quarterstaff, then a Quarterstaff +1, then the Quarterstaff +2, then Aule's Staff (Quarterstaff +3), and for range with a Sling, then a Sling +!, then the Sling +3. Armour her with a Traveller's Robe, then the Robe of the Good Archmagi. Wear Senses of the Cat (Boots of Missile protection), a Ring of Wizardry and other suitable rings/amulets/etc.
Protagonist - arm her for melee with a Dagger, then a Dagger +1, then the Dagger of Venom +2, and for range with Darts. Armour her with a Traveller's Robe, and add Bracers to the Death (Bracers AC 6) when you find them. Wear Senses of the Cat (Boots of Missile protection), a Ring of Wizardry and other suitable rings/amulets/etc.
Of course there are other ways of allocating equipment, but the setup above is an outline of how I'd probably do it.
Nice set up, @Gallowglass. With charname mages (or when I create my own team), I usually put the first proficiency point in a ranged weapon as they aren't going anywhere near melee, then their level 6 point in staves.
I play unmodded; the only thing that would tempt me to install mods would be to add banters to BG1, and to add Branwen to BG2. I was so disappointed that she was only in the tutorial, particularly with how much more NPC interaction there was in BG2.