Well Rounded Party comps

TehCerealKiller

I usually roll a fighter but I'm thinking of going mage thief or cleric perhaps even a multiclass. (I'm assuming we'll have BG2 spells) when BG:EE comes out. So with that in mind what's a good party comp If I play any of the four aforementioned classes? Also I'll probably be somewhere in the evil alignments in my play through if that makes any difference for recommendations.

Pantalion

Redundancy: Have at least two mages, one cleric, one thief and one primary Fighter in your NPCs (covering two roles with one NPC might be nice, hence why Cleric/Mage, Mage/Thief etc are neat), this gives you the freedom to be anything without leaving a gaping hole in your lineup.

CaptRory

So long as you cover the four basic roles (Fighter, Mage, Thief, Cleric) you can take whomever you want. You'll need to adjust your tactics but the game is, on the whole, fairly forgiving.

Quartz

CaptRory said:

So long as you cover the four basic roles (Fighter, Mage, Thief, Cleric) you can take whomever you want. You'll need to adjust your tactics but the game is, on the whole, fairly forgiving.

This.

You have the basic four ... then what are you lacking? Do you need more healing? Pick up a second divine spell caster. Do you need more magic firepower? Say, perhaps, have one mage use blast spells and one mage use buff spells? Get two mages. Do you need more fighting power, perhaps a dedicated melee and a dedicated ranged? Get two warriors.

And then, at the very end ... is it a pretty rounded group with 5 characters but you still find yourself wanting a sixth? Pick up a Bard.

TehCerealKiller

who is the best thief for lockpicking and trap detecting?

Quartz

TehCerealKiller said:

who is the best thief for lockpicking and trap detecting?

Probably Imoen. When you first get her all her stats are dumped into Find Traps, so you can continue to develop that and Lockpicking from very early on.

Oxford_Guy

Although Imoen is good, I've never had her leave an evil party, although she does complain about the party being "good for nothin' riff-raff". Safana is also a good thief, though can't dual to mage without a tome, and her weapon proficiencies aren't as useful if you pick her up late. I often use her to cover for Imoen if I've dualed her to a mage and she's recovering her levels, though.

I always try to take Viconia, even in non-evil parties, as much prefer her to the alternative clerics and druids. Also, unless playing an Assassin or fighter/thief myself, I like to take Montaron for scouting and backstabbing duties.

Lemernis

Evil? Hmm. Personally I like cleric-mage (multi), as that combo gives you such a wealth of spells to choose from. You'll want Dorn, obviously. Complete the party with Montaron (he despises Xzar), Viconia, Edwin, and Shar-Teel. So that's

multiclass cleric-mage
Montaron
Viconia
Edwin
Dorn
Shar-Teel

Renulan

Mage
Mage
Mage
....
Fi-.... no, Mage.
Mage
Mage

or....

Mage.

Quartz

@Oxford_Guy Safana is great, + she's sexy so yeah huge bonus to the party there ... lolz

Jaxsbudgie

Evil parties in BG1 are my favourite, they have so much more manoeuvrability than BG2 where you're faced with the conundrum of recruiting from a wealth of evil NPCs such as Edwin, Viconia or Korgan, tricky!

An evil Bard could be fun, if you're not planning on taking your PC into BG:EE (which won't be available for another year+) then perhaps a Jester could be fun, combine that with greater malison (which will now be available) and almost every large scale battle is your bitch. Skalds and Blades have a bit more longevity to them past BG1, plus the only other evil Bard is Eldoth and as much as I love him (and Skie) they don't fit into any real 'conventional' party and require a lot of forward planning. Plus it isn't difficult to roll a better Bard than Eldoth! ALSO Skald song and Blackguard aura have crazy synergy!

PC - Bard - backup archer, backup arcane support, backup general support, pockpockets, lore
Viconia - Cleric - slinger / potential tank, primary divine spellcaster
Dorn - Blackguard - primary damage dealer, crowd controller with aura
Edwin - Conjurer - primary arcane spellcaster

either:

Xzar - Necromancer - second primary arcane spellcaster
Montaron - Fighter / Thief - archer, primary Thief, secondary damage dealer, backstabber

or:

Shar-Teel - Fighter>Thief - primary Thief, secondary damage dealer, archer, backstabber
Tiax - Cleric / Thief - secondary Thief, backup divine support