Three Member Custom Party

ZeltArruin

I reinstalled and re-modded* yesterday after I got SoD and decided to make my own party for funzies. I'm not planning on using NPCs outside of getting through their quests, but I'm not sure what I'll do when I get to BG2.

The party is:
Half Elf Blade, *Dagger, *Longbow, *Shortsword, *Mace, ***Two Weapon Style
Elf Swashbuckler/Mage, **Scimitar, **Longsword, ***Two Weapon Style
Dwarf Cavalier, **Two-Handed Sword, **Bastard Sword, **Axe, **Two-Handed Style

I gave my Swash the 3 Ranks in TWS for free(just like Blades in RR), and doubled everyone's starting Proficiency points for fun, because I like being able to use a lot of weapons. Paladins and rangers get the IWD spell progression, and all the other tables are unnerfed as well, but those won't effect BG1.

I haven't gotten very far at all, just out of candlekeep, picked up some hidden items, robbed Xzar and Monty as well as Jaheira and Khalid, and picked up Gurkes cloak from the Taslois, but it seems like this could be a fun go. It's fairly balanced in regards to my access to Arcane magic, but I am lacking in Divine, which is a little sad, but healing should be easy enough with Reliar's Mistake, Lay on Hands and my Bhaalspawn CLWs.

The plan is to dual wield Rashad's Talon's on the Swashbuckler, Spiderbane on the Cavalier, and the Blade can wield whatever else. With 2 rings of free action, I won't have much to worry about.

Anyways, just felt like splurging a little. What's your favorite 3 member party, with or without NPCs?

*Mods: 3.5 Thac0, Rogue Rebalancing (not thief kits), Item Revisions, Spell Revisions, Unfinished Business, CD Tweaks

Noobacca

I did a custom run a while back (before SoD came out) and made it to ToB before restartitis kicked in. I four in my party though:

Half-elf dragon disciple
Dwarf dwarven defender
Elf archer
Human assassin

If I'd cut it down to just 3 I'd be tempted to run the same setup but ditch the dragon disciple (I'm not a huge spell caster fan). I think I'd be happy with someone to stack AC and be my "tank", someone to deal ranged damage and the third to be a melee damage dealer. With that in mind I think there would be plenty of good combo's to run with and the only limition being player preference.

ZeltArruin

I've been brainstorming some interesting set ups since posting. I always want a thief because traps/locks and I'm obsessive about getting all the things. I find that Blades fit into a lot of parties because of their eclectic abilities, and can back up a Sorc or Mage really well, especially a multiclasser.

Half Elf Blade
Half Orc Monk
Half Orc Cleric/Thief

Seems horrible early game, but once you start getting levels it picks up a lot. Item Revisions helps monks a lot, and of course mid game BG2 (level 14 monk) everything starts taking off for the whole party.

Aerakar

I like the cleric/thief, truly a versatile thief and combines both utility classes in one character.

Blade is good in BG1 with all of the wands, but I would suggest to combine him with a tankier tank.

A monk with darts is decent though as a kiting machine in BG1 and as you noted quite strong in melee in mid-late BG2. The first levels would be painful as you are without a decent fighter for BG1, but you would level up quick with 3 characters and could use blade/cleric summons as your cannon fodder.

ZeltArruin

The cleric/thief can tank okay with shields and more importantly a helmet, or even the ankheg plate, but the plan would be to get a level or two under everyone's belt before setting off for particularly dangerous combats. It's only 4.5k for the monk to hit level 2, and that's simple to get. 7.5k and 9k for the multiclasses first two levels.