help me flesh out my party
First of all a little bit of my gaming background and plans. I suck at video games. I'm not a total noob, I played BG and ID back when they first came out, but I recently picked up the enhanced and am going to give it another go. I'm not a hardcore gamer looking to powergame or make several run throughs. I'm gonna play on one of the easier modes and still expect plenty of challenge. I want a good variety in my party but I still want it to be decent/viable.
I think I'm going to go with a half-orc berserker as my group leader, all muscle. 19 str 18 dex 19 con, low int and wis, maybe high charisma if I can swing that too.
After that, I LOVE assassins so I'd like to do an assassin. But I'm also aware that I might be better off doing a thief/fighter that's more focused on range. Like I said I'm just bad at games and at the strategies, and I seem to have a hard time setting up backstabs and such. So I'm a bit torn there, but I feel I probably only need one rogue and will go one of these two routes.
I also think I want a bard, mainly for the high lore because I finding wasting spell slots on identify to be a hassle. Not sure what else a bard is good for, but at least it adds a bit of character.
I really like the archer kit. And I also tend to like a simplified fighting strategy of a couple front line fighters for melee while the others sit back and do ranged attacks, so I was kinda thinking archer EVEN if I go with the thief fighter above.
Mages I have the hardest time with. I did a quick playtest last night and had drawn up a mage/fighter, but then couldn't cast spells while I was wearing armor. But I know I've always felt like mages are sort of a waste at least early on, casting one sleep spell every few fights and not doing much else. I was trying to find a way to make them more useful. And since I figured I'm only planning one playthrough I might not get to the high levels anyway. Just not sure how to use a mage in my party.
Cleric wise, I'm thinking I'll get by with a cleric/fighter. Never been a huge fan of clerics anyway and one who could double as a front line fighter but still do a few healing/buff spells seemed more useful.
So it's:
Half Orc berserker
bard
archer
assassin or thief/fighter focused on range attacks (maybe only after an initial backstab)
cleric/fighter
mage or mage combo with something else?
perhaps another cleric combo in there? Or a straight cleric?
I also really like dual-wielders, maybe my rogue would be good for dual wielding? Cleric/fighter I'm thinking sword and shield style, orc I was thinking either two handed weapon or maybe he'd be good for dual wielding too?
Open to thoughts/suggestions here. I also want to mix up my weapon profs, and specialize first and foremost ahead of adding more weapon profs. IE I'd rather get as many points specialized in a specific weapon than to have profs in several weapons, figuring anything beyond the first weapon won't get much use.
Also, for dual wield is it worth doing any of the more extravagant swords like scimitar, wakizashi or whatever? Should I stick to long sword/short sword/dagger? Is it worth doing a two handed sword? Are there any magic two handers? If not I'll probably skip it. I figure I'll go mace with my cleric and if I have 2 cleric types I'd pick flail for the other one. As for ranged I'd like to mix it up, maybe longbow for the archer, crossbow for the thief or assassin, and shortbows or slings for the others?
I think I'm going to go with a half-orc berserker as my group leader, all muscle. 19 str 18 dex 19 con, low int and wis, maybe high charisma if I can swing that too.
After that, I LOVE assassins so I'd like to do an assassin. But I'm also aware that I might be better off doing a thief/fighter that's more focused on range. Like I said I'm just bad at games and at the strategies, and I seem to have a hard time setting up backstabs and such. So I'm a bit torn there, but I feel I probably only need one rogue and will go one of these two routes.
I also think I want a bard, mainly for the high lore because I finding wasting spell slots on identify to be a hassle. Not sure what else a bard is good for, but at least it adds a bit of character.
I really like the archer kit. And I also tend to like a simplified fighting strategy of a couple front line fighters for melee while the others sit back and do ranged attacks, so I was kinda thinking archer EVEN if I go with the thief fighter above.
Mages I have the hardest time with. I did a quick playtest last night and had drawn up a mage/fighter, but then couldn't cast spells while I was wearing armor. But I know I've always felt like mages are sort of a waste at least early on, casting one sleep spell every few fights and not doing much else. I was trying to find a way to make them more useful. And since I figured I'm only planning one playthrough I might not get to the high levels anyway. Just not sure how to use a mage in my party.
Cleric wise, I'm thinking I'll get by with a cleric/fighter. Never been a huge fan of clerics anyway and one who could double as a front line fighter but still do a few healing/buff spells seemed more useful.
So it's:
Half Orc berserker
bard
archer
assassin or thief/fighter focused on range attacks (maybe only after an initial backstab)
cleric/fighter
mage or mage combo with something else?
perhaps another cleric combo in there? Or a straight cleric?
I also really like dual-wielders, maybe my rogue would be good for dual wielding? Cleric/fighter I'm thinking sword and shield style, orc I was thinking either two handed weapon or maybe he'd be good for dual wielding too?
Open to thoughts/suggestions here. I also want to mix up my weapon profs, and specialize first and foremost ahead of adding more weapon profs. IE I'd rather get as many points specialized in a specific weapon than to have profs in several weapons, figuring anything beyond the first weapon won't get much use.
Also, for dual wield is it worth doing any of the more extravagant swords like scimitar, wakizashi or whatever? Should I stick to long sword/short sword/dagger? Is it worth doing a two handed sword? Are there any magic two handers? If not I'll probably skip it. I figure I'll go mace with my cleric and if I have 2 cleric types I'd pick flail for the other one. As for ranged I'd like to mix it up, maybe longbow for the archer, crossbow for the thief or assassin, and shortbows or slings for the others?
1
Comments
- This should be the dual wielder
bard
- Good choice. He just need to sing all the time and you'll have an easier time for the whole game
archer
- Ok
assassin or thief/fighter focused on range attacks (maybe only after an initial backstab)
- Maybe Thief/fighter it's easier.
cleric/fighter
- This one should be your tank.
mage or mage combo with something else?
- A fighter/mage it's easier. Just use him for crowd control spells (slow or chaos), long lasting buffing spells (emotion: hope and emotion: courage) and summoning spells (animate dead, conjure elemental). Buff him with stoneskin and mirror image and he'll be a powerful melee fighter too.
Don't focus on extravagant weapons.
Best melee weapon choice are:
long sword
axe
flail/morning star
As a hybrid, F/I gnome is still great.
Berserker should go for axes. 2H axes if she/he has a high Dex as well.
For bard, I'd suggest using her as a bowyer, but give her 12 Str (for the use of longbows).
I'd ditch the archer (overrated). Instead go for a cleric/ranger as dual-wielder and use a gnome fighter/illusionist as sling thrower.
This combo should free a third melee character. Go for either a pally, or a fighter/druid. You could even go for a monk if you like.
I'll take the advice above and consider dualing my assassin into a mage at some point. I got to thinking maybe I don't need a mage if I've got a bard. If I don't go with a mage that frees up one spot, and I kind of think it will need to be someone who can handle melee since I've already got an archer, bard, and assassin all of whom will need to try to stay out of hand to hand.
I kinda like a druid, but I feel like most of the time shapeshifter stuff sounds cool but is lame in game. haha.
Another option is Dwarven Defender, which could instead be my tank and free up the cleric fighter to move a bit when they need to be the healer...can't very well be tank and healer at the same time, you'll never get the healing spells off!
* Picking a Ranger for dual-wielding gives the advantage that they start directly with 2 slots in Two-Weapon Style. This is useful if you want to have different weapons in each hand. I've played recently an Elf Ranger character with STR 18/97 and DEX 19, he was quite good at mellee.
* Played a few times a Ranger/Cleric character - it is a good combination for fights, and spells like DUHM give some good advantages. If you wonder whether to have a cleric in the party, this is a good option. The only drawback is that only hammers, maces, flails, and clubs can be used.
* A single-class Fighter has the benefit that you can go up to 5 slots in weapon specialization. If you want to use the same weapons in both hands (like long swords) this is the best option.
As for having an assassin in the party, a half-orc fighter/thief with 19 strength would probably be the strongest possible choice. You'd want him to dual-wield longswords, most likely, though you could also consider bastard swords if you wanted to take advantage of the one that's available fairly early on in Beregost.
When it comes to a mage or mage combo, a solid choice is a human fighter who duals to mage at 5th level. Alternatively you could do a gnome fighter/illusionist, a gnome thief/illusionist (who can cast invisibility and then backstab without needing to put any points in hide shadows or move silently), or a sorcerer (which are nice if you're thrifty because you won't have to spend any gold on scrolls).
Finding good weapons for the RC early is a bit of a challenge. You can get a random blunt weapon (a hammer or a morningstar) from the Yeti Chieftain in Vale of Shadows, but before that, you can't.
Still Ranger/Cleric is a solid choice for a mid-game party and later on with some nice blunt weapons it can rule the battlefield.
And btw, dual-classing a fighter to a mage should never be made below level 13. At level 9 a fighter is at the upper end of its hitpoint gains for level, also gets the final grandmastery point and at level 13 it gets an extra 1/2 attack.
And if you truly want to experience IWD for what it has to offer, you will completely avoid using a sorceror. The game was not designed not balanced with the idea that you get early access to some spells.
EDIT: Oh, it looks like Jsaving edited his post to remove all BG1 references. Well, he gave good advice for BG1 EE, but editing after being pointed out that he made a mistake, just nets him the status of a person with a very big ego.