Protagonist help for good-aligned party (BG saga)

Jewnior

Hello all,

I've lurked about these threads for a while and love all the advice people are getting, so I figured I'd seek the same help.

I cannot make up my mind on a protagonist to play and have restarted multiple times. Some criteria I'd like to work towards:

1. I would definitely like a character I can play through the whole saga.
2. Are Jaheira and Minsc musts because of the amount of involvement/interactions they have in the game?
3. I do like Neera as the "good" Edwin, a dedicated mage.
4. I would like a capable thief for all the thieving things (this could be protagonist or NPC)
5. Aerie appeals to me as a Cleric/Mage.
6. Trying to keep "core" party of 5 so the 6th person can be flexible for their quests and whatnot.
7. Prefer to have a tank, healer, thief, mage, and bowman (OK if a character covers multiple, like Aerie)
8. If Minsc is in party, I'll be EEKeepering him to Archer
9. Not a fan of Imoen as Thief > Mage, and really just in general for BG2.

I think at a minimum, Neera and Aerie will be in my BG2 party as my spellcasters. I am obviously open to suggestions for what seems realistic and what I just need to get over my bad self with.

Cheers,
Jewnior

booinyoureyes

Minsc is very much wasted as an archer imho, but I guess its up to you. It just doesn't match his personality.

I'd do Valygar as an archer in a good party instead.

Jaheira is a great tank, with Iron Skins and her high AC.

Jan Jansen can cover your thief and bowman skills if you need it, otherwise you can make your Bhaalspawn into a thief and a bowman if you'd like.

So you can do:
Bhaalspawn: Fighter/Thief for Thief/Bowman skills
Jaheira: Tank/Healer
Minsc: Combat damage dealer/ backup tank
Aerie: Healer/spellcaster
Neera: Spellcaster
Rotation Spot/Valygar/Mazzy/Rasaad (Maybe you can add the Throne of Bhaal NPC in a permanent role)

UnderstandMouseMagic

I'd recommend "Swashbuckler" for charname.

It's a lovely class to play. You get to do all the thief stuff and the added AC is a bonus. And with the right weapons/gear an effective fighter/archer.
Not as frustrating as a multi for leveling up either.

Gallenger

Depending on what you want to play.

If you don't like thief at all, it's entirely possible to start as a human, pick up 3-4 levels of thief, and then dual class into fighter or cleric. Since you like archery, it would be entirely possible to go thief, then dual to fighter and focus on bows from there, all the while having 100 (or near 100) trap/lock on your character with a minimal cost in xp. Then if you don't use the other thief skills or don't like to have them, you've got your archer and your basic thief skills covered by CHARNAME and can just pick up whatever NPCs you like best without worrying about thieves. The xp cost long-term is minimal as thieves level up rather quickly.

If you've not done a "canon run" with the canonical gang I'd highly recommend it at least once.

marc5477

Definitely recommend the dual class route. I personally dont like thief but I do like the convenience of finding traps and detecting illusions. Otherwise its not so good. So you can do thief (pick your favorite kit), get the skills you want, then switch. And note you do not need 100 in each skill since there are items that boost skills (potions in BG1 and items in later games). I think you can easily get away with 80 in the thief skills you want and you can get them there in just a few levels. I also dont recommend set traps since they get weak later in the game (though for the record I have not tried the bounty hunter kit), nor stealth since your multiplier wont be great anyway with just a few levels. The only caveat is if you do shadowdancer kit for HiPS which is the best defensive skill in the DnD world.... Really I recommend just find traps and detect illusions. If you really want convenience, then get open locks but its not a must.

Then switch to the class you actually want to play. Both mage and fighter are great with the mage bringing a little more utility. Also mages shine when directly controlled by the player whereas fighters dont need any control. You can pretty much let the AI handle them and it will be fine and even more so for archers.

Btw, Imoen makes for a fine mage. Statistically she is better than Neera with same int, higher dex, better con and if you dual her at level 5, she will reach the same level as well (mage level 9). Not sure why you dont like her. You really dont need a specialist in this game and Neera wild surge is really annoying and happens fairly often. If you keep Imoen and dual, you will have all the thieving skills covered between her and charname and never need a dedicated thief.

I would do the following:

charname - 6 Swashbuckler w/max dex (20k exp) / 9 Mage (or fighter)
Imoen - 6 Thief (20k exp) / 9 Mage

That gives you 25x5 + 40 skill = 165 skill points per character.

Find Traps starts at 10.
Open Locks starts at 25.
Detect Illusion starts at 0.

On on charname, I would do 75 into open locks and 90 into find traps. No need for potions or to swap gear.
On Imoen I would do 100 to detect illusion and dump the rest into whatever.

Both of these characters will hit level 9 mage in BG1 which is optimal for BG1. If you want long term, then set thief to 7 on both to get 25 more skill points to top off skills, then switch to mage but they will only hit level 8 in BG1. Not a big deal in later games and honestly, you dont need level 9 very badly in BG1.

At this point all you need is protection and healing. Jaheira fits this healing bill well. Minsc is a iffy tank. The real issue however is Minsc is supposed to be partner with Dynaheir and Jaheira is supposed to pair with Khalid. There is probably ways to separate them but that is likely not intended.

Jaheira/Khalid - Healer + ok tank. Best if you go thief/mage.
Minsc/Dynaheir - Good mage kit + iffy tank. Best if you go thief/fighter and do the tanking.

Other considerations for good party.

Ajantis - With dex gloves, much better tank then either Minsc or Khalid thanks to paladin goodies.
Yeslick - With dex gloves, probably the best good NPC tank in the game thanks to having cleric spells.

Even more consideration if you use helm of alignment change (from the boss in tower)

Kagain - This is basically what I did to him. Awesome tank with 20 con (regen)! Give him dex gloves.
Dorn - Basically evil Minsc with much improved stats.