Please advice on the best party composition given the requirements below.

georgelappies

Good day Friends

I am using BG:EE latest Steam version 2.5

The following two mods installed:
1. BG NPC pack.
2. BG beginning mod that moves all non prisoned NPCs to Nashkal.

I played the game with the above mentioned mods using the canonical party (Minsc, Jaheira, Imoen etc). With me playing a paladin. It was fun but too goody two shoes to replay.

Given the above and then taking into account
1. I will have have access to 95% of all join able NPCs within 10 minutes of starting a game.
2. I would like to play right from the start until the end with the new party, therefore no NPC swapping to optimise the opportunity to hear all inter party banter (especially that from the BG1 NPC pack).
3. To not gimp the party (I know from a purist point of view this may be seen as cheating, but due to no other human players being influenced, I would only be cheating myself ?) I will do the following. Any NPC that joins will have their primary stat set to 18 (if above 18 already, I will leave it at the above 18 value. All stats between 15 and 17 will be kept as is (apart from the primary stat which is 18+. All stats below 15 will be made 15.
4. The other requirement is that no NPC from the canonical team be included.
5. The alignment of the NPCs doesn’t matter, in fact if mixing good characters with evil characters lead to a lot of good, funny banter; mixing them will be preferable.

I will play a human archer.

Please give me some suggestions of party setups you recommend from the above given all the extra banter from the BG1 NPC pack and the fact that all NPC will be recruitable within 10 minutes of starting the game.

Thanks in advance

Very_BigSword

I would suggest party of elves - Coran, Kivan, Xan, Baeloth, Viconia. Use Kivan as your tank and Viconia as off-tank but watch out for their lower HP due to lack of Con bonus. I suggest changing Kivan's Halberd proficiency to long sword or scimitar in EEkeeper to better suit the tank role and balance your team.

If you prefer a tankier cleric later on there is always Yeslick, with gauntlets of Dex and High con and buffs he is a great tank. The only dwarf in a party of elves, that should be fun. He can easily frontline by himself with the best AC equipment leaving Kivan as third elf archer role. Too easy.

You will not have access to Xan or Baeloth immediately so you could substitute something like Neera/Edwin and Eldoth/Garrick. Xzar and Montaron are quite funny with NPC project, also Tiax and Quayle are an entertaining pair for the short term.

Lammas

Baeloth is not recruitable within 10 minutes tho. Xan could be but kinda pushing it. Yeslick definitely, definitely is not. Eldoth is not either unless you've a mod to make cloackwood accessible early.

Kagain is the best tank in the game. Pushing his str to 18 with your houserules makes him even better.

You could really pick almost any mage you wish but Edwin is the best mage due to his amulet. Divination ain't too important in BG1 either.

Viconia for cleric. Her STR is a limitation but you can wear ankheg plate and sling until chapter 5 and give her gauntlets of ogre power there. The MR also helps keep her alive and she can resist confusions and then dispel magic on the other party members.

Any thief you wish. I'd suggest Shar-Teel. Get her to lvl 3 and dual class her into a thief. Best backstabber in the game, good flanking power, decebt with a bow crossbow thanks to fighter + thac0 even with one pip.

Last slot is for clearing EE NPC quests. I'd be happy with that evil 5 member party. Best option for you would probably be Dorn as he's another evil member in an already all evil group and a terrific melee damage dealer working besides Kagains tanking.

EDIT: I don't know anything about NPC banter.

UnderstandMouseMagic

I suggest you play your charname as a thief or thief/fighter. That gives you a lot of freedom as to which NPC to use, especially BG2. Then you have a major aspect of gameplay covered rather than having to take somebody because you need the skills.

Goes almost without saying that you should pick up Viconia and Edwin. Both appear BG2 and both are the best character NPC.

TBH, from what you have written, seems like you want more party interaction, more interest and a more ambiguous feel to your party rather than it being primarily about who's got the best stats, (though you cannot beat Edwin as a mage).

Kivan and his backstory in NPC project is very good, plus he's a superb archer. And him and Vic don't get on at all so that leads to some interesting banter.

Are you playing male or female?
There's a couple of romances in NPC project, Coran for female, Branwen or Shar Teel (though as I understand, ST takes some work and would you???).

I find Tiax and Alora amusing and there's some nice interactions Edwin/Alora.

Can't stand Xan, just shoot me now.

And of course Monteron/Xzar, can't beat a crazy plus a murder hobo.

Lammas

Yeah, Edwin seems to have a thing for halfling lasses. I never take Alora but I remember Edwin shot some uncharacteristically nice quotes towards her in original and I think she's trying to get to Mazzy's good side in BG2 too, if I recall correctly.

georgelappies

UnderstandMouseMagic said:

I suggest you play your charname as a thief or thief/fighter. That gives you a lot of freedom as to which NPC to use, especially BG2. Then you have a major aspect of gameplay covered rather than having to take somebody because you need the skills.

Goes almost without saying that you should pick up Viconia and Edwin. Both appear BG2 and both are the best character NPC.

TBH, from what you have written, seems like you want more party interaction, more interest and a more ambiguous feel to your party rather than it being primarily about who's got the best stats, (though you cannot beat Edwin as a mage).

Kivan and his backstory in NPC project is very good, plus he's a superb archer. And him and Vic don't get on at all so that leads to some interesting banter.

Are you playing male or female?
There's a couple of romances in NPC project, Coran for female, Branwen or Shar Teel (though as I understand, ST takes some work and would you???).

I find Tiax and Alora amusing and there's some nice interactions Edwin/Alora.

Can't stand Xan, just shoot me now.

And of course Monteron/Xzar, can't beat a crazy plus a murder hobo.

Excellent reply! Thanks for talking the time to do so; it is most appreciated.

It seems that with this NPC mod the game becomes even more replayable.

You are also correct with me not wanted the most powerful party, I want to play the most fun party ?

georgelappies

Lammas said:

Yeah, Edwin seems to have a thing for halfling lasses. I never take Alora but I remember Edwin shot some uncharacteristically nice quotes towards her in original and I think she's trying to get to Mazzy's good side in BG2 too, if I recall correctly.

Will definitely try that combo as well ?

georgelappies

UnderstandMouseMagic said:

I suggest you play your charname as a thief or thief/fighter. That gives you a lot of freedom as to which NPC to use, especially BG2. Then you have a major aspect of gameplay covered rather than having to take somebody because you need the skills.

Goes almost without saying that you should pick up Viconia and Edwin. Both appear BG2 and both are the best character NPC.

TBH, from what you have written, seems like you want more party interaction, more interest and a more ambiguous feel to your party rather than it being primarily about who's got the best stats, (though you cannot beat Edwin as a mage).

Kivan and his backstory in NPC project is very good, plus he's a superb archer. And him and Vic don't get on at all so that leads to some interesting banter.

Are you playing male or female?
There's a couple of romances in NPC project, Coran for female, Branwen or Shar Teel (though as I understand, ST takes some work and would you???).

I find Tiax and Alora amusing and there's some nice interactions Edwin/Alora.

Can't stand Xan, just shoot me now.

And of course Monteron/Xzar, can't beat a crazy plus a murder hobo.

Thanks for the insightful reply friend.

UnderstandMouseMagic

georgelappies said:

UnderstandMouseMagic said:

I suggest you play your charname as a thief or thief/fighter. That gives you a lot of freedom as to which NPC to use, especially BG2. Then you have a major aspect of gameplay covered rather than having to take somebody because you need the skills.

Goes almost without saying that you should pick up Viconia and Edwin. Both appear BG2 and both are the best character NPC.

TBH, from what you have written, seems like you want more party interaction, more interest and a more ambiguous feel to your party rather than it being primarily about who's got the best stats, (though you cannot beat Edwin as a mage).

Kivan and his backstory in NPC project is very good, plus he's a superb archer. And him and Vic don't get on at all so that leads to some interesting banter.

Are you playing male or female?
There's a couple of romances in NPC project, Coran for female, Branwen or Shar Teel (though as I understand, ST takes some work and would you???).

I find Tiax and Alora amusing and there's some nice interactions Edwin/Alora.

Can't stand Xan, just shoot me now.

And of course Monteron/Xzar, can't beat a crazy plus a murder hobo.

Thanks for the insightful reply friend.

No problem.

You didn't say if you were playing male or female.

If female, there's a couple of good mods for BG2 if you want to romance Edwin or Kivan later on which fits with you saying you wanted to go through the whole game with the same party.