Small party for my play style?

feclar

I need your help! I have put way too much of my minimal knowledge and thinking into a solution, but still dont know!

I want a main that will scout ahead and disarm traps.
I would have liked it to be a monk but they can't disarm traps so guess it must be a thief or 2 characters to do disarm.

I play on an Android tablet but bought all games on PC as well so I could hack a savegame and transfer.

Requirements

1. I will want to import BGEE to BG2EE to BG3 so avoiding as many mods or hacks as possible (savegame is ok)
2. Meatshield = At least 1 but prefer 2
3. Nekkid/Cloth = At most 2, I prefer being able to take a hit
4. Healer = At least 1, prefer 2
5. Disarm Traps = Detect & Disarm all traps possible! It's fun to explore
6. Lockpick = I must open all chests/doors possible! Maybe shiny! Is bash an option even in town?
7. Identify = I must know what this shiny is immediately! (Bard w/ Lore?)
8. Group size = I hate people, prefer smallest possible group (2-4)
9. Companions = I hate people, but like helping them. Want to do as many quests then ditch them.
10. Neutral/Good, If I finish thru BG2 before BG3 comes out may re-roll an evil killing party with same requirements.

Group Idea 1

1. Monk - RP value, detect, meatshield(2)
2. Thief/Fighter - longsword+shield, meatshield(1), disarm+lockpick
3. Mage/Cleric - cloth!, spells, healer(1)

• + 3 characters
• - Low tanking/healing
• - Low lockpick/disarm early on (but level faster?)
• - Hack savegame! Create a save game with lots of identify scrolls
• - Hack savegame!! Equip monk with a helm to avoid crits

Group Idea 2

1. Monk - RP value, detect
2. Thief/Fighter- longsword/shield, meatshield(1), max disarm
3. Thief/Cleric - Mace/shield, healer(1), meatshield(2), lockpick
4. Bard - cloth!, lore, bow, spells, pickpocket?

• + No hacks
• - No real mage
• - Tanking+Healing may be hard

Group Idea 3

1. Thief/Fighter/Cleric - Mace+Shield, max disarm, healer(2), meatshield(2)
2. Thief/Fighter- longsword+shield, meatshield(1), max lockpick
3. Mage/Cleric - cloth!, spells, healer(1)
4. Bard - cloth!, lore, bow, spells, pickpocket?

• + No hacks
• - No monk

Group Idea 4

1. Thief/Fighter - longsword+shield, Max Detect, meatshield(1)
2. Thief/Mage - cloth!, bow, spells, lockpick
3. Fighter/Cleric - Mace+shield, meatshield(2), healer(1)
4. Bard - cloth!, lore, bow, spells, pickpocket?

• + No hacks
• - No monk

Which companion?

1. Thief/Fighter - Which companion?
2. Thief/Cleric - Which companion?
3. Thief/Mage - Which companion?
4. Mage/Cleric - Which companion?
5. Bard - Which companion?

Kit? Ranger? Paladin? Swash? Druid? I dont know what to do!
Any ideas how to build a better small group around a monk?

BelgarathMTH

Are you planning to create your own custom characters? You won't have that much control over builds if you use in-game companions. Imoen starts as a thief and can be dual-classed to a mage, but there are a lot of complications to doing that, since she loses her thief skills until her mage levels exceed her former thief levels. Also, she will never be able to progress as a thief again once she has been dual-classed.

Montaron is a fighter-thief. He must be used together with Xzar, who is a necromancer. (Unless you kill one of them or lock one of them in a building before he can talk to you.) Xzar can be dual-classed to a cleric only if you find a wisdom tome, quite late in the game.

Jaheira is a fighter-druid. Khalid is a fighter. There are two bards, Garrick and Eldoth, but Eldoth can't be found until late in the game unless you use a mod.

There is a late game fighter-cleric, Yeslick, and a late game cleric-mage, Quayle. I can't think of any other multi-classed companions. Most of them are single class.

For the first half of the game, your selection is pretty limited. The ones you can get early are: 1) Imoen,thief, 2) Montaron, fighter-thief, 3) Jaheira, fighter-druid, 4)Khalid, fighter, 5)Ajantis, paladin, 6)Viconia, cleric, 7) Branwen, cleric, 8) Minsc, ranger, 9) Dynaheir, invoker mage, 10) Xan, enchanter mage, 11) Edwin, conjurer mage, 12) Garrick, bard.

I may have forgotten one or two, but those are pretty much all the choices until significantly later in the game.

Baldur's Gate 3 is not going to have any connection to the original Baldur's Gate trilogy of Baldur's Gate, Shadows of Amn, and Throne of Bhaal, other than some lore references and possible cameos. It will be a completely different game with a new first level character, so there will be no importing of old characters. It is also not expected out until 2020 at the earliest. No time frame or release date projections have been made, but they've barely started development on it. It is supposedly to be a continuation of the story in a pencil and paper D&D release that isn't even coming out until September. Even mentioning "Baldur's Gate 3" in your thread is inviting it to be derailed with a lot of angry posting about BG3, as the mere announcement of it is already dividing and polarizing the BG community, so I'd advise doing some reading and asking around in the BG3 subforum if you want to find out more about that.

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot the EE companions you can get: 1) Neera, wild mage, 2) Rasaad, monk, 3) Dorn, blackguard

Very_BigSword

Best I think to use NPCs available early and gap-fill with your PC.

My suggestion to get your party filled ASAP with good role coverage:
Set (a)
PC Cleric/Thief (ideal party utility/support for whole saga but not very powerful)
Minsc Ranger tank (needs 1h melee weapon w/shield option)
Dynaheir Wizard <BG2: Nalia or Neera>
Rasaad Monk


Set (b)
PC Cleric/Wizard (this will be enjoyable for the whole saga, becomes very powerful. All wands available, sequencers with divine-arcane combos etc. Cleric spells should be buffs/debuffs/combat casts)
Montaron F/T tank or ranged, traps and locks (It will take a while to max out thief skills, keep locks about 20 points above traps throughout since you don't need high trap skill until late game) <BG2: Nalia or Yoshimo then Imoen>
Jaheira F/D tank, spells are mostly heals/summons in BG1
Rasaad Monk

Xzar and Khalid will need to have an accident. Option - switch out Montaron for Coran later to get good aligned group. You may need to EE keeper Coran's thief skills to favour traps and locks.