Your party setup for a full game run through
Kogo
Member Posts: 33
Since this is one of the best series of games I played I think it deserves a full run through from BG1 and then BG2. Perhaps even bg3 and the in between one.
So my question to you is: How would you like to play your party and with what characters? I'm hoping to get some inspiration for something fun and fulfilling to try not just op party but all suggestions are welcome.
Also I wanna add im aiming to do this with characters already in the game.
So my question to you is: How would you like to play your party and with what characters? I'm hoping to get some inspiration for something fun and fulfilling to try not just op party but all suggestions are welcome.
Also I wanna add im aiming to do this with characters already in the game.
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Comments
Lots of fun ideas. Thanks! I want a variety of classes I think but want my charname to be fun and evolving all the way through. I do remember not being to happy about rogue characters in the game and I never really managed to pull off stealth fighting well. That in mind I really like being in the front though and using spells. Last time I played I did a ranger/cleric. It was ok I guess.
Cleric/thief sounds hilarious ?
There are sooo many party combinations, it is hard to list them.
I agree that themed parties can be fun. The above examples are good ones.
Other examples:
- an all-ranged party (so OP in fact that I switched to LoB mode),
- a no-spellcaster party (no prebuffing, fights are faster and more straightforward, Inquisitor is recommended to take care of mages debugging),
- a late-dual party : I made 4 custom characters, covering each of the basic classes and all dualed at the same time around 1.5 million XP. Ended up with a Cleric->Fighter a Thief->Mage, a Mage->Cleric and a Fighter->Thief. Not sure if it wasn't the other way around though. I liked it because it kept the whole party progressing and getting new spells & abilities even in ToB (which is generally boring to me in this regard, your characters just pick OP HLA's and OP-er items, but gameplay is redundant)
Edit : sorry, I missed the end of your post about recruiting existing NPCs
What's the fighter/thief doing for you?
- PC was an illu(13) dualed to thief, ended up quite effective in melee (6 APR and negative thac0 with right gear and buffs)
- next was a Berserker (13) -> Cleric. straightforward powerful.
- swashbuckler (15) -> fighter. Great damage dealer, great scout.
- then the nuker : Priest of Talos (14) -> Mage. Used the contingencies and sequencers to great effect.
you must remember that this was not a powergamey party, but a themed party.
Since I dualled quite late, you must think of this party this way:
- BG1 till 1,3 Million XP, I had an Illusionist, a Berserker, a Swashbuckler and a Priest of Talos
- From 1,3 till around 3 Mill XP, I had a (squishy) Thief, a (high HP) Cleric, a (swift and agile) Fighter and a (very wise) Mage, same roles, but not the same guys, so they (and I) had do adapt
- then at the very end of BG2 and in ToB, i had a M/T, a F/C, a F/T and a C/M with all the synergy and fun it brings
In my previous (erroneous) example, the main use of the Fighter->Thief is to have a scout to disarm traps & locks while your Thief->Mage has not regained his thieving abilities (which is a long portion of BG2)
That is an interesting setup. Thanks for sharing. Do you see no value in having a single-class rogue? Would you always dual-class them?
With 3-4 characters, you trully get to know each one of them while still having the luxury of trying different tactical combos etc.
As others said, you can play around with various setups, such as no tank, only ranged weapons, only spellcasters etc.
My current group is a Shadowdancer + Edwin + Viconia on Legacy of Bhall difficulty. It's been quite fun so far. Especially on this difficulty since so far anything that managed to come close to me meant almost certain death, and the early 3-4 solo levels I felt about as powerful as a rat.
Avoide any cheese and try minimum reload. Basically, whatever you need to make the game an actual challenge for you.
- My main, which is usually a spell caster of some sort, but my new favourite is elven FMT, immunity to dire charm ftw, and he is a monster with longbows, while still being able to stop crap from happening with a web or a blindness, or good ole sleep. He’s my main damage dealer . (Occasionally he’s a berserker that’s getting dualed at 7, but I find it makes the first game trivial and the road to lvl 8 mage annoying) I’ve enjoyed sorcerers, illusionists, conjurers and invokers, but elven multi class seems stronger and more fun. Gnome fighter illusionist is crazy strong too.
- Branwen , main tank with bassilus hammer, shield, ankhrg plate, cleric ring, helmet of (elemental) defence, supplied with strength by the wizard above. Ring of free action, belt of bluntness and boots of avoidance complete the early ish game setup. She preps doom, command, resist fire n cold and holy smite.
This is my main core group.
I then add range support if the first character can’t use bows (I use Khalid or Minsc early on, I hate kivan’s timer, or dorn if I feel like it - he can off tank with a full plate n two handed when needed) or a second mage (Neera or Dynaheir, I enjoy Neera more, but Dyna is stronger (sort of) and goes well with Minsc.
Lastly if I need a thief, I look to Shar-teel, dual her into a thief as soon as she’s lvl 2, and specialize her in throwing daggers fir consistent high range damage, or bows for the neat arrows, or xbows for the really strong bolts shot through the xbow of speed. Sometimes I just take Safana until Coran, and Imoen until Safana.
So in summary, my go to parties:
- sorcerer (shield, blindness) or specislist mage Or fighter/mage, Imoen (replace with Coran), Khalid (bows) Jaheira (tank) (replace with branwen)
- berserker, Imoen (replace w Coran), Khalid (replace w Dynaheir), Jaheira (spec’d for thrown daggers) (replace w dwarf cleric fighter guy)
- FMT, Branwen, Neera or Dynaheir , Dorn (Or Minsc Or Khalid Or Coran, all pretty decent archers)
Currently running FMT Neera Branwen and Dorn. I am about to lose Dorn though due to reputation, lol. Sadly I forgot to talk to Khalid before Nashkel mines so I guess I need to go replace him with Minsc. Or lose a bit of reputation. I wanted to finish his quest first. (@bandit camp)
Nice suggestions here. I wanted to play a character with long bows for a while and also as a thief since I don't like the thiefs much, at least in bg2. FMT sounded too spread out for me but appearently it's valid! So what level progression would you end up with? Say in bg1.
I’m currently 4/4/5 at the Bandit camp, should probably reach 6/6/7 at cap I’m guessing. I load him with strategic spells, not the type of crap you cast each fight, I leave Neera with those while setting her advanced AI script to use offensive spells so she spams magic missiles. My main will load shield n blindness, web and glitter dust, and eventually slow and spirit armour.
I started candlekeep with all my points into open locks. If you have 18 cha you can charm the nobles to hide their phat loot in the room upstairs and use your unlock to steal it all. If you don’t, you’ll need friends spell, which is annoying because you really want shield. Shield and blindness wins most tough fights specially after a doom. I then put all my points into pickpockets and then all my points into disarm traps. Currently 65/70/80 in OL/FT/PP, which opens up the very fun pick pocket skill. Got Algernon’s cloak that way, which is great in case PP fails.
Keep in mind that in BG2 you’ll become a murder machine with mislead dual wielding. Add the critical HLA and the ability to set time stop traps in ToB and your only downside, lack of lvl 9 spells, becomes moot. Heck as soon as you get spirit armour you can melee quite effectively in BG1 as well, if you don’t mind sacrificing a lvl 2 slot to blur or mirror image.
Even with Dorn in my party I have about 40% of all kills, 5/2 attacks at 9 THACO, 8-13 dmg per shot. (Dorn is 3/2 attacks at 10 THAC0 12-21 dmg) , and I can improve that with magic arrows. F.ex arrows of fire +2 add 1d6+2, and lower THAC0 by 2. I used magic arrows when Neera summoned a demon, lol.
You sure know your numbers
Because of this you can use the friends spell and yet have enough open lock to unlock the toughest chest in candlekeep, gaining about 1500 gold, which helps to purchase that +1 longbow
But what are your stats at start? I mean cmon.. 18 cha when I need str, dex, int and con high
Lol I rolled for about ten minutes ?, got a 17 cha , so I went friends and blindness. My lack of shield meant I had to have Imoen tank that first caster’s magic missile at the friendly arm inn while I tried to get blindness to land between arrows ... and that’s how she died, lol.
17 cha is fine, I love there being no intra party fighting and store discounts. Just made the first few fights until high hedge (shield scroll but no blindness) a bit more challenging.
If you have someone else in frontline won't their charisma count? Or is party fights based on protagonist cha always?
Really nice rolling ? welcome to my house for coffee and perhaps you can roll for me aswell ?
it’s just a pet peeve, and I hate playing non charismatic mains lol. In the end the fact you can easily start with a +1 comp longbow and any scroll you wish means very little to the overall game. But it’s drastic for the first few hours. And like I said party morale and almost no intra conflict is kinda nice. Not sure if the +9 helps vs fear now that I think about it, but I’ve yet to fail a single check vs fear spell, could just be luck. I do keep remove fear in two characters (main and cleric) just in case. I also recall Kagain (same morale break as Khalid) runs like a chicken once hurt with a low cha first character.
I guess I could send you my character file, should be trivial to add it to an iPad / iOS version of the game (I don’t have direct experience with other EE versions) ??? could save trudging through the snow for that coffee lol.
I rolled a 92