I may swap Neera for Ediwn later, though am enjoying having her in my party for now. I did have Xzar for a while and considered keeping him, but he managed to get himself killed (not deliberately on my part) and I decided that was fate.
Am I the only one who likes using two thieves? I like the versatility this gives. In a Good party I can play with only one, as can use a Ranger for my scout, but I *have* to have a decent scout in my party and also love backstabbing. I may play a Stalker in my next game.
You need two thieves at this point. Personally I'm not a fan of the separation of Stealth. I really like thieves so it's not skin off my teeth, but you really shouldn't be required to have two thieves.
I wanted the fullest experience of the new content, so I'm playing with all three of the new NPCs.
Imoen I almost always take. Here I need her as a Thief. (Long time since I played--I had forgotten just how powerful she becomes as a thief!)
Viconia I chose because I don't use her all that often in BG1, and I liked the idea of a mixed alignment party. I also wanted to see if there is any friction in particular between her and Rasaad (he worships Selune, whereas she worships Shar).
My CHARNAME has a Cha of 10, and thus I'm hoping I may see a bit of banter between the NPCs at opposing ends of the Good-Evil axis. Eg, with a Cha 10 leader Xzar/Montaron and Khalid/Jaheira were really going at it verbally when I used both NPC pairs to complete the Nashkel mines quest. So I'm curious if I'll see the same sort of thing might happen with the new NPCs. I realize X. & M. and J. and K. are at odds to begin with. But in any event, I'm hoping for a bit of banter with this line-up.
And I figured with a Cha 10 party leader, it would make sense to creatively roleplay the NPCs in character. I.e., without a dynamic leader they would feel free to do pretty much whatever they please. So a drunken Dorn will punch out Marl and use Absorb Health on him. Neera will practice her spellshaping in a corner of the Beregost and end up summoning a Pit Fiend. Rasaad will donate to temples. Imoen will practice her Thief skills and may get caught. Viconia... not sure yet... I don't view her as likely to act up, actually. She'd want to keep a low profile, I would think.
I actually haven't played the EE much to give a good insight on a current party (It's just the typical one you may expect at the beginning, seeing as I'm only about as far as the Friendly Arm.) It's due to this I'll just say a good aligned party I really enjoyed having the last time I played BGTutu. Forgive me if I can't remember specifics (regarding equipment)
CHARNAME: Half-Elf ; Cleric/Ranger - Cleric/Ranger is a magical class to me, and I'm not talking in a fantastical sense. I love cleric for some odd reason, but with Ranger tacked on, it comes with what you may expect from a fighter class, it comes with the addition to being able to have all druid abilities available to you from the get-go, which essentially opens up the ENTIRE Priest Scroll for your whims. This gives me some pretty darn good casting options. Additionally, the added free points in Two-Weapon style and some good plate makes me a dual warhammer wielding fiend. Definitely one of my favorite characters. I may just relive her in an EE playthrough.
Imoen - Like most, I dual class Imoen to a mage and it's no joke when she can be one of the better ones around. Additionally, I don't care for thieves all that much and I mainly use them for their find-traps and occasional pickpocketing anyway. So her perfect dual classing viability is just fine with me.
Minsc - I love this guy. I always have since I was 8 years old. However it wasn't until Tutu where he is a shoe-in for my good parties. The coast area with a bunch of Sirines. I keep my party back and wade him into the mix before activating his berserking and bam, he is practically immune to their dire charms and the Sirines are nothing but chum. I definitely keep him as a frontliner.
Ajantis - This is the guy my Gauntlets of Dexterity went to, and he was an amazing tank. His Paladin abilities were a nice little boon, but it was mainly his prowess as a beast that made me keep him.
Dynaheir - I kept her and Minsc together because I'm not the kind of person to just chunk characters for no raisins. I usually RP my adventures. That's not to say she's a third wheel, though, she's a great mage and it works well due to the obvious fact I'm kinda melee heavy. I'm not too meta-gamey, and considering the fact that things go boom when she twiddles her thumbs, I don't have an issue with her.
Kivan - An awesome archer as many know. I don't think I need to say much more. He's just absolutely great and I tend to put him in leather since he doesn't get much into the thick of things. One fond memory of Kivan specifically is in the basilisk area and tossing a protection from petrification spell on him and just running the guy around solo sniping basilisk like it ain't no thing.
I believe in a similar set up I also used Branwen, so I'll toss her down as an extra,
Branwen - Adding to my love of Cleric, while my CHARNAME was more or less one to wade into battle, Branwen is definitely the more of a caster between us two. I gave her a sling if I can remember correctly and she more or less was the one making sure we were keeping good.
As far as group tactics go, if I know I'm getting into trouble. My CHARNAME tosses on some buffs, dooms an enemy and tosses a couple of offensive spells at them for some good damage as Minsc and Ajantis run in with CHARNAME soon following after. As would be predicted, Kivan is inflicting hell with arrows while Dynaheir and Imoen are causing arcane mayhem. It's not overly complicated, though if things do in fact get complicated, there are of course scrolls and potions which are situational and other less used memorized spells.
In regards to why? Everyone just seemed to mesh well together. They all had pretty enjoyable chemistry and it was a nice cohesive group that my character felt comfortable in. Not only that, but everyone did their job and watched each other's backs extremely well, so I can't complain one bit.
I'm at an impasse because I'd like to try an evil party and party members for the first time but can't decide what I want my main character to be.
I'll likely either be a NE Assassin or Blade with the following party:
Xzar Montaron Edwin Viconia Dorn
or the alternative
Edwin Viconia Kagain Dorn XXXX
No matter what though I'm trying to make this a game where if anyone who DOESN'T reappear in BG2 (Xzar technically does) gets chunked, I can reload. Otherwise I'm carting around a dead body or replacing them. The problem is that my party has very little up front "meat" to absorb damage and it'll be awhile before Edwin can start summoning in fodder (usually I avoid summons but with Edwin being a conjurer and Xzar being a Necromancer, suddenly Summons and Raise Dead don't feel cheap but in character). Monty appears like he will be a heavily armored trap detector, since Dorn is definitely built around using a 2h weapon, thus being rather squishy in bg1.
So its either an assassin, so I have a backup in case Monty goes kaboom and can just replace him with Kagain, or Blade and hope that I can keep him alive long enough to tank until my blade can take over in that role.
My CHARNAME has a Cha of 10, and thus I'm hoping I may see a bit of banter between the NPCs at opposing ends of the Good-Evil axis. Eg, with a Cha 10 leader Xzar/Montaron and Khalid/Jaheira were really going at it verbally when I used both NPC pairs to complete the Nashkel mines quest. So I'm curious if I'll see the same sort of thing might happen with the new NPCs. I realize X. & M. and J. and K. are at odds to begin with. But in any event, I'm hoping for a bit of banter with this line-up.
And I figured with a Cha 10 party leader, it would make sense to creatively roleplay the NPCs in character. I.e., without a dynamic leader they would feel free to do pretty much whatever they please. So a drunken Dorn will punch out Marl and use Absorb Health on him. Neera will practice her spellshaping in a corner of the Beregost and end up summoning a Pit Fiend. Rasaad will donate to temples. Imoen will practice her Thief skills and may get caught. Viconia... not sure yet... I don't view her as likely to act up, actually. She'd want to keep a low profile, I would think.
I don't understand all this but about having a Cha 10 party leader, how does this affect things in any way, apart from shop prices and responses from NPCs you meet in encounters? How does this affect your party? Or are you just talking about RP?
My CHARNAME has a Cha of 10, and thus I'm hoping I may see a bit of banter between the NPCs at opposing ends of the Good-Evil axis. Eg, with a Cha 10 leader Xzar/Montaron and Khalid/Jaheira were really going at it verbally when I used both NPC pairs to complete the Nashkel mines quest. So I'm curious if I'll see the same sort of thing might happen with the new NPCs. I realize X. & M. and J. and K. are at odds to begin with. But in any event, I'm hoping for a bit of banter with this line-up.
And I figured with a Cha 10 party leader, it would make sense to creatively roleplay the NPCs in character. I.e., without a dynamic leader they would feel free to do pretty much whatever they please. So a drunken Dorn will punch out Marl and use Absorb Health on him. Neera will practice her spellshaping in a corner of the Beregost and end up summoning a Pit Fiend. Rasaad will donate to temples. Imoen will practice her Thief skills and may get caught. Viconia... not sure yet... I don't view her as likely to act up, actually. She'd want to keep a low profile, I would think.
I don't understand all this but about having a Cha 10 party leader, how does this affect things in any way, apart from shop prices and responses from NPCs you meet in encounters? How does this affect your party? Or are you just talking about RP?
I'm generalizing what happens with Xzar/Montaron vs. Khalid/Jaheira. When the party leader has a high Cha reportedly you won't see a fight break out between those two pairs. Evidently they then respect leader and stay in line. However if you have a low Cha party leader, the fight is almost certain to happen. With average Cha it might fire, might not. Not sure how the variables are set.
But I suppose that fight occurs not so much because they are Good vs. Evil, but also how they fit into their own subplots within the game.
Anyway, there probably isn't any other consequence of having an average Cha party leader than the tensions between J. & K. versus X. & M.
So, yep, it's a RP device for how I'm playing the game.
Done the canon party several times so fancied something different. Decided to give the new characters a whirl, plus I need a healer so Branwen is about as good as it gets.
My party:
Malakai (as pictured in my avatar) - CN half-elf sorcerer - magical power. Imoen - NG human thief - scout, rogue skills. Neera - CN half-elf wild-mage - magical utility. Rasaad - LG human monk - secondary front-liner, secondary scout. Branwen - TN human cleric - tertiary front-liner, healing skills, turning undead. Dorn - NE half-orc blackguard - main tank.
I've decided I'm going to run two files simultaneously, switching as my meagre attention-span dictates.
The first is my aforementioned Sorceror file. The new second one will have me as an Archer. This means much sniping devastation as soon as I get a couple of expertise points in Long Bow and the Composite Long Bow +1. Kivan gets most of my kills in the Sorceror party (since CHARNAME isn't levelled up enough yet to be my primary damage dealer, and CHARNAME as an archer means I don't need him.
Imoen and Ajantis will remain in the party regardless, but I need two mages. Neera has proven quite useful so far and, unlike Dynaheir, can summon, so I'll keep her. Lack of summoning and high squishiness aside, Dynaheir is still very good, and Minsc is a great tank, so the pair of them are in. Out goes Rasaad, since Monks are very weak in the early levels. I'll still use him in the other file though in case the opportunity to export him to BG2 EE comes.
Usually I don't think best possible group compositions often I pick up characters either on a whim or I might have other reasons, for example I started playing with female elven archer kit as charname and then picked up Kivan, Viconia, Shar-Teel, Safana and Dynaheir (unfortunately Minsc became too reclusive in berserker rage in Gnoll Fort and bad things happened). Main reason for this group was to make full fem party and wanted to have fun with Kivan.
My other charname, male human Blackguard has grouped with Dorn Il-Khan, Viconia, Imoen, Xzar and Neera, just an evil party spiced up with sweet wild mage and thief.
So I decided to go evil party. With a very high spellcasting and a bit less powerful front line, with kinda weak rogue spot.
My main is a CE Elf Sorcerer - Arcane Artillery (and with the double 1st level spells ring also the group's identify master).
Viconia - Cleric of Shar, Healer, and single target CC (Hold Person, Command, etc'), also gave her some good gear to aid my front line.
Xzar - Necromancer, Arcane dmg support and CC.
Neera - Wild Mage (I know she's not evil, but I want to see the new content, though it's usually Edwin's spot) Arcane dmg, CC, and a lot of chaos.
Dorn - Blackguard, Main front line dps
Montaron - Fighter/Thief, Front line tank (higher AC then Dorn but less dmg), also lock picker and trap finger (though you need to switch armors for this).
I am at the cloakwood mines right now. At first having so much spellcasters was kinda hard. They use their spells quite fast and Neera and Xzar don't have ranged weapons (though I found some thrown daggers for Xzar), so they stand and do nothing. But when you get to level 5 things are getting really really hard for your enemies.
Frontline charname Is a Cavalier with spiders bane + Ajantis Neera although she turned herself to stone Imoen for the thief Viconia for cleric Eldoth is my Archer
I finally got Monty and Xzar killed off in my monk's party
the mage Zordral who is threatening the alleged witch Bentha in a tent at the Nashkel carnival; for some reason he focused on Xzar then Monty, and I didn't stop him
, replacing them with Neera and Kagain.
But Kagain getting
the freebie ankheg plate still available in the fields on the west side of Nashkel
made my monk Mateo jealous, what with him not able to wear armor and whatnot, so I decided to park Mateo's party right before they head to the Nashkel mines, and roll my own dwarf, the berserker Hamish.
Hamish and Imoen went kinda meta
they detoured from the Friendly Arm all the way to the Lighthouse map, where Immy stealthed into Black Alaric's cave and fetched Hamish the Manual of Bodily Health, almost getting clobbered by a flesh golem as she made haste (courtesy of her Oil of Speed) with her exit
and then on the way back Hamish got his hammer
Bassilus
.
Another detour to the Nashkel carnival to pick up Branwen, then back up to Beregost to pick up Neera, and Hamish's party is complete:
1. Hamish the dwarven berserker CHARNAME 2. Imoen the thief 3. Neera the wild mage 4. Branwen the cleric
I'm leaving the other two slots open for possibly adding one or two later-game NPCs I've never taken the chance to party with before.
Hamish is chaotic neutral, so I don't feel guilty when he makes bad choices (unlike the LG monk Mateo; I felt guilty whenever I looted an unattended crate or barrel with him). His three party mates will get the benefit of liberal temple raising and the occasional Power Word: Reload as necessary.
EDIT: (square bracket)spoiler, not (angle bracket)spoiler. Harrumph!
@Abdel_Adrian Ah yes, thanks! Do you happen to know where to find those? Are there many? I'm getting prepared for some petrification..
You don't need to petrify to split a pair. Take the one you want to remove into a room that you don't gonna enter again. Then remove him/her from the party. I placed Khalid upstairs of Firebeads house, Beregost and still got jaheira in the party.
@Freche I haven't tried your method. Frankly, mine just seems more fun. Your way might be more practical, but do you get a free marble statue out of it? Khalid in my game was frozen with a longsword, platemail, and a small shield +1 (because I can, that's why), and he looked pretty damn majestic. And with Jaheira thinking he's dead...
@Abdel_Adrian Ah yes, thanks! Do you happen to know where to find those? Are there many? I'm getting prepared for some petrification..
You don't need to petrify to split a pair. Take the one you want to remove into a room that you don't gonna enter again. Then remove him/her from the party. I placed Khalid upstairs of Firebeads house, Beregost and still got jaheira in the party.
@PawnSlayer and everyone else who kicks out Dynaheir because she was restricted from 2 schools of magic.
Invokers in BGEE are ONLY restricted from the Enchantment school right now, (I was able to learn Armor and Find Familiar on mine), so they are no where bad as they were previously.
Just to be clear, I never kick out Dynaheir (the run in which I'm using Rasaad to see what he's like is an exception). That she's the only good-aligned mage in the game makes her kind of a necessity for a good party, especially since Minsc is so good (though obviously there's ways around the latter). I admit she's proven better than I remember though.
Just to be clear, I never kick out Dynaheir (the run in which I'm using Rasaad to see what he's like is an exception). That she's the only good-aligned mage in the game makes her kind of a necessity for a good party, especially since Minsc is so good (though obviously there's ways around the latter). I admit she's proven better than I remember though.
Well, I have a few chars on the go at the moment, but my latest is:
Melisandre - Human Neutral Evil Sorcerer.
Xzar - Wanting to dual him to cleric after a few levels in mage. What are peoples suggestions for when to dual him as I have never done it before.
Monty - Main tank at the moment, a little light on the Fighters at the moment. Will probably be replaced by a Dualed Sharteel for the thieving side and a Kagain for the tanky side.
Imoen - Will be replaced by Sharteel eventually.
I am interested in picking up Xan and trying to make him competent. Lots of defensive spells and what not. Constitution is an issue, but could be fun. Also being surrounded by murderous folk could be hilarious for Xan.
Final team
Melisandre - Sorcerer Xzar - Necro/Cleric Dorn - Blackguard Kagain - Fighter Sharteel - Fighter/Thief Xan - Illusionist (Maybe Edwin or Neera if he just becomes unmanageable)
All 3 new NPCs, plus Safana and Branwen. The first 3 are obvious. Safana -- never used her as thief before. Got her after Nashkel mines but before completing most side quests...through skillful avoidance of the most difficult parts of those screens. Branwen--I have never used her all of the way through, and I could use a cleric for now. Besides, it's an extra challenge being a little light on fighter-power, keeps the game more difficult for me. I didn't want Jaheira, Minsc, or Dynaheir since I use them routinely.
My character is a Conjurer. I started with Archer but it was so OP I got bored. I'll probably do an Archer when I do a 4-player "multiplayer" party, but it took the fun out of the game for me with a BG1 Archer and 5 other party members.
If I'm not mistaken you can wait until level 7 as a mage and still dual him in time. Even waiting till 6 ain't that bad though. I'd suggest either one of those as level 3 has a lot of good offensive spells and level 4 is when you start getting into the really good defensive spells.
Edit: Wrote level 4 twice and the first time it was supposed to say level 3 (fireball, skull trap, lightning bolt if you're good at aiming, flame arrow, and other fun things like haste and melf's minute meteors).
PC - Ranger/Cleric (Created an in-game RP custom bio for him) Tank (My original Skald PC got back burnered for now) Neera - Tough to keep her alive early but has some HP behind her now, plus the Robe of Archmagi Imoen - Pure Thief this time (Maxed Find Traps and Pick Locks) Minsc - DPS Rasaad - Darts, and off attacks Yeslick (Gave him the cursed belt boosting his strength to 19, and he became dumber by a point in Int plus the guantlets of Dex (something I usually reserved for Minsc). Tank and DPS
We're at Ulgoth's Beard, and about to head to Durlag's Tower (Should be a long chore...)
Hid Dynaheir in the "House of Spiders", along with Khalid and Jaheira. Recruited all others in, save Kivan, Quayle and Tiax. Dropped them off in Beregost, except Viconia, after having them in the party for a bit.
If I do another Ran/Cle run, I'd shoot for an "earthy" party of Jaheira, PC, Minsc, Kivan, Imoen (need a thief) and Neera.
Fra Diavolo - Swashbuckler dual classed to fighter (unstoppable dual wielder- also does all the lockpicking) Imoen - Dual classed to a mage (best mage in the game) Khalid - First part of the archer battery (also for stealth) Coran - Second part of the archer battery (also main thief of the party) Jaheira - Healer/fighter
The main strength of this party is archery, which absolutely rules in BG1 (unlike in BG2). But 4of the 5 members are also very strong in melee.
I don't feel a 6th party member could add much. They would just get in the way or be a defensive liability.
Comments
CHARNAME (Neutral Evil female elf fighter/mage multi)
Dorn (Neutral Evil Half-Orc blackguard)
Montaron (Neutral Evil halfling fighter/thief multi)
Viconia (Neutral Evil elf Cleric)
Safana (Chaotic Neutral human Thief)
Neera (Chaotic Neutral half/elf wild mage)
I may swap Neera for Ediwn later, though am enjoying having her in my party for now. I did have Xzar for a while and considered keeping him, but he managed to get himself killed (not deliberately on my part) and I decided that was fate.
Am I the only one who likes using two thieves? I like the versatility this gives. In a Good party I can play with only one, as can use a Ranger for my scout, but I *have* to have a decent scout in my party and also love backstabbing. I may play a Stalker in my next game.
Imoen (remains Thief)
Viconia
Rasaad
Neera
Dorn
I wanted the fullest experience of the new content, so I'm playing with all three of the new NPCs.
Imoen I almost always take. Here I need her as a Thief. (Long time since I played--I had forgotten just how powerful she becomes as a thief!)
Viconia I chose because I don't use her all that often in BG1, and I liked the idea of a mixed alignment party. I also wanted to see if there is any friction in particular between her and Rasaad (he worships Selune, whereas she worships Shar).
My CHARNAME has a Cha of 10, and thus I'm hoping I may see a bit of banter between the NPCs at opposing ends of the Good-Evil axis. Eg, with a Cha 10 leader Xzar/Montaron and Khalid/Jaheira were really going at it verbally when I used both NPC pairs to complete the Nashkel mines quest. So I'm curious if I'll see the same sort of thing might happen with the new NPCs. I realize X. & M. and J. and K. are at odds to begin with. But in any event, I'm hoping for a bit of banter with this line-up.
And I figured with a Cha 10 party leader, it would make sense to creatively roleplay the NPCs in character. I.e., without a dynamic leader they would feel free to do pretty much whatever they please. So a drunken Dorn will punch out Marl and use Absorb Health on him. Neera will practice her spellshaping in a corner of the Beregost and end up summoning a Pit Fiend. Rasaad will donate to temples. Imoen will practice her Thief skills and may get caught. Viconia... not sure yet... I don't view her as likely to act up, actually. She'd want to keep a low profile, I would think.
CHARNAME: Half-Elf ; Cleric/Ranger - Cleric/Ranger is a magical class to me, and I'm not talking in a fantastical sense. I love cleric for some odd reason, but with Ranger tacked on, it comes with what you may expect from a fighter class, it comes with the addition to being able to have all druid abilities available to you from the get-go, which essentially opens up the ENTIRE Priest Scroll for your whims. This gives me some pretty darn good casting options. Additionally, the added free points in Two-Weapon style and some good plate makes me a dual warhammer wielding fiend. Definitely one of my favorite characters. I may just relive her in an EE playthrough.
Imoen - Like most, I dual class Imoen to a mage and it's no joke when she can be one of the better ones around. Additionally, I don't care for thieves all that much and I mainly use them for their find-traps and occasional pickpocketing anyway. So her perfect dual classing viability is just fine with me.
Minsc - I love this guy. I always have since I was 8 years old. However it wasn't until Tutu where he is a shoe-in for my good parties. The coast area with a bunch of Sirines. I keep my party back and wade him into the mix before activating his berserking and bam, he is practically immune to their dire charms and the Sirines are nothing but chum. I definitely keep him as a frontliner.
Ajantis - This is the guy my Gauntlets of Dexterity went to, and he was an amazing tank. His Paladin abilities were a nice little boon, but it was mainly his prowess as a beast that made me keep him.
Dynaheir - I kept her and Minsc together because I'm not the kind of person to just chunk characters for no raisins. I usually RP my adventures. That's not to say she's a third wheel, though, she's a great mage and it works well due to the obvious fact I'm kinda melee heavy. I'm not too meta-gamey, and considering the fact that things go boom when she twiddles her thumbs, I don't have an issue with her.
Kivan - An awesome archer as many know. I don't think I need to say much more. He's just absolutely great and I tend to put him in leather since he doesn't get much into the thick of things. One fond memory of Kivan specifically is in the basilisk area and tossing a protection from petrification spell on him and just running the guy around solo sniping basilisk like it ain't no thing.
I believe in a similar set up I also used Branwen, so I'll toss her down as an extra,
Branwen - Adding to my love of Cleric, while my CHARNAME was more or less one to wade into battle, Branwen is definitely the more of a caster between us two. I gave her a sling if I can remember correctly and she more or less was the one making sure we were keeping good.
As far as group tactics go, if I know I'm getting into trouble. My CHARNAME tosses on some buffs, dooms an enemy and tosses a couple of offensive spells at them for some good damage as Minsc and Ajantis run in with CHARNAME soon following after. As would be predicted, Kivan is inflicting hell with arrows while Dynaheir and Imoen are causing arcane mayhem. It's not overly complicated, though if things do in fact get complicated, there are of course scrolls and potions which are situational and other less used memorized spells.
In regards to why? Everyone just seemed to mesh well together. They all had pretty enjoyable chemistry and it was a nice cohesive group that my character felt comfortable in. Not only that, but everyone did their job and watched each other's backs extremely well, so I can't complain one bit.
I'll likely either be a NE Assassin or Blade with the following party:
Xzar
Montaron
Edwin
Viconia
Dorn
or the alternative
Edwin
Viconia
Kagain
Dorn
XXXX
No matter what though I'm trying to make this a game where if anyone who DOESN'T reappear in BG2 (Xzar technically does) gets chunked, I can reload. Otherwise I'm carting around a dead body or replacing them. The problem is that my party has very little up front "meat" to absorb damage and it'll be awhile before Edwin can start summoning in fodder (usually I avoid summons but with Edwin being a conjurer and Xzar being a Necromancer, suddenly Summons and Raise Dead don't feel cheap but in character). Monty appears like he will be a heavily armored trap detector, since Dorn is definitely built around using a 2h weapon, thus being rather squishy in bg1.
So its either an assassin, so I have a backup in case Monty goes kaboom and can just replace him with Kagain, or Blade and hope that I can keep him alive long enough to tank until my blade can take over in that role.
PC - Swashbuckler dual wield
Viconia
Dorn
Neera
Monty
Kagain
Evil party as i usually stay neut/good most my other runthroughs.
Next time :
PC - Bard (Blade)
Ajantis
Kivan
Imoen>Safana>Shar-Teel
Branwen>Yeslick
Rasheed
Should be interesting!
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/8401/hey-do-you-walk-that-way-too-partysharethread#latest
@AndreaColombo
@Camdawg
@Aosaw
*Whips out the computer mouse and holds it at arms reach like a priest casting an exorcism*
The power of combined threads compels you. The power of combined threads compels you. Merge thee into something greater.
Alas, this power is not mine, but they might be able to do it for us
But I suppose that fight occurs not so much because they are Good vs. Evil, but also how they fit into their own subplots within the game.
Anyway, there probably isn't any other consequence of having an average Cha party leader than the tensions between J. & K. versus X. & M.
So, yep, it's a RP device for how I'm playing the game.
My party:
Malakai (as pictured in my avatar) - CN half-elf sorcerer - magical power.
Imoen - NG human thief - scout, rogue skills.
Neera - CN half-elf wild-mage - magical utility.
Rasaad - LG human monk - secondary front-liner, secondary scout.
Branwen - TN human cleric - tertiary front-liner, healing skills, turning undead.
Dorn - NE half-orc blackguard - main tank.
The first is my aforementioned Sorceror file. The new second one will have me as an Archer. This means much sniping devastation as soon as I get a couple of expertise points in Long Bow and the Composite Long Bow +1. Kivan gets most of my kills in the Sorceror party (since CHARNAME isn't levelled up enough yet to be my primary damage dealer, and CHARNAME as an archer means I don't need him.
Imoen and Ajantis will remain in the party regardless, but I need two mages. Neera has proven quite useful so far and, unlike Dynaheir, can summon, so I'll keep her. Lack of summoning and high squishiness aside, Dynaheir is still very good, and Minsc is a great tank, so the pair of them are in. Out goes Rasaad, since Monks are very weak in the early levels. I'll still use him in the other file though in case the opportunity to export him to BG2 EE comes.
My other charname, male human Blackguard has grouped with Dorn Il-Khan, Viconia, Imoen, Xzar and Neera, just an evil party spiced up with sweet wild mage and thief.
So I decided to go evil party. With a very high spellcasting and a bit less powerful front line, with kinda weak rogue spot.
My main is a CE Elf Sorcerer - Arcane Artillery (and with the double 1st level spells ring also the group's identify master).
Viconia - Cleric of Shar, Healer, and single target CC (Hold Person, Command, etc'), also gave her some good gear to aid my front line.
Xzar - Necromancer, Arcane dmg support and CC.
Neera - Wild Mage (I know she's not evil, but I want to see the new content, though it's usually Edwin's spot) Arcane dmg, CC, and a lot of chaos.
Dorn - Blackguard, Main front line dps
Montaron - Fighter/Thief, Front line tank (higher AC then Dorn but less dmg), also lock picker and trap finger (though you need to switch armors for this).
I am at the cloakwood mines right now. At first having so much spellcasters was kinda hard. They use their spells quite fast and Neera and Xzar don't have ranged weapons (though I found some thrown daggers for Xzar), so they stand and do nothing. But when you get to level 5 things are getting really really hard for your enemies.
Neera although she turned herself to stone
Imoen for the thief
Viconia for cleric
Eldoth is my Archer
Me (Rogue)
Minsc
Garrick (every party needs a bard)
Branwen
Dynaheir
But Kagain getting
Hamish and Imoen went kinda meta
Another detour to the Nashkel carnival to pick up Branwen, then back up to Beregost to pick up Neera, and Hamish's party is complete:
1. Hamish the dwarven berserker CHARNAME
2. Imoen the thief
3. Neera the wild mage
4. Branwen the cleric
I'm leaving the other two slots open for possibly adding one or two later-game NPCs I've never taken the chance to party with before.
Hamish is chaotic neutral, so I don't feel guilty when he makes bad choices (unlike the LG monk Mateo; I felt guilty whenever I looted an unattended crate or barrel with him). His three party mates will get the benefit of liberal temple raising and the occasional Power Word: Reload as necessary.
EDIT: (square bracket)spoiler, not (angle bracket)spoiler. Harrumph!
I placed Khalid upstairs of Firebeads house, Beregost and still got jaheira in the party.
Invokers in BGEE are ONLY restricted from the Enchantment school right now, (I was able to learn Armor and Find Familiar on mine), so they are no where bad as they were previously.
Melisandre - Human Neutral Evil Sorcerer.
Xzar - Wanting to dual him to cleric after a few levels in mage. What are peoples suggestions for when to dual him as I have never done it before.
Monty - Main tank at the moment, a little light on the Fighters at the moment. Will probably be replaced by a Dualed Sharteel for the thieving side and a Kagain for the tanky side.
Imoen - Will be replaced by Sharteel eventually.
I am interested in picking up Xan and trying to make him competent. Lots of defensive spells and what not. Constitution is an issue, but could be fun. Also being surrounded by murderous folk could be hilarious for Xan.
Final team
Melisandre - Sorcerer
Xzar - Necro/Cleric
Dorn - Blackguard
Kagain - Fighter
Sharteel - Fighter/Thief
Xan - Illusionist (Maybe Edwin or Neera if he just becomes unmanageable)
My character is a Conjurer. I started with Archer but it was so OP I got bored. I'll probably do an Archer when I do a 4-player "multiplayer" party, but it took the fun out of the game for me with a BG1 Archer and 5 other party members.
If I'm not mistaken you can wait until level 7 as a mage and still dual him in time. Even waiting till 6 ain't that bad though. I'd suggest either one of those as level 3 has a lot of good offensive spells and level 4 is when you start getting into the really good defensive spells.
Edit: Wrote level 4 twice and the first time it was supposed to say level 3 (fireball, skull trap, lightning bolt if you're good at aiming, flame arrow, and other fun things like haste and melf's minute meteors).
Neera - Tough to keep her alive early but has some HP behind her now, plus the Robe of Archmagi
Imoen - Pure Thief this time (Maxed Find Traps and Pick Locks)
Minsc - DPS
Rasaad - Darts, and off attacks
Yeslick (Gave him the cursed belt boosting his strength to 19, and he became dumber by a point in Int plus the guantlets of Dex (something I usually reserved for Minsc). Tank and DPS
We're at Ulgoth's Beard, and about to head to Durlag's Tower (Should be a long chore...)
Hid Dynaheir in the "House of Spiders", along with Khalid and Jaheira. Recruited all others in, save Kivan, Quayle and Tiax. Dropped them off in Beregost, except Viconia, after having them in the party for a bit.
If I do another Ran/Cle run, I'd shoot for an "earthy" party of Jaheira, PC, Minsc, Kivan, Imoen (need a thief) and Neera.
Imoen - Dual classed to a mage (best mage in the game)
Khalid - First part of the archer battery (also for stealth)
Coran - Second part of the archer battery (also main thief of the party)
Jaheira - Healer/fighter
The main strength of this party is archery, which absolutely rules in BG1 (unlike in BG2). But 4of the 5 members are also very strong in melee.
I don't feel a 6th party member could add much. They would just get in the way or be a defensive liability.