All Mage Party
Zotliatlicor
Member Posts: 2
Hi everyone.
I seek to challenge myself a bit, and have done so on many playthroughs in the past. On the Original game (before EE) i made a poll on all the "worst" - in "weakest" Companions, and made a Beastmaster Playthrough with all the Underdogs.
Now i'm thinking on doing a Very Hard game with all Mages, and it would look like something like this:
1: Me (any mage, probably Sorceror OR F/M (only one wielding decent weaponry))
2: Jan Janssen (Thieving)
3: Aerie (Healing)
4: Neera (little experience with Wild Magic but have to try?)
5: Edwin (My MM and MMM Machine)
6: Nalia (since she is a mage too)
Replacing Nalia for Imoen or not taking Imoen. Thinking on Haerdalis for the extra dialouge with Edwin and Aerie, but unsure about him. I for sure would have more Oohmp! with his Weapons skills.....
I tried something like this a long time ago but never got past recruiting them (2,3,5 and 6) so i will have another go. I know this party will be Overkillers at very high levels, but i'm thinking that they are very Squishy at startup, and on the way forward. An enemy Spell Success can easily take'em all out in one blow.
Any thoughts ? Input, help and strategy advice would be much appreciated.
--Zotli--
I seek to challenge myself a bit, and have done so on many playthroughs in the past. On the Original game (before EE) i made a poll on all the "worst" - in "weakest" Companions, and made a Beastmaster Playthrough with all the Underdogs.
Now i'm thinking on doing a Very Hard game with all Mages, and it would look like something like this:
1: Me (any mage, probably Sorceror OR F/M (only one wielding decent weaponry))
2: Jan Janssen (Thieving)
3: Aerie (Healing)
4: Neera (little experience with Wild Magic but have to try?)
5: Edwin (My MM and MMM Machine)
6: Nalia (since she is a mage too)
Replacing Nalia for Imoen or not taking Imoen. Thinking on Haerdalis for the extra dialouge with Edwin and Aerie, but unsure about him. I for sure would have more Oohmp! with his Weapons skills.....
I tried something like this a long time ago but never got past recruiting them (2,3,5 and 6) so i will have another go. I know this party will be Overkillers at very high levels, but i'm thinking that they are very Squishy at startup, and on the way forward. An enemy Spell Success can easily take'em all out in one blow.
Any thoughts ? Input, help and strategy advice would be much appreciated.
--Zotli--
2
Comments
At high levels neera (her PI) is crazy strong as she can cast every spell she know as dwehomers, so ignoring the rounds.
A bad surge on the clone has often little consequences.
Dont pay for the licence, you can loot from the CW valuable and rare scrolls, with 6 mages you need them
Mages rule, you will have fun.
Against the big bads just make sure to have lots of Lower Resistances, Breaches, etc. You can even get many of them down with an insta-death spell if you lower their resistances enough.
Eh, it's not like you needed two pure mages anyway.
Haer'Dalis isn't just good at combat for this party; he also has a higher caster level than any of the mages, which means he's better at dispelling. Being able to clear out everything in one Dispel Magic or Remove Magic, even against bosses, is immensely valuable. Breach doesn't work if they've got a spell deflection/turning effect up, but Dispel does as long as you pass the level check.
Neera need care and finesse and only when she reaches high levels she becomes relatively safe to use.
But i had her PI spamming ADHW, wish for the rest option and other high level spells way before an edwin or other mage can even dream to cast those levels of spells.
If you know where to get the scrolls, WK, CW fights and amn guards, she do it even in chap2, without abusing the reload.
To play with 6 mages is not about casting a little more MM, is to open a fight with 6 skull traps in the face of the enemies, or take down MR and ST then 3 or 4 feeblemind or flash to stone or finger of death. And off course stack some webs and wait, with 6 MMM ready, that the enemies get stuck so the meteors hit without a roll.
I'd suggest building Jan as a melee thief/illusionist. With the right gear and spells, it can become actually quite good (speed weapons + imp. Haste), although it basically makes it just a HaerDalis copycat. But it's fun.
Your PC could have fun being a specialist enchanter that you dual as a cleric once he gets lvl5 spells (no enchantment spells after). He will benefit from the specialist saves malus upon enemies even from enchantment cleric spells (although they are mostly the same as the arcane ones).
Not crazily powerful, but fun. Just my 2 cents of course
Necromancer dual to cleric is powerful too. The only problem is that there are so many good Necromancy spells it's too tempting to take your mage to high levels (Abi-Dhalzim's Horrid Wilting won't be available until level 16!). The synergy with the cleric save or die spells is really good though. With your all mage group the down time might not be so glaring...
I know that there is some in-party Romance possible between Aerie and Haerdalis, but i hve never played it out. The one time i had Aerie until the end i had my own Romance with her. Is it true that they can both leave the party permanently ? I wouldn't want that...
I have played with Neera, but not until the end and not together with Edwin. Will it ruin my game to have them both ? i.e. infighting, one leaving etc... ? It is hard to leave Edwin out...he rocks!
My normal BG2 style is to get all Companions, and play each of them until i have their individual quests maxed out. I then put them all in the Copper Coronet on standby, and take with me the most useful ones for each major mission. I figure i can do this now as well and have Haerdalis in the mix too, and swap one out if i need him for combat missions.
What i need to plan for is which companions i bring along to Spellhold and the long road through Underdark. Once i emerge i should be safe right ?
This has already been addressed by others, but I can confirm that you can't have both Neera and Edwin, they will fight each other at some point.
Well, let me rephrase that : you SHOULD take both Neera and Edwin and look at them throwing their best spells at each other, let the winner become your wizard ^^.
You can't even ctrl-Q them into the same party. I've tried. They immediately make you choose one or the other.