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Your party setup for a full game run through

KogoKogo 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.
AerakarJuliusBorisov

Comments

  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,367
    Pick a theme and run with it. Do you like arcane magic? Play a sorcerer or wizard and gather other wizards to fill out your group. A multi-class fighter/mage or mage/thief might make a better Charname for this run due to party utility. There are neither of those offered in vanilla BG (there is a cleric/illusionist though). Do you like divine magic? Create a cleric, druid, or any of their multis Charname and fill your party out with clerics and druids (one cleric/thief is available in BG). Like stealth? Lots of thieves and rangers ready to fill that party out. A nature boy party can be fun. Play an archer, avenger, stalker or totemic druid and fill your party with rangers and druids. You can also do an evil/good/neutral only party, or an all male/female party. Grab Xan and Shar-Teel and start a knife-fighting party. The only limit is your imagination!
    AerakarJuliusBorisov
  • KogoKogo Member Posts: 33
    Balrog99 wrote: »
    Pick a theme and run with it. Do you like arcane magic? Play a sorcerer or wizard and gather other wizards to fill out your group. A multi-class fighter/mage or mage/thief might make a better Charname for this run due to party utility. There are neither of those offered in vanilla BG (there is a cleric/illusionist though). Do you like divine magic? Create a cleric, druid, or any of their multis Charname and fill your party out with clerics and druids (one cleric/thief is available in BG). Like stealth? Lots of thieves and rangers ready to fill that party out. A nature boy party can be fun. Play an archer, avenger, stalker or totemic druid and fill your party with rangers and druids. You can also do an evil/good/neutral only party, or an all male/female party. Grab Xan and Shar-Teel and start a knife-fighting party. The only limit is your imagination!

    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 ?
    Balrog99monicoAerakarJuliusBorisov
  • monicomonico Member Posts: 571
    edited January 2020
    It really depends on what you want : custom party or NPC ? Solo, small party (3 or 4) or full party of 6 ?

    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
    AerakarJuliusBorisov
  • KogoKogo Member Posts: 33
    monico wrote: »
    It really depends on what you want : custom party or NPC ? Solo, small party (3 or 4) or full party of 6 ?

    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?
  • monicomonico Member Posts: 571
    edited January 2020
    I found an old savegame, somewhere near the end of ToB

    - 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)
    JuliusBorisov
  • KogoKogo Member Posts: 33
    monico wrote: »
    I found an old savegame, somewhere near the end of ToB

    - 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?
  • StratosjStratosj Member Posts: 30
    edited January 2020
    For me a small party of 3 felt best so far. A solo character is also a unique experience, but it can get repetitive. With 6 people in group, I usually feel like I do not truly explore each of the character classes and abilities as I should.

    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.
    Post edited by Stratosj on
    KogomonicoAerakarJuliusBorisov
  • SolmageSolmage Member Posts: 31
    I love a group of 3 or 4:

    - 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)
    KogoAerakarJuliusBorisov
  • KogoKogo Member Posts: 33
    Solmage wrote: »
    I love a group of 3 or 4:

    - 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.
    monico
  • SolmageSolmage Member Posts: 31
    Kogo wrote: »

    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.
    Kogo
  • KogoKogo Member Posts: 33
    edited January 2020
    Solmage wrote: »
    Kogo wrote: »

    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 :) . Am I understanding correctly that you start the game as a thief? Or is multiclass from start spread through 3 classes? Also, what stats did you start out with?
  • SolmageSolmage Member Posts: 31
    At the start you are a lvl 1 thief, mage 1 (with 2 spells known), and fighter 1. I like 2* in swords and longbows.

    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
  • SolmageSolmage Member Posts: 31
    But 18 cha is better since shield + blindness aren’t easy to obtain spells, and you will really appreciate having both as early as possible
    Kogo
  • KogoKogo Member Posts: 33
    Solmage wrote: »
    But 18 cha is better since shield + blindness aren’t easy to obtain spells, and you will really appreciate having both as early as possible

    But what are your stats at start? I mean cmon.. 18 cha when I need str, dex, int and con high :)? I will have to sit at home rerolling til I get 100 ? maybe I can play the game 2021!
  • SolmageSolmage Member Posts: 31
    cil1i829d5sy.jpeg

    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.
  • jsavingjsaving Member Posts: 1,083
    That's as min-maxed a character as you can get for a FMT so you should be in good shape. Enjoy!
  • KogoKogo Member Posts: 33
    edited January 2020
    Solmage wrote: »
    cil1i829d5sy.jpeg

    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 ?
  • SolmageSolmage Member Posts: 31
    Yes, you can have someone else there with cha as the first character, and that counts. Lol, unless you live near Toronto Canada that might be an issue with the coffee ?. Still, 16 cha (Dorn + cha cloak 18) =+5 adjustment, 20 cha (17+tome+cloak) = +9 adjustment.

    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.
    monicoKogoJuliusBorisov
  • KogoKogo Member Posts: 33
    Solmage wrote: »
    Yes, you can have someone else there with cha as the first character, and that counts. Lol, unless you live near Toronto Canada that might be an issue with the coffee ?. Still, 16 cha (Dorn + cha cloak 18) =+5 adjustment, 20 cha (17+tome+cloak) = +9 adjustment.

    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 :). Good enough I guess. Toronto is too far away ?
  • SolmageSolmage Member Posts: 31
    Nice job! :)
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