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How is my 6 man party?

AventrixAventrix Member Posts: 9
I have some experience with the neverwinter games and a bit of DnD irl.

I just started playing baldur's gate enhanced edition, and I was wondering what you all think of my party.

This is their status after buying starting equipment from Winthrop.

All party member except my sorcerer are equipped with a helmet.

I have three dual wielding characters because I am crazy.


My main character, named Raven, is a mace wielding neutral good human cleric which I will most likely dual class later.

He has a point in single weapon style for the ac boost while not using a shield.

He has 14 str, 12 dex, 14 con, 14 int, 18 wis, and 13 cha. 6 AC, 8 HP, 20 THAC0, and 2-7 damage.

He gets -1 AC vs missile and piercing and -2 vs slashing.

He has memorized remove fear, cure light wounds, and bless.


The next character is a dual wielding, Neutral Good, elf ranger, named Eldon Twinblade, with 2 points in Longsword, 2 in shortsword, and the starting 2 points in two weapon fighting.

He has 16 str, 16 dex, 17 con, 12 int, 14 wis, and 14 cha, his racial enemy is demonic/fell, and he has 13 HP, 5 AC, 18/22 THAC0 and is equipped with a Longsword and a shortsword in his off hand, dealing 4-11 and 4-9 damage.


Next is Balderis Stormrage, He is a chaotic good, Dwarf, Fighter/Thief

He has two points in war hammer and 2 points in 2 weapon fighting.

He has an open locks skill of 40, find traps skill of 30, 15 Pick Pockets, 10 Move Silently, 5 Hide in shadows (the rangers got that covered haha), 15 detect illusion, and 10 set traps.

He has 16 str, 15 dex, 19 con, 14 int, 10 wis, and 10 cha. 6 AC, 13 HP, 19/23 THAC0, he is equipped with 2 war hammers of course, each dealing 5-8 damage.

He also is equipped with studded leather armor, getting the same bonuses vs missile, piercing and slashing as the previous 2 characters.


Then we have Joane Arcus, my 3rd Dual Wielder, specializing in longswords.

She is a Lawful good Cavalier with 12 str, 14 dex, 16 con, 12 int, 14 wis, and 18 cha.

She has 5 AC, 12 HP, 19/23 THAC0, and her twin longswords each deal 3-10 damage.

She is equipped with chain mail, gaining a -2 bonus vs slashing but a +2 AC penalty vs crushing damage


Now I have a quarterstaff wielding Lawful Neutral, Human, Dragon Disciple named Natasha Charmweaver.

She has 12 str, 16 dex, 18 con, 12 int, 10 wis, and 18 cha

She has 7 AC, 8 HP, 20 THAC0, and deals 1d6 damage.

Her 1st level spells are Burning Hands and Identify.


My last is an axe and shield wielding chaotic good, half-orc, barbarian. Her name is Urga Stoutarm.

She has 18/72 str, 18 dex, 18 con, 12 int, 12 wis, and 10 cha.

She is the shield of the party, equipped with splint mail and a large shield.

She has -1 AC (-2 bonus vs crushing, -6 vs missile, -1 vs piercing)

She has 16 HP, 17 THAC0, and deals 6-13 damage.


So, this is my party, I haven't come up with much lore for them, let me know what you think!

Comments

  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,366
    edited January 2021
    Well you definitely aren't power-gaming with your stat choices. Just to let you know, 2nd edition D&D is not at all like 3rd edition as far as stat bonuses. For instance, your Cavalier with 12 strength will get no bonuses at all to damage or hit possibility. You need at least 15 (or maybe 16) strength to get any bonuses. Dexterity and Constitution less than 15 also get you nothing. High Wisdom gives your clerics and druids bonus spells per level (not sure if bonus spells start at 15 Wis - it might be a bit lower, like 13). Intelligence and Charisma are not much needed. Your Cavalier has a 17 minimum Charisma and that's more than enough to be your party leader - just make sure he's in your number one slot when you talk to people (especially storekeepers - they'll charge less for charismatic characters, but only if they're in slot one). Intelligence helps your bards ans mages memorize spells from scrolls, allow them to have more spells in their spellbound and give a boost to lore. In BG2 high intelligence means you can survive more hits from mindflayers before your brain gets eaten too, but that's not super important.

    Edit: Oh, forgot to mention that 12 Strength might not be high enough tp wear some of the better armour either. I don't think you'll be able to wear full-plate for example (maybe not tower shields either, but not sure about that). There are belts and bracers to boost strength but they're rare in BG1. You can drink a Potion of Strength and put the armour on. You'll be able to leave it on even after the potion expires, but if you take it off, you'll need another potion to equip it again.
    Aventrix
  • AventrixAventrix Member Posts: 9
    Ye i figured most of this and tried to do the best I could with the stats keeping end game in mind
  • AventrixAventrix Member Posts: 9
    I already put the cavalier as my first slot, and I intend her to be more of a supporting character than a damage dealer so I chose to focus on dex con and cha, I will probably increase her strength later since everything else is more than high enough. Also thank you for the strength potion tip. And I did not know I need 15 con and dex, I will go back and fix that now. Ty @Balrog99
    Balrog99
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,822
    One thing you should know about the Baldur's Gate games: you're expected to recruit most of your party from people you meet along the way. There are nearly thirty potential companions out there, and if you've filled up your party already you won't get to experience them.

    Most companions in BG1 don't have much dialogue or content (unless you use mods), but when you get to BG2 every companion speaks up a lot and has their own side quests.

    On character design...

    Dexterity bonuses apply to all armor equally. No bonus at 14 Dex, 4 to AC at 18 Dex. Basically everybody benefits from high Dex. Equipment to boost it? There's one set of gauntlets of dexterity (set Dex to 18), one buckler very late that grants +1 Dex while equipped, and one tome to boost a character of your choice permanently by 1.
    Also, this leads to a key fact: if you want to use AC for tanking, full plate is the way to go. Ankheg plate is a decent substitute, or dragon scale armors in BG2. Barbarians are not very good at tanking in BG1; they only really get good at that at epic levels, where they can use the Hardiness HLA and stack physical resistance. Instead, a low level barbarian's foot speed pushes them to a skirmisher role - hit a key target quickly, then reposition before the enemy can retaliate.

    Strength is a huge deal for anyone who enters melee - and the step from 18 to 19 is far larger than any other. +1 to hit and +2 damage at a flat 18, +3 and +7 at 19. Starting with exceptional strength, or 19 strength in the case of a half-orc, is a huge boon.
    There are very few ways to increase strength early on - mostly just the occasional potion. Once you reach chapter 5, there's a set of gauntlets that set strength to 18/00, and a cursed belt that sets strength to 19 but lowers Int. The latter requires that you pick up the monk Rasaad for his quest. The potions also get more plentiful.

    Dual-classing requires 15 in the primary stat of your initial class and 17 in the primary stat of your second class. Base stats only, no boosts from equipment or the like. Your protagonist will never be able to dual-class.
    Also, dual-classing away from a caster class is rarely advisable. The benefits of your class are skewed later anyway, so sticking with it for the long haul helps a lot.

    Con is good for everybody, but - well, you already knew that.

    On the flip side ... dump stats are pretty painless. Charisma only matters for whoever's talking, or the party member in the first slot in the case of stores. Sometimes you don't get a choice, but quite often you can choose a high-charisma character to lead the party, and neglect the stat elsewhere. Then in BG2, there's a ring you can pick up early on for 18 Cha to completely nullify that dump stat.
    Wisdom does almost nothing for anyone who isn't a priest. Lore bonuses are nice for the free identification, but they're dwarfed by the bonuses for levels in thief, mage, or especially bard.
    Intelligence does very little for anybody other than a prepared arcane caster. It's used for lore, mage/bard spell learning, and illithids in BG2 drain Int with their attacks. But since potions to temporarily increase Int are plentiful in BG2, you can just use those potions whenever you need the stat. 9 Int lets a character use scrolls and wands, 10 means no lore penalty, having more is a nice convenience on a mage or bard, and everyone else can just dump it.

    Only melee weapons on the single-class thief proficiency list - clubs, daggers, short swords, long swords, scimitars et al, katanas, and staves - can be used for backstabs. Your fighter/thief may not be good at stealth now, but having the option to do plenty of damage with a stab is worth it. Warhammers won't do that for you.
    Also, don't be afraid to put heavy armor on your fighter/thief if you're not regularly backstabbing. You can detect traps just fine in armor, and only need to take it off to actually disarm traps and open locks. That isn't something that needs to be done in combat often.

    While warriors are great in BG1, it's bows that really make that work. Not a single archer? My last two parties in BG1: Two longbow archers for the non-spellcasting party. Two longbow archers, a throwing dagger user, and a dart user/shortbow archer for the fire-themed party.
    Sending everybody into melee will cause your characters to get killed, a lot. You can raise them at temples, but that gets expensive.

    Spell choice for the Dragon Disciple ... Burning Hands will frustrate you. It's single-target in patch 2.5, it forces you to get into melee range, and it makes you stand there while it's casting. I took it for flavor on my current DD, but Sleep and Blindness were the offensive level 1 spells I actually used early on.
    Similarly, Aganazzar's Scorcher isn't worth it. Use the far better scorcher effect from a Wand of Fire instead - more damage, more range, and it doesn't lock you into place for a full round.
    And if you want to go for the higher-level fire spells... they're not party friendly. Unless you go to the trouble of making other party members immune, the friendly fire will get you.

    The cleric kits have absolutely no drawback; they just limit your choice of alignment and give you some extra abilities. A neutral good cleric can choose to be a priest of Lathander or of Tyr.
    Aventrix
  • AventrixAventrix Member Posts: 9
    Alright @jmerry give me a moment and I'll update it ty
  • AventrixAventrix Member Posts: 9
    @jmerry @Balrog99 main is now a priest of lathander with 18 str, 18 dex, 15 con, 17 int, 18 wis, 8 cha.

    All melee characters have been switched to sword and shield style, with whatever melee weapon they had previously except the dwarf which uses longswords now.

    Cavalier has 15 str, 18 dex, 15 con, 9 int, 13 wis, and 17 cha.

    Dwarf fighter thief has 18/95 str, 17 dex, 19 con, 10 int, 10 wis, 10 cha.

    Ranger is now an archer, and has 18/56 str, 19 dex, 17 con, 10 int, 16 wis, and 8 cha.

    D disciple uses darts now, has 18 str, 18 dex, 15 con, 10 int, 10 wis, 15 cha.

    Half orc is a berserker now, has 19 str, 18 dex, 19 con, 10 int, 10 wis, and 8 cha.
  • AventrixAventrix Member Posts: 9
    also ty for pointing out that burning hands was single target i did not notice, thats kinda dumb. I took magic missile instead.
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,366
    Your party has definitely been upgraded. You could have easily won with your originals though. A lot of people like to role play sub-optimal characters for the challenge.
  • AventrixAventrix Member Posts: 9
    The hard part is probably gonna be remembering where I left people cuz i booted them to recruit npcs
  • AventrixAventrix Member Posts: 9
    I should probably also note i am playing on the core rules difficulty for now.
  • AaezilAaezil Member Posts: 178
    Yeah like a guy said above bows and ranged in general are crazy good in BG1, OP really. A melee focused party on the other hand can be more fun when insta obliterating the enemy with arrows gets old
  • AventrixAventrix Member Posts: 9
    Yeah just having an archer and a dart thrower already trumps alot of early game enemies before they can inflict any damage.
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