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3-man custom single-class parties

What's a fun 3-man party that you've played or thought of playing? (No dual or multiclasses, single classes only.)

It's actually rather difficult to think of a balanced party that does a bit of everything when you're reduced to single classes only AND only have 3 people in your party.

I've thought of a pretty good one:

- Shapeshifter: It's a fighter/druid, essentially, but not at the same time.
- Blade. It's essentially a fighter/mage, just not as good.
- Bounty Hunter. Solid thief kit, fun traps.

This way, I have managed to cover all roles to some degree (I can never get top-tier mage spells with this party, but I can get up to level 6 which is fine). Fast levelling also means the blade is well ahead of mages most of the time anyway. Healer and thief roles are well-managed and everyone does more than their job description. It never feels clunky or like someone is stealing someone else's role.

It's a surprisingly balanced party!

What are some other good, balanced, 3-man single class parties?

Comments

  • KhyronKhyron Member Posts: 626
    The inability to cast in WW shape means your shapeshifter is a fighter -or- druid, not both.

    There are other cleric kits that give better combat abilities, and clerics perform better in melee combat than druids.
    Crom Faeyr and Flail of Ages comes to mind.

    Pure class mage, because.. it just wins.

    Lastly.. maybe an Archer for pew pew damage? Or Berserker because of immunities? Could go with a Swashbuckler for combat ability + traps. With Cleric and Mage covered, you can kinda do whatever you want... you don't -need- anything else to beat the game.. Maybe something that isn't much used.. stalker? monk? assassin? Anything goes really.
  • Wandering_RangerWandering_Ranger Member Posts: 175
    Khyron wrote: »
    The inability to cast in WW shape means your shapeshifter is a fighter -or- druid, not both.

    Yes, which is why I had said "Shapeshifter: It's a fighter/druid, essentially, but not at the same time." Despite this, I don't believe there is any cleric that outdoes the Shapeshifter in melee combat until TOB, and even then, it's a tough call, because by that point the Shapeshifter has Greater Werewolf form with great AC (not to mention iron skins), which means it's a great tank all the way through until end game. All the way through BG1, TOTSC, and BG2, no cleric can even remotely compare to the Shapeshifter in melee. Indeed, a Shapeshifter is even better than a fighter until BG2. They're absolute beasts.

    As for pure mage... yeah, they're real good, but I like the versatility the blade offers during BG1.

    And because this game irritatingly *needs* a thief unless you want to be annoyed at every turn, then if you are doing a single-class challenge, options are limited.

    Regardless, your suggestion of a cleric (heal/tank), swashbuckler (quasi-fighter/thief, so DPS/utility), and mage (support and DPS) would do well in the game. It's a solid little setup, which is why I find these 3-man parties to be uber fun, as they are creative when your resources are so diminished.

    Another nice setup is shaman for summon spams (tanks) and heals, archer for ranged damage and scouting (extreme DPS), and any thief or thief kit for your utility/traps/locks/etc (again, I would opt for bounty hunter as it is by far my favourite kit).
  • KhyronKhyron Member Posts: 626
    I think you will find that a Cleric dual wielding Crom and Flail of Ages will hit a lot harder and better thac0 than a werewolf.. also WW is limited in weapon enhancement. Can't even hurt most of the enemies that actually matter.. it's good for cannon fodder/trash mobs, but against liches, dragons, etc it's weak. -10AC is good mid-late BG1.. it's hopelessly useless in ToB and worse than most good fighters in BG2. A well geared cleric will easily be -15AC quite early in SoA.

    Cleric of Lathander... Boon of Lathander with abovementioned setup will most def blow the WW out of the water :D

    Still would want a pure class mage.. especially with just 3 party members. High lvls, much spells.. but I guess Blade will function too. Just remember that effective caster level stops at 20 for 99% of spells, so at one point the caster level difference (which isn't that big of a deal to begin with) will be gone.

    Would still swap Bounty Hunter for Swashbuckler... Besides from traps, single class thieves are so poor in combat it's agonizing.. Swashbuckler remedies that quite well. Scarlet Ninja-To in off-hand and somethat that hurts in main hand.. -25AC, super Thac0, whirldwind strikes..



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