what would be your favorite party with a Fighter/mage or blade maincharacter?
Sloty1984
Member Posts: 164
Which of blade and fighter/mage do you think is more fun?
Which npcs would you take along with that maincharacter?
Which npcs would you take along with that maincharacter?
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For good/neutral parties I'd probably say: Anomen, Jaheira, Nalia/Imoen would be fine to cover all your casting needs. Then probably Keldorn since his kit is so useful. One more extra slot for perhaps Valygar. Or instead of Valygar you could go heavier mage with Jan, adding high level thief abilities in the party as well.
Fighter/mage is probably more overpowered. Up to you on what's more fun.
Will he leave when my reputation gets too low?
None of the evil companions should leave unless it gets to 19 or 20. And Jan shouldn't leave unless it gets to 2 or 1, iirc. However, the law enforcement patrols you will face can make any rep around 4 or lower somewhat of a chore. I tend to take a mindset of "infiltrating society" in an evil playthrough, as opposed to being all murder hobo. That means doing some "good" quests that have no evil solution. And means sometimes doing the good-aligned solution on quests even when an evil-aligned solution exists. That being said, it's still a fun opportunity to see how the evil solution of some quests play out. So definitely don't shy away from doing that. You can always repair your reputation at a temple.
Jan will certainly be more powerful than Hexxat, so I get taking him. Arguably the strongest companion in BG2, period.
Berserkers are just so damn good, Edwin is the best single classed mage in the game, and Viccy is awesome too.
In my head, a fighter/mage is always geared towards defensive/buff spells and some utility/crowd control, Korgan is a meatshield and dps, viccy for dem heals and protections, Edwin for the big hurting spells.
Reserving 2 slots for main story NPC, that leaves.. none. Possibly Yoshimo or Jan.. I like Yoshimo, despite everything, don't need another thief once you get Imoen anyway.. ALTHOUGH.. if you want thief HLA traps and those juicy bits, then Jan - no contest - and drop Edwin - with a FM, Imoen and Jan, you've got more than enough arcane power regardless.
PS. I think Blade is more fun than F/M. Essentially they do the same, but Blade gets those very juicy Thief HLA that turns things on its head and removes need for Jan for that. But a F/M is stronger in every way, shape and form.. Caster Level is a thing though.. Blade gets a much higher caster level than FM a HUGE part of the saga.. this is significant.
Blade spells stop at lvl 6, but caster level - that which stacks a spells power (i.e 15D6 damage on fireball) is tied to caster level, which Blade gets much, much faster.. a F/M will be well into Throne of Bhaal before he gets to caster level 20 (which is max)
Blade has a very steep power curve and become very powerfull mid-SoA, then they kinda flatten out and get another significant power spike at 3 million xp, (normally well into ToB) and then flatten out again.
FM has a steady but slower power curve, they are good through all of BG1 (just slap on plate and forget your mage class first handful of levels), and they keep growing in power through out the entire saga - never really flattening, but perhaps feeling a little soft mid SoA as single classed characters quickly get to lvl 13-14, about the same time as a multiclass starts to lag behind a little.
Edwin is indeed strong due to the amulet. These days I typically pick other party members though. I'd even favour Korgan simply because he can dish out so much damage and is like a tank. For some fights having a mage is super-important though so it is always a trade off.