What is your powergaming party of six for tactics mod?
Sloty1984
Member Posts: 182
I want to play this game with most parts of the tactics mod installed.
Now I am looking for a very powerful party setup.
But I want to take NPCs along, with only one self created character.
Which class should I take for maincharacter and which five npcs should I take along for the big challenge of this mod?
Now I am looking for a very powerful party setup.
But I want to take NPCs along, with only one self created character.
Which class should I take for maincharacter and which five npcs should I take along for the big challenge of this mod?
0
Comments
Depends on your goal. But if it's limiting reloads, the only main character concern is really if they are on the frontlines. Since you only game over when you die, it can be better to not be the principal tank. Other than that, any role is fine. Resurrection resources are plentiful for your companions. If you're stuck for an option, any Fighter->Caster dual tends to up extremely strong. Just dual right at the start or level 9.
Other possibilities are Berserker->Mage (or Cleric) dual class
F/C multi is also very strong.
If you're gonna lean heavily into Mages, then a Sorcerer might actually be a very good option.
The very best scrolls are hard to come by before Throne of Bhaal, and even then they're not abundant.. so since Sorcs learn all their spells on level up and not from scrolls, that is definitely an option.
Having 3 high level arcane casters might seem overkill, but it also gives you a LOT of firepower and summons.
Summoning cannon fodder is a very strong tactic.
Good aligned I would be at least considering this line up:
* Charname F/M: Tank/DPS Concentrate on self-buffs/protections and ways to entirely mitigate enemy forces, some crowd control
* Keldorn: Anti-mage/caster, debuffer, dps and part-time tank
* Imoen: Party thief. crowd control, debuff, damage, summons (Might want Jan instead.. sacrifice a bit of arcane power for Thief HLA which is just completely game changing/breaking)
* Neera: crowd control, debuff, damage, summons (Be aware of wild magic shenanigans)
* Jaheira: Tank, anti-mage, summons, Karen
* Aerie: Main healer and buffer, and whatever else you want her to contribute from her spellbook.
Why Aerie?
She combines 2 caster classes, that both will reach caster level 20 (max).
She is the only healer that can use Robe of Vecna which makes her pretty much instacast healing spells, her buffing repertoir is unmatched, she is also the only healer that can get Alacrity (faster casting)
Combining Crom Faeyr, cleric and mage buffs, she can dish out some very serious melee damage if need be (Backup in case Jaheira and/or Keldorn get killed, or just protect the casting trio whilst Jah, Charname and Keldorn are already engaged)
Aerie is woefully underappreciated, but imo she's the strongest companion you can have if you just know how to play her strengths.
Fighter/Illusionist CHARNAME
Korgan
Dorn
Viconia
Jan
Edwin
Will they be strong enough for that difficult mod?
Be sure to have lots of anti-mage spells memorized between the three casters. And even a few such things with Viconia. And yeah, you're solid. Early purchase of the rod of resurrection also gives you a nice cushion against error and the unexpected.
Keep in mind that having 2 illusionists + Edwin narrows your spell options, but there's no hard locks.
Illusionist = No necromancy
Conjurer = No divination
I would advise you go Elf or Half-elf instead, and have an unkitted Fighter/Mage.
(Vampiric Touch, I'm looking at you.. your only reliable self-heal outside of potions and a good single target damage at the same time)
PC: Kensai/Thief (13->x)
PC: Skald (/w RR) - support-caster, else singing (lingering song HLA doesn't break support casting)
Jaheira
Viconia (MR resi and overall face-tank)
Edwin
Works with SCSII (hardcore) + Spell & Item Revision. Had some issues with a couple of spell changes first, but adapted pretty well.
Started as test-run in BG1, but the Skald song becames so absurd for both my dual-wielding Kensai...and once you created your MP party you just revert them into a SP game.
With item-revision in mind: dual maces (everard->ice+stormstar) and the occasional disruption mace for my MC, while my Thief is currently wielding: Mask+4 (invisible-procc!) + Angrurvadal +4 in chapter 7.
The other NPC are just a distraction carnifex^^
Edwin is doing his time-stop/alacrity business - MvP in SCSII
As I said: Item/spell-revision! it makes ranged combat less OP and broken. Would probably run a similar party without it.
Without MP-created party *ufff* I'd do a good party. I still keep my Fighter from a super-old BG1 game, who would switch to Cleric at level 13. The books you can grab in BG1 are seriously insane.
+ Jaheira & Keldorn as melee [Keldorn only needs the dex-gauntlex for decent AC and the dispel-procc lvl 30 from Carsomyr is too insane on top of having 2x dispel-strength & true seeing from Keldorn. And you can long-cast prot-from-evil on each member]
+ Jan (thief/mage support)
+ Nalia/Neera -> Imoen (mage) [would give them only mandatory spells, until you get Imoen]
+ I'd level1NPC Valygar into a proper ranged NPC (obviously Archer /w FireTooth)
You need 2 (!) arcane caster in either mod, be it Tactics or SCS. Aerie is garbage, as she sucks at everything and I don't like her - obviously! Cleric is only needed for the support or passive spells (negative plane and other stuff) and that could handle your MC. Aerie would limit your thieving options, depending your MC. I know, that FMT is popular, but not really that efficient in a full party.
Jan adds more options and give you more freedom in your class. He can even work as decent scout/pick-pocket-dude later one, where Imoen is not good at.
Aerie might shine in a certain Elven armor, but that you should give to someone else. Jan would love it and Imoen should wear the Vecna-robe for ultimate profit.
If you have BG1:ee rush thru it! it doesn't take that long compared to BG2. book-boosted-imported character are really nuts. You have to do only the required chapter (up to Candlekeep dungeon + Durlag) to get them all. Not sure, if there was 1 in the city as well. My last rush-run took like 20hours.
That worked quite well in my last game, but got lazy/bored and 2 or 3 patches messed up my install-folder. Now I just keep a duplicated BG2 modded folder, while the main-game is vanilla.
edit: I summon thee undead ^^ but it's only a month old and a similar question was asked recently in steam.
I tried a couple of pointless NPC mods, but the ones, that truly shine are already ingame
So it's either MP-stuff or back to the roots. with some mods ^^
So main char is berserker, then dual classes to mage.
I then also take Dusk NPC, his resistance and group ability are great.
I used to need one thief and usually took Jan, but since a while I now play with Aura instead, because her unique abilities are great.
The remaining three slots ... this is hard. Usually I like Viconia, mostly because of the phaedre background story in the Underground. As healer she is quite nice too, though I guess other chars could be taken here. I sometimes play with Paina NPC instead, because I loved the spider theme and the spider Avatar, even though in more recent updates that avatar was removed.
Then, I kind of like to have an additional mage. Here Edwin is usually best, but I may sometimes shuffle in other mages. It depends a lot on which NPC, but by and large I think Edwin is great due to the amulet.
Next pick depends. I found that having a strong warrior helps, so I usually take Korgan and give him two axes or axe + hammer. Flail is usually taken by Viconia. Now, Korgan is not necessarily the best NPC because other NPCs may be a good substitute, but I like him because he is very tanky and strong. He is kind of an easy choice for me here. But other substitutes are fine too.
So, TL;DR: Berserker/Mage as main, Dusk, Aura, Viconia, Edwin and Korgan. There may be some better combinations; I guess Aura could be replaced with a stronger NPC, but I kind of prefer NPCs with nice abilities and interesting background story. Skitia's NPCs also have a great background story but they are too weak unfortunately. Jaheira is not so bad either, but I found that in melee, Korgan or pure fighters are so much better. May be useful as ranged fighter but usually I have weaker characters be ranged, and the rest rushes into front row melee. I guess you could find a good party that matches your playing style. If you only want to select four, then perhaps Aura could be dropped and perhaps Viconia too. Edwin is kind of useful due to high level spells, some fights I seem to only be able to win if I lowered resistance of enemies, in particular boss fights. Though one could perhaps use items instead - never liked items, it requires too much micro management for me to then enjoy the game.
> I tried a couple of pointless NPC mods, but the ones, that truly shine are already ingame
Well it depends. Some NPC mods are nice, such as Paina or Aura or Dusk. Other NPC mods are not so great, that is true. I don't think we can generalize though.
Then Aerie (often used in mlee while buffed with Divine spells and protected with Arcane ones), Haer Dalis, Jan, and Jaheira or Korgan. Played that way the party will be quite over leveled, will have a lot of casting power and will be very well protected as all but Jah and Korg can use arcane protection, the Druid will have iron skins and the Berseker the rage, but are the weak links of the chain as can not become invulnerable, but used with caution add dps. Charname will cast those powerful level 9 spells way before SoA ends, he could easily solo the whole SoA and ToB, but with a party is more fun as more tactics become possible.
An other quite easy to play party is Charname multi FM, Nalia or Neera main mage, Aerie, Haer Dalis and Jan. The whole party is protected with arcane magic so untouchable if you know how to buff them and to have 5 people cast arcane spells every round is very powerful, i.e. you can lower a dragon magic resistance to 0 or stack 5 webs or send a greater malison, a doom and 3 feeblemind right at the beginning of a fight.
Both the parties are not super powerful as physical damage dealing but still can deal a good amount of it as long as you use Aerie and the Blade for the purpose, in the second one at full buff you will have Charname and his simulacrum, Aerie and her one, a Planetar and the Blade, all Improved Hasted and this easily match the ApR of many mlee oriented parties, if Charname dual welds Crom and a +1ApR weapon and Aerie dual welds it means 24 attacks/round with the 25STR damage bonus with the Planetar and Blade attacks on top or maybe with the bonus of the Enhanced Bard Song that is more then enough to kill everything quite fast.
I have also tried more mlee oriented parties, but with Tactics Mod in my experience to deal damage a little slower while the party is not taking any damage makes the game much easier then the kill them fast before they kill you strategy.