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Best Protagonist class for party of new NPCs.

SouldancertnSouldancertn Member Posts: 45
I have been wanting to play a party with all the new EE characters all the way through the series. I know that they are all lacking decent priest spell abilities, but I don't enjoy playing clerics as my protagonist that much. I was considering the cheesy cleric/ranger to spice up the option a bit but I'm worried that I will wind up needing cleric spells more than druid spells anyway and that my character will be needlessly multiclassed. Does a cleric/ranger hold up as the party's sole priest or are their better options?
Post edited by Souldancertn on

Comments

  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    On the first EE run that I played I recruited the three new characters using a multi-class Fighter/Mage, Imoen as thief, and Viconia for as the party's healer. Between Viconia, the PC's Bhaalspawn powers, and potions (mainly used during combat) that was sufficient healing. Hope that helps somewhat if you don't want to be boxed in to playing a cleric/something.
  • TarlugnTarlugn Member Posts: 207
    edited February 2014
    Well, I recently played SoA with a half-elf female ranger/cleric, romancing Anomen, and the other party members were Jaheira, Valygar, Yoshimo and Cernd. I´ve been thinking about doing something like that again, thanks due to downloading BG:EE two weeks ago. Making a decision between a c/r or a kitted druid is difficult - I simply want the few good druid spells - Call Woodland Beings, Call Lightning, Summon Insects and Insect Swarm, to name a few I used... and having those on my spell scroll I still had the place for buffing spells like Holy Power, Righteous Magic and Drawn Upon Holy Might. Something I´ve only been speculating is a human ranger dual classed to cleric, or cleric dual classed to ranger - I ´d really like to know, if such a thing would be possible, because both ranger and cleric have a few kits, that make my imagination spin merrily...
  • WolkWolk Member Posts: 279
    edited February 2014
    The new NPCs give you : a thief, a monk, a blackguard, a wild mage and a spoiler. You might need some divine magic to go with that.

    Edit: Yes, cleric ranger should do fine if you don't rely too much on spellcasting.
    CrevsDaakDemonoid_Limewirebooinyoureyes
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    I think that everything is so well-covered now that you have to choose well.
    I'm playing with a Fighter and everything is going very well, I've sole'd BG1 and in BG2:EE recruited Viconia, Dorn, Hexxat, Korgan and Neera, definetly I've never had any type of stopping fight and it's very easy.
    Dorn isn't a very good frontliner in BG2, in BG1 he is very good, but in BG2 he's better in ranger with Poison Weapon, certainly his low hit points and bad AC make him get killed many times.
    jackjack
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    Cleric's probably the best way to go. Maybe a Cleric/Mage just so you can act as a secondary mage.
  • abacusabacus Member Posts: 1,307
    I think you'll likely need some ranking for BG1, Dorn and Rasaad are too easy to one-shot (less of a problem later though)... R/C is close to as tanky as you get, but maybe a dual class could be good, front lining through BG1 then sacrificing some muscle for divine casting as the rest of your party gets stronger...
    booinyoureyes
  • LoubLoub Member Posts: 471
    I'm not sure who this "Protsgonist" guy is, nor have I ever seen him in any of my playthroughs.
  • SharGuidesMyHandSharGuidesMyHand Member Posts: 2,579

    Does a cleric/ranger hold up as the party's sole priest or are their better options?

    It can potentially hold up as the sole priest, but if you intend to use your C/R as a frontline tank, you may run into some problems. It isn't advisable to have a spellcaster at the front of your party because they run the risk of having their spells interrupted by being hit. Besides, you can't smash in an opponent's head and cast a bless spell at the same time. Unless you intend to use Dorn or someone else as your frontline tank, you should probably consider getting a separate cleric who will stand at the middle or rear of your party.
    elminster
  • Demonoid_LimewireDemonoid_Limewire Member Posts: 424
    edited February 2014
    Cleric/ranger is always outstanding. But if you want to start casting divine spells while still in 1EE, i cannot tell you which level is best to dual... With 2 in the picture, it was best to dual in 12L, so you can hit 38 cleric and thusly have maximum spells slot and amazing melee abilities, minus 2nd attack (you get this at 13...) and handicapped by somewhat lesser saving throws.

    Say what... Why don't you try multi? This way you can get quicker access to spells, greater saving throws, and both classes' HLAS, all at the same time!

    Also get him to be chaotic good, for familiar's invisibility spell, in case you dual from the beastmaster kit.
  • SouldancertnSouldancertn Member Posts: 45
    Thanks all for the input, so far. I probably was going to play tacky in the first game since there'd be no better frontliner. In the second, what weapons skills would be best if he were to pull back? Bow, sling if he has high str for the damage bonus? With iron skins he could still stand up in melee for a few rounds at least.
  • mjsmjs Member Posts: 742
    I went cleric mage for an enhanced only (and imoen of course) run
    booinyoureyes
  • booinyoureyesbooinyoureyes Member Posts: 6,164
    edited February 2014
    Iron skins is an incredible spell. I feel like my ranger/cleric never gets hit (she uses that spell every battle and it has a very long duration). Add on the armor of faith spell and the defender of east haven in the off-hand and u are a walking SUV, either ignoring hits or shaking them off with ease.
    If u add buff spells to the mix u can both tank and beat things to death very easily with a hammer, mace or flail
  • LoubLoub Member Posts: 471

    Thanks all for the input, so far. I probably was going to play tacky in the first game since there'd be no better frontliner. In the second, what weapons skills would be best if he were to pull back? Bow, sling if he has high str for the damage bonus? With iron skins he could still stand up in melee for a few rounds at least.

    Actually, the Ranger/Cleric plays really well on the frontlines, you just have to use spells that make use of your enhanced abilities, like summoning nymphs for healing before a tough battle, draw upon holy might to drive your strength and con through the roof, you CAN cast support spells once you have Iron Skins, but they're not the best use of your unique skills.
    Your job should be primarily that of a buffed warrior (you have access to most of the best buffs) and summoner, with secondary focus on healing and area control (just remember to pop up a sanctuary to lose your aggro before attempting to heal other party members, though).
    Ranged combat is, as funny as it might sound, awful for a Ranger that isn't an archer, and especially for a Ranger/Cleric, who only has access to slings as a ranged weapon, because their Ethos forbid bladed weapons (so bows are off-limits) (slings do not actually add STR bonuses to their damage, that is a display bug).
    Depending on your kit, if any, different strategies might work, for a Stalker/Cleric, for instance, the best type of weapon available is, counterintuitively, the quarterstaff (Staff Spear +2 for the first game, Staff of the Ram +4/6 for the second), since they hold many bonuses and can backstab (the only other backstabbable weapon is the club, which is sorely lacking in good options).
    Honestly, for party members you should have at least a thief (Imoen/Nalia is recommended, as Thief levels become largely superfluous by the end of the game, and potions of perception and master thievery can be easily procured) and a fast character to draw aggro before you wade into the battlefield (Rasaad works best in this regard, due to his fireshield and monk speed bonuses) - Rasaad can also detect traps, or even you could, with the find traps spell, freeing points on your thief to devote to the other thieving arts (they can disable any trap that has been detected, regardless of their skill) - you'll also likely need a character to deal with the many mages, such as Keldorn or Mazzy with poison arrows - Jan is also useful for applying arcane buffs and disabling enemies before you have a chance to reach them, so he is very good as well - Unfortunately, Hexxat is quite useless late-game due to pure-classing as the worst class available, Dorn's strength suddenly becomes overshadowed by the versatility of characters such as Mazzy, Neera's Wild Surges suddenly become a lot more dangerous and it becomes increasingly difficult to deal with her low hitpoints (Imoen and Nalia beat her by a mile in this factor), I do not recommend using Wilson due to his fragility.
    In the end, for your character (which is very similar to mine, as you can see in my Postful o' Crazy thread), the new party members are not very good, actually, barring Rasaad, none of them add anything new to the table of the game or are horribly outmatched by old characters (Jan, Sarevok and Imoen are better than Hexxat, Mazzy is better than Dorn, Nalia and Imoen hopelessly outmatch Neera).
  • booinyoureyesbooinyoureyes Member Posts: 6,164
    I'm using the r/c with rasaad yoshi/imoen and the can mod npc (sorcerer) in a four person party. She is more than enough of a cleric (at least for my style of play) in terms of # of spells. With the three tomes of wisdom and another chance to raise this stat in the second game, your bonus spells should somewhat counter the multiclass leveling deficit.
  • jackjackjackjack Member Posts: 3,251
    I was under the impression that slings do add Strength bonus to damage, and that this is working as intended.
    Jalily said:

    Slings intentionally get Strength damage bonuses in BGII:EE.

  • LoubLoub Member Posts: 471
    jackjack said:

    I was under the impression that slings do add Strength bonus to damage, and that this is working as intended.

    Jalily said:

    Slings intentionally get Strength damage bonuses in BGII:EE.

    D'oh, I'm an idiot. Well, time to respec Melons out of clubs and into slings.
    jackjackCrevsDaak
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    Loub said:

    jackjack said:

    I was under the impression that slings do add Strength bonus to damage, and that this is working as intended.

    Jalily said:

    Slings intentionally get Strength damage bonuses in BGII:EE.

    D'oh, I'm an idiot. Well, time to respec Melons out of clubs and into slings.
    I prefer Throwing Daggers, since all the Magical Throwing Daggers that you can get are 2d4, they should add STR damage (this is going to get fixed in the next patch, in the beta they already are fixed :D) and they have 2 APR base.
    jackjack
  • abacusabacus Member Posts: 1,307
    CrevsDaak said:

    Loub said:

    jackjack said:

    I was under the impression that slings do add Strength bonus to damage, and that this is working as intended.

    Jalily said:

    Slings intentionally get Strength damage bonuses in BGII:EE.

    D'oh, I'm an idiot. Well, time to respec Melons out of clubs and into slings.
    I prefer Throwing Daggers, since all the Magical Throwing Daggers that you can get are 2d4, they should add STR damage (this is going to get fixed in the next patch, in the beta they already are fixed :D) and they have 2 APR base.
    Aren't you limited to +3 though?
  • LoubLoub Member Posts: 471
    CrevsDaak said:

    Loub said:

    jackjack said:

    I was under the impression that slings do add Strength bonus to damage, and that this is working as intended.

    Jalily said:

    Slings intentionally get Strength damage bonuses in BGII:EE.

    D'oh, I'm an idiot. Well, time to respec Melons out of clubs and into slings.
    I prefer Throwing Daggers, since all the Magical Throwing Daggers that you can get are 2d4, they should add STR damage (this is going to get fixed in the next patch, in the beta they already are fixed :D) and they have 2 APR base.
    Clerics cannot use anything stabby or slashy, because their Ethos prevent them from using such objects. Pretty annoying, really. This leaves Stalker/Clerics with only two backstab options (Quartestaves and Clubs), with only one of them being viable in BG2 (Quarterstaves (Staff Mace +2 in the first game, Staff of the Ram +4/6 in the second vs Club +2 on the first, Club of Detonation +3/5 (which frequently kills you and your companions) in the second)).
    jackjack
  • MacHurtoMacHurto Member Posts: 731
    edited February 2014
    I just did a SoA+ToB playthrough with a dual ranger 9/cleric and all 5 EE characters. It worked perfectly. It is a very melee heavy group and I was using charname spells mainly for insect swarms and elemental summoning and then iron skin/melee. All healing was done through potions and a couple of Heals. Never bothered with other healing spells as there are more than enough potions everywhere. The only cleric addition was undead popcorn which is very convenient. But in general, after levelling s couple of times, my experience in this run is you dont really need a cleric.

    Until you dual, you might want to tag jaheira or viconia along and wait to pick Wilson. He does not have any banters anyway. It fits the ranger theme and the epilogue/initial dialog is hilarious but otherwise he felt like a dead weight. Specially when everyone is going around with boota of speed in ToB. He owned the demilich in WK, but that was it. Would have been nice to have more monologues with him
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