Tactics for my party, please
DJKajuru
Member Posts: 3,300
Heya!
Guys, I'm currently playing BG1 but I've got a BG2 party on my mind which isn't really fighter-heavy but is sure fun to play. I appreciate any advice you might have about them:
Leolamin - Human Blade Str 10 dex 19 con 9 int 17 wis 12 cha 17 , profs in 2 weapon, short sword, dagger, dart , scimitar, long sword
Jaheira
Jan
Viconia
Yoshimo
6th slot reserved for mr.S in ToB , might do other npc quests but they'll be temporary.
Thanks in advance!
Guys, I'm currently playing BG1 but I've got a BG2 party on my mind which isn't really fighter-heavy but is sure fun to play. I appreciate any advice you might have about them:
Leolamin - Human Blade Str 10 dex 19 con 9 int 17 wis 12 cha 17 , profs in 2 weapon, short sword, dagger, dart , scimitar, long sword
Jaheira
Jan
Viconia
Yoshimo
6th slot reserved for mr.S in ToB , might do other npc quests but they'll be temporary.
Thanks in advance!
0
Comments
Jaheira will presumably be your main front-liner throughout, with your Blade joining her up front once s/he's got the proficiencies and spells to be useful at it (which probably won't be the starting condition). Therefore play Jaheira sword-and-shield, because she'll need durability when she's going to be the sole focus of most enemy attacks most of the time. Don't be tempted into dual-wielding or two-handing with her, she's going to need that Shield. When you get HLAs in late-SoA and ToB, make sure she gets a few Hardinesses and multiple Greater Whirlwind Attacks.
Give your protagonist some blunt proficiencies, both for when blunt weapons are needed and also for useful bonus effects of certain weapons. Probably Warhammers, so as to dual-wield with Crom Faeyr (because 25 STR will dramatically improve melee effectiveness), and maybe also Flails for Defender of Easthaven (because the damage reduction may be a life-saver when buffs get Dispelled). Probably also worth giving your protagonist proficiency in Katanas so as to use Celestial Fury in SoA.
Jan's priorities among Thief skills should be Set Traps and Pick Pockets (assuming Yoshimo/Imoen can take care of Find Traps and Open Locks), and then I'd give him Detect Illusion. I wouldn't bother too much with building up his Stealth skills for backstabbing (since Jan is never going to be efficient at backstabs - that's a job for a Stalker or a Fighter/Thief).
Keep Viconia back and let her attack with Sling and spells. (She can be turned into a fair melee tank in BG1, but she can't cut the mustard for melee work at BG2 levels, whereas she remains quite good with her Sling.)
first, if you want imoen in your group, I would run to spell hold as soon as possible ( that's what I do every time I want imoen) sometimes if you wait too long her XP is going to be way behind, although with the current patch, it kind of does this "set them up to speed thing" but still not 100% sure if it works, I can usually get to her when im at 550 000 xp or so
although, if you run straight to spell hold, that part of the game is significantly more difficult doing it like that ( with the lower amount of XP and items) but in my opinion I find it fun as hell
plus doing that route would also depend on your mod set up ( like SCS and the like) and what difficulty you play
for me, I play an unmodded game on insane and I make it through spell hold and the underdark with a lower level team just the same, infact I've done it with a blade once, which bodes well for you, but anyways, go when you are ready and all that jazz, and then when it comes to your team, here is what I would do:
(based on the fact if I was running to spell hold right away)
oh and by the way, there may be a spoiler or 2, so reader beware
your guy:
first of all, make sure to go to werewolf island in bg1, and pick up that chainmail +3 and make sure to keep it on your character when you import to bg2, so then you can pick up that wicked chainmail in early bg2, then I would use longswords, you can get daystar with relative ease and narramata ( I think its called?) but awesome weapons for early bg2 and will be quite useful if you run off to spell hold the narramata also has mirror image as a special ability I believe, very useful, also before you leave, make sure your spell book is stocked up on all those great defensive spells before you go ( spirit armor, mirror image, blur, stoneskin, and the like) because mr and or mrs blade is going to be a little squishy, so help them out a bit with some defensive spells
jaheira:
strangely enough, I would go with quarterstaff with her, right in Bodhi's dungeon when you start, there is a staffmace+2 there, and it is actually a solid weapon, being +2 and crushing is actually quite good, so as soon as she hits level 9 put that 2nd prof in quarterstaff, and then when she hits level 12 put the other one in scimitar so then she can use the +3 scimitar from the drow city ( or the +3 club from tradement, whatever you prefer) I would also go weapon and shield with her as well, with her 17 DEX she can get some decent AC, and I don't care what anyone says, having good AC ( especially in SoA) is worth it, plus for spells, I would make all her level 4 spells call woodland beings, all her level 5 spells ironskins and all her level 6 spells summon fire elemental, with that you should be pretty solid
jan:
with jan, I would just keep him in the back ( im not much of a backstabber gamer, so I like to keep my thieves out of harms way) and I guess for weaponry you can give him a crossbow ( which he already starts with) and for spells I would give him: blindness,magic missile, mirror image, melf's acid arrow ( or glitterdust), slow, fireball, stoneskin, emotion hopelessness, hold monster, chain lightning, especially those status inflicting spells, they will help cause havoc against baddies, especially if they are from the illusion school ( blindness, glitterdust) jan will make enemies have an additional -2 penalty to their saves with illusion magics, and when it comes to thieving skills, I would probably do the same thing as gallowglass said, trap setting and pick pocketing, since you will already have yoshimo/imoen do lock picking and trap disarming
viconia:
I would also put her in the back, she has some silly low HP and even with draw upon holy might and righteous magic, she is still going to have low HP, so give her a sling ( which she uses pretty well with that 19 DEX) and cast away with spells, some good ones are: remove fear, command, hold person, slow posion, animate dead, protection from evil 10' radius, defensive harmony, mass cure, true seeing, heal and the like, and don't under estimate those skellies, especially in the underdark animate dead is just a wicked spell, especially when viconia hits level 15
yoshimo/-imoen:
not much to say here, I always give him a short bow, because once I hit spell hold I replace him for imoen who takes over with the short bow, again im not into the back stabbing, but if you are, then by all means, let yoshimo go to town, he starts off with some pretty decent stealth and he wield a katana, so that can be some pretty decent damage, also wauken's promenade in one of the inns ( cant remember what its called off hand something to do with vales or some such? ) there are a group of thugs upstairs who are looking for a fight, if you pick a fight with them, make sure at all costs to kill that thief because he is using a ring of invisibility which you can give to yoshimo for more backstabs if you wish, but if not, I would just use a bow with him and use his trap setting, he comes with double the traps, so make sure to take advantage of it
now when you grab imoen you will give all of the stuff that Yoshi wore and give it to her, and then its spell book memorizing time, for her I would give her: magic missile, mirror image, melf's acid arrow, slow, fireball, stoneskin, emotion hopelessness, greater malison, hold monster, chain lightning, finger of death, abi-dalzim's horrid wilting, again those status inflicting spells are a killer, and then when you get to finger of death and horrid wilting, enemies are just going to fry, good stuff
slot #6 -> Minsc
since you are eventually going to bring sarevok along you might as well have someone equipped the way sarevok is going to be once you get him ( for easy item transference) I would suggest keldorn, but him and viconia wont fly, and eventually the 2 will fight to the death, so minsc will have to do, which isn't too bad, im assuming if you are going to use sarevok for his 2 handed sword wielding skillz might as well equip minsc the same way, although keep that mace of disruption around, he is an absolute menace to vampires with that weapon equipped, and then when you get back from spell hold, make sure to have both pieces to the silver sword and give that sword to minsc, ( you get one from saemon, make sure to keep it, and when you leave the underdark a gith dude WILL find you and he is holding the other piece, and there is only one way to get that piece from him, and it's the fun way of coarse
Yes, I intend to use Yoshimo all the way through chapter 2 until spellhold and then replace him for Imoen. As for the XP difference, I've got a XP mod installed which limits quest XP and I might be at Spellhold with about 1.5 million XP, which means that I can do all chapter 2 quests and get Imoen at level 13 with a very small difference. She may not be the best mage ever, but I'm thinking of turning her into a capable archer through magical means such as improved haste and magical defenses.
Yeah, that armor is amazing! Specially for Jaheira who has average strength. Yes, I thought of picking my final bg1 proficiency in longswords because there are very good ones in BG2. I have heard recently how good Namarra is (it's the one at the graveyard , isn't it?) , and there's also that +3 longsword at the copper coronet which is cheap and accessible. I'm thinking that I might need to buff up well to avoid backstabbers (got SCS installed) and ranged attacks. I was thinking of picking the staff proficiency at level 16 , since there are powerful ones available early, don't you think? I intend to use strength belts on him and jaheira since crom faeyr can only be obtained later , and I'll have more proficiencies later on, I suppose. Katanas are also powerful, but since I've got SCS installed I probably won't be able to fight for C.F. until late chapter 2.
The shield of balance is quite a must for her in the beginning, isn't it? I mean, until her saves are good enough to avoid vampire charms, charm and confusion spells/monster abilities. There are indeed very good staves available for her early in the game, and powerful ones late game - I suppose I'll pick an extra staff proficiency at level 9 and then a scimitar proficiency at level 12. I agree that a good AC is necessary, although it ain't the regular AC -3 from BG1 , I understand that I might have to level her AC to -7 or less with good armor and shields, I guess. I love the woodland beings/iron skins suggestion, as I usually just memorize those once per day.
I agree with you that Vicky's melee abilities aren't really trustworthy, I mean, they work on a single battle but I like trying to finish a whole dungeon without resting and spells that last less than 6 rounds don't help much more than her offensive spells and healings, I suppose. I agree that your spell selection is quite good, @sarevok57 , and her skeletons go from useful at lower levels to the best summonings late game. I suppose that her sling is the way to go, allied with haste potions or spells.
Yeah, the thing about thieves is that we've got to either accept that they're only really good in combat if they've got good items (elemental arrows, poison daggers, magical items) or if they set traps and backstab. They can't just go and fight an enemy face to face as other classes might do, and I suppose that will be my challenge on this playthrough. I intend to start having Imoen use well her bow+spells , and increase her usefulness until the end of SoA.
Thank you @sarevok57 and @Gallowglass for your detailed feedback!