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BG1 vanilla: best party for a mage?

Hey, I am playing as a mage and having difficulties forming my own party. What is the best setup for a mage MC? I know that I should have one cleric, maybe two tanks, a thief and someone extra, but whom? I hope you guys can give me some ideas, what are some best of the best NPCs to have around for a mage?

Comments

  • JedditeJeddite Member Posts: 8
    Okay, I somehow figured that one out. What do you think of a party consisting of Ajantis, Branwen, Imoen, Kivan, Coran?
    tbone1
  • ChnapyChnapy Member Posts: 360
    It's not a bad team, although i know having only one healer is a bit short to my taste at levels 2-5 since there's no lvl 2 healing spell worth mentionning (unless you play with the IWD spells added). Ajantis might help with that a wee bit though.

    You also have the option to dual class Imoen to mage since Coran is also a thief and comes with his open lock almost maxed out. That way Immy can cover for whatever school you barred yourself from if you're playing a specialist. And Coran gets more point to put in other thieving skills. If you wanna do that I recommend dualing Imoen at lvl 3 with 85 in find traps (which means she'll need to drink a potion to disarm some of the hardest traps out there), requiring 12,500xp to get her rogue levels back or lvl 4 with 100 in find traps and getting her levels back at 25,000xp.

    tbone1
  • tbone1tbone1 Member Posts: 1,985
    Jeddite said:

    Okay, I somehow figured that one out. What do you think of a party consisting of Ajantis, Branwen, Imoen, Kivan, Coran?

    Not bad. Ajantis is your tank; Branwen can be the second party tank and healer; there's plenty of "artillery" with Kivan, Coran, and Imoen; Imoen can dual to be your secondary mage and Coran can cover thieving the gap.
  • JedditeJeddite Member Posts: 8
    When is the right time to dual Imoen? Level 8?
  • tbone1tbone1 Member Posts: 1,985
    Jeddite said:

    When is the right time to dual Imoen? Level 8?

    I don't think that there is a DEFINITE level; it depends what you want to do. If I am playing a thief or plan to keep Montaron around, I dual her ASAP; that was I can quickly get a mage with short bow proficiency. I have dualed her right after clearing the bandit camp; I can then pick up Coran right away or (if I've done a speed run) level her by going through a lot of wilderness areas that don't require a thief. If I want to recruit Safana, I dual Imoen right before doing that.

    Level 8 is probably too late. The level cap for BGEE is 161K. Level 8 thieves take 70K, which leaves 91K for mage levels. That is level 7, so she won't get her thief skills back. Getting to level 7 takes 40K, so the 121K for her mage levels puts her at Level 8. However, that occurs after 90K, so you won't have both her classes' skills until quite late in the game. I think by level 5, maybe 4, you can have her Find Traps and Open Locks high enough that, when her thieving returns, she can handle all the locks and traps in the game (although a couple in Durlag's might require a potion or two, but I can't recall).
  • JedditeJeddite Member Posts: 8
    edited August 2017
    Thanks! I've decided to dual her at level 4. How about switching Branwen to Viconia? I fell in love with the voice actor (playing the Polish version), I cannot seem to stay with Branwen considering Viconia is in BG2 and I am also planning to romance her once I get to BG2.

    Edit:

    Right, I forgot about the conflict between Kivan and Viconia. Who would be in place of Kivan when Viconia's in the party, providing the other members of the group are unchanged?
    Post edited by Jeddite on
  • DreadKhanDreadKhan Member Posts: 3,857
    Maybe Dorn? Not as much archer, but a better melee-guy with poison for arrows, or Kagain if you like a tank.
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