Perfect Party #11
I'm going to introduce you my perfect party for BG2-SoA. Above all, the most important thing is that I didn't use any cheat, game editor, etc. They kill the fun of the game. Well, I used them, but only to recreate actual AD&D character, still without going out AD&D rules. Anyway, I repeat, I didn't use them in this game.

In my opinion, what you have to do to make a strong party is use all of the four "critical" classes; so you need:
a. at least 2 "warmachines";
b. at least 1 mage;
c. at least 1 healer;
d. at least 1 thief;
in this way, you have a free slot as well!

Anyway, I can easily touch all those points. I have:
a. 2 "warmachines" and a half;
b. 3 mages;
c. 2 healers and a half;
d. 1 thief.

No, I didn't go out the six-characters limit. Here it is:
1 - Marco [main character: Paladin/Cavalier] - he is the first and strongest warmachine and the half cleric as well;
2 - Korgan - he is the other powerful warmachine;
3 - Anomen - the main cleric and the half warmachine as well;
4 - Edwin - the main mage;
5 - Imoen - the second mage and the thief;
6 - Aerie - the third mage and the second cleric.

Personally, I have a theory on Aerie: lonely, Aerie is useless, since she's too weak and gain levels very slowly; BUT, if you have a mage and a cleric, Aerie becomes a great add-on power!

Here it is some examples of Aerie might:
1 - the most important is that she killed Firkraag by herself using the Wand of CloudKill when I didn't have Edwin yet;
2 - With a triple Turn Undead attack from Marco, Anomen and Aerie, I turned Kangaxx while he was in the Demi-Lich form! It was then easier trashing him with Carsomyr +5 while he was escaping;
3 - I now can cast 15 Magic Missle per time, from Edwin, Imoen and Aerie; What about, then, casting a "Party Protection From Evil" and summoning 3 devils, one per mage? With this tecnique, the final battle with Irenicus lasted 4 mins!

I kept all the best stuff I found in the game for Marco: Carsomyr+5, Mace Of Disruption +2 and SkullCrusher (dual-wielding against undead), Red-Dragon-Scales armor, Helm of Balduran, Hill-Giant-Strength Girdle, Ring of Gaxx, Ring of Protection +2 and Gauntlet of Weapon Expertise. He has ** in mace ability, ** in two-handed sword ** in single weapon style (critical hit with 19 and 20!) and *** in two-weapon style. The worse saving throw he has is "vs Spell" and it is 0! All the other saving throws are -1, -2, etc. Yes, it had been hard to build such a character but now it is ready. If you want him, just e-mail me and I'll send him you. Write me at mark@mschumacher.com

So, Marco is the character which inflicts and takes the heaviest damages, thus protecting weak party members such as Aerie. I tried to make him enter lonely in a melee battle with Firkraag: after taking terrible damages, Firkraag had to die. Marco wasn't feeling very well anyway, he had 70% of damage, but he won and that's the important thing.

Korgan isn't as strong as Marco but very powerful anyway. Equipped with Red-Dragon Helm, Ring of Fire Protection, Ring of Regeneration, LegionPride Armor, StoneFire in main hand and FrostReaver in secondary hand, he totally destroyed the Ust Natha city in the UnderDark by himself, after the discovery of my betrayal to Ardulace. I made an extra-savegame to try sending Korgan in melee with Drizzt. Korgan rulez!

Anomen is a good assistant of Marco and Korgan in melee battles by using Red-Dragon shield, Mauler's Arm Mace +3, Plate Armor +3 and Helm of Glory, but his true power is the cleric class. He is a very strong healer (he can learn a lot of "Heal Critical Wounds" and similar spells), but he can trash hard your enemies as well, with FireStorm, Holy punishment, etc. Additionally, he is very good in breaking magic, since he gains a high-level "Dispel Magic" spell.

Edwin is the main mage. His only flaw, theoretically, is that he cannot cast Divination spells, since he is an Conjurer. Anyway, for me it isn't a flaw, because the only Divination spell I cast is Identify, and that's a matter of Aerie or Imoen. When you meet Edwin, he is already provided with a lot of spells, can cast much more spells than Imoen and Aerie (thanks to his specialization), and learns new spells with ease.

Imoen is a good thief and a good mage. No special merits, no special flaws. She simply can do her job well and I'm fond of her, since she's my sister and I had her in my party all over BG1.

Before I rescued Imoen, I had Nalia. She's far poorer as thief than Imoen, but I don't need a strong thief. I just need somebody to unlock traps. Unlocking doors was often a job for Edwin with the appropriate spell, since Nalia failed a lot of time in that. I HATE YOSHIMO! I HATE BETRAYERS!

Note: I know that Korgan's and Edwin's alignments are the opposite of the rest of the party's alignment, but with 18 reputation I can satisfy my lawful-good-Cavalier beliefs and nobody runs away.

Feel free to write me all your critics and questions. :)

Submitted by: Marco