Some party advise

DeeKay · Post by **DeeKay** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 6:55 am

Hello,

After a long while i got excited about BG2 again. (because of BGEE)
I'm thinking of rolling with a party this time with members i haven't playes with much. For SoA and ToB

I still don't know which kind of PC i want to make. Want it to be something different. I'v played a lot of fighters and paladins.
The members that i do wanna take with me are sofar:

Aerie
Haer'Dalis
Anomen

and maybe Valygar?

I dont wanna include: Mynsc,Jaheira,Jan, Keldorn

Never took Yoshimo with me... but i dont know if its worth it.

Anyone any idea's ?

Thanks,

DeeKay

murph · Post by **murph** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 5:54 am

Can't really offer much advice on party composition (I always pick the ones I like and to hell with efficiency), however, pick a wild mage as your class. It's just a mage with a small (5% IIRC) chance of having every spell turn out very, very different. Being a specialized mage with no forbidden school is nice, and the special first level spell is amazing. Basically you can try to cast any spell as a first level one, and with the right buffs have a fair chance of succeeding, or at least make the random effects work in your favor.
As for the random effects, they are everything from casting your spell and being fully rested at the same time, to a cow dropping on your target to a fireball exploding in your face to turning you into a squirrel. you get the idea.

DeeKay · Post by **DeeKay** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 6:12 am

Thanks for your advice. I never played a Wild Mage before... Look like fun.

So far i have the following party composition:

PC Wild Mage
Aerie Cleric/Mage
Haer'Dalis Blade
Anomen Fighter/Cleric
Valigar Stalker

I'm thinking i'm a little short on melee power. Am I right?

murph · Post by **murph** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 7:05 am

I'm not sure to be honest, three of your members are off tanks, and with summons from the other two it might work out fine. If you want a tank I'd suggest cheating to change the class of another NPC (since Korgan and Aerie don't mix).

DeeKay · Post by **DeeKay** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 7:11 am

Or maybe a just should try Keldorn out... I only took him with me 1 time but at that time he didnt do much for me... Maybe i played him wrong.

murph · Post by **murph** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 7:34 am

Keldorn isn't very interesting, he is however very, very good at killing things (Carsomyr) and taking damage.

DeeKay · Post by **DeeKay** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 7:55 am

Ow ok and what about Mazzy? En WK here to axes in stead of short swords? Or are there other better weapons for her?

I was thinking:

Wild Mage: Eventually Staff of Magi together with Sling or Dart / Robe of Vecna
Anomen: FoA and Crom Faer / Shuruppak's Plate
Aerie: Dont really know? / another robe?
Haer'Dalis: Long Swords /Bladesinger Chain
Valygar : Katana's/ The Night's Gift and then the Grandmaster's Armor
Mazzy: Axes / Plate of Balduran?

Other items i really wouldnt know. Im not really farmiliar with all the good gauntlets, girdles and rings etc.

What do you think?

murph · Post by **murph** » Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:10 am

Should work fine, however Keldorn is a fair bit better at tanking/bashing heads than Mazzy (partly because he has better stats/feats and partly being a paladin and the equipment he can thus use).

DeeKay · Post by **DeeKay** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 1:16 am

Keldorn is probably better than Mazzy, then again i think i'm gonna like Mazzy better and think she would be more fun to take with me...

But...... I was thinking about my melee NPC's and totally forgot about a thief...
I was thinking about replacing Valygar with Yoshimo, but Yoshimo ,

Spoiler

is not available to the end of TOB.[END SPOILER]

I always left him in the dungeon so i dont know how he is. Any advice?
Or should i take Jan? Eventhough he has quite some turnipreflex

But is Jan that good? I never know how to equip someone like Jan. How do you people equip Jan normally?

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 7:45 am

There are a couple of mod options for a thief in SoA [url='http://www.gibberlings3.net/amber/']Amber[/url] and [url='http://www.shsforums.net/files/file/27-fade-pc/']Fade[/url] are both well constructed mods.

DeeKay · Post by **DeeKay** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:20 am

I just looked at them for a bit. So For SoA they seems quite interesting. But they not available in ToB or still in Beta?
Or is a thief not that much needed in ToB? because i like a party which i can playthrough from SoA to the end of ToB.

murph · Post by **murph** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 11:26 am

Since you get Imoen once you loose Yoshimo, taking him is fine. However since you are taking Anomen you might want to go with Jan since he loves teasing the guy.
As long as Yoshimo gets to hit things that aren't hitting back (because a tank an summons are making their life dificult) he's nice, the traps he sets can also be useful. And since he's a decent archer he can always hide in the back once he takes some hits.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:15 pm

They are still playable in ToB, they just don't have any content, i.e. quests or romance options, in ToB.

DeeKay · Post by **DeeKay** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:32 am

Ok thank you. I didn't know that. That makes Amber a viable option.
I'm still torn between two options.

Option 1 : Amber
Option 2: First Yoshimo and then Imoen (make her a pure Swashbuckler through SK)

Still figuring out what would fit my party well.

PS If your role playing the Planar Sphere Quest how do you do it if your a good party and dont wanna take Valygar with your party?
I was asking myself that during my current playthrough.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:09 am

The only way if you don't want to kill Valygar is to take him into the party, enter the sphere, then remove him, which you can do immediately after entering the sphere. If necessary you can then go and pick up any party member you had to remove in order to pick Valygar up.

DeeKay · Post by **DeeKay** » Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:34 am

Thank you for all for your help!!

I have gone for the following:

PC: Elf Wild Mage (currently using sling)

Mazzy: Changed her in Shadowkeep (removed the bow profincies and put them in axes) Wielding StoneFire Axe and Frostreaver Axe. Later on Axe of the Unyielding

Anomen: Flail of Ages, Defender of Easthaven (gonna be Crom Faer) going to Cult of Unseeying Eye for Gaunlets of Dex.

Haer'Dalis: combination of long and short swords (still not sure what to use). Blade of the Roses,[url='http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/equipment/longswords.php#null'] Adjatha the Drinker and Kundane shortsword. also the Daystar for the undead. I probalby have to go back to the Druid Grove for the Belm.[/url]
Later on the Equalisor, Blackrazor and Angurvadal.

Yoshimo: Katana's hoping for Celestrial Fury and [url='http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/equipment/katanas.php#null']Dak'kon's Zerth Blade[/url][url='http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/equipment/longswords.php#null']. Later on Imoen (will make her swashbuckler with same weapon profincies). And perhaps also Scimitar profincies?[/url]

Aerie[url='http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/equipment/longswords.php#null']: currently sling and staff of air. [/url]

[url='http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/equipment/longswords.php#null']Do you think these weapons will be enough for going completely through ToB?[/url]

DeeKay · Post by **DeeKay** » Wed Jan 30, 2013 6:46 am

Thank you all on your party advise!!! It really helped en this has been a fun run through! I already changed Imoen to a swashbuckler( gave her the same XP as i had with Yoshimo) What a beast is the swashbuckler!!! Never thought a thief would be so fun to play.

Since I'm already at Irenicus and ToB doesnt hold any suprices i was wondering about my next playthrough.

I wanted to do a evil party playthrough or at least neutral.

PC Evil Half-Orc Barbarian == Two Handed Swords and Halberts
the NPC players a really want to have with me are:

Korgan == Axes
Viconia == Sling + Shield
Edwin == Staff or Sling or Darts

Later on i was thinking about taking Jaheira and Jan with me. I think i have all the bases covered with this party.

Jaheira == spears or dual wield club?
Jan == CrossBow
But then again i had so much fun with the swashbuckler i was thinking of the following:

instead of Jaheira and Jan a multiplayer Swashbuckler and a Druid Shapeshifter/ Or my own Fighter/Druid? Or is this a bad idea?

Stonewolf · Post by **Stonewolf** » Mon Feb 25, 2013 9:43 pm

I'd advice against playing wild mage. There will be a point in your play when you'll want to smash your screen after mission-critical spell will surge into twenty squirrels or after you've blown yourself up the 68th time when buffing before a fight. Unless you enjoy reloading screen of course, because you'll be seeing that a lot.

Take sorcerer instead. Less rage, way more killing power, more versatility and gets things done.

Edit. Oh. You already completed vanilla with WM. So how was it? Were you glowing orange entire game or only half?

Keidin · Post by **Keidin** » Fri May 24, 2013 6:47 am

Evil party??Download tactics mod and install just the antipaladin kit. Make him half orc for 19 str and con, two-handed swords and quarterstaffs(leave halberds for Sarevok). Then take korgan,viconia for cleric,edwin,yoshimo for thief (swap with imoen). You can also be Human antipaladin and dual to mage at 13.In tob kick out edwin and swap with sarevok and dual him asap to mage (if you use shadow keeper make him conjurer and change weapon prof to gradmastery in halberds

) This party will massacre everything trust me.And you don't need a mage to dispel enemy protection.The antipaladin has dispel on hit with melee weapons plus he can equip the unholy reaver -evil carsomyr-(watcher;s keep on one of the gith in lum the mad's lvl).

P.s. Instead of yoshi pick jan and dumb imoen once you rescue her.

Or kill her

Then kill bodhi and let her have her soul in the after life

Evil party dude. TONS OF ROLE PLAYING