Whats your powergaming 6 person party?

[Sloty1984]

Should go well through normal and hof.

I think the one of silverdragon72 is really good but do you have a better one?

Are chars without caster levels really that bad in late game and hof?

[Mulligan]

Should go well through normal and hof.

I think the one of silverdragon72 is really good but do you have a better one?

Are chars without caster levels really that bad in late game and hof?

You can run & beat normal mode with a party of 5 Warrior types and a Cleric, there are many approaches for succes. But even your lvl 30 Barbarian with 450+ HP drops dead quite fast during HOF mode due to having LOW AC (armor class). Therefore most powerparty guides have builds with caster lvls as that is needed for buffing up to the insane ac's one need to stay properly protected.

There are 2 (3) interesting guides, UPP & JUPP out there, a link is provided by silverdragon. UPP is good for Normal play (IMO) but tedious & booring for HOF (IMO). And you will soon see many ways on how the characters could be made better. JuPP has an insanly amount on pure hardcore math-facts about the game and is a very good read if you are into Meta-gaming. Especially helpfull was JuPP's downgrind on how Luck (spells,songs & items all) & Power Attack works for me. I wont copy stuff from either UPP or JUPP here, but just give a short example of how a non caster can get insane AC and beat HOF : this build is not used in JUPP's 2 parties, but given as example by Jukka himself for a High AC Warrior:

The untouchable decoy Monk
Human Monk(28)/Dreadmaster(1)/Rogue(1)
Start statistics: STR7 DEX18 CON16 INT14 WIS18 CHA3
Stats with buffs: STR15 DEX21 CON16 INT14 WIS38 CHA6
AC: 10 (base)
+6 (Spirit Armor)
+5 (Ghost Armor)
+5 (DEX bonus)
+14 (WIS bonus)
+11 (Equipment)
+6 (Feats)
+5 (Monk levels)
+9 (Haste, Barkskin)
===
71

As you see, he gets AC of 71, and the magic number is 72 (as biggest bosses have 52 in BaB). Add a Bard to the party and he has 73. But the rest of the party is Buildt around on how to boost this type of character , and you may find gameplay booring and sterile. Every Combat...boost, boost, boost, rince & repeat. JuPP Presents a Meele Party and an Arcane Party, but the Meele party too is heavy on Casting, just it is Buff's and DeBuffs as Focus. But they hit very hard and takes on HOF with a laugh and none of that Cheese Summon undead tricks. Read it and try playing it, you will be surprised

Powerparty, powergaming, ultimate builds. It is often about becoming insanely strong and unbeatable in the end. But in my experience the way to the end is a very long road. Silverdragons may be the most versatile guide for keeping a party as strong as possible all the way through both Normal & HOF, but (IMO) i think he uses too much muticlassing. Several classes with 3 levels of Rogue ? crazy IMO. And it is (IMO) false that Drow are best in everything. But it may boil down to a matter of playstyle. It must be fun to play and therein lies the different approaches. UPP does the job too but needs Tons & Tons of Buffs i never use, and Tons & Tons of healing.

My alltime personal ( most fun and also very strong) party was something like this (party lineup in random order) :

Human Druid 27, Monk 1, Rouge 1, Dreadmaster 1, Lawful Neutral
STR 13, DEX 18, Con 11, INT 13, Wis 18, CHA 3.
- Powerful spellcaster and very strong in shapeshifted Combat. Has a walking AC of 50 +, and with some effort AC of 62+. May also reach Ultimate AC, but it is a long buff period to do so. And Build takes some time to strenghten.

Deep Gnome Illusionist x, Paladin of Mystra 1, Monk 1, Lawful Good.
STR 16,DEX20,CON14,INT 18, WIS 5, CHA 1.
- I was inspired for this Build from Reading JUPP. I have played again without Main Rogue and then took 2 lvls of Rogue instead of Monk.
- Main Buffer and also AC of 62 +

Drow (female) Dreadmaster 29, Monk 1 (may also have rogue 1 but i didnt ) Lawful Evil
STR 14, DEX 20, CON 10, Wis 18, InT 13, CHA 5

Thiefling Rogue 27, Ranger 1, Monk 1, Dreadmaster 1, Lawful Evil.
STR 13, DEX 20, CON 12 INT14, Wis 18, Cha 1
- i have also a lawful good version with Rogue 28, Ranger 1, Paladin 1, Low WIS & High CON/STR

Human Sorceror 29, Paladin 1.
Str 18 Dex 16, CON 18, Int 3 Wis 3, CHA 18

Drow or Human female( i have played both ) Bard 29, Dreadmaster 1, Neutral Evil
STR 8(6), DEX 20(18) Con 14 Int 14, WIS 5(3) CHA 20 (18)

This party was incradibly fun right from the start to the end. I used some cheesy tactics to get the casters to the right levels in the right moments, but mostly played vanilla leveling for the most part. And i used more focus on Debuffing the enemy than on casting tons of Evocation spells in HOf Mode. In HoF, Fireballs are only toothpicks to the enemy, minor nuicances.

[Darth Malignus]

Well, all-powerfull party of all ages is a stretch, but I've tried running with this party, and actually with a lot more succes than previous groups. Yes, as you'll probably notice, the characters are heavily inspired by different walkthroughs, but I won't get much into crediting people. I'd never get it done then:

Female Tiefling Fighter 10/Rogue 20.
Str 10, Dex 14(19), Con 10, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 16(18).
-Ranged leader, trap remover and lockpicker. Intelligent and charismatic, but not completely defenceless. Some apparently insist on making a Paladin the party leader. Uhhh... sure.

Male Human Fighter 22/Paladin of Helm 8.
Str 18(23), Dex 15, Con 18, Int 3, Wis 10(12), Cha 12.
-Pretty straight forward melee combattant with a ton of feats. All the Paladin skills like Smite Evil never really did it for me. IMO feats like Fiendslayer at least justified level 8, but not more than that. It'll give an edge in the Severed Hand. I'll spend 2 points on Wisdom to get the few spells I can get with a level 8 Paladin... which is no more than level 2. I'll probably never get to use that particular feature of the Paladin much, but hey...

Male Half-Orc Battleguard of Tempus 30.
Str 20(23), Dex 16, Con 18(20), Int 1, Wis 18(20), Cha 1.
-The proverbial healer, buffer and also extra muscle, when the situation calls for it.

Male Human Monk of the Old Order 30.
Str 16(17), Dex 18, Con 18(19), Int 3, Wis 18(23), Cha 3.
-Scout and later on a pretty decent melee fighter.

Female Human Rogue 2/Wizard 28.
Str 9, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 18(25), Wis 10, Cha 3.
-Spellchucker, ranged attacker with some pickpocket mojo (might as well branch some of those Rogue skills out to some of the non-main Rogue party members if I can, with all of those skill points to spare).

Female Human Ranger 1/Druid 29.
Str 16, Dex 18(20), Con 18(21), Int 3, Wis 18(20), Cha 3.
-Ranged spellchucker and also dishes out a little healing now and then. Seems like a waste not to include those Nature spells.