Strong but colourful party?

[Belgarion]

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum and new to IWD II. I have however played the the first part with the follow ups and of course BG1 and BG2.
I would like your advice on a party of six.
This is what I have in mind:

1. Rogue/ Wizard 1/ XX
2. Paladin/ Sorcerer 1/XX
3. Fighter /Druid 4/XX
4. Cleric
5. Fighter/ Paladin 4/XX
6. Fighter/ Barbarian 4/XX

What do you think of them? Also suggestions on race and stats are very welcome? Thanks!!

[Skooter327]

Welcome to the forums and to IwD II!

1. I don't see a reason to have just 1 Lvl of rouge in a wizard. If you want to prowl, just cast invisibility. For locks there is knock, and for traps, you have a barbarian
3. I would skip the fighter levels with a druid. A druid is just not the best front-liner, and you seem to have plenty of tanks anyway. I think those 4 fighter levels would be better spent getting the druid to high levels sooner. There's some great offensive & summoning spells up there in the druid tables.

As for races:
1. Svirfneblin-free blur, mirror image, and invisibility; 3 level penalty sucks, though. Maybe Tiefling instead, still 1 level penalty, but +2 Int & some elemental resistances.

2 & 3. Aasimar, +2 Cha & some elemental resistances, but a 1 level penalty. Maybe wild elf instead, (Fav. class: sorc), & no level penalties for more spells sooner.

5. The paladin class fits aasimars perfectly.
6. Half-orcs make great barbarians.

Who will be you speaker? (S)He will need high Int. as well as high Cha. Humans (& sub-humans), svirfneblin, and duergar can have merc. background for buying/selling; any speaker needs high bluff, diplo., and intimidate skills (use high Int.) All this points to your wizard.
Hope you like my opinions!

[aberrant80]

Originally posted by Belgarion
1. Rogue/ Wizard 1/ XX
2. Paladin/ Sorcerer 1/XX
3. Fighter /Druid 4/XX
4. Cleric
5. Fighter/ Paladin 4/XX
6. Fighter/ Barbarian 4/XX

1. agreed. no point having a rogue level. might as well stick to pure wizard to get high-level spells quick. or use fighter 1, to get that extra feat.

2. if u just want 2 use the holy avenger, then dualling with sorc is just pointless. if u dont plan on holy avenger, then this is combo doesn't seem to work so well. mnk 3 would be better for the speed.

3. actually i think this is ok. i have barb1/druidX. for the speed and extra hp. since druid's can shapeshift, they don't need weapon spec. plus, u'll be relying on druids for summons and support rather than tank.

4. good.

5. this is ur main pal i guess... so wat's with the pal at 2? btw, i'm playing this too.

6. great tank.

[Impaler987]

Originally posted by Belgarion
Hi there,

I'm new to the forum and new to IWD II. I have however played the the first part with the follow ups and of course BG1 and BG2.
I would like your advice on a party of six.
This is what I have in mind:

1. Rogue/ Wizard 1/ XX
2. Paladin/ Sorcerer 1/XX
3. Fighter /Druid 4/XX
4. Cleric
5. Fighter/ Paladin 4/XX
6. Fighter/ Barbarian 4/XX

What do you think of them? Also suggestions on race and stats are very welcome? Thanks!!

1. Yeah, no point in having only 1 level of rogue. Either go rogue all the way, or wizard all the way. But since you're gonna have a sorceror, that may be all the spellcasting you'll ever need. I'd go rogue all the way, having one is always a great asset. Either halfling, tiefling, or elf recommended.

2. Not a good place to have another "paladin." Keep him a pure sorceror, or as suggested earlier, 3 levels of monk are nice. Wild elf recommended, as sorceror is that race's favored class. Half-elf or human are good too, esp. if you plan to multiclass.

3. This is actually ok. Personally I'd take a ranger level instead, as the druid and ranger abilities compliment each other so well. but overall, it's still alright. Half-elf recommended to avoid multiclass XP penalty.

4. If you're gonna have a "second" paladin, I'd make it your cleric (Paladin/Painbearer of Illmater). 2 to 3 paladin levels should suffice. Of course, nothing wrong with a straight cleric. Aasimar perfect for the job.

5. Very good, in fact, my favorite character multiclass combo currently. Aasimar perfect for the job.

6. Good. Half-orc or dwarf recommended.

[koz-ivan]

Originally posted by Belgarion
Hi there,

I'm new to the forum and new to IWD II. I have however played the the first part with the follow ups and of course BG1 and BG2.
I would like your advice on a party of six.
This is what I have in mind:

1. Rogue/ Wizard 1/ XX

might as well take 2 rogue levels, reminder to start w/ rogue to pick up even more skill pts. i tend to go w/ gnome illusionists

2. Paladin/ Sorcerer 1/XX

a nice mix, a little slow to develop but tough to stop once it gets rolling. aasimar is nice for the higher cha, but has ecl penalty.

3. Fighter /Druid 4/XX

i'm not sold on the ftr levels as providing much benefit, still it's not a bad mix. dwarf maybe?

4. Cleric
5. Fighter/ Paladin 4/XX
6. Fighter/ Barbarian 4/XX

nice, nice, very nice.

since the cleric is single class any non human race is good.
ftr/pal - aasimar is the way to go. (or dwarf if no ecl.)
ftr/barb - half orc.

[Belgarion]

Thanks for all your usefull suggestions!
Now I''m thinking about who has to become the leader of this party of adventures.
What are the requirements for a good leader? High Intelligence and Charisma? Which skills does he/ she had to focus on?

Party as for now:

1. Rogue 1-3/ Wizard X
2. Cleric X
3. Sorceror X
4. Fighter 4/ Paladin X
5. Fighter 4/ Barbarian X
6. Fighter 4/ Druid X or Druid X

[Skooter327]

Paladins & monks turn down many rewards, so avoid leading with them. On the other hand, paladins can sense evil auras & will sometimes provide different dialog options. If you lead with a paladin, you'll want to have a second speaker to recieve rewards with.

It is true that a leader neads high Cha. and high Int. A perfect example of the benefit of high Int. is at the very beginning of the game. As soon as you get of the boat, you get a chance to talk some wounded soldiers out of thier equipment. Save before you do, and try it with both low & high Int. characters. You should be able to get more equipment with higher Int. Of course, the bluff, diplomacy, & intimidate skills help make a good speaker, & high Int yeilds more skill points to spend.

High Cha. is still important also, especially for buying & selling items. Your leader wouldn't neccesarily have to be your buyer/seller. However, whichever character you choose to barter with, the best choice would coincide with a class that requires high Cha in a race that allows the Mercantile background feat (human, deep gnome, gray dwarf). When shopping, the character that initiates dialog with the shopkeeper sets the prices to buy items, & the character whoose inventory holds the item to sell sets the sell price regardless of who speaks first.

Posted originally by Belgarion
1. Rogue 1-3/ Wizard X
2. Cleric X
3. Sorceror X
4. Fighter 4/ Paladin X
5. Fighter 4/ Barbarian X
6. Fighter 4/ Druid X or Druid X

In this party, I see three possible leaders: 1. Rogue 1-3/ Wizard X, 4. Fighter 4/ Paladin X, or 6. Druid X. Which races do you plan on for each?
If you wanted the speaker & diplomat to be one character, you should plan on a human (incl. sub-races), deep gnome, or gray dwarf, & give either #1 high Int., or #s 4 & 6 high Int.
If you plan to split the diplomat and merchantry duties between two characters, Use #1 as the diplomat (any race), but use another character for alchemy & arcane knowledge duties, & either #4 or #6 (with the proper race) as the merchant. In this case, your char. #1 will need high scores in the spellcraft, diplomacy, bluff, and intimidate skills, so you might consider giving the rogue levels to another character. Perhaps skipping them altogether would be a better choice.

Alternatively, you might consider replacing one of your four spellcasters with a Bard, Bard x/Rogue x, or Ranger x/Rogue y. Among these three charaters, you have an ideal speaker/seller, a good speaker/seller/scout, or a scout/assault-type char. The bard is often overlooked, but is an interesting & welcome addtion to any party. You have the requisite 2 tanks, but you also have a lot of spell power. You don't seem to have a scout, unless you planned on an invisible mage or sorcerer to do scouting.

[fable]

FWIW, I'd suggest going with a full Rogue, maybe giving him/her a single level of Ranger (for dual wielding and ambi-, as needed) or Fighter (for the feat). A rogue will need to stay current nearly every level for the first dozen levels at least to handle the increasing gradient of trap difficulty and chest opening. And if they get a few levels of wizardry they won't be able to do much with it, because any level-dependent spells look only at the wizard levels--the rogue ones aren't considered in the final equation.

[Skooter327]

@fable, if its not too far off-topic, what are your thoughts on bards, party-leaders, and spellcaster-heavy parties? Of course we all know there's really no "wrong" way to form a party (or play the game, for that matter), but I suspect I'm not the only one that enjoys hearing others' opinions on this.

[aberrant80]

Originally posted by Belgarion
...Now I''m thinking about who has to become the leader of this party of adventures.

Party as for now:

1. Rogue 1-3/ Wizard X
2. Cleric X
3. Sorceror X
4. Fighter 4/ Paladin X
5. Fighter 4/ Barbarian X
6. Fighter 4/ Druid X or Druid X

i still say go pure rogue or pure wizard. but ur call i guess.

anyway, for leader, 1 is ok, but it would be quite difficult to allocate points for dex, int and cha. and u won't have the skill points necessary for thief skills and diplomacy skills.

2 is no good, cos clerics get very little skill points.

i think 3 is perfect. since high Cha is a must, just pump up int to 14 or so. make him/her ur loremaster too. enuf skills for diplomacy and lore.

4 could be ur secondary speaker, though be careful about the refuse reward thingy.

5 and 6 is plain unsuitable... unless u want to roleplay.