Whatcha think? :)

Arocle · Post by **Arocle** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 1:02 am

OK... I have finally summarized my party for SoA and ToB.

Here it is:
Lanya the protagonist bard. Does all the things bards should do. And more...

Anomen the romance and clerical tank.
Jaheira tanking and casting druidic magik.

Nalia the main caster
Jan the thief

This last one wa a bit tough but I finally agreed on one of these two. Viconia or Mazzy. Mazzy would bring some more fighting prowess but Vic is such a great char... It would be shame to leave her behind...

We'll, post yer thoughts.

PDF · Post by **PDF** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 1:28 am

Viconia as 6th NPC ? Why that, you've already one good cleric and a druid !!
And she's evil, your group is good...
And you only have 2 fighters, and none of the best (Jaheira is a pretty crappy fighter till laaaaate in the game IMO). So your 3 "mages" (I count a Bard as a mage, that's what he's better at, bards songs are kinda spells) will have some tough time defending themselves...
I'll go for Mazzy, or (better) Valygar or even Keldorn or Minsc !!

polaris · Post by **polaris** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 1:36 am

I have to agree with PDF on this one. I personally think that Keldorn would be a great addition to this party...as would Minsc. You are a bit short on tanking power IMO.

-Polaris

Edwin · Post by **Edwin** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 1:41 am

IMO every party is god for finishing the game......BUT i think yours is really strange: 2 half mages (bard and Jan....he will not arrive to cast high lvl spells); a druid and a cleric with not so high wis. Nalia is good, but imoen or Edwin are better. Moreover you miss some serious fighter. If you really want to continue with these, go for Valygar; you have Nalia with short bow abilities (not good as Mazzy, obviously, but good).
IMO you should drop Jahiera or Anomen and take Keldorn....you'll have the great Inquisitor special abilities. This way your party will be: bard; mage; mage\thief; stalker; inquisitor; fighter\druid or cleric.....more balanced IMO.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 2:44 am

Anyone taken a look at imoen and nalia stats? except str Imoen is much better in all catagories. Much better as a thief if you decide to drop jan the freak for a tank.

Also savarok is by far the best killer in the game. just for fun I used him against the elemental prince of the air, with the vorpal blade. activate greater whirlwind with any vorpal weapon and you can kill anythign in a single round. 10 attacks per round, and vorpal blade has 15% chance of instant kill. do the math. I thought savorok was toast when the prince summoned blade globe, but he made the saves with amulet of spell warding and a helm of defense and gorgon plate approx +7 to saving throws.

The only points against savarok is vulnerable to charm/dominate and inability to use holy avenger. But I think I got that covered with ring of air control (improved invisibility) and liacor the funny sword. Which I will happyly drop into a lava pit once I get the psion blade.

Astafas · Post by **Astafas** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 2:53 am

Your party is more than enough and you'll have a good time playing it. Not everybody like pure fighter types. However, in this party I'd recommend Mazzy before Viconia. Anomen is good at tanking and Mazzy would be great right behind him with her bow. An alternativ would be Valygar as a scout and backstabber.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 3:20 am

Nothing wrong with mage heavy groups. standard cheese tactic 1 for BG2 is to use project image to get around the 5 summon limit. this is not a big deal in tob with planers and elemental princes, but for most of BG2 my party followed a group of 6 skeleton warriors around aaaaas they led the way, and acted as shock troopsand infantry while my group shot them full of holes and used heavy duty spells to obliterate the mages in the group. I always had at least one tank, however, to provide extra infantry support.

jeremiah · Post by **jeremiah** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 4:44 am

Originally posted by UserUnfriendly:
<STRONG>The only points against savarok is vulnerable to charm/dominate and inability to use holy avenger. But I think I got that covered with ring of air control (improved invisibility) and liacor the funny sword. Which I will happyly drop into a lava pit once I get the psion blade.</STRONG>

You might want to rethink that. Psions blade did not prevent him getting dire charmed by the Anu-fiends (?) in WK level 3. The blade only protects against confusion and psionic attacks (PSIONIC as opposed to magical domination and stun).

While lilarcor protects agains all charm and confusion spells. Though it is only a +3 weapon.

polaris · Post by **polaris** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 5:19 am

For a fighter like Saravok, I like to keep lilacor in one of the ready weapon slots even if I normally use a +5 weapon (like the Psion's Blade) or even a +6 weapon (like the ravager).

A +3 weapon in most cases is plenty in the hands of someone like Sarevok (the Vorpal Blade is also only +3) against the sort of creatures that can charm.

In general I have found that if the creature can charm/confuse, then it is venerable to a +3 weapon (like Lilacor). If it takes a +4 weapon or better than you don't have to worry about charming. As such keep Lilacor in a quick weapon slot. If you see charmers like succubi, nymphs, or erriynes, then *quickly* equip lilacor and go meet those wanton wenches

Otherwise stick with your primary weapon.

-Polaris

PDF · Post by **PDF** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 7:56 am

That discussion makes me realize that everyone is seeking a protection against charm, confusion, domination, and so on in a SWORD where it exists in a SHIELD (that let you bash the opposition with the other hand

).
It's the Shield of Harmony, it's found early in the game IIRC, and my fighters chars ALWAYS use it when faced to demons/illithids/ liches/etc... !!
In the other hand I can have any katana, longsword, flail, hammer...

polaris · Post by **polaris** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 8:02 am

PDF,

The shield of harmony is great...if you are a sword and shield fighter (one of my tanks always uses it).

HOWEVER, the most potent weapons in the game are two handed weapons. It is a lot easier to keep an assortment of weapons with various immunities in your quick weapon slots, than it is to have to constantly go in and disable that shield if you want to use that +6 Ravager.

In short, for a fighter with TH weapons, Lilacor is great. If you are into swords and shields, the shield of harmony is great. IMO a good party should have both.

-Polaris

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 8:55 am

This team needs a real tank.

seanthony · Post by **seanthony** » Fri Aug 10, 2001 10:46 am

Well, personally I'd pick Mazzy hands down! haha.. u SO need a tank. But then again like some ppl have said, u dont need one.

Anyway, after reading ur topic, I found out that Valygar COULD be a good tank also. I guess I had a bad impression of him in my first SoA game when he started getting hurt a lot. But he can backstab (which is very good.. i just started backstabbing only a few days ago with Jan.. omg! it's so good! haha)... as well as hide in shadows with good HP.

BUT, if you want a REAL tank, get Minsc.. that is, if u want to.

Arocle · Post by **Arocle** » Tue Aug 14, 2001 12:28 am

Hmmm... After gettin' a lot of positive comments about the thieving abilities of Imoen, mut to-be party has changed. Tell me your opinions again dear friends.

Lanya the bard still...

Anomen for the romance and priestly magic, tanking...

Jaheira for druidic magic and support.

Yoshimo for thieving (to be replaced by Imoen, MY SISTER!)

Aerie for all around support

Either Mazzy or Minsc... Minsc would be kinda nice, 'cause the continuity from BG1, but he's almost as annoying as Jan, so Mazzy would be nicer... Valygar could sub in here also... Backstabbing and stealth.

I noticed that my party is finally going to be good!!

Alignment-wise.

Well, tell me whatcha think.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Tue Aug 14, 2001 12:45 am

Thanks guys, since I never bothered to get psion blade to look at stats I had no idea. Rats.

I've got high mastery halberd, grand in two handed, I will invest in one point for long sword and use eualizer for thaose situations. liacor is actually pretty funny, after a bit of travel time, so i'll keep it.

Sigh, and here I thought I'd found the best defense against dominationa dn charm and used my weapons profs. sigh. never gets perfect, does it?

Astafas · Post by **Astafas** » Tue Aug 14, 2001 1:29 am

Mazzy or Valygar, now that's a tough call... Depends on how you want to fight and what weapons you want for the different NPCs. If you use Anomen and Jaheira as tanks up front (both using shields to lower the AC), Mazzy will be well protected right behind and will deal out some nice damages with her short bow (especially to mages). Or you could place Jaheira further back (throwing darts and spells) while Anomen and Valygar acts as tanks. Valygar will take some damage due to his relatively high AC. However, with Celestial Fury along with the Corthala Blade, he will return this favor better than all your other NPCs combined. And there is always the Rings of Regeneration.