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I've finally understood how incredibly cheesy arcane magic is at higher levels when it is used right, that is, with Skull Traps, Time Stops, Horrid Wiltings, Simulacrums and Spell Triggers/Sequencers/(Chain) Contingencies. I've long ago been convinced of the power of thieves, with Use any Item, Spike Traps and Time Traps. Now I want to make a party which uses the power of arcane magic and the power of traps to the full extent and do an Insane playthrough with it. I'd like it to be a medium sized party, because I always play without the XP cap, and the fewer characters I take along, the higher level spells they will be able to cast by the end of SoA. On the other hand, I want to have a lot of crazy banter going on (will run with the Banterpack), so I don't want this to be a solo affair.

The main character's alignment will be chaotic neutral, aka mentally unstable. Madness attracts madness, of course, so I'd like my party to consist entirely of insane individuals.

Here's what I am planning:

Revi
Female Gnome Fighter/Illusionist/Thief
Chaotic Neutral

Uses Gesen and [url='http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/threads/timestop-ranged-attacks.120480/']the Time Trap/Stop + Arrows of Detonation trick[/url] to wipe out almost everything solo. Uses traps to cheese some bosses.

Imoen
Human Thief/Mage
Acts as supporting spellcaster. Bringing her along because she is my sister and hopefully adds a lot to the party's RP.

Jan
Gnome Illusionist/Thief
Uses the biggest crossbow I can find with Arrows of Detonation or his own exploding arrows to help me wipe out groups. Acts as a powerful spellcaster and trapper when necessary.

I also bring him along because of his incredible personality; as an extremely annoying, overly wordy, eccentric, insane gnome, he is iconic for what this group stands for.

Edwin
Human Mage
Acts as my main spellcaster. Bringing him along for his immense nuking power (Chain Contingency + 3x Horrid Wiltings or Spell Sequencers full of Magic Missiles anyone?) and his charming personality. Hoping for a lot of hilarity between Jan and Edwin's banters.

I think this should be fun, only things I'm a bit worried about are...
- The lack of Arrows of Detonation (easily overcome with SK)
- Only one Staff of the Magi in the game
- Only one Gesen in the game
- Triple class PC may result in tediously long wait for lvl9 spells (but I fear it's necessary to have some fighter levels to take full advantage of Gesen). It also turns out to be impossible on a gnome, durr... I knew that.. *cough*

EDIT: Lol, didn't know gnomes cannot triple class. And that's after 10 years of playing this game. I am ashamed of myself. But I may still go for a triple class PC and simply use SK to change a half elf to a gnome.

I've been playing the series almost since BG1 came out and still have tons and tons of d'oh moments XD. It's a humongous game when all three installments are taken together. Personally, I think it's somewhat ridiculous that a race that can be a thief, a cleric, or a fighter can't dabble in all three at once. Older editions of DnD are full of illogical rules like that (not that 3rd + doesn't have its problems).

I would definitely keep the PCs fighter aspect because her melee ability will make a huge difference in the early chapters. You could do the game without any melee power at all, but I found it a bit tedious to have to blow spells on every passing mugger personally. Either gnome F/M or Half-Elf F/M/T - I would choose the former because in my experience a fighter/mage levels up slowly enough, but I suppose F/M/T fits the theme of the party better.

If only you could take Tiax in BG2.

Yeah exactly, it's very tedious to have to use spells on every single trash mob. Rather have at least one character who is really good with a bow and a melee weapon. And yes, I can probably do without the thief levels, will be a little painful to have some of my NPCs bask in the glory of UAI while not having it myself though So I'll go with F/M/T.

Tiax... what an excellent idea! I know he exists as a mod, I'll get it and see if it's any good

PS: For those interested in this, he can be found here: [url='http://www.pocketplane.net/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=113&Itemid=84']Pocket Plane Group, One Day NPCs[/url]

Well..
Imoen: staff of the Ram and tuigan bow?
Jan: Firetooth crossbow and staff of magi?
Edwin: Sling of Everard (or whazzname sling with no bullets) and maybe a small dagger (Ixil or other) + shield of some sort..

You: Gesen and whatever your profeciency was in... daystar/foebane/Celestial Fury/whazname?

EDIT: oh sorry... as wraithfull says, pure mages/Edwin aparently can't use shields a sling and quarterstaff then ..

Triple class will take forever to level up in a four character party.
Also, Edwin cannot use shields.

In a party of six at least, even a significantly overexperienced fighter/mage will have only level 7 spells by the time you reach Ust Natha - maybe 8 if you go really overboard. I did some really ridiculous things to take on that silly mod of Ust Natha e.g. camp in the beholder dungeon slaying Gauths as if they were boars (LIVE TO WIN! TILL YOU DIE!); a sorcerer will have more than one epic level spell at the same time the F/M is capped at 7-8 (forgot which).

Level 6 is all a mage needs to be overpowered, but just be aware that if a F/M levels that slow, I can imagine that the guy above me is correct about triple classes. I've never tried them personally.

You're both right, think I'll go either dual or single. It's a shame, I really prefer those jack-of-all-trades builds.

dualling a fighter to anything else doesn't seem like a bad thing to me though grandmastery AND various other attribute? Gimmegimmegimme

Yes that's true. Fighter dualled to either thief (the infamous Kensai/Thief) or mage is both incredibly powerful, but gnomes cannot dualclass, and that the PC of this party should be a gnome seems pretty clear to me If I do end up running this party I'll just go F/M multiclass. Losing out on traps isn't a very big deal, since Jan can supply them.

I'm putting this plan in the fridge for now though, going to play a Sorc first, starting from BG1 (Tutu).