GameBanshee Forums

Ive gone thru SoA and ToB a couple of times, and now I want to try going with a 3 character party. Has anyone tried this before, or have any good ideas on what to create?

I've done 3 man parties before, and have been very successful every time. Be prepared to do some big decisionmaking.

Yes, I have done it with Jan, Mazzy and a sorc (me). IMO, a thief a tank and a magic user are essential.

i'm doing it with mage/cleric, monk and assassin atm, but i'm doing 2 games of bg2 atm, one myself and one with my mate and i'm also playing iwd1 heh :/

Your pc could be the tank, then add Jan and Viconia. You'll have a party with all necessary skills: magic, healing, thieving and fighting.

Just go with Korgan, Yoshimo/Imoen and wild mage (you), I've had great success with this combination...

Originally posted by beater03
Ive gone thru SoA and ToB a couple of times, and now I want to try going with a 3 character party. Has anyone tried this before, or have any good ideas on what to create?

Are you planning to create all 3 characters, or going to use 2 NPCs?

That's a good point, because if he is planning on creating a party that changes a lot.

Thanks for the advice. Right now im leaning towards creating all 3 characters, or creating 2 and using one NPC. I would solo, but it just sounds a little tedious.

My favourite 3 person party was:

Me - elven sorcerer
Human ranger(8)/cleric
Human swashbuckler(10)/fighter

This covers all the basics -
1 magic user (IMHO the coolest and most powerful character ever, simply unbelievable from lvl 20 on) (needs high wisdom for Wish)
1 healer (with druid spells like creeping doom and ironskins - makes a great fighter too with FoA and crom or storm star, etc.), 1 thief (excellent ac and bonus to attack/damage from swashbuckler, ample thief skills, super fighter with angruvadal +5 and axe of the unyielding +5)
2 excellent fighters

Also, because you only have 3 people they all have the best stuff and exp rockets upwards from the start.

To keep some of the fun of NPCs I first generated my characters then changed Minsc and Aerie to the ranger/cleric and swashbuckler/fighter using the stats I generated - this way I had a 4th party member (a certain moral boosting miniture giant space hamster) and a romance (minsc also interacts with Aerie). This requires a little patience but is definately worth it for the excellent dialogue.

Maybe it's just me, and my view on Cleric/Rangers, but I see them as quite unnecessary. And they don't make a whole lot of sense to me as far as characterization goes. My ideal 3 man party would be a Sorceror(Kelsey would fit here), an archer(some blend of Fighter and Thief), and some kind of tankish healer(either Viconia, or Anomen or Jahiera if you could handle either of them). So in this sceme a Cleric/Ranger is just unnecessary.

i appreciate the imput. Here is what I am leaning to.

Elven mage or sorc.-not sure wheather to do mage or sorceror.

Human Undead Hunter-I hate damn holding spells and level drain which the UH is immune to, and can do some basic healing stuff.

Human Kensai(8)/thief-Should be a pretty good fighter for the most part. I think i will dual him in long swords. the eventual use any item ability will be nice.

Definately go with the Sorceror over the Mage. They're so much better.

Thats actually a good idea by silver for anyone who wants to play with self generated characters, but miss having a party...just extensively hack the standard bioware npcs...i sure do it all the time, but usually just enhance their existing traits...

aerie as a conjuror cleric, minsc as a undead hunter, etc....

but if you decide to play with a custom party, just roll them up, and copy the stats and convert whatever party mix of nuts and fruits into your ideal vision.....

heck, even modify the cre files...sigh....

3 good characters

For the most part I have found with the right equiment and if you are making all 3 of the characters, most any characters will work. A very solid group is make your main a Kensai/Mage. This is a very unstopable character. Hard in the first few levels but really fun to play. I would Dual at level 9 or 11. Longer you wait harder it will be when you are doing the dual part. Second character make a fighter/ Cleric. Do same as last, start as a fighter dual to a cleric. Your cleric will be able to heal and be a tank.

Third character can be whatever you want. You already have your 2 main characters that can kill everything. When I did this I made a archer ranger. I made this charcter because I wanted to see how good one was. Found out he was very good. But you could make a thief if you want someone that can pick locks. Or my favorite a Monk. A Monk is a great character. I have soloed the game using 2 different builts one was the Kensai/Mage the other a monk. Since a Monk's fists can become +4, has around 85% resist, Immune to poison and regular weapon he owns. But its really up to you. Play with characters you like the most.

I'm doing a four character party right now with some "modified" original NPCs:
Priest of Lathander/Ranger (Myself)
Conjurer/Cleric (Aerie)
Cavalier (Mazzy)
Fighter dualclassed (at lvl 5) to Bounty Hunter (Yoshimo)
Yoshimo will be replaced with Imoen (Swashbuckler/Mage)
As you can see, I try to always modify the NPCs to something that fits their personality and makes them more fun to play , for example Jaheira as a Avenger/Fighter, Minsc as Barbarian or Valygar as Mage Killer.
Well, and since Halflings can become Paladins in 3E rules,why I shouldn't Mazzy get what she wants, I think Cavalier suits her just fine; same with Imoen as a Swashbuckler/Mage

First off, play what you like.

The main roles you need are fighting, magic, theiving, & healing. These can (and should) be combined in characters. For added challenge, you can also be a little weak in one (or more) areas. There is nothing with doubling up in an area.

Having said that, what characters do you like to play the best? With 3 characters, you can easily have your favorite type of characters in two of the 3 slots.

For example, if you like backstabbing, you could play a fighter/theif & a Stalker(Valygar). If you like magic, you could play a sorcerer and a bard, or a sorcerer and a fighter/mage. If you like both, one of your chacters could be a theif/mage.

Personally I have a hard time imagining more than 1 cleric in a party (I usually play with none), but if you like them, you could double up there as well.

The one area you should double up is fighting. One of the most potent 3 character parties is a kensai/theif, kensai/mage, and a ranger/cleric. I wouldn't suggest this party without some challenging mods, as the basic game would be too easy (not to mention cheesy).

One last thing. I also modify the NPC's to play the classes I like. My last run through I played a Halfling Generic Archer/Theif, with Minsc the dwarven Barbarian/Cleric, Valygar the Human Theif(13)/Wizard Slayer, and Imoen the Sorcerer. They got a little too powerful, but I had never tried the Wizard Slayer before. Like others have posted, I try to keep the characters class similar to their personality.

Hope this helps!

How do you modify the NPC's? Shadowkeeper?

Yes, with Shadowkeeper.
The best way is to set the levels, experience, weapon proficiencies, thieve skills and innate abilities to zero, Base HP to 1, make the changes to the character, then save the game.
THAC0 and number of Spells will be automaticaly set when you level up.
Load the game in BG II and the NPC will be a level 0 *insertwhateveryouwant*. Hit the level up button, put weapon proficiencies and eventual thieving skills as you desire. Then use CLUAConsole to give them the experience they had before (unless you like to cheat )

Numinor:

So if I wanted to make Imoen a swashbuckler/mage, I just load her up in SK, set her XP, all levels, profs, skills, etc.. to 0, then save.

When I load the game up, will my level 0 character with 0 experience automatically have enough to level up to 1?