GameBanshee Forums

Lets first start with talking about your party in SoA, maybe how your party progressed.

I started over not too long ago, and here is what i have

Me (kensai (not dueled yet)
Minsc
Jaheira
Anomen
Yoshi
Aerie

i just got rid of Nalia and have the keep, just knew that i didnt want her later on in the game so no reason for her to suck up xp now.

Other characters that interest me are Jan, and Keldorn. There is Edwin and Korgan, two great guyz but i'll have to lower my rep to actually get them to stay with me.

Just like to see who you like playing with.

Well the party I have now in my new game is:
Meer- Fighter/thief
Anomen
Haer'Dalis
Aerie
Nalia
I plan on getting Mazzy next.

This is all part of my plan to use all the NPCs in the game through SoA and ToB before NWN comes out! I have used all other characters except for Cernd, Viconia, Edwin and Jan. I think I will take Korgan and my barbarian through that game to add more muscle.

Previous parties:
Halley- Monk
Anomen
Keldorn
Valygar
Aerie
Yoshimo/Imoen

Meer- sorcerer
Korgan
Minsc
Jaheira
Yoshimo/Imoen
Cernd/The new ToB guy

Those parties were awesome IMO. My new party is really magic heavy which I'm not used to but I have a feeling it will be pretty easy once they get 6th level spells.

My current party is almost finished with SOA

Psyche: Cleric/Mage (True Nuetral)

Korgan: He's just the best

Viconia
Imoen: Can't leave little sister.
Jan
Edwin

Now, just have to make up my mind about who I'm kicking out for the 'ToB guy'.. Just can't decide!

I'm about halfway through SoA with this party but haven't been able to play for a while now.

Machiavelli (elven Archer) - Sniper who never misses a shot. Shadow Armor, Elven Court Bow and Spear of the Unicorn (mostly).

Sir Anomen - Main melee Fighter and Cleric. Memorizes lots of spells which enhances his stats and his battle skills. Equipped with Red Dragon Scale/Shield/Helmet and wielding FoA (SoE for distance).

Valygar - Scout and backstabber. Corthala Armor and Helmet of Balduran. Dual wields Celestial Fury and Corthala Family Blade.

Jan - Thief, backup Mage and, not to forget, storyteller. Adventure Wear, Light X-Bow of Speed and the Short Sword of Backstabbing.

Jaheira - Druid, mage bodyguard and romance interest. Ankheg Plate, Shield of Balduran, Blackblood and lots of Darts.

Edwin - Main Mage. Robe of Vecna, Staff of the Magi and Boomerang (later Firetooth) Dagger.

This is probably my "best" party ever due to its versatility - all strategies are possible and every NPC bring something important to my party. I use a lot of backstabbing (Valygar) combined with a rain of arrows (Machiavelli), both attacking from stealth. Another of my favourite techniques is fireballing (Edwin and Jan, of course) while Anomen (100 % Fire Resistant) does his dirty work in melee.

Okay my current party is not made up of npc's but anyway.
I haven't progressed very far in the game yet. I am trying a different approach, I have no mages and no clerics.
So far it has been very easy.
I am going to try it using.
Me Fighter/thief
Mazzy
Minsc
Korgan
Valygar
Keldorn

But for now I have:
Cavalier:
Main character, sword and shield style, wields longswords and flails and uses Fortress shield and plate fo balduran.
Dwarven Berserker:
Basically same setup as Korgan.
Swashbuckler/fighter:
Dualed at level 6 using SK. Just enough thieving skills. Gets bonus to thac0 and AC. Sword and shield style. Katanas and clubs and bastard swords. Shield of Harmony and Nights gift.
Inquisitor:
Two-handed weapon style. Using Halberds and crossbows. Dispel magic and true sight a must for my party to be effective. He is wearing full plate mail. Helm of balduran, ring of protection, ring of earth control. Last man standing, trying to get his saves as low as possible so that he can always use his dispel.
Undead hunter:
Two handed weapon style. Two-handed swords and shortbows. Guess what sword I am planning on getting. Right now she is wielding Lilarcor and using Tansherons bow.
Elven Archer:
Shortbows and spears.
Tugian bow and spear of the unicorn.
Great thac0 and many attacks.

With this setup I have three front-liners with low ac using a shield and three with ranged support or twohanded weapons for better range.
I have good thief and enough healing from the paladins and archer.
Undead should be no problem either.
What is truly great is that there is no weak partymember so very few reloads. However some may find this style uninteresting.

Originally posted by Vivien:
<STRONG>My current party is almost finished with SOA

Psyche: Cleric/Mage (True Nuetral)

Korgan: He's just the best

Viconia
Imoen: Can't leave little sister.
Jan
Edwin

Now, just have to make up my mind about who I'm kicking out for the 'ToB guy'.. Just can't decide!</STRONG>

My first choise when it comes to who to kick out would be Imoen. But maybe you still have to take care of your little sister? My second choise would be Korgan as he's got very much in common with the "ToB guy". Then again, you think Korgy is "just the best" so... You're quite heavy on the Mage side with yourself, Jan, Imoen and Edwin. If you really can't kick out Imoen (which would be logical since Jan is a better Thief and Edwin a better Mage) I would go for Edwin. Jan's thief skills and profiencies make him, IMO, worth to keep even if you've got Immy. So what do you think?

cheese party...


the three multis in the game, with me as sorc uber backup and all around blaster and summoner....

chain cont abu dahzim and skellies and swords, with nass inv and haste to make them into evil incarnate

aerie
jan
jahiera

everybody is picked up eaarly so I can guide their prof and high level abilities....

jahiera just got greater elemental summoning, and I got lucky and got prince of fire in druid grove...

jan for spiky traps and use any item

aerie for all around demon killing and sheer cuteness..

Originally posted by UserUnfriendly:
<STRONG>jahiera just got greater elemental summoning, and I got lucky and got prince of fire in druid grove...
</STRONG>

That's lucky! Bye bye nasty trolls! But why did you wait so long to do the Trademeet quest? That quest is excellent as one of your first, since it gives you plenty of useful weapons/items and still is really easy to complete. Spear of the Unicorn, Bracers of Archery, Belm, Cleric's Staff +3, Gnasher, Flametongue (which does kill Kang'gax!), Genie Bottle, Tancheron's, Blackblood, Light X-Bow +2 and many more... Couldn't wish for a better start of your adventure.

[ 10-03-2001: Message edited by: Astafas ]

Originally posted by Astafas:
<STRONG>My first choise when it comes to who to kick out would be Imoen. But maybe you still have to take care of your little sister? My second choise would be Korgan as he's got very much in common with the "ToB guy". Then again, you think Korgy is "just the best" so... You're quite heavy on the Mage side with yourself, Jan, Imoen and Edwin. If you really can't kick out Imoen (which would be logical since Jan is a better Thief and Edwin a better Mage) I would go for Edwin. Jan's thief skills and profiencies make him, IMO, worth to keep even if you've got Immy. So what do you think?</STRONG>

Thanks for the advice *hug*

As usual, I've played through BG1 before BG2. In BG1 I had Edwin, Imoen and Viconia as I do now, therefore I have a certain feeling of continuation.

Imoen would be the logical choice, but I just *can't*. I'm not playing an evil character, I'm nuetral, so I feel she wouldn't leave her sis. Next time around I'm going to try playing evil, and no Imoen for me. (Baby steps towards the dark side...)

I agree, I'm rather mage heavy. Personality wise, I choose Jan, if turning the 'ToB' guy into a thief would be feasable? I've never played him before, but I saw his stats and was impressed. That way I wouldn't lose those nice traps. *blushes as she admits she uses those to take out most dragons*

Unless this isn't a good idea? I wish a person didn't get all 'loyal' to the characters they have

Viv

THE most powerful party for SoA is as follows:
Keldorn with Carsomyr
Minsc with Flail of Ages/Crom Faeyr
Sorceror PC with Robe of Vecna, Staff of Magi
Aerie
Jaheira with a melee weapon (plus romance)
Imoen

In the underdark, you are unstopable. In chapter 7, you have broken the xp cap with your PC and some of the NPCs. Kill everything.

Plus, this is sort of the roleplaying party, IMHO. At the beginning, if you are not good, Imoen says that something's happened to you and that you've changed. At the start, the party was you, Imoen, Jaheira, Kalid, Dyhanyr (sp?), and Minsc. You would probably stay with them. Plus, you help Aerie early on and this is the sort of party she would be in. Keldorn naturally fits in this party. IMHO, this party is the one that fits the game.

*Puts on ring of fire resistance*

This is my best SoA party so far :

Csadar : Shapeshifter (hasted greater werewolf is a killing machine!!)

Keldorn : with Carsomyr

Jan : damn I just love his stories...once he told me an D&D version of Hansel and Gretel

Viconia : best Cleric in the game plus decent fighter (-9 AC) and romance interest

Valygar : love his style, great guy, gave him celestial fury but I wont duel him with cortala (mega cheese...)

Imoen : You know the reason...plus she a great mage

Originally posted by Vivien:
<STRONG>Unless this isn't a good idea? I wish a person didn't get all 'loyal' to the characters they have </STRONG>

Not a bad idea at all. However, after BG1 I just can't imagine Sarevok as a Thief (and a first level one at that, even though he'll advance extremely fast, of course). Also, my loyalties go to Jan as well. I get torn to pieces every time I rescue Imoen and then decide to keep Jan. Maybe we would do well to remind ourselves that it's only a game after all...

Originally posted by Gaxx_Firkraag:
<STRONG>THE most powerful party for SoA is as follows:
Keldorn with Carsomyr
Minsc with Flail of Ages/Crom Faeyr
Sorceror PC with Robe of Vecna, Staff of Magi
Aerie
Jaheira with a melee weapon (plus romance)
Imoen
</STRONG>

Are you claiming to give us "the ultimate truth" in this matter? I for one would change Minsc for Korgan, Aerie for Sir Anomen and Imoen for Jan in your proposed party.

Astafas, I waited a very long time to do trademeet to try to get jaheira up to lv 14 druid so she can win the staff of thunder and lightning....

got too tired and finally cheated her the necessary level.

my current party is

userunfriendly the sorc from hell, and its hella funny hearing "lady userunfriendly"!!!!!

Aerie, all around cutie, especially with her default portrait replaced by a much cuter girl, and demon and undead hunter....
current love interest...

jaheira, back up fighter nd mage disrupter...waiting to get natures beauty and level 15, which is when druids start being killer!!! look at spell progression table, she is at lv 14, but at level 15 she goes from one 7th level spell to 6!!!

korgy, ugly wittle git, but a real killer, very needed...

jan, little pest, completely a liability at moment, but should change as soon as he hits arounf 3 million xp...

just killed off the shadow theives for bodhi, all part of xyx's suggested master plan of evil....

kill off the shadow thieves for bodhi, then when you come back from under dark kill off the vampires, you get rid of both of those buggers that way!!!

@UserUnfriendly:

I've often gotten the Staff of Thunder and Lightning despite the fact that I do the Druid Quest early on. I really don't think it's level dependent.

I made three parties for the three romances with every possible NPC's. I think they all are balanced in point of fighting/spellcasting skills and weapon selection.

Good alignment party: Human Undead Hunter PC, Valygar, Anomen, Mazzy, Imoen (Yoshimo)and Aerie.

Neutral one : Elf Fighter/Mage/Thief, Keldorn, Minsc, Jaheira, Cernd and Nalia. Since there were so many NPC's on the good side, I had to fill this group with them.

Evil alignment: Half-Orc Barbarian PC, Korgan, Vic, Jan, Edwin, Haer'dalis (Sarevok).

I've already finished the game with the first group and Nalia instead of Imoen, and I found it damned easy, especially ToB. Now I'm working on the second party.

Well the partyI last played through with was:

Skyhawk - My Ranger PC

Minsc - Keldorn is probably better, but I played through BG using the party BG2 assumes you have, so I had to continue bringing him along. He's still quite good. Great personality, which is the main reason I don't take Keldorn. Too dull.

Jaheira - In BG she was at best average, in BG2 she is a godess. Absolutely excellent in any fight. Not only that, but she brings some excellent advice along too

Mazzy - Bow master. If there's a Mage that needs stopping, she can do that till you get your frontliners in there. Gets better with the Gesen bow, because the elemental damage bypasses Stoneskin

Aerie - Provides access to mage and cleric spells. Balances out nicely when you have Jaheira taking care of the Druid side of things.

Imoen - How can you not bring along Imoen? My favourite NPC. With you from the beginning. She is an excellent Mage, and provides all the thief skills you'll ever need, without you having to waste any XP on them. Not only that, but she contributes to the main plot.

Jan - I use him as my Mage/Thief until I get Imoen. Nice guy, though I dislike having to spend XP on his thief skills. Less irritating than Nalia, who's thief skills don't cut it, and more useful than Yoshimo, because I think pure thieves are a waste of time.

Shii-Take Half-Elf Ranger duel wielding celestral fury, and kachiko's wakizashi, wearing elven chain, helm of balduran.

Rest of my party.
Minsc
Viconia
Jan
Jaheira

You named your PC after a mushroom?

Yes, they are great when grilled with green peppers, and onions.