GameBanshee Forums

Okay, I'm planning to do another run through BG2 SoA & ToB and need a little help.

I'm planning to play with the following mods installed :

ToB Official patch
Baldurdash lastest patch
D0Quest_v1
BantherPacksV5
DungeonBeGone (I love this one!)
Kelsey SoA
Kelsey ToB
Keto
Unfinished Business

My party will consist of :
- Me (See below)
- Keto, Bard (I may add a kit such as Skald or Blade)
- Kelsey, Sorceror
- Imoen Swashbuckler 10 Dual-Classed into a Mage (Should I pick up someone before her? Jan or Yoshi? Any other Thief mod?)

Here are my protagonists options (You can suggest others options) :
- Ranger/Cleric (Multi or Dual-class, probably multiclassed since I'm playing until the end of ToB)
- Fighter/Cleric (Great tank ... I would probably take a Berserker/Cleric if I'm dual-classing)
- Fighter/Druid (Nice tank too ... I would probably take a Berserker/Cleric if I'm dual-classing)
- Kick Imoen and be a Thief/Cleric (Maybe a Swashbuckler/Cleric?)
- Kick Imoen, get a cleric from the NPCs (Jaheira, Cernd, Anomen, Aerie?) and be a Thief (Assassin/Swashy/Bounty Hunter or pure?)

Notes : I love magic-oriented partys, and I don't care about alignement too much (but I would never force Korgan and Aerie to battle side-by-side). I also want to have at LEAST : a "Healer" and a Thief (Pure, Multiclassed or Dual-Classed) and alot of spells (Both divine and arcane spells)!

I dont wan't to play as a Kensai/Mage for personnal preferences.

Healers:
Jaheira (a little)
Cernd (not much)
Aerie (pretty good, plus she's got mage spells too)
Anomen (best, but he's annoying as HECK)

Thieves:
Yoshimo (only temporary solution)
Nalia (Imoen clone)
Imoen (she's good enough to get you past most traps and through most locked doors, but can't set traps and no High Level Abilities)
Jan (best thief next to Yoshi, mainly because he levels in thief levels too)

My suggestions:
You've got plenty of options, but my suggestion is to take Anomen, Jan, Kelsey, Keto (she's really not that great as a caster or a fighter, but her character's really well done so it's really a roleplaying thing), and yourself. Imoen too, if you must, but Jan + Kelsey is really all the magical power you need. I say, since you've got all the magic you need, your character should probably be straight-up combat. My suggestion, then, is to go Figher/Thief, as it offers the combat abilities of the fighter, with the tricks of the thief. You can hide in the shadows, strike with considerable power, and have Use Any Item. Time Trap, WhirlWind and Assassination must make for a powerful 3-hit-combo (does that work? not sure...). If you're dual classing, I'd suggest Kensai/Thief, since really Kensai's the only fighter kit that really combos well with the thief class. Otherwise, Berserker Clerics are second only to the ever-popular Kensai-Mage in power, I believe.

Wiz Slayers are also a good choice to dual with thieves.

- if you like to open combat using backstabs on spellcasters (even very tough ones), you can give them casting failures right away. Nothing better than seeing "Irenicus: timestop. Irenicus: casting failure."

- "use any item" HLA makes up for "no magical items"

- a little bit of MR is nice

- early game, can wear pretty decent armor, including shadow dragon scale. Kensai-thieves can't wear armor until they get "use any item".

I wouldn't think a Wizard Slayer - Thief is a very good combination since all the items the make the thief much more powerful you would miss out on.

No cloak of non detection.
No potions of invisibility
No rings of invisibility
No boots of stealth
No potions of thievery

[QUOTE=Deadalready]I wouldn't think a Wizard Slayer - Thief is a very good combination since all the items the make the thief much more powerful you would miss out on.

No cloak of non detection.
No potions of invisibility
No rings of invisibility
No boots of stealth
No potions of thievery[/QUOTE]
*ahum*

Use Any Item

[QUOTE=SP101]My party will consist of :
- Me (See below)
- Keto, Bard (I may add a kit such as Skald or Blade)
- Kelsey, Sorcerer
- Imoen Swashbuckler 10 Dual-Classed into a Mage (Should I pick up someone before her? Jan or Yoshi? Any other Thief mod?)

Here are my protagonists options (You can suggest others options) :
- Ranger/Cleric (Multi or Dual-class, probably multiclassed since I'm playing until the end of ToB)
- Fighter/Cleric (Great tank ... I would probably take a Berserker/Cleric if I'm dual-classing)
- Fighter/Druid (Nice tank too ... I would probably take a Berserker/Cleric if I'm dual-classing)
- Kick Imoen and be a Thief/Cleric (Maybe a Swashbuckler/Cleric?)
- Kick Imoen, get a cleric from the NPCs (Jaheira, Cernd, Anomen, Aerie?) and be a Thief ...

I dont wan't to play as a Kensai/Mage for personnal preferences.[/QUOTE]
In my most recent game which I just started, I recruited Kelsey and Keto. I like Kelsey mainly for his spells; I'm sorry to say that the romance isn't working out for me because he just isn't right for my female character. On the other hand, I don't use Keto much in combat, but I really like her as a character, so I don't mind keeping her around as extra baggage. I'm sure she will improve as time goes on, but in the meantime, I changed her proficiency to crossbows and stuck her in the back of the group.

My main character is a Fighter/Mage, but you'd probably prefer a Fighter/Cleric or a Cleric/Ranger. In any case, she's a magically-enchanced warrior. I ignored the existence of Minsc and Jaheira but recruited Imoen and Yoshimo in Irenicus's dungeon. I've been trying to use Yoshimo as a second frontline warrior, with mixed results. I guess I'll dual him to a Fighter and see how that works out, but that means I'll have to use Jan for my thieving if I get into a bind. Aerie is the last member of the party. I plan to replace Yoshimo with Imoen when I rescue her from Spellhold.

I let Edwin join the group right before I tried to tackle Improved Mae'Var. It was only supposed to be a temporary thing (you can probably guess why I did it). So in addition to my Fighter/Mage, I had Kelsey, Keto, Yoshimo, Aerie, and Edwin in the party when I fought Improved Mae'Var. As it turns out, everyone in my party except my main character died in the battle (during my first and only attempt). I guess you could say that at their current level, my party isn't very well-balanced. But I think that will change as they progress.

Edwin left the group when my Reputation hit 20, and I don't think I'll go looking for him again. I'm thinking about adding Haer'Dalis to the group, but I'll change him to a Swashbuckler if I do. After Spellhold, I'm not sure I only want one "tank" in the group, and having a Swashbuckler in the party would be nice. (I wish that Haer'Dalis could romance Imoen, because I plan to let Kelsey have her, and a love-triangle might have been interesting.) But if I dual Yoshimo to a Thief, I'll recruit Jan instead of Haer'Dalis, and I'll keep him around at least until I rescue Imoen. Then maybe I'll replace Jan with Haer'Dalis after Spellhold. It depends on how many quests there are left to do after Chapter Five; I don't plan to do them all before I rescue Imoen, because I want her with me when I do the quests. I'll just have to see what I feel like doing when the time comes.

Since your inclinations seem to be similar to mine, I recommend:

Fighter/Cleric or Cleric/Ranger
Kelsey (romancing Imoen)
Keto
Aerie (romancing your main character if you like)
Yoshimo (replaced by Imoen after Spellhold)
Haer'Dalis changed to Swashbuckler (or Jan if Yoshimo is dualled to a Fighter)