GameBanshee Forums

Ok, I've posted here several times in the past. I started the game several times, made it to mid Chapter 1, but never got farther because I was focusing all my attention on covering every angle with my characters, basically powergaming. I basically got bored with my party which at the time consisted of an Aasimar Fighter 4/Paladin, Dwarf Fighter 4/Barbarian, Tiefling Ranger 5/Rogue, Human Morninglord, Drow Wizard, and Human Sorcerer.

I'm ready to try again, and this time I'd like to create a party based more on fun factor then power. My question is this: is it feasible to play through the game using the four basic roles?
1) Defensive Melee
2) Offensive Melee
3) Healer
4) Arcane Caster

If so, what would you suggest I do to change the following lineup?

1) Half-Orc Barbarian (vanilla barbarian, vanilla fighter, or Fighter 4/Barbarian X for Great Sword spec)
2) Tiefling Ranger 5/Rogue X (the RP factor for this build would be duel weilding short swords, which is the cause for the levels in ranger, but I'm open to suggestions like monk and what not)
3) Human Morninglord
4) Human Sorcerer (I could use a wizard instead, not sure what would mop up the weaknesses of the party more)

My main concern with this party is that I have only 1 tank, and that it will be overwhelmed easily and the other 3 characters are vulnerable.

Some thoughts...

My main concern with this party is that I have only 1 tank, and that it will be overwhelmed easily and the other 3 characters are vulnerable.

Then make the Morninglord a Shield Dwarf Battleguard of Tempus then you have a healer/tank. The only thing is you would lose the bombardier aspects that the Morninglord would contribute at higher levels.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by offensive/defensive melee.

To me the Half-Orc would be offensive (the STR bonus given him a greater chance of hitting/damage). A defensive melee character I'm presuming is designed to absorb damage, in which case one of the dwarven races with the ability to set CON to 20 would surely be a better choice.

I've always considered the ranger/rogue to be a specialist build designed primarily for scouting/mage killing as opposed to general melee, and perhaps better suited to larger parties where there is greater flexibility.

Using your four-character model I'd go

Offensive melee - Half-Orc (Barbarian X Fighter 4)
- Hits things very hard

Defensive Melee - Shield Dwarf (Fighter X Rogue Y)
- Decoy, draws fire and also takes care of scouting/thieving. By using the fighter you'll gain extra feats making the ranger levels unnecessary

Healer - Shield Dwarf (Battleguard of Tempus X)
- Healer and Spell Sword - able to use axes

Arcane - Human (Sorcerer X and maybe Bard 1)
-I'm assuming this character will also take care of all the diplomat skills meaning they are going to need both high INT and CHA. This is going to leave very few points to allocate to DEX. By adding the bard level (perhaps starting as a bard to benefit from the inital skill points) this character will be able to contribute with the 1st level song once they are out of spells, as well as being able to use the bard only items.

Hope this was in some way helpful

about what you said with only having one tank and that he would get overwhelmed. Well, if you only have 4 members in your party, he will get very strong very fast. Ive found that morninglords can prove to be viable melee build, but only with a dwarf (they do get quite strong, espesially if you take full advantage of the clerics buff spells.) so if your still not happy you could send him to front lines if help is needed. Im not sure what to do about the "defensive" fighter. I would have to agree with raven_song and say that you should choose a dwarf for this.

The way I see it is this:

Offensive fighter - Half-Orc Barbarian x/Fighter y
-I have to agree that this is the best use of the word "offensive"

This is the bit I'm not sure about, see Ive never really played with a "defensive" character, but I do have an idea.

Guard - Human Rouge 1-3/Monk x
-With his guy, If you pump dex, he becomes quite formidable. I used the rouge levels as a mix-in but if you put 3 in as opposed to just 1, you can get the uncanny dodge feat which is very nice. Also you have your partys theif/scout right here! To use this build effectively you must make sure you dont leave him in one place for too long at the early levels as although he can kill, he can be killed aswell. However, when I got this build to rogue 3/monk 4 he started kicking some aurilite booty!

Healer - Sheild Dwarf Morninglord x
-This guy can sit in for the "guard" whilst he gets strong and whilst this guy doesnt have many spells.

Arcane Spellcaster - Human Bard 1/Sorc x
- Same as raven really, it works

or

Arcane Spellcaster - Elf Rogue x/Wizard y
- If you didnt like the idea about the "guard" this would be a very good choice. This is one character that can go on solo missions and pick afew pockets along the way. Good stuff.

On the whole its very much the same as ravens, but with afew modifications. It shows great mind think alike!

With a four member party, a sorcerer is truly better than a wizard in every way, if you just have one. How you do it depends on how you want to play the game, and do you want to continue on to HoF mode?
I'm assuming that since this will be your first complete go at it, that you won't want to go to HoF mode, so my changes will optimize your party for normal mode only.

Character one: The barbarian is ok. Make sure you give it better than average wisdom and the will save feat, or he'll be your worst enemy.
Character two: Thief(2)/Wizard(x) By the end, you will be waiting to find scrolls, but thief/wizard is a great combination. He will cast most of your buff spells.
Character three: Priest of some sort. This will be your second tank. You don't lose enough performance as a priest (or druid) in IWD2 to make a big difference over the fighter.
Character four: Paladin(2)/Sorcerer(x) as aasimar or human. This character will have most of your kills if you play it right.

And if I were playing it, I would change character one to a human bard, switching to druid as soon as he had mirror image and blur. Then the party can easily walk through HoF mode as well.

Hmm yeah I seem to have roleplayed myself into a pickle here
I guess I wasn't thinking with the whole defensive melee deal, see I've been watching too much anime, and I was planning on designing the party around anime characters. So I got it in my head that Guts from Berserk is Defensive-Melee, because while he does destroy everything in his path with a giant sword, he also absorbs tons of damage. Now I'm really not sure what to do with this party, but perhaps if I explain my reasoning behind the rest of it, you'll be more able to help.

Ok so Guts from Berserk is the Half-Orc Barbarian with the great sword, but he could also be a pure Fighter since, now I'm also realizing, my cleric is the only member in my current party that wears plate. However in the anime, he both wears plate and goes completely.. well, "berserk" killing everything in his path.

The next character Jatsu is the Ranger/Rogue, whom I have writen stories on, and he basically represents my martial and gaming personality. This character ideally wears no armor, and duel weilds katanas, which he was able to do as a Kensai in BG2. He should be almost completely focused on doing as much damage in as little time as possible.

Which brings us to Sukotto Mairuzu, the Morninglord. This character represents me, it is the character I think of as myself, because if I were to live in the Forgotten Realms this is the character I would surely be, the description of Lathander, apart from the undead hunting, fits me almost perfectly. This is why I can't change this character to a Battleguard of Tempus or a Dwarf, of all the characters, he is the one I am least likely to change.

Finally we have Roy Mustang from Full Metal Alchemist, the Sorcerer. I really have no roleplaying characters to fill this role, and Mustang was the only character I could come up with for this.

So in conclusion, fitting Jatsu and Sukotto into this party allows for the highest probability that I will actually FINISH THE DAMN GAME THIS TIME!

[QUOTE=Jatsu]
I'm ready to try again, and this time I'd like to create a party based more on fun factor then power. My question is this: is it feasible to play through the game using the four basic roles?
1) Defensive Melee
2) Offensive Melee
3) Healer
4) Arcane Caster

If so, what would you suggest I do to change the following lineup?

1) Half-Orc Barbarian (vanilla barbarian, vanilla fighter, or Fighter 4/Barbarian X for Great Sword spec)
2) Tiefling Ranger 5/Rogue X (the RP factor for this build would be duel weilding short swords, which is the cause for the levels in ranger, but I'm open to suggestions like monk and what not)
3) Human Morninglord
4) Human Sorcerer (I could use a wizard instead, not sure what would mop up the weaknesses of the party more)[/QUOTE]

imho a party of 4 should have at 3 spell casters (or more)

i'd likely break it down like such:

1 - 1/2 orc, ok as pure tank, otoh cleric of tempus is a decent mix in or substitution.

2 - the rogue - rogue / cleric of mask still works as tiefling, domain spells like mirror image will aid you on the defensive melee front.

3 - no complaints, a mix in of some paladin will really stiffen this build.

4 - sorc, if you intend this char to be the main talker be very wary of adding in pally levels as suggested above a mix in of bard would be better if this is to be the party talker.