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I've played the game soooo many times i can't remember how many...and now i want to start a new game, with some mods installed, and the "no deaths, no reloads" rule. I tried that rule some years ago...i remember posting a thread back in 2001 when i was trying to revive my gaming interest...and it was real fun!!! But there was no mod that time.
Now, with Ascension, Tactics, Ease of use and some others, i feel it will be a new, great challenge.
I'd like your opinion and advice on two points.
1- party members
2- i'll use NPC that are in the game, but i'll SK them in other classes, so that i'll use classes different from the usual ones. It'll be a sort of Multiplayer game but with NPC and their incredible interactions. For example i'll make Valygar a Wizard Slayer (i think he could be that, with his magic hating mentality...).
So feel free to post your ideas for classes and "modified NPC".

One more thing...i'd like to avoid uber-cheese tactics....except, maybe, when the mods use cheese too much...
So i don't think i'll make a Kensai\thief, or a Wiz Slayer\thief.
I'll try to stick with pure classes...maybe 1 multiclass....
Thanks a lot,
yours
Edwin

Reply

Read 'The Deathless Journey' great post as it did everything you are about to.

Try Anti-Paladin for a class their nifty.

I just completed the game with Imoen re-rolled (with SK) as an assassin. No idea how that would fit your party ideas, but it worked for me!

Imoen as an assassin could be a good pick...
I'd like to play as a pure kensai. I always dual classed a kensai in the past, never arrived to level 40...but it sounds interesting.
So my party will be built around him!! I also think he'll use 2 handed weapons, not the usual 2 weapon style...maybe halberds (wave, the one you get in the underdark and then, obviously, the ravager). Even if a kensai dual wielding axes would look cool!!!!
Imoen as an assassin is a good idea, but do you really think a level 40 assassin is really worth it in a modded ToB?? I mean mages have stoneskin all the time, powerful monsters are immune to poison or to backstabb...maybe making Nalia a Swashbuckler or having a Bounty Hunter would be better...

Swashbucklers aren't very useful when you're playing a game with mod's such as Tactics and Ascension installed. To put it bluntly: AC means diddly squat when playing Tactics. A safer bet would be an Assassin. Breach Mages' stoneskin and send them to the abyss with just one strike. Not only that, there are plenty of powerful fighters just begging for a 7x backstab.

With EoU (or is that Tactics, too?) installed, Cernd and his shapeshifter abilities are a welcome addition to any party. Nalia as an Archer/Mage is more powerful than many of the NPC's walking around in a modded SoA and ToB. And Imoen is nice as a Thief/Wild Mage. Then again, you can edit any NPC in practically any class, so it's all up to the party you want to take along.

If you are playing a Kensai, then I would advice to take pure class characters along with you. Your PC as the fighter, Immie as a Mage/Sorceress, Nalia an Archer, Cernd a Druid, Jan as a Thief, etc.

Reply

Ah but if you changed npcs to a class that would be useful or that you need you can just change them to make a team that would be highly effective but not true to their personality.

Imoen never struck me as the assassin type and since when did Nalia ever have the nerve to be a bounty hunter ? If your talking about Valygar being a Wizard Slayer then yeah that's a little more reasonable considering his intense hate for magic users.

As for your protaganist, try a half-orc cleric/theif that masters the sling lol

No seriously, Kensai pure class is good but the mage option gives the character more versatility due to both classes having the same downside.

Try a new class or maybe an alternate dualling class such as a druid or theif.

In most cases, it's easy to change an NPC's class and still be true to their personality. Here are some examples:

Valygar - Wizard Slayer or Archer
Minsc - Berserker or Barbarian
Anomen - Berserker dualled to Cleric
Jan - single-class Illusionist
Aerie - Cleric/Illusionist (like her mentor) or single-class Illusionist who worships Baervan
Mazzy - Paladin (Cavalier)
Nalia - Conjurer or Sorcerer
Yoshimo - 7th Level Kensai dualled to Thief
Jaheira - Neutral Good Cleric/Ranger

If you modify Imoen's stats or her race (or change her dual-class/multi-class flag), you can make her practically anything. In my last game, I made her a Kensai/Thief, but I also toyed wih the idea of making her a Kensai/Mage. The rest of my party consisted of a Sorcerer (PC), Aerie (Cleric/Illusionist), Saerileth (Inquisitor), and in Throne of Bhaal, Sarevok (Deathbringer). I don't really enjoy Tactics since it forces me to use cheese, and I guess you could say that I just don't agree with the philosophy behind it. But if you enjoy it, then go for it.

I don't see any need to change the following NPCs: Korgan, Edwin, Viconia, Cernd, Keldorn, and Haer'Dalis. But if you want, in effect, to graft their personality and their dialogue onto a character you have created yourself, I don't see any reason not to, as long as it pleases you.

I made Imoen the assassin because I already had 3 arcane casters in my party, yet I always want to take her for roleplaying and moral reasons. With UAI and certain items she was a force even in ToB. From a roleplaying perspective, the highlight of the whole game was when Imoen 'tanked' Improved Bodhi (Jaheira was romanced and therefore unavailable for this).

The other character I changed was Nalia. As the only daughter of the Lord of the Keep, I reasoned that she would have been trained in swordplay, so she became a fighter dualled to mage. btw I also significantly upgraded the De Arnise Signet ring, borrowing the abilities of Edwin's amulet and adding a couple more.

Thanks everybody for the replies....
I'm really excited about this idea. And i'm seriously considering if a pure Kensai can survive the (really) hard test. I mean, a warrior is always in the middle of the fight, taking the big hits....so everything can happen...a powerful hit and a spell making his nasty damage...and woooops....the game is over!!!
Moreover i'm thinking how scary the fights with Kangaax or Firkraag will be...
Maybe another kind of character will be able to survive more.
I agree with the assassin opinion as said above.
So my party is starting to shape:
kensai
assassin
sorcerer
There will be an open spot (the 6th) for Sarevok in ToB.

I think the only character i can take not really "pure" could be a ranger dualled to cleric at level 9 only the druid spells....not all the advantages of a multiclass, but a better character than the cleric....
Moreover i could make a wizard slayer to take care of all those "tactics" spellcasters.
But i'd like to hear your opinion on this....and your opinion on the possibilities of a kensai to survive the challenge.
Thanks

Tactics with a Kensai? Not really. Unless you plan to keep him out of a lot of battles, that is.

You'll simply be too vulnerable. Even with a Kensai/Thief you'll have a hard time beating the game on 'no deaths, no reloads' grounds, although you'll level up fast enough with just three characters. Tactics practically begs for the main character to have spellcasting abilities. Whether they're Arcane or Divine is fairly inconsequential, though.

[QUOTE=Sytze]Tactics with a Kensai? Not really. Unless you plan to keep him out of a lot of battles, that is.
[/QUOTE]

Indeed. The enemies have a very high Thac0 and seem to go behind the player with less AC very very often. And if you dont have magic to be actually able to get to the players you'll waste with the Kensai high Thac0 you're completely dead. Without UAI it is very hard to finish too, since you'll never be able to actually improve AC (even though, if you think, AC is kind of stupid in Tactics, cause whatever tries to hit you WILL hit you no matter what. Specially in Ascension).