GameBanshee Forums

Hi all,

I'm new in BG (yeah, there are still such people...) and not sure how to compose my first party.
So far I've got:
Protagonist - Blade
Aerie
Anomen
Jaheira
Minsc
Nalia,
which more or less is everybody I've met so far (just started Chapter 2).

Having read through NPC descriptions on this site, I'm thinking about something like:
Protagonist
Aerie
Jaheira
Minsc
Jan Jansen
Imoen - when (if?) I get her back
I have a solid tank (protagonist) + Jaheira and Minsc, 3 mages (sort of) and 2 divine casters. In addition Prot. and Minsc can deal a decent amount of damage in face-to-face. Can you, the more experienced guys, tell me what are the drawbacks of the party I don't see?

Do I need to have NPCs in the party to complete their quests (eg. Nalia)?


Thanks for all replies

While the Blade is a solid tank it's not the easiest type of character to use. He really needs some spells to shine. If I where you I'd add another tank in there. So maybe go with the version you have now with the following possible changes:

1: Main Character
2: Anomen: Tank plus healer.
3: Jaheira: Tank plus healer.
4: Minsc: Tank or Keldorn: Tank with better special abilities and you'll possibly come across a really good paladin's only sword.
5: Instead of Aerie go with Jan for a more dedicated Rogue. You have two good healers anyway.
6: If you don't mind using evil characters go with Edwin for pure arcane power. Otherwise use Nalia, but if you haven't played this game before I'd suggest you ex-change her with Yoshimo before the end of chapter three.

Try and use your main character more for support than as a full blown tank. And try to always have him under the protection of the spell Stone Skin.

I have to agree with bob here a blade is not an easy character to use rightr out of the box until you have a good knowledge of how the game mechanics and diferent spells work. Also the NPC blade in the game gets an extra proficiency point in small swords which really helps him your blade won't be able to do that. First time through its probably best to go with some sort of warrior. ( Fighter, Barbarian, Palidin, Ranger)

Also Adding Jan is going to give you all the theiving you need and a usefull back up mage.

Hows this
PC Warrior (Tank)
Minsc (Tank)
Jahiera (Tank,Druid Spells)
Jan (theif,backup mage)
Nalia (Until You get Imoen) (Main Mage)
Airie (Backup Spell Caster)

Forgot to mention that bob also pointed out using Keldorn instead of Minsc which would work here as well.

There's no need to restart.
I don't think playing a blade will be problematic.
It's actually even easier than playing a warrior, if you get into trouble you have so many options to solve this with your spells, especially if you ask in the forum there'll always be a way out.

As for party composition, you can solo the game with any class, and many say blade is the easiest. You can afford to play the game with any party combination. To make the game easier a balanced party should contain:

- A mage to cast arcane buffs, counterspells and offensive magic. Most can be handled by a bard, but not the offensive high level spells.
- A cleric for clerical buffs and healing spells
- A thief for picking locks, disarming traps and other thievery options

Spellcasters are usually stronger than warriors, but they require a lot of micromanaging and pausing the game while warriors can just be used to overrun the enemies.
If you send an unbuffed Aerie into melee combat she won't survive very long, but if you take your time to cast her protections and buffs beforehand she'll be able to survive longer than any warrior.

Your party is balanced and strong enough to beat the game.
Minsc is your weakest party member, but you can afford to keep him through the whole game if you like him.
With Anomen in your party you get the cleric spells earlier, but if you can't bear him don't take him.

I don't recommend to read the NPC guide beforehand and planning the game according to this, just play along and take whom you want. No need to force yourself to drag someone you can't stand along, you play for fun.
As long as you have a cleric and thief besides your blade the game shouldn't get too hard.

As Kmonster said, don't try to get the "best party," because the developers didn't create the game that way. That made it such that you can get through it with any NPC group, though obviously some--such as those that leave out one of the four traditional roles: cleric, mage, thief, fighter--are going to take more strategy to work. But you literally can't go wrong, if you play sensibly, and just enjoy yourself. Be sure, too, that you have the latest patches installed, and probably the Gibberings Three BG2 Fixpack, as well.

My first party went like this:
Paladin------------------Me
Tank--------------------Minsc
Tank/Healer-------------Jaheira
Cleric/Tank--------------Anomen
Rogue/Supporting Mage--Jan
Mage--------------------Imoen

Just play whomever you like. This game is about enjoying your party more than it is about powergaming.

Thanks for all the replies guys, you gave me a lot of good advice.
I took blade as my main character, because I liked the background for this class. Next time I might try swashbuckler. For RPG reasons I feel more inclined towards rogue-type or ranger-type characters than for pure fighters. Also I don't want to restart the game in order to start again with a fighter, as I don't have much time to play and it took me something like 2 weeks to get to chapter 2 :laugh:

I'm going keep Minsc, if only just because of Boo.
I'll try to get Jan instead of Nalia, I've already met his relative who pointed where I can find him.

So I think I'll stick to my plan posted above, that is to have
Blade
Aerie
Jaheira
Minsc
Jan Jansen
Imoen, maybe Edwin if I find him before I rescue her

Thanks for your input

Pellinore wrote:Just play whomever you like. This game is about enjoying your party more than it is about powergaming.

Very well said. You like blades? Go for it. You'll figure things out quick enough, and if you have any problems, you can get plenty of advice from this forum.

My first/only party had:
- Me (Priest of Lathander imported from BG1)
- Keldorn
- Minsc (and Boo)
- Jaheira (and the romance)
- Aerie
- Yoshimo

If you like character dramas, and you agree that this game is not just about powergaming, then have Yoshimo in your party from Chapter 3 on.

BTW, some quests will somewhat involve certain NPC's who, if present, will add additional banter and insite during portions of the quest, although the quest is completable with or without them. Other quests will directly involve certain NPC's, who have to be present for a little while for the quest to arise. You will NOT see everything in one playthrough, for sure.

I always switched out Jan for Nalia, but only after doing her stronghold quest.
Plus if you haven't found the threads yet, there are some nice mods with very interesting additions for your party..the Chloe mod comes to mind...its been a few years since I've played the BG series but they are classics when it comes to RPG's.

I certainly will include Yoshimo to see what happens.
I'm not going to install any mods the first time I'm playing, just bugfixes (thanks fable!). I believe there are enough NPC's present in the vanilla BG for the first run through the game