AC's Guide to Party Formation (In Progress)

[Aqua-chan]

Given the sheer number of posts throughout the years on what NPCs work well together and who should go into a party, I thought it a worthwhile endeavor to maybe give some ideas and provide a place where folks could share opinions and what has worked for them. Everyone has varying game play style, and while I did try to cover different techniques, there is no substitute for real people. So feel free to post your parties and characters, but please, NO SPAM.

A Well Balanced Party
In this instance you will typically want to follow a well-worn template: two warrior types, a thief, two mages, and the remaining spot be open for your choice. A lot of people find a good way to gain experience is to rotate this empty spot in the party with various NPCs and do their individual character quests. Some people prefer to leave this spot open, giving earned XP to five characters instead of six. Regardless, these are parties that work even for novice players.

Party A

1. Minsc (Or Fighter PC) - There are some great two handed swords in the game. Fork them over to Minsc and cause heck in your enemys' ranks.
2. Jaheira/Anomen - Every party needs a priest, and these two (some form of fighter/healer) can really save the day. Play around to see if which will work for you.
3. Haer'Dalis (or Fighter, or Mage PC) - Though certainly not one of the toughes NPCs, this part can deal damage in melee and rattle off spells. Really helpful in the early parts of the game.
4. Yoshimo (or Thief PC) - The necessity for thieves in BG2 can't be stressed enough, especially one like the single class Yoshimo.
5. Aerie/Nalia (or Mage PC)
6. Imoen

Party B

1. Keldorn - This old paladin is one of the best melee combatants, period.
2. Valygar - Try to master the art of stealth and backstabbing, because with the right weaponry Valygar can quickly take out those enemy mages if they're caught unaware.
3. Anomen/Aerie - Base this choice on whether you're up for another mage or a warrior.
4. Mazzy (or Thief PC)
5. Jan - The mage spells are a plus, but in this instance Jan will be acting as your Thief unless your PC is of that class.
6. Nalia/Imoen (or Mage PC)

A Good Aligned Party
Party A

1. Keldorn - The embodiment of good, give Carsomyr to Keldorn and you’re all set.
2. Minsc (or Fighter PC) - Berserker extraordinaire, you’ll become attached to Minsc early on in the game.
3. Jaheira (or Cleric PC) - Jaheira will be your primary healer and buffer. You’ll want her in the second line of your defenses, casting off spells and taking the lesser of your opponents out.
4. Yoshimo/Imoen - Yoshimo way outdoes Imoen as a thief, but the girl is capable of picking most locks in SoA. She’s also a top mage.
5. Nalia (or Thief or Mage PC) - Nalia’s thieving skills are among the worst of the NPCs, but her spell casting power sure makes up for it.
6. Jan (or Thief PC)

Party B - Here we are going really combat heavy with minimal arcane assistance. This party doesn’t give a lot of flexibility, and if your PC isn’t one, you’re going to be strapped for a Thief. Use Knock and Find Trap spells to reach your objective.

1. Keldorn
2. LG Anomen - Because you’re going to want his Turn Undead ability when dealing within the Graveyard District.
3. Valygar (or Thief PC) - Because of his armor restriction, you probably don’t want Valygar up front unless you have Celestial Fury on hand.
4. Mazzy (or Thief PC)- You’ll definitely want this Halfling out of immediate combat, instead picking off enemy mages with her bow.
5. Nalia/Imoen - the transition from one Thief/Mage to another will be easy, and you’ll appreciate their mage disabling power early on.
6. Haer’Dalis (or Mage or Thief PC)

Party C - This team is composed of primarily mage and cleric power with just a few brutes absorbing the most of the impact.

1. LG Anomen - Not only an after battle healer, use Anomen’s spells like Holy Power, Magic Resistance and Righteous Magic to really reinforce his fighter abilities.
2. Minsc (or Fighter PC)
3. Yoshimo/ Imoen (or Thief PC)
4. Nalia
5. Jan - Functional and entertaining, what with Minsc and Anomen in the group.
6. Aerie (or Mage PC) - The widest array of spells to choose from really gives Aerie an edge in this game.

An Evil Aligned Party
Bioware really scrapped on evil aligned NPCs in Baldur’s Gate 2, so if you want to play on the Dark Side you’re going to have to do some compromising, Padawan. It’s going to require a balance of Evil and Neutral characters, and fortunately there is no shortage of the latter.

Party A

1. Korgan - Quintessential evil Berserker. A must have for this kind of group.
2. CN Anomen (Or Fighter PC) - Play Anomen the right way and you’ve got a top fighter minus the “Order this” and “Order that” crap. Be sure to utilize both his defensive and offensive magic.
3. Viconia (or CN Anomen) - Viconia is probably the best cleric in the game, being single classed and with the highest WIS score.
4. Edwin (Or Mage PC) - One of the top spell casters in the game, Edwin is the both the only single class and evil mage.
5. Jan - Neutral by nature, Jan’s usefulness speaks for itself. He’s one of two active thieves in the game, and his illusionist mage class gives him bonus spells. He’ll also be shouldering your thief duties in the second half of the game if you’ve been relying on the next NPC up till that point, so keep him around.
6. Yoshimo (Or Thief PC) - More of a RP character than anything, Yoshimo is a great archer, has Special Snares, and the only single class thief in the game. An evil party is also less inclined to show forgiveness in his quest.

A RolePlay Party - Here the focus is not on task managing, but instead on optimizing the BG2 experience through character quests, dialogs, and insertions. Becausw we're not looking to strategy here, you can plug in your PC and boot characters as necessary.

Party 1

1. Keldorn
2. Anomen (suggest shooting for LG, or else you'll have a problem down the road)
3. Minsc
4. Jan
5. Haer'Dalis
6. Yoshimo/Imoen

Party 2 - Watch out, as this party does contain a little character conflict, too.

1. Valygar
2. Cernd
3. Viconia
4. Jan
5. Mazzy
6. Edwin

A Compact Party
Some people prefer to limit the number of NPCs they take with them, putting XP into smaller teams and increasing level up speed. Below are some ideas, but you should tinker with altering NPCs based on your alignment and style. These suggestions consist of three group members, but you can always go one or two less or more.

Party A - This group is well rounded , covering the three primary aspects of the game: Fighter, Mage, and Rogue.

1. Keldorn (Or Fighter PC)
2. Yoshimo/Jan (or Thief PC)
3. Aerie (or mage, or cleric PC) - You need a healer and some one to throw fireballs, and the luckily for you there’s a two-in-one available.

Party B - Now we're less concerned about balance. In fact, everyone here is a little bit mage. This is not a Hack-n-Slash party, and will require a lot of effort to play successfully.

1. Haer'Dalis (Or Fighter PC)
2. Jan
3. Nalia/Imoen

[RPG Guy (sorta)]

I haven't played through the game enough times to confirm/deny most of these constitutions but I do note that Korgan seems to be getting the shaft somewhat here. Not nearly enough play

He has a funny accent, he's always hitting on the chicks, he has great insults AND he's the only NPC I'm aware of that starts with grand (or is it 'high'?) mastery in any proficiency (axes). Gimme that +++++ or ++++. All you gotta do is go to the Slums and pick him up for the best early game tanking anywhere.

In SoA, as a noob, the cleric role was critical. ToB you can skip it because of the wealth of mega healing potions and all the items that provide negative plane protection. Not to mention planatars and dark planatars have raise dead/heal/restoration spells o-plenty.

Anyways, props on the major effort here. for some reason, it never occurred to me to run with just 5 peeps for less XP distribution - very cool. I'm still SO noob at this, it hurts. but I thought I'd sound off regardless.

On a final note, I think I can speak for any guy here who's been with his woman for more than 5 years. PC gaming is about escapism. The last thing I want in my party is to hear a chick complaining. Aerie and Nalia, therefore, are not tolerable to any degree. Aerie's constant dialogue interruptions at the worst times is a cruel joke perpetrated by Bioware staff. That chick got Korgan's axe in the back before CH 3 I swear.

ULTIMATE EVIL PARTY RECOMMENDATION

PC Sorc
Korgan (tank)
Sarevok (tank - SPOILER - highlight to read)
Edwin (arcane)
Viconia (divine)
Imoen (thief/arcane)

It's a crying shame Yoshimo isn't available in ToB. He would really cap off this party nicely.

[Cuchulain82]

Any ultimate party has to have some sort of Theif or Fighter/Theif component, either as a PC or as a secondary character in a multiplayer game. They are simply too powerful.

[Onkel Bob]

I like smaller parties myself. It gives me more time to manage each character in combat. Less chance of anyone twiddling their thumbs. So I'll just make a couple of them. The way I like my parties to be build for ease of use is like this:

2 Tanks
1 Arcane caster but preferably more.
At least ½ a divine caster.
1 Thief.

Now it's easy to do the job of a tank. Anyone even only part warrior can do it fine. Also Haer'Dalis and Cernd can do it as well, at least Cernd can in my game. I think the fixpack I have installed did something to his werewolf shape that made it more useful.

I prefer to have a full time mage but in a smaller party you can make do.

Clerics/Druids aren't that important to my way of playing but nice to have. Multiclassed is fine. In fact a PC with high wisdom who dualled from a class with divine magic when he had 5th level spells would most likely leave me happy.

The thief doesn't need to be that good. Honestly I've gone with Nalia as my only thief and didn't have too much trouble. Just keep those thief skill enhancing potions and items handy.

So for a few four man parties:

The evil one:
PC: Fighter/thief or thief dualled to fighter but then you'd have to include another thief for a while. Yoshimo would be a good choice. (Tank/Thief)
Korgan (Tank)
Edwin (
Viconia

The small folks party:
PC: Gnome cleric/illusionist (Arcane/Divine caster)
Korgan (Tank)
Mazzy (Tank)
Jan (Arcane caster/Thief)

The noble party:
PC: The other three guys cover the bases so whatever you want. A bard might be fun.
Keldorn (Tank)
LG Anomen (Tank/Divine caster)
Nalia/Imoen (Thief/Arcane Caster)

The wierd people party (with lots of arcane magic):
PC: Beserker->Druid (Tank/Divine caster)
Haer'Dalis or Minsc (Tank)
Jan (Thief/Arcane caster)
Edwin (Arcane caster)

There's lots more options with four members even with everything covered if you ask me you can even do quite a few three man parties and still be fine.

My typing fingers are getting a bit tired so I'll just do one with three:

The old friends party:
PC: Any tank. A fighter/mage would be nice.
Jaheria (Tank/Divine caster)
Imoen (Thief/Arcane caster)

Now remember all: This is not necessarily how I always build my parties. But I feel it's the way to build parties that are fairly easy to use.