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I started a new game with a fighter/mage/cleric pc and a fighter/mage/thief sidekick. I figured this 2 char party will actually be more balanced throughout the game than a small party with dual or singleclassed characters.
Anyone who has gone through the game with such a party?

I've never done it, but I did try a F/M/T and a C/R. It was too easy after a little bit, to be honest.

I think your combo is just as powerful (no druid spells, but 2x the arcane firepower).

I find games with small parties with dual-classed characters easiest as they become too high in level too quickly. Not so here IMHO. I think that it will become too easy at the end of SoA of course but that happens also because the game is well known.

Hi Bruce Lee

I understand your reasoning, and I can see how your theory makes sense:

Currently, I have a solo character in the works, who just went to the City of Caverns. He has completed all available quests as well as Watchers Keep with the Throne Deck drawn.
Dividing his XP to your 2 characters would yield a f/m/t at 18/16/21 and a f/m/c at 18/16/19.

That means that these guys will be able to take down everything coming at them, however neither will have 9th level mage spells until around ToB and the cleric is not able to blow up liches either via Turn Undead.
Assuming you play with an XP cap remover, of course. Otherwise they would be near maxed out by the Underdark.

So you can say that a f/m/t and a f/m/c as above would probably both hit 9th level mage spells in the very beginning of ToB.
So if you take 2 fighters, 2 mages, 1 thief and 1 cleric as a 6 man party, the level would be the same.. in that case, I think you'll see your 2 man army will not be much more effective than the 'standard' 6 single class party except for 'certain situations', while on the other hand the 6 people party is able to deal out more damage per round in regular combat.

I think your run through will be fun, especially because leveling up will be very slow after you've reached 1,2 mil XP per character. (2,25 mil party XP is needed per extra mage level from that point on)

Good luck, and let us know your findings - I might want to try the same set-up depending on your experiences.

I have gone through the game as a F/M/T solo, and its way easy. The main thing is that you get HLA's early in the game and they develop quicker then with other characters (because you level up way more often).
f/m/t + f/m/c should be kinda the same, you will have less HLA's/9th level mage spells but more arcane casting.
Too bad there's only one vecna's robe and amulet of power though

If it is too easy then I'd say it is good that there is only one robe of vecna!
I have the fmc wearing that. Well so far sure it hasnt been hard but I think that had this been my first run through the game I would have died alot. I have done several quests and have 1.8 million exp points on each character but still no 6 level spells.
If you create a swashbuckler and pick up korgan and edwin and viconia almost straight away you have loads of 6th level spells immediately.
So the good part for me about this game so far is that everything can be done without having to resort to cheese and there is still a challenge in most encounters.

You probably need the elven armour from that dragon in suldenesselar (forgot his name) for the F/M/T untill then you might resort to bracers of AC.
Anyway the beginning is a bit hard, but as soon as you can cast mislead it will be mighty easy. Just imagine wat 2 mislead mages can do. Especially a f/m/t as he can backstab again and again.
But that's a bit cheesy perhaps, use it as you see fit i guess.

As the F/M/T, unlike Aule said, I'd use Jan's armor instead. Also, not that while you can learn ninth level spells, you can never cast them, unless you have an experience cap remover.

I am quite happy with this game so far. I reached the 3 million mark just now. Still havent travelled to spellhold, I am doing the quests first. I have completed everything except the unseeing eye. I am doing windspeer now.
I can see how the HLA will unbalance things so I have decided to pick the extra mage spells as my first abilities (I have the mod that allows tripleclassers to choose those 3 abilities from the mage pool).
These characters are not nearly as powerful as a dual-classed character at 3 million xp.
If I was playing a berserker9/mage & ranger7/cleric now it would be totally unbalanced. I think these will stay on par with the game much better.
The FMC is 12/12/12 now and the FMT is 12/12/14. This party gets less xp than a party of six of course due to the quest xp just being handed out twice.

As far as I'm concerned, I would readily take the FMC and FMT against many parties in ToB (XP cap removed and triple class HLA mod). Mages allow awesome defense - far more than what other classes allow. With only a party of 2, I think these characters will become powerful quickly. I would recommend veterans like Bruce Lee give Improved Anvil a whirl if they are looking for a challenge.

Yes this group is quite powerful. But still it is fairly balanced. I am halfway through the underdark now but I still have no 8th level spells. The HLA's do make a difference but that is true for all parties in SoA with ToB installed. More so for smaller parties of course.
What I like with this party is that I can play cheese free. I have not used the Shield of Balduran or the cloak of mirroring or Vhailors helm at all since I have so many other options available. Now I try to not plan ahead but instead be perpared for anything with trigger and contingencies.
But sure it would be fun to try some more difficult mod. But most of all I would like to play a game like Baldurs gate again without knowing the story but knowing how the game works. That would be fun with a group like this.

rbeverjr wrote:As far as I'm concerned, I would readily take the FMC and FMT against many parties in ToB (XP cap removed and triple class HLA mod). Mages allow awesome defense - far more than what other classes allow. With only a party of 2, I think these characters will become powerful quickly. I would recommend veterans like Bruce Lee give Improved Anvil a whirl if they are looking for a challenge.

IA strongly recommends that you use at least 5 characters.

Indeed, IA could be soloed in version 4.2. Due to several changes, version 5 has not been soloed yet to my knowledge. (And the author suggests play with a team of 5 or 6.) Improved Anvil keeps the basic story plot of SoA and ToB, but the game is changed a lot. It seems different.

I occasionally play other computer RPGs (like Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2, and Mask of the Betrayer expansion, etc.), but I like SoA the best. If you discover something as good, let us know!

Just finished SoA and I still have a little to go before I hit the levelcap, which I removed btw. Yes the game was easy towards the end but frankly SoA with ToB installed is pretty easy. I like this group alot and the fmc is a cool character to play indeed.

I like any the mage/cleric combination due to quick buffs, where in essence you cast about four or five spell sequencers and triggers to quickly buff yourself up or produce multiple effects with clerical spells.

Tried that exact same combo, and it's fun untill you're max level and misses time stop. Kinda overpowered though, but anything multied with mage is.

Still at it with this combo and I am having a great time. Yes they are now very powerful but in a nice way. I did remove the cap and playing these triple classers in ToB is great fun. I can recommend it especially if you are looking for an epic character.

Well I now finished the game and I must say I had a great time playing through with this party. Give it a try, I dont think you'll be disappointed.