Party / class help (Yes, again!)

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I am about to launch my first BG 2 + ToB session in over a year now. I’ve just finished installing, patching and moding my game. I can tell you, those parts are a epic quest on their own. I even believe I managed to track down all “essential” mods and install them in a proper way, otherwise that will come back and haunt me later. To why I’m posting here then, I have a slight luxury problem with my party. I am doubting wheter or not my class picks are the best possible and what the heck I can form my PC into. I got the following outline for the party at the moment.

Note, I post this in the ToB forum because I want suggestions that cover both SoA and ToB.

- A LOT of talking, I’ve tried to pick NPC’s I love to have a lot me and that create a lot of intrigues and conversations.

- Ability to use almost any items, I love dressing up my toons in epic gear so monk or barbarian is kinda off the list.

- Jack of all trades, I want to be able to counter almost any encounter so I want to have a bit from what every class can offer.

- Even though I love the NPC’s I don’t always agree on what classes or professions they have taken. Therefore I take my liberty of changing everything with ShadowKeeper.

So, this is my party layout at the moment.


PC (male) – Other from that I don’t got a clue, he will romance Viconia though and from there I am open for any suggestions.

Mazzy – Inquistor. First time ever I tries her but I’ve heard good things about her, especially that she’s a bit cooky.

Viconia – Cleric of Talos. My beloved, nothing to add here I suppose. I need at least someone with turn undead

Minsc – Warrior / berserker. Any other pure fighter kit that doesn't’t limit his choices of equipment badly?

Jan – Kensai / Thief. I love this powergamer combination and I just cant’ see myself living without it.

Kelsey – Sorcerer. Never really liked the mage way and this must be the best made NPC mod ever.

EDIT: Jaheira - Class inquistor or some kind of druid. She would replace Mazzy. I've alwyas had this hate / love relationship with Jaheira and I just read that she has got the most banter written in the game for her.

So, you guys got any suggestions? Things I might want to change? Any ideas what so ever for classes for my PC?

Thanks in advance!

[ May 16, 2006, 17:53: Message edited by: Belmit ]

 

Youre pc should ideally be a cleric/ranger (sk'd to an archer), hang back and pelt the enemies with longbow or rush in with FoA/DoE (better off giving crom to viconia) and use your druid spells to strip enemy mages.

I'd personally drop mazzy for keldorn if you're reaching for an inquisitor + his weapon selection is far better. There is the possibility of conflict with viconia but keep them apart or use a mod to sort it out.

Although dual-wielding with minsc will make him more powerful i prefer to use halberds, as theres always a few good ones to be found and all 2handed swords can go to keldorn.

Would jan work as a kensai, i mean until he gets use any ability he wont be able to wear his body armor or gloves, which would be a hit to his skills and survivbility. Perhaps a swashbuckler/mage, this would seem to fit his personality more (ok he might not be the epitome of charm and grace but whats not to love)

 

Hmm, I grow more and more fond to my current group setup. But I believe I will drop Mazzy, never tested her and only thought about her because I heard a good word about her.

The question is wheter I should take on Keldorn (Inquistor) or Jaheira (druid, making her a paladin would just feel wrong >_<). What would be the best when it comes to banters? When it comes to butt kicking?

Cleric / archer is something I've never tried. Non-magic ranged classes is something I havent' tried alot to be honest. How do I create him? Should I have him dual-class or multiclass? Forgot which one is one, but with two classes runing at the same time or quiting one and then going onto the other. And so, at what level?

 

Well I think that a secondary mage would be a very good addition to your party.So I would suggest a half-Elf F/M who could dual-wield Katanas.
Another option would be a Berserker-Mage dualled at level 13 but probably not the ideal for a party of 6.It would take a lot of time to reactivate your first class.

As an alternative you could make your PC a Swashbuckler.Very good fighter and this way you will not miss thieving skills in early game.

I have always seen Minsc as a Barbarian.
The only limitation of the kit is the inability to wear Plate mails.But it will compensate for this the Physical Resistance of the Barbarian + the fact that you can use some others very good armors (Shadow Dragon leat. in SoA and a better one in the beginning of ToB).

And the physical resistance is much more important from the AC.Combine that with the Defender of Eastheaven and a fighter HLA and the Barbarian becomes one of the best tanks in the game.

 

If you are really want to have Minsc as a beserker, you should then download the "Beserker Minsc mod" from Drew. It will still have the abilities of the ranger, but with the benefits of the beserker.

If you want it here is the place -> LINK

5th option down

 

@ thetruth
I think f/m with katanas is too weak and overdone, sure they look cool with a hooded-mage paperdoll but celestial fury's main perk (sonic boom) is almost always saved against by toughened mobs and dak'kon's blade is pretty weak and only worth keeping for the spell bonuses.

Plus a sorc whose spells are configured right, is all the mage you'll ever need.

 

Hmm, maybe it would be good for me not to run another full plate session again. Minsc as a dualwielding barbarian seems kinda interesting. Even fits with his conversations.

Thieving skills is something I seem to have forgoten all about. Traps can always be countered someway or another but locked doors can be tricky before Jan gets dual-classed and gets a few levels.

Hmm, for my PC either swashbuckler or cleric / ranger seems to be the most fun and intersting. Both of them are completely new classes but cleric / ranger seems to be the most fun since ranged fighting is a entirely new chapter for me, not including magic. Can anyone please explain the benefits of these classes? And how to develop a good cleric / ranger.

 

Cleric/Ranger = Fighter/CLeric with slightly slower thacO progression but able to cast druid spells aswell as cleric. This is a plus as the druid has a few very good spells not available to the cleric.

Keep it as a multiclass and SK the ranger to archer so you'll have far better missile combat at the expense of lesser melee skills and lighter armor.

I don't know about dual classing Jan, keep him as a multiclass mage/thief, just give him a thief kit instead of illusionist.

 

Jack of all trades, able to use all equipment? That sounds like a Blade to me, seeing that they're called "The most powerful class available". AND they get "use any items".

 

Why not keep Jan as multiclass? Surely the power of SK can add a kit to such a combination?

 

Agree for the overdone thing but in an unmodded game Celestial Fury is pretty powerful for the most part of the game (but still weak compared to FoA ).

A Ranger/Cleric (multi) is one of the most powerful characters in the game, both in Defense and Offense.

Defense : Cleric buffs like Armor of Faith,Blade Barrier,Prot.f.evil combined with Ironskins and Hardiness later + the resistance flail Defender of Eastheaven will make him pretty "untouchable".

Offense : Ranger's THACO + HLAs later and amazing offensive spells like Insect Plague,C.Doom (mage killers) or Harm and Nature's Beauty (2 of the cheesiest spells in the game - especially the second one ).

I don't agree with the Archer/Cleric suggestion though.A Ranger/Cleric is a pure melee character and you will penalize him with the Archer's restrictions.

Ranger/Cleric is an excellent option although I don't know if Minsc will give you the 2 flails


Oh and Blade can be another very good option too.He can be your second mage + a very good fighter.If you want to know more about Blades you should download the Scythesong's guide available here at SP.

 

Minsc as a Barbarian actually fits the area he is from amongst other things. He seems to only be ranger because that's what he was in BG1. And BG1 They stuck so to the origional classes that he just kind of got tossed in there as the closest thing to what he really should have been.

 

According to the source books I've seen, he actually should be a Barbarian. A Wychalarn is always escorted by a Barbarian. Changing his into class itself still doesn't work, though, since he does repeatedly identify himself as a Ranger. I've got a new verson of my little Minsc mod that actually makes him into more of a Barbarian/Ranger hybrid on my hard drive right now (testing). He gets no spellcasting, less uses of charm animal, Barbarian Armor restrictions, standard barbarian rages, damage reduction, faster movement, and uses the Barbarian HLA table (if you've ever played Refinements, you'll know why). I elected not to give him extra hit dice (hardcoded) or backstab immunity (game balance) since I didn't take away his ** in dual wielding or his stealth. I'll probably release the new version in another week or so.

 

Facing the issue of just how deeply inbedded the incorrect stuff about Minsc is in the game huh Drew?

I didn't realize it was that much. I really don't use him that often.

 

I thought Minsc was a Rasheman Berserker, hence why i always used near infinity to change him to berserker and limit him to 2handed weapons.

@Starwalker
I can't imagine playing a game without him, his dialogues with evil characters are some of the funniest.

@Belmit
Perhaps you should play it with only 2 or 3 npc's as a large party is more often unwieldly and difficult to keep alive than a smaller group. All you need is a tank, a divine caster & an arcane caster. Thieving skills are largely unecessary unless you're planning to exploit shopkeepers for gold, in which case just cheat it in with the console.

Ranger/Cleric (pc) + korgan + edwin

Not the ultimate powergamer party or the best for dialogues but it'll help you get acclimatsed with the game again by having straightforward party members.

 

@ Pseudospawn - I love Baldurs Gate 2 due to the diversity in my characters and the conversaions I get. I've tried playing with less than 6 characters before and it just feels hollow. Same as playing evil characters, it just feels plain wrong. But then again, I am weak-hearted and it always pains me to turn down Imoen over att spellhold.

By the way, I've prety much decieded on what party to go with now.

- PC, start him as a standard thief, then when Jan gets high enough in thieving I ShadowKeep him into a blade.

- Jan, Kensai 'til level 9 and then thief. I will Shadowkeep him to a level 13 Kensai when I reach ToB for that extra inch of powergaming. I love this dualclass combination even though it's a bit cheese.

Kelsey - Just the plain sorcerer he is.

Jaheira - Had a bit of trouble picking between her and Keldorn but in the end I chosed her because it was a long time since I had her with me.

Viconia - Cleric of Talos. My beloved =)

Minsc - Barbarian, a leather warrior is outside my normal thinking and this seems to be a fun trip. I am thinking about replacing him with Serevok when I reach ToB though. My memory is a bit dull right now but who got the most fun banters in ToB? Sarevok or Minsc? In togehter with the party I got now?

 

You have a very odd way of looking at the game Belmit, why sk part way through?

Get everybody the way you want them with NI at the beginning of the game and just play!

Jaheria is a druid, true she leans more to the side of good but making her into a paladin is bit extreme

Its obvious that a smaller party will be chattier than a larger one, but trust me your group is gonna feel alot more hollow when most of them are killed of by being too weak.

I think sarevok had some ok dialogue especially with jan. Binky!!. But the rest of the time he is rather broody and forthright so the conversations end fairly quickly. The main reason for teaming him though is deathbringer assault.

 

I don't feel that games are somethig holy or something perfect. I bend and twist them into being what I want them to be, the charasteristics of the NPC's may be what I want but some of their classes aren't. I am not used of playing with druids but I almost always have a paladin, therefore a paladin felt like a good pick for Jaheira since I wanted her with me. In the end she still got to be a druid (pure druid, removing the fighter part) because I feel that it would be close to blasphemy (according to my own believs) to change her from druid.

Just created the party, gatherd all the guys, made the save so now it's ShadowKeeper time!

 

I think Pseudo's question was more directed towards Jan than your disregard for original game programming.

You're going to level Jan up until 9 then dual. Yet, upon reaching ToB, you're going to make him level 13. I believe his question (very legitimate), is why not just take Jan to level 13 to begin with?

 

@UCLAEnigma
Bit of both really.

@belmit
It just seems really strange to constantly chop and change characters. i mean changing jan to a straight theif till lvl9 then dualing to a mage (which i guess you'd have to make him human for) once you start tob you change the original kit to kensai and add 4 levels. Just keep him as a mage/thief multiclass and add a swashbuckler kit if your desperate to make him strong in melee.

It sounds like youre trying to powergame and RP at the same time which is doable (its not that hard to mess about with classes/kits/weapon proficencies to make everyone uber) but misses the point of NPCs.

You create a team to cover each others weaknesses and build on their strengths, if you don't like the build of a certain character... don't have them in your party!

I know im not exactly one to talk on keeping the game pure ((made Sarevok into an anti-paladin (tdd kit) just so he could wield carsomyr)) but you should either take the people as you find them or just play with made-up NPCs in multiplayer.