Playing a multiplayer game with a full 90 point party

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I've decided to re-start my current BG game all over again with my own custom party since I was fed up of having to modify the games characters to play what I wanted and to play for fun.

I made a full party of 90 point characters to play with my various character ideas to see how they work out (Picture here with classes and attributes):



I actually realised after creating the party that I have no healers right from the start as they are all going to be dualed to:

To make up for the lack of early priest abilities, I gave each character 2x Cure Light Wounds and 1x Slow Poison as Innate abilities as the protaganist would aquire during the game. This should hopefully suffice along with potions and the Bard Song through BG1 and early BG2.

After dual classing takes place at around levels 13-15, The Invoker and Skald are going to have fun killing everything on their own =D

Nothing else in the game, or on these characters is going to be modified. I already got shot in the foot when my fighter's scimitar aquired in candlekeep broke and I have no idea where there are any more and am not yet a high enough level to aquire the Scimitar +2 from the top of Durlag's Tower.

This will be a blast

 

Looks like a pretty rockin' team!

 

Its pretty much a team full of characters as I would choose to develop a lead character in the various classes - it lets me make them all at once . 90 point builds are plenty powerful enough, I found in my previous game that editing my stats beyond this makes it far less fun for me, so no more modifications other then what I have started with.

The Ranger may have to be dualed first at level 9 because a priest will probably be required by then (I would prefer to dual him at 13). The kensai gets dualed at 13, fighter at 14, swashbuckler at 15, invoker at 20.

My tactics without a priest will be to rely on Haste, Slow, Bardsong and potions, maybe even the Luck spell on my bard.

Tomes will be spent as follows:

STR on Kensai
DEX on Swashbuckler
CON on anyone with only 17
INT on Invoker
WIS on fighter / ranger / invoker
CHA on fighter

Comments on the benefits / disadvantages of the primary class choices:

Fighter - wanting to dual to a druid is costly and requires high investments in WIS and CHA. This was worked around by sacrificing STR and planning to use ogre strength gauntlets. Early on, this character wont do much damage, but will make a good leader and meat shield. Once the gauntlets are aquired, there will be no drawbacks other then not having much ranged damage. Dualing at 13 will get the Fighter levels back sooner, dualing at 14 will still allow for the same number of Druid levels, but level 15 Druid is hard to get as it requires 3 mil EXP. I want to dual at 14 for the most levels possible.

Ranger - recieves 2x 2 weapon proficiency points for free making a good choice for an offensive Cleric with dual maces and warhammers. Right now he has 2x Warhammer, 2x Sword and Shield, 3x 2 weapon fighting so he can also double up as a shielded missile tank. The only flaw is not being able to use longbows or crossbows, but he will get a sling proficiency in his Cleric classes.

Kensai - all proficiency points will be spent on katanas and dual wielding to maximise the damage done by kai. This classes weakness of not having any armor is made up for by being able to kill most foes and bosses in seconds (he pwned bassilus again in a couple of seconds at just level 2). But he has even lower AC then my rogues and dies fast, and katanas are difficult to aquire (I had to cheat in a pair of +1s). I will save him every potion of heroism and defense I come across for the difficult battles.

(Will add comments on the remaining classes soon).

 

Funnily enough, this party is going to be very nasty late-game. Anyways, on to my comments:

Firstly, something is up with your first character's hit points. 36 is way too many for a 2nd level fighter. The max she should have is 26 (due to lower CON score).

On dual classing: why are you going for dualling at level 14 for the fighter? The difference between 13 and 14 is minuscule and just means you take longer getting back your abilities. Personally, I'd go sooner rather than later here.

The Swashbuckler dualling at 15 may make sense as it is a multiple of 5, but that means you have to wait until 16 mage level have been gained before you have a thief back in the party. That is a long time and, importantly, quite a few locks and traps (ie easy XP) missed out. Given how much dualling you are doing, I think this may be a bit too long to wait; you are going to need all the XP you can get for your last character.

Speaking of this last character, I have to ask 'why?' 20 levels of mage and then 21 levels of cleric before you can use all your abilities. Works with a solo-type game, but why do it in a full group?

Especially when you cheat in weapons and extra abilities for them.

Still, if it works for you then I'm going to leave it at that.

 

Why 18/17 CON on swashbuckler, invoker and skald? Only warrior classes get extra HP from over 16 CON.

Also having *any* intelligence on warriors, the first two characters, is waste of good points. Unless you RP, but this is a powergame party. The first character for example would be much improved with 12/18/18/6/18/18 stats.

Edit: wait... Tom Bombadil?

 

I really dont know why my first character has so many hit points, she started off with a lot more then usual plus she already got 2x cure light wounds, slow poison and draw upon holy might automatically.

I kind of didnt realise that I wouldnt have a thief after dualing the Swashbuckler so late, just like I didnt notice the lack of healing at first.

All I looked at was what I wanted for each character by the end of the game and didnt consider the full length of the game.

The reason for 14 fighter / Druid was based purely on calculations from the EXP charts, that a level 14 fighter would still get the same number of Druid classes, but then I overlooked that level 15 Druid also needs 3 mill and I wouldnt get the fighter classes back untill ToB, so dualing at level 13 would work better.

I kind of just thought - these are the characters I want by the end of the game and went ahead and made them.

The reason for 20 mage / cleric was that I wanted a version of Aerie with wizard levels capped at 20 so she could still get a holy symbol.

I think everything would work better without having to modify in any extra abilities if I change either the Skald or the Invoker to a Cleric / Thief multiclass (I dont know if Cleric / Thief is possible as a multiclass).

I'll check the next time I play, and if Cleric / Thief is possible I will start again.

The reason for moding in the katanas was because there are none available in BG1. I could as a better alternative give the kensai bastard sword proficiencies instead.

Looks like I'll be starting again with a Cleric / Thief instead of a Skald, Kensai with bastard swords, and no modifications .

90 point rolls arent really a modification as they are competely possible normally, using Ctrl - 8 just makes it a lot faster. I always used to reroll untill I had a full set of attributes equal to 15 on each.

Edit - Does a really low INT not affect saving throws at all in BG? If so I will take that advice.

Tom Bombadil is singing battle song =D.

Also, there is a pun of Dynaheir - Dye-my-hair

I didn't know that 17 CON doesnt affect wizards - would it give a retroactive HP gain upon dualing to a Cleric later on though?

I dont want a multi thief / cleric though, what I am going to do is create a new human thief in SoA with 7 thief levels, dual to a Cleric and then import him into a new game.

 

Only some items (and maybe some race?) grant saving throw bonuses in BG.

No, only fighters, barbarians. rangers and paladins get the extra HP. Not spellcasting or rogue classes.

 

An easy mistake to make. What you must bear in mind with parties like this is that only becoming very powerful at the end of ToB isn't much use; the hardest part of the game to get past is rarely the finale. Even if it was, is it worth slogging through the middle just to peak before the credits?

 

Constitution mistakes aside, I've gone ahead with this as my final party:

http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bgparty2cb5.jpg

Everyone will end up slinging spells. The Kensai was nerfed because I just dont like looking at numbers below 10 anymore, and it gives me somewhere to definately use the constitution scroll (I want 17 stats overall because they arent as overpowering, but not too weak either).

No katanas are being modded in, the Kensai has bastard sword proficiency instead.

Now the only thing I would have prefered is for my three potential Clerics to have been able to become specialist Clerics - One priest of Lathander, Helm, and Talon, but even if you dont have a kit on your primary class, you cant choose a kit on the secondary class either.

I tried making my evil cleric a Thief / Priest of Talos in shadowkeeper, but it doesnt add the unique abilities. I really wanted to have one of each Priest

At least they will eventually get the different holy symbols. I'm not starting again now, this is it to stay with nothing modified but the 90 point rolls

As for the new evil Swashbuckler / Cleric, lets just pretend I already completed BG1 with him and got 160k EXP already =P

I'll now be relying on the Cleric and Invoker to get me through the midgame after dual classing the others.

 

Fighters with less than 15 str are not allowed to dualclass in AD&D, so you'll need a mod in order to be able to change character 1 into a druid.
Your characters will only have about 6,000,000 XP at the end of ToB if you play your game normally, so you should also think about which cheats or cheesy tactics you'll use to reach the 8,000,000 cap.

 

;( I suppose I will have to reduce the fighters INT then.

Thanks for pointing out all the mistakes so far. I would have had fun dualing my thief to a mage and then thinking 'Where is my detect traps button?', and wondering why I cant dual my fighter with 17 WIS and CHA.

Fighters new stats - 15 / 18 / 18 / 5 / 17 / 17
Kensai changed back to - 18 / 18 / 18 / 18 / 10 / 8
Thief - 18 / 18 / 16 / 18 / 10 /10
Mage - 10 / 18 / 16 / 18 / 18 / 10
Clerics - 17 / 18 / 18 / 10 / 17 / 10

I believe there should be no more problems now.

I am following this guide here to make sure I dont miss any quests and EXP:

http://www.forgottenwars.com/bg1/ar3300.htm

Are there any guides like this for BG2?

The Fighter, Ranger and Kensai will all be dualed at level 13, I think I will dual the Swashbuckler at level 10 like I did on the cleric, but the Invoker is still going to be dualed at 20 and may require going through the game twice.

I will also look up and install extra quest mods for more EXP. If anyone has some suggestions, please let me hear them.

Also, I just realised that BGT greatly reduces EXP gain from scrolls, traps and locks in BG2. Is there anyway to restore the normal EXP gain for these from SoA onwards?

 

For myself I'd rather use cheese like fighting endlessly respawnig monsters than follow a walkthrough like a robot leeching for every single XP possible, but that's a matter of preferences. Use the style which is most fun for you.

If your only reason for taking a dualclassed invoker/cleric is getting a holy symbol, you should know that you get it one level earlier than mentioned in the manual, at level 25 which is within the 8,000,000 XPCap for multiclass cleric/illusionist or cleric/mage. A positive side effect is that the multiclass gets more hitpoints and can take more HLAs.

Your party's weak spot is that it won't gain access to the many available fighter HLAs (and to the many powerful rogue HLAs either) like greater whirlwind, but it's strong enough to beat the games more easily than a parties with only one self created character.
You obviously like a lot of micromanaging, since all characters are mainly spellcasters, you'll have 3 high level mages and 4 high level priests being able to do the same, casting the same high level spells, for me additional access to 18 different non-caster HLAs would be more fun than being able to summon a planetar/deva or cast energy blades with each of the 6 characters.

 

Here we go, updated with my progress so far:

http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bgparty3bb3.jpg

It has everything now /pwnzor.

Yea, I know, a hacked Invoker / Cleric multiclass ^^