Help me create a new party?

Remove all ads!

Hi guys, since my last post here I've replayed the game maybe six times, two of which where solo(fighter/mage and assasin). Other than the solo games, I haven't been able to finish the game because of a problem. I have insanely big OCD about my characters and parties, and unless I can write creative backstories, enjoy their concept and they fit together lorewise, I can't bring myself to play the parties.

I also have a sort of powerleveling complex from playing dota/league slightly competitively and that's made a lot of the chars I made(fighter/assasin) insanely overpowered.

So I was wondering if anyone would like to help me create a party, or pitch some ideas to me about creative character concepts.

Here's the list of chars I've played to no end:

- Inquisitor(fav class, I'm a big anti mage player in dota)
- Archer
- Figher/Cleric
- Wild Mage(too powerful)
- Figher/Thief
- Pure fighter
- Barbarian
- Sorcerer

Most of my parties tend to be a healer, a spellcaster, a warrior type, a ranged type, a thief and then the last place is either for an NPC or whatever strikes my fancy.

I've never tried out bards or druids(they seem weak to me) or most of the kits for fighers/thieves or spec mages.

Sorry if the post is a big read and thanks for any help anyone can give me.

 

I tend to enjoy the banter from the npc's in the game. You can always SK in the stats you want and even change the characters a bit -- Minsc makes a great barbarian. I thought Nalia made a good fighter/mage. You can add some of the fan-made npcs for other classes (archer, sorcerer, etc.).

 

Then the mod Level 1 NPCs allows you to choose the class for any official Bioware NPC. (Currently it does not alter race or alignment.)

 

What I've, for a long time, considered a good idea is to download the Wizard Slayer Rebalancing mod and build a party around the WS; to make it really interesting and RP-able, don't include a mage in the team. Making him a Half-Orc should maximise damage output, whereas a Dwarf would be more tankable. Although, in this team I'd include a F/D multiclass (if you don't mind Shadowkeeper, make him a Half-Orc Berserker/Druid), which is pretty much the best tank possible except for a Mage build/Sorc. Looking at what you've used already, I'd then include either a Swashbuckler or Bounty Hunter; again if you don't mind SK you could try the truly awesome combinations Swashy/Cleric or BH/Cleric. If you really really want an arcane caster you could then opt for a Bard: if you want him fighting/tanking you could try a Blade, if you want him buffing/casting/debuffing you could try a Skald. If you want you can use the Un-Nerfed Bard Spell Progression component from G3's BG2 Tweaks to let him achieve 8th level spells (though that's quite late game), and his spell-casting level will in general be WAY higher than a comparatively experienced Mage/Sorc; he'll be casting Dispel Magic at almost the same level of power as an Inquisitor. Finally I'd probably include the bad-assery of an Undead Hunter or the debuff/dispelling capabilities of an Inquisitor; if you're erring towards an evil party then instead install the Anti-Paladin component of Weimer's Tactics mod, as it's basically an Inquisitor on steroids with a penchant for slaughter. However, seeing as you've already played the Inquisitor style a lot, I'd ignore your trends and try the Undead Hunter - they are certainly heavy duty, with immunity to Hold and Level Drain, +3 dam and thac0 against undead, and a mighty +2 to ALL saves. And that then leaves 1 slot free for an in-game NPC. I think the above would, in the hands of someone experienced enough to complete the game 6 times, be more than powerful enough, and should offer some much more interesting RP options/ideas than the standard: Fighter, Healer, Ranger, Mage and Thief.

Also, neither Druids nor Bards are weak: when played correctly they are easily some of the most powerful classes available. If you don't like the idea of Berk/Druid, you could instead try Fighter/Totemic Druid, for some very powerful summons. The only kits of those two classes I'd probably avoid are the Jester and the Shapeshifter, although no doubt somebody somewhere will have come up with a viable way of making even them overpowered!

 

Well the jester is powerful in BG1 and it loses nothing compared to a normal bard (except standard bard song no big loss) so actually I would take that over a normal bard if I actually wanted to sing a lot. As for the shapeshifter it gets more hate than it deserves. Think about it you lose only two things for shapeshifting.

1. Your standard forms (mostly useless so no loss there).

2. Armor which sounds bad except if you recall you can find bracers AC3 with some and the best armor for druids is AC1. You don't lose much.

The trick is to dispel magic on the druid when you want him to melee (to get your magic weapon back) and essentially you can tank your physical stats and use werewolf forms to be a better druid melee guy. Granted fighter druids are great in that too and don't toggle but if you want a pure druid and you want to be effective in melee shapeshifter is it.

 

@ Ishad, the lvl 1 mod actually seems like it might be what I'm looking for, and I'll check it out. Do you know if I can install it over all the other mods I have without throwing the game into chaos(currently have a frame rate issue that makes the underdark in particular very frustrating to play through that I can't resolve)

@ Bruno, my problem with the NPC's isn't so much their stats, I take NPC's with to enjoy the actual games interactions and most NPC's fall very short. The fact that they are very largely absurdely weak(like imoen) from a power gaming perspective, they are also very niche(like viconia) from another point of view. Also while I'd like to play a female MC for a change, the only male romance is Anomen which is... well... you know.

@MrMermaid, I've actually been trying out a skald in a playthrough with the following party:

Inquisitor, Archer, Priest of Talos, Skald, Edwin, Amber(f/t).

The problem I've had is that I haven't even once felt the need to activate his bard song over blasting aoe spells or using him to chain lower resistances and skull traps or to just stoneskin/tense and melee. He feels like a fighter/mage that's weaker, whose sole unique point is not worth using over the aformentioned fighter/mage parts.

For a druid I think I'm going to try an SK altered Jaheira first, since I'm still a bit apprehensive about druids. I also very rarely use summons despite the tactics and difficulty mods because I've never needed them.

Moving on, I'm actually thinking of trying out an oriental theme party based on characters from fiction and fantasy(like Tempi from wise mans words). All the chars would be based off of being the most combat efficient of their type. For example:

Kensai, Monk, Assasin,Archer.

My only problem is how to fill the last two slots, I was thinking Jaheira since she can fit the neutral theme but a part of me really wants to pull a mage into the mix despite the fact that it wouldn't really make sense.

Any advice to fill this party? I'm really looking to avoid the inquisitor class as well as any form of spellcaster, since they tend to break the games difficulty very heavily.

 

Level 1 NPCs is a very powerful tool; not only can you change in-game NPCs' classes, you can also edit their attributes (Str, Dex, etc.) and give them a kit which would otherwise require Shadow Keeper, or be impossible even with that (such as kits introduced by mods). It does all this in a permanent (up to re-installation of the mod) and stable way (I've tried permanently editing NPCs using Near Infinity, and more often than not have met with crashes), and it's compatible (at least functionally) with every other BG2 mod in existence, although there may be some conceptual problems with drastic editing. It also will permanently edit any NPC-specific items so that said NPC can still use their item(s), which is a complete pain in the butt with the SK method, requiring the use of Infinity-Engine-editing software such as NI.

Druids are bad-ass, primarily because of two spells: Summon Insects and Iron Skins. Also their HLA Greater Elemental Summoning is truly fantastic; you may not like summons but this one is definitely worth trying out.

Regarding your Oriental-themed party, how about a Rogue-Rebalanced Blade? (Who can thus get 8th-level spells.)

I would also definitely recommend a divine caster; the game is nearly impossible without one, at least when taking a full party.

EDIT: I just noticed you said you want to avoid any spell-caster. My bad, but sheesh, what a challenging game. How about a Swashbuckler, or Fighter/Swashbuckler? And maybe a Wizard Slayer to round it off?