Best party spokesman: Pally, Bard, or...

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...to leave room for a third option.

I've always had the best luck with Paladins, but I'm considering my next run with a Bard in the top slot as the party spokesman. Thoughts on the wisdom of this? I'd read recently that Bards actually have more conversation options (and therefore, opportunities for extra experience) than even Paladins, which have quite a few. I'm also wondering if stats other than Charisma have an effect on conversation options. I know they do in later games, but not IWD.

Anyone do well with a non-Pally or non-Bard?

 

In Easthaven you can convince the old fisherman to stop drinking if you have high int,wis and cha but you only save 1 gp for the bottle.

The only really beneficial int- or wis-based dialogue option is in HoW, with 14+ int or 14+ wis the character talking to the GF seer can choose a dialogue option which grants quite some extra XP.
15+ cha covers all cha-based dialogue options.

You can do well without any paladin or bard or any spokesperson at all, no need to squeeze out every single dialogue XP, the game is easy enough, especially when replaying. And you can grind XP quite fast if you want it.

 

Druid also has a 15 cha requirement, same as Bard. The Pally can ruin your options in the temple level of the Dragon's Eye. There are dialogue options in Kuldahar for various class-types when speaking to villagers around town. so it doesn't really matter who has the Cha. Try Enchanter, I believe they have a 15 or 16 Cha requirement.

Anyone ever try creating all low Cha characters? Does low Cha change any in-game responses?

I fired up a party with the IWD in BG2 mod. Same IWD game, with more engine features like class and race options of BG2. You can choose to utilize IWD or BG2 Weapon Profs when installing the mod, as it's customizable. Snice!

Half-Orc Barbarian - Dual wield Axes
Elf Sorcy - Fire....
Gnome Ill/Thief - Crossbows and Lightning
Human Undead Hunter - Two-handers
Half-elf Cleric (Lathander kit) - Healer and front-line meleer
Half-elf Skald - Support archer/more Fire....

 

for good party I choose paladin
for bad and neutral party I choose bards

 

Shop discounts max out at 25% at 20 Charisma. 18 Charisma is only a 15% discount. Not that its a particularly huge deal, but neither a paladin or druid can get 20 Charisma, but a bard can with the Friends spell.

For that reason I prefer a bard as the face-man. Also because its easier to give a bard good Int, Wis, and Cha since he doesn't need to focus on fighting stats as much as a paladin and druid do. A bard shouldn't be fighting anyway, but rather he should be in the back line singing or casting spells.

 

Any mage-type can cast Friends as well. High Charisma for a Mage-type is easily done at creation. They don't need Str or high Wisdom. I usually use a Wizard as my speaker in Evil parties that don't include a Bard.

 

It's been my experience that the bard is probably best for a spokesperson, since they can also get a little extra XP in easthaven during the quest involving the shards of Aihonen's sword. Plus a bard can serve as a handy backup caster. A female bard with high charisma can also get massive discounts and markups from Dirty Llew, due to his reputation with the ladies.

 

I think that Paladins and Druids also get the chance for some extra XP in Kuldahar, by talking to and "converting" a local. I'd need to check though; my last run-through had neither in my party, and it's been a while.

 

All of them will have their moment at some point in the game. Bards get 2 or so extra dialogue options as early as Kuldahar, Druids start getting theirs on your way to Kuldahar (the ogre) and Pallies at Dragon's Eye (the cult).
Bards get the most XP early game, significant enough to guarantee that everyone gets a level up before your first battle.

Int and Wis, 16+ I think, as well as alignment are factored in some conversations. I remember one of the drunkards in Easthaven can be persuaded to change his ways if you have enough Wis. Most of the time I use a Bard with 15 Str and 16+ in everything else except Con (which I leave at 10). Bards don't need the extra HP since they should be using a composite bows and avoiding melee, and 15-16 Str/Dex is all you need to equip composite bows while making certain buff spells like Cat's Grace more appealing (if you have 18 Dex the maximum bonus you can get from Cat's Grace is only 2 points - a real shame since Bards/Thieves get a 1d8 roll).
That leaves you plenty of points to max everything else.
Druids and Pallies (especially fighter/druid dual-classes) don't have as much flexibility unless you don't mind min-maxing.

Based on the above, I'd say a Bard would make the best party spokesman (unless of course your party needs something very specific like a spokesman/frontliner or a spokesman/divine magic user).

 

I usually take a Bard, they're pretty powerful as well as being the ideal spokesperson, in my book. Have played most of the way with a Fighter/Druid, that worked pretty well too. I find the Paladin a little annoying, but I could simply be transposing the Paladin experience from Baldur's Gate, where they often turn down rewards 'cause they're goody-goodies - I've never really tried a Paladin leader in Icewind Dale.

 

Since I didn't have the patience to wait for answers in this thread before starting my party and finishing another game, I can tell you from recent experience.

I did indeed decide to run through with a Pally, since I liked the dialogue choices available. In IWD, no monetary reward was refused by my Pally (that I can recall, anyway). Having her in the top spot ended up being 100% useful, minus one minor annoyance - the snake temple (I'd have liked to have been able to swing by a merchant there first, before the whole thing went pear shaped, vs. the "I see through this, sneaky snake!" and subsequent immediate battle).

I still haven't tried a game with a Bard in the lead yet, as I like to have someone in the lead who can take a hit. My bards are always ranged, back-row yodelers.

 

I recall reading a post here about someone, I think maybe it could of been Marceror, using a Half-Orc Bard/Barbarian build that seemed to work pretty well. I have been thinking about trying it out. Or possibly a Bard/Fighter type.

 

IWD 1, bub.

 

(..ahem...) I meant Druid. Try Druid. Yeah, that's it, a Druid. They start with min CHA of 15. Practically a Bard/Barbarian mix anyway.

 

Yeah, but I never think to switch the top spot in the party order until it's too late.

Durp.

 

I know it's a cheap answer, but taking both along opens up all options. Since I know so much about the actual quests in this game, I can say that high CHA + talking skills are best on a bard, for monetary reward options. For Pally bonuses, the game often just checks if the speaker has a level Paladin, and a single mix-in level is often enough. Just the class activates their best quests and rewards, and talking skills are often overlooked.