Advice on new start

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Well, here we are, starting a new game. Since I played player created characters exclusively, can someone please give any advice on how to create a nice little NPC party? And what should the PC be?

I know there is no simple answer to that, so if you can just tell me with what party did you had the best time beating the game.

I'm thinking of adding Kelsey (don't want to be sorcerer again), removing irenicus dungeon and the ease-of-use mod.

Thanks in advance!

 

Recommend you look over the thread on favored kits.

Wild Mage PCs are fun (as you've probably already learned), and IMO, Undead Hunter paladins and Wizard Hunter fighters are each good straight up bash the enemies down fighters with a couple of nice benefits.

For your party, I often mix and match but lean good.

I generally take Nalia and Aerie.

Both are competent and overlooked mages with an added bonus. Nalia can use bows, elven chain, and so on (I readily acknowledge she doesn't have the best thief skills but I only try to make use of those some of the time. Aerie is even better in that she is both a competent mage and cleric, sure she isn't one for the front lines but that isn't what I use her for anyway-for me she often provided a worthwhile heal or fireball spell.

Keldorn's great but I often loose him to subplot related reasons partway through my run (you don't have to do this).

I don't always keep Minsc but he is fun enough to be worth spending at least some time traveling with.


Mazzy is good if you recruit her prior to the game giving her more than 1 slot in short sword. For a fighter who can survive being in the front of a battle this proficiency is often a waste of her talents. I often boost up her skills in larger and more powerful weapons.

Valygar is a worthwhile fighter but his biggest contribution to my party is often as a scout.

In case you didn't notice I tend to favor larger parties (5+ members).

Also I generally play an unmodded version so that may explain why I don't have some members.

If I played a mod the first among the additional characters I would try out would be the tiefling sisters Keli & Inara.

 

I agree with pplr, Wild Mages are fun.

If you've never played one I'd suggest a Jester, it's really good for a change of pace.

There are some very good NPC mods, I'd suggest Angelo.

 

Thanks for the replies. I took a fighter/mage. Yeah, I know, no imagination. A kensai/mage was also considered, but when I learned of the IWD2 store mode that sells Elven Chainmail of the Hand, I had to take the fighter/mage.

Atm I have:
- Meh (LORD meh, I, after all, own a friggin' castle and will soon own a friggin' giant steel ball, how cool is that?)
- Keldorn (Has some problems with his family...)
- Anomen (Has some problems in general, I'm gonna hit him in that arrogant face of his some day, I swear..)
- Jaheira (I'm in looooove . Oh, btw, how would a normal non-guide-reading player notice that salesman with the locket? This game is really noob unfriendly.)
Kelsey (The mod guy. A sorcerer. Not much to say. He does what he's suppose to do.)

Intend to get:
- Mazzy (I'll give her a nice little bow)

So we have 2 divine casters, 2 arcane casters, one ranged and 4 melee capable characters. A bit too much melee power one would think, but Jaheira and Keldorn use longer range weapons (staff and greatsword) so they are capable of reaching the enemy from the 2nd line-of-battle, 1st line are the PC and that jerk Anomen. This way the hand-to-hand combat doesn't get clogged so often.
I must say NPCs aren't so bad as I thought they would be. They have a bit weaker stats that I would roll (in a day of rolling), but they compensate that with additional xp from their quests, their custom equipment and, of course, by spicing up the game. I only hope they don't kill each other. Anomen sure looks like he's cracking...

 

You are aware that you can have only one stronghold? Or is there a mod you use? (If you do, I would like to know about it.... )

 

There's a way to get two strongholds if you don't have the bugfix ... but it requires delaying acceptance of the keep from Nalia.

There are several mods that allow multiple strongholds -- even all the strongholds at once. And you can find them right here on SP.

As far as companions ... I tend to choose companions for entertainment first, functionality second.

Anomen/Keldorn/Minsc/Jan are a combination with the most interactions of any other group (unless you have Viconia/Jaheira/Aerie together, which is a riot as well). Jan is an absolute riot in this group.

Jaheira has the most interactions. Period. She talks more to you, inserts herself into more conversations with NPC's and in general acts like a wife at all times.

Minsc is great with everyone and has quite funny interactions with everyone (I personally find the one with Keldorn to be the best, but those with Edwin are good too).

Mazzy and Korgan have some good interactions.

Aerie and HD have some good interactions and you can really have fun with the romance triangel there. It's better than the catfights of Aerie and Jaheira.

Edwin has some great interactions after doing his quest. Many are location related though (Nalia and the docks come to mind...). Minsc and Anomen are particularly funny.

 

Fair enough party.

I think, provided you give her the skills when she levels up, Mazzy with a spear or halberd can be a longer ranged melee fighter as well.

Ditto for your fighter/mage (though I often dual-wield for mine).


I was able to let K visit his family and then rejoin the party, but your choices are up to you.

The most noob unfriendly point that comes to mind for me is being inside the temple you visit on behalf of the beholder cult if you try to infiltrate the latter.

 

Ease-of-Use mod makes that. You can download from the gibberlings three site (hope I spelled that correctly)

Em, yeah, mine does also. Nothing looks cooler than an elven fighter/mage dual wielding katanas/bastard swords from iwd2 an wearing elven chain

WHAT?! You can do that? I thought that getting his wife to jail/executing the lover was the only way for him! Oh, man, again, very noob unfriendly. So will he become fallen or something? Will he drop Carsomyr in the middle of a fight?

Huh? What?

Also the the rogue stone lich fight is such an instance... or the mace of disruption upgrade. Bah!

 

When I dealt with K's family issues I found that I had the option of

Spoiler

letting him visit his family for a time and then rejoining the group as well as letting him stay with his family after I told him either were better solutions than having him kill the other guy or jail his wife.

Perhaps it is a chance to encourage him to be forgiving after the other guy said he wasn't even half the man K is. Because I wanted see if I could keep K a bit longer I suggested he stay with his family a bit to reconnect before he left with me as part of his last task.

For the beholder cult there is

Spoiler

an artifact the leader in the sewers (under the temples district) wants you to get. He gives you a key to access where you have to go to look for it. When you find an old temple with a bunch of disillusioned people by it and enter there is an avatar and demon looking thing. The latter attacks you and you can cast cure light wounds on it to make it go away-there just aren't many/any hints you should do that.

Believe it or not but I usually get a kick out of having at least one of my dual weapons be an axe.

 

Why would killing his wife's lover and sending her to jail be appropriate for a paladin? I thought the designers got it wrong and he should have fallen if the PC directed him along those lines (after all, the revenge path gets Anomen kicked out).

I think the most appropriate way is for him to forgive and accept his wife back.

 

My advice for a new party is thusly:
PC-Thief, probably with fighter leanings
The only other thief that can progress as a thief in the game is a thief/illusionist, and there are plenty of other mages to choose from. I love a thief's traps, and backstabbing with a F/T can be deadly, so having a career-dedicated thief (if not class-dedicated) is important to me.

Aerie-How can you ignore the potent combination of Mage/Cleric sitting right in front of you in a pretty, romancable shell? You can get her early, too, which is helpful

Nalia-Pretty much pure mage plus short bows, short swords, and elven chain armor; a very nice combo. Plus, again, available early.

Minsc makes a good meleer, but so do a number of others. Keldorn can do that well and wield Carsomyr while doing so, Valygar can do it rather well and backstab, Korigan is available if you lean that way. Choose your favorite 2-3.

If you still have room left over, fill as needed. You've got a thief (dedicated in career path if not class) in the PC, two mages, one cleric, and probably at least 2 rangers/paladins. Some more clerical magic may be nice, but it isn't really needed. Another meat shield can help, but also not really needed, you only need one thief, more arcana is always fun, but once again, not really needed. Basically, that last slot is a freebee which you can fill with whatever you want.

Obviously, this is a pretty good-leaning party set-up.

Since this is in the SOA forum and not the ToB forum, I won't mention HLAs, but a F/T can have some deadly combos there as well.

 

1. PC
2. Yoshimo/Imoen
3. Minsc and Boo
4. Edwin
5. Viconia or Jaheira
6. Keldorn


Perfect party, these guys own. Otherwise I`d say just hire every NPC and do their specific quests with them so you get to know them and decide with whom you`ll play the game through on a sympathy basis.

Btw. with my setup I wouldn`t dual class Imoen except if you`re going for a thief as your main character.
You got 2 awesome tanks, the best healer in the game, the best mage in the game, well ok the thiefs suck but I find Imoen to be story relevant so I always got this bugger around.
Since this setup has already everything a party needs, the PC choice doesn`t matter at all.


Oh and you`ll be up for some funny **** with Edwin and Minsc in your party if they don`t smash each others head in, promise.

 

I liked playing a Bard as the PC, as all important needs of the party can be filled with the NPCs available. I also enjoyed the Half-Orc Barbarian. Me Smash!

As for NPCs,

1 - Keldorn - A must if playing a good-aligned party and not using a Pally as your main character, otherwise you miss out on one of the best weapons in the game.

2 - Jahiera - Healer, Tank and a few quests.

3 - Aerie - Healer and Mage

4 - Jan Jansen - Thief aned Mage

5 - Any of these 3 - I really liked using Mazzy. Great AC with shield. Also enjoyed Cernd, Greater Werewolf was alot of fun to use, though he gets weaker as the game goes on. Valygar for super dual-wield of Katana/Axe/Flail. NO Minsc if using Keldorn, I prefer only one wielder of 2-H-Swords.

This gives you 2 Mages, a Thief, 2 Healers and 3 Tanks, not including your PC. I love this party.