Can't decide what to be

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I plan on taking Minsc, Jahiera, Yoshimo/Imoen, Jan & Mazzy.

I'm thinking about a FMT. I know I wont hit the higher stuff but I have the others to do that. Or maybe a berserker/mage? Stalker/cleric? Wild mage/cleric?

Don't like paladins for some reason. I use to love them before the blackguard came along. Now the blackguard is my only paladin class. Can't do that because (s)he would have to be evil while some of the other party is good.

I tried a shaman but for some reason it just doesn't do it for me which makes ZERO sense because I have been wanting a divine class that does spells like a DD. So what's my problem? I don't know. Third base!

Also for some reason I don't like the idea of a thief/mage which is a ZERO sense as well being I like the idea of having the thief abilities and a few spells to protect me in some way. Jan has that covered anyway.

I prefer to be an up front in your face character if that maters?
I'm thinking stalker/cleric really hard but I'd like some advise/feedback??

 

None of the above? All of the above? Roll 1d6? How are we supposed to know what you wanna be playing?

 

Given that lineup, I'd say try a monk, FMC or a skald.

I'd say the only interesting thing about the stalker cleric is the name of the class. You're better off playing a pure stalker, a pure cleric or a plain R/C.

 

If you like divine casting but still want an 'in-your-face' character, you might wish to look into a Beserker/Cleric dual-class.
It's arguably one of the strongest combinations in the game, rivaling the kensai/mage in power, but with less restrictions and more consistent with his damage/survivability.

You'll want to start as a beserker, and probably dual at level 9, since you are running a full party and have to share the EXP you gain.
Dualling at 13 is an option too, but only if you are going solo, otherwise it simply takes too long to get to lvl 13, and even longer to regain your beserker levels once you dual class to cleric.

lvl 9 gets you max hp from your fighter class and 3 uses of enrage per rest.
lvl 13 gives an extra 1/2 attack per round and 4 enrage uses per rest.
You can get by with just 3 uses of enrage per rest, and unlike some other fighter kits, a beserker can still put 5 pips in any weapon proficiency (except missile weapons) to offset the loss of that 1/2 attack.
Keep in mind to pick proficiencies in weapons you can still use once you dual to cleric though.
Flails and Warhammers are pretty good picks, since you can use the trusty combo of the Flail of Ages + Crom Faeyr.

The biggest advantage the class has (and which makes it so good to solo with) is that you can make yourself immune against virtually everything.
While raging, you get the following benefits :
+2 to AC
+2 to hit and damage rolls
Immune to Charm, Confusion, Fear, Feeblemind, Hold, Imprisonment, Level Drain, Maze, Stun and Sleep.

you will become truly immune once you are able to couple enrage with the Cleric spell Chaotic Commands, which will protect you from the few effects that enrage does not : Suggestion, Domination, Command and Psionic blasts.

 

Why would you pick a plain R/C over a stalker/cleric? The stalker gets 3 bonus spells and backstab damage. You have to cheat in the stalker kit with eekeeper but that's not a problem.

Using eekeeper to change things if need be, would you still say berk/cleric? berk/druid? Also dual as you said or maybe multi instead? I only ask all of this because I don't know if your considering eekeeper at all. It's hard to decide on ironskins or chaotic commands. Lol.



And thanks for your help Keneth

 

Always happy to share my infinite wisdom.

 

Yeah, while going beserker/druid is a valid option as well, but they have a few disadvantages compared to a beserker/cleric.
First off, the cleric's spell selection is slightly better suited for self-buffing, which is what you'll mainly want to use your divine casting for with either combination.
Second, keep in mind that your secondary class limits your proficiency options. a berk/druid focus would be using clubs/scimitars, whereas a beserker/cleric's better options are Flails/Warhammers/Maces.
The options for the cleric are just better throughout both games and their expansions.
And finally, there's a real spike in the exp required to level a druid at the later levels. For comparison, a cleric needs only 4,950,000 XP to get to level 30. a druid needs a whopping 7,500,000 - requiring almost 1,5 times the exp compared to the berserker/cleric.

On the subject of EEkeeper : making a fighter/cleric or fighter/druid and changing the kit to beserker would certainly be an option.
If you do, don't forget to go to the 'Effects' tab in EEkeeper and use the 'Add Kit Effects' button to add the enrage ability, so you actually gain the benefits of the kit.

One thing to keep in mind is that the Dual Class option can get grandmastery (5pips) in a weapon, which gives damage, to-hit and attacks per round bonuses.
You'll also gain cleric levels earlier, so you'll be able to cast lvl 7 divine spells sooner as well, and generally be a better caster throughout the game.

A multiclass fighter/cleric will only be able to specialize (2 pips) in weapon proficiencies, and adding a kit in EEkeeper won't get rid of that limitation, so you will lose out on some bonus to hit, damage and attacks per round.
Still, you will probably be just as good or even a better straight up fighter, because you'll continue to gain ThAC0 up to fighter level 20, and will also gain access to fighter High Level Abilities, which a dual will not.
If you go multiclass, consider going with a Dwarf - they are one of the races that can pick fighter/cleric as a multiclass, and they get some sweet bonuses :
Infravision
Higher Death, Wand, and Spell saving throws (+5 bonus at 18 constitution or higher.)
Can start with a 19 in constitution. <- once you get another +1 in constitution for 20 total you gain regeneration.

 

Sounds like the berk/cleric for the win!
Thanks for the input/feedback. Much appreciated.

 

No worries, i hope you have fun with it
There's actually a guide on this site for a beserker/cleric that might have some interesting info for you here :
http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/dl.php?s=BG2&f=BG2/BCsorc.zip

also, if you decide to go with the dual-class option, keep in mind that weapon proficiencies do not add up.

 

Thanks again xosmi. That definitely helps!

" weapon proficiencies do not add up."

Why does it matter what you put points into for your fighter levels if they won't matter/be usable? Or did I misread/misinterpret something?

 

They do matter, they just won't add up with any points you put into the same proficiencies on your dual class.

 

Yeah, i think you are misunderstanding.

• If you put proficiencies in weapons as a beserker that you can not use as a cleric, you won't get those back after regaining your beserker levels.
• If you put 2 proficiencies in warhammers as a beserker and then again 1 in warhammers as you level as cleric, the proficiencies do not stack, so you'll only get 2 instead of the 3 you put into it.
• During the time you are leveling as a cleric and your beserker class is inactive, you'll only be able to put 1 pip into any weapons specialization like a normal cleric.
• After you re-activate your beserker levels, you can once again put 5 pips into weapon proficiencies.
• after you have regained your beserker levels you will get your original proficiencies back, overwriting the ones you got as a cleric if you picked the same weapons.

That's why you'll want to pick 1 weapon and style (probably two-weapon) and put your points into those as you level as a beserker, then when you dual to cleric - put 1 point into the other weapons you don't plan on using as your main, then when you regain your beserker levels start maxing your 2 main weapon styles to 5 pips.

 

When I see the title, I'm just thinking:



Be Fabulous!

 

Wild mage could be interesting.

Also you may want to try some of the mods out there.

I don't know why but gibberlings3 seems to be loading slow but give it a try.

 

Gibberlings3 was down earlier, seems like they are having some problems on their end still. I'm sure it'll get fixed eventually.

 

Sorry Paracelsi, didn't mean to ditch you like that. Monk sounds like a good idea. Never played one in ANY game. The FMC doesn't appeal though. The skald looks like (s)he depends on just sitting back and singing. That takes him out of combat which I don't want to do. I don't know how you guys can solo. I have a hard enough time with 6. He does have a nice song though

G3? Lets hope they're doing mods upload

 

Soloing the games basically comes down to having a character that can do a bit of everything and game knowledge.
You can either go with a combination of combat + magic like a beserker/cleric or kensai/mage, but lacking any kind of thieving skills you'd have to know which areas have traps that are likely to kill you and where those traps are. There's also a few chests you simply cannot bash open, so you won't have an opportunity to grab some items. Same thing for the few good items you can normally gain through pickpocketing.

You can go with a combination of thief skills + magic, you'll be able to go anywhere safely with your detect traps skill, and no chest/pocket is safe from you. Initially though, you'll be pretty squishy so you'll have to pick your battles carefully - this comes down to your game knowledge again, knowing which enemies you can and cannot take on and knowing which tactics work vs which enemy to defeat them really helps.
This is made pretty easy with the stealth skill though, as it allows you to sneak around those encounters you don't want to have yet.
As you level up, you'll be able to offset the lack of prowess in combat with the spells you learn.

I'm not going to go into thief / fighter combos too much - while you can solo the game with pretty much anything, the lack of any casting whatsoever is a pretty big one.
Not being able to buff yourself means you're going to lose out of a lot of combat potential, but more importantly you will have no magical means to protect yourself vs. the many status effects in the game (some of which can be an instant game over.)
A beserker/thief is the only combo that can offset this somewhat with their enrage, though there's still a few effects that even enrage won't protect against.

Also, skalds are better at melee then you might think.
They already get +1 to damage & to hit rolls by default, and their song gives increasingly better bonuses as you level up as well:

Code:

1st level : +2 bonus to damage and to hit rolls, +2 to AC.
15th level : +4 bonus to damage and to hit rolls, +4 to AC and immunity to fear.
20th level : +4 bonus to damage and to hit rolls, +4 to AC and immunity to fear, stun and confusion.

now, even while soloing, you can do something called song-twisting.

Once the song takes effect, even if you stop singing, it's effect will stay on you for the duration of that turn. (6 seconds.)
This means you can activate your song, attack (which causes you to stop singing) then activate your song again just before the next turn starts, you can keep it up pretty much indefinitely.
Also, once you are able to cast lvl 6 spells (level 16) you can learn Mislead - a clone created by the mislead spell can also sing a bard song, and attacking with your actual character will not break the clone's singing.

I'm not going to say it's ideal, but you can melee and solo the game with a skald, it's been done before.

 

Normally stalker/clerics aren't possible so I was assuming you were going to dual-class, which seems unnecessarily complicated (you will need to dual class at high levels of stalker to get the most out of its abilities) when you can simply start an R/C.
Berserker/clerics are OK but you already have 3 dedicated fighter types (Jaheira, Minsc and Mazzy) who all have access to fighter HLAs. Jaheira, being a harper druid, can easily handle healing/support while Yoshimo/Imoen/Jan handle thieving/arcane spellcasting.
With the basics covered I thought what you needed was something that could increase how well the party functioned as a whole.

The monk serves as an excellent scout, undead and construct destroyer (everyone else in that party seems to favor slashing/piercing damage, especially at low levels) and has the MR/speed to shut down spellcasters/key targets or keep them busy, allowing everyone else to do their job better.

The FMC is extremely versatile, able to stack Improved Haste/Draw Upon Holy Might/Critical Strike to deal out massive damage or tank just about anything by stacking damage resistances from gear/Armor of Faith/Hardiness/arcane and divine protection spells/potions/etc. He can abuse spell triggers/spell contigencies, use spells like Harm and can hold his own against casters. Basically he can do whatever he wants while everyone else does their thing.

I suggested the Skald because your party has 3 NPCs with warrior APR progression/access to Whirlwind at higher levels, two NPCs which can cast Haste/Improved Haste/Melf's Minute Meteors and Energy Blades, and a total of three NPCs with access to powerful summons. All in all that's a LOT of extra attacks, and that's where the Skald shines. With just Minsc/Jaheira/Mazzy doing 3-4 attacks per round each (with Haste) the Skald will be generating an extra 36-49 damage per round for the party at level 15. Of course you can double people's APR with Improved Haste, have Imoen/Jan use Melf's Minute Meteors, and add 5 hasted summons to the mix - and suddenly the Skald is going to be doing more damage just standing there singing than many class combinations you can name at those levels. Things are only going to get more interesting once Whirlwind/Energy Blades/Elemental Princes and Planetars enter the picture.

 

Wow. Suddenly the skald sounds interesting

 

The only thing that ever really bothered me about the skald is that its special skill is its song, but then all other bard classes get access to an upgraded version of that song through one of the HLAs.

It's even more eggregrious for the jester, who has a special song that affects enemies instead of party members, but with the same HLA, the whole song gets turned around into something that does really good at buffing your party membes.