Choosing a PC

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Here is the party I have chosen for my latest attempt:

-Viconia
-Korgan
-Edwin
-Imoen
-Sarevok

I am undecided on what sort of a PC to use. My only criteria are:

1. no elves or halfelves
2. must be capable of evil alignment
3. no arcane magic users
4. no f/t or c/t

Keep in mind that I'm using the "no traps and no locks" component from some mod, so a thief is definitely not a necessity.


What PC would you pick and why?

Thanks!

 

Cleric/Ranger. With virtue installed, he will have an evil alignment if you simply do evil acts and due to game engine restrictions, a Cleric/Ranger will never fall.

 

I'm thinking a Dwarven Cleric/Fighter is the way to go.

You already have 2 strong front liners in Sarevok and Korgan. You have more than enough arcane power in edwin and imoen. What you don't have is a backup healer to assist Viconya. With your F/C PC and Viccy you will also have your 2 secondary front line characters, so you shouldn't have too much problem creating a wall between the enemies and your 2 "fragile" casters.

A druid variant of this might be a possibility as well, to get you access to the "insect" line of spells. A human dual class could work as well; however, I think in the long run you'd be happier if you stuck with multiclass--as you don't need 2 uber high level clerics, you'll end up with better saves/thac0 and HLAs for both the cleric and fighter classes. Cleric ranger would be another way to go, except for the alignment restriction you mention.

 

Take a cleric. You got everything in this party, so it really dosn't matter. Do You want a romance? Otherwise I would make it a dwarven cleric. With the AoE mod from PPG you can make him dualwield hammers and axes.

 

This sounds like a good party to try a monk with. You have plenty of tanks in Korgan and Sarevok, and your divine, arcane, and rogue bases are covered. Use the monk to enter the fight just after Korgan and Sarevok, and clean house!

Or a pure kensai, with similar tactics. Try a kensai -> cleric dual, with grand mastery in staves and two handed weapon style for Staff of the Ram, or warhammer for Crom Faeyr. Dual the kensai at or shortly after lvl 13 for extra attacks. With cleric buffs, this character will deal some serious damage.

 

Dwarf fighter/cleric (Flail of Ages/Dwarven Thrower and shield, GWW later) or kensai.

 

Either a R/C or a F/D. How soon do you want that evil alignment?

Druid spells are useful; more useful than having a second plain cleric.

 

Monk is good.

Druid is good (although can't become evil until late).

Cleric might be a possibility. Yes you already have one, and I tend to find clerics a bit boring for a protagonist - but G3's Divine Remix mod adds a lot of coolness to cleric kits and one of their kits might fit the bill. Maybe try Viconia as a Shar-kit cleric and PC as ... um ... how about an evil Firewalker of Kossuth?

EDIT: Here's a link for info on the mod.

[ July 13, 2006, 20:02: Message edited by: Luiz ]

 

You seem to have enough tanks why not try a kit like Kensai, Bounty Hunter or Blade.

 

I also like the F/D theory, and either a multi-class or dual class would work. Druid spells are really the only thing this party is missing. Normally, I wouldn't even think twice about multi-class over a dual class, but in this case, since you're already going to have a boat load of fighter HLAs, it may be worth going dual class to breach the 3 million XP mark quicker.

 

I'm confused about some of the suggestions: How can a r/c or a f/d be of evil alignment? As far as I know, the only instance in which alignment change is an option is at the end of SoA, and I'd prefer being evil from the very beginning (as I intend to RP my alignment as much as possible).

Additionally (to help me decide things here), what is the general role of Viconia in a party? Can she make an effective melee contribution with the powerhouses Korgan and Sarevok (and likely my PC and some kinds of summons) already in the fray? Is she good with ranged weapons? Should she just be a "caster" cleric?

 

Don't exspect Viconia to do much fighting damage, she gets only one lousy attack/round and no combat bonusses as a pure cleric.
On the other hand she can tank defensively quite well if you give her proper armor (you'll need the strength spells or an item to make her capable to wear full plate).

 

Which is why I asked how soon do you want your evil? You could take Drew's advice with the Virture mod or change your PC's alignment with SK or some such or just play evil and get your rewards in the Abyss.

Speaking of Virture for R/C, I know there is an evil aligned druid class - Blighter. Anyone implimented alignment 'choices' for druids in mods yet?

 

Yeah. Divine Remix allows 3e alignment restrictions for druids.

 

Well to be honest I'm hesitant to install mods and I definitely don't want to SK my alignment away or wait until the end of SoA to change it.

That said, what are the recommendations now that druids and rangers are out of the picture?

 

Maybe you should be more specific about your playing style.

Do you always reload when a party member dies or do you just cast raise dead and go on ?

Do you want to romance Viconia ?

Do you only accept the characters you mentioned or do you plan to drag also other characters around for half the game ?

 

On Viconia - she can be an effective melee fighter provided you raise her strength. Early on in the game, the mace Mauler's Arm (available from the Copper Cornet) is the best way to raise her strength. It's fairly cheap, and raises her strength to 18.

As far as your character selection, with the restrictions you've placed on us, there's really not much to chose from. Since you're evil, that eliminates druids, rangers and paladins. You said you don't want to play a thief. With both Imoen and Edwin in your party, making your character a mage, part mage or a sorcerer would be superfulous. A bard also isn't a great choice because you don't need his spell casting, which is one of the primary reasons you'd take a bard.

So the options we have left are fighter, cleric, fighter/cleric, barbarian, and monk. You already have Viconia, meaning playing a straight cleric is out. Which means we have a choice between 4 melee character classes (fighter, fighter/ckeric, barbarian, and monk), and it really doesn't matter which one you pick at this point, because you already are going to have Korgan and Sarevok, so you should be doing plenty of melee damage. Honestly, it doesn't matter which of those four you pick. At gun point, I'd probably take a fighter/cleric half-orc.

 

Hmmh... Monks are nice, provided you can bear them being quite weak at the beginning. But in the end, nothing will stand up to them and laugh.

 

I'd go for a fighter/cleric as well.

A monk's a bit too straight-forward for my liking...

 

I never said no thieves, just no f/t or c/t.

Maybe I'll reconsider the alignment thing. I definitely do NOT want to be a r/c, but a f/d or even a plainclass druid could be fun. What druid spells are worthwile beyond summonings/nature's beauty/insect spells/ironskins??