Looking for *party creation tips*

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I just want to get a feel of what you people think is a good, balanced party. I'm not looking for any "perfect" party by any means, nor are any NPC's names needed.

Tell me what you think a good number of each:

1)Tanks (Ranger/Fighter/Barbarian)
2)Arcane spell casters (Wizard/Sorcerer, Bard)
3)Divine Spellcaster (Cleric/Druid)
4)Rogue (Thief/Bard)

Again, just trying to get a feel here. For instance, I've been considering playing a Ranger/Cleric multiclass sometime, but I think it might be too much to have this protagonist along with Anomen and Jaheira. It would probably be "Divine Overkill." Same with Wizards. If I were playing a Sorcerer, would I really need Nalia in the group? Or is two Arcane spellcasters the a good number?

Just looking for opinions...

 

Magic is impressive, but now CamDawg leads! Swords for everyone!

3 1/2 tanks
1 1/2 arcane
1/2 divine
1/2 thief

 

One pure arcane caster, possibly dualled from fighter or thief.
One pure divine caster, possibly dualled from fighter.
One Multiclass who is one part divine (fighter/cleric, fighter/druid, ranger/cleric, mage/cleric)
One multiclass who is one part arcane (fighter/mage, mage/thief, cleric/mage)
One thief, either dualled from with 100 open locks and disarm traps, or multiclass with fighter or mage.
Rest should be fighter types.

One kind of party could be:
Mage or sorcerer
Cleric
Mage/Thief
Fighter/Druid
Fighter type
Fighter type

or another:
Thief dualled to Mage
Druid
Cleric/Mage
Fighter type
Fighter type
Fighter type

a third:
Mage or Sorcerer
Fighter dualled to Cleric
Fighter/Mage
Fighter/Druid
Fighter/Thief
Fighter type

The possibilites are quite endless, but here's my essential formula for a party:
(Pure class=1, multi or dualled=0,5 (if dual is a working level))

Arcane casters (mages and sorcerers): 1 + 0,5
Divine casters (clerics and druids): 1 + 0,5
Thiefs and kits: 0,5
Fighters and stuff: rest, usually amounts to at least 2,5 for me.

Long post, but there you have it!

 

here's a great "good party"

Kerdorn
Minsc
Berserker/Cleric dualed at lvl 9
Aerie
Immy
Whatever other NPC you want

 

2-3 tanks is enough, otherwise they get in each others way

1/2 thief (don't need a full one), the traps and locks in the game aren't that big a deal.

1/2-1 Divine. The only reason I take Divine is for Restoration. Healing spells in combat are to slow and outside of combat you can just rest.

1-1.5 Arcane. I barely use any magic except against really big enemies (like dragons) or when fighting spellcasters, and even then only a little. I find the game doesn't need that much Arcane power but at the moments you do need it, it's best to have 2 people casting simultaneously since then you'll need alot done in a short time.

 

Wow, thanks for all the fast responses! I'm heading off for my D&D session in about an hour, I can't wait to see how many responses there will be tonight!

The only way I can think of speeding up healing spells is to stick the Robe of Venca on Aerie (or any Cleric/Mage).

 

I have used this type of party in BG1 and BG2 and put it to extremely good effect in IWD.

Fighter/Paladin
Fighter
Fighter/Druid
Fighter/Thief or Cleric
Mage
Bard

Example:
1. Paladin or Fighter
2. Minsc or Keldorn
3. Jaheira
4. Anomen or Aerie
5. Imoen
6. Haer'Dalis

or
1. Fighter
2. Korgan
3. Jaheira
4. Viconia
5. Jan
6. Haer'Dalis

 

I was wrong.

See y'all tomorrow.

 

My parties usually consist of:

2+ tanks: first one uses two-handed weaponsa and second uses sword ans shield
1½ healers: one pure and one multi- or dualclass cleric or druid.
1½+ mages: one pure mage or sorcerer and bard or mage/thief or whatever
½+ thief: usually I take just multi- or dualclass thief

Here's my favourite good party:
PC (paladin)
Aerie
Yoshimo -> Imoen
Valygar
Anomen
Haer'dalis

This party has
3 tanks (PC, Valygar, Anomen)
3 arcane spellcasters (Imoen, Aerie, Haer'dalis)
1 thief (Yoshi and later Imoen)
2 divine spellcasters (Jaheira, Anomen), and 4 if you count also PC and Valygar

Also, after you lose Yoshimo, you can use Valygar for backstabbing.

 

as a rule, i always take at least one pure arcane caster, usually a sorcerer, one pure rogue, usually a vanilla thief and any kinda divine spellcaster, i recommend the Ranger/Cleric MC... its quite an awesome class. a pure tank is always nice too, and perhaps you could throw something interesting and a little different into the mix, like an archer, they're a cool class. so... i'd say my party could be

Berzerker/Barbarian/Inquisitor/Ranger (Thuggish Tank, dont bother with a vanilla fighter unless you want a ranged waste... a berzerker is everything you need, want and more)
Ranger/Cleric MC (Divine Tank )
Sorcerer (Primary Arcane Mofo)
vanilla thief.. still my favourite thief class.

thats everything you need... so if you would wanna take a full party, mess around.

 

harkle has it spot on.

Good example parties of this imo would be.

PC - Fighter/theif
Korgan
Jaheira
Viconia
Edwin
Jan

Or

PC - Sorcerer
Keldorn
Aerie
Cernd
Imoen
Minsc

Or, if you really want to try something different

F/M/T
F/M/C
F/M
F/T
F/C
F/D

This doesn't quite work to the 2 fighters, 1 1/2 mages, 1 1/2 healers and 1/2 a theif, but its quite balanced and everyone can look after themselves. Just you won't get very high levels in any of your characters.

But as someone has already said there are endless combinations, so just mix and match untill you find something which suits your playing style.

 

I agree with Septic.

The party is well balanced. But here is my mod,

PC - Fighter/Thief multi (I've come to realise that the most realistic class for the main char is either a fighter, thief or wizard, the others just don't make sense) - and thieves rock!

Fighter/mage multi

Ranger / cleric

Sorcerer.

 

IMO if you are going to take any "pure" tank's like the Fighter or Paladin they should be kept away from the front line, sounds like a bad idea right? well bear with me a minute.

The only classes that should go near the frontlines are the ones with spell casting ability's such as the F/M (suprise) F/D, R/C, Blade or anyone like them I'm missing out on. Why so? well the best possible protection for your melee characters in combat are spells like Stone/Iron skins and Protection from magical weapon's those two spells will keep you alive far longer then any armour, sheild or weapon combination there is, sure they can't deal as much damage as pure Fighters but they have a much longer fighting life span due to protections because they often absorb enough hit's especially against things like Dragons, to kill a straight Fighter type several times over.
Therefore put your spell casting fighters on front with single handed weapons like the Katana and longsword, and put the heavy damage characters like Paladins with two handed weapon's especially the Carsomyr to deal the heavy hit's

As for my party recomendation to get such a party you need to custom build some of them or use some NPC mods like Tashia, Kelsey and Solaufein. (custom chars marked with a *

Ranger dualed to a Cleric at whatever level you want
Keldorn
Solaufein
Haer Dalis
Imoen
Aerie

This is a party with a good balance in physical combat between good reliable protection (PC, Sola, Haer and Aerie later on) and heavy hitting power (Pc, again and Keldorn

Perhaps the best thing about the main character is that when he reaches his Ranger level after dualing to a Cleric he get's all of the Druid spell's added to his arsenal of normal clerical spells, which opens up new defensive possibility's like Iron Skins, and mage disruption spell's such as insect swarm, and as for proficencies.

PC - Before Underdark - Staff of Rynn
PC - After Underdark - Rod of Smiting
Keldorn - Before Umar Hill's - Joril's sword and Lilacor.
Keldorn - after Umar Hills - Carsomyr.
Solaufein - Sword of Baulduran with FoA.
Haer Dalis - Belm with Celestial Fury
Imoen - Staff of the Magi, Robe of Vecna and Amulet of power and she's set.
Aerie - Crom Fayer is all she will ever need.

Since all of these character's except Keldorn maybe can do multiply roles we have potentially.

Two Fighter's capable of giving out the heavy firepower Melee wise. there also effective mage killers so that's two more

Keldorn
PC (after passing the Ranger level as Cleric.)

Four arcane spell casters

Sola
Imoen
Haer Dalis
Aerie

Two healers

PC
Aerie

Two frontliners (remember what I said at the beggining about spell casting fighters lasting longest and absorbing the hits for Keldorn and PC?)

Sola
Haer

And Imoen as the Theif

Looking at this party combination you can see that between six characters that this is a very versatile party considering they are the best at what they do plus they can do a decent job in their secondary roles.

I was going to take Kelsey instead of Haer but decided that four mage's a Ranger/Cleric/Druid plus Keldorn and Sola with their ability's and MR are every Mages worst nightmare come true is plenty powerful to not need a Sorcerer.
About the only holes that I can see in this set up is it's a full party so slower leveling up and Imoen's the only one who will excel as a mage in terms of high level firepower.

Sorry for going on so long and if you've read this far your a bloody legend (either that or you must be very bored )

 

How about this?

Protagonist: Half-Elf Fighter-Mage (I know Elf is probably better, but I have a hard time playing an elf, especially when Imoen says things like "I'm only a little bit younger than you" -- and a young elf is about 100 years old). I guess if you really want to look at the numbers a Half Elf can have a higher CON score.
Jaheira: Tank/Druid. Romance.
Keldorn: I love Paladins!
Minsc: Awesome melee fighter. I also think he's funny. He's also got a really high STR, and you can take him in a few different directions w/ his Proficiencies.
Anomen: Cleric/Tank. I know he's annoying (at first), and I toyed with using Aerie instead, but he's a better fighter, and that suits my playing style a little better.
Imoen: Mage/Thief: With the mod (can't remember it's name) that gives Imoen the thief skills of an 8th level thief (her skills are of a 7th level thief without this mod), she can more than handle the locks and traps, especially with two special rings added on. I'll use Nalia, Jan, and Yoshimo here before getting her (maybe Korgan and Cernd as well).

3.5 tanks (F/M, Keldorn, Minsc, Anomen, Jaheira)
1.5 Clerics
1.5 Wizards
.5 Thief


Maybe I would be better off with Aerie instead of Anomen. That would make it:

3 Tanks
1 Clerics
2 Wizards
.5 Thief

Out of those two, which do you think is better? If I go w/ #2, I'll use a Gnome F/I instead of a Half-Elf F/M, and romance Aerie.

 

I think that's a good party to have Klorox but the only change I'd recomend is to replace Minsc with Aerie for the extra healing and mage power Since you will still have four tank characters that way, and even Aerie can kick butt up in the front lines with a couple of spells a sheild and the Crom, if you don't mind losing a gauntlets of ogre strength and a girdle of frost Giant Str. You could give Anomen the Flail of Ages instead of Crom and Both Clerics can use Staffs though it would be best if you gave that to Anomen with his already high strength score combine with draw upon holy might will make him very good with it.

Edit: Minsc's strength shouldent matter after a short while since there's two good strength Item's which make you stronger then Minsc in chapter two and another one to boost your strength to 21, and in chapter 7 a 20 strength though it probably won't matter at that point unless you have ToB, and not to mention there are at least a dozen str potions lying around in shops, temples and dungeons, so considering all this Minsc's incredible strength should not make a difference

 

These general strategies work well for me:

1 good tank
Always up the front blocking for the party. Low armour class is more important than fighting ability.

2 flanking warrior-types to back up the tank
These two are good fighters with decent armour class, but not dedicated blockers like the tank. They perform other duties when not fighting so I suggest multi/dual-class F/C or F/Th.

1 magic specialist - usually a mage/cleric
Aerie works well here if you can keep her out of harm's way.

1 Thief
The thief is required for all those traps. The thief also finances the party by stealing from people and shops.
If you have two thieves in the party, have one specialise in pickpocketing while the other specialises in finding traps and hiding in shadows (scout).

The other slot is free for people of interest and doing those side-quests.


Try and make one a Cleric (dual/multi class is okay) for turning all those undead you're going to meet.

Try and spread out your weapon specialisation to make full use of those goodies you find. There's nothing worse than getting the Flail of Ages and having nobody who can wield it.
Have some wield bows, crossbows and slings.
Vary between long swords, katanas, short swords and scimitars.
There are some good axes in the game too, so don't forget those.

 

Hardcase I don't think Aerie is exactly a specilist anything, she is a multiclass and most multiclasses are more support classes than anything else. the F/M is an exception where fightings concerned while he will never be the best fighter or the best mage, when compared to a full mage or fighter he has the abilitys of both classes to make a unique class altough lower levels in party play, so he is not the best at casting spells but he can use those spells to protect himself from physical damage which is why he can rock any fighter even if the fighter is of a higher level.
What's my point your asking? well my point is that if you use the right Multiclasses correctly you can use their lesser ability's to be some of the best classes in the game, but for clerics and Mage's this does not work so well since it is usually a good idea to have someone who is a full class Mage or Cleric or either of these classes dualed from another class. It's certaintly not nessesary to complete the game but powerwise when it comes to spell's pure classes are stronger then multiclasses.

 

My personal picks
Fighter/Thief, better dual than multiclass.Not a Tank, but self-defending pretty well.
-Ranger(Minsc)Tank type, no matter what many people say. Best when using light armor and hiding.
-Paladin(Keldorn) another tank type, if you get Carsomyr and equip him properly. His free action armor and dispel magic gets very useful throughout the game.
-Fighter/Cleric (Anomen) as long as you complete his quest and improve his Wisdom. Very powerful with the Crom Faeyr, much better than Viconia.
-Cleric/mage (Aerie)defensive role. Lots of spells, works best with low-level spells, letting other mages pick the most powerful ones.
-Dual Thief/Mage (Nalia) Extremely annoying and naive, but worth picking, lots of spells, can use bow. Can be switched for Imoen as well-------SPOILER--------as long as you remember to keep lots of spells for Imoen to learn after getting her out of Spellhold.-----------------------------

 

"Why so? well the best possible protection for your melee characters in combat are spells like Stone/Iron skins and Protection from magical weapon's those two spells will keep you alive far longer then any armour, sheild or weapon combination there is, sure they can't deal as much damage as pure Fighters but they have a much longer fighting life span due to protections because they often absorb enough hit's especially against things like Dragons, to kill a straight Fighter type several times over."

Sorry, casey, but I have to disagree. Stoneskin and Ironskin only work for certain things, like melee and missile hits, but are worthless against things like dragon's breath, a mage's fireball, etc. All other protective spells have severely limited durations, and thus can only work in special situations where you have a right to know what to expect (fire protection before re-entering Firkraag's lair, etc.), unless of course you like to use cheese all of the time.

Of course, if you've had some success with this strategy -- which I can see will work SOME of the time -- I'm open to being convinced.

 

Buck have you ever used Mirrior image to defend against Firekraags breath weapon before? maybe it's just a bug for me but it generally works great against anything that is not melee(around 95% of the time very good odds imo), and there are thing's like Spell turning which protect against at least one attack but I'm not certain about that one, but Stoneskin/Mirrior image can protect from anything wether it's swords, spells, breath weapons or missle weapons, this combo rarely fails for me. Do you think you could give me an example of something that could get through every mage defense available to the F/M and Blade?

Here is a website explaning and exploring every fact and tactic and strategy involved with spells here

[ December 14, 2003, 06:07: Message edited by: casey ]