Party Concept: Bickering Couples, Blossoming Romance

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Well, after reading many, many "guides" and "how-to manuals", I have decided on a nice balance between powergaming and roleplaying. Herein, I shall detail both my ideas and my major dilemmas:

A PARTY OF SIX

Despite the fact that less characters would make for stronger ones, I am partial to having a large as party as possible. The more the merrier, and this way I am guaranteed the versatility to cover many bases. The members break down as follows:

Aasimar Paladin(1)/Sorcerer(x)

This gentleman is the leader of the group, specializing in devastating magic and polite, effective diplomacy. The paladin levels compliment his heritage, as well as his personality. In addition, I always preferred a devastating sorcerer to be wielding a cool-looking weapon, no matter what he does with it. The Holy Avenger is just that.

Tiefling Rogue(1)/Wizard(x)

Mr. Aasimar's romantic interest. The prospect of a hesitant, yet budding romance between these two characters of obviously differing heritage should be interesting to watch. It reminds me of how I would always set up Annah and The Nameless One in Planescape: Torment. I always ended up with a lawful good mage, and Annah was just Annah. Needless to say, she has excellent dexterity and intelligence, allowing her to fill up many skills with a minimal amount of rogue levels. In addition, she adds some arcane versatility that her celestial counterpart lacks.

Shield Dwarf Fighter(4)/Barbarian(x)

The gruff, coarse tank. He's self explanatory. He takes damage and dishes it back.

Shield Dwarf Battleguard of Tempus(x)

The tank's wife. A force to be reckoned with by her own right, she's the only one who can match her husband in battlefield prowess. Clerical ability, battlefield excellence, and a sharp tongue to boot.

Human Fighter(4)/Druid(x)

If I could make her an elf without experiencing penalties, I would. It fits much better with the personality, and I already have two humans. She's the tree-hugger, the Jaheira-type. Only less annoying. Anyways, I plan to have her specialize in ranged weapons, getting a few hits in from the back lines while unleashing the fury of nature.

Here's the next problem:

I don't have a sixth member! I can't quite figure out what to include. My ideas have included the following:

Pure Monk, for AC and mageslaying
Fighter / Bard, specializing as an archer
Paladin / Fighter, for more effective use of the Holy Avenger
...

errr....

As you can see, I'd like some suggestions. I would prefer that he remain one of the three medium-sized race. Elven, human, or the mix. I already have dwarves, and I am not a huge fan of halflings or gnomes. A half-orc MAY work, but it doesn't fit my vision of the character. I wanted someone carefree, which may point to the bard. However, he could also work as a ribald monk, using humor to point out wisdom and immortal truths. One alternative I thought of was to have him be a human, and for his female counterpart to be some sort of clerical mix, thereby allowing her to be a drow without penalties. Romancing a drow would be interesting, but I cannot conceive an effective combination. Perhaps a Lathanderin, or a mistress of Selune? I also do not know what I would multiclass it with, if anything. I feel that I am not lacking any arcane or divine power, having two casters for each. With one tank and two backup fighters, I might be greatly benefited by another fighter type, so that may be an idea.

Give me anything you've got. Impress me. I can further clarify any questions you have about alignment (mostly good), weapon choice, style of play, et cetera. I await your wisdom.

 

Nice concept. As your characters are all a bit serious sounding so far, I would go for either the overtly mystical Monk, or a wise-cracking Bard. Maybe this character could be the mediator between disputes with the other members. Plus either of these classes would help provide the versatility you were looking for and allow to use almost all of the special items found in the game

 

Perhaps a light-hearted Drow monk?

Not only would it be a completely character departure, it'd be hilarious to roleplay and somewhat powerful, as well. Not as good as a Svirfneblin, of course, but oh well. They just aren't made for loving.

Reminds me of that one drow in BG2, the one in the tavern who tells you the terrible joke about stowing thrones in grass houses.

 

Then why not make her half-elf? No xp penalty there.

 

Practicality. Extra feats and skill points would behoove her more than the limited resistances of a half-elf. That's the powergamer in me talking.

In addition, I am thinking of scratching the barbarian levels for the male dwarf and making HIM the battleguard, allowing him to buff himself to higher HPs than the barbarian's extra hit dice would amount to. That would leave his wife to become a Morninglord, since that's the other "good" cleric that is both optimistic and appropriate for a dwarf (Ilmater is so depressing, Selune is sooo elvish), perhaps with the four levels in fighter for feats and specialization, making them a tandem team with axes and hammers. Typical dwarves, really. She could hang back and rain fire down on the enemies while he smashes things up real bad. I also would change the druid's fighter levels into levels of ranger, since that is significantly more appropriate. Of course, now I have only one tank, with the drow monk, who I am starting to really like as an idea, and I found a great portrait for, as a decoy possibly, and the sorcerer, wizard, druid, and morninglord slinging spells from the backlines. Considering how HoF works, this may be an ideal set up. The monk moves in with his superior speed, AC, and spell resistance to soak up damage, the battleguard does the actual damage, and the four casters pick off enemies in large groups. Caster-heavy, but then again, I am a fan of casters in general. Spells are always the coolest part of any CRPG.

(New idea! Can I effectively combine a bard and a monk? While I would prefer to have the monk at level 20+, for the damage reduction and such, a lower-level bard could still sing some effective songs while running around as a decoy. Thoughts?)

 

No, you can't add those two. The Monk must be Lawful while a Bard cannot be Lawful.

 

Don't do rogue(1), ever. Unless you're monk(1) too. Rogue(2) gives you evasion, which is probably the main reason people ever multiclass with rogue. If you save against a spell for half damage, you get no damage. Isn't it a good thing?

Paladin(1)... you get most of the benefits, but aura of courage and divine health (immunity to disease) can be amassed by level 3, no earlier. Not like you get much of disease in IWD2. Just to let you know. Perhaps you simply want more sorcerer levels, which is fine as well.

I remember thinking about romantic parties of two, but how many times can I play one game? I might get two favourite solo characters and run them through HoF mode, though. At present, I'm doing a female fighter(4)/ranger(4)/monk(3)/paladin(x) - she might be a good choice for my even split paladin/diviner character. Why not. If character level is already 27 or something, there will be enough XP for more than just one character.

Another option is some great paladin hero and a low-level bard girl, HoF

 

Good points, all of them. Well, then, I just need one more point: what to multiclass my monk as. I realize that a pure monk can get very strong, but the benefits taper out in the twenties. Any suggestions?

 

One option is to multiclass to Cleric or Druid to benefit from your high wisdom, but that would have to be after you have finished levelling in Monk. The other option is Rogue to take advantage of Dexterity. A multiclassed Monk / Rogue can often replace a fulltime Rogue and is more flexible because you can choose the Monk order that allows Rogue as a multi-class.

As always, you have to bear in mind any multi-class penalties from your race.

 

My solo charecter right now is a Drow Paladin. It's kind of fun

 

Hmmm... adjusted levels...

Aasimar Paladin (1)/Sorcerer (x)
Tiefling Rogue (2)/Wizard (x)
Shield Dwarf Fighter (4)/Battleguard (x)
Gold Dwarf Fighter (4)/Morninglord (x) (Sure, turning undead won't help me much in the long run. But since these two will be wearing low dex-bonus giving full plate, the two points are better used for Lathander's extra punch)
Human Ranger(4-8)/Druid (x)
Drow Monk (x), possibly adding in a bit of Painbearer. Wouldn't be very good, but a little Draw Upon Holy Might never hurt anyone. Wouldn't do much more than a +2 bonus, though. +3 if I heavily fudged it, level 21 monk, 9 painbearer.

 

Sounds good. I love the character generation options in IWD II. Shame there aren't more games that use that same system. Have fun with that party.

 

Monk is best left singleclassed. Unless you want an edge with weapons. Then, ranger for free dual-wielding. That would be it. Or maybe fighter(4), not like you really need it.

If your monk for some roleplaying reasons is both LG and charismatic, a paladin level or three might be helpful. You get holy avenger allowance (like it's any useful ), better saves (better by CHA modifier), fear immunity and +1 WIS, +1 STR from Kuldahar cemetery fight.

 

Just thought I'd update y'all on my quest to prove that roleplaying and powergaming CAN exist in tandem.

The sturdy band of adventurers described herein took to normal mode like a fish to water, with Dunkirk Swiftaxe, the dwarven battleguard, leading the way. Him and Fists-of-Iron, the drow monk, kept the attention of their enemies while the Azrael the aasimar and the others blasted them to little tiny bits with lots of magic.

Isair and Madae proved a slight challenge, as the romantic nature of all my party members made them susceptible to Mass Dominate, but in the end the twins fell to Dunkirk's blade and Azrael's mighty magery.

HoF should be interesting.