Playing with a party...suggestions?

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Well...I've decided to play through BG2 with a party this time, because I've played it solo with all the classes worth playing with...so much so that playing with a party is a novelty for me now.

The point here is, I want a party with the most banters, nicely balanced in every aspect, don't need any thief, and preferably a romance.

Suggestions?

 

Do you have Banter Pack installed? If not install it. If your PC is male you get Jahaira, Viconia or Aereil (sp). Not sure about Nalia.

 

I think you ought to follow the plot as closely as possible if moving back from soloing to a party (not that I've ever soloed myself). To me that would mean taking Imoen, Minsc and Jaheira, since they were bushwhacked by Irenicus just as you were, and are deserving of a piece of the vengeance to come. Make it a priority to get Immy back asap.

To the core four, I'd add Aerie (I hear all the groans, but I'm going to ignore them). She has amusing interactions with both Minsc and Jaheira - she and Jaheira will compete for your affections until Jaheira finally forces you to choose, and Aerie becomes Minsc's witch - he'll go berserk if she gets seriuosly injured.

Those 5 cover all the bases you mean to cover, since you say you don't need a thief, so that last slot and your charname ought to be used to flesh out whatever you think of as balance. I find Keldorn indispensable, although you may not, so if it were me, I'd take him, leaving quite a variety of ways charname might be designed to compliment the others.

 

If you want the best and most banters, then you have to take Jan with you. He has the most interactions by far with all NPCs and had the funniest and most ridiculous stories.

 

The best rule of them all: take who you want. Myself, I always go with Imoen*, Aerie, Minsc, Viconia*, and Jaheira (who is at least replacable).

* = SK:ed a little. Viccy to sorcerer and some appearance changes to Imoen.

 

If you've played with a party before, despite a long time of soloing, it might be more fun to fill your party with NPC's you've never/rarely used. For me, that was: Mazzy, Aerie, Cernd, Nalia, and Haer'Dalis. Since you said you don't really want a thief (Nalia's level four.. negligable ) you should probably take a tank as a PC: A Paladin, barbarian, or Stalker would do nicely .

 

well i would suggest the following party: you as whatever you want and Minsc,jaheira,anomen,keldorn and jan thats a good party and funny,minsc will be saying his stuff jan will make fun of him jaheira will fall in love with you,keldorn and anomen will be talking about noble deeds and so on...

 

I agree with Geoff: take characters you have never taken or would never have in your party.

Since you're a seasoned player you would have no problem with any party.

Imoen and Sarevok would make sense if you want to stay close to the storyline.

Jan, Jaheira and Haerdalis have many lines with different NPCs.

Mazzy will be horrid to Valygar, Edwin and Minsc should be fun too.

What you could do is simply swap characters. Have Valygar in your party for the Planar Sphere quest (it makes sense) then switch him with another character. This way you would get to hear most banters and the game would be more challenging since you would have to rethink your strategies depending on your current party and you wouldn't be able to rely so much on Charname's abilities since he wouldn't level up as fast as when soloing the game.

 

Keldorn (if your not an inquisitor, cause it's a fun role to play).
Viccy (oh, so sexy)
Edwin (the only real mage in the game)
Minsc (sentimental frienship since BG1)
Imoen (for story line)

I really love Aerie but as a multi-class she have the same problem as Jaheira. She never become as good as Viccy or Edwin or Anomen. The solution for a very powerfull Aerie is to play with a smaller party.

Example: She can kill any Dragon easily with the family of Spell sequencer. No one in the game can combine Mage and Priest spells in the same trigger.
A couple of doom, greater malison, lower resistance and kick his ass with a finger of death.

Ahh, that's my lovely Aerie but in a party of Four.

Keldorn
Minsc
Aerie
pc: Thief/Mage Multi

Like Carahrads said, it's a good idea to take some temporary henchman for a better story and a lot of XP.

 

Hmm...I want to play a tank...I was thinking of making an elven Wizardslayer with Grandmastery in Longbows, or maybe a Cavalier...something different I've never done before. I'm not bothered about powergaming...for once!

For a party...after perusing the list of NPCs, I HAVE to have Haer'Dalis.

He levels up quick, has pick-pocket, which I need to make money quickly AND he is funny to boot. Plus there's the whole side romance thing he has with Aerie.

So...I was thinking of making it:

PC - Elven Wizardslayer or Archer
Haer'Dalis
Aerie (Romance)
Valygar (tank)
Nalia (gets pretty cool quests which I've never done)
Mazzy would be nice, but it would be ranged overkill...maybe I could make my PC a tank? How's a CG Human Barbarian? (RPing Wulfgar perhaps?)

 

How can you have a bantering party without Jan and Minsc? If you get the banter-pack then Viccy is the only romance option you would want to take.

WizardSlayer, Aerie and Haer'Dalis are workable.

You need atleast 2 tanks in a party.
I would have said Korgan, but it becomes an either/or situation with Aerie.
Valygar is not such a great choice vis-a-vis banters.
Keldron is pretty taciturn.
You must have already heard all of Minsc's banters on your first with-party run-thru. Else he is great. He would be your CG Human Beserker.
I wont waste my breath on Mazzy, Yoshimo and Cernd.

That only leaves Jaheira. Two multi-classes already
Or you could use Viconia as your decoy/tank since she gets the most rediculous AC. And her fling

If you are going to get Nalia along, buy a pack of ear-plugs. And be ready to spend a lot on scrolls.

 

I can't imagine a barbarian growing up in Candlekeep. It's a place of learning which is highly regulated and where "books are more valuable than people"...

And I don't think you need two tanks, besides Valygar can't wear heavy armours so his AC won't be so great for a tank.

 

If you want to play a tank, Barbarians are fun, and to link with Shrikant's advice you can make a half-orc barbarian and get the fix that allows half-orcs to romance Viconia.

Valygar by the way doesn't talk much (without the banter pack, which I never tried), and he's not much of a tank, though Stalkers are an interesting class to play, and his quest is great.

This is an interesting party:
Half-orc barbarian
Haer'Dalis
Viccy (romance)
Keldorn
Edwin
Yoshimo

It's a pretty balanced party: 2 tanks, 2 mage spells casters, 1 cleric spells caster. Have Haer'Dalis do the pickpocketing and Yoshimo can take care of the rest (don't forget snares!). You're also going to have some, ah, interesting interactions among the group

Now if you must absolutely have Aerie... I've played a game where Aerie was the only one who could cast cleric spells, and did fine. But I have to say romancing her was... painful. It's up to you

 

Yep...I tried playing with them...I really did, but after finishing up with the planar prison quest, I'm really bugged with this party.

And the PC. I tried out a Monk, I don't know why...maybe because I've never tried one before. But he SUCKS!!! He's worse than the Beastmaster!!

He's hasteproof, he's stupid and keeps failing all his saves, he also keeps getting killed...annoying annoying annoying.

I've decided to change the party to have a more varied temperament...

PC - Archer...or Ranger/Cleric...the party could do with the extra buffs...going to need opinions on this.

Korgan (Me axe be bloody ready! )

Viconia (going to SK her to change her alignment to good for the Turn Undead)

Jan (going to SK him into a Jester )

Maybe Keldorn...maybe Minsc, haven't decided. True, Minsc has good banters, and he IS awesome...but he's just too familiar and old now...I wanted something new.

Edwin - He's really funny and cool...plus his quest is one of the best in the game!

I'm thinking of keeping it to 5 characters, and then filling the sixth slot with Yoshimo right before I leave for Spellhold...that way I get to murder the traitor!

Imoen can join up after that.

So...what do you think?

 

I'm wondering what the rationale for a Good PC working with Korgan, Viconia and Edwin is. I also wonder about changing Viconia's alignment. Finally, I wonder about said Good PC wanting to murder someone who couldn't help his actions.

I wonder, but I'll refrain from commenting. Oh... whoops

 

Bah...its not RPing...its a fun run through, where I do whatever I want.

The ensuing chaos in the party because of mixed alignments is exactly what the doctor ordered.

And besides, even good guys need vengeance!

 

Viccy, Edwin, Korgan and Jan. And how do you intend to remain good and sane till the end of SoA?
R/C and Imoen looks good with these guys.

Finally, a good aligned guy can afford to kill Nalia's aunt

 

@Faraaz: well you are defenately wrong about monks if you make them good (they need both wisdom and dexterity high)if you do that he is really good but above level 10 after that he can become a tank.if you want i can give you my monk save to see how he is

 

I agree with San Ti. Monks are rather hard to manage at low levels, but a high levels they are VERY destructive.

 

I still say bah!

Usually, the tanks I make have upto 3 attacks straight out of Chateau Irenicus, if not four (Archers). Secondly...here's my monk's stats:

STR: 18
DEX: 18
CON: 18
INT:8
WIS: 16
CHA: 8

He was lvl 12, with 2.5 attacks per round, IIRC.

Here's the clincher...everyone hits for 15-20 dmg per hit, the Monk hits for 5-6!!! That's plain awful.

And, when I tried beating fodder mages, (Rayic Gethras, Mekrath etc), he kept getting Death Spell'd, Finger of Death'd, Confused etc etc...really annoying to play with him. For some reason Paladins, Fighters, Clerics, Thieves all make their save a lot more than stupid crummy Monks.

This was the first time I ever tried one...I'm never going to try again.

@San Ti: I wouldn't mind a save game...something mid-SoA?

PS: I've got that Forgotten Wars Itempack installed...those items are scary!

There's an axe in there which gives an extra attack!! As if Korgan wasn't destructive enough!