Roleplay Party

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I want to play this game with a party who is fun to play and has some 'higher' goal in it. Therefore I'm looking for some great ideas for it. The question is threefold.

a)Theme & story :
ex -party of monks who are going to do a pelgrimage to the tomb of Black Raven.
-party of paladins & morninglords on a holy mission quest.
-party of drow looking to join the rebelion against the matriarchy.

b)Party Consistency :
-> what should the party be looking like? Which races combined with which classes , weapons , feats , etc.

c)Miscellaneous :
For example , when you pas by the monastery a monk would like to join your party. Things like that!

It shouldn't be a powergaming party , but it may be a strong party , well balanced.

 

I´ve started a thing like this a few times. Never "followed through" to the end though.
I´ve made a party of 6 Male drow - wizards for example.
I like to have parties that only consists of one race. Gives me a special feeling. Although having everyone being the same class has proven to get boring after a while.

So my recommendation is that you make a party where all are the same race. And the 'higher' goal can be that they´re 6 (or how many you want to have) childhood friends that went out on a trip to see the world and maybe get rich and famous on the same time or whatev

 

I played a party of four bards called "The Mercenary Choir" - a soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. Each was Chaotic Neutral and all they cared about was cold, hard cash. I made them each aasimar, and Fighter 4 / Bard x - so that they would be better in melee, and also trigger the 20% exp. penalty. It seemed like a completely self-destructive concept, but I zipped along merrily 'til crashing to a halt right after the Kuldahar invasion. Not that the party was overwhelmed, but I'd just gotten ToEE...

I've also tried a party with a high-charisma cleric and three pure rogues - a politician with his three bodyguards. Sneak attacks were vicious - with three rogues, there's always SOMEONE at the enemy's flank.

Right now I have a three-person party - a rogue-cleric (evenly levelled), a pure monk, and a sorceress. The rogue-cleric and monk are Lawful Good, and are reluctantly escorting the Chaotic Neutral sorceress. The unhinged sorceress is fond of unleashing fireballs at them in the middle of melee - fortunately they both have Evasion!

 

I was playing a party lead by a duergar couple--a fighter and a cleric--with their slaves--a half orc barbarian (no fighter levels. I don't think 3 int is enough for someone to specialize in weapons) and a half elf enchanter, along with their hired "guide," a tiefling ranger/rogue with no foresting skills whatsoever but plenty of thieving skills. Then I realized I'm still being helpful and polite, so I switched to another party.

 

I have been thinking about a party of drow returning from an 'outland' mission back to the underdark. Under way home they caught an assasin , a svirfneblin bound to have revenge for the drow killing his family. They haven't killed him but turned him into a slave or thrall.

The party :

1)Male drow fighter/wizard dual-wielding axes and short swords , robes , weapon finesse , weapon specialization , ... [TANK/BUFFER]
2)Female drow paladin/painbearer of Ilmater handling large swords and shields , bows , combat casting , ... [TANK/HEALER/DEBUFFER]
3)Male drow sorcerer using crossbow , spirit of flame , evocation , necromancy? , combat casting , ... [BOMBARDIER]
4)Male svirfneblin rogue/illusionist wearing light armor + armored arcana , bows , small blade , weapon finesse , ... [DECOY/BUFFER]

What do you think , any comments , suggestions?

 

A little reservation as to roleplaying mechanics: necromantic spells are evil acts (I can't think of any exceptions ATM), so a paladin present at such an occurence shouldn't really stand still and keep quiet. It really depends on the approach - he may as well be reforming the necromancer and bringing him onto the womb of LG-ness , or avoiding a greater evil by cooperating with lesser evil, but at any rate it's not like the paladin is happy with undead raising, life draining etc. I guess horrid wielding could go, as it's an Ilmater (LG) domain spell.

Anyway, I've had several ideas for a roleplaying party. In all honesty, some were quite good. Someday I should probably make a set of parties and ask Tal to put it up. I have sort of photographic memory, so I can't enjoy playing one and same game too often (3 times for BG2 only, 2 for Fallout 2, 2 for IWD2).

I don't minmax my characters below 8 and below 6 when there's a racial negative adjustment or a flawed character, and I roleplay alignments. I fancy some BIOs, but they've never been necessary enough to be written down.

My last paladin/wizard was not exactly a powergaming build, to say the least. STR 14, DEX 10, CON 10, INT 16, WIS 14, CHA 16 at the moment of creation. However, I knew what I was doing and what I wanted to get, even if I didn't have any exact idea how that would develop. It has given me a whole new outlok on spellswords. Also showed a bit of the tragedy of a multic-classed paladin, who has still low-level paladin power despite all his XP and high character level. Yes, not only do the stats give such an impression, but in very truth he's torn between the two - between the magical scholarship and knightly quest. However, it's not only being torn apart that he gets. After all, wizards go to realms where mortals aren't expected to go, therefore his knightly quest gets a whole new dimensions. He's not a wizard with a paladinic blessing (like 1-3 levels), or a paladin with some limited arcane casting (eek!), he's both a noble champion and an archmage.

I fancied him to be a geek, a real scholar, and a noble practically born to be a paladin, while being neither an uberphysical jock (too intelligent for that and, well, let's speak it, neglected his physical training) nor a total nerd deprived of any adventuring spirit (he's a warrior after all). A man of action, despite all geekishness. And one that simply goes there and makes it, no matter not being the biggest guy around. At some point he even learns how to spot and disable traps. As a charismatic noble, he got Aasimar race, high charisma and great diplomacy score. Could have got intimidate too, it would fit the image, but I didn't have enough points. As a knight, he got the FiendSlayer feat. As more of a fencer than a basher, he got improved criticals. He, unfortunately didn't get power attack and cleave to underline the warrior character in him, but some other feats were necessary. Those included armoured arcana which allowed him to carry a shield. Yes, a shield. Normally people use that to walk around the town in leather and cast spells, but I gave him a shield and had him cast the shield spell for field-plate-worth of armour type AC bonus, therefore having the shield and armour bonus combined. Yes, he wore a shiney plate only for special occasions. Some day, I'll have to draw a paladin in a shining plate armour and archmage vestments over it. To finish off the sword & shield issue: that was a pragmatic choice. It fit this character to make pragmatic choices, so it remained, but I imagined him without a shield, initially. On second though, a shield is more natural than an armour, I think, anyway.

To reflect his boiling ancient blood, he received spirit of flame and evocation focus. After all, he's also a paladin. Massive damage is one, but excessive charming or transmuting is another. Not like he never used transmutation to offset enemy's abilities, or illusion for defence... even improved invisibility before slaughtering whole tribes of Orcs. As I said, pragmatic choices. A very rigid code of honour, yes, but the mission needs to be done. Battle isn't a sports arena. Actually, I remember earning and arrows as his favourite weapon in the chart, despite total lack of any feats or anything in that direction, unless item-based DEX increase to 12.

Throughout the game, he became smarter as his intellect needed training for high magery to be achieveable. His life of solitary crusade and thousands of fights for good and right on the way, together with all choices he had to make, joined with going from a vaguely pathetic young outcast to a mighty knight and an archmage... and no less an outcast over one winter, while visibly remaining the same man, irreversibly altered his vision, at the very end placing him at the gates of the Hand with wisdom of high priests (17, 22 with a ring). An insight he didn't ask for, he wouldn't like to buy for the price he had to pay, but ultimately would not have chosen otherwise, given an opportunity.

That all has changed his personality, giving him a cynically-stoical views and a largely pragmatic look. A vanity of vanity approach has come from being greatly reliant on magic and items to succeed, putting him on levels of power inifinitely beyond what he really had, with him still knowing that ultimately magic and items won't save you. Paradoxically, being able to nuke a company of archers or petty casters into oblivion with one brutal ball of fire, teaches you some new respect for life, too. Especially realising how often you survived by coincidence if not accident. At all that, his physical age didn't increase by even a full year. Just one prolonged winter that changed his whole life, placing him forever aside from normality and normal, peaceful life in naivete.

Not difficult to guess, he's a follower of Mystra. While adhering to a rigid ancient code of honour, putting life at risk every day for the sake of duty, constant uncertainty of tomorrow, disorderly days of not knowing when and where you'll sleep and hardly remembering when and where you last did, having your views challenged all the way, still make you a not really good material for a follower of Helm - together with several chaotic traits in an otherwise dead-lawful character. While having a special kindness for Ilmater and performing an Ilmaterian ritual at the hand, Ilmatari is not the way for someone with his approach, especially given Ilmater's dependence from Tyr, the abrupt god of law and what he himself sees as good, specialising in quick judgement and unlawful performance of law. The lady of mysteries, not so long ago a mortal wizard who's seen some fights as well, seems a good patron for this personage.

[ January 18, 2004, 15:31: Message edited by: chevalier ]

 

Paladins themselves learn Death Ward and Undead Ward, both of which are necromancy spells. A number of necromancy spells are just helpful, like Spirit Armor and Trollish Fortitude. Things like Chill Touch and Ray of Enfeeblement seem a lot less evil than a school of spells designed explicitly to kill things by exposing them to a painful dose of the elements.

 

Technically, the issue is of channelling negative energy. You don't do that with undead ward, right, but ray of enfeeblement might be there.

Eh, seems I went on singing praise of my paladin/wizard instead of providing ideas for a party.

So, there are several cliche ideas:

As you mentioned, rebel drows and paladins&clerics on holy quests.

Those may be modified a bit, like rangers & druids on a nature's quest (especially with relation to the Tree of Life in Kuldahar), or a drow raiding party, but for what reason would they show up to help Targos and why they wouldn't get killed on the way is beyond me.

You can mix multiclassed paladins or monks of all three orders to reflect a chivalric or monastic order.

Mercenary parties are also a nice cliche. A bunch of lawful neutral guys, strong and complimenting each other's talents.

A college of bards. Yea, whole six. Six bards, isn't that fun? Yeah...

Holy Chapter of Deity X. Six clerics. Hehe. Can be multiclassed. Not everyone is a priest for whole his life.

Druidic Circle of X Wood. As above.

X Guild. As above, six rogues. Well, you would need some nice gaming to make them rule. Neither brawls, nor magic. Well, again, you can multiclass them. Fighter or monk multis are very reasonable here, rangers almost equally as much. You can even make them all LG and paladins later in the game, if you're sick enough.

The Ancient and Noble House of X. Paladin father, Enchantress mother, paladin son (same deity as father, for example), a cleric (relative or chaplain), a rogue (daughter, younger son or squire), a fighter (younger son) or barbarian (once captive/hostage, now family friend). Warning: the lack of difference in levels will inevitably suck.

A drow house. What do you need? A badass Mother, two priestess daughters, three fighter sons with largely varied specialties. Perhaps a wizard instead of one fighter. There's some Domains Mod, which includes Lloth.

Targos Landed Gentry Society. Hehe. Paladins, fighters and the like. One may have a big beard and barbarian levels. One might have started his noble career as a cattle thief. There may be a sorceress, the only one female in the club, who forced her way in.

Six barbarians. All brothers, of course. Need I say more?

A knight and a squire. The squire can be joined later for sufficient difference in levels to be maintained. Rogue, if it's meant to remain a squire. Some warrior class if you're going to have him knighted by your honcho at some point.

A pair of lovers. Oh, how sweet. He is a human dead-ass lawful paladin of Helm and she is a chaotic good elven ranger. Fighter & barbarian also possible. Ranger and druid. Cleric and paladin, perhaps. Two clerics of a different deity. Two rogues, why not. Rogue and ranger, nice. Fighter and ranger, perhaps both being archers. A warrior and a spellcaster. A good one and an evil one. A lawful one and a chaotic one. Well, you get the idea. And the sweetest of all: an iconic noble paladin such as, let's say, chevalier and a bard girl. Rrright. Yeah. That's it.

The pair don't have to be lovers, actually. They may be survivors from a, how cliche, destroyed noble house. Brother and sister. Or cousins. Cousins are nice because you can get both the brother and sister and the lovers thing. Sweeetness.

Eh, I would almost forget. Wizards. A group of wizards of different schools, call them Academy, for instance. Different schools, different spell focus feats. Perhaps different weapons, one or two might even have a knack for special brutality. After all, it's not 2E. They don't all have to wield daggers, staves and slings. You can even give them 2H swords if you feel like it. Or ugly maces. AFAIK weapon feats work with magically invoked weapons. Which suggests that a guy with four fighter levels and longsword specialisation and improved criticals could be a nice idea. Heck, why not power attack and cleave? He's a psycho, remember?